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Wolfgar

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Posts posted by Wolfgar

  1. Re: Opinion Fluff: Game Philosophies

     

    Repped when I can' date=' for the rare virtue of actually [i']speaking to[/i] the person you'd like to do something and telling them what that is. Your approach is commendable, and will be respected. We need more people like you in the community :hail:

    [/Quote]

     

    Thank you. :)

     

    Run your own game, or run for the door? (Either way, I can see the sense of it, I'm just wondering which you had in mind.)

     

    Run your own game, although in practice it works to be about the same.

     

    Alternately, and exaggerating from my own experience, it may instead result in a roomful of people sitting around the table, shocked, at the session that killed off all their characters in 15 minutes due to the actions of one stupid person.

     

    In either case, in introduces way too much of an element of chaos into the whole thing.

     

    A delightful sentiment. Tell me, have you ever run Paranoia? :sneaky::eg:

     

    That information is not available at this time. :):eg:

  2. Re: Warning Sign/Magnifying Glass vs Stop Sign

     

    No. That was my whole point.

     

    STOP = "See if This Obstructs the Plot"

     

    Yeah, but SITOTP just wouldn't be as memorable.

     

    "Stupid Trick Overcomplicates Plotlines"

     

    I say "Stupid Trick" because, honestly, that's where it causes the most problems. Several Stop sign powers are genre appropriate and needed to accomadate certain powers. A Space Opera game without FTL Travel would be a hurtin' puppy, for example. Is usually when the powers are just signed off on completely unchecked because the PC thought it would be nifty that it's most likely to be a hassle.

     

    Say a player wants to be able to shrink down to microscopic size and enter some sort of "microverse", defined as Extra-Dimensional Movement. Now not only is this potentaially abusive, but it's completely derailing, as the GM has to figure out what's going on in this dumb microverse and essentially run an entirely seperate adventure for this player if the rest of the party has no way to follow along.

  3. Re: Warning Sign/Magnifying Glass vs Stop Sign

     

    The Stop Sign means, "unresticted use of this power might disrupt or spoil the story line." Telepathy can easily spoil a mystery story, but it's not that easily abused, since it doesn't really do any direct harm to the target.

     

    Let's remember what they mean.

     

    Let's also remember that "abuse" means regularly getting more utility for the power than they paid for. You've got to be careful linking "abuse" with damage/killing capacity alone; it's easy to think of it as the most important game balance factor, but it's far from the only one.

  4. Re: Opinion Fluff: Game Philosophies

     

    Stop Robyn, please.

     

    As "Authority" in this case seems to be rules-authority, then I believe in the GM being the final word on all rules disputes and interpretations. I believe in those decisions not being subject to debate until an approriate grievance period, and even then, the GM is under no obligation to rule otherwise. Don't like it, you run.

     

    As far as any unspecified ruling, that's decided on a case by case basis. Each sistuation deserves to be judged according to precedent, logic, play balance, and coolness factor.

     

    Membership really is best way to go, period. A come one come all attitude typically results in a game of 15 bored people that rapidly splits into smaller games. Don't let this happen to you.

     

    Vague rules situations should not be brought up unless they come up in play naturally, and the GM should quickly and decisively be done with them. The GM should be aware of those potential situations, but in general I don't believe in bogging players down with any more information than is strictly needed.

  5. Re: Stupid Animal Questions

     

    I believe Income would be represented by the value of the products the goats produced each year, as opposed to the value of actual goats themselves.

     

    I'd also assume that if someone had a herd large enough to be considered "Well-off", a good bit of the actual herding would be done by family and hired hands. They aren't going to be doing all the work any more than an industrialist would run a whole textile plant by himself, even if he knows how all the machines run.

  6. Re: On the Use and Abuse of Character Weaknesses....

     

    Part of Hunted is that the organization or individual in question Hunting the character likely has a significant amount of information on the character. Thus they should be able to make plans that don't play to the character's (or the party's) strengths. That's really only fair, logical, and part of the disadvantage.

     

     

    Now if it's just Joe Deathray villain, I reccomend only exploiting the most obvious, well-known weakness, and applying a random strategy afterwards. Maybe he hits, maybe he misses. If you manage to establish a rivalry, then eventually he'll figure out what works and what doesn't, and adjust accordingly.

     

    Some organizations might not be able to mount the most effective tactics, due to red tape or possibly arrogance. If that's the case, it might be a good idea to lower the value of the Disadvantage.

  7. Re: Picking up and using weapons

     

    The main argument for "I can just pick up his gun and keep it" is realism. How realistic is it that you can loot some fallen opponents of all their possessions, and all fallen opponents of some of their possessions, but you can't loot all fallen pponents of all of their possessions.

     

    I'm quite OK with saying "you want it for a scene, that's just playing the game, but if you want to keep it, you pay the points - those are the rules". Why? because those ARE the rules. You want your character to have a handgun, you pay for a handgun. If you want him to have one from inception, you pay the points on character creation. You want him to get a gun later, you pay for it with xp at that later date. No points, no gun.

     

    I never said it couldn't be looted. I said whether it worked or not. Everything can theoretically be looted, not everything will work.

     

    If the intent was a traditional Supers campaign, the players' decision to loot (or turn a blind eye to looting) has already shifted the focus of the game. The real key here is for the GM and players to agree on the ground rules of the game. That may be "We're SuperHeroes - no looting" It could be "Sure, you can loot - but the consequences will be in play". Or you could decide "Looting is a part of the game - consequences will be uncommon". But everyone needs to be on the same page in this regard.

     

    This is one player's choice in the above example. Now yes, you could decide to make his life a living Hell over a handgun, drag him to court, pull up some CSI stuff, whatever, because of what one completely non-unbalancing action of one guy, or you can actually get on with the game in progress. My point is not to derail your own game overreacting to a non-issue.

  8. Re: Least Abused Powers

     

    VPP.

     

    I've never had balance problems with it*. On the other hand, I have had players who didn't understand the rules and wanted to manage VPPs at run-time, which led to significant delay problems. As a result, I only allow powers from a pre-generated list that fit the campaign guidelines.

     

    *I've always maintained it can't directly increase other abilities - only via aid and whatnot.

     

     

    It really looks more evil than it is, isn't it?

  9. Re: Picking up and using weapons

     

    Also, consider a discussion about the basic ground rules. If it's OK for PC's to loot their opponents' unconscious forms, there should be no reason the villains can't do the same thing with an unconscious PC. Actually, the bad guys should do worse - after all, if they're as nice as, or nicer than, the PC's, they really aren't the bad guys, are they?

     

    I'm of the opinion bad guys should be looting downed supers anyway, unless they have a very pressing reason why not. That's one of the reasons you get points for an OIF and IIF.

     

    For the gun, and similar dinky real world items? No real bother. Unless we are talking about a serious firepower weapon, it shouldn't be an issue. He can keep it so long as he keeps up with it. If he wants it after the session though, it's time to pay points. If he decides to ditch it rather than go into XP debt, then you can just say it broke, it jammed, he sold it, he threw it away, he turned it in, or whatever.

     

    For more unbalancing items, you can say:

     

    A) It doesn't work until you pay points for it.

     

    B) It works just fine.

     

    C) It works, but with some additional drawbacks or disadvantages, like Activation Roll and the like.

     

    Just pick what feels appropriate to your dramatic sense at the time.

     

    As for superpowered robbery...super thugs will attract the attention of law enforcement, and other vigilantes. Keep in mind this will shift the focus of the game, so you may want to decide to let some stuff go.

  10. Re: INT question

     

    INT shows that a character knows how to react properly to a given set of information, Skills gives the ability to react.

     

    For example: Say you have a complex math problem in word problem format. A character with low INT and no SS: Mathematics would be totally lost. A character with high INT and high SS: Mathematics would solve the problem easily. A character with low INT and high SS: Mathematics may not be sure what to do, or they may be able to solve the problem based on the fact they have solved dozens of similar problems in the past. A high INT character with no SS: Mathematics would be able to figure out what the problem was asking for, but may not know how to solve it on there own. They would usually know who could though.

  11. Re: Is it a distinctive feature, side effect or...?

     

    It's not really a Distinctive Feature, unless you want to freak people out with how much you eat.

     

    Options:

     

    Physical Disad: Increased Eating, 5 points. This is the simplest way. It models a character that needs to eat a lot constantly, but it doesn't tie it to powers.

     

    Dependence: Extra Food Every Hour, Loss of Powers -14 Activation Roll, 5 points. You could make this more severe if you like if you need to say, constantly wolf down cheeseburgers or something. Here it's tied to the powers.

     

     

    A lot depends on how you model the powers.

  12. Re: INT question

     

    Note also that Hero is not really consistent about what INT is. If it is your ability to process and relate information quickly you probably could do with another stat to process it effectively. Given the current rather woolly definition I never really understood why animals have a low INT.

     

    I believe the stat is your ability to take in the information, understand it, and then react appropriately. Animals are great at taking in information, but rotten at reacting properly unless carefully walked through by someone else first.

  13. Re: conceptual help - adjustment powers and power defense

     

    My understanding is that "All Attack Powers" or "All Mental Powers" are valid adjustment targets.

     

    SFX are tricky things.

     

    I understand that you might have the Strength of the Gods that can’t be drained by any undead touch, but why does that protect against Dr. Skunk’s weakness gas?

     

    It can be assumed that Strength of the Gods, which is divinely given, would protect against anything fairly easily. Divine special effects are nice that way; they can accomplish anything that a god could theoretically accomplish, which is to say anything.

     

    Why does the power defense on your powered armor (presumably your extra-insulated electronics) protect against a spell of weakness?

     

    It can be assumed that the spell in question targets the same systems that would be used on a technological Drain against it, so the protection extends.

     

    The more confusing question is how does it protect from Transforms? :confused:

     

    I think a lot depends on how much genre mixing there is. In some games, magic is the only really Powered force, in others it's technology and in others it's psychic abilites. The real question comes down to how much mixing there is between these SFX.

  14. Re: Genre Conventions 2: What is Cool?

     

    I find heroism and romance to be cool. A game that gives me ample oppurtunity to feel Heroic will provide better outlets for me than one that leaves me feeling like a jerk.

     

    By romance I suppose I mean melodrama; characters love, they hate, they emote, they have passion. A sterile, emotionless game where the players are all completely removed from the enviroment will render the coolest tech, power or fight scene utterly boring for me.

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