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Gaming Outpost Discussions » Tag: lists - Recent Topics http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/tags/lists Gaming Outpost Discussions » Tag: lists - Recent Topics en-US Sat, 11 Feb 2012 11:59:17 +0000 http://bbpress.org/?v=1.0.2 <![CDATA[Search]]> q http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/search.php Tadeusz on "World: Order of Swordmages" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/world-order-of-swordmages#post-20117 Tue, 22 Jun 2010 21:24:23 +0000 Tadeusz 20117@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ The Order protects a dozen worlds against the encroachments of the Dark. Each of these related worlds has a high magic bias, and low psionic bias, and the tech bias varies from world to world. The Swords choose their Bearer. After a Swordbearer is struck down, usually by agents of the Dark, it dissappears/teleports (unless caught in a Swordtrap), and seeks out a proper bearer. There does seem to be some sort of guiding intelligence behind the swords or in all the swords or something. It seems as if it can make mistakes, but then sometimes this is not at all the case. The Tale of the Man in the Wheelchair is told to all new swordbearers after they are found. He had almost no fighting ability, but his valiant and hopeless attempt to protect a storeowner who did not speak his language from rioters enchanted by the Dark's minions was witnessed on international television, and it led to the end of the Dark inspired revolution. MORE LATER... I want to have a list of sword inspired magics including 'cut through the dimensional barriers'. This would be a good way for the hero to learn magic in a 'magic school'...already did this once with one world, but several magic school worlds with differing lists of magic would be a good thing. Tadeusz on "Fifty Magic Limits" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/fifty-magic-limits#post-1812 Mon, 19 Nov 2007 12:33:55 +0000 Tadeusz 1812@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ My goal is 50 magic limitations to try to offer a more flavorful magic. Because if its not laid out in front of people, they will tend to choose the most obvious choices. Give them a menu of choices, and their magic will get more varied. I already dealt with this to some degree in a previous post, but I can't find it. So there will be some repeats. Furthermore, I may be doing a lot of outlining which I can fill in later. 1. Bargaining. Forex: "Lord Ares, if you protect me from the Theban's arrows, I will sacrifice a golden arrow to your temple once I get back home." 2. Here I Am!: The caster's position is now known to everyone within a certain, specified distance who is sensitive to magic can sense you. Ranges vary from on the same street to the same county, same state, same continent, same world, and same universe. A special category which is a separate bonus is nearby dimensions. Thus Caitlin Saunders,verser, Demon Slayer, and former Accountant from Earth casts her spell of Disintegration against a Foul Minion of the Shadow. In a neighboring dimension, a Hellworld, the Demon Grz'lak'nik wakes up to the smell of Power, and starts to track the spoor with his Hellhounds. A further limitation is that the smell of magic does not leave you immediately. While close physical proximity to the caster's once location is the typical default, again greater ranges are possible. Grz'lak'nik arrives ten minutes later on Earth with his hounds cloaked in a veil of invisibility. His hounds pick up the spoor, and he spots the smear where a foolish Minion challenged a Demon-slayer. He cackles grimly. He believes in the virtue of ambush. Caitlin will not be so lucky later tonight as he stalks her. 3. Same Alignment: The spell only works on those of the same alignment as the caster. Forex "The blessing of Gaia only affects those who love the Light." 4. Open Door: If the target has been hypnotized, this opens a door for this magic. And such doors are hard to close. 5. Umbrella of Authority: Forex: Joe had been disobedient to his Papa, the Policeman, and his Pastor. Now the Witch of the Woods who lives in a bubble universe with a gate in the thicket behind his school is able to cast Summon Child on him. 6. Trance: The caster must alter her state of mind to match a specific mind state in order to cast spells. This typically goes with concentration. 7. Solitude: Magic can only be cast in complete solitude from other sentients. 8. Sanctum: Magic can only be cast in the special, prepared grounds of a Sanctum. Frequently spells receive bonuses from the spells pre-woven into a sanctum, but this is not that. This spell requires a sanctum. 9. Balance Magic: All forces are balanced, light and dark, cold and heat....use one, and an equivalent, but uncontrolled effect of the other will appear 1d4 rounds later. 10. Wild Magic: The caster is able to generalize a wish, and then a GE roll is made. Based on that roll, and the skill roll, the GM tells the effect of the magic. Forex: "Sarah pulled up the slippery, strand of power from her chakra, and flung it into the world hoping that it would open the door that was locked so she could flee the mugger." GE 3: The door opens, and Sarah flees, and then it closes behind her, and locks. Any other door in front of her will do likewise. 15--It opens. 21--She blows a hole in the wall that can be used to escape. 30--She steps through the dooway into a bubble universe she just created. 11. Code of the War Wizard: The war wizard must follow the code, or lose his powers. He must practise daily, he must embrace the possibility of death for himself and his enemy, he must realize that truth is real, and that morality based on that truth requires action, even violent action. He must not shirk his duty. 12. Code of the Good Witch: She will do no harm to the undeserving by magic or physical action or by word. She will help the helpless who are in need. She will defend the Craft against unjust attacks. 13. Code of the Believer: He will harbor no sin in his heart. He will be obedient to God, and secondly to proper authority. He will promptly seek forgiveness from God, and from other people who he has unjustly offended. If he fails in this code, he will lose his prayer access to Heaven, although he is still a citizen of Heaven. 14. Three-fold Return: What you do with magic especially, come back to haunt you three-fold. 15. Limit of Mercy: If you cry to God to empower a weapon, and the target of that weapone pleads for mercy, you must grant it. See Tom Day granting mercy for the pschyopath Jay in his RPOL.net 'worldwalker' game. 16. Hand Over Control: The caster enters an unusual state of mind most of the time, and then hands over contol of your body and mind to a spirit. The spirit than casts the spell. 17. Fasting 18. Self-Flagellation 19. Twins: Some spells require two casters, others require that the casters be twins, or some form of opposed halves. Forex: "At the end of the week of the Harvest Festival, the Priest, representing Father Sky and the Priestess representing Mother Earth in her aspect as the Crone, broke the binding on the north winds which allowed the rain-bearing, cold winds to come, and Winter to truly begin. This was necessary as the Cycle of Life, represented by Priest and Priestess needed renewing." 20. Some Deities Won't Listen: As hinted at in #19, where Father Sky needs a man to speak to him, and Mother Earth needs a woman to speak to her. There are also Male Secret's and Woman's Mysteries, and to dare to cast one from the other side is to dare the wrath of your deity. 21. Once and Never Again: Some spells can only be cast once by a particular person. A less restricting version would allow the spell to be only cast once in a particular universe. 22. The Time of the Casting is Now: Some spells can only be cast at a particular time which is often separted by great gulfs of time. This is typically used to release bindings, and anniversaries of the original binding are often the time of the potential release. This is usually an unwise spell to cast, but not always. Forex: "The Demon Lord Throatcutter and his minions are imprisoned in a dry well by the Sorceress Shandra. Once every hundred years, on the blackest night of the year, if the blood of an innocent human victim is dripped into the well, and the words of summoning in the Ancient Sumerian are shouted, then Throatcutter and his minions will be released to torment the Earth once more." 23. Sacrifice of Others: There is sacrifice, and then there is sacrifice of animals, and sacrifice of humans. Such sacrifice is generally unwilling, although more power is generated by a willing sacrifice. 24. Held Back Sacrifice: There is also sacrifice where someone thinks they are going to be sacrificed, and then at the last moment is spared, and another is inserted in his place. Forex: "The Case of Abraham and Isaac in the Old Testament which seems to signal Yahweh's dislike of human sacrifice, among other aims." Forex: "The priests of Xorox, a harsh but just god, take initiates, and lay them out on an altar to be killed. Those who flee are banished from the order. The initiates are promised they will rise from the altar. A good deal of sermon follows as the priests attempt to use this moment to impress their beliefs about being reborn as a priest of Xorox means. And then the remaining initiates are released as new made priests." 25. Calm Heart: Casting requires calmness throughout, and emotional strains can cause checks to see if the magic fails. 26. Mental Focus: Casting requires concentration with a Difficult check at the beginning, and Simple checks at decision points along the way. 27. Caster Centered Magic: Magic does not adhere to a target. You cannot throw a fireball at someone, or cast an enchantment on someone. What you can do is clothe yourself in flames, and then touch them, or make yourself awe-strikingly beautiful, and then smile. 28. No Range Attacks: All magic is touch magic. 29. Hypnotic Trance for Caster: Casting requires that the mage place themselves into an altered state of consciousness where their willpower is temporarily reduced @5 thus making them suggestible. 30. Spells Fueled by Lifeforce of Caster: Spells may last as long as the caster likes, but for each five minutes of casting time the caster is required to make Simple Stamina check to continue. Failure may be blocked with a Difficult Willpower check. 31. Mana-Fueled Magic: Certain magics have the caster do a preliminary gathering of magical power in order to provide the oomph for the spell. Forex: "Gregori the Mage walked the battlefield searching for the exact spot where the King of the Normarkans had fallen. Such a spot would be rich in mana, and he carried a Mana Trap. Already, he had found and drained the spot where the King had taken his first wound, but the spell he cast yesterday had taken all that Mana." Typically, the Level of a spell from the skill charts is the number of Mana Points required by this system...if you're going to use Mana Points. Thus in order to cast Do Anything a 15@ skill, you might well require the mana from the King's deathground, and his first wound site, and the mana from a spot where two soulmates met for the first time. Different worlds have different approaches to Mana. Some think that it is difficult to find as in the example above, and others think that it can be gathered and strained from the morning dew. In other words that it is a challenging chore, and not a minor quest to find it. 32. Invisible Magic: Magic is quiet. One does not shout, or cause fire to sprout from one's hands. Magic is subtle and quiet, but it can be unmistakably unnatural. Forex: The old woman stood in the mud of the track facing the young knight and his party of bravos. They had come to her village as before to take sport with the young woman, and to thrash with their weapons the weaponless farmboys. Enough was enough, the old woman had decided. So she spoke a Word of Power under her breath, and the knight found himself fixed to the spot, and unable to move. Neither could any of his bravos move him. He did not glow, nor did he fly, but he never moved for seven days until he died." 33. Magic is Unusual Luck Or So It Might Seem: A skeptic might not see it. An honest observer might feel the hair on his neck rise in the presence of magic because its obvious something weird is going on. But it could just be luck. Forex: The Ranger Prince kissed his mother's ring, and walked out to the orc war party to demand their surrender. They responded treacherously as he expected. They filled the air with dozens of arrows. None hit him, which was....very lucky some said. He used the shock of it to convince the orcs to surrender. 34. Magic is Only Sacred: No one who is not initiated into a school of magic may see, touch, or experience magic without the magic losing its power. Opposing forces may experience it, as long as they are magicians themselves, but skeptics break the spell by their defiling presence. Some traditions allow for the purification of the magic tools. Some traditions require that the purification be done with the defiler's blood. 35. Magic is an Unnatural Thing, and so the usage of such magic always rebounds to the detriment of the user. Jonas Majeerle, verser, AC Tech, and Apprentice Mage opened the Black Book of Forbidden Spells while his master was out. He cast the first spell of entertainment and enjoyed a fine repast with beautiful waitresses, and the ghosts of famous men to converse with. Then he got up, and felt sick to his stomach. He had a stomach flu. Later as he ventured to the latrine, he tripped and fell down the hill. Still later, he came in to see his master who was very angry with him. Inexplicably, he had forgotten to put up the Forbidden Book, and his master was aware of what he had done. A bit humorous, but it gets the idea across. This is not 'no benefit to self'. Instead this is 'Magic is an aberration, and Nature hates it.' 36. Things Man Was Not Meant To Know: To learn magic is to risk your sanity. Every spell you cast threatens to take you further from the realm of normality, and into madness. 37. Magic is Pain, Horror, Corruption, and Madness: Only spells which degrade and terrify the caster can work if they have this limitation. The point of this limit frequently is to achieve pain in the caster's life. And since one tends to become blase' to shock and horror after a time, this means that increasing levels of suffering are demanded of the caster for the same effect. 38. Magic is to benefit others: If you use it to benefit yourself, the Universe will get revenge in creative ways. Generally speaking such limits do allow self-defense, but some do not. However, almost all of them allow one to kill monsters even if they are only threatening you at the moment because its assumed that they will be a threat to others later. Forex: "The Lady Perilous, Sorceress Guardian of the White Order cast fire upon the demonspawn that boiled up in the demonpit in the basement of rancher house. The owner was behind her, a well-meaning magi, not intending to traffic in daemonic forces, but the Universe had rebuked him for his trying to rig the stock market with magic. It was a failing of young and untrained magi to seek a way to use that which was for the good of all, for themselves alone, which is why the Lady supported so strongly the creation of Mage Schools." 39. Magic Backed Up By Science: In order to cast a spell, you have to understand the physical processes you're trying to manipulate. In some cases, this allows the casting of much more powerful spells than before. Forex: The Wizards of Wallingtree, a small trading center on the edge of the dessert, knew enough about wind to create sandstorms. But their visitor from another scientific reality understood the nature of the jet stream, and so he reached with his power, and pulled the jet stream to Earth, and scoured the enemy raiders from the face of the Earth. They had been expecting eighty mile per hour winds, and had prepared. But nothing they had done had prepared them for six hundred mile per hour winds as the jet stream slashed into their faces." 40. Magic vs. a Specific Target: Spells can be rigged to attack certain types of enemies more effectively. In some cases, spells are created that only effect a specific type of enemy, and do no damage to anyone else. What is not the concern of this list is the spell that might have some effect on one person, say a Scream spell, but will affect a specific monster devastatingly because they are vulnerable to loud noises. Be cautious as overly specific spells can actually be beneficial. Forex: "The vampire had grabbed the Red Cross worker, and held her in front of Paul St. Simon, Special Agent on the FBI's Undead Task Force. Paul smiled, and pulled out his vial of Unearthly Flames. The shattered, and the flames spread like a grenade, and the flames covered the both of them. The hostage screamed in fear, but in no pain as the vampire screamed in 'mortal' agony as it turned to ash." 41. Magic by a Specific Caster: Certain spells can only be cast by very specific individuals. Some magics bind the King and the Land he rules together so that health in one is health in the other. Other magics require a virgin. One common limit is 'not born of woman'. I've used the last. It kinda sorta went like this.... Forex: "The Fimbulwinter Chest could only be closed by one not born of woman." The supervillain said with a smirk. "Its impossible for you to close it. The world will be covered by ice." "Um, I'm not actually human. I was born of Chaos in interstellar space." The superhero replied.... 42. Personal: One effect is the gaining of things that are personal. This goes several directions at once. Certain magics, such as Voodoo, require personal items to make the spell. Others require the True Name of the target. The True Name can be one of two things--an innate name that something has, perhaps gifted to it by Adam when that something was nameless, or by some other Namer. Or it can be a secret name which is held closely. 44. Roles must be respected: This is typically holy magic. The Prophet may not call down fire upon the Demon except in certain specific circumstances. Perhaps if the Demon manifests itself in its Hunting Form, a material killing machine, or if the Demon has been thrice rebuked by the Innocent, and it decides that instead of tempting the Innocent, that he will take the Innocent's cat hostage, then the Demon has stepped over his own boundaries, and may be dealt with by any means neccessary. This is more common in worlds with strong codes of behavior and high magic, and potentially archetypical patterns are commonplace. It is a form of Armed Truce between the Host of Heaven and the Forces of Evil. 45. Magic is Crippling: Each spell casts cost in terms of stamina, and/or resistance. Frequently in such a world, the good guys have a serious problem as such magic allows for others to sacrifice for you. Forex: "Gilandor the White stood leaning on his rod of power, old and white-haired, and not even half the age of his opponent who was full of health and vigor. It was because Viradn the Black had a sacrifice tied to his right hand. It was from her innocent body that he would draw the strength to cast the spells while he preserved his own health. She might well die of heart failure, but Viradn would ne'er touch his own health. Unlike Gilandor who figured he had one last fight in him before he had to retire. And that was if he was lucky, and ruthless. He struck fast as he could at the sacrifice to kill her, and take the fight to even terms, but it was not fast enough. This looked to be Gilandor's last fight for sure." 47. Uncontrolled Reactive Magic: You have magic which acts based on certain stimuli. You can't control it. For some, its the Full Moon, for others its Anger, and for others its the sight of a bird which throws their conscious mind into the bird. Forex: "Joel Macross dodged the fire flung by the monstrous machine that tracked him. And as he rolled on the ground, he realized he really did not want to die. But it looked like there was no choice. Might as well go out with style, he muttered to himself, and stood up to charge. The machine was waiting for him, and fire launched at his chest. But it was met five feet away from Joel's chest by a bright, white light which took it, consumed it, and raced back along its path to its source. And there the white light took the demonic machine, and sucked it dry of energy leaving behind nothing but a rusty pile of metal that clanked in the breeze as it fell to the parking lot. This had happened once before, Joel rememebered. He had always thought it had been a dream. There was a power in him, but it came out and did what it wished on its own terms. However, it did seem to have some desire to protect him, at least from demonic machines, anyways." 48. Magic is Illusion and Delusion: If you run through a fire unharmed, you're actually harmed. Your body is burnt, but you believe it not to be true, and so you don't feel it, and others don't see it. You can be so deluded as to be alive when you should be dead. But pierce the veil for one second, and all the weight of truth comes crashing into your self-deluded world. 49. Visualization: You must see clearly what you are trying to do. For some magic, this need extends throughout the whole use of the spell which for some spells can be difficult if they last for an hour or more. 50. Emotion: Some spells require emotion to fuel them. Forex: "The Flaming Fist of Doom covers the hand with fire as the caster feels anger, and allows the caster who spikes his fury to an all-consuming level to throw bolts of fire." This is obviously a Cast Once, Use Multiple Times spell. Many spells are Cast Once, Attack Once. Others are Cast Once, and Continous Use which is common for invisibility spells. The use of COUMT spells allows for the feel of two duelling wizards who have power beams blasting at each other which are met by the other's power beam, and they struggle to move the meeting point toward the other wizard. It also allows a wizard to have what amounts to a hand pistol. You pull out the gun (spell), and each combat round, you try to hit the target. ....MORE LATER M. J. Young on "497 Pizza Toppings" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/497-pizza-toppings#post-6470 Mon, 11 Aug 2008 17:48:34 +0000 M. J. Young 6470@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ In John Cross' Multiverser game thread Cross Out a New World, John, I mentioned that there was a list of four hundred ninety-seven pizza toppings, and he said he wished he could see that. Well, I'm wondering how many we can list. Rules of the Thread: <ol> <li>Number your pizza toppings consecutively, so we can keep count.</li> <li>List only toppings you have actually seen offered on pizza; you need not have tried them.</li> <li>Combinations are only valid if they represent a single item. For example, "Ham" and "Pineapple" are both valid toppings, but since "Hawaiian" is just Ham and Pineapple, it does not count. On the other hand, "Ziti" is comprised of ricotta, mozzeralla, sauce, possibly meat, and macaroni, but it is a unique topping because these are combined into one thing and included as one thing.</li> <li>If someone duplicates a topping, the first person to notice this should post that it was duplicated and correct the count.</li> </ol> I think that's sufficient. I'll start the list with the obvious: 1) Extra (Mozzarella) Cheese 2) Pepperoni 3) Meatball 4) Sweet Sausage 5) Mushroom 6) Beef 7) Pork 8) Peppers 9) Anchovies 10) Tomatoes 11) Brocolli 12) Shrimp Scampi 13) Ziti 14) Bacon 15) Ham 16) Pineapple 17) Hot Peppers 18) Sweet Peppers 19) Hot Sausage 20) Crabmeat That seems a good start to me. What else? --M. J. Young Tadeusz on "List: Breakfast" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/list-breakfast#post-17672 Thu, 25 Mar 2010 10:14:08 +0000 Tadeusz 17672@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ Let's try for a 1d20 list of breakfast types with the idea that each type is the predominant type in a nation or a world... 1. What breakfast?!? You get up, and get to work after splashing some water on your face. Lunch is the first meal of the day. 2. The Fruit Bat Special: Half a grapefruit (or other tart and juicy fruit in your world. I've read 'redfruit' in some stories.) Sliced up banana with peanut butter. Orange juice. Grapes. Walnuts. {The nuts keep this from being a total sugar rush followed by a collapse}. 3. Steak with egg on top. The manly choice. /deep voice off. 4. Healthy, not so super tasty, but well-balanced protein shakes with all essential vitamins and minerals in strawberry, kiwi, vanilla, or chocolate flavors. Yum! 5. As #4, but more amateur. Tomato juice, two raw eggs (sterilized by radiation), pureed celery, vitadust (vitamin mix), tabasco sauce mixed together. Usually drank with an evil scowl and a wince. 6. Pancakes with syrup and butter with waffle on the side with small sausage. Carbloaders paradise. 7. How is breakfast different from any other meal? Special breakfast foods? What nonsense! Now eat your meatloaf, green beans, and mashed potatoes for breakfast. 8. Danage. A honey bun, sort-of, with sugar encrusted nuts on the outside, and a ham or sausage on the inside nestled alongside a cheese and brocolli mix. Usually bought in a rush at the vendors outside most offices and factories. Burning your tongue on the hot cheese mix is common. 9. Coffee. Give me coffee, and no one gets hurt. /pained voice. Brunch is the first real meal of the day. The first thing everyone does in a day is gather in a loose circle at the place of business with their mug of coffee, and slowly wake up, and have the boss start to hand out daily assignments. This ritual takes about fifteen minutes. 10. Breakfast is leftovers from the night before, usually eaten cold with a cup of coffee or juice. 11. Breakfast is done right. One dines at a proper breakfast house with linen tablecloths, a newspaper or a laptop open to news. Polite quiet conversation is permitted between guests. Meals start with espresso, continue with a cold cuts plate which is followed by some form of potato and vegetable dish (there are dozens of varieties ranging from mashed potato with broccoli cakes to potato pancakes with a green chile sauce [very hot] to stuffed bell peppers with hash browns mixed with tomatoes as the stuffing. The meal ends with a small, and very rich dessert. 12. Panfried potstickers both sweet and savory are served with milk and coffee to a table. Often the insides of the potstickers are a mystery until one bites in. Kids try to guess which ones have the strawberry with jam in them, and not the lightly bbq'ed roast pork. Its typical to eat 2-3 of these. They are lifted from the central frying pan or warming pan with a spatula,and then tossed from hand to hand to cool, or if one is more delicate, placed on a napkin at the table to cool. Its not uncommon for the man of the house to eat a savory roast beef with gravy potsticker while the gravy is still bubbling hot, and affecting not to notice at all (so yes, the locals are used to eating their foods at temperatures Americans would find tongue scorching.) 13. There's nothing like smoked dried fish with a hefty smear of mayo on it, and a pickle to wake ya' up. Add in a cup of hot tea, and you're good to go! 14. Its said that if you eat a frog for breakfast nothing worse will happen to you all day. 15. Good Southern biscuits broken open, still steaming, and white gravy with large chunks of sausage scattered liberally in it and the gravy poured in a very generous fashion over the biscuits. Hot coffee, black (in this world, adding sugar is for sissies and for delicate women), in large heavy mugs is the drink. 16. Coffee. Well sort of. By the time you finish adding the chicory, the vanilla extract, the caramel, the whipped cream, the chocolate syrup on top of the whipped cream, the maraschino cherry on top of that, the dissolving sugar amaretto spoon...and that's just the basic drink, the fancy ones get more exotic, some people might not call it coffee anymore. By law, a 'coffee' drink has to have at least 25% coffee by weight and volume. 17. Omelettes. Almost any type of meat, veggie, and cheese mixture can be found in the numerous 'Omie Shoppes'. Each small, brightly lit shoppe has tiny tables fixed to the walls, and small chairs. Hot coffee is served in small, styrofoam cups (drink all you want, but you have to serve yourself, and its typically served at about 180 degrees to keep you from drinking too much...and yes, legally, no one is liable for burns in an Omie shoppe unless the victim can prove malice.) Its completely normal to have a 'Two egg omellette with lamb brisket, mango chutney, and goat cheese' although this would be yelled 'dulette baa dash many dash cruncher' as the omie shops have their own jargon for their dozens of omellette choices. 18. Meat chunks with pasta with some sauce casseroles are served at the workplaces for breakfast in the breakroom. Larger companies have actual dining rooms, but even the smallest company has breakfast for its workers even if they have to sit outside against the wall of the building. Typically you get a single styrofoam plate full of cheap but filling food and a cup of juice or coffee. A lot of companies cater this out, and breakfast caterers deliver hundreds of yard long tins of tuna casserole, and curlies with white sauce and pork meat peas (very small meatballs), and other such to companies all over the area every workday. The tins are put on a table above heaters, and the workers file in, and fill their plate. Its custom to eat just one plate, although if someone is having a hard time, the company often looks the other way if he fills up a plate to take home to his sick wife or something. 19. There are three vending machines every worker hits on the way into the building if they are early (or they sneak out too if they are late, and need to rush in, and then sneak food later). Typically there are long lines in front of each. The coffee machine, the doughnut machine, and the meat with biscuit machine (or the breakfast burrito machine.) Nothing tastes that good, and the prices are really more than they should be (but the vending machine owners kick back a portion of the proceeds to the company they are located at.) 20. Oatmeal cafe'. Grind your own minibatch of coffee, and make it in the single serving maker on your cafe' table on the sidewalk. Order from the cheerful waitress a bowl of oatmeal with up to fifty different added ingredients. Leisurely eat as you people watch. And if you really want to go hog-wild, you can take on the Monster Bowl Challenge which is four bowls of oatmeal sized bowl with ALL fifty ingredients in it. Eat it all within an hour and its free. Any more ideas? Tadeusz on "1d10 List of Guns sorta" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/1d10-list-of-guns-sorta#post-1404 Tue, 06 Nov 2007 14:00:11 +0000 Tadeusz 1404@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ Much of this is a reorganization of the Music Wars data. It is not a completed draft. So, MJ, you've been warned... The following is as most rules in role-playing games: Optional. The Referee (or as I prefer the Gamemaster) is free to alter the numbers below. In point of fact, there are no doubt good reasons to do so. But, if you're in a mood to tinker, this gives you a good starting place. And if you need a quick set of stats to arm your villainous gunslinger with then you're most welcome too... 1D20 List of Modern Projectile Weapons ====================================== 1.==Weapon:Mary Piper Epsilon: Old West Derringer: Range 2â€™: 5â€™: 15â€™:X: -10 SM to hit: Two shots: Lethal damage: RF 1 The pearl-handled friend of ladies of ill repute and gamblers also resides in many more honest hands. It is occasionally stored in a rig in the sleeve which enables its use as an initiative stealer weapon. 2.==Weapon:Mary Piper Epsilon: Old West Colt Peacemaker: Range 10â€™: 20â€™: 30â€™: 40â€™:+2/1â€˜: Six shots: Lethal damage: RF 3. This widely famed revolver is found in most Western movies. The longer the barrel, the more accurate the weapon. These numbers assume a six inch barrel. 3.==Weapon: Winchester rifle: Range 20â€™: 60â€™: 120â€˜: 240â€™: +10 SM to hit: Lethal Damage RF 2 4.==Weapon: Flamethrower: It does Lethal damage with a Dangerous rider every turn until the target is stopped from being on fire by a Difficult attribute check, or by a Fire-fighting skill. RF 1. Range is as follows: Point Blank N/A; Short--10 feet; Middle--25 feet; Long--50 feet; Extreme--70 feet. 5.==Weapon: .45 Colt Revolver with six bullets. It does Dangerous damage. Point Blank is 5 ft.; Short is 10 ft.; Middle is 20 ft.; Long is 40 ft.; Extreme is 60 ft. RF 3. 6.==Weapon: .30-30 Lever Action Rifle can hold up to seven bullets before requiring reloading. Point Blank is N/A; Short is 25 ft; Middle is 50 ft.; Long is 100 ft.; Extreme is 200 ft. Damage is Lethal. RF 2. 7.==Weapon: Double Barrel Shotgun loaded with Buckshot can fire once per two seconds maximum speed with two shots available before needing reloading. Point Blank is 5 ft.; Short is 10 ft.; Medium is 15 ft.; Long is 20 ft.; Extreme is 30 ft.. It gets a +15 sit-mod to hit due to the wideness of its spread pattern. Damage is Fatal, but any armor reduces that to Damaging. RF 1. 8.==Weapon: 9 MM Pistol: This gun has thirteen bullets in a clip. It does Dangerous -10 Die Roll (it is a lighter, and faster weapon than a .45). Lightly armored targets are considered to have 10% less armor than otherwise as this weapon is good at punching through light armor. Range: 5"/10"/20"/40"/75". RF 3. 9.==Weapon: AK-47: This is an automatic weapon with single-shot, three-round burst, and full automatic selections. It carries a banana clip with a thirty round magazine. If it is fired one-handed, it has a -25 Sit-mod. Damage is Lethal (A rifle is inherently more dangerous than a pistol, but this is a light round.). A three-round burst is Fatal with a -10 Sit-mod (Its hard to aim). A full automatic 'spray and pray' is Fatal with a Fatal intrinsic damage rider with a -35 sit-mod. This can be used as an area effect attack at -20 for Dangerous damage.Range: N/A; 8"/15"/40"/90". RF 2 at single or three round, and RF 30 at full auto. 10.==Weapon: Pump Shotgun: Damage is Lethal at Point Blank range. It is Dangerous after that. Range: 5"/10'/20"/30"/40". RF 2. NOTE:Drive by shootings use the speed of the vehicle driving as if the target was moving, and are thus much harder to hit. Of course, the rider is harder to hit as well by any counter-fire. Also, any failure in a Drive check by the Driver penalizes the Riding Shooter. It may or may not (GM's discretion: Penalize the Counterfire.) The shotgun carries seven shells in its under the barrel 'clip'. 11.==Weapon: .32 caliber revolver carries six shots that do Damaging damage. It is a lighter, smaller pistol. -15 Sit-mod. (This weapon is easily concealed, but frequently too small to be adequately controlled. Also the length of the barrel makes accuracy an issue.) For some such weapons a further negative sit-mod should be applied as these weapons are frequently in a modern world in not very good condition. However this is a Dimensional Differerential that the Referee has to decide on for himself. Range: 3"/ 7"/ 15"/ 23"/40". RF 2. 12.==Weapon: .45 automatic pistol or the Model 1911A is an excellent weapon. It carries seven bullets in its clip. It does Damaging damage with a +5 Die Roll (its a big gun, and may be too much for many people) and a +5 Sit-mod (Its a good gun.). Range is 8"/20"/35"/50"/70". RF 2. 13.==Tommy gun. NOTE: Ya know, the Tommy Gun hidden in the violin case? 14.==Weapon: Mary Piper Epsilon: Old West version Double-barreled shotgun: Range 5â€™: 15â€™: 30â€™: 40:+5/1â€˜: Two shots: Fatal Damage if 15â€™ or less; lethal damage if more: RF 1 Reloading requires â€œbreakingâ€ the gun apart, and inserting two new shells. 15.==Weapon: .38 revolver with six rounds of ammunition in the gun. Damaging: Repeat Factor 3: 3'/10'/20'/40'/60'. 1d10 List of Heavy Combat Weapons ================================= 1.==Weapon: MOAB aka Mother of All Bombs is a 12,000 pound packet of high explosives. It does Obliteratory damage in the central area of a hundred yard circle. For the first twenty-five yards past that, drop the damage to Annihilatory, and at the next twenty-five yards down to Fatal, and so on down to Annoying which is from 226-250 yards from the center point of the explosion. 2.==Weapon: JDAM aka Joint Direct Ammunition is a bolt-on to 'dumb' bombs. It allows much greater accuracy when target information can be relayed to it. This is one reason that DM has not tried to knock down the satellites in orbit because GPS is needed for this system. This is a Tech 11@0 Computer Control System skill which offers a +25 sit-mod to hit. 3.==Weapon: FAE Bomb or Fuel-Air Explosive spreads a gasoline mist, and then ignites it. It does Annihilatory damage in the first forty yards, and then drops one damage level every ten yards further out in a circle from the center point. 4.==Mortar 5.==Anti-personell Mine 6.==Weapon: Gatling gun: This weapon is terrifically damaging as it fires a hail of bullets (it is the precursor to the Heavy Machine Gun), and does Annihilating damage to its target if held on that target for any length of time. Every hundred bullets requires a stoppage, and a lever to be pulled, and a metal plate with holes in it for storing bullets to be removed since all the bullets are spent. Then another plate is put in, and the whole process is reversed. Then the winding lever is started up again, and the Gatling gun starts spitting out fire. The gun is heavy enough to require two strong men to move it. It usually has a tripod upon which it can be freely rotated. The bullets it fires have not the penetrating power to hurt serious armor, but against an unarmored human it does very well. 25â€™: 50â€™: 75â€™: 100â€™: +2/1â€™. 7.==Anti-tank/Anti-Hardened Position Team launched Missile 8.==Tank Cannon 9.==Artillery 105 MM Howitzer 10.==.50 Calibre Machine-gun 11.==Weapon: Dynamite stick: This has a hissing fuse that can be set anywhere from a minute to a second before detonation. The damage is Fatal, and affecting all like so if they are within ten feet. Within twenty feet, and it is Lethal, and within thirty feet and it is Damaging. Beyond that it is Annoying out to fifty feet. It can be wrapped in steel chain as a primitive shrapnel producing method which This 'wrapped stick' is 8'/15'/20'/30' for the above blast damage, but to the first three it has an attached Fatal Damage Rider. The Dangerous category is deliberately skipped for the circles of damage. RE: Wrapping the dynamite in a chain. A chain is not the only thing you could wrap that with. Wrapping it with heavy wire would have a similar effect. Wrapping it with tape and nails would do that, too. Taping rocks, nails, drill bits, anything really, would have a similar effect. Modern Crusader Martial Weapons 1. Dealt with below.... 2. Arming Sword (as per 1d10 list of swords.) 3. MC Martial Arts 1d10 List of Armors =================== 1. Bucket Shield with Kevlar Lining (from Praise and Worship Swordsmen in Music Wars World). 2. Long Duster Coat: This flowing coat helps hide the users body outline so that he can shift his body a bit and â€œhideâ€ in the open, and thus it denies precise targeting information to his assailant. Use of this is a skill. B7@4 Improved Defense, require a skill roll to activate it for the combat, and cap the sit-mid at -5 (or, possibly, -5 x skill level, if the referee is feeling generous or if it is important that expert NPC gunslingers derive great benefit from their costumes). It also causes a -1 DC to hand-to-hand weapons. Contributions William T. Wodium, John "A1Nut" Cross. Created by Eric R. Ashley. JohnA1nut on "Culture Shock" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/culture-shock#post-6718 Fri, 29 Aug 2008 04:26:55 +0000 JohnA1nut 6718@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ This is mostly for Eric. I read a story a long time ago. A man is abducted by aliens and taken to see their queen. The aliens have no hostile intent towards humans, they just needed this man's help with something or other. When he meets the alien queen, the first thing he does is stick out his hand to shake hands. The alien queen freaks out, and orders the guards to throw him in prison. The guy is understandably shaken by this, and protests and wants to know why. It turns out that in their culture, pointing your hand at someone is a threat and an insult. The guy talks his way out of it, and the story continues, but I found it interesting to note. Even on earth, we have similar culture shock. I'd say that 99.99% of the world's population understands a smile to be a sign of friendship. However, some researchers in Africa found that to some of the African bushmen, it was seen as threatening. You are, after all, baring your teeth at them. In their culture, a smile could get you killed. In the US, a thumbs up has a positive meaning, but in Italy, it is the equivalent of giving the finger. I think it means something like "Stick it up your @$$" I guess The Fonz wouldn't last too long in Italy. I could imagine quite a few good (and bad) times that could be had with this notion. Perhaps you land in a world where the Indigs speak English for the most part, but the word "Hello" means "I'm going to kill you" The Verser gets into trouble and doesn't even understand why. Tadeusz on "1d10 List of Swords" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/1d10-list-of-swords#post-1330 Fri, 02 Nov 2007 15:56:02 +0000 Tadeusz 1330@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ It occurs to me that a list of ten swords would be of use. And then I could later come back and borrow from it for other worlds. It would also be of use because thats a little detail that can by handy for spicing worlds with small details. These are, as pretty much everything in a role-playing game is, optional. You could make good arguements for things being different, and I may not even be wholly consistent with my own guidelines. You may wish to require a separate skill of horse-born sword combat to utilize the extra power inherent in a curved sword in that situation. Or you may simply want to have this be a strictly skill situation. However, it seems to me that some element of this inherent to the sword. I believe that making it fully inherent to the sword as this list does, or requiring an extra skill to represent the familarity with this potential are both reasonable solutions. An increase in a Situation Modifier is favorable in nearly all cases. It allows for more damage, and a greater chance to hit. One reason to give such modifiers is because of the reputation of the sword's excellence. The gladius and the katana both enjoy a favored reputation among some for this quality. Also, a two-edged sword is more apt to be usable in more situations in combat than a single-edged sword. An increase in Die Roll generally makes the weapon do more damage, but hit less often. This is particularly suited to a heavy, hard to maneuver, but deadly weapon. 1. Highland Claymore--Typically used by Scottish clansmen. The hilt is about a foot. The blade is between 40 and 45 inches in length. The guards are lengthy and set forward at a thirty degree angle roughly. This is a two-handed weapon. Also basket-hilted claymores are possible. Dangerous: NOT Ranged: +15 Die Roll: RF 1 (A two-handed, and somewhat awkward weapon that does large amounts of damage.) 2. Gladius--The Roman legionaires used this leaf-bladed, double-edged thrusting weapon. It is frequently found as a masterwork weapon. Dangerous: NOT Ranged: +5 for Excellence Sit-mod: RF 2 (RF 3 if used in a shieldwall with only thrusting attacks). (One may wish to add a +3 for it being a two-edged weapon.) 3. Zweihander--This sword was used by the German Landsknechts supposedly to chop pikes of the opposing forces. It is up to six feet long in its entirety. The knight in the movie Ladyhawke uses a Zwiehander. It is, of course, a two-handed weapon. Lethal: NOT Ranged: +20 Die Roll: Simple Check by defender who is using wooden weapon if attack vs. weapon succeeds. Failure means the weapon is broken. RF 1. (This is an enormous weapon that requires two hands or superhuman strength. If it hits, which is somewhat unlikely, its going to hurt...a lot. Thus the +20 Die Roll.) 4. Rapier--A slender, and lengthy (usually more than one yard) sword used primarily to thrust. They often feature complex hilts. Fighting is very fast, and since thrust damage is inherently worse for humans than slicing damage (as internal organs are often damaged) they can be quite lethal. However, they are of little use against zombies. Dangerous: NOT Ranged: -10 Die Roll: RF 3. (As described in the Big Black Book of Multiverser aka The Rules, it is suggested that this weapon is faster, quicker, less likely to botch, and does less damage. All this is well represented by a -10 DR). 5. Sabre--This is a curved single-edged sword usually with a large hand guard. It is sometimes carried from a baldric (at the shoulder) or at the waist, but there are lengthier versions meant to be hung from a cavalrymanâ€™s saddle. Dangerous: NOT Ranged: +5 Die Roll: Cavalry version has an upgrade damage category if on horseback. RF 2. (This is a single-edged, somewhat awkward weapon with a limited number of attack angles. However, it is a moderately heavy weapon.) 6. Falchion--This single-edged sword type covers a variety of shapes, but one shape may be fairly called â€˜a machete with a cross-guardâ€™. It is a simple, brutal weapon largely suited for chopping. Dangerous: NOT Ranged: + 10 Die Roll: RF 1. (This is a crude and brutal weapon. One may be tempted to change the +10 DR to -5 SM, +5 DR to more accurately reflect the weapon's nature.) 7. Katana--This curved, single-edged Nipponese sword is over two Shaku in length and under three. A Shaku is about thirty centimeters. A curved sword is useful for a horseman as it adds power to the downward strike. This weapon is designed for attacking light armor. Dangerous: NOT Ranged: + 10 Sit-mod for excellence: + 5 if attacker on horseback with Damage Category Shift Up: + 5 Sit-mod if light or no armor and -5 for heavier. RF 2. (This weapon was designed to deal with the light armor favored by the samurai. Accordingly, against the full plate of a medieval knight, it should do less well. This is a reflection of war--no weapon is perfect for all situations.) 8. Arming Sword--The knightly cruciform, single-handed sword is typically one yard in length. It is sometimes inaccurately called a â€˜longswordâ€™ or â€˜broadsword.â€™ Dangerous: NOT Ranged: Damage Category Shift Up if on Horseback. RF 2. (Fairly straightforward.) 9. Scimitar--This is a misnomer. The Arabic weapon, the Saif is one example of this â€™typeâ€™. It is a single-handed, single-edged, variably curved with a slender hand-guard protruding from the sides or quillons, and a small bit protruding from the pommel to make a â€˜pistol gripâ€˜. It has a false edge at the tip. Dangerous: NOT Ranged: -5 Die Roll: RF 2. (The light nature of this weapon makes the user less likely to fumble, and less likely to do really severe damage which are reflected in teh -5 DR.) 10. Spatha--The later Romans and the Vikings used this double-edged, single handed sword. Its length falls between 3/4ths of and 1 yard. It was carried on the left due to its length. Dangerous: NOT Ranged: +10 Die Roll: +3 Sit-mod: RF 2. (Being double-edged is a general advantage represented by the small sit-mod advantage. The length and heaviness of the sword make for a less subtle, and more destructive weapon which is seen in the +10 DR.) Tadeusz on "Types of Martial Arts" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/types-of-martial-arts#post-2204 Tue, 27 Nov 2007 16:35:06 +0000 Tadeusz 2204@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ Lets list a few types (and yeah, I know a ton of types, I'm looking for stats and data here, not just names.) ======================================================================================= Types of Martial Arts ====================== 1. Psi-Fu 2. Modern Crusader Swordsman 3. Mark Ryu (a specific form of Starsong Customized Martial Art) 4. Gazuntite?? Is this listed elsewhere? 5. Silat 6. Eskrima 7. Krav Maga 8. Florentine Style Sword-fighting 9. 10. Silat is Fast, Aggressive, and Weapon Utilizing. Escrima is Fast, Aggressive, and Weapon Dependant. Krav Maga is Fast, Defensive, and Weapon Utilizing. 2. Florentine Swordfighting =========================== *This is not completed yet. *For near-variants of this skill, we'll use the same skills. *Some Non-Florentine fencing uses defensive weapons such as a Main-Gauche[a defensive dagger], buckler[small shield], and cloak-fighting techniques), but Florentines rely on the use of two weapons. Style: Fast, Aggressive, Weapon Dependent (Rapier, Foil, Epee', Sabre.) Style Multiplier: 2 The Sword is Part of the Arm: Martial Arts Weapon B 7@1 +5 SM. If you are allowed to limber up, then it is +15. Cornering An Enemy So He Can't Move Freely: Tactical Movements B 7@2 Whether its forcing the opponent to back up a staircase where he can't see his feet because he's focused on your flashing blade, or just herding him into a corner of the room, it all helps to keep the weasel from darting about to get away. +10 SM, RS=Sit Mod. Your Mind is Your Weapon, The Sword is Mere Metal: Improvised Martial Weapon B 7@6 Personal Space, Please!: Leveraged Attacks B 7@3 Whether sword blade against sword blade and a push to the dastard, or the gallant spins about a pole to slam a blackguard in the chest with both feet, what is achieved is space. +5 DR. Parrying: Advanced Parrying B 7@5 +15 SM. Study Your Opponent's Weaknesses: Defense Analysis B 7@7 Ambidexterity: Two Weapon Style: 9. Ku Fung ========== *This is one of several I copied from the GO site a while back. Ku Fung B7@1 Fast Defensive Weapon-averse Punch style -20 def sit-mod, -10 def damage mod, RF2, -10 att sit-mod (PENALTY), Body Part: Hand Bo Staff Martial Arts Weapon B7@1 Solid Punch, B7@3 intensified damage: damaging, standard attack success required, -10 sit-mod. Power Punch, B7@3 intensified damage dangerous, lethal against objects, only attack in minute against objects, limit of two attacks in the minute against creatures, standard attack success required if used against creatures or armor, attack on weapon if used against weapon, automatic breakage on failed d100 relative success density check. Blitz B7@3 lethal base attack using rapid combinations of punches and kicks, requires hands and feet to be free (no weapon held), only attack in the minute, +20 damage mod, confers +15 bonus to opponent attacks (defenses are lowered). 10. Tae Kwon Do ================ *This is one of several I copied from the GO site a while back. Tae Kwon Do SAL 1@10 RF2 +15 Att SM -10 Def SM Standard Kick B7@1 annoying attack (+DC) Power Kick, B7@3 intensified damage dangerous, lethal against objects, only attack in minute against objects, limit of two attacks in the minute against creatures, standard attack success required if used against creatures or armor, attack on weapon if used against weapon, automatic breakage on failed d100 relative success density check, target must be between knee and chest height of user Blitz B7@3 lethal base attack using rapid combinations of punches and kicks, requires hands and feet to be free (no weapon held), only attack in the minute, +20 damage mod, confers +15 bonus to opponent attacks (defenses are lowered) Escape Hold B7@5 Balance B0@4 Fall Shock Absorption B4@6 incorporates B4@4 Tumble to Erect Position -10 SM Tae Kwon Do B7@1 Fast Aggressive +15 Attack SM -5 Defense SM 2 Attacks strikes, especially kicks weapon adverse (-15 SM for weapon in hand) 11. Okinawan Kobudo ==================== *This is one of several I copied from the GO site a while back. Okinawan Kobodu B7@1 Slow Defensive -15 Defense SM -5 Attack SM +20 Attack Damage Mod 1 attack weapon dependent Bo Stick B7@1 Sai B7@1 Nunchaku B7@1 Tonfa B7@1 Standard Kick B7@1 annoying attack (+DC) Power Kick, B7@3 intensified damage dangerous, lethal against objects, only attack in minute against objects, limit of two attacks in the minute against creatures, standard attack success required if used against creatures or armor, attack on weapon if used against weapon, automatic breakage on failed d100 relative success density check, target must be between knee and chest height of user Escape Hold B7@5 Disarm B7@5 requires weapon Tadeusz on "Improvement Packages" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/improvement-packages#post-1974 Fri, 23 Nov 2007 02:04:25 +0000 Tadeusz 1974@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ SF is rife with a variety of ways to radically improve the body. Cyborgs, nanotech infiltration, cyberpunk chrome with chips in the brain to teach skills, a variety of symbionts, Adamification, just general improvement as the brain is upgraded... Hmm, perhaps not as many as I'd thought. Tom Day has been Ascended, partially. Its a process of making the whole body work better as a step toward become totally superhuman. Tadeusz has a Star Empire of Lekostia cyborg skelaton in his body which has a few other qualities than just 1000 pound strength although that its primary use. Its alien tech because as far as he knew, he was the only human in that particular universe. The Symbiont Academy Symbiont has a number of qualities. Many of these are things you have to train yourself to access. Stronger, faster, more durable are the beginning of it. Leikou of Neo-Tokyo, a verser who shows up in Rocky Mountain DMZ (I've used her there anyways.) is an illiterate street samurai aka cyberpunk with wired reflexes and talons. MJ's dop went to Starsong, got his asthma and sight cured. Starsong has such formidable technology that people complain about medical bills involving being turned into a whale by nanotechnology. He also had some skull armor slipped in. His mods were close to trivially simple for Starsongers. Whisp, of course, has been turned into some liquid metal, but that involved magic. Not that an IP that included magic should be disallowed. Nanotech is often used for healing wounds very rapidly. The cyberpunk 'jack' in the back of the head got used in Andromeda on TV. It attaches the brain of the human to a computer. Nanotech could also be used for wireless links by hand and eye signals with local computers as in "Deepness in the Sky". Symbionts often typically filter out poisons from the body. Thus the person can run longer and faster. They also often offer a better control system for healing, more intelligence is involved. (I think this may underestimate how intelligent the design for healing already is.--This is a typical fault of Bio-improvement stories.) What I would like: Five improvement packages, at least. One would focus on almost totally mental improvements. It might be a Psi IP. If you could merely look at a fence, and know that it was six feet, 3.5 inches tall, and you could know just how much force your legs were producing....well, one could do interesting things with that sort of precise knowledge. Another Ascended. Another a cyberpunk street sam. Another a cyberpunk chiphead (have a slot in the back of your head where you stick in the latest download a la Matrix....but the 'punks had this idea way before Matrix.) Another an old-fashioned cyborg. And a nanotech. And a couple symbionts....thats five right? Right? Eric Tadeusz on "Home Defense Variations" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/home-defense-variations#post-6007 Tue, 08 Jul 2008 19:47:20 +0000 Tadeusz 6007@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ In another one of my lists, or spices to add to your bland roast of world you're cooking up articles, I consider variations on how home defense is legally handled. I believe I've considered this to some degree before, but this will be somewhat different, I think. 1. "Better let them know you're coming": In wild country, when the cowboys were around the campfire, it was most unwise to quietly walk up to their campfire. You made a lot of noise before you yelled out at a distance "Hallo the camp!". Otherwise, they shot you as in self defence, and shrugged at your stupidity if it turned out you had been innocent of evil intentions. 2. "Duty to Retreat": If you have the ability to retreat, or you believe yourself to be in only mild danger, you do not have the right to use lethal force in self defence inside your own home. If the burglar breaks in the front door, and has a gun, the question is....Can you retreat to the den? And from there to the kitchen? And if alone, from there, and out the back door? However, if you're at a junction point where your retreating would allow the burglar to get closer to a sleeping wife or children, then you do not have the necessity to retreat any further. That is, if the entrance to the hallway to the bedrooms is in the den, you don't have a duty to retreat to the kitchen. 3. "Make sure he falls inside": If the burglar is inside the house, you're fine. Go ahead and shoot him. In this regime, sometimes policemen will privately advise the homeowner to 'make sure he falls inside, even if you need to help him fall inside'. This falls into the de jure and de facto system of laws. The law may state one thing, but if policemen, for example, are happily willing to overlook evidence that the body was dragged inside, then the actual laws are something else. 4. "The Castle": Your home is your castle, and you're free to defend it and your property how you choose. You may, if you choose, shoot a fleeing burglar who is running down the street with your or a neighbour's ten dollar radio in his hands. Some defend this with the point that if you kill the burglar today, he won't be threatening an innocent homeowner next week. 5. "Night and Day": In the Bible, it seems like there was a rule. If the burglar broke in at night, he could be dealt with by lethal force. If in the daytime, he could not. It seems likely this was because in the pre-electric era one could not safely discern in the night whether the burglar was lethally dangerous whereas in the daytime one could. As a further extension, it seems likely this regime would allow the killing of an armed burglar during the daytime. 6. "Could I have some tea, guvnor?": The British, at one point, had severe enough laws against gun use in crimes that a burglar would surrender, and then politely ask for some tea while everyone waited for the police to show up. 7. "Criminal Self Defense": In a bit of law also British, but more modern, and hence lacking in what normal people call common sense, the homeowner may get in trouble. A criminal broke in, and was taken to the ground by the homeowner. The criminal was released the next day. The homeowner, a few days later, was informed that he was to stand charges for assault and battery. 8. "Turn the Other Cheek": I think this is an improper interpretation of the Bible, but some have held that you should help the burglar, and indeed offer him the silver cups to go with the silver forks he's stealing. This technique may have the virtue of causing the robber to reconsider his life of crime, and also become a Christian. 9. "Eric's Reasonable Rule": If he's trying to break in...warn him once, and then fire. If he's inside, and its not completely clear that you totally have the drop on him, or that he's otherwise at your mercy...fire until you feel he is no longer a threat. If he is stealing an item, warn him to put it down, surrender, and if he refuses then fire as needed. If he is outside the house, with property of yours, and is clearly not going to go around the house, you may fire into the air or ground, but you may not attempt to kill him. 10. "Rascist Preferences": This could be in a world such as ours, but more extreme, where if you're a minority you can do pretty much whatever you want and get off. And if you shoot a thug, he will get off, and his buds will threaten you in front of policemen who will do nothing to protect you. Or it could be simply a more straightforward rascism...you are not a member of the elite. You shot a young punk member of the elite. You're toast. Tadeusz on "Driving Distinctions" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/driving-distinctions#post-5426 Thu, 29 May 2008 21:58:21 +0000 Tadeusz 5426@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ People all over the Multiverse, under red and green suns, those with five opposable thumbs,and those with none all drive on the right hand side of the road with internal combustion engines. Or not. 1. The most obvious, so obvious that its painful, tailgates this sentence. Drive on the left side of the road. 2. Speed limits. We don't need no steenking speed limits! Ja's gut! Interestingly the German Autobahn has about the same accident rate as American interstates. There is something to be said for driving fast enough to force yourself to pay attention (I did this once...falling asleep, and had to get somewhere so I was driving a Honda Civic at a hundred mph down night roads. Sheer terror is good for wakefulness.) 3. Bridges, good roads, and some chokepoints are tolled. Sure, you can go around, if you can find a by-road, but that road will be potholed and inconvenient. Some universes have gates, others call them 'paybars', and 'tollstops', and 'taxman's touch'. Other universes use cameras and mail you the bill. 4. Another use of cameras is Stop-light Cameras. They are touted in the prime universe as a means to increase safety, but studies clearly show that reducing the length of yellow lights reduces safety. However, reducing the lengths of yellow lights increases revenue. The lengths of yellow lights is getting reduced. Whatever could be happening here? The idea of a government that sneaks and peeks on you, but with the primary goal of finding occasions to fine its citizens instead of making them safe has a certain cynic's pleasure to it. Already a lot of us suspect that the primary purpose of police in small towns is to generate traffic tickets for the city council. 5. Or you could do away with stop lights altogether, and have uniformed men in towers directing traffic. Yes, its not as 'efficient', but its probably safer as these traffic wardens would serve as 'the cop on every street corner' which would reduce crime and encourage general politeness, and also, in a world where data analyis powers of a high degree given only to a few of us are useful, it might be a good idea to invent jobs where those with less than genius IQ's and the ability to program in Binary can be of benefit to society and themselves. 6. Asphalt, concrete, or some form of resin composite? What about greenways for hovercraft? Or what if someone invented grass tough enough to stand up to vehicular traffic? 7. There is a legend that says the car makers found out to their dismay that people were buying cars, and not buying another one. The market was filling up. So they invented Planned Obsolescence. Whether this is true or not, it is certainly true that for major parts of the Cold War, air force crew flew B-52 bombers that were older than they were. Its also true that fashion, and fashion shows were invented to convince fashionistas that their perfectly servicable and attractive clothing was outdated. And its true that some Volvo owners have had their vehicles for over 500,000 miles. Imagine a world where cars are sold with seven digits on the mile gauge. Sure, the car is a bit more expensive, but not as expensive as buying new cars every few years. You buy a car, and then keep driving it for twenty or thirty years. 8. Autopilot. Once a common place in SF stories, but not so much nowadays. You type in the destination, or speak it, and the car does the rest. 9. The Green Sled is what my brother and I called our first car. It was an enormous 70's era car which could fit four in the front seat, and five in the back easily enough. It hit eighty miles per hour and hummed. It also maneuvered like a sled on ice, but you can't have everything. Such a vehicle presupposes cheap fuel, however. Energy getting cheaper is the natural state of affairs. Some of you reading this may disagree. You may start hauling out Malthusian prophecies of doom, or simply point out the high cost of gas which as I write this nears $4 a gallon. Aaaaaaarrgggggghhhhhhh. Where was I? Before my wallet's scream of agony? Ah yes. Well, consider this my doubting friends. OPEC, a government led cartel, led by a dictatorial government that we should have invaded already (Saudi Arabia), and that hates our Barbie making guts supplies most of the oil. Consider how we've banned off-shore drilling as much as we can, and how we made it hard to put up nuke plants and oil refineries. Robert Heinlein did have his problems but he had a point when he said the scariest words in the world were "I'm from the government, and I'm here to help you." Consider a world with cheap energy, perhaps electricity from nuke plants, and cars that require parking lots that other dimensions would use for RV's. Consider how much fun it would be to send Michael Di Vars' Humvee into rush hour traffic, and have some little old lady run over his pint-size car in traffic. 10. Pimp yer' ride. Every vehicle out there is a work of art. Every vehicle is customized after-market with choices from thousands of different clever tricks. The Presiential Limo is flame red, except when it rains and then color change and hydrophilic paint changes it to blue with orange flaming words on the side 'Da Prez's Ride'. This is viewed as tastefully conservative. Tadeusz on "1d10 List of Knives" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/1d10-list-of-knives#post-1978 Fri, 23 Nov 2007 11:34:29 +0000 Tadeusz 1978@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ Note to Wodium: This is for inclusion with the Sword Article, I would guess. ============================================================================== The following article is for use of Multiverser referees. The stats given are optional, as is most everything in a roleplaying game system. You are the game Master, revel in your power. One side issue is whether the knife is balanced. If you can rest the knife on a fingertip at the joining of hilt and blade, then it is likely balanced. And that means, it will work better in a fight, and that it can be thrown. Some knives may have a wrist strap or lanyard to help the user not be the loser of his blade. Other, more supertech, or modern gimmicky, may have items like GPS scanners or compasses embedded into the hilt of the regular knife or the body of the folding knife. Also, spies, and assassins, and secret groups like ninjas make use of hollow hilts where poisons, rolled up papers, or a garrotte can be stored. Also, sometimes survival gear is stored in the hilt. In certain supertech worlds, you can buy survival blades that will turn black if what they are cutting is poisonous. Knives are made of flint, basalt, bronze, steel, carbon fiber, ceramic, and other materials. The effects of these will be considered after the list of weapons. 1d10 List of Knives ==================== 1. Pocket Knife--Your basic folding knife. Most often it has two blades, but sometimes one or three. Annoying damage -2 DR, -1 SM, RF 3 2. Swiss Army Knife--Your non-basic, everything but the kitchen sink, folding knife. This is a high-quality device which earns it the Masterwork or Quality distinction. Typically a knife will have a primary blade, a secondary blade, and a variety of the following items: tweezers, toothpick, corkscrew, can opener, bottle opener, slotted/flat-head screwdriver(s), phillips-head screwdriver, nail file, scissors, saw, file, hook, magnifying glass, ballpoint pen, fish scaler, hex wrench w/bits, pliers and key chain. Damage from the blades is Annoying. RF 2. SM +1, Damage Point Bonus +1. 3. Butcher Knife--This single-edged, and pointed blade so beloved of horror movie directors is an effective, and rather scary tool of home defense. While a shotgun is definitely more effective, there is something about the glittering of steel in a mostly dark room, the willingness of the homeowner to plunge it into the robber's gut that will no doubt inspire second thoughts among the criminal class. The hilt is often plastic which is slippery (-4 SM to defending against a disarm) or wood. The blade can be a foot long, and wide. It does Annoying damage +1 DR with a stab, and -1 DR with a slice. RF 1. 4. Bowie Knife--Created by Jim Bowie, American frontiersman. The single-edge with a bent point and a scallopped cutting blade the first third or so of the blade on the reverse side, which runs about ten inches in length in total. It is a thick and wide weapon suited to chopping saplings, skinning deer, and gutting men. The scalloped reverse cutting surface may be used to slice backwards in a surprise move. Frequently, a thin layer of metal is added to the back side of the blade as a 'catcher' that will entangle an enemy blade. This gives a +5 SM to attempts to lock up or disarm the enemy knifeman. It is a superior device well suited to combat, and to being used as a working knife. It does Damaging damage. RF 2. 5. Pukka--A Finnish hiltless, heavy bladed, working knife. It has a single edge, and a flat back which can be used to support a finger to add additional force to a cut. It is usually used as a wood-working, and fish-cleaning knife. Its plain, straightforward, and sturdy. It does Annoying damage +1 SM. RF 2. +2 DR if the finger is put on the back end of the blade. 6. Seax--A Germanic blade. It is a pointed, single-edged, with no hand-guard, weapon often used as a tool. It is very approximately 11 cm's long. It does Annoying damage. RF 2. 7. Gravity Knife--This knife can be opened by holding it upside down, or snapping the wrist. A blade extends out from the front, and locks into place. RF 3. Annoying damage -1 SM. 8. Butterfly Knife or Balisong-- A Filipino weapon used in the Eskriman martial art, or by modern day 'flippers' who do tricks with them. The hilt is a divided lengthwise two piece ensemble attached by a freely rotating axis to the base of the blade. When stored, the hilts cover the blade (which is because they have channels in them to fit the blade between both.) It can be very rapidly unshipped. Such a skill is also quite intimidating. Annoying damage, RF 2, -1 SM. +3 SM to Fast Draw, and to Intimidation rolls. 9. Athame--A black handled knife used in magic by Wiccans. It has twin-edges, and a point, and is likely guardless. It likely has some esoteric symbols in the hilt. It may be dulled to prevent its harming anyone physically during magic in which case it is not a combat weapon. Annoying damage -2 SM, -1 DR. 10 Shiv--A tool of dispute resolution in prisons. This crude device is not suited to a serious knife fight. It is typically used in ambush in conjunction with an Intensified Damage skill such as Strike at Kidneys. Often a metal spoon is filed down to a sharp point to make a stabbing weapon. Almost all shivs are stabbing weapons. It does Annoying damage. RF 1. + 4 DR, - 6 SM. Knife Materials: ================ 1. Flint--This is a low-tech solution which requires considerable skill, and some luck in flint-knapping. It can produce an acceptable blade that is more fragile than steel. -2 SM. 2.Obsidian--Volcanic rock can produce edges that are sharper than steel. However, such edges degrade rapidly. Strikes: 1st +2 SM, 2nd +1 SM, 3rd -1 SM, 4th -3 SM, 5th--the weapon is effectively useless. 3. Bronze--This ancient alloy was used in much of the wars of the ancient world. Some people think that the stories of magic weapons were founded on tales of the first steel swords meeting bronze swords. The bronze would bend, and shatter before the steel. Bronze has a -10 SM in opposed strength checks. One such check should be made for every parry, or disarm, or once every four attacks. Failure equals a -20 SM weapon, or one that is shattered. A 'bent' sword may be straightened out with a Difficult strength check. 4. Ceramic fiber--This high-tech material has an edge in getting through metal detectors as its non-metallic. It can go for months not needing to be sharpened due to its extreme hardness. However, it requires extremely specialized powered tools to sharpen. +1 DR. 5. Glass--Frequently this is used as an improvised knife. A window is broken, and glass shards are strewn across the floor. A ripped bit of a shirt serves as the hilt, and a very crude weapon is born (Annoying -10 SM, + 5 DR, usable to stab only, or to cut something vulnerable like an uncovered throat which means it almost does no damage if used as a cutting tool. It requires an Intensified Damage target to do damage with a cut. A Difficult Agility check is required to keep from breaking it after using it in an attack. RF 1.). But Glass can also be used more formally. Here it begins to shine. First, it is radar invisible. Second, it is fearsomely sharp. It still requires an Agility check, but with a properly prepared hilt, this is a Simple check. DR +8 for the use of Glass. ============================================== Okay, I think that has got it. Tadeusz on "Types of Vampires" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/types-of-vampires#post-1447 Wed, 07 Nov 2007 03:02:08 +0000 Tadeusz 1447@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ Types of Vampires: 1. Faux 2. Weeds (need to make a note in the creation that they can spread very fast), and need to add more details for the higher level ones, and probably skills such as 'biting' for the lower level template already created. Demonically possessed dead body. 3. Devlin: Magico-Body Vampire (Probably need to rewrite the nature of the vamp to make it able to be a verser). 4. Dawkins: Purely Magical Vampire 5. Psi-Kin and the Lifesuckers (I just started working on these). 6. Wodium's Wamphyres or Body Based Vampires 7. Need a potentially redeemable vampire, and its type. 8. Alien species vamp would be nice (Wraith on Stargate: Atlantis are one such.) 9. Mechanical vampire 10. Fallen Incarnate (as Falling Perhaps, and as Fully Fallen). With all this gathered together, that should offer enough for a Vamps R-us. A few notes: Mechano-Vamp: In all the alternate dimensions where Dar Koni and Darleek (I'm not looking them up now...way too late) try to kill each other...in this dimension a light cruiser of Dar Koni origin jumps a colony ship of the praying mantis enemy in Sol System. Its headed elsewhere, but the Dar Koni don't want a colony on their flank. Things go badly for both sides, but worse for the cruiser. It still has maneuverrability,a nd it lands on Earth. The colonizer lands later on the Moon. The Dar Koni recruit the Earthlings with tales of evil aliens and offering new tech. The Mantis's know this will happen,a nd know they have to attack. They can't let Earth be turned to Dar Koni use especially when to both their surprises (the aliens that is), Earthlings turn out to be good at this stuff. War picks up between the Earth and the Moon. Eventually, the Mantis's try to drop asteroids on Earth to kill it off, but the Dar Koni knew this would happen,a nd defenses are prepared. This finally convinces Earth to go all out. The Mantis ship has built colony domes on Luna, and is building factories, and clone warriors. It sends invasion forces, and they get chopped up by the new human cyborgs. So the Mantis send their best armed with new D-guns. Its a desperate fight. And thats where we leave them. For the D-guns are weapons that disintegrate by collapsing the local structure of space-time. Extremely deadly, but then the Mechanovamps are deadly. Occasionally a botch in these new weapons occurs, and the target gets dumped into another universe. This hardly bothers the Mantis even if they knew. The end result is to drop a killer cyborg from a deadly war against aliens into a normal world. The Mechanovamps are stronger, faster, more durable than a human. They have puncture tubing in their mouths to draw out the fluid of a target. They can use this to access data from a computer, draw up gasoline to power their engines, or bring in new fresh blood because their old blood gets rapidly polluted. They have hard-wired 'survive at all costs' commands built in to their computer adjuncts to their brains. Lady of Sorrow or Sarah Sarah is an angel. She is on the verge of Falling. As her decision is in some sense outside of Time, her arrival on a Earth is at her whim. So her Fall from Grace is not completed yet even thousands of years after most have done so. Its possible for the verser to convince her to go back to her Heaven before she makes the irrevocable choice outside of Time. Before her desire to be even more glorious than she already is overwhelms her good sense. She is Veiled as she walks the world, but she's obviously trying to talk herself into becomaing a 'Bad Girl'. ============================= Lady of Sorrows is for when she's already made the evil choice. Sarah has incarnated permanently. Sarah has Fallen. And she has lost much of her power. She has torn off her wings,a nd can no longer cross the dimensional boundaries,a nd ascend to Heaven. Nor can she fly. But, she is the most powerful being on the planet by a long shot. And she's been here a long time, several thousand years. Because after she failed to be turned, she went to another world, early in its Creation, and Fell. She does drink blood because its one of the few ways to approach the rush of the Glories is to feel the lifeblood beneath her hands as the target dies. At one time, she felt the Glories like sun on her skin. Now, she couldn't stand their presence. But at the same time, she needs that feeling of attention and joy and love. Killing innocents is a poor substitute, but it'll do. Its like how some people need a feeling of power, they need power, and so they take cocaine to give them a feeling of power. She continues to Fall. Her greatness diminishes century by century. At one time, she could have juggle dthe Sun in the palm of her hand. Now, she can't bear its light as it sits in judgment on her. She has given of her self to make lesser beings called vampires. Loneliness eats away at her. But they offend her with thier greed,adn ambition,a nd she destroys them. This happens several times ove r the millenia--these Reigns of the Dead are known as bad times....the last one occurred during the Black Plague. But their seems to be evidence that she's trying it again....the Century of Slaughter filled with Nazi's and Communists and mountains of the dead seems to have been inspired by some of her creations. In this world, there are those who worship the Christ, but there are also many who have small shrines to the Lady of Sorrows who is full of self-pity and unbending anger against Heaven. The Lady who cannot admit she made a mistake. There is some speculation among a very few that she can be redeemed. After all, she has taken on a body, immortal though it be. Most think her a spirit entity,and not actually a breathing component of their life. Most of those who do realize that the ancient tales have large grains of truth in them think her inescapably evil, and in need of destruction. Others think she will only die at the Battle of Armageddon. Some think that a prophecy of a 'woman who holds a sword in her hand, and stands against the Great King for two strokes of his sword before falling to her doom.' (which is in an apocryphal text not accepted as canon) is referring to her. Others think that this refers to the evil, end-time church. Still others say 'apocrypha' and scoff which is a good position since their are other eminently false bits of prophecy in the Testimony of the Seven Witnesses. Some think that the Testimony was created by her as propaganda so that no one would attack her since she is 'invulnerable until Armageddon' or so goes the logic. Tadeusz on "Alternate Movies" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/alternate-movies#post-577 Wed, 26 Sep 2007 10:58:30 +0000 Tadeusz 577@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ This is an attempt to create a list of alternate movies that sound interesting, and explanatory of their culture so that a GM can say... "You're driving your three-wheel electric cabriolet through the streets of New Amsterdam with your girlfriend Sheila, and she spots the movie XXXXXXXXXXX on the marquee and asks if you can go watch it with her." 1. Steelblood: This movie exalts the local reality Dagger Teams who are the this-world equivalent of SEALS. It fits comfortably in between Die Hard and Navy Seals. It has a lot of action, male bonding, knife fights, and desperate action along with the bold heroes seeking out and destroying the wicked. 'Its not hard figuring out what's right. Its the doing it.' Jake Smith, famous mature actor. 'Yeah, all you need is steel in your fist, and steel in your blood' Mike Angellii, famous Italian lead. 2. Draw or Die: A murder mystery focusing on a sketch artist who is suffering from artistic doubts. The scene where he blindfolded and tied in a chair uses a pencil snub to sketch the face of his captor on the floor so that after he is taken to the cabin in the woods where he is to be killed, the pursuing detective can match the face to the ID files,a nd then the ID files to the property owner files is one of the tensest fifteen minutes in modern cinema as you are sure that he is about to fail no fewer than eleven times. When he succeeded in the first showing, the audience got up and cheered. 3. Oil Mangler, Oil Mangler Two, Ship Mangler, Town Mangler, Return of the Mangler, and the New Mangler are not very good flicks, but they made a lot of money. A man is killed through the laziness of his bosses on an oil rig, and his soul possesses and animates the rig. So he goes on a rampage toward land, destroying things in his sub-intellgent fury until the hero figures out the problem and guides him the the headquarters of the oil company which got him killed. He destroys the building after everyone but the execs escape. Then he makes them get on the conference table and throws the table and the execs twenty miles out to sea. And then his soul goes to Paradise. Ship and Town respectively featured a possessed ship, and a small town that animated itself and ate visitors. 4. Killicarne': This demented comedy about an invasion of Scottish serial killers having a competition about how many they can kill at the World Barbecue and Carnival Festival in Texas, Tejas, North Mexico, or the Southern Territories as it may be called provoked a devoted, cult-like following although no one took it seriously enough to act on it. However, it did provoke a lot of people to dress up very strangely on August the 13th which is the supposed date of this imaginary festival. And it led to lots of nerds quoting lines from the film to each other. Last but not least it led to the entertaining biography of the world's most famous clown entitled..."Clowns Are Not Worth Extra Points." 5. Hard Times, Good Times: This serious drama about the romance and marriage and kids and life and marital problems, and grandkids and everything else runs over three hours. Its considered a modern classic in its depiction of normal middle class life in a big city, and all the struggles that go with it. "I love her, more than the day we married." Father. "Then why do you yell at her so often?" Eldest adult son. "Because she makes me mad, of course!" Father looks incredulously at his son. "Don't you know? Love don't mean its easy. I thought I trained you three boys better than that." 6. Path of Evil: This is a disturbing look at how an idealistic young man became a Communist, and for the best of reasons ended up executing families 'for the good of the State'. Its bleak portrayal of life in a totalitarian environment will raise questions in your own mind...Could I become like that person? Are we all just murderers inside? The movie has an answer which you may not agree with. Yes. 7. Doomsword: The cursed sword passed down generation to generation until it came to him, the seventh son of a seventh son, and then it came to its true power. In his hands, the sword made him unstoppable, and so he was able to defend the Earth against Eldritch Threats from the Abyss. But every time he drew it, one of his friends or his family died. He now casts it aside, but the Daemon Prince of Hades is coming....what will he do? Spoiler: His girlfriend offers herself up to the sword, and is accepted. However, he stabs himself through the heart sacrificing himself as well. Its uncertain whether this overloaded the sword with two lives in it, and thus his girlfriend became the sword. Or if the sword really wanted his total committment all along,a nd once he sacrificed himself he was no longer cursed. And the thing with his girlfriend was a tragic last death that was not needed. In any case, his sword is no longer cursed, and his girlfriend lives in the sword as its spirit. Critics still argue which interpretaton is correct. 8. Feud at Stanton: The collapse of national authority after the bioplague leaves two families near the small town of Stanton feuding for dominance over Stanton. It begins slow with harsh words, but then it escalates, and soon both sides are sniping each other, blowing up offices, and burning down homes. The cycle driven at first by a desire for power becomes about revenge, and finally becomes about survival. In the end, one man lives. And the townspeople of Stanton drive him out with stones. 9. Blood Prince: The Lord of Darkness, the vampire Dracula is here to take over a capital city. He maneuvers, he blackmails, he seduces with promises of money and power, and with his own presence. Meanwhile, a desperate team of federal investigators is trying to track him down. Dracula consolidates his power, and has killed several of the more recalcitrant of his enemies. Now he owns the city, and he uses his forces to take the heroic team to him. He laughs at them, and promises a reign of blood to last a thousand years. "Not even a night." Claire Jones says from the window of the Oval Office, Presidential Palace, Throne Room, etc.. "God's played his trump card." She adds. He scoffs. She points out the window into the sky. Everyone goes and looks up into the sky to see an asteroid plunging to Earth on top of the Capital city. Flashback to an earlier shown scene in the movie where Dracula was killing an annoyingly principled astronomer who was babbling some warning about a rock or something before Drac snapped his neck. Roll credits. 10. Haunted is the story of a lady desperately needing to buy a large house for her school. The only house in town that is cheap enough, and large enough is a haunted Victorian mansion that can't be sold. She moves in to get it ready. Soon, ghostly things like figures appearing out of the corner of her eye, and skulls in the mirror, and blood dripping down walls appears. Her response is at first startlement, and then she starts trying to chase them down. She arms up and looks for dark basements to go into. When ghostly children appear, she yells at them to 'Stop Right There! I didn't give you permission to leave.' While an attractive, but harried looking female, she is not a superstar for looks, but she carried this role with verve and authenticity. One believes her fury when a knife fly's across the room at her head. And when she starts praying, and demanding that the spirits obey her, the spirit laughs at her. "There is no god." "How does that go? Ah yes, liar, liar, pants on fire. There is, I know it, and He's in charge of everything including you." She resumes, and soon the spirit is begging her for mercy, and she's demanding information about what horrors occurred here. She begins to clean the house of the remnants of its evil past, removing wallpaper to take down blood-soaked boards which drip in her hands until she yells at the spirit responsible to 'come out now, In the Holy Name, or else!' After that one is dispacted, its on to other parts of the house. And then the basement, and her confrontation with the Power. The Power toys with her, laughs at her, and after beating her up condenses out of smoke in the form of a man. "You're going to die here. There is no god." He laughs sinisterly. (^&^*&(_*)& is her response. "He's abandoned you to me." He uses his magic to tie her to a table, and manifests a knife. "Fine." she says calmly. "Fine?" He repeats incredulously. "Yes, I may win through faith, close the mouth of lions, or I may lose and the lions eat me, but I still trust. He knows what He is doing." The Power raises its hand to knife her in horror, and we see she is glowing. He cringes back, and she glows more. He turns to run, and she fills the room with radiance. He turns to curse her, and blows away in the radiant fury of the Holy Presence. Next scene is of the house from the outside as light shines through every window. The house is cleansed. She leaves to go find her students which she hasn't signed up yet. She notices a few faeries flying away in the peaceful garden the next morning and asks them where they are going. "We leave, Servant of the One God." "I have no quarrel with you. You're not malicious and evil." "We are born of Chaos and Wildness and have little love." "Still..." "NO. This house, this land, its under the Law of Love. We have no place here. The Wild and the Crazed have no rest in the land of the Kind. Besides..." The faerie spokesperson points at the four corners of the estate where giant angelic figures with flaming swords stand guard. "They make us nervous." =============================================================== So, I'm sure I missed all sorts of genres of movies, and I could use more movies of the same genres. Have at it! Also, feel free to discuss my imaginary movies. Eric Tadeusz on "Types of Bullets" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/types-of-bullets#post-1575 Sun, 11 Nov 2007 10:46:43 +0000 Tadeusz 1575@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ I don't have time to go into detail on this, but it occurs to me that DR and SM would be good tools to mimic the effects of various bullets. This would help alleviate a concern that Jhiaxus expressed, and add more detail to the alway fascinating topic of weapons. Also, this is a good topic for A1's knowledge base too.. Types of Bullets ================ 1. Hardball--Your Basic Bullet. .38 and less do Damaging, and Nine MM, .45, .357 Magnum, .44 Magnum, and .50 Magnum do Dangerous, and Rifle rounds do Lethal damage. 2. Hollowpoint--Does extra damage by spreading out, but sacrifices penetration. NOT a good choice if the target has almost any sort of armor. +2 (they are a bit more finicky than regular hardball) DR; +2 SM. They drop one damage category if the target is wearing armor of at least 1@2 hardness. They drop two damage categories if the target's armor is at least 1@10. 3. Jacketed Hollow Point--A generally superior compromise. +2 DR; +2 SM; Damage category drop due to armor as with #2. 4. Match Grade Ammunition--The equivalent of Master Work Bullets. 5. Safety Rounds--Designed to NOT punch holes in walls or planes or spaceships. These do ordinary damage, and do not put holes in walls. 6. Mercury Fulminate Loaded--A bit of extra mercury fulminate is included in the bullet. The point is to make an exploding bullet. These do an additional damage category of damage. Any hit on the weapon, or on an ammo belt should be treated as a Fatal explosion centered on the gun-user. 7. Depleted Uranium Round--An extremely heavy and dense bullet (about as dense as you can make unless you're making White Dwarf Alloy bullets or some other super-dense SF tech bullet). At this tech level, this would be exceedingly difficult for anything but a sniper rifle. However where and when its available, it has superior armor-piercing qualities. It treats all armor as 1@1 less dense due to its extreme density. 8. Folding Honeycomb Ramscoops--Tadeusz carries these in his Uzi. They are far faster, and more accurate, and can be set for self-disintegration at various ranges. +3 SM, and add 10' to every range category. One advantage of these is that you can carry thirty bullets in the space ten would ordinarily need. 9. Ice Bullets--A nice murder weapon. This does one damage category less, and -5 DR. Bullets made of dry ice are harder, and they don't have water. Their mass turns to air immediately. Dry ice bullets are also one damage category less, and they do -2 DR. 10. Wildcat (also known as 'Full House')--The shooter custom loads his own bullets to his higher than normal pressure specifications. +1 SM, +2 DR 11. Tracer 12. Armor Piercing Hollowpoint 13. Wadcutter 14. Semi-wadcutter 15. Lead 16. Full Metal Jacket These ten are modifiers that you can apply to any bullet.... Like...Nine MM is Dangerous -10 DR (off the top of my head from the Optional Gun List). Now Wildcat the bullets for +1 SM (for a custom load), and a +2 DR because its loaded 'hot'. So... Nine MM: Dangerous -10 DR. Wildcat Bullet: +1 SM; +2 DR Tadeusz on "The Beginning of the World" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/the-beginning-of-the-world#post-1522 Thu, 08 Nov 2007 23:00:52 +0000 Tadeusz 1522@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ How did the world or the universe begin? ======================================== 1. Fiat Lux: On October 23, 4004 B.C. according to the Bishop Usher's chronology the world was created. Its direct, its straightforward, and logical. Its especially useful for high magic universes which probably should require special reasons to have them have more conventional chronologies. It should be noted that this scenario has a strong tendency toward the "Tolkien Effect". That is, you start out with the stronger, braver, better people, and over time things get progressively more inferior. The Balrog in the Third Age of Middleearth is a great terror, but in an earlier age he was a foot soldier. This Tolkien Effect is excellent for creating fantasy. In general, Evolution and Fantasy do not play well together. The degeneration can be explained by the concept of 'genetic load'. As a side note, some theorize that the date of creation is slightly earlier, and they are less definitive than the Bishop. A typical formulation is 'six to ten thousand years old.' 2. The Big Bang: Once upon a time, for no reason we can fathom scientifically (indeed some scientists hold that science is meaningless before the Event) a Point Singularity of enormous heat existed. It exploded. Matter rushed out, and space unfolded, and out of the kajillion of possible settings for all the universal forces, one of the insanely few that allow life to be happened. Matter which was hurling outwards, and away from each other then began to be attracted to each other even as it flew apart, and then it got together and linear motion got converted into circular motion. Clumps of gas led to stars which led to planets, and so on. One key problem of this is its not science the way I learned in high school. There is no observer, there is no reproducing the experiment. 3. Eureka!: As Science advances, eventually a brave and brilliant man discovers the Basic Theory of Everything. It unifies Quantum Gravity, Relativity, and Where Do All the Socks Go? Its expressed in simple enough terms that everyone can understand it. And once Humanity understands the Nature of the Universe, Humanity creates itself. The Quantum Fluctuation (which will be dealt with one after next.) spits out a Big Bang, and much later, here is Humanity. The two chief problems with this are the assumption of the end of basic research (see Lord Kelvin for infamous assertions of the end of science), and the sheer philosophical impossibility. This requires an Uncaused Effect. Bzzzzz. Thank you for playing, and here's a nice door prize. However, in Multiverser, every story, no matter how improbable or illogical is true. The next one might be improbable, but at least it makes sense. 4. Ymir's Body: Odin killed Ymir the Frost Giant. Then he used his wadded up body to make Earth, or Midgard. Ticks became dwarves, and flowing blood became rivers, and so forth something like that. This can be used in a low magic bias world. Ymir's Body could have been transmuted into stone, and earth. Or it could be that dirt accreted to Ymir's Body. Which raises interesting possibilities if Ymir is raised from the dead. 5. Quantum Fluctuation: This assumes that the quantum substrate is nothing. Sometimes the quantum substrate to reality fluctuates a bit. Usually an electron is spat out, and so is an anti-electron, and poof, they are no more. Sometimes, only an electron is spat out, and suddenly there is another particle from 'nothing'. If this process continues on for long enough, it might actually happen that a huge mass of electrons got spat out. This mass forms the Point Singularity of the Big Bang. One problem is the quantum substrate is not 'nothing'. It has an existence. So, this is a form of pushing the question back. Where did Reality come from? It came from the quantum substrate? M'kay, so where did the quantas subbasement thingie come from? One theory that has been broached is what if the whole world is accidental. What if the formation of the Earth as it is now is the result of a quantum hiccup? The odds against this type of luck make the odds needed for Evolution seem small and insignificant, and there we are dealing with odds like One in the Number of Elementary Particles in the Universe. Of course, by the logic of Hitchhiker's Guides Improbability Drive that would make this the Numero Uno most likely thing to happen. 6. World Without End: The Universe has always existed, and will always exist. This used to be quite popular for not quite obvious reasons with the science crowd. The Big Bang was not accepted easily or happily. One reason might be St. Thomas Aquineas saying that in proving God, he conceded that the universe was forever. Because if you started with a universe with a beginning, it was too easy to prove the existence of God. Of course, few of us are the most brilliant mind of a century so I'll take what cheap shots I can. 7. Bicycling Universes: The universe expands in a Bang, and then contracts. Process repeats itself later with another universe. Process continues repeating. Interestingly enough, 'the Artifact' on Eureka the TV Show (a very good show) is supposed to be the only item to survive from the previous universe. Also, Galacticus the Planet Eater of Marvel Comics (and featured in the movie Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer) was supposed to be the only thing that survived from a previous universe. Some people speculate that this allows for the random chance of the strengths of various universal forces to come into the incredibly slim Life is Possible Zone. One problem with that is that Entropy carries over from the previous universe it seems...so you only get at most a hundred universes to play with. And the odds are such that with one universe or a hundred, it really makes no difference. Also, of necessity, a universe creating machine is going to be more complicated than a universe. Which means this theory requires a super-duper extreme complication level more than the other theories. 8. A Snake Eating Its Tail: Time is a circle. Perhaps I'm too logical, but I can't make heads or tails of this. In any case, if you travel forward far enough, you'll end up seeing yourself grow up in the past. This seems to be another, but very weird version of #6 Eternal Universe. In such a universe, things tend to repeat. There may be separate ages (think of them as bands of color on the snake), but it is very possible that heroes and villains from another 'band' are reincarnated in the new band. This would be a good place for a rock and roll joke if I knew any. 9. Continuous Creation: There was no Big Bang. Instead, there are lots of Little Bangs. Call this the Firecracker String Model of Space/Time. What if when the universe first was formed, it had equivalent amounts of matter and anti-matter. Due to electrical polarization, these bits of matter are drawn away from each other, and separated. Quantum Mechanics seems to agree with the equal creation of matter and anti-matter. So you have massive galaxies of matter and others of anti-matter. And what happens when as it must, one collides into another eventually. A huge explosion, a Litte Bang, that expands everything around it radically. But it does not effect things far away from it for a very long time. 10. The Great Mother: There was Primeval Chaos. And then the Great Mother was born of it. She had a vision of the future of Father Sky. She was impregnated in the vision, and thus gave birth to Father Sky, her Husband-Son-Consort. They had lots of other children who also had a lot of really bizarre carnal relations with things living, dead, and never living. Dwarfkind was born of relations between the God of Iron and a mountain, for example. Being bored one day, Father Sky, the mightiest of the gods snuck away from Mother Earth who had been the Great Mother but got demoted. He summoned an entity out of Chaos, and of they had children. These children were vile and evil. This led to the War of Gods and Demons which broke Paradise into two, gave an excuse to Humans to rebel and steal fire, and finally ended when Rome burned Carthage to the ground with the victory of the Gods. In designing for this setting, staying awake for three days, and then overdosing on twelve cups of coffee is the key. After that, you should be well primed to come up with the backhistory of this Soap Opera of the Heavens. And remember, when you have a chance to be sensible, or to grossly over-complicate things with a baroque and perverse tale of madness, betrayal, and lust....well, need I say more? No, I didn't think so. 11. Steady-state Model: If the equivalent of one hydrogen atom in a hundred meter cube was created every year this would provide enough new material to keep the universe at the same density as it is now. Its continually raining in the physical universe as electrons fall into this reality. New stars and galaxies are continually forming from the new material. Some parts of the universe are old, and other parts are young. 12. Dragon Eggs: The Earth, and most life-bearing planets are eggs laid by the species Draconis Stellarae. Mold and fungus tends to coat the exterior of the egg to help it slide out. This mold and fungus are your very distant ancestors. One day, the egg will crack, and the baby dragonet will fly free. And there will be lots and lots of little flash-frozen mites cluctching cell phones for its first meal. The Universal Version of this is that the Universe is an Egg. And we are inside a Dragon not ready to hatch. 13. Plasma Universe: The dominant factor in the creation of galaxies is not gravity. Gravity does not have anywhere near the amount of time needed for some of the structures observed. Even a 150 billion years is not long enough for the creation of some of the structures which look to require a trillion years to form. And that is time that the Big Bangers are not willing to grant. Enter Electromagnetism. Every structure of consequence in the universe is the way it is because of electromagnetism. Galaxies are Faraday generators. Currents of plasma twist and turn on themselves naturally, and in so doing they create the galaxies. This offers interesting consequences for space travel, as it might be possible to use EM fields to drive spaceships far easier than chemical rockets. It also offers some interesting ideas for planet creation which I'll deal with later. 14. Dreaming Daze: The Universe is a Consensual Dream. This one is popular with Mage: The Ascension. Its a great excuse for an apparently low magic world which actually has a magic bias through the roof. It allows the creation of dream-like effects which might not be reasonable in other universes. Coincidences, implausibilities, archetypical figures showing up when you need advice, and bizarre almost unstoppable villains that require greater enlightenment to defeat all become more likely in this sort of universe. 16. Starlight and Time: This theory postulates that the Earth is close to the center of the universe, and that universe expanded outwards away from the Earth. But the Earth is inside some sort of event horizon. So the further one is away from Earth, the faster time goes. The Creation took Six Days on Earth, and billions of years on the edge of the Universe. Its an interesting idea. And this is a good point to bring up the idea that you can have multiple choices on this chart. The earth could be the result of a Stellar Dragon laying an egg in a Big Bang Universe for one example. 17. Earth V.1.0: Earth is a computer simulation, and you and I are Sims(r) characters run by some really smart computer programmers in the year 3000. You'll know this is true if you ever look up in the sky, and see it turning dark except for a big flashing sign. "Game Over." In many regards, this does not matter. The same holds true for a Dream World. Its still real. Of course, it offers the possibility of Unexpected Apocalypses as a brownout in Base World causes Earth the Video Game to turn off. And what if some character is the POV character of the gamer, and every time the POV character gets wasted, the gamer reboots to an earlier saved version.... It could be that there are a few heroes, and everyone else is normal. Or it could be like the TV Show 'Game Over' where everyone knows they are game characters, and everyone acts like one (Mom is a superspy, and Dad is the racer that always crashes and burns.) There are many possibilities. 18. Butterfly Dreams: Am I a man dreaming of a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming that he is a man? Are we just the dreams of God? If so, in some sense it doesn't matter, unless the God for this reality is not fully in control of his own dreaming. Yahweh would be, but some lesser entities might not be. If a lesser entity, then the relevant question becomes what happens when the deity wakes? Do we all just evaporate? Does it become important to try to keep the deity asleep? 19. The Evaporating Doughnut: Traditional Big Bang theories almost necessitate, it seems to me, the idea of a resistance or loss of energy as the particles shoot toward the edge of Nothing, and create Space. Otherwise, how do you get particles that are every second further away from each other to start heading toward each other? I'm sure I'm not grasping something here. At least I kinda sorta hope I'm not because otherwise this is Real Stupid. But what if there is no resistance? And particles do shoot madly outward forever? Since space is created by the passage of matter, once all matter has left the original spot of the Big Bang, we will find space evaporating back into nothingness. There will be a hole in the center of space/time. And as the matter shoots outward, the hole will expand. Eventually each particle will be so far apart that it will be its own universe. But before that point, we have an expanding doughnut with a hole of Nothingness in the middle. This is a place condemned to lack of life. No planets, nor stars will ever exist here. But, the verser could arrive anyways. Its an excellent spot for a bunch of insanely brave scientists from an advanced civilization on the other side of the dimensional walls to try to examine. They could send in a 'space station' loaded with people, and sensing gear to study up close the transformation of space/time into nothingness. Of course, the tech bias might be negative as with the mag bias, and the body bias is going to be very low too as with the psi bias. So the scientists may be trying very hard to save their own lives against the unexpected problem of the universe's rules not allowing their best equipment to function. And the verser can drop in on them, and ..... 20. Each Book a Universe: Which makes a library a multiverse. Stories are created, and if they take hold, they become more real. Magic energy gets shunted to them, and the people take on color and depth. And at some point, the people become Real. They have souls. And usually with the benefit of people in the world believing in the world, the world becomes self-sustaining. Yes, yessssss, 'tis pleasant to be a creator of universes. It has it perks. Some people say writer, or novelist--I say Universe Builder. You want an autograph? Ten bucks which is very reasonable I think. 21. "Say Ferdie...": The Seyfert Galaxy new matter model is intriguing. Inside the center of Seyfert Galaxies, new matter is created. This matter is 'young', and 'unaware' of the rest of the universe. As it ages, and its awareness spreads in a field around it, it becomes heavier. However, before this happens, it is ejected from the Seyfert galaxy due to being extremely low mass. It gains mass as it goes, and begins the process which will lead to more galaxies. One side effect of this is that the redshift which we've been depending on to tell us how far away is everyone is actually saying something else entirely. And it could be that the universe is waaaaaaaay smaller than we think--only the Local Supercluster (which is again, way more space than even the most ambitious stellar empire will use). 22. Planets as Gods: Why did the Ancients fear and revere the planets. They are just dots in the sky, after all. But the tales of the ancients are full of vigor and danger attributed to these 'just dots'. Maybe at one time, they were more. Maybe Venus was a comet belched by Jupiter (and matching the stories told of how Jupiter took Minerva from his head). Maybe a temporarily electrically active solar system was able to catch Venus after it did much harm to Earth in close passes. And then the orbit was circularized. Which makes on wonder where Earth came from. Tadeusz on "SF Materials" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/sf-materials#post-1042 Sun, 21 Oct 2007 20:33:25 +0000 Tadeusz 1042@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ I've worked on this list before, but hopefully this can be the start of a complete list with stats for everything, and descriptions of how they are used. List of SF Materials: 1. Ceramcrete 2. Roccoco Bubbled Concrete 3. Cerametal 4. Carbon-carbon Polyfiber (a hyperstrong string) 5. Artificial spidersilk 6. Elemental Iron or Eit (pronounced 'Eat'). 7. Neutronium 8. Mass-alleviated Neutronium in Eit casing. 9. Time-locked Matter (this can be used on anything. It makes matter inmoveable because time does not affect the matter). 10. Quasi-matter Type One (matter-energy). 11. Quasi-matter Type Two (matter-tachyons). This has strange temporal effects. It is typically mined from black holes in a very hazardous operation. 12. Battlesteel 13. Molycirc 14. Room Temperature Superconductors 15. Superstring Fragment 16. Molecule thin crystal (matrix, wafer are sometimes attached for 'growth matrix' and 'computer chips', and it is used in Starsong for swords.) 17. Optical chips 18. Biocomputer Gel Paks 19. Grey Goo 20. Molecule thin wire Tadeusz on "Elements of Magic, Punishments, and Woman's Status" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/elements-of-magic-punishments-and-womans-status#post-1065 Tue, 23 Oct 2007 12:37:15 +0000 Tadeusz 1065@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ I've got a fall cold, and I'm taking meds so I may not be totally coherent. Elements of Magic: 1. Code of Behavior For some magic, you have to stay within the confines of a code of behavior, or the magic leaves you. A. Paladins B. Good Witches 2. Those sensitive to magic can sense you. 3. You use the magic for an improper use, and you get punished. 4. Balance of elements magic--you cast a laser spell, and shortly there after, you're surrounded by shadow. 5. The traditional time, body involvement, items, and speech. 6. Certain languages get a bonus. More later... Tadeusz on "Societal Types and Inter-Society Conflict" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/societal-types-and-inter-society-conflict#post-1258 Tue, 30 Oct 2007 11:44:07 +0000 Tadeusz 1258@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ The cough is still hanging on, but I'm mostly as good as new although with little reserve. Its seems like some of my recent post titles resemble sociological papers which makes sense as I'm trying to describe the various ways one can build a society across the Multiverse. Societal Types: 1. Hunter-gatherer This breaks down into two types, nomadic and largely sedentary. The nomadic is the purer form. The most likely size is small tribes, but large spread out tribes are not uncommon. There is no major scaling difficulty to prevent a dispersed mass of small tribes from turning into a Horde like the Mongol Horde. Conflicts with Agrarian or Agricultural societies started by this type tend to be of two types. One, if the agrarian society is weak, and rich then greed lures the barbarian forward (see the Fall of the Roman Empire). More likely, the barbarian horde is being driven before some huge natual force like famine. Or famine is driving another tribe which drives another tribe which drives them. Conflicts started by Agrarian societies tend to be focused on the land, and on resource competition. In such conflicts, a 100-1 and a 10-1 principle may be stated. The agrarian society has inferior fighters due to poor food, and little practise. Oftentimes, the hunter-gatherer is worth ten of the farmers, but his problem is that there are a hundred farmers to the one hunter-gatherer. However, a concentration of force may be arranged, and such a Horde may well sweep the world. While the agrarian society has an advantage, its not a clear-cut advantage. This is a point that reoccurs. Some people imagine that conflict between civilizations neccessarily yields a victory for the more highly advanced one. This is not the case. 2. Agrarian 3. Industrial 4. Information 5. Post-Scarcity Tadeusz on "Psi" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/psi#post-1168 Fri, 26 Oct 2007 20:41:06 +0000 Tadeusz 1168@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ I'm still coughing, but I'm better. Got Mr. C to school, and was halfway to Wally world with the Cuteasaurus before the first cough this morning, I guess. Maybe if I do another day of mostly goofing off, I'll finally be on my feet sorta. I have the fearsome example of a few years back where I spent three weeks with a flu to remind me of the dangers of pushing too hard. So even though I feel relatively perky, I'm going to try to be patient, and force myself to goof. Psi Conditions: Magic tends to have all sorts of limitations you can do to make your skill rolls easier. In fact I'm trying to put together a list of at least fifty specific limits you can use. But the psion has it harder. 1. Fasting: Traditionally fasting ungrounds the mind from the body, and prepares the mind for more ethereal realms. Also of use in magic. 2. Empty Your Mind Meditation: This shuts up the noisy fellow inside your skull who is jabbering away, and lets you hear other voices, and see more clearly. Perhaps you will hear voices on the wind, or the voice of your own Talent. Perhaps you will see auras, and gain enlightenment. 3. Concentration: It helps to focus. Just as its hard to do the IRS tax forms at a rock concert so its hard to do psi at a rock concert unless you can focus. 4. Sanctum: Using psi often means opening yourself to other perceptions. After all, its hard to be a good recon scout in full body plate. Unfortunately, that means lowering your guard, and occasionally there are nasty, hungry creatures out there ready for a bit of psion with a side of panic. And then there are those who see someone travelling the astral sea, and think how nice it would be to help them...into servitude to a superior mind. Sanctums provide exterior defenses so that the psion can more fully extend herself without retaining some defensive stance. 5. Good vibes: Often related to the Sanctum, but it can be hard to open yourself in a place that is unfriendly. Its like trying to study math while a fly buzzes about. He's doing no real harm, but its distracting. A room or other area with good vibes aids in concentration. 6. Fury: Anger, near-berserk and sometimes over the edge battle fury has possibly helped create more Telekinetics than any other force in the Multiverse. For some, its a neccessary precondition. They have to be at least ill-tempered to force their will on the Universe. Some have to descend into a screaming frenzy before the power rises. For others, its a source of strength to boost their power. 7. Uncontrolled: Some gifts are purely uncontrolled. Telekinesis is a common example, but Precognition is even more so. Retrocognition is another one. And for a few cursed or blessed, Touch Healing is another one. 8. Emotional boosting: Using your own emotions as kindling, and timber in the fire of your power. Love, fear, and anger are common ones, although hate works well too, but it opens you up to Dangerous Attentions. A driving need to save the life of another could be pushed by love and by fear for example. Typically the end result of such an effort is a state of mild emotional shock as apathy overwhelms the tired character. A danger in botches is that the power will go uncontrolled and run until the very limits of one's endurance sending the psion into the hospital or the morgue if they fail a simple stamina check after four failed stop checks. 9. Tapping into your Life Force: Tapping into your own lifeforce is inherently dangerous. In some universes, thats the only way such powers work due to a powerblock by the reigning deity of that universe. Simple stamina checks are made every time you use your power. A failure indicates tiredness, and another failure indicates exhaustion, and another failure indicates death. It may not be easy to de-activate a power in such universes. This is a typical joining of limits. 10. Powers Do Not Deactivate Smoothly: Some powers once you get them running want to keep running. Some are merely difficult, and require a simple Willpower roll to stop them. Others, especially Pyrokinetics, and worst Uncontrolled Pyrokinetics require multiple Difficult Willpower Checks. Using Emotion Feeding makes such checks more difficult. 11. Tapping into Other Life Forces: a. People: Its generally considered evil to do this to unwilling victims. There are creatures known as psionic vampires which are strongly addicted to this procedure. For some psions, the desire to turn vampire, and drink the mind of another down like a slurpee is always a temptation. However, it offers a great deal of power, and a buffer against any botches is a typically related skill. One is bathed in power, and little things like brain burns don't bother you inside the cocoon. Whether they will once you come down off the high or not is another question. Frequently such 'draining' is more addictive than the most powerful drugs. b. Plants: Not as blatantly evil, and much more difficult. The typical user is generally a more cautious and contemplative person who doesn't go in for the thrill kill either. Most such users try to save the plant while they drink of it. c. The Universal Field of Creation and Destruction: If you can tap into this, then, in all seriousness, and humble respect, why are you taking Doctor Mentalman's class? Please, O Great One, do not evaporate the college where this class is being taught./Gulps nervously. Okay, thats a 1d10 chart. And I think I have a few more in my brain, but its folding up, so I'll move on to Chart the Second.But first, let me clarifyâ€¦11c (hmm, its not a d10 chart after all) is about a PC tapping into the power of an Ascended Psionic Being, and one of truly awesome power. It is possible to have psi aid from another psi which should be another slot, but this is as an evil example of humongous power for this slotâ€¦. â€œDeath, Chaos, and Despair, you revealed yourself to me. Fill me with your power that I may cast down this foolish Alchemist.â€ The psi call goes out along the previously established link (which may or may not require a skill roll. Iâ€™d require one.) And the psi beings who took those three names who have the 15@ skill of Permanently Transcending Physical form, here, and decide to pour their mental power into the evil mentalist. One reason that the Ascended Ones might do this is that they learned a version of the Ascend Skill that requires non-direct intervention. At this point, the Alchemist is considering his options as he watched the evil mentalist whip up a hurricane out of the blue skyâ€¦.. At this point, I think the Alchemist could still win, but it would be an interesting technique to take a bunch of second-rate psions, and turn them one at a time into world-beaters because they were vessels of the power of Ascended Masters. Botches of Telepathy (as broadly construed--any form of mind-reading, communicationâ€¦) 1. Switch minds in psionic triangle. Psion A botches as he talks to B. C is standing nearby. A goes into Câ€™s brain. C goes into Bâ€™s brain. B goes into Aâ€™s brain. 2. Aphasia. You try to say â€œLets get supper.â€ You really say. â€œFire purple cello.â€ 3. Youâ€™ve cut off communications with the lower part of your body. Your brain is active, but your Central Nervous System isnâ€™t getting any signal. Yup, this is usually fatal. 4. A random someone in the same universe, or another universe can hear your thoughts as you can hear theirs if they project. They think theyâ€™re going nuts. They are already not all that well-balanced, and although a nice person, they have a real hard time getting through the day without messing up. You are sooooo not helping. This is good for guilting the player. This gives the player a chance to help someone normal with normal issues. 5. Everyone who hates you in this universe now knows where you are. You donâ€™t realize this. 6. Youâ€™re broadcasting your thoughts to anyone who sees you. 7. You can hear the thoughts of everyone at the same time within a hundred yards of you. The babble is overwhelming. 8. Youâ€™ve established a control link for your body to someone else. When he tries to move his left arm, he has to contest with you. You may not be able to move. He may not be able to move. You both may be able to move with both of you are in partial control of each otherâ€™s bodies. 9. You can hear the thoughts of (dogs, cats, mice, birdsâ€¦.whatever). They realize this, and want to be social. They frequently have no sense of manners, and a number of them have issues which they expect you to deal withâ€¦now. 10. Youâ€™ve tapped into the brain of a man with Secrets. Lots of Secrets. The type of Secrets people kill for. Good thing he got a flash of your face (which you did of him as well) so he can come and discuss it with you, isnâ€™t it? Most common types of targets are National Security shadow warriors, Mafiosi dons, and terrorists planning a mission. 11. Youâ€™ve tapped into some sort of intergalactic clairvoyant scanning beam, and telepathically downloaded all available information. Now your brain is full. Really. You have to make Willpower checks to concentrate enough to walk because there simply is no room. Plus, your brain is about to explode in 5 +1d10 hours. Maybe the aliens can help you, if they believe youâ€™re not a data pirate who did not respect their copyright. Frequently a Botch Rider of the next one is included. 12. Random Personality Traits: Youâ€™ve picked up a little bit of this, and a little bit of that. You botched in the street, and you picked up the construction workerâ€™s appetite, the skateboarders love for heavy metal, the UPS manâ€™s seriousness, and the tendency of the cab driver to scream insults in Nigerian. You pick up very little of any use, but just enough to find yourself scarfing down a footlong meatball sub, listening to Cruxshadows with a thoughtful look at the newspaper as you curse the stupidity of politicians in Nigerian. And you donâ€™t like subs, enjoy Celtic, and never bother yourself with politicians as they are boring. Roll simple Perception or difficult Willpower checks to avoid acting not like yourself. A more comedic version of this has it as an ongoing process. You walk down the street, and pick up traits (but no skills above 1@1 even if the original possessor has it much higher) from people you pass. 13. Congratulations youâ€™ve summoned the Fleet of the Alien Conquerors (whats that praying mantis group from NagaWorld?) to your Home World. If really bad, you called their mother something nasty in Alien. They might not have a mother, but they do take insult. You have 1+1d4 days until the Total Subjugation of the Earth begins. 14. You did not realize it, but your Shout-Out attracted attention, Dangerous Attention. The Forces of Evil cannot always directly intervene, but there is usually at least a serial killer in the neighbourhood who they can call his attention to you as you walk past. And if youâ€™re in a high-magic world, youâ€™re really lucky cause theyâ€™re coming to deal with you personally. Youâ€™ve just dropped into 1)A serial killer stalker movie. 2) A Hockey-masked Maniac, or a Dreaming Monster, or Dracula is coming to drop by for a screaming good time. If youâ€™re really unlucky, they all are. 15. You make a connection to some doomed historic figure in the past. I hope this is not temporal loop causing, cause otherwise Iâ€™ll have to do something. The figure could be a priestess of Atlantis as the island grows more disturbed, or it could be a passenger on the Titanic. They know theyâ€™re doomed. All they want is for someone to hold their hand over the next 1d10 days, and to bring their existence to light in the modern world. This is three-handkerchief time. And also an excellent time to have a would-be apprentice to the verser mentor, or a male-female long-distance totally doomed relationship set up. 16. Your subconscious brain now has a direct link to your will. It wants, it needs, it desires, and its going to go for it. Happily, its not really a great planner as logical considerations donâ€™t really enter in that much. Also forethought, and good judgment are somewhat absent as well.. This can be played as tragic, and it will be Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde but with less sense on Hydeâ€˜s part, and more animalism. Or it can be played for comedy, and it will still be pretty scary as the character dives in front of moving buses to try to retrieve the luscious looking sausage that he knocked off the hot dog vendorâ€™s grill, and then dropped because it burned his hand. With a difficult roll, your Superego can temporarily restrain (RS for ten seconds) your Id. 17. You canâ€™t talk, and you canâ€™t hear. So the only form of communication you got (other than writing) is telepathy. 18. Youâ€™re hearing smells, and seeing sounds, and tasting pain, and smelling sight. It is a complete mind-trip. 19. Youâ€™ve lost your mind, literally. Actually, youâ€™ve lost your brain. It is the receiver for the mind. And your mind cannot find its home brain. You are a detached viewpoint looking out from behind the eyes of various people. You are able to jump to them and test them to see if they are you. You donâ€™t see people as people, but as aura fields which makes the whole thing much more difficult. 20 Amnesia. Amnesia is good, right? I mean I think it is, but I canâ€™t remember. Items: 1. Ring of the Sensitive: This orange stoned ring allows one entry into the Towers of the Sensitive, and serves as a Mental focus. 2. Draken Voirze Stone: Holding this stone provides a feeling of good vibes, and the occasion uncontrolled flicker of clairvoyance tied to danger sense. 3. White Crystal: +10 Sit-mod to Telekinesis as it helps one to keep their thoughts in order. 4. Mindtrapper: This crystal is capable of removing the mind from the body of a practising psion. 5. Psionic receiver--Various items are rigged to be sensitive to telepathic coded messages. This can trigger a wide varity of effects. 6. Sunstone: Power hides in this. +10 DR to all psion skills while holding this. 7. Mirror of Hiding: This gives +10 to pseudoinvisibility, and +20 if the searcher is a psion. 8. Silk Scarf: This causes a Suppress at 1@5 of psionic activity in whatever it is placed over. Silk naturally absorbs psionic energy. 9. Syringe of Mindstill---25 Sitmod to all psionic activity, and its a Difficult check to try. 10. Liquer of Madness: This causes a +20 to learning a new psi skill. However botches are typically 2d10+ 10 on the GE chart as they are expecially powerful. At best, the character is drunk and stoned out of his mind on something similar to acid (for the skill to succeed, he must be.) Okay, I'm hungry, and kinda risen from my creative trance to be surprised by the time passage.... Eric Tadeusz on "Ruin and Other Worlds" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/ruin-and-other-worlds#post-1025 Fri, 19 Oct 2007 23:47:52 +0000 Tadeusz 1025@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ This is an attempt at a quick sketch of a 1d10 chart for the effects of bankruptcy in other worlds. Because not every world has Chapter 11. Bankruptcy in Other Worlds--1d10 1. The Year of Jubilee is the time which comes every fifty years when those who sold themselves into slavery, but not forever, and those who sold land get their freedom and their land back. (If I remember right.) 2. The government garnishees your wages. Those who are seriously in debt tend to work in the underground economy where its cash only. 3. Selling the children into slavery for life, or until they are twenty-one pays some debts. 4. To the poorhouse with ye'. You work for the gov't at their convenience, and they give what you earn minus food to your creditors. 5. Its easy to go bankrupt the first time. No problems. And then you get flooded with credit cards because now you can't go bankrupt for ten years no matter what, and the caps on interest rates and fees have been removed. You are the chief target customer of the credit card companies (some of this is true in Earth Prime, and its a national shame). 6. There is no bankruptcy. Bankruptcy is a sign of trying to evade your obligations which is simply not acceptable. If you honestly feel there is no way to pay off your debts, then there is only one honorable course. It involves a date with a pistol with a single bullet. Otherwise, you work, and work, and do whatever it takes to meet your obligations. 7. There is no interest, because it is forbidden. However, one can borrow money, and negotiate for when you will return it, and what size of additional 'gift' you will give. Since this loan with interest is unofficial, the bankruptcy proceedings tend toward unofficiality as well. It tends to be two men in a dark alley armed with small sledgehammers, and pounding on your knees. (I think or guess that a number of religions forbid 'usury' which I think is absurdly high interest rates.) 8. There is no bankruptcy because no one loans money. You can invest, or you can give, but loaning money is morally reprehensible. Its a common saying that 'to take a loan is to sell one's soul to a devil' which is insulting to the borrower (sells his soul), and the lender (a devil). In some societies along these lines, people sell percent points of their future earnings for life. Its called 'investing in a person'. Other societies consider this idea to be a slick evasion of the rule, and forbid it. 9. Kin are responsible for their relatives. This is determined by closeness of blood, but it frequently happens that fourth cousins get dunning letters for a particularly high spender. What keeps this from being a total bailout of high spenders is the amount of private violence accepted in this society. Family reunions can frequently become the scenes of some very serious fistfights as family members 'discipline' a big spender. In this society, violence inside the family is generally ignored unless bodies start turning up, or people are out of work for more than a week. 10. Your debt is wiped out, and paid by charities. These charities now have right of refusal on any purchase you choose to make. They typically offer free classes on budgetting, and financial management and the like. They don't allow you to get in debt over your head again. Tadeusz on "Weapon Creation Checklist" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/weapon-creation-checklist#post-997 Fri, 19 Oct 2007 11:36:55 +0000 Tadeusz 997@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ Because I find flipping about in the Big Black Book to be confusing I thought of another article that needs to be in the Gamemaster's Guide. Its not so useful for players, but Game Designers need to know how to make job lots of weapons. In truth, Game Designers probably need a fifty page Book O' Weapons to be followed up by a sequel with more of the same. How to Create a Weapon By Eric R. Ashley 1. Name it. 2. Desribe its general effect. (Its a slashing sword or the gravity waves disrupt the balance of the at range target.) 3. Damage Category. A. Annoying. Forex--caltrops. It hurts a lot. B. Damaging. Forex--dagger. It can seriously injure a target. C. Dangerous. Forex--longsword. It probably won't kill you, but it might with one shot. E. Lethal. Forex--large shotgun. It might well kill you. E. Fatal. Forex--C4 explosion. Hope your will is up to date. F. Annihilating. Forex--Energy Pistol set on Maximum Disintegration. G. Obliterative. Forex--"What happens when I press the red button on the nuclear bomb?" 4. Is it a ranged weapon? If so, choose the end-points measured in feet of each range category. A. Point-blank. B. Short. C. Medium. D. Long. E. Extreme. 5. Repeat Factors or How Many Times in a Minute can an unskilled user use it? 6. Are there any Cabooses on the Damage, tagging along behind. If so, these are Damage Riders. One example is the explosion which does a certain amount of damage, and then the flames caused by the explosion. 7. Any sit-mods or situation modifiers or other dice roll modifiers can be put here. That looks about it. Eric Tadeusz on "General Events Monetary Type Chart for Moderate Tech and Moderate Magic Worlds." http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/general-events-monetary-type-chart-for-moderate-tech-and-moderate-magic-worlds#post-595 Thu, 27 Sep 2007 11:38:29 +0000 Tadeusz 595@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ Monetary Systems for Alternate Dimensions with low to medium tech/magic: Roll a 3d10 to get a number from '3' to '30': =============================================== 3-There are sixteen different types of barter chits to use. If one has a cow, then you take four 'animal' chits, and try to trade them for chits that represent what you want. This chit system allows you to avoid having to carry a bushel of corn, or tote a cow through market. The chit represents that good. All goods in this fairly primitive society are divided into limited number of typed. Sumer had sixteen chit types. 4-Three chit types: Plantfood, animal, and clothing are used in this simpler barter system. 5-Time Hours are banked by someone agreeing to serve an hour in exchange for them being able to require the service of another who owes an hour to the bank. This is a more egalitarian system than money as everyone has only so much time, and thus the price paid to experts is much closer to the price paid to non-experts. 6-Pounds of Pepper are used in some medieval society as payment. 7-Salt is more common as it is neccessary for life. 8-Koku is a unit of rice production used in feudal Japan, and elsewhere in the Multiverse such as on the Planet Oleander in the Psyclone Station setting. 9-Copper, tin, lead shekels with barley as 'small change' has been done with the richer sort using silver shekels and rings. 10-Leather branded Triangles with some group symbol hard to make are one method. 11-Baked pottery 'wheels' with a rattle inside it are used by some cultures. If the wheel is damaged or the rattle is let out, then the wheel has no value. 12-Glass beads are a popular choice. Some hi-tech societies use holographic storage beads for a similar purpose. This can be to trade with less sophisticated peoples, or as the primary money since it can be made very hard to copy. 13-The Roman Denarii is worth one day's wages for the common laborer. 14-The Deben is an Egyptian money that weighs in at three ounces. For larger amounts of money, it can be found in short rods. 15-Silver shekels: A shekel is a nugget weighing close to 1/3rd of an ounce. Their use is very common. Gold and other shekels are used as well. 16-Silver coins (For example: Denarii, Lancaster Marks, Francs, Silver Pennies, Gleams, Silver Pieces, Silver Eagles, and JFK Half-dollars). 17-Paper Fiat Money. This money is given value by the statement of the government, and by its legally being legal tender. (For example: Pounds, Dollars, Rubles, Newbucks, and Yen.) 18-Gold Redeemable Dollars/Pounds/Yen/Bolivars. You can take your paper dollar (or other note) and take it to a bank, and ask for and receive the fixed amount that that dollar is worth by definition. 19-State Dollars. Individual States, Provinces, and Regions have their own monies. 20-Private banks are able to print their own dollars, and these dollars are backed by the wealth of the principal owner. 21-Company scrip has been used in many company towns. 22-Cowrie shells are clipped, and put on a string as a method of storing wealth. Sometimes these necklaces are a hundred long, and the money is stored by hangin it under the owner's arm. 23-Cigarrettes can be the basis of a monetary sytem. 24-Time Hours are a local currency where local businessmen are contracted to accept them. This is a method for an oppressed community which has its skill underutilized since the regular national currency has been sucked out of the community. 25-Clean drinking water. 26-Sealed drinking alcohol is one form of money to many. 27-Chocolate can be used in cold climates. 28-Ounces of various types of dye with royal purple being the most valued. 29-Ounces of Saffron and Yards of silk form the basis of this monetary system. 30- As on the Isles of Yap, giant stone circles and cut out, and made to serve as money. These circles are usually placed in front of a house. They might not be moved even when spent. Instead, ownership is verbally transferred.