Digest Archive vol 1 Issue 450

From: owner-champ-l-digest@sysabend.org
Sent: Sunday, July 11, 1999 7:51 PM
To: champ-l-digest@sysabend.org
Subject: champ-l-digest V1 #450


champ-l-digest Sunday, July 11 1999 Volume 01 : Number 450



In this issue:

Re: Modifying Powers: Conditional Time Duration
OT Computer Help
Slow END Burn
Re: Slow END Burn
Re: The Damned Don't Cry (Pulp/Noir Era Archetypes)
Powers usable while Desolid
Re: Powers usable while Desolid
Re: OT Computer Help
Re: Powers usable while Desolid
Re: Advice on Magic System needed.
Re: Fantasy Hero Magic System Design
Re: Powers usable while Desolid
Re: Fantasy Hero Magic System Design
OT : X Men movie cast

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Sat, 10 Jul 99 11:43:30
From: "qts" <qts@nildram.co.uk>
Subject: Re: Modifying Powers: Conditional Time Duration

On Sat, 26 Jun 1999 09:03:45 -0400 (EDT), Jason Sullivan wrote:

>
> How would one model an Adjustment Power with a Conditional
>Duration? Conditional in the same way Transform has a Conditional
>All-or-Nothing retransformation (scars being healed for a COM Drain, for
>example), where an identifiable treatment resolves the Adjustment/Power.
>
> I think this would be useful for constructing curses or effects
>similar to Transform that have long lasting effects on Characteristics.
>Your input would be greatly appreciated.

How about using Uncontrolled?

qts

Home: qts@nildram.co.uk.

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 10 Jul 1999 10:38:28 -0500
From: "Bobby Farris Jr." <BJ@redbow.net>
Subject: OT Computer Help

If I delete files from a Floppy disk, does anyone know how to Undelete
them with Windows 98?

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 10 Jul 1999 08:55:47 -0700
From: Christopher Taylor <christopherrt@home.net>
Subject: Slow END Burn

<html>
&gt;One potential advantage I have been working on for Fantasy Hero
campaign is <br>
&gt;Slow Endurance Burn. <br>
<br>
I built an advantage that does this called END DELAY:<br>
<br>
END DELAY: Endurance cost is normally paid each phase a power is used.
With this advantage, the END cost can be paid with a longer delay, a step
up the time chart for each +1/4 paid. This, like Charges, cannot have
more than a +1/2 advantage (or +1 for autofire attacks). When a power
with this advantage is first used, the END is paid that phase, then the
delay occurs. <br>
<br>
EXAMPLE: Dr. Freudian has END Delay on his Mind Control, so that he pays
END once per minute, rather than each phase. This is two steps up the
time chart, and worth a +1/2 Advantage. <br>
<br>
+1/4 advantage per level<b> <br>
<br>
</b>It seems balanced enough, since costing no END at all is +1/2 or +1
advantage, so it shouldn't cost any more than that.&nbsp; Another helpful
advantage for Fantasy Hero is this: <br>
<br>
END ONLY TO USE: With this advantage, the power costs double it's normal
END cost to cast, and none from that point on. If the power is changed in
any way, such as altering defenses, spreading, or so forth, the END cost
must be spend again, double normal. Be aware that this advantage can be
very powerful when combined with continuous powers, consider it to have a
stop sign next to it. <br>
<br>
+1/4 Advantage <br>
<br>
<BR>
<br>
<div>--------------------------------------------------------------------------</div>
<div>Sola
Gracia<x-tab>&nbsp;</x-tab><x-tab>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</x-tab>Sola
Scriptura<x-tab>&nbsp;</x-tab><x-tab>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</x-tab>Sola
Fide</div>
<div>Soli Deo Gloria&nbsp;&nbsp; <x-tab>&nbsp;&nbsp;</x-tab>Solus
Christus<x-tab>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</x-tab><x-tab>&nbsp;&nbsp;</x-tab>Corum
Deo</div>
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------
</html>

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 10 Jul 1999 12:59:09 -0400
From: Indiana Joe <jrc3@home.com>
Subject: Re: Slow END Burn

At 11:55 AM -0400 7/10/99, Christopher Taylor wrote:
> END ONLY TO USE: With this advantage, the power costs double it's normal
>END cost to cast, and none from that point on. If the power is changed in
>any way, such as altering defenses, spreading, or so forth, the END cost
>must be spend again, double normal. Be aware that this advantage can be
>very powerful when combined with continuous powers, consider it to have a
>stop sign next to it.
>
> +1/4 Advantage

Hmmm... couldn't you do something like this under standard rules? Buy 0
END at the +1/2 level, and place a -1/4 limitation (not for first shot) on
the advantage?

(The "2x END for first shot" is a complication I'm not getting into right
now, it's a limited Limitation.) :-)

Joe Claffey | "In the end, everything is a gag."
jrc3@home.com | - Charlie Chaplin

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 10 Jul 1999 13:10:05 -0400
From: "Dave Mattingly" <dave@haymaker.win.net>
Subject: Re: The Damned Don't Cry (Pulp/Noir Era Archetypes)

I like your groupings.

>Bartender (?) (sympathetic ear, rumor miller, cigarette girl)

But I'd rename this one to Gossip, with bartender as a subtype.

>Bookie (number runner, horse bookie, odds maker, card shark)

And this one to Gambler.


I have several skill packages that you might find useful up at
http://www.haymaker.org/haym16.html

Dave Mattingly
http://haymaker.org

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 10 Jul 1999 18:41:02 +0100
From: "Simon David Taylor" <beron@labyrinth.free-online.co.uk>
Subject: Powers usable while Desolid

A question occurred to me recently: which powers need the +2 "affects real
world" Advantage if they are to be used while Desolid? Obviously all attack
powers need it, but what about Images? Would an Aid count as an attack power
here? Do mental powers need the Advantage? The HSR is not totally clear on
this matter. I can see why attack powers would need the Advantage for
game-balance, but I'm not sure about the others.

Simon D. Taylor

beron@unforgettable.com
http://start.at/labyrinth

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 10 Jul 1999 12:26:41 -0700
From: Lizard <lizard@mrlizard.com>
Subject: Re: Powers usable while Desolid

At 06:41 PM 7/10/99 +0100, Simon David Taylor wrote:
>A question occurred to me recently: which powers need the +2 "affects real
>world" Advantage if they are to be used while Desolid? Obviously all attack
>powers need it, but what about Images? Would an Aid count as an attack power
>here? Do mental powers need the Advantage? The HSR is not totally clear on
>this matter. I can see why attack powers would need the Advantage for
>game-balance, but I'm not sure about the others.
>
I would say anything other than senses and movement powers -- i.e, anything
which affects a subject other than the character -- requires the +2.

Why? Consider the Phantom Doctor. With Desolid and Aid, he can wander in
the thick of battle, revitalizing his comrades at no risk to himself. Make
it Ranged AID, and you effectively have a team of near-immortals whose
wounds are healed as fast at they can be generated. And there's no way to
'frag the doc!'. (How many villains have attacks which Affect Desolid,
unless they were designed to stop a particular character?)

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 10 Jul 1999 14:15:27 -0700
From: "Filksinger" <filkhero@deskmail.com>
Subject: Re: OT Computer Help

From: Bobby Farris Jr. <BJ@redbow.net>



> If I delete files from a Floppy disk, does anyone know how to
Undelete
> them with Windows 98?

You don't. You may be able to using other programs, such as Norton
Utilities, but that's questionable. Win98 does not have that
functionality anywhere.

Filksinger

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 10 Jul 1999 23:33:19 +0100
From: "Simon David Taylor" <beron@labyrinth.free-online.co.uk>
Subject: Re: Powers usable while Desolid

>I would say anything other than senses and movement powers -- i.e, anything
>which affects a subject other than the character -- requires the +2.
>
>Why? Consider the Phantom Doctor. With Desolid and Aid, he can wander in
>the thick of battle, revitalizing his comrades at no risk to himself. Make
>it Ranged AID, and you effectively have a team of near-immortals whose
>wounds are healed as fast at they can be generated. And there's no way to
>'frag the doc!'. (How many villains have attacks which Affect Desolid,
>unless they were designed to stop a particular character?)


That's roughly my reasoning vis-a-vis most powers that physically affect the
real
world. With mental powers, the Desolid character is still vulnerable to
mental attacks
themselves (assuming they didn't buy the appropriate add-on), but could
decimate
any opponents with no mentalist capablilites. Mind you, someone with Mind
Scan could easily sit on the other side of the world and lob Ego Attacks
without fear of
retalitation, but that's another story (OK, so the attack roll penalties are
a pain, but a few attacks would get through eventually).

What I'm especially wondering is about powers like Images - the Desolid
character is still visible: does it overturn game balance to allow them to
create images? The other power that might be allowed by the same reasoning
is Darkness; I'm guessing Flash Attack needs Affects Real World regardless
of rationale because it is an attack power.

I'd tend also to assume that most powers that affect the user don't require
Affects Real World - Clinging doesn't really do much for a Desolid
character. Growth or Density Increase would only require the Advantage if
the character could use the strength gained from the power to affect the
real world, which is a weird concept. (Maybe if you were trying to represent
a T1000, i.e. almost immune to damage, but is still solid. Well, sort of.)

Simon D. Taylor

beron@unforgettable.com
http://start.at/labyrinth

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 10 Jul 1999 21:35:43 -0500 (CDT)
From: "Dr. Nuncheon" <jeffj@io.com>
Subject: Re: Advice on Magic System needed.

On Fri, 9 Jul 1999, Rodger Bright wrote:

> 4. END Reserve and REC. This is the one I am having some problems
> with. I have a few different options, but I don't really love either
> one. I am going to require any Channeler that when he uses a magic
> power the END comes from his END reserve, BUT, he must also spend
> Physical END to match whatever is spent from his Reserve.

One point to consider is that if you've got these two pools with the same
REC, it's really almost the same as just having the smaller pool...

The END cost is easy to do...all powers should buy x2 END defined as being
1/2 from the END reserve and 1/2 from the caster's personal END. (This
should be OK because the ratio is fixed - if you wanted to alter it you'd
pay the +1/4 for using either personal END or the END reserve.)

> 4A. The END Reserve is determined by multiplying your EGO and 1/2 your
> Physical REC. This is the max that the END Reserve may be. You
> must still purchase each 10 END in the Reserve at 1 character point.
> This has a (-1/2) limitation built in. May only use with true Source
> Powers
> (-1/2).

Er. Normally you can only use END Reserve with powers that are defined as
operating off of it instead of your personal END, so I'd say that that
- -1/2 is kind of a non-limitation.

In any case...is a limit on the END reserve *really* necessary? You're
going to have the limitation that it causes physical END loss as well as
the END reserve, and since they'll also be spending their points on the
END reserve, you've got another built-in limit, so your players probably
aren't likely to go overboard because it won't be much of a limit.

J

Hostes aliengeni me abduxerent. Jeff Johnston - jeffj@io.com
Qui annus est? http://www.io.com/~jeffj

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 10 Jul 1999 22:48:40 +0000
From: Lance Dyas <lancelot@inetnebr.com>
Subject: Re: Fantasy Hero Magic System Design

qts wrote:

> On Sun, 4 Jul 1999 17:08:12 -0400, Ricky Hunt wrote:
>
> >One potential advantage I have been working on for Fantasy Hero campaign is
> >Slow Endurance Burn.
>
> Interesting - but how about redefining it as a Limitation: Cannot
> Recover LTE While Power Active (-1/4),

oh yes me likes this...

> or Costs 1 LTE Per Time
> Increment (-1/4)?

How many folk make regular use of LTE? just a question

Lance

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 10 Jul 1999 23:37:25 +0000
From: Lance Dyas <lancelot@inetnebr.com>
Subject: Re: Powers usable while Desolid

Lizard wrote:

> At 06:41 PM 7/10/99 +0100, Simon David Taylor wrote:
> >A question occurred to me recently: which powers need the +2 "affects real
> >world" Advantage if they are to be used while Desolid? Obviously all attack
> >powers need it, but what about Images? Would an Aid count as an attack power
> >here? Do mental powers need the Advantage? The HSR is not totally clear on
> >this matter. I can see why attack powers would need the Advantage for
> >game-balance, but I'm not sure about the others.
> >
> I would say anything other than senses and movement powers -- i.e, anything
> which affects a subject other than the character -- requires the +2.
>
> Why? Consider the Phantom Doctor. With Desolid and Aid, he can wander in
> the thick of battle, revitalizing his comrades at no risk to himself. Make
> it Ranged AID, and you effectively have a team of near-immortals whose
> wounds are healed as fast at they can be generated. And there's no way to
> 'frag the doc!'. (How many villains have attacks which Affect Desolid,
> unless they were designed to stop a particular character?)

Astral projection in my game world is fairly common as are wards which affect
disembodied spirits... so all magical villains and more than a few folk that
simply know a smidgen
of hedge/superstition magic can deal with the above situation...
Anything very useful is counterable if you accept the distortions of allowing
this highly useful thing will cause.
The Astral environ of my world is also complex enough to have its own hazards.
And certain zones/locales are themselves
warded against spirits and ghosts and disembodied spies etc.... .

Other forms of desolid... which do not leave a body behind are far far less
common say it was defined
as form of elemental air or smoke or some such are actually a combination of
astral projection with a
bodily transform. The body/brain in that state is wrong for guarding the spirit
against the attacks
which work against the spirit directly. So many of the effects against Astral
Mages/Ghosts and Demons will stop the
Mage in wind sprite form too, even though they might not work against a true wind
sprite.

Lance

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 10 Jul 1999 21:59:15 -0700
From: Kestrel Enterprises <kestrelenterprises@home.net>
Subject: Re: Fantasy Hero Magic System Design

>> >One potential advantage I have been working on for Fantasy Hero
campaign is
>> >Slow Endurance Burn.
>>
>> Interesting - but how about redefining it as a Limitation: Cannot
>> Recover LTE While Power Active (-1/4),
>
>oh yes me likes this...
>
>> or Costs 1 LTE Per Time
>> Increment (-1/4)?
>
>How many folk make regular use of LTE? just a question

In my FH campaign it comes up all the time, I enfoce it pretty strictly.
Long fights, climbing, swimming, etc. In addition, each spell cast in my
magic system uses up 1 LTE, which tends to give people using magic some pause.

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 12 Jul 1999 07:43:32 +0800
From: Allan Dunbar <adunbar@iinet.net.au>
Subject: OT : X Men movie cast

From NW, a weekly gossip periodical - in the vein of People (American) and
Who (Australia).

Anna Paquin is going to play Rogue.
Patrick Stewart as Prof X (obviously).
Dougray Scott as Wolverine.
Rebecca Romjin-Stamos as Mystique.
Ian Mckellan as Magneto.
Halle Berry as Storm.

Not sure if these are absolutes yet. But it starts filming in October,
apparently.

Also, for those interested, the following are lending their voices to the
100 million dollar animated version of Final Fantasy.

Alec Bladwin
Ving Rhames
James Woods
Donald Sutherland
Steve Buscemi

------------------------------

End of champ-l-digest V1 #450
*****************************


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