unclevlad

Not actually quite what Voltaire said, but now the better-known version. ‘Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities’ Arguably an essential component of the first part, is the suppression of critical thinking...so that the minions swallow the indoctrinators' messages and lack the ability to challenge ANY of it. It's also hard to challenge when even legit science is confusing...before we even get to the obfuscation efforts. Sometimes the data is just vague...global warming. Sometimes the advice is tricky/nuanced, like mask mandates. Quite often, the advice runs against self-interest to a degree, or is inconvenient/expensive.

So, Michael, you're saying it was like the torturer saying...your fingernails, or your toenails, your choice! I don't recall either series...which clearly should be listed among the highlights of my life. Mid 80s still saw a few B&M comic shops, and comic racks in bookstores and supermarket book/magazine areas were common. I don't exactly remember when the artwork went to hell in a handbasket...I think that was later. IIRC, what killed it for me was the storylines being a) rather long, and b) getting split among *multiple* titles. So, it was hard to follow the stories. Given that...neither title would appeal. I was trying to keep up with the ones I knew. Huh...WIkipedia says GI Joe was Marvel's #1 subscription seller in 1985. And it had a 12 year run. So it didn't bomb...quite the opposite.

It will also make Russia USE its nukes. What would they have to lose, if they're really pressed that severely? As you say: a pile of rubble and corpses. We also know how this goes. Think Saddam. Bush thought the reaction would be "...and there was much rejoicing!!" In fact? The opposite. And how in the heavens are you going to *occupy* Russia? It's FREAKING HUGE!! Heck, we couldn't manage Iraq very well; the Soviet army had a BEAR of a time in Afghanistan. In tactics, there's --suppress. Prevent the enemy's forces from being active. --clear. Remove enemy forces from the area. --occupy. Can only follow clear. Put your troops into the area to maintain control. Suppress is mostly what we did in Iraq. Trash their tanks. Trash their missile launchers. Use missiles on their military targets. Clear is far harder, and requires many more troops, and more kinds of troops. It can't be achieved with just air power and missiles; it must have ground troops. Occupy is obviously a NIGHTMARE. Troops are exposed to small scale troop activities and partisan action by the locals...unless your actual Clear is scorched-earth level. That's a level Putin isn't reaching...but is a lot closer than the West would ever countenance. Occupy is *extremely* expensive in ALL ways.

Mechanically, no, an advantage generally doesn't make sense. IF there's something to be gained here, it's almost certainly sight-related only. Sound? Doesn't feel like it, and Ventriloquism is a simple, sensible solution. Taste, touch, smell? I can't see it. So if I want invis to hearing and sight...plausible...an advantage is increasing the cost of the invis to hearing, and that's not preferable. It's not a fringe. Not at all. It's clearly obvious *when I want it to be.* No fringe is an adder; this actually kinda fits into the same mold, so an adder (which can also be turned off and on at will) fits structurally and thematically. People are stuck on 5 points. Why? If 5 feels too high...how about 3? Invisible to normal touch is 3 points; there's nothing sacred about 5 point adders. And...yeah, selectively making oneself partly visible, partly not...that *feels* like it should be more work, as in, potentially increase the END required. So from that standpoint, an adder works. It's not that crucial to me, so I think a Power Skill implementation also works. (This is explicit, BTW, in APG.) Creating a distraction is one valid use. It's not about fear, it's not about awe; it's about drawing attention, or possibly creating confusion. So going the PRE route is poor; maybe the end result is the same, but the route to it is totally wrong. In multiple ways. Maybe your teammates can't see you...so you make one part visible, like a hand to give hand signals. Or just so they know where you are. One could readily argue that just your hand would have a nice size-based PER penalty for anyone *else* not expecting it. As I said: obvious uses certainly aren't a dime a dozen, but outside actual combat? It has too much potential. It should cost *a little* something.

And your point is....?

Acrobatics isn't a Knowledge skill. A 30- Physics roll as a science skill, lets you understand how to build a ZPM. A warp or jump drive, or Babylon 5 or Stargate gates. Integrate gravity into QCD? No problem; here's yer grand unified field theory. Perfect comms via quantum entanglement. It doesn't necessarily mean you *can* build them...but you know how. (Why not? The supporting tech or associated sciences or materials may not exist.) It might not be understandable by anyone else; it's just that complex. But a 30- physics roll doesn't let you cure cancer; the problem isn't a physics problem. Universal Scientist at, let's say, 14- is like you've got a Masters in chemistry, physics, biology, astronomy, and psychology...and every intersection, crossover, and subset like materials science, biochem, physiology, pharmacology, etc. etc. etc. You know, or can very quickly find out, anything known in any scientific field. It doesn't let you do something seemingly impossible. Since Fantastic Four was just on TNT before the games...Reed Richards arguably has Universal Scientist. At an insane roll. Tony Stark OTOH has some crazy high specific skills...power systems, materials science, computer programming, inventor. At least for me, they embody those 2 different sides.

Oh, they teach kids to think...precisely their desired mindset. Which varies by factors like race and wealth. And gender.

APG already has expanded Universals. Universal Scholar is 20 points to make a roll for any Knowledge skill. Universal Scientist, for any Science skill. Not that fond of either of those; they're too broad now. That said, it doesn't seem likely they'll be disruptive. True JOAT gets ya all Professional skills...that one I kinda like, altho it's still insanely broad. I *tend* to treat this a little differently from something where I'd impose a -10 or even more...the true sci fi stuff. Wanna figure out how to build a Zero Point Module from Stargate Atlantis? That sort of thing is into the 'impossible' range to me. And Universal won't help. Then again, even with the Universals, it's +1 to the roll for 1 point, so you can buy a 30- Universal Scientist.......

That skips step 1: can the power be used like this at all? IF (the power can be displayed in this manner), THEN (there are bonus dice to a PRE attack). Given. But you can't assume the IF clause.

LOVE that hoodie he's wearing there.

would we do that to you??????????? bwwwwaaaahahahahahaaa

Not sure about reprints per se, but it seems likely they'll tie the comics universe into lockstep with the movies/streaming series. They won't license; there's no value *to them* to do so, and it seems unlikely they would want to relinquish ANY creative control any time soon, as they try to build the franchise. No, not rebuild; there isn't enough there, IMO. They have to start from basically ground zero. Cynical thought? The gaming industry will probably get more of a boost from official Marvel or DC games, long as they're decent, than they'd ever get from Hero for DC.

Doing so now, tho, accelerates calls for war crimes tribunals and punishments. This is IMO a big factor in why discussions are beginning for *permanent* steps against Putin/Russia.

What's next, refugee camps? Doctors Without Borders aid stations?

The discontinued fast foods is also surprisingly interesting. Some of em make absolute sense: the McPizza would take too long...and might well require too much labor. There's also storage issues with the dough. The McLobster has a clear supply chain issue. And neither fit with Micky D's. Mind, Micky D's has tried repeatedly to make itself something more/something better.... Of ALL the fast food chains, they're the one I loathe because of their ads.

Mmmmmmmmmm.... Every recipe from that 5 pounds of shrooms looks AWESOME. Duxelles...usable on almost ANYTHING. They take *forever* to really get them cooked down. The fried oyster 'leaves'...yeah, what's not to love. Simple batter, simple prep. Kind of expensive to get a reasonable amount of food, but not too bad. Musroom risotto...the reason why you use the dried mushrooms is the liquid. I've tried risotto; overall, I don't think I've had enough patience. And potentially not the best rice; risotto rice is a bit different from most. The morel cream sauce...oh my. Morels are heaven. SERIOUSLY expensive...I don't even want to think what those ran him, fresh. I'm not sure morels have been cultivated. There is one somewhat pretentious element here...just happening to have some demi-glace on hand. Mild eye roll. The mushroom toast overall is the most chef-y, fancy dish, where it's finished with a relatively elaborate presentation. Sounds awesome tho. I like his style, too. Those aren't an amateur's skills. But he's never talking down...simplifying sometimes, but never talking down.

Nope. The concept is full invisibility with the ability to selectively make part(s) visible at will. Nothing like an EGO or even Skill roll. The power is VERY basic...except potentially for selectively making a part or parts visible. Invis, but not to allies? That would be a significant advantage.

I hate trying to buy characteristics like this. LoneWolf's bonus to PRE attacks for displaying a power? Yeah, that makes sense; it still leaves open the question of whether the power includes this option implicitly, or what the cost to enable it should be. At this point, I'm going with the Power skill. That is one of its secondary uses. As noted: if it really comes into play a lot? Then maybe you shift things around a bit, and construct a cost, like an adder.

That's why I think it's a trap: what does one mean by "average"? Versus what the system declares? The overall discussion of both speed and SPD is interesting, tho. It goes to setting tone, too, so there's no universal answer.

I thought that was Jameis Winston.

For shorter distances? No. "Average" is a trap here, for one thing. SO many people are couch potatoes. And consider the other simple measurable: STR. A 10 STR can lift 100 kg. Think that's average???? Not a chance...if you're considering the overall population. 5 would be questionable. But it's not "population average." It's the baseline for reasonably active, in shape people. As such...back in HS, I *might* have been able to pull off a 75 second 440. Many of my classmates certainly could have. Halfway decent athletes could probably do 60 second. That's 15 mph. A problem here is that heroes are *highly* responsive. Alarm goes off, heroes are on the scene in a flash!!! What does that really translate to, in terms of actual speed? A mile in 30 seconds is 120 mph. If you have to respond to an event 20 miles away from you, then 120 mph still means 10 full minutes. That's a LONG time. There's a discontinuity there. In the story? It's writer's fiat.

There's been numerous times when he's suggested he doesn't have 2 functioning brain cells, so...

Huh, just crossed my mind. Another way to do this would be using a Power skill.

A 5 point adder can actually end up more expensive than a +1/4 advantage...but *probably* not here. Invis tends to be adder-heavy (multiple senses, no fringe). It's when a power tends to be advantage-heavy that adders get particularly expensive. (Mass multipliers on megascale teleports...owwwwwww.) LoneWolf: yeah, if certain parts can never be made invis, then that's clearly a limitation. The edge gained with selective invis is most likely its distraction/shock aspect. Suddenly pop a floating head in front of someone, scream "BOO!!!" Or something like that. How many additional dice on the PRE attack??? Or your buddy is hacking a system. You want to divert the attention of the sysop from the console. Distract guards watching security monitors. It's nothing like selective desolid, to be sure, but it feels like it would come in handy when we really think about it.

My, my... In the play-in, as it's been run the last couple years, the #8 seed is in a pretty good position. They can win on the road against the 7 seed...or play again, at home, against the 9-10 seed winner. Not so fast... Clippers got bad news before their game ever started; Paul George tested positive for Covid. Went down 14 in the first...but won the 3rd quarter by 20 to take a nice lead in the 4th. Pelicans came back to take the lead, and held on despite some really BAD mistakes (heaved up a bad 3 pointer with a 4 point lead, inside a minute, and still around 10 seconds on the shot clock; messed up an in-bounding situation; missed a pair of free throws with a 3 point lead and around 20 seconds left). In the East, Cleveland couldn't sustain, and Trae Young turned it on in the second half. Cavs bench got smoked; total of 46 minutes played, kicked in only 9 points total. (Starters had 92). Combined, they were -40. Not. Good. Enough. So both #8 seeds crashed and burned.