csyphrett

Re: What Have You Watched Recently? Watched 9/11 Conspiracy theories on the History Channel. Pretty interesting that people have devoted time to demonize the government with optical illusions when there is so much real evidence out there of other things going on. CES

Re: What Have You Watched Recently? Still trying to get through the set. Karnage is the main villian on the first disc. He also has most of the best lines too. CES

Re: The Addams Family *Csyphrett - you expect the world to make sense?* When I read, I like things to make sense in a general fashion so I don't get Bobobobob and his nose hairs of justice, his poppa rocks, his attacks of art. It's too surreal for me and my oldfashioned fuddy duddy ways. My son thinks it's great. CES

Re: What Have You Watched Recently? The first volume for Talespin. My son is enjoying the pulp flying scenes with Baloo and Don Karnage, especially Don Karnage. CES

Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I think you can some of the early books in a collected edition, Hermit. I haven't seen any in my neck of the woods, but someone posted a picture of one collection that said Wizard at Large. CES

Re: Magistracy:Origins Marcella Chan watched the storm coming in. Black thunderheads galloped like horses across the sky, occasional lightning imitating hoof beats. She wondered how much time she had before it broke overhead. A tip had come in about some dumping on Staten Island. She wanted to confirm it for her paper. That might get her off the op-ed page. Marcella looked out over the Staten Island Refuse and Recycling Center through the chain link fence. She spotted a couple of cameras, but it looked like dogs were out of the question. That was good as far as she was concerned. Marcella took some bolt cutters from her backpack. She cut through the chain links with sure strokes. She bent the fence out of the way and slid through. One hand stowed the tool as she picked her route through the piles of garbage. Marcella pulled her camera out, took a couple of pictures to test it. Everything looked good. Now all she needed was pictures of the dumping to go with her column. She also needed to not get caught. Some guys from the EPA, and the FBI, had been killed in other dumping investigations. She didn't want to add her name at the bottom of the list. Marcella pushed a loose strand of hair from her face. Her long black tresses always came loose from the scrunchies she used to hold it back. Her hand brushed the strand behind her ear as she wandered among the piles of trash. She wished she had brought her galoshes with the surrounding piles of garbage, and swampy puddles. Her shoes would be ruined by the time she got done looking around the yard. She would have to soak her feet as soon as she got back to her apartment. No said investigating would be easy. She just had to hang in there and be careful. Dead reporters filed no stories. Marcella found a spot near the center of the trashyard. The ground glowed slightly under the night sky. She took a picture. This exactly what she was looking for. Marcella looked around. She took pictures of the surrounding piles. She was careful to pick out background details so she could find the spot again. The garbage drifted like the sands of the Sahara. The glowing ground might be covered by tomorrow. A rumble drifted to Marcella's ears. She looked around. Lights pointed in her direction. Maybe the driver saw her, maybe not. She ran to cover behind old appliance boxes and waited. This might be what her tipster wanted her to see. Marcella waited as the truck rolled to a stop within walking distance of the glowing ground. Men got out, walked to the back of the twelve wheeled transport. Thunder rolled overhead as they opened the sliding door. She spotted a lift for unloading lowering to the ground as small drops of water fell on her back. I should have brought an umbrella. Marcella took pictures of the process in front of her. Blue barrels were rolled on the lift with a dolly, lowered to the ground, and rolled to a spot near the glowing ground. A tap in the bottom let the contents flow into the ground until the barrel was empty. The drained containers went back on the truck. Marcella had visions of a Pulitzer dancing in her head as she took picture after picture. Rain fell with an obscuring hand as she ran closer to take pictures of the truck itself. If she could get the plate, someone could make arrests and she would get the credit for that. Marcella skirted the edges of the pool of chemicals glowing at her feet. She looked through her viewfinder at the retreating truck, trying to catch the plate. She snapped several pictures. She grimaced. The rain and darkness combined to cloak the plate. Maybe someone could enhance the pictures and find something. She doubted it. So much for glory. Marcella put the camera in her bag. She had to get out of the rain, and figure out what she could write, and what she could hand over to the cops. That would be fun. She stepped in the glowing mass and groaned at the wet sogginess seeping through her sneakers. She definitely should have worn galoshes. A jagged streak of electricity struck down as she started to lift her foot up. She quit worrying about her choice of shoes as her hair stood on end for a brief second. She fell into the energized goo. Smoke rose under the leaves of water drifting down. Marcella picked herself off the ground after the storm had fled away from the city. Everything hurt. She looked around at the looming piles of trash, thankful that no one had found her trespassing. She would take body ache over bullet to the head any day. Marcella thought about wanting to go home. She found her yellow door waiting for her. Surprise made her pause. She must have blacked out on the way home. She was sure that she had walked home and remembered everything about the trip. She would worry about that in the morning.

Re: Magistracy: Characters Character Name: The Chemist Real Name: None Nationality: None Hair/Eye Color: Brown, gray Place of Birth: unknown Date of Birth: unknown Height/Mass: 5'8", 150 pounds Cost Characteristic Value 5 STR 15 24 DEX 18 20 CON 20 30 BODY 25 10 INT 20 40 EGO 30 10 PRE 20 COM 10 PD 3 ED 4 2 SPD 3 REC 7 END 40 STUN 42 OCV: 6 DCV: 6 OECV: 10 DECV: 10 Phases: 4,8,12 Cost Powers and Talents (END) 133 Magic 100 + 50 Variable Power Pool (gestures -1/4, Only magic -1/4) 5 Longevity 20 Universal Translator Cost Skills 1 WF: Swords 1 WF: Bows 2 Navigation 13- 3 AK: The World 13- 3 AK: Other Dimensions 13- 3 KS: Magic Lore 13- 3 KS: The Magic World 13- 3 Paramedics 13- 3 Sleight of Hand 13- 3 Bureaucratics 13- 3 Systems Operation 13- 3 Computer Programming 13- 3 Stealth 13- 3 Riding 13- 3 Shadowing 13- 3 Tracking 13- 8 + 4 OCV with magic attacks 150 Points Disadvantages 10 Reputation: Master Magician 11- 15 Public Identity 15 Psych Lim: Wizard's Code 15 Protective of Humanity 30 Hunted by Rogue's Gallery 14- 15 Watched by UN 8- 10 DF: Mystic Aura 20 Subject to Orders 20 DNPC: descendants normal 11- CHA Cost = 141 Total Powers Cost = 158 Total Skills Cost = 51 Total Cost = ___350_______________

Re: What Have You Watched Recently? Ben 10 alien force marathon- Some were good (Paradox), Some were bad (Verdona, and the alien alien hunters), but Alien X just made me shake my head after the ads for it. CES

Re: Walking With Strangers 5 Tim Bucket threw an orange tennis ball against the wall of his school. He did it to practice accuracy. He had power to spare, but his part-time career needed him to be able to hit a dime in the air at a moment's notice. He had hated giving up pitching for the baseball team. He didn't hate it, but he couldn't cheat and there were other things than sports. He just needed to get good enough at them that his father left him alone about having to quit. At least Coach Reilly understood and was reasonable about losing his best pitcher. He had actually been nice about it. That had surprised Tim at the time. He couldn't remember a time the coach had been nice about anything. "Leave me alone." A girl walked away from the school. A car of thugs slowed traffic to keep pace with her as she moved along the sidewalk. The car and the group inside looked like someone had used a baseball bat on them. "I don't want anything to do with you." Tim went to the bag he had dropped near the wall. His first thought was to call the police on his cell phone. Let them deal with the problem. He decided they wouldn't answer the call unless it was some kind of emergency. By then, things would have gotten out of hand. He reached in the bag and pulled out a face mask. He slid the straps on, pulled his baseball hat on over it. He dropped catcher's padding over his shirt. It had a yellow T in a yellow circle in the center of it. He grabbed his arsenal of baseballs last. Tim hoped his disguise would keep trouble away from his home. His dad would want to move from Marlowe if things got too bad. He grabbed his bag, sealing it. An underhand throw dropped it on the breezeway where students lined up to wait for the bus. No one seemed to have noticed what he was doing. Tim followed behind the slow moving car. The girl was crying at some of the things the guys were saying to her. He frowned underneath the face mask. What would the Enforcer do? He would drop one of those energy blasts on the skirt chasers. Tim grabbed one of his baseballs. He jogged to catch up, tossing the ball up and down in his hand. Maybe if he just said he was watching they would move on to some other girl where he wasn't getting in the way. At least he had tried to be reasonable if he did that. "I'm not asking you." The guy in the back with the broken nose stuck his hand out of the back driver's side window. He grabbed the girl's arm. "I'm telling you to get in." Tim threw the ball. He had seen enough. The baseball left his hand with the speed of a bullet, a blur of motion before it crossed the two foot mark. It hit the guy reaching out the window in the arm. Snap went the arm. The girl pulled out of the slack grasp with a jerk. She jumped back from the car, hands up for the limited protection they gave her. Tim reached into his bag, grabbing another baseball. He heard someone scream someone was shooting at them. His eyes narrowed on the passenger who was reaching for something. He couldn't allow a gun to be used this close to the school. The former pitcher cranked back his arm. The baseball blasted through the back windshield. It hit the headrest of the passenger seat. The headrest came off as the sphere started to ricochet inside the car. More shouts filled the air. The driver hit the gas, burning rubber to get away from whatever was shooting at them. Tim grabbed a third ball, wondering if they were coming back. He waited, eyes searching the streets. He dropped the ball when he decided they were gone to take care of the wounds he had inflicted. "Why did you do that?" The girl looked at Tim. She looked scared to the Trebuchet. "They'll just come back and hurt me the next time." "Call the cops and file a report." Tim turned to go. He was already starting to attract too much attention in his mask and catcher's pad. "That'll get things moving so you won't have to see them until you put them in jail." "I can't do that." The girl looked down at her book bag and purse. She had retained her grip on them throughout the excitement. "What about my family?" "You have to stand up for yourself sometime." Tim headed for the breezeway where he had stowed his civilian clothes. "The cops won't believe me. I'm wearing a mask." Tim glanced over his shoulder. The girl followed him. He couldn't just let her see his real face. The next thing he knew, everyone would know who the masked kid on campus was. His dad would be less than pleased. Tim had to get rid of her. "Go call the police and file a report." Tim grabbed hold of a breezeway support. "They'll get those guys and put them in jail." "I can't do it on my own." The girl looked at Tim, holding out one hand. "What about my family?" "If you really think the police can't help, call Odd's Books and leave a message." Tim yanked on the metal column. He flew up to the concrete awning. "Maybe he knows someone who can help you." "Maybe he knows someone?" "Maybe." Tim grabbed his bag, stuffing mask and makeshift armor in it. The baseballs went in next. He headed down the awning, making sure to stay out of sight from the ground as much as possible. Tim hid his Trebuchet disguise on the roof of the school with a quick toss. He looked around. No one could see him as far as he could tell. He braced himself with his arm, and gently tossed himself to the ground. Time to walk off before anyone could catch up to him. How did Spiderman get by the way he did?

Re: US Government's reaction to superhumans Research, regulation, and studies. After all remote viewing was part of the CIA studies. CES

Re: What Have You Watched Recently? ben ten season four- Liked The Ken 10 and the versus negative ten episodes the most, but was wondering about Cooper who only appears in the last two episodes vs. Negative 10. It does set up the whole half alien hero thing later used for Alien Force. CES

Re: Brainstorm: Re-Imaginations! Chris Claremont: The team are hunted by everyone, face the prospect their world will have a meltdown where all heroes have been killed, and one of their alternates has become a solar powered god that eats planets. Alan Moore: Avatar is really an elemental force in touch with primal heat energy. He is in love with Miss Chaos who is one step away from taking on the mantle of Hecate, mistress of misfortune. Zero learns either of these situations would mean the end of the world and gathers Stentorian (a minor muse), Trawler (a nephiliam), Terminus (a shaolin monk) to try to stop things. Frank Miller: The heroes have retired, the world is a corrupt sink of depravity, and the government is opposed by the younger, punkier, generation. Mark Millar: The heroes have taken over the US government after killing the president. CES

Re: Planets of SF Author Hats Stasheff World- Psionics and native material bring legendary creatures to life. Drake World- Home to mercenaries that try to win at all costs, and ships that sail the borders of the universe to reach FTL, and intelligences at war for the future. CES

Re: The Addams Family my son likes it. it's too surreal for me. I like things to make sense when I look at them. CES

Re: Superhumans pulling an Authority I think that it has been shown that Reed Richards and Tony Stark keep a lot of their most advanced stuff to themselves. I think at one point when the Fantastic Four had left the planet, the government tried to seize most of his inventions left behind for its own use. That seems to be in genre. Most super inventors keep their stuff out of the hands of others. Now imagine the Engineer sitting down and offering designs for cleaner cars, or what not. How much would that change the world? CES

Re: Superhumans pulling an Authority Super Intelligent Superhumans have been talked about in other threads. If all they had was their brains, and a support group with the right powers, there is very little they couldn't do. Taking over a country and holding it against all comers is pretty stupid when you can wipe out cancer in a month of testing with a nanobot, or implanted healing factor. You could hold up pharmecuitcal companies for billions just trying to sell it fast enough. Green industries becomes more practical with machinery that takes the trash and converts it to something else at half the current cost, even a quarter. The big problem with any Authority world is what Oddhat, Megaplayboy, and others have said is the planet is an unrealistic dystopia ruled by corruption and even the heroes of the piece are more like Freedy Krueger than what is normally considered a real person. CES

Re: Doctrine for beginning vampire slayers? Several of the Dresden Files deal with vampires as the villain. There are other authors with the vampire as the dark romantic figure but I haven't read them so I can't reccomend them. CES

Re: Terrible Movie or Awesome Back Story The fighting masters from Kung Fu Hustle that was mentioned by Vulcan in the MArtial Arts Comedy thread in other genres. The hero knocks a giant handprint through a building. That's right out of a comic book. CES

Re: Need suggestions I'll have the adventure posted on the Dragonia thread eventually. Right now all the countries have gotten together to build a motorized boat to sail to the edge of the world. It might take months of game time to get there. CES

Re: Need suggestions As a roving sea monster that attacked their ferry to Queen Lamia's Grasslands where they were supposed to pick up the boat. Donnie and his team of Npcs did okay but they only made it pause. It plowed into the ferry and ripped the back end off so Donnie is thinking about trying to save the ferry before it sinks. CES

Re: The Minority Heroes help people because that's what they do. They don't expect thanks. Building your campaign on an unrealistic premise about human behavior will only cause it to fail. CES

Re: Need suggestions That's good. Maybe I can use it. I don't know how. Life is extended immeasurably thanks to instant reincarnation. On the other hand, the turtle did get some action tonight. CES

Re: The New Circle Decoy- They came for Ken Carter in the middle of the night. He was worth two million dead to them. Of course they would have done the job for a lower amount. All they had to do was get inside and pull the trigger. That part was child's play. The alarm code had been provided. One of the pair had a lockpick gun. The probes entered the keyhole. A trigger pulled opened the lock. A step inside and a tapping cut the alarm off before it could sound. They entered the main foyer, small flashlights under the barrels of their pistols marking their progress. The target was in his office at the back of the house. They knew this because that was the only room in the whole house that had been lit up. A brief conversation led to the decision to enter. Blinds were drawn over the windows. They would have to enter to make sure anyway, so they might as well do it from inside. They paced the hall. Their information told them they had a few hours before the family came home. It should only take minutes to walk to the office and shoot the target and leave. How hard could that be? The flashlight beams led them to the back of the house. They paused at the office door. A silent conversation and the one on the left kicked the door in. Ken Carter turned at the sound, hands raised as if to fend off a blow. They shot twice. No one would hear the gunfire, but they only wanted two fatal wounds to keep blood to a minimum. They picked up their spent cartridges. Time to leave without a trace. They headed for the front of the house to reset the alarm and lock the door behind them. Their two million would come after the reading of the will. A walk down the driveway, a climb over the shallow wall, and a street crossing got them to their car. They got in and drove off. They would need to wait before they could get their money. And if the client didn't come through, there would be another death. One more murder wouldn't make much of a difference as far as the court was concerned. And you could only be executed once. The passenger pressed buttons on a dummy cell phone. He waited for the other line to pick up. "It's done. Throw the phone away." He ended the phone call, then broke the phone apart. The driver stopped by a public trash can in a shopping strip for him to throw it away. That would be one less piece of evidence for the prosecution. The next thing to do was get rid of the gun barrels. Once they did that, the state could not prove they had the pieces, and could match the bullets from Carter to them. The most they could be charged with is owning a gun when they weren't supposed to have one. Everything was going according to plan. All they had to do was sit tight. Once the police were done with their investigation, the spoils would be divided. "How much did Mrs. Carter pay you?" The voice came from the back seat of the car. "Don't turn around. I would have to shoot you then." "I don't know what you're talking about." The passenger thought about trying to reach his pistol and shooting through the seats at their unwanted guest. "Carter knew you guys were after him when you missed the first time. He didn't know what exactly was going on. So he hired me. Everyone in America just saw you try to kill Carter. We rigged cameras up in his office and set the trap. I followed you out of the house, and have a camera going right now." The man in the back seat nudged the passenger's head with the barrel of his own pistol. "The only thing that matters now is do you cop a plea, or go down for attempted and conspiracy to commit. Your choice." The men tossed their weapons in the back seat. "Thank you." Blue lights lit up the white face mask with a blue target on it. "I think that's your ride."

Re: What Have You Watched Recently? Watched Hoodwinked with the boy. "What kind of candles are those?" "It's dino-men-tay. Must be Italian." CES

Re: The Minority It's an idea for a dystopia, but no way would the president be killed by one man. Secret Service would have a team ready for anything like that. In my opinion, it would be better to have the reverse happen. Instead of a clampdown, Most of the world has gone over to the Russians. We have essentially almost lost the cold war, with only Canada and England as allies (maybe Austrailia). The Russians are grinding everyone down. Teams of these DNA men are sent out to spark rebellions in other countries to keep the Russians from committing purges and the like. Additionally depending on the powers allowed, some of the DNA men would be able to build super tech with enhanced brain power. America could be the last bastion of scientific advance in the world. CES