Comic

Re: Heroes and Nukes! Creepy necrovegan Kryptonian vampire boy scout... Though to clarify, I intended to present in steps from simplistic to less simplistic some ways to do the mechanics of building a simulation. With the high rolls coming off first, no matter what mechanic is used for the explosion, some supers could get surprisingly close and still survive, so long as they weren't within 1/2 of the radius of ground zero. A 1000d6 explosion - not that it's the version I would use myself - in its last third would on average be half 1's (No Body). Sure, you'd average 167 two's right at the 20km mark, but there's some satisfaction to being able to say, around 25 km, "Yeah, my 30 DEF super pushed his FF and survived 200d6 from that 300 MT nuke with no Body, only took 55 Stun after Damage Reduction. Good thing he had enough KS and movement to know how far away from the blast he had to get and be able to get there." Which to me is a lot more interesting than, "300MT? I have 5000 rED, time for me to make fun of the poor schlub who went with the pointy-earred gadgeteering martial artist."

Re: Heroes and Nukes! Which is kinda sad. Busting up a planet in a space opera, or dropping a nuke in anything else, ought to be a sort of ultimate experience. The big terror. Something you see once in your life -- if you're lucky from a hardened bunker far enough away that you don't even get a suntan. I don't run games often these days. I very seldom run games that lead to character fatality. I like superpowered characters who can cheat 'certain death' six times before breakfast. But I still like for there to be something too big to take on directly, for everyone -- hero and villain alike. A force that reminds everyone that they have in common that something can end them. And then, I litter the campaign world with plot devices that good application of small, lesser-used abilities can exploit to prevent the Big Bad from happening. I believe that most stories bear this out. How many times has Superman faced a nuclear weapon, that are truly memorable? I can only recall one -- and that one left Kal El a charred husk falling to earth like the last leaf of autumn. There are others, but they detract from the mystique for me, and I've blotted them from my memory. Star Wars destroyed how many planets on screen? One? Who needs to actually destroy more? Star Trek, sure, they blew up planets and stars routinely, but only to keep your mind off the spandex, I think. And I can't really recall a single planet destroyed in the entire Trek line, other than the Genesis planet -- they're that forgettable as events. I can remember every detail of most street-level fist-fights I've ever played or read, though. Which is why I keep my scale smaller, and the planets off the table, and the nukes very very dangerous in my campaigns. I'm too lazy to work hard delivering forgettable play.

Re: GMs: making abilities useful Don't provide situations where the most overused abilities are useful, and eventually two things will happen: 1) The less-used abilities will shine. 2) The most overused abilities will be applied in ways you never thought possible, usually with less shiny outcomes.

Re: Is it Dex or is it Speed? Wally West. Human agility. Able to run near the speed of light unharmed. Took a tenth of a second or so to realize he was tearing a mile wide rip in the countryside with every step.. At least, I think that's how the 'Porcupine Man' storyline went.

Re: [Character] Subterran - Brick. EC. Twist. Heavily revised. Rebuilt to 200-pt base +150 in disads. Opted not to put in heat-ray vision, but otherwise.. I never realized what munchkins DC writers were. [b][font=Courier New]HighGuard (The Subterran) - James Adams[/font][/b] [font=Courier New]+[b][u]VAL[/u] [u]CHA[/u] [u]Cost[/u] [u]Base[/u] [u]Roll[/u] [u]Notes[/u][/b][/font] [font=Courier New]| 75 STR 65 10 24- HTH Damage 15d6 800+t [7][/font] [font=Courier New]| 32 DEX 66 10 15- OCV 11/ DCV 11[/font] [font=Courier New]| 39 CON 58 10 14-[/font] [font=Courier New]| 14 BODY 8 10 12-[/font] [font=Courier New]| 13 INT 3 10 12- PER Roll 12- (22- with Succor)[/font] [font=Courier New]| 14 EGO 8 10 11- ECV: 5; Latent mental power as yet untapped[/font] [font=Courier New]| 15 PRE 5 10 12- PRE Attack: 3d6[/font] [font=Courier New]| 14 COM 2 10 12-[/font] [font=Courier New]| 21 PD 6 15 25 PD (10 rPD)[/font] [font=Courier New]| 17 ED 9 8 21 ED (10 rED)[/font] [font=Courier New]| 5 SPD 8 4.2 Phases: 3, 5, 8, 10, 12[/font] [font=Courier New]| 23 REC - 23 [/font] [font=Courier New]| 72 END -3 78 Alien upbringing unbalanced his metabolism slightly.[/font] [font=Courier New]| 72 STUN - 72[/font] [font=Courier New]+ [/font] [font=Courier New]| 6 RUN - 6" [1][/font] [font=Courier New]| 2 SWIM - 2" [1][/font] [font=Courier New]| 15 LEAP - 15" 15" forward, 8" upward [7][/font] [font=Courier New]+[b]CHA Cost: 235[/b][/font] [font=Courier New]+[b][u]Cost[/u] [u]POWERS[/u][/b][/font] [font=Courier New]| 6 6 rPD/6 rED Damage Resistance: '[b][i]Subterran tough flesh[/i][/b][/font][font=Courier New]' 6 AP [-][/font] [font=Courier New]| 10 Life Support - Expanded Breathing, Safe in Heat, Pressure, Radiation [-][/font] [font=Courier New]| 15 N-Ray Discriminatory (Sight Group) stopped by Heavy Metals '[b][i]Subtervision[/i][/b][/font][font=Courier New]' 15 AP [-][/font] [font=Courier New]| 15 EC '[b][i]Subterspeed[/i][/b][/font][font=Courier New]' 15 AP [-][/font] [font=Courier New]| 15 A) FF 4 pts <21> Energy/Flash(Sight)/<7> Mental/<25> Physical/Power Def (+1/4 Only Costs END to Start) '[b][i]Subterfugal Force[/i][/b][/font][font=Courier New]' 30 AP [3][/font] [font=Courier New]| 4 Heal 1d6 Body (+1: Reset/5 Min.; +1/2: 0 END; +1/2: Persistent; -1/2: Self Only; -2 Extra Time 1 Minute Can Take No Action) '[b][i]Subteregeneration[/i][/b][/font][font=Courier New]' 30 AP [0][/font] [font=Courier New]| 10 C) 6" Stretching (-1/2: Must Travel Between) '[b][i]Two Places at Once[/i][/b][/font][font=Courier New]' 30 AP [3][/font] [font=Courier New]| 10 D) 6d6 Succor to Enhanced Perception: +1 to All Perception per 3 pts (-1/2: Self Only; -0: Cap 30 AP) '[b][i]Subterperceptive Biofeedback[/i][/b]' 30 AP [3][/font] [font=Courier New]| 10 E) 10" Teleport (+1/2: +1/4 Variable Adv.; -1/2: Must Travel Between) '[b][i]Subterleap[/i][/b][/font][font=Courier New]' 30 AP [3][/font] [font=Courier New]+[b]POWERS Cost: 95[/b][/font] [font=Courier New]+[b][u]Cost[/u] [u]SKILLS[/u][/b][/font] [font=Courier New]| 3 12- Acting - Lifetime of acting normal[/font] [font=Courier New]| 8- AK: Home City EM[/font] [font=Courier New]| 8- Climbing EM[/font] [font=Courier New]| 8- Computer Programming EM[/font] [font=Courier New]| 3 12- Concealment - Lifetime of hiding who he is[/font] [font=Courier New]| 3 12- Conversation - Lifetime of watching what he says[/font] [font=Courier New]| 8- Deduction EM[/font] [font=Courier New]| 3 12- Hoist - Lifetime of lifting bales (and tractors, in secret)[/font] [font=Courier New]| 2 8- KS: Farming EM; 11- KS: American History (his minor at journalism school)[/font] [font=Courier New]| 4 pts LS: English EM[/font] [font=Courier New]| 8- Paramedics EM[/font] [font=Courier New]| 11- PS: Mild-mannered Reporter EM[/font] [font=Courier New]| 3 12- Shadowing - Lifetime of looking out for being spied on[/font] [font=Courier New]| 3 15- Stealth - Lifetime of evading detection[/font] [font=Courier New]| TF: Small Motorized Ground Vehicles EM[/font] [font=Courier New]+[b]SKILLS Cost: 20[/b][/font] [font=Courier New]+[b][u]Cost[/u] [u]Talents[/u][/b][/font] [font=Courier New]| 0 All Talents, Latent[/font] [font=Courier New]+[b]Talents Cost: 0[/b][/font] [font=Courier New]+[b][u]Cost[/u] PERKS[/b][/font] [font=Courier New]| 0 Normal job, home, vehicle of a normal[/font] [font=Courier New]+[b]Perks Cost: 0[/b][/font] [font=Courier New]+[b][u]Val[/u] [u]DISADVANTAGES[/u][/b][/font] [font=Courier New]| 10 DNPC: Ma Billie Johnson-Adams 8- (Incomp. Normal) widow trying to keep the farm[/font] [font=Courier New]| 10 DNPC: Lo Loew 8- (Incompetent Normal) opportunistic co-worker/Highguard Fangirl at The Patriot[/font] [font=Courier New]| 15 Hunted: Brick 8- (Mo Pow, Harsh)[/font] [font=Courier New]| 20 Hunted: VIPER 8- (Mo Pow, NCI, Harsh)[/font] [font=Courier New]| 15 Psych. Lim.: Compulsive Liar (Very Common, Moderate)[/font] [font=Courier New]| 20 Psych. Lim.: Vindictive (Very Common, Strong)[/font] [font=Courier New]| 15 Psych. Lim.: Compelled to Seem Virtuous (Common, Strong)[/font] [font=Courier New]| 10 Social Lim.: Rival, Lo Loew (Superior Professional)[/font] [font=Courier New]| 15 Social Lim.: Secret ID: James Adams, intern, The Patriot (Frequently, Major)[/font] [font=Courier New]| 10 Social Lim.: Obligations - turn in stories to The Patriot (Occasion, Minor)[/font] [font=Courier New]| 10 Social Lim.: Rep - HighGuard=Pure-hearted Hero; Adams=Mild-mannered intern at the Patriot 8-[/font] [font=Courier New]+[b]DISADVANTAGES Points: 150[/b][/font] [font=Courier New]Base Pts: 200[/font] [font=Courier New]Total Character Cost: 350[/font] Quote: I make twelve commitments to the American people... Origin Harrison G. Adams and his wife Billie Johnson Adams were a childless couple returning to their Roosevelt-county farm (the old Gent place) when their truck hit a bump. Getting out to see if he'd damaged his vehicle, Harry discovered a screw-tipped metal tube in the road big enough to hold an infant. Which it did. The Adams always hoped to have a child, and raised this one as their own, keeping the secret even from him. Over the years, little James picked up a Subterran approximation of the down-home values of Ma and Pa Adams -- always cover up the truth, always seem virtuous, and never let anyone tell you you've done wrong no matter what. As it turns out, these were the perfect traits for a reporter, and James was accepted as a summer intern for The Patriot, where he was made assistant to Lo Loew, an opportunistic reporter with some seniority, but not enough to feel so secure in her job she won't do everything she can to torpedo any threat. But James needed the job, to help Ma Adams keep the farm afloat. Not that the Adams would admit that. Why doesn't he use his Subterpowers to make himself fantastically wealthy and buy the farm out of debt? One: he's lying about not having Subterpowers, so he's compelled not to provide evidence against this lie. Two: he has to vindicate his belief that he's just as good as anyone else, without powers. Three: nothing seems more virtuous than hard work, toil, and paying for the family homestead by the sweat of his own brow. So it was that Lo sent James off on a wild goose chase while she was cornering sources at a press conference. Indeed, he convinced her to do this, and that it was her own idea, because of what James saw coming into the building. A cap and dark glasses obscuring his identity, he ran smack into a VIPER tactical squad sent to capture key people and equipment at the conference. And they had Brick with them. So when James, trying to seem virtuous, stepped up and told them they would have to get past him if they wanted to get inside, he ended up imbedded in a wall three rooms over. This worked out well for him - an anonymous man, the type no one would look at twice, brushed aside and the noise forcing the agents and Brick to focus on pressing their raid. James wasn't like most farm boys. Well, except farm boys found as infants in mysterious metal tubes. He has the metabolism and highly evolved physiology of the Subterran branch of humanity -- cave-lurkers who delved the darkness before aquatic man sprang gills, and thus -- who gained phenomenal strength, toughness and the ability to see through solid rock by mutation, exposed to underground radiation over the generations. Raised under the pure energy of the surface sun, James was gifted with Subterspeed, and could throw off the worst the likes of Brick could dish out. At some point, I plan to flesh out the Subterrans and their relationship to other subterrainean and exotic peoples. They're not mole-men, lava-men, morlocks or the like, though they've had a hidden hand in the creation of some species, and of several exotic underground areas which they have since abandoned. The Subterran intern regained his feet just as VIPER were cornering their hostages at the press conference. James improvised a costume from a cyan lab coverall with magenta rubber gloves and boots. Subterspeed made his brown hair darken to black and facial features a golden blur, unrecognizable by even close acquaintances. The fight was very short. Far stronger than a thousand men, so fast he seemed to disappear from one spot and reappear at another, the new hero easily beat the villains in front of a dozen reporters. Subterran -- calling himself 'HighGuard' -- milked the press coverage for all it was worth, his knowledge of what reporters need for a story allowing him to present himself in his best possible light. He had total vindication for his injuries from Brick, played up to the media as 'justice, a victory for truth and the American way.' Subterran's compulsion for vindication did lead him to overdo his beating of Brick, and Brick, when recovered, decided to look for payback. VIPER, naturally, wants what 'HighGuard' is keeping from them -- he did, after all, imply that he knew what they were after and they couldn't get it from him, during the fight and interview afterwards. It was a lie, of course.

Re: water - ice - gas Overall, I'd say in many cases it's just a special effect, and costs nothing. Just pay for effect (TK, Force Wall, Entangle, etc) it has on combat situations, IMO.

Re: Heroes and Nukes! Victor Von Doom has the microscopic black hole-powered megaton weapon hidden in the heel of his armor. The left heel. Batman has the microscopic bat swarm summoning beacon hidden in the heel of his suit. The left heel. I have a piece of chewing gum stuck to the bottom of my left heel.

Re: Thoughts on Early Modern Magic The Discoverie of Witchcraft by Reginald Scot.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... And here I was thinking, "This is what happens when the GM lets Foxbat have a holoprojector and too much free time on his hands."

Re: Regeneration/Healing So, have I misread how to build this, then? 30 CP = Heal 1d6 Body (+2: Reset/Phase; +1/2: 0 END; +1/2: Persistent; +1/2: Regrow Limbs; -1/2 Self Only) 45 AP [0]

Re: Review My XP Policy Had a GM once who had a similar list. 1 XP for bringing food +1 XP for bringing Jolt or Mountain Dew. +1 XP for bringing Pringles. +1 XP for bringing comics. -2 XP for black licorice. 1 Pizza XP. +1 Pizza XP for extra toppings. Up to +1 "Extra" XP.

Re: Superhero Legal Disclaimers Dr. Who's disclaimer: "If the square of the hypoteneuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides, Y is a mouse when it spins."

Re: Rope Rope is a special effect. Rope burn will stay with you forever.

Re: [Character] The Wall I like what I see of the concept. The build isn't the way I'd do it, myself. Er.. looks like a grey Thing, and COM above 10? How does he travel? Isn't he going to spend most of every battle flat on his back from being knocked back/down? Armor piercing or Find Weakness, KA or Penetrating, Transforms or Flash or Mental powers, most NNDs,.. too wide a range of attacks.. will disable or defeat him.

Re: Knockback/knockdown/KNOCKUP?? Roll Acrobatics to get underneath them, and swing away. Don't say you weren't warned about doing this to The Blob.

Re: WHY is combat so slow and what have you done about it? Hard to roll dice, eat chips, drink Jolt, read the book and build new characters all at the same time while keeping track of the combat clock.

Re: Heroes and Nukes! It's simple for me. You're welcome to read the rules differently than I do, of course. How much Body does the planet have in combats I GM? None. None at all. The planet is not on the table. The planet isn't available. No matter what the players do in combat, they aren't touching the planet. The planet is not a wall, and wall breakage rules do not apply to it. Where a wall ends, the damage stops. The biggest area a character can destroy might be the Great Wall of China, in its longest uninterrupted section, which is a few only miles or tens of miles. Otherwise, if they hit a hex of ground, they make a fist-sized hole. They want to do more damage to the ground? Buy AoE. If they want the damage to run past a reasonable range of the combat? Well, they can't. It's not on the table when I GM. Their megascale AoE damage fades out and fizzles once it goes past the farthest participant in the combat away from them. Sooner, if there's anything complex enough in the way, like a city or .. the planet. Sure, if there's a Phoenix or Superman or Dr. Manhattan in the mix, their _concept_ might justify it. They can march that concept to the curb, or curb their concept to something playable and balanced with the other characters in the campaign, and suited to the setting. And sorry, settings I run just don't include planet-smashing as a player option. It's too much work to GM, and I am extremely lazy. If we start play at 1000 pt. base and disads are unlimited and there are no caps on anything and XP is given out at 100 xp per session and we have four sessions a day for thirty years, the answer is still going to be the same. The planet is not in play. If someone wants to build a sun-diver, then for 5 pts they can buy 'Safe movement, trans-stellar environments.' But if they get hit with a 300MT nuke while on the sun (an impossibility, since the nuke wouldn't survive there), they still take nuke damage. Why? Because the sun is an environment, and the nuke is an attack. And Superman will have DEF well below 100, in my campaign. So I'll never tell Batman's player, "Sorry, Superman's player has to have 1000's more points than you." If all of my players one day want to play Jar-Jar Binks piloting Death Stars zipping around snuffing out planets, then I suppose I may have to rethink this approach. I use the tool for the purpose it was built to achieve: roleplay. If I need to model the real universe, I'll use physics.

Re: Heroes and Nukes! Enh. DEF much in excess of 40 starts to hit my Translation Folly limits. I don't go in for caps myself, but what effect could possibly justify a resistance to damage more than fifty times that of diamond, for game effect? Sure, if you want to justify someone who can fly through the heart of the sun, you do have to translate this to effects far off the scale of the game, or institute some sort of 'megascale' rule for these godlike abilities.. but they do scale poorly for combat, as you've noted. 2 to the 54th power, surely? If you're using building damage rules, which I believe were intended only for direct strikes, not AoE attacks (which take into account how far their damage spreads by virtue of their defined area of effect)? I've heard horror stories of how long and brutal threads on that debate got, so will gladly drop the question. FWIW, if it's my game and I'm the GM -- which is unlikely -- of a 300MT explosion, it would be 64d6 Normal Explosion, 64x Extended Area, 16x Knockback, every segment for three turns. This would vaporize what needs vaporization, melt what needs melting, scorch what needs scorching, crush to rubble what needs crushing, and do knockback 30+ times to things that need to be thrown out of the center of the blast. No building damage rules would apply. I'd let the players decide on things like radiation-accident mutations.

Re: [Character] Subterran - Brick. EC. Twist. Updated, because too transparent a tribute can sometimes be .. distributive? Also, I have questions on the build, in particular the EC. They're all variations of the powers I seldom use myself. Do they seem allowable, balanced and appropriate? If 'HighGuard' megascale teleports (sfx running so fast he can't be seen), does the limitation that he can't teleport through solid barriers enough to make it a safe teleport intrinsic to the limitation, or does that have to be bought as a separate advantage?

Re: Character: Warrior Princess Mihrimah That's some pretty impressive camerawork and miniature detailing, too. A very little retouching and I believe you'd have guys asking you for the model's phone number.

Re: Hero Funding Promotion is a great source of revenue, but may not cover everything. Salvage work is pretty lucrative, as a marginal add-on. Contract with for insurance companies to mitigate damage claims for them could put you on call for after-disaster busy-work. Might not work so well for power-armored guys, but escort services always in demand, if you spend some points on High Society. Licensing the movie rights to your story. Or, if you're after real money, tv rights.

Re: Heroes and Nukes! Keeping in mind the vaporization area of a 300 MT is pretty small compared to the overall impact zone. Like a tenth of a mile before you'd expect tungsten steel to only liquify. And why are we using KA's, not normal damage, for nukes? It's not like they're more destructive to nonresistant targets than to resistant targets. Unless it's too troublesome to add up 60+d6 normal dice? A real simplist could just take the blast radius (-2d6 for knockback) as about the explosion radius (30 km or so and work back from the explosion how many DC to apply - 30 km = 30,000m = 15,000"=15,000d6 Normal explosion vs ED. Which works well enough for the first tenth of a mile and well enough for the last tenth of a mile, and even though it is overkill for the zone between those two shells, it's not like there's a lot left standing in that zone it would make much of a difference for. If you want to get a smoother explosion, 15 is a lot like 16, and 16 is a lot like 4 doublings, so you could just use 1000d6 normal explosion with 4x increased AoE. That gives you a pretty fair gradient, and at the blast's outer edge you have about 160 meters between 0d6 damage and 20d6 damage. If you really need a smooth, smooth gradient and are a simulationist, 250d6 Normal explosion with 16x increased AoE is extremely convincing, and satisfies pretty fair models of how much destruction and how it falls off over the area.

Re: Knockback/knockdown/KNOCKUP?? ..And if your GM is kind, once you do more DEF+Body than the floor has, you only take that much damage and fall through to the next level, subtracted the dice of that floor from your current velocity. Complicates the fall, but can save your life, since five 8d6 impacts is much nicer for a DEF 20-, Body 10- character than 30d6.

Re: The Big Chill Not so much pt 2. Igloos are quite comfortable, and they're made of ice. This thing was.. er, would have been.. made of something with a higher melting point. It wouldn't so much have a hull thickness as have access tunnels in it, and bunkers. Or so the theory went.

Re: Bricks Get Hosed, Or Not Enh. Looking over what can be done for 250 pts with STR, DEX, CON and an EC that still can be considered a playable whole character, (posted in another thread) I'd have to say there's nothing hosed about them. Bricks after all have high CON and low SPD, therefore a lot more END to spend on all those EC powers. Which is not to say they're unbalanced. In a 350 pt game, it's nice to have 100 pts to spend that can be entirely unrelated to combat ability, and not have to think because the Brick part is already all built.