Old Man

I think the -easiest- way to pick up new players would be to license a popular setting or property and put out a specific book for that setting. Hero lends itself to the higher-powered campaigns, so 300/Clash of the Titans, or Last Airbender, or Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, to name a few. Of course this would not be the cheapest way.

Ash amulet durbatuluk, ash amulet gimbatul...

Traveller reminded me strongly of Star Wars in that it had a very grungy, dieselpunk vibe. (I assume the resemblance is intentional.) Rarely do the PCs get to see, let alone use, gear that is new and clean. Ships, droids, and weapons are all decades old and badly worn, unless they're on a military flagship or a glittering sector capital world. Furthermore the campaign setting is relatively low tech. Computers are present but don't have a huge impact. Jump drives and antigravity are the only really fantastic elements. AIs, cybernetics, and robots are extremely rare. Starship combat is relatively "hard", as ships maneuver using vector mechanics, and weaponry is mostly limited to plausible directed energy weapons and missiles. PCs are definitely at the heroic, not superheroic or even Dark Champions level. No powers unless you're an alien, and low AP even then.

According to Elon no one got proper pictures of the touchdown, occurring as it did in pitch darkness and thick fog. The cause of the hard landing has been traced to a lack of hydraulic fluid for the fins. The booster runs an open hydraulic system as a pump would be too heavy; consequently it uses up fluid as it maneuvers. Musk says their hydraulic reservoir was about 10% too small. I'm not sure how much that translates to in liters. In any event we can expect this problem to be solved the next time around. Weather would likely be better too.

What do you mean? Can you be more specific?

That would be one way to become a gadgeteer, so yes.

Bad things always happen to the hero halfway through the story. In the next chapter, you will have a rad accident and gain cosmic superpowers.

I'm not sure that's a given. These are Floridians we're talking about.

Florida is the best thing about the melting polar ice caps.

@Stevezilla: the cranky thread is that way. Also, holy s--t your '14 sucked. Hope things turn around sharply for you.

I always assumed that a proper risk analysis was conducted during the design phase and that the Death Star was properly insured. Otherwise I don't see how they could have come up with the funds to build a second Death Star so quickly.

In that case, COM CON SIZ PRE DEX STR.

Why would you want to work for such a wishy washy employer?

Must--resist--political--joke---

"Old Man, as a potential juror, you will need to be fair and not prejudiced during the proceedings. Since you work in IT, have you experienced any instances of people having preconceptions about you based on your occupation?" "Sure. I think that's true of any occupation. Like for lawyers. " (laughter) "Okay, but have you found those preconceptions to be fair?" "You know, to be blunt, a lot of the time they're spot on. "

You don't like pizza?! What kind of American are you? Sympathies on the bank account. At least it got cleaned up quickly. The Russians got my credit card info once. It too was cleared up easily but I understand that debit transactions are not so easily reversed. American banks are backtracking on chip-and-PIN too so it's a good time to be a black hat.

My understanding is that physical boxes are expensive. However, that's based on pretty old information; perhaps costs have gone down with manufacturing in China, or perhaps there's a more economical packaging method like giant blister packs or those folding plastic cases like they used to put VHS tapes in. As long as we're dreaming, it would be hilarious if a beginner edition of Champions could be published in comic book format.

You want a picture? With or without pants?

Trailers are almost my favorite part of going to the movies. I get what you're saying about the timing, though. Sometimes I think it's a result of issues with postproduction or with scheduling. Other times it's just that someone in marketing needs to be sacked.

Thanks. Forward the invoices to Log, he's good for it.

Fortunately, I no longer have a soul.

Why did you have to go there?

Beat me to it. I just remembered her father. Belle could be a gadgeteer whose gadgets actually work--a medieval Inspector Gadget.

Right before Hammer Time?

Elsa is a Champions character and Merida can bullseye head-sized targets from horseback. After that you have to start getting creative. Ariel could have some Aquaman-like powers, Jasmine could have access to magic items, Rapunzel might have learned a charm or two from her "mother". I don't know what to do with Belle or Anna, they could have a snowball fight I guess.