seneschal

Most bad guys didn't survive more than one encounter with Doc Savage, The Spider, The Shadow, The Avenger, or even Wizard of Oz's Dorothy Gail. But a few of them were more durable and memorable and even had their own series of novels -- and later movies, radio shows and/or comic books. Cthulhu by Gaslight gives us write-ups and stats for the ever-insidious Dr. Fu Manchu, Professor Moriarty and Lord Varney the Vampire. Some other contenders for Worst Pulp Villain might include: Fantomas -- French master villain and master of disguise. He had multiple visages and secret identities in various portions of society, the better to keep tabs on his many schemes and potential victims. Only his aristocratic mistress knew his true face, and she was terrified as well as enamored by him. Fantomas specialized in extortion and blackmail, meting out weird dooms to those who didn't pay up. In his Fantomas guise, he appeared to be a tall man in a black top hat, cloak, and domino mask. The Grand Vampire -- From the same nation and era, the Grand Vampire organized and oversaw the outrages committed by the French gang "The Vampires," who performed their crimes with military precision and fiendish ingenuity. The Grand Vampire was aided by five or six lieutenants, each a specialist in a particular area of crime. Robbery, kidnapping, swindles -- no scheme was too low or too small as long as it was profitable. When the original Grand Vampire was killed, he was promptly replaced by another crook of similar intelligence and cleverness. Dr. Antonio Nikola -- Mad scientist with an occult bend, Nikola's goal was to live forever. He was totally amoral and ruthless in his quest. A small dark-haired man with hypnotic eyes, impeccable suit, and baleful black cat always perched on his shoulder, Nikola was a sort of Caucasian Fu Manchu (although he came first). Count Fosco -- Con man, former agent for an outlawed Italian political faction, master chemist, and hypnotist, Fosco was charming, outrageously fat, and a seemingly a comical figure until one realized how dangerous and unscrupulous he was. Not a real member of the aristocracy, he aided an English nobleman attempting to seize his fiancee's fortune, and succeeded in having the poor girl committed to an asylum while replacing her with a look-alike. Anyone else have a favorite villain? I'll skip a poll this time since there are so many bad guys to chose among.

Besides, we like talking to Simon, no matter what color his dwarves are.

BRP is at its best depicting normal, human-level heroes regardless of genre, although it's traditional venues have been assorted sub-genres of fantasy (RuneQuest, Pendragon, Elric, Elfquest) and horror (Call of Cthulhu) with a little space opera sci-fi thrown in (Ringworld, BRP Mecha). There have been several excellent historical roleplaying supplements (Rome, Age of Eleanor, Celestial Empire) and semi-historical (Mythic Iceland). Combat is gritty and even veteran characters are fragile, so this isn't a system where player-characters can charge headlong into a fight like Sylvester Stallone and Bruce Willis without without getting a scratch. They'll have to use their heads and fight smart (and perhaps dirty) to survive. Pushing the boundaries of the system are Astounding Adventures (pulp) and Superworld (super heroes). BRP does best with low- to medium-level supers. Once you hit Justice League or Avengers level, things sometimes don't run as smoothly.

It would be nice for Chaosium to reissue Superworld and its Companion as a printed product again, preferably as a single volume. However, since we've 30 years' experience indicating the game's sweet spot, it might be a better option to put out a Magic World equivalent for superheroics -- a low-level campaign that takes advantage of BRP's strengths rather than trying to stretch its limitations until they break. With Astounding Adventures in print, we're already halfway there, since the difference between The Spider and Green Arrow is one of attitude rather than power level or mechanics. (And depending on which comics era you pick, there isn't much difference in attitude.)

Or perhaps escape from them with the evidence needed to get the authorities involved in combating whatever the nefarious goings on are this time. Although, I just can't get the picture out of my head of Steadfast Investigator and his local recruits clobbering the cultists with snowballs. Perhaps a man-made avalanche could purposefully or inadvertently crush the bad guys' headquarters.

For a second I thought we had another fantasy monograph in the works: "Shields and Sorcery." Re-reading the paragraph in my copy of the BGB, I think you've got it right. The spell boosts the effectiveness of shields as they work as deflection devices but doesn't surround the caster with some sort of all-encompassing force field.

Given the heat these discussions have generated, let's hope that the dictum "No publicity is bad publicity" holds true. Now, if only we can book successive knock-down, drag-out fights between Chaosium personnel and agitated fans on The Jerry Springer Show, 60 Minutes, and The Tonight Show. (Don't hit 'em too hard, guys. We've got another performance at 10.)

Data, naturally, since knowledge is power and power accrues wealth. Financial transactions, personal details, academic records, marriages and divorces, births and deaths and anniversaries of all sorts, who went with whom at the prom, which teams won the championship for the past century and where the various team members are now. The Dragon Knows. Knows everything about everyone within his territory (however broad or narrow that is). Why battle princes or raid cattle when a few judicious words -- "I know what you did, when, how, and with whom" -- can send the citizenry scrambling to do his bidding? The king of lizards is a master manipulator, has the goods on everyone, is the motivator and instigator behind most village events -- known or secret. He can make you an offer you dare not refuse, but if you do him a favor he might do you one in return. It's all business, after all.

While all the stories in the anthology “Shadows Over Baker Street” may not catch the vibe of either H.P. Lovecraft or Arthur Conan Doyle, they certainly present some interesting situations – and creatures. I need some help in how you’d express them in BRP terms. Flame Tiger From the story “Tiger! Tiger!” by Elizabeth Bear An entity having some connection to Hastur, the flame tiger is literally a creature of living fire. It hunts and reacts like a normal, physical big cat but is stronger and does more damage with its claws. Unlike regular tigers, it is a man eater by default. It is impervious to bullets (which simply melt when they hit it) but can be harmed by water and other fire-retardant substances. A heavy rain will reduce it to a pile of smoldering ash. Mini Shoggoth From the story “A Case of Royal Blood” by Steven-Elliot Altman This isn’t the classic monster from “At the Mountains of Madness” but a sort of vampiric doppelganger grown by an evil sorcerer for purposes of revenge. The lengthy creation process requires a stand of trees and regular pints of blood donated (willingly or unwillingly) from a living genetic relative of the prospective victim – a cousin, sibling, half-sibling, etc. – resulting in a sort of vegetable womb in which the botanical assassin resides. The creature takes on the appearance of the blood donor but is in reality a monster whose face is all toothy mouth. It is intelligent, can speak, and can be quite charming but exists only to kill. Anyone will do, but the mini shoggoth is obligated to attack “family” first. It can teleport within a certain range of its nest, and is a stealthy stalker, confronting its target when others aren’t around. It isn’t ashamed to run away from superior opposition and will return again and again seeking to harm the person it was made to hunt. Its presence is given away by its smell, the scent of the trees it resides in. The mini shoggoth can only be eliminated by the destruction of its nest, preferably by fire. Opponents must take care that the trees’ roots are killed.

The Fallout wiki may have some useful info. (There's a wiki for almost anything, isn't there?) http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Fallout_3_armor_and_clothing http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Fallout:_New_Vegas_armor_and_clothing There's also a Fallout equipment database: http://www.gamebanshee.com/falloutequipment/

Just curious. I've got a lot of games and supplements on PDF, too, but I find I can't absorb and use material much longer than 10 pages unless I can refer to a hard copy. How do you manage to run a game/campaign using only electronic format sources? Now, if you mostly run BRP-related stuff and have been playing BRP for 30 years, that's one thing. You'd have the basic rules memorized by now. But if you're trying out new systems, settings, and rules variations it seems as if it'd be tougher.

You might also see if they have any left here: http://catalog.chaosium.com/product_info.php?products_id=637 http://catalog.chaosium.com/product_info.php?products_id=1289

Re: Realism Rule #1 ... ... but if I wanted gritty realism, I'd go watch the news instead of role-playing. In a game, I want to be able to one-punch King Kong, fire freakin' laser beams from assorted portions of my anatomy, leap through the air like a wuxia star, outsmart the combined intellects of Lex Luthor and Doctor Doom, and radiate such suavity that I make James Bond look like Rick Moranis.

Thing is (since this is apparently a mystery story) your players don't know the scripted ending to the scenario -- whether it is a canned adventure or your own concoction. That means you are free to throw in extra clues or create tie-ins that weren't in the original, or even change the identity of the guilty party. Now, the old-school rules lawyer approach would be to allow them to waste their time on a red herring and fail to solve the case. But since your goal in playing in the first place is to have a good time, what would really be the most fun for you and your players? Sometimes, players' guesses and solutions are more interesting than what you or the module author had in mind. So go with the flow and don't penalize them for good role playing. You can always save the "right" answer, villain, or set piece for the next story arc. Your players will never know the difference, and they'll feel like champs for having closed the case successfully. If they get the right answer with the wrong clues? That's OK. Mysteries often don't make sense anyway until the detective (whether Sherlock Holmes or Sam Spade) spins the yarn at the end of the short story or novel. The solution doesn't have to be true. It just has to be convincing enough to persuade a jury. Conversely, you could have them "solve" the case with the wrong answer or culprit, enjoy their rewards and adulation in the press, then have the real villain dog their steps next adventure (since they're apparently smart enough to be a threat). If your players are invested enough in your campaign to make that kind of effort, I'd encourage them any way possible. Personally, I've had too many players that would step over a dead body I've practically thrown at their feet because "I don't want to get involved." In a secret agent and/or pulp adventure game! How far would we get if James Bond, Indiana Jones, or Lamont Cranston took that attitude?

I'd like to know, too, since I've been writing up lots of superheroes with Grapple and Martial Arts. I have similar question about the Entangle rules as well, since they're somewhat related to immobilizing a foe with Grapple. It seems awfully difficult to pin or entangle an opponent in BRP, especially if, as Paul_Va notes, the foe has multiple chances to wiggle free. If the rules really work as they seem to, BRP Spider-Man might as well hang up his webs, Kato facing a gang of thugs is in trouble, and Zorro's Black Whip is pretty useless.

See, studying a martial art has improved your self discipline!

Mass produced critters??? Send in the clones!

No BRP Rome or Mecha? No Superworld? Seriously, though. It looks as if you've enough BRP material to play for decades. Hope you have the opportunity.

Uh, sorry guys. You both lost me somewhere on Page 3 during the discussion of acceleration vs. force, neither of which is exactly the same as torque or thrust. I'm not torqued at you. My grasp of math and physics is worse than yours. When are you publishing that monograph on high tech vehicles again? I'm not that hard to please. As long as it has full BRP stats (and deck plans) for the Death Star, the Yellow Submarine, and Herbie the Love Bug, I'll be perfectly happy.

As a Game Master, I've often used children's books to research history and locations for campaigns. I've also found children's fiction inspirational for plots and monsters. A new book, Battle Bunny, falls into the latter category. An imaginative boy named Alex receives a late Forties children’s picture book, Birthday Bunny, from his grandmother on his 8th birthday. Using eraser and Sharpie pen, he re-writes it as a more energetic yarn, Battle Bunny, in which the titular rabbit endeavors to conquer the forest with assorted Bond villain gadgetry and schemes. The illustrations resemble paintings from a vintage Little Golden Book – adjusted and re-imagined with black marker. Much of the original sweet children’s tale is crossed out and replaced with new comic book style dialogue. http://www.rakuten.com/prod/battle-bunny/247625789.html?listingId=309469131&s_kwcid= http://www.amazon.com/Battle-Bunny-Jon-Scieszka/dp/1442446730 It's a hoot. As usual, I got a copy from my local library.

Sherlock Holmes has met the Cthulhu Mythos before, both in Chaosium's own Cthulhu by Gaslight and in short story anthologies such as Shadows Over Baker Street. There was even a computer game, Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened. Most recently, I encountered a crossover in the short story anthology Resurrected Holmes at my local library. The conceit of the anthology is that a wealthy book collector purchased Dr. John H. Watson's unpublished notes, then hired assorted big-name authors to turn them into new Holmes mystery yarns. "The Giant Rat of Sumatra," purportedly by H.P. Lovecraft but actually written by Paula Volsky, is an engaging tale and one of the best in the book. Craig Shaw Gardner's story, "The Politician, the Lighthouse, and the Trained Cormorant," is a decent Holmesian mystery but doesn't really capture the style of Edgar Rice Burroughs (although it features talking apes, and Holmes is buff after sojourning in Africa). "The Madness of Colonel Warburton," in the style of Dashiell Hammett, is a hoot from the word "go." Imagine Watson narrating a Holmes adventure like Jack Webb in a Forties noir film and you get the general idea. Anyone else discover other Victorian Cthulhu crossovers out in the wild?

There are a few alternative creatures here: http://basicroleplaying.com/showthread.php/2103-Build-a-Better-Monster-Contest-Part-II

I've carefully saved Atgxtg's charts and comments about SIZ. That stat is one of the hardest BRP concepts to get one's head around, regardless of what other RPG system you came from.

http://www.atlasarchives.com/index.html Re:Atlas/Seaboard Comics. I'd seen pictures of Tiger-Man while poking around on the web, but the only Atlas hero whose comic I've actually read is The Tarantula. In 1975 my junior high school library in San Diego inexplicably had an issue (which one I'm not sure). I recall he was more horror than hero, a nobleman cursed to become a were-spider with the culinary lifestyle that implies. A more realistic, if ickier, take on having spider powers than the whole Peter Parker thing. Other comics publishers were putting out titles featuring vampires, werewolves, etc., around the same time, so Count Eugene Lycosa fit right into the mix. Given that most of Atlas' lines lasted only two or three issues, it is a miracle I met The Tarantula at all. I'm just grateful it was by proxy rather than in person.

Moonstone Books is currently publishing a Kolchak comics series, FYI. They also publish a bunch of titles based on vintage comics, radio drama and pulp characters -- and occasionally mix and match them. http://moonstonebooks.com/shop/category.aspx?catid=25 On to more heroes. He was from the Nineties rather than the Seventies, but one of my favorite TV superheroes was M.A.N.T.I.S., an interesting character with a cool costume. Unfortunately, fantasy and science fiction programs are fragile things subject to early cancellation, and M.A.N.T.I.S. survived only one season (now out on DVD, BTW). M.A.N.T.I.S. Dr. Miles Hawkins was a wealthy physician and medical researcher, founder and CEO of his own medical technology company. He bitterly withdrew from the world when he was paralyzed from the waist down after being shot in the back by a police sniper during a riot. Dr. Hawkins wasn’t participating in the riot; he was an innocent bystander who attempted to assist injured people near him. He was persuaded to come back to work by his friend and chief engineer, John Stonebrake, who threatened to quit otherwise. After a series of crises in his home city, he was persuaded to use his futuristic technology to become the vigilante M.A.N.T.I.S., donning an exoskeleton (the Mechanically Augmented Neuro Transmitter Interception System) which enabled him to walk again, proved bulletproof, and also granted him super strength, heightened agility, and the ability to make fantastic leaps. The exoskeleton didn’t really make Hawkins look like a praying mantis, but he certainly did look bug-like. Refusing to use guns, since he’d been crippled by one, the M.A.N.T.I.S.’ signature weapons were tiny electromagnetic darts which paralyzed the target for one hour. He used them to freeze crooks into immobility until the police arrived. Like any good pulp vigilante, he also left his emblem on his captives’ bodies, small metal praying mantises. The exoskeleton’s helmet originally possessed a narcotic gas and strobe light system that enabled the vigilante to hypnotize and interrogate suspects. Hawkins discontinued using it when he discovered that it might cause his subjects permanent neural damage. He continued to operate as a vigilante even after Stonebrake warned him that prolonged use of the exoskeleton could further damage his own nervous system, preventing future recovery. M.A.N.T.I.S. patrolled the skies of Port Columbia in a sleek hovercraft/flying car, the Chrysalid, which used holographic projection to camouflage its parking places. M.A.N.T.I.S. was hunted by police Lt. Leora Maxwell, a hardnosed lady cop who couldn’t help falling for the suave, handsome Dr. Hawkins. The vigilante was assisted in his investigations by bicycle courier Taylor Savage, who had lots of contacts on the street. M.A.N.T.I.S. was a 1994 TV series that lasted only one season, 24 episodes, killed by poor writing in the latter half. Its cancellation was unfortunate because the characters, costumes, acting, and special effects were good. The series was notable in that it featured TV’s first live action black superhero. It had been preceded by a television movie/pilot with a different location (Ocean City), different supporting characters (a TV newsman and an assistant medical examiner/love interest), and a blaxpoloitation storyline straight out of the Seventies. In the pilot, the riot in which Dr. Hawkins had been crippled was part of a plot by evil white policemen to stir up violence in black neighborhoods so that the cops would have an excuse to crack down hard on the community and win a mayoral bid by the police commissioner. The incumbent mayor was, naturally, African-American. As M.A.N.T.I.S., Hawkins wore a suit over the exoskeleton, the skeleton’s eye pieces making him look like a cybernetic Malcolm X. He was assisted by a pair of foreign exchange students whose primary qualification was that they were straight off the boat from Africa, since a black American scientist surely couldn’t receive aid from fellow countrymen who happened to be Caucasian. Fortunately, the writers dropped all that nonsense in the series. Powers, Abilities, and Weaknesses Dr. Hawkins was a skilled physician and, with Stonebrake’s technical input, a brilliant medical inventor. Bitter and acerbic at the series’ beginning, he warmed up to become a charming and persuasive person after the exoskeleton restored his mobility (at least part of the time) and gave him new purpose for living. He learned to mask his turbulent thoughts and emotions beneath an air of smooth urbanity. Who could suspect this polished, and physically handicapped, professional of being the weird, energetic urban legend sought by the authorities? In terms of abilities, M.A.N.T.I.S. was sort of an amalgam of Batman and Iron Man. The black and gunmetal grey exoskeleton enabled Hawkins to move normally by bypassing his damaged spinal cord; the artificial stimulation also granted him enhanced strength, incredible agility, and leaping ability. Exactly how strong it made him is hard to determine. The vigilante could toss thugs around easily and at one point wrestled a robot, but he couldn’t stop cars in their tracks or burst through walls. The exoskeleton’s neural headpiece effectively masked his features and disguised his voice. The suit’s batteries weren’t inexhaustible, however, and M.A.N.T.I.S. occasionally found himself helpless when it ran out of juice, usually when criminal goons were closing in on him. The exoskeleton was also vulnerable to water and electricity, both of which disrupted its functions. Fortunately, his paralytic darts still worked when his suit didn’t. The Chrysalid could function underwater as well as in the air and was housed in a secret submerged base from which Hawkins and his helpers conducted their operations. STR 11/25 CON 14 SIZ 14 INT 17 POW 14 DEX 16/23 APP 16 Move: 0/10 Hit Points: 14 (28 CON + SIZ option) Damage Bonus: +1D4/+1D6 Armor: 20 AP kinetic, 3 heat and cold Attacks: Brawl 69%, 1D3 + DB; Grapple 69%, 1D3 + DB; Paralytic Dart 76/90%, STR 14 Entangle Skills: Climb 40%, Craft (Medical Equipment) 52%, Dodge 76/90%, First Aid 74% , Jump 69%, Language (English) 85%, Medicine 52%, Persuade 59%, Pilot (The Chrysalid) 45%, Projection 76/90%, Research 69%, Science (Biophysics) 49%, Spot 69%, Status 59%, Technical (Computer Use) 45% Powers: Armor 17 (kinetic), 3 (heat/cold), 23 points Extra Energy, +50 energy points, 5 points Leap, 4 levels (+8 meters horizontal, +4 meters vertical), 4 points Paralytic Darts – Snare Projection, 14 levels, 42 points Super Characteristic – +14 STR, 14 points; + 7 DEX, 21 points Failings: Superhero identity must be turned on in an obvious, preventable manner; is dependent on a removable item (the exoskeleton), +2 character points Physical frailty (paraplegia), fulltime, +3 character points Hunted by Port Columbia police, +2 character points Notes: Dr. Hawkins had 102 starting character points based on his characteristics, plus 7 more for Failings, total 109. He had 500 professional skill points plus 170 personal skill points based on INT, total 670. Profession: Doctor Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M.A.N.T.I.S. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108843/ http://vimeo.com/59934396 http://www.tv.com/shows/mantis/ http://www.tv.com/shows/mantis/episodes/ http://blip.tv/thescarletspider/mmm-mantis-tv-series-or-m-a-n-t-i-s-pilot-6534239