Digest Archive vol 1 Issue 245
From: owner-champ-l-digest@sysabend.org
Sent: Wednesday, March 24, 1999 12:47 PM
To: champ-l-digest@sysabend.org
Subject: champ-l-digest V1 #245
champ-l-digest Wednesday, March 24 1999 Volume 01 : Number 245
In this issue:
I don't like the drugs, but the drugs like my PC's
Re: I don't like the drugs, but the drugs like my PC's
Howard the Duck: The Movie Questions
Re: Character: Tom Bombadil
Re: Character: Tom Bombadil
Re: Giant Beetle Minature (fwd)
Re: I don't like the drugs, but the drugs like my PC's
Re: Find Out What The Future Holds For You?
RE: Character: Tom Bombadil
Re: Find Out What The Future Holds For You?
He's the one they call Dr. FeelGood... (Drugs)
The Authority
A couple of comments about movies
Re: A couple of comments about movies
Re: A couple of comments about movies
Re: A couple of comments about movies
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 23 Mar 1999 12:39:07 -0500
From: Brian Wawrow <bwawrow@fmco.com>
Subject: I don't like the drugs, but the drugs like my PC's
Hi,
I'm not raising the old maelstrom of opinion surrounding the use of
recreational pharmaceuticals that came up a few months ago, this is about
game.
Consider the Arco, a race of subterranean humanoids specializing in
mineral-based religious magic. No, they are absolutely NOT dwarves. One of
the tools they use in their rituals to Yorgo, the Mountain is a course
crystalline powder, taken internally. The inspiration for this substance
comes from a show I saw on Brazilian aboriginals where the shaman's
apprentice blows this powder up the shaman's nose through a tube. The shaman
sort of freaks out and leaves his body and can travel great distances and
smite his enemies, etc. etc.
The Arco crystal powder's trip will be like a Desolid with the physical body
option, expendable lasting charge, limited control and so on. I want some
opinions on side effects.
The simplest kind of side effect would just be a drain on INT or EGO that
lasts for an hour or a day. However, taking a step towards becoming a messed
up crystal addict would be more dramatic, I think. At first I was thinking
Mind Control but that might be too absolute. Likewise, a Cumulative
Transform into an addict is good but then you're either an addict or you're
not.
So, what I was thinking was essentially a negative Aid, bought like a Drain
to give users a phsych lim. Like, each time you take it, you get 1D6pts.
worth of PsychLim: addicted to that lousy Arco crystal. The fade rate on the
Drain would be, maybe a year. So, the first usage is no big deal. Once
you're over 5pts., you'd be open to trying it again. 10pts. and you're
really interested in doing some more, 30pts. you MUST GET CRYSTAL NOW!!.
Now, I doubt that I'd allow a Drain to be used like this if it were a PC
attack but for the purposes of a side effect, I think it works okay.
Opinions? Analysis?
BRI
Brian Wawrow
Financial Models Company
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 23 Mar 1999 12:54:02 -0500
From: "Berengiere" <beren@voyager.net>
Subject: Re: I don't like the drugs, but the drugs like my PC's
<<The Arco crystal powder's trip will be like a Desolid with the physical
body
option, expendable lasting charge, limited control and so on. I want some
opinions on side effects.>>
How about a DEX Drain? After spending time outside of the body, you've got
problems controlling it.
Lisa
Lisa Hartjes
Lead Developer, The Crimson Covenant
beren@unforgettable.com
http://roswell.fortunecity.com/daniken/79
or http://www.fortunecity.com/roswell/daniken/79
ICQ: Berengiere (9062561)
If the GM smiles, run. If she laughs, it's too late...
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 23 Mar 1999 16:18:07 -0500 (EST)
From: Jason Sullivan <ravanos@NJCU.edu>
Subject: Howard the Duck: The Movie Questions
What was the machine that transported the bag guys and Howard to
our Earth dimension?
What was it supposed to do?
What did it do (open a rift or wormhole or what)?
What were the evil race of creatures called?
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 23 Mar 1999 14:57:28 -0800
From: "Filksinger" <filkhero@usa.net>
Subject: Re: Character: Tom Bombadil
From: Scott C. Nolan <nolan@erols.com>
> TOM BOMBADIL, SPIRIT OF THE OLD FOREST
<snip>
> Total Points: 530
Gandalf indicated that Bombadil was so powerful that the Ring was irrelevant
to him, and that Bombadil would probably be the last thing that would fall
in Middle Earth, losing to Sauron only after all of the rest of Middle Earth
fell and it was Bombadil vs Sauron and all his minions. This would seem to
me to indicate that Bombadil should at least be more powerful than Gandalf,
and maybe on a par with or superior to Sauron, himself.
Filksinger
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 23 Mar 1999 18:13:55 -0500
From: "Scott C. Nolan" <nolan@erols.com>
Subject: Re: Character: Tom Bombadil
At 02:57 PM 3/23/99 -0800, you wrote:
>From: Scott C. Nolan <nolan@erols.com>
>
>
>> TOM BOMBADIL, SPIRIT OF THE OLD FOREST
><snip>
>> Total Points: 530
>
>Gandalf indicated that Bombadil was so powerful that the Ring was irrelevant
>to him, and that Bombadil would probably be the last thing that would fall
>in Middle Earth, losing to Sauron only after all of the rest of Middle Earth
>fell and it was Bombadil vs Sauron and all his minions. This would seem to
>me to indicate that Bombadil should at least be more powerful than Gandalf,
>and maybe on a par with or superior to Sauron, himself.
Bombadil was supremely powerful -in the Old Forest-. I have given him the
EGO to represent this. Mostly, Tom could ignore the Ring because Tom didn't
give a damn. The Ring corrupts in direct relation to a wearer's desire for
power.
Galadriel and Gandalf avoided the Ring because they knew how much they
wanted power to fight Sauron. Tom (or, say, Sam) desired no such power,
and so were safer.
Tom is a maia, and might possibly be more powerful than Gandalf in absolute
terms, but probably not. Both have taken on 'fana' or mortal shapes and
are thereby limited. Other maiar, such as Osse and Uinen have the power
to move landmasses or sink fleets with their tears. Unfettered, Tom might
equal these in raw power, but he doesn't show anything like that power in
the books.
Not only do I think that Tom's power stems from his lack of desire for
power, but throughout these writeups, I have tried not to give characters
power just to raise their totals. Witness Arwen: Doubtless she is more
powerful than the 291 points I gave her, but we never see any evidence
of that power, and so 291 it is.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 23 Mar 1999 12:38:38 -0800
From: Bob Greenwade <bob.greenwade@klock.com>
Subject: Re: Giant Beetle Minature (fwd)
At 12:17 PM 3/23/1999 -0500, Jason Sullivan wrote:
> I measured the following parts:
>
> Overall Length: @ 6 cm
> Overall Width (at widest point): @ 3 cm
> Overall Height (at highest point): @ 3 cm
> Height at tail end (slopes down at thorax): @ 2.5 cm
>
> Horn: @ 2 cm long
> Head: @ 1 cm x 1.5 cm x 1.5 cm (joins with horn)
> Mandible: @ 1 cm long
> Leg: @ 5 cm long (from joint on underside)
> Leg (from side):@ 3-3.5 cm long (forlegs shorter than side)
>
> Tell me what size this thing is in terms of Growth, if you can,
>and speculate about the weight and the distance of the attacks.
If you're using 25mm scale, just use 4 levels of Growth, and forget
about any need for Shrinking or DI.
If you want a judgement on how nasty the horn should be, I'd call it a
good 3d6 HKA, probably with Reduced Penetration.
- ---
Bob's Original Hero Stuff Page! [Circle of HEROS member]
http://www.klock.com/public/users/bob.greenwade/original.htm
Merry-Go-Round Webring -- wanna join?
http://www.klock.com/public/users/bob.greenwade/merrhome.htm
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 23 Mar 1999 19:00:16 -0600
From: Todd Hanson <badtodd@home.com>
Subject: Re: I don't like the drugs, but the drugs like my PC's
Brian Wawrow wrote:
>
> Mind Control but that might be too absolute. Likewise, a Cumulative
> Transform into an addict is good but then you're either an addict or you're
> not.
Actually, this isnt true, and a cumulative transform is still probably your best
bet. You are forgetting that you recover from a transform over time. If the
person uses the powder constantly, he'll become an addict. If he waits awhile
in between uses (and recovers the body that was transformed), then he won't have
a problem.
Personally I would 'special effect' it that they start having 'cravings' after
the first use that get stronger as they get closer to being transformed. Once
they have transformed enough to gain the disad, they are hopelessly addicted...
Todd
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 23 Mar 1999 21:23:34 -0500 (EST)
From: "John Desmarais" <john.desmarais@ibm.net>
Subject: Re: Find Out What The Future Holds For You?
On Sun, 21 Mar 1999 22:51:27 -0600, Todd Hanson wrote:
>Did the entire list get spammed with this too? It appears to have been routed through
sysabend.org.
>
>John? Is there anyway to stop these people from using the list as a target for their
spam?
Oddly enough, I never saw the original message.
About the only thing I can do is block ALL mail from non-members. This gets a little
hinky as majordomo uses the subscriber list to determine who is and is not a member
and the address it has may not EXACTLY match the address you send message from
example: john.desmarais@ibm.net vs john.desmarais@mail.ibm.net
or: I'm subscribed as john.desmarais@ibm.net but frequently post to the list from
johndesmarais@yahoo.com because yahoomail allows me to read my ibm.net mail
from work.
Personally, unless it becomes a big problem Id choose not to initiate any technical
solutions.
- -=>John Desmarais
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 23 Mar 1999 21:51:43 -0500
From: "Scott A. Colcord" <sacolcor@ic.net>
Subject: RE: Character: Tom Bombadil
> >TOM BOMBADIL, SPIRIT OF THE OLD FOREST
> >
> >5 DNPC, "Goldberry", less powerful, appear 8-
>
> It's been quite a while since I've read LoTR, but it seems to
> me Goldberry
> was both powerful and useful. Perhaps she should be a
> follower, not a DNPC.
> Granted, ""less powerful" than Tom Bombadil covers a lot of ground.
Powerful she is, but certainly less so than Tom. I do think that
the 8- for her appearance is rather low. She lives with Tom, and
Tom doesn't travel, so it seems pretty likely that any situation
that would involve Tom would also involve her. She probably does
have useful skills, but didn't demonstrate them in LoTR. Would
anyone that has read the book on Tom Bombadil care to shed some
light on the issue?
----Scott
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 24 Mar 1999 01:55:43 -0800 (PST)
From: shaw@caprica.com (Wayne Shaw)
Subject: Re: Find Out What The Future Holds For You?
>Personally, unless it becomes a big problem Id choose not to initiate any
technical
>solutions.
It probably doesn't overly matter; from what I understand, a lot of junk
emailers compile people off of lists first and then just send directly.
Preventing this requires far more security than it's usually worth, given
everything. This one was just singularly lazy and actually mailed _to_ the
list.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 24 Mar 1999 09:32:32 -0500 (EST)
From: Jason Sullivan <ravanos@NJCU.edu>
Subject: He's the one they call Dr. FeelGood... (Drugs)
Hello,
I need some guidelies or write ups to use as references to drugs
and poisons.
Specific information on how to make valid constructs divided by
vector (how the drug is absorbed into the body), it's effects, and how it
is actually utilized against an opponent (slipped into a drink, injested
as a pill, absorbed through the skin) would be appreciated.
Specifically, drug write-ups like cloroform and any "Mickey Finn"
that could be dropped into a drink would be appreciated.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 24 Mar 1999 09:42:40 -0500 (EST)
From: arcus@webtv.net (chrisopher spoor)
Subject: The Authority
Anyone reading Image comics got any background on that ship from the
Authority? Anyone want to quess at it stats?
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 24 Mar 1999 10:56:46 -0600 (CST)
From: gilberg@ou.edu
Subject: A couple of comments about movies
Well, over the weekend I finally rented and watched a couple of 1998
movies I'd been wanting to see, Ronin and Blade.
Both seemed to have elements that could be easily adapted to gaming.
Putting the problems I had with Blade aside (Wasn't it werewolves
who didn't like silver?), it had some interesting effects, weapons, and
characters. However, those Vampires died awfully easily. How would one
write them up? Against normals, they were very tough--against Blade and
company, they died all to easily. How would one simulate this?
Now, on to Ronin. Wow. While not a great movie, it did have so
many "cool" things. The characters would be quite interesting to write up
with necessary skills, etc. But the best part of this movie was the
unbelievably good chase scenes--some of the best I've ever seen. So I ask
the list, what other movies have great chase scenes on the level of Ronin?
-Tim Gilberg
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 24 Mar 1999 12:14:06 -0500 (EST)
From: Michael Surbrook <susano@dedaana.otd.com>
Subject: Re: A couple of comments about movies
On Wed, 24 Mar 1999 gilberg@ou.edu wrote:
>
> Well, over the weekend I finally rented and watched a couple of 1998
> movies I'd been wanting to see, Ronin and Blade.
>
> Both seemed to have elements that could be easily adapted to gaming.
>
> Putting the problems I had with Blade aside (Wasn't it werewolves
> who didn't like silver?), it had some interesting effects, weapons, and
> characters. However, those Vampires died awfully easily. How would one
> write them up? Against normals, they were very tough--against Blade and
> company, they died all to easily. How would one simulate this?
Massive vulnerabilities vs the right weapons? Or that the heroes were
that good?
> Now, on to Ronin. Wow. While not a great movie, it did have so
> many "cool" things. The characters would be quite interesting to write up
> with necessary skills, etc. But the best part of this movie was the
> unbelievably good chase scenes--some of the best I've ever seen. So I ask
> the list, what other movies have great chase scenes on the level of Ronin?
I haven't seen Ronin, but "The Road Warrior" needs to go on any such list.
- --
Michael Surbrook - susano@otd.com - http://www.otd.com/~susano/index.html
Kevin Matchstick: "Oh great. So, I'm reverting. Becoming a child again."
Mirth: "No, Kevin, you are becoming a warrior."
_Mage_, Matt Wagner
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 24 Mar 1999 09:38:18 -0800
From: Christopher Taylor <ctaylor@viser.net>
Subject: Re: A couple of comments about movies
> Putting the problems I had with Blade aside (Wasn't it werewolves
>who didn't like silver?), it had some interesting effects, weapons, and
>characters. However, those Vampires died awfully easily. How would one
>write them up? Against normals, they were very tough--against Blade and
>company, they died all to easily. How would one simulate this?
Regarding silver, it depends who you ask, some legends say that vampires
are wounded by it, some don't. Silver was considered a pure metal, and
thus Godly, it was shiny and bright and clean looking and thus holy, and
wounded evil demonic vampires in some mythologies.
They died easy to Blade, because he used weapons that attacked their
vulnerabilities, silver, holy water, stakes. Plus Blade was as fast and
strong as they were, so it was basically him (years of combat training
against vampires) against them (punks with a disease) on equal terms
physically.
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sola Gracia Sola Scriptura Sola Fide
Soli Gloria Deo Solus Christus Corum Deo
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 24 Mar 1999 12:46:31 -0500 (EST)
From: Jason Sullivan <ravanos@NJCU.edu>
Subject: Re: A couple of comments about movies
On Wed, 24 Mar 1999 gilberg@ou.edu wrote:
> Putting the problems I had with Blade aside (Wasn't it werewolves
> who didn't like silver?), it had some interesting effects, weapons, and
> characters. However, those Vampires died awfully easily. How would one
> write them up? Against normals, they were very tough--against Blade and
> company, they died all to easily. How would one simulate this?
Myths about "vampires" vary from country to country. In fact, in
one myth I've read, dead werewolves become vampires. The only specific
vampire vulnrability that I can name off hand that I've heard of was about
a blessed silver bullet penetrating the heart of a vampire, which would
incapicitate it-- and even only then if it was kept away from moonlight,
which would revive it instantly.
As for the vampire's physical weaknesses you are refering to, I
would assign the flaws:
Physical Limitation
Dies and turns to ash when 0 BODY is reached
(Infrequently, Fully: 15 points)
Phychological Limitation
Aversion towards Garlic, Sunlight, Silver, or other "caustic"
damage
(Uncommon, Moderate: 5 points)
Susceptibility
Sunlight or Ultraviolet Radiation
(Uncommon, 1d6 BODY per segment: 20 points)
Susceptibility
Silver Weapons, Garlic, Holy Water, and Experimental Decoagulants
(Uncommon, Instant, 3d6 BODY: 15 points)
Vulnrability
Holy and Silver Weapons
(Uncommon, x2 BODY and STUN: 20 points)
This, coupled with a low BODY score, or rPD (Not versus fire or
silver (-1/2)) could very easily represent these vampires. This
represents their above average resistance to damage when someone tries to
hit them with baseball bats or fists, but they are pathetic when they are
match with things they are vulnrable to.
You can raise the BODY and rPD, as well as the stats, for any
"advanced" vampire, as well as lowering the Limitations. You can do the
exact opposite if you want "popcorn" vampires.
You could also adjust the point value for the "commonality" of
such attacks in the genre. If you're a Vampire in Blade, it sucks to be
you.
Also, it should be noted that many of the Vampires stupidly
attacked Blade (Hunted?), perhaps they are Enraged by threats of physical
violence, or Vampire Hunters, hence the agressive attitudes and
motivations, despite the near certain chance they would die.
------------------------------
End of champ-l-digest V1 #245
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