rjcurrie

Re: Convention Character Write Ups As for skills, I go with the lengthy list of what I feel the character should have. But then I tend to improvise investigations -- that is, I know where the investigation has to lead them and just let the players do things to investigate and give out needed information when appropriate. In other words, no matter what they choose to follow up on, they will usually find themselves on the right path. However, I will occasionally spoon feed important information if the players seem lost. I should also mention that I tend to see convention games as being about a particular group of characters. That is, I design the characters and then create an adventure for those characters. The characters are not designed for a particular adventure and thus, in my mind, need to be fully realized characters as opposed to simply designed to fit the adventure.

Re: Convention Character Write Ups Personally, I feel that any convention player who states what they want to do with a VPP in anything but special effect terms should be given a solid whack across the side of their head. But that's probably just me

Re: Convention Character Write Ups I know you played Friends of Justice, OddHat, did you play SuperSquad America as well? I have had very little trouble with the characters in that game -- you can see the characters at www.supersquadamerica.com. Almost all the characters have one or more multipowers and sometimes an EC as well - no VPPs. However, I have seen VPPs work in a convention game -- without an effect list -- the GM just asked the player to describe in special effect terms what they wanted to do and then worked out in her head what it would be in game terms. In my opinion, you should bring one set of character sheets per run and an extra set for yourself to consult -- or use as extras just in case one gets lost. However, I will say that in my events (particularly SuperSquad America), I am far more interested in how the players role play the personalities of the characters than I am in how they handle the powers and combat -- so, in truth, I think the back side of the character sheet with background and what they think of the other team members is far more important than the actual game statistics on the front. But what will work for you will depend upon what type of event you are running. You can find out more about my philosophy behind the SuperSquad America event in Digital Hero 9.

Re: What should be DROPPED from HERO? Sorry, the impression I had was that people wanted to have the "Five Powers" toolkit and then have the Hero System as sort of an example of that toolkit in action. In any event, other than my first somewhat tongue-in-cheek comment about Hero sales, my points are still valid if you start exposing some kind of metasystem.

Re: What should be DROPPED from HERO? The Five Powers approach is a good idea ... ... if you want Hero to have an even smaller market share than they already do. Given that many people already feel that you need to do too much work as a GM before you can use Hero, can't you imagine how they would react when you tell them that you have to basically design the system first as well. Also, in order to make such a system really work, you would need to change everything to either be addition or multiplication not the mixture of the two that now exists. Unless you are saying that the GM defines all Powers in his game and those are the only ones allowed with no further modification. For example, if one GM defines Flight as Movement in Air that costs No END -- giving a base cost of (Move Cost) * (1 + Flight Adv +No END Adv) while another GM defines Flight as Movement in Air that costs END for a cost of (Move Cost) * (1 + Flight Adv). Now, if in the second GM's campaign, a player wants Flight with No End, then he needs to buy the No END Advantage, for which he will effectively pay ((Move Cost) * (1 + Flight Adv)) * (1 + No END Adv) which will yield a different number than what the player in the first campaign paid. There also problems based on what a GM chooses as the base unit for a Power. For example, in one campaign, the GM chooses 1" as the base unit of Flight. If we assume that Movement costs 1 points per inch and Flight is a +3/4 Advantage, then one unit of Flight would cost (1 * (1 + 3/4)) or 1.75 points which would round to 2 points per 1" and 10" would cost 20 points. If, however, another GM choses 10" as the base unit of Flight, then the cost would be 17.5 points which rounds to 18 points for 10". And these problems would still exist even if you went to a fully multiplicative system. Rod

Re: Adding value to COM I'm afraid I don't really see the difference between having the COM stat and having a COM talent and I find having the COM stat is quicker for checking how good looking the character is.

Re: Building the Necronomicon But just because you are using Dark Champions as the basis for your game, doesn't mean that you can't borrow some of the ideas and techniques presented in Horror Hero.

Re: If Champions didn't exist... I think that Champions has had such a major impact on the design of so many games in the genre that if it had never existed, who knows what route superhero game design might have taken? Would someone else have come up with the idea of having "Advantages" and "Limitations" to Powers? Or what about "Disadvantages"? I believe both of these were either invented (in the case of "Advantages" and "Limitiations") or significantly refined (in the case of "Disadvantages") by Champions. If no one else came up with these ideas, I suspect the whole field would look considerably different, so it's impossible to say what superhero game I would be playing -- if I was role-playing at all.

Re: A Very Champion Christmas CLOWN doesn't like paying the royalties to Foxbat for the use of ping pong guns.

Re: Party! As usual for this sort of thread, I'll use the characters of my SuperSquad America convention team (many of which are former PCs of mine). Note this reflects my opinions of what they would spend their spare time doing. Players in my convention events should feel no need to adhere to this. Silver Bow really doesn't have much spare time. She is fairly driven both as a superhero and in her secret ID as an investigative reporter. When she gets a chance, she likes to spend some time visiting her parents in the extradimensional world where they live. Diva was a superpowered celebrity fitness model (and expert) before she became a superhero and when she's not fighting crime, she spends some of her time still living that life: fancy parties, dating the hottest bachelors in town, appearances on talk shows, etc. She also spends a fair amount of time working out. Challenger spends a fair amount of his non-superhero time running Kennedy Industries, the company he owns. However, he also makes sure to spend time with his wife, Dianne. Their time together is often private quiet time where they simply enjoy each other's company. Of course, this could include anything from snuggling on the couch watching a movie to taking the company jet to Paris for an evening on the town. Rick Davies the Resilient Rubber-Man is a self-confessed geek. At work, he is a biological researcher, specializing in superhero genetics. For fun, he likes to read comic books and science fiction, watch sf movies and TV, and playing the occasional role-playing game. It helps that his wife, Anita (Swift Kick) is also a sf fan. These days, of course, they both enjoy playing with their son. Swift Kick (aka Anita Dupuis Davies) is Rick's wife. As mentioned above, she is a sf fan like her husband. She is also a pratical joker and often uses her shape-shifting powers to aid in that area. In the past, she occasionally worked as an actress, but these days being just a mother and superhero often fills up her days. Fast Track (formerly Whiz Kid) is a Physics researcher at work. For fun, he is often quickly switching between several tasks on his computer (video games, research, programming, or just surfing the web) occasionally taking time out to tinker with his latest invention, all whiile watching TV and listening to music. Nightingale is just finishing up nursing school and is considering going to medical school. When she's not busy with her studies, she enjoys hanging out with friends and learning all about America and its culture -- all the stuff she missed out on when growing up in a Tibetan temple. Forethought works as a secretary at Kennedy Industries when she's not superheroing. In her spare time, she enjoys watching movies -- both old and new. And of course, now that Crimson Fist is back from the dead, she also enjoys spending time with him. Crimson Fist is a theatre lighting designer and technician. Now that he is back from the dead, he is trying to appreciate all the little things life has to offer. He enjoys plays, movies, pool, and bowling. However, mainly, he enjoys spending time with Forethought.

Re: Speeding things up Here are things that I find speed things up without doing anything to modify the way the game is played (such as replacing dice rolls with pre-rolled results): Have the GM prepare a Combat Record Sheet which shows all the possible characters in a combat or combats in DEX order and which phases they act in. With this, the GM can simply call out who's up (and possibly, who's up next so they can start thinking). If you simply call out phases and DEXes, you'll be there forever. Declare levels and maneuvers but don't calculate OCV, then roll to hit. A lot of times, it is obvious whether the roll hits or not. If it is not obvious, then work it out. When counting pips on the dice, group the dice in groups of 10. When counting BODY, simply count the number of 6's and the number of 1's: BODY=number of dice rollled + number of 6's - number of 1's. If counting dice takes too long, perhaps you should get some simple Arithmetic flash cards and spend a few hours on improving your group's addition skills Rod

Re: Goofy Villains A silly group that I want to use some day is Jack 'N' Apes -- basically, a somewhat madcap villain named Jack with a team of intelligent apes.

Re: The Meta X MR Wild Card Gene Syndrome Virus is Female Dominant! I just don't get it. Why is a guy playing a female character (vice versa) any more of a problem than a human playing an elf? Or for that matter, someone who has never been outside downtown Manhattan playing a farm boy from Kansas? And if you've never been a nuclear physicist, should you be allowed to play one in a game? In fact, should you be allowed to play anyone other than yourself?

Re: The Meta X MR Wild Card Gene Syndrome Virus is Female Dominant! My experiences are very similar to Zornwil's. I have never seen a problem with cross gender play and, in fact, when I first came across the idea that some people did not allow it, I was surprised. It would have never even occurred to me. Several other local gamers, to whom I have mentioned the concept of GMs not allowing or discouraging cross gender play, were similarly surprised. At conventions, you constantly see cross gender play. I have never seen a GM discourage or ban it. In fact, my main convention game, SuperSquad America, currently features a team that has 5 women and 3 men (and that team has never had less than 3 women). As a result, male players often end up playing female characters and, occasionally female players end up playing male characters -- even though the lower percentage of female gamers at cons and the high percentage of female characters in my game usually means that females could almost always play females if they wanted to. I have rarely seen a problem -- most of the bad players of female characters would have played male characters just as badly -- and have never received a complaint about the ratio of characters available or about how anyone played a character of the opposite gender. Just my two cents worth, Rod

In the FAQ, you mention that the Imitation adder for Shape Shift replaces the need for Disguise and Mimicry Skills when imitating a specific person (assuming, of course, that the character has bought Shape Shift to affect the Sight and Hearing sense groups). However, what happens when you want to just imitate a general type of person. For example, the Shape Shifter wants to look like a Nazi -- not a specific Nazi, but just a general run-of-the-mill uniformed Nazi. Does the Imitation adder let the Shape Shifter automatically get the details of the uniform correct even if the face is just a generic Aryan face? And does it let him do a believable German accent? Or does the Shape Shifter need the Disguise and Mimicry to accomplish this? Rod

Re: Good "Four of a Kind"'s... The Four Tarot Card Suits: Cups Wands Pentacles Swords

Re: Trolling for suggestions, 1982-style. Incidentally, for the TV-inclined, here is the Fall 1982 Prime Time TV schedule: http://www.inthe80s.com/prim8283.shtml.

Re: GM's "rights" I always write my character backgrounds from the character's point of view. I may make occasional suggestions about things the GM may want to do with loose ends, but I really don't want to know. I like to be surprised. If I say I'm an only child then from the character's point of view that is the truth. That is what he has always believed and what he has always been told. Now whether the people who told him this were telling the truth is another matter altogether. But if it isn't true, I want to discover it as the characters do -- I don't want the GM to come to me and say "I'm going to be introducing the fact that you actually have a sister who (for whatever reason) you never about and she's a supervillain. Is that okay?" To me that spoils the thrill of discovery. With that being said, however, a GM needs to tread carefully and try to make sure that such changes are interesting enough to the players to warrant changing a character's known history. Probably, the best bet for the GM is to have an idea how each player feels about such things in general -- either from previous experience or from pre-game discussions -- and handle each player, appropriately. As for the actual game stats, the GM, of course, has the right to request any changes to a character (or outright reject a character) -- including background -- to make sure that the character fits the game and the game world. Ideally, this should be a back and forth between the GM and the player with the GM making suggestions and requests and the player implementing them as that player feels is appropriate until both are happy. Of course, the GM should be prepared for the fact that the player may decide to move on to a different character because the modifications required to win approval may result in a character the player no longer wants to play.

Re: The (Super) West Wing It's not unheard of (in some organizations, anyway) for underlings to tender their resignations when there is someone new in charge (especially if they take over in mid-stream) so that the new boss can make desired changes without having to fire people. So I suspect that you will see both Toby and Josh (who both now work for C.J.) resign only to be rehired. Rod

Re: Updated SuprSquad America Web Site Cool, Death Tribble. Do you remember what year you played? Actually, if anyone on these boards ever plays in one of my adventures, please be sure to introduce yourself so I can put a face to your name on the board.

Hi Folks: I have updated my SuperSquad America web site with up-to-date character histories, new art, and the brand-spanking-new SuperSquad America forums. The SuperSquad America web site has a new URL: http://www.supersquadamerica.com Rod Currie

Re: PLEASE ! No more 'What would your character do ?' threads

Re: PLEASE ! No more 'What would your character do ?' threads I guess I'm fairly alone in the general opinion that I would rather see more threads than less. Particularly, if the thread titles were carefully chosen to reflect their contents. For example, as I mentioned earler, I think WWYCD threads should give a summary of the question in the title. I would find it much easier to scan over two or three pages of well-defined thread titles and pick out the ones I might want to read rather than a page of vaguely titled and almagamated threads whose titltes give me no idea at all whether or not I might want to read the thread. Often, given the choice between reading or not reading a poorly titled thread, I will choose not to read it. Rod

Re: Wanted - old Adventurers Club magazines Liaden, Lord of the Links strikes again.

Re: PLEASE ! No more 'What would your character do ?' threads While there may have been a few too many lately, I am loathe to suggest to other posters what they should post about and don't particularly like it when people do it to me. I am quite capable of scrolling through multiple pages if needed. The WWYCD posts are definitely on topic and sometimes I find them interesting although I would prefer them to be tittled better by putting a summary of the question to be asked in the thread title -- that way you can quickly tell whether they are of interest and if you have already looked at it and want to check in with it again. Rod