Sociotard

I've always wondered about this little feature in scifi film and literature. The robots are always immortal. If left to their own devices and supplied with power they will always live on. Now, why is that? Honestly, they're just computers with limbs, and computers aren't immortal. It's not even just obsolescence, they just stop working eventually. This and that get corroded by air, those bits and bobs slowly decay due to heat, and eventually the whole thing just quits. Then the fact that the computer is now obsolete prevents you from finding suitable replacement parts, and it's no longer good for anything. I mean, PC's have been in homes since the 1980's, and I don't know any of my peers with a computer as old as they are. A few with cars as old as they are, but no PC's. Granted, there's always one in a thousand that for one reason or another survives (I've known guys with commodores that still work) but those are exceptions. And yet the convention lives on. Data was immortal, as were R2D2, Marvin, and the kid from A.I. Do you make robots mortal in your campaigns?

Re: An A-team for the 21st Century I'd just keep the old murdock. Say he's an old guy from vietnam, but can still fly anything. And still crazy. Funny crazy. I say that because he was always my favorite. I wonder why the actor didn't go on to more stuff? Well, he was on Star Trek, but not often.

Re: Psion: a unit of psychic energy. Better as in smoking again or better as in no more cravings?

Re: Ghostbusters HERO Will they be movie ghostbusters or will Slimer tag along? I liked Slimer.

Re: Psion: a unit of psychic energy. You could just go with the SW prequel thing of measuring midichlorian (sp?) count, but that will probably irritate your players. I quantify it the way we quantify light. It takes x amout of energy to produce one psion. Measure it in joules. Would psions all be of the same energy, like electrons, or different, like photons. Other effects crop up when you make a system particle based. For example, you get the old problem of distance affecting the power of whatever you're doing. Suddenly, you can't use the Hero standard of saying that all mental powers work over a whole planet.

Re: Character: Mary Mallon (Typhoid Mary) As for Typhoid mary, I'm not sure that her typhoid infection is written up accuratley. Don't the rules say that you can't transform a person into something that could kill them?

Re: Character: Mary Mallon (Typhoid Mary) Doesn't hero put out an e-magazine that regularly features such characters? you might check it out. I agree with you though. One of my favorite characters I ever generated was Orrin Porter Rockwell. I even posted him on the boards.

Re: Help me stat up a very complicated weapon To say that blocking the cat with an appendage, make a Damage shield to apply to the focus (cat) To make sure it doesn't get reflected, build a triggered dispel (dispels the cat if it gets reflected)

Re: THE ULTIMATE METAMORPH -- What Do *You* Want To See? A "Body Hopper" could be fun

Re: I need a team name The Sunset Seven (or sunset six. how many are in your team?)

Re: The Onion uncovers new Supervillain I heard the same joke, except it was a "Sewer line through a recreational area" Oh, don't forget a nice Emminent domain power. Foolish Fantastic Four! Your baxter building is now mine!

Re: I need a team name The Sunshine Squad. The California Dreams. The Order of the Palm Frond. Of the three the Sunshine Squad is my favorite.

Re: Big Props to The Ultimate Mystic I did appreciate the coverage of material. I still wish it had included character writeups, as ultimate brick and ultimate MA did.

Re: New Avengers? Here's the thing I don't like about the New Avengers: it's sloppy team building. Look at their roster. Do they have a mentalist? No. Do they have a mystic? A speedster? Shapshifter? No. They have heavy hitters, but nothing really unusual. They'll do fine in most head on fights, but that's all they can do!

Re: Shooting Through Water I don't watch much tv, but mythbusters is a favorite. I especially liked the one where they recreated the escape from alcatraz, making their own raft from raincoats.

Re: how to make this power I usually call this a kind of "Mind Control". Question: when the character takes over another character, does the characters original body get left behind, and does it become useless? If it leaves behind a helpless character, give it the limitation "Concentration, 0 DCV" I found some other threads for you http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3857&highlight=posessed http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22043&highlight=mind+control+desolidification and look for Jethro

Re: Sky High as a Teen Champions prop It's Disney. Disney. As in Micky the Diseased Whoring Rat. I don't this movie stands a slugs chance in a salt mine of being enjoyable.

Re: Batman Begins Did they ever mention what the name of the boy was? You know, the one batman threw a bat-gadget at and the one rachel comforted? I kept thinking that could be their springboard to bring in a very junior robin. I really liked the movie, and got to see it in the imax to boot. I was with my little sister actually (she's nine). It was funny. She was captivated through the whole movie, never looked away for the intense action or the Acid Trip version of Batman. Then Bruce kissed Rachel and she closed her eyes.

Re: General Zaroff & Ivan Ah, this story is an old favorite. Every now and then someone does a "modernized" version of it. None of these attempts matches the original. Zaroffs affection for hunting skilled men has served as insperation for several good villians, including "Crossbow", one of the villians in the Dark Champions book. I think one of my favorite discussions on the story was "Did the guy leave the island, or did he just become the new hunter?" The story doesn't really say, so it was fun to speculate.

Re: "TaleSpin" as a pulp setting Louie Louis King was born in the southern United States to a low income family. He aquired a love of music at an early age, and left home at the age of 17 to travel with a jazz band. He worked hard, and became moderately famous on the music scene, eventually getting the nickname King Louie, the King of the Swingers. His first record, Mans Red Flower did reasonably well. Unfortunately, his subsequent records sold very poorly. The years on the road had taken a toll on Louie, both physically and creatively. When his contract with Jungle Records came up for renewal, they declined to do so. As a parting gift, they booked him on a (discount) vacation to the South Pacific islands. While there, Louie noticed that the local refueling station was up for sale, and quickly fell in love with the place. He cleaned and repaired the old station, and even remodled to include a small stage for live music. Finally, he renamed the establishment "Louies". He might be too old to tour the road, but music could still be part of his life. So, if you find yourself in the south pacific, and your plane could use some fuel, your ears could use some jazz, and your throat could use somthing tropical and cold, try stopping by Louies. You won't regret it. Physical description: Louie is an older black gentleman, stands about 5'6", and what hair he has left is grey. Nevertheless, he has a surprising amount of energy for a man of his age. He could also be an Orangutang. Personality and Motivation: Louie is an excellent host and tries to make sure everyone is comfortable and happy when they walk into his refuelling station. It's a habit he extends to his personal life. He'll go to any lengths necessarry to help his friends. Plot Seeds: *Someone has stolen Louies copy of Mans Red Flower! But who would want to steal an old record. Granted, it is a fairly rare record, but it still wouldn't be that valuable. Louie would greatly appreciate any help in getting it back. He might even be willing to settle that tab of yours . . . *Some rougher pilots keep starting fights in Louies Bar, and they always seem to get away just before the authorities arrive. Louie wants you to figure out how to stop them. After all, they just might be Air Pirates!

Re: "TaleSpin" as a pulp setting Ah, Don Carnage. now there was a fun character. And I have to warn any characters who go to work for Khan. You will not be paid. Ever. Ever. That is all. I'm curious. Did Kaa ever make the series?

Re: Experts? Erm, he couldn't take Electronics or inventor or a few of the others with any discount. those aren't "background" skills. He could take the KS's you mentioned, as well as the PS's. he might take an AK: Garages to simulate being able to feel his way around any garage he came into (I bet he keeps his ratchet around here . . . yep, here it is) The others, however, are not background skills

Re: Hacker's Laptop Computer Your computer weighs 100 kg. Thats one beefy laptop Does the software not let you drop off the description boxes for computers and such? I just haven't seen many computers with brown hair brown eyes. And now for the more interesting comments. Do you have Dark Champions? It has some good stuff for cryptography and computers. I might add a skill called "Unshredder", and a program to do the same. It allows you to take pictures of shredded documents with the digital camera (well, in our campaign we used a scanner, but you've already got the camera). After a few hours of processing the laptop can supply a few reconstructions of what the original documents. The roll determines how clear the documents come through. Teach it chess, and possibly a few other gambling skills. Also add a cache of pirated music and movies. EDIT Oh, you might also add a couple of AK and CK's representing maps. Also, when I GM I allow Computers to take undeclared knowledge skills which can be filled with anything you want. Basically Cramming, but I don't charge as much. Oh, and you might add two physical limitations, one to represent it's battery life (3 hours, maybe 6), and the other to reflect how vulnerable it is to water and magnetic fields etc (unless you've put some protection on it)

Re: How to Read the Firearms Table *looks up the recomended guns in the table* Okay, the Browning Hipower looks like it wouldn't be too bad, and I could certainly get used to the 20 shot magazine. The big problem is that the PER modifier is +2, as opposed to the the Glocks +1. I guess that might not be a huge difference, but it is there. So .38 is about what normal people carry? hmm, cross referencing that calibur with a +1 PER modifier, I get Accu-Tek HC-380 AMT Backup Grendel P-12 Of those three, the Accu-Tek looks like it might be the better choice. One less round per magazine than the Grendel, but it's got a much lower STR min (which I take to mean easier to control) Maybe all this means the Glock is written up wrong. It has an STR min of 9, as opposed to the 7 on the Browning, so it doesn't look that much harder to control. Then again STR is exponential, so that means the Glock is about half again as hard to control as the Browning. Interesting, interesting.

Re: Villian for critique Oh, I might recomend adding the skill "disguise". this would allow your sniper to conceal himself in public.