The Monster

Re: Symbiotes in a Fantasy Setting - Multipower? Thanks for the compliment! BTW, Figured Characteristics are the ones that are calculated from others, so raising STR also increases PD and STUN, as well as Jumping.

Re: Symbiotes in a Fantasy Setting - Multipower? One way to show the parasitic aspect of it is to attach a REC penalty to it, basically a negative characteristic. REC affects STUN, END, and normal healing all at the same time.

Re: solo play??? Were I to try this, I wouldn't go for a sidekick; I'd have a semi-rotating cast of NPCs, a few regulars, and a few guest shots for each adventure. Few if any of these would be supers, but they would be people who could be helpful in different ways: detective, scientist, butler (heh - think "Batman Begins"!), reporter, stoolie, landlady, on and on. That way you can bring in whatever info, support, and role-playing you feel is needed or desired, and the campaign feels like a well-populated setting.

Re: Superteam or Super Fight Club? What we've done in our campaign is the supers are actually deputy sherriffs! Of course, our team is local to Seattle, so the county covers a pretty large area. But to get access to law enforcement records, police cooperation, resources, etc., the individuals and team have to have an actual organization, contact info, et cetera. It seems that on whatever level, the idea should apply - governments, including UN, really like to have something they can fill out forms with, have regular memebership and the like. Yes, it can open the door to Avengers-style interference, but ain't that a roleplaying hook?! And the rewards of access and support should be worth it. The county in our game has given the group an actual office (okay, a cubicle) with a phone and file cabinets, plus an official liasion (an NPC they'll get to know as time goes on, and who will react to them according to how they treat her). If you haven't seen it, the JLU cartoon on TV did some really fun work around political maneuverings...

Re: Kong: the movie One of the things I enjoyed most about the film was its reverent yet light-hearted bows to the original - from the "right wino" to the filmed scene on board to "killing off the first mate" to "can't get Fae; she's working on some pic for RKO." Obviously a labor of love - and I loved it (seen it twice already, probably will again).

Re: Soul Strike - how do I build this? Antoher idea I just came across is Telekinesis. Buy it with BOECV at +3/4 for the range mod. Per the description under TK, this makes it a mental power, is visible, uses ECV to attack and normal DCV to defend. I'd rule that it still only does STUN unless you buy the Does BODY, and even then I'd be a bit nervous about power balance. But that's a GM call. Calling it TK even suggests the process of psychically reaching in and twisting up the target's soul - nice and creepy.

Re: And off we go! Sounds to me like you've got a pretty creative group - there's a couple ideas I'm gonna steal for characters of my own some day!

Re: My favorite player ain't coming back My sympathies - always a shame to lose a good player. As far as her character goes - why not simply have her disappear? Strange things always happen when the fae are involved, so you could have the court suddenly not refer to her, not mention her name, or even pretend to not remember her. She suddenly becomes a "nonperson" in a sense. Or, they could even not be pretending; their memories could have been erased, or the timeline may be altered. You could leave it hanging as a major mystery for as long as it takes you to figure out how to resolve it (by which time the other PCs will start to notice gaps in their own memories of her?). You could make it to look like she simply up and left one day, leaving all her stuff behind, or it could be as if she never existed. GMs should never close doors, especially one which may or may not ever open....

Re: Soul Strike - how do I build this? This is BOECV. (Having the day off today, I pulled the book and read it ) -attack roll based on ECV -applies against either MD, PD or ED, choose when you buy it -costs only +3/4 (rather than +1) if range mods apply -is "not a mental power per se" -is normally visible ...GM's ruling wheter or not it affects desolids ...it does no BODY damage As the man said, "you can look it up in a book!"

Re: Random rocks falling on your head All you really have to do is build your house somewhere where a meteor has already hit in the last 20,000 years (for you nervous types, make it the last 10,000 just to make sure), and you'll be fine - your spot won't be hit again until all the other places on the planet have had their turn!

Re: Help needed designing a magical store catalogue Computer Link should cover it - after all, what you've really got is a magical analogy of a dedicated web browswer, one which only goes to that store's website. ******************* Another possible build is to use a highly limited Clairsentience, limited so that it only perceives what is in the current catalog.

Re: Steampunk Brainstorm: Heavy Stone Mechanisms Less impressive and certainly less quick, you could have items powered by muscle - i.e., slaves. Treadmills and such could move the water for hydraulics back into position, or through levers provide a way to reset. Given a renegade lost Greek genius, you could even make land galleys, studded with stone for protection and actually driven on huge stone wheels by banks of oars across the land! Not quite a walking pyramid, but more useful for open warfare. With steam and stone pipes/valves, sound signals could be created to reach long distances quickly. Push the science a bit and you could even have finely tuned crystals which resonate under certain frequencies, so that even low-volume (or even sub/supersonic) transmissions could relay information. Associated codes - assuming the transmission couldn't send actual voice - could be lost to history, locked in ancient codices, inscribed on the walls of signal chamber )or written and archaeologists think it's just graffiti), or an arcane secret passed down among a tiny caste of shamans. Just for starters...

Re: Slasher Movies That's what I was thinking: Drain INT, maybe Drain DEX. A fun one is Drain PRE. This is so cheap, it can be effective at any level. Even your superhero with a 30 PRE looks meek and mild when he suddenly loses 4d6 of it - and a normal becomes just paralyzed. For a more atmospheric and "subtle" effect that should work on both characters and players, make it an Area Effect Suppress PRE, with Gradual Effect: "Oh, by the way, reduce all your characters' PRE by...3." "Why? What happened?" "Oh, nothing in particular, it's just something is getting under your skin about this place..." "OK, when do I get to recover it?" "Oh, I'll let you know." (ten minutes later) ""Now reduce all your PRE by...ooh, five." "Eew!"

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... I can hit nearly anything if it's kneeling in front of me!

Re: Help Me Populate a Race But wait - there's more! Planet settings: (besides the primitive civilization) A lava world, like the big fight in Revenge of the Sith. (Yes this means the egg is likely floating down one of those rivers of lava.) A waterworld, with the egg on the bottom of an ocean populated by critters that could eat blue whales as appetizers (or you coudl have a despair squid!). An abandoned/destoyed space station: dungeon crawling in space! Asteroid field. You've got to be crazy to go in there! More complications: Oops! We didn't detect the incoming asteroid, and it struck right where we hid the eggs! Now where could they have gone... Some big critter ate the eggs - and wandered off. Just to make it interesting, the critter could be a farmer's prize animal, or a holy beast of some religion, or heavily protected by planetary authorities (who are watching even if the referees aren't). An egg planet erupted in civil war, and is too happy to shoot down anything that moves. Plus, they'll have collected these eggs as oddities. Maybe they could be bargained for...we've lost just about all of our near-space vehicles, and there's this strategic location we need to take out; or we just need you to run to Planet Krupp and get us a load of (highly illegal) weapons...oh, don't worry, we'll pay all expenses... A particularly nasty trickster has planted/swapped in fake eggs that do harmful things, like poison gas, explode with an EMP, broadcast a known terrorist's IFF sig, etc.

Re: Help Me Populate a Race Possible complication: the eggs are detectable, yes, but once removed from their hiding place, they are EASILY detectable - as in high-power broadcasting. Whether they can be shut off or muffled somehow is an open question. This might encourage piracy, but after the first take, the pirate would be as detectable as a runner. Thus, any ship with an egg which starts heading for a rival instead of a planet is assumed to be a pirate. Another question: does a racer have to gather eggs until he's done, or can he turn in eggs at various times and places? This could add an element of strategy to navigation and piracy. Speaking of piracy, pirates who aren't in the race could easily be lured into attacking racers and selling the eggs to corrupt racers. They could be doing this on spec, or could have been hired by one of the racers. Counterfeit eggs? Someone would try it. There might even be false eggs deployed, either by cheating racers or by the race organizers (in the latter case, everyone would likely be warned of the possibility). One or more of the eggs are discovered by a primitive race, which brings it to their massive pyramid temple as a gift from the gods. Just try and get our new holy dingbat, Mac! And no, it's NOT for sale, no matter how many glass beads you offer! If more than one egg are on the same planet, it could quickly develop into a Grail hunt, so the racers have to not only get past each other, but get there faster than the natives! (Assuming, of course, that slaughter of native warriors is severely frowned upon.) Heck, you could have the same problems with zealous souvenier hunters (Imagine what one of these babies goes for on E-Bay!) Eggs - especially if many are stored in one place - could be worth various amounts based on who gets there first. So it might be worth it to go for a long run first, so that you get the first egg from planet X, instead of two or three eggs from nearby, and well-plucked, planets B, C and F. Are teams permitted? Use of shuttles and lifeboats for storing/delivering eggs? Robot/autopilot craft?

Re: Martial Arts Campaign Creation - Need Help

Re: I just got Pulp Hero That is true- there are lots worse ways to spend money (one reason I thank God I never developed a drinking or smoking or drug habit is that at least I have that much more money to spend on games!).

Re: Martial Arts Campaign Creation - Need Help Adaptive to me suggests not so much skillful as the ability to adapt to different environmental conditions and situations. For example, the ability to hold one's hand over a candle flame without suffering damage for a much longer time than normal, or tensing one's mucles so that sharp objects don't penetrate nearly as well, or able to endure a blizzard while naked, or even just holding one's breath for dozens of minutes. Seems to me you could get some very interesting abilities this way without unbalancing things, since many of them wouldn't be useful in most fights (though it migth be an interesting spur for the heroes to bring fights into favorable environments).

Re: I just got Pulp Hero Major kudos for this one, Steve - this may well be the best game supplement I've ever bought! Certainly the best Hero supplement; and the only other that comes to mind to complete might be Delta Green. If the other genre books hold up as well as this does, I may have to buy them all just for the reference (oh, my poor little bank account)

Re: Mystic Team Vehicle? haunted tank (or truck/bus/whatever) maybe that travels through mystic realms (Dimensional Movement or just an sfx of Teleport or even Desolid) heh heh ... "Next Stop, Third National Bank; connections to Schenectady, Poughkeepsie and Hades!" You could even make it a schedule, so that it doesn't necessarily show up right when/where the heroes want - "dang, we just missed it! the next one isn't due for ten minutes!"

Re: The Death Note and How To Stop It A little Mind Control could go a long way, as well. How to stop (or at least avoid) it? --become undead (ooh, a heroic lich?) --lose your identity, complete with radical plastic surgery --make darn sure you frame somebody for your crimes --invoke divine intervention (or demonic) --find this guy and blind him, cut his hand off, lobotimize him, whatever

Re: Mystic Team Vehicle? The heroes could ride the local fauna, by Transforming into insect-sized versions of themselves (technically Shrinking, but it's too expensive to get that small with Shrinking), and using Mind Control or Telepathy to hitch a ride on a handy varmint or bird. Not a vehicle per se, but a mode of transport that is mystical, kinda funky, and subject to manipulation/interference by NPCs (read: GM). Though I do admit a fondness for some small focus which can be used by any mystic to create a teleport gate for himself by working a short ritual. Maybe limited to a few locations, but that's neatly handled in Teleport. Plus, the foci can be stolen/lost as a plot device. Again, not a true vehicle. Okay, here's one vehicle: a fully rigged sailing ship that flies. Complete with colorful crewmen and a 40-gun broadside even - or, if you prefer medieval flavor, a flying Viking longship (didn't one of the Norse gods have one of those in mythology?).

Re: Setting Concept: The Power of Lineage There would an absloute obsession with family trees, including careful records of illegitimate births. Read select chapters of some of the Old Testament historical books (or the first chapter of Matthew or Luke) - the ones with long lists of "begats" - for an idea on where to start. Rather than astrology, a major mode of augury might be the reading of a person's parentage, in order to determine which traits and powers are likely to result from his lineage. THis would take on all the msytic significance and complexity that astrology has, with detailed methods for reading influences and minute variations in blood connection. Marriages, especially in powerful lines, would be arranged for synergies in power, at least as much as noble families arranged for political advantage. (Under the advice of "inheritance astrologers" of course.) I bet there'd be a tendency to deliberately expunge certain lines from existence, those with outright evil powers or those which pose a direct threat to powers-that-be. This could result in slaughter of numerous but carefully selected innocent people simply because of a tenuous heritage (to rip another example from the Bible, Herod's slaughter of the children leaps to mind). This might also happen with personal/family feuds. ...this also might be why many children of power are hidden among lower nobility and peasantry: to ensure that the bloodline and its power continues if things go bad for the family. Their powers might go unawakened for years until need or desire triggers them. If the inherited traits are diffused by larger numbers of offspring, it would create a tensions between having enough children to ensure the next generation's existence and watering down their powers such that they lose their grip on political position as well. The effects of inbreeding could be interesting - the risk of bad genes versus the potential increase in power - maybe both at the same time! ("The bad news, Sire is that your son is a bleeder. The good news is that he can raze a castle just by looking at it.") It just struck me that something like the Scottish clan system might be a development of this: the entire clan, from laird to peasant, is considered - and likely is - related in some way, tracing their ancestry to an ancient noble or prince. Thus everyone can claim, however distantly, royal blood! Anyway, that's just off the top of my head. Intreresting idea!

Re: how would you do this OK, here's a wacky way to do it: buy a Follower robot with the power to Multiform into various vehicles. It sits at home until your character uses the Summon power (or maybe a Teleport with charges or something cheap) to gate in the follower, which then assumes the desired form. This way the vehicle can operate independently, can assume whatever form is desired, and doesn't require a whoel lot of fiddling with odd assortments of powers. And if you want to have more than one, you simply double the number of Followers for each extra 5 points you pay. Mind you, vehicles - at elast kewl ones - can get pretty expensive, especially if they're outfitted with weapons and such.