Chat about the game...

Hey mate glad you set up an new rules forum, to be honest the guys are having a conversation several magnitudes above me. I kinda find rules discussion heavy going anyway. Maybe its my age, but I can't get too excited about it.

Anyway things are busy right now, but if I can think of some ideas for the different levels I will do.

Sj

How about something about being a SMITE agent as a post level?

So, not related exactly to this game.. but Paul has been trying to talk me into joining the Lore Knights. I'm currently bouncing a few ideas around in my head.. Thought I might ask for some suggestions though!

So, not related exactly to this game.. but Paul has been trying to talk me into joining the Lore Knights. I'm currently bouncing a few ideas around in my head.. Thought I might ask for some suggestions though!

We have a masked martial artist and we have a hooded low-level brick. Since we are trying for a pulp feel and pulp heroes instead of straight superheroes since the pulp heroes were actually the forefathers of superheroes, other kinds of pulp heroes I could suggest include:

1. Jungle Lords/Queens - Tarzan, The Phantom, Sheena, Nyoka, Lorna and others - some of whom had magical abilities or powers. Some could talk to animals. At least one could grow to 10' in height. Some of whom were well-educated and spoke very well but preferred living in the jungles.
2. Magicians - surprisingly very few with real magic spell casting powers, almost all are hypnotizing types but there were some that had some kind of mystical object that could be used to combat mystical monsters - ghost, vampires, werewolves and mummies. There were some that were telepaths but didn't have mind blasts. A small handful that could cast illusions.
3. Masked Crimefighters who might have one or two small powers - The Shadow [in pulps learned how to move in shadows to stay hidden ala ninja type ways and seemed able to pull shadows a bit closer to him to help hide himself but on the radio actually could turn invisible], the Black Bat who could see in the dark and pretended to be a blind man, The Avenger his face was paralyzed by a great tragedy and as a result could manipulate his face to disguise himself to look like anyone with the aid of a bit of make up and wigs, Captain Zero who turned invisible at sunset and didn't reappear until sunrise.
4. Gadget Crimefighters - best example of this is Doc Savage who had a vest that had all sorts of gadgets he could use like smoke capsule, gas capsules, a tube with attachments that could convert it into a telescope, microscope, periscope or even a simple breathing tube for underwater and other fun stuff, or the Moon Man who had a glass-type globe helmet in the form of the moon and could apparently make it shine so bright it blinded everyone around him and apparently let him see at night; or the Green Hornet with his souped up car the Black Beauty and a few other small gadgets like listening and recording devices to catch crooks with and his gas gun. Most of these types were brilliant scientists who made their own gadgets and were very rich.
5. Plain ole private detectives, either rich like in the Thin Man or poor like in the Maltese Falcon. Oriental Detectives like Charlie Chan and Mr. Moto.
6. Two-fisted engineers/archaeologists/doctors/sailors or any other world traveling type of he-man.
7. Space Opera types like Flash Gordon. Some of them had a few adventures on Earth, flying around with rocket packs and swords or maybe a raygun or both.
8. Masters of Disguise were big too. The Phantom Detective was the longest running.
9. Soldiers of Fortune or cowboys or rich millionaire cowboys from Texas.
10. Pilots were very big in this time period. Lots of pulp stories about ex-WW1 pilots flying around in the 30s solving crimes and fighting masterminds. G-8 and His Battle Aces dealt with a pilot who was also a master spy. Dusty Ayres was another ace pilot series. Captain Midnight was another. Tailspin Tommy another.
11. Kid Adventurers - but they usually have a he-man type guardian who does all the heavy fighting, while they help from the sides.

A 1940s comic book character I could point you to is Sargon the Sorcerer who was a stage magician who helped the police solve crimes. In actuality, he could control anything he touched that day and passed that real magic off as stage magic - sleight of hand, mirrors, escape artists tricks, etc.

Hope that helps.

It does! I'm actually playing around with kind of a Max Payne inspired character. I'm looking through my book for something like 'bullet time' Other then that he'll be a normal human PI type. Or I might go the highlander rout.. a normal human who cant be killed. How do those sound theme wise?

While the name Max Payne rings a bell, I never played the game so can't comment on that but the PI route is a good one. Only thing is, he would have to be a world traveling PI since we are currently in Egypt and heading for India if I don't get us all killed in my next rounds of actions.

So maybe a rich PI with a gimmick or single power or small powers or gadget[s]? I don't see why the Highlander route wouldn't be very pulpish.

Here's an idea: From the guys who created Superman - Dr.Occult
The character first appeared in New Fun Comics #6 in 1935. He was a supernatural detective, whose detecting style was very much in the style of Sam Spade, only with supernatural abilities. He was assisted by his butler Jenkins in one adventure. His girlfriend/partner called Rose Psychic appeared in his first adventure and then returned again later in the series.

He also appeared in Centaur Publications' The Comics Magazine #1 under the name "Dr. Mystic". This was the same character because his story, "The Koth and the Seven", began in The Comics Magazine and continued in DC's More Fun Comics #14-17 (issues also designated as vol. 2, #2-5). In this story, he travels to a mystic realm where he flies and wears a cape, making him the first caped comic book superhero. This story also introduced the Seven, a group of mystics who would later be retconned into having raised Richard Occult and Rose Psychic. Doctor Occult made his last original appearance in More Fun Comics #32 in 1938

He had a mystical artifact - Mystic Symbol of the Seven: With it he can repel and exorcise various supernatural beings, and even repel certain natural forms of energy. Trenchcoat and fedora was his usual outfit.

Or a PI with mind reading abilities. Such as the Radar character, another trenchcoat hero:
Radar, International Policeman was born Pep Pepper, the son of a circus strong man and a mentalist mother.

From them he gained his more than ordinary strength, telepathy, and “radar sense” [which meant he could pick up radio signals in his head] which he used as an international policeman under the authority of “four great nations” to fight crime, anarchy and fascism.

Starting in Captain Marvel Comics # 35, Radar was soon moved to Master Comics, he was never a big star among the Fawcett heroes, however he was the featured player in “Comics Novel” first and only issue.

Or you could be like the Whistler, who had an eerie whistle that would unnerve crooks at just the right time. He could also do a very loud piercing whistle. A very silly power on the surface but played right, could be very effective.

Be nice if you could speak a few languages too. We have to rely on our NPC to translate everything currently. That and a bit of money would help us a lot since my character is a dock worker who got superpowers. That doesn't pay well, pre-union, don't ya know>

Max Payne is pretty gritty, I mostly ment the games gimmick.. if you pushed a button you got a few seconds of Matrex style bullet time. I was thinking of the power to be out of synch with normal time. Basically everyone else is slowed down in comparison. The whole 'watching bullets in motion' thing.

I can probably pull in some money, especially if I roll in some of the highlanderish 'immortal' things.. Or heck, A little Time Travel even. Both would work great for building some cash. On one hand if you've been around a while, even a small initial investment can end up rather large. On the other, just watch the lotto or markets, or buy a bit of gold and go back in time with winning lotto numbers/invest in a company you know is good/sell the gold and invest in a bank, then come back.

Bit surprised to find the Executive group is still existing on Yahoo even though the last post was almost three years ago. And dug around a bit and found most of the old character sheets still there.

Here's what old Wandafar looked like combat and skll-wisse back then:

EGO STR DEX VIG
Rolled 12 Rolled 11 Rolled 12 Rolled 13
Modified 12 Modified 17 Modified 12 Modified 18
MOVEMENT 6 Defence Class Div/ 0 Div/ 0
RUN 6 D.C. 6 HTK 71 HTC 66
FLY TYPE:- Std
DODGE MODIFER DAM MODIFER
1 2
FRAMES / ROUND STK MODIFIER
4 0
Pushback ENERGY POINTS Per/5Rds
Threshold Type: Vibration 15
25 Type: : Recover :- 1D6P/H Recover :-1 1D6 P/R
Type: : Hospitalized Stag Stun
Type: 7 13.2 7
USUAL ATTACKS W.C. DAMAGE NOTES
Vibration 3 max 10d6
Fist/Foot 2 2d6HTC+2






SUPERPOWERS AND ADV B.G's EQUIPMENT CARRIED
Communicator
Mini-computer
Brilliant Scientist - Mechanical Tracers
Contacts - Government
Skills - Computer Knowledge
Energy Attacks - Vibration
Precision - Energy Attack
Sense Energy Fields
Larger - heavier version


Energy blast sucked back then. I wonder what he looks like now under the DC Hero rules we are currently using? Bet he is a lot tougher now that energy blast is a good power under the new rules.

Energy Blasts are nearly broken if you take them down to FC 1.. which is only a -2 adjustment! Then they're insanely cheep to get to quite high levels. I suspect this is the reason we have a distinct cap to how high our stuff is allowed to be!

DavidMcMahon wrote:Bit surprised to find the Executive group is still existing on Yahoo even though the last post was almost three years ago. And dug around a bit and found most of the old character sheets still there.

I should look on their for my old character. It seems like a long time since we played in the Executive.

Good fine Dave. I do remember you saying a lot about energy blast and how with Wandafar it was all but useless past the first round. Such a shame, funnily enough I am seeing Simon Burley, in a couple of weeks time. I've done a lot of art for him over the years, but this is the first time we are going to meet each other.

Sj

you will find practically all the characters in the spreadsheet file.

Doh. Wanted to update tonight but have been sidetracked by the announcement of the cancellation of the Marvel Heroic RPG. I wasn't particularly struck on the game but it's the third that's been cancelled (by Marvel) in 15 years or so (Marvel Saga, Marvel Universe RPG, Marvel Heroic) and its annoying. Doubtless there will be a bunch of suits in a room that say "Mickey Mouse toilet roll holders are doing ok, Hulk lunch boxes not so good." "can the lunch boxes. What's this Marvel Heroic RPG?" "Nerd game, sells in the thousands. Quite popular." "Thousands? How did THAT get a license? CAN IT!"

Any profitable line that brings in cash is cash that wouldn't otherwise be there, but there may be more to the story - perhaps sales weren't enough to justify the high license fee, but I guess we won't know. So, Marvel Heroic, RIP.

And apologies for not getting my updates out. Nnngh. And yes, Lionheart/Frostbite (Dave) your dangling thread won't be left dangling for much longer... in fact it's not really a thread at all. More of a fuse.... *sound of hissing as fire runs along the fuse...*

I do not know the sales figures for the game, but if it sells in the thousands, then it would not be described as popular by anyone outside of the industry, and yes, would make it liable for cancellation. In addition, while it might draw some money, I think you are right, that it is not enouh, given the licensing fees. For iinstance, suppose they put all that effort into it and only make 500 dollars after expenses and fees and salaries, etc. Certainly that is money they had not had before, but why continue with that, when you can cancel the line, and assign everyone to work on something else, something that will hopefully make more money? And given what it says on the producers' page at http://margaretweis.com/21-home-page/56-pipleine-news they do say that they had an ambitious licensing scheme. So, perhaps reality dod not match the ambition. It is a pity though, as with the marvel movies doing so well, a game might be able to tap into that synergy somehow.

All told though, I really have no feelings about it going away. I have only ever played the TSR Marvel game (FASERIP), so this notice does not really affect me at all. But I am sorry for you, if this was a good game that you enjoyed.

Only played it once. The biggest problem I had with it was that it rated traits (so no traditional abilities as per other games or FASERIP, for example) from D6 (normal human) to D12 (thor, Hulk, Silver Surfer etc). So from D8 (example Daredevil, Black Widow, Iron Fist) to D10 (Spiderman, Luke Cage, Cyclops) to D12 (Hulk, Thor, Colossus, Thing, Silver Surfer) and that's it. You see the problem? Bunch everyone up means characters can play on the same team, but all kinda look the same, and Thor is somewhat more powerful (or should be), than say, Wasp. Sure, Wasp often saves the day, and this was their point - it's a roleplaying game about comic books, rather than about characters, and in the comic books all sorts of things happen rather than it boiling down to hard numbers. It was different, quirky, but for old farts like me who were raised on Superworld, Champions, Villains and Vigilantes, Marvel Superheroes, DC Heroes and various other games, it's a marked departure from the norm, and those things traditionally don't do well - they have two failed Marvel games before it as proof. Character creation was a hand waving affair too. No point buy or roll, just decide what the character can do and go with it.

So yeah, it's gone. No tears shed, aside from annoyed that no one can make a decent RPG with the Marvel license that stays the course. All have their merits, but that's three Marvel games cancelled in 15 years. Not a great track record. They look for D&D sales levels and get small press sales levels and wonder why, when there's no advertising, distribution is iffy (at best - in the UK it was via Amazon after weeks of waiting or not at all) and the sourcebooks are based on events rather than characters. If you didn't like the events, you were outta luck.

To be honest after all that I'm surprised it lasted (about a year) as long as it did. *shrug*

Right, let's see if I can get an update or two done before my train turns up!

So, I tossed a few posts up into the rules thread that are just of some fun things I found in the BoH book while looking up the perception rules.. because I had no idea how they worked. It's fairly rules light, especially in comparison to what's been in there so far.

I also grabbed the BoH text for Aura of Fear for Dave M as he's asked about how specifically it works a couple times. For those interested, take a look at the last page.

Will take a look - playing catchup as usual

In the best interests of all concerned, and to prevent further distractions, I will be stepping away. Thank you all for your time and patience.

I've sent you a pm, but will repeat the message here. Good players are hard to find, and though we had our differences with rules interpretations, I harbour absolutely no ill will whatsoever towards you Dee. Quite the opposite actually, and I'm sad to see you go. If you ever wish to come back you'll be welcomed.

Thanks, and best wishes, Paul

By the way, since Alex would be able to tell essentially right off the bat.. are any of Haunts powers supernatural in origin? I'm trying to think of how to play the eventual meet up.

By the way, since Alex would be able to tell essentially right off the bat.. are any of Haunts powers supernatural in origin? I'm trying to think of how to play the eventual meet up.

Not a single one of them. Or at least I don't believe so since I didn't write his origin that way. The Aura of Fear and Fog come from his costume, though they don't quite follow the gadget rules just a misc power limitation of needing the costume to make the powers work. The rest of his powers are his own with and without costume that he got from being tortured nearly to death and having an experimental acid poured all over his body as well as other drugs pumped into him. But our GM COULD decide that Rush King actually did die during that torture and came back with supernatural powers and is totally unaware of this fact.

Putty existed in the present day Nazis won the war universe. Anyman existed in the WW2 universe. This new universe didn't have a Putty/Anyman since he didn't exist prior to the Nazis won the war universe split off from the original universe so he was totally lost from existence when he stepped through the portal to our present day and time. However, nature abhors a vacuum and someone with Putty/Anyman's powers needed to exist, which is why the Haunt got his powers. Is that a supernatural reason or a super-science reason that the whole Universe declares you shall exist?

I guess we will find out when the Haunt meets your character and the GM tells us what's what. hehehe!

But there are diffidently no memories of Putty or Anyman inside the Haunt or any other past lives.

In a 'version 2' of your character David I can make the Haunt costume a 'true' gadget if you like. At the moment all his powers are inbuilt, but some require the costume as a focus - think Captain Britain type thing, whereby the power is innate but without the costume he has little or no control over it.

We can also change the character so that he is a true 'spirit' who inhabits the forms of ordinary people who become the Haunt for a while, then wake up 'haunt free' with the spook wandering off to possess another unfortunate body. The Haunt could be man, woman, child, animal even... Don't know what would freak the bad guys out worse - a ghostly horse who kicks their ass or the horse talking, Mr Ed style...

Thanks but not thanks. Gadget rules make my head hurt.

While I like the idea of him being a true spirit, it seems to be shades of Quantum Leap, a TV series I liked way back when but I think I will stick with him pretending to be supernatural instead of actually being one.

Heh, well the gadget rules in DC Heroes are notorious. An armoured suit or huge gun? No problem. A fork? Ah, not so good. Gadget rules in the game should have some kind of subtitle called 'Prototype creation' as under the rules a fork would cost a fortune to make and be a nuisance to put together in a lab.

So some of the powers are inbuilt at the moment, and the focus is the suit. No suit no powers (in Fog and the other ones case). No probs.

Be updating everyone tomorrow - had intended to tonight but I'm up at 4am for work and really need to hit the sack for my 5 hours of broken sleep, sorry. Hope everyone had a nice weekend (I saw Iron man 3 last night - was pretty good and went to the seaside today. Was expecting sun and warmth, so my t-shirt didn't offer much protection against overcast and bracing cool sea breezes. Brrrrrr.)

Cheers, Paul

Wouldn't a fork just be a gadget with 1 body that can be taken away in combat? .. meaning it would cost about 1 HP and a wealth check at 1 wealth would be enough to make it..

That's to bad about the weather, still, have a good night Paul. Hope you get more rest then you're expecting!

Theoretically Alex could take a nap as well. His regeneration power kicks in whenever he's unconscious after all, not just when hes been knocked out.

OOOHHHHH!!!!!! Take insomnia as a disad!!!!!!!