hfergus

Re: Damn Birds Volt would try to talk to it and have it at least lower the gun. Would calm the people down. Then try to figure out what happened, and what to do with the living statue. Olorin would start by laughing. Then he'd go Volt's route. If it were magic, he'd know. If the statue was pretty much a non-intelligent golem, he'd turn it back into a statue. If it were intelligent and self-willed, he'd help it adjust. Black Tiger would start by swearing. He'd usher the people away and then try Volt's route. Futurian: laughs. Then: "Hey guy, would you like a shower? I can help you out there. I don't blame you, I'd do it too. Lower the rifle, will you? People are getting skittish." Once the immediate danger passed, he' go about his business, and not concern himself about the statue's fate.

Re: Baby Destroyer If the he acted like a hero, all my characters would be glad, but continue to monitor just in case.

Re: Executioner Are you kidding? All my characters would "pull the trigger", although Volt would take a while to work himself up to it. Olorin would say "About time you did this. Putting them in Stronghold is just waiting for escape or being let out. Too dangerous to let live for a lot of them. By the way, just let me do it. None of this 'you might not be the one' business. If a villain goes after me, let 'em. My killing you would then be self-sefense." Black Tiger would actually smile. "*%^# yes!" Futurian "Why not?"

Re: Single Green Superhero seeks.... (personels for your characters) Volt and Black Tiger would never do this. If they found someone, good. If not, oh well. (Black Tiger would be shocked if he found someone. Then a bit suspicious. Once over that, he would probably not swear for the first time in his life over something unexpected.) Olorin: white male 4 times widower- I don't age and can't duplicate it. Wizard from another dimension who really likes it here, and would only go back to pick up stuff he left back where he came from. Seeking non married female that's nearly human (elves, half-elves are fine. Must look somewhat human and have the right "Parts". Otherwise flexable.) Does not have to be above normal (super) but must put up with one who is. Warning: I'm a goofball, so a sense of humor is a must. If you're a villain, I'll find out and kill you, so don't don't try it. Serious replies only; I'd like to marry again. Futurian: single white male seeking non married infertile female for fun and, well, I'll be blunt - sex. Don't mind children, but probably would be a poor parent. Must not leave progeny, that could mess up the time line. Temporary flings ok, but would prefer long-term.

Re: Baby Destroyer None of my heroes would kill the baby destroyer if it is permanent- too innocent. All would try to make sure it is permanent. If it wears off.. bye bye destroyer. However... Volt make sure the baby had good parents and warn them. He'd check in every so often to make sure everything is ok. Olorin is ageless, and may be tempted to adopt the kid himself. Probably would not, but may take a "Merlin" role upon teenage year if the new destroyer is good. If not.... Zzzap! Would probably go with Volt's route until the teenage years - and would watch him closely untill then. Black Tiger. Anyone familair with Black Tiger from my posts could guess what he would do first. Swear. Then agonize over killing him, turning him over or going Volt's route. He would not trust turning him over to authorities, as if they did not kill him he'd think they would botch up anything else. He'd probably go Volt's route with a lot of grumping and vile epithets. He'd watch the kid very closely and kill him at the first sign of serious evil. Futurian: "Umm... Don't look at me, I won't kill him or adopt him. I'd make a horrible parent, and he's just too cute to kill. Know anyone who wants a very bright child?" Would go Volt's route handing him over to good parents then promptly forget about it.

Re: WWYCD: I've read this somewhere Volt would investigate to see if it is a hoax or some such. If not, contact the adults and welcome/introduce them to superherodom. Children would be handled according to age. The baby in the rocket - just tell the parents they are in for an interesting time. The kid in the alley... watch him carefully. Protect all non adults against fans/villians wanting to stop it before it starts. Olorin would have no idea what the origins are, he's from another world. Once told, he'd go "Cool!" and investigate. He is a dimensional expert so he could tell if that were the cause. Otherwise he'd act like Volt - if they belonged here, although he'd watch supes more closely than Volt would - just due to curiosity. If they belonged "back home" he'd take them there. Black Tiger would start the way he always does. By swearing. Then the investigation. He'd help train Bruce Wayne when he's ready, and watch Clark closely to make sure he stayed a hero. Protect when needed, and help others acclimate. Then he'd be on the look out for villain origins - and prevent them if possible. Futurian- "Oh wow! Old timey heroes! Cool!" Would do his best to see if it real, and if so, merely greet them as he meets them. He would not go out of his way to do anything if they are real. All would deal with hoaxes/fakes as needed.

Re: (WWYCD) Superhero Assaination... All my characters would try to stop the person, and if the POTUS is trully bad, try to bring him down legally. If time is an issue and he is trully dangerous, most would just have him "disappear". (yes, that may be killing him, maybe not) However.... Olorin is a medieval and therefore a wild card. If the guy is bad, he might disappear - into another dimension. If trully dangerous, he'd gather evidence and make it public - and then make him "disappear" -probably kill him. Would do it very public if he had good proof.

Re: How do you design your champions game It depends. (yes, I know that's not helpful, but it's true.) I will now list some things I do. One of the hardest things to do in some way is get the heroes together. Some of the things I have done follows: 1) classic bank job. Bad guys (supers or not - not important) One hero is in the bank (best if they can get away or do not have a secret ID) One is nearby. One is scanning the police band. They get together, beat the robbers and team up. 2) Big bad super comes into town. By whatever means, they end up togeher fighting the big bad. 3) Experienced super is starting a team and you apply. Works especially well if due to whatever they have worked with him in the past. 4) Some accident brings them together in a situation where they have to lean on each other ot make it. Say, they each got caught in a time/space/dimensional vortex and end up in the same strange place and have to make do. This can take into account vastly different backgrounds and give them something to do: find a way home. Of course, they may stay anyway. 5) Some of the individuals work together and over time all get together. A crisis can gel the group quickly. 6) Depends on personality of hero. Investigative type is following leads on disapperances. 4 color golden age is being heroic. Mystic is checking out strange goings on. Iron age dark guy is busting heads. Viola! Meet at same place, for example: A Demon demonhame. Or a Viper nest. Or... get the idea? A lot depends on your players. Experienced roleplayers (or actors) can get quite complex quickly. Others need the bank robbery. However, the bank robbery can be part of a larger plan, and they can be: 1)testing weapons (Viper) 2) getting money (almost anyone) 3) setting a trap for heros (almost anyone) or 4) testing the heros to see what they were like and capable of (Long thinking villian) I hope this helps and welcome to the board.

Re: Tk with no strength defense I find your lack of faith disturbing... I had to do that. I am going to do my own advantage, I just wanted to see if there was a good way to do it with the rules as is. Thanks a bunch.

Re: Does anyone really roll 30D6? Is that 30d6 or 6d30? (I had to do that. I actually have a d30 that I pull out to freak out new gamers. That's the only use it has ever had. I also have a d100 that , yes, I have used for percentile.) Now to answer the question, I have rolled 30d6, just not all thirty at once most of the time. A bit hard to do without dropping one before the roll. I normally roll my favorite 2 dozen (yes, I have a favorite 2 dozen - 2 12 pack 'bricks") then roll six more. When? Whenever it fits.

Re: What-If (WhIf) Setting Resources I had a multiple month setting where the heroes ended up in a world where Nazi Germany won. Not the whole campaign though. Germany came up with the atmonic bomb first and had their jet planes earlier (they had them first - it was just just too late). London was still glowing into the 80's. America was under Nazi occupation. There was an American resistance, but very small as the Nazis had ICBMs and nuked Stalingrad that way. They controlled most of the world, with Japan controlling the rest. - And war with Japan was coming. Hilter was still alive and fairly young due to a process that kept him young - but he was not going to live much longer. He kept all the ICBMs in very secure spot due to paranoia after an incident where one nearly got loose. Most supers were Nazis, and very low power. My heroes hooked up with the American resistence (co- lead by a Republican and a Democrat) but that worked poorly. Chicago was nuked as "a criminal city in open rebellion". They ended up at the secure facility and nuked it with Hitler present. Even though the situation was not toally over, they then went home. The other incidents cited in this post never happened, and do not currently fit the tone of my current campaign. Pretty satisfying to nuke Hitler, even though this world was pretty dark. We were happy to get back home - and make sure Doctor Destroyer did not do the same.

Re: Tk with no strength defense This is what I was going for. By the way, Tk nnd is supposedly illegal. Even if not, I'd like a slam to do body and that would another +1 "does body" limitation. Not sure about BOECV, but since tk is "strength at range" this also may be illegal. I might take this to Steve Long for a ruling.

Re: Tk with no strength defense You all have a valid points about it being very expensive, as I thought it over and come up with ways to abuse what I was trying to do. The Tk with the advantage I mentions describes it better, but should be at least +2. You are right. But am I wrong that you can lift a 200kg person with normal flight usable as attack, and if you knock him out or kill him, they are now inanimate and you have to drop them as they are too heavy? Either I am not reading this right or it does not make sense. I do understand why, as inanimate objects cannot resist and they could be turned into dropped weapons, if not used as battering rams. Still, it causes me to go "whaaat?!?!".

I would like a little help on a “TK” I am trying to build. I am trying to build a power that can lift someone that cannot be broken by strength, just having flight or TK. (If a wind picks you up I do not see how strength helps you come back down, at least not in a single phase) Sounds like flight, Usable as an attack (UAA). The below build can lift any animate object weight, but only 100kg inanimate according to my understanding of the rules: Flight 1", Indirect (Same origin, always fired away from attacker; +1/4), Ranged (+1/2), Usable As Attack (+1) (5 Active Points) Seems a bit cheap since only inanimate weight is a problem. (You could drop a blue whale on someone’s head using this- but getting it up high enough to do any damage might take awhile.) Also I would possibly like to use it to slam a held character with 40 str. Using velocity as move through the below would work: Flight 24", Indirect (Same origin, always fired away from attacker; +1/4), Ranged (+1/2), Usable As Attack (+1) (132 Active Points)Seems pricey except for the dropping a blue whale on someone’s head. Now you could get the blue whale in position fairly quickly- to drop that is. As a battering ram, 8d6 is it. See below for a power that could work against inanimate object: (could use the object as a battering ram – 8d6) Flight 24", Indirect (Same origin, always fired away from attacker; +1/4), Ranged (+1/2), Usable As Attack (x64 maximum weight per inanimate target; +2 1/2) (204 Active Points) Ummm… WOW! I’ll say it backwards. WOW! I’ll say it inside out. OWO! Seems really high for a 40 str TK that you cannot use str against. Even removing the indirect does not help much. It is too powerful (due to the admittedly rare blue whale tactic – and now you could drop a supertanker on someone’s head) and too expensive baring that. I could use multipower with 40 str TK and flight # 1, but my understanding of the rules has a quirk. Use flight #1 on 200 kg animate person. Ok in rules by my reading. Knock the person out and he becomes inanimate and you have to drop him. He weighs too much. Whaaa? Another way is to use 40 str TK with a homemade advantage “cannot break free using strength”.(in my case the power would also have -1/4 – not to squeeze or pin limbs) I am thinking +1. However, I would like to use existing rules. Am I missing or misunderstanding something? Any help would be appreciated and repped if I can and I like it enough

Re: Favorite Anti-Brick tricks? I'm not going to argue about "grab" vs "pick up" since you have to grab to pick up. But grab also includes squeezing and pinning arms to the side, which is not the effect I wanted. I figured out how to do it using TK though. (though it's expensive) Add NND, defense is holding onto something firmly attached to the ground that will not break off. The expense makes sense, since it can be quite effective. It could be cheapened by a limitation of "only to lift and/or move" which fits my concept. (I haven't decided about slamming into walls, which would demand "does body" and the limitation would go to "no pinning limbs or squeezing".) Also the rules deny the "drop a supertanker on someone's head" since usable as an attack limits the mass, even though flight does not. (just looked it up) I'll try building it both ways to see which is cheaper, although I may use the TK even if it more expensive as it fits my concept better and it can be quite effective. Thanks for your input. You helped make the character better and more within the rules. (Not even my character, and I'm the GM! I just helped on the concept.)

Re: Favorite Anti-Brick tricks? Yup, you're right. I looked it up. I used the word "grab" when I meant "picked up". (see tk entry. It considers this different than a "grab".) This is what the character did. I think this is what we are disagreeing over. My comment about breaking out (of being picked up) is still valid, however. If someone picks you up, you can counter by attacking him or prying his arms off you. Unless your brick has a ranged attack when lifted by TK, the first option is out. As too the second... what arms? What can the brick attack or pry off? Logically, I can't see it. What if your TK effect is wind, for example? I don't care how strong you are, if you can't fly and the wind picks you up off the ground, your only hope is to grab on to something still attached to the ground and pray it does not break off or come out of the ground. You may be strong enough to "grab the ground", but it better be firm (like a rock) or it may come off in your hands. ("Great. I grabbed the ground and now all I have is handfulls of dirt. Next time I grab a rock. If it detaches, at least I'll have a weapon I can throw.") I the final ruling is that it works like strength in the rules, period, I guess I'll have to use flight usable as attack. However, in this case I'd have to put a limitation "not useable on self" to simulate what I am trying to do. (They can't fly -yet) Also, flight has no weight limitations (I just read it) I want a weight limitation or else the character could send a supertanker into the sky. They could then drop it on the bricks' head by cutting off endurance. Again, not the effect I want. I want a character who could lift Bulldozer (and others), but a very heavy brick would not budge. ("Just how much does he weigh, anyway?") Sigh. It can be built, but TK is easier. (I can always build it in the Hero system, but it can be clunky or very expensive for a small effect.)

Re: Favorite Anti-Brick tricks? A brick can break a TK grab? I'll have to look that up. If it's in the rules, I have one question. How can you break a non material grab if you do not have non material powers? Of course, depending on the TK it might be valid. The Tk in question is pure mind, so I do not see how strength can break the grab. If it's in the rules I may change the way the power is built. Or ignore it. (Come find me rules police! Bwa ha ha!)

Re: Favorite Anti-Brick tricks? These two have been dealt with - kinda - but I have a slighltly different twist. TK - unless the brick can fly, weighs a lot or grabs something firmly attached to the ground (All viable defenses by the way) Just lift him up once he is holding nothing and pound on him. Works indoors too if the room is not too small. Tking him way up requires outdoors. T-port has weight limitations ( and flying for his "flying lesson" attack Super leap, a common brick power, also can reduce falls), but less defense. I have one character who t-ports them up as far as he can see and lets them go. He calls it "flying lessons. And bounces don't count" Not too abused as he typically only has 3 charges and typically holds one in reserve to use for "getting the heck out of Dodge" If indoors He can also t-port them "away" (where depends on a lot of things - Antarctica is a favorite place when he can - this is very limited as to how and when - same 3 charges) If the brick is out of the combat for a while, when he returns he's more outnumbered. Bricks hate this guy ("$%#@ skinny wizard!)

Re: Portal to another World All my characters would do the same thing, but would do it in slightly different ways. Ask what is going on and act depending on the answer. True refugees would be helped - and it seems they might be. Invasions would be fought. Refusals to answer would be taken as an invasion. SInce this seems to be a differnet dimension, they would not take the guys that look like bad guys really are. Volt - Ask politely. If they act very defensive or refuse to answer, point out they are not native here and this could be considered an invasion. Patience and diplomacy would lead him, but he'd act violently if need be. Olorin - Ask politely what they are doing and what they are expecting. He would offer to shut down the portal if they desired - and would do it if they were hostile. He's very patient, but is a bit of a goofball at times, so he'd be likely to find some kind of joke - "That portal looks like a toilet flushing sideways." Otherwise, see Volt. Black Tiger. Not a patient man, would go off fairly quickly. Best answer fast and to his liking. Politeness and apologies would really help. Could be a recipie to disaster. Futurian - Here's hoping he does not get sidetracked by any unusal tech. Not as bad as Black Tiger, not as patient as Volt or Olorin, but also a goofball. Basically, get past his distraction and goofiness, and he'd act very much like Olorin.

Re: Terminator, with a twist! All my characters would except one really could not start skylink, but assuming the humans think they did.... Volt - Destroy the machines and capture a human. FInd out why think think he helped. Change actions if appropriate, if just a mistake, try to convice the humans he did not do it. Kill no humans, just remove any tech that could hurt him. Olorin - Almost identical to the above. Only when talking to the human - "Oh, great. Another thing I'm 'destined' to do. Listen, I've been through this before. The future is mallable. You may have changed it just by being here. Then again, you may have caused it just by being here. What is it I am supposed to have done? I'll watch for it. Where - er - when are you from? When did this happen? I'll take a look into the future and see what I can to prevent your history." Black Tiger - see Volt's response - only with a lot more swearing. The other difference is, if a defeated human tries again, he's toast. "Too stupid to live, and can hurt someone." Futurian - "Oh no. Just what did I do? This is exactly the kind of thing I was afraid of. Where I came from this happened, but the humans won and became, well, like me. Help me understand, and I'll try to help you." The machines would worry him, but not be a problem. They would probably be an 'early' model and his tech is designed for them, so they would be easy to beat, but he'd start going "Oh crud, oh crud, oh crud." when they showed up - especially protecting him. The humans appearing would actually releave him, especially if he found out what happened. If there was NO other recourse (there probably would be) he'd off himself, reluctantly

Re: dealing with unconscious villains Punch them into negatives? Tie them up? Never! - "Hanging's too good for them. Burning's too good for them. They should be chopped into little pieces and buried alive.... Kill!" - First person to identify this quote gets rep if I can. I'm not sure if it's word for word, but I could identify it. To answer the question, mooks stay down or leave in my campaign. The rest depends on what I think makes sense. Hirelings tend to leave unless they are very loyal (disad or role-play). Also 2 heros in the campaign have NND's, so big negatives are easy with no danger of death most of the time. And I may allow inpromptu "entangles" that cannot be repeated, anf I have allowed "borrowing" points occasionally if it nakes sense to me. Otherwise...

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... Uhm... Nickle? Necktie? Definitely an n word.

Re: Eurostar delayed! Volt & Black Tiger - do their best to - in order - rescue the innocents and mess with Eurostar's plans. Olorin - if Eurostar is close together t-port them (while invisible) to Antartica (this will at least keep them busy for a while - but then he'd be on their 'list' - "I'm used to that. I've outlived them all.") then t-port the innocents - if his aid (body & stun) did not help. Otherwise see above - innocents first then Eurostar. Futurian - help innocents first. Then mess up all of Eurostar's gadgets and genrally try to mess up their plan.

Re: Making a character too efficient? Have I gone wild with efficiency to sacrificing concept? Yes. But I never kept it as an extreme. Normally I adjusted the concept. Sometimes to allow for the efficiency, sometimes because I like the new concept better. Have I said "%#$@ the efficiency, concept is king!"? Yup. In that case, the GM and I can come to an understanding normally, and we "fudge" the points (I get concept points - Sorta like Elemental Control, VPP and multi powers are. ) Normally just a few points - about 7 max has always seem to have done the trick. (Normally they are "debt". As I earn points, at least 1/2 go to the debt until paid off.) I tend to sacrifice the concept very little, but do efficiency and have enjoyed the new concepts based on efficiency better. That is one of the reasons I "squeeze" for efficiency other that to save points. (Once I "squeezed" a character as a test of the rules and prove a point. Way too powerful for the points, and my group, with my blessing, banned things like it even though they were "within the rules.")

Re: WWYCD: Mirror Universe Thank you kindly. I have also said "When I am told I am weird, I say 'Thank you. I work hard at that. It's nice to be noticed and appreciated.'" and "You can't predict what I am going to say, because half the time I don't know until it is out of my mouth."