Ragdoll

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

I'm posting this here ionly because I couldn't find the 'interesting pictures' thread, sorry.

 

Something that is cool yet strange: fursuit bowling.

 

Just do a search for 'fursuit bowling' on YouTube sometime. It's so utterly bizarre, and I say this as someone who likes fursuiters. Then again, who knows? This might be Reality TV's next big hit!

*watches*

...

This is possibly the coolest thing, on the face of the earth.

*looks over at you*

Perhaps we should watch more.

XD

Thought some of the Star Hero folks would like this. It's a star map made out like the london tube transit system. Snazzy.

http://a.fsdn.com/sd/firehose/009/255/192-1.png

that's the picture

http://science.slashdot.org/story/10/02/03/1647245/Tube-Map-Created-For-the-Milky-Way

and there's the article.

Enjoy.

Re: Plasma Rocket!

Trips to moon in a matter of hours instead of days... MmmmmHmmmm! It's a step in the right direction.

That was my first thought. Even if it's not used to go to Mars, it would make the exploration, colonization and exploitation of the Moon much easier. =)

Is this cause for hurray? =? I would really hope so? =)

http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2010/01/07/tech-space-plasma-rocket-nautel.html?ref=rss

How would one stat that out in Star Hero? =)

Re: Where oh Where has Storn Gone?

I can only assume he's crazy busy right now' date=' since he had to turn us down for work on Ultimate Base. dw[/quote']

 

I think we all know where Storn is now.

 

He's tied to a chair somewhere 'deep' in HERO headquarters.. with only his drawing hand free.. and watched over carefully.. hence the penalty for turning down Darren! *jokes*

Re: Cryptic to develop Neverwinter Nights MMO?

Interesting, but any game would have been soundly defeated by EQ at the time, remember, EQ was the 'statistical' anomaly WoW is today, it was literally the 800lb Gorilla in the room.

AC2. I'll go with you on that. But the same could be said for City of Heroes, and people are still playing it, though it can be argued the game wasn't the success it was hoped it would be.

Lord of the Rings isn't near the chopping block or even within distance of the chopping block to be seen by spy glass. Sorry, can't agree with you. LoTR is a fine game, it's got a lot of going for it. Again, it's just not going to bring in 'WoW' numbers. Right now 'Nothing' is.

DDO, I'm playing it now. And yeah I think you are basing it on the beta and launch. I'd call it alot of things, but simple isn't one of them. It's one of the most complete PnP to CRPG conversions of the D&D rule set I've seen to date. Including things like Baldur's Gate and NWN, which really didn't do a lot of things with the PnP rule set it should have.

All in all, I can see by your own admission that you've got a pretty heavy bias against turbine. And that's fine by me, we've all got our biases. But I think that bias will color any real objective discussion of who's at fault here, so I think I'll leave the rest of this discussion to others. =)

Well look at Turbine's track record:

 

Ashron's Call: Not a bad MMO given it's time, but was soundly defeated by the original Everquest

 

Ashron's Call 2: An abysmal failure. They really didn't get much right with this one. They pulled half of what players they did have off of Ashron's Call making sure neither game had enough people to support it. Then in a sudden resurgence, they released an expansion to Ashron's Call 2 promising more expansions were on the horizon. They waited until sales on the expansion dried up, then announced the closer of the game.

 

Lord of the Rings: The name alone should have brought them in in droves. The poor execution of the game has it near the chopping block.

 

DDO: Now take a GOOD look at DDO, I thought this was an absolutely horrible game. I haven't played it in awhile (although now that it's free I may take a look at it) so my assessment comes from the initial release (actually beta, never bought the game). They made the game as simple as they possibly could and still call it D&D. There was no exploration, nothing over level 10, added mini levels to give people that "instant gratification" feeling.

 

I dunno, I have heard Atari is a PITA to work for, but I know I'll never trust Turbine.

Re: Cryptic to develop Neverwinter Nights MMO?

Anyone care to do a little google foo and see if they can did up any previous instances of Atari rogering it's properties or business partners? Might go a long way to determining what's more likely, that Turbine mismanaged things, or Atari is just a feckless wonder. I'll tell ya, I find it a tad suspicious that DDO was so poorly fielded, and just a few years later Atari comes up with it's NWN MMO ...

That's probably nothing to it, but on the surface it gives Atari a pretty good reason to drag their feet and make sure DDO didn't perform well.

Just one opinion.

Re: A simplified Warp Speed system

In the season one episode where we first meet the Romulans' date=' the Romulans are still using impulse engines (as in "the Earth-Romulan War"), so they are much slower than the Enterprise.[/quote']

 

It's been said before, but it bears repeating. Star Trek ships moving at warp speeds move at 'The Speed of Plot'.

Re: Those Meddling Kids

"Being out of your box isn't a right, Patty, it's a privilege. You don't wanna go back in your box, do you baby?" -Ted.

Hey, I'm sorry for the minor derail. Ever since I saw that episode of the Venture Brothers, I can't look at anything Scooby Doo related in the same way. XD

Re: Thats one nimble little bull

Why 5 points? Wouldn't Turtle's TK constitute a tight group? =?

Sure - but the cost was prohibitive. A reasonably rounded TK character likely has a Multipower of TK effects, so that's 5 point skill levels. If he wants, say, an 8 OCV, that's 5 levels for 25 points.

 

For 30 points, he could buy +15 DEX, no Figured (or keep the Figured and reduce the cost of SPD), getting +5 OCV and +5 DCV, as well as all the other benefits of DEX.

 

He will likely never use his levels for DCV (he'll get hit anyway and it means his attacks are not going to hit), although he might occasionally use them for damage.

 

DEX was a bargain compared to the cost of skill levels (and everything else DEX provided - it was a bigger bargain than CON or STR, but this was buried a bit because CV had no independent price), so a character with a high OCV (unless he had only one attack) and low DEX was a highly inefficient design. Now, the character can meet concept without being penalized on a points basis.

Re: Thats one nimble little bull

I haz a question! Could yew not do a similar thing in 5E with turtle, simply by letting his DEX at 10 and simply buying Combat Skill Levels with his TK? =?

I was also thinking of Wild Cards. If you look at the GURPS book, a lot of the characters had fairly low DEXs. The Turtle, for example, has around a 10 or so. He's not very fast. The new system (6E) will let you build that, than up his OCV to account for his skill with TK (or just use lots of levels). On the other hand, you could argue for a 3-4 SPD, since he's been a hero for years and could react fairly well when acting as the Turtle. Of course, many of the characters also had high DEXs, but even then, not all of them were bullet proof.

 

I've found the split stats to work out fairly well already. My Bryan Mills character sheet has a 16 DEX (he's fairly quick) a 6 OCV (he hits a lot) but only a 5 DCV. It nice to be able to simply define innate combat talent with OCV and DCV and not worry about cranking up the DEX to superhuman levels. Granted, if you need the high DEX rolls you're going to needto do both, but that's the trade off.

Re: Xbox 360 Version of Champions Online Being Held Back By MS

Here is what I do not get. If MS is worried about subs' date=' they already have that Final Fantasy game doing that. Why can't they copy it technically and offer Atari the same terms?[/quote']

 

Because that's not what they're 'really' worried about would be my guess.

http://www.vg247.com/2009/08/28/ms-foot-dragging-on-360-mmos-is-baffling-says-cryptic-boss/

Dear god, do I love progress!

....

Wait.

Re: Cryptic to develop Neverwinter Nights MMO?

Not to defend Atari' date=' but the link you provided can hardly be considered unbiased.[/quote']

 

Are you referring to the actual DDO thread on the board, the link on it that leads to the Courthouse News Service or the link there that leads to the Atari.pdf which I think is the actual complaint filed by Turbine?

 

I dunno anything about Courthouse News, so I dunno if you feel it's biased, or you were talking about the DDO forums, or the pdf itself?

Re: Cryptic to develop Neverwinter Nights MMO?

Yep, seems I've been wrong about Turbine.

Seems like Atari really gets off on abusing the companies it works with. Which should go a loooong way to explaining why Atari bought Cryptic Studio's outright. They can kick them around now and not worry about being sued?

Talk about Atari having it out for DDO to fail because they were interested in pushing out their NWNO MMO. Ugh, the thread explains quite a bit. =(

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=196705

Re: Cryptic to develop Neverwinter Nights MMO?

So, they're suing over discontinued support? Wonder if they have a case.

 

I might have to give it a try, actually, if it's true that Cryptic is working on it. I've liked their stuff so far, broadly, and my impression is they're learning as they go, so hopefully things will get even better.

I do know that DDO has or is (I'm not sure of their timetable) going free to play. fyi.

Re: Cryptic to develop Neverwinter Nights MMO?

Maybe if Turbine got off it's ass and didn't cack up DDO so badly from the start they wouldn't need to sue some other company for trying to put out a D&D MMO to replace the utter failure that is Turbine.

And that's not to say I 'hate' DDO. It's a fantastic game, it's the most accurate D&D pnp ruleset to MMO to date. The problem is the people behind it, not the game itself.

It suffered from what the MMO community likes to now call FATAL Star Wars Galaxies Syndrome.

Re: 4E Champions question.

Code Versus Killing means you won't use lethal force under any circumstances, including war, self-defense, defense of innocents, and so forth. Not having a CvK means you're willing to do that much -- more or less an average person's attitude on lethal force. If a hero (or anti-hero, or vigilante, or other character) is notably less stringent than average, that's Casual Killer.

 

So, basically, the 4th Ed Champions would be prepared to use lethal force in appropriate circumstances, roughly the same as soldiers or police officers.

 

Does that help?

Yeah, that makes sense. Thanks.

Just found my 'old' BBB! It's falling apart, but it's still all there. The add for the turtle armor, the villain and hero write ups, etc, etc.

One thing I did notice though. The 4e Champions, not a single one of them have Code Vs. Killing.

Totally absent. >.>

Anyone hazard a guess as to why? =?

Re: Chemistry, Sweet Smell or A Foul Odor?

Need? no.

 

However, don't complain if you biff your roll and the GM rules that it ends up in your hex.

I have a question about that. If the power is no range AE: hex, would not the hex it's in always be my hex? If I were to biff the roll, would it remain in my hex, or be shunted to another hex, or simply fail to work all together?

Also, if one is in hand to hand combat with someone do they need to be in the same hex that they are standing in?

Back again with another similar build that plays around with Entangles based on other characteristics. This one relies a lot on their combat arts, and large skill/perk/talent pools. But I'm curious if this works mechanically. The idea is the character can exude a gaseous chemical that manifests as a smell and can be detected by scientific instruments. The gas itself is colorless and invisible to the sight group. The chemical reacts with a target and sends them into a deep spiraling depression that's difficult to rouse from. They just collapse unwilling to move or do much of anything. The attack doesn't work in high winds or rains and won't work against people with no body chemistry or those in a sealed environment. It's no range, so it exudes around him in his immediate hex.

Question though. Would 'he' need personal immunity to avoid the effects of his own power if it were AE: Hex, No Range?

Here's what I have so far:

Entangle 2D6, 2 DEF; Invulnerable to Physical Attack (+1/4), IPE: Sight (+1/2); Works Against CON (+1/4); AE: Hex (+1/2); Cannot Form Barriers (-1/4), No Range (-1/2), Fouled by Winds and Strong Rains (-1/4); Won't Effect People Wihout Body Chemistries or Those in Sealed Environments (-1/4)

Any help is appreciated, thanks.

Re: [Mythos Supers]

Thanks, Wolf, I'll give those a look see. In the meantime, here's something to chill the blood.

Heck maybe it's just me, but this is some pretty 'horrific' stuff right here.

http://forum.rpg.net/showpost.php?p=9892925&postcount=186

http://forum.rpg.net/showpost.php?p=9893379&postcount=188

http://forum.rpg.net/showpost.php?p=9896700&postcount=195

http://forum.rpg.net/showpost.php?p=9897130&postcount=199

Re: [Mythos Supers]

It certainly is possible, but the biggest problem lies in the opposite worldviews the Mythos and superheroes represent. Horror in general doesn't quite work with superheroes, and mythos is worse - the point of that kind of horror is just how insignificant and futile mans' efforts are, so that even your superpowers mean nothing in the face of Cthulu.

 

Having said that, you can certainly compromise and make a workable setting (remember, kids, HERO can do anything!). You just have to play with the scales of things and strike a balance. The PCs won't be facing down Great Old Ones or anything of the like in person - it's kinda their purpose for existing, to be the unimaginably powerful bogeymen of the setting. On the other hand, they should never actually show up on earth, unless the heroes do everything wrong. Things lesser than a GOO, however, the PCs can beat up or otherwise deal with.

 

As to SAN loss and whatnot, you have three options - the PCs are immune to it, which is why they're fighting it; you add a mechanic for it to the system because everyone is affected by it; you have the mechanic, but you also allow people to buy a defense against it, so that some people are resistant to it, but not everyone is.

 

Mostly, it's just an issue of deciding on the exact flavors you want.

Well, I've been doing some thinking. I rather like the idea of the original setting of the Mythos Supers from the RPGNet thread. It's a good read if you haven't already, though, some of it gets 'extremely' dark near the middle of the thread. For what I'm talking about, check out the entries about American Eagle and his encounters with a farm boy and his family. God, the story still makes me queasy. But it's a good thing, it's got a real 'scent' of horror to it.

As to the whole Cuthulu/Supers things. The idea wasn't for them to 'encounter' Mythos critters, but more ... how do I explain it. The original setting is that 'every' superbeing in the world since the 1960's has come across their powers by encountering C-tech or C-therepy of some kind, whether is be deliberate or accidental. I was thinking of smashing that hook into the exisiting champion's world and running with it.

Buy the 80's most of the world has caught on, that the guys that are out there with all these marvelous powers are all coming from the same place, and it puts a rather bleak lens over the world. It's what I feel is a very neat take on a standard super hero type of game.

The idea is that the powers are both blessings and curses. Metahuman abilities are like playing with fire. Sooner or later you get burned no matter your ultimate intention. It's like a wierd CoC game meets Champions.

As to the whole SAN issue, it's one this that bothers me about HERO. Their isn't a way to do it elegantly to my knowledge, other then just 'making one up from scratch'. I know the Wild Talents/ORE system can do it with the madness meters from Nemesis and of course the old Aberrant book from White Wolf had a idea about 'taint' for novas that just would fit perfectly.

But as you know, I've got a much stronger interest in champions. =) The Anophelese (sp?) world in the Champions 4e source book had a mechanic.. but again, it was just a psych transform that... when you got down to it, was really clunky and ham handed. >.<

So I'm still looking for further input on this idea, if anyone has any further insights or ideas. =)

Re: [Mythos Supers]

*tries to cast raise dead ... summons a Shoggoth .... goes mad!*

Ahem.. okay. Anyway, I thought this thread could do so more good in the community.

More to the point, I'm becoming genuinely interested in this idea as a 'setting'. Like a fully developed setting, perhaps a weird alternate universe of the Champion's normal universe.

I'm wondering how or 'if' such a setting could be playable, if not in a purely four color way then in perhaps a Iron Age, or Gritty Favored way? Super'heroes' fighting against their very natures to continue to do good all the while battling those that have fallen under the sway of the old ones?

But I don't know. Could HERO handle such a setting? I've found it to be one way or the other. For instance, I think this kind of setting almost cries out for some kind of morality system or madness meter kind of mechanic. I know that I think it was 4e Champions had a book with alternate worlds, one of them being a lovecraftian type world with some monsters that had transforms that slowly added psych limits to a character the more they were exposed to them.

What about Horror Hero? Does it have any discussion about madness or how to incorporate some kind of fright/madness system? If so it might be worth it for me to pick it up. I have the old 4e Horror Hero, but not the 5th Ed.

Any thoughts on this? Ideas, information to be added? I think this might make an interesting setting to develop if it's done right. I certainly like the initial riffs from the original thread over on RPG net. But some of the included things that happen I think might be 'difficult' to simulate with HERO, such as the slow madness in some cases or the struggle against it. Even the area where two paranormals fight can become 'altered' in subtle ways.. odd angles, and all that lovecraft stuff.

Anyway just tossing this out there to see if I get any nibbles of interest. =)

Re: How to make the Loner feel not so Lonely?

That 'detect soulmate' power is pretty cool. A character with a power like that could make a mint for themselves I'll bet by setting up a matchmaker business in the campaign city. They'd probably need to tag on something like megascale, right? =?

I wonder what kind of 350 point superhero one could make starting with that power as one of many themed powers. Some sort of minor god of love or something?

Anyone care to hazard a guess?