BobGreenwade

Re: THE BOOK OF THE EMPRESS -- What Do *You* Want To See?

Re: the "vernacular" and "realism" discussions: I think we'd gotten to the point in these where everyone had made our case for the judge (you, Steve), and were already set to drop it and move on. Not that you weren't right, but the discussions were basically already over.

Re: why Earth is special: I wonder if there might be some other universes where the "special" world is somewhere else, such as Dorvala, Malva, or even the planet we know as the Xenovore Home World. There could even be some in which those worlds are the only thing in common with the main CU -- Earth does not exist (in somewhat the same manner that Dorvala, Malva, et al don't exist in non-CU sci-fi settings).

Re: THE BOOK OF THE EMPRESS -- What Do *You* Want To See?

Actually there's been a move throughout the Bronze Age of Comics to try to bring things as closely to known real-world physics as is possible without wiping out our favorite heroes' powers altogether. Some of them are pretty tough to fit in, like Superman's flight and Colossus' metal form, so there's a lot of handwaving.

My own attitude is to do that much as much as possible, and handwave the rest. I think Steve tends to be a bit more free-form than that, but it's still a good principle to write by.

And if you're referring to my mention of V'han's immunity to temporal shifts, I was mainly just reasoning from effects (after a fashion) and finding justification for a new set of abilities -- basically, considering the implications of the assumption. Many a fine story has come from just such a "what-if" thought exercise.

Re: Magic systems based on science?

I was, by the way, able to find the old PDF online. It's here.

Re: Magic systems based on science?

I see what you might have done there.

Re: THE BOOK OF THE EMPRESS -- What Do *You* Want To See?

Note that I didn't say "don't use 'dimension' for this at all." Just avoid it. There is, as noted, a long tradition of it; Mxyzptlk is from the Fifth Dimension*, and other notable characters have been from the Seventh Dimension, Twelfth Dimension, and so forth. I.V.'s nickname, for crying out loud, already is "The Empress of a Billion Dimensions."

But that misuse has been falling out of practice in recent years -- not always in favor of "alternate universes," but sometimes as "worlds," "realms," "planes," "branes," and other terms. (In the Realm Hunter series, I use either "realm," "world," or occasionally "time-line" depending on the context; the narrator doesn't quite grasp the concept of a "universe," and his native language has no word for it.)

For BotE, both for accuracy and in keeping with the current trend, I'd recommend using "universe" unless some other term is appropriate for the context.

Re: Magic systems based on science?

The talk of using computer programming style syntax for magic spells reminds me of the Matrix Magic system that I created for Fuzion years ago (and have never really been able to properly adapt to Hero). One would learn basic spells and enhancing components, and build more complex spells from there using a simple but strict syntax.

For example, a mage might know (off the top of my head; I don't have the PDF from that handy right now) a Fire Bolt, Enhance, and Multi-Target. He could then, for simple spells:

Fire Bolt (basic)

Enhance, Fire Bolt (increased damage)

Multi-Target, Fire Bolt (hit two targets with the basic bolt)

Multi-Target, Enhance, Fire Bolt (hit two targets with increased damage)

Enhance, Enhance, Fire Bolt (damage increased even more)

Enhance, Multi-Target, Fire Bolt (hit three targets with basic bolt)

Enhance, Multi-Target, Enhance, Enhance, Fire Bolt (hit three targets for third-level damage)

And so forth. The basic spell takes a Phase, and each Enhancer adds a half phase, so the last spell would take three Phases to cast.

Just an idea to play with.

Re: THE BOOK OF THE EMPRESS -- What Do *You* Want To See?

A whole separate point: please avoid using the word "dimension" when you mean "universe." I know it's become a convention of fiction, but it's a misuse of the word. A dimension is not a universe, but a characteristic of a universe (such as height, width, depth, time, and the tiny extended dimensions theorized to exist).

Yeah, it's a nitpicky point, but if there's no reason to do otherwise we might as well use words correctly.

Re: THE BOOK OF THE EMPRESS -- What Do *You* Want To See?

Something bizarre just occurred to me. It's probably useless, but maybe not.

The Empress' initials, as already used in this thread, are I.V. Put them together in IV, and you get the Roman numeral for 4.

Say the letters "I.V." out loud, and it sounds like the English word "Ivy."

Somewhere, perhaps in parallel Earth, her presence is secretly marked by the arrangement of ivy vines into the numeral "4."

Re: Half Human/Half Snake Character

Forked Tongue (Chimera): The character has a forked tongue similar to most snakes. By continually flicking the tongue in and out' date=' the character is able to taste the air around him in a way mammals cannot. The information from this [i']tasting of the air[/i] gives the character a sense of the environment. Abilities: Track by taste alone 60% +2% per level. Identify common odors 90% +1% per level. Identify specific taste 70% +2% per level (+10% if common)

The vomeronasal system (let's call it VNS for short) is found in all snakes and lizards, plus in most if not all mammals. Even humans have one, though in our case (and, I think, in most primates) the opening is in the nasal cavity.

Its function is as a highly specialized sense of smell. For us, it primarily detects pheromones and other scents of which we're not conscious; for snakes, it specifically detects scents related to its prey.

The only way an ability like this could work as described would be if the character had a serpentine VNS opening into his mouth, either in addition to or in place of his human one. A serpentine VNS would give something like +4 to the Smell Sense Group regarding animal life (which would include humans, as well as dead meat).

If the serpentine VNS replaces his human one, then he probably also has lots of defenses against pheromones and such (which I'd represent using Smell Flash Defense and/or Power Defense, probably in the range of 30-40, with appropriate Limitations).

Re: THE BOOK OF THE EMPRESS -- What Do *You* Want To See?

Or even the fundamentals behind it - how easy is it for her to transport large amounts of people/war-material through the Multiverse? How many altenrate realities are there really (from Quantum Splitting*, a few billion new every nanosecond, to only some specific)? How many has she conquered and to what extend?

 

*I mean every time a decision has to be made, the universe splits into two new. Even if you limit it to mayor decision, there are bound to be dozen of splits per second with all the sentient races. And with her being unique along the multiverse that would mean she could spontaniously vanish during a conversation (the universes splitted, and you are in the other).

Of course on the upside she would have hit the 1 Billion-th universe the day she aquired her first minion (when universes split, she suddenly has one minion in two universes, than four, 8 and so on).

But that's an interesting thought as well: if V'han is absolutely unique in the multiverse, then a part of her "mutant power" would seem to be an immunity to quantum separation. Or perhaps she does split and immediately re-entangles, or something of the sort. That could give her tremendous intellectual capability; it could account, at least in part, for her immortality as well as a sense of precognition, immunity to most if not all time and dimensional powers, and several other abilities (possibly even 100% Energy Damage Reduction, at least regarding light, heat, radiation, and similar phenomena).

Re: THE BOOK OF THE EMPRESS -- What Do *You* Want To See?

Just to clarify one thing that seems to've been overlooked: when I said "half a dozen" character sheets' date=' I specifically referred to [i']from the Imperial Battalion[/i] (her superhumans). I did not say "half a dozen character sheets for the book, total."

 

I'm definitely not going to have nearly as many as some of you seem to want, but it's certainly going to be more than six.

Re: So Which Hideout are you looking at?

Personally I'm waiting for the Hi-Tech Basement.

That, and either crafting or Nemesis in the hideout.

Re: THE BOOK OF THE EMPRESS -- What Do *You* Want To See?

I suggest that the example characters from Istvatha's Imperial Battalion include more specialized types than just soldiers and bodyguards' date=' e.g. psionic interrogators, assassins with stealth/infiltration powers, spies with Mental Powers or Enhanced Senses, priority couriers with travel powers, riot-controllers with non-lethal attacks, and the like.[/quote']With this in mind, I'd recommend increasing the number of sheets from the stated "half a dozen or so" to something closer to a full dozen, with room for specialization and individualization. That could go a long ways toward making them seem less like ciphers.

 

In this context, a full character sheet with six options for specialization would equal in value to six full character sheets. Ten such sets, totaling sixty types, would be sufficient for a mind-swirling variety.

Re: Genre-crossover nightmares

That's Uncle Deadly.

Re: THE BOOK OF THE EMPRESS -- What Do *You* Want To See?

V'han being unique reminds me a bit of an Amberite walking through Shadow. Is she somehow more "real" than other beings? That would give her personality a different twist' date=' a sort of arrogance but with a reason behind it. It could also explain why she can't have children.[/quote']Or, at least, she views herself as being more "real" than other beings. That could also explain her drive to conquer all of reality; it's all imaginary anyway.

 

I could see this being possible' date=' but she would also need some method of remembering where she's already visited to avoid crossing her own path. It's likely that the dimensions of her empire are not all neatly lined up. How does she navigate actually?[/quote']Maybe she has some sort of personal diary?

 

No, seriously -- a quest could be developed to steal a volume (or other part) of her personal diary, with an assortment of potential benefits: learning more about her thought processes, gaining information on her operations, denying her that bit of data so she has to obtain it all over again, etc.

 

The diary might or might not be a written book; it could be an electronic journal on an iPad-like device, a voice recording, a magically-maintained journal, or whatever seems most fitting.

Re: A view of the Earth

Slice a little off the right side (so the character is right of center) and this could make a right decent wrap-around book cover.

Re: Genre-crossover nightmares

I've misplaced my Rainbow Lanterns crib-sheet. What do the different colors represent (again...sorry)?

Red = rage (Animal)

Orange = avarice (Rizzo)

Yellow = fear (Beeker)

Green = willpower (Kermit)

Blue = hope (Robin)

Indigo = compassion (Janice)

Violet = love (Piggy)

Black = death (one I don't recognize, other than that he played "blind Pew" in Muppet Treasure Island)

Re: THE BOOK OF THE EMPRESS -- What Do *You* Want To See?

An extension of my previous post: It just hit me this morning that the "legion of alternate versions" idea could be the basis for a V'han-centered campaign. The GM picks a character in the CU, and each player comes up with an alternate version of that character for part of the team.

That should be good for at least a paragraph or two in the GM's section.

Re: Magic systems based on science?

My thought on magic in a scientific setting is that the magic was there all along; we just forgot about it, and stopped working it, relegating those who continued its practice to the social status of "ignorant, superstitious rubes."

But there can be magic in the more traditional sense (meaning long magical rituals with subtle effects) that requires an understanding of science. For example, a curse could be laid that alters the victim's DNA to cause a genetic disease such as hemophilia, color-blindness, or muscular dystrophy -- the caster's control over the results of the curse would depend on his knowledge and understanding of genetics.

If you like enchanted items, technological items could have enchantments. For example, a laser pistol could be enchanted to hit its intended target more readily, punch straight through metal armor, return to its owner's hand on command (in event of a disarming), and/or cause any undead creatures it hits to explode.

On a somewhat different angle, technological approaches could be developed to deal with magical threats. Armies could regularly have their soldiers carry a clip of silver-laced bullets to deal with werewolves, and distribute gas grenades heavily loaded with garlic powder in case of vampires.

Re: Genre-crossover nightmares

This was just posted to Blastr:

Re: THE BOOK OF THE EMPRESS -- What Do *You* Want To See?

Something just occurred to me: part of V'han's legions probably include several units made up entirely of alternate versions of the same person.

I've seen it done in comics: the collection of Captains Britain from the various universes of the Marvel Multiverse, and in DC (I forget the miniseries title -- heroes were fighting alternate versions of themselves in an arena) when various versions of Captain Atom showed up to attack Monarch.

So there might be a Defender Brigade, an Ironclad Brigade, a Silverback Brigade, a Justiciar Brigade, a Menton Brigade, a Foxbat Brigade, a Seeker Brigade, and so forth.

Alternately, such a collection of alternate-version heroes could be a unit in the multiversal resistance. Perhaps the Legion of Defenders monitors V'han's activities, warns the defenders of worlds that could stand a chance of standing up to her, and makes decisive strikes where they can. The Legion of Nighthawks could similarly carry out covert activities such as sabotage, espionage, ambush attacks, and the like. The Legion of Foxbats... well, I don't want to think about that one too hard.

Re: THE BOOK OF THE EMPRESS -- What Do *You* Want To See?

I don't have a lot to suggest for this book, but what I do have in mind:

--what V'han might be like in other genres

--a look at the Multiverse of the CU (this will largely be reprinted from TMW' date=' but will be expanded upon as needed and tweaked to be a bit less mystic-centric)[/quote']I hope it's a lot less mystic-centric, considering TMW had several pages on mystic universes and only a couple of paragraphs on non-mystic ones. Alternate timelines, alternate physical universes, time travel (not much on that, given that Time Travel Hero is in the bullpen, but at least some basics since V'han can time travel), and a few of the better sample universes from Champions in 3-D and other books would be worthwhile. A couple of paragraphs (if not a couple of pages) each on Backworld/Multifaria, Anarchy World, Nazi World, and maybe a world where Takofanes and Mechanon have each conquered half the planet. Also this section could perhaps include some discussion on alternate-world tropes such as reversed-morality, reversed-gender, genre shifts (everyone has a counterpart but it's Fantasy, Pulp, Western, Victorian, or whatever), and so forth.

Re: ADVANCED PLAYER'S GUIDE II -- What Do *You* Want To See?

First we have to see whats in APG2 - you know' date=' to avoid redundancy.[/quote']

Or doing things over again.

Like remembering your Personal Identification Number number at the Automated Teller Machine machine.

Re: ADVANCED PLAYER'S GUIDE II -- What Do *You* Want To See?

I'm finishing up the book later today' date=' so it's time to take this thread down. Thanx to everyone who made a suggestion![/quote']You're welcome -- I'm glad I could contribute.

 

(Of course, I suppose we're going to have to wait for the book to come out to find out which suggestions made it in -- which is very understandable, given the volume of suggestions.)

Re: Genre-crossover nightmares

For my fellow fans of Lilian Jackson Braun:

The Cat Who Would Be King

The Cat Who Shot Liberty Valance

The Cat Who Knew Too Much

The Cat Who Loved Me

The Cat Who Fell to Earth

The Cat Who Came to Dinner

The Cat Who Loved Man Dancing