My posting rate...

Doesn't sound like much fun (having a cataract removed that is) but if it helps you see better must be worth it

I'm on long shifts this week (11 hours/day) but will aim to update every day and keep things moving. Had a day off yesterday (on the beer, so recovering today) but we'll see what can be done today. Lore Knights game should wrap in a day or two (maybe).

When I'm back from hols I hope to have something to offer you guys in the way of a new unified game mechanic. I'm aware that with all the house rules the GH rules have become somewhat muddled but shouldn't need too much of a fix. We won't get too bogged down with rules/mechanics because the story is more important.

Other than that, any/all suggestions always welcome. If anyone knows of another player who might like to join in, feel free to invite them

Cheers, Paul

No holidays for me or trips. Biggest thing I'm thinking about is having a cataract removed during the Thanksgiving Weekend in November. Be taking a week off for that but that means I'm home and playing on the computer more than usual.

HI Paul

thanks for the update, its good to know you are surviving on the other end of the keyboard ;-). I often think you put the characters through a lot, but as players we no doubt do the same right back with what our characters try to do ;-).

No not away other than to see family and what not. But fortunately with a laptop and wireless access and my wife's parents place, we're good even when we're away. Its being on holiday by ourselves that it gets more tricky these days.

Sj

Just today to get through (finished a 13 hour shift earlier, have to hit shower and sack before next shift at 0300) then shorter shifts rest of week so will be up to speed and (I hope) up to posting more than once/day though I know it's tricky getting to post when the sun is shining outside and duty (of one kind or another) calls.

I'm on holiday for 10 days from 24th July, first hols abroad for 4 years so hope you don't begrudge me that! I think there will be internet access at the hotel but whether I get to use it is another thing... Just off to spain, easiest place for kids etc, though I am under no illusions as to the type of holiday I will be having - all work, running about after everyone else!

Anyone else away?

I aim to get Dunkirk finished up then the first post of the next 'period' of the war, but I'm sure there will be twists and turns in the plot before then that might give me cause to tear up my plans and try something else! It won't all be war and battles - there were 'pockets' away from the fighting - but Britain is a rough place to be in the early 40s, especially when the blitz takes on a whole new meaning with weapons from the future being used...

Yup, done all that undercooked meat stuff over the weekend. I expect I will suffer for it in the next day or so

Went to York Raceway where the MOPAR yank muscle car stuff had a meeting. My mate bought a Dodge Charger a couple of weeks ago (same as from 'Dukes of Hazzard', save this one is black) from one of the guys out of the 'Prodigy' band (Liam Howlett, not Keith Flint who is the scary looking fellow) so we went camping and had beers etc. Touch and go whether we went because the weather was forecast lousy and the last time we camped (at Santa Pod last year) we more or less drowned it rained so hard! Anyway, aside from a few minutes here and there of rain it was pretty good, only time we've managed to get to a show thus far this year, so I figured I'd pile stuff into the car and go.

Back, tired, need a shower, then bed and up for work at 00.45, but will see what I can manage with regards updates. Think I might have a pic or two of his car somewhere (it's an 8.3 litre 500+ hp beast, but a bit of a tank weighing 2 tons. Still goes sideways when he nails it...)

Cool, where is that? Im off to Truxton in August, camping with some mates and eating a mixture of under cooked and charcoal burgers.............wouldnt miss it for the world

Bit last minute, sorry! Off to a car show (camping overnight). Was going to take laptop but car full already, back tomorrow so updates for all then. I will be hung over and suffering from undercooked burgers disease I should think... Have a good weekend all! Cheers, Paul

Rather makes my 'squared off' thumb seem a bit tame in comparison. Don't think I'll try to top his power saw trick...

Working hellish long hours this week (12 hour days), on my dinner break right now posting from the laptop so will see what I can get done, but I won't rush/post any old rubbish just to keep things moving. There may be shorter posts, and some may argue my posts qualify as 'any old rubbish' anyway

Just a heads up - still here, always will be here, but tricky getting to a keyboard sometimes - especially when it's so warm as well! The laptop is sluggish as well - think it throttles speed when it gets hot...

At least you haven't done as my grandfather did and cut off a finger at the knuckle while using a power saw, shruging at it and going back to work after wrapping the stub with a handkerchief.

Four days of playing Pathfinder, finally home. Tomorrow evening the last day until Thursday. Now to catch up.

Updates tomorrow (Saturday). I sliced the end of my thumb off (only a few mm) whilst preparing my packed lunch (of all things) and it's proving too clumsy to type with (not to mention I've started it off bleeding again). Should be alright by tomorrow and I have a big flap of skin to snip off. Probably more detail than was required, but I swear I'm so clumsy sometimes it's mind boggling how I'm still in one piece (if I were to shave my hair off I'd be covered in scars gathered from over the years where I'd tried to break something hard with my head inadvertently...). The Vanguardians have been reasonably successful in slowing the Nazis down and foiling their plans...

Coming soon - the 'Empire' strikes back...

Done with nights this week (finished a 12 hours shift about an hour and half ago) but will need a bit of time to catch up - my eyeballs are rattling in their sockets :S Thanks for your patience as usual

Am on nights this week so my posting is a bit all over the place. At work tonight (Sunday) at 20.00 but will hopefully get chance to update from the laptop, though things like graphics, maps and illustrations will have to wait till I get home. Also with 4 Vanguard threads (5 if jamat returns, but it's not looking likely?) to update and a Lore Knights thread, we're looking at one decent update a day, more if I get chance but can't promise. Once the Lore Knights adventure is done (hopefully this week - dungeon crawls don't last too long ) I'll take stock of the game system we used and switch attention to the Vanguard. The Lore Knights will continue, but are of secondary importance to the Vanguard in my book. besides that, there are a few more game systems out there and I have started on a 'Golden Heroes mk II' ruleset for us to try. Using 2D10 instead of D20, I want opposed rolls so it's harder to hit more agile foes instead of better armoured foes (as GH does - it's very old school, like D&D back in the day) and having a single unified mechanic for all tests. A hybrid DC/GH/Marvel Super Heroes/whatever else I can hack on system. No deadline on that. It will be first seen in the updated house rules document though. I'm already considering switching our GH game to 2D10 and doubles add/roll over ('explode') which makes combat more 'explosive'. The trick is to get the balance right - fights over too quick have no meaning. Fights that take a week or longer kill interest. As usual, before I do anything, I will PM you all and get ideas/thoughts/acceptance.

It's possible we'll stick to GH rules, heavily house ruled (the 20 exploding I like, but doesn't come up to often, and I like the Energy blast multiplier rules. plus combat being a one roll job seems much much faster from my point of view, dunno about you guys?)

Anyhow, I'll quit waffling and go to bed. Up in 5 hours

Quick heads up - seen the various posts, but been out all day and now due to hit sack (up in 6 hours for work) so updates tomorrow... thanks as ever for your patience gentlemen

Vigour sounds good, might let me survive a bit longer in a flight. Also like I said before if we get stuck in space or underwater it might give me a few more options story wise

The longer the game goes on, SS will be more familiar with his powers. Forming his suit into a metal case should be no problem after a bit of practise. I was thinking he'd need to carry a normal suitcase for a while, pour is metal in then take it out of the case, Once he's done that enough he can learn to form it into the basic shape without the suitcase. power wise, which did you go for? Strength, Energy attack or vigour?

Sounds good mate. I also thought that when silver sentinel wills his armour off/power down he could will said metal into a easily item to carry for example a suitcase. You know iron man should do the same thing *cough*

Higher vigour would allow him to hold his breath for a while. And take a heck of a lot more hits. Being able to dole it out (higher grade energy blast or strength) also very very useful for keeping fights short and in your favour. Some of the powers in GH are hopeless and weak, more for 'flavour'. I rank being able to breath in one environment (but not in another, so space and under water would need two separate powers?) as being an example of a rubbish power...

Gimp suited ...... damn you lol. Well I wouldn't say no to a new power. Would the shit not need to breath be totally lame? It might come in handy if we are in space again or under water yet again lol. If not being a bit more nippy

Start the new issue later today if possible (couldn't get long enough at keyboard to type yesterday!). Ross/Silver Sentinel, want to add another power to our armoured hero/gimp suited avenger?

Admin wrote:Poxy night shifts and 12 hours between 12 hour shifts for the next day so if I don't get updated at some point today it's because I've been in bed then got up and gone to work. Sucks, I know, but only one day. From wednesday off for a week, so back up to speed would like to start on the dunkirk issue (there is still a war going on!) so I'll have to stop throwing spanners in the works...

Right, Bedtime zzzzzz

Sorry to hear how its been mate, its a real credit to you that more than anyone else I know (I've been in three other PBEM's) you've exceeded theirs by many months of work, or by volume of work consistently. That you do this whilst raising a family, doing shifts and so on, is itself amazing.

Now about those spanners, I wanted to ask you, can we get to the moon...I mean are we there yet? ;-).

Sj

Poxy night shifts and 12 hours between 12 hour shifts for the next day so if I don't get updated at some point today it's because I've been in bed then got up and gone to work. Sucks, I know, but only one day. From wednesday off for a week, so back up to speed would like to start on the dunkirk issue (there is still a war going on!) so I'll have to stop throwing spanners in the works...

Right, Bedtime zzzzzz

Just a heads up - will be slightly out of the loop today as am out with friends messing about with cars (stripping the car down for respraying to be exact) and staying overnight for beers etc, but will have laptop with me and should get chance later on to update. Other than that, shifts rest of week mean updates around 21.00 onwards as usual. Thanks as usual for your patience! Cheers, Paul

Been bashing away at the keyboard to make a 'quick start' rules document for the Lore Knights game for those that are interested in giving it a try. I'll be back on track with updating the Vanguard (nothing from Sky Eagle for nearly a week? Still with us?) tomorrow and intend to make a jump - I never want any fight to last longer than a week in play by post, hence my wanting to try other rules sets. In the Frostbite/Sentinel/Lionheart thread I made mention of a different way of doing things for Golden Heroes, and I'll elaborate on that probably with a home brewed set of rules based on Golden Heroes in the Lore Knights game, which is the 'try out' area.

Probably incomprehensible, but the link for the download of the first draft (about half way through - I hope!) is Here. This is half finished!

In a nutshell - DC Heroes RPG came out in the 80s and introduced a way of scaling up from street level to Superman in the same game. The problem it had was at the lower end of the scale all the characters looked similar, so I've house ruled that part. Game system - roll 2D10, higher is better, doubles add and roll over, double 1 is a failure. Target number is derived from cross referring an acting value (for instance, your characters Dexterity or weaponskill, or power like fire blast etc) against opposing value (dexterity in most cases for physical attacks). The number on the table is the target number to equal or exceed. Once you've done that, check on the result table using effect value (your strength, a power, or weapon) against resistance value (opponents body stat, or their body stat plus some protective power like tough skin or forcefield). The resulting number is how much damage is done.

Apply that basic principle to everything in the game, from searching for clues to breaking down a door, to building a gadget or speaking an aliens language, and its pretty easy. I've house ruled Golden Heroes combat system into it.

Whether it works or not? Well, that's why we're trying it out in the Lore Knights game, and I'll get opinions after!

Right! Bed time... zzzz... (sorry about no update Dave and Ross, tomorrow morning I promise. Dave M, I'll start something up in the Lore Knights section for Morning Star once his blanks are filled in...)

just got in after 12 hour shift, and that after having kids all morning Catchup later today (Monday) For now? Sleep! Zzzzzzz

IM ALIVE ........well I was never dead but it felt like it without a PC.

Paul you were bang on it was the cpu, it was its power supply.

I better catch up with all the posts... I might be sometime