hfergus

Re: Your PCs might be Underpowered if... The most powerful hero in your group is an AI with 16k ram, 8086 processor and tape drive(no hard disk).

Re: RDU sourcebook—help us gauge your interest! I'm almost always interested in sourcebooks. Cast my vote for yes.

Re: The fall of your character Volt - How he would like to go? One of two. 1) Peacefully in his sleep of old age after he retires. 2) Rescuing an innocent- or more than one. How he probably would: See #2, Olorin - How he would like to go? See Volt's number one. Not possible right now, since he does not age. Most likely? Saving the universe. (or at least the world.) Basically goes out like a nova, expending all his energy beating back the darkness. Black Tiger - How he would like to go and how he would most likely go are the same. Taking down a villian and dying at the same time. Futurian - His preference would be to go home to the future, live a normal life and die of old age in bed with a beautiful young woman. (Yeah, he's that type.) Most likely to go doing something well meant, but not thought out and fairly stupid. "Hmm... What happens if I do...." Bam! Leadman - Desired death - Old age surrounded by family. (see a pattern here?) Most likely? Horatio at the bridge. Doing something heroic and hopeless to buy time or not let evil triumph.

Re: KA.'s Idea Thread Got him for you.

Re: Magic and Desolidfication Although you have some very good advice, I would like to go a bit further on this one. Mainly, what are you summoning? A ghost, demon or other magical being... Maybe. Probably. If you are summoning a giant wolf, elephant or other mundane creature, I'd say no. It would be best to define whether only spells can do it or anything with a magical attack or anything ever touched by magic. I would say spells and anything with a magical attack would qualify. Otherwise, no. (Does a vampire have a magical attack?.... Hmmm... I'd have to think on that one. A ghost has to in order to effect the material world.)

Re: What's in the moon? An earlier, discarded, nonfunctional version of the Death Star. That'd shake things up!

Re: Superhero Legacy 2: He took my old ID! Volt - Since did not give permission in advance he would hold a press conference and go on the same media. "I have no idea who this is. I have not given permission to use my name or costume. If he lives up to my standards, I wish him well but wish he had asked. If he does not live up to my standards, I will take legal action first. Then any other as necessary." Olorin would be mostly amused. Since he does not age, being unable to hero is not likely. Going inactive might be possible. Eventually he'd go public and say "It's not me. And I can prove it." Study him for a while and challenge him. Villains he'd kill. Heros would have to beat him, or they would be publically humilated. "There can be only one Olorin!" Black Tiger would hunt him down since he had no permission. The guy would have to talk fast and very convincingly or there would be a fight, even if Black Tiger is old and retired. He'd arrange for the fight to be recorded. If Black Tiger won, good. If he lost, the other guy probably be seen to be in the wrong. Not good start for a hero. A public apology and assumption of another name might be enough. Futurian "I'm retired. I don't care, but it ain't me." If retired, that would be it. If he went back to the future, he wouldn't even know. Leadman - If retired, he almost certainly would have already handed it over to a new Leadman, and would let that one handle it. If not trully retired or had no one to take over, he'd go Volt's route.

Re: The Death Of Vinnie The Viceroy Futurian would want to go to the guy and shake his hand. He has no idea how much of a baddie he is. Volt ,Black Tiger and Leadman would be suspicious, especially about the "belongs to me" comment. Olorin would know in an instant. "Great. Another Dark Lord. Time to bring out the big guns- once I study him." Study him and find weaknesses. Has ace up sleeve vs magic users, but would need to bring a non-magic user along as it would affect him as well.

Re: Your PCs might be Underpowered if... The GM looks at your character sheet, laughs and prepares a substitute.

Re: Superhero Legacy. Passing on a Name Volt - Already in his sixties, and got his powers in his sixties. Thinking about this already. No one in sight. If a hero was like him in attitude primarily, and secondarily similar powers, he'd pass on the name. Would not bother him too much if it did not happen. He'd be very pleased if it did however. Olorin - Uh- that's the name he was born with. He's 747 years old and unaging. Back in his homeworld he started a mage school. Has had many apprentices. When he outlasts his compatriots, he either finds others or retreats into research- for a while. He always starts hero stuff eventually and normally works with others. His age and experience tends to make him a leader or at least an advisor. He almost always leaves heroes in his wake. I guess he's been doing this for a while. No one definite in mind, but he thinks one will show up eventually. Black Tiger - Isn't thinking about it. If, and I stress if, he found a likely student he'd pass everything on. Probably including his distrust of authorities. Not very likely, but he'd love it. Futurian "Umm... You know I'm from the future? I could not pass this on unless I had a child, and probably not even then. And there be no children if I can help it. Could really mess up the timeline. If someone had similar powers and I like them, yeah sure if I went home or got too old. God, that's depressing. Unless I got old Like Olorin, in which case I would not need to retire." Leadman - His power is in an amulet. He could and would pass it on if the person was right. He has 2 candidates that show promise, but need to get older. One is a 2nd cousin. One is the kid next door. Right now he's leaning to the kid next door as he has a bit more of the same mindset as Leadman.

Re: Harassing the GM, your stories! I have both Gm'd and played under various GMs. Never realy harassed a GM; I had good ones. Did what the players do the unexpected and ruin their plot? Oh yes! They did not mind; what we did made sense. Have I ever been harassed as GM? Not really. Have I had the players ruin my carefully crafted plot? Oh boy, have I. I do not think I have ever had an adventure go the way I thought it would. I allow things when they made sense. As to NPCs hogging the spotlight, believe it or not, my current players seem to go to one of my NPCs and ask him to solve the problem for them (or at least make it a lot easier) a lot. I have to come up with ways so that they do not sit around waiting for him. They like the character. He does have limits, so it is not too much of a problem. Normally his response is "Yeah, I can do that. It will take weeks to months, possibly years." Since they can't wait that long they have to do it themselves. They roleplay well, but do not think "out of the box" as well as my last group. Once that group was put into a trapped room (DnD) with no set way out. They came up with one that made sense.

Re: What's the point? They're gonna escape anyways All jokes (or are they?), but I just have to. We do it.. For the hot chicks. (or guys) To see myself on TV. Where else can I punch someone and get away with it? To lull people into a false sense of security while I prepare my master plan! Muw ha ha ha! Because I'm a wiiild and crazy guy (or girl, or...) Because I like the tights, and if I did anything while wearing them, I'd look ridiculous. God, I am soooo bored. Because I can.

Re: The best questions you can ask! In some campaigns, some characters start with the following: Do you want to live? Do you want to die in horrible agony, be brought back to life and have it done again until you answer the following questions? Then the other questions follow. We jokingly called these guys "chaotic greedy".

Re: Wait, he's on our side? Just to let everyone know, this was not a direct "sell your soul to get his help" in spite of the lawyer references. More like an alliance you'd rather not have to make - since you could not trust him. The lawyers were to make sure (as best they could) that no shenanigans were going on. I let it go this far because I was curious. I like what once said about selling your soul, but getting a pass because you did it for selfless reasons.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... Sir, the guards are unable to comply. They are all retching their guts out. That is, the ones who did not kill themselves.

Inspired by the poker in Hell thread. You and your gang are fighting a major demon who is trying to take over the world and turn it into Hell. You are losing or having a really bad time. Then he shows up. Lucifer. Satan. The Devil. You know, the big guy himself. He offers to help. Why? That's easy. He wants to rule, not that #%$@# upstart. Do you accept? Volt - Very reluctantly. At least the big guy has a reason Volt understands. "Reign in Hell" vs "Serve in heaven" and all that. Pride would not allow it. Would watch him very carefully, he is a deceiver after all. Try to have a lawyer (Wait, aren't they all on his side?) write up a contract if there is time. Olorin - Sigh and think "Not again.". Has done this sort of deal before. Would pull out a pre-written contract, change a bit and have him sign it. Then work with him. Watch him very closely. Black Tiger - Swear so much he might even be impressed. Then go Volt's route. However, he'd stick to him like glue. Futurian - "Oh wow. Ummm.... Hang on while I get a good lawyer." Under breath "Oh crud, oh crud, oh crud. Good lawyer. Yeah. Right." Go Volt's route, and actually watch the guy and not forget for a change. Leadman. No. Never. Would start praying and maybe try to find an exorcist. Or all of them.

Re: One HELL of a poker game... All my characters would walk on by, except... Olorin. If in the right mood (and the right spells prepared) he might watch a bit and then say "Hello guys." if they noticed. Some he has dealt with before. Some would just say "Hey Olorin, causing trouble down here again?" Others would want to get him, but I'd bet the rest would say "Save it for later. Get back to the game!" As you can tell, Olorin has been around a bit, and little bothers him.

Re: Your Gaming Group's Jargon Some more I remembered... "Pulling a Jeffy" or just pointing at someone and saying "Jeffy!" Used when someone either ate everything in sight or ate a lot and still was hungry. Based on a skinny player named Jeff who could, and did more than once, eat half a monster pizza (the rest of the group ate the rest), a half bag of pretzels, 2-4 pops under 1 hour and said "I'm hungry." He was a ranger in the Army reserve and went on a survival trial in the U.S. southwest. We joked he ate at least 3 species to extinction. "Idiot ranger it" Give it to some poor slob to test for poison/traps/etc. Based on above person's character, a ranger (in D&D) who tested everything, even things everyone knew was trapped. "Meanwhile, back at the ranch..." Similar to "When we last left our intrepid heroes...." The 'intrepid heros' one was used to get people who were chit-chating out of character. The "ranch" one was used for people roleplaying but ignoring the plot. Also used when the group split up and the GM was shifting between the groups.

Re: Your Gaming Group's Jargon "My Hobbit drools on the doorknob" used first in D&D by one person and mainly by that person. It means "I am getting sleepy." "Pulling a Romulan" Fading out - also means getting sleepy. Much more common in use. "When last we left our intrepid heroes" - "Ok, stop yakking, we are starting." Someone else used this in this thread, but we use it every session. "Out the window." Describes an attempt to make a dodge or savings throw that was not likely. Said in unison when an explanation was obtuse or not coming - "It's magic!" Sung in unison when the plot gets over the top, especially when it had changed rapidly - "Deus ex machina!" "You tripped over an undead invisible turtle." From a fumble chart. Means really bad roll resulting in somthing other than a normal miss. "Yark?" means "What the?...." I know there are more, when I remember, I'll post them.

Re: What does 'Magic' mean to you? In my campaigns it is a special effect with one extra: It does not even attempt to explain how it is done. Operates outside of even "weird" science. Drives science types up a tree. However, in my head it has an explaination. If you are familiar with quantum mechanics - quantum mechanics often seem just about like magic. So that is what is being used, even if you do not understand it. (You do not have to understand electricity to use it, just how it can be used.)

Re: The Joker Scenario All my characters would "kill" the beast if they knew it was not alive. None has CvK. Olorin would know it was a magical construct. As to Caine Volt - would give him a speech when up if he did not attack. If he attacked, bye bye. He'd give him one chance and tell him so. If he messed up - bye bye next time. Olorin. Kill him. Remove head. Burn & scatter ashes. (he takes no chances) Hide body. Black Tiger. Kill him and dispose of body. Futurian. Depends. If ticked off, he'd kill him. If not, he'd give him one more chance, somewhat like Volt. Leadman - Pretty much the same as Volt - only swearing may be involved.

Re: "Hull? I can't be in Hull!" Volt - probably go the "invent simple stuff" route to live off of. Then hero as needed. May look up H. G. Wells. Would have arthritus problems. Olorin - Time travels and dimension travels. If stuck anyway he carries gold and gems with him. He can also detect them and go get them (can we say treasure hunter?) Could also hire himself out as a stage magician or mystic. He'd enjoy that. Black Tiger. Martial artist and former black ops. Don't tell me he can't live off of that. He'd probably stay there and not concern himselef with the butterfly effect. Futurian "Aw, c'mon! I was already in the era of stone knives and bearskins! Now, they don't have the knives!' May try to invent something and "go forward". If he went to his original home, that's best. If he went back to "our time" he'd accept that. "Oh goody! Stone knives are back!" Of course, H. G. Wells may hear of this.... Leadman. Old timey Gumshoe, not very reliant on tech. Pulp would be right up his alley in tone. But man, he'd be powerful. He'd just resign himself to starting over.

Re: Crisis of Infinite Champions: 10 brave heroes Volt would go in a heartbeat. He'd be one of the first, if not the first. He's all about sacrifice. He's not too powerful or versitile, but if willingness counts, he's an excellent choice. He'd say his goodbyes and charge in. If he made it back, so much the better. If not, it was a good day to die. Olorlin would sigh and go in armed for bear. As a very versitile mystic, he probably has the best chance of surviving. At 747 years old, he'd say "Well, I had a good run; nothing to complain about. Here goes!" If he died -well he already said it. If he lived he'd go "Man, I thought I'd be rid of this mess. Oh well." (of course he'd say that sarcastically.) Black Tiger would go in only if there was a spot open and noone else would go. He's a martial artist and not too versitile or powerful, and figure it would be best is someone better went. Not selfish, just realisitic. Futurian "Oh wow. Well... Ummm... Crud." See black Tiger. Only if spot open. A bit more selfish, but would eventually charge in and say "See you soonest!" A bit cocky and flighty, but still heoric, Leadman would charge in expecting to die. If he lived, he'd be surprised.

Re: Change of Fortune All of my characters except one is normal in income. All of my characters of this group except one would save it or spend it on "good deeds" or helping the group. Olorin is rich. Part is in stocks/etc and that could be lost. The rest is in a pouch he keeps on him. If stolen, he could find it fairly quickly. Regardless, unless his magic failed, it would not last long. Can we say detect precious metal and the ability to get it? (tunnelling, desolid, t-port and more with time) He'd go "Aw crud! Well, off to work." (see above as to just what work) Futurian is lower middle class to middle class. Once rich..."Whee! Amazon.com here I come! i-phone, here I come. Oh yeah, I want a horse! And a stable. Heck, several horses. An aquarium and dolphins! Monkeys! Oh man, what first?" Yep, he'd blow it, and end up middle class again real fast.

Re: Champs-What if you had to draft a superpower registration act? Volt - Would do a lot of what was already mentioned - point out it would not stop the villians and what the heck is a superpower. That could tie things into knots. Then ask what do they mean "using". Like the other post, would floating off the ground qualify? Would being stabbed and suffering no damage qualify? Would hearing a pin drop across the room qualify? Would picking up radio transmissions in your head qualify? (Volt has this ability and point it out that he does.) Would ask what this law does, other than being oppressive, accomplish that existing laws do not. If any law like this were passed, he'd campaign against it - and against those who voted for it. Olorin would point out the above, and if they did not back off, actually grin and strive to make it more oppressive and ridiculous. Then grant all supporters (and the president if he did not actively veto it) obvious, usless, involuntary powers. (like constantly changing skin colors) Bet that would get it changed. If they went after him(even though they could prove nothing), he'd disappear. Lots of luck finding him in another dimension. Black Tiger - You have to be kidding. He distrusts authorities. He'd work behind the scenes to fight it, even blackmailing if he could. He'd ignore it if passed. Futurian - "Uh, you know I can't help this? Super is what I am. If I were not super I'd cease to exist. Using my powers keeps me alive. You guys are idiots, and I'll let your constitents know that." He'd do just that. This is something he would not forget. If it passed, he'd highjack the airwaves to discredit them - and then blame the highjacking on other villians. Leadman - Point out that they are idiots and walk away. If asked, he'd point out the objections of Volt and Olorin. He'd disobey the law if passed, but quietly.