The "I Didn't Comment in Another Thread" Thread

[J.Quondam]

Probably not, depending on which threads. There are consistent themes, and consistently drawn lines in the sand. I blame social media.

That, and there just aren't all that many very regular commenters around here. It's not terribly surprising that the same few people will have the same few conversations over and over again.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Whenever someone asks what superpower I'd like, instead of flight, invisibility or any of the others, I always say... Quantumkinesis.

What is quantumkinesis?

Telekinesis effective all the way down to a subatomic level.

Fun with Physics, anyone? - I get to do all sorts of things that would normally require about two dozen other powers.
And screw tossing cars at you, I'll just reach into your head and move half a millimeter of your spinal cord half a millimeter to the left...

The only way I was able to come up with a character who had that power and make them still somewhat usable as a main character in a story was to stipulate that the guy is limited to only doing what he can wrap his still-normal-human mind around - i.e., he has a list of individual "tricks" that he's taught himself to do, and using his power too much or pushing it too far will endanger his sanity and humanity. (For example, if he ever went nuts and lost his sense of self, he might actually physically discorporate.)
He could go all god-mode if he wanted to, but then he'd either literally asplode or even worse end up ascending to become one of those cosmic-level entities and stop caring about humanity or the planet at all. And he likes this planet - it's where his friends live and where he keeps his stuff.

Well, the explanation for a lot of powers not getting out of hand is often subconscious (or not so subconscious) blocks. The poster girl here is Atom Even in Invincible, who can't manipulate atomic structures in living things because she's got a thing about it; if she didn't she'd be pretty much a character who would make the OmniMan look like a piker.

 

[RealAlHazred]

Phonoautograph in the late 1850s, but not prevalent until the late 1870s, when it was "reinvented" by that thief Edison.

Listen, you, Edison may not have invented corporate theft, but he absolutely perfected it! And don't let anyone tell you otherwise!

Seriously, though, the phonoautograph as it was didn't allow playback unfortunately.

 

[RealAlHazred]

Technically the foil player existed, but it was only a novelty. You have to wait a couple decades for the wax cylinder players to be a real thing.

Edison's tinfoil phonograph didn't show up in the lab until sometime in 1877, a little late for my game. I hadn't heard that anyone did anything similar prior to that, though.

 

[RealAlHazred]

After awhile I just stopped caring about even vague historical accuracy. It was less work to invent a whole world and set games there than trying to pin down real-world history (fairly easy) and get the players on board (literally impossible). I think Doctor Who-style gonzo anachronisms was more their speed, but unfortunately none of them wanted to actually play Doctor Who.

We'll see how it works. I'm going to try to be a bit of a stickler, as there are perfectly viable alternatives to most things that might feel "missing." A lot depends on the core campaign drivers, the conspiracies moving and shaking things up.

 

[RealAlHazred]

Out of curiosity, what game system are you planning to use for this game? (I've been thinking about a similar setting concept recently, but haven't landed on a system yet.)

I am using Hero System 6th edition. It may be crunchier than most would like, but it's been the mainstay for my home game group, and I've been playing some variation of it for forty years -- it's easy for me to quickly build whatever I need on the fly if I have to.

 

[Ryujin]

Whenever someone asks what superpower I'd like, instead of flight, invisibility or any of the others, I always say... Quantumkinesis.

What is quantumkinesis?

Telekinesis effective all the way down to a subatomic level.

Fun with Physics, anyone? - I get to do all sorts of things that would normally require about two dozen other powers.
And screw tossing cars at you, I'll just reach into your head and move half a millimeter of your spinal cord half a millimeter to the left...

The only way I was able to come up with a character who had that power and make them still somewhat usable as a main character in a story was to stipulate that the guy is limited to only doing what he can wrap his still-normal-human mind around - i.e., he has a list of individual "tricks" that he's taught himself to do, and using his power too much or pushing it too far will endanger his sanity and humanity. (For example, if he ever went nuts and lost his sense of self, he might actually physically discorporate.)
He could go all god-mode if he wanted to, but then he'd either literally asplode or even worse end up ascending to become one of those cosmic-level entities and stop caring about humanity or the planet at all. And he likes this planet - it's where his friends live and where he keeps his stuff.

That's a good one and a good way of keeping it in check. I sort of had the opposite problem. In Rifts I created a nice, normal, human Mystic. Everyone else was some Mega Damage creature. The most 'reasonable' one was a Glitterboy. I think I lasted to round 3 in the first combat encounter.

As a replacement I made an invulnerable superhero, so I wouldn't end up making 3 new characters per session. In addition to this I only gave him energy expulsion ("blaster hands") and super Mental Endurance. The physical scores were otherwise pretty good with a reasonable Strength and excellent Physical Prowess. The Dragon Hatchling character started picking up my character and using him as a battering ram, which was more than a little annoying.

So I finally gave in to munchkinism, in keeping with the rest of the party. I made a Demigod character. With the psionic powers of a Mystic. Who was an Apok. So now they had to deal with a Psi-Sword wielding Paladin of Light, with a living symbiotic mask, who could teleport at will, healed as fast as you could blink, and knew that you were coming for him. Then I played him morally like Superman. "I'm sorry but if I attack that opponent then I'll obliterate him. Maybe you should handle him instead?"

 

[Ryujin]

Listen, you, Edison may not have invented corporate theft, but he absolutely perfected it! And don't let anyone tell you otherwise!

Seriously, though, the phonoautograph as it was didn't allow playback unfortunately.

Didn't allow playback? Here's the recording from an autophonograph that was made in 1860. Not the best, but it was the first.

 

[RealAlHazred]

Didn't allow playback? Here's the recording from an autophonograph that was made in 1860. Not the best, but it was the first.

My understanding from reading a little bit was that the recording method didn't allow true audio playback at the time. They studied the curves the method recorded visually instead, as a matter of scientific interest. But it was some time before somebody realized you could play it back, and devised a mechanism to allow that. But I could be mistaken.

 

[MarkB]

Whenever someone asks what superpower I'd like, instead of flight, invisibility or any of the others, I always say... Quantumkinesis.

What is quantumkinesis?

Telekinesis effective all the way down to a subatomic level.

Fun with Physics, anyone? - I get to do all sorts of things that would normally require about two dozen other powers.
And screw tossing cars at you, I'll just reach into your head and move half a millimeter of your spinal cord half a millimeter to the left...

The only way I was able to come up with a character who had that power and make them still somewhat usable as a main character in a story was to stipulate that the guy is limited to only doing what he can wrap his still-normal-human mind around - i.e., he has a list of individual "tricks" that he's taught himself to do, and using his power too much or pushing it too far will endanger his sanity and humanity. (For example, if he ever went nuts and lost his sense of self, he might actually physically discorporate.)
He could go all god-mode if he wanted to, but then he'd either literally asplode or even worse end up ascending to become one of those cosmic-level entities and stop caring about humanity or the planet at all. And he likes this planet - it's where his friends live and where he keeps his stuff.

This is an example of where powersets can be of limited use if they don't come with additional powers that allow their use to be adequately controlled and moderated. Like, if you have superstrength but not superresilience, you may have sufficient raw power to flip a car, but if you try it you'll likely rip your own arms off instead.

In this instance, having the ability to use telekinesis down to the quantum level is of limited use if you don't also have senses capable of examining your surroundings at those levels of detail.