DusterBoy

Re: Space Junk in Earth Orbit Just as long as his other names aren't J Edgar . . . However, a quick check has come up with Herbert Hoover, 31st US President.

Re: Steampunk Star Wars Oh, my. Wow. This is very cool.

Re: kyle radnor the last legionary Oh, my. I haven't thought about that for years. Decades, even. "The Last Legionary" was a series of five books by Douglas Hill. I read the third one, "Deathwing Over Veynaa" back when I was in primary school, but never read the rest of them. I'll have to order them from Amazon. Thanks for bringing this up, Bubba Smith. I'd be a PC in a campaign based on this series. Did anyone read "The Huntsman" sequence by the same author? There were three of them. It's kind of a Battlefield Earth background about a foundling adopted by a huntsman who sets off with his Bloodkin friend Baer to free his society from alien slavers - and search for his sister. I used to really enjoy Douglas Hill when I was a nipper.

Re: Space Junk in Earth Orbit IN GURPS' Transhuman Space you can make a good living clearing up this junk. Such people are called "vacuum cleaners". Now it's only a matter of time until one smartarse calls his ship "Hoover".

Re: The Worst character in comics

Re: The Worst character in comics Let's hope that Paul Cornell can re-invigorate Capt Britain. However, one of my points is that King Arthur wouldn't have been English. If he existed, he would have been a Romano-Celtic warlord and would have fought the people who became the English - ie: the Saxons. It was the Romans who called these islands Britannia and, as it was at the ends of the Empire, it was considerd something of a hardship posting. Remember, English is the language which follows other languages down darks alleys, mugs them and goes through their pockets for loose vocabulary.

Re: The Worst character in comics Captain Britain. Bleuch! Once more with the "British guy created by Yanks who have never been to Britain" and the only concept they can come up with is King Arthur - 'cos that's all they've ever heard of. Captain America works because America (ie the US) is one country. Britain is four countries - England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Britain is a "metanation". A better concept would have been "John Bull" - the English version of Uncle Sam. Okay - he's meant to be British, but people in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland would see him as English. However, unlike Uncle sam, he is not a figure of authority (esp not the Authority).

Re: Guns in Fantasy Wow. That's eerie. I wonder if Terry knew about it when he wrote "Men At Arms"? Thanks for posting it, Staff. (In the British Army, "Staff" is an accepted abbreviation for Staff Sergeant.)

Re: Heroes Heroes . . . Started out loving, ended up hating it . . . And OY! was it boring. Like, NOTHING EVER HAPPENED!! The last episode seemed like it was filmed on a sound stage and the ending just left me cold. I mean, nothing was solved and SYLAR GOT AWAY - AAAARRRRGGGHHH! If I'd been Hiro, I'd've followed up the run-through with a spinning behead stroke. I'd've probably brought a white phos grenade along - for good measure. I mean, I was virtually banging my head against the ground pleading for someone -anyone - to JUST KILL THIS GUY! And that was just over halfway through the series. I was imagining the kill shot with someone armed with an AW Super Magnum set up in a sniper's nest 1000 yards away. I know how boring it is when the good guys win alla time, but it's even more frustrating when the bad guy wins alla time - which he did. I'd've done more - a lot more - with Richard Roundtree's character, too. I mean here's the guy who played Shaft - and you've got him confined to a wheelchair. Naaah - thehellwiththat. I'd've had Hiro take out Sylar for good and had the Petrelli brothers both vapourised in the nuclear explosion - the FX of which were a joke. A bad one. I've seen spoilers for Season Two and it's going to suck like a black hole. There's not even a convincing bad guy. One looks like the human equiv of Homer Simpson, the other looks like a harried overworked office jockey. Sod that. Thank God for Indy4, Iron Man, the Dark Knight and the Hulk. Laters peeps.

Re: WWYCD? "Once more, with Justice"

Re: Guns in Fantasy Terry Pratchett's "Men At Arms" offers an interesting variation on "mediaeval" firearms. The "gonne" in question has a rifled barrel ("I had to make quite a complicated tool for that," said Leonard [da Quirm]) and operates on the flintlock principle although it fires self-contained metallic cartridges held in clips of six. The clip is fitted into the breach and moves sideways as the rounds are fired. However, this IS the Discworld, and technology there is . . . idiosyncratic, to say the least. The "gonne" is a bodge of tech levels and was devised by the local equivalent of Leonardo da Vinci who is subject to "inspirations". It is also sapient and has two distinctive character traits. It actively tries to prevent its own destruction and takes control of anyone who comes into contact with it. For Capt Vimes, for example, it tries to get him to shoot the Assassins, since Vimes despises Assassins and thinks the Disc would be a cleaner place without them.

Re: You, or your PC? Oh, absolutely. I see all my characters as being hypercompetent and really smart and/or intelligent, even if they're not unfeasibly good-looking. They also have comfortable levels of wealth and exude Samuel L Jackson levels of cool - 'cos Samuel l Jackson is the coolest guy on the planet, He doesn't even have to try - he just is - y'know?

Re: High flying wrasslin There was a luchadore called Santo who was also a film actor and folk hero. His most famous movie was "Santo vs las Mujeres Vampiro" in which he played a superhero style character. He was also involved in a feud with Blue Demon. I think Champions Universe mentions a luchadore superhero with a mask that allows him to see (and so fight) vampires and other supernatural menaces. I think that a superhero luchadore PC would a great idea. :)

Something GloryFox said on the "Peeves" thread got me thinking. When creating characters, how much of yourself do you put in or do you enjoy playing PCs who are completely different from you? Most of the characters I have come up with are pretty much like me, at least psychologically. Physically, on the other hand . . .

Re: Query's Art & Stuff Thread These are brilliant pix, Query. Consider your excellent self repped.

Re: Return To Doctor Han's Island (advice needed) How about Richard Norton, who was in The Octogon with Chuck Norris in 1980 and who co-starred with Cynthia Rocthrock in a bunch of her films (esp China O'Brian) and has been in "Walker: Texas Ranger".

Re: Team Norfolk Campaign Blog Sorry, when I read "Team Norfolk" I had a sudden image of superheroes patrolling the Broads in England. Water based powers ahoy . . .

Re: Shtick! I've run into the Science! "shtick" B4: In a GURPS character building supplement, it was defined as a scientist who knows a lot about every branch of science and who's equally at home in a chemistry lab, out on an archeological dig, identifying previously unknown species, coming up with a new physics theory, etc. It was meant to let you play characters like Prof Challenger or Reed Richards who seem to know everything when it comes to scientific matters. At the end of the description was this caveat: Not recommended for use in a realistic campaign.

Re: Published test pilots You might want to add: KS: Lockheed Skunk Works, which of course, would probably entail KS: USAF as well.

What's the most suitable framework to put a wizard's spells in? I lean towards a VPP with the "Slightly Limited Class of Powers: Magic Only (-1/4)" and "Requires a Magic Roll (-1/2)" limitations and either "Powers Can Be Changed As a Half-Phase Action (+1/2)" or "Powers Can Be Changed As a Zero-Phase Action (+1)" (I haven't decided yet) so he doesn't have to waste time flipping through a spell book in combat situations. I'd also give him "VPP Skill: Magic Skill" to allow him to create new spells in the fly and a suitably high "Magic" Skill so he can make the roll. The idea is a master wizard who is powerful enough to be able to leave his spell books behind because he's got so many of them memorised, can switch spells really fast in combat and can create new spells on the fly. How does this sound? Comments? Criticisms?

Re: about bricks and possibly super powers in general The best explanation for how powers work? "Arrangements are made"

Re: Comic Motivational Posters Oh yeah, I remember that one. From "Batman: A Death in the Family" The first three are a giggle - especially the last image in the group.

Re: The Essential Bad Silver Age Point taken, but here's mine regarding super-pets: the cowboy's horse, the rangers trained wolf, et al aren't depicted as being sapient and/or having super-powers. To me, the image of a dog or horse, etc with human-level INT and a red cape flying around has always put me off - unless it's in an explicitly silly storyline.

Re: Character Post: Master Ninja! So, definitely not Lee van Cleef, then . . . Anyone else remember that old TV show? Speaking as someone who has actually studied ninjutsu (the Bujinkan is headed up by Dr Masaaki Hatsumi, 35th Grandmaster) this is a bonkers character, but in a good way. This guy has some serious issues. Respect, Oddhat.

Re: Super Names My contribution and all my own work: The team is called the Centurions and here's the roll call: Brawl - the team's scrapper/martial artist Challenger - an energy projector/brick (the Challenger II is the British Army equivalent of the M1A1 Abrams) Maze - the mentallist and telekinetic (Maze means "to bewilder or confuse) Slider - the iceman Maverick - can absorb/redirect energy Blitz - the speedster (German for lightning) Saranyu - the weather manipulator (Saranyu is a Vedic weather/wind goddess)