Beetle

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group...
 
This isn't really a new quote, but it came up the other day and I thought I'd share.
 
I was running an FH campaign with two experienced gamers and two fairly new gamers, one of whom was playing a sorcerer. The sorcerer announced his intention to open up a pouch they'd gotten off a dead spell caster. The player, being new, didn't think to cast a detect magic spell before opening it. Since it was trapped, I decided to give him a break.
 
New player: I'll open the pouch
Me (GM): Make an intelligence roll.
New player: What's an intelligence roll?
Old player: It's a life preserver the GM throws you when you're about to do something really stupid.

Renegade, a team brick.  He's pretty simple and straight forward a character, although the build has 100 endurance, and he only has basic abilities that use any END (strength and movement) so I'm not sure what on earth they did it for.  He's a superhero in the tradition of his dad, Captain Thunder who died passing on his powers to Renegade.  Framed for murder, the Protectors took him in and gave him a new identity.  His sheet doesn't list it but all the other members had flash defense in their contacts, so I added it to him as well.
 
Renegade   Val Char Cost  55  STR   45          Lift: 50 tons, Damage: 11d6  23  DEX   26  28  CON  18  15  BOD   5  13  INT     3           Perception Roll: 12- (sight and hearing: 16-)  10  EGO   0  15  PRE    5          Presence Attack: 3d6  30  PD     28         30 rPD  27  ED     25         27 rED   5   SPD   30  20  REC  16 100 END  16  60  STN   20   OCV:    8 DCV:    8 OMCV: 3 DMCV: 3   22m RUN  10   4m SWIM 0 22m LEAP  9 Characteristics Cost: 306   Cost Power  28    Damage Resistance: (Total: 28 Active Cost, 28 Real Cost) Resistant (+1/2) (15 Active Points) applied to PD (Real Cost: 15) plus Resistant (+1/2) (13 Active Points) applied to ED (Real Cost: 13)  28    Lack of Weakness: (Total: 28 Active Cost, 28 Real Cost) Hardened (+1/4), Impenetrable (+1/4) (15 Active Points) applied to PD (Real Cost: 15) plus Hardened (+1/4), Impenetrable (+1/4) (13 Active Points) applied to ED (Real Cost: 13)   8     Unmoved: Knockback Resistance -8m   5     Keen Hearing: +5 PER with Normal Hearing  10    Keen Eyesight: +5 PER with Sight Group   8     Subvocal Blue Ray Communicator: Radio Perception/Transmission (Radio Group) (10 Active Points); IIF (-1/4)   4     Special Contact Lenses: Ultraviolet Perception (Sight Group) (5 Active Points); IIF (-1/4)   4     Special Contact Lenses: Sight Group Flash Defense (5 points) (5 Active Points); IIF (-1/4) Powers Cost: 95   Cost Skill  24    +3 with HTH Combat  12    +4 with coordinating attacks   3     Conversation 12-   3     Criminology 12-   3     Streetwise 12-   3     Teamwork 14- Skills Cost: 48   Total Character Cost: 449   Pts. Complication  25   Hunted:  Captain Thunder's arch enemy Frequently (Mo Pow; NCI; Harshly Punish)  20   Hunted:  Seven Horsemen Frequently (Mo Pow; Harshly Punish)  25   Hunted:  Law enforcement Very Frequently (As Pow; NCI; Harshly Punish)  10   Psychological Complication:  Fear of heights (Common; Moderate)  20   Social Complication:  Secret Identity Frequently, Severe  10   Vulnerability:  1 1/2 x STUN Poison and gas attacks (Common) Complication Points: 110
Renegade.hdc

And finally, Silverfist.  Permanently trapped in a suit of alien design, he went from boxing champ to freak who can't stand people mocking him.  This is one of my favorite character concept designs: the melee based energy projector.  Not really a martial artist (although he has boxing), but a damage guy who fights hand-to-hand.  He's built with 14- armor so when I did the coloring I wasn't 100% clear on if the armor covered him totally or just on his chest, head, hands, and feet.
 
Silverfist is my final Protectors build, and I'll either start doing Ninja Hero (if the copy I ordered shows up tomorrow) or maybe Kingdom of Chamipions.  Tons of characters in that bad boy.
 
Silverfist   Val Char Cost  30  STR   20          Lift: 1600kg, Damage: 6d6  23  DEX   26  28  CON  18  15  BOD   5  13  INT     3           Perception Roll: 12-  10  EGO   0  15  PRE   5            Presence Attack: 3d6   6   PD     4            With 14- activation armor: 23 PD, 17 rPD   6   ED     4            With 14- activation armor: 23 ED, 17 rED   6   SPD  40  18  REC  14  60  END   8  58  STN  19   OCV:    8 DCV:    8 OMCV: 3 DMCV: 3   32m RUN  20   4m SWIM 0 12m LEAP  4 Characteristics Cost: 260   Cost Power  34    Armor: Resistant Protection (17 PD/17 ED) (51 Active Points); Requires a roll: 14- each phase or use (-1/2)   5     Protected Eyes: Sight Group Flash Defense (5 points)  15    Radar (Radio Group)  15    X-Ray Vision: Penetrative (blocked by lead and gold) with Sight Group  10    Radio Perception/Transmission (Radio Group)  25    Life Support  (Eating: Character does not eat; Safe in High Pressure; Safe in High Radiation; Safe in Intense Cold; Safe in Intense Heat; Safe in Low Pressure/Vacuum; Self-Contained Breathing; Sleeping: Character does not sleep) Powers Cost: 104   Cost Boxing Maneuver   4     Bob and Weave:  1/2 Phase, -- OCV, +5 DCV, Dodge, Affects All Attacks, Abort   5     Block:  1/2 Phase, +1 OCV, +3 DCV, Block, Abort   4     Body Blow:  1/2 Phase, -1 OCV, +1 DCV, 2d6 NND   4     Cross:  1/2 Phase, +0 OCV, +2 DCV, 8d6 Strike   5     Jab:  1/2 Phase, +1 OCV, +3 DCV, 6d6 Strike   4     Shove:  1/2 Phase, +0 OCV, +0 DCV, 45 STR to Shove   5     Uppercut:  1/2 Phase, -2 OCV, +1 DCV, 10d6 Strike Martial Arts Cost: 31   Cost Skill  12    +4 with Coordinated attacks  16    +2 with HTH Combat   3     Computer Programming 12-   3     Combat Piloting 14-   3     Combat Driving 14-   3     Criminology 12-   3     Paramedics 12-   3     Security Systems 12-   3     Streetwise 12-   3     Teamwork 14- Skills Cost: 52   Total Character Cost: 447   Pts. Complication   5    Distinctive Features:  Always in metallic suit (Concealable; Noticed and Recognizable; Detectable By Commonly-Used Senses; Not Distinctive In Some Cultures)  20   Hunted:  Seven Horsemen Frequently (Mo Pow; Harshly Punish)  15   Hunted:  PsiBorg Frequently (As Pow; Harshly Punish)  10   Physical Complication:  No sense of taste or smell (Infrequently; Slightly Impairing)  20   Psychological Complication:  Overconfident (Very Common; Strong)  10   Psychological Complication:  Touchy about looks (Common; Moderate)  20   Vulnerability:  2 x STUN Electrical Attacks (Common) Complication Points: 100  

Silverfist.hdc

Also, the paper minis to print out and use, if you ever run the module.  After all, there's no point in doing these rebuilds if people don't play and use them
 
preview:
 

ProtectorsMinis.pdf

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group...
 
F-Ups in WWII:
 
American Ace: "So how many Germans are up ahead?"
 
Capt Mysterion: "All of them, I think."
 
 
und
 
GM: "These five guys shoot and miss."
 
American Ace: (OOC)"Yeah, Cobra called. They want their training videos back."

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group...
 
From our Firefly campaign:
 
"Moving on from the orgasming slinky..."
 
 
(The ship was just joined by a psychic/mentally damaged teen (like River). He liked slinkys, which led to jokes about him using his brain to make a slinky sentient and using it as a familiar. One of the players then began his vocal impression of the tremendous joy a sentient slinky would feel while going down stairs...)

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group...
 
My Character enters a Hench Bar. The entertainment tonight is a wrestling match between Bulldozer and a Snake Man. The Snake Man has Bulldozer's Speedoes between his teeth.
 
ME: "Well, now we know how Zornwil spends his spare time".

Re: What Are You Listening To Right Now?
 
Something's Gotta Give by the Royal Crown Revue

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group...
 
Playing a silly pick-up game. I'm a hard-boiled detective whose internal monologue isn't very internal at all -- he narrates everything that he thinks, does, and even says. My wife is playing a teenaged Buffy-type character. We meet for the first time...
 
Me: (deadpan) Yeah, she was a looker all right. Legs that went all the way up and then back down the other side. A body that would make a bishop kick out a stained glass window. She was a little young for me, but you know what they say -- if there's grass on the field, play ball.
Tammy: (disgusted) Do you always talk like that?
Me: (deadpan) ...she asked in a disgusted tone. Yes, I replied. It's what I do.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group...
 
Another blast from the past ... like, ten years ago. Wow, I have a weird memory.
 
I've forgotten most of the plotline, but the basic layout was that our Hero team had swiped a magical book from the mystical villain and he had managed to find us, and was demanding it back in bombastic manner, while we were lipping off.
 
Wizard: "That's it, no more jokes. I WANT THE ****ING BOOK!"
Crasher (not me, sadly): "Oh, you want the Kama Sutra!"

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group...
 
This actually isn't from my gaming group, it's from my last performance review at work. It was me, my boss and my boss's boss. We were going down a list of "evaluation factors" (quality of work, quantity of work, dependability, showing initiative, attitude, etc.) when the following exchange took place.
 
Boss: "Okay, initiative..."
 
Me (unable to stop myself): "I rolled a six."
 
Boss: "Huh?"
 
Boss's boss: "Yeah, but I got surprise on you."
 
Boss: "What are you two talking about?"
 
 
I had no idea my boss's boss was an ex-gamer!

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group...
 
This actually isn't from my gaming group, it's from my last performance review at work. It was me, my boss and my boss's boss. We were going down a list of "evaluation factors" (quality of work, quantity of work, dependability, showing initiative, attitude, etc.) when the following exchange took place.
 
Boss: "Okay, initiative..."
 
Me (unable to stop myself): "I rolled a six."
 
Boss: "Huh?"
 
Boss's boss: "Yeah, but I got surprise on you."
 
Boss: "What are you two talking about?"
 
 
I had no idea my boss's boss was an ex-gamer!

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group...
 

 
My boss's boss, who heard I had written a book (Ninja Hero) asked me about it. So I described the AB project. Some time later, his kids are in with him at work.
 
"This is Mr. Mike. He makes monsters."
 

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group...
 
This actually isn't from my gaming group, it's from my last performance review at work. It was me, my boss and my boss's boss. We were going down a list of "evaluation factors" (quality of work, quantity of work, dependability, showing initiative, attitude, etc.) when the following exchange took place.
 
Boss: "Okay, initiative..."
 
Me (unable to stop myself): "I rolled a six."
 
Boss: "Huh?"
 
Boss's boss: "Yeah, but I got surprise on you."
 
Boss: "What are you two talking about?"
 
 
I had no idea my boss's boss was an ex-gamer!

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group...
 
This actually isn't from my gaming group, it's from my last performance review at work. It was me, my boss and my boss's boss. We were going down a list of "evaluation factors" (quality of work, quantity of work, dependability, showing initiative, attitude, etc.) when the following exchange took place.
 
Boss: "Okay, initiative..."
 
Me (unable to stop myself): "I rolled a six."
 
Boss: "Huh?"
 
Boss's boss: "Yeah, but I got surprise on you."
 
Boss: "What are you two talking about?"
 
 
I had no idea my boss's boss was an ex-gamer!

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group...
 
This actually isn't from my gaming group, it's from my last performance review at work. It was me, my boss and my boss's boss. We were going down a list of "evaluation factors" (quality of work, quantity of work, dependability, showing initiative, attitude, etc.) when the following exchange took place.
 
Boss: "Okay, initiative..."
 
Me (unable to stop myself): "I rolled a six."
 
Boss: "Huh?"
 
Boss's boss: "Yeah, but I got surprise on you."
 
Boss: "What are you two talking about?"
 
 
I had no idea my boss's boss was an ex-gamer!

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group...
 
"He's over there -- next to Gimpy the Three-Legged Wonder Spider."

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group...
 
From Saturday's Champions game.
 
The PCs are invited back to the Homestead after stopping the Horizon Casino from robbed and/or demolished. When Defender asks the PCs if they are willing to trust the Champions and work with them, Midnight (my PC) looks at him and says, "I'll show my face if you show yours."
 
He thinks for a moment, obviously weighing this one up, then he removes his face plate. At which point Midnight stares, and then bursts out in uproarious laughter as she removes her own mask and hat. Defender stares at her, his jaw hanging open in disbelief as he realizes that Midnight is, in fact, the multimillionaire playgirl gambler who owns the estate next to his.
 
Defender: "You're s***ing me."
 
Michelle
aka
Samuraiko

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group...
 
Our ongoing GURPS: Firefly campaign got a new character a couple of weeks ago - a merc/negotiator named "Star." The following exchange happened at the first business deal Star set up.
 
contact: Which one of you is Star?
 
the captain: The one playing continuous soft-rock throughout the work day.
 
(this may be a "Boston only" joke, but I'm guessing there are other "Star FM" stations throughout america)

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group...
 
Here's a horrible joke that one player shared a couple of sessions ago.
 
Person 1: "Knock, knock"
 
Person 2: "Who's there?"
 
P1: "Interrupting cow."
 
P2: "Interrupting c-"
 
P1: "Mooooo!"

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group...
 
Our Firefly crew needed to steal metal from a space transport ship with a crew of five and was kicking around plans and debating how much violence we were willing to use.
 
Engineer: "I'd prefer the plan that doesn't include mass murder."
 
Pilot: "Is five really 'mass'?"

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group...
 
Our Firefly crew needed to steal metal from a space transport ship with a crew of five and was kicking around plans and debating how much violence we were willing to use.
 
Engineer: "I'd prefer the plan that doesn't include mass murder."
 
Pilot: "Is five really 'mass'?"

Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it...
 

Just some thoughts I had about setting up fantasy religions. Obviously, or maybe not obviously, you don't need to supply all of the following details. Some may simply not be relevent to your game, while others may be left as matters of opinion or speculation among the players and characters (PC's and NPC's) in the game world.
 
Let me know if you think of anything that I left out.
 
(and I hope my outline formatting comes out right.)
 
Stuff to make up about the gods
 
I. The pantheon


A. Creation myth
1. Creation of the natural world
2. Creation of people

B. Organization

1. Family tree
2. Command structure
a) Rigid-fluid
Degree of authority/control

3. Relationships between deities

a) Couples
Allies/Partners
c) Rivals/enemies
C. Reality

1. Form. Examples:
a) The gods are all myth/superstition.
The gods are legends based on exaggeration of historical events.
c) The gods are spirits of dead ancestors or other historical persons.
d) The gods are abstract concepts with no actual consciousness.
e) The gods are quasi-real with forms/attributes/aspect assigned by worshipping cultures.
f) The gods exist on a different level of reality, which allows them to modify their aspects/appearance based on their own desires or the culture they interact with.
g) The gods exist in a concrete sense and have true forms/attributes/aspects, which may be subject to interpretation/misinterpretation by worshippers.

2. Power Level. Examples:

a) The gods are nothing more than mere mortals that are worshipped.
The gods are mere mortals believed to rise to divinity upon death or other event.
c) The gods are somewhat more powerful than typical mortals.
d) The gods have great power that only the greatest of mortals could rival.
e) The gods have incredible power beyond any mortal.
f) The gods have cosmic power, incomprehensible to mortals.

3. Power Source. Examples:

a) The gods' power is intrinsic.
The gods' power is granted by superior gods.
c) The gods' power comes from external forces.
d) The gods' power comes from natural phenomena related to the gods' portfolio.
e) The gods' power comes from worship.
f) The gods' power comes from mortals' deeds. II. The deity


A. Symbolic
1. Name(s)
2. Epithets/Nicknames
3. Appearance/Typical depiction
4. Symbol/Icon
5. Associated items/animals/materials/colors/phenomena

B. Intrinsic

1. Myth/Story
2. Portfolio/Sphere of influence
3. Differences/similarities to other deities
4. Stats/powers/abilities
a) Possessions/Artifacts/Relics
Pets/Familiars/Mounts

5. Divine "rank"/Level of power
6. Home

a) "Plane" where the deity dwells
Relationship of the deity to the "plane(s)"
C. Psychology/behavior

1. Personality
2. Goals/desires
3. Degree of involvement in mortal affairs
a) Manifestations/Avatars
Spells/powers/abilities granted to clergy/worshippers
c) Signs/Miracles
D. Social

1. Among the gods
a) Reputation
Position/function/purpose

2. Among mortals

a) Popularity/Obscurity
Purpose of worship/reasons invoked
c) Abilities/skills typical/valued III. The religion


A. Internal
1. Principles
a) Values/Dogma
Obligations/expectations of clergy
c) Obligations/expectations of laity
d) Laws/taboos/restrictions
e) Attitude toward heresy/disagreement/questioning of doctrine/theology

2. Practice

a) Rituals/Rites
Holidays
c) Prayers
d) Priestly Vestments/Raiment
e) Temple architecture/layout/decor
f) Expressions/idioms
g) Equipment/paraphernalia used
h) Resolution of disputes
i) Punishment/penance/atonement
j) Education/Indoctrination of the faithful
k) Proselytism

3. Status of clergy/laity
4. Sects/factions/orders
5. Organization/hierarchy
B. External

1. Position in the community
2. Relations with other religions

C. Race/ethnicity/location/culture of worshippers

1. Alternate interpretations/aspects
2. Alternate names IV. "Divine Magic"


A. Effects
1. Types of effects available/not available
2. Power Level
3. Special Effects

B. Source/Method to acquire/use. Examples:

1. No actual divine magic exists. Priests don't claim any magic.
2. No actual divine magic exists. Priestly magic is all chicanery.
3. There's no real difference between divine magic and "arcane" magic.
4. Divine magic is an inherent force in the world, separate from wizardly magic. Priests access it by their own means.
5. Divine magic is a fragment of the god's or gods' power, which priests access by being priests or doing something that priests do.
6. Gods grant magic to priests directly and consciously, if they choose to.
7. Gods grant magic to priests through intermediaries or lesser divine beings, with occasional oversight by the god(s).
8. Gods grant higher-powered magic to priests directly and consciously, while lesser magic is granted more-or-less automatically.
9. Priests access magic through their own faith, without the god's direct involvement. Strength of faith determines success or power level.

Re: A Thread for Random Musings
 
I tried to give rep to somebody and was stunned to get the "you must give out rep to others" statement. It had been a while ago that I gave rep to that person. I'm going to make it a point to give out rep more often.