DusterBoy

Re: We Loves Us Some Elves, Dwarves, and Orcs Thanks for the link Gojira, but I've already been there and read that. It's one of my favourite sites and it's where I got that infobit. It's also where I found out Barak from "The Belgariad" and "The Mallorean" is thought of as a rapist. I also have "Sages and Swords" and "Lords of Swords". I'm an S&S geek - so sue me

Re: Robert Masterson, superhero team liaison "Sneaky ladies", eh? That's a euphemism for "thief" I hadn't heard before. The background explains why Elizabeth's sure he's not cheating on her. BTW: where's Robert's sheet? I've only seen Lady and the Tramp one time and that was about fifteen years ago when had short-lived yen for old Disney films. I really liked it, though and wouldn't mind seeing it again.

Re: Challenge: deisgn the Machinist's pals... Speedball, what kind of 'bots do you see the Machinist having? Comic book, real world or a fusion of both?

Re: We Loves Us Some Elves, Dwarves, and Orcs Michael Moorcock never lost the chance to criticise Tolkien, accusing him of the "brutes and cutes" style of story-telling, amongst other faults, both real and imagined. I would agree with Vondy that the post-Tolkien and post-D&D fantasy market has been far too slavishly imitative of the old professor and that the genre has a far wider scope than that . . . as wide as one wishes it to be, in fact. I've read the books, enjoyed them and have multiple copies of LotR on my shelves . . . but it's time to move on and do something new. Like a campaign in an African setting maybe, like Charles Saunders' "Imaro" stories, originally meant to be a black version of Conan.

Re: Robert Masterson, superhero team liaison I would say that the spaniel Lady is gonna be charmed by a grey street mutt named Tramp, but that could just be me. And just how many times has Robert Masterson met up with this red-haired and green-eyed cat burglar? An "old contact" my foot.

Re: Cholitas! Wow, that's pretty impressive. Bolivian female wrestlers in full skirts. You won't see that in the WWF, WWE, whatever.

Re: The Addams Family Yeah - as I remember Diane Duane saying "Stories have to make sense, real life doesn't". Sorry, I really wasn't taking the mick. I don't think I'd like this "Bobobobobobo and His Nosehairs of Justice" anymore than you do. And who came up with that name? And who greenlit it?

Re: How Much Food? Historically, troops have always bitched about their rations. Two apropos quotes: "What's this crap supposed to be?" Spunkmeyer "Corn bread, I think" Wierzbowski (from Aliens) "An army marches on its stomach" Napoleon Bonaparte

Re: The Addams Family Now I really regret not seeing the movie in its entirety although there's one line of dialogue that will always stick in my mind. "Don't torture yourself, Gomez. That's my job." Angelica Huston and Raul Julia were never better. And yes, Raul Julia is a real loss. 54 is no age to go. *Cysphrett - you expect the world to make sense?*

Re: Clever Future Weapons And the SAS use the GP35. The "9mmP vs .45 ACP" argument has been going on for a long time and will continue to rage for a long time, I suspect. My motto: "If in doubt, shoots 'em in da haid two times"

Re: Witch Way Mark, if you're looking for suggestions, how about this one . . . At one end of the street, make if the one which is the least populated and/or visited, there's a small house. Inside - isn't much. There's a few odds and ends, just about enough to get by - it is in fact, a life stripped down to the core. The person who lives there is an elderly woman, about five and half feet tall, but seems taller because of both her ramrod straight posture and the sheer force of her personality. Her hair is iron grey - almost white - and worn in a bun tight enough to crack rocks. She has blue eyes and looks right at you - through you almost. No-one ever tries to lie to or cheat her, since she'll know in a heartbeat. She has a great knowledge of practical psychology (for some reason she calls it "headology"), herbal medicines - and a great deal of real occult power - combined with a will of steel and a unbreakable faith that she's always right (she always is). She's not liked, but she is respected. She's the person people send for when things get really bad - both medically and magically. They call her Granny - even though she's never been married, and has never had children. She doesn't really even like children. Eric, Omnirex - about German Jews regarding Yiddish as a low-born pidgin. Is this them just being snobby, or is it something else?

Re: Why houses near the spaceport are so cheap Yeah, as if the fireball and having tons of burning debris raining down on you weren't enough . . .

Re: Clever Future Weapons So, Maelstrom, tell me about your aunt Melissa and her electric rifle? Me, I'll stick with the FN GP35 in 9mm - with Federal Hydra-Shok ammo. I'd also go with the Rob Arms XCR-L assault rifle. See www.robarm.com for further details (if the blasted link works. I still don't know how to link from site to site).

Re: What else is a classic trope ? How about the mystically-powered unstoppable hero/villlain?

Re: Flying Castles and Such Oooh, I like this. Reminds me of the flying citadels from Dragonlance.

Re: Unreal Darwin Awards A loooong time back (junior high equiv) I was playing D&D. All of us were in a scrap with orcs. My PC is down to 2 HP. What do I decide to do? Barge into the main part of the stronghold, where the chief orc is. Oy. Never again. (I like to think I've learned a little about tactics since then - or just plain common sense)

Re: What else is a classic trope ? I don't know if this is a classic trope, per se, but in Champions: New Millenium (I know, I know, Fuzion ) there was a heroine called Orchid who retired to set up a superhero fashion business. Does this count?

Re: Thebes is Doomed Now, the thing about prophesies is that they're so ambiguous . . . I think the classic example is of the king that goes to the Oracle and ask if he will be victorious in his upcoming war. The Oracle replies that if he goes to war, he will destroy a mighty empire. Heartened, the king goes to war, but the empire he destroys is his own. The Centurions live in London. Each of them knows that if the sea levels do rise, the Thames Barrier ain't gonna be enough . . . but is that what the Oracle means? 'Course, right now there's a massive argument going on about what exactly it does mean, or if it means anything, or even if the Oracle is worth a damn in the first place . . .

Re: What happens when a new GM doesn't understand game balance Ye gods. I'm neither a player, nor a GM, but even I wouldn't pull any of this . . . stuff. Surely a game session is meant to be an enjoyable experience for both GM and players. And even I was married/had an SO, I wouldn't show favouritism. (So I sleep on the couch for a month. Big whoop. I like my couch.) The GM isn't there to cheerlead for the PCs, but nor is he there to beat up on them. He has to be impartial, like a judge. I would expect any GM to have the wit to think things through thoroughly before setting up the campaign, and to know his player's campaign preferences before start of play. And I would expect the same from the players. My last experience of RP'ing was playing GURPS Discworld (with Phil Masters, yet, its creator, :thumbup:). I played a dwarf CSI - and I played in character. However, a D&D player had the character on the next go round. New player: "When do we get to the next monster?" Me: "How about role-playing your character?" Answer: a puzzled look. (It was back on 2002 so the details are a little hazy, but that's the gist). Why it is that so many people come away from D&D (surely a system with as much opportunity for role-playing as any other) as power-gaming munchkins is a contant mystery to me. (If you want to be a munchkin - play "Munchkin")

Re: What Have You Watched Recently? "Diabolik" was remade as a cartoon a few years ago, and did anybody catch the Beastie Boys spoof for the "Body Movin'" video?

Re: How flawed is your Super? How flawed are we talking here, exactly? "Watchmen" flawed, or just "ordinary guy" flawed? And even in Watchmen, there was a spectrum - with say, Rorschach and the Comedian on one end and Night Owl and Silk Spectre at the other.

Re: Gothic Fantasy Hero I've always thought of "Northanger Abbey" by Jane Austen as a gothic novel. It also seems she was poking fun at them a little. Certainly Catherine Moreland isn't the usual simpering, fainting "heroine", even though she enjoys Gothic novels and makes the mistake of applying their gestalts to "real life".

Re: Active Points For Spell Builds Is Power Skill in the regular FRED, or is it new to 5er/Sidekick?

Re: Mount Up! Buying Mounts in Fantasy HERO!

Re: Scientists claim warp drive is possible Of course, we could be like 19th Century physicists explaining why nuclear power would be "impossible", since before 1890, it seemed like the foundations of physics and thermodynamics had been securely laid . . . And then look what happened - X-Rays (which Lord Kelvin dismissed as a hoax), relativity, quantum mechanics, the splitting of the atom. Or look at Friar Roger Bacon, writing in the 13th Century: "Instruments may be made by which the largest ships, with only one man guiding them, will be carried with greater velocity than if they were full of sailors. Chariots may be constructed that will move with incredible rapidity without the help of animals. Instruments of flying may be formed in which a man, sitting at his ease and meditating on any subject, may beat the air with his artificial wings in the manner of birds . . . as also machines wich will enable men to walk at the bottom of the sea . . ." Every single one of those predictions has come true, but at the time of writing, if you had told anyone that Bacon was right, they would have dismissed you and him as madmen. And that may be the entire point. To quote Sir Arthur C Clarke - "The real future is not logically foreseeable." We may not get it in our lifetimes, or in our grandchildren's lifetimes or in the lifetimes of their grandchildren - or it may come before the end of this century. One thing is certain sure though: FTL will not be developed by people who have already decided that it is impossible.