BlackSword

That sounds like a pretty cool idea. I think the conversion would be interesting, but I don't think I would run a 40k rp game, just too dark for my personal taste. However, dropping an alien invasion in the modern world would be pretty cool. Unfortunataly this wouldn't fit in our current campaign, but definitaly something to keep in mind (heads off to make a few notes on 'future plans' scratch pad). So Mr. Fantabulistic, you soundly defeated the supervillain, how will you face against the Tyranid hive mind?

I was thinking this would be a rather cool solution. So its not just picking on the Flasher, try and limit other PCs attacks. This will only be useful if the other PCs have an assortment, but it will force everyone to shake up their attacks. Special mental helmets for Mental Defense, but they're not tied on too tight a TK can remove them, etc. Also like others have said, its not a static world, if its the only attack he uses then word will get around, this guy uses this attack, pass out the Ray-Bans and lets go curb stomp him.

I think weather.com is broken. It lists the current temp as 8 degrees farenheit. As I am preparing to leave work for the weekend soon, that doesn't seem like it should be right. It should be closer to say, 60, and sunny. Of course part of the problem with leaving is trying to find my car, with all the salt on the roads all cars are the same color.

I read through the entire thing, then read the tagline from the main page and solidified the bias: The epilogue of the review I don't understand (well, an additional part I don't understand): This would be like complaining that Werewolf:tA Revised Edition is a failure because if you don't like Storyteller games, you won't like this book. Basically, people like different systems, if you like Hero, then buy Hero, if you don't like Hero, don't buy Hero. If there was one perfect system for role-playing, then there would be a single system.

Depends on your Champs sessions. Its probably better described as a tactical game then an RPG. Basically you are given a mission, you choose a team and go out on the town and beat up things between you and your objective. Between scenarios you characters get XP when the character makes a 'level' you can assign Character Points to different powers.. There are large arrows pointing to the next objective (yellow for secondary, red for primary), so its not a matter of questioning townspeople to find out where you need to go. That said, its a very fun game. It has great interaction with the environment. Bricks can pick up cars and hurl them. You can bring down entire buildings. You can use lamp posts as baseball bats and knock a villain (or an on-looker) down the street.

Huntress' outfit made quite a change from being a full body leotard type get-up to being shorts and a sports bra. Great get-up if you are bullet proof, but me personally would want something a little more kevlar-y like the rest of the Bat-team wears.

edit: Hermit tricked me into a non random thought...so a quick edit, blank my mind for something random and voila... Ever notice how things seem to pile up on one day. I used to call it my rule of threes. Anytime I had a big event planned two other events would line up perfectly on that same day. Its bizaare because I don't usually plan that much, but somehow out of 52 weeks in a year, three thigns which interest me pick the exact same weekend.

Re: Re: Re: Nero Wolfe Then I'll have to pick them up and dust my fedora off. I have this feeling I am going to have to get an old fan and poor lighting in my cublicle at work. Then I can start talking like I am narrating my work life. My mother is a big Nero Wolfe fan, so I can always have a steady supply of books. I do have a copy of one his books. I picked up one at a used book store, so I'll be sure to read through it.

I picked that book up before Christmas and I really enjoyed it. I hope that Del Ray keeps coming out with collections of his stories (or I will have to find one of the many other reprints .

Previously in the Star Hero area there have been discussions about bibliographies for such genres as military sci fi. Well, here is a chance to suggest books in the style, or reprints of stories from the pulp magazines. If recommending a specific books please include all the information you can as they may be hard to find. Otherwise authors and particular works would be a great place to start. (I looked through archives and didn't really see any pulp era bibliography, let me know if I missed it). There is a discussion in "A Very Pulp Hero Movie" about what constitues pulp, so lets just leave this thread to authors and books (heh, like asking to stay on topic ever works ).

The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian a collection of short stories by REH, and illustrated throughout. I enjoyed reading the original Conan stories and the illustrations were a nice touch (though according to the illustrations the women worked hard to not spend too much money on clothing). Howard's writing style fits very will with writing about Conan who does not wish to fully understand or integrate into 'civilized' society. Being a collection of short stories it makes for a nice read and allows frequent points for taking a break. Overall, 8 of 10.

Ghost Who Walks beat me to the punch and answered the questions pretty much as I would. The base would have to mostly underground with only a few surface structures for landing and resupply. Perhaps a small observation dome as someplace to get 'outside' and see the stars. Being on the moon and lacking an atmosphere, the base would likely contain several observatories with telescopes. Power would be most likely be supplied by solar arrays, though perhaps a nuclear plant might be used (this would require dependance on earth for supply of fuel). Effects on the human body are similar to what others said. In addition some thought has to be given to lighting. Depending on the amount of UV light in the lighting system, many of the western people would be very pale and all would require Vitamin D through other means. For that reason lighting may be more of a full spectrum light to better emulate sunlight. I don't know what elements are readily available on the moon (McCoy seems up on the subject so perhaps he can specify), but mining and refinement would probably be used to for silicon and titanium on the moon. This would allow structures to be built for further space missions. The Lunar Base would probably be used to launch missions further in the Solar System, so manufacturing technologies would be useful so only bulk materials would have to be shipped from earth. I agree with what has been said by all the other posters.

Its a good day to be a Colts fan. Well, I caught the first quarter while driving, but I was busy gaming all day, so it was nice to return home, check the scoreboard and see that the Colts have made it the AFC championship game. Unfortunataly NE is going to be a tough team to beat. Here's to hoping the Colts the offense stays sharp and the defense holds off the Patriots. Go Colts

Sweet Granny Goodness, I made the mistake of trying to get into shape. I tried to an ab workout on the stability balls (those wonderful gifts of Darkseid) and it nearly killed me. I thought I was in pretty good shape, I thought wrong.

I'll have to look at this once I get home, makes me wish I didn't steal all my Hero ideas from their comics now.

Astronomy Picture of the Day has been posting the pictures from the lander. Yesterday (link below) was a nice full color picture. http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040107.html Previous pic and todays pic are both stereo, I lack the red/blue glasses so I suppose I am missing the majesty of the view. Maybe I'll drop by Total Recall and get a memory of my trip to Mars implanted this afternoon .

I don't believe I am familar with Zubrin's proposal. The one I read most recently which sounded feasible was two 14 man ships each with a crew of 7. In case one of the ships breaks down everyone can safely return in the second ship. As the ISS currently has an air leak, I don't think we've perfected all of the problems related to space travel. While the leak is too small to be a problem, it also helps that the station is in LEO and if it does cause a major problem they can hop in a pod and drop to earth. Things change drastically when a crew is several months from earth. The second major hurdle is radiation. Once away from the Earth's protective fields high levels of radiation from the sun would spell disaster. We don't have a way to protect the crew without making the ship out of lead several inches thick.

You know its going to be a long day when you sit down, turn on the computer, and then pull your upper back and neck muscles getting that first sip of coffee. Only eight more hours of trying to keep my head in a perfect position to avoid muscle pains.

I watched the Conan movies during the holidays (nothing says Christmas like watching James Earl Jones be an evil priest). The second one was not as good, and some of the SFX were horrible. However, I think that the second captured the granduer of the Hyborian age better. There were many more shots of a large city, and the large pillars of unknown origin they went through at the beginning of their adventure.

The Perfect Bite Today I was snacking on lunch and came upon a single bite that was the perfect medley of ingredients such that it was extraordinarily good. Unfortunataly, by the next bite it was back to the same blandness I am used to. While great to have a taste senstation, its a bit frustrating when eating to find that perfect mix of ingredients for only a single bite, while the rest of the meal does not compare.

I'll post my normal response for anthropormophic games. Look at Jade/Iron-Claw system for ideas. http://www.sanguine.com/Downloads/ In the "Summary Sheets" section they have a pdf called races. This lists how they do races. Basically all races have certain advantages (claws, teeth, etc) and natural skills. Other additions include a habitat which gives bonuses when doing skills in that habitat (like PER rolls, survival rolls, etc). Also the racial sense would be a PER bonus to that particular sense. They get around the carnivourous animals by replacing typical animals with lizard equivilants. Ie, there is a small flightless lizard which tastes just like chicken, and large lizard which is used for hauling goods or people.

This is where I usually fit into the party. I come up with the plans that everyone says, "Thats a really good idea, we're gonna do it that way," then I just sink back behind the scenes and let the leader take the reins. There are a few times I will snap and bark out a few orders because the group will over analyze a situation to death, but usually I try to take the second in command role.

Several weeks ago I was watching wrestling and it occured to me, I am in the wrong profession. I mean, here Goldberg loses the title and what does he do? He beats up everyone he sees and starts screaming at the camera. Does he get fired? No, he gets 30 days off, and right at Christmas too. I just want a job, that when someone says something stupid, frustrating or otherwise insults my abilities, I can pick them up and pile drive them. That would be my dream job, pile driving other employees.

Watched wrestling last night and I noticed something a bit odd. So I continued to watch one wrestler (The Hurricane) and realized, he had a Green Lantern tatoo on his right shoulder. Its a bit funny to see references to comic books in pop culture.

For a middle eastern setting I would suggest Kronos Quartet Caravan. When running a Lot5R game, the GM played the soundtrack to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.