ShelleyCM

Neat -- thanks!! I'll solicit your comments before I post my update, then (if you don't mind).

By the Regency, in London, you run into the Bow Street Runners -- one of my PCs in my 1793 game is a gentleman who helped the Runners out. That was a fun PC! I think it was in the early 1820s that there's an official London police force ( or thereabouts).

Have you read the Julian Kestrel mysteries by Kate Ross? They're a lot of fun.

-Shelley

I have been working on it! It's such a fun genre to work with -- very much suited to all sorts of styles of play. Recently I've been researching the criminal aspect of play -- without a regular, organized police force, how the PCs deal with bad guys, that kind of thing.

-Shelley

Oh! Thank you, D-Man -- I'd completely not realized that I could have touted my Regency HERO site!

http://www.mactyre.net/archives/regency

(And don't forget the all important Dancing skill!)

Thanks!

-Shelley

Originally posted by Spence

GURP's Age of Napoleon? I may have to get that one. How is it? How crunchy?

It's really quite good. Packed with history, adventure seeds, campaign ideas, period details... Any game book that has a write-up of Admiral Lord Cochrane is the coolest ever, just by itself, but it's full of neat historical bits. I was irritated that Stephen Decatur was listed with admirals, since he was a commodore, but that's a minor quibble (they didn't call him an admiral, just listed him there). There's lots of public domain art, maps, and useful information about how everyday life was lived. My cursory read didn't spot any historical inaccuracies, either, which is a big deal for me.

The bias is (naturally, in a game book) in favor of the military aspects than the social (in the Bibliography, there are several Hornblower film credits listed independently while "Any of the recent Jane Austen adpatations" are lumped into one category and not even mentioned by name, which any Janeite knows is ridiculous because some are more accurate than others) but that stands to reason, as I figure may be the only gamer out there who cares which random poobah gets however many guns in their salute AND where they should sit at the dinner table in relationship to other poobahs.

In a nutshell, I don't think there's anything in the book (other than GURPS stats) that I don't already have in one reference book or another, but it was so nice to have all that information together in one place that I felt it was money well spent.

-Shelley

Originally posted by AlHazred

My poor credit card thanks you for your mini-review. Now to go back to my attempt to combine Castle Falkenstein with GURPS Goblins...

You're very welcome -- and the book now has the distinction of being the only thing I've ever returned to a game store, ever. Yikes!

-Shelley

Originally posted by ShelleyCM

Victoriana looks very cool.

Permit me to qualify this now that I've had a chance to look closer: not a lot of substance, a *lot* of typos -- it looked cool, but IMHO CF is a better bet.

-Shelley

I picked up a copy of it today (and GURPS Age of Napoleon, and Steam Tech, and a Waterloo game....arg....my poor Citibank card!)

Victoriana looks very cool.

-Shelley

Originally posted by D-Man

A town caller in a fantasy game might be an amusing twist on this concept.

 

You could even have the reliable "matter of fact" town caller, and the "tabloidesque embelishment addicted" town caller.

I really like that! In my PRIMUS game, I always included the latest scuttlebutt on any particular PC or NPC whenever a PC encountered that person. It was fun to watch the players' reactions to how other people perceived them or what other people were saying about them.

-Shelley

Originally posted by Captain Obvious

So you're saying you don't think there'd be a market for my Russian Novel Hero genre book I've been working on? And I spent all that time reading The Brothers' Karamozov?

Well, *I* would buy it.

-Shelley

I've done newspapers in Champions campaigns, and they were a lot of fun. I covered the heroes' actions, as well as red herrings and other oddities (which often turned into interesting side plots, thanks to the players).

In other genres, tho, I simply type up adventure summaries and put them on a website as well as email them out to the group -- so far as HERO goes, I have some PRIMUS adventures written up online.

-Shelley

Originally posted by Space Cadet

Cripes, the next thing you know, somebody out there'll want to

play Crime and Punishment HERO, or War and Peace HERO,

or...oh, never mind.

 

Space Cadet

You roll your eyes, but people already do -- there are a number of free-form RPing groups online set in the world of romance novel settings, or musicals, or movies -- I was astonished.

But War and Peace HERO would be cool. Or Middlemarch HERO. Hm....

-Shelley

LOL!!!! What a coincidence!

Take a look at the website and see what you think! I'm planning on running a few sessions this summer.

http://www.mactyre.net/shelley/1793/

-Shelley

Re: LM HERO

Originally posted by Citizen Keen

So, I was explaining to my friend how HERO can be used to create any character, any genre. (He's only played AD&D 2nd Ed.) I make the comment that there is no literary figure that can't be recreated in HERO. His response?

 

"Hey, can we play Les Mis HERO?"

 

-cK

Hey, it sounds like my kind of game! Send that boy our way -- I'll add him to my 1793 game.

-Shelley

Originally posted by Mark Rand

Hi all,

Thanks, Shelley. That's why I created her. However, unlike Maria Chow, she's a Japanese-American.

How would PRIMUS and Mariko Namura, out lady silver avenger, react to Immortals, the Stargate and the Slayer (and the Hellmouth) and, if they're in the campaign, the MIB (from the movies) and the goings on in Prefection (from the Tremors movies and tv series)?

How does PRIMUS react to her using her own weapons?"

Dunno about Mariko, but Maria Chow (who is part Japanese) would react by dating what/whoever the phenom of week was.

As for PRIMUS and the rest...well, I suppose it depends on what would suit your campaign world best. The safest bet would be heavy skepticism. I'm not familiar enough with the TV shows or movies to make much more of a statement.

As for her own weapons...I'm not sure. I suppose it would depend on the weapon's origin. Lifted from VIPER? Bad. One of a kind item that she has legitimately? Might be OK, but would want to have R&D look at it.

-Shelley

More OT ferret fun!

Marcus --

Thank you! Poor Llew is bald as a cue ball, except for a bit of hair on his face and feet. He's at least gained some weight, so he doesn't look like a skeleton with skin (Matthew was calling him Gollum-ferret). But he's gotten fiesty again! It's been a huge relief, as I don't care what he looks like, as long as he feels good.

We're very lucky to have a clinic that specializes in ferrets nearby; one of the vets also has her doctorate in pharmacology, so they do some amazing things.

-Shelley

Originally posted by Baneon

He's not joking. The leader of our normal PRIMUS assault group could drop most of the PCs.

That is *so* what I love to hear. Heh, heh!

-Shelley

Originally posted by JmOz

ShelleyCM,

 

What is the current status of PRIMUS? are you in the process of rewriting it for 5th? If so how far along are you?

It's in the works, but it isn't on the production schedule yet. Basically, Steve wants me to finish law school first... and for that matter, so do I!

-Shelley

Koshka --

Very useful and good idea! Thank you!

-Shelley

Originally posted by tiger

I have no problem with the concept. While I haven't seen the latest installment of PRIMUS, then who has, I like the idea of a level between agent and Silver Avenger.

Heh! I'm fairly sure someone besides me has seen it.

There are levels between agents and Avengers. Agent Commanders, Special Agents in charge...it just depends on if they're assault agents (beefed up with Cyberline) or intelligence agents (more skill-based than combat-based). Additionally, Avengers have staff of their own, composed of different types of agents who are more powerful/skillful than the standard agent.

-Shelley

Cyberline is a process of genetic modification that most people aren't compatible with (PRIMUS Sourcebook, Champions Universe). I wouldn't lose too much sleep over coming up with a justification for why it didn't work for her.

-Shelley

Sounds like she's the best of all possible worlds.

-Shelley

Woo-hoo! Another excuse to talk about the Regency!

I would work it as a perk, but if the person is REALLY lower class (not only doesn't know which fork to use, but uses his fingers instead) then I think a social disad is in order.

Anyway, here are some of the perks I worked up for a game set during Hanoverian England:

http://www.mactyre.net/archives/regency/newcharacters.html

-Shelley

When I first saw this, I thought you were going to talk about Wagner's Ring cycle...now *that* would be one heck of a marathon gaming session.

Hm...new website...Opera HERO...

-Shelley

Originally posted by Peregrine

Personally, I like the "Avengers as 50s-60s astronaut-level celebrities" route, meself. (Can you say 'PRIMUS trading cards?' Sure, I knew you could.) That, and the 'mutual agreement' between PRIMUS and the bad guy organization du jour works to create the feel I'm looking for. (I'm also toying with limiting supers such that the Avengers are actually among the most powerful superheros in the campaign.)

Sounds like a campaign after my own heart.

-Shelley

Only one more final to go!

Originally posted by D-Man

As a point of fact:

 

It is not uncommon for federal agents in sensitive positions, such as the FBIs counter espionage division, to identify themselves with a pseudonym when interacting with the public in order to keep their exact job with the agency unknown.

 

Just a quick clarification: David is quite right, and I could easily see an agent having a secret id for this reason (I even had to read Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of the Bureau of Narcotics this semester). But to me, there's a huge distinction between the undercover agent and the Avenger.

Again (and it's always the same): it's a matter of taste!

-Shelley