BoloOfEarth

Re: Jokes (Can't remember if I posted this one before. Apologies to all our female posters, and to Kip Adotta.) A woman goes to her doctor and says, "Doctor, every time I go to the bathroom, nickels are falling out!" "Relax!" he says. "Put your feet up, come back and see me in a week." So a week later the woman returns to say, "Now every time I go to the bathroom, *dimes* are falling out!" "Relax!" he says. "Put your feet up, come back and see me in a week." Another week passes, and the woman storms in, shouting, "Doctor, it's getting worse. Every time I go to the bathroom, QUARTERS are falling out!" "Rela..." "DON'T TELL ME TO RELAX!" she screams. "I want to know what's happening!!!" The doctor smiles. "You're just going through your Change..."

Re: Answers & Questions Q: What is the best response when Paris Hilton, Lindsey Lohan, and Brittney Spears all show up together at your door? A: Two cups of broken glass, a handful of rusty nails, and a quart of sulfuric acid. Edit: and no, I'm not answering my own question...

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat "Today, we have two announcements. First, The Defenders welcome our new member, The Blob. And you'll notice that Blob is modeling our new team uniform, the Defender-Thong..."

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... Not thinking too much on my feet last Sunday: GM: Moira tells you that your former finace, Ronan, was caught breaking into a jewelry store. He had forged papers, though, so the police don't know who he really is. Serendipity: So, what name was he using when he was arrested? GM: (thinking of an Irish sounding first name) Conan... (desperately not wanting O'Brien, so trying to think of an Irish last name that doesn't begin with "O") ... Doyle. Serendipity: So his fake name is... Conan Doyle? Synergy: Like A. Conan Doyle? GM: Um, yeah. I never said Ronan was imaginative. (thinking: nor am I, apparently)

Re: cost of membership Look at membership cost as a combination of Position and Resources/Power. (I do Membership as 1-10 points, but I don't have the book with me, so I don't know if that's the official range or just something I decided.) In my game, I did it as 1 + Position + Resources/Power. I set Position as Low (0 points), Middle (1 point), High (2), and Head (3). And Resources/Power as Low (0 points), Moderate (1-2 point), High (3-4), and Extensive (5-6). Note that a higher Position might also mean more Resources/Power available. A grunt agent in the local VIPER Nest would be 1 + Low Position (0) + Moderate-High Resources (2) = 3 points. An elite agent/team leader at the same Nest would be 4 points, since he has a Middle Position (1). If it was at the New York City or a similarly large Nest, I'd raise it to High Resources (3). A field agent for the CIA or FBI would be 1 + Middle position (1) + Moderate-High Resources (2) = 4 points, or 5 points if it's a big office like NYC or London. The top dog of that field office would pay one more point, since he has a High position. And the head of the FBI or CIA as a whole would be 1 + Head (3) + Very High (4) = 8 points. Yakuza gang member: 1 + Low (0) + Moderate (2) = 3 points. The guy calling the shots for all Yakuza in Japan would be 1 + High (2) + High (3) = 6 points. Note that the Resources/Power increased, since the scope within the organization changed.

Re: Some help with a foe for a wind manipulator please I thought nature abhors a vacuum. As does my dog.

Re: Some help with a foe for a wind manipulator please

Re: Help get the heroes to the kidnapped Since you said "ostensibly by ARGENT" I'm guessing they aren't the real kidnappers. If they aren't, I'd arrange things so the feds are following the ARGENT angle while the PCs get a vital clue that can lead them to the true kidnappers. There's always the idea that Dad suspected something like this might happen, so he dropped a package in the mail, addressed to his lawyer with a note to contact the son if something happened to him. The package could have clues that the heroes could follow. A reporter could have some leads but is being shut out by the feds, so he/she might work with the heroes in exchange for an exclusive. Or one of Dad's coworkers, a brilliant but paranoid government-conspiracy sort, might go to the son or the heroes with information. Personally, I kinda like this one, just to have a fun NPC for the players to work with. "Sure, they say ARGENT kidnapped Dr. Dad, but everybody knows ARGENT is just a black-ops arm of the DoD, created after they had Kennedy assassinated..." The trail could lead to places that the son might know of, but the feds don't or might not think of immediately. (Like, Dad spent last weekend at Uncle Bob's cabin in the woods alone, so maybe he left something there. And when the PCs get there, so do some goons sent by the kidnappers looking for some of Dad's notes -- cue battle.)

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat And when you get in an accident because of the obstructed view, you say, "No problem, I'll just go back to my last save point."

Re: Why would I put Fast Draw on a superheroic character? Why put Fast Draw on a superhero? Well, if he needs to sketch a picture in a hurry... Oh, wait, not that kind of Fast Draw. Sorry, never mind...

Re: Answers & Questions Q: How can that hot woman be so cold-hearted? A: Twice a day, whether I need to or not.

Re: writers block Pick a theme, and make different characters based on that theme. For instance, I'm creating a supervillain group, Vermin, where the characters are all based on various vermin/insects/undesirable animals, and each of them have generally been rejected from other supervillain teams for whatever reason (grossness of powers or appearance, irritating personality, etc.). If you already have players with characters designed, take a long look at each one and make an arch-foe for each based on either that PC's powers, disads, or personality. Take an unusual situation and devise a character to fit the situation. For instance: Underground bank vault break-in -- so a tunneler would be interesting.

Re: Answers & Questions Q: So, what happened when your dad found out you took his car and got in an accident? A: I can fix it, all I need is some duct tape, a pine cone, and some semaphore flags.

Re: Teen adventure ideas? Great idea, Balabanto. Just for fun, if I was running this, I'd first have the other students nominate that PC (in secret ID) as their committee leader. Then they vote and decide on that PC (in hero ID) to honor. At THAT point, I would make the PC aware that, as that group's leader, it's his/her duty to present the award to the hero, aka him/herself.

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat Y'know, little lady, I got the name Mr. Fantastic because of my... Stretching prowess...

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat Y'know, there *is* a certain resemblance... Replace some fraying strings on his George W. puppet. NT: Ways Hillary Clinton will spend her free time this weekend.

Re: Answers & Questions

Re: Teen adventure ideas? Spring Fling: The school has a carnival, with practically all students in attendance (including PCs with NPC friends and girlfriends/boyfriends). Of course, that's when a supervillain (or group of them) decides to crash the party. Crosstown Rivals: A rival school begins pranking the PCs' school, anything from stealing the school mascot to outright property damage. Amid this, a friend/DNPC from the PCs' school decides to retaliate, a bit too excessively, and the PCs need to find a way to smooth things out. Food Fight: Somebody taints the cafeteria food (if it's possible to taint the already-tainted) with something that causes the students to become uncontrollably aggressive. This may well include the PCs, who must fight off strong urges to give rivals and bullies a well-deserved thrashing. School Parking: A PC's car is stolen from the parking lot... and it has the PC's spare costume inside (under the seat or in the back of a junk-filled trunk, somewhere not obvious). Now the PC must find the car before the police, or his secret's blown. I Spy: A female PC discovers she is being watched by a superpowered stalker. At this point, he has no idea she has powers, but it's only a matter of time. How can she get him to go away without revealing her secret?

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat Ummm... he's a video game store clerk. What other sign would you need?

Re: Weird request Okay, two pages on a thread about... the Fonz. I don't have HD -- did you include Contact: Mork (from Ork)?

Re: Answers & Questions Q: What does Ando dream about? A: Mr. Muggles, with a frying pan, in the library.

Re: My First Game of Champions! My first Champions game, 1983... The GM, Martin, had bought the game but never run or played it, so it was a learning experience for all. One of my housemates, Ted, had been invited and knew I played RPGs, so he invited me along. Other players that first game were Brian and Richard. The first session was spent solely in creating characters. Brian created a blind super-strong martial artist (Midnight); Richard made a stretching swordsman (Slash); Ted created a wind-controlling character (Silicon); and I came up with an M-16 wielding super soldier (Gregory Ichabod Jones, or GI Jones). None of us understanding the rules, we pulled my character's M-16 cost straight out of the book. First battle was on the quadrangle at the University of Michigan, a nice open area surrounded by the grad library, Angell Hall, the chem building, and various other university buildings. We fought some VIPER villains, including Brick. So, my first chance to attack: Me: I autofire at Brick. GM: Roll 3d6. Me: (roll) 8. GM: (hasty figuring) Okay, you needed a 13 to hit. That means you hit with... three bullets. Me: Okay, how much damage does this thing do? GM: (looking it up in the book) It says "2d6K (6d6)". So, I guess that's a 2d6 Killing attack. I rolled 2d6 three times, followed by three STUN mods, hurting Brick but not knocking him out. Me: What's the (6d6) part? GM: I dunno. Knockback, maybe? So I then rolled 6d6 three times, added it up... and sent Brick through the Chem building, across State Street, then into a jewelry store adjoining Nichol's Arcade. The process of smashing through three different walls put Brick into La-La Land. A total misreading of the rules, which ended up being figured out by the next time we played. But by that time, as others said, I was hooked.

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat

Re: Fifteen points of wealth is very justifiable

Re: Team Name Off the top of my head, going off the villain team's name (like Hermit did), I'd also suggest the Titans (since Prometheus was a Titan) or Atlas (brother of Prometheus). Personally, I prefer the second. Looking at the first initial of each team member, you could go with The Sparks, though the whole Prometheus-bringing-fire thing makes this not so good for me. For no reason other than I like the name: The Privateers.