Pariah

Uranus

My first GM had a trio of villains we found really annoying. They didn't have a group name, but they always appeared together. They were: Fastback: A speedster (33 DEX, 9 SPD, 30" Running if memory serves) who also had a SPD drain and a DEX Transfer. Note: This was under the early rules where the number rolled in the dice was the amount of SPD or DEX you lost. A few of us used XP to buy Area of Effect powers after fighting this guy a couple of times, because that's the only way you could hit him. Hummel: A guy in a suit of powered armor. 80-ish STR, 40-ish PD and 35-ish ED, fully resistant, pretty much every exotic defense available, and an Energy Blast as powerful as his punch. He also had Radar that he could use for targeting if he got Flashed. With no obvious tactical weaknesses, all you could do was beat on the guy until he fell down 'Chuk: A bare-chested Martial Arts Master with DEX and SPD values only slightly less ridiculous than Fastback. He also had the ability to create a Chi energy field around any weapon he held (like his ever-present nunchaku) that would make the damage Armor Piercing. He had some other Chi powers that made him unpredictable and hard to put down. Anytime we saw these guys, we knew it was gonna be a long night.

There was a one-shot my friend ran for us when we were all home from college on winter break. The antagonist in question was Captain Heroic™! He had Superman-esque powers: brick, flight, super senses, a couple of ranged attacks, etc. He just showed up in town one day and started doing good deeds. The catch: there was a fee schedule attached. Help an old lady cross the street: $5 Get a cat out of a tree: $20 Rescue people from a burning building: $50 per person Stop a robbery: $500 (Mom and Pop store) up to $10,000 (large chain bank) Fight a team of supervillains: $5,000-$50,000 per villain ...and so on. He even had a toll-free help line: 1-800-HEROIC-1. It was annoying, but as he and his well-dressed publicist pointed out, there was nothing legally or ethically improper about it. We had no real reason to shut him down. Until we discovered that he was using his powers to cause a lot of these problems. For example, using his heat vision to start an apartment building fire, hiring villains (through shell companies) to rob banks or kidnap the mayor, things like that. It was a hard final fight, but it was incredibly satisfying to take that guy down.

Rockies (mountains and/or baseball team)

"'Mudslide Kills 600 Religious Pilgrims'. And yet, both my ex-wives live on."

Pittsburgh Penguins

Yet another reason to despise the Dodgers.

Mormon missionaries

Q: Free haggis! Get your free haggis right here! A: All the chicken curry, sauerkraut, and deep fried Oreos you could ever want.

This conversation is probably better held in the Politics thread.

Fixed it.

The argument over whether Schrödinger's cat is alive or dead is irrelevant, because Death Tribble ate it.

Sounds like the story of the guy in the record store who overheard a kid saying, "Hey, did you know that Paul McCartney was in a band before Wings?" I saw an article a few days ago about artists who put out albums in 1973 and 2023. The two that come immediately to mind were Peter Gabriel (part of Genesis back in the day, of course) and Yes.

In college I dated a girl who was cross-eyed. It was okay, but eventually I had to break it off. Turns out she was seeing someone on the side.

I saw a thing on the Book of Face today reminding us all that this is the first playoffs without Tom Brady or Peyton Manning since 1998. Sweet mercy, we have become old.

I won $10,000 in a contest, and I decided to donate a quarter of it to charity. Now I have $9,999.75!

Oh, yes, if you look very closely you can see John F. Kennedy in the distance. Too soon?

A have a Polish friend who's a sound technician, and a Czech one, too.

Wait, I though Josh McDaniels was the designated successor to Bill Belichick.... I saw a bit on Facebook asking where Belichick would go next. So I made what I thought was a very helpful suggestion: the University of Alabama.

A couple of funnies from xkcd:

Trick of the light, or just A loss of perspective Flaw in the grand plan Just the way it is Looks good from a distance, but The closer I come it Becomes more daunting but These moments will pass Still Halfway up the hill My fingers may bleed But I've got to get there Still Standing on the hill My spirit's released But I've got to get there Lost in an abstract thought Dazed and distracted Winded yet still I'm caught With a fragment of doubt Slowed by reflection, but These moments will pass Still Halfway up the hill My fingers may bleed But I've got to get there Still Standing on the hill My spirit's released But I've got to get there It's just confusion An illusion Easily overdone Here comes resolution Absolution It's not an illusion Not a fiction Easily overcome Here comes revolution Absolution Trick of the light, or just Too much perspective Looks good from a distance, but The closer I come, it Becomes more daunting, but These moments will pass Still

We're talking about somebody whose headquarters is not just an entire galaxy, but a ring of galaxies? I'm going to go with "Leave him the heck alone."

Well, -30 is definitely under 43.5. What?

"Here's to those who wish us well And those who don't can go to Hell!" ~New Year's toast

L. Marcus is being considered as Bill Belichick's replacement in New England.