drunkonduty

Re: Moving Violation Knight Rider: would use the suite of hi-tech scanners built into her power armour to look for any unusual radiation/energy signatures. Then she'd take the data to her scintist sister, since Knight Rider no idea how to read the scanner's data.

Re: My Players looted the room Oh there'll be repercussions. (no cameras but they were seen near the scene and the cops are keen to talk to them.) It's just the knee jerk DnD-ism that makes me sad.

Just need to vent really. Playing the other day the heroes break into an apartment to look for clues as to who was selling the stolen art works. Then they looted the room. Ripped open the safe, took the diamonds and barer bonds. Stole a few art works themselves. The silver cutlery. Wrapped it all up in the silk bed sheets and had the telekinetic lift it out the window to their (rented)van. sigh. Ya just can't kick the DnD out of some people.

Re: Fantasy or Pulp? Written by Vondy: Overall, I agree. I would also include being written from a simplistic anglicized moral worldview. If it crosses the line into social commentary, philosophical speculation, or takes too much care to get the details right, its probably not pulp. Excepting, of course, the appearance of its characters, especially women, and going gew-gaw over weaponry minutiae. Use of bold themes, metaphor and allegory, or deep characterization is also outside the normative pulp style. I like this. I agree that, when taken at it's broadest, as has been done in this thread, pulp is more a style than a genre. But I think within that an argument can be made that a narrower definition of a Pulp genre can be made: the one with jet packs and zeppelins and fiendish Nazis. Sorry for the wishy washy response but I spent 2 years of my arts degree arguing genre conventions with people and the one solid conclusion I came to was that genre as a concept is utterly subjective. Oh, there are elements that most people agree are typical of a genre, some folks will even say necessary, but there'll be at least one person out there who'll disagree and be able to provide an example to back up their argument. So anyone else's definition of a genre is at best going to be only a rough fit with your own definition of a genre. So at best I think genre is a good short hand to convey a rough idea about a narrative. When using genre in this way I tend to add a lot of generic caveats. For instance, Vondy, I might decide to define your campaign idea as 'historical romance, with pulpy overtones and a touch of otherworldy mystery/horror.' As long as the correct(ish) idea is conveyed all is good. The real definition will come out in play. Cheers.

Re: Love for Non-Casters? Markdoc. I love the "Gifts" idea you outlined above. Specifically the bit where you say people can give Gifts to others. It immediately made me think of the placing of curses/geases on characters when they break some taboo or cause some great offence. Like a guest who breaks guest-right or an oath breaker. Am thinking allowing a character to immediately use any unspent XPto create a curse in the right circumstances. Something like: Major Transform; xd6. 1 non-recoverable charge. Target must have broken a taboo/oath. Power of the Curse must be commensurate with the offence. Heals back through fulfilling a geas or balancing the offence. Is there some way to model making it able to abort to it? Well, not in the rules per se, but thinking maybe a house rule to allow someone to pronounce a dying curse when they've been betrayed. Anyway, just riffing. Must away to work. cheers.

Re: Back from the Dead...with a friend Knight Rider would not cope with being brought back from the dead in the literal sense. Refuses to believe in this magic mumbo-jumbo despite the evidence. Once the personal death was proven to be some supernatural being/occurence she'd probably curl up into a ball of post-traumatic stress. If she was a clone (rather than a literal resurrection) then the personal death would have to be some sort of hoax or illusion. Alternate timelines would not occur to her.

Re: A Gift? Knight Rider, power armoured UNTIL cop - Hasn't been played enough to have a rogues gallery. :-( But some day I hope she's on VIPER's most wanted list. And in that case: scan the package with everything she's got. She has a pretty good sensor array. Assuming it scans clear take it somewhere where damage will be minimal then open it. (She would probably not spot conventional explosives.) Just like to say: Temptation is an BRILLIANT thing to put in a present. Am imagining a plot line in which the Devil (or similar) starts making moves on some hero at Christmas.

Re: There's A New Sheriff In Town Ah well, assault, I think you and I are going to have to agree to disagree on this one. My character isn't going to assume certain genre conventions are going to kick in (ie: karma will get her.) And I, as a player, don't see much between killing and a memory wipe. And if, IF mind, the memory wipe is kinder than killing there is a still kinder option and that is guidance. CvK suggests to me that you should be opting for the kindest option. But I do see where you're coming from, the responses you favour would be genre appropriate for Silver Age. I would find myself kickin' against the genre in this case. (I'm not very silver age, what can I say?) cheers.

Re: There's A New Sheriff In Town Mmm. Not seeing the 'she has to die' thing. I hear your point about her being 'out of place' but that's her role as a villain after all. I just don't think that killing her (or damn close: eternal hot sleep, memory erasing and power suppression are all pretty extreme) is the only possible response here. In fact I'd say killing her is all a bit Old Testament/Eye for an Eye morality of the sort you'd get in Iron Age stuff. Heroes with CvK should be looking at a kinder, gentler approach. And even if the Universe gets her in a karmic sort of way that's just the GM doing the same thing (going all Old Testament) using a deus ex machina. Which comes of as preachy. Not to mention who plays RPGs so the GM can solve everything with a deus ex machina? So, to re-state: a character with a CvK should not be gunning down a child (again: diminished responsibility) who has committed crimes, even serial murder.

Re: There's A New Sheriff In Town My UNTIL power armoured cop would, calmly and quietly, talk to the kid and explain that what she is doing is not good. She would be careful to explain that she, my character, is a Cop and therefore a Good Guy(Girl) and work from there. She is a cop so she would have to try and bring the kid in, but with words. And would argue on the side of diminished responsibility. Maybe try to get the kid enrolled in one of those schools for mutants she's heard about in lieu of a sentence. Um, did I miss something? Why are so many folks assuming this is some vengeful spirit? Why not a mutant whose powers have manifested early? Or any other super hero motif for that matter. Maybe she's a super genius and designed that a Power Tutu she's wearing?

Re: Confusion Field Hey! The Sound and the Fury is a classic. Won the Nobel Prize for Literature, IIRC.

Re: Tornado Summoning Actually I quite like the Summon idea. A big, desol critter with wind powers. Maybe it's an automata. If it is uncontrolled then talk it out with the GM to decide what sort of things your Wind Elemental is likely to do when summoned. It's one of those best to be on the same page things. Truth be told it's probably cheaper and easier to go with the AoE TK that's been mentioned. But I do like the Elemental idea... might just have to borrow that.

Re: Things You'd See in a World Full of Supers... A boom in Spandex sales. Not to mention, with all that Spandex lots more packages and camel toes on display. Seriously, consider the results of having a large base of super hero super-fans dressing like their idols. Spandex might look good on Mighty Guy but what about Flabby McFanboy, whose only super power is an ability to hoover up cheap burritos? More seriously we'd... Um. Serious... I'll have to have a think and get back to you on that.

Re: Toxic I think she's awesome. I do wonder about the Ghostly Countenance. I assumed it would be a costume. But the power description makes it seem like a spell of some sort. Also she could probably do with Profession Skill: Doctor (or Research Scientist or whatever her day job is.) And maybe Chemistry and Bio Chemistry and such. And the Scientist, er, skill enhancer (?or is it a perk?) ANd, just a thought, how about LS: Immunity to Toxins bought as antivenin that she can inject herself with. So not a constant Life Support. Something like focus, with charges and some sort of limited duration. Mmm, maybe easier to buy as an Aid only offset the effects of poison. You could easily put it in the Multipower.

Re: Trams Cool. Thanks for that. I might try and make Cancon next year. Long weekend and all.

Re: Trams Ya know, I only live a few hours away I've never been to Canberra. But I'm sure you hear that a lot. All my Canberran friends have. Just curious, but is there much in way of gamign to be had in our nation's captial? Let alone HERO?

Re: Villainess Romance Appeal? Well I don't know if it's cheating or not but I can say it strikes me as pretty bloody typical. I'm going to go off and grumble in a corner by myself. With beer.

Re: Villainess Romance Appeal? Well there's a long tradition of 'the girl villain isn't that bad' in comics and related genres (like Pulp.) A good example is Catwoman in the old 60's Batman TV series if you've ever seen that. Or the Michelle Pfeiffer Catwoman from the 1987 movie. The two have different reasons for why they aren't so bad. 1960s Catwoman is really just a bit naughty. Michelle Pfeiffer Catwoman is driven to psychotic breakdown. One is not responsible for her actions (because of the psychotic breakdown) the other is but she's just so darn cute we forgive her her little pecadillos, like stealing stuff and putting us in death traps. And if anyone is going to pull off a last minute rescue of the Hero you can bet it's the Evil Emperor's daughter, the Spoiled But Beautiful Princess, who will turn to Good for love of the chisel jawed Hero. The real crunch in these situations comes when the Hero goes back to his Girl Next Door Sweetheart: what does the SBBP do then? Does she meekly accept it or does she get all stabby? It's counterpart is that bad women are so much worse than bad men. Trying to think of a really good example... how about Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction. Not really comics but definitely cliched enough. Not sure where it comes from, it is a bit sexist and patronising really. All part of that women on a pedestal thing if you ask me. Or more broadly the Madonna/Whore complex. But I'm getting into a very broad and deep area of Women's Studies and this isn't the place and I'm not the person to get into that big a discussion. You've got two bad girls here: you can have one go each way. The obvious choice would be Infernis being really Evil Bunny Boiler and Multi-girl just being misguided/a bit naughty but will grow up/has legitimate reasons for being a villain. But going against the obvious is fun too. Another thought: what is Sgt. Superior going to say when he discovers Harry is 3-timing (or is that 10 timing?) his daughter? hope this helps. Off to work now but will check back on the thread later. cheers.

Re: Invisibility vs. Sight Well, Mainman, there's been plenty of good explanations already but I suspect your argumentative player is unlikely to listen to any explanation. But I've got some time to kill so here's another one you may like to try: The Invisibility vs. Sight is passive: it does NOT effect the senses of the onlooker; it effects what is sensed. ie: The character does not reflect visible light for some reason, it does not blind the onlooker. (To effect the senses of the onlooker take Flash.) But the character DOES reflect radar waves. This reflection is then picked up by the radar array. The radar array then interpolates said signal and projects it onto a screen which is seen by the onlooker, whose senses are working just fine thank-you. So if Inviso-dork (I assume that's the character's name. If not it should be) were to be standing right in front of the radar screen the radar operator would not see Inviso-dork but but would see the dot on the screen. Just read the rule your mate's misinterpreting. It's discussing Senses being effected. Technically this is not what Invisibility does. (see above) Of course my first thought on reading your problem was to reach out and give that person a good clip over the ear. cheers

Re: Trams Well that is so cool. I might have to wander over towards Randwick and check this out in person. BTW: nice to see another person in my locale who's into the pulp thing. cheers.

Re: Villians Unite For a new campaign I'm just starting up: The Mutant Liberation Army. As they sound, the MLA are a politically motivated organisation that resists the persecution of mutants. They have a secret island base in the Carribbean from which they launch their campaign to protect mutant-kind. I've drawn up 11 villains, the boss built on about 900 points (not including followers or base) and 10 followers all built on the same starting points as the PCs (350.) The idea is not to use all of them at once of course but to give some tactical depth to the group and allow for different sorts of combat challenges as well as internal stresses on the team. I'm also using GENOCIDE (from the 4th ed. book of that name) as a counterpoint to the MLA with the PCs in the middle.

Re: Giant Crab vs. Dragon Tank? Well the crabs are unusually intelligent. Generals, famously not so much. So my money's on the crabs.

Re: Who would be the Super Heroes of your region? El Nina/El Nino. A transgender mutant with weather control powers. S/he changes gender as s/he changes the weather. The more pronounced the change to the weather the more pronounced the change to gender.

Re: what gives your pulp its pep? Gun fights from the running boards of cars speeding through the dark night. Pin stripe suits with big shoulders. Aviatrices. Nazi ubermensch getting their well deserved come-uppance. And another thumbs up for Tales of the Gold Monkey!

Re: Top 5 Champs books of all time 1: VIPER: Coils of the Serpent. Loved it. Not all of the back story (Serpent Gods and such) but back story is easy enough to change. But great detailing of the organisation and the people who go into it. And the toys! Oh the toys! Got me back into Champions after a long break. 2: Pulp Hero. I love pulp. 3: Gadgets and Gear. Now when someone says I want a Gadget Pool I can say 'Sure. Get your gadgets from this book, please.' No time wasted while people do the sums. 4: The Mystic World. I just the idea of higher planes being based on concepts from William Blake. 5: Villainy Amok. A great look at some classic tropes. A good read in and of itself.