Sociotard

Are we supposed to jot down the new rules? Or just reference them for you? Are we even allowed to write down the new rules? I'll err on the side of safety. The bestiary has, on page 19, the rules defining "Cold Blooded" as a physical Limitation. Does that count? *smacks self* I'm so confused!

I was just flipping through the skill pages. And paused to look at "High Society". How do you guy's handle this? It looks like an amalgam of several other Knowlege and Proffesion skills. It mentions, for example, knowledge of who's who among the aristocracy, as well as their sundry relations with each other. Um, shouldn't that be "People knowledge: Members of the Aristocracy"? If High society can cover things like that, what other proffesion skills could it include? Winetasting? Familiarity with the High Arts? Ballroom Dance? Polo? Roulette? Carried to an extreme, Fencing and Pistol Dueling?

Supermans 'vibrate to desolidify' sounds like a Power Trick skill use to me, but I'm probably off. Here's a thought. If I can buy (with GM Permission) a Desolidify to protect against PD and ED, couldn't there be a version to protect against Mental Powers? or Presence attacks? Granted, Normal Desolid is catagorically still vulnerable to these attacks, but it would be fun to have 'absolute' protection in other areas. Heck, I could see Batman and Wolverine as being completely imune to PRE attacks.

Re: Creating a fantasy $ system You mentioned the "used" factor, which I think would play a big role. If they're mere thugs sent to give them a hard time, they probably have simple dinged up equipment that wouldn't sell for much more than scrap Iron. The law is another factor. If characters would like to use the law to their advantage (No, constable, I've never seen these two before in my life. But, erm, have you? Or might you know who they might work for?) This would be a factor because nobody likes evidence stolen from the crimse scene. If it was, however, an elite assasin with a jeweled daggar wrought with magic, and an official investigation would just complicate things, body robbing and a quick trip to the woods with a shovel might be a splendid idea.

Well, Bartman, I think you've persuaded me on the stun issue for R2, and I will agree that R2 is either a follower with ego or an AI with ego in an automaton. I will however disagree with the assertion that using any automaton power makes a character an automaton. It just wouldn't sit right for me. Why, do the rules state it explicitly somewhere?

I think the idea was to make the droid a follower with automaton powers, not an automaton per se. As for taking stun, I think the instances you refer to would be represented with some sort of physical disadvantage or susceptability to simulate being stunned, since I think it only happened with electrical surges. Or you could give him a small stun pool and a limitation -1/4 "not vs. electical attacks" on his "takes no stun"

Ents: Just one, but he has to go get advice from his buddies first. It usually takes around 150 years. Elves: Doesn't matter. Your dwarf friend was talking so loudly we might have shot him in the dark.

A Swarm. Just treat them as one character, with some of the powers associated with bats (ecolocation, flight etc), damage reduction, and some of the other characteristics of Swarms. (I love having the bestiary! every one here can expect to hear me half quote it for the next week or so.)

I guess it would depend on what cache' of powers he wants the droid to have. In the movies we've seen the standard robot Life Support and other automaton powers. In addition, we've seen him with a camera, projector, arc welder, light-saber launcher, and circular saw. We've even seen him fly, use computer interaction on par with mind control, and jack into an X-wing! consider all that on top of the large skill base he has to have, and I could easily see him topping 350. I bet you could just use some sort of multipower or VPP, as most gadgeteer robots would have, and get it done under budget. Is this going to be a follower thing? If so, just lay on the disadvantage points and enjoy the point break!

Which brings me back to my original question, "What are the rules for dragging things?" I did a halfhearted search through fred and came up empty handed.

Yeah, I actually wasn't sure about how to allow the lizard to lose its tail, so I just left off the inherent advantage, gave it the limb regeneration (is that legal, when its normal healing only?) One thing I did forget was the Dewlap. call it +5 PRE, only for attack (2 points) I might also add in a psych disadvantage: Height superiority complex (common strong). Iguanas, being arboreal, always try to be higher than everybody else so they feel safe. They'll sit on a shoulder, but they'd prefer to get on top of a head.

Oops! That looks Terrible! Uh, how do you put tabs in?

GREEN IGUANA Val Char Cost Roll Notes -8 STR -18 7- Lift 8.0 Kg; 0d6 13 DEX 9 12- OCV: 4/ DCV: 4 7 CON -6 10- 5 BODY -10 10- 9 INT -1 11- PER Roll 11- 5 EGO -10 10- ECV: 2 10 PRE 0 11- PRE Attack: 2d6 10 COM 0 11- 2 PD 2 Total: 2 PD (0 rPD) 2 ED 1 Total: 2 ED (0 rED) 3 SPD 10 Phases: 4, 8, 12 3 REC 4 20 END 3 10 STUN 1 Total Characteristic Cost: -17 Movement: Running: 4â€/8†Leaping: 1â€/2†Swimming: 4â€/8†Cost Powers END 5 Bite: HKA 1 pip 1 6 Lockjaw: +9 Str; 0 End +½, Uncontrolled +½; Only to Grab with jaws -1, Jaws break automatically upon escape -½, No Figured Characteristics -½ 0 8 Tail Whip: HKA ½d6; Reduced Penetration -¼ 1 4 Claws: 1d6 HA; Reduced Penetration -¼ 1 5 Eye’s set apart: Increased Arc of Perception (240 Degrees) for Sight Group 0 8 Lizards Tongue: Discriminatory and +3 to PER rolls for Normal Smell 1 Flee!: Running +3†(7†total); Increased Endurance Cost (×8 End; -3½) 8 3 Camouflage Coloration: +4 to Concealment; Self Only -½, Only in Specific Environments/ Situations -1 0 1 Camouflage Coloration: +1 to Stealth; Only in Specific Environments/ Situations -1 0 5 Detachable Tail: Extra Limb 0 3 Detachable Tail: No penalties on Narrow Surfaces 0 5 Detachable Tail: Normal Healing can Heal Lost Tail 0 Skills 3 Breakfall 12- 9 Climbing 15- 3 Concealment 11- (15- total) 3 Stealth 11- (12- total) 9 +3 OCV with Tail Whip, Bite, and Grab 10 +2 DCV (due to small size) Total Powers and Skills Cost: 91 Total Cost: 74 75+ Disadvantages 15 Physical Limitation: Animal Intelligence (Frequently, Greatly Impairing) 15 Physical Limitation: Very Limited Manipulation (Frequently, Greatly Impairing) 5 Physical Limitation: Small (+3 Knockback) (Infrequently, Slightly Impairing) 5 Physical Limitation: SPD reduced by cold Double Temperature effects. Total Disadvantage Points: 115 Ecology: The common iguana ( Iguana iguana ) is a tree-living, strictly vegetarian species found along streams from Mexico to N South America. Both their flesh and their eggs are valued as food. In fact, it is sometimes called “El Pollo de los Arboles†or “the chicken of the tree’sâ€. They will eat small insects and grubs as juveniles, but are completely vegetarian by adulthood. Their main diet consists of leafy greens, with some fruit as well. They can swim, but tend to prefer the trees. Personality/ Motivation: Normal Animal Motivations. Powers/ Tactics: The iguana’s primary weapon is its long, spiny tail, which it uses like a whip. A full grown iguana can rip open a pair of sturdy jeans in one strike! The tail will come off if it is grabbed (enabling the lizard to escape) but will also regenerate over time. It can also bite down hard and even lock its jaw. As reptiles, Iguana’s are cold-blooded. Use the table below when iguanas are exposed to cold temperatures. Temperature Levels Temperature Level REC Lost END Lost per 20 Minutes SPD Reduction -1 -2 -2 -1 -2 -4 -4 -2 -3 -6 -6 -3 Appearance: Members of this species are 3 to 6 ft (90-180 cm) long, with the tail accounting for two-thirds of the length. They are bright green with dark stripes on the tail. A crest of spines runs from the neck to the tail

Rottweilers are tough customers, no doubt about it. I've heard of rottweilers biting out the tires on parked cars (it was a police cruiser, with a pair of terrified officers inside calling for backup. probably urban legend) And speaking of Rottweilers, here's a power I just thought of that should've been in the bestiary that wasn't (as near as I can tell) Lockjaw +20STR; 0 END(+1/2) Uncontrolled (+1/2); only to grab with jaws (-1) Jaw can break (-1/2) Real Point Cost: 16 The dog has the ability to "Lock its Jaw", such that even if the dog itself dies, it's jaw will remain locked on whatever it bit down on. The only way to escape is to break the dogs jawbone. As such, anyone who successfuly escapes the grab with brute force will have broken the dogs jaw automatically.

I just bought the Bestiary! It is a treasure trove of extremely cool stuff, I must confess, though I am annoyed there are no iguana's (that's my pet). The tail whip attack is awesome. Oh, yes, dogs are the subject at hand. hmm, the -5 was for "LARGE/HUNTING" Dog. I would personally put a German Shepherd in the "GUARD/COMBAT DOG" category, because although it has often been used as a herding dog, it was primarily a wolf fighter in the early stages of its existence, and was one of the first to be introduced to police detail. The book lists such dogs as having a STR of 0. It can be kind of tricky to pin STR on some animals, just because which muscles and bones are stronger or weaker mean they can be very strong, but not necessarily do the same things we can. For example, the largest dog I've ever seen personally (I worked at a pet store for 3 years) was a 200 lb Mastiff, the kind that lacks a clear distinction as to where its mouth begins and ends. If any dog could have a STR of 10 or 12, that would be it! That level of STR would allow it to pick up a human. Or me anyway, as I'm not nearly 100 kg. I would never try it. A dogs back just couldn't handle it! they aren't meant to haul that kind of weight. Did Lassie ever toss Timmy up on her back? NO! I think a German Shepherd would be best represented at an STR of 5. Pick up 50 kg? *thinks* yeah, I could see my labs pulling that off, if it was strapped on right. There is one thing that I'm wondering right now. What are the rules for dragging objects? If it takes eight or ten well trained dogs to pull a (guesstimating) 200 Kg dogsled, and have the encumbrance vs. endurance work out to where they could run the iditarod (okay, those are the best sled dogs in the world, but you get my point.) Back to hammering out my iguana!

Have any of you come up with derogatory names for the different races in your fantasy games? When I consider how much Elves hate drow and humans hate orcs, it seems only natural they'd develop. For that matter, the races might even grow to like some slanderous titles after a while. I don’t mind being called a redneck or a yank, for example. I guess that means they aren’t all that slanderous. Here are a few I just thought up Elves addressing: Humans___Beardies Drow_____Little Blue Brothers Dwarves__Mole-man

Wow! Thank you, Killer! Those pics are awesome, especially the man with mechanical arms. These could well become NPC's in my world. heh heh, I wonder what it would be like to be attended to by a dwarf dentist.

Coffee Writeup: Wake-up Juice Life Support: Reduced Sleeping (3) One Charge (-1?) Plus Warning! Coffee is Hot! HKA 1 pip (3) Couldn't really remember the numbers, but that's what I came up with. Edit Cool. When you italicize a "r" and a "n" together, they look like a "m", such that "Warning" looks like "Waming"

I took my sweet time posting on this thread, but here are my two cents. *plink* *plink* Mohandas Karamachand Gandhi (you know the guy) had a list of seven deadly sins that he said were the most dangerous to our social fabric. The unusual thing of it is, each 'sin' is attached to something good. Wealth without Work Pleasure without Conscience Science without Humanity Knowledge without Character Politics without Principle Commerce without Morality Worship without Sacrifice Each god has one of the first as a domain and dominant virtue, and is attending fault as a personality trait (which may become a side effect for anyone who invokes said god). I like this idea as it remindes me of the Greek Gods, who were extremely flawed beings

Thank you all for the steampunk information. The Gurps book looks particularly interesting. What I'm mainly looking for is generic advice about how to build a good setting. There just seem to be so many things that could be done that it's hard to nail down just what's important. For example, I could pull a Tolkein and generate languages for different nations. or I could just do what I do now and have elves speak spanish and dwarves speak german, while ancient texts are all in japanese (the three languages possesed by different members of my gaming group). Which would you do? I could concentrate on assorted political spheres. I would form in detail the heirarchy of each nation and important city, complete with secret organizations manipulating matters behind the scenes. Then there's geology/ecology. I could generate a realistic model of where deserts and wetlands would lie in relation to topography and wind patterns, as well as a detail of mineral deposit locations. (Actually, in a steampunk setting, Iron and coal mines could be important locations indeed. I may have to think about that one) That would give me interesting environments to challenge my players. I would also need to generate habitation zones for different classes of fauna in my world, as well as food webs. Just how would Wyverns and balrogs fit into the ecosystem? Would killing them off like wolves (done in the victorian era, at least in the U.S.) have reprecussions? How about religion? Or economics? Artistic movements? Fashion in clothing and architecture? roadmaps for internation travel? or city maps? Historical background for the last hundred years? the last thousand? What I'm getting at is, where does detail stop being fun and start feeling like an english history final?

"Okay your characters enter the wizards chamber. There is a desk in one corner of the room with a lamp left on it, already lit. The walls are silvery, and waterproof. In some places pieces are flaking off in sticky strips."

*shrugs* sounds like a -1/2. If limitations are supposed to represent how often the power is usable, I guess it would depend on how often players got that badly hurt in your campaigns

Now all we need is the writeup for ECTO-1 (okay, its just a station wagon with fancy lights, but still), the refurbished fire-station base, and character writeups!

I wanted to make a world to play my fantasy steampunk rules in. Does anyone have any advice as to what should be included?

What did Egon call that little ghost-detector gizmo? oh never mind, I found it. Cost___Equipment __14___PKE Meter Detect Ghosts (10) Ranged (5) Discriminitory (5) 360 degrees (5) Fragile OAF (-3/4) I don't have the book with me, so I honestly couldn't remember what the fragile OAF was worth. let me know if I got it wrong, and I'll edit Edit Thank you, m'lord! lets see, that would make this: Cost___Equipment __11___PKE Meter Detect Ghosts (10) Ranged (5) Discriminitory (5) 360 degrees (5) Fragile OAF (-1.25)