Pental

Re: Must use villains

*snort* In our campaign, Bulldozer just became the heir to the throne of Sealand...and all that that (diplomatic immunity) entails.

Re: What Age are we in now

I said it before...Fondant age.

Cuz it looks cool, but really has no substance.

Oh, and it tastes like the candy circus peanuts.

Re: What Age are we in now

It's the Reboot Age.

 

First rule of Reboot...don't talk about Reboot.

Re: Best and worst jobs for Superheroes

Gronds Manicurist

 

Dr Destroyers shrink

 

Working for the IRS

Ha ha...we had a game where one of the PC's did become Destroyer's shrink.

That was...intense to say the least.

So most heroes have secret ID's...and a lot of heroes have day jobs.

So the big question is, what are the best and worst jobs for heroes to have?

I think Peter Parker has an ideal job for a superhero; any job that involves you being out in public and out from under the boss's watchful eye would probably be good.

Worst job would probably be 'McDonald's drive thru operator'.

Any more?

Re: Repackaging Character Disadvantages

Advantages, for one thing, are a Power Construct.

 

Yeah, that was more of a rhetorical question…ah rhetoric…doesn’t anyone here remember rhetoric?

I’m still of the KISS school of design (keep it simple, stupid), that was all I was saying. So re-naming concepts like disads is just going to compicate future editions, etc.

Besides, I’ve yet to meet a player who’s really into role playing (as opposed to just smashing villains) who isn’t really really exited by a good juicy disad. And they like them being ‘disads’. It makes them…special.

For instance, the angst-monkey player whose family was wiped out by DEMON…and takes a 20 point ‘hunts DEMON’ disad.

Or the humorous: I’m a test pilot for a new flying suit, but I am afraid of heights!

Or the tragic: I’m an electric girl, and by gosh, I’m going to take double body from metallic attacks.

Kindly GM: you realize that knives and bullets are metal?

“Yes, I do, and I want it anyway!”

Most players LIKE disads, as long as they know they will garnish them lots of role playing time.

I think the original question was about not calling them disads, per se, but I think we've actually gotten away from the question at this point.

Re: Repackaging Character Disadvantages

You'd be surprised. I've had a CvK of mine start plots in two campaigns. In one' date=' the CvK came up after a bad set of rolls killed some gang members - that turned into a long running subplot dealing with my PC going to pieces over it. In the other, we had a (sentient) monster that was laying eggs. Since killing the hatchlings would have been murder, the team had to find some other way to deal with the issue, which took up a fair amount of plot.[/quote']

 

Yeah, but in my mind I'm still breaking that kind of thing down to motivator/quirk or personality trait vs. an actual plot hook like a hunted by.

I consider myself to have a code vs. killing, and if I were to kill someone in the course of my day, I'd feel awful about it.

But the chance to kill someone accidentally as a hero always exists. It's probably going to happen at some point, and will need to be explored further, but to call it 'plot hook' seems kind of a stretch.

 

I think it's important for the GM to enforce the fact that disads should be disadventagous yes, but also 'character defining'.

And of course, every disad should eventually be explored and utilized in plot, otherwise it's not worth the points spent on it.

 

I definately won't be reheading all the character sheets with 'plot hook' vs. disad. For that matter, what are 'advantages' called at that point?

Re: New Campaign Help

Ooohhh...I loved that show. But I don't considered most of the characters to be 'average' joes. You had a computer genius, an awesome pilot, a great hand-to-hand fighter, and a skilled pick-pocket (mind you, I haven't thought about the show in years). Are you thinking about going skills heavy? It might help them stick together, or unify the group if you did.

Re: Repackaging Character Disadvantages

I don't think all disads fall under 'plot hook' though. A code vs killing or x2 stun from electricity is less of a plot hook than say, Watched by Dr. Destroyer.

Re: Opinions: A 'Hero' Stealing Their Gear.....????

We had a hero that did that in an old campaign...he had ancient mystical armor that he aquired from his museum. Eventually he ended up going on the run, because the country of origin sued for the armor's return, and he refused to give it back. Made for an interesting 'pops up in various cities to do good then disappears into the mists' character.

Re: What Age are we in now

Fondant Age.

Re: Top Signs You Need to Rethink Your Playing Style....

When you join a 4 color group and say "I want to play the Punisher."

The kindly GM says "Oh, you want a guy with guns as his means of attack?"

and you say:

"No, I want to play the Punisher."

Re: Do you use miniatures?

This thread sent me looking through my miniatures collection. I just saw on Ebay that someone wants 200 bucks for their Watchmen box of figures. If I'd have known they might go for that, I'd have never made Nite Owl into Dr. Destroyer 15 years ago!

Re: Do you use miniatures?

We use lead/pewter/plastic minis. In fact, no one gets into combat without a painted figure. Ever. We're picky that way. Then again, my dear husband draws a 'cover' for every game, so we're just crazy artsy/craftsy people like that.

We were fortunate to start our collection of minis way back when, so we have multiple copies of the old Marvel/DC/original Champions figs. However, metal supers have become harder to come by as of late (the current stuff from the D20 is meh...hard to customize). I have used quite a few generic fantasy figs as well, chopping off swords, etc...especially because a naked female slave girl can very easily be turned into spandex clad super female with a coat of paint.

The best thing about metal figs is this: a character leaves, or changes his costume? Drop the figure, painted in acrylic paints, into the 'dip'...dip being Pine Sol. About 24 hours later, the paint is bubbled and peeling, and with a little scrubbing, the figure is clean and ready to be painted fresh.

We are slowly adding the plastic Hero Clix into the mix, but I haven't really painted any of them yet, and I'm wondering if I'll need something other than acrylic to prime them.

Re: What are "vitals"

I think we've always considered the 13 area to be anything around the area of the pelvis, not necessarily just the genital region.

Reminds me of this kid in our ER a few years ago who'd customized his BMX bike with some pipes on the back axle. Fell off, fell straight down and severed his femoral artery. Thankfully they life-flighted him to Metro and he didn't die.

That's a shot to his 13 that he's going to remember for the rest of his life.

Re: Champions Of The North

"Pop" for "soda pop" is a Canadianism, probably flowing south over the border from Winnipeg.

 

That actually sorta makes sense as to why people in Cleveland, OH call it pop...its the proximity to Canada.

 

I had to be retrained by my "cool" new friends in Cleveland when I moved here from Pittsburgh in 1987.

(I wanna soda...*bang* No, you wanna POP!)

Re: Was the GM right or wrong in limiting my Gadgeteer?

I'm not sure of the mechanics in M&M...when we've run characters in Hero system that have power pools, they've fallen into the following categories:

-mages who are entirely power pools (the player needs to have great understanding of point values, advans, disads, and be able to calculate them quickly - this has only been played once or twice in our group in the 15 years I've been playing with the GM)

-mages who have set spells (multipowers) and then 5 or 10 point power pools. The power pools can be changed mid-combat, but usually with a phase to change them (and with incanting, gestures, etc).

-and guys with arsenals.

Our guy Tom runs Corsair, a guy with an arsenal, who has a power pool but he has to state before combat what guns/devices he's taking into combat. I don't believe he can change anything on the fly.

However, half the fun of a MacGyver character should be that he can make what he needs in short order, when he needs it.

So, not understanding the mechanics of your game, if it was Champions, I'd ask for some defined powers (say Teckie has a phaser, a flight belt and a force field generator), and then a small power pool that you could utilize to come up with something helpful in combat on the fly. Maybe you have to carry a bag of 'stuff to build with'. Obviously defined as wire coat hangers, duct tape, rubber bands and some small transistors. Oh, and a coconut...is there anything the Professor couldn't make with a coconut?

Re: Disney Princesses

Do your friends post here?

Nope...good thing or I'd have really spoiled the fun.

I think that Alice in Wonderland has all sorts of possibilities as a whole organization, especially the Queen of Hearts and her court. It would seem ideal for Dark Champions the Animated Series.

Re: Disney Princesses

My husband sits here weeping because he already built the Disney Princess team (too much time spent looking at the daughter's poster I guess).

He has:

Mulan - martial artist with a sword

Belle - sonic powers

Cinderella - fire powers

Sleeping Beauty - mentalist

Tinkerbell - shrinker with pixie dust e-blast

Jasmine - martial artist

Ariel - submariner type

He was hoping to run them against our friends who don't have little girls to see how long it took them to figure out who they were based on.

Re: PA water supply

I would think no, only because without electricity to keep the pumps going, there would be no water pressure.

The city of Cleveland ran into that exact problem during the big black out a few years ago. They didn't have back up power for the pumps and about 12 hours in, we had no water pressure.

However, if you had a well, you might be able to rig up a hand pump...but long showers would be a thing of the past.

Re: How would you build this ability...?

GM Tim says he'd build it one of two ways:

make the plasma a multipower which is ablative (so it would bleed off over time) or build it as a focus with the special affect of plasma; then you would be able to attack the focus.

Re: writers block

Grab a dictionary or thesaurus. Look at words for potential names and apply characteristics and powers accordingly. Just did that a month ago and came up with Fade...a character who goes desolid and whose offensive powers are a suppress and desolid usable on others linked. She touches the bad guy and over a space of a few phases, the villain loses corporeal form and the ability to interact with his environment. The villain comes back in short order, but for the first few phases, yowsa.