BoloOfEarth

So, is reading physically painful because of your eyes, or because the things you read (e.g. internet comments and politician statements) are making you bang your head against the desk in frustration?

As a GM, I think it's a *great* idea to give the heroes a base for free. Of course, what the GM giveth, the GM can taketh away... - - - - - - My players have built many bases over the course of many Champions campaigns. They've had: A building inside the city (known to the public) A building inside the city (kept secret from the public) A refurbished oil rig moved to a few miles offshore from New York City A remote volcanic island in the Pacific Ocean A secret base (under a high school) that belonged to an NPC superhero team who disappeared in the late 1940s. Some they paid points for, others which were given to them free of charge.** I think most of them were attacked by villains at one point or another. But mostly, they used them for training and lab work. The "volcano lair" (the heroes' name for it) actually put in an appearance in a different campaign, when those heroes went there to figure out why the other hero team had disappeared. They found some vital clues there in their former team's labs, which helped them unravel the mystery. ** I've done the same with team vehicles. Two different hero teams captured vehicles (one a VIPER jet with a cloak, the other a small starship) and kept them for themselves, with the GM's blessing. At some point each vehicle was temporarily stolen by someone else -- and boy, did the players gripe and complain! I responded, "I'm sorry, how many points did you lose? None? Well, gee whiz..."

Heh. At a prior job, I had two coworkers - we'll call them Lisa and Brenda. They used to be best friends, but had a falling out. It should be noted that Lisa had a drinking problem and Brenda was a bit of a ditz. So one time I start telling a version of this joke to a different coworker, but with Brenda calling Lisa for help with the jigsaw puzzle. I told this within earshot of Lisa, just loud enough for her to overhear it. From the look on her face, she spent most of the time I was telling the joke apparently trying *desperately* to remember this happening. It wasn't until I got to the end that she realized it was a joke. I'm a bad person.

Most of the time, I draw things on a battlemat. If it's something that's likely to put in another appearance, I'll take a picture of it before erasing it (I found that works much better than taking the picture after erasing) so I can use that as a reference for redrawing it later. I have taken some things (like building floorplans or large vehicle plans) into Photoshop and added a Hex layer, saving as a JPG. I then put the JPG into a Word document, size it properly, then print onto cardstock (cropping the image back and forth if it requires multiple pages). This has given me a few houses, a mansion, an oceanographic research vessel, a yacht or two, and probably a few other reusable maps. I try to get the hexes the same size as the battlemat, so I can place the building on the mat and draw in any exterior details (landscaping, roads, sidewalks, etc.). This works especially well with multi-level buildings or vehicles, as I can just swap out the different levels as needed (or set the other levels off to the side in case action is taking place on more than one at a time). I also found a handful of pre-created settings (warehouse, street scene, spaceships, space station, etc.) done as multiple tiles that I've purchased and then printed onto cardstock. (Yeah, I've burned through a lot of toner for my color laser printer.) And as to Tech's comment about fun details on the map, yeah, I love adding those. I had a VIPER base where the Nest Leader was a sci-fi fanatic, and had models of many sci-fi movie and TV robots (Robby the Robot, R2D2 and C3PO, etc.) all over the base. In each case, I tried to do a view-from-above on the map, with the players trying to guess what some of them were (e.g. "That looks like ED-209 from Robocop!"). Our running gag is that if I'm given enough time, I'll draw in the fire extinguishers and potted plants. I also make sure to include things like bathrooms and janitor's closets, plus support columns in warehouses, etc. And they've come in handy during the game.

So... GOP Sen. Roger Marshall wants Republicans to look into having Biden take an annual cognitive test due to 'concern' for his mental health If this happens, can we get the same done for Trump? Just sayin'.

I wasn't listening well, so if I misremembered part, my apologies. On Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me they had a bit about some guys in their 80s who had been to every Super Bowl. Peter Sagel said something like, "They've been going to the Super Bowl so long, they remember when beer was just $90 a bottle."

At least he didn't reply, "Yes, properly cooked, with a nice red wine, they're pretty tasty."

Maybe Disney can declare the Iron Fist series as "shoot from a cannon."

I'm guessing Reggie Miller, based on my highly refined and unerringly accurate "Eenie Meanie Miney Moe" algorithm. EDIT TO ADD: Though it might also be Steve Monroe when factoring in the "My Mother Told Me" variant. My list: Walter Mondale (former VP and presidential candidate) Nichelle Nichols (Uhura from Star Trek TOS) Gene Rodenberry (Creator of Star Trek) Kirk Gibson (former Detroit Tigers baseball player) Marina Sirtis (Counselor Troi from Star Trek: TNG)

"We use them to fry a bunch of chickens, Sir!"

I ran the heroes against Genocide (back in 4E days), using the characters from the Mutant File basically as-is. One of the heroes had Absorption, and I didn't realize his defenses were based completely on his Absorption. So one of the Genocide Pawns drained the hero's Absorption, and the Pawn with the minigun attacked that hero. Accidentally killed him in one Phase.

I wonder if the police gave him a moo-ving violation.

They found out that, through a quirk in the system, they'd be playing the Detroit Lions. I mean, what good is first place if second place goes to the Lions? New Topic: Why the big hurry to get to Wolf 359, anyway?

Having run a Champions campaign that became a War of DEX (with non-speedsters/non-martial artists having DEXs of 28-33), I wouldn't want something that encourages such behavior. Granted, that was in the 4E-5E era where SPD was figured off DEX, so there's less impetus to do so in 6E, but still, it would be a concern of mine.

Oh, booger.

So, did he close his eyes and plug his ears through the beginning and end of The Wizard of Oz?

I played BYOB (Bring Your Own Brick) run by Dave Mattingly at GenCon a number of years ago. We were told to bring 2 characters, and he would choose which one you played. Was great fun. But I couldn't vote here, because my character didn't get rejected or nicknamed. And None doesn't work as a valid option.

I'm confused. None of those are the Detroit Lions.

Are the other three named Bea Arthur, Rue McClanahan, and Estelle Getty?

Well, can we at least have Mexico take Ted Cruz and Greg Abbott? They can consider it a down payment.

Wait... they weren't?!

Dust off and nuke it from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

True story - my college roommate dislocated his elbow (yowch!), and after they fixed it at the ER, he asked the doctor if he'd be able to play the piano after the arm healed. The doctor said, "Sure, I don't think that will be a problem." My roomie replied, "That's cool, I've never been able to play the piano before..."

(Thinks about the current politics, climate, and general stupidity of most people.) I'd say let Galactus go ahead and consume the Earth if he wants, but he'd probably say "No thanks."