FTJoshua

Re: Your Gaming Group's Jargon Expulsion - The brand name of any large SUV. Letterbox - A GM storytelling mechanic, adopted from games like Metal Gear, where the PCs are unable to take action until the end of a narrative by the GM. Not entirely fair, of course, but generally put to good use for moving a plot along. GM: Dr. Weirdo lands in front of you and -- PC: Energy blast, all levels to OCV! GM: Wait, wait. Letterbox. PC: Uh-oh. Bags and Tape: Simply ridiculous idea to solve a life or death situation, borne of desperation and an inability to think clearly. First used when a plane was going down due to a window being blown out. (Not that we knew this would not actually crash a plane at that time.)

Hi everyone - long time, no post. I imagine many of you have been through this as a GM and/or player: A campaign reboot. Specifically, I'm interested in hearing about campaigns in which the PCs were returned to their first-generation selves (i.e. 3rd or 4th Edition incarnations, or whatever was being used when the PCs first began playing). In this case, I'm looking at dropping the extant PCs (some 20 years old in play-time now) back into the past before any had earned even one XP. We'd use the current rules to build them from the ground up, keeping their basic same attributes/powers/skills etc. (no complete rewrites, they'd have to be built with basically the same power set they had when first created, within reason). They'd retain their memories (including how powerful they USED to be in 2008...). One motivation I have for this is our PCs are pretty much the biggest kids on the block now, but our roleplaying has been so tightly refined over two decades that the stories we tell are just awesome. I think it would be fun to revisit the Old School and see how our young, unpowerful PCs handle the world and each other now that their relative strength is low but their wisdom high. How might they spend brand new experience now? What happens if he goes looking for the girl who he doesn't meet for ten more years? And what about all those NPCs and bad guys we haven't had to deal with for so long? Has anyone tried something like this, or similar? To what degree of success? Was it just too irritating to the players to have to "start over"? In this case, I wouldn't spring it on the PCs; we'd all talk it over before doing it. Which sort of ruins the surprise, but like all things Champions, nothing can't be undone. Thanks!

Re: Hero's List I;m with Keyes and Houston.

Re: Your Character/Game Equation Felix = Vincent*+ Mr. Miyagi Tracy = Bruce Lee + me Joshua = Angel** + Eric Draven * = Beauty & The Beast TV show. ** = as in, Buffy.

Re: Iconic Heroes Well...in my experience, and probably everyone else's, there is a part of us in the PCs we play, sometimes overt, sometimes subtle. As both a GM and player, it's been great to experience a session wherein my personal worldviews or quirks or traits were addressed, or used, or praised. It's almost like you need The Wise Old Man character, the Sage, the Ben Kenobi guy, who the PCs can all trust, who will always tell them the truth, and always back them up, even if he doesn't get into the fight itself. This NPC can, in theory, suck the PCs in the same way any friend does: by paying attention to them, complimenting them, and above all, being honest with them. I dunno...just a thought. This NPC guy can help the characters figure out what they want out of the game more easily than the GM can find out from the players...if that makes sense. I'll have to come back to this one. I think I know what you mean, but expressing it is a bitch!

Re: Iconic Heroes I'd venture that icons are such because they reflect the best we normals could be. We can't fly or shoot lasers out of our eyes, yet we play a game that suggests the opposite. For me, the best games just so happen to be the ones where our powers and strength are utilized very little - it's the character work that makes the game so exciting. In the same way, icons are icons *because of* their humanity, not *in spite* of it. Further, they all have a goal, whether lofty or subtle. They all reach for something. At least the icons do. Their stories engage us, over and over, because we identify with their goals. And often, particularly after Spider-Man and the other Marvel guys came out, many of their goals were internal, and we can empathize with that as well. Where Batman tells us, "Hey, I could do that. It's not likely, but possible," Spider-Man tells us, "Hey man...I hear ya. Frickin' redheads, huh? Tell me about it." They are icons because they understood *us* first. ...And they're, you know, f'ing bad ass and kick the crap outta that jock in P.E. if they wanted to.

Re: WWYCD: Out of cash Man, honestly....we'd probably just go take it. We'd take it from, like, the mob or something...but we'd just take it. Okay, we'd ASK around first -- some pretty big people owe us favors. But if we couldn't cover it....yeah, we'd take it.

Re: My First Game of Champions! "The players were also the sort you end up with when you have open recruiting at a game store: a wide range of maturity levels and interest in the genre. We had a sixteen kid who just wanted to blow stuff up, but who got a pass because another one of the owners was dating his mom, a couple of comic book addicts, and the Guy-Who'd-Actually-Sold-A-Story-To-Marvel-Even-Though-They-Never -Published-It who decided that conventional superheroics were passe and wanted to be the cop with low-key superpowers." = priceless. I wish I could shake my head and say, "Huh? What's he talking about?" Alas...

Re: My First Game of Champions! I seem to recall looking for Magic Missle... Ah, inches. Yes. It's amazing any of us survived this long, isn't it.

Re: My First Game of Champions! HA! Yes. Priceless. Old habits died hard. But now I reckon I'd search in vain for the OCV of a first level fighter ... whatever that means anymore.

circa 1989 Sitting in Matt's room, the smoke so thick you couldn't see the guy next to you (we never opened a window for some reason). After school one day. I'd just finished writing up my character, Felix, loosely based on Vincent from "Beauty and the Beast." This is my first scenario ever: chasing down bank robbers. (Prior to creating the character, I'd asked, "So, this is basically just like D&D?" This was met with icy stares and a firm, friendly, "No.") Me: What do I do?! GM: What do you want to do? Me: ...Punch him! GM: So punch him! Me: How do I do that?! GM: Just say, "I punch him." Me: I punch him! Other veteran players: Yeah! Me: Now what!? GM: Roll to see if you hit. Me: Huh?! GM: Roll three dice. You want to roll 13 or less. Me: (rolls) Eleven. GM: Okay... Me: What does that mean?! GM: It means you hit him! Other veteran players: Yeah! Me: So now what?! GM: Dude, calm down. Roll your damage. Me: (surveying all the dice nearby; pointing) These? GM: (rubbing forehead) Yes. Me: (rolls about ten dice) Now what?! GM: Count them. Me: Okay. One, two three...four...five, six, seven, eight...nine, ten...eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen... GM: Um, dude. Me: Shh! Fifteen, sixteen...seventeen... GM: Dude. Count by tens. Me: Huh? GM: Group your dice in sets of ten. Like sixes and fours, or fives and fives. Me: Oh. OH! HOLY CRAP! THAT'S BRILLIANT! Other veteran players: (sigh) Me: Okay, so, thirty points. What happens? GM: You rocked him, but he's still up. Me: ...that sucks. Then the bad guy hit me, and I got mad and kicked the crap out of him...from then on, I was hooked. Felix is now about 18 game-years old. He's since given up the chain-mail vest and metal numchucks -- please don't ask, and don't mention "Commando" -- and become a soft spoken monster of some 7 or 800 points. So what was your first day like?

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... Player: Okay, here's what I want to do. Since the spear is right there, I want to do a Martial Disarm on it by breaking it in half with my palm like Bruce Lee. GM: Well... Player: But I also want the camera to linger on me in slow motion afterward. GM: Okay, that we can do.

So, my PC was fighting this guy and did a Find Weakness on him twice, dropping his defenses to 1/4. The guy went out, and another fight started right up with two guards. The fight ended with the two guards just as the first guy woke back up and attacked again. For clarity's sake, the GM had each round of combat begin on 12 (so there was a 12 with the first guy; a new 12 with the two guards; and a third new 12 when the first guy woke up again). The question became: Does my PC still get the Find Weakness on that first guy? Technically, we exited combat. But the PC didn't go anywhere, and it was only a matter of seconds (phases) between fights. What we agreed upon was I would keep the FW but not take any post-12 recoveries, since the idea was the fights happend one after the other. This won't necessarily become a house rule, it's just how we solved it on the fly...GM discretion and all that. What Would You Do?

Re: online character generator Thanks for the link. I haven't found a generator on there yet, but the workday -- um, the day is only so long. I'll keep a-tryin'.

Hey all. It's been awhile, hope everyone is doing well. Also, just discovered how rep points work on another board - sorry I never handed them out here. This will change. My question is, is there another online random character generator like the one found at http://www.trimira.com/hero_stuff/hero_stuff.html which doesn't appear to work any more, at least not for me. Thanks!

If an astronaut in outer space, while in a space suit, was tethered to a spacecraft, and the spacecraft began to accelerate, would the suit and astronaut eventually burn up, as if it were re-entering the atmosphere? My guess is no, since there's no or little friction to be had. If no, then what's the next closest approximation of being keelhauled, but in space?

Re: Wwyd ???? Count me out. ...but if I did get to choose, I'd go with Wolverine's regenerative abilities. And, um, the claws and skeleton too if possible.

Re: WWYCD: Hi! We're your Sidekicks! Presuming this is legit and not a ploy by some enemy -- which would be all three PC's first theory... Felix - PRE attack and faux attack - Then a long discourse about the blood he's spilled and lives he's taken. "You really want to sign up for that? There are better ways to be a hero." Tracy - "Oh, yeah? Well, knock me down and we'll talk." Find Weakness, Legsweep, all CSL to OCV. Joshua - "Fools." And fly away. Poor kids. But it has the seed of being a fun adventure...!

Re: Free Will ...we actually did sorta play this out once. Sorry it's off topic, but: We played one adventure wherein all the PCs were shown a room filled with guys who just so happened to look exactly like the players. They were told these were their Makers. That they were, as you said, puppets. These are the men, the PCs were told, who are responsible for every agony the PC's every felt, all the hurt, all the pain, all the blood. And it could end right here if the PC's wished. Or they could return to their own world and just see. The PCs chose to go back without taking a swing, and each individually decided that, puppets or not, they had a job to do, and they were going to do it. It was weird - but in the end pretty cool. I thought so, anyway. Mileage would vary wildly I'd guess.

Re: Free Will For the sake of brevity in the OP, I didn't include a lot of details, particularly the game mechanics as our campaign rests heavily on the role play and very little on the mechanics (at least if you're the GM; PCs are bound hard and fast by the rules for the most part). Great arguments, one and all, and I appreciate them. Now let me muck it up some more: Is your PC/Hero prepared to kill the mentalist responsible for this global mind game? Why or why not? And as our Nemesis will point out (bearing in mind the campaign setting which is far more malevelont to mutants than the cinematic X-men universe, for example), shutting the mental power off cold leaves billions of humans and millions of mutants staring at each other over cups of latte at Starbucks. Warring countries, whose soldiers are at the moment enjoying a game of soccer, suddenly lose that drive to not kill one another, and now they're right next to one another. The mind game is already in place, peace reigns - what about the fallout of shutting off that mind game cold? How many people will die as a result? Obviously it's not the hero's fault this all happened (well, except for handing the mentalist over to his enemy in the first place, not knowing what the enemy's plans were), but how much responsibility does he bear for the deaths that will ensue if the power is shut off?

Maybe this belongs in the non-game thread, but since this is taking place in a campaign, thought I'd throw it out there. Any you familiar with Angel season 4 will recognize the trappings. Our hero's old nemesis forced the hero to "rescue" a powerful mentalist from a mutant prison. Hero does so to save his wife's life. So far so good. Next day, the world is at total peace. Mutants and humans are walking the streets together (our campaign setting is one in which mutants are being actively hunted and hated by non-mutants). Everybody's happy! This is, of course, the result of the mentalist. (Some of you may remember my last post asking about expanding a power to global proportions...) Now, our hero knows what's going on, and he's not happy about it, but he's also being affected by this Happiness Effect. His nemesis is now President (*cough*rippedofffromsupermancomic*cough*), but appears to be sincere in his desire for a world in which violence has been eradicated. Our hero is about to be asked to dispose of the few remaining mutants who are immune to the mentalist's effects. And of course he's all bent out of shape about "free will" blah blah blah... So. If you were the hero in question, under no mentalist control (your enemy has halted the mental attack for the time being), and without the ability to physically stop your enemy ('cause you've temporarily lost your powers...long story)...what would you say the importance of free will is? Is it not worth 20 or so lives to guarantee peace on earth? The nemesis argues that people do still have free will under this system, just the absence of desire to harm. What's wrong with that? Furthermore, the nemesis has no intention of creating a New World Order; countries will remain as they are, but under leaders who are suddenly quite benevolent. Science can focus solely on the betterment of mankind/mutantkind (a'la Star Trek). How can this be wrong? Your (or your PC's) final answer? Of course, I am presupposing all responses will be in the "Free will is essential" vein. Feel free to take the opposite tack, in or out of character, and argue why this new system is perfectly valid and makes sense. Thanks!

Re: Global hexes Holy crap! Thanks guys. ~ T

Anybody know offhand how many hexes the surface of planet Earth is? If I want to have a mental power, say Mental Illusion, that could encompass the entire globe, I figure it's a really big Area Effect, yeah? Point totals to do so would be nice to know too, but not essential. (GM's don't need POINTS to accomplish something.) Actually, under the circumstances, it's not even important to know the answer, but I was just curious if anyone had done the math. PS: This is 4th edition.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... Pathos: "So wait, I'm drinking beer with a clan of werewolves?" GM: "Yep." Pathos: "Finally, something that makes sense."