Digest Archive vol 1 Issue 476

Digest Archive vol 1 Issue 476
From: owner-champ-l-digest@sysabend.org
Sent: Thursday, July 29, 1999 10:38 AM
To: champ-l-digest@sysabend.org
Subject: champ-l-digest V1 #476

champ-l-digest Thursday, July 29 1999 Volume 01 : Number 476

In this issue:

Re: OT: Coming Attractions At the Movies
Re: Young Justice Writeups?
Re: Idea: Scale Hero
Re: OT: Coming Attractions At the Movies
Re: OT: Coming Attractions At the Movies
Re: OT: Coming Attractions At the Movies
Re: OT: Coming Attractions At the Movies
Re: OT: Coming Attractions At the Movies
Re: OT: Coming Attractions At the Movies
Re: OIHID?
Millennium Bug
RE: Stun from Killing Attacks
Re: Extra Time & Multipower Slots
FH D&D Conversions.
Re: OT: Coming Attractions At the Movies
FW: jammers... again
Western?
Re: Western?
RE: jammers... again
Re: Millennium Bug
Re: Adventure Idea: Millennium Bug

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Thu, 29 Jul 1999 00:56:05 -0400
From: geoff heald <gheald@worldnet.att.net>
Subject: Re: OT: Coming Attractions At the Movies

At 11:10 AM 7/27/99 -0700, you wrote:
>At 08:01 AM 7/27/1999 -0700, Mark Lemming wrote:
>>
>>I'll just stay completly off-topic. While Wild, Wild West was a poorly
>>executed film, I didn't have a problem with the casting. The film
>>itself makes a good outline for a convention game. Linear plot, action,
>>and just enough opportunities for role-playing to throw off suspicion.
>
> Will Smith playing James West, and you didn't have a problem with it?
>Don't get me wrong; there are plenty of opportunities for heroic Negroes
>(if you'll pardon the period term) in Westerns. Cleavon Little in "Blazing
>Saddles" and Julius Carrey in "The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr." come
>right to mind as good examples. Will Smith in "The Wild Wild West" is a
>bad one.
> And it's not just because James West is established as a white man,
>either. I could see Will playing Artemis Gordon, either as a northern
>Negro or as a former slave. (For that matter, Will could probably play a
>decent Peter Parker without too much reworking.)
>

When I first saw the ads, I said (aloud, in fact), "That looks good. The
thing that would make it perfect is if they NEVER mention that he's black."
Since the setting of Wild Wild West was not historicly acurate in any way,
I have no problem with a black man playing James West, but it would be a
major change to make James West black.

Anyway, that's my POV.

Also, IIRC, Julius Carrey's character on Brisco County was not black. The
_actor_ was black, but the character was a half-indian. People
discriminated against him, but I assumed it was because he was part
"savage" since no one ever said he was "a negro".

============================
Geoff Heald
============================
Attention all enemies of the Rival Ninja Corporation: You will lay down
your weapons and surrender to your nearest R.N.C. representative. Failure
to do so will result in your total destruction. Thank you.

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 29 Jul 1999 02:41:58 -0400
From: geoff heald <gheald@worldnet.att.net>
Subject: Re: Young Justice Writeups?

At 08:56 PM 7/27/99 -0500, you wrote:
>Has anyone done any Young Justice (DC's teen heroes) Champions writeups.
>If so, can they email them to me, point me to the URL, send me Heromaker
>or Hero Creator files, etc.?
>
>I'm doing a multiversal crossover adventure right now titled: "Secret
>Crisis Wars on Infinite Worlds", and so far the characters (from San
>Angelo) have met the X-Men, Gen-13, Dr. Destroyer, and they are
>currently in the DCU. Young Justice arrived as the final "page" of the
>last session, and I'm currently writing them up myself, but if someone
>can save me some work...?
>
>Thanks in Advance,
>Gary
>
>

Could you post your results? I'd like to see Impulse most of all, but
they'd all be worth a look.

============================
Geoff Heald
============================
Attention all enemies of the Rival Ninja Corporation: You will lay down
your weapons and surrender to your nearest R.N.C. representative. Failure
to do so will result in your total destruction. Thank you.

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 29 Jul 1999 02:38:27 -0400
From: geoff heald <gheald@worldnet.att.net>
Subject: Re: Idea: Scale Hero

At 05:20 PM 7/27/99 -0700, you wrote:
>An idea I was suddenly playing with. Comments on this?
>
>Scale Hero -- Heroes from Ants to Godzilla.
>
<snip>
>Converting between Scales
>
>First, decide what your 'base' scale is; all other objects have a
>'relative scale' -- equal to the difference between the base scale and
>the scale of the object. Then apply these modifications to the character.
>*Note: I assume scale affects mental powers as well as physical powers.
>You may choose otherwise.
>
>Damage: add 4*RS damage classes to all of the character's attacks.

This is a tad high. By this method, a 3' halfling with a bow will be hard
pressed to hurt me at all [Heavy Longbow, Str Min 17, would do 1/2d6] and a
gnome (1 1/2') could not hurt me using any or the medeval weapons in the HSR.

============================
Geoff Heald
============================
Attention all enemies of the Rival Ninja Corporation: You will lay down
your weapons and surrender to your nearest R.N.C. representative. Failure
to do so will result in your total destruction. Thank you.

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 29 Jul 1999 02:12:41 -0400
From: geoff heald <gheald@worldnet.att.net>
Subject: Re: OT: Coming Attractions At the Movies

At 09:22 PM 7/27/99 -0500, you wrote:
>Topher Grace as Gilligan? (Most of you won't recognize
>that last name, but he plays Eric Forman on "That 70's Show.")
>
>Damon
>

Now THERE is an excellent suggestion. Where do we forward it to?

============================
Geoff Heald
============================
Attention all enemies of the Rival Ninja Corporation: You will lay down
your weapons and surrender to your nearest R.N.C. representative. Failure
to do so will result in your total destruction. Thank you.

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 29 Jul 1999 01:00:00 -0400
From: geoff heald <gheald@worldnet.att.net>
Subject: Re: OT: Coming Attractions At the Movies

At 12:18 PM 7/27/99 -0700, you wrote:
>>>Now how many people would want to see Muppet Hero?
>>
>> Muppet Hero? Hmmmm.....
>> You know, all it would take to make Gilligan's Island into a decent
>>setting for HERO would be some rules for "Saturday-morning" settings. A
>>lot of the physical action gags on that show were liberally borrowed from
>>cartoons, such as one scene (maybe more than one) where Gilligan is so
>>spooked by something that he runs right across the lagoon, on top of the
>>water. Once such rules are taken care of, all that would be needed would
>>be a layout, some character write-ups, some special discussion of Skills
>>handling, and some scenarios.
>
>There was a scene where Gilligan actually was flying too, until the
>Professor pointed out this wasn't possible and he plunged to the water
>below. Speaking of the professor, both him and the Skipper need some kind
>of carpentry Phys lim disabling them from repairing a 3 foot hole in a boat
>
IIRC, the problem was that they could not attach the boards to the ship due
to a total lack of waterproofing and adhesives. This despite the fact that
A) Folks were building ships long before nails were invented and B)
Waterproof epoxy can be made from barnicles that can be found on the rocks
in any lagoon.

============================
Geoff Heald
============================
Attention all enemies of the Rival Ninja Corporation: You will lay down
your weapons and surrender to your nearest R.N.C. representative. Failure
to do so will result in your total destruction. Thank you.

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 29 Jul 1999 01:47:03 -0400
From: geoff heald <gheald@worldnet.att.net>
Subject: Re: OT: Coming Attractions At the Movies

At 02:55 PM 7/27/99 -0700, you wrote:
> Actually, part (but only part) of the reason I have a problem with Will
>Smith in that part was because of his race. I just can't see a black man
>in a straight heroic role in a Western, such as James West is. And it's
>not just Dumb White Guy Syndrome talking here; I've mentioned my concerns
>to my best friend, who is black, and one other black person, and they
>agree. Westerns are one genre where straight heroic roles, of the type
>that James West is, are just not right for African-American actors. There
>are other types of heroic roles that are appropriate for black men, such as
>Lord Bowler in the "Brisco County Jr" series (who happens to be one of my
>favorite Western characters of all time, BTW), or even Artemis Gordon (who
>is more of an "eccentric hero" type, which would be a great role for Will).

My reply to this is very simple: WWW is not a western. As I have said
before (though maybe not here), The WWW was the 1960s dressed up to look
like the 1860s. But even that doesn't cover it. Simply put, I have no
problem with a black man in the role, because it is just one more
anachronism among many. Like LL Cool J's part in Toys (where he played
Robin Williams' cousin and the actor playing his father was white but no
one ever said he was black), Will Smith could be an actor who just happens
to be black playing a part. If they ever mention that he is black,
discriminate against him for being black, or mention that he served in an
all-negro unit, they've made a change that goes too far, IMO.

If I may draw this analogy, on Deep Space Nine this season, Capt. Sisko
said he didn't want to go to Vic's Lounge (on the holodeck) because black
customers were not welcome in Vegas in the early 60s and he didn't think it
was right to pretend that they were. But, he did try it, and he had fun,
and he didn't look at all out of place as the high-roller who dropped
$30,000 at craps. Sure, history tells us that a black man being in that
position is unrealistic, and I doubt there were any black Secret Service
Agents in the 1860s, but this isn't history, it's campy fun, just like the
series was.

> Another reason that Will Smith is wrong for James West is that Will is
>still in his "smart-mouthed con man" period. He established this screen
>persona on "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air," and continued it in "Independence
>Day," and while his subsequent roles have toned it down a bit, even in this
>film he's not quite rid of it yet. As a result, James West becomes the
>"comic hero," completely changing the mood of the piece.

A legitimate concern, and I'll take your word on how it turned out (I
probably will rent the film).

> I also think that Will's about eight years too young for the part; I
>think of James West, a senior and leading-edge Secret Service man, as
>someone in his mid thirties. Will's still in his late twenties.

Is he? I thought he was older than me. Anyway, the movie is set before
the series, so he should be a little younger.

> Had I been casting the movie, Tom Cruise would probably have gotten the
>part of James West.

Not bad, but I'm not sure he could play it straight enough. Like Dan
Akroyd(sp) in Dragnet, what makes WWW funny is that James West is too
straight-laced to be real.

My brother offered this explanation for your disappointment: They remade
Mission Impossable (which was also a spoof) as a straight spy-film, so
perhaps you were expecting WWW to be straighter than the show.

============================
Geoff Heald
============================
Attention all enemies of the Rival Ninja Corporation: You will lay down
your weapons and surrender to your nearest R.N.C. representative. Failure
to do so will result in your total destruction. Thank you.

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 29 Jul 1999 01:25:09 -0400
From: geoff heald <gheald@worldnet.att.net>
Subject: Re: OT: Coming Attractions At the Movies

At 02:40 PM 7/27/99 -0700, you wrote:
>>One of my favorite lines on the topic: "The bad guy has an 80-foot
>>mechanical tarantula, and you're worried about the realism of a black guy
>>being in the Secret Service?"
>
> I didn't even know about the giant mechanical spider until the trailers
>started coming out. When I saw it, I nearly choked, and remarked to my
>wife that the producers must have taken every possible cue from the motion
>picture reworking of "The Avengers."
>
>>WWW was, as near as I can tell, a fantasy. (I haven't seen it - nor have
>>I seen the original series.) A lot of fantasies have an anachronistic
>>amount of tolerance for race or gender, mostly because of the culture of
>>our modern times. I don't have a problem with this when I go to suspend
>>my disbelief.
>
> If this had been billed as just another Western, without any connection
>to the Robert Conrad series, it might've been okay -- or, at any rate, the
>above things (the casting of Will Smith in the heroic role, and the giant
>mechanical spider) would have been very minor indeed. There are other
>things wrong with the movie, but to call it "The Wild Wild West" and have
>this kind of stuff going on only demonstrates to me a severe lack of
>understanding of the original program, and of the genre in general.
>

In the original program, various madmen tried various anachronistic means
to achieve their evil ends. I recall one episode where the villian built
(and detonated IIRC) an ATOMIC BOMB. Another used latex masks to make
duplicates of world leaders in a plot to conquer the world, even as he rode
in a steam-driven wheelchair so his body would not use any energy that
could be used instead by his mind. I do not think an 80' steam-powered
spider in any way violates the precepts of the show or genre.

The show was a joke. While not quite as broad a farce as Get Smart, the
intent was to lampoon formulaic spy stories, and the period setting was
used both to enhance the impossability of the devices and to provide a
backdrop where gunplay could be placed secondary to fisticuffs, although
that, too, was played to a ludicrous extreme.

============================
Geoff Heald
============================
Attention all enemies of the Rival Ninja Corporation: You will lay down
your weapons and surrender to your nearest R.N.C. representative. Failure
to do so will result in your total destruction. Thank you.

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 29 Jul 1999 01:14:38 -0400
From: geoff heald <gheald@worldnet.att.net>
Subject: Re: OT: Coming Attractions At the Movies

At 04:06 PM 7/27/99 -0500, you wrote:
>On Tue, 27 Jul 1999, James Jandebeur wrote:
>> As near as I can tell from his comments, Bob has no problem with "a black
>> guy being in the Secret Service". He specifically brought up that he'd have
>> no trouble with Will as Artie, in fact, who was in the Secret Service as
>> well.
>
>I thought Gordon was a US Marshal?
>

In the movie (I'm told), James West is a Captain in the US Army and Artemus
gordon is a US Marshal, and they meet for the first time. At the end of
the movie, they are both made agents of the newly formed Secret Service,
which is what they were on the show. I know that in the show they
mentioned that James West had been Captain West in the Civil War, and
served under Grant.

============================
Geoff Heald
============================
Attention all enemies of the Rival Ninja Corporation: You will lay down
your weapons and surrender to your nearest R.N.C. representative. Failure
to do so will result in your total destruction. Thank you.

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 29 Jul 1999 01:12:08 -0400
From: geoff heald <gheald@worldnet.att.net>
Subject: Re: OT: Coming Attractions At the Movies

At 01:54 PM 7/27/99 -0700, you wrote:
>> > Will Smith playing James West, and you didn't have a problem with it?
>>
>> One of my favorite lines on the topic: "The bad guy has an 80-foot
>> mechanical tarantula, and you're worried about the realism of a black guy
>> being in the Secret Service?"
>
>As near as I can tell from his comments, Bob has no problem with "a black
>guy being in the Secret Service". He specifically brought up that he'd have
>no trouble with Will as Artie, in fact, who was in the Secret Service as
>well. So, neither the idea you mention nor the idea of a character who was
>white is now black could possibly be the problem, as Will being Artie defies
>these ideas (since Artie was originally black).
>
>Will Smith is quite capable of playing a certain type of role. Some people
>don't believe the roles he is good at are appropriate for the part of James
>West. If, say, Kevin Costner were slated to play James West and people who
>saw the original show objected that he couldn't do the part right, the race
>issue would, for obvious reasons, never have come up. Why is it necessary to
>bring it up because Bob doesn't like Will in the part?
>
>James
>
>

The character of James West was created by Robert Conrad. The character
was handsome, a ladies man, rugged, and a good brawler of exceptionally
noble heart. He was suave to the point of being a running gag (to dipose
of a weeks worth of trail dust, Artie needs a change of clothes and a bath
where Jim lightly brushes off his hat). James West is the straight-man in
a parody of spy films.

IMO, Will Smith is not particularly rugged. He plays handsome, noble,
ladies men quite well. He can be funny, and he can play dead-pan. For
this reason, I felt he fit the role pretty well, especially since the
Robert Conrad model of leading man isn't really popular these days.

Bruce Willis is rather like a modern Robert Conrad.

However, opinions may vary.
============================
Geoff Heald
============================
Attention all enemies of the Rival Ninja Corporation: You will lay down
your weapons and surrender to your nearest R.N.C. representative. Failure
to do so will result in your total destruction. Thank you.

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 29 Jul 1999 04:01:26 -0400
From: geoff heald <gheald@worldnet.att.net>
Subject: Re: OIHID?

At 08:46 AM 7/29/99 +1000, you wrote:
>At 12:46 20/07/99 -0400, geoff heald wrote:
>
>>Hulk was practically textbook multiform with torn clothing relegated to
>>SFX, but in later years the Banner personality got control of both forms.
>>In fact, I seem to recall that at one point the Hulk and Banner were made
>>into seperate people.
>
>
>He's had radiation accidents. Not uncommon for superheroes who've been
>around for 20 or 30 years..
>>
>>Sasquatch would be a perfect example of my problem (touched on in the
>>reference above to the limitation) except that it became clear at the end
>>that he wasn't this way at all. Sasquatch would be best built as Walter
>>Langkowski having Summon, Mind Control, and maybe Extradimentional
>>movement, because what happened was that the Sasquatch entity was trapped
>>in a pocket somewhere, but Walter could trade places with it and then take
>>control of it's body.
>
>Which could be argued as a special effect of multiform.
>
Well, as I see it, there's no reason for Walter's mind to be in charge of
both forms in a Multiform. I think it should be a fairly hefty limitation
on Multiform if both forms have to take the same INT, same psych lims, and
so on, with the fringe benefit that both forms share memories and skills.

============================
Geoff Heald
============================
Attention all enemies of the Rival Ninja Corporation: You will lay down
your weapons and surrender to your nearest R.N.C. representative. Failure
to do so will result in your total destruction. Thank you.

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 29 Jul 1999 03:51:32 -0500
From: "Thomas Vickers" <redroach@flex.net>
Subject: Millennium Bug

Millennium Bug, why does this strike me as a good title for another issue of
Ambush Bug?

TV
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
- ------------
"... you may all go to hell and I will go to Texas."
David Crockett

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 29 Jul 1999 12:04:26 +0200
From: Henrik Giese <henrik.giese@lgp.se>
Subject: RE: Stun from Killing Attacks

This message is in MIME format. Since your mail reader does not understand
this format, some or all of this message may not be legible.

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> >Right. Essentially, you stop keeping track of STUN once
> you're at -30,
> >because after that it just doesn't matter - you're not going
> to get any
> >*more* unconscious. Just like you stop keeping track of BODY at,
> >um...-BODY, is it?...because after that you're not going to
> get any more
> >vaporized.
>
> If you're in one of my campaigns, you keep track to see if
> you can beat the
> existing negative STUN record. :)
>
Our record is just -165 STUN or thereabouts, but the character who suffered
it took it from a single ATTACK (48D6 move through, roll of 48 BODY and ~200
STUN).
In that campaign we kept track of everyones STUN total since my character
carried a 6D6 STUN aid autoinjector (OAF, universal). Boy, were I popular!
(As long as one of the bad guys knocked me out and took the darn thing
before my friends could get it...)

/Henrik

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> >Right.  Essentially, you stop keeping =
track of STUN once 
 > you're at -30,
 > >because after that it just doesn't matter - =
you're not going 
 > to get any
 > >*more* unconscious.  Just like you =
stop keeping track of BODY at,
 > >um...-BODY, is it?...because after that =
you're not going to 
 > get any more
 > >vaporized.
 > 
 > If you're in one of my campaigns, you keep =
track to see if 
 > you can beat the 
 > existing negative STUN record. :) 
 > 
 Our record is just -165 STUN or thereabouts, but the =
character who suffered it took it from a single ATTACK (48D6 move =
through, roll of 48 BODY and ~200 STUN).

 In that campaign we kept track of everyones =
STUN total since my character carried a 6D6 STUN aid autoinjector (OAF, =
universal). Boy, were I popular! (As long as one of the bad guys =
knocked me out and took the darn thing before my friends could get =
it...)

/Henrik


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------------------------------

Date: Thu, 29 Jul 1999 18:43:46 +0800
From: GAZZA <gazza@wantree.com.au>
Subject: Re: Extra Time & Multipower Slots

"Scott A. Colcord" wrote:
>
> GAZZA wrote:
> > In fact this is NOT the case, although I will concede that it is often
> > the way it tends to be (wrongly) interpreted. If I have a series of
> > powers such as Force Field, Flight, and Shapeshift that all have the
> > Extra Time limitation, I CAN activate the Flight and the Shapeshift
> > while I'm spending time to activate the Force Field. Indeed, I can
> > activate all three at once - it will simply take longer for them to
> > "turn on".
>
> From the HSR description of Extra Time, it doesn't seem like it would
> take any longer for them to "turn on"; the startup times would run in
> parallel.

Perhaps I was imprecise. By "take longer" I mean nothing more than the
fact that Extra Time, itself, means it will take longer than if the
Extra Time wasn't there.

To be explicit: if I have Force Field, Flight, and Shapeshift all with
Extra Time: 1 Turn, then on Phase 12 I can activate all 3, and they will
all turn on on phase 12 next turn.
- --
GAZZA
"To know others is wisdom.
To know one's self is enlightenment."

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 29 Jul 1999 18:55:35 +0800
From: GAZZA <gazza@wantree.com.au>
Subject: FH D&D Conversions.

The overall topic of this posting is "WHY??!!!"

But I suppose I'd better state the circumstances, huh? ;-)

There's a lot of D&D players out there who've never played anything
else.
But occasionally - all too rarely, IMHO - one of them makes his way
out into other RPGs.

Not uncommonly, one of the first impulses of an ex-D&D GM is to convert
his old D&D setting material - perhaps of his own creation, perhaps
some Forgotten Realms or some such - to the new RPG's rules. There's
nothing inherently wrong with this. I personally don't like Forgotten
Realms, but I've nothing against (say) Dark Sun or Birthright. And I
certainly have the odd world of my own creation that doesn't seem worth
abandoning just because I happen to want to experiment with different
mechanics.

If you browse the Circle of HEROs or just do a general Web search,
you'll
find people that have done this for D&D to Fantasy Hero.

(Bear with me, we're getting there!)

Most of these conversions are very slavish adaptions - including the
class and level system.

And hence we return to my original opening: "WHY??!!"

One of the biggest benefits about leaving D&D behind is that you can
ESCAPE all those class restrictions and the silly level concept. If
you LIKE those things, then why have you changed games?

It's not hard to do a looser adaption. The stats can be converted
without too much trouble, and you just give a warrior some combat
skill levels (including some with specific weapons, if he's a
specialist), a wizard a few colleges and a magic skill, a priest
some church schools, and a thief Climbing, Stealth, and so forth.
You get the spirit of the characters, but the new mechanics - isn't
that the point of the exercise?

Or am I missing something?
- --
GAZZA
"To know others is wisdom.
To know one's self is enlightenment."

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 29 Jul 1999 06:33:37 -0500 (CDT)
From: "Dr. Nuncheon" <jeffj@io.com>
Subject: Re: OT: Coming Attractions At the Movies

On Thu, 29 Jul 1999, geoff heald wrote:

> > Speaking of the professor, both him and the Skipper need some kind
> >of carpentry Phys lim disabling them from repairing a 3 foot hole in a boat
> >
> IIRC, the problem was that they could not attach the boards to the ship due
> to a total lack of waterproofing and adhesives. This despite the fact that
> A) Folks were building ships long before nails were invented and B)
> Waterproof epoxy can be made from barnicles that can be found on the rocks
> in any lagoon.

Silly. The Professor obviously never took a class in how to make things
out of *barnacles*. He was too busy with his minor in 'Advanced
Gadgeteering with Coconuts".

(VPP, all powers must be OAF, only changes when there's a ready supply of
bamboo and coconuts...)

J

"Yeilds falsehood when preceded by its quotation" Jeff Johnston
yields falsehood when preceded by its quotation. jeffj @ io.com

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 29 Jul 1999 08:46:24 -0400
From: Brian Wawrow <bwawrow@fmco.com>
Subject: FW: jammers... again

Hi,

I sent this out yesterday but I haven't seen any replies to it. So, either
it didn't get sent out to the list for some reason or everybody would rather
discuss Will Smith than game mechanics. Is this possible?

I don't recall anybody getting stunned down to -200 or anything like that,
in my game, if you're taking that much Stun, you're likely to be dead from
the BOD. One of my PC's did nail an NPC for 21 Body to the head during our
session last night. We didn't count up the Stun since he was decapitated.

] So, I've cooked up this event in my FH game without doing all
] the math. Now that my PC's are just about to become directly
] involved in said event, I want to get the esteemed list's
] opinion on this.
]
] Below my campaign city of Khore, there is a group of
] summoners and earth magi. They are laboring to complete a
] spell that will unleash a terrible earthquake upon Khore to
] soften it up for the impending invasion by summoned
] creatures. Obviously, with a spell that takes several days to
] cast below a city with a significant portion of magic savvy
] citizens, stealth will be very important.
]
] In order to guard against detection, these magi have placed
] an anti-scry magical darkness over their work area. The field
] itself can be detected by a conspicuous lack of background
] magical energy where the darkness is imposed but only if the
] scanner is viewing the boundary of the field directly and
] makes their perception roll with an arbitrary GM penalty. The
] effect is subtle and therefore difficult to detect, even for
] a trained scanner who knows what these sorts of phenomena look like.
]
] So, the million dollar question is this. Should I buy this as
] Darkness vs. Unusual Sense Group and include all flavours of
] detect magic, detect illusion, detect invisible and that sort
] of thing within the Unusual Sense Group or should I buy the
] Darkness vs. all the normal sense groups used for detect
] magic and put a limitation on it that it only effects magical detects?
]
] As an aside, I don't allow Invisibility or invisible effects
] in my game because it's too absolute. Instead, I get people
] to do their stealth and obfuscation through Images, thus
] quantifying just how invisible you are by measuring how much
] of a perception modifier is on your Images. It works very
] well and has added an extra level of fun for detection and
] evasion. No matter how tight your stealth spell is, you're
] never completely hidden. Likewise, no matter how good your
] perception is, you might not see everything that's going on.
]
] Thanks,
] BRI
]
] Brian Wawrow
] Financial Models Company
] bwawrow@fmco.com
] (905) 212 - 3055
]
] There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are
] dreamt of in your philosophy.
] -Bill Shakespeare
]
]
]
]
]

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 29 Jul 1999 03:03:45 -0700
From: jayphailey@juno.com
Subject: Western?

> Way off topic, here, but in fact, after the civil war, there were black
> infantry (and cavalry) regiments continuously up until integration of
the
> armed forces in the late 1940s. I think it was the 24th and 25th
infantry
> regiments and the 9th and 10th cavalry regiments (the famous "Buffalo
> Soldiers"). You're probably correct about the police officers, at
least
> in most areas (I don't have any statistics on this).
>
> It's unlikely that the secret service would have black agents. On the
other
> hand, Wild Wild West was never the world's most accurate portrayal of
the
> secret service.
>
> Oh, and another little note. The title of the 1992 Clint Eastwood
movie is
> _Unforgiven_, with no definite article. There is another movie, with
the
> article in the title, also a western, from 1960, with Burt Lancaster
and
> people like that. I've never seen it, but passed by the box on the
shelf
> in the video store.
>
> (slight pause as Ben attempts to figure out how we got to this
particular
> topic)
>
> So! How 'bout that Foxbat. Quite a guy.
>
> -Ben

Actually this could be quite a good topic. Western Hero, Anyone? I was
running a game until recently when my Gaming group fell apart. I even
had a character who was a former Buffalo Soldier (For the deeply rare
events when other people GMed.)

Sometimes a tad difficult to come up with plots for Western hero that
weren't "The bad guys show up and try to shoot you."

Jay P. Hailey <Meow!> [ICQ: 37959005]

Read Star Trek- Outwardly Mobile At-

http://phoenixinn.iwarp.com/jay/

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------------------------------

Date: Thu, 29 Jul 1999 08:04:16 -0500 (CDT)
From: "Dr. Nuncheon" <jeffj@io.com>
Subject: Re: Western?

On Thu, 29 Jul 1999 jayphailey@juno.com wrote:

> Actually this could be quite a good topic. Western Hero, Anyone? I was
> running a game until recently when my Gaming group fell apart. I even
> had a character who was a former Buffalo Soldier (For the deeply rare
> events when other people GMed.)
>
> Sometimes a tad difficult to come up with plots for Western hero that
> weren't "The bad guys show up and try to shoot you."

Let's see...I've never actually run a Western game, but I think I could
probably come up with a few plot seeds for anyone that's interested.

The basics, of course:
* The Bad Guys show up & try to shoot you.
* You chase the Bad Guys and try to shoot them. (Unforgiven or Clint's
classic "Man with no Name" flicks.
* You *are* the bad guys, go rob a bank or something. (Butch Cassidy & the
Sundance Kid)

Other ideas:
* Pony Express - you've been hired to deliver something: a string of
horses, cattle, an important package. The Forces of Nature may try to
stop you, Bad Guys may try to stop you.

* Bury my Heart... - This would require a character with close ties to one
of the Native American communities in the area. The Bad Guys (local
developers, the US Government, etc) is trying to get the Indians off of
their tribal lands. They might do this with a show of force, or they
might use more subtle means - smallpox-infected blankets, diverting
trade shipments of goods that are meant to go to the Indians, etc.
Particularly vicious folks might hire people to massacre an outlying
homestead and scalp them, to put the blame on the Indians...the PCs must
set things right.

* Dr. McMorgan's Patent Elixir - A travelling con-man comes to town with
his 'miracle cure'. I almost think this would be best if you were playing
the charlatan and his assistants, constantly getting into & out of scrapes
with fast-talking, misdirection, and just a little luck.

J

"Yields falsehood when preceded by its quotation" Jeff Johnston
yields falsehood when preceded by its quotation. jeffj @ io.com

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 29 Jul 1999 15:06:02 +0200
From: Henrik Giese <henrik.giese@lgp.se>
Subject: RE: jammers... again

This message is in MIME format. Since your mail reader does not understand
this format, some or all of this message may not be legible.

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> I don't recall anybody getting stunned down to -200 or
> anything like that,
> in my game, if you're taking that much Stun, you're likely to
> be dead from
> the BOD. One of my PC's did nail an NPC for 21 Body to the
> head during our
> session last night. We didn't count up the Stun since he was
> decapitated.
>
It's quite easy when you have superheroes with 20+ defenses...

<SNIP>

> ] So, the million dollar question is this. Should I buy this as
> ] Darkness vs. Unusual Sense Group and include all flavours of
> ] detect magic, detect illusion, detect invisible and that sort
> ] of thing within the Unusual Sense Group or should I buy the
> ] Darkness vs. all the normal sense groups used for detect
> ] magic and put a limitation on it that it only effects
> magical detects?
> ]
If you don't use invisible effects, Darkness vs/ unusual, only vs/ magical
detects is what I would use at least. Add images vs/ unusual senses, only
vs/ magical senses to cover it.
I don't have my BBB here, but isn't images visible to three sense groups? I
have a distinct memory of needing invisible power effects to completely hide
the fact that that you're using images.

/Henrik

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<TITLE>RE: jammers... again</TITLE>
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> I don't recall anybody getting stunned down to =
- -200 or 
 > anything like that,
 > in my game, if you're taking that much Stun, =
you're likely to 
 > be dead from
 > the BOD. One of my PC's did nail an NPC for 21 =
Body to the 
 > head during our
 > session last night. We didn't count up the Stun =
since he was 
 > decapitated.
 > 
 It's quite easy when you have superheroes with 20+ =
defenses...


<SNIP>


> ] So, the million dollar question is this. =
Should I buy this as 
 > ] Darkness vs. Unusual Sense Group and include =
all flavours of 
 > ] detect magic, detect illusion, detect =
invisible and that sort 
 > ] of thing within the Unusual Sense Group or =
should I buy the 
 > ] Darkness vs. all the normal sense groups used =
for detect 
 > ] magic and put a limitation on it that it only =
effects 
 > magical detects?
 > ] 
 If you don't use invisible effects, Darkness vs/ =
unusual, only vs/ magical detects is what I would use at least. Add =
images vs/ unusual senses, only vs/ magical senses to cover =
it.

I don't have my BBB here, but isn't images visible to =
three sense groups? I have a distinct memory of needing invisible power =
effects to completely hide the fact that that you're using =
images.

/Henrik


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------------------------------

Date: Thu, 29 Jul 1999 07:17:02 PDT
From: "Reverend Spith" <cptspith@hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: Millennium Bug

>From: "Thomas Vickers" <redroach@flex.net>

>Millennium Bug, why does this strike me as a good title for another issue
>of
>Ambush Bug?

I thought Ambush Bug WAS the millenium bug; he's just been hanging around
until it's his time....

- -Reverend Spith
Savior of Humanity
Secular Messiah

_______________________________________________________________
Get Free Email and Do More On The Web. Visit http://www.msn.com

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 29 Jul 1999 10:33:34 -0400
From: Bill Svitavsky <nbymail11@mln.lib.ma.us>
Subject: Re: Adventure Idea: Millennium Bug

At 12:05 AM 7/29/99 -0700, Jim Dickinson wrote:
>I am working up thick plotline that will span quite a few adventures, and
>wind up in a HUGE one-shot session with some guest players, etc. Anyway,
>when the players asked about the adventure, I off-the-cuff replied that it
>was going to be called "The Millennium Bug" and gave them only about as much
>detail as the previous sentence. Of course, I had NO IDEA what on earth the
>adventure was going to be about, but over the past few weeks I have churned
>up a few interesting ideas that I thought I would share on the list (I am
>pretty sure that my players are not subscribed...) and solicit your feedback
>as well as more ideas. Quite probably, your ideas will be even better than
>mine!
>

This reminds me of a villain I ran a few months ago, Y2K Bug. I don't have
time at the moment to convert his character sheet to text, but here's his
background:

Lawrence Trenholme was a typical computer nerd, but found something lacking
in his life; then he got religion. As his computer colleagues questioned
his evangelical Christianity, Lawrence came to believe that technology has
led man away from God, and will be the means of divine punishment in the
imminent Apocalypse. His new faith inspired him to strike a blow against
technology by sabotaging the wiring of his employer's mainframe, but in the
process he accidentally electrocuted himself. When he awoke, he found that
his nervous system had somehow been reconfigured in a way that let him
understand and control electronics with the power of his mind. He also
possessed an intuitive understanding of this interface, which allowed him
to construct devices which transmit his power over short distances.
Incorporating these devices into a suit of armor, he became Y2K Bug, the
technological agent of God's wrath.

>Option 1: Mechanon will achieve his goal of obtaining magical powers
>(perhaps by being possess by a real demon from the Netherworld), and all he
>needs to do it is a vast power source and the right ritual at the right
>moment in time. As midnight approaches, he gathers his little fleshy
>minions around him at a Nuclear Power Plant (or some other source of power?
>the relic above might be used if Mechanon can figure out how to tap it, but
>I am thinking that it could be used later by the Heroes, instead) and
>performs the ritual. NOW GET THIS: At midnight, Mechanon malfunctions due
>to a Y2K problem that was never resolved because he was so fixated on
>learning magic!!! However, this "Millennium Bug" in the flux of the birth
>of incredible magic in him does a really weird thing: It throws the world
>into synch with his messed-up clock -- Now the world is magically
>transformed into 1900. It's still the same world, and still the same
>people, but now technology has instantly regressed (TV's don't work, no
>cars, etc.), and Mechanon nearly fails completely himself--except that the
>magic within him keeps everything going. The heroes, if their origin
>includes any tech, or powers obtained from the development of technology, or
>an event that occurred in a world not supported by circa 1900 technology
>HAVE LOST THEIR POWERS. Any magic users in the group, or martial artists
>will probably still have their powers...but most mutants (assuming their
>origin relates to some technologically manufactured circumstance) and
>gadgeteers have lost the powers are little more than "Pulp Heroes before
>their time." In this state, the heroes have to figure out what the hell
>happened, and then figure out that they have to "fix" Mechanon's Y2K
>problem, and then probably repeat the ritual and find a comparable power
>source (1.21 gigawatts!!!!) in order to "reset" everything back to normal.

Would normal people be aware of the transition? It might be more fun if
they weren't, as they'd then proceed with their lives "normally" rather
than react in confusion at their newly low-tech existence. If this were so,
though, you'd have to come up with a reason that the heroes remembered
pre-bug existence.

For further inspiration for this scenario, you might want to take a look at
the movie Strange Days (for the turn of the millenium atmosphere), and at
the Keith Giffen/Tom & Mary Bierbaum run of the Legion of Superheroes,
which had a story involving a "reboot" of the universe from high tech to
high magic.

Another element you might include in this scenario is the Millenarian
belief in a returning king. The return of Christ is, of course, the most
widely recognized example of this belief, but there have been numerous
legends of powerful figures who would return at a significant date or point
in history. (There were quite a few of these beliefs circulating around
1000 A.D.) Imagine Mechanon's plan being complicated by (or being
calculated on) the return of King Arthur, or Frederick the Great.

Bill Svitavsky

------------------------------

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*****************************

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