FunGuyFromYuggoth

Thanks for sharing this mrk. I like the post-apocalyptic genre. Looking forward also to the new Fallout 3! :thumb:

How would you describe or otherwise stat an ability like "Time Fugue" (name lifted from "Wild Talents" and "GODLIKE")? Like this guy.

Time Fugue: By manipulating time, a superpowered individual with this ability can slow down objects to a standstill. This ability cannot be used to cause damage in any way.

Looks like Marvel's favorite symbiote is coming back...I'm actually looking forward to this more than Spider-man 4. :ohwell:

The back story is that "Venom" was being shopped around Spider-man 2, but got shelved. It looks like they didn't like the first go-around with the script, but then again, Spider-man 3 really changed things up a little.

Sony may bite on Spidey spinoff

Studio developing 'Venom,' seeking new writers

By Steven Zeitchik

July 31, 2008, 12:01 AM ET

Marvel's Venom

With Heath Ledger's villainous Joker drawing attention and boxoffice dollars, Sony is moving forward with "Venom," a potential "Spider-Man" spinoff based on a bad guy.

The studio is developing the project, based on the gooey nemesis who appeared in "Spider-Man 3" and is hoping the character could serve as an antidote to the aging "Spider-Man" franchise in the way that Fox has used Wolverine to add longevity to its "X-Men" franchise.

But getting any spinoff off the ground, let alone one centered on a villain, can be tricky.

The studio had commissioned a draft of the script from Jacob Estes, a writer of the specialty film "Mean Creek," released several years ago by Paramount Classics. He's also attached to the Plan B drama "The Gifted."

But the studio is considering going in a different direction from Estes' script and is seeking writers for a new draft.

Casting also is no simple matter. Topher Grace played the character in the film, but agents have been eyeing the role for their clients, as Sony is not yet convinced the actor can carry a tentpole picture.

Neither Sony nor Marvel would comment for this story.

In "Spider-Man 3," Venom is essentially a parasite that attaches itself to a host via a sticky substance that then gives the host special powers. The fact that it is a substance rather than a character could give Sony leeway to cast a new actor.

"Venom" came about as part of the licensing deal between Marvel and Sony for the Spider-Man movies, which contained provisions allowing for the use of spinoffs based on other Spider-Man characters.

The project is part of a larger feeding frenzy for superhero projects, scores of which have been signed up in the last few months while movies such as "Iron Man" and "The Dark Knight" light up the boxoffice.

Sony is developing a fourth "Spider-Man" film for 2011, but that picture would come out nine years after the original movie debuted, adding to the studio's desire to see new Marvel characters.

Sony may bite on Spidey spinoff

Sounds good if it works for you. I think that the number of variables being immeasurable, you have to use your best judgment and it's good to be flexible. On the other hand, I think that more vocal players may take you up on your GM math and they may, "What about...?" "How about another 5% for this?" In that case, it may be safer to stick to Difficult or Easy, but whatever floats your percentiles. Or create a table. (The horror...)

A lot of what we're doing is trying to puzzle out how to map out BRP to fit worldviews and concepts that work for us and our campaigns. The nice thing about BRP is that different approaches often lead to similar results.

OTTOMH a roll under Martial Arts as a skill allowed:

*Getting to feet immediately (rather than 1 turn normall)

On p. 202, a successful Difficult Dodge skill roll gets the prone target back on their feet without the Easy modifier to attacks against him or her. the successful Difficult Dodge roll also allows an attack action in the combat round. Alternately a combination of successful Dodge and Agility rolls accomplishes the same but does not allow the action (the Agility roll takes the action's place).

To dove-tail to your post, a reasonable house rule would let someone with the appropriate and successful Martial Arts skill to spring back and negate the Easy modifier against them and to engage in an attack action in the combat round as you suggested. I like that. Thanks. :cool:

Should a Viking warrior with a longsword have the same effectiveness as Miyamoto Musashi? I do not think so. Common use and mastery are not the same as knowing secret techniques. And martial arts is the latter, not simply "being very clever at using that weapon".

Note that a seasoned viking warrior with a longsword can still make mincemeat of dozens of inferior opponents. He simply is not Musashi

Musashi. The man was, is, and forever a legendary swordsman. Period. He was also a writer during literate times, which helped solidify his legend.

On the battlefield, in the past century's last war involving swords, let me take you to the Philippines during the 1940s Occupation:

Secret techniques are great when you are facing somebody with a known training style who knows your usual bag of tricks and is expecting something similar, but from different cultures where you really don't know what is going to happen, you go back to basics and hope for the best. Pilipinos practicing a martial arts form called eskrima/arnis/kali regularly matched or bested Japanese sword wielding opponents. No secret techniques out in the jungle at night where rifles were limited in utility (or quantity in the case of the Pilipinos) and you should a good chance of shooting your own with a pistol. Mostly they observed that the Japanese katana relied on a very aggressive forward attack, often with a very distinct pattern. Eskrima/arnis/kali has triangulating footwork and a live hand (with dagger sometimes) besides the one holding the bolo.

They did fine.

We don't have any real record of Viking swordsmanship and it's really up to the GM to decide if the Martial Art skill should be allowed. Me, I'd give them the benefit of the doubt, but make access to true masters harder to come by (Scandinavia in the Dark Ages was a sparsely populated place), but I'd put Beowulf vs. Musashi any day.

This does pick at an old BRP scab about the connection between Martial Arts skill and the normal Weapon Attack skill. My personal house rule is that any non-firearm attack skill above 76% (Expert level p.49) the player unlocks a 10% Martial Arts skill in that weapon only (if they already have Martial Arts, then ignore). This enables them to cultivate that skill or ignore it, but I'd require they go on "Dagobah" (SideQuest) and seek out a higher level master or school. If not, that Martial Art skill stays and won't advance unless and until they go off to train there.

You've got two audiences and I can only imagine how hard it must be to translate a comic to the screen. Of course, nothing ever matches what you're seeing in your mind's eye. A film can only hope to jiggle a few of those same feelings, but not at any depth, especially one with characters as otherworldly primal as Leonidas. I loved "300" the comic, but it's been a long time since I read it, so my viewing of the film left me with a positive impression. YMMV of course Just as an aside, Alan Moore thought the book and the movie wasn't just stupid, but "sublimely stupid."

Why would that be? Swords were important weapons in many cultures so I don't see any reason to limit availability of martial arts based on them anywhere that are in relatively common use.

I concur. I think it would depend on the discipline being taught, but not on the culture.

This is very clearly a cinematic martial power rather than a super-duper skill and the user still must train their normal skills for attacks and parries.

There is a very cinematic martial ability everyone here has seen and is related to Aycorn's OP.

I would suggest, and you see it many martial arts media, somehow the master defeats multiple opponents by making them fight him one at a time. A lousy tactic on the part of the attackers, but a good defensive option for the solo martial artist, but usually it's against a bunch of mooks with low skill and low HP. :thumb: We've already explored the limits of splitting attacks ove 100%, so let's try something different.

Here is an idea that you can take or forget:

On p.53, there is a skill called "Command." It seems like a good abstraction of authority and one could house rule it with Martial Arts (both rolls need to be made) to intimidate NPC opponents equal or less her POW to fight one to one. Of course, you don't need to make a speech, they just have to see you in action and then you can invoke the skill. Let the first round proceed and if the solo attacker's skill is apparent, then roll for "Command."

A success means they do not fight as a team and get in each other's way or otherwise hesitate to attack as a group. So that in effect you could plow throw a small army of mooks like Bruce Lee in "Fist of Fury" or simulate the Death Dealer. Of course, this could get countervailed by a Command by an NPC master on the other side, should he or she wish it.

To be honest, Fun Guy, in your response it seemed like you were demanding that I somehow justify developing such a set of rules. That may not have been your intent, but that's how it looked. So that rubbed me the wrong way. Then Claudius, though well-intentioned, didn't seem to understand what I was saying. Since I was already peeved, I dashed off a needlessly harsh response.

We all have bad days. Gods know I've had some. My short post was a question, not a challenge. I just didn't understand what you were asking b/c it referred to another thread I wasn't following. No harm done either way and no apologies necessary to me, though I feel bad for Claudius and hope he'll come back to this thread. Peace be upon you Aycorn.

Really? I thought that 300 captured the spirit of the comic very well. He also did the "Dawn of the Dead" remake. Of course, they could've made it picture authentic with naked Spartans, but that would've been too much.

For the record, I started with a V&V campaign, then Marvel Superheroes, then onto WOW. Never really played any Champions, and I own but only played Mutants and Masterminds once at DragonCon. I own several other super games, such as Silver Age Sentinels and Godsend Agenda (D6 version) but my "comfort zone" with the BRP system makes running Superworld too easy to devote the time and energy to learning new gaming systems (I've grown lazy in my old age).

Thanks for the insights Jason. Just as an FYI, I have "Wild Talents," but never ran it. My players would recoil from the otherwise well-received D20 M&M, so I never looked into it. The HERO system was so rules heavy when I ran an old Champions campaign, I never wanted to buy another HERO system game again. GURPS has some nice insights, but I never took a shine to the system.

Like ORtrail, I'd like to learn as few rules as possible and genuinely want to use BRP. I think I'll tinker with it a little in play and see if there is something I can do with it. Thanks everyone for your input. Anybody who comes into the conversation after this, please feel free to use the thread to continue the discussion. I'm sure people with active supers campaigns have something to say about this!

It worked well enough, though as you can imagine, it played best when dealing with more "street-level" superheroics than the heavy-hitters.

Did you receive any feedback from the playtesters for the supers section of the new BRP rules? I'd be curious to hear from them directly too, if they're here, but perhaps you could share that with us?

I drew a similar "---" response when I posted a similar inquiry on another web site. I would have probably tried playing it had my FLGS carried it, but others at the time were GM'ing V&V, Champions, and Marvel, so other well supported games were on-hand.

However, George R.R. Martin did manage to make some money off a Superworld campaign he ran :thumb:, which became the Wild Cards comic book series. Then again, the guy managed to make money off an RPG, so he's probably a mutant...

Wild Cards - The Guide to George R.R. Martin's Wild Cards Series

For as long as it lasts online here is something that could be of interest to X-MEN fans:

X-MEN ORIGINS- WOLVERINE COMIC-CON TRAILER - The Spill.com Movie Community

It could help give players direction in how they could respond, assuming they are keen on the personality traits concept. Not all players play well with that, but those that do are certainly going to appreciate this.

Hi Everyone,

I just wanted to thank everyone for being here and contributing to this terrific resource. I hope that we can communicate and exchange ideas without getting personal or assuming ill intentions from others. Please agree to disagree and do everything you can to try and be civil to each other. I try to treat conversations online as if the person were in front of me. Thank you for listening. Back to introductions please! Sorry about the interruption. :focus:

Thanks to everyone for responding for/against/somewhere in between. The general consensus seems that it's worth getting, but that there are some differences, but the larger number of powers may be worth looking into.

Does anybody know if a supers expansion monograph is in the works? I'd volunteer, but I have never played or GM'ed Superworld. :ohwell:

Aycorn, I don't think you realize how sharp your responses were. People here were trying to help because you opened a thread and solicited responses to your "unofficial martial arts rules" that you were working on under the Subject: "Suggestions sought re: "Splitting Attacks" skill."

Generally it's bad form to respond in CAPS. It's a bit like shouting. Certainly nobody here knew your intention to convert GURPs or that this wasn't a house rule until you mentioned it afterwards. I hate having to point this out, but wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt that perhaps you didn't realize the impression that was made in your responses. That being said...

I must disagree with your assertion that, "The idea of having a skill allowing one to battle multiple opponents in a single round is one that doesn't [work with BRP]." As Shaira correctly noted, BRP RuneQuest and related BRP systems with combat skills over 100% have been doing so for a very, very long time. There is also an Unarmed Combat super power that could augment it further.

If you would accept this suggestion , there is already a Spot Rule for firearms called "Unaimed Shots" on page 254. It only applies to range weapons, but one could conceivably adapt it to a Brawl spot rule and name it the "Haymaker" or "Flurry" (take your pick) spot rule. In such a hypothetical house spot rule, you could double the attacks per round, but the chance to hit is reduced to 1/4 your character's skill.

Any thoughts?

I'm afraid your post was a little sketchy. Could you clarify with examples and a specific reason why you feel the martial arts rules are lacking?

I have failed a POW test and have bought, Ashes to Ashes PDF, Berlin 61 PDF, Cthulhu Rising PDF, End Time PDF, H.P. Lovecraft's Dreamlands PDF, Ravenar Sagas PDF, Return of The Ripper PDF and Unseen Masters PDF.

Does that make me a bad person?

No, I think an angel just got it's wings. :innocent:

Don't you youngin's use graph and hex paper anymore? Battle mats?

(Drops walker and struggles to get up...)