CountZero

Re: Kasumi Background Data

In the Dead Fantasy I and Dead Fantasy II videos that I have seen' date=' Kasumi seems to display some sort of teleporting ability and energy blasts. Is this from the games or just a bit of creative license used by the creators of those videos?[/quote']

 

It feels like a bit of creative license to bring the characters up a bit to the level of the Final Fantasy Girls (similar to Yuna's drunken boxing, but with a potion and an ether in Dead Fantasy II). However, the director might have based the special moves for Kasumi and (maybe) Ayame off of some of Ryu's special abilities in Ninja Gaiden, as well as the stereotypical "jutsu" abilities (teleporting).

Re: DoA Characters

Surbrook's Stuff has the write-ups for Bayman & Helena Douglas from the DoA setting but none of the others. There are a lot of Final Fantasy write-ups though.

Darn, because the character's from DoA I'd be looking for would (mainly) be Ayame, Kasumi, Hayate & Ryu Hayabusa (though for Ryu I'd be more going for Ninja Gaiden Ryu).

EDIT: (Though that might be something for Ninja Hero or then Champions.)

Re: DoA Characters

This reminds me, has anyone considered doing write-ups of the characters as depected in the "Dead Fantasy" videos (as far as the 3 Dead or Alive characters and the 3 Final Fantasy characters or would the point cost be a little high for Hero/Champions)?

Re: Urban Fantasy dead horses.

This might have already been mentioned, but a Dead Horse that tends to bug me in Urban Fantasy is either Science = Bad, or Magic Breaks Science.

Science = Bad - Science either strips the wonder out of the world, leaving a bland, grey world, whereas magic makes everything colorful and shiny, though more Dangerous. Or, while the writer doesn't explicitly say that All Science Is Bad, the majority of the scientists in their books (with the exception of the Token Good Scientists) tend to be more then a little unethical, and by "a little unethical" I mean one step below Mengele. It doesn't help this "trope" that whenever I've encountered it's completely anvillicious (or at least feels that way).

Magic Breaks Science - This is one little pet peeve with the Dresden Files, where ever Harry Dresden goes, every gadget in the vicinity follows. If I picked up Harry by the road in my new car, my car would just completely fail in about 5 seconds. In a Role-Playing Game, this is one thing, as it makes for game balance. When you're writing a novel, you don't have to worry about Game Balance. And, frankly, I've seen this in just enough other places as well for this to annoy me. It's not quite a deal-breaker for me if done to a certain amount of moderation (I still enjoy the Dresden Files), but it is a slight annoyance.

Re: Illegal Cross-Continent Road Race Hero

However' date=' the "must stay overnight" bit just kills it for me. That just doesn't fit the genre (more of a sub-sub-genre, really). It's no longer a long, hard, hairy slog from one place to another, but a series of short dashes, just 6, 8, maybe up to 10 hours at a time. It's a completely different feel. I can see some characters dismissing it as "nothin' but one a dem fancy-pants road rallies."[/quote']

 

Not quite... it sort of fits, for the more "fancy-pants road rallies" - in "Those Magnificent Men And Their Jaunty Jalopies" this is the case with several of the stops on the road to Monty Carlo (or something like that). However, I could see an underground road rally doing this to keep a semi-even playing field (and to keep tabs on the participants).

 

Plus, it gives the PCs an opportunity to interact with other teams when they're not on the road, as well as giving opportunities for various dirty tricks on both sides.

Re: Anime series as a campaign

More campaigns from the anime-inspiration wish list:

 

Gunsmith Cats -- Dark Champions -- This was a very fun anime miniseries based on a long-running manga about a highly unlikely pair of female gunsmiths / bounty hunters in (a Japanese impression of) Chicago as they do battle with a gang of weapon smugglers and a female Russian assassin from hell. The opening credits sequence's homage to The Streets of San Francisco was worth the price of admission for me, but the rest of this woefully short series was fun, too -- I would offer this one up to Hollywood for a live-action makeover.

Interesting fact: When the anime was being made, the animators went to Chicago, took very detailed photographs of many of the major areas where action was taking place, reference photographs of every single gun that was being used, test fired every single gun being used (and filmed it). And, apparently, Gunsmith Cats is responsible for so many guns in Anime anymore being recognizable as real-life guns.

Anyway, the Fatal Fury OVAs and the Street Fighter series could work very well for a ninja hero campaign. (Or even, for that matter, taking the interesting metaplot of the King of Fighters games and adapting that.)

Re: The downsides of the Iron Age

Since there's been a lot of people referring to The Punisher as an exemplar of what they don't like about the Iron Age, a lot of thoughts have bounced into my head about my particular dislikes of the Iron Age, which I've referred to earlier, but I might as well clarify on.

I wonder, perhaps, if some people's dislike of The Punisher is not because of the character itself (bear with me here) but it's misuse.

You see, The Punisher is not a Super. "Duh," you say, but bear with me. However, he interacts with them far too often. The Punisher is, basically, Mack Bolan. He's a Dark Champions character. In many ways, the idea behind Dark Champions is to play The Punisher, or The Shadow, or Mack Bolan, or Steven Segal. The Punisher is not in the same metaphorical world as many of the Supers he encounters (with the notable exception of Daredevil), but he encounters them (especially with Garth Ennis' run on the Marvel Knights title), far too often. My favorite Punisher stories have never focused on super villains or the big mega-events going on in the universe, generally. I'd make exceptions for things like the various alternate universes and what Frank Castle was like there (like Age of Apocalypse or House of M), but he shouldn't particularly running into Spidey, Wolvererine, or Captain America as often as he does. Oh, and he especially should not be running into The Hulk!

I must confess, I have not read The Punisher very regularly (though I intend to add the Marvel MAX title to my pull box). However, my favorite Punisher stories are ones that tend to focus on the human side of the character, something that never particularly happened during Ennis's run. For example, my favorite story by far was when one of Frank's friends from the Vietnam War lost everything and had killed several people. Frank went to kill his old friend, not only because he crossed the line and ended up on his turf, but also to try and preserve some of his old friend's dignity (as a trial and incarceration would only further humiliate him). It was, IMHO, a good story, with some good dialog.

But, anyway, as far as my dislikes of the Iron Age, one of my biggies has to be the growing cynicism of the comics. Everybody's got an angle, is plotting something, or has something to hide, and nobody gets along. I would love if, as the JLA series gets in gear as it progresses from OYL, it got a bit of the fun it had in the days when Blue Beetle & Booster Gold were alive, and the comic would make you, you know, laugh every now and then. It doesn't have to be all comedy, all the time, but having comedy there would be great. Same with The Avengers. By having Spidey on the time, I thought that we'd have something to inspire chuckling, if not chortling, as the Avengers thwarted Hydra's evil plot with a wisecrack (or two) from Spidey, perhaps with Peter's sense of humor spreading to the rest of the members of The Avengers. I can see it now...

(*makes harp-flashback sound and waves his arms up and down*)

Hydra Goon: Hail Hydra! When one falls (*gets KO'd by Spidey*)

Spider-Man: "Two-more will rise to take his place." Yeah, yeah, we know. Don't you guys have anything else to say? (*Whack*) Jeez, you'd think a pull-string toy could do this job. (*Pow*)

Iron Man: (*Zappow*) And it's not like their fighting would suffer. (*Zap*) Hell, it might even improve!

Captain America: (*Ricochet's his shield off the wall, off the head of a Hydra goon, off the wall again, then off one Hydra goon into another Hydra goon, off the wall one more time, into one more Hydra goon, then back off the wall and into Caps' hand*)

Spider-Man & Iron Man: Show-off!

Re: The downsides of the Iron Age

Frankly, I haven't been seriously reading actual individual issue comic books for a while now, I've been going with the TPBs, in part because I haven't quite had the steady income in the past to have a subscription to a comic, or even to feel comfortable setting up a pull box at my FLC&GS. So, consequently, I know nada about Rob Liefeld, frankly, and I haven't really read enough Iron Age comics to say nail down ideas about what I like and don't like about the Iron Age comics.

So I'll use moments, characters, and titles to signify what I like and don't like instead.

Likes:

Marvel MAX Punisher.

Iron Age Beta Ray Bill (especially as portrayed in Stormbreaker).

Kyle Rayner.

The Warren Ellis Authority run (especially The Midnighter driving their battleship-thingie through the bad guy's base in the first storyline).

Astro City

Frank Miller's Sin City

Daredevil (both Kevin Smith's, Bendis' and Mack's runs on the comic - and I especially love Mack's art style in addition to his writing).

Kingdom Come

Ultimate Spider-Man

Astonishing X-Men (especially Joss' run).

Dislikes:

Marvel Knights Punisher (specifically Garth Ennis's tenure, though I liked his run on Hellblazer).

Everything on The Authority after Warren Ellis left.

The Ultimates (especially Ultimates Hulk)

Ultimate X-Men at current (up to a certain point I kind of liked it, but a lot of the more recent stuff I don't like).

Marvel Mangaverse (except for Mangaverse Doc Strange).

And that's all I've got for now. I haven't read Marvel in a while, especially leading up to Civil War, and I'm far enough behind that it'd be a bit late for me to get into Civil War now, which is why I don't have any Marvel titles on my pull sheet, not because I hate the current state of Marvel comics, but because at present I'd be pretty lost).

Just tossing in my two bits.

Re: Slayers Magic Spells

But at times' date=' so funny.[/quote']

 

And, alas, so incomplete (and it stops at such a great part too).

Re: Mecha in Star Hero

[Mecha] Giant Tin Samurai

http://www.herogames.com/forums/show...ght=Battletech

 

[Mecha] Gundam Wing Zero

http://www.herogames.com/forums/show...ght=Battletech

 

Other RPGs converted to HERO System (Thanks Lord Laiden)

http://herogames.com/forums/showthre...+HE RO+System

 

A Mecha for review (My first 5th edition Mecha) by Jm Oz

http://herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=125

 

ROBOT WARRIORS™ to HERO System® FIFTH EDITION (Thanks Chris Goodwin)

http://home.comcast.net/~archer7/rw2hero.html

 

KAZEI-5, Silent Mobius Zeta, 3x3 Eyes, etc... (Thanks Susano)

http://surbrook.devermore.net/index/worldbooks.html

 

Battletech/Mechwarrior Hero Resources

http://herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=31861

 

 

 

Cheers

 

QM

Umm... the links to some of the forum threads are unfortunatly truncated, so if I click the links I get a 404 error. Could you please post the full links (or something), so I can fiew those threads?

Re: Your "2007" Pet Gaming Projects

Okay, this is going to be somewhat elaborate:

In the past two posts on my weblog (which can be found at http://count_zeroor.livejournal.com), I describe this massive crossover self-insertion fanfic thing I did in high school with my friends in my high school Anime club. Well, I'm going to resurrect this, with my college friends. And, I'm going to do my damnedest to write everything up (in part as a way to get familiar with the HERO system, and in part to keep my stories consistent), in HERO system. I'll try to put this all up on my web site (in part as a great way to drive up traffic to my web site ).

I just need, in addition to the sourcebooks I've already got (in physical dead-tree), Ninja Hero, Fantasy Hero, and Star Hero, and I've already got PDFs of the last two (to tide me over until I get the dead-tree versions, I prefer dead tree versions).

This will entail:

• Creating myself and the friends who have agreed to be included, and the various selected powers and weapons).
  
• The anime characters I'm inserting.
  
• The various mecha I'm inserting, both original, (like the Ahea Gundam, which has as a primary weapon, an Energy Glaive - as in the polearm), and borrowed (like the Zaku)
  
• The various spaceships I'll be using, both original and borrowed (such as the Nadesico).
  
• And, possibly, much more.

If this gets as far off the ground as I've hoped, I could theoretically write up a full-fledged netbook, which really excites me.

I've just picked up Star Hero, and I'm looking for advice in creating a Mecha (Gundam/Xenogear style, not Mazanger Z Style). Now, I do have a copy of Mekton Z, but as I'm already planning on creating the characters with Hero system, (and, in general, Hero System is exactly what I need for the characters), I'd appreciate not having to create the characters again in the Mekton Z system, just for running the Mecha battles.

Re: Help creating sentient-multi-powers (think Witchblade)

Enraged or the Accidental Change disad' date=' plus other disads reflecting the rest of the alternate personality. Maybe just Accidental Change and Multiform, with the alternate form being the character when overcome by the weapon.[/quote']

 

Thank you very much. This will be very helpful.

Re: Help creating sentient-multi-powers (think Witchblade)

To what extent would the weapon go against its wielder's wishes? Would it' date=' for example, slay someone that its owner wanted to spare/capture alive?[/quote']

 

Yes. It could essentially cause the wielder to go into a near-berserker rage (with the exception that the wielder could tell friend from foe, and not attack his/her friends.)

 

Also, possibly after losing a battle of wills with the weapon (or if the wielder himself is knocked unconscious, or perhaps is beaten by a mentalist), the weapon's personality would come to the forefront (which would probably give an immunity to mental attacks of some kind).

Re: The Powers of a Super-Butler

Some kind of focused telepathy to anticipate what their boss wants (ie the Radar O'Reilly effect).

And, to continue with the Radar O'Reilly effect, some kind of danger sense, so that whenever the Ming vase gets broken, he's already there (or just stepping into the room), with the broom and dustpan.

For my campaign, I'm creating an character with a concept that he is the wielder of a weapon similar to the Witchblade. Specifically, the concept that the weapon (well, it's more along the lines of a multi-power), is sentient, and has a will of its own and the intent of the will is not necessarily the same as the intent its wielder.

So, this would be a disadvantage. The question is, how would I execute this part of the disadvantage?

Re: The Powers of a Super-Butler

It seems appropriate at this time to mention that the butler from Van Helsing was seen to decapitate vampires - with his floss.

You mean Hellsing, right?

Re: WWYCD: Fuel for the fire

The Shadow III: (Yeah, I know, not an original bone in my body). Play head games with the creature to keep it here, and keep it focused on me, so the team has time to regroup and figure out a new plan, and maybe even get it to let go of some or even all of it's hostages (and maybe replace them with a team member who could take the damage when one or several of the team members "take the shot").

Re: Big Blue in control: WWYD

The Authority went downhill, IMHO, after the end of Warren Ellis' tenure (which was, IIRC, when Jenny Sparks died).

(That's not as big of a non sequitur as you would think).

Re: Susano's Song-Based DC NPCs

Heh... I'd been considering Pink for some time. But I'd really need to get the lyrics to all of the The Wall first. I have also debated Tommy.

This site has the lyrics to all of the songs in The Wall. However, it probably wouldn't hurt to watch the movie as well.

Re: Susano's Song-Based DC NPCs

This one may seem really involved, but it might be an interesting exercise: Pink, as in the main character (as protagonist isn't quite the right word) for Pink Floyd's album The Wall. How does that one sound?

Re: Aliens watching our television

"...I present you with the Tri-Nitro-Toluene Award!" (hands lit dynamite, hides).

IIRC, the punch line was the responce to this.

"Thank you, I don't know what to say."

"Well, you could... say your prayers." (snaps photograph, hides).

Re: why the UNITED NATIONS? (for global super-agency)

I've always imagined UNTIL as being a combination of Londo Bell (from the Gundam series) and the B.P.R.D. Specifically, while the group is not ultra-highly funded, or is necessarily supplied with the most state-of-the-art equipment, they do make do with what they have by improvise solutions with the equipment they have, or design equipment that will do the job within their budget.

Now, this doesn't mean that they're incompetent or operating on a shoestring. This just means they don't have Helicarriers, or Battlesuits for everybody. Further, I've considered having, in my little version of the Champions-verse, UNTIL forming their own version of the Suicide Squad or the Thunderbolts. Specifically, a team of former villains which legitimately want to turn over a new leaf and fight on the side of the Angels instead of the Demons. Thus, theoretically, helping rehabilitate those who want to be rehabilitated, (and relieve some over-crowding at The Guardhouse) and make up for some of their budgetary limitations.

Re: Aliens watching our television

I thought the Futurama episode where the aliens force our heroes to act out an episode of an earth television show from Fry's time was a hoot. Of course' date=' don't forget the forgettable ST:TNG episode [i']Casino Royale [/i]where an alien race mistakes a cheap gangster novel for a blueprint of humanity's Xanadu...

And there's the movie Explorers (starring the late River Phoenix), where some aliens whose primary exposure to human culture is through TV signals, secretly make contact with several human teenagers through their dreams, specifically giving them the technology to essentially design a space-ship that would bring the teens to them (because anybody whose seen The Day the Earth Stood Still knows that the first thing that would happen if an Alien Space ship landed in Capitol Mall is that the armed forces would start shooting at the aliens if they even looked at 'em funny.) Not a good movie, but it had its moments.

Oh, and Spaced Invaders, where a Martian scout ship misinterpret a Halloween re-broadcast of the Orson Wells version of The War of the Worlds, think it's an actual invasion (the real battle is off Arcturus and didn't go very well), and go and try to join the battle, and end up crash landing in some podunk backwater Illinois town (IIRC, named "Big Bean"). Again, not a great movie, but it had its moments.

Re: Pulparize It!

As soon as I heard of the concept of this series, the first thing I thought of was Pulp.

Master Keaton

Terence Keaton is a veteran of the Great War, who holds a Master's Degree in Archeology from Oxford University, and is an Insurance Investigator with Lloyd's of London, who takes some of their most dangerous cases. Cases which put him at odds with the British Mob, the Nazi government, and even a mad scientist or two. (And in his spare time he likes to explore an ancient ruin of a lost civilization or two).

The perfect Jack-of-All-Trades Pulp Protagonist, IMHO.

Fist of the North Star

Ken Fogg, a disillusioned veteran of the Great War, travels the world after it's conclusion, and in his travels comes to a hidden village in the mountains of Tibet. There, he he is taught the secret arts of the Orient, specifically how to heal, and hurt, through touch. After he has finished his training, a rival student, Stephen, who was a wanderer from the West like himself, ambushed Ken and left him for dead. After recovering, Ken returned to America, and discovered to his horror that his rival had become a big shot in the mob, and had even seemingly taken Ken's fiancee for himself (although she does not love "Steve" as he's called now). Ken swears to free the city from Stephen's gang, and rescue his true love from his cruel grip.

(Yeah, it sounds more Ninja Hero than Pulp Hero, maybe a Ninja Hero/Pulp Hero crossover).