assault

I think that's enough. I'm sure some others will show up. I've already got most of it written up. I'll get the rules written up tomorrow. Let's start Friday, northern hemisphere time. (Saturday my time, but I'll work something out.)

I had a conversation with a friend today. There is no way we could art enough together to publish together. There is no way a non-hack artist would be able to do this work.

The obvious question is: do they make a profit, and how? How many units do they sell, and for what price?

Is it too late to start one? Would anyone be interested? I've got an idea that might work, and lots of time to run it. I'm thinking: Swords and Sorcery. Player created characters and world. A shared world would be interesting, but might be too much work. Probably only needs half a dozen players. More would be fine of course.

I dislike Schools of magic unless they have a reason for existence aside from blowing things up. Generally, I have a set of basic combat and utility spells most spellcasters know. They are intentionally quick and easy to use, and are considered to be the lowest form of magic. Not coincidentally, these are the spells Player Characters learn. I go for about 40 Active Points. I treat Limitations with the same seriousness that I treat them in superhero games, so spells with more than about -1/2 get messed with pretty seriously. Unfortunately, this is a nuisance for both me and the players.

Diphtheria identified in two children in northern New South Wales, one child in ICU I considered putting this in the COVID thread, since it is (non)vaccination related. In this context, "northern New South Wales" means "hippie belt", with the associated low vaccination levels.

"It was a tactical, small unit wargame for superheroes!" There's the rub. If Champions had been designed as "a tactical, small unit wargame" for, say, fantasy games, the system would have been different. A least some of Hero's barnacles stem from its roots in Champions. The Speed Chart is a good example. Before Champions, about the only game that I can think of that had anything like it was Starfleet Battles. Few other games since have anything like it either. That suggests very strongly that "a tactical, small unit wargame" that isn't Champions, doesn't need it. There's a bunch of other stuff - Presence, Knockback, END/Recovery, the split between PD and ED, the emphasis on Stun versus Body... - that are quite happily absent in other attempts at such games. In terms of learning curve, Hero has made a rod for its own back. But you can't easily get rid of them either, if you want something that is recognizably Hero.

Of course, just because something was written for 4th Edition doesn't mean that it can't be used with other editions. The changes between 4th and 5th were fairly minor in this respect. 6e requires you to pay a little more attention, but 4e material is still useful. This also applies to the 3e version, although it was much rougher around the edges.

Apparently strikes can work. Who knew? NSW government backflips on union demands in a bid to end train dispute

I've been looking at building a compressed Hero based game on and off for a couple of years. It's very hard to cut down the crunch without creating a hopelessly crippled version of the run time game. That's with a "here are your character options, pick one" approach to character generation. Partly, though, it's because I have been looking at the fantasy genre. Superheroes, with the simpler set of optional combat rules, might work better - but of course it's harder to set a satisfactory range of character options. A lot of my problem is that I have set myself an impossible target in terms of page count - I want it to be readable by someone with a very short attention span. The funny thing is that the Fuzion spinoff, Wildstrike!, has the kind of page count I am looking for. But mechanically that's a bit further than I am willing to go. I'll mention Champions Now as a near-miss in terms of being a "to the point" version of Champions. It has a lot of the "how to play superheroes" in it, but buried it in lots of superfluous prose, and accompanied it with examples that makes it seem like a game of tedious play of low-powered anti-heroes. Mechanically, it handles 60s Marvel, and DC series like the Doom Patrol, perfectly. But you would have to have seen the playtest drafts to appreciate that. So a game perfectly suited to Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four looks like a game of "roleplaying" business meetings... I'm currently looking at a game that isn't directly Hero based, but which is designed for drunk people to read, and which has art, poetry or both on every second page, and a one page summary of the rules at the back.

Census 2021 data shows Australians are less religious and more culturally diverse than ever "For the first time, fewer than half of Australians identified as Christian, though Christianity remained the nation's most common religion (declared by 43.9 per cent of the population). Meanwhile, the number of Australians who said they had no religion rose to 38.9 per cent (from 30.1 per cent in 2016). The data also shows almost half of Australians had a parent born overseas, and more than a quarter were themselves born overseas."

Rugby League. State of Origin II: NSW Blues hammer Queensland Maroons at Perth Stadium to set up decider What State of Origin is.

In personal news, I misgendered a young, although very drunk, person today. This has nothing to do with the following stories. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-06-23/latest-news-the-loop-quantum-computing-mining-westminster-dog/101177418?utm_campaign=abc_news_web&utm_content=link&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_source=abc_news_web

All my Champions characters, regardless of edition, are 2e characters at heart. My Heroic level characters, regardless of genre, are essentially Justice Inc. characters. The biggest time soak for me is coming up with Disadvantages/Complications. That's where you get to the heart of "who is this character?". Even there, though, you can do a rough draft version, and then go back and fill in the details. I'll resist the temptation to build a character in real time here. Let's just say that a 2e character, built on the suggested 225 points, consists of: 100 points of characteristics (mainly Dex, Spd and Con, with anything left over going into PD or ED), 100 points of powers (Attack, Defenses, Movement and maybe a miscellaneous one), plus 25 points on "other stuff" (I generally include Int, Pre and a Skill). You might need to look at your endurance usage, and do a bit of optimization, but you can get a good first draft in a matter of minutes. Then there's Disadvantages. See my comments above. If you keep it simple, and a more complex character is not a more interesting character, and you are past the initial learning curve, 2e Champions characters are actually pretty easy. Subsequent editions don't really change that, although they have more fiddly bits to muck around with. A couple of things from later editions can help - the lower endurance costs can save you some time, and the toning down of the highly swingy Stun lottery from Killing Attacks makes "bulletproof" characters a lot easier - but the tactical quirks of endurance management and "lucky hits" can be features, rather than bugs. My point: 2e does what it does perfectly well. There's not a lot of benefit in the later "improvements". (1e works too, but you have to choose not to take advantage of the gaping loopholes.)

That would explain a lot.

‘For the moment’: New fast food fears as cabbage prices spike amid shortages The world was stunned when Australia’s fast food chains were forced to make a change to their burgers as vegetable prices soared. Now they’re facing a new threat.

One of the early results of the new government in Australia is an energy crisis. A bunch of poorly maintained coal power stations were out of action when demand for electricity peaked. Naturally every coal fondler is blaming the use of renewables for that. The more Fox News types are using this to justify nuclear power in the country of sun and wind.

The question has answered itself. I'd love more feedback, though. Who was the idiot who did the magic?

The hero is a homage to Cu Chulainn. He died in a legendary battle a long time ago. His tomb is a local shrine, where people still gather to feast. The bit in which he is buried is sealed off of course. The rest is basically a feasting hall. Generally speaking, a couch is left empty for him, and maybe his charioteer. It's considered unlucky for women to sleep there, unless they want to get mysteriously pregnant. Who wants him back? A complete idiot, because he was a notorious berserker. Who is supposed to be impressed when he bursts out? Anyone who sees it. See the post by L. Marcus. Will the PCs have to fight him? It depends. Maybe they could avoid conflict with an insane demi-god, or even ally with him. That would be wise, but maybe not possible. His actual return is the worst case, and thus inevitable. Fine, here's some other details: his mother's name was Blue Martha. (It sounds better if you don't translate it into English.) That's probably "blue" in the Irish Gaelic sense. When he was young, he was given a female name and forced to wear a dress. (Trans and Black - why not?) His charioteer is white and Cis - they were foster brothers and blood brothers. No more than bromance between them. His spear is an area effect Killing Attack. Think Yondu from Guardians of the Galaxy.

Obviously the charioteer died in the same battle. The next question is: what bonus to his Presence attack does he get when the wall of his tomb collapses from the inside, and he rides out? Remembering that he is both legendary and long dead...

I'm getting more attached to the chariot option. The hero is increasingly looking like a homage to Cu Chulainn, so... I need to think a little more about why his charioteer is there.

The tomb of an ancient Hero is outside the city. Not only is he buried there, so is his mount or vehicle. I can't quite decide whether to give him just his horse, or go with a pair of horses and a chariot. And maybe his driver (a lesser hero/sidekick). Naturally there is a chance of him coming back to life. I'd go with the chariot option on aesthetic grounds, but it makes the tomb larger, and chariots are a pain to run. What would you choose, and why?

Your spellcaster encounters someone with, say, schizophrenia. How would they help them? Give them Dried Frog pills? Exorcise the evil spirits possessing them? Something something move healing energies around... No treatment. The prophetic visions are worth it. No treatment. Confine or supervise them as gently as possible. No treatment. Get them a Vagabond's License and pray they don't harm themselves or others, or be harmed. Cast a blah blah Transform blah blah blah spell. Incinerate them with your Fire Magic. "Healing Flames? That will do the trick!" Something else. Obviously, this relates to how magic works in your campaign. That's why I'm asking!

I suggest that you ask the question in the Company Questions forum.

Superhero 2044 (originally just Superhero 44) was more or less contemporary with The Fantasy Trip. Point based and superhero themed. And practically unplayable without major house ruling. Thinking about it, a better point based superhero game was more or less inevitable, if only as an extension of the house ruling required to play SH 2044. And the inevitable game we got was Champions. --- Trivia: SH 2044 was inspired by a D&D campaign, which featured superheroes. The DM was John M. Ford.