CrosshairCollie

I need confirmation from this from someone who actually knows. My player won't believe me. True or False: The military will let you keep high-powered weaponry (in the assault rifle/submachine gun mold) when you leave the organization. He swears up-and-down that they do, I'm reasonably certain that they don't.

Re: Campaign Limitations I cheat. I'm the only one that anybody in the group considers 'competent' enough to build characters, so everybody just gives me an outline and a background and lets me build their characters for 'em, then we go over them and iron out details from there. So ... they wind up with whatever power level it is I decide to give them.

Re: How do you get players to role play in genre? I disagree with some statements above that you cannot make good players out of bad players. Think back, folks. To your first game. Not necessarily of Champions, but your first gaming experience. Back. Back. Further. Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuurther. There you go ... the newbie gamer in the group of older, more experienced players who'd been at this for a bit. How often did they roll your eyes at you? How often did they just stare at you, slack-jawed, because your wet-behind-the-ears character decided to do something stupid because you didn't know any better? SOME players will never learn to RP, no. There are always some people who don't do things how we would like them to. Everybody has their own style, and while it's comforting to consider one's own style 'superior', that's really just an arrogant presumption. It's a game, and if everybody has fun, then it's a successful game, whether it's a deep immersion puzzle-solving murder mystery or a knee-deep-in-goblin-guts slashfest. However, if a player (or multiple players') styles do not mesh with the GM, or the majority of the group, steps should be taken. When I'm starting a game (whether it be Champions, D&D, BESM, AU, or whathaveyou), I have a Ground Rules/Game Theme sheet prepared, printed up, and copied so everybody has one. For example, one Champions game I ran drew heavily from the Avengers-as-U.N.-peacekeeping-force genre, so I made certain that was in plain English on the sheet, and expounded on what that meant; no casual killers, no lone-wolves, no psychopaths, etc. I had 'Code Against Killing' on the recommended Disads list. I even had a note that said that only one in every three games (or so) would be combat oriented; the rest would be RP/investigative/downtime/interaction/etc, so make sure your character has something to do besides fight. What this does, is tells the player 'This Is What I Expect Of You and your Character'. If they cannot meet those expectations, they will need to either adapt, or find another game.

Re: Simulated D20 Evards Black Tentacles I, personally, would do something akin to: X STR Telekinesis, AE Radius (3 or 4"), nonselective, uncontrolled.

Re: Silliest Disadvantage Ever My brain just jumped STRAIGHT into the gutter with both feet. Silliest one anybody ever tried on me was an Accidental Change into a falcon when tied up or imprisoned ... with no alternate form paid for. No Multiform, no Shapeshift, no nothin'.

Re: How do you get players to role play in genre? I strongly recommend that you go out-of-game with this. If you have the Champions genre book, show them the sections that pertain to your game. If you have any comics of the appropriate genre, pass them out as required reading. Another question: Is the whole group combat-monsters, or just some of them? (As a random note, I've played in plenty of fightless D&D games, and plenty of fight-of-the-week Champions games, so it's a bit unfair to blame the hack-n-slash mentality on D&D. There are bad gamemasters and bad players in EVERY game system and genre.) In this case, it's carrot and stick time. The combat-mongers get 1 XP, the roleplayers get 2 or 3. Announce the XP publically, and inform the combat-mongers why they didn't get as much XP. Go through the XP award table, step by step. "1 XP for showing up, everybody gets that. Bob, George, you get one more for good roleplaying, and another one for (whatever)." That should grab their attention.

Re: Cheese Check Well, yes, you can unload a ridiculous amount of damage with a noncombat/Megascale movement move-thru or by. However, the backlash damage would be quite significant, not to mention the really really low chance to hit. Alternately, you could just declare that you can't make NCM/Mega move-thru/bys on things smaller than buildings because you're moving too fast to aim at anything smaller.

Re: Street Fighter II HERO And there was much w00tage! Gotta get my hands on that sucker SOON ... better call the store to see if they have it before I make the trip, though. For the longest time, I thought 'Wuxia' was a foreign word for 'With Visible Wires' ...

Re: Street Fighter II HERO *smirk* Gee, wonder why you recommended it then. Just kidding. If it reads anything like your website, I DEFINITELY need to get my hands on it! And hmmmm, I just got my federal income tax return ... Now if only I didn't have to drive 90 miles to find a store that stocks Hero Games stuff.

Re: Street Fighter II HERO I've got 4E Ninja Hero. Is there a 5E version? I hadn't heard ...

Re: Help with a construct: several characters -> one mega power. Heh ... my first thought when I read the thread was, in fact, that it was reminiscent of the various Power Rangers gestalt weapons (Power Blaster, Zeo Blaster, Turbo RAM, Quadroblaster, Transdagger Star Formation, Unilaser, Vortex Cannon, Jungle Blaster, Storm Striker, Z-Rex Blaster, respectively by team). Yes, I know far more about Power Rangers than any 30 year old man should. I typically do such by having whoever actually aims the blast (Red Ranger) buy a basic attack, then have each team member purchase additional dice of blast, Useable By Others, only useable by (main attacker), only to add to (name of special attack), all teammates must contribute (the last one's optional; of course, depending on just how your attack works). I briefly considered using Aid/Succor, but you'd have to up the Max on it.

Re: How would you do it?

Re: How would you do it? 'True' Invulnerability is a tough act, since HERO doesn't do absolutes well. With a 60 active cap per power, she'd need: 32 PD Armor, Hardened (60) Lack of Weakness for PD and rPD (15 would probably be all you'd need) 75% Resistant Physical Damage Reduction (60) Power Defense, only vs 'physical' attacks (ex: a DEX drain defined as striking nerve centers) If you can con your DM into considering PD separate from rPD for this determination, +60 PD. That oughtta cover it. (By 'physical', I'm assuming you mean that in the Champions terms a la Physical Defense (PD).) (edit) Oh, brainstorm! Buy Desolidification, Persistent, Inherent, Always on, Vulnerable to Energy Attacks, then buy your STR and other powers Affects Physical World. Instant Physical Invulnerability!

Re: Crushed I generally use the 'dice equal to weight' thing, though I allow for texture (humans are relatively soft, therefore do less damage compared to having 100 kg of bricks laying on your chest). Also, six stun a turn wouldn't knock someone out real fast ... math time. 6 Stun per turn -2 PD=4 per turn. With 8 STR/CON/BOD, that's 16 stun ... 48 seconds if you count it as suffocation (with no REC), or ... 96 seconds with post-12 recoveries. Maybe a bit fast, but I don't know how long I'd remain conscious with a 220 pound man compressing my lungs. As far as lifting things, I guess that's just one of those 'superhero physics' things that lets people pick up buildings without crumbling them, and violate the square/cube law. Or something. Oh yeah ... a buried civilian would also be suffering from lack of air from the debris, potentially more fatal than the weight itself.

Re: Street Fighter II HERO Temptation to start a Capcom Fighters (or perhaps just Fighting Legends) HERO ... rising ... Given the myriad fighting games out there, there could be a LOT of stuff to do (and steal from) ... though it risks becoming 'it's a Champions game but everybody must have Martial Arts'. On the other hand, is that a bad thing? It provides a possible 'hook' for getting the PCs together, and still adds theme. If Darkstalkers is included, there's a variety of regular Champions characters who could easily be tweaked (Fenris, for example), and guys like Shadowdragon and ... uh ... that one guy with the two swords who shows up in the sidebar art every now and again (Shushogin? Something like that). Heck, Seeker could make a resurgence along with Jaguar! I know, I'm rambling ... Rules stuff I'm pondering now: 1. Designating some powers as 'rare' (aka Only One In The PC Team). For example, teleport. I think there are only four characters in SF/DS who can teleport (Dhalsim, Bison, Dmitri, Pyron), and two of those are main-bosses, so that'd be a 'one-per'. Other possible one-pers would include Desolidification and Psychic Powers (only one PC can have any true psychic powers, instead of 'one mind control, one Mental Illusion). I think Rose (Alpha Series), Bison, and Donovan (DS) are the only characters in SF/DS with 'true' Psychic Powers. 2. All* Energy Blasts and RKAs must be purchased with Gestures, Incantations, and Can Be Blocked (-1/2). The G&I is just genre-feeding, and 'can be blocked' means I don't have to declare that everybody must buy Missile Deflection. *All meaning '99 percent of'. There are some unblockable attacks in the games. 3. Normal Characteristic Maxima is available but not required. Extra DCs on Martial Arts *not* allowed. If you want more damage, spend points on a Special Technique. Combat Luck limited to one level. No firearms for PCs (though villains like B.B.Hood may have them). American names for NPCS (it's B.B.Hood not Bulleta, Akuma not Gouki). 4. Everybody with Martial Arts gets DF: Style, logically, with the possible exception of SFA3's Gen (who has two styles and can switch between them). 5. Choosing Sides: Deciding which characters are bad guys besides the main bosses (Balrog, Vega, Sagat, Bison, Huitzil and Pyron). 6. Accenting the 'World Warrior' angle by requesting that PCs all come from different countries (perhaps with random die rolling to see who gets first pick, since I know one guy who will have an aneurysm if he doesn't get to be from Japan). Maybe allow two from America (population) and Japan (genre). 7. Actual question: How much of a percentage of points should I request/require/recommend be spent on noncombat skills? While the game is based, loosely, around a game where character development is minimal and everything is combat, I don't want every game to just be a beat-em-up (though I may, for dramatic effect, intone 'ROUND ONE ... FIGHT!' now and again). 8. Opinion Poll: I should get Ultimate Martial Artist for this, shouldn't I? Thoughts/Experiences?

Re: Teleportation, useable as an attack...

Re: Pyro Kinetic Help Then the Side Effect theory seems to work ... put it on a No Range Area Effect Radius Personally Immune power, probably.

Re: Pyro Kinetic Help Put a Side Effect on the main 'set stuff on fire' power, with the modifer for 'Always happens when something particular happens' (or however it's phrased), and have the trigger be something appropriate. I haven't seen (nor am I intending to see) Hellboy, but usually pyrokinetics randomly flare off when they get stressed or angered.

Re: Autobots and TUV Entering Nitpick Mode! The show was Turbo Teen, not Teen Turbo, and any extremes of heat or cold caused him to change form (including such things as eating hot peppers). I hate my encyclopedia-of-trivia memory.

Re: Opinion poll The thing is, Arthur, I'm not sure the present HERO way violates genre conventions. I've seen a number of fights between evenly-matched foes in comic-books that turn into bus-swinging melees, and rarely does the Thing smashing the Hulk with a car (or vice versa) seem to generate much more damage than a bare-knuckle bashing.

Re: Opinion poll I've always felt that the point of using a car or other random miscellaneous object like that, for a brick, was simply to have a way to perform an AE attack or attack at range. I wouldn't give them extra damage unless they paid for it somehow.

Re: Autobots and TUV

Re: Dealing with Invisible Heroes Actually, I was thinking IK2 (Jacques Foccart?), who wasn't much of a scientist or a combatant. My bad, I didn't think to specify. To answer your question, though, I'd rather play IK (either one) than Mon-El. Mon-El is expected to go one-on-one, mano-a-mano with people like Darkseid. No thank you, mommy taught me never to play in that sandbox. The more powerful you are, the more responsibilities you get and the tougher the foes you have to fight and the more that's on the line in every battle! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH! ... so I think I'll play Matter-Eater Lad.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... Please inform said GM that he or she has just won Crosshair Collie's Harshness Of The Month award.

Re: "Focus Man" 1d6 INT Drain (Self Only) plus 1d6 EGO Drain (Self Only) plus 1d6 COM Aid (Others Only), 24 charges = A case of Milwaukee's Best Random Note: I just noticed that the 'party' smiley doesn't work because the board tries to put the smiley in for the 'colon-p', so you get :party:. Funky.