Funk Thompson

At least we'll get a story from it
Let's go find a nice place to sit
Where we can spit in the wind;
and Confess all our sins
Before we turn ourselves in

We must be out of our wits
Like a temptress in love
We're going to pull down the bridge
Just to watch it come tumbling down

Oh, yeah...
All right...

Just give me one reason
Just give me one - check it, get it now
Just give me one reason
Check it, get it, oh I'll take you all down

Confess to doctors not priests
Who you gonna trust or believe?
Leave the priests to the recently deceased
And let the rest of us get on with our lives

We could get that bullet out.

There's a man I've been hearin' about
And for a nominal fee
He'll do anything anything we need
Oh yeah, all right

Before we go there my friend
Tell me, where have you hidden the cash?
Tell me where you stashed it
Before the life leaks out of that hole in your brest...

There's a hole in your breast...
There's a hole in your breast

- Tea Leaf Green, "One Reason"

(I do love me a good murder ballad)

1 hour ago, Cancer said:

Enough of the non-painting pictures are artificial ('Shops, etc., and some thoroughly synthetic digitally-created things) that to me it seems overly restrictive to hold paintings out.

AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO CARES ABOUT THE RULES ANYMORE???  

Boy and his gun,

sorceress and her wand

huddled under the stoop
of a bridge for the freight train above
Rain falls down

on the carcasses around

of buildings that have turned to dust
Boy drums on his plate

and sings her a song

of worlds moved on,

pieces of puzzles to solve
she puts her wand in the ash

and persuades a small fire
they danced all night out in the rain showers.

They sang songs

of worlds they dreamed,

danced through the puddles;
the stories and puddles grew,
flames took on shapes

as the pools seeped in,

the steam of their union took journey on the wind.
Clouds carrying fables

to inspire new lands,

to build new empires

and watch them wash back into sand.
Remnants sing songs

of worlds they've dreamed,

unaware their dreams become Adam and Eve.

- Madahoochi, "Cycle of Creation"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rURNZ4CE6JI

(And basically the theme song to my Steampunk HERO setting, Lostorum )

Did my mind fall apart

or did you rip out my heart

I'm ready,
I'm steady,

And askew

Road construction 

in the brain

to wipe away

memory lane

Oh Betty, I was unready

To fall in love with you

So don't mind the smoke

you can see in my eyes

It's just as much for me

as for your softly spoken lies

Give it some time

Give me some wine

Oh Betty, I was unready

To fall in love with you

For what it's worth

it would have been better

to percieve

It for what it was worth

But instead I was deceived

By the hope I had

To make a tree

from a leaf

So I'm stuck in the pile

With the worms of grief

So don't mind the smoke

you can see in my eyes

It's just as much for me

as for your softly spoken lies

Give it some time

Give me my wine....

Oh Betty I was unready

Oh Betty I'm still not ready

Oh Betty I'm still not ready

And I'm still in love with you

I'm still in love with you

I'm still in love with you...

- Awesome Car Fun Maker, "Betty"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_QKN2mNiOA

(Has a nice Violent Femmes feel to it)

"Ol' Johnny Walker had a whore for an angel,

She was out drinkin' when the devil came to town

Lay blood on the porch to ward off the evil

Don't you know that the Devil is a back-door man

Demon won't lie 

when the truth is a burden

Angel don't you cry

cuz' your bed is a-burnin'

Kick up your heels

While you're dancin' on the daisies

Johnny Walker's on the rails...

Ol' Johnny Walker had a dream he was flyin'

Never knew he could but he never thought to try

Over black quarries and all through the forest

Johnny came to look on the town

Up to the bar and his angel was missin'

Johnny don't you cry 

cuz' your angel's misbehavin'

Kick up your heels

While you're dancin' on the daisies, 

Johnny you're on the rails...

Ol' Johnny Walker had a chill in his soul,

The feelin' was bad but he had no where to go

He went to the bar and he ordered a drink,

The more he imagined the more his heart sank

Drank two more and he had to get home

Johnny don't you worry cuz' the whiskey's in your bones

Kick up your heels while you're dancin' on the daisies
Johnny you're on the rails...

Devil don't need a gun

Devil don't need to draw blood

Steel a kiss from the Devil's glass lips, 

Drown yourself in the love

Sound from the bushes, the Devil's own mischief

A voice says Johnny don't you know that sound

Stumblin' home from the bar to home

The Angel was callin' from the well

Well Angel he was cryin' as he stumbled through the dark
Don't you worry baby cuz' you break my heart

I'll pick up my heels and I'll come down to save you 

But the best intentions pave the road to hell

Yeah, the Devil knows well,

The best intentions pave the road to hell

Well Angel came home and Johnny she was missin'

Johnny she never found

The bar was makin' whiskey from the water in the well
Johnny Walker's on the rails...

Well, shoot another whiskey cuz' the whole bar's drinkin'

Don't you worry Angel cuz' your soul is a-sinkin'

Kick up your heels

While you're dancin' on the daisies

Johnny Walker's on the rails...

Devil don't need a gun

Devil don't need to draw blood

Steel a kiss from the Devil's glass lips, 

Drown yourself in the love

- Madahoochi, Johnny Walker

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcLfZTebls4

Vehicle can be a bit fidgety when it comes to damage to the vehicle vs. damage to the person in it.  That was the biggest problem I ran into running Power Armor as a vehicle.

Do you intend for him to "act like a person" or "act like a vehicle" when in the armor?  In other words, if I punch the guy in his armor, does he take STUN the way he normally would?

And you also realize how old most of us actually are, yes? 

I think what he is saying is that you can give some gear an inherent CV penalty (say, Terminator Armor = -5 DCV) and that the elite soldiers will have Penalty Skill Levels to offset said penalty.

That way, you don't have some schmuck climbing into a suit of Terminator armor and becoming equally bad-ass.

Batman was supposedly trained in Ninjitsu, but that was before the whole Rash Al Gul thing IIRC.  I think the League of Assassins had their own fictional martial art form.

I'd say he is really an expert of several forms including Ninjitsu and Jiu Jitsu.  He mostly uses throws, sweeps, low kicks, etc.

By RAW, yes, you have to have the KS skill.  Your GM might have their own take on this.

But you pretty much can't go wrong for Batman-esque than:

Martial Strike

Martial Block

Martial Dodge

Martial Throw

Counterstrike

Leg Sweep

Should be right about 24 points or so.

On 11/29/2017 at 6:56 PM, Cygnia said:

This looks NOTHING like the picture on the box!  Should we return it?

The Dragon Skin armor would likely prevent *some* of the damage from an explosion's kinetic force / shockwave effect, kind of depends how you land.  If you just get thrown and land square on your back, probably not much worse than having the wind knocked out of you.  If you tumble and land on an outstretched arm, good chance of a broken arm.

And this should be covered, somewhat, by knockback and a breakfall roll, but you are likely only going to get STUN damage from the KB if the explosion itself didn't do any / much BODY damage.

Maybe house-rule that the BODY damage of an explosion combines with that of KB when applying vs. defenses?

That said, I really think even the best modern armor is 5-8 rPD, tops.  Kevlar can stop bullets, but it doesn't always stop them.

7 minutes ago, mallet said:

Oh, for sure. I was just thinking of it Hero System terms. 

"Why not both?"

Delores spent her XP buying off the "must act like gunshots hurt" complication

Pretty much every Monk I play is based on Ichi - that's Zatoichi of the Blind Swordsman series.  Not that I make blind monks, just that I base their personality and demeanor on Ichi's.  Kind of one part bumbling idiot, one part idiot-savant, one part a man kind and wise beyond his years.

I'd actually love to try to do the actual "Blind Swordsman" thing in an RPG, but it is actually harder to pull off than it looks.  

Cause problems for Captain Picard?

I'd recommend encouraging the player to have some ability to fight non-demons, unless the campaign will only feature them fighting demons.

Powers that work on anyone, but work *better* against evil / demonic creatures would probably be the ideal.

Eh, sure, but these are robots at their core - even the biological ones.  So their physical construction is at least part of why they can resist damage and injury.  They are programmed to react to injury the way a person would, but clearly Delores is able to switch that program off. 

Just my opinion, naturally.

26 minutes ago, Christopher R Taylor said:

Incidentally the flight also helps the sword pass over things on the floor like traps and snares, without triggering them, as it should if it is truly a sword floating in the air.

I had not considered this.

I would still put a "must stay close to the ground" limit on flight for any Dancing Sword I made.

On the bit about armor not fully covering a location...  that is all part of the damage roll.

A low BODY roll = you hit the plate dead on, shot fully deflects, target takes some STUN at most.

High BODY roll = you hit a less armored spot.

If you feel guns are doing too much STUN, then up their damage slightly (+1 DC) and add -1 STUNx to them.

"A sword is a sword is a sword" until you get into why swords were made the way they were.

The Katana is an amazingly efficient weapon...  until you face someone in steel plate, which the Japanese simply did not have.  German zwiehanders were great against mounted cavalry and other armored knights, but not the ideal weapon for facing a lightly armored, fast-moving foe.

Different weapons were made to accomplish different jobs, or overcome new tactics or whatever.  The gladius was ideal for roman units due to the way they trained and fought, but is next to useless against cavalry or, say, persian immortals.

To realize these differences, I think it is just about giving each type of weapon some unique aspect.  Some of this is baked-in - picks and stilletoes have AP added, that sort of thing.  

Beyond that, you might say that curved blades tend to earn more extra damage from STR than straight blades, while straight blades have +1 OCV.  Longer blades might have a DCV bonus over shorter blades.  Some polearms might be better at doing leg sweep maneuvers, weapons with pommel guards might be harder to disarm.

Just some thoughts.  I never got into that much detail with it and mostly the shape of the sword was just flavor and had no / little impact on game mechanics.

On 5/11/2018 at 10:11 AM, bubba smith said:

the current novie vesion however is a glorifed hypnotist

Who can survive a rampaging hulk

I'd say what we see him doing in the movies is more images than mental images, seeing as everyone sees the fake loki doing whatever, but that is a minor nitpick.

17 minutes ago, Ragitsu said:

Chris, if that sword of yours was grabbed/grappled, which ability would it use to break free?

STR vs. STR contest.

I'd also not give the sword much in the way of INT and such.  But, again, that is up to the creator.

5 minutes ago, Cassandra said:

RKA with a Special Effect "Dancing Sword".

Simple and elegant, but...  it can't attack on it's own.  You've just created...  a sword.  Potentially wielded by a dancer. 

That's the trick here; the dancing sword has to be able to act independently from the wielder.  Hence, summon / follower, or maybe a continuing uncontrolled deal.

Same thing, only the max END remains unchanged.

Absorb / Aid to STUN would be the same; I don't think you can "take STUN damage" from the extra points fading.  Could be wrong, there.

It doesn't even need "flight" and maybe shouldn't, but that is up to the designer.  I would at least limit the flight such that it has to stay close-ish to the ground, but, again, that is up to the designer and campaign rules / limits.

Just because it doesn't have legs doesn't mean it wouldn't follow typical walk/run movement rules.