Digest Archives Vol 1 Issue 57
Desmarais, John
From: owner-champ-l-digest@sysabend.org
Sent: Monday, November 30, 1998 6:04 PM
To: champ-l-digest@sysabend.org
Subject: champ-l-digest V1 #57
champ-l-digest Monday, November 30 1998 Volume 01 : Number 057
In this issue:
Re: CHAR: The Joker
Address change
Re: CHAR: The Joker
Re: CHARACTER DESIGN CHECKLIST
A new player in the arena...
RE: CHARACTER DESIGN CHECKLIST
Re: CHAR: The Joker
Re: CHAR: The Joker
URL for List site
Re: URL for List site
Re: CHARACTER DESIGN CHECKLIST
4 lasers = one?
Re: 4 lasers = one?
RE: 4 lasers = one?
character creation theory
Re: CHARACTER DESIGN CHECKLIST
re: need loser villains
Re: 4 lasers = one?
Re: need loser villains
re: need loser villains
Re: CHARACTER DESIGN CHECKLIST
Re: 4 lasers = one?
Re: A new player in the arena...
Re: need loser villains
Re: 4 lasers = one?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sun, 29 Nov 1998 15:00:34 -0800
From: "Hilary" <kabuki@ix.netcom.com>
Subject: Re: CHAR: The Joker
> I forgot to mention this when it came up before, but Batman has made
> reference to the Joker's 'insane bursts of strength' on occasion, and
given
> Batman that tends to suggest that he at least occasionally gusts above
> Batman, and I suspect ordinary pushing may not cover the issue.
>
No, but martial arts would. He's always been good at shoving batman out of
the way, leg sweeeps, etc. The strength comes from the martial arts
manuever, not because he has a 20 strength.
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 29 Nov 1998 18:19:40 -0500 (EST)
From: Michael Surbrook <susano@otd.com>
Subject: Address change
My email address has changed. It is now:
susano@otd.com
Surbrook's Stuff is now at a new site as well. It is:
http://www.otd.com/~susano/index.html
The new site gives me *20* megs of drive space, meaning I have more than
enough room for *everything*.
Anybody have some anime/manga character writeups then wanna send in?
Michael Surbrook / susano@otd.com
http://www.otd.com/~susano/index.html
"'Cause I'm the god of destruction, that's why!" - Susano Orbatos,Orion
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 30 Nov 1998 10:03:26 +1100
From: Mad Hamish <h_laws@postoffice.utas.edu.au>
Subject: Re: CHAR: The Joker
At 05:54 AM 11/29/98 -0800, Wayne Shaw wrote:
>>I know I'm late on this but...
>>
>>At 03:55 PM 11/24/98 -0500, Michael Surbrook wrote:
>>>THE JOKER
>>>"The Clown Prince of Crime"
>>>
>>>Val CHA Cost Roll Notes
>>>20 STR 10 13- 400kg; 4d6
>>>18 DEX 24 13- OCV: 6 / DCV: 6
>>
>>strength & dex are both high. I've never seen anything to suggest that he
>>was particularly strong or dextrous.
>
>I forgot to mention this when it came up before, but Batman has made
>reference to the Joker's 'insane bursts of strength' on occasion, and given
>Batman that tends to suggest that he at least occasionally gusts above
>Batman, and I suspect ordinary pushing may not cover the issue.
>
In that case I'd use STR as a power with an activation roll,
****************************************************************************
The Politician's Slogan
'You can fool all of the people some of the time and some of the people all
of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time.
Fortunately only a simple majority is required.'
****************************************************************************
Mad Hamish
Hamish Laws
h_laws@postoffice.utas.edu.au
h_laws@tassie.net.au
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 29 Nov 1998 21:17:52 -0600
From: "Melinda and Steven Mitchell" <mdmitche@advicom.net>
Subject: Re: CHARACTER DESIGN CHECKLIST
> From: Guy Hoyle <ghoyle1@airmail.net>
>
> When I started this thread, I had individual characters more in mind than
> teams. Let me clarify a bit: What are the most common mistakes you as a
GM
> see in characters which are handed to you for approval? What are the
easiest
> ways to waste points in character creation?
A small addition to the replies you've already received:
Pseudo everyman skills (those that many heroes have, but they aren't
frequent enough to qualify as everyman skills) tend to get neglected or
forgotten. This seems to come up more towards the end of design, rather
than when submitting for approval. In my FH campaign, I cannot count the
number of times a character left off literacy or Riding until they had
painstakingly eked out the last point.
In my limited Champions experience, we had a slightly different problem
where the group did not communicate expectations very well. For example,
we had a short series of adventures where every character was expected to
be sneaky. People still left off Stealth, and in one case, we didn't catch
it until we started playing ... "Make your Stealth roll." "Sure, uhmmm,
.. oops!"
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 29 Nov 1998 23:28:00 -0500 (EST)
From: Glen Sprigg <borealis@cois.on.ca>
Subject: A new player in the arena...
Greetings and salutations from the Great White North! A few people might
recognize my name from Shelley Chrystal Mactyre's G3 PBEM; I played the
Comet (bows for applause). I'm a fairly long-time Champions player,
desperately seeking other players in the Barrie area (unfortunately not a
hotbed of superhero gaming). I originally bought the 3rd Edition Champions
back during my mid-teens, when I bought far more games than was good for me.
Champions didn't catch my attention at that time; I was already the owner of
Villains and Vigilantes, Marvel Super Heroes, and DC Heroes. So Champions
sat, mostly unused, in a pile of other books.
Then I found the 4th Edition hardcover while I was waiting to travel to my
grandfather's funeral. It was a long bus ride, so I bought the BBB. That
was ten years ago, and now I've got most of the Champions products
available. The other games are long gone, except in memories. Champions rules.
I'm sure I'm jumping in during some really cool threads that started without
me, but I'll certainly be looking to contribute my three cents worth (the
exchange rate is terrible up here). Here, I'll start something (it's barely
possible that this has already been discussed, but I'm going to say it
anyway). This is one of the central premises of the campaign setting I've
created.
Champions of the North included a reprinted Borealis character. Borealis is
the big, nasty villain in Canada. He's got control over light, he's strong,
nigh-invulnerable (no, wait...that's the Tick), and for some unfathomable
reason wears a costume of green and gold. He is a staunch defender of
Canadian interests, but hates all bureaucrats and politicians (including
Canadian ones). He's mentioned as being the one villain that Canadian
heroes respect. I happen to think he's one of the best Canadian heroes I've
ever seen in any medium (Wolverine may be 'cool,' but he's far too cliched
and overexposed for me now).
Borealis counts among his enemies an American super by the name of Invictus.
These two hate each other like Clinton and Starr. Invictus has big plans to
take over all of North America, making himself the Emperor of he entire
continent. Borealis doesn't agree with him, for various reasons.
Champions of the North was written from the perspective of American heroes
visiting Canada and getting into all sorts of trouble. While I do like the
book, and have used several of its ideas and characters for my own campaign
setting, Borealis is really the only character in the book who could give
anyone tougher than Foxbat a real challenge.
So here's my theory: Borealis is in fact Canada's greatest hero, and one of
the most powerful in the world; he can take on Dr. Destroyer and hold his
own for a while (I've tried it; the battle lasted three full turns before
Destroyer got in a lucky shot and stunned Borealis). He knows about
Invictus' ambitions, having learned of them early in both men's careers. So
Invictus realizes that Borealis is the most dangerous opposition to his
plans, both because he knows about them and because he's strong enough to
take Invictus down in a firefight.
Therefore, he has been using his influence in the American media and at
various political levels to discredit Borealis at every turn. Thus, when
Borealis took nine German terrorists into custody and has them brought to
Canada to be tried in court, Invictus made sure the story said that Borealis
had killed them and destroyed the plane. When currency speculators in
Chicago drive the Canadian economy further down, Invictus has them killed
and frames Borealis for it. When an American icebreaker is damaged in an
engine-room fire, and Borealis tries to rescue the sailors, Invictus insures
that it appears that Borealis caused the damage and sank the ship.
Now, Borealis is persona non grata south of the 49th Parallel, and PRIMUS
wants his head on a platter. American supergroups have been encouraged to
bring Borealis in to face charges (before an Invictus-rigged court, of
course). Even in Canada, the land he has defended for so long, political
pressure is high to curb Borealis' activities for the time being until the
matter can be settled. Borealis, of course, isn't going to bow to political
pressure when it comes to saving lives in his country; he is the only hero
who can be in Vancouver one minute dealing with Tong supervillains muscling
in on the West Coast underworld, then zip over to the Grand Banks to assist
the Canadian Coast Guard and Navy stop pirate fishing trawlers from doing
even more damage to the fish stocks.
So now Borealis is fighting a silent war on two fronts; trying to stop
Invictus' direct actions against him (in the form of Invictus' personal
cadre of paranormals), while fending off political pressure from all sides.
And all the time, Invictus continues to plot the downfall of democracy...
What do you think?
Glen
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 29 Nov 1998 21:25:59 -0800 (PST)
From: Ell Egyptoid <egyptoid@yahoo.com>
Subject: RE: CHARACTER DESIGN CHECKLIST
Did any player come up to you and ask you anything about your campaign?
or tdid they all just ask about char.creation limits, min-maxing, etc.
If any player paid any attention to something besides himself and
his character, take note. Also pay heed if some one askes you to
design their character so you as a GM are happy with it.
> team balance
> which I only played in twice, had 13 players. 11 ran fighters.
One D&D game I played in had 7 players, and 7 fiters,
(one was was fiter-illusionist, one was fiter-cleric), but still...
> Breakpoints
if I see someone with all stats on breakpoints they die first ;)
> Active point limits
they're okay, as long as you don't care that no-one can probably run a
Rogue-clone or a decent mage or decent mentalist
if you can't tell I hate formulaic, inside-the-box, non-role-playing,
x.p-grubbin, min-maxin, non-creative slugs you usually get in campaigns.
==
Laissez le bon pim roulez! Elliott aka Egyptoid
_________________________________________________________
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Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 29 Nov 1998 15:54:37 -0800 (PST)
From: shaw@caprica.com (Wayne Shaw)
Subject: Re: CHAR: The Joker
>>I forgot to mention this when it came up before, but Batman has made
>>reference to the Joker's 'insane bursts of strength' on occasion, and given
>>Batman that tends to suggest that he at least occasionally gusts above
>>Batman, and I suspect ordinary pushing may not cover the issue.
>>
>In that case I'd use STR as a power with an activation roll,
That I could believe; when I built my somewhat Joker-like villain Boogeyman,
I gave him extra STR only when Beserk.
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 29 Nov 1998 15:51:53 -0800 (PST)
From: shaw@caprica.com (Wayne Shaw)
Subject: Re: CHAR: The Joker
>
>> I forgot to mention this when it came up before, but Batman has made
>> reference to the Joker's 'insane bursts of strength' on occasion, and
>given
>> Batman that tends to suggest that he at least occasionally gusts above
>> Batman, and I suspect ordinary pushing may not cover the issue.
>>
>No, but martial arts would. He's always been good at shoving batman out of
>the way, leg sweeeps, etc. The strength comes from the martial arts
>manuever, not because he has a 20 strength.
I suspect if the Batman meant he was skilled, he'd have said skilled.
Usually the statement has been made after he had _grappled_ with Batman, and
I somehow don't think one of the DC Universe's premier martial artists would
mistake skill for power.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 30 Nov 1998 08:11:07 -0600
From: redbf@ldd.net (bobby farris)
Subject: URL for List site
Could someone please email me the url for the site that deals
with list. I want to download the cardboard heroes on it and see what
they look like.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 30 Nov 1998 07:21:30 -0800 (PST)
From: Ell Egyptoid <egyptoid@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: URL for List site
http://sysabend.org/champions/index.html
click on "Spoo"
==
Laissez le bon pim roulez! Elliott aka Egyptoid
_________________________________________________________
DO YOU YAHOO!?
Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 30 Nov 1998 11:00:00 -0600 (CST)
From: Rick Jones <rick@blkbox.com>
Subject: Re: CHARACTER DESIGN CHECKLIST
My only suggestions are to make sure that the character doesn't suffer
from problems 2 characters are having in the game I'm playing in now:
Character Study A: Cybermancer. He's got all the problems that
mentallists have (low DCV, low defenses) with the additional problem that
if there are no machines to control, he's hosed again. He's incredibly
effective if there are machines around, or if there is spy stuff to do
(he was a spy before he got an origin), but in an open super-hero brawl,
he has to hide inside the team vehicle and run people over.
Solution: Make sure your character isn't going to fall overin a stiff
breeze when out of his element.
Character Study B: Rowdy Roddy Rutiger. He's a cyborg brick from the
future, and dumb as a rock. His usefulness in combat is diminished
because he tends to go Enraged if hurt, so we can't really rely on him for
team tactics. Also, since he's dumb as a rock and has little out of
combat skills, the player is sitting around twiddling his thumbs when
there's investigation stuff to do.
Solution: MAke sure you've got useful out of combat powers or skills.
- --
Rick Jones Sooner or later, everyone comes to Babylon 5.
rick@blkbox.com -- Sinclair, Babylon 5,"The Gathering"
http://www-ece.rice.edu/~rickj/
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 30 Nov 1998 11:35:07 -0600
From: redbf@ldd.net (bobby farris)
Subject: 4 lasers = one?
I am building a spaceship for a science fiction game and am
trying to figure out how to do a weapons system. The ship has 4 laser
cannons that can be fired together in one attack or seperately. How do I
buy this?
Is is two seperate attacks? Could it be one attack with Auto
Fire?
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 30 Nov 1998 13:24:55 -0500
From: Mike Christodoulou <Cypriot@concentric.net>
Subject: Re: 4 lasers = one?
At 11:35 AM 11/30/98 -0600, bobby farris wrote:
> I am building a spaceship for a science fiction game and am
>trying to figure out how to do a weapons system. The ship has 4 laser
>cannons that can be fired together in one attack or seperately. How do I
>buy this?
> Is is two seperate attacks? Could it be one attack with Auto
>Fire?
>
Make it a single autofire attack, or
quadruple the speed of the ship.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 30 Nov 1998 13:39:22 -0500
From: Brian Wawrow <bwawrow@mondello.toronto.fmco.com>
Subject: RE: 4 lasers = one?
Buy it with autofire. If you want to shoot at multiple targets, the
first to-hit roll is unmodified, the second at -2, the third at -4 and
so on.
BRI
] -----Original Message-----
] From: redbf@ldd.net [mailto:redbf@ldd.net]
] Sent: Monday, November 30, 1998 12:35 PM
] To: Champions
] Subject: 4 lasers = one?
]
]
] I am building a spaceship for a science fiction game and am
] trying to figure out how to do a weapons system. The ship has 4 laser
] cannons that can be fired together in one attack or
] seperately. How do I
] buy this?
] Is is two seperate attacks? Could it be one attack with Auto
] Fire?
]
]
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 30 Nov 1998 13:14:49 -0500
From: Brian Wawrow <bwawrow@mondello.toronto.fmco.com>
Subject: character creation theory
Well, I look at it this way.
When characters are built, players tend to imagine a couple of different
contexts in which their characters will excel. For example, chaotic and
claustrophobic tunnel scraps, sneaky infiltrations or a mounted charge
on an open field. Given a wide range of tactical possibilities, they
will run into situations they're not prepared for. That's what
experience is for.
For example, in the FH game I'm running now, I've got a guy who's trying
to be an assassin with a political/shmoozing flavour. He's a fabulous
shot with the crossbow but he's kind of a candyass in hand to hand.
After being mostly ineffectual in a couple of encounters against some
slow but hard-to-kill zombies, he's buying up his strength and getting
the palladin to teach him how to use some proper hand to hand weapons.
So, despite the fact that Kinma Asharu, the sniper in question, can't
stab his way out of a paper bag, he will eventually be able to hold his
own in a stand-up scrap. Further, when a long range sniping battle comes
up, everyone's going to be very glad their buddy is a sniper.
So, ideally, you want your characters to be able to deal with a wide
variety of situations but if they're extra useful in a certain kind of
fight, give it to them once in a while. They'll eventually spend the
experience neccessary to make themselves a threat in all kinds of ways.
I think someone mentioned a player running a cyber mentalist. Well, how
many times is this guy going to get his ass kicked in the woods before
he saves up for a suit of techno armour with flight, armour and a force
field bought in an EC with a OIF disad [pardon me, limitation]. Mind
you, if he's effective in the vehicle, let him be or let him juice up
the vehicle with points by duct taping a flamethrower to the top or
whatever.
Having said all that. There's certainly no reason a GM can't say to a
player, "Ok, your concept for an interchangable bodypart guy / giant
angry chicken / immobile brick based on a tree / supercharming
pencilneck is really quite useless and let's at least try to maintain
the flavour of the game." Stupid characters are stupid characters
regardless of whether they fit into one of the Champs archtypes.
As far as being contrived. Well, what can I say. The level of creativity
in the game relates directly to the GM's and player's inate creativity
and willingness to put effort into the game. I've never found that
having an odd combination of characters ever made anything feel
contrived. In fact I've found the opposite to be true. If all your
players want to be mentalists, poof! you're running a mentalist
campaign. That suddenly allows you to get really heavily into all the
Ultimate Mentalist stuff and probably run lots of adventures where the
characters never leave their base [physically, I mean].
Once thing I've found useful to get people's heads into the game is to
award experience for extra curricular game stuff. For example, a
palladin in my FH game recovers the END battery for his Life Magic by
singing war ballads, which he's currently writing. Once he's done
writing up lyrics for four or five war ballads, I'll give him a freebie
experience point. It helps me flush out extra flavour in the game world
like Udrashi legends, heros, historical battles and so forth. I
understand that this is off topic but it's a good way to focus the game
and strengthen the atmosphere and mood of the game world. It's all about
flavour.
Once again, I descend from the soap box, my rambling finished... for
now.
BRI
] While I agree to some degree, I do have a problem with this approach.
] If you do have a "motley crew" for the group, you will either find
] yourself with a group that simply cannot handle many emergencies, or
] you must customize every game for the group.
]
] While I don't object to customization, I do think that it starts
] feeling very contrived after a while.
]
] Filksinger
]
] ________________________________________________________
] NetZero - We believe in a FREE Internet. Shouldn't you?
] Get your FREE Internet Access and Email at
] http://www.netzero.net/download.html
]
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 30 Nov 1998 13:40:49 -0500
From: Bill Svitavsky <nbymail11@mln.lib.ma.us>
Subject: Re: CHARACTER DESIGN CHECKLIST
I always look carefully at characters for their motivation to function in
the campaign as part of the PC group. Superheroes should have a reason for
fighting crime, fantasy adventurers should have a reason for adventuring,
and so on.
Over the years, I've known a number of players who loved to create "aloof
loner" characters. I've seen GM's let these characters into their games
with no hooks to keep them involved. The results vary between characters
who do virtually nothing and characters who implausibly go along with a
group solely because that's the kind of thing you do in RPG's.
Pointwise, in creating characters I try to keep in mind a balance of
offensive, defensive, and movement powers. That's not to say my characters
are always strong in all three areas, but at least I know what I'm doing
when I create a guy who's always going to be bumming rides from faster
moving teammates.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 30 Nov 1998 11:37:56 -0800 (PST)
From: Ell Egyptoid <egyptoid@yahoo.com>
Subject: re: need loser villains
Last call for goofy villain ideas to be included in
the compilation.
I'm surprised no-one mentioned any of the gems from Tick!
Cow, Chair-face, Red Menace, etc. ;)
==
Laissez le bon pim roulez! Elliott aka Egyptoid
_________________________________________________________
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Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 30 Nov 1998 14:00:23 -0500
From: Bill Svitavsky <nbymail11@mln.lib.ma.us>
Subject: Re: 4 lasers = one?
At 11:35 AM 11/30/98 -0600, bobby farris wrote:
> I am building a spaceship for a science fiction game and am
>trying to figure out how to do a weapons system. The ship has 4 laser
>cannons that can be fired together in one attack or seperately. How do I
>buy this?
> Is is two seperate attacks? Could it be one attack with Auto
>Fire?
>
>
Both methods are possible, depending on the style of the game and the
effect you want to achieve.
In a hard SF game, it stands to reason that when the lasers are fired
together, with a computer targeting system, if one hits they should all
hit. Autofire won't do this, so a single attack is the logical
construction. You may want to put Reduced Penetration on the attack,
simulating that there are four smaller beams, not one big one.
On the other hand, Autofire is a better mechanic for using the lasers on
multiple targets (or just targeting them separately on a single opponent.)
It has a logical place in a hard SF game, and is the most likely mechanic
for a single-gunner fighter in a space opera.
The lasers could also be built as four attacks (RKA's, presumably) fired
separately by different players on their own phases. No autofire would be
required for this (though the individual attacks could themselves be
Autofire if you wanted.) I'd do this if I wanted to play up individual
gunner skills, along the lines of Luke & Han on the Millenium Falcon's guns.
Keep in mind that these choices don't have to be mutually exclusive - a
multipower with ultra slots will allow you to switch between these modes
quite cheaply. A set of guns which could be computer-aimed against a single
target or targeted separately would be a multipower with two slots: 1) RKA
vs. ED, Reduced Penetration, and 2) Autofire, 4 hits maximum.
Oh, and don't forget to do something about range modifiers. TV & movie SF
combat takes place over hundreds of yards, and more realistic high-tech
combat takes place over many miles.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 30 Nov 1998 14:47:53 -0600 (CST)
From: Rick Jones <rick@blkbox.com>
Subject: Re: need loser villains
I was talking about something with my fiance, and said the phrase "gravity
and blah blah blah", when her niece corrected me and said "Raggety Anne".
And thus was born the final member of my loser villain team: Gravity Anne,
who wears ragamuffin clothes, clown makeup, and has gravity powers.
- --
Rick Jones Sooner or later, everyone comes to Babylon 5.
rick@blkbox.com -- Sinclair, Babylon 5,"The Gathering"
http://www-ece.rice.edu/~rickj/
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 30 Nov 1998 14:00:57 PST
From: "Jesse Thomas" <haerandir@hotmail.com>
Subject: re: need loser villains
I got one!
We've all read (well, maybe not ALL of us) The Dark Knight Returns or
one of those books. You remember the little girl who nominates herself
as the next Robin? Finally, Batman is forced to take her on as a
sidekick for her own safety.
Well, the Champions Universe doesn't have a Batman, but they do have a
FOXBatman...
Stand back, everyone, 'cuz here comes KID FOXBAT!
I actually wrote up this character, and I had a number of amusing
notions/insights as a result, which may make their way into other
characters. My favorite is Phys. Lim: "14 years old".
Other than that, we have a VERY weak martial artist with insane SPD and
DEX (ever tried to catch a kid who doesn't want to be caught?) and 1
level of shrinking, always on. Throw in a gadget pool (with a
limitation like, only gadgets that Foxbat has used in the past), KS: The
Adventures of Foxbat, and you're good to go. I built the little
blighter on about 180 pts, and though he has no offensive punch
whatsoever, he's annoying and hard to hit, which is bound to bring out
either the best or the worst in your players.
Enjoy!
Jesse Thomas
haerandir@hotmail.com
______________________________________________________
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------------------------------
Date: Mon, 30 Nov 1998 14:14:31 PST
From: "Jesse Thomas" <haerandir@hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: CHARACTER DESIGN CHECKLIST
On Mon, 30 Nov 1998 Bill Svitavsky wrote:
>
>Pointwise, in creating characters I try to keep in mind a balance of
>offensive, defensive, and movement powers. That's not to say my
characters
>are always strong in all three areas, but at least I know what I'm
doing
>when I create a guy who's always going to be bumming rides from faster
>moving teammates.
Bill, I hope you know that we're always more than happy to give you a
lift. Just so long as you remind us to keep our resistant defenses up.
Wouldn't want a repeat of the infamous 'Arrow Incident', now would we?
<duck & cover>
Jesse
>
>
>
______________________________________________________
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------------------------------
Date: Mon, 30 Nov 1998 11:52:02 -0800
From: Bob Greenwade <bob.greenwade@klock.com>
Subject: Re: 4 lasers = one?
At 11:35 AM 11/30/98 -0600, bobby farris wrote:
> I am building a spaceship for a science fiction game and am
>trying to figure out how to do a weapons system. The ship has 4 laser
>cannons that can be fired together in one attack or seperately. How do I
>buy this?
> Is is two seperate attacks? Could it be one attack with Auto
>Fire?
There are two ways that this can be handled.
The traditional way -- and the way I'd recommend for the sake of
simplicity, depending on the specifics of how the ship is to be used -- is
to simply buy the lasers as a single attack with Autofire; I'd tend to also
favor a -1/4 Limitation on the Autofire Advantage (not the entire Power) to
represent that only four shots are available, not five.
If you want it to be possible to aim the four lasers at different
targets, then I have to draw from my manuscript for The Ultimate Vehicle.
(No, you don't have that book yet; hopefully, though, it'll be available
before long.) Here, you'd buy the four lasers as single, separate weapons.
However, you'd need a separate gunner (or a separate run of an "Attack
Target" Program on the computer) for each target being fired upon. If a
single gunner is firing multiple lasers at the same target, he does so at a
cumulative -2 per extra weapon, meaning that using all four lasers at one
target is at -6 (though if he hits, chances are he'll do a *lot* of damage).
- ---
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: Mon, 30 Nov 1998 13:36:51 -0800
From: Bob Greenwade <bob.greenwade@klock.com>
Subject: Re: A new player in the arena...
At 11:28 PM 11/29/98 -0500, Glen Sprigg wrote:
>Champions of the North included a reprinted Borealis character. Borealis is
>the big, nasty villain in Canada....
[snip]
>So here's my theory: Borealis is in fact Canada's greatest hero, and one of
>the most powerful in the world; he can take on Dr. Destroyer and hold his
>own for a while (I've tried it; the battle lasted three full turns before
>Destroyer got in a lucky shot and stunned Borealis). He knows about
>Invictus' ambitions, having learned of them early in both men's careers. So
>Invictus realizes that Borealis is the most dangerous opposition to his
>plans, both because he knows about them and because he's strong enough to
>take Invictus down in a firefight.
[snip]
>So now Borealis is fighting a silent war on two fronts; trying to stop
>Invictus' direct actions against him (in the form of Invictus' personal
>cadre of paranormals), while fending off political pressure from all sides.
>And all the time, Invictus continues to plot the downfall of democracy...
>
>What do you think?
Not a bad premise. I think it might've been more interesting if more
folks here were familiar with Invictus (as I happen to be). But the idea
of a villain posing as a hero vs the hero he's framed to make look like a
villain is an interesting twist that, in fact, hasn't really been explored
much in comics (though the syndicated cartoon "Street Sharks" did it nicely).
Where do the PCs fit into this, the way you have it set up?
- ---
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: Mon, 30 Nov 1998 14:18:00 -0800 (PST)
From: Ell Egyptoid <egyptoid@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: need loser villains
WHAT! wasn't this your thread to begin with?
You chose the babblings of some small child
over all the marvelous ideas proffered by your
colleagues here at champ-l? How dare you!
How could you ignore sheer genius like:
PIE-FACE:
has a massive stun-only energy blast, indirect, self-only,
only at his own face, no range, area-effect: 3.1415 hexes
in a line (plus its linked to a decent flash! :)
Now this powers seems useless at first, but Pie-Face
has nearly mastered the skill of standing in between his
target and where the pies come from. Many pies never even
hit Pie-Face at all, as he cleverly interposes twerp heroes...
==
Laissez le bon pim roulez! Elliott aka Egyptoid
_________________________________________________________
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------------------------------
Date: Mon, 30 Nov 1998 17:33:29 -0500
From: "Jason Galterio" <legionair@home.net>
Subject: Re: 4 lasers = one?
Do I sense another Linked debate coming up? :)
Jason
- -----Original Message-----
From: bobby farris <redbf@ldd.net>
To: Champions <champ-l@sysabend.org>
Date: Monday, November 30, 1998 1:10 PM
Subject: 4 lasers = one?
> I am building a spaceship for a science fiction game and am
>trying to figure out how to do a weapons system. The ship has 4 laser
>cannons that can be fired together in one attack or seperately. How do I
>buy this?
> Is is two seperate attacks? Could it be one attack with Auto
>Fire?
>
>
------------------------------
End of champ-l-digest V1 #57
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Date: Friday, January 08, 1999 03:55 PM