If you have a copy of the original TSR paper copy, the asterisk is on page 16.
If you have a copy of the Zan Edition PDF, the asterisk-free listing is on virtual page 16.

Given how I was writing this, I bet I completely forgot about that asterisk and the two-slot designation by the time finally got around to writing the actual entry weeks later. If I hadn't forgotten, I would made some mention of this.

Just remembered or thought I remembered something-- did someone here do a re-edit of the Zan Edition in the last couple years?




Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/25/2011 02:57PM by DavidEMartin.

DavidEMartin Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If you have a copy of the original TSR paper copy,
> the asterisk is on page 16.
> If you have a copy of the Zan Edition PDF, the
> asterisk-free listing is on virtual page 16.
>
> Given how I was writing this, I bet I completely
> forgot about that asterisk and the two-slot
> designation by the time finally got around to
> writing the actual entry weeks later. If I hadn't
> forgotten, I would made some mention of this.
>
> Just remembered or thought I remembered
> something-- did someone here do a re-edit of the
> Zan Edition in the last couple years?


Skycutter did:

[www.classicmarvelforever.com]

DavidEMartin.org thread

This is kind of amusing, actually.
And I'm in Wisconsin.

Dave, First off thank you so much for doing this.

Say I had a character with the following powers:

Grafting

Anatomical Separation

Regeneration

Mind Control

Could I throw an arm at a target have it graft onto them and continue beating them?

Could I pull out my lung and graft it into a patient?

Could I give someone a "wet willie" leaving my finger in their ear to grow and take control of the victim?

Can I pull off my own arms grow new ones and attach the old ones? If so can I eventually clone myself?

Wow, what an interesting character. The hybrid combo of EC Horror and MAD Comics that Sam Raimi invokes in his EVIL DEAD stuff.....
On the whole, without pulling up my UPB PDF, I'd say Sure. Just make sure you're game master is in agreement.
Wow..... I'm thinking Anton Arcane and the Un-Men from Bernie Wrightson's run on SWAMP THING.....

Okay, looking at this logically... "logically????"......
We'll call the guy "Raimi".
The core powers are Regeneration and Anatomical Seperation. Raimi can seperate his nobody into independently moving, semi-autonomous segments. His mind remains in overall control but in practical terms, his body parts are operating like "fire and forget" missiles. And if some part doesn't come back, he can eventually regrow a new one.
The question there is how quickly can he regrow them. This affects the nature of the seperated parts. If the regrowth is fairly lengthy or otherwise costly, we can assume Raimi needs to reattach his parts when possible. Alternately consider an interpretation where Raimi regrows parts easily and quickly. In this case, his parts, once detached, do not reattach. They act like porcupine quills. The lifespan of the detached parts will have to be determined. I'd suggest that in the lower power levels, the detached part withers away as the replacement grows. In midrange, the detached parts remains active for a while as the replacements grow. As Raimi develops his powers, he can extend the detached lifespan, eventually reaching a point where he can have two or more identical detached parts in operation while regrowing a new one.
Next we consider Grafting and Mind Control. I'd suggest these powers are tied to Anatomical Seperation as they're focusing mechanism.
A detached part can make a special attack against a target and attempt to force its way into becoming a (unwanted!) part of the target's body. An arm flies through the air, the hand clamps onto the body, the elbow flexes, the stump presses itself against the target's body....... The target would of course have a chance to defend himself, duckjing/dodging the oncoming part. Once the part has clamped on, the victim can resist the impending operation.
Once Raimi's part has attached itself, it can continue to attack the victim. Think Ash's fight with his possessed hand in EVIL DEAD 2.
Once the part is attached, then Mind Control can kick in. Again, think Ash and the fight he had to retain his own soul.

(taking a break here as I just noticed FellUp is online....)




Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/19/2011 11:41AM by DavidEMartin.

continuing.........

Not quite sure how you'd pull out a lung. But let's assume Raimi has that technique figured out. If the target is willing or at least not resisting due to, say, being unconscious, Raimi should be able to opening himself up via the Anatomical Sepration power.... yeesh.... just realized what it would look like..... Think of a Visible Man model kit and the entire chestplate popping off and hovering in midair. The lung detaches and flies across the intervening space to the recipient. There is settles into the appropriate spot and burrows into the target body. As it hooks into the target's body and starts operatiing, assume it hooks up to any needed blood vessels and seals off the unneeded one.
Was the part to be replaced removed beforehand? Huh boy... The Raimi-lung might tear out the part it's replacing -- think of a cuckoo chick kicking out of the nest the chicks who were supposed to be there. The Raimi-lung might simply squeeze out the part to be replaced.

As for Raimi cloning himself ? No. With all those parts flying or otherwise occupied, Raimi is still ONE lifeforce, one controlling intellect. You want to use these powers to clone Raimi, Raimi needs another power.
Okay, which power......... I'd go with Serial Incarnation with the Grafting recipients acting as the multiple bodies option.

okay, hitting Save again.........

So Dave with my character with anatomical separation... ( Mind you I am a bit on the macabre side. )
Could I rip my chest open and use my intestines as an elongated attack as a power stunt...

Originally this was a character who was a "Universal" donar in mind. A surgeon who took his own body parts out and saved lives. ( O.K. Biophysical is the easy route.. )

After a long nights sleep a whole different creation came to mind. Something along the lines of Carpenter's "The Thing" and Heinlein's "Puppet masters" came to fruition along with a bunch of other crazed and bizarre ideas from my "Evil" me...

Please tell me you don't live anywhere near Milwaukee.

Given how bizarre Raimi is, the idea of the Intestinal Attack fits right in. But remember the small intestine is only 16-32 feet or so long and 1-2 inches wide.

On the whole, sounds like a PC for a Marvel-Call of Cthulhu hybrid game. Hmm, Marvel did publish a cluster of Clive Barker comics a decade back........

As a matter of fact Dave I currently live in North Carolina ( Moved here about 2 years ago from Pennsylvania. )

However I like the cold weather I loved living in Great Lakes Illinois during the winter of '93.

Hmm Milwaukee sounds like a decent place to live.....

Back on topic. I would like to thank you for this correspondence. Your UPB has not only been used in MSH. I've used it many times for ideas in other RPGs I really appreciate the work you put into it. I consider it to be the go to book if I need some inspiration when experiencing writers block.

Again thank you for your time and expect some further inquiries / clarifications from me that you are always free to ignore...

Mr. Martin... I have a question regarding power Nemisis. Could you elaborate please on game mechanics for this situation? Here is what is happening, I am designing a cornball spiderman villain for fun. One of his powers is Emotion Control, which is listed as a Nemesis to Danger Sense. How exactly does that work? With spidey's AM 50 Danger Sense, would my villain need an Emotion Control of AM 50 in order to counteract his Danger sense? Or, does it reduce his sense by power rank? Thank you for taking the time to read this, and for providing so much information on a game that has given me years of fun. Cheers!

-Merctime

The inspiration for Nemesis is a teenaged Jim Shooter's creation for the Legion of Superheroes, Nemesis Kid. Nemesis Kid could instantly analyze an opponent's superpowers and spontaneously manifest a power that would counteract it.
In game terms, someone with this power has an upper limit on what powers he can generate. Basically the Power Rank for this power is the Power Rank for whatever Nemesis power he creates. Otherwise you get the silliness of an Aunt May-like character with Nemesis toppling Galactus.

Okay, as for what power..... it's going to be a situational thing, varying from opponent to opponent.
In your case, your opponent has to possess Nemesis at a rank of at least Amazing to counteract Spiderman's Danger Sense. Spiderman depends on this power to give him warning of impending attacks. Your foe muffles this power and maybe even gives Spiderman a sense of wellbeing, saying flashing thru happy memories of MJ, leaving Spiderman oblivious to the attack about to occur.
Obviously in this case, your foe will need to use something else to actually fight Spiderman.
--or--
The power initially operates by initially generating a mood-altering field. Spidey gets happy and doesn't notice you sneaking up behind him with a 2x4..... But once you've smacked him, he's aware of you and any further Danger Sense is irrelevant. So the power switches to something else. This being Spiderman, I'd suggest altering your exterior to something frictionless like that old Daredevil foe, The Eel.
But the Nemesis effect is centered on whatever power your target is either employing at the time or most likely to employ once combat is engaged.

The power has two big weaknesses. (1) It only generates one power at a time, it only reacts to one power at a time. Nemesis Kid could be defeated by Legionaires doubletiming him. (2) It only generates powers whgen its triggered by an opponent's powers. Karate Kid has no powers, only incredibly honed fighting skills. So Nemesis Kid was helpless to fight him. And a couple decades later, KK's widow Queen Projectra put her Illusioncasting aside and simply strangled him with her barehands.




Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/06/2011 01:26PM by DavidEMartin.

Ah! so... All of the references in the UPB about "the nemesis to this power is such and such" are referring to the actual POWER Nemesis, and used to illustrate what power that one brings to play? It isn't, say, "ok, I've got electrical manipulation! But, the nemesis to my power is mental absorption (or something, for sake of argument). So, anyone with mental absorption counteracts me!". In order for the "Nemisis" of any power to be manifested, it has to come from the actual Nemesis power?

merctime Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Ah! so... All of the references in the UPB about
> "the nemesis to this power is such and such" are
> referring to the actual POWER Nemesis, and used to
> illustrate what power that one brings to play? It
> isn't, say, "ok, I've got electrical manipulation!
> But, the nemesis to my power is mental absorption
> (or something, for sake of argument). So, anyone
> with mental absorption counteracts me!". In order
> for the "Nemisis" of any power to be manifested,
> it has to come from the actual Nemesis power?

No, they're just illustrating what powers counter or work well against a particular power it doesn't have to come from someone using Nemesis (kind of silly that someone with Electrical Control couldn't control the Electrical Generation of someone else because they weren't getting the power from Nemesis). It does make it easier for someone playing a character with Nemesis to know what power he'll create to counter someone.

Hey, I have some questions and myabe you guys can help me out...

- Mr Fantastic is listed with Amazing Reason and the power Hyper-Intelligence. Is Amazing his final score, or does it add up? If it does, how much? What was his score, before he was transformed and got the power Hyper-intelligence? (He is descriped as the smartest man in the world, but you could easily roll up a hero with a higher Reason an I wonder, if Amazing is maybe too low)

- Hyper-Invention: Does it have a Power Rank? Does it add up to Reason like the power Mechanical Intuition (Advanced Players Book)? The hero needs 2CS less Ressources to build stuff. Does that also count, when he invents stuff, like a teleporter device or body armor?

- Weapons Tinkering: Can the lowered costs of Hyper-Invention and Weapons Tinkering be combined, to pay -5/-8CS if a yellow/red FEAT is made?

- Inventing Power Suit with column shifts: The hero wants to invent a Body Armor with column shifts for Fight, Agility, Strength and Endurance each +1 (max Excellent), Ecxellent material and Excellent armor. We start with Excellent (material or Body Armor, same rank), +4CS for the shifts, adds up to Monstrous Costs. Correct? Can this be reduced by Hyper-Invention (-2CS >> Incredible costs) and/or Weapons Tinkering (-3CS Yellow FEAT Good costs or -5CS red FEAT poor costs)?

- The hero wants to build a teleporter (self) device which is portable , pocket-sized with reach of touch, material Excellent. Who much does it cost? Monstrous (because there are no such things in the real world), +2CS pocket-portable, -1CS reach self, adds up to Unearthly effective costs (Incredible with Hyper-Invention). Does Material add up?

Nightmask is exactly right.
When you're facing someone with a power that can be counteracted by something you already possess, your power can be considered a "nemesis power."
The actual power called "Nemesis" is a macropower that can produce anything relevant in the UPB catalogue.
Given players and game masters' occassional lapses of creative thought, I added where I remembered whatever powers were relevant to the Nemesis/nemesis question.

Years ago I rolled up a PC Hero character with the following powers
Fire Gen
Sound Gen
Shrinking
Health Drain

I then thought up how to fit them together in a concept And have been playing it for years now.

I came up with a number of different power stunts and also was able to combine the different powers for new power stunts.

Can anyone say delayed blast fire ball?
Powerstunt: Fire gen to create a contained solid ball of explosive matter and shrink to size with an adjustable time in rounds as to when it detonates.

Lots of fun things to do with Shrinking as well. Shrink a massive Rock down to a size of a pebble and toss it at a character. (My PC could lift upto 50 ton)

Or put the delayed time lapse on the said rock. Great way to block an entrance for a Hugh Jackman Style face plant.

Question is: What power Stunts would you be able to come up with given these powers?

Dave, a quick mechanics question, which I think you've gone over, but I thought might be worth revisiting:

Outside of Resist: Magic (And similar powers), if a hero is attacked by a mystically based energy attack, how do they resist it? For example, let's say Hero X is hit with the Flames of Faltine at Rm (30), and said hero has resist: Magic (or Force Field, etc), at Rm (30), would you say they've successfully avoided damage, or would they still need to worry 'bout fire/energy damage?

At the same time, let's say the mystical damage type is Rm (30), and a person has an Am (50) psyche. Could you see a scenario where a hero might be able to mitigate the mystical damage through a psyche FEAT?

Thirdly, let's say that Hero Y is in the same situation as Hero X, but doesn't have resistance to magic of any sort. Hero Y however has fire resistance at Am (50), which provides him protection against fire. Would he still take damage?


I know this question is mainly rhetorical, but it came up again last week at our MSH game, and is something I know has been discussed before.

Thanks

thejackolantern Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thirdly, let's say that Hero Y is in the same
> situation as Hero X, but doesn't have resistance
> to magic of any sort. Hero Y however has fire
> resistance at Am (50), which provides him
> protection against fire. Would he still take
> damage?

In the comics the rare times it comes up the fire resistant hero is shown having no defenses against magical fire attacks (just like Reed Richards was shown getting his arm broken by a magical monster in spite of his elastic nature and being actively molding himself at the time). Probably the only time the fire hero has protection in the comics I've seen is when Johnny Storm was absorbing the magics of Inferno until he got stuck on, effectively becoming a creature of magic fire himself.

Outside of Resist: Magic (And similar powers), if a hero is attacked by a mystically based energy attack, how do they resist it? For example, let's say Hero X is hit with the Flames of Faltine at Rm (30), and said hero has resist: Magic (or Force Field, etc), at Rm (30), would you say they've successfully avoided damage, or would they still need to worry 'bout fire/energy damage?
Anything that would protect him against Magic that is the same rank as the attack should result in no damage but the hero's vision should be affected by the bright plasma swirling around him. BUT-- any flame that richochets and sets fire to the surroundings ? That will be normal fire and could affect the hero. The hero could have the sensation of being cool in front where the mystical flames are hitting him but feeling hot discomfort and pain in his backside as the wall and furnishing behind him burst into flame.

At the same time, let's say the mystical damage type is Rm (30), and a person has an Am (50) psyche. Could you see a scenario where a hero might be able to mitigate the mystical damage through a psyche FEAT?
Sure. I can think of lots of scenarios, from Spock on to the present, where someone under an attack like this forces himself to resist giving in. There'd be a lot of grunting, gritted teeth, sweaty foreheads, and poses like the hero is suffering a killer migraine. The hero would be at a disadvantage while he's resisting the attack, with his actions and attacks being somewhat diminshed.

Thirdly, let's say that Hero Y is in the same situation as Hero X, but doesn't have resistance to magic of any sort. Hero Y however has fire resistance at Am (50), which provides him protection against fire. Would he still take damage?
Hmm..... technically the hero should still be affected by the Flames of Faltine at full strength. The flames being shot at him are magical after all and should penetrate his otherwise formidanle defenses. He would be immune to any secondary fires caused by the attack.
For example, the hero and the villain are fighting in a wooden structure. Villain keeps blasting away with his mystical flames but so far the hero has managed to dodge them. The building around them is now aflame due to the missed shots but the hero feels cool. Then a shot hits. The hero is shocked at the pain from the heat, something he's not felt before. Hero realizes this is not normal pyrokinetic and he might be in trouble.....




Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/15/2011 05:08PM by DavidEMartin.

I don't think having an AM psyche should let you resist a RM magical fire attack. Or any fire attack. That might be opening up a lot of ways to defend attacks. Why not a MN endurance allowing you to shrug off a RM punch?

I'm not mentally clear enough right now (damn congestion!) to come up with any coherent formula but I can see some kind of formula to justify using your internal fortitude to tough your way through some attack. There's enough literary examples of scenarios to demonstrate this. Kirby's toughass detectives come to mind, like the guy going toe-to-toe with Darkseid.

So David, got a question.

almost all of the game mechanics follow the same process in reference to the column shifting on the universal table. Pretty much the only thing that doesn't are the Creation rules for tech guys. How would you change, simplify or streamline the building game mechanics for the rules?

So how does the Changeling power category measure up to powers or technology that analyze a target like Power Detection or Lifeform Detection? Does it come up as whatever it's current form is at the time (Random Mutant reads as such, while turned into an animal reads as an animal, and so on) or does it read different? As I'd imagine a Changeling would want a Normal Human form if that would let it bypass getting detected as a super-being. Would True Sight reveal all those other forms?

tystates Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I don't think having an AM psyche should let you
> resist a RM magical fire attack. Or any fire
> attack. That might be opening up a lot of ways to
> defend attacks. Why not a MN endurance allowing
> you to shrug off a RM punch?

I know this isn't "Ask Brotherless_one Anything..." but I know the answer to this one. Or I think I know, at any rate...

Warning:Lots of suppositional metaphysical bs ahead...

A magical fire attack and a fire attack aren't the same thing. Fire is fire. Magic fire is the essence of fire...

...

...that moment of "dude, whatever...fire is fire. that's why they call it fire..." that most people likely experience from a sentence like that? Psyche FEAT. Hence why it takes serious mojo to actually convince someone they can be burned by the concept of fire. Of course (just to play devil's advocate) one could conceivably skip the whole philosophical debate and use magic fire to set someone's psyche-less clothes on fire...

...and MN end. does (in a sense) allow someone to shrug off a RM str. punch because the MN end. guy doesn't have to automatically check for stun like someone with EX end. or less would have to from receiving the same punch.

I have a basic question. Very basic in truth. Almost in every power of the UPB i read "Range and duration are determined by the Power rank" and i find a Range table but nowhere in the book (or in the other books) i can find a Duration Table. How is that? is it anywhere?
Thank you.

Oops.
Trying to recreate my thought processes from '86..... I'm thinking I assumed there was a duration table somewhere in Grubb's text and I'd copy it into the UPB text as soon as I found it. And obviously I never found it.
Meanwhile the cover copy had been sent off when I was in my second or third week of writing the text. "If you want anything printed on the insoide cover, better give it to me by morning" my then-darling wife and editor said. So I quick cobbled together some tables, some of which made sense in relation to the rest of the book, some that I simply forgot about (the infamously puzzling "Simultaneous Actions/Targets" table).

"So how does the Changeling power category measure up to powers or technology that analyze a target like Power Detection or Lifeform Detection? Does it come up as whatever it's current form is at the time (Random Mutant reads as such, while turned into an animal reads as an animal, and so on) or does it read different? As I'd imagine a Changeling would want a Normal Human form if that would let it bypass getting detected as a super-being. Would True Sight reveal all those other forms?"

Changeling was taken from Clifford D. Simak's THE WEREWOLF PRINCIPLE. A memory-damaged android astronaut returns to Earth after a planethopping expedition. He eventually discovers he has two alternate forms and mindsets, both based on natives of worlds he explored. One is a lupine-like creature, the other an incredibly intelligent but mostly immobile living pyramid.

Detection is probably based on the rank or sensitivity of the observing mind, power, or hypertech. A lower rank would take the Changeling at face value for its current form-- a man, a wolf, a giant seashell. A mediium rank would note clues that something was amiss and a high rank would be able to discern the Changeling's, um, "macro self"-- imagine all the different forms overlaid on each other like multiple slide projections on a single screen.

True Sight would probably show the Changeling's natal form overlaid on the current form. As the power kicked in, I'd imagine the True Sight's POV as the current form becoming transparent and losing detail while the true form develops visual clarity and solidity.

" Almost all of the game mechanics follow the same process in reference to the column shifting on the universal table. Pretty much the only thing that doesn't are the Creation rules for tech guys. How would you change, simplify or streamline the building game mechanics for the rules?"

I kinda think of Hypertech as being the same as innate Powers, only available on a mercantile basis. Honestly I've never spent any time trying to develop a rational scale for Hypertech whatsises. People with the right amount of brain power, whether named Tony, Reed, or Lex, just seem to cobble together whatever they need.
Yeah, I know, I'm dodging the question. But then, so have comics writers since the beginning. I hang my head in embaressment.
I'll keep thinking about this and get back to you.

So... is there a way to measure the duration of any given power according to it Rank? i looked around searching the forum and i didn't found a topic about. How do you guys keep trak of how much an effect from a power last?

I thought I'd answered that in the UPB.... Some powers would have a permanent effect on a target. Heat Vision for example. Powers that have a limited duration on a target should have the duration included in the UPB entry.