Chat About the Games Part Two

Hey, found a "new" author some of you might like - Darryle Purcell. He's been writing the Hollywood Cowboy Detective series since 2014. I stumbled across him in the later part of last year while digging around Amazon. They are a quick fun read with a very pulp-era/radio era/movie serial style of writing. He mixes fictional and real characters of the time and real events of the time.

I've read the first 3 novels and am in the middle of reading the first Man of the Mist novel right now. I'll probably get the whole series in the next few months.

Here's an interesting write up about him from the menspulpmags.com website breaking down the stories:

https://www.menspulpmags.com/darryle-purcell-and-his-manly-pulpy-hollywood-cowboy-detectives/


Since Steeplejack and the Haunt might be heading to the Pulp Era with their time jumping [hoping] after our Victorian Era adventures, you might find some nice ideas for them and even our 1950s adventures currently going on.

DavidMcMahon wrote:Hey, found a "new" author some of you might like - Darryle Purcell.  He's been writing the Hollywood Cowboy Detective series since 2014.  I stumbled across him in the later part of last year while digging around Amazon.  They are a quick fun read with a very pulp-era/radio era/movie serial style of writing.  He mixes fictional and real characters of the time and real events of the time.

I've read the first 3 novels and am in the middle of reading the first Man of the Mist novel right now.  I'll probably get the whole series in the next few months.

Here's an interesting write up about him from the menspulpmags.com website breaking down the stories:

https://www.menspulpmags.com/darryle-purcell-and-his-manly-pulpy-hollywood-cowboy-detectives/


Since Steeplejack and the Haunt might be heading to the Pulp Era with their time jumping [hoping] after our Victorian Era adventures, you might find some nice ideas for them and even our 1950s adventures currently going on.

Thanks for the suggestion David, have made a cursory glance at him his books on Kindle are really cheap, just a question of time.

Sj

Before Covid, most of my reading was done at lunch when I was out in the field seeing clients, so had an hour free, eating by myself or when a client canceled a lesson on arrival, had time to kill before the next client. so that was my major reading time. More reading time with Covid as I had to work from home and had little work to do.

His books are cheap but then again, they are usually less than 150 pages. Nothing deep about them but they are fun.

I'll take a look at the books. As a heads up I am away on holiday next week (22nd-29th January) and as usual I'll be taking a laptop along but can't guarantee the internet plays ball. It's my first holiday abroad with the current girlfriend and I'm not sure how things will go. Hopefully the weather will behave (Lanzarote so should be ok) and no more Covid related on/off/jump through hoop garbage but we'll see.

Currently re-reading Ex-Heroes by Peter Clines when I get a spare minute at work, which has been kicking my ass lately (long shifts, short breaks, too tired to do anything but drop into bed when I get home) but should hopefully ease when/if the current not called a dispute but is really is sorted out. Mostly I feel for the passengers. This morning a train was cancelled because of engineering works running late but when it was mentioned they were near completion I suggested that we reinstate the train rather than leave people on a 'freezing cold platform/not much warmer waiting room/bus replacement service in the pea soup fog that would take ages to get there' and the controller was like 'well I suppose we could'. *sigh* The train departed late, but did so back in service and with passengers rather than running empty stock as control initially wanted.

Sometimes it feels like walking through treacle. The Government has taken over running of the train network (covid related) and they have already told companies there are no penalties (it used to cost thousands of pounds per train to cancel) for binning a service if they do it the night before so it's been horrendous for regular travellers as the service is cut willy nilly. More cuts next month as the government seeks to save money.

I've always shied away from talking about politics but the current shower in charge really is like a bunch of headless chickens. They'll cut jobs to make it attractive for a sell off and whoever takes it on will have to hire more people in as the alternative is cancelling trains at X thousand per train because of no staff to run it and the penalties will be reintroduced for cancellations.

Still, all that will be a distant memory next week when I'm sat in the sun. Even if it rains, I won't be sat in a tin box on rails for 10 hours a day. I'll take that!

Admin wrote:Still, all that will be a distant memory next week when I'm sat in the sun. Even if it rains, I won't be sat in a tin box on rails for 10 hours a day. I'll take that!

Wow mate, thanks for sticking up for the little guy and doing the right thing even when it's unpopular. Hope the holidays go well, no worries about late or non-starter posts, you deserve a break mate and you shouldn't have to be worrying about checking posts, die rolls and so on ;-). Hope the weather holds but more importantly it's a refreshing rest as you switch off, step back and relax.

Sj

We just got an email from the director of our agency that we have to go back to teleworking for two weeks because of Omnicron version of Covid. Not exactly sure why since it isn't that big a bump in numbers and then the numbers declined fairly rapidly and it is the least lethal of the versions out there but who knows the minds of politicians?

So, lots more time spent reading and surfing the Net and streaming until February.

Have an idea for a short [?] run game of 1-3 adventures where Paul gets to be a Player/GM, if he is interested. I would run the story and he would do all the dice rolling since he knows his system best.

Just wondering if there is any interest in it.

This is set shortly after the current Lionheart/Miss Victory team-up.

HISTORY

In 1939, President FD Roosevelt authorized the super top secret umbrella program called Project G.I. Joe. It's purpose was to create a large cadre of super-powered servicemen to be ready to fight if the U.S. gets into a war with the Axis Powers. The creation of Captain America was one of the sub-projects under Project G.I. Joe, though others were also created, accidentally or on purpose, by various other sub-projects over the decades. [See Bruce Banner becoming the Hulk in the 1960s when exposed to the radiation of the Gamma Bomb, the development of which was another sub-project under Project G.I. Joe]. This project was finally shut down in 1975 with the end of the US's involvement in Vietnam and the anti-military stance of Congress that crippled the military for the next decade. In 2025, Project G.I. Joe will be declassified, 50 years after it end, and this information can become available to the public.

The military, over the Project's 35 year history, had a number of above board programs that servicemen wanting to be the next Captain America volunteered for. The second Shield [see The Double Life of Private Strong #1, June 1959] was one such success. They also had numerous programs where they experimented on millions of servicemen and women without their knowledge or express consent. They would add experimental serums to the battery of shots service folks would get when they entered basic training or when shipping out overseas. They exposed them to radiation. They added special additives to their rations. They exposed them to various gases while they were training in the tear gas chambers. They even tried magic or what they thought was magic. Any number of methods was tried and many resulted in medical problems in later life that the military denies culpability for [See Agent Orange debate]

[as an aside, when I was in Marine Boot Camp in the summer of 1980, it was taken as Gospel that they added saltpeter to our food to keep us from getting erections while in Basic Training.]

After the attack on Washington DC, the current President [whoever that turns out to be] was informed of this old project by the military and informed that their medical and science advisors believe that the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of these millions of previous servicemen and women might have had their DNA altered by these old events and with the knowledge of modern medical science their altered DNA could possibly be activated creating a new generation of super-soldiers. The President got Congress to approve a budget for a new Project G.I. Joe and every person who enlists or is commissioned is giving a blood test to search for altered DNA. If discovered, they are then asked to volunteer for the Project to see if they can acquire superpowers to combat the new menace to Earth.

The PCs would be a group of military folk, of the branch of their choice, fresh from training who get superpowers after volunteering for the Project. Sort of a combination of THUNDER Agents and the G.I. Joe cartoon. Their mission is to fight Advent and the dozens [hundreds?] of escaped supervillains who devastated the US.

================================

There will be special rules for creating your characters, including your rank. You choose your name, the branch of service - Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force or Space Command - and then roll a die to determine your rank when you start, which can affect your age. You roll high enough, you can be a newly commissioned 2nd Lt, 1st LT or Navy equivalent. You roll bad enough, you are a Private or equivalent.

Army Ranks
PRIVATE (PVT)

Private is the lowest rank. Most Soldiers receive this rank during Basic Combat Training. This rank does not carry an insignia.

Private (PV2)


PRIVATE SECOND CLASS (PV2)

Enlisted Soldiers generally receive this rank after either completion of Basic Combat Training, or six months of Army service.

Private First Class (PFC)
PRIVATE FIRST CLASS (PFC)

Soldiers are generally promoted to this level within a year by request of a supervisor. Soldiers serving at this rank make up the backbone of the Army. Their primary role is to carry out orders and complete missions.

Specialist (SPC)
SPECIALIST (SPC)

A specialist can manage other lower-ranked enlisted Soldiers. A Soldier can be promoted to this rank after serving a minimum of two years and attending a training class. Recruits with a four-year degree may enter Basic Combat Training as a specialist.

Corporal (CPL)
CORPORAL (CPL)

Corporal is the base level of the noncommissioned officer (NCO) ranks. Corporals serve as team leader of the smallest Army units. Like sergeants, they are responsible for individual training, personal appearance and cleanliness of Soldiers.

SERGEANT (SGT)

Sergeants typically command a fire team of around five Soldiers. Sergeants oversee Soldiers in their daily tasks, and are expected to set a standard for lower-ranked Soldiers to live up to.

SECOND LIEUTENANT (2LT)

Most officers enter the Army at second lieutenant. They lead platoon-size units consisting of a platoon sergeant and two or more squads (16 to 44 Soldiers).

First Lieutenant (1LT)
FIRST LIEUTENANT (1LT)

Officers generally reach the rank of first lieutenant after 18 to 24 months of service. Soldiers at this rank may lead more specialized weapons platoons and indirect fire computation centers.

You will basically be given a basic serviceman start character sheet, then from there, after a few rolls and a few choices, you will then spend your HP to finish creating your characters.

That's the idea. Any interest?

DavidMcMahon wrote:That's the idea.  Any interest?

Hi Dave

I am interested in this, but right now can't give it my attention, might be able to take a proper look next week it's just been so busy and messy with stuff coming up and whatnot. So not had the wherewithal to look at this until now.

But consider me interested.

Sj

Big one is to see if Paul's interested as I would need him for the dice rolling stuff. But glad to know there is interest. Now back to bed! 5am here.

I'm interested in playing! Also, I'm back! Got back late Saturday night and ended up spending all day yesterday washing/cleaning and transforming the house from a launderette/bomb site to tidy (well, tidy ish, this is a guy living on his own after all)!

Hope you are all well and ready to get stuck into the game again!

Watch out for updates during the day and the next few days. I do have some jobs to take care of (including a particularly pleasurable time spent under the car putting new brakes on. I suppose I could pay someone but by the time I've dropped the car off, picked it up and shelled out money I could get the brakes swapped out in about an hour of me lying on my back. No brainer really. just a bit chilly. Brrrr..)

Cheers, Paul

Great to have you back and sorry after your vacation, you have to go straight into fixing things again.  Then again, seems like you do enjoy fixing things, considering how often you seem to be doing it.  

I think I will call the game "Project GI Joe" but it is set after the Lionheart/Miss Victory adventure, so it will be at least a few months real time before it starts.  We need a President and a Congress to authorize and pay for it after the destruction of DC.

I'm going to do character creation a bit differently for the game.

More on it later.

Can you create me a forum subgroup or whatever you call it with that name?  Then I can create start a character creation post area and a background post area.  Thanks.

And any way of sort of squishing this pic as it's ... um ... header I guess you call it?





THANKS AGAIN!!

Had a go at setting something up. Will need to tweak it maybe. I think (years ago) I set it up so you guys (Dave E and M) were moderators/admins/whatever and able to add/modify/change posts as you see fit. The forum was getting busy with new players and some weren't that interested in playing nice with each other so I thought it a good idea to have someone who can keep things tidy if I was afk.

Have a look at the bottom of the forum under the various headings for 'administration panel'. I have one (because I set the forum up) but you guys should too. if not, I can have a dig around to set something up but be warned - there be dragons that way! By that I mean it's easy to misclick or misunderstand and delete stuff or change things without really knowing what you are doing. I'm no expert which is why I've been in there maybe half a dozen times in the last ten or twelve years or whatever it is.

Which comic is that picture from David? The art is reminiscent of the square jawed types John Byrne used to come up with. I love Byrnes' stuff but have to admit it's a bit samey. I took a guess at the new Crusaders, or Mighty Crusaders (depending on when it's from) but that's not right. That was the Archie comics line of Superheroes I used to read about from black and white reprints of the Fly/Flyman, Shield, Black Hood and others.

If you have any other pictures or preference for headers for a certain look let me know or point me in the right direction of art. As you can see for the last picture I used something from the Crusaders comics line ups so it sticks out a bit. Anyway, I've gotten the hang (again) of adding, tweaking and moving forums so if there's anything you need sorting out just holler.

As for game mechanics I have no problems sorting them out if you want. It's second nature now and there's no looking up anything, I just roll dice, apply the stats, look on the table (at the bottom of every post of mine) and resolve the actions. Just throwing it out there but what about Golden Heroes for old times sake Honestly I don't mind whatever you want to run with is good but I'd rather not learn any new (to me) systems as my old head has trouble soaking up new stuff these days!

Cheers, Paul

I can create new topics in a forum but I can't seem to create new forums like "The Vanguard and the Ultrahumans" or "1950s Ruby City Adventures".

They are public domain heroes from the 40s. I'll post the original cover it is from below. The fiery blue hero is called Blue Flame or Blue Torch, forget which, he only appeared in 1 maybe 2 stories and was a Human Torch knockoff. I have no idea who the two patriotic characters are, just some old golden age public domain heroes from some minor comic book publishers of the day. The artist actually did draw them after the style of John Byrne. Says so right on his signature on the cover.

BTW, was there a generic soldier write up in one of the DC Heroes books, maybe the All Stars at War sourcebook? If not, I will create my own write up that everyone can then build off of.

Had a look in the World at War book and the 1st Edition GMs book (the skills have changed some but otherwise the benchmarks are pretty much the same so still apply).


From the 'World at War' - the best sourcebook for the DC heroes game and one of the best for ANY game!


From 1st Edition DC heroes. Stats are more or less on a par but some of the skills change from 1st to 2nd/3rd edition, and there are Factor Costs added to buy stats and so on but still valid.


From Gms book 1st Edition. I guess US Army Rangers are the equivalent of Special Forces, so SAS, Spetsnaz and so on.

Bear in mind Skills for these characters in the game as written are practically useless and offer little or no benefit. That's as written.

When we switched (was it six, seven years ago? More probably? I rewrote a house rules doc in 2015 so there were one or two versions before that. Anyway, we've played long enough via our house rules to test them thoroughly.) to the way we do things now the chances of Skills being more useful increased dramatically. As written skills were expensive and useless as the cost meant to get any kind of decent level meant you'd be spending most of your points, which is why Batman is staggeringly expensive.

I think the way we do skills now is too cheap but only with the more common skills. Acrobatics, Martial Artist, Weaponry and possibly Detective could do with a look. Also the Dexterity (Dex) Attribute is far too wide ranging and cheap for what it is. That could do with a look at.

HOWEVER, I'm not suggesting anything with the rules at all, these are just my observations over the time we've spent testing, playing, tweaking and general trying to break stuff. This is your game, you run it how you like!

So for example if you are aiming for a maximum of 7-8 APs effect you might want to look at having players pay for Acting Value and Effect Value for powers separately. An Energy Blast is very cheap at BC15, FC3. Like, ridiculous cheap. With a serious burnout (I know you love those!) dropping that to FC1 you can easily buy 20APs which is madness for starting characters. You can blow Superman away if you catch him on the hop, especially with a Magic Blast.

I've said it before and will say it again. At some point I plan a rules lite rewrite of the game and leave out the clunky stuff, keeping only the barebones mechanics, powers, skills and advantages/drawbacks/limitations. Gadgetry can be referred to in the existing books. Trying to make much sense out of those rules is akin to herding cats.

Anyway, you need any help or suggestions, fire away or you want me to shut up that's fine. I hope Dave E chirps in too but depends on how much is on his plate, obviously.

Thanks, that helped.  What I am currently thinking of is that everyone starts off as so:

Dex/Str/Body: 3
All other stats are 2.

Skills;
Military Science 2
Weaponry 2

Then 3 pts, actual not HP, to spend on rank and/or subskills that reflect what MOS [Military Occupational Skills] they had.  So if a player wanted their character to be an Air Force Pilot or Space Force Pilot/Astronaut, they would buy the rank/advantage Officer for one point and then two points to spend on their appropriate pilot subskill.  Helicopter pilot needs to be either a Warrant Officer or Officer, so they would have to buy that rank/advantage for one point and then two points into their specialty - rotary craft.  Using the optional Vehicle/Weapons Specialization rule from BOH page 118.

For non-specialized MOS's, the player would roll 1d6, ignore a six and re-roll, and whatever number that comes up, that's their rank, E-1 to E-5.  Also toying with the idea that if you roll a six, you could get Warrant Officer 1 or 2 or Officer rank O-1 or O-2.  That would be rolling 1d4 to determine which rank.  Open to suggestions there.

https://www.military-ranks.org/army

Ranks listed above with general idea of jobs they can do.

example:
John Smith enlisted in the army out of high school and the player rolls 1d6 [online dice roller used here https://rolladie.net/] and gets a 5.  That means he has been in the Army long enough to obtain the rank of E-5 or Sergeant.  It's a minimum of 36 months to reach the rank of Sergeant, so he would be aged appropriately.  The player decides just to make his character a grunt and puts his three subskill points into Weaponry, Military Science and Medicine subskills, specifically subskill Firearms, subskill Field Command and subskill First Aid.

So at the start, he would look like this:

Sgt John Smith  Age 21
Dex 3  Str 3  Body 3
Int 2  Will 2  Mind 2
Infl 2  Aura 2  Spirit 2

Skills:

Military Science 2   Subskill Field Command 1
Weaponry 2           Subskill firearms 1
Medicine  0            Subskill first aid 1

The subskills would kind of be like our Accuracy house rules skill, it adds to the base skill when it is used.  So Sgt Smith would have a 3 when using a firearm but only a 2 when using grenades or any other non-firearm Weaponry skill.  When commanding troops in the field, he uses a 3 for Field Command rolls.

And then he gets superpowers.  Base 450 plus 50 for origin bonus [which is half-written already just fill in the rest] and another 300 points for disads for a total of an 800 point character.  Though in truth it is a 800+ point character since you get the above stats and skills for free.

50 point origin bonus -
1. Player decides which branch of service they are in.
2. They can either buy a high rank for a point or roll randomly for their rank.
3. Spend their 2-3 remaining subskill points to fit their military specialty.
4. Come up with how the military helped them get their superpowers.
5. Name their hero.  Their identities are semi-secret.  The military command will know their ID but will publicly address them by their superhero name.


example of 4 and 5:

Sgt Smith gets an increase in his physical stats due to being exposed to a special gas that was mixed in with the normal tear gas that they train soldiers to learn to withstand long enough to put on their gas masks.

His physical stats are now:

Dex 9 [84 HP - the 7 he started with Dex of 2 = 74 HP]
Str 10 [96 HP -the 6 he started with the Str of 2 = 90 HP]
Body 10 [96 HP - the 6 he started with the Body of 2 = 90 HP]
254 HP spent so far, leaving him 46 HP to spend elsewhere such as his mental stats or other powers or skills.
He decides to call himself Sgt. Strong.  The military makes him a special superhero outfit and introduces him to the world.

Looking this over, this will be a somewhat low level campaign.  Teen Titans level I guess with damage in the 7-10 range at the start.

That's the idea anyways for character creation.  Still using Project G.I. Joe origin I originally mentioned when starting to flesh this out.  Every hero who gets powers for this game would be descended from prior service family member who was exposed to the various tests without their knowledge or permission in most cases, with their knowledge and permission in some.

So, comments anyone?

The member 'DavidMcMahon' has done the following action : d10

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'D12' : 5

Forgot this place had a dice roller. That said it is pretty clunky and means I'd be posting, checking the result, typing up a response then starting a new post for the next die roll/response. I use Wizards of the Coast Die roller and copy/paste the results.

Fine with power levels. They'd be (on the imaginary Bergstrom Power Scale we use - now with added range up to ten (from the original five)) probably a 3 or 4. A two on the old scale of 1-5, about what you'd get with the typical Golden Heroes rolled character back in the day (with one being trained ninja type but still human, 2 being teen titans equivalent, 3 is Spiderman, Luke Cage Street level but still very capable, 4 is a big hitter like iron Man or Thing, 5 is your general off the scale type like Superman, Wonder Woman, Thor, Wonder Man, Hulk, Doctor Strange and so on).

Anyway, more from me later. Dave E if you want help cooking up a character, holler! I've had a 'bit' of practise over the years and I cheat - I use an ancient program to do all the adding up!

ooc: Apparently it only rolls d12s. So not helpful at all.
I should get around to emailing our other two players and see if they want to join in as well.

Ok, I've put up the background stuff for Project GI Joe down the in the new forums for the game. Post any questions or character ideas you may have there.

Will have a look at character ideas at the weekend. Currently at work on a break and internet iffy, but might be able to get a couple of posts up before I bundle everything in my bag and head to Newcastle...

Been up to my eyeballs this week Currently having to step round dozens of boxes rescued from the lock up. When I split from the wife most of the RPG stuff went in boxes all neat and tidy. The tools started that way but by the end (and running out of time) I needed to vacate and am finding now how rushed things were with paperwork and stuff mixed with all sorts of junk and useful stuff. I knew I'd 'get there' sometime but not quite 'there' yet. At some point I'll board the rest of the loft out (previous owners did a bit then gave up). I'll also replace the front door and think about digging the drive up to do a proper job of it. Then in the afternoon of that day I'll have a cold beer and reflect back on a good mornings' work

Will see what I can get updated today, thanks as ever for your patience chaps!!

Admin wrote:Been up to my eyeballs this week Currently having to step round dozens of boxes rescued from the lock up. When I split from the wife most of the RPG stuff went in boxes all neat and tidy. The tools started that way but by the end (and running out of time) I needed to vacate and am finding now how rushed things were with paperwork and stuff mixed with all sorts of junk and useful stuff. I knew I'd 'get there' sometime but not quite 'there' yet. At some point I'll board the rest of the loft out (previous owners did a bit then gave up). I'll also replace the front door and think about digging the drive up to do a proper job of it. Then in the afternoon of that day I'll have a cold beer and reflect back on a good mornings' work

Will see what I can get updated today, thanks as ever for your patience chaps!!

I guess this is making progress if only at a glacial level. Well done mate, must be tough getting all the disparate bits of your life back together. No worries about the time taken, life is busy right now this end as well.

Sj

Work still busting my butt. Last day (of six long shifts on the bounce) tomorrow and a few days off so expect some nice relaxing (for me) catch up posts

In other news I am off on holiday (again) in early March to Lanzarote (again) but this time on my own (other half can't get time off) and there'll be lots of time to keep the games flowing as my earlier reconnaissance in January revealed my internet works fine when I actually get chance to use it.

As for the holiday, well, it's sort of catch up for the last three and a half years. Had a bunch of days off work, friends are going out there so I can meet up every other day (they are a married couple so don't want to be an uncomfortable hanger on) and otherwise chill out. Making the most of the time off I guess. If I didn't go away I'd feel compelled to fix things on the house and I need a rest from that before I throw myself into it again.

Updates tomorrow (early and through the day). Cheers, Paul

Admin wrote:Work still busting my butt. Last day (of six long shifts on the bounce) tomorrow and a few days off so expect some nice relaxing (for me) catch up posts

In other news I am off on holiday (again) in early March to Lanzarote (again) but this time on my own (other half can't get time off) and there'll be lots of time to keep the games flowing as my earlier reconnaissance in January revealed my internet works fine when I actually get chance to use it.

As for the holiday, well, it's sort of catch up for the last three and a half years. Had a bunch of days off work, friends are going out there so I can meet up every other day (they are a married couple so don't want to be an uncomfortable hanger on) and otherwise chill out. Making the most of the time off I guess. If I didn't go away I'd feel compelled to fix things on the house and I need a rest from that before I throw myself into it again.

Updates tomorrow (early and through the day). Cheers, Paul

I can well understand the need to get away, or you'll end up working away. I am off next week myself, I am only away for two days but otherwise around as there is much that needs to be done at home. Anyway mate, have a great time away. Update as you can.

Sj

I updated the rules a bit for making a character for Project GI Joe. Give it a look and let me know what you think.