Ian Absentia

The "takeout effect" is the key. Simpler mimics, like the Taskmaster or even the Super Skrull -- characters designed to fight the heroes to a standstill -- are usually more affordable. And more interesting, for that matter. !i!

I recall trying to write up Rogue using the SuperWorld rules -- using the combined powers Mimic and Reduction made her character prohibitively expensive (even moreso if you compounded this with the permanent powers of Ms. Marvel). Siphon was a bit better, but, again, it usually proved too expensive if you were trying to siphon off all of another character's powers. !i!

This is a Resistance roll of Stamina vs. Potency, yes? Rust's suggestion of treating the character as stunned is spot on. !i!

Another version of this was seen in Wyrm's Footprints #14 (and Thieves' World, if I recall correctly). In addition to the polar opposites at either end of the spectrum, there was a rating in the middle that represented mastery over the emotional conflict between the two, and the ability to consciously choose your action over your passionate instinct. !i!

In my opinion, no. The trick to fencing in En Garde is really a matter of strategy and resource allocation -- there's no room for the die-rolled resolution of BRP (or most any other RPG for that matter). I've tinkered with the idea myself before, but never came up with anything satisfactory that worked better, or even as well, as the system contained in En Garde itself. Now, what you could do, is graft BRP onto En Garde to handle skills other than fencing, but once you have a look at games like Vatican En Garde, you'll see that EG can handle social skills neatly, too. If you're really in a mood to swashbuckle with BRP, I'd strongly suggest digging up a copy of GURPS: Swashbucklers and adapting Stephen O'Sullivan's tasty fencing schools to d100. !i!

I'm a little surprised to find that no one has mentioned the psionics from Ringworld. I don't recall them particularly clearly at the moment, but they were far more subtle than the flash-bang style of psychic powers one might otherwise expect. I'll have to dig those out and have another look at them. Did any of the Ringworld material make the collected and concatenated BRP? !i!

A few years back (three, four?), Charlie Krank was apparently amenable to a monograph version of an updated edition. Times change, though, for whatever reasons. Maybe what some enterprising soul needs to do is simply buy up all the warehoused stock of Nephilim, freeing up Chaosium's need to recoup their investment. Then, as a guerilla marketing scheme, said person could stage a public book-burning to stir up interest in a renewed edition. !i!

And in that regard, it's kind of neat for a fantasy campaign, especially if you're looking for an elementally-oriented system of magic that takes astrological influences into account. It's a pretty "flash-bang" sort of magic, and will require specialist skills in order for player characters to cast the spells. I don't think it should take too much finesse to get it to work. !i!