Shadowsoul

Re: Nuclear Shade (Feng Shui creature) That thing really is terrifying. But then I'm used to 150 point characters.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... Technically it was a hideous lovecraftian flying wyrm from beyond reality so it was understandable that it hadn't had a good education and didn't know the safety procedures in this situation. And if our party necromancer, (a good guy surprisingly), hadn't given the Dwarf life-shielding then he would have been severely drained as soon as he got into contact with the creature. It just wasn't used to prey that struggled.

Re: Guns in Fantasy Certainly you can have black powder weapons in fantasy, they form a rather large part of the campaign I've been runnning this year and posting on the Gunpowder, Reason and Plot thread. http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=59941 Early Firearms have been discussed here. http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28792&highlight=black+powder Here. http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20821&highlight=black+powder And here. http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4895&highlight=black+powder From looking at what other people have done it seems that if you want a reasonably realistic version of early black powder weapons your characters will have to expend quite a lot of points on penalty skill levels if they want to be at all accurate with these weapons and they will still have to reload them. I used Spence's stuff as a jumping off point and kept Captain Obvious' ideas in mind as well, (must remind my players that they can double shot etc). As for using rifling, with the long reloading times rifles aren't going to outclass bows but they can seriously outdo muskets in a ranged battle. One of my PC's is a rifleman and he is easily the most lethal member of the party because he is terrifyingly and consistently accurate, even large monsters with damage reduction start to suffer when their opponent's can head shot them every other phase. (To be fair it took a while for him to get to that level, he put a lot of points in skill levels and penalty skill levels with rifles). You also have to bear in mind that if a lot of the party are wielding black powder weapons their first reaction to a threat is to pepper it with lead, enemies need to be tough and agile enough to survive this initial volley.

Re: Dragonia This thread is rather mysterious. Perhaps Dragonia is a place inside all of us and we can only find it when we truly believe in it.

Re: Oriental Planetary Romance Having checked the Wikipedia article I have to agree that Lord of Light does sound disturbingly similar to the thoughts outlined above, this is strange because I have never read this book and was not aware of the plot until today. Clearly Zelazny used some form of time-travel to steal my idea and turn it towards his own ends. I have read a book involving gengineered angels however which might be the origin of my suggestions, the human mind is a funny thing.

Re: multi power or sweep/two weapon fighting? I believe that all of those combinations are covered by Two Weapon Fighting. That's certainly how I would rule it.

Re: Children of Frankenstein I wondered if anyone would notice this problem. Effectively the idea that one could reanimate a body made from human parts and that the brain used would not recall its previous life and would not have been damaged by several days of brain death is pretty contrary to real science anyway. Frankenstein believed that his creature could breed true and so that's enough for the purposes of the story. But this is fantasy, if you want to use 'its magic' as an explanation then by all means go ahead. As a side note, one way the Children could become very scary is if they did decide that the best way to increase their numbers was through the Frankenstein process and so they began to look upon humanity as a big walking pile of spare parts ...

Re: Children of Frankenstein Here is the HDC file.

First of all, forget the lumbering poorly stitched brute of Hammer Horror fame. The creatures that I've tried to represent here are descendants of the monster from Shelley's novel. He was an altogether more refined and accomplished being than the one I had always imagined before I read the novel itself. The creature is described by Shelley as 'superhuman', not only superior to man in strength and stature but also possessing more flexible ligaments, a keen mind and a very impressive learning speed. He is also depicted as having a sophisticated turn of phrase coupled with the ability to persuade even the creator who loathes him to bend to his will, at least for a while. In the novel the creature demands that Frankenstein create a bride for him and the scientist agrees, eventually reneging on the agreement for fear of creating a race of powerful fiends that would menace humanity. This write up presumes that in some other reality the monster made its demand before it began slaughtering its way through Frankenstein's loved ones, so his hatred of it was far weaker and he fulfilled his creation's command. As per his end of the agreement the creature and his mate retreated to some distant wilderness and did not bother humanity any further. However, their union was blessed with children and thus a new race or sub-species of humanity was born; called either Homo Mortuus or Homo Maior by those academics who discovered or suspected their existence. These beings shared the powers of their progenitor but also his weaknesses such as hideousness and more importantly heightened emotional sensitivity which can lead to violent outbursts and extreme vindictiveness. A disadvantage and a hit to Ego simulate this second problem. Children of Frankenstein. Characteristics. +10 Strength. +6 Dexterity. +5 Constitution. +2 Body. +3 Intelligence. -2 Ego -8 Comeliness Superhuman Speed. +1 Speed. Running +2” Bounding. Leaping +2” Total Characteristics cost = 50. Talents and Powers. Quick Learner. 9 point talent that effectively consists of Linguist, Jack of All Trades and Scholar. Life Support (Eating: Character can subsist on almost any organic matter; Safe in Intense Cold; Safe in Intense Heat). (5 points total). Terrifying: +5 PRE (5 Active Points); Conditional Power Only for fear based presence attacks (-1). (2 points total). Total Powers Cost = 16. Disadvantages. Distinctive Features: Oversized, yellow skin, pale eyes and veins and muscles bulging through the skin (Not Concealable; Always Noticed and Causes Major Reaction; Detectable By Commonly-Used Senses). -20. Psychological Limitation: Emotionally volatile and easily affected by behaviour shown towards him/her. (Common, Strong). -15. Final cost = 31. Options. Skills of the Father. Climbing 12- Survival 12- Persuasion 12- Stealth 12- Tracking 12- Total Cost = 15. Ecology: The Children typically live in wild areas such as woods and deserts which they can survive in relatively easily due to their variable diet and resistance to changes in temperature. They do not see themselves as bound to obey their progenitor's bargain however and are quite capable of roaming into the lands of men in search of adventure, new knowledge and human affection. Personality/Motivation: Typical sentient humanoid motivations. In theory as variable as men and as capable of good or evil; the Children tend to regard themselves as benevolent beings, but cruelty and harsh treatment can easily bring out a near uncontrollable rage and a highly vindictive nature. Alternatively if nurtured and accepted despite their foul appearance the Children have the capacity to be extremely good and affectionate beings, serving as staunch protectors to the ones they love. Powers/Tactics: The Children are consummate imitators and students, they learn new abilities and skills very quickly. And so they display the full range of sentient humanoid tactics but will often use skills learned from observing the local humans. A good example would be Children living in the wilds of the new world who have adopted Native American tribal ways. Typically Children like to rely on stealth and cunning as much as brute force and they will not rush headlong into heavy odds. Appearance: Although they are born naturally the Children still retain the inhuman 'walking corpse' look of their progenitor, they are unpleasant creatures with yellow skin and watery eyes and humans usually feel an instinctive repugnance when viewing them. They tend to be 7-8 feet tall with muscles to match. It is possible that some of the Children have acquired the secret of creating new life from corpses in order to avoid the problems of inbreeding in which case some 'home made' versions may have faint scarring from where they were sewn together. Campaign Use: It is possible to downplay the intelligence and potential benevolence of the creatures and just use them as villains, monsters and minions. By tapping into their free will however it is possible to create far more morally ambiguous characters that may even prove to be allies of the PC's or at least creatures that they do not want to exterminate out of hand. In an Urban Fantasy, Champions or Dark Champions setting these creatures could begin to spread into human territory and start competing with humanity. Otherwise they can provide morally interesting villains or possibly a potential Player Race for higher powered campaigns whose players have strong stomachs. Notes. This is a package deal which will serve as a baseline for a typical 'Child'. It is best when combined with an appropriate cultural or professional package deal. I've included the closest equivalent to a cultural skills package which is a list of various abilities that the original monster demonstrated and might well have passed on to his offspring. To create a more dangerous character you can simply add CSL's or even magic but if you want to create a memorable version of the original creature or want the Children to be a threat to high powered characters then by all means up the Dex to 18-20 and the Str to 25-30. Increasing Con and Body are also reasonable enough. If on the other hand you want to play up the brutish aspect of the creatures then you can drop the Int and Skill Enhancers and possibly include a Frenzy disadvantage coupled with even greater reductions in Ego, that will not work with the original but it is possible that his descendants did not inherit his quick mind or that they only learn fast when infants, like any other sentient humanoid. Comments, suggestions and improvements are very welcome.

Re: A "realistic" zombie outbreak Just how difficult it is to dispatch zombies depends on their speed and strength. The original Dawn of the Dead zombies were pathetic. You could beat them to death with a spade if you wanted. Their only strength was in numbers and a fatal bite. I'll admit that the average civilian would have much more trouble with the runners from the Dawn of the Dead remake. A table knife through the eye would settle them but you do need to get over the terror of being attacked by one and a single bite is fatal. The army on the other hand is likely to outclass zombies. Don't forget that even a shot from a hand gun is going to slow the things down for a second and you've got plenty more where that came from, at least at first ... That does raise a question though, how likely is it that the average squaddie will be able to pull of a head shot in close quarters? Consistently I mean. I might be overestimating the skills of various armed forces.

Re: Play on words magic items/spells That's a new one. I've seen a Chinese take-away called Wok This Way though. In a magical modern world instead of wasting money on insecticides you could buy an invisible bug eating arachnid called "The See No Weevil". I think I'm getting worse.

Re: You know the GM has it in for you when... A darkened room counts as a potentially dangerous encounter. Because if you're not paranoid the GM will make sure that your character is. You encounter a 20 foot tall creature made of the substance you are vulnerable to. If you are wearing heavy armour then you will encounter a river or lake that needs to be crossed without a boat or a bridge. If you a kill a villain too easily then he is probably coming back as something worse. You spot the GM leafing through a Call of Cthulhu sourcebook and giggling quietly to himself.

Re: Oriental Planetary Romance Putting fantasy tropes into Sci is just a matter of different sfx or reasons why things are as they are. There is no shortage of inhuman or demi-human races in Asian mythology that could be created in a sci-fi setting through genetic engineering or super-technology. Naga, human genes wedded to that of snakes in a very particular way. Monkeymen, birdmen, Nekomata, Kitsune etc have similar origins. Kami, Celestial Maidens and even Indian Ghandharvas could all be enhanced humans with near mystical powers granted by nanotech or whatever. Oni and other monsters could be war constructs, failed experiments or 'divine punishments' on humanity. Perhaps true humanity has mastered all of the sciences of life and ascended to various superhuman forms, becoming Dragons for example. These beings rule over various created races included 2nd humans or 'mortals' a species created from the DNA of humanity so that the celestials would not forget their humble origins. The Celestial bureaucracy controls space travel and keeps the un-ascended races in as much ignorance as possible about the true nature of technology. But they are not absolute rulers, rather they prefer to keep to their own concerns and leave their 'children' to rule themselves. Even if the mortal 'races' displease their absent masters they are more likely to punished with a plague of gengineered monsters, by having their weather control satellites turned off etc. Despite this approach the mortals are beginning to improve their understanding of science and technology and are starting to question the nature of their 'divine masters'. Alternatively the various races could just be aliens. Dragons and Naga amongst others could fill in the 'godlike aliens' slot. Beings such as Oni and Kasha could be hostile aliens and so on.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group...

Re: Source Material: Urban Fantasy books/writers The line between dark fantasy and horror is rather vague, particularly in the case of urban fantasy, I myself wouldn't hesitate to mix the two. If Dresden can be considered more fantasy than Hellboy it is perhaps simply because Dresden is a wizard and fantasy readers are interested in wizards. And possibly because Jim Butcher puts more effort into creating a unified fantastic world while Hellboy and co seem to me to just wander from one unrelated weird incident to the next. Otherwise there isn't all that much separating them, both characters have had to deal with faeries for example. As for source material. The comic series Hellblazer might be useful, (inspired the film Constantine). As would superhero stuff like Spawn and Wychblade. It's mostly for younger readers but Amanda Hemingway's Sangreal trilogy is quite interesting. I'm told that the whole female monster hunter thing was sparked off by a series or book called 'Sunglasses After Dark'; apparently it's very good.

Re: So, How do you take over organised crime in Huson City? Clonus pretty much has it down I think. Not much to add. I'd note that criminal empires aren't just built on territory but also on who controls which rackets. So you go around a particular area convincing shop owners and the like that they should be more afraid of your gang than they are of others, when opposing enforcers turn up intimidate or beat them until they back off. A ruthless criminal might want to make a few examples of businessmen who are slow to accept the change in their 'owners', kidnapping, breaking fingers, trashing shops etc. Recruit smaller gangs wholesale, they will of course benefit You can also muscle in on other people's deals. Offer drug's smugglers a higher rate to sell to you or make sure that other buyers never make it to the pick up point. Bribe corrupt cops to only look the other way when presented with your operations. And buy yourself some eyes and ears in opposing organisations. There's also that comic book staple of a new gang acquiring a new edge. Maybe assembling a new team of villains, getting hold of a new weapon or unleashing a new drug on the streets. But inciting a war between rival gangsters is probably the best way forward and one that vigilantes are going to take the most notice of. One more thing. The crime lord may be hard at work creating a positive public persona. Giving money to charity, work with underpriveliged kids and problem teenagers, (a good way to quietly recruit new blood as well), setting up legitimate businesses, even providing information to the police about rivals.

Re: Exploding Dice I suppose you could give all attacks the advantage, + x amount of damage only when the player rolls a six or whatever. But I'd say you have to actually adapt the rules system itself. So with all the attacks if you roll a 6 on any of the dice then you get to re-roll that dice and add it. If that's too powerful you could say that every roll of a 1 cancels out a roll of 6. So with a 4d6 RKA (ouch ) if you were to roll 2, 2, 5 and 6 you would be able to re-roll the six and add it to the result. If however you rolled 1, 2, 5 and 6 then you would not be able to re-roll the 6. If you wanted to get really complicated you could allow a full re-roll if the dice come up with an average of higher than five. So you add all the numbers rolled together and divide by the number of dice, if the result is higher than 5.0 then your dice have exploded and you get a re-roll. This would make exploding dice more likely for Killing Attacks and low powered attacks however.

Re: Play on words magic items/spells Hells Bells. A fiendish weapon in the form of a large flail with heavy spiked bells in place of the normal lumps of iron. These bells are cast in the shape of gaping demon snouts with snake-like tongues as clappers. Swinging the weapon round one's head causes a hideous chorus of snarls and wails that terrifies and stuns your enemies.

Re: A "realistic" zombie outbreak One thing that most people don't factor in to a 'zombie outbreak' situation is the fact that most modern First world people have seen or heard about Zombie films and know what to do, destroy the brain, don't get bitten, don't go to the cities. There would be widespread panic and chaos but there would be people fighting back. Not to mention the fact that the military outclass normal zombies immensely. With tanks and trucks you don't even need to shoot at the things, you just need to drive over them until you run out of fuel. Certainly they'd run out of supplies eventually but I think they'd come out on top before things got apocalyptic. Rather more scary and believable would be an outbreak of the rabies-like 'Rage Virus' from 28 Days Later. People succumb quite quickly and then start looking for norms to tear apart, they do run and I'm guessing they're more intelligent than your average zombie. Of course they eventually die but not before causing widespread devastation. Also if the cause is viral then there's all sorts of new problems such as disposal of infected corpses.

Re: Angel vs Demons http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spawn_%28comics%29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellblazer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angela_%28comics%29 http://www.vialarp.org/20s/20s_gangland.html

Re: Play on words magic items/spells Veil of Tears. These shimmering veils can only be woven by a woman who still feels the pangs of true heartbreak and has learnt the hidden art of turning her own tears into thread. Once made the veil absorbs a portion of the weaver's sorrow and will serve in subtle ways to shield her from further pain. The face of the wearer appears as a dim and shifting phantasm, no one can remember her features but all are captivated by them so that even a woman lacking in charisma can become a mistress of manipulation. Furthermore the veil constantly sings a faint and whispering song that only the wearer can hear, this melody rises to drown out any hurtful comments that anyone makes to the user but fades to nothing when others speak in tones of grief.

Re: A New Dawn. 'Post-Apocalyptic' Fantasy Thanks for the interest guys. Cargus, in answer to your question. Officially no one has signed up yet as I wanted to allow plenty of time for people to think about the campaign and to hear about it. However, since three people, (Bluejogger, Corven Ren and Cysphrett), have already suggested character concepts to me or discussed potential characters they have effectively reserved places on the list. Although none of them are committed to playing in the campaign they will be given the first chance to sign on. Assuming all three are willing and capable of joining the campaign there should be four more places. In the not too distant future I will be opening the floor to applicants, which will involve PMing everyone who has posted on this thread. For the first week after this announcement I won't accept applications from anyone but the 3 people mentioned above, hopefully this should give everyone time to read their messages etc. After that week I will post the number of places still available based on whether or not anyone on the reserved list has confirmed that they wish to play. Then it's open season, first come first served until all places are filled. If there are spaces free once the campaign proper begins then they will be left open indefinitely in case any late comers would like to drop in. In the meantime if you'd like to discuss potential characters then that would be fine, you will not be committing yourself to anything at present. Another couple of points that I should mention before anyone does commit themselves to this game. This is the first time I have run a game online and although I'm planning to have a couple of dry runs I'll have to learn the trick of it as things go along, so anyone short on patience might want to think carefully about how those initial sessions are going to go. The other thing is that I live in the UK which means that there will be quite a time difference for a lot of players, that should be surmountable but I wanted to make it clear at this point so everyone who does sign on will be able to think about how this game might fit into their schedule.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... From my Open Fantasy Game at the UK Student Nationals and best appreciated out of context. "Yes! You have helped save the fabric of the universe by punching him in the groin!"

Re: Seeking a couple of Middle Eastern monsters. I suppose a Daeva would constitute quite a threat to even a powerful party. As far as I can tell they are the Ancient Persian equivalent (or predecessors) of Christian Devils. Presumably they would have similar abilities but with a more Eastern flavour. They seem to embody different 'evils' such as wrath and apostasy.

Re: Play on words magic items/spells One more song reference item and then I better stop before this gets out of hand. The Hit-The-Road Jack-Hammer. A weapon created by the eccentric Dwarven Mage and Explorer Jack Benimble. As well as crushing skulls the hammer can be used for travel. It has a powerful teleport spell triggered by striking it against any road, street or path and crying - "No more, no more, no more!" the only flaw in this item is the fact that it can not return the user to a place where it has been triggered, because Jack only ever liked to see new places. A few other thoughts. The Sword of Sorcery. A legendary blade that captures the energy of any spell sent against the wielder and converts it into temporary boost of their physical strength. Rear View Mirror. Long ranged scrying device created by a lonely old wizard to allow remote viewing of a very particular piece of anatomy. Much in demand at certain parties. The Mag-Light of Truth. The beam of this powerful torch banishes illusions as easily as the darkness that it illuminates. (Batteries not included).