Recent content by Strithe

Something strange is going on the O'Connor ranch. Rumors of animal cruelty abound, and there's possible connections to local business & political figures. Can an ambitious journalism student hungry for a big news story (and also extra credit), persuade her friends to aid her on her quest for...

You've passed the entrance exams, secured a student loan you'll never be able to pay back, and are set to begin your tenure at the most prestigious (and only) institution of higher learning in Golan County, Texas. After signing the unusually long waiver, getting a dorm assignment, and dropping...

Somebody stabbed 8 people and dumped them in an ore bin on the orbital station / mining transfer point above Ellis, America's 2nd oldest colony world. Due to the fact that the station is Federal property, as well as the fact the victims are all foreign nationals, the Feds have been called in...

Last year the team helped rescue the University of Alicia faculty and students at Llewellyn Station on the inhospitable world of Grendel. One of the many odd things that happened there was the alien that gave you a patch torn from a French Navy uniform. You gave it to Professor Grimaldi as a...

Two years ago the Bugs hit human space like a sledgehammer, bringing a style of warfare humanity hadn't seen in centuries. One of the first places to fall was the French research station at Arcturus. Now its up to a platoon of American marines and their civilian "advisors" to take back the...

OK, so looking at the DMG (finally). It looks like the ranges look about right. A "realistic" price would be 10 gp for the pistol, 20 gp for the musket. A heavy musket i'd put at 50 gp, 2d8 piercing damage, 20 lb, Ammunition (50 / 150), loading, two-handed, heavy. Ammunition should be 1 sp...

Gunpowder weapons are really more of an advantage in mass combat. As Darren points out, they historically were very cheap, especially on the ammunition side. Plus, you didn't need much physical effort to load, aim, and fire one compared with bows or crossbows. With muzzle-loaders, you couldn't...

Another art thread? Are we still beating this dessicated equine? Art discussions are always amusing because they deal with something that's extremely subjective. Which is why the discussion never ends. From my point of view, I have to say that while the bulk of 1E art was not as technically...

Well about the only powers that have any "handwavey" aspects might be the divination type powers. Object Reading, for instance, is a power that allows the Adept to read psychic impressions from objects, and it can be triggered spontaneously (if the object or area happens to have a very strong...

Prestige classes In my opinion, all perstige classes are kind of lame. As modular as 3.5e is, I always figured most of what is trying to be achieved by a prestige class could be done just as well with a series of feats and/or multiclassing then another type of class. To me the whole Prestige...

OD&D I'd have to agree about KISS being the best thing about OD&D. You could generate a character in about 10 minutes and for a DM makng adventures was much, much less workload. True, there wasn't much room to customize a character (at least in terms of game mechanics), and DM's had to make a...

Saw it Saturday. Gave it a 5. Great special effects, and overall good acting, but the plot was just plain goofy in parts. (Spoilers below). 1. The buried war machines just came off as a lame way to add a "twist" to the movie. Something like a "freak" meteor shower coupled with the EMP...

Actually, shotgons ARE quite a bit more devastating than pistols. Realistically, hanguns aren't all that effective as weapons. The 82% rate of incapacitation for 9mm's is in fact more psychological than due to the power of a 9mm bullet. Most people drop after a single shot from a pistol...

I've seen this happen with standard D&D combat, as well as just about any game you can think of. Some people act as if they're going to loose a real-life appendage if they make the wrong move. The worst was a guy playing the Attack! boardgame with. In spite of waiting for 7 other players...

I might be more forgiving if she were a younger author with little real-world experience. This is a mature, educated woman who has dealt with "Hollywood" before. Maybe she should have spent some time actually watching typical Sci-Fi-Channel fare instead of believing what some media exec told...