Kal'El Wayne

Re: WWYCD: Island Paradise

Sir Johnstone claims it for Queen and country, then gets royal permission to keep it a secret while it serves as a private base for him and some of his more secretive contacts. Part of the need for secrecy would be keeping a minimal carbon footprint, and generally being good for the environment, so he'd have a few heroes/villains use their powers/high-tech/magic for things like transportation to and from the island.

My as-yet unnamed Iron-Man rippoff would build a high tech fortress about a mile under the island as a backup for his satellite home, then get it declared part of 'his' nation, like his satelite.

Kyle Reese

Sarah Conner

Uncle Bob - Acquired

John Conner (as portrayed Edward Furlong)

...

T3? What T3? Oh, you mean Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles!

John Conner (now he's twenty-odd)

Cameron 'Phillips'

Derek Reese

That FBI Guy

The Ex-Boyfriend Who Drives An Ambulance

And possibly, if you wanna speculate...

John Conner (as portrayed by Batman, pretending to be an actor named Christian Bale)

And has anyone got a Cherry Darling adaptation? - Acquired

Re: Xena, Gabrielle, Joxer and Autolycus

What about their many identical descendants, clones and reincarnations? They had different skills and so on, didn't they?

Re: I Can't Be Reasoned With and I Can't Be Stopped

Lady Liberty-Freedom Incarnate.

Literally the avatar of liberty and of the statue itself. She can fly, but only in the state of New York, she can turn into a metallic form with a huge damage reduction, She can grow up to the size of the actual statue, and she can increase her density the same. When she is fighting a slave-trader, she suddenly gets much more powerful.

Re: Damn Birds

Doc Steel, an Iron-man rip-off would just nod, knowingly, salute the statue to show his respect for the great work he's doing (while flying past on his patrol) and fly off, muttering 'Frelling pigeons.' (He was stuck immobile by a spell a short while ago overnight, while he was in his armour. Since the birds took him to be a new statue, well, lets just say he's been the one chasing after anti-pigeon-y wrath before now.

Sir Johnstone orchestrated the whole thing to stop pigeons from dirtying up his employer's statue. Who do you think has to get the dang thing clean all the frelling time? The butler, that's who. Plus, this new animated statue is a perfect guard for the front gate, because noone even pays attention to him. Because it's 'just' a statue.

Re: Invisible character

Since reading the mentions of 'mystical' sense group, I had a few more good ideas. Since at least some of her powers come from 'mystical' sources, I though having her desolid be detectable by 'mystic' sources would be a good idea. She can be invisible to 'mystical' spells all she wants, but she can't turn ghostly (her desolid) without showing up as a powerful ghost to mystical sight. On the other hand, she can choose to remain solid to avoid detection by wizards and the like, and risk getting caught in magical AoE spells.

Also note, you said mystical sense. Demon sight and Mage vision are two very different things in my campaigns (Mage vision detects magical auras, Demon sight detects souls/angels/demons.) so having her immune the mystical sense (mage vision) doesn't mean she's immune to 'interdimensional traveller' senses (Demon sight, or Angelic sonar, or even just phased-wave detecting antennae on the noble ant-rulers of Earth-X.)

And of course, my GM just reminded me, sometimes (as in, if you didn't take 'Invisible to thermal-vision' as a power) a desolid character still leaves a heat trail, like any other living thing. So any mook with thermal goggles will be able to find the character. It's not too common, since thermal goggles aren't cheap or widely available, and they still need to find her (not just her heat trail, leading to a wall), but it's possible for normals without powers or magic to use this to find her.

Re: Invisible character

I believe that Desolid does indeed require three senses that can detect it. Usually these are covered by Sight (I see that person but my fist passes straight through, strange!), Smell (Hmm, I smell a person's scent up to this solid wall but the trail only picks up again on the exact opposite side!) and Hearing (Hearing you scream, the vampire turns quickly enough to see you jump back through the wall.). Another alternative would be Mental (I know you're there, Insert Name-Here!), Electromagnetic (So that normal human agents with the right equipment can detect her and to give it that 'ghost' feel) and mirror reflections (as in, she still reflects but only in actual mirrors, not reflective surfaces).

Re: Sex and the Single Superhuman

A while back, some people were talking about Rogue's 'problem' in a detailed way. I just wanted to put in my two cents.

I never saw her problem as being a sexual tension inducing one. In theory, no skin to other person's skin (Or other 'bodily surface') contact is necessary for a release of sexual tension. If the worst comes to the fore, she can have Professor X mind-diddle her into not having those kind of feelings anymore until she can act on them safely. (Oh man, I just realised what mind-diddle sounds like. I meant alter her perceptions mentally.) Other than the obvious everyday problems of not being able to go around in public without very covering clothes on, just in case, Rogue also has the psychological/romantic/family-or-friend-love of hugs, someone stroking your hair, chaste (ie fatherly/motherly/brotherly) kissing or even brushing your cheek (perhaps to wipe away a tear or something, denied to her by her 'gift'. These might not seem important/to happen very often, but just try being told that you can't do X normal thing without killing your loved ones. No matter how rarely you usually did them before, chances are, you will want to do them all the more now.

Re: supper skills

I'll ask so no one else has to. What do they do to the bad guys? Y'know the ones they have in custard-y?

Xena writeups? Anyone?

Re: (WWYCD) Superhero Assaination...

First of all, like the OP said, you have a new set of elections. Hopefully this time you won't be electing a massmurderer (as in that POTUS who ordered the Superhuman refugees to be killed.) Also, Sir Johnstone would probably be in on the plot in the first place. If he is the guy in charge of the plot, and the PCs found out about it, then the plot is obviously a decoy to draw attention away from the real assassin.

Meanwhile, my unnamed new PC (an Iron Man rip-off), would do nothing, bearing in mind that an American citizen can legally own a rifle and a map, even if that map does have markings of the President's route and possible sniper positions on it. Even saying 'I'm going to kill the President!' isn't technically illegal. Besides which, he's currently living in an artificial asteroid/space station in orbit that he has lived in since he was five. Even from birth to when he built the station, he was living in Greece, so he doesn't really care. He deals with alien invasions, so saving one world leader is not on his agenda. He doesn't interfere in normal human affairs.

Re: A Series Of Spells

Nice spell. Thanks, guys. My spellbook has started to take shape.

Anyone think of a reasonable transformation spell which fits the character concept? Other than general utility and combat spells?

I've also been think about a body-fat to armour spell. One that turns the targets body-fat into a tough natural armour, to help his sister (my other character) in combat. I think that I would like it to be more effective if the target has more body-fat, both as a roleplaying device (the country that considers bigger to be better makes a spell that makes you more effective in combat if you gain weight.) and from a mechanics standpoint (it makes the spell more useful for him and his sister than a party fighter, helping to boost the less well armoured members of the party.)

Any ideas for that? It'd last a limited time, like ten minutes or an hour at most, but by then the fight should be over, one way or another.

Re: "Mystic Dart 'only vs living beings'."

Actually, it doesn't affect inanimate objects. It doesn't say anything about them stopping it. If you fire at an inanimate object, it will just keep going until it hits something living, runs out of range and disperses into a harmless light display or hits something, like the edge of the universe, the BBEG's antimagic shield, etc.

Re: Kill the Dude with the Thing

Look, it's simple

Step One: Kill the Dude With The Thing.

Step Two: Take The Thing.

Step Three:...

Step Four: Profit!

Re: I've joined the ranks...

Just stopped by to say congrats on the whole 'fresh meat'...I mean, 'new recruits' thing.

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Just kidding! Yeah, good luck, though.

Re: URBAN FANTASY HERO -- What Do *You* Want To See?

So...is this a sounding board for ideas for a book for sale, or just a netbook, or what?

'Cos I'd be interested in a Dresden Files style game guide:)...but I'm not sure that I can afford to buy a new rules book right now.

I have a few characters (two, to be precise) in a really 'roleplay' style game of Fantasy Hero. One, the guy, is a transformation/life wizard for the most part, but the girl is more of a generalist.

Unfortunately, I need some help coming up with the more esoteric spells. Obvious spells like 'Dragon Shape' and 'Wings' are pretty simple. However, since I have a focus on roleplaying, I need some help.

First, Joban's transformations.

Let's start with 'Weight Of The Ages'.

I should explain that the people of his country of origin, Harwin, believe that bigger women are more beautiful, more compassionate and wiser. They basically worship a fertility goddess called 'Harlee' and every autumn they celebrate the harvest as being the time when she becomes pregnant with herself.

So I figured that he should have a simple low level spell that made a woman magically gain weight and increase their Comeliness at the same time. It would be fast, to an unnatural extent, but not so fast that it becomes obvious that he was the culprit. The target certainly shouldn't show an appreciable difference the same day. It should probably have No Normal Defence: Targets already 180lbs or more are immune. And it only works on women because Joban is picky like that.

What do you think?

A typical transformation Usable As Attack with Delayed Effect?

Re: WWYCD: Mirror Universe

Sir Johnstone is in regular contact with his counterpart. They are good friends. In Mirrorverse, Johnstone is known Don Stone: The English Lord Of Crime, and was in charge of America's crime (such as it is in Mirrorverse) from the age of twenty. About once every decade, they switch places, since being a leader of a massive crime operation is almost a vacation after being such a dedicated servant (and secret hero) and being a good guy, no longer wanted by the mighty Dr. Preserver and his cohorts is also a vacation after a decade of controlling crime.

Of course, what few people realise is that neither of the men are really crimelords. They take control of criminal organisations in the Mirrorverse to stop villains from killing people or stealing from the poor, etc. By stopping bad guys from killing, they help stop the good guys frm killing the bad guys too. Same as in the Normalverse.

Re: Jedi Ghosts and fade-to-deaths?

Qui Gon did stick around. In Episode 3, Yoda tells Obi Wan that Qui Gon came and spoke to him about how he has learnt to separate his self-force from the rest-of-the-universe-force when he has something to say. We just never see it because then they'd need to hire back the same actor for all of two seconds of the film. It was easier to just have Yoda say "'Oh, by the way, Obi Wan, your dead master's a ghost now. He's totally haunting my stuff."

According to EU, Anakin's ghost is still around decades later. Mind you, EU sources also claim that Tag & Bink (two incompetent ex-jedi) and Skippy the jedi droid are jedi ghosts, I wouldn't put too much stock into that.

Halloween, and all the calender/holiday theme villains are in jail. You think you can take a break. But NO! There are reports flooding in of people, but only those who have already reached puberty, who eat halloween candy and suddenly start stuffing their faces with all the chocolate that they can find. They don't seem to feel full, ever, and they don't steal it or anything, just buying, and eating, massive amounts. Nothing technically illegal seems to be going on, but it's D**n fishy!

WWYCD?

More will be explained in part two.

Re: WWYCD: Magic Fishnets?

Sir Johnstone wouldn't need them, because he rarely fights, and he's highly skilled anyway. He'd give them to one of the people he knows who need a boost in fighting HTH. If noone does, he'll wear them under his pants. If someone threatens his employers (he's the Daniels family butler) then he'd whip off his pants, and fight them in fishnet stockings. Then he'd put his pants back on.

Re: Your character's theme song would be?

I can think off several but I'd like to see what other people think would be good for Sir Johnstone. (Think of him as an immortal battle butler who is secret master of the world. But benevolent).

Re: The Addams Family

It seems like they were rich mostly by virtue of having lots and lots and lots of money. As in so much that even though none of them worked for any longer than a week or so at most, and Gomez constantly bought high and sold low, they still could never spend the interest that they were earning, let alone the rest of the money.

And the whole 'evil' thing is mostly from a few lines in the movies, such as when Morticia says that she only wishes she had more time to join the forces of darkness in their hellish crusade. And the fact that Wednesday 'Christina' Addams is aparrently quite evil, in a way.

And of course there is the fact that they seem oblivious to danger, and happy about pain and death, whether it involves them or strangers. They do play a game at the end of the first movie called 'wake the dead' as the credits are about to start, beginning with taking shovels to the graveyard. And of course, there is the reference to the fact that parts of Lurch apparently came from different places/people.

Re: Meta-Backgrounds

Sir Johnstone was first mentioned in a series of pulp stories written by an American anglophile in the 1920s. The tales were all about the adventures of a vaguely described American millionaire, Sam Daniels. He inherited it all from his father and was generally bad at everything, but he nonetheless tried to be an adventurer. When his attempts at Doc Savage style heroics failed, he would be invariably captured, and have to be rescued by his ever loyal English butler, Johnstone. Johnstone's name was actually the authors first name and surname jammed together. Johnstone was an incredibly skilled man but only ever showed it to the reader and possibly a bad guy or two, otherwise preferring to let Daniels take the credit.

The series was a success in America, and had a small following in Britain too. Not long after the second world war broke out, Mr Stone began writing tales of how Johnstone joined the RAF and fought many air battles, also being shot down and escaping the German POW camps, etc. These proved to be less popular than the prior tales, though one story in particular, in which Johnstone is knighted by the Queen (and we learn that his first name is Arthur) sells more copies than any previous Johnstone tale.

Shortly after the war ended, Mr Stone wrote a 'final' tale in which Sir Johnstone celebrates the end of the war by retiring from the army and going back to Sam Daniels, who has married and has kids now, and getting his old job back. Though he doesn't suspect that Mr Daniels will be taking him on any more adventures, thankfully.

Mr Stone passed away, outlived by his wife and five children, dying in his sleep of natural causes. He is payed tribute to by a large and diverse fandom.

Mr Stone's eldest son Jake allows a sequel to made to the Johnstone tales, in movie form. It depicts the kidnapping of Sam Daniels youngest daughter, Ellen Daniels, and Sir Johnstone's attempt to rescue her while foiling a plot to use her as a sacrifice in a demon summoning ritual to end the world. Sir Johnstone is played by a forty year old actor despite the fact that he should be around sixty at least.

Later sequels also use this same actor, Luke Georgia. They make no reference to the fact that he is far too young to have fought in world war two. A prequel is made that claims that when Sir Johnstone has yet to be employed by Sam Daniels, he was an explorer who was given eternal youth by a mystical artifact, deep in the African jungle.

Enticed by the scent of money, a large corporation attempt to buy the rights to Sir Johnstone, but despite a larger offer, a far smaller company are given the rights instead. 'Ink' an independent comics company, famed for doing faithful interpretations of open license characters like Sherlock Holmes.

They include him in their multigenre universe and have him regularly cameo rather than having his own title. This gave the impression that the character knew everybody, which the writers played with at times, having him put into scenes that he had nothing to do with, just in the background. It was eventually decided that he couldn't do superhero work himself because he had an obligation to the Daniels family as butler, but that he kept in touch with many people to make sure that the right people know and do the right things at the right time. He is rumoured (by fans) to be the incarnation of the Ink universe.

Re: WWYCD Political chaos!

If the candidate was a candidate for an American political position, then Sir Johnstone doesn't care. If it is for a British political position, he'd only slightly care, depending on if this guy is one of his contacts or not. If he is, then Sir Johnstone would have known about something like this already. If not, then Sir Johnstone makes a phone call and the crime is suddenly uncovered by someone else, leading to a full criminal trial, etc. If it was something that he wouldn't be arrested for anymore, then Sir Johnstone wouldn't bother to make it public knowledge, but might use it as blackmail material just before the election to get another contact in the British Government.