Digest Archives Vol 1 Issue 32e
Desmarais, John
From: owner-champ-l-digest@sysabend.org
Sent: Thursday, November 05, 1998 8:27 AM
To: champ-l-digest@sysabend.org
Subject: champ-l-digest V1 #32
champ-l-digest Thursday, November 5 1998 Volume 01 : Number 032
In this issue:
Re: 1st Edition Fantasy Hero
Re: Stooge-Do
Re: Physical vs. Energy Flash (was RE: Non-Lethal Weapons)
Re: Anglo-HERO (Re: San Angelo Opinions)
Re: Physical Stats -> putz game
Re: Anglo-HERO (Re: San Angelo Opinions)
Re: Non-Lethal Weapons
Re: Howdy!
Re: Game Preparation / was Need help with plot [long]
Anglo-HERO (Re: San Angelo Opinions)
Re: Strange Character Idea..
Re: Something Odd (was:Re: Enchanting Items in FH)
Re: Boon to Mankind: you WILL drive properly
Re: Possession?
Re: Traveller
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 05 Aug 98 09:15:14
From: qts <qts@nildram.co.uk>
Subject: Re: 1st Edition Fantasy Hero
On Tue, 04 Aug 1998 21:59:40 -0700, Nic Neidenbach wrote:
>At 11:50 PM 8/4/98 -0400, Michael Surbrook wrote:
>>
>>The problems is trying to figure out what 1st ED FH powers are in 4thEd
>>terms. I mean 'Killing Blast' is HKA/RKA. Dominate is Mind Control
>>(right?). What about the rest of the powers list?
>>
>
>1st Edition 4th Edition equivalent or explanation
>Accuracy +1 OCV Level, Range/HTH/Weapon 10pts
OCV skill levels
>Adapt Life Support
>Aid Aid
>Analyze Much like the analyze portion of detect, 1d6/5pts
> compared to active of power being analyzed.
Use Detect.
>Blast Energy Blast
>Cloak 10pts for -1 to others Perception rolls to see character.
Use Images.
>Create =real points to create independant spells and magic items.
Use a skill roll.
>Dazzle Flash
>Defense Power Defense
>Destroy 15xCHA Cost/1d6 Power Destruct
> (Power Drain with _long_ recovery.)
>Detect Object Detect an Object
>Detect set Detect set of things
>Detect Type Detect type of things
All Detects
>Dispel Dispel
>Dominate Mind Control
>Drain Drain
>Haste 2/+1" Running or Swimming
>Heal 10/1d6 Heal, restores stun equal to total and body equal to
> body rolled on dice.
>Illusions Mental Illusions
>Images Light Images
>Killing Blast RKA
>Levitate Flight
>Locate Mind Scan
>Mind Attack Ego Attack
>Mind Defense Mental Defense
>Obscure 5/-2 to Detect Rolls
Images again or Darkness vs particular sense eg Detect.
>Perceive 5/+1 Perception
>Protect 10/+1 DCV of one type
Skill levels in DCV
>Psychokinesis TK
>Restore 10/1d6 CHA Restores destroyed Characteristics
Regeneration.
>Shadow Darkness
>Shapechange Shapeshift into a new form for 20pts, 1/1 point extra in
>form
Build up individual forms as spells.
>Shield Force Field
>Silence 10/-1 Hearing Perception rolls
Use Images vs Hearing or Darkness vs Hearing.
>Sounds Audiable illusions
Images vs Hearing.
>Summon Summon
>Supress Supress
>Telepathy Telepathy
>Transfer Transfer
>Transform Transformation Attack
>Transport Teleport
>Ward Force Wall
>
>
>This help? :)
>
>-Nic
>
qts
Home: qts@nildram.co.uk.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1998 07:30:57 -0400 (EDT)
From: thomas deja <tdj723@webtv.net>
Subject: Re: Stooge-Do
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It was actually in an issue of Adventurer's Club, gathered together with
Kid Fu and a Rhino-based style as 'comedy martial arts'. I can't
remember the number off the top of my head.
"'N I fell for all that'die-like-a-warrior' crap. I've seen clowns fall
off their bikes with more honor"
--Xander Haris, BUFFY TVS #1
____________________________________
THE ULTIMATE HULK, containing the new story, "A Quiet, Normal Life," is
available now from Byron Preiss and Berkley
_______________________________
MAKE UP YOUR OWN DAMN TITLE, Tom Deja's webpage
www.freeyellow.com/members/tdj
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Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1998 01:13:35 -0400
To: champ-l@sysabend.org
From: geoff heald <gheald@worldnet.att.net>
Subject: Stooge-Do
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Somewhere I saw a write-up for Stooge-Do, a martial art based on the
fighting style of the Three Stooges. Now I can't find it. Was it in Ninja
Hero? Was it in UMA? If neither, is it on the web?
I can't believe I need this, but I do.
- --37401411--
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 1998 16:35:23 -0500 (CDT)
From: "Dr. Nuncheon" <jeffj@io.com>
Subject: Re: Physical vs. Energy Flash (was RE: Non-Lethal Weapons)
On 21 Aug 1998, Stainless Steel Rat wrote:
> N> In any case, you disregarded the second half of that, which was "or those
> N> defined to be Physical at character creation - the same as Physical
> N> Defense defends against EBs or KAs defined to be Physical."
>
> I ignored it because I had already shown your definition to be flawed.
> Continuing at that point would have been useless.
Or would have invalidated your point, since you were nitpicking rather
than trying to understand the concept I was trying to present.
Fine, then: "Physical Power Defense would work against Drains, Transfers
and the like that were defined as being physical, just as Physical
Defense protects against damaging attacks that are defined as being
physical."
Better?
> In fact, the entire concept of applying 'physical' and 'energy' game
> mechanics to non-physical and non-energy defenses is flawed. The reason
> they exist is specifically because they are something other than 'physical'
> or 'energy'.
Actually - IMHO at least - it's because they're something other than
standard attack powers. Has nothing to do with whether they're physical
or energy.
HERO separates PD and ED because there are a lot of concepts that require
someone to be more resistant to one type of damage than another.
HERO separates out Flash Defense (for example) because having plenty of
armor or being fireproof won't help you when someone throws sand in your
face or blasts your eyes with high-intensity light.
The reason I suggested PFD and EFD in the first place is because there are
plenty of different concepts for Flashes and Flash Defense, and for some
reason, 'bright lights/loud sound' has become the default, even though /by
the rules/ it should not be.
If 'bright lights' is not the defalt for Flash vs. Sight, how come every
time I see what I would call a Physical Flash written up, it takes the
form of an NND Flash? Is throwing sand in someone's face that much more
potent than blasting their eyes with bright light? I don't think so.
The alternative method, of course, would be to strictly enforce
limitations put on Flashes and/or Flash Defense. Eyes that naturally
adapt to changing light conditions would have Flash Defense with a
limitation, 'not vs. physically based flashes' - after all, they won't
help you against a poke in the eye or sand in the face. An armored visor
would be FD, 'only vs. physical flashes'. I just happen to think that the
other way is a bit easier, even if it does require changing the rules
somewhat.
J
Hostes aliengeni me abduxerent. Jeff Johnston - jeffj@io.com
Qui annus est? http://www.io.com/~jeffj
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1998 19:54:49 -0700
From: Chad Riley <chadriley01@m7.sprynet.com>
Subject: Re: Anglo-HERO (Re: San Angelo Opinions)
Jason Sullivan wrote:
>
>
> Also, another annoying trend I've noticed is not so much the
> overwhelming uni-race of heroes, but also the characturization of a
> person's cultural identity? Must most Asian heroes know some form of
> martial art? Must most Native American characters have some sort of
> Native American motif? Must most Russian hero have some sort of
> Nationalist theme? Must most of the hero populance live in the United
> states? And of that populance, must most of them be attractive
> caucasians? How many pudgy heroes (concepts such as The Blob and Bouncing
> Boy have their fat intergrated into their powers) have you seen? Elderly?
> How many female heroes wear normal clothes and have average
> chest/waist/hip size? How many homosexual heroes do we see? Where are
> the Jewish heroes? And similarily, what kinds of sterotypes can you find
> in villians? MUST most super powered WWII villians be Nazis? MUST most
> nefarious villans have some sort of psychological derangement or freakish
> deformity that makes them abominations?
Now comics aren't perfect. Especially since most of the biggest names in comics
were created by what 10 or 15 guys? And they were probably white. As to why ethnic
characters are portrayred that way, Its hard to tell a russian white man from an
american white man visually. I can understand the complaint with American Indian
character, sorta.
On the other hand, I would most likely (if I ever developed superpowers) take a
name and costume that I could relate to. I think that the Russian and Indian heroes
and villains are either taking from what they know to create their identities. I
mean it would make little sense for a Russian brick to call himself Cuetzacoutl. or
Hercules for that matter. But to call him self Ursus Major, a symbol of his people,
would make sense to him. Plus looking at comics and seeing so few heroes and
villains of certain ethnic groups I can see how they would want to stand out.
Another look is in some countries all we ever see are the "official" superteam of
said country and you know they are gonna be cliched.
And by the way I think that Marvel and DC have gone a long way in addressing these
characters. Vance Astro - Justice, is jewish and his father is gay.(IIRC), Colossus
of the X-Man could have been from any country. They took the head dress from
american eagle
Northstar is a gay elf mutant. I'm sure that there is more but I can't think of any
right now.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1998 14:00:18 -0700 (PDT)
From: Brian Wong <rook@shell.infinex.com>
Subject: Re: Physical Stats -> putz game
> >I'm about to start a new FH campaign and I thought long and hard about
> >keeping players from jacking their stats and I've come up with the
> >following approach. Consider the first half dozen or so sessions as a
> >prelude to the game and start your players at a relatively low point
> >total. My players are starting at 50 pts. with 40pts. in disads
>
> I always start at 50+50, was pretty easy to keep the power level down, I
> dont understand the need for 150 point pcs right away. Id rather people be
> nervous when they see goblins, not laugh. But the magic system has to be
> worked on to make it feasible at that level. The system in the book makes
> mages totally useless at that level.
>
It's a matter of sub-genre.
50+50 gives a more rooted in the common man setting. You get one of two kinds
of characters:
very low power with a decent list of skills.
combat monster. Nothing but combat abilities.
75+75 can still give the second of the above options, but it also allows
for a person with a very broad range of skills and or good combat abilities. It
also allows for a more 'fantastic' or 'mythic' character.
Of course, in my world, which is at the 75+75 level but without points;
a Goblin is nothing to trifle with. In all my years of GMing the most terror I
ever inflicted upon a party of PC's in any genre was with a group of four
goblins who had among them an invisibility ring and a silencing cloak. Those
four against a group of seven experienced PC's with all kinds of loot and power,
magical and mundane. Guerilla tactics in a dense forest can work wonders. :)
By the end of the scenerio those PC's still able to function where left
huddling in a small cave stripped of half their goods, wounded, bickering, and
peering out in fear into the forest.
Sorry for the tangent; but anytime someone passes off goblins I
reminess (sp?). :)
Anyway, to get back on topic. I don't think setting a lower point total
helps. All that does is make the players who would have been abusive be even
more so. And the players who would have done good development either get
paranoid and make combat munchies with what few points they have, or make
combat useless characters and get what few skills they can. There simply isn't
enough points to do both.
I think you're better off using 75+75 and simply being heavily
involved in the design process to ensure they do balance out and use all those
points to round out rather than narrowly focus on the things you don't want to
see.
- --
Rook ¿Õ ¿ë ±â WebRPG Town Hall Magistrate townhall.webrpg.com <0){{{{><
__ Super WebRing http://orion.supersoldiers.com/heroes/webring.html
/.)\ http://www.infinex.com/~rook/SH/SHlinks.html Super Hero Links
\(@/ http://www.infinex.com/~rook/SH/ Super Hero RPG Site
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1998 12:13:50 -0500
From: Michael Nunn <mlnunn@scrtc.blue.net>
Subject: Re: Anglo-HERO (Re: San Angelo Opinions)
> Also, another annoying trend I've noticed is not so much the
>overwhelming uni-race of heroes, but also the characturization of a
>person's cultural identity? Must most Asian heroes know some form of
>martial art? Must most Native American characters have some sort of
>Native American motif? Must most Russian hero have some sort of
>Nationalist theme? Must most of the hero populance live in the United
>states? And of that populance, must most of them be attractive
>caucasians? How many pudgy heroes (concepts such as The Blob and Bouncing
>Boy have their fat intergrated into their powers) have you seen? Elderly?
>How many female heroes wear normal clothes and have average
>chest/waist/hip size? How many homosexual heroes do we see? Where are
>the Jewish heroes? And similarily, what kinds of sterotypes can you find
>in villians? MUST most super powered WWII villians be Nazis? MUST most
>nefarious villans have some sort of psychological derangement or freakish
>deformity that makes them abominations?
You have made many good comments and pointed out a real sticking point in
both comics, games and even movies. The people who write, produce and
generally have control over these products are... products of a time when
the stereotypes were created and generally accepted. (Bet 'cha thought I
was gonna say something diffrent, didn't ya?) While it is changing, the
changes are coming slow.
When I created the Super team Rising Force for Herozine, I tried to go
against as many stereotypes as I could. The team leader and Martial Artist,
is a Latino, woman, who just happens to be a rocket scientist, she Catholic.
The team Mentalist is a black man, who loves Bob Marley, and secretly county
music and is Jewish.
The team Mage is from Scotland and is into Heavy Metal music, and is
Agnostic.
The team energy projector is a Blonde Haired Blue eyed beauty... she is also
a card caring member of the NRA and a devoted listener of Rush Limbaugh and
she's from Boston.
The team brain, and general do all is a 12 year old Japanese American boy,
who loves the Power Rangers.
The brick of the group is the only stereotypical member, he is a white, male
who can fly and is very strong, he is also half alien.
The team also has a half demon, half angel, androgenis (sp?)member.
The speedster is a Bi-Sexual female, boy is she fast...
And finally another female member who doesn't have all that great personal
hygene.
Eclectic? you bet, diverse? you bet, the first letter I got about them said
"This bunch could never work together."
What do you think?
Michael
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 22 Aug 1998 00:45:29 -0500
From: Ross Rannells <rossrannells@worldnet.att.net>
Subject: Re: Non-Lethal Weapons
Mike Christodoulou wrote:
> >As some one who has been tasered a few too many times (I was used a the
> crook in
> >several of my karate clubs demos a long time ago). I've alway felt the a
> taser
> >was best represented by an entangle linked to a low power EB. A taser shourt
> >circuits the motor control of your muscles which is why it doesn't matter how
> >strong of a person you are you still get imobilized.
>
> If that's the case, then Entangle would be the wrong construct, at
> least with Champions. If it's going to immobilize you regardless
> of STR, then you'd have to make it a pretty strong Entangle. Let's
> say, for sake of discussion, 10d6. This would ensure that even the
> bricks are held by it, at least for a short time. But then, the
> weaker characters would be held indefinitely.
>
> Maybe you could define it as some sort of timed power -- goes away
> after a turn or two. Or maybe each Entangle is customized for the
> STR of its target. Or perhaps the escape is based on CON and not
> STR.
> ====================== =================================================
> Mike Christodoulou "Never doubt that a small group of committed
> Cypriot@Concentric.Net citizens can change the world. In fact, it is
> (770) 662-5605 the only thing that ever has." -- Margaret Mead
> ====================== =================================================
This is the exact effect I try to simulate with entangle, based on con. Physical
strength does not help but a high constitution does. This effect works fairly
well, since a standard tazer is supposed to knock a normal person out for a
minute or two (5 to 10 turns or 10 to 20 phases). That means that a normal person
with a 10 con would get 2 dice to break out of the entangle. If the 2D6 Entangle,
based on con is 30 active points and has 2 def and 2 body on the average. The
standard normal would break out of such an attact in roughly 10 phases (assuming a
standard normal curve on the dice rolls) on avarage. Not to bad, up the waepon
another die and the basic normal will need on the average 11 minutes to recover
from the effect fo the entangle. Your basic agent (3 speed, 13 con) will need only
about seconds to break out of a standad taser while the heavier model will take
abmout 9 or 10 phases to break out. Of course I will probably be burnt to a royal
crips for mentioning this agian, it one of my house rules and I like it.
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 9 Aug 1998 09:10:56 -0400 (EDT)
From: Michael Surbrook <susano@access.digex.net>
Subject: Re: Howdy!
On Sun, 9 Aug 1998 JayPHailey@aol.com wrote:
> I became a fan of Steve Jackson's GURPS in 1983 (I bought the 2nd edition
> boxed set...) And I played it quite a bit until in 1992 I began to play in a
> Champions game and finally started to *get* the hero system
> Since then I have become a convert. I kept my GURPS material. The two
> systems are very compatible. But I prefer the Hero systems for about
> everything I play (This sometimes strikes my fellow players as weird)
I have found that GURPS books make excellent sourcebooks for Hero and just
about any other game out there. A recent find, GURPS Places of Mystery,
is a virtual goldmine of material.
Hero is the game of choice for us. Some people have messed with West Ends
D6 system.
> So what have *you* used Hero system for recently?
Personally?
Justice Alliance - superhero universe inspired (loosely) by Wildcards
(ended in 1995)
Kazei 5 - Anime-cyberpunk campaign that started out as an adaption of
Shadowrun (ended in mid-1998)
Silent Mobius Zeta - anime campaign derived from Kia Asamiya's universe of
Silent Mobius (being revised)
Avallach - Six people on a cross-country Greyhound bus trip find
themselves in a strange and unknown world. At the moment this one
doesn't even use character sheets yet... (just started)
Others:
Pete's unnamed game (Pete's the GM) - a game that can best be described as
the 'mutant' epic. All super-characters are mutants. (current)
Sengoku Jidai (The Age of Battles) - adventure in 1542 Japan. (defunct)
Comet - another Wildcardish universe. Earth passes through the tail of a
comet and people get wierd. (defunct)
Sons of the Phoneix - Hong Kong martial arts campaign. (defunct)
Avatar universe - pretty standard 4-color supers world (defunct)
Twilight 2000 Hero - The end of the world and I'm feeling fine. WWIII in
Europe. (just started)
Star Trek - The voyages of the UFP Venture. (defunct?)
Pirates! - a cinematic pirate game (just ended)
Troubleshooters - gritty action/adventure in 2300(?)... the far future (on
hold)
***************************************************************************
* "'Cause I'm the god of destruction, that's why!" - Susano Orbatos,Orion *
* Michael Surbrook / susano@access.digex.net *
* Visit "Surbrook's Stuff' the Hero Games resource site at: *
* http://www.access.digex.net/~susano/index.html *
* Attacked Mystification Police / AD Police / ESWAT *
* Society for Creative Anachronism / House ap Gwystl / Company of St.Mark *
***************************************************************************
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 11 Aug 1998 20:16:24 -0500
From: Ross Rannells <rossrannells@worldnet.att.net>
Subject: Re: Game Preparation / was Need help with plot [long]
Curt Hicks wrote:
> > From: Michael Surbrook <susano@access.digex.net>
> >
> > On Mon, 10 Aug 1998, Curt Hicks wrote:
> >
> > > I'm amazed at the level of detail. Is this typical for game preparation ?
> >
> > Uh... no. The game is due to start soon so I've been thinking on how to
> > do a really cool slam-bang opening scnario. I hope to be able to create
> > more like this, but normally, I'm much less... detailed.
> >
>
> I'd also meant to ask if this was so thorough because it was an introductory
> scenario. I'm kind of relieved to hear that you don't normally do this
> much preparation. I felt bad that I'd never played with a GM that evidently
> put that much preparation into a scenario, and that I'd never done it
> when I was running my Champions game regularly.
>
> This does raise the question about how much preparation the GM's out there
> commonly do before running a scenario ? The most prepared I ever got
> was
> a) having a list of encounters / happenings based on the characters
> non-combat disadvantage rolls
> b) having the speed chart prepared
> c) having a map drawn up
> d) having some notes jotted down on various clues / a possible path for
> the characters to follow.
> This was in a four color superhero game. I'd have the basic scenario outline
> thought out, but not written down.
>
> What does everybody else do ?
>
I usually have a set list of clues with NPC's, Locations and Archtypes where they
can be found (always a red herrring or two). Hand drawn maps of key locations that
could quickly be tranfers to a big playing map. Spread sheet with major villians,
henchmen and agents with main ranged attack, hth attack, skill levels in each, base
OCV, DCV, speed, stun, body, PD, ED, rPD, rED and any special defenses. Full
character sheets for supers and masterminds were always on hand also.
> > I think that trying to write stuff like this in the future is the way to
> > go, it really allows me to plumb the depths of each character.
> >
>
> True, but I would imagine you'd start getting into time problems depending
> on how often you run. On the other extreme, I have played in scenarios
> where the game was heavily 'scripted' i.e. the GM seemed to have
> already written out a 'story' with the expected actions of the characters.
>
> Curt
As a player and a GM, I always prefer free flowing scenerio/campaign. Otherwise we
might as well go back to D&D where we open the door, kill the monster, take the
treasure and go to the next door.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1998 12:37:28 -0500 (EST)
From: Jason Sullivan <ravanos@njcu.edu>
Subject: Anglo-HERO (Re: San Angelo Opinions)
Something that very much disturbed me was an alteration that
happened in Batman: The Animated series. Of course, I was thrilled when I
first saw Bruce Wayne in B:tAS because, unlike so many other portrayals of
batman, he was bronsish (shades of Doc Savage: Man of Bronze, I suppose),
and alot of the characters were racially ambigious. He did get 'paler' as
the series went on, but retained his brown eyed, broad bodied,
unidentifiable features.
However, when they re-did the animation style, updating
characters, they turned bats old' brown eyes blue! We're talking sky
blue! And they made him more pale! Thinner! More chiseled features!
It's bad enough that the only Kryptonians we see are caucasian in the
animated series (and in the normal Superman comic book back in the 70's,
the only place on Krypton you'd find black people was on a tiny island
called Vathlo). I mean, I have nothing against caucasians, but when most
of the characters you see in a movie are attractive blue eyed caucasians,
it makes you wonder what the people who are casting these characters are
thinking. In the end, it -is- just fantasy; they could try and make it
more realistic, though.
Also, another annoying trend I've noticed is not so much the
overwhelming uni-race of heroes, but also the characturization of a
person's cultural identity? Must most Asian heroes know some form of
martial art? Must most Native American characters have some sort of
Native American motif? Must most Russian hero have some sort of
Nationalist theme? Must most of the hero populance live in the United
states? And of that populance, must most of them be attractive
caucasians? How many pudgy heroes (concepts such as The Blob and Bouncing
Boy have their fat intergrated into their powers) have you seen? Elderly?
How many female heroes wear normal clothes and have average
chest/waist/hip size? How many homosexual heroes do we see? Where are
the Jewish heroes? And similarily, what kinds of sterotypes can you find
in villians? MUST most super powered WWII villians be Nazis? MUST most
nefarious villans have some sort of psychological derangement or freakish
deformity that makes them abominations?
I know there are excptions to all of what I've said before, but
mainstream comics still for the most part has this stigma about having
everyone fit into this nice cookiecutter mold that was designed way back
in the day of where comic-book heroes were young.
- -+-<-+->-+-<-+->-+-<-+->-+-<-+->-+-<-+->-+-<-+->-+-<-+->-+-<-+->-+-<-+->-+-<-+-
"Fools are my theme, let satire be my song."
-Lord Byron; English Bards and Scotch Reviewers. Line 6.
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Date: Fri, 30 Oct 1998 13:46:18 -0500 (EST)
From: thomas deja <tdj723@webtv.net>
Subject: Re: Strange Character Idea..
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I would say it's a change environment (dirty to spotless), always on,
"'I thought you loved stake-outs."
"Yeah--it's like camping with guns."
--Costas Amdolyr and Tammy Lauren, MARTIAL LAW
____________________________________
THE ULTIMATE HULK, containing the new story, "A Quiet, Normal Life," is
available now from Byron Preiss and Berkley
_______________________________
MAKE UP YOUR OWN DAMN TITLE, Tom Deja's webpage
www.freeyellow.com/members/tdj
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From: "Silky the Wonder Pimp" <solar_ranger@hotmail.com>
To: champ-l@sysabend.org
Subject: Strange Character Idea..
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Greetings!!
I am setting up a tick-like champions game (since my players would make
it as such) and I was curious as too how you would build the following
character ability.
One of the players wants to be "Scotchguard" a scotish superhero whos
main ability is the power to have nothing stick to him, not even dirt or
dust. How would you represnt this?
Would it be a force field? Somje sort of change environment usuable on
on yourself?
Thanks!
This message brought to you by:
Silky the Wonder Pimp and his not so faithful sidekick, Call Girl.
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------------------------------
Date: Tue, 27 Oct 1998 19:20:09 -0500 (EST)
From: thomas deja <tdj723@webtv.net>
Subject: Re: Something Odd (was:Re: Enchanting Items in FH)
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So the follower 'buys himself off' and becomes a character in and of
his/her own right....
"'I thought you loved stake-outs."
"Yeah--it's like camping with guns."
--Costas Amdolyr and Tammy Lauren, MARTIAL LAW
____________________________________
THE ULTIMATE HULK, containing the new story, "A Quiet, Normal Life," is
available now from Byron Preiss and Berkley
_______________________________
MAKE UP YOUR OWN DAMN TITLE, Tom Deja's webpage
www.freeyellow.com/members/tdj
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Date: Tue, 27 Oct 1998 15:02:11 -0800 (PST)
From: Egyptoid <egyptoid@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: egyptoid@bellsouth.net
Subject: Re: Something Odd (was:Re: Enchanting Items in FH)
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>this follower is varies from adventure to adventure. The 'bestowing of
>the power cosmic' is a special effect of acquiring a new follower....
yes, i agree. but silver surfer kept his powers
when nova got hers. plus terrax, air-walker, etc
would all still have their powers except they've
been pasted in one form or another.
==
"and fiery demons will dance
when you walk thru that door;
don't say you're easy on me, Elliott
you're about as easy as a nuclear war." Egyptoid
_________________________________________________________
DO YOU YAHOO!?
Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com
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------------------------------
Date: Sat, 15 Aug 1998 00:47:37 -0500
From: Ross Rannells <rossrannells@worldnet.att.net>
Subject: Re: Boon to Mankind: you WILL drive properly
Filksinger wrote:
> From: Ross Rannells [mailto:rossrannells@worldnet.att.net]
> >
> >
> > Have the got the car so that it can actually
> > share the road with at least one
> > other vehicle?
>
> If I understood (and remember) the article correctly, it is
> intended as a test on public roads, while the roads are in
> use.
>
> > Did they finally get the Nerual Nets to follow
> > the yellow line down the steet
> > without stopping during a rain storm and at every
> > intersection?
> >
> > Is is safe enough yet to allow pedestrians to
> > walk in front of it?
>
> As it was a test on public roads while in use, I would
> assume so.
>
> > There are hundreds of other mistakes and misques
> > that have occured in the past,
> > but we'll get it right sooner or later (most
> > likely much later).
>
> Moore's Law
>
> Computing power will double, and prices will halve, every 18
> months.
>
Moore's Law applies to hardware, not software. 10 years ago (when I was
writing AI systems for the DOD) the estimate was on the order of twice
the size of the earth. Moore's law does not apply to AI hardware like
perceptrons and neural net since every piece of hardware is different
after its been trained and we're still not exactly sure how the
guarentee proper training of them. The Army spent millions training
neural nets to recognise tanks, unfortunately all they got was something
that thaught daylight was good and darkness was bad. This was due to
the fact that all the NATO tank picture were in daylight and Warsaw pact
tanks in darkness.
> Which means that if a computer could handle the job today at
> 2 miles per hour, in 15 years it will be handling the job
> fast enough to drive a car at 2000 miles per hour, all else
> being equal. (Which, of course, it isn't.)
>
> This doesn't even take into account the fact that many of
> the things we do today are done using methods that weren't
> even conceived of only a few years ago, and which are far
> more efficient. A number of researchers have made
> breakthroughs in areas connected to this problem in the last
> few years.
>
> Filksinger
Las I checked they were still using software neural nets for information
completion and abductive reasoning systems to for causal reasoning.
Neither of these suit themselves very well to the Von Neuman (sp ?)
computing model. Hardware maybe increasing at a geometric rate (only a
factor of 2 mind you) but the reasoning data sets are growing at a
factorial rate. Which basically means the hardware can't keep up with
the software requirements.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 11 Aug 1998 23:18:04 -0400 (EDT)
From: Douglas Uptegraft <s002cdu@discover.wright.edu>
Subject: Re: Possession?
On Tue, 11 Aug 1998, Bob Greenwade wrote:
> This one is a somewhat controversial point; it's one of those Things
> Hero Just Doesn't Do Precisely (though it's not as prevalent as, say,
> slicks, shields, or gravity manipulation).
What is interesting is that I've seen the people on this list arguing
about such things. I've been sitting here, reading the articles. Half of
the time, I find myself asking: "Isn't this effect really just an SFX?"
Like the argument about needing a way to absorb Flash and non-EA Mental
Powers, for example.... There are defensive powers for both, aren't there?
Just because a character has Ego Defense doesn't mean that he or she has
spent years training his or her mind like Professor X. Couldn't it just as
easily be seen as a field that absorbs mental energies? Same for Flash
Defense.... *Shrugz*
> In my view, this is one of those areas where the Spirit rules in HSA1
> (reprinted in Horror Hero) come to the rescue. Give the character an
> alternate form (Duplicate in Karma's case, or Multiform in Jericho's) into
> a Spirit which is strong enough and has the appropriate abilities to take
> over someone else's body.
> There are a few other points that would have to be covered, of course,
> but I think you can probably take it from here. :-]
*Blinks*
I'm not sure I get why you say that Karma would need a Dupicate. I mean,
int the comics, it is drawn as a sort of halo around her head and a line
and another halo around the person's head. She can dictate all of that
being's actions until she lets go of the control (or the person struggles
free). It really seems (to me) to be just some kind of weird and probably
high-D6 Mind Control Power.
And if one could get the exacts right for creating Karma, I think that it
would probably be pretty easy to create Jericho. I've already seen
game-published stats for a person who can "vanish" off the face of the
earth. It might even be considered a Limitation on the MC if the character
has to be occupying the same space as the person he or she is controlling,
wouldn't it?
I can see what you mean, Bob. *Grinz* I guess that I have just played DC
Heroes for too many years and am used to certain powers already being
"linked" together. *Smiles*
Thanks for the input...from all of you.
@}-,--'-- * @}-'--,-- @}-,--'- ******* -'--,-{@ * --,--'-{@ * --'--,-{@
| "Every day is a new chapter." ***** C. Douglas Uptegraft |
| *** s002cdu@discover.wright.edu |
| http://www.wright.edu/~s002cdu * OHMagick@hotmail.com |
@}-,--'-- * @}-'--,-- @}-,--'-----------'--,-{@ * --,--'-{@ * --'--,-{@
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 4 Nov 1998 18:17:00 -0500 (EST)
From: tdj723@webtv.net (thomas deja)
Subject: Re: Traveller
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What I want to know is how come I'm suddenly deluged with a bunch of
post responding to ancient posts?
"'Money doesn't talk--it screams."
--A.J. Benza, HOLLYWOOD MYSTERIES AND SCANDALS
____________________________________
THE ULTIMATE HULK, containing the new story, "A Quiet, Normal Life," is
available now from Byron Preiss and Berkley
_______________________________
MAKE UP YOUR OWN DAMN TITLE, Tom Deja's webpage
www.freeyellow.com/members/tdj
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From: Anthony Jackson <ajackson@iii.com>
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Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1998 10:45:13 -0700 (PDT)
Reply-To: Anthony Jackson <ajackson@iii.com>
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Brian Wong writes:
> Have we finally come so far that people no longer remember D&D was
> first?
>
> I believe it started in 1973 or 1974.
D&D was first widely available. However, Chainmail (D&D), Dragon Pass
(RQ/Glorantha) and Traveller are roughly contemporary.
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