Nuadha

Re: PBEM - RDU: The Mavericks - Example & Discussion LOL! I don't think that after that session, there is any doubt why I play Amber. (For those not in-the-know, my character had the dice turn completely against him in the final climactic battle of the dragons mini-campaign. So, what should have been the big exciting battle was over in a couple turns as I rolled failure after failure.)

Re: Comics you loved...but apparently no one else did Hey all, Coming late to the party. I was a HUGE fan of the whole Impact! Comics line. I collected them all, but apparently I was one of a few. My favorites were The Comet and The Fly. It was classic comics in the midst of the speculative period: a breath of fresh air. The most recent Spectre series with Hal Jordan was one of my favorite series ever. As a big fan of the Jim Corrigan Spectre, I went in expecting the worst and at first it seemed like I was correct to worry, but after the first two story arcs, the series really took off...too late, sadly.

Re: Storn's Art & Characters thread.

Re: Storn's Art & Characters thread. I wasn't referring at all to Greymankle's pic. That's his commission and his wishes should be respected. I was replying to the response about an earlier pic and the putting dibs on a pic. I guess that's the confusion that comes when I only catch up on the boards once every couple of weeks.....it gets a little confusing which one I am talking about. I wasn't referring to the use of the Hades pic in Mutants and Masterminds either. Neil was just saying that he was wanting to use the Hades pic at some point for his own NPC, not in Mutants and Masterminds. I agree that certain pics would completely become hands off after being used, particularly a long-running pc like Chango. There are sometimes that the picture gets to closely identified with the character. However, Neil uses a lot of pics that end up being one-use bad guys who may not even survive their first encounters with the PCs. Theres no reason a picture like that couldn't end up showing up in a game by Greymankle later as a different character.

Re: Storn's Art & Characters thread. As I just said to Neil regarding Storn's Hades pic which I am using for my character, Archon in Necessary Evil, there is no reason why a pic can't be used again in another campaign as another NPC. Different world, different person.

Re: Millenium City... Salt Mines? My Buffy campaign is set mainly in Ann Arbor with new characters as the PCs. The PCs are almost all U of M. students. Set after season 7, Buffy and Dawn are in Italy, Giles is in England, Xander recently went missing somewhere in South America (future plotline) and Willow and Kennedy are in Rio. The current plotline has to do with vamps in Detroit, so I've been doing my research.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... PC#1: She has mind control. PC#2: Doesn't all women? Me: Yeah, it's bought with a Focus....Obvious....usually Inaccessible.

Re: Freedom Force vs. The Third Reich Review I have a question for anyone who has played the game: I assume the game requires a lot of use of the mouse. Is it a game that I could possibly designate a lot of functions to a video game controller? I haven't been able to play much computer games lately because typing and mouse-clicking is painful for me due to tendonitis. However, using a PS2 controller instead of the keyboard has allowed me to still play City of Heroes. (I just don't talk much....strong, silent type and all.) I'm looking for other games that I could assign functions to game controller keys with but none of the PC games I look at will tell me that based on the box.

Re: Hurting opponents in specific ways My fault. I had misunderstood Neil when we spoke before and thought he did not approve of using linked. The problem with just buying a drain or transform is that the character is hitting his opponents, so damage should be applied as well. I like the idea of negative levels and I think that makes sense for Basil as well (although I realize that the negative levels is a MUST have for Lei....), although I am not sure if I like that as much as disabling someones abilities. The negative levels can only focus on one person at a time, right? So, if I "disable" someone by giving them negative levels, then I would need to reenable them in order to disable someone else. Knowing that you are OK with linked, I will probably buy a drain- Dex linked to a HtH attack (with the limitation that it only works on human and human-like creatures). That seems to fit. If I roll low on my hit, I only hit nerves with that strike but if I rolled high I managed to break a nose or something.

I have a character, Basile, who is a Captain America-type mixed with the ability to drain and mimic powers. (It's a 500 point game.) I picture him as the type that would hit someone in a way that would not only hurt them but hurt them in specific ways that reduce their effectiveness. For example, busting a bad guys nose to make it hard to see or breaking a bad guys arm so he can not use it. How can I build this for my character? My first thought is to buy a damage power and a transform or drain that is linked to the attack. However, I know that in the past, the GM has disapproved of the Linked limitation. Could I buy a transformation somehow else that only works on the turns that I hit them with a punch, requires no additional time or hit roll? I feel that the attack should not be bought as a straight transform or drain as it is meant to simulate an attack that was meant to break someone's nose, arm, etc..

Re: Millenium City... Salt Mines? I just remembered that I had been meaning to post this link to the HERO boards. I have been using it for planning my Buffy game sessions, set in Ann Arbor, MI which is about 20-30 minutes from Detroit. This site could also be really handy for a Millenium City GM: Mythic Detroit

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... Damn, Neil. You beat me to it. I guess, I'll share some recent quotes from my Buffy game, "Gillian the Vampire Slayer", instead. Episode 1.11 "Why is there a whole bunch of ice in the freezer?" -- GM, speaking for George "It's demon ice, don't ask." -- Andrew Episode 1.12 "I've got magic, I've got saving the world, I've got school.... My plate's full!" -- Amy to Gillian Episode 1.13 "(Dorian, the Vampire's) evil." -- Jarrod "He's not evil." -- Carla "He said he was evil." -- GM "Oh, I guess he's evil then." -- Carla "Are we a network show or are we on cable? Because there's been a lot of swearing going on tonight." -- John "This has been a cable show since episode one!" -- GM Episode 1.14 "If we combine...." -- Andrew, discussing strategies for fighting Levistus "If we combine, we can be two irritating gnats instead of one." -- Amy "I walk downstairs and I get shot...by my roommate?!?" -- Andrew to the group "It's college." -- Amy Episode 2.3 "When Gillian gets here we'll touch lightly upon this." -- Nigel to the group, regarding Gavin's disappearance "Gavin's been banished." -- Nigel, when Gillian arrives Episode 2.5 (THe special Valentine's Day episode) "Do you have any plans for Valentine's Day?" -- GM "Well, no boys have asked me out lately...who are living." -- Amy

Re: Millenium City... Salt Mines? One of the things I have always had fun thinking about ever since I was a kid was what if people built an underground city in the Detroit Salt Mines. I didn't read the linked article but from what I was told when I was a kid, there is more than enough room underneath Detroit for an underground city complex to be built down there. A Millenium City GM could have a ton of fun with the idea.

Re: Role play during combat I find it really hard to roleplay in combat. Personally, it is because of how much there is to keep track of and (the worst part) the divifing up of actions into turns and phases. Time does not flow naturally in combat and when a few seconds of time can take a half hour or more to play through it throws me off for roleplaying. I complely agree with ALMOST everything Neil said in his post....except for losing hex maps, minis, etc. This is a point he and I have disagreed about for a while. Certainly, you should not describe things in game mechanics except when necessary. However, I've found that using minis helps me tremendously to be able to roleplay. You see, whenever there are no maps, I will try mapping things out in my brain to the best of my ability. This distracts me from the roleplaying aspects and if I say, I punch thug #3 and the GM says, thug number 3 is too far away and I was picturing him close to me, I have a problem with the disconnect. Realizing that my mental map is not the same as the GMs, I find myself not assuming anything and asking a million questions trying to determine things like "How far away is thug #4?" With minis and maps, my brain doesn't have to worry about these things and more energy can be focused on roleplaying. It doesn't become a wargame to me, it just makes it easier not to confuse where things stand.

Re: Storn's Art & Characters thread. I really like her pose Storn! The costume is also very classy.

Re: Who was the LAMEST? G'Nort is meant as a joke, so I don't think he should even be considered. As far as characters who weren't meant as a joke, how about Dazzler, the disco light-show girl! Power-wise, the lamest had to be Jimmy Olsen, since not only he did not (usually) have superpowers....but he didn't even have any great skills like Lois Lane, who was a great investigative reporter (despite missing the biggest story around every issue).

Re: What Gold/Silver/Iron Age story or series do you love? Golden- Superman. I loved the early Superman who fought against corrupt politicians and businessman. Superman as social crusader was fun. I also really liked the GA Spectre stories. Silver- Once again- Superman. I loved the sense of adventure in the SA Superman comics. Bronze Age- Probably my favorite period. I loved Kirby's DC stuff from the 70's (particularly the Fourth World stuff), the Green Lantern/Green Arrow comics, Aparo's Spectre series and short-lived Ragman series. Iron Age- Superman again. The Byrne reboot and the years following it were some of my favorite comics. I also loved the Giffen Justice League International (JLA/JLE). Current- Currently, I'm really hooked on Aquaman, Green Arrow, Wonder Woman and Astonishing X-Men.

Re: Crisis of Infinite Foxbats The Swamp Foxbat One day Swamp Foxbat was splashed with strange chemicals and fell into a swamp. He didn't get any special powers, but now he hangs out in the swamp a lot and smells really bad.

Re: [iron] Why do you dislike the Four Color/Silver age (No Flames please) One of the things I'm really enjoying about recent comics (the last few years) is that it has really been walking the fine line between the silver age and iron age feels. With a few exceptions (Identity Crisis), most recent comics I have read have not been the dystopian "life is cheap" nightmares of the 90's and have shown a lot of respect to the cooler aspects of the silver age. I think its a good time to be a comic fan no matter which age you prefer.

Re: Your Dream Ultimate For Marvel, I'd love to see an Ultimate Moon Knight. I think he is the Marvel character with the most untapped potential. If DC were to start an Ultimate imprint, I'd love to see an Ultimate Superman series. For DC second-stringers, I think Ragman has never been properly explored.

Re: [iron] Why do you dislike the Four Color/Silver age (No Flames please) As a fan of Silver Age comics, I completely disagree that silver age was not about change. There was quite a bit of change in the Silver Age, indeed change was what began the silver age and while the heroes were always stalwart and true, their world and their supporting cast were often changed, usually by the addition of new and bizarre elements (like the Bottled City of Kandor or the yearly crossover with Earth-2). What there wasn't was the forced angst and violence of more modern comics. Superheroes did not find their girlfriends stuffed into their fridges. There wasn't the shades of grey. Heroes were good guys and villians were evil. (We knew this because they told us how evil they were.) Silver Age comics are pure escape-ism and there isn't anything wrong with that. Sure the heroes didn't change their personalities on a yearly basis as they tend to do in modern comics, but they didn't need to. In those days, heroes weren't flawed. (The only flaw Superman had in those days was a major case of Survivor's Guilt and even that wasn't played up that much. That being said, I enjoy all the ages of comics on different levels. For whatever reason, I tend to prefer the Bronze Age (1970's) the most, but that is a different subject. I love the shades of grey and the gritty worlds we see in comics sometime, but occassionally it's nice to have a bit more escapism (and appreciate the classicstories where modern comics came from).

Re: What is a Superhero to you? I was thinking of creating this spin-off thread myself.... First of all, the first thing that comes to mind when I hear superheroes is Superman. He is the archetype. A superhero to me is someone with extra-ordinary powers or abilities who use them in heroic acts to help people. Even if that superhuman power is an ability to shoot a bow extremely well and they kill bad guys with a bow, they are still superheroes. Most superheroes stories take place in a contemporary setting. By my definition, I would define some fairly non-standard characters as superheroes: Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a superhero. So is Angel. Using power far beyond normal men and women, they fight to protect humanity. Neo from the Matrix is a superhero. This should be obvious to anyone who has seen the movie and even more obvious by the second movie. Bulletproof Monk is a superhero. In fact, I would list Bulletproof Monk as one of the best superhero movies in recent years.

Re: Reconciling Manga & Batman Girl-type Ranma does seem faster and it makes sense she should be. She is smaller and more athletic than Boy-type Ranma. However, I've never seen it stated in the comic or anime whether this was a fact.

Re: Reconciling Manga & Batman This is turning into an extremely geeky conversation.....but....I can't help myself! Dick would certainly find out about the Jusenkyo curse. He was trained by the world's greatest detective after all! Sure, a dim-wit like Kuno may not be able to figure out the pig-tailed girl's connection to Ranma Saotome, but Dick is pretty bright. However, I don't think that it would give him much of an advantage. Girl-type Ranma may not be as strong as boy-type Ranma but other than that, Ranma retains all of his skill and training. Dick may be able to get a few punches in while a wet Ranma-chan screams "What 'dya do that for!?" but it wouldn't be enough to take Ranma down. As far as Neil's original question goes, I simply look at it this way: Characters who use their martial arts abilities beyond the levels of reality, such as many anime characters, are magic/martial arts characters who are using magical skills. They don't lessen the coolness of "naturals" because they are basically "cheating" by tapping into mystical energies rather than relying on just their reflexes and skills. Should someone like the Shadow who has trained has learned the art of "clouding mens minds" or Goku who has some sort of Super-Sayan powers (sorry, I don't know the term since I don't watch the show). They are hybrid characters.

Re: Code VS Killing Poll Yes there are different conventions whithin the genre of superheroes and Miller's Daredevil or Grell's Green Arrow is going to be extremely different from silver age Superman comics. If you want to say, "There are different sub-genres to superheroes and I prefer four-color games where heroes never kill and are never put in the situation where killing would be the only 'good' choice" then I'm with you. I love four-color comics. However, to say that stories in which super-powered heroes may have to make the choice to kill someone are not superhero stories, I have to disagree. nor, could I argue that superheroes shouldn't kill. Depending on the story being told and the character we are dealing with, killing may be appropriate. Do I want to see stories where Superman roasts every inmate in Arkham (or Stryker's) with his heat-vision? Heck, no. That isn't the type of stories I like to read about Superman. I want Superman to be the ideal. I want most of my four-color superheroes to me untarnished. That doesn't mean that superhero stories can't be told (and sometimes told well) with less than squeaky-clean superheroes too. In fact, in roleplaying I prefer roleplaying games where my superhero character can angst over the choice of whether to kill and if he chooses not to kill and because of his choice something horrible happens, I will enjoy my character suffering for that as well. In roleplaying it is interesting to play out those choices in a realistic manner and in real life it is never as clear cut as it is my Superman comics. Let's face it, if Supes existed in the real world, he's have to make a lot more tough choices than he makes in the comics and he would have plenty of reason to question his code. Does this mean he wouldn't keep his code against killing? No, I believe he would. He would just have to constantly deal with the guilt and self-doubt when the Parasite escapes again and goes on another killing spree that he could have prevented.