austenandrews

Re: "Neat" Pictures I think someone did. In any event, it's way a cool picture.

Re: Mental Block:Scientist Plot In such a scenario, I find it handy to think of two sub-goals for the PCs to reach before the climax. Reaching one goal helps to reach the other. Both goals must be reached to "solve" the scenario. For instance, the PCs must answer two questions: (1) What part of the scientist's research do the French need right now? (2) What objective do the French want to achieve by capturing this scientist's research? Possible answers might be: (1) Moving large numbers of men over difficult terrain (which means the French need the designs at a large construction facility; clues to question (2) can be found there) (2) Invading Russia in the winter (which gives a timeline; an officer planning said invasion may have information to answer question (1)) (1) Flying at a very high altitude (which means they're probably testing the designs at a high altitude, probably a mountaintop; said facility contains plans to modify the balloon into a bomber, which is halfway to answering (2)) (2) To bomb London during the King's upcoming troop review (which gives a timeline & means the balloons must rendezvous with a large amount of munitions at some point; said plans beg the question of how the bombs will be delivered, suggesting the answer to (1)) Then you give the PCs hooks to one or both goals and let them follow the trail.

Re: If Healing was a flavor: HERO = Vanilla [Human Torch]That's gross.[/Human Torch]

Re: The latest cliché? You may be right re: dwarf magic in The Hobbit. It's been a very long time since I've read it. When I brought it up, I was specifically refering to Gimli. The point, in any case, is that being an archetypal warrior doesn't automatically mean you're bland and generic. Fitting an archetype does not preclude character traits (combat or noncombat) from outside that archetype. Heck, if archetypes were based solely on combat, the Gandalf of LOTR would almost be more correctly labeled a fighter. The original problem, to me, sounds like the players need to understand that distinction. If they can't think past MMORPG screens when they're making Fantasy Hero characters, they're never going to grasp that "tank fighters" can be as varied in background & skills as Conan and Gimli and King Arthur. Which is the entertaining irony of Burglar Baggins. In most respects Bilbo was the polar opposite of the stereotypical "thief." Yet his primary function in the adventure was exercising "thief skills." Since the original versions of AD&D (let's just say it, that's largely what we're refering to) defined character classes in terms of their abilities, that's where Bilbo would have fallen. In fact I wonder, had Tolkein not published The Hobbit, whether Gygax would have even included a thief class in the first place. Granted, in the early-mid 70's when these character classes were being codified, the Gray Mouser was popular among fantasy fans.

Re: duplicating villians? Would be an interesting way to build a voodoo doll.

Re: If Healing was a flavor: HERO = Vanilla No reason you can't track wounds by Hit Location and have a suite of spells like Healing: Only For Arm Wounds. For that matter you can track incapacitated/disabled locations separately.

Re: If Healing was a flavor: HERO = Vanilla But vanilla is my favorite flavor. For variety, try Healing with various Side Effects on the caster and/or the recipient; EGO-based Healing; mass Healing (AoE); object "healing" (i.e., Transform wooden object into living tree); Healing potions (Focus + Trigger); Healing with other Triggers (magic pools/doorways/beds/grottos/et al.); Healing that requires some task or quest be performed; and on and on.

Re: duplicating villians? I ran a villain like this once. He duplicated a PC without her knowledge, and the player unknowingly played the duplicate for a few games. Then came the combat where her character died... I just made it a plot device, but if I had to stat it out, it'd be some flavor of Duplication UAA.

Re: Character "niche" You could pick PD as your niche.

Re: The latest cliché? Now I have seen mixed results when a group of PCs has a nonstandard assortment of character types. I'm the last guy to assert that every "party" needs a thief, a healer, a mage, a tank, etc. At the same time I've run groups that were difficult to plan for as a GM and difficult for the players to get a grasp of tactics. In the last fantasy game I ran, the group had exactly one front-line fighter. Because she was the primary "shield wall" in common melee situations, I allowed her to get fairly butch. Consequently opponents that would really challenge her were out of the other PCs' league. At the same time, magical enemies to challenge the other PCs were largely untouchable by her. It became something of a scenario design headache for me. Likewise the players sometimes lost group cohesion in battle because they weren't sure how to best approach new combat situations. Not that any of these were insurmountable, and as GM I always design encounters around the PCs. But there is something to be said for good ol' archetypal PCs (as long as they're not two-dimensional).

Re: A Thread for Random Musings There's something doubly unpleasant about watching your defending-champion team limp to an early end of their season, based on a playoff system that's universally acknowledged as totally bogus. And I know that fans of other teams weep rivers of tears for me.

Re: The latest cliché? It sounds like you're defining "archetype" as inherently shallow and lame. In which case, yeah, archetypes are inherently shallow and lame. Myself, I call Gimli an archetypal fighter because as a character, that's pretty much all he did. I call Bilbo a thief because he spent the whole book sneaking around nicking things. The fact that Hobbits make good thieves doesn't change that. Gandalf is unquestionably the archetypal fantasy wizard. What you seem to be describing I would call stereotypes, or more probably, character classes. Semantics.

Re: As a GM, do you charge for...knick-knacks I absolutely do not waste time with writeups of such trivia.

Re: The latest cliché? Conforming to an archetype doesn't necessitate having a two-dimensional character. I would call a character like Gimli an archetypal fighter, yet he had a rich history. Heck, one could say Burglar Baggins is literally the archetypal fantasy thief, and he's nothing like the stereotype.

Re: Humorous: Broken arithmetic in system. I can't decide whether the lack of humor in the replies in this thread are negative or simply denote a limitation.

Re: Boogiemen that are actually /scary/... Exactly. If your question begins with "How do I write up...?" then you're already off on the wrong foot. Think up the scary stuff first. "Writeups" serve the scary. If you think of something that's scarier than what's already written, the writeup must be changed. I find that a feeling of smallness or helplessness is critical in horror. That is to say, render a character's usual tactics moot. If fighting back is the usual response, make fighting back futile. You can't shoot a ghost, or a possessed child, or tentacled, extradimensional gods, or Freddy Kruger. You can shoot zombies, but you can't shoot them all. Especially in Champions, you have to pull the rug out from under the PCs for them to truly be scared.

Re: The latest cliché? You're right, it is a cliche. It seems there's always someone who wants to be X* because he'd be the only X* in the game world. *where X in ('non-human in a humans-only milieu', 'martial artist in a European fantasy', 'psychic in a world without psychics', 'amnesiac god/dragon/demon/spirit', 'future/alien soldier transplanted to fantasy world', etc.)

Re: Pulp Artist: Virgil Finlay Finlay was amazing. His technique boggles my mind - dip pen into ink; one dot; dip pen into ink; one dot; repeat with infinite patience.

Re: Mechanical Elephant in London Cool, they did the whole thing with the girl in the capsule. I'd love to see that in person.

Re: No spaceship Where you go, you are no matter there.

Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Currently working on The Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick, Vol. 5. I haven't read Dick in ages. Mindbending and well-written, as usual, if perhaps a bit fluffy in places.

Re: Curve-balls and left-field stuff The Phantom Menace showed that's not always the case, when a turret popped out from from the ceiling of a hanger bay and blew up a ship therein. However this tactic makes sense if it's a Mutually Assured Destruction ploy. Because blowing up a ship that you're inside is not good for your own health.

Re: Flight Usable As Gliding I'd probably let a flying character glide for free, if it made sense for his SFX. Doesn't much seem like bothering with extra points.

Re: Attacking Diviners Some ideas that may apply.

Re: Curve-balls and left-field stuff I pulled a self-destruct ploy on a Champs GM many years back. Didn't actually do it, but only because the GM knew I really would, and had the villain acquiesce. The biggest surprise I can recall as a GM was when all the PCs in my pulp game decided they didn't want to go adventuring. Not one of my prouder moments...