archer

One of the trials of knowing a lot is having to put up with people who don't understand as much as they think they do.
 
I've found that when I want to be effective in putting knowledge into someone else's head, I have to get them to separate the idea of "I have access to a lot of information" from the concept that "I understand a lot of things and can always put the information which I have into the correct context".
 
The distinction between the two is lost on most people.

So many have already pointed out some of the extreme troubles with Imperial Japan, as it actually was in the 30s and 40s taking over the US in a realistic fashion. Be it the fact they'd be trying to do two extreme land wars in both mainland China and then the US plus need to maintain unquestioned trade dominance in the Pacific, there is no way for them to execute such a goal. Even their early war aims against the US were more retaliation for US embargoes and a desire to merely push out the US from the Pacific by displaying enough early force to cripple US expeditions into the South-East Asian parts of the Pacific wherein they could restock, regroup, and push out at far more unpredictable locations. A US force lacking Midway and Hawaii would find themselves trying to enter the Pacific theater through only a handful of very well guarded routes. 

Beyond all of that, one has to contend with the fact that the Imperial State was barely holding itself together even while all they were doing was winning in Korea and Manchuria. Countless officers attempted to kill high ranking politicians and even the Prime Minister. The top generals had essentially no direct control over their cores in the outer provinces. Politicians were scared into subservience by threats of violence, public sympathies that were extra strong when they were doing well, and the classic issue of looking one's constituency into the eyes as you tell them you will abandon all the lands their sons and brothers died to secure. Even the Emperor was only nominally in control in a very classically Japanese manner. The system was destined to break in that form regardless of their successes. In the real world there is no set of foreseable outcomes where Imperial Japan continues in any form we'd recognize for much longer than it already did. 

So, if we accept that perhaps the path of Japan from post WW1 was more or less fixed even if we change the details, why not completely change the past? There was, even still post Pearl Harbor, and idea popular with some politicians to create a Co-Prosperity Sphere in Asia wherein Japan essentially unites the Asian populous behind a single banner. Let's say that there were a number of True Believers in this in the ranks of Japanese and non-Communite Chinese. These Japanese Metas were moved by the plights of the Colonized Asians and move to protect the politicians of this ilk. Perhaps these same Metas were on the front lines with some of the early Korean and Manchurian successes and thus hold a great deal of respect in the public's imagination. Likewise, the various army purges of these separatists were a decade earlier and far more successful. 

Now what we have done is set up the groundwork for a true world power alliance in Asia. The Japanese are still spooked by the downfall of Tsarist Russian and fear the spread of international communism. They move to work WITH Chiang Kai Shek to subdue the communists in the Chinese region and help arm separatist movements in India and IndoChina. These two powers will be able to create manageable puppet states in current Bangladesh, unite with Siam, and carve out Indo-China for the Chinese and Thais while claiming the southern tip of Malaysia and the islands for Japan. Japan, being a leader in Military Strategy, Technology, and a strong manufacturing base would be able to assume a more managerial role, ala Great Briton in India / Asia, A war in which the larger Asian continent is consolidated, unified, or otherwise paralyzed wouldn't be as concerned with US embargoes. 

Without Pearl Harbor, the US is far less likely to enter any war. Without the manpower of India, crippled trade routes from Asia (no rubber, steal, tungsten, etc), Great Briton would find it much harder to hold on. Perhaps we even concede that some of the One Punch KOs against Russia landed with more effect as Russia tries to secure its Chinese/Manchurian boarder allows Nazi Germany to work against the UK more directly. Maybe the UK falls, maybe it doesn't. But certainly they are broken in manpower, resources, and spirit enough to sign an uneasy peace. The US, which has been relying on War manufacturing and Ally Bonds gets involved too late to save the War for the Allies. The Anti-FDR movements and communist movements takes hold in the US and it fractures into a new civil war. Germans, Italians, Japanese, and Mexican forces all rush to pick a side and create a new puppet. The Japanese, unlike all the others actually have experience in effective puppet management and are able to gain strong East Coast ties using the rockies and deserts as a natural wall. Now you have an American region with all its fractured culture under the influence of Japan without the direct control. To get an idea for how this might actually look in practice, read up on how Both Korea, Manchuria, and Taiwan  or even Okinawa were administered. While colonization is never a pretty thing, there was usually a lot of support for Japanese management; things ran on time, Japanese schools were high class (many subjugated folks tried to send their kids to the Japanese system schools because of the prestige). 

If you want to have a post-war cultural revolution akin to the US, it could be in a similar form wherein the new generation actually embraces in a non-cynical manner the nations of the Co-Prosperity Sphere and push the military and politicians to more fully adhere ot its non-colonial ideals (i.e., stop training soldiers how to kill by using live Chinese prisoners, etc). 

Those are, of course, just my thoughts. 

La Rose. 

"To the bat-poles!"

If you haven't considered the implications of juxtaposing those two sentences, you might want to rephrase.

You start by remembering he's not your boss. The American people are.

Pathfinder took years to grow from a good idea into a horrific complexity of an unlimited number of rulebooks.
 
Obviously, they are being much more aggressive for Starfinder.
 

Slovotsky's Laws (not a comprehensive list, for that I recommend reading the Guardians of the Flame series)
 
A hero's work is never done. Which is one of the minor reasons I don't recommend the profession.
 
Boldness is like a condom. If you depend on it all the time, no matter how good it is, and no matter how good you are, eventually it will break.
 
I always have a fallback position whenever I take a risk. If all else fails, I'll die horribly, at great length, and in great pain. Mind you, it's not a good fallback position...
 
When it comes to dealing with the law of averages, it's best to be a habitual offender.
 
Relax, the universe is out to get you.
 
Doing the best thing right away is much better than doing the second-best thing after much hesitation. I didn't say it's easier, mind, just better.
 
The difference between being a trusted friend and a devoted vassal is non-trivial. Me, I'd rather be the first; vassals tend to go the well too often.
 
Not getting cut up into bloody little slices is the key to a sound plan.
 
The old saw says that the first time is an accident, the second time a coincidence, and the third time enemy action. As a matter of policy, I'm suspicious of accidents, and I don't believe in coincidences.
 
It takes a lot of time to make things go right, but they can all go to hell in a heartbeat.
 
While it doesn't get the good press that hard work and industry get, laziness is a talent to be cultivated, like any other.
 
Wanting it doesn't make it so. If it did, we'd all learn to want harder. I can already want quite vigorously, thank you very much.
 
When it comes to throwing a fit, it's better to give than to receive -- and much better to avoid the whole thing entirely.
 
I'm a simple man. All I want is enough sleep for two normal men, enough whiskey for three, and enough women for four.
 
Travel, it seems to me, has always done more for flattening the arches, callusing the feet, and irritating the hemorrhoids than broadening the mind.
 
Arguing is one of life's great pleasures, even if you have to argue with yourself. Course, I could enjoy the other side of that argument, too.
 
The first ninety percent of the job takes the first ninety percent of the time. The last ten percent takes the other ninety percent of the time.
 
There isn't any pleasing some people. The trick is to stop trying.
 
I'd always liked Robert Thompson's idea of avoiding compromise, of letting the person with the strong convictions have his own way... and then I realized that encouraged people to have strong convictions when they don't have enough data.
 
 

On a first date, watch how your date treats the waitstaff, receptionist, etc. Because if you're still seeing each other six months later, that's how you'll be treated.

Always pillage before you burn.

Eat mushrooms...they made Mario grow.

Check the units on your result before pounding out the numbers; if the units aren't right, neither is anything else.

Always check your references.

Just because you don't agree with either side of what has turned into a two sided argument doesn't mean you aren't exactly as wrong as the two sides you hold yourself above.

Territorial Ambitions are based on what someone thinks they can get away with.

"Australia and India probably still gain their independence, "
Australia gained hers in 1901 so I don't see that changing.

'Nuff said. https://xkcd.com/1992/

Funny!  I say that because my idea of the perfect RPG system entails exactly one book ... of 400 pages or less... resting on a coffee table with no other materials around it.  That's actually -why- I was drawn to Champions: 1st through 3rd Editions were tiny and 4th Edition ended up being exactly what I was looking for, as one book absolutely could do it all.
 
I think it got kind of ridiculous with 5th Edition (too big) .... and the 2-volume 6th set is absurd in its verbosity ... so colour me pleased to see Champions Complete, since it was a return to what I felt Hero System should be.  You just shouldn't need a crate of books or a directory full of PDF's to play any RPG, IMHO.

No, its not nit picking.  Taking no body is like taking no stun.  You could simulate "Takes No Stun" by buying someone with a huge amount of stun and recovery or self healing but its still suffering stun damage and recovering it instead of taking none at all.  All these arguments people are bringing up are applicable to TNS and yet hey, that power is in the rules, because it simulates a certain kind of build better than a block o' powers!
 
People need to think more generically here, as in the way you build Hero powers and not fixate on Toon.  I only used that as an introduction: here's how the power acts.  Broaden your mind and horizons.  Think a bit: how would you build a character that simply takes no body damage (the way other automotons take no stun!  Its as if we already have a mechanic in the game to compare it to!).  This isn't restricted to the game Toon, okay?
 
Sometimes I think Hero players are like vampires to sunlight when it comes to new ideas: it burnnns!!!!  Make it go away!!!!!

Whether they are functionally the same depends on what's happening.
 
You could stand in the exhaust of a space shuttle and take no BODY if you take no BODY. But if you take BODY then regenerate from death, you are 0 DCV, prone, and waiting for your next phase for your regeneration to kick in. Then unless it is a post segment 12 recovery, you lose your whole phase regenerating rather than being able to take other actions. Then after you regenerate, you're still prone until your next phase if I understand correctly.
 
That's potentially a lot of difference, according to what's going on around you.

'Nuff said. https://xkcd.com/1992/

I would keep the character designs very simple to start out with.  While Multipowers and VPPs aren't really that difficult to understand, somebody in the gaming group needs to thoroughly understand how they work before you try using them.
 
You might try a few sessions using pregenerated characters just to get the idea of how the game works.  Don't worry about people designing characters they want to marry and live happily ever after with.  You're just looking for a one night stand so you can figure out what part goes where.  One of the great things about the old (4th edition) game was that the character designs were very simple.  It was pretty easy for people to glance at the character and understand it.  If you can't find a pregenerated set of characters you'd like to use, people on this board might be able to help you design them, and maybe walk you through the design process so that you understand what is happening.
 
Once people understand the basics of the game, they'll be able to design characters that are much closer to what they really want.  They'll understand why certain things are important ("Why does my character need OCV?  That sounds dumb, I'll just ignore it.  I'm sure this won't come back to bite me later in the game...").  Once you've had a few mock combats under your belt, you'll have a much better idea of what you want to allow in your game.

Ann Hathaway for Oceans whatever, looking more like the Scarlet Witch than the Scarlet Witch
 

Stanley, The Regurgitating Man
 
75 Vomit multipower
7u Vomit pool (not to be confused with VPP) AoE, NND that lasts several phases with personal immunity
7u Projectile vomit - energy blast
7u Projectile vomit - flight (megascale)
7u Transform to remove a positive Striking Appearance and reduce PRE to 7 for a long time
 
Vomit-proof suit with a Slides-Right-Off (registered TM) guarantee OIF
PDr & EDr
Life Support - stink-proof breathing
Striking Appearance - the suit makes quite the fashion statement
Power Defense
 
Oh My Goggles (registered TM) (OIF)
IR (or night vision in some models)
magnification
Flash Defense
+1-3 sight PER roll (upgraded to ranged combat OCV bonuses in some models)
 
Gadget Pool VPP
 
3d6 Luck
 
Combat Luck
 
 
Mortimer Stanley is a gifted gadgeteer who made a fortune selling his Oh My Goggles to buyers on both sides of the law. But not content to leave well-enough alone, he decided to branch out into lightly armored suits and acid-based weaponry.
 
Not being as good with chemicals as he thought he was...well, let's just say there was an accident. And a lot of vomit. Then a lot more vomit. Then it started really getting gross when Mr. Stanley couldn't stop...for days.
 
When he finally got himself under control, he'd found a good use for his newly patented Slides-Right-Off fabric coating.
 
The money from his patents and sales are well-separated legally (and internationally) from his criminal activities so that the US justice system can't stop or seize his businesses or money. And Stanley has taken to challenging random superheroes who have a code vs killing so he can use their battles as infomercials for whichever gadgets he is field-testing that week (notifying the media in advance of the confrontation and prominently mentioning his products by name during the fight) . He's even done the same thing to a couple of supervillains, who have taken the experience of battling The Regurgitating Man with just as much grace and aplomb as you might expect.

For possible German work on nuclear weapons see the film The Heroes of Telemark and the Wikipedia link below
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_heavy_water_sabotage
 
It seems that a majority of us are agreed about Midway and what happens to the American carriers.
But what about the anti-war movement and how that could slow down or sabotage any military build up which in turn could affect what Japan does. If they get the idea that America will not fight because of what Congress and the Senate are doing they might use a different approach. For example they might not attack Peal Harbor but would attack French, Dutch and British possessions in the Far East.

Its hard to find on Google or any other search engine for... reasons I guess but here's one.
 
After a certain point you have to wonder when it stops being just jokes and becomes a pattern.  Especially with what else we know about Hollywood's METOO problems.