Vulcan

Re: Gestalt Space Cruiser Interesting concept for a space opera-style game. In a more 'hard' sci-fi setting... there are just too many problems.

Re: Which is easier to swing, an axe or a sword? The point is, if you swing with a sword and are off a bit, you aren't going to accomplish very much. But if you swing with an axe and are off by a bit, that's still 4-5 lbs of metal moving at quite a high velocity involved in the impact.

Re: Which is easier to swing, an axe or a sword?

Re: Cool Guns for your Games Isn't the H&K 416 the one that won't jam no matter what you do to it?

Re: Which is easier to swing, an axe or a sword? Not to mention that the telescopic action would give you a rather flimsy haft, assuming the overall weapon weighs a reasonable amount (3-5 lbs). You also risk telescoping errors - either the action jams, making you swing short, or it fails entirely and the business end of your weapon flies off into the wild blue yonder leaving you with a underweight stick... Axes are very simple and straightforward weapons. As much mass as possible is at the end, behind the short striking edge, so it will swing easily and hit hard. Aim... that can be a bit tricky, especially if you are swinging at something that doesn't want to be hit. Swords are a bit more tricky. But it is easier to alter the arc of trajectory mid-swing with a sword than an axe, making it more likely you will hit. On the defense, Axes are incredibly difficult. You are forced to parry with the shaft much like you would with a quarterstaff, but unlike the quarterstaff the axe is incredibly unbalanced. So, most of the time you are forced to just dodge. It takes a lot more effort to move the threatened part of your body clear than it does to parry the blow. But the axe sometimes just won't be there in time. A sword is much faster on the parry. On the offense side... well, something hit with an axe tends to stay hit. A glancing blow from an axe might still break bones, while a glancing blow from a sword might be turned with minimal injury.

Re: Order of the Stick Doh!

Re: Find Weakness and Lack of Weakness for 6th Edition. Simplest answer, as always: Just bring both over as-is from previous editions.

Re: Order of the Stick Probably LE... with a high Charisma, just like his sons.

Re: DCV Drain You make a vaild point there. The only counter I can offer is that an area-effect Drain would siphon off 1 DCV per application, and is a lot harder to avoid. Even one of my 'glass cannon specials' can usually take a 6d6 EB once or twice before going down, but loosing 1 DCV could potentially be.. bad. Using CE to 'drain' CVs is, in my opinion, one of the most over-the-top things in the rules right now. Fortunately, my GM thinks it's pretty cheezy too and doesn't use/allow it.

Re: DCV Drain Given the effect of the bell curve, even a 2-point loss to DCV can be devastating to a high-DCV character. Characters with high DCVs tend to rely on not getting hit to survive. Once they are hit usually they are knocked out, if not dead outright. A 2-point shift in DCV changes an 8- roll to a 10-. And those aren't good odds for a low-defense, DCV reliant character. He is pretty much required to dodge at that point just to survive. And frankly, once you are forced into a particular action, the enemy has the initiative and is likely to win. Eventually the odds catch up with you.

Re: Giant robots! Another meme too cool for its own good. The BEST thing about that particular mecha is that it was little (if any!) bigger than a modern convetional MBT, and it's hull was of a similar design to a MBT, thus gaining it the full benfit from armor technology.

Re: WWYD - Raising You This... is just about Vigil's worst nightmare. Vigil was accidentally fathered by a man who was being expiremented on to try and give him powers (not any kids he might have someday) by a similar organization. Once said organization found out about that he had fathered a child, and that child actually had the powers they were looking for, they moved in. Reunited him with his long-missing father, wiped out the rest of his family, made him think the FBI was behind it, and turned him into a villian for a good chunk of his life. So... yeah. This would trip Vigil right the f**k out.

Re: Giant robots! Another meme too cool for its own good. Technically Bolos are battleship-sized tanks, not mecha, but many of the same arguments against mecha apply... but not the 'thickness of armor' one. Yes, there are many instances in the books where Bolos shoot down starships. The later versions (XXX and up) were designed specifically as planetary defense units; to not just engage aerial and surface targets, but targets in orbit as well! Edit: the more viable looking mecha designs I have seen are basically tank chassis with legs on the corners. The well-designed ones are built to squat down to normal tank height for taking cover, but can raise themselves up several meters high for maximum cross-terrain mobility... and taking advatange of higher firing positions. All that and much of the same armor protection of a tank? Not too shabby if you ask me! A mid-sized (i.e. 6-8m) humanoid mecha of human response time and maneuverabilty would have the ability to crawl and drop prone into whatever cover was available, likely being no more than 1-1.5m in 'length' (front to back) and might well be better able to use whatever cover or concealment exist than a conventional tank. Now the big ones likely wouldn't have that option and would be utterly dependant on armor for protection, and realistically speaking the armor of a conventional tank will always be better than that of a equivalent-size/cost mecha. The mecha would have to defend itself with the power of coolness... which isn't terribly good at stopping armor-piercing rounds. Of course, that is speaking in a strictly realistic sense. In a game/story, the mechanics can be altered to fit the needs of the GM/author.

Re: "Neat" Pictures Leave it to the internet to monkey with a great idea.

Re: The Bunnies Are Back The only rational response to this situation is to get the biggest eraser one can find and hope for the best...

Re: Gaspode the Talking Dog A bit more than you think, Gaspode was described as being... well, 'mangey' would be understating it.

Re: "Neat" Pictures The ones on display in the capitol building?

Re: Looks Like a Spaceship, Don't It? Having different propulsion systems for different environments is inefficient... to an extent. Given current technology, however, it is even more inefficient to use rocket propulsion in an atmosphere for extended periods. So, to take the 'earth to orbit' example, it might well be more efficient to use jets of some sort to 100K feet altitude, then kick the rockets in to get to orbit. Coming back would only use the rockets briefly to deorbit, then the jets would kick back in for landing. Theorectically, of course. Now, if we could come up with some sort of drive that worked equally well in and out of the atmosphere with minimal harmful effects, then that would really be something, wouldn't it?

Re: Who is sticking to 4th or 5th Ed HERO My god, this argument is still going on. And people on both sides continue to say the exact same things after 50 pages. Tsk, tsk. Not to pick on you, Tasha, but I see you are still coming here picking a fight. Perhaps by now the best thing to do is just let it be? It should be obvious by now that you're not going to change anyones mind. You didn't change mine, for example; what changed my mind was actually reading 6E. And I might have done it sooner had it not been for people pushing 6E at me like it was the greatest thing since sliced bread even though I had seen several changes I didn't like...

Re: Supers vs. Military

Re: "Crowning Moment of Cool?"

Re: Do I need a metaplot for Star Hero? I find that having a metaplot gives me ideas about where the campaign is going - given the PCs latest (and almost always unexpected) actions - and what sort of adventure would logically come up next. But if you're going to run a metaplot, for gods' sake don't get so attached to it you hammer the PCs into following it! That way is railroading (which has no place in space! ). Everyone has more fun when their character's actions have an impact on the game.

Re: Armor Wars Oh, yeah, they would have loved to do it... but the people who were in charge of the F-35 wouldn't give up that easily. On the flip side, the Iraq war didn't happen in our game; the GM had local metahuman terrorists aplenty for the government to deal with. So I suspect that at least part of that money was spent on Sovereign clones. But since the clones never quite lived up to the power of the original (and the original didn't pack as much firepower as an F-35, much less a M-1), they were really only used by PRIMUS and super-elite military squads, where decent heavy firepower (we're talking infantry heavy, not vehicle heavy) and protection (APC, not MBT) were matched with a need to get into tight spaces.

Re: Armor Wars As far as our game went, Sovereign always outclassed the production models... but that was due in part to Mr. Fielding being pre-natally enhanced by his mother's mage bodyguard, and the prototype (PC) version of the armor was boosted by his innate magic. Don't ask me, it wasn't my character...

Re: Armor Wars That was pretty much the reason why there were only a handful of Sovereign-armor (our campaign's Iron Man) clones running about. Sure, Mr. Fielding wanted to sell them to the military, and PRIMUS, and other such clients. The problem was, he could only get the costs down to about half a billion dollars apiece, which really cuts down on the number of suits that can be purchased.