Gnaskar

Re: Orion Drive space battleship

Re: 10 Sci-Fi Weapons That Actually Exist An idea my class considered was basically a railgun firing a material with a low(ish) melting point. Let friction do the hard work. It would dissipate rather quickly, but at close to medium range you'd have yourself a plasma shotgun (with the added bonus of being able to fire a solid projectile at long ranges instead). It requires a few leaps in tech (and a lot of unobtainium) but it could work. Makes for a nasty gun to put on a fusion powered tank. If anyone on the boards here would like to make a ballpark guess at the range of the thing I'd be much obliged; our best guesses range from 20 to 2k meters.

Re: If you Had to Pick, ONE (already) Setting, to Run in, What is it? The answer that first pops into my head is something from the Stargate universe (the double meaning was accidental; life on Destiny isn't free enough to make a fun campaign). By now the Earth (sorry, Tau'ri) technology base has reached the point where a lot of different campaign styles are possible, and the rogues gallery has a lot of varied opponents both human and otherwise. There are a lot of close seconds, but Stargate wins out by a few millimeters.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... They're back, and they're wackier than ever. Part three of the ULTICORP Champions Quotes (from our mega weekend session). Be warned that this session started at 9 pm and went on for six hours, so none of us were quite ourselves. Especially me (the GM), and Andy, who had some jet lag to get rid off, and slept through most of the session. Silverbolt: Lightning mage. Also a bit of a transmuter, being able to make food out of thing air, and change clothes as a half action. Fond of practical jokes. Ultisaur: Genetically modified Brick. ULTICORPs latest genetic super-soldier prototype. His spit is acidic and he's somewhat aggressive. Steamjack: Steam-powered Power-Armoured Brit. Enough said. Also, he's going slowly mad. Pinpoint: Asian Acupuncturist hero, and natrual enemy of the Triad. Speedster Cyborg after an incident last time. Andy: Snot Elemental controller. The usual list of random statements: Pinpoint (at his glass): Yay! Liquid containment Fields! … Ultisaur: Can we not talk about what my piss would do to Stonehenge … Ultisaur: I wanna change out the following skills: Teamwork, tactics, stealth. … Steamjack: How much damage does he die? … GM: Rule one of combat: do not wear red. … GM: The two of you need to start existing. … GM: It's the final mook down. … GM: He's entangled, unconscious and *rolls snake eyes on knockback* over there. … Steamjack: This is my Morbane, there are many like it, but this one is mine. I call it Betsy. … GM: As long as he isn't doing anything fancy… er than flying a steam train. … GM: We do not drink liquid alcohol in solid form. … GM: I shouldn't be gesturing with a coke bottle. *looks at glass* this isn't a bottle. … Steamjack: Inhale deeply through my foot-scent. It will either cure you, or make you pass out. … Pinpoint: I beat my ridicules sh*t roll by two. Can I dip him in mustard? … Silverbolt: We don't want to dent the paintwork of the tank. … GM: I don't 'ate lions. Lions ate me. … GM: I have to include the DEF manually, because someone is stupid. Most likely the computer. … GM: When you're a hundred feet tall and in a mecha, having a sword is sort of redundant when you could have another missile launcher. … GM: My brain is fine. My Blain just needs a little rest. Brain, not blain. Steamjack: Take a moment to gather up your tongue. … Ultisaur: I tried, I failed, I gave up. … Steamjack: Dude. After a full speed move through with the train, your überbuffed haymaker, his haymaker and my haymaker failed to do anything to it, you still thought spitting would work?! … Steamjack: When R&D arrives, I will change the priority of my targets. Picking up where we left last time, the players need to reach Stonehenge as fast as possible, and convince UNTIL to teleport them: GM: 2 seconds and 5 million dollars later, the Champions find themselves onboard the Gateway space station. … Silverbolt: "Stonehenge now. Fight evil, save world, talk later." Andy: "Ok." Ultisaur: "See this guy? I'm gonna hit him with this part of Stonehenge." … GM: You do remember what Walter (the team ULTICORP contact) said about damaging Stonehenge? Silverbolt: What did he say? Walter: "The first killteam to arrive will be from ULTICORP." … Ultisaur: They have a whole team devoted to "Ultisaur f*** ups". GM: Yes. Its called "Research and Development Division". Oh and "Press Relations". They begin wishing they had their train: Silverbolt: Beam it down, Scotty! GM: You realize that "Scotty" spent 10 million dollars getting YOU here. Andy: "wait! I forgot something. Beam me back!" Steamjack has gotten some fish that only he can see, who tell him things, granting powers like telepathy and sonar: Steamjack: There's not such thing as magic, only advanced science. GM: "Or so my fish tell me." A British Hellfire mage is helping DEMON out: Steamjack: Ultisaur! That guys made out of British! Go eat him! Ultisaur: Mmm, biscuit flavored… A name was mentioned to Silverbolt during a private conversation with his mentor: Silverbolt: Luther Black? Are you ripping of marvel or something? GM: No… He's official champions IP. Silverbolt explains the mission to Andy: Silverbolt: We're looking for a ring. The One ring to Rule Them All! Andy: Seriously? Silverbolt: No. I just had to get that out of the way. GM: There's actually five of them. Silverbolt tries finding out were the ring is buried: GM: The Zombies over there are digging, that would be a dead giveaway. … Andy: Stonehenge was built as a hiding place for this ring? That's not a very good hiding place… Tactical planning: Pinpoint: We should take out the guys digging up the Stargate first. Silverbolt: Yeah, we've figured out the plot already, you're beaten now GM. GM: Huh. That could work. Silverbolt (to Pinpoint): Well sh*t, thanks a lot. Now we're gonna have aliens to fight, too. … Silverbolt: I suggest we start at the outside, and work our way into the chewy center. Ultisaur: I suggest we start by taking these guys and throwing them at the chewy center. Steamjack: No no, lets take out the small annoying ones first. Having something beating on you while you're beating on something else is really annoying. Combat begins: Ultisaur: I throw this guy at the necromancer. GM: The necromancer is still in Detroit. That's the British guy. Ultisaur: I throw him at the blimy limy then. … Silverbolt: You missed the blimy limy! Ultisaur: Well he's a slimy blimy limy. A later mission involves an alien probe. Cue notes mix up: GM: Next up is the alien probe… No, wait. He's not here yet. Silverbolt: I knew it. It is a Stargate. … GM: Cthulhu Dogs don't exist. Alien Probe doesn't exist. Why are these things on my list? The morbane charges at Silverbolt with his mace: Morbane: "Why. Do. You. Keep. Showing. Up?!" Silverbolt: "Because. Your. Mom. Is. Just. That. Ugly!" Morbane: "That. Just. Didn't. Make. Sense!" Andy is very jet lagged: Andy: He looks British. Like he hasn't had his cup of tea yet. … Andy: Aim for her C-cup. … Andy: I need a paper from the government saying I'm not a rapist. Some things one just can't prepare for: Ultisaur: Now would be a great time to turn on my allies GM: Wait, What?! Everyone rolls Ultisaur's attack for him and all of them roll repeatedly thirteen, until Silverbolt's third try rolls a six: GM: It's pretty clear that the powers that be want him to miss that demon. Silverbolt: So he misses? GM: No. The powers that be are mean. I hereby overrule them. Steamjack's turn: Steamjack: I land. Just not, you know, explosively. … Steamjack: I feel like raping their EGO. GM: Things not to take out of contexts. … Steamjack: I stab them with my mental swordfish, chanting "its science, its science, its science" I explain how things work: GM: after Silverbolt defeated the entire southern army with his lightning bolts, the southern army got lightning rods, and then you defeated them anyway. So now that you've defeated the bosses of DEMON with a paralyzing needle, DEMON develops counter measures, and you defeat them with your other needles. Plot summary: Ultisaur: So you've found the ring, put it on, and now its the apocalypse? Pinpoint: Pretty much. Because no superheroic campaign is complete without an alien attack: GM: Early one morning two weeks later the serenity of the Champions HQ is rudely interrupted by an explosion and the building shaking violently. The players have never seen anything like the attacking alien, and Steamjack wants to reroll his KS:Doctor Who roll: Steamjack: I attempt to McGyver my brain to recognize it. Do I succeed? GM: What before was red has now turned green. Green has turned blue, blue has turned yellow, and yellow has turned pink. Silverbolt: He knows this from personal experience from the times he forgot to sleep. GM: Oh, and everything else turns cyan. Silverbolt: That happened after the 36 hour mark. At school. GM: Then we had a test, and I fell asleep. The teacher made me run around the school. Twice. In the cold. I got top marks. Silverbolt makes a power roll to reset his brain with electricity: GM: Your reality appears slightly more normal. Steamjack: Are there still fish? GM: Of course. You paid points for them. Some weapons are stranger than others: Ultisaur: What's the thing doing? GM: It's shooting things. And people. But mostly things. Pinpoint: It shoots people? That's a cool gun… After the Alien Probe has been described: Steamjack: If its really scary, do I lose, or gain sanity points? … Silverbolt: You said this thing was bloated, disgusting, Cthulhu-like, violent, and quite possibly evil. KS:Lawyers roll! Silverbolt is convinced the attacking alien is vulnerable to shampoo: Silverbolt: Does her check tell her it's weak to shampoo? GM: Does she know its made of silicon? Do you know its made of silicon? Is it made of silicon? These questions and more will not be answered on this tv show. Instead: Crazy alien carnage! Ultisaur makes a successful contact roll: Ultisaur: I'm hoping they have some powerful experimental anti-alien non-collateral weapon. GM: Non-col… I hear your words, but they don't make sense. ... Ultisaur: Its evil, its an alien and its wrecking the city. I want a brutus injection. GM: yes, that would be their ultimate experimental weapon… Silverbolt:"Is it worth the risks, sir?" "by the gods, I hope so!" GM: And then they teleport out. They don't care that they lack the technology, they do it anyway. The players look over their steam train's stats: Pinpoint: How is that concealable? Ultisaur: Lots and lots of alcohol. *pause* I can make funny quotes too. … Steamjack: Why does electricity cackle over the hull? I do not like electricity laughing maniacally at me while I drive. … Steamjack: I can't drive my own train? GM: No, I can't skillfully drive your own train. The game time, real time difference explained as the players modify their character sheets so they can fly the train: GM: here's what's happening: the heroes are piling into the turbolift that will get them up in half a second. Meanwhile, we see a montage of how they all learned to fly it. The players ram the giant alien with the train, not only doing knockback, but a full six hexes of it: Steamjack: Did it hit the orphanage? GM: Well it was 6 hexes away, and you did six hexes *moves alien to right in front of orphanage.* Pinpoint: Yay, we'll get it next time. Andy, who been asleep after a bad case of jet lag, comes to for a moment: GM: It's your turn, what do you want to do about the alien? Andy: Kill it. * turns around and goes back to sleep* Steamjack notices something important about the train's character sheet: Steamjack: Owned by ULTICORP R&D department?! GM: Yes, its on load to you. Steamjack: On which floor is this department? GM: In the heavily fortified building on the other side of town. Steamjack: When this is over I'm going to accidentally demolish that floor. Steamjack calculates how much END the train has used. Its a bit over budget: Steamjack: I land. GM: There is now one less car on the road, and that skyway you were floating over… Silverbolt: Go, go, Team Collateral. The GM's throat makes some pretty weird noises, like he's getting a hair ball out: GM: My biological system was not built to handle this. Silverbolt: Handle what? GM: Reality. Who's turn is it? Steamjack tries advancing his awareness of the tactical situation: Steamjack: I consult with the fish. Illusionary fish: "giant mech! Giant Mech! GIANT MECH!" Pinpoint: I take over the train controls. He is not fit for driving. Steamjack: I chain-smoke to stay awake. There's a chain and everything. Pinpoint has no more END for his typical attacks, so tries to take out the probe's eyes with a gatling gun but misses: GM: You hit the hull next to the eyes. Silverbolt: Which is made of Wonder-f***ing-flonium GM: No, US-military-really-wants-to-study-this-ium Steamjack: Salvage Rights! … Silverbolt: It should take R&D at least two minutes to get a salvage team out here. GM: Last time you were in combat it took UNTIL 20 seconds to arrive. By that time both the media and ULTICORP were already there. City response time is excellent, when you're involved. Ultisaur: I'd like to point out that it's not dead yet. We calculate the damage the probe does to Ultisaur: Silverbolt: Oh, the suspense… GM: It's killing him. The players finally spot the reactors on the probe's back, and Ultisaur wants to know if there's any obvious way of detaching them: GM: It's a military vessel. It does not have a sign that says shot your photon torpedo through this hole to destroy this battle station. And it hasn't leaked the targeting information to the rebel alliance. Ultisaur: Can they be unscrewed? Silverbolt: did you bring a wrench? GM: It's an alien vessel. Did you bring a sonic screwdriver? … GM: Hey! I anticipated this happening! You actually did something I expected! Two days of planning were not completely wasted. Steamjack: You planned acid spitting effects for two days? GM: …Yes. Targeting: Pinpoint: Does it have a left nostril? GM: No. Pinpoint: Can I make one? Steamjack: Believe me, I've tried. ULTICORP R&D arrives with a hover truck to capture the heavily damaged probe. Steamjack chases after them: Ultisaur: I try to stop him. "dude its the R&D department. You don't want to know what stuff they have. At one time I disobeyed, and they had this thing that looked like a cattle prod, only it makes you sneeze. And I'm not talking normal sneeze either, I'm talking snot flying everywhere, hair going static, eyes flying out of your head, and you just feel allergic for the rest of the year." Silverbolt and Steamjack at the same time: I want one. Steamjack: and while you say that, I'm about up there. Location, location, location: Ultisaur: Lets get out of here. We don't want to be associated with this mayhem. GM: *points to heavily damaged building on battle map* That's your HQ. Ultisaur: oh… Did someone else see who did this, so they don't think we did? … GM: Five minutes pass, the structure is now back online. Steamjack pays a visit to the ULTICORP building: Secretary: "who are you here to see?" Steamjack: "R&D department" Secretary: "do you have an appointment?" Ultisaur: I pick up my cell-phone and call the secretary; "Is Steamjack there? Do not under any circumstances let him…" GM: "your input is valuable to us, but sadly all our operators are currently busy, please hold." "I'm singing in the rain, just singing in the rain…" Ultisaur: Let me show you why I have a spare cell-phone. SMASH. … Silverbolt: Do you remember the last building we destroyed? Ultisaur: The one with the plasma pool? Silverbolt: No, the one after that, but thanks for reminding me. That was fun. … Steamjack: Does the secretary respond? Silverbolt: You're still role-playing? GM: she continues to ask you if you have an appointment. You begin wondering if she's a robot. Steamjack: I poke the android. GM: She activates her force field. At which point he (ultisaur) comes busting in through the window of the revolving door. Ultisaur: "This isn't metahuman friendly. Also, don't ever let this man anywhere near the R&D department that doesn't exist." GM: She taps a sign saying no pets allowed. Ultisaur: "Ok, that's highly offensive, I'm offended, I'm spitting acid on you." Steamjack: Property damaged noted, I leave. GM: She taps the next sign saying "no spitting" and the one under that saying "in case of emergency all personnel are protected by force fields." Ultisaur: I attempt casual conversation "so, what kind of force field model are you guys using these days?" Steamjack teleports up to the R&D department, climbing upward one floor at the time. The safeguards protecting the floor from teleportation attempt hold, and Steamjack ends up a floor about the R&D department, in the press conference room the players have long since been banned from: Steamjack: I stare at the floor, revving my chainsaw, and look like I'm contemplating something very important. How do the press react? GM: Photos. Lots of photos of you looking profoundly at the floor, and lots of photos of security guys in power armor dragging you away. Steamjack: I teleport to outside the window. How do the guards react. GM: They look around in surprise, then they try not to look silly in front of the press. They look like they planned for that to happen, and then notice that you're right outside the window. Then they brake through the skylight to go get you. Ultisaur: "We're not paying for that!" … GM: they've had most of their press conferences in a fortified bunker. This is the first one they've had up here since the … incident.

Re: Dummies Guide to Rule of X for 6th Ed Offense: DCs of main attack * 3.5 * OCV/3 The principle behind this is simple. The more STUN the attack does, and the more accurate it is, the more powerful it is. The 20d6 smash of the OCV 3 brute is equally powerful as the 5d6 pistol used by the OCV 12 sniper. Neither are particularly fun concepts, and most players will find themselves between these two extremes. Defense: (Average amount of common defenses (PD & ED) + one forth the average of other defenses) * DCV/3 Basically the same principle here. The more he can protect himself and the better he is at dodging the more powerful his defenses are. The DCV 3 brute with lots of defenses can swallow as many shots as the DCV 18 speedster. Durability: STUN total divided by campaign average damage - campaign average damage divided by CON or total END divided by END of basic attack, which ever is lower. campaign average damage: The amount of STUN an averagely strong attack doing average damage would do to an averagely defended opponent. Example: the most common attack in the campaign is a 10d6 Blast, and the defenses average about 20. The average attack does 35-20= 15 STUN after defenses, so the Campaign average damage is 15. The Idea behind the Durability factor is that the longer the player can stay in the fight the more powerful he is. How long he can stay in the fight is determined by his END and his STUN, which ever gives out first. X = (Offense + Defense) * Durability * Speed It's kind of unwieldy and complex, so I make a spreadsheet and hand it out to the players. So, Examples: Speeder dude: Main attack DCs: 12 Main attack END: 6 OCV: 15 Average defenses: 15 Average Exotic defenses: 4 DCV: 15 STUN total: 45 END total: 36 SPD: 9 CON: 15 Offense = 210 Defense = 80 Durability = 2 or 6 (so two) X = 5220 Brick guy: Main attack DCs: 18 Main attack END: 9 OCV: 8 Average defenses: 30 Average Exotic defenses: 15 DCV: 6 STUN total: 75 END total: 50 SPD: 5 CON: 35 Offense = 168 Defense = 67.5 Durability = 4.57 or 5.55 (so 4.57) X =5382 Feel free to divide by a thousand to get more manageable numbers.

Re: Free Sci Fi settings? http://www.orionsarm.com/ There's these guys. They're good if you like really high tech; "sufficiently advanced" and all that. They have nanobot AI gods.

Re: Generation starships and their internal society structure Moral Absolutism is bunk. This I learned from a decade at various international schools. There may be some things like "killing is bad" that most people agree on, but once you get into the details everyone has different opinions. Is it Right to kill a man those trying to kill you? To kill a man for your country? To kill a demon child? A spider? A cow? A legally trialed rapist or murderer? A cute fluffy kitten? If there was an absolute and universal truth about any of these things you'd think we'd have found it by now. It is my opinion that any claims along the lines of "my view of things is correct and the others are wrong" is pure and simple arrogance, no matter if I agree with the speakers opinion or not. For over 5 thousand years the majority of young men on this planet were preparing, perfectly content, to go into their fathers trade. A billion people live in the dictatorship of china (and under that rule, poverty rates have dropped 45% in two decades, it's become a economic powerhouse, and the controversial one child per couple has saved us from having another billion people to feed). Norway is a dictatorship with free press, elected officials (with his Lordship's consent) and a working health care system. By the best estimate Google could give me the human eye can see 10 million different colors; the world is far from black and white. But like I said, I get off here. I make a point out of not arguing philosophy. I find such arguments are generally pointless, other than to remind me that everyone thinks differently.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... No. For that you'd have to add Pirate, Ninja and Cyborg in there somewhere. And possibly Samurai. And Immortal.

Re: Generation starships and their internal society structure On the other hand, we have simillar laws and culture in Norway, and we've been a dictatorship since we started building huts. Granted, it's a dictatorship only on a technicality and it's only affected us once in the last century, but it's still a dictatorship. (Just to have noted the one incident: The democratically elected senate wanted to surrender to the germans, but the king used his right to overrule them.) While it may seem like democracy is the best political system available, remember that millions thought the same about the Stalinist regime; including Americans, Norwegians, and Zimbabweans. And most people under the Stalinist regime thought they would be even worse of in America. I had a point. The point was that no-one is unaffected by their society. I could not imagine living in a country where the supreme commander of the armed forces didn't have the right to overrule any political decisions any more than I could imagine living in a country where this right was used often. Americans, and Stalinists, seem quaint to me; but then the rest of this paragraph probably makes Norway look quaint for the rest of the world. So, as for a generational ship, I see a bunch of problems with both feudal and democratic systems. The first is that a spaceship has a lot of maintenance requirements that would be difficult for the uneducated masses of a feudal society. And it gets worse once you reach your destination and suddenly need a generation of engineers, geologists, and whatever else one might need. Education (from illiterate to PHD) isn't done over the course of a generation. So you'd want some kind of enlightened society. But a democracy? Over time democracies tend to cause the rise of populist parties, who keep their policies as vague as possible to try to gather as widespread support as possible (I'm presuming that starting up a party is relatively easy and that there are 6 - 8 major parties in existence at any one time. Don't get me started on two party systems.). These parties have enough leeway in their policies to do what ever they want once they have power; or optionally, overuse resources in an attempt to please everyone. When your leader is more worried about this week's polls than whether you'll have the materials you need in a century, your generation ship is in trouble. (If you'd argue that on a generation ship the two worries are related, remember that a 600 year trip has 150 administrations, and all you need is one bad egg...) A bureaucratic rule is my suggestion. As materials and population remains mostly constant throughout the trip, a lot of the policy decisions can be made before one leaves port, and there's really not much reason to change anything over the course of the flight. As long as quotas are filled (both for food/oxygen production and population percentages with skill spec X), there really isn't anything for a ruler to do. Have some administrative bodies to handle the mundane stuff (emergency repair crews included). You'd want a voting system on stand by in case something does require it, and possibly a "captain" as a figurehead / someone who can take temporary command if things go to hell. So, basicly, Norway without the democracy (the so-called "Big Thing" [Our senate is actually called the Big Thing. Cue obscure pun.]).

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... Part two of the ULTICORP Champions Quotes. Part three is in the works, so we had an amazing number of hopefully good quotes over the course of three days: Silverbolt: Lightning mage. Also a bit of a transmuter, being able to make food out of thing air, and change clothes as a half action. Fond of practical jokes. Ultisaur: Genetically modified Brick. ULTICORPs latest genetic super-soldier prototype. His spit is acidic and he's somewhat aggressive. Steamjack: Steam-powered Power-Armoured Brit. Enough said. Also, he's going slowly mad. Pinpoint: Asian Acupuncturist hero, and natrual enemy of the Triad. Speedster Cyborg after an incident last time. Andy: The snot element kid was not present this time, eigher Ultisaur caused the teams first kill last time: GM: It's a 12d6 attack. It's pretty standard. You're just not supposed to use it against unarmored thugs. Ultisaur: I didn't think the unarmored thug would be so… unarmored. The usual pile of random: Steamjack: There is no alter stone at Stonehenge. Stonehenge is a glorified… GM: Landing site. I know. Steamjack: Calendar. … Steamjack: Lets discuss this over a bowl of my sedative saliva. … GM: No, you cannot use dead babies for fuel. … Pinpoint: Your brain is Wallace. … Steamjack: For every ten points I add to my [arcane] turbine I add another backpack. … GM: I love improvised throwing weapons. Especially VIPER. … GM: you did hear what I said about government super soldiers, they generally turn into villains… Or Ultisaur. … GM: It was a case of miscommunication. I communicated, he missed. … GM: Range based on plot. … GM: There appears to be a city around you. … GM: There appears to be a city under you. … Steamjack: I beat my roll by yes. … Pinpoint: There's a difference between wanting to kill me, and worshiping me. … Steamjack: These are plates. You might recognize them from such movies as Snakes on a Plate, Bears on an Airplane… … GM: Beam the Enterprise down, Scotty. … Steamjack: I'm presuming this train is high orbital. … GM: Scotland is a golf course. … GM (as DEMON thug): Mommy! It happened again, I went to the bathroom and got paralyzed. … Media reporter: Ok, the structure collapsed, and here in the middle of it is the ULTICORP Champions Team Transport. … Pinpoint (in happy teletuby voice): My turn? Kill. Die. Abomination! … Steamjack: Abort to tie shoelaces together. … GM: You recover from Diving for… Ducking … Dodge. … Steamjack: That's interesting. I should smash that. … GM: Lightning cackles down the hallway with a noise not unlike butter being spread over too much toast. A discussion on the uses of clairsentience: Steamjack: Come to think of it, there's a much easier way of seeing what is on the other side of a door. CRUNCH "Anyone here?" Steamjack is considering buying telepathy, and describes the problem with constantly broadcasting all his thoughts: Steamjack: "you know, it might be cool to be a woman." "WHAT!?" Pinpoint: Or if we're infiltrating a building: "I wonder if they can see us" Ultisaur: "They'll never find us behind these crates." Discussing the date 21 December 2012: Ultisaur: Isn't that the birth of the anti-Christ. GM: No, that's only if you're Christian. And insane. And American. Steamjack's new Arcane Blast: GM: So you basically do magic, and it annoys you? Steamjack: Yes. "there's no such thing as magic!" *covers his ears* Blah, Blah, Blah! Silverbolt (mage): Dude! What the hell are you on about? Another of the powers Steamjack considered buying: Steamjack: Healing, aka white locus powder, aka "wait, when did I get this?" Ultisaur has faced a couple of VIPER ambushes this summer: Ultisaur: I'm not even going out anymore without security. GM: *evil laugh* And there's your problem. Ultisaur: Good god, they have moles. … GM: Internal Security are gonna be so happy. Pinpoint: Why? GM: They just got something to do. Silverbolt goes to see his mentor: GM: The nurse tells you that he left with the nice folks in red robes. General skills give general answers: Silverbolt: Wallace made his Supervillain roll by 2, does he know were DEMON might be hiding my mentor? GM: Yes, he knows DEMON exists. After a fury of rolls as all the players shout out their vaguely relevant knowledge skills: GM: Yes, you all know DEMON exists! The players are lead to a strange building, and begin investigating one of the building's heat emitting rocks: Steamjack: I poke it with a stick. GM: I'm tempted to say "it pokes you back", but it just acts like a rock at you. Steamjack: I poke it with my gloved hand. GM: then you don't feel that its slightly warm to touch. Steamjack: I poke it with my non-gloved hand. GM: Its slightly warm to touch. Steamjack: I poke it with an oscillating fist. Al Gore is recording the above property damage, while looking up the relevant law sections: Al Gore: "property damage..." Silverbolt: "Yes, and dropping red ink on official documents..." *summons red ink* Al Gore: "Yes, dropping red ink on official… What?!"… "Note to self: Digitalize this book." They find out that the rock somehow gathers magical energy. Their first thought: Silverbolt: Power roll to supercharge! Steamjack: I can help with that! … GM: The rock is now 60 END warmer. Silverbolt: If I summon pancake batter on it do I receive pancakes? The rock is slowly releasing its stored mana: Silverbolt: I calculate, using the rate of heat output, it's temperature and the mana input, when the last spell was cast on it. Ultisaur: I'm impressed and disturbed at the same time. … GM: Discounting the naturally occurring mana, about 14 hundred years ago… Ultisaur: Its a rock from Stonehenge! GM: No it's not. Stonehenge is about four times as old. The ULTICORP contact roll failed as usual, so Ultisaur tries knowledge: military world: GM: there are very few people in the military world who know stuff about rock. You could try your old army buddy, but he hates mutants, so might not want to help you. Ultisaur: I don't have an old army buddy. Silverbolt: You do now. Roll with it. Literary. … Army Buddy: Helping mutants with a geology problem? Let me think about it. Ultisaur: Magic is involved. Army Buddy: Ok. … Steamjack: While the army dude arrives I pump in about 50 END per turn. GM: Silverbolt? The building's pulsating. … Silverbolt: How hot is the rock now? In degrees? GM: Well into painful. … Steamjack: I MacGyver a thermometer. GM: the temperature has 4 digits. Silverbolt: Celsius or Fahrenheit? GM: Kelvin The players eventually look around for something that could be a DEMON church: GM: The church introduction stuff outside is so bogus, that for someone who knows a thing or two about the astrial plain, it looks like someone made a joke. … Steamjack: Mostly I go: "It's SCIENCE! SCIENCE!" Silverbolt goes to a church service: Silverbolt: Do I have to make an EGO roll to avoid laughing? GM: Well, If you thought Scientology was silly… Silverbolt: Making acting roll. I start looking up the preacher's stats: Silverbolt: Just do it from memory and let us win easily. GM: Not a chance on both of 'em. Steamjack, who has Distinctive features, Public Identity and a reputation, decides to walk into the high security church, carrying a rock that lights up like a Christmas tree to anyone who can see magic: GM: Right. That was unexpected. *franticly reads through notes* No, wait, there it is. … GM: They're droning on and on about midi-chlorians and how its little demons that live in people and make them do evil things. … Steamjack: Are they paying attension to my rock? GM: Not that you know of. Steamjack: It's a mutually assured destruction device. They try anything and I open this box. The alter is drawing power and building up mana: Silverbolt: Put the rock on it and see what happens. … GM: So, you're disabling the alter with a needle? … GM: This is just surreal. It's the alter of a bogus religion. It does not have power defense. … 142 active points worth of dispel. … GM: always ground your alters. I look over my notes, and start laughing. Manically: Steamjack: Why is he laughing?! Silverbolt: This is bad. GM: Steamjack, the ground opens up beneath you. You and the rock are now in the sewers. It's like you were sitting on a weak point or something. Steamjack: I threaten to open the container. GM: You see the illusion of your ass above you. Steamjack: I threaten louder. He then climbed up from the sewers, reentered the church, and sat down next to himself. Silverbolt wonders who could cast such a spell: GM: You know he's powerful, and to bring the illusion up so quickly he probably studied in Britain. Silverbolt: A student from Hogwarts. GM: That's in Wales. The players notice that the piano player is an DEMON necromancer they've dealt with before: Steamjack: I walk up to the alter and threaten to open the container. … Ultisaur: I'm gonna be hiding in the doorway. … GM: You're standing on a gas pipe. Steamjack: I'm standing on a gas pipe. GM: It proceeds to explode. Steamjack: Why does it explode? … GM: you're about to be mowed down by a crowd. Again. Ultisaur: This time I stand my ground. … GM: A zombie appears from the closet. Silverbolt: Is it gay? … GM: And he succeeds in failing that roll. Pinpoint uses sleight of hand to throw needles at the DEMON morbane without him noticing: GM: To quote the eternal genius of Richard: Morbane (looking down to see a trio of needles imbedded in his chest): "Who keeps throwing these?" At several points during the battle: GM: I just realized something very, very, very important. Players: What? GM: never mind. Some foes are glass cannons: Silverbolt: I hit DCV 11. GM: Then you hit the piano player, who will be very pissed with you in the morning. The alter is an Aid tool: GM: Lets see, the stone about doubles it… I'm gonna need more dice. … GM: The electricity mage got stunned by electricity. The players have a habit of saying things at exactly the right DEX for counter points: Silverbolt: at least we know who the two evil guys are. GM: two? Pinpoint: there's a zombie ghoul thing as well… GM: and these three guys burst into demon forms. … Silverbolt: Everyone who isn't immediately running out the doors is fair game. GM: Everyone is immediately running out the doors. Steamjack now tries to throw the super-charged mana rock at the necromancer pianist: GM: We interrupt your attack action to bring you these messages. And this ball of dark mana. Steamjack is stunned by the necromancers counter attack. City magic, means a lot of indirect powers: GM: The light bulb explodes. Silverbolt: Who keeps doing that? GM: That's why I like the guy. The morbane teleports away while everyone is blinded. Ultisaur can "see" him with his smell sense: GM: There was a mage. He smelled bad. Then there was no mage. Except Silverbolt. Ultisaur: He smells bad. The players eventually throws the magic rock at a mook. The resulting explosion removed half the structural support making the building tip over. The player's counter plan: Drive the train at the building to hold it up for as long as possible while they evacuating the citizens. Then destroy the rest of the first floor, making it collapse strait down, instead of into the nearby orphanage: Ultisaur: Let's get the hell out of here before the media arrives. GM: Cue the arrival of the media. Steamjack: I steam vent to the train, then activate the train's steam venting. GM: Cue the arrival of the fire department. Now here's the fancy question: Where's your mentor? Steamjack has a crisis of faith: Steamjack: I'd like to point out that I have no obligation to help you so I'm going to Britain. Silverbolt: There's a bottle of scotch in it for you if you help me. Steamjack (instantly): I'll help you. A typical player plan: Steamjack: Since we've already destroyed everything I suggest we drive the train into the sewers. … Ultisaur: "wait. We don't want to dent the train. Let me strap myself in front of it first." … Ultisaur: I can punch the ground before we hit it. GM (looking through the move through rules): No you can't. It's moving at a speed of… *tries to calculate it* FAAAAAAST. … GM: 76 STUN. You were strapped in front of this thing? Ultisaur: Good lord… … Steamjack: And it still dents. It's just a you shaped dent. Another cutscene: GM: Silverbolt, standing at the back of the steam train imbedded in the rubble activates his Eidetic Memory. He sees the room that used to be here, and the zombie coming out of the closet. The view shifts dramatically and we see… a ladder. … Steamjack: The train is still steam venting which makes the whole flashback thing kind of ironic, as he couldn't see a thing. The question of whether the Stormcloud is the only train in town: GM: there is a monorail three stories up. It was luckily not damaged by the explosion. Steamjack: Ok, I need to go up and drive through the monorail. Looting the room, old school style: Silverbolt: We search through the sewers, do we find anything? GM: Yes! Dung, lots and lots of dung. Silverbolt: what kind of dung? GM (quoting a poem): old dungs, and fresh dungs, | Dry dungs and dysentry Silverbolt: From what kind of creature? GM: Humans. Mostly. Pinpoint attacks a zombie he had already damaged, and does minimum BODY. The zombie has one BODY left: Pinpoint: I kick him in the balls. He's a Zombie, so it doesn't do anything, but it makes me feel better. … Pinpoint (rolling damage on his next attack on the same zombie): Please, please, one BODY or more… On a 1d6+1… Steamjack up to his usual tricks: GM: You're entangled. Silverbolt: Didn't he tunnel out of the entangle? Steamjack: Actually I tunneled further into the entangle. Pinpoint (looking at battle map): Wait, are you inside the wall? Why?! Steamjack: Because I can, mostly. A history lesion: GM: They didn't have radars during the civil war? How did they stop the southerner airships then? Steamjack: You've been playing too much… What have you been playing too much? GM: … This … If wishes were horses: Steamjack: I need to McGyver a light. Pinpoint: I need to McGyver a way out of this entangle. Ultisaur: I need to become fully conscious. Pinpoint's needles: GM: bought as "Restrainable: Only By Means OTHER Than Grabs and Entangles" … GM: he'll break out unless he rolls more than one one. Silverbolt(looking at the roll): One one exactly. Pinpoint: One one and only one one. One one one one one two. A table full of mathematicians: Silverbolt: Basically, the percentage of the maximum velocity used is the percentage of the END cost paid. GM: Only here would that be considered "basic". Summaries always sound strange: GM: the Asian goes super speed to bandage the dinosaur. Pinpoint: You are now a mummy. The joys of invisible mooks: Silverbolt (after launching an area of affect attack): "B4, do I sink your battleship?" GM: There's a dislocated voice saying "you sank my cruiser." Steamjack: Dislocated voice? GM: As though a ventriloquist is making fun of you. Steamjack sweeps his room with an autofire attack: GM: You have a room full of… Whatever it is you fire. Steamjack then moves on to the corridor: GM: Silverbolt? The voice in your ear whispers "you sank my battleship." Silverbolt attacks an "innocent" room in a DEMON complex: Silverbolt: There is no such thing as innocence, only degrees of guilt. Ultisaur: You're a lawyer? I'm never hiring you!

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... They may be six months overdue, but at least they're here, now that I've gotten my computer back and listened through three hours of recorded game time. There's another 6 hours of quotes waiting for me, so expect more once I find the time. Can't find my character descriptions so I'll improvise new ones: Silverbolt: Lightning mage. Also a bit of a transmuter, being able to make food out of thing air, and change clothes as a half action. Fond of practical jokes. Ultisaur: Genetically modified Brick. ULTICORPs latest genetic super-soldier prototype. His spit is acidic and he's somewhat aggressive. Steamjack: Steam-powered Power-Armoured Brit. Enough said. Also, he's going slowly mad. Pinpoint: Asian Acupuncturist hero, and natrual enemy of the Triad. Spend most of the mission in their care. So the player played Agent Wallace of UNTIL instead. Wallace has just been through roughly the same geno-tech as Ultisaur, though it was VIPER that did it to him. Andy: The snot element kid was not present this time (or possibly sleeping of jet lag in my bed, can't remember.) The players have a really bad record with press conferences: GM: By now ULTICORP has come up with a new method for press conferences: 1) They will be held in a fortified bunker, 2) You will not be present, 3) If there is an emergency you will be contacted and then you might be allowed to go close to the place. Silverbolt: I blame Ultisaur Widespread agreement (including from Ultisaur himself) GM: and 4) The building has been EMP hardened; every ULTICORP building has been EMP hardened. Ultisaur: I blame Silverbolt. What one could do with a few more points: Silverbolt: Give me 20 character points and I can do it. GM: Give me 20 character points and I'd be ruler of the universe. Incidentally "dyslectic" is a 20 point disadvantage. Pollution: GM: Things have been relatively calm in Millennium City. Other than a few bank robberies, a few car thefts, a light lack of Ozone (everyone turns to face Steamjack), Steamjack: … what? Al Gore is running for mayor, with predictable campaign promises: Ultisaur: "My campaign promises: I promise less pollution, I promise less taxes, I promise less ULTICORP Champions." Silverbolt: Everyone who tries that will find it's raining during their press conferences. GM: Which is why they have them in fortified bunkers now. The players saved the city from a fusion bomb, taking out a block in the progress: GM: The press have been their usual self, some of them blame you for the incident, others follow the official ULTICORP line that it was all VIPERs fault. Steamjack: It was all VIPERs fault. GM: Yes… but you are Team Collateral. The quotes that were best without context: Steamjack: My computer doesn't suck, it's just old and damaged. Oh, wait. … Silverbolt: We need more Wonderflonium balloons. … Silverbolt: First I'm trying time dilation. Power roll! … Pinpoint: Can I reinforce the balloon with needles? … Pinpoint: There's a lot of random magic going around. GM: That there is, but it doesn't help because he's attempting to create element pi. Which must be done with the mad power of science, not magic. … GM: Don't drown yourself in coke, god damn it. … GM: No, you can't take damage during cut scenes. … Silverbolt: The reason Japanese rulers have mustaches: "Wait, an Asian with facial hair? He must actually be manly! You! Lead our country, now!" … Yes, I went there. … GM: the universe explodes, and the IRS comes to get you? … Steamjack: I set fire to the sewers. … GM: An iron jaw does not make you a cyborg! … Ultisaur: I don't have googly eyes. I will never have googly eyes. … Steamjack: I aim for the GM! … Steamjack: Its tempting to say Arcane Vibrator, I don't know why. … Silverbolt: No, I don't accidently change into a ballroom dress. … GM: There's a dice on the floor, and its not the one I dropped. … GM: Oh, right, there were no Nazis. Why were there no Nazis? … Steamjack: "I was shot with steam. I'd better take a nap." … GM: Note to self: Do not talk this close to microphone. … Steamjack: Med-evac. Medical kit. Wack. … GM (as Silverbolt):" I normally use this power to make food, it can fix his arm, I promise." … Steamjack: If you kill someone with a Presence attack, do they shit their kidneys? … Steamjack: I fist him. … Pinpoint: I thoroughly grope myself. Do I need to roll to hit? Steamjack: You thoroughly traumatize me. GM: If you weren't traumatized from before I don't know what you're doing here. Pinpoint's assistant has been kidnapped by the triad: GM: The problem is, your assistant has been kidnapped. Again. Steamjack: You knew the risks, when you bought that disadvantage. ... Silverbolt: What does the ransom note say? GM: Well its a bit more modest than the million it was last time. … Silverbolt: Oh, joy, a trap. … Silverbolt: I take 2 hundred dollar notes, and eight 2 hundred dollar note shaped pieces of newspaper. Then I stick a one thousand dollar bill in the middle. Scouting out the location of the hostage transfer: Steamjack: Do I find any underground passages. GM: Yes. They're called sewers, they're very stinky. Things go wrong: Steamjack: I'm warming up the arcane turbine. GM (to Pinpoint): You take 7 turbine and… wait… 7 BODY when he (Ultisaur) lands on you. … GM: When Steamjack teleports into the room he finds an unconsious lizard and a 1000 dollars in small bills. They took the newspaper and the two hundreds. Silverbolt: They left the one-thousand dollar bill? GM: yep. Silverbolt: that doesn't make any sense. GM: nope. … Steamjack: I take the one thousand dollar bill. GM: Ok. Steamjack: I stick it in my burner. … Steamjack: "what need have I for these silly pieces of paper?" … GM: Doesn't he have filthy rich? Steamjack: I'm not a filthy Lich! While Pinpoint is helpless in the hands of the Triad (can you say radiation accident?) Pinpoint is going to play Agent Wallace of UNTIL, who had a similar experience with VIPER last time: GM: seems he got more than just the scales. … Steamjack: But does his power scale, or are scales his power? … Silverbolt: Now he can utilize the scales of justice. … Ultisaur: That shifted the scales. Ect. Some things annoy Steamjack: Silverbolt: I get a 9! Steamjack: I shout my results really loudly. … Silverbolt: I guess plot says I can't follow them! Steamjack: This is a statement. I'm saying it loudly! The changing of characters is a difficult thing: GM (Sarcastic): Because he immediately teleports to your location and knows everything you know. Silverbolt: OK, lets go. GM: That was a joke. Silverbolt: Then I press the recap button. No, wait. I simply point "that direction, the sewers, they took our little Chinese friend" GM: The teleporting part was also a joke. The Secret Identity problem: GM: He's wearing an UNTIL uniform, so his secret identity is preserved. Silverbolt: Except the little nametag that says "Wallace". Player's memories sometimes need jogging: Steamjack: I haven't met [Agent Wallace]. GM: remember the museum heist? Steamjack: yes. GM: Remember the UNTIL commander you completely ignored as you busted in? Steamjack: Yes, I do remember that. Well, I remember not remembering. The madness of modern construction: Silverbolt: At noncombat velocities in the sewers, I bet it will take them a long time to make a turn. GM: until they reach the new quarters where the sewers are all strange and highway like. Silverbolt updates ULTICORP on the situation over radio: GM: Unsecure channel… (rolls dice) Silverbolt: they're gonna kidnap you, too. GM: Oh, good point, I should roll for that, too. I was thinking media. … GM: Segment 12. UNTIL arrives. Media arrives. Steamjack steam-vents to cover the teams evacuation from the warehouse: Media reporters: This is Millennium City News reporting live from a warehouse where the ULTICORP Champions have just left. From the look of it, the building behind me is on fire, and we believe that the fire department is on its way. There have been unconfirmed reports that several team members are unconscious and/or captured, and we know that UNTIL is involved in the case. In there usual manner, the ULTICORP Champions are no where to be seen, despite heavy smoke development in the building. A promise kept: GM: I believe there was a comment earlier in the campaign about what you would do if he (Ultisaur) was ever unconscious… Silverbolt: What was it? GM: I don't know, I didn't write it down. Whatever it was, presume you do it. Pinpoint: Oh, right. Jigglypuff. Ultisaur wakes up: Ultisaur: I immediately start tracking them. GM: through the sewers? Ultisaur: I have Discriminatory. GM: And +3 with the smell/taste group, plus you smell with your tongue. Ultisaur: I still try to track them. GM: After a very, uncomfortable, half hour he is forced to give up Ultisaur: *puking sounds* Oh my god, the ground is dissolving! … GM (as mutant class teacher): That, children, is we you should never drink alcohol. You could turn into a giant lizard and puke all over the place. Wallace has an idea about where they might be: Ultisaur: I start tracking him. GM: Or you could let me explain why he's in that building. Silverbolt: We go to that building. GM: You don't know that he's in that building! I haven't explained it yet! Ultisar realizes what they're up against: Ultisaur: Oh, god, we're screwed. The Triad always have secret Kung Fu powers. Silverbolt: It's not secret. They're Chinese. Pinpoint: They have wire fighting maneuvers. Silverbolt shows up at the Triad Resurant in a pizza delivery costume: Silverbolt: "hello, who ordered these? It's for a Hung Lo? Is anyone here Hung Lo?" GM: Two people raise their hands, but deny ordering the pizza. Silverbolt: "Nobody ordered these pizzas?" *picks up cell phone* "boss? I think we've been prank called again." Silverbolt makes a Electric Sense PER roll and notices some irregularities in some of the guests: Silverbolt: Like, they're cyborgs? GM: Mutated, cyborgs, demons, aliens, non-humans, atlantians, lemurians, asians. There are many options. The UNTIL strike team is in a van painted up as a Post Van. Silverbolt changes into post officer clothing and knocks on the door: GM: The door remains very unmoving. With your electrical sense you notice a small camera stuck up in the roof. Pinpoint (currently playing Wallace, in charge of the UNTIL strike force): *chooses this moment to initiate the attack. GM: The truck speeds off. Ultisaur, who's been hiding in the building, desides to make a Presence attack to get the civilians out before the UNTIL ambush arrives with orders to contain them. This is pointed out the be a bad idea: Ultisaur: F*ck UNTIL, I wanna make a presence attack. He rolls 26 on a 10d6 attack, and proceeds to barely effect the locals. GM: so, the strike team is on its way, the shit is really hitting the fan, and the bad guys are on their way out of the building. What are people doing? People who aren't Ultisaur. Silverbolt: jogging toward the building, now dressed as an accountant. Wallace: Taking up position to go in with the strike team. Steamjack: in an nearby alley. Silverbolt: eating the pizza? Steamjack: No, I BURN the pizza. How much END do I get? … Steamjack: What are the buildings around me? GM: Well there's a Chinese restaurant, that serves Chinese food, that he (Ultisaur) just made a… something inside. Trying to place the civilians in the restaurant: Steamjack: Wow that's a popular place. GM: Yeah, it's like the only one in China Town. GM: At this point cries of "Containment Breach" are coming through the radio system. Ultisaur: "Containment Breach"? What does that mean? GM: It means that all the people they were trying to arrest so they could check whether they're working for the triad or not are leaving the building! Ultisaur: Oops… GM: This why one should coordinate with the guys in charge. No comment: GM: Is there such a thing as Chinese thugs? Can I even use that term? Steamjack has his own breed of tactics: Silverbolt: Actually, that's a wall in the way. Steamjack: Not for long. … Steamjack: Ouch, I got a splinter in my metal. Silverbolt misses another triad thug: Silverbolt: How come they have such high DCV, and so low DEX? GM: Small. Dyslexics. 'Nuff said: GM: Steamjack recovers from being Stunned… Steamjack: Steamjack is not stunned! GM: that's because his name is Silverbolt. They both start with S and end with… no they don't. The fun of invisible recurring villains: GM: at this point your boiler shuts down. Steamjack: how? GM: Actually I'm not sure, I haven't rolled the effect yet… or to hit. *rolls dice* Your boiler shuts down. Steamjack: Why? GM: that would have something to do with the three needles sticking out of it. Silverbolt (to Pinpoint): Wow, your character upgrade pwned him. Everyone around the table: No, that was the Needle Child. … Steamjack: How do the needles stop my boiler? GM: Don't ask me. I don't know acupuncture. … GM: Ok, then, lets say you have twenty END left in your reserves. Steamjack: Ok, that's fine. That's enough to blow up most of the building. The players figure it might be time to call in reinforcements (but ignore the UNTIL army outside): Silverbolt: Can we remote call in the steam train or do we have to be manning it? GM: You're probably the only ones in the universe who can fly the damn thing. Target identification: GM: There's a room full of bad guys. At least, you think they're bad guys as they all have guns, katanas, belly dancers… should probably do those in a different color. Why UNTIL wanted to raid the place in the first place: GM: Silverbolt enters an entertaining scene. Four guys wearing Russian hats, four guys wearing Chinese uniforms, four guys in pinstriped suits eating meatballs. *pause* OK, Russian, Chinese, Italian … I'm missing a mafia. *pause with lengthy discussions about different mafias* Gangsters. Silverbolt (to the assembly): Why are you allowing them here?! … Silverbolt: Hopefully they shouldn't attack me on sight. GM: You're wearing the ULTICORP Champions uniform. Steamjack tends to ignore such petty things as walls and roofs: Steamjack: I go to the third floor, how many hexes of up is that? GM: He comes up through the coffee table. … Silverbolt: take the gangsters first. Please? Steamjack: I counter gangster them. Steamjack holds his Gatling gun sideways like a gangster, and presides to knock the gangsters out the closest window. The Russians and Italians clap. Steamjack is aware of a few holes in the special effect description of his attack powers: Steamjack: Its a sort of poorly described Gatling gun that shoots poorly described nonlethal bullets. "I shot him in the face just the stun him." The blaster weapons the triad are using are Type 47s, and not: GM: They don't get E-11 Blaster Rifles. Only UNTIL get E-11 Blaster Rifles. Ultisaur: But those never hit! GM: Indeed. I roll 2 threes in a row: GM: They get extraordinary lucky. I suggest you dive for cover. Ultisaur: I abort to dive for cover. GM: thank you. Steamjack and Silverbolt use rock paper scissors to see who acts first, as they have the same DEX: Silverbolt: Rock rock rock rock rock rock rock. *chooses paper, while Steamjack goes rock* Steamjack gets an idea: Steamjack: I move half a hex down, then here, then here, then here. *Cuts a circle of floor away under the mafia bosses* Steamjack: And that's a half move. GM: Due to comic book physics, the platform remains completely in place until you've removed all the support, and the Italians get time to take a sip of wine before gravity realizes it has a job to do. It then slams down over the floor below, remains perfectly level, and the Russians take another swing of vodka. The needle Child has disappeared: Silverbolt: Where the hell is the Needle Child anyway? Pinpoint: Hiding in the "Other" bathroom. Silverbolt: What? Pinpoint: *pointing to map* Gents, Ladies, Other. Silverbolt: He was on the floor above us when he disabled Steamjack. GM: Do you think the Needle Child cares about floors? Steamjack: I certainly don't. Silverbolt does massive damage to a cyborg: GM: We can reconstruct him. We have the character points. Steamjack decides to be fair, and give his foes a chance to stand down: Steamjack: I shout "Nobody be Chinese or I start shooting." Then I open fire. … Steamjack: How badly do I miss? GM: entertainingly badly. You're in etch-n-sketch territory. Wallace gets kicked: GM: I won't have told him what hit him if he was attacked by the Needle Child. Ultisaur gets some action: Ultisaur: See this guy standing next to me. He's standing next to me. Brutus injection! Silverbolt: On him?! … Ultisaur: This is why you don't take steroids. *He ripped a guy in half* Steamjack: Is it intervention time soon? … GM: That was your round. Now it's your next round. Ultisaur: See this guy? … GM: you guys really need to learn not to go full out on thugs. Ultisaur: But I don't like thugs… *breaks both the arms of the second thug* … Silverbolt: I guess they won't give him any more Brutus Injections for a while? GM: No. I think they're gonna hide all the Brutus Injections in a very safe place… where only VIPER can access them. … GM: There's an Ultisaur in the staircase. He's armed and dangerous. As in, he has someone's arm. The players are listing things one can do with a power roll: Pinpoint: Change weather, Change GM. Not, wait only the divine have that kind of power. GM: Not even them. I control the divine. Silverbolt had a readied action: GM: Two thugs guarding that storeroom, one of which is in comma land. Pinpoint: What's he doing in comma land? GM: He tried looking up the stairs. Going down: Silverbolt: I think there should be one more hole in this building, don't you? Steamjack: Sure, I'll deactivate my flight. Wallace makes an unlucky attack roll and hits the approaching Steamjack. This may have nothing to do with the following exchange: GM: Steamjack is here. Steamjack: Am not. I was directly above him, and then deactivated my flight. Pinpoint (Wallace): Me? Steamjack: Yes. Abort to dive for cover. Ultisaur, sure that ULTICORP has shown up by now, goes to get a Nimbus Injection so he can participate in the sewer chase scene, where the triad are ferrying the now upgraded Pinpoint away: GM: On his was out he gets black bagged by ULTICORP R&D. Ultisaur: Ok, ok , I'll give up the arm! The technical side of a chase scene: Steamjack: They're moving at how many what's per second? How to stop a vehicle: Silverbolt: Riding with Wallace on an UNTIL hoverbike: "Pull over, you have a broken tail light!" *shots lightning at them* Silverbolt: Well, now you do. … Steamjack: Do hovercraft explode? Silverbolt: Not unless you hit their engines. GM: They're fueled by electric eels. Steamjack: I could do that… Silverbolt: Don't give him any funny ideas. A round of combat later: GM: The fan is working perfectly; it's a very stable fan. The problem is that the fan blades are not so existing. A plan: Silverbolt: Kick the Needle Child in the face and grab Pinpoint. Pinpoint (as Wallace): Kick the ninja in the face; you don't see anything wrong with this plan? GM: Did I say the Needle Child was onboard? There's a thug driving. Ultisaur: De-thug him. … Silverbolt: Who's turn is it? GM: Theirs. Silverbolt: You said there was only one thug. GM: Yes. He has multiple personality disorder. The players rescue Pinpoint and are wandering what to do with him now that he's a cyborg: Silverbolt: Here's the question: do we bring Mr. Shorty to the hospital, or the R&D lab? GM: I think he's going to be safely locked in an UNTIL bunker for a while. Until R&D loses interest. Ultisaur's victim dies on the way to hospital: GM: Congratulations. First blood. Silverbolt: Ultisaur turning into a villain… saw that one coming. GM: Well, since they do have some competent lawyers at ULTICORP, he got his sentence commuted to community service, which he does as a superhero. Silverbolt: How is that community service? That's community disservice. GM: Yes. That's what the defendants were claiming.

Re: "Dark Flow" Discovered at Edge of the Universe No joke, just some weird dyslexics-memory flaw hybrid mistake. I ment Pythagoras and not Archimedes. And the victim was called Hippasus. A careful googling indicated that history is uncertain as to if it was a murder or an accident. My source book "More Murderous Maths" apparently choose the most entertaining anecdote rather than a balanced record. And the signature refers to the heisenberg uncertainty principle, in case there was any uncertainty. (joke intended)

Re: "Dark Flow" Discovered at Edge of the Universe the real reason: http://xkcd.com/502/ And, there has been a long history of humans dieing for their beliefs. Socrates was killed by a democratic comity for his work as a "friend of knowledge" (philosopher). Archimedes and his Mathematical Cult killed Hypotenuse to conceal the existence of rational numbers (specifically the square root of two). This cult discovered pi, ironically. My point is: people kill people, especially people who try to tell them new things. (And, yes, the subtext, rapidly becoming text, is that 33 % present of the world have their own example(s) to fall back to). It's insane, and illogical, but its human behavior, nether the less. One of the few near universal facts. The best way to stop people from killing people is to cut each other some slack, and try to coexist. It's not easy, trust me, I live in a city full of normal people *shudders*. Disclaimer: your definition of normal may vary; all facts were from memory and may be myths.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... I joined in a massive Changeling: the Lost campaign, with over fifty players. Our mission is to find out what happened to a group sent to investigate a haunted apartment. The group consisted of player characters in the campaign, which really made it a suspenseful adventure; and more to the point: they owe us big time now... The group: Max Power: Private Detective with a lot of firearms Louis XIV: The Sun god, fire elemental Mystique: As from x-men Malcolm: really strong Car mechanic Another Shapeshifter who's name eludes me And an expert on antiques Some random comments: Louis: Combat? But I haven't caught fire yet. ... Louis: I'd love to take you home some day and show you my furniture. ... Malcolm: I grapple the sofa. ... Dream figure: I wasn't dreamed up as a person with good memory... ... Max Power: Is it vandalism if it’s done by a pretty girl? Max Power gets knocked out by an electric shock: Malcolm: Hey, I lost to a sofa; you have no right to complain. After a shot is fired: Malcolm: I turn on the TV, crank the volume up, and find a good action movie. The police are called anyway: Police: There were reports of gunfire, sir; we have to search the premises. Max Power: You don't have a search warrant, and you have no grounds on which to get a warrant. So go away. *slams door in the face of the shocked police officers* The police return with the apartment owner: Shapeshifter: *searches the officers minds for information, then shape shifts into their superior* Shapeshifter: As you can see my investigation is going well. Now, arrest that woman (the apartment owner) for assault and kidnapping. *Points around to several unconscious changelings* She has clearly been kidnapping people and abusing them. Oh, and call an ambulance. Police: Yes, sir. *leaves with the now hysterical (and innocent) apartment owner* Shapeshifter: *turns to party* Now, let’s get the f*** out of here.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... The players: Silverbolt: Mage Energy Projector Steamjack: Steam-tech Power-Armor (not present this time) Ultrasaur: Corporate Mutant Brick Pinpoint: Acupuncture Martial Artist Andy: Mutant with Snot Powers Remising over passed campaigns: GM (Kale's player): actually, Kale didn't think he was evil. Silverbolt (the DM of that campaign): That doesn't matter, no evil people think they're evil. Pinpoint: Dr Evil does. Silverbolt: That is a joke character, he isn't actually real. GM: Unlike Kale? The player's are forced into a press conference by ULTICORP (their employers). The team really hate press conferences, and have a bit of a bad track record, but ULTICORP PR division is determined to milk some good publicity from their recent victories: ULTICORP PR agent (NPC): There will be no talking, promising repayments, covering press members in snot, singing, immobilizing press members, steam venting, leaving mid sentence, speaking foreign languages, including British, no attacking any popular politicians, passers by, ULTICORP personnel, hostages or members of the press, no throwing things, damaging equipment, breaking things, no changing costumes, no sending illusions instead of oneself, no summoning bad weather, no saying anything unless directly asked a question at the appropriate time and even then your answers will be short, positive and contain no insults or threats, no matter how veiled. A sadly likely occurrence: Andy: will we be blamed if people have random heart attacks and die? Fun with low DEX crowds: Ultrasaur: Wait, is that a crowd of people just sitting there. GM: No, that's a crowd of people trying to panic, and waiting for their DEX to come up. Dyslectics makes for fun talking: GM: Ultrasaur recovers from his abortion. Er, abort action. Profound truth: Steamjack: In the case of emergencies the press won't panic until they realize their cameras aren't working. Ultisaur caches up on the situation: GM: It's 2012, everything's sci-fi! Ultisaur: It's 2012! It's the end of the world! Everyone: not yet! It's March, the apocalypse is in December. Never start listening in mid conversation: Silverbolt: Right. Penetrating. GM: Is it penetrating? Let me check. Silverbolt: I'm hardened! Ultisaur: Don't tell us these things! A wise clarification: Ultisaur: I abort to throwing Andy out of the way. *pause* Just not, you know, out of the window. A VIPER thug with a bulky weapon finds he has a DCV of 3: GM: Note to self, throw the gun out the window and get the f*** out of there. Silverbolt hits a seemingly unarmored VIPER agent in press gear: GM: Most of your attack bounces of his force field. Silverbolt: He has a force field? GM: You think they'd send in guys unprotected against you guys?! GM: There's constant milling in that area. Silverbolt: Why would they be milling, they've had a whole segment. GM: Then they've done a segment worth of milling. Pinpoint considers shooting through the crowd with his needles, despite the damage it would cause, citing that his acupuncture clinic can fix them: Silverbolt (playing a lawyer): So you're going to hurt them then make them pay for fixing them up. That amounts to assault and extortion. Ultisaur: No, that amounts to prostitution. First you're gonna penetrate them, and then you're gonna fix them up. Commenting the status of the VIPER agent who just got hit with every needle in a needle swarm (pinpoint rolled a 3): GM: Not the happiest chap on the battlemap. Silverbolt is knocked out by a sniper: Pinpoint: I poke Silverbolt. Silverbolt: Thanks for the heal. Pinpoint: who said it was healing needles? A plot important file is given to Ultisaur: GM: It's about getting permanent and temporary enhancements. Ultisaur: For me? GM: Yes… well, for all the X2-3725 projects. Ultisaur: All the … how many others were there? GM: You're believed to be the only survivor. Ultisaur: Sweet Jesus, the only WHAT now?! Several scientists of project X2-3725 (The project that created Ultisaur) are dead. One was murdered: Ultisaur: What sort of weapon was used in the murder? Wallace (UNTIL agent, NPC): We're not entirely sure. Ultisaur: Then what sort of trauma was there? Blunt force, bladed weapons… Wallace: Bomb. Ultisaur: Large scale or targeted? Wallace: We had some problems finding the office building. Pinpoint has been trying to say something for a long time: GM: At this point I'm going to say, (looks through FREDs list of powers), there's not actually a power that makes you shut up, huh. Ok, fine. You shut up, you shut up, you shut up, you talk. Pinpoint: Oh … ok. (silence for over a minute) Actually I'm enjoying the quiet. The team starts tracking the now missing Agent Wallace: GM: you end up in (dramatic pause) the shady part of town! The players make snorting noises, unimpressed, except for Andy Andy: Wait. The shady part of Detroit?! Ultisaur wants to bring ULTICORP security teams with them: Silverbolt: does he get to bring them? GM: He gets to make a contact roll to see if he gets to bring them. Pinpoint: that means no. (8- contact) Ultisaur moves his figure over the battlemap: GM: Car. Ultisaur: What car? GM: Car. You're in the street. Car. A problem when trying to migrate players from DnD to a superhero campaign: Ultisaur: Assume everyone's hostile unless told otherwise. Another "friendly" discussion between the two brothers lead to a rapidly deteriorating plan: Ultisaur: I walk up and ask them "Excuse me, has an UNTIL agent come by here?" Silverbolt (sarcastic): oh, that's subtle! That's subtle! Ultisaur: You know what, I pick up one of the security guards and slam him into the road. Silverbolt (louder): Even more subtle! Ultisaur: Hold on. Have I ever, ever, ever, ever given any example of being in any way subtle? … Ultisaur: I pretend to walk over there, then I cross the road (indicating a place the guards can't see him) Silverbolt: CAR! Ultisaur: I carefully avoid the cars by leaping… Silverbolt: that's not suspicious! … GM: So, you're gonna jump between two armed security guards, go full lizard on them, and expect them not to open fire on you? … Ultisaur: Fine. I drop down without the spikes, because apparently! No matter what I do! It's WRONG! (pause) I ask them "Excuse me, are you UNTIL agents?" (to a pair of private security guards) … Ultisaur: I'm just gonna do what I feel comfortable doing, and that's stealing doors. The final decision for what to say: Ultisaur: "Excuse me, I need to get in here because a friend of mine went inn. Could you be so kind and open the door, disable the alarm and in no way be a VIPER agent?" The guard tazes Ultisaur and activates the alarm. Ultisaur decides to smash his head against the wall: Silverbolt: The GM is busy watching an unarmed civilian get killed. GM: Armed, and not necessarily civilian either. The GM gets up and closes the door: Andy: Are you trying to suffocate us? GM: No. I'm trying not to wake up the house. As in the physical building. The team has eliminated the VIPER guards, dressed up in their uniforms and are searching the warehouse: GM: The VIPER radio's activate and they ask for a comm check. Silverbolt: "Everything's in order here." GM: the alarm activates. Silverbolt: "You just don't have a sense of humor , do you?" GM: It stays persistently active. The GM looks over his notes: GM: You guys are gonna hate me. … Andy: We do hate you. Ultisaur's keen smell leads him to a container he believes contains Agent Wallace: Silverbolt: is he dead of alive in there? GM: that would depend on what's at the bottom of that staircase behind the two VIPER heavies leveling their guns at you. Ultisaur: Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?! GM: You might want to abort to dive for cover… No Comment: GM: The GM is playing with dice, something is wrong. ... Pinpoint: You're gonna spend segment 12 in the bathroom? ... GM: It's not your turn yet, unless everyone else delays… including the bad guys. ... Ultisaur: These secret relationships, there such a thing as being too secretive. Generally, the boyfriend should be informed. … Ultisaur: Stop fondling Anubis. 101 things I never thought I'd say. … GM: This is why good guys get to Haymaker, and bad guys don't. … GM: The dice are high. … Pinpoint: His head is sturdier. … Ultisaur: For the record, this isn't going on the record. Unconventional solutions: GM: there's now a snot mannequin in the hallway. Andy: They don't shoot it? GM: They don't. They have basic identify friend, foe, snot systems. Silverbolt: "That's snot a foe!" Logic: Ultisaur: Wait? What's this about whiplash damage? Silverbolt: You ran into a wall, it hurts! GM: Remember, this is a realistic system, that's why it's so complicated. The players consider whether Andy could help Ultisaur break through a reinforced concrete wall: GM: with her 15 STR? Pinpoint: she has a damn cannon ball! GM: that's true, she does have a damn cannon ball… Ultisaur: "Use your damn cannon ball!" Ultisaur wonders why the other players are so worried when he has a concrete wall as a mobile cover: GM: The last guy is using the wrong model. (replaces model with one with flame thrower) Does that answer your question? Ultisaur: yes... Help? Ultisaur is kept from being stunned (and knocked out) only because we realized his PD was temporarily increased by 1. Andy decides to give him some cover: GM: That entangle will absorb 7 BODY, if they decide to fire at you; You look pretty much impaled and they probably think you're stunned. I would have thought you were stunned. I did think you were stunned. Silverbolt's phase next, he choose this time for a toilet break: Ultisaur: He's just gonna bounce a lightning ball. GM: He could technically crystallize that thing (the one hex pile of snot in front of him) and save your ass… Ultisaur (shouting at the bathroom door): Silverbolt, crystallize that thing and save my ass. Sometimes you just need a random cartoon reference: Pinpoint: The turret gun… Silverbolt: Is completely reduced to rubble. GM: Like Barney. Two stolen grenades and a haymakered lightning blast are used to end a stalemate, and all the attack rolls were under 6: GM: The gods of dice favor dramatic situations. … GM: All in all we're looking at a pretty damaged area of VIPER complex. Silverbolt: They were VIPERed out. The players raid the VIPER armory and prepare to rampage through the rest of the compound: Ultisaur: I take one of those big guns, aim it around the corner and pull the trigger. Pinpoint: If that's not a killing attack… Ultisaur: It didn't kill me… Silverbolt returns from a bathroom break: Silverbolt: Did I hear excessive amounts of ordinance? GM: Yeah, you sort of bust into their armory. Some poor design planning on my part. Around the next corner the party runs into a pair of power armored VIPER agents: Ultisaur: did you say there were EMP grenades? GM (in subdued tone): Yeah… I did. There went that boss fight… A fusion generator is about to explode as a VIPER self destruct program: Ultisaur: Listen very carefully. I want you all to get out of here. I'm. Going. To. Attempt. To. Eat. The. Plutonium. GM: It's Plasma! Ultisaur: I'm gonna eat it! GM: Do you want me to look up the number of D6 of damage from plasma? Because I can. … Ultisaur: Can I spit acid on it? GM: That would leak super-heated plasma into the room, but it might actually save the city. Another Polaroid moment: Silverbolt and Ultisaur are the last ones the leave the VIPER control room/lab. Ultisaur is carrying the control panel, teleportation array, chemical storage, and an unconscious ULTIL agent in his left hand, using his right hand to get through doors. Behind them a pool of super-heated plasma is spilling into the corridor, chasing them Indiana Jones style. Ultisaur is leaping from wall to wall, struggling to stay ahead of the plasma, while Silverbolt is using his flight to "surf" on it as they make their way to the surface. Coming out to meet the rest of the team in front of the warehouse the base was hidden under, Silverbolt turns to address the gathered civilians as the warehouse collapses and falls into what is now a lake of plasma: Silverbolt: Once again the day is saved, thanks to the ULTICORP Champions! NPC: It's Team Collateral! Silverbolt: If you thought that was bad, you should have seen what would have happened if we hadn't done that… At this point Ultisaur comes flying out of the pit that was a warehouse, carrying the loot, and with a volcano like explosion following him. Ultisaur: If I had eyebrows, I'm certain they'd be singed. Ultisaur doesn't quite grasp how hot plasma is: Ultisaur: In other words, I don't want to add this to the list of things I've licked in my life? Pinpoint discusses theoretical ways of breaking up a theoretical fight between Ultisaur and Silverbolt: GM: You should probably paralyze him now for the safety of the universe. Agent Wallace of UNTIL was mutated by VIPER, and the players wonder if ULTICORP R&D managed to get hold of him: GM: No, UNTIL grabbed him first, thank god. ... GM: There are three different fractions at work. PRIMUS, UNTIL, and ULTICORP. Now all of these groups are basically scrambling after this guy. Silverbolt (parodying Wallace's Scottish accent): Ah S***, ok UNTIL! You guys go around that way. RUN!!! Open the van! Open the van! S***! GM: Oh, and there's also MARS units after him. Silverbolt: Why are you lads after me, I didn't do anything! The players now have a picnic by the plasma, and Silverbolt fails to make proper bread: GM: It's hard to bake bread on plasma! Summing it all up: GM: So you've saved the city, but as far as the media is concerned…

Re: Your "Oh #@$%!" Moment Definition (Safe For Work): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twinking (and I only knew this definition of the word, until I actually googled it. Any use of the term in the following text is not meant as a rebuttal, but simply comes naturally as part of my language.) As for my oh [censured] moment, there are several candidates, but only two as a player: The first one is from Samantha, an elven druid who rode to battle on a dire bat (called Bat Bat). In the final climatic battle of an extended adventure, she decided to use her standard tactic on an enemy Bard, on the grounds that he was buffing his allies, was peppering us with arrows, and not that heavy. So she sped in on a dive bombing maneuver, had Bat Bat grab him, and flew up as high as Bat Bat could get (which was several hundred feet). That's when the Bard transformed into a greater demon. "oh [censured]" Second one is by the undead necromancer Kale, who rode into battle on a fossilized dire elephant (at the time). Charging a temple of some paladin god, for no better reason than that they were there. At the time, half the party were undead. The clerics of the temple open up with turn undead, which thanks to god knows what twinking trick the DM had used on them, killed anything they turned. I have turn resistance enough to shrug it off (as has the elephant) but my bodyguard and the undead party members shatter into pieces, which would have been bad enough. But then the clerics cast some strange spell at me and the elephant, and I ask to roll to see if I recognize it. The answer: “plane shift”; more specifically, they’re trying to send me to heaven (were evil characters take 2d6 per round, and undead take 4d6 per round). "oh [censured]" (I made my saving throw, and then got killed by a twinked smiting attack, making the elephant go berserk and demolish the temple. I then returned from my personal hell dimension, with the ability to plane shift other people to hell.)

Re: your pcs might be OVERPOWERED IF... ... you started using scientific notation for the number of dice you need to roll, because it takes less space. ... you bought our dimension as a DNPC. ... you read Chuck Norris jokes and think what a n00b.

Re: Whoops! Did I really allow that power? I had a lightning power mage and a mutant with snot powers in my group. In one of their first fights one player asks what happens to snot when you run electricity through it. As most of the group had (like me) had a lot of chemistry and physics we were quickly able to decide that it crystallizes. The next obvious question is what the DEF of crystallized snot is. I (the GM) look over snot boy's character sheet and sure enough s/he (female player, male character) has 9/9 armor bought as crystallized snot. "nine" I answer without giving it much more thought. The problem is: snot boy had a weak AoE entangle and just hit the enemy MA with it; the MA's causual strengh had almost broken him out. It's now the lightning mage's turn. I lost around half a dozen one shoted villians to that combo move. Another player in the same group had a entangle (DEF 5, 4d6) based on CON with autofire. he also has increased END cost on it so it cost him most his END to go full auto with it, but with his accuracy and autofire skills he could eliminate the villians entire support group and even keep a brick immobile for a few segments.

Re: New Life form in North Carolina sewers? http://mashable.com/2009/07/02/unknown-lifeform/

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... Ultracor owns most of the media, as well as Ultrasaur: GM: The show received record ratings, but also a record number of complaining letters, something friendlier media's were quick to point out. In the time since the incident at the museum… Pinpoint: Wait. Friendly in what way, to whom? Everyone: us. Silverbolt (pointing at Ultrasaur): As in he owns them. GM: In the time since the incident at the museum… Steamjack: as in he doesn't own anything, including himself. No further comments: GM: In the time since the incident at the museum, and the resultant mixed coverage by the media at large, things have settled into a dull routine at the champions headquarters. Steamjack: Is there such a thing? Everyone: NO! Five minutes and barely two paragraphs later a fight breaks out between Steamjack and Ultrasaur and Silverbolt needs me to print him: GM: well, none of the remaining stuff is *that* important. Sigh I try to find reasons to get as many of the Player Characters into the same bank as the bad guys bust in: GM: Andy, you're here with your parents to set up your first bank account. Andy: Shouldn't I be in school? GM: Parent teacher day. Technically your parents are skipping school. Silverbolt has an illusional version of himself to maintain his secret identity and deal with boring parts of this lawyer job: GM: Silverbolt's here with a client. Silverbolt: Oh, joy I'm with lawyer stuff. Wait, how important is this client? GM: (has a brain freeze) Steamjack: Is he expendable? Ultrasaur: Oh my god. Its a high paying business contract, in a case for… (has a brain freeze) GM: Sexual assault. Silverbolt: In person then. This f***er had better pay well, 'cause this will be a long day. Commenting a Steampunk model: Silverbolt: Why couldn't this be Steamjack. GM: It actually looks a lot like Steamjack, only rustier and older. Steamjack: Rustier and older?! I'll have you know my design was original! The two brothers tend to argue about, well, everything. I try to stay on both sides: Silverbolt: You don't know that anything's happened yet. Ultrasaur: I can hear the alarms. Silverbolt: the alarms haven't gone off yet, they just walked into the bank. GM: They just walked into the bank. Through the wall. Andy gets decorative with the dice representing civilians: Silverbolt: Ah! Siamese triplets. My client has three heads. GM: and his defense in the trial is mistaken identity. Silverbolt: No wonder I'm here in person. Random statements that are best without context: Steamjack: I pollute to the bank. ... Pinpoint: Yes, put the hostages to sleep so they can't see what we're doing. Changing costumes can be a hassle: Silverbolt: I say to my client: Excuse me, I'm gonna hide in the bathroom 'til this is over, do you mind? Does he? GM: no. Well actually he just stutters something strange. ... Ultrasaur: Do they run into any other superheroes trying to change in the toilets? GM: Well, there is the sound of someone trying to put on their power armor in the stall next to you, but it seems to be taking a while... Eleven year olds give better tactical advice: Ultrasaur: If we could pit Steamjack against the Steamjack clone… Andy: didn't you ever play pokèmon, you never pit fire against fire! Andy wants to build a snot barricade for her and the civilians to hide behind: Silverbolt: I am so gonna harp on you for this afterwards. Steamjack: I am so gonna hurl on you for this afterwards. Trying to identify the confederate villains, Silverbolt has few useful skills: Silverbolt: Unless they were in a legal issue recently, I've got nothing. GM: Recently no, not they were in quite a big one a while back. (the civil war) No further comment needed: GM: Incidentally, he's telepathic. Silverbolt: As in he can tell what people are thinking? GM: As in he can tell people what to think. GM (in Russian accent): General Hood, who does not have Russian accent… Players: then stop using one! GM (obnoxious southern accent): Y'all be very friendly now an' hand over the money! Steamjack: Go back to Russian. Please?

Re: Mottos for use in games We enter the circle at night and are consumed by fire. But its the same if you write it backwards; something Romans though was witty.

Re: In your Universe ... One of my players took a rivalry with Al Gore, so I sort of rolled with it. Gave him a solar-powered power armor. Other than that I haven't had any yet.

The Iron Storm Operator: Built by General Hood of the Confederate Army, Maintained by Steamjack of the ULTICORP Champions, Owned by ULTICORP Incorporated (R&D Division) History: General John Hood, supporting the confederates in the civil war, was a steampunk gageteer/power-armour. During the Battle of Gettysburg he was frozen solid and teleported to the North Pole. After being freed by an old ally he built himself this train (then christened The Confederate Advance) from a stolen museum piece. Special features included four hot air balloons and six steam thrusters granting limited flight capacities, as well as stealth provided by a cloud of steam surrounding it (so it appears to be a cloud). In addition, several cannons and gatling guns provided extra firepower. After a run-in with the ULTICORP Champions it was clear that the train needed some counter weapon against Silverbolt (a lighting mage), the only team member capable of severely damaging it. It was retrofitted with a faraday cage to protect the crew from an electrified hull, and a Tesla coil to dissipate the built up charge. When the ULTICORP Champions later raided the New Confederate headquarters they cut the balloons off and half buried the train to prevent the leadership from escaping. In a surprising turn of events they ended up using the train to knock out General Hood, after overcharging it to dangerous levels. In honor of this event they rechristened the train “The Iron Storm”. GMs dilemmas: How does the train measure to normal team transports? Is giving them a transport that thrives on being electrified unbalanced when one of the players is a lighting mage? Is there otherwise any obvious flaw that I’ve missed? Size 10 STR 60 DEX 15 BODY 20 DEF 10 SPD 4 RUN 15"/25" FLIGHT 15" Characteristics Cost: 90 Power {Cost}: Boiler {53}: Endurance Reserve (48 END, 48 REC) (53 Active Points) Electrified {4}: Endurance Reserve (40 END, 0 REC) [Notes: For each 2 END over 40 in the reserve the train and it's crew takes a DC of nomal electric damage (combined into a single attack).] Electric Utilization {40}: Absorption 6d6 (energy, Electrified END reserve's END), Absorption As A Defense (x2) (60 Active Points); Limited Special Effect Very Common SFX (Lightning; -1/4), Side Effects (Overcharge! (see the reserve); -1/4) Steam Jet Flight {7}: Flight 15" (30 Active Points); Increased Endurance Cost (x4 END; -1 1/2), OIF Bulky (-1), Side Effects, Side Effect occurs automatically whenever Power is used (Side Effect only affects the environment near the character; 8d6 explosive cone in direction of thrust; -1/2), Costs Endurance (-1/2) Train wheels {13}: Ground Movement +15" (15"/25" total), x4 Noncombat (35 Active Points); OIF Bulky (Steel tires; -1), Costs Endurance (-1/2), Limited Maneuverability Only 2 turns per Phase at Combat speed; only 1 turn per Phase at Noncombat speed (-1/4) Track movement {8}: Ground Movement +10" (15"/25" total), x4 Noncombat (25 Active Points); Only on rails (-1), OIF Bulky (-1) Steam Cloud Cover {9}: Invisibility to Sight Group (20 Active Points); Only in clouds (-1), Bright Fringe (-1/4) Arcane Shields {10}: Power Defense (10 points) Weapons Array {15}: Elemental Control, 60-point powers, (30 Active Points); all slots OIF Bulky (-1) 1) Cannon {10}: Energy Blast 8d6, Does x1 1/2 Knockback (+1/2) (60 Active Points); OIF Bulky (-1), 12 Charges (-1/4), Half Phase to reload (-1/4), Costs 1 END to Reload (-1/4), Limited Arc Of Fire (180 degrees; Port, Starboard or Front; -1/4) 2) Gatling Cannon {13}: Energy Blast 6d6, Autofire (5 shots; +1/2), Reduced Endurance (1/2 END; +1/2) (60 Active Points); OIF Bulky (-1), Limited Arc Of Fire (180 degrees; Port or Starboard; -1/4) 3) Steam venting {12}: Energy Blast 8d6, Explosion (Cone; -1 DC/2"; +1/2) (60 Active Points); OIF Bulky (-1), No Range (-1/2) 4) Tesla Arc {12}: Energy Blast 10d6, Area of Effect (Random; +1/2) (75 Active Points); Increased Endurance Cost (x3 END; -1), OIF Bulky (-1), Limited Arc Of Fire (60 degrees; Forward; -1/2), Reduced By Range (-1/4) [Notes: Target one opponent with normal OCV and damage. If he/she/it is hit target the closest to that target with a cummulative -1 OCV and -1 dice of damage. (Digital HERO 10) Uses Electric END reserve.] 5) Electricity Cackles over the hull {13}: Energy Blast 4d6, Reduced Endurance (1/2 END; +1/4), Damage Shield (Offensive; +3/4), Continuous (+1) (60 Active Points); OIF Bulky (-1), Always Active While END remaines in the Electric Pool (-1/4) 2 more Cannons {10}: 3 total Another Gatling Cannon {5}: 2 total Powers Cost: 234 Total Character Cost: 324 Disadvantage 15 Hunted: Environmental Activists 8- (As Pow, Transport has a Public ID or is otherwise very easy to find, Disable/Destroy) 10 Hunted: ULTRACORP R&D 8- (Mo Pow, NCI, Limited Geographical Area, PC has a Public ID or is otherwise very easy to find, Watching) 10 Distinctive Features: Flying Train (Concealable; Noticed and Recognizable; Detectable By Commonly-Used Senses) Disadvantage Points: 35 Base Points: 200 Experience Required: 89 Total Experience Available: 0 Experience Unspent: 0

Re: Your PCs might be Underpowered if... A fart does knockback to you. A fart KOs you before dealing knockback. Your team transport is a unicycle. Your team transport is a unicycle, and no one has the appropriate TF.

Re: Hell Raiser He's literary trying to reform his ways, one of the reasons he abandoned his original character sheet and asked me to build his character based on his concept. He's also a cool guy, generally, and a lot easier to handle as a player than as a DM (you can say no to players). One of the main reasons for starting this campaign was to reset the group, leaving the mechanics side of gaming to do a more story based one (his campaign followed the pattern: introduce broken enemy, fight broken enemy, loot broken enemy, resurrect casualties; which is fun, for a while.).