Balabanto

Re: Superhuman women less attractive in 6th Edition? AGREED! And repped.

Re: Superhuman women less attractive in 6th Edition? The issue that you're not seeing is that there was a 20 point disadvantage people could take called "Normal Characteristic Maxima." By definition, that meant that anything above this is superhuman. Therefore, a 30 COM is 4x as attractive as the maximum level of normal human attractiveness. (Let's call 20 VCOM Playboy Centerfold level attractiveness, with airbrushing) The problem with this is that it cost .5 per point. There are tons of situations where COM 26 was more powerful than 12d6 of mind control. 12d6 of Mind Control costs 60 points. COM 26 cost 8. That's the discrepancy. Plain and simple. And keep in mind, all this because not everyone looked at comliness the same way. Now that you have to define your striking appearance, everyone knows what you're reacting to. When we converted to 6th in my game, COM got converted to striking appearance. This helped people out a lot. But most importantly, the thing that it did was prevent using comliness to simulate mind control because it works in real life.

Re: Superhuman women less attractive in 6th Edition? The problem was that Comliness could mean different things to different people. And people had very different ideas of what it should mean. 20 COM=Normal Human Max. Therefore, since everything works on the scale of +5 points=2x as beautiful, you have issues when you hit 40+. First of all, Old people DIE! That's right, when that super hot, or super gorgeous guy or girl walks past a crowd of geriatrics, this beauty is incomprehensible to them, as it is to most other people. Unfortunately, people like this have weak hearts and not the greatest physical constitution. There's a point where this is not comprehensible by normal people. I was SO glad Comliness was removed from the game in 6th. Aaron Allston had a player with a character called Lorelei with a COM of 70. He published this character in a supplement called Strike Force. I'm sure most of you are familiar with it. Now, I refused to believe this character could exist. A COM score that high was so alien to me, so incomprehensible that I thought COM needed to be limited for player characters. The truth of the matter was that the very existence of a published character with a score THAT high created a bizarre "Comliness War" that I had to regulate in my home game for years. Second of all, Beauty is subjective. See my adventure Pretty Hate Machines for just how subjective "Beauty" can be at http://www.blackwyrm.com The problem was that people ROLEPLAYED the effects of seeing someone with a comliness that high. In a group of good roleplayers, this WAS it's own superpower, it WAS incredibly powerful and unbelievably useful, and people believed that it worked that way. It was the justification for all kinds of other perks, talents, and abilities. (Money, Contacts, Positive Reputation) People could get people to do things just like pretty people can in real life. Only it was FAR cheaper than the equivalent amount of mind control, persuasion skills, etc. That's why Comliness is bad. Because it meant different things to different people that wreaked havoc with the rules. Not because it should or shouldn't exist.

Re: Foods for those that just don't care anymore Well, just in case no one's ever heard of this, I thought I'd post it. Warning: Your arteries will harden when you see it. You don't even need to EAT it. http://thefastertimes.com/meat/2009/07/10/when-the-chef-is-trying-to-kill-you/

Re: Genre-crossover nightmares Grampire Hunter D

Re: PCs owning slaves: Do, or Don't? Well, I run a FOrgotten Realms game where the PC's are slaves. In Thay. It's the biggest ball of sucktastic for the heroes ever, but that's the way the ball bounces. The Bad 1) The characters are slaves to an evil abusive master. And he DOES abuse them. 2) Hope is almost nonexistent. 3) Evil really IS everywhere. Don't play a paladin in this game. The good 1) The goal of the campaign is different. It's not to "Kill the bad guys," or "Save the princess." IF the characters escape from Thay, they win. That is victory. 2) Characters have requisition lists for magic items. Ordinarily, they don't have any. This puts the onus of selecting gear on the PC's while the GM plans the adventure and whatever dastardly things the master is going to do. 3) Skills matter, and I mean really matter. When you can't rely on combat to save you from a gnoll because he has a sword and armor and you have a loincloth, you really have to think about how you're going to handle situations. We play the game sparingly, because otherwise it eats your brain, but when we DO play it, it's very tough, and very challenging.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... Red Baroness: So before we go to Greenland, I will have my computer design him a tail fuzzy. Gauntlet: All that fantastic intellect, and the best thing you can come up with is "Tail fuzzy?" Baroness: But it'll be cute!!!! ----------------------------------- Mesa: So we could do some experiments in the Danger Room? Baroness: Experiment? Gauntlet: We are not having a "Tail fuzzy" test! That's right out! --------------------------- Doctor Scorpius: Well, it seems I have some visitors. We don't get many of those down here. May I ask why you've come to visit me? Red Baroness: We've come because you've violated the doctor's oath by taking someone's DNA without permission. Doctor Scorpius: Ahh, the hypocritical oath. Forgive my sarcasm. Clearly you have no interest in advancing the species as a whole, and I am only interested in my own experiments. Khymeric: Actually, I'm just kind of selfish. I want my stuff back. Doctor Scorpius: That might be a little complicated. (Turns her back to the heroes on the screen.) "Ladies and Gentlemen, opening bids for Khymeric's DNA begin in two minutes.":

Re: Genre-crossover nightmares The 9 1/2 Weeks of Bartholomew Cubbins The Twelve Days of Gigli

Re: Jokes The actual Jesus joke goes like this: And Satan takes the puck down the ice past Moses, flicks it over to Beelzebub, oh, bad move by Peter, Beelzebub passes it to Mammon, who just runs right over John! Mammon down the right side, over to Satan for the slapshot over the right corner! He sets, he shoots-- And JESUS SAVES! JESUS SAVES! JESUS SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAVES!"

Re: A not so evil Master(Mistres?)mind... Could be a whole lot worse. You could be Mistress Mime.

Re: Fading Stars...when and why should superheroes retire? --You quit because your powers come with a time limit, whatever being has given them to you rescinds the powers after a certain period of time. This gives you the ability to have a new hero with the same powers as the old hero if anyone wants the opportunity to do so. --You quit because it is time for you to go back to your secret island, your time in (Man's world, the world of non-gorillas, the place of no-coffee, whatever) is done. --You quit because of a life-threatening injury you received saving thousands or millions of people. This gives that hero one last hurrah saving the PC's if it's necessary. --You quit because your martial arts school has appointed you it's highest instructor, and the school is in the Himilayas. Your PC's are here.

Re: A not so evil Master(Mistres?)mind... My mentalist is also my mistress. I have a wife also. That would be the dirty context.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... Everyone thinks I'm a tyrannical bastard with a gun to the heads of my PCs. I should just keep my mouth shut about that, but there it is.

Re: A not so evil Master(Mistres?)mind... Heh. Mistress-mind. That's ridiculous. And so quietly dirty.

Re: Would your Hero endorse a polititian? All characters: Absolutely not. It's not that politicians turn out to be evil sometimes. It's not that aliens take over their minds and then, the hero has to deal with the consequences. It's that it forever marks the hero as someone with that political affiliation. Politicians belong to parties. When the hero endorses the party, the people who vote for that party have the hero to uphold as "Their" hero. This is ridiculous. It's not what superheroes do, to be polarized by the right or the left, to be lionized by a political party as "their guy" who endorses "These values." A superhero fights for justice. He fights for all the people, all the time. Not just some of the people some of the time.

Re: Who's Who with Dr. Lirby Koo? I think a couple of classic villains, the Geodesics in particular, are also created by Dr. Koo.

Re: Who's Who with Dr. Lirby Koo? Day of the Destroyer: Stormwatch.

Re: Coming up with terminology for humans who turn into superhumans using "-thrope" Primothrope Tropothrope Dopothrope (For transformations induced by drugs)

http://atomicarray.com/ Here we go!

Re: King of the Mountain Update Well, I'm deep into the section of maps and keys. I'm currently working on a massive hotel (That should keep me busy for about a week.) After that, there's a lair of sorts, and it's off to the tactical and informational sections of the adventure. I should be done by the end of March or early April. Then it's off into Imaginary Friends. Wish me luck.

Re: Genre-crossover nightmares The Five Hundred Heads of Bartholemew Cthuga The Pied Piper of Narragansett (This is where Lovecraft actually wrote most of his stories) The Land Before Ragtime The Last Temptation of Austin Powers, International Man of Mystery Journey to the Center of the Tootsie Pop

Re: Single Most Powerful Super Hero EVER!!! Yeah, but Chemical King got the receiving end of the worst spoiler ever. "One of these three heroes will die! Lightning Lad! Saturn Girl! Chemical King!" Really? Two founding members and Chemical King? Are you kidding me, DC? Granted, this was the Seventies, but you would still have to be an utter moron not to figure out who was going to kick the bucket.

Re: Single Most Powerful Super Hero EVER!!! That is still the most ridiculous thing ever, all that and the second best martial artist in the universe. I didn't even touch on that point, but yeah. Sensor Girl for the win.

Re: Single Most Powerful Super Hero EVER!!! That's why I still maintain Sensor Girl is the most powerful. She only appears in a team book and whenever she does, it's ridiculous and absurd. Her abilities don't seem to have any limits, she deals as much damage as comparable super strength superman equivalents, AND she can illusify, mind control, and do all that other stuff from her living room while fighting someone else in her basement. I know GMs who would approve Superman. No sane GM would approve Sensor Girl.

Re: Genre-crossover nightmares The Wicker Man: Starring the Muppets