Powers Unlimited 1-3 Question. Weak Acids??

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Powers Unlimited 1-3 Question. Weak Acids??

Unread post by Pepsi Jedi »

So I was flipping through threads here the other day and came across a post I'd made previous that metions APS Acid.

Namely, that the APS Acid in PU1 is..... artificially neutered. Just totally wussified. Page 52 Powers Unlimited 1. APS acid can eat through metals but 'cannot harm organic material. i.e. can't harm humans.

.... Why? Not for nothing but if you're turning into acid, burning through a door lock is nice and all but a large part of the power is going to be offensive. Burning a super suit off someone and rendering them naked has it's benifits but is hardly a direct usage of a major super power. You can spray acid. Strong acid too 6D6 for up to 5 melee rounds to metal, plastic, wood (Organic material) and rubber... but.. spray a human down and they laugh and shoot you? How's that make sense? heck armor ratings are at -7 to this, but people can't get hurt? The best it can do is pepper spray someone's eyes if you manage to get it in the eyes? Well any fluid can do that.

Corrosive spray, PU 3, minor power you produce a 'HIGHLY CORROSIVE ACID" ..... again... harmless to humans.
Again the acid is strong enough to melt through solid steel but spray it on a bad guy and he laughs and kicks your butt.

Both of these powers have the possibility to be pretty horrific, and frightening. I mean burning/melting someone with acid could be pretty grizzly, but.. no more so than doing it with... Lava... or Plasma.... or even just normal 'fire'. All those other APS powers allow you do burn, char, blast people but for unnamed reasons APS acid, acid strong ehough to eat through steel, can't hurt a human at all?

It seems to be a system choice for unnamed reasons, but there's no real consistancy. The "Acid" and "Corrosive spray" powers are just neutered for no apperent reason other than perhaps "That'd be really gnarly".....

But then you turn to page 54, Powers unlimited 1.

"Chemical secretion" Touch or vapors. You can produce chemicals. Different ones do different things but I'll focus on two.
1: Acid Chemical. This one burns though pretty much everything, -including flesh- and do 5D6. Just.. "Hey this guy has an acid touch (or cloud) that burns people the same as it does everyone else.
2: Flesh eating chemical: Reads basicly as organic only acid. Does 2D6 directly to hit points. The write up is pretty gnarly. Implying the need for hosptial attention and open gross wounds.

So....

What gives? A guy tht turns into a BEING of acid (All acid. he IS acid) Can not hurt humans. His acid is strong enough to melt steel but not give someone a burn, much less hurt them?
A guy that sprays acid from his hands. "Highly corrosive" Burns everything BUT humans/flesh....

So you almost think "They just don't want to deal with the grizzly concept of acid melting people"

But then.... Chemical Secretion, they turn around and have Acid that burns people juuuust fine. More over there's flesh eating acid that goes directly to hit points.

It doesn't make sense to me. I know not all powers have to be equal. Some people have extraordianary strength, some superhuman some supernatural

But this one seems all over the place. If you had teh "Corrosive spray" Not hurt humans... ok.. it's a minor..... but why prevent Alter Physical Structure ACID, the power that should be the strongest/most acidic, also not hurt humans? It's a major. You're turnning fully INTO acid.. but weak acid that's selective in what it 'can' burn..... and then give a seperate power, the 'real' acids. Both one that burns organic stuff and the flesh eating one?

Thoughts?

-------------------

Personally, and this is just me, but that's stupid. I simply take away the restrictions on APS Acid and Corrosive spray. There's no logic behind acid that can burn and melt steel but not flesh. So I keep the damage rating on APS Acid (6D6, and AR's are -7 ), but allow it to melt flesh as well as rubber, steel, etc. I also give APS the "Flesh eating" Version from Chemical secretion. As a being that is composed 100% of highly corrosive acid, should be stronger than someone that sweats it occasionally, as well as laughing gas, and itching powder.
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Re: Powers Unlimited 1-3 Question. Weak Acids??

Unread post by Stone Gargoyle »

Yeah, I just ignore that whole part about not affecting living things. Acid is nasty stuff.
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Re: Powers Unlimited 1-3 Question. Weak Acids??

Unread post by Daniel Stoker »

Yeah I have the feeling it was a little 'wiggy' for someone and they just decided to say it can't effect humans because of that. The balance really isn't that bad and like you pointed out with lava or even fire you're still doing a lot of damage to someone the same 'basic' way.


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Re: Powers Unlimited 1-3 Question. Weak Acids??

Unread post by eliakon »

One would almost think that the various powers were not "balanced" against each other or something.
Almost as if they were put together by different people with different ideas of what is or is not a good power and then compiled at a later date into lists with minimal editing...
...
Oh wait...
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Re: Powers Unlimited 1-3 Question. Weak Acids??

Unread post by Pepsi Jedi »

eliakon wrote:One would almost think that the various powers were not "balanced" against each other or something.
Almost as if they were put together by different people with different ideas of what is or is not a good power and then compiled at a later date into lists with minimal editing...
...
Oh wait...


It's not just the balance. I mean APS light vs APS Foam.... lol

It's that it's just.. nonsensical to what APS Acid 'is' and the limitations that seem in place for no reason what so ever. Just a magical hand wave "Doesn't melt people". with out explanation.
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Re: Powers Unlimited 1-3 Question. Weak Acids??

Unread post by Reagren Wright »

Definitely going to have to agree with you on this one Pepsi. The two acid powers belong in the
lame category but Chemical Secretion is just brutal. My guess is those two powers were probably
TOO powerful in their original conception and were heavily edited into their current configuration.
Unfortunately when you step back and look at them, they have lost all their teeth. Then again
you can use Transmutation to turn someone's armor or clothes into liquid nitrogen, chlorine gas,
liquid iron (molten), or how about plutonium or any of the unstable radioactive elements or how
about Trifluoromethanesulfonic acid (CF3SO3H). A super acid that will turn your body into goo
even the vapors will destroy your lungs in a matter of seconds. Moisture cause the stuff to catch
on fire. Seems strange you nerf one power because it's written in such a way that makes it
lethal, but another power is twice as lethal but because it lethalness isn't written out it
escapes heavy editing.
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Re: Powers Unlimited 1-3 Question. Weak Acids??

Unread post by Pepsi Jedi »

Could be exactly that. That originally they seemed 'too powerful' so were nerfed to the floor, but in doing so one didn't really line them up beside other power houses like plasma and what have you.

Chemical secretion slipped through because the 'acid' is just one aspect of many, others being like laughing gas, and itching powder or sleep gas, didn't seem quite so in your face. So it didn't receive the nerf.

Thing is there's no 'explination' in the book as to why acid that could burn tungsten, just makes flesh wet. Just a weird thing.

APS acid SHOULD be scary, even more so if it's not 100% under the person's control.

Like if you get it with Imbeued, and can't turn it 'off' for hours at a time? That'd be dangerous. to you, your team, your house/base... people in line at Burger king, etc. Alot of RP potential there.

Even if it' is 100% under control, yeah it's going to be a scary power. A guyu made of ice? Freaky but ok. One made of shadow. A little spooky. One made of fire? Yikes don't touch me or sit on my couch. But Acid? What if something hits him and he splatters? It's supposed to be a scary power. As written, it's fangless.

The way it is currently, is akin to APS Fire or Plasma, burning and melting things, but... "Doesn't burn or melt humans. The Plasma just hits and gently rolls to the ground. If shot in the eyes, it's hard to see for a few melee rounds till you wash it out"

and you'd be like 'what??? Plasma can melt a tank but when it hits human flesh it's just nothing???"
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Re: Powers Unlimited 1-3 Question. Weak Acids??

Unread post by Stone Gargoyle »

I prefer to have realistic powers in my game. So if they are nerfed, I just ignore that and make them more realistic. Kevin has said multiple times throughout his books that GMs should do just that.
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Re: Powers Unlimited 1-3 Question. Weak Acids??

Unread post by Pepsi Jedi »

Ehh.... from what I've picked up there's the 'If you feel changes are needed, make them"

But from Kevin himself, he tends to like his games to be on the soft and fuzzier side of PG (Meaning closer to rated G than rated PG13 or R), he likes to aim for the 12 year old, when writing his books. It's why alot of them are "Concept of cool" vs "Remotely realistic". Stuff like the Glitter boy and boom cannon and such. Even in the 'Burbs' of the CS where abject poverty is supposed to reign, we don't really see that. We see aliens with giant blade fists, playing pool and drinking with other aliens.

Even the 'bad guys' and 'demons' and 'monsters' are presented in a very PG sort of way. The Demons are "ohhh legions of evil that will... subjugate.. KILL... and even.. *GASP* Enslave people! Oh the horror!"

But it's kinda written just like that. You're told the evil's are evil but other than 'invading realms' now and then and 'keeping slaves' (Which while certainly bad, as written is pretty mild). you're not really 'shown' the evil.

Dead Reign gets a little closer and there were a few moments where it'd push PG13 or maybe even a soft R rating but I kinda get the impression those are the parts left over by the orgininal writers. Most of Dead Reign is like 1980s Fangora splatter punk magazine type stuff. Again, what a 12 or 13 year old would find "Gross-out-cool' vs truely frightening.

And Sex? Heh... seldom mentioned and only obliquely at the very best/worst. Cross breeding is all but outlawed in the books with a few rare exceptions. Not "Because science" reason (Which while boring, would be plausible) but because 'ew sex!'. Any mention of sexual assault, or rape are few and far between. (I'd say absent but then someone would pull up one instance out of like 200 books and say I was wrong). Even prostitution only appears, side handed mentioned in one or two books. Namely with the 'Traveling shows' in rifts. Where they get... one line. A possibility of having them present
"Prostitutes:(3) Ladies of the night who sell sexual favors, also used for black mail schemes." Pretty but rock bottom MA.

lol that's IT. That's the extent of sex and reproduction in Palladium books. Well the old 'Homosexuality is an insanity" :( in one of the older books but that's not been repeated so I don't 'count' it at present.

Which circles back around to this thread in that, yeah, I could see APS Acid and Corrosive spray having been written by Carmen to be pretty hard core, but getting nerfed before print by Kevin, to try and keep with that 'PG' rating he likes most of his books to have.

My games are a bit between full Black Trenchcoat, and Pink Mohawk.

I err towards the side of realism, while still.... having super heroes in spandex (Armored spandex... i.E. Flexi Steel) Costumes flying around.

The heroes aren't -all- 'hard gritty anti heroes in battle armor packing machine guns" they're comic like. Just not 'silly/stupid'. (and hey, Comics had Punisher, so there's room for hard and gritty with a machine gun. Just not every hero)

Thus if someone can turn into acid they can be pretty offensive with it. Just like someone turning into plasma or energy or light can be.
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Re: Powers Unlimited 1-3 Question. Weak Acids??

Unread post by Stone Gargoyle »

Pepsi Jedi wrote:Ehh.... from what I've picked up there's the 'If you feel changes are needed, make them"

But from Kevin himself, he tends to like his games to be on the soft and fuzzier side of PG (Meaning closer to rated G than rated PG13 or R), he likes to aim for the 12 year old, when writing his books. It's why alot of them are "Concept of cool" vs "Remotely realistic". Stuff like the Glitter boy and boom cannon and such. Even in the 'Burbs' of the CS where abject poverty is supposed to reign, we don't really see that. We see aliens with giant blade fists, playing pool and drinking with other aliens.

Even the 'bad guys' and 'demons' and 'monsters' are presented in a very PG sort of way. The Demons are "ohhh legions of evil that will... subjugate.. KILL... and even.. *GASP* Enslave people! Oh the horror!"

But it's kinda written just like that. You're told the evil's are evil but other than 'invading realms' now and then and 'keeping slaves' (Which while certainly bad, as written is pretty mild). you're not really 'shown' the evil.

Dead Reign gets a little closer and there were a few moments where it'd push PG13 or maybe even a soft R rating but I kinda get the impression those are the parts left over by the orgininal writers. Most of Dead Reign is like 1980s Fangora splatter punk magazine type stuff. Again, what a 12 or 13 year old would find "Gross-out-cool' vs truely frightening.

And Sex? Heh... seldom mentioned and only obliquely at the very best/worst. Cross breeding is all but outlawed in the books with a few rare exceptions. Not "Because science" reason (Which while boring, would be plausible) but because 'ew sex!'. Any mention of sexual assault, or rape are few and far between. (I'd say absent but then someone would pull up one instance out of like 200 books and say I was wrong). Even prostitution only appears, side handed mentioned in one or two books. Namely with the 'Traveling shows' in rifts. Where they get... one line. A possibility of having them present
"Prostitutes:(3) Ladies of the night who sell sexual favors, also used for black mail schemes." Pretty but rock bottom MA.

lol that's IT. That's the extent of sex and reproduction in Palladium books. Well the old 'Homosexuality is an insanity" :( in one of the older books but that's not been repeated so I don't 'count' it at present.

Which circles back around to this thread in that, yeah, I could see APS Acid and Corrosive spray having been written by Carmen to be pretty hard core, but getting nerfed before print by Kevin, to try and keep with that 'PG' rating he likes most of his books to have.

My games are a bit between full Black Trenchcoat, and Pink Mohawk.

I err towards the side of realism, while still.... having super heroes in spandex (Armored spandex... i.E. Flexi Steel) Costumes flying around.

The heroes aren't -all- 'hard gritty anti heroes in battle armor packing machine guns" they're comic like. Just not 'silly/stupid'. (and hey, Comics had Punisher, so there's room for hard and gritty with a machine gun. Just not every hero)

Thus if someone can turn into acid they can be pretty offensive with it. Just like someone turning into plasma or energy or light can be.
Which is kind of funny considering most people I game with are in their late 30s early 40s and don't like it if adult aspects such as drugs, hardcore violence and sex are excluded. But then I tend to read comics like Savage Dragon which is geared for a mature audience.
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Re: Powers Unlimited 1-3 Question. Weak Acids??

Unread post by Pepsi Jedi »

I don't 'exclude' them from my games either. I'm just saying that Kevin has stated more than once that his target audience is about 12 or so. And the books are very PG.

My games are more like modern super hero movie stuff. Avengers or DC universe. Where in it's not silly campy goody two shoes type stuff, but it's not 'ALL DARK ALL THE TIME HYPER REALISM" either.

I mean if someone's spitting 'sticky gobs" at another guy, and a third guy is flying by with an energy trail behind him and the gal over there has turned into magma.. "hyper realism' is on vacation.

My games tend to have real world consequences too. You can't open up with a hand cannon in the park, miss your intended target and not worry about blowing up a passing car or group of teens, etc.
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Re: Powers Unlimited 1-3 Question. Weak Acids??

Unread post by Stone Gargoyle »

Pepsi Jedi wrote:I don't 'exclude' them from my games either. I'm just saying that Kevin has stated more than once that his target audience is about 12 or so. And the books are very PG.

My games are more like modern super hero movie stuff. Avengers or DC universe. Where in it's not silly campy goody two shoes type stuff, but it's not 'ALL DARK ALL THE TIME HYPER REALISM" either.

I mean if someone's spitting 'sticky gobs" at another guy, and a third guy is flying by with an energy trail behind him and the gal over there has turned into magma.. "hyper realism' is on vacation.

My games tend to have real world consequences too. You can't open up with a hand cannon in the park, miss your intended target and not worry about blowing up a passing car or group of teens, etc.
One thing I added is a control check for Supernatural strength characters where if they fail it they injure someone they are trying to help. Pulling someone's arm to get them to move can have unexpected injuries if the player is not careful. But, yeah, can't be totally realistic and still have a fun game.
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Re: Powers Unlimited 1-3 Question. Weak Acids??

Unread post by Pepsi Jedi »

Stone Gargoyle wrote:
Pepsi Jedi wrote:I don't 'exclude' them from my games either. I'm just saying that Kevin has stated more than once that his target audience is about 12 or so. And the books are very PG.

My games are more like modern super hero movie stuff. Avengers or DC universe. Where in it's not silly campy goody two shoes type stuff, but it's not 'ALL DARK ALL THE TIME HYPER REALISM" either.

I mean if someone's spitting 'sticky gobs" at another guy, and a third guy is flying by with an energy trail behind him and the gal over there has turned into magma.. "hyper realism' is on vacation.

My games tend to have real world consequences too. You can't open up with a hand cannon in the park, miss your intended target and not worry about blowing up a passing car or group of teens, etc.
One thing I added is a control check for Supernatural strength characters where if they fail it they injure someone they are trying to help. Pulling someone's arm to get them to move can have unexpected injuries if the player is not careful. But, yeah, can't be totally realistic and still have a fun game.


I could see that. When you can rend steel with yourh ands, 'yanking' someone to safety, might result in yanking off their arm if you're not careful.
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Re: Powers Unlimited 1-3 Question. Weak Acids??

Unread post by Glistam »

It seems this isn't a new topic. I wonder if this issue could ever be adequately resolved.
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Re: Powers Unlimited 1-3 Question. Weak Acids??

Unread post by Daniel Stoker »

Well... glad to see I'm consistent in my beliefs, and I forgot just how evil I thought APS Mercury could be.


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Re: Powers Unlimited 1-3 Question. Weak Acids??

Unread post by Pepsi Jedi »

lol Seems it occurred to me 5 years ago as well.

While I don't check back to the tune of 5 YEARS to make sure I'm not redundant. It's nice to know that someone tries that hard. lol
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Re: Powers Unlimited 1-3 Question. Weak Acids??

Unread post by Pepsi Jedi »

Heh. From the other thread.

FreelancerMar wrote:The Palladium RPG's tend to nerf a lot of things, espically AFTER they went with the megaversal stuff.

As for APS Acid and what the Acid SHOULD be like?????

Well I would take Inspireation From the ALIEN Movie Franchise. You know the critters that have concentrated Acid for Blood????

Alien Movie #1 The scene where the acid almost eats through every deck of the ship very quickly.
Aliens Movie#2 Scene#1 Vasques Blows an alien apart and the acid Splashes on Drake eating through him like a hot knife going through butter.
Scene#2 The elevator scene where a small acid splash nails the armor plating and eats through it before they can get the armor off of him still inflecting very painful damage.

Of Course that there is some very powerful acid. That is basically the kind of Acid that APS Acid should be.


I agree with this! That's what I wanna see too.
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Re: Powers Unlimited 1-3 Question. Weak Acids??

Unread post by Stone Gargoyle »

Pepsi Jedi wrote:Heh. From the other thread.

FreelancerMar wrote:The Palladium RPG's tend to nerf a lot of things, espically AFTER they went with the megaversal stuff.

As for APS Acid and what the Acid SHOULD be like?????

Well I would take Inspireation From the ALIEN Movie Franchise. You know the critters that have concentrated Acid for Blood????

Alien Movie #1 The scene where the acid almost eats through every deck of the ship very quickly.
Aliens Movie#2 Scene#1 Vasques Blows an alien apart and the acid Splashes on Drake eating through him like a hot knife going through butter.
Scene#2 The elevator scene where a small acid splash nails the armor plating and eats through it before they can get the armor off of him still inflecting very painful damage.

Of Course that there is some very powerful acid. That is basically the kind of Acid that APS Acid should be.

,
I agree with this! That's what I wanna see too.
As a GM, I might even let the player choose just how toxic and lethal his APS Acid character is. Again, penalties and dangers to the character would exist, such as not being able to walk across a floor without leaving a burned trail or sinking into the ground as the acid of his body ate away the wood. I would not make it changeable. The player would have to decide upon character creation.
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Re: Powers Unlimited 1-3 Question. Weak Acids??

Unread post by Pepsi Jedi »

Stone Gargoyle wrote:
Pepsi Jedi wrote:Heh. From the other thread.

FreelancerMar wrote:The Palladium RPG's tend to nerf a lot of things, espically AFTER they went with the megaversal stuff.

As for APS Acid and what the Acid SHOULD be like?????

Well I would take Inspireation From the ALIEN Movie Franchise. You know the critters that have concentrated Acid for Blood????

Alien Movie #1 The scene where the acid almost eats through every deck of the ship very quickly.
Aliens Movie#2 Scene#1 Vasques Blows an alien apart and the acid Splashes on Drake eating through him like a hot knife going through butter.
Scene#2 The elevator scene where a small acid splash nails the armor plating and eats through it before they can get the armor off of him still inflecting very painful damage.

Of Course that there is some very powerful acid. That is basically the kind of Acid that APS Acid should be.

,
I agree with this! That's what I wanna see too.
As a GM, I might even let the player choose just how toxic and lethal his APS Acid character is. Again, penalties and dangers to the character would exist, such as not being able to walk across a floor without leaving a burned trail or sinking into the ground as the acid of his body ate away the wood. I would not make it changeable. The player would have to decide upon character creation.


It .... kinda sorta has that in the book. The book sort of flipflops. First it says you turn into a 'gelatinous being' like a humanoid jelly fish full of highly corrosive chemicals.
Then a few paragraphs down it says "Because the character's body is made up entierly of -liquid acid-" but in the same sentence it says "It's tough, smoothe, plastic like hide" in the same paragraph it's called both "A slogging mess" and "like hitting a giant water bottle" Under the 'Melt obsticles' it implys that leaning against something and 'oozing out some of the acid' lets you melt through things... but if your skin was acid you wouldn't need to ooze out. Then the next paragraph says you can pool and squish though any crack water can get through, which would seem to abandon the 'tough plastic hide' behind in a gross acidy dripping mass... The last paragraph says you can't hold onto anything as your acidy hands burn it. There's also mention of explosives, maybe 'blowing holes in, or blowing the character apart, "Letting the acid pour out, damaging the surrounding inorganic material" I.E. rupturing the skin/shell and SPLOOSH.

So the book repeatedly goes back and forth. "All liquid acid" Like.. APS water except OUCH!, but then... "Jelly fish hide" with the acid "Inside"... then back to squishing through any crack big enough for water, but then back to 'Tough smooth plastic like hide" then back to "Can't hold things as you'd melt them, then back to "Punching it is like punching a giant water bottle."

So the book kinda does say you burn stuff you interact with. I.E. burn wood when you walk on it. Or burn things you try and carry.

Except... it also says you have a Jellyfish like, and 'tough smooth plastic like" Hide/shell/skin over the acid 'Inside'. And that you have to excrete acid to burn things.

This power, while an awesome concept is -badly- written, in the book. Needs some GM loving to be functional and less schizophrenic.

Personally I wouldn't really make people melt through the floor unless they tried to, or stood in one place all acidy for a length of time. .Kinda like most don't really think of APS fire setting EVERYTHING a blaze, by just being there. (Which is funny because most people WOULD think Lava leaving flaming foot prints).

That said, I don't really see them as "Acid filled water bottles' either. I see them like APS liquid, but the liquid is acid.

Maybe one of us. (Ugg. maybe me) Should re-write the entire thing to fix some of these issues.
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Re: Powers Unlimited 1-3 Question. Weak Acids??

Unread post by Pepsi Jedi »

Ok. I gave it a go. Tell me what you think.

Alter Physical Structure: ACID
The Character can transform him or herself into a humanoid being of highly corrosive liquid acid. This horrifying ability has a number of usages and abilities. The highly corrosive acid eats through most anything solid it touches. The fluid is ‘acidic green’ and very distinctive in sight and effect. It calls to mind the blood of the Xenomorphs in the Aliens movie franchise.

1: Acid Spray: A spray of the very acid that makes up the character’s form.
Range: 100ft (30.5M) +10ft(3m) Per level
Damage: 6D6 on impact,(+1D6 at lvl 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14) +3D6, per melee for 1D4+1 rounds. This acid is highly corrosive and will eat through most any materials with ease. All AR’s are -7 vs this acidic attack. Exceptions being Glass and Crystal, taking no damage. Stone takes half damage.
Duration: Instant, but the acid will burn for 3D6, per melee round for 1D4+1 rounds, until washed off or removed.
Attacks Per Melee: Each Acid Spray counts as one melee attack/action

2: Acidic Vapors: By concentrating the APS Acid character can arolosize a portion of it’s acid form into a cloud of acidic vapor surrounding him or herself, in a damaging cloud.
Range: 10ft around the character.
Damage: 3D4 per melee for 1D4 Melees. Those caught in the Acidic vapor cloud have their skin, eyes, and such burn, resulting in -1 attack per melee, -3 to Strike, Parry and Dodge.
Duration: Lasts for 1D4 melee rounds, but requires concentration. For each round that the Vapors are maintained, the Acid character is -1 Melee attack.

3: Melt Obstacles: By pressing part or all of his or her highly acidic body against an object, the character can swiftly melt their way through. Once the SDC is gone the barrier is melted away. Targeting locks or hinges can of course gain entry faster than melting through a wall. Not all walls have hinged doors or locks to target though. Cannot burn through crystal or glass obstacles. Damage is as per “1: Acid spray” Above.

4: Limited Invulnerability: Projectile weapons such as bullets, arrows, and thrown objects do no damage to the acidic character (But very likely damage the weapons). Likewise physical blows (hand to hand punches, kicks, cuts, stabbing, clubbing etc) do no damage as the character is fluid, the attacks just splash through the highly corrosive fluid of the character’s body. (Again, doing damage to that which hits/strikes/touches the APS character.)

Electricity, lasers, energy, fire and heat all do full damage, Water attacks do as well as they start to delude the acid fluid that makes up the character. Psionics and magic do full damage.

Explosions do no damage to the character but may be blown apart and spread around (A rather dangerous tactic for anyone close to the character as they’ll be sprayed with the acid, suffering damage as detailed previously). The character can flow back together and reform in 2D6 minutes.

5: Manipulate Shape: As the character is formed of liquid, he or she can mold or squish his shape as desired. This allows the character to squeese under doors, down drainpipes through bars etc. Any space that water could seep through, the character can fit through. There -will- be tell tale signs though as the acid will burn as it squeeses through the opening, leaving distinctive burn/scorch marks in it’s passing.

6: Acid Pool: The character can drop itself and form a ‘puddle’ of acid on the floor, covering a 12 foot radius. This puddle of acid would damage beings trying to cross it, or wade through it (Damage is as per “1: Acid spray” Above, per step), and is slippery as it’s fluid on the floor. There’s a 60% chance of slipping and falling in the puddle, which of course would result in more damage. Those that fall lose initiative, and 2 melee attacks.

7: Other Abilities and Bonuses:
Add 40 SDC in Acid form
Physical Strength becomes Extraordinary while in Acid form (see minor ability Extraordinary PS)
Weight is tripled
Character radiates no heat in acid form and does not show up on infrared sensors.
The Character does not breathe in Acid form as the fluid that makes up the character’s body is oxygenated.
Immune to all acids. This includes his own, and other kinds.
Horror Factor: 12.

8: Dangerous limitations: As the character is formed of highly corrosive acid when the power is activates, they can be dangerous to people and items around them.

The character has enough control over his or her acidic form not to just eat through the floor as he or she moves around, but standing still for more than a few minutes (1D4 minutes per lvl of the character, thus new characters don’t have the level of control that more experienced characters will), will even surpass that level of control, and start to burn away the surface one stands on. This can be partially avoided by moving about a bit, but even that in confined spaces will eventually start to burn.

Casual contact with the acidic character results in full burns as if blasted by the acid, as the character -is- acid. (Damage is as per “1: Acid spray” Above.) and is non-recommended. In combat, striking the character not only results in no damage to the character (Liquid.) but will harm what ever is striking the acidic character (Damage is as per “1: Acid spray” Above.). This goes for weapons as well (Other than crystal or glass).

With effort and concentration the character can form a thin sheen of ‘non acidic’ skin or film over his or her hands, or entire body, while in Acidic form. This is very difficult as the acid that makes up the character is so corrosive. It takes half of all melee actions (Be it 2 or 12), and reduces all combat bonuses by half, and speed by half. So much concentration is required to maintain this ‘non lethal’ skin/film while in Acid form, that the being is seriously penalized for doing so. It -does- allow for the character to handle/manipulate things with out destroying them, but at significant penalty. It looks scabby and gross though.

With out expending half of one’s melee actions and accepting the penalties to speed and bonuses, one harms what one touches, as you’re made of Acid. That’s just the way it goes.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thought process behind the Major power, and each step.

In general 'Highly corrosive acid' is... highly corrosive to what it touches. It doens't pic and choose between flesh and steel. So I removed the "Doesn't hurt organic items" limitation that pretty much everyone here agrees is crap.

1: Acid Spray: I carried this one over from the book version. Just removed the limitation from it. I did make it gain damage as one progressed to higher level. The thought process here being that as the character gains experience and mastery of their power, the acid in question becomes stronger. This keeps it in line with other APS powers that gain 1D6 per level in damage and what have you.

2: Acidic Vapors: This one I hijacked from "Chemical secretion" as, aerosolized acid is pretty heinous

3: Melt obstacles: This one is mostly from the book, but I took out some of the time frames, the book indicated that you could burn though most barriers in a melee, but also says that all the SDC has to be depleted. Even at 6D6 per attack, you gotta do the math so I left the time frame off and left it at 'Once the SDC is gone, you've burned through.

4: Limited invulnerability: This one has some pretty big changes. I looked at the other APS fluid powers and adopted most of their stuff to the acid character's one. It made no sense for someone made 100% of pure acid to have 1/3rd solid mass in the form of a shell. That's not 'APS acid" that's "APS jelly fish" which is a different power. I also folded in aspects of aps fire/plasma, in that trying to go hand to hand/physical with a creature made of highly corrosive acid is about as smart as getting into a fight with someone made of fire or plasma.

5: Manipulate shape: Pretty much a straight lift from the original power

6: Acid Pool: This one I canibalized from APS blood. As you CAN manipulate shape (Above) you CAN form a puddle. I just went ahead and typed it into the standard rule set and codified the rules.

7: Other abilities and bonuses, Pretty much straight lifted from the original power.

8: Dangerous limitations, I cribbed this section in part from APS fire and plasma. As... blasting people with highly corrosive acid is cool and very damaging. It was glossed over and ignored for the 'most' part in the previous power. That said many of the fluid powers seem to ignore the 'fluid' part. Many of them do not mention the inability to hold things (Liquid, blood etc) So I added in the bit about concentrating to form a sort of scabby like skin and not burn the crap out of things, but applied firm penalties for dong so (Can't have your cake and eat it too. If you want the cake you can have it, but it's low carbs and fake sugar and yucky)

Edit: Added "Immune to acid" In the other abilities section. Had forgot that as I typed it up. Sort of like trying to burn a fire guy isn't going to work out well, or trying to freeze someone made of ice is going to fail, same with Acidy guys and acid.
Last edited by Pepsi Jedi on Mon May 29, 2017 3:37 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Powers Unlimited 1-3 Question. Weak Acids??

Unread post by Stone Gargoyle »

Pepsi Jedi wrote:
Stone Gargoyle wrote:As a GM, I might even let the player choose just how toxic and lethal his APS Acid character is. Again, penalties and dangers to the character would exist, such as not being able to walk across a floor without leaving a burned trail or sinking into the ground as the acid of his body ate away the wood. I would not make it changeable. The player would have to decide upon character creation.


It .... kinda sorta has that in the book.
Sorry, do not have my books handy.
Pepsi Jedi wrote:The book sort of flipflops. First it says you turn into a 'gelatinous being' like a humanoid jelly fish full of highly corrosive chemicals.
Then a few paragraphs down it says "Because the character's body is made up entirely of -liquid acid-" but in the same sentence it says "It's tough, smooth, plastic like hide" in the same paragraph it's called both "A slogging mess" and "like hitting a giant water bottle" Under the 'Melt obstacles' it implies that leaning against something and 'oozing out some of the acid' lets you melt through things... but if your skin was acid you wouldn't need to ooze out. Then the next paragraph says you can pool and squish though any crack water can get through, which would seem to abandon the 'tough plastic hide' behind in a gross acidy dripping mass... The last paragraph says you can't hold onto anything as your acidy hands burn it. There's also mention of explosives, maybe 'blowing holes in, or blowing the character apart, "Letting the acid pour out, damaging the surrounding inorganic material" I.E. rupturing the skin/shell and SPLOOSH.

So the book repeatedly goes back and forth. "All liquid acid" Like.. APS water except OUCH!, but then... "Jelly fish hide" with the acid "Inside"... then back to squishing through any crack big enough for water, but then back to 'Tough smooth plastic like hide" then back to "Can't hold things as you'd melt them, then back to "Punching it is like punching a giant water bottle."

So the book kinda does say you burn stuff you interact with. I.E. burn wood when you walk on it. Or burn things you try and carry.

Except... it also says you have a Jellyfish like, and 'tough smooth plastic like" Hide/shell/skin over the acid 'Inside'. And that you have to excrete acid to burn things.

This power, while an awesome concept is -badly- written, in the book. Needs some GM loving to be functional and less schizophrenic.

Personally I wouldn't really make people melt through the floor unless they tried to, or stood in one place all acidy for a length of time. .Kinda like most don't really think of APS fire setting EVERYTHING a blaze, by just being there. (Which is funny because most people WOULD think Lava leaving flaming foot prints).

That said, I don't really see them as "Acid filled water bottles' either. I see them like APS liquid, but the liquid is acid.

Maybe one of us. (Ugg. maybe me) Should re-write the entire thing to fix some of these issues.
Looks like you already did. Good job. :ok:
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Re: Powers Unlimited 1-3 Question. Weak Acids??

Unread post by Reagren Wright »

And Sex? Heh... seldom mentioned and only obliquely at the very best/worst. Cross breeding is all but outlawed in the books with a few rare exceptions. Not "Because science" reason (Which while boring, would be plausible) but because 'ew sex!'. Any mention of sexual assault, or rape are few and far between. (I'd say absent but then someone would pull up one instance out of like 200 books and say I was wrong). Even prostitution only appears, side handed mentioned in one or two books. Namely with the 'Traveling shows' in rifts. Where they get... one line. A possibility of having them present
"Prostitutes:(3) Ladies of the night who sell sexual favors, also used for black mail schemes." Pretty but rock bottom MA.

lol that's IT. That's the extent of sex and reproduction in Palladium books. Well the old 'Homosexuality is an insanity" :( in one of the older books but that's not been repeated so I don't 'count' it at present.


Okay I know we're talking about APS-Acid on this topic, which I must say Pepsi you did a fine
job in revising, but I saw the quote and didn't get a chance to respond to it because I was at
work. Yes Kevin targets a PG audience because he witnessed what happened to D&D during the
1980s when various religious and "moral" institutions went after RPGs and the infamous James
Dallas Egbert III incident occurred (if you don't know how this guy is, look him up and see what
he caused). However, like Disney studios, Kevin KNOWS his target audience so he has
subtle inserted sex into the Palladium megaverse. I give you the following examples...

1. The Selkies (Bizantium and Northern Islands). Okay when I originally wrote these things up
they were very PG friendly. Kevin revised these things and made them "light skirts". Does it
still work for them, oh yes :D ! I was trying to infer this information. Kevin just straight out said in the writing.

2. Pleasure Bunnies (After the Bomb 2nd edition). Okay this an Erick Wujcik creation, but we
know the friendship between him and Erick. These very attractive "animal humanoids" release
pheromones that make people "indecent" and want to be with the Pleasure Bunnies and each
other. These animal humanoids are originally white rabbits :o so 'nough said about that.'

3. Blind Warrior Slaves of Splugorth (Rifts). We all know the original Rifts cover and we all
remember the artwork from Rifts Conversion 1st edition-Splugorth Slaver licking the blind
warrior woman. Later in Rifts Atlantis we are told these are clones of a race called the
Altarains and goes in more detail about them. But originally in Rifts Conversion 1st edition it
says "Not so much from their appearance, which is always very attractive, loyal slaves, others
have suggested that the women are the ultimate examples of how humans can be trained,
controlled and augmented for inhuman masters. Nobody knows what the Splugorth do with
their human captives" :rolleyes: Hmm, good thing he decided to clarify this later on.

4. Ogres (Palladium Fantasy). Since 1983 we've be told "Many female ogres are sterile
(possibly the result of mutant genes), prompting the male ogres to kidnap and hold captive
human females for breeding purposes". Ogres are 7-12 feet tall (2.1 to 3.6 m) :? . I don't think
they breed new ogres using artificial insemination.

5. Sex Magic (Mysteries of Magic-Book One). Of all the upcoming Mysteries of Magic books. My
fellow players want to know what exactly does this magic discipline entail :twisted: Does it
include rituals or incantations? Not sure if this was a magic originally created by Mark Hall or
Kevin, but I curious to see how this magic turns out.

Other examples but let's get back on the topic of APS-Acid. Once again I like the revision Pepsi.
Carry one folks :ok:
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Re: Powers Unlimited 1-3 Question. Weak Acids??

Unread post by Nekira Sudacne »

Pepsi Jedi wrote:Ehh.... from what I've picked up there's the 'If you feel changes are needed, make them"

But from Kevin himself, he tends to like his games to be on the soft and fuzzier side of PG (Meaning closer to rated G than rated PG13 or R), he likes to aim for the 12 year old, when writing his books. It's why alot of them are "Concept of cool" vs "Remotely realistic". Stuff like the Glitter boy and boom cannon and such. Even in the 'Burbs' of the CS where abject poverty is supposed to reign, we don't really see that. We see aliens with giant blade fists, playing pool and drinking with other aliens.

Even the 'bad guys' and 'demons' and 'monsters' are presented in a very PG sort of way. The Demons are "ohhh legions of evil that will... subjugate.. KILL... and even.. *GASP* Enslave people! Oh the horror!"

But it's kinda written just like that. You're told the evil's are evil but other than 'invading realms' now and then and 'keeping slaves' (Which while certainly bad, as written is pretty mild). you're not really 'shown' the evil.

Dead Reign gets a little closer and there were a few moments where it'd push PG13 or maybe even a soft R rating but I kinda get the impression those are the parts left over by the orgininal writers. Most of Dead Reign is like 1980s Fangora splatter punk magazine type stuff. Again, what a 12 or 13 year old would find "Gross-out-cool' vs truely frightening.

And Sex? Heh... seldom mentioned and only obliquely at the very best/worst. Cross breeding is all but outlawed in the books with a few rare exceptions. Not "Because science" reason (Which while boring, would be plausible) but because 'ew sex!'. Any mention of sexual assault, or rape are few and far between. (I'd say absent but then someone would pull up one instance out of like 200 books and say I was wrong). Even prostitution only appears, side handed mentioned in one or two books. Namely with the 'Traveling shows' in rifts. Where they get... one line. A possibility of having them present
"Prostitutes:(3) Ladies of the night who sell sexual favors, also used for black mail schemes." Pretty but rock bottom MA.

lol that's IT. That's the extent of sex and reproduction in Palladium books. Well the old 'Homosexuality is an insanity" :( in one of the older books but that's not been repeated so I don't 'count' it at present.

Which circles back around to this thread in that, yeah, I could see APS Acid and Corrosive spray having been written by Carmen to be pretty hard core, but getting nerfed before print by Kevin, to try and keep with that 'PG' rating he likes most of his books to have.

My games are a bit between full Black Trenchcoat, and Pink Mohawk.

I err towards the side of realism, while still.... having super heroes in spandex (Armored spandex... i.E. Flexi Steel) Costumes flying around.

The heroes aren't -all- 'hard gritty anti heroes in battle armor packing machine guns" they're comic like. Just not 'silly/stupid'. (and hey, Comics had Punisher, so there's room for hard and gritty with a machine gun. Just not every hero)

Thus if someone can turn into acid they can be pretty offensive with it. Just like someone turning into plasma or energy or light can be.


Kevin Writes largely in a similar style as the comic books and movies he loved growing up. The Rating is very much like those, as you said, aimed at tweens and young teenagers think is cool, rule of cool vs. realism, but occasionally touching on the darker and more mature side of things to add a bit of an edge but always backing off before parents can get too upset.
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Re: Powers Unlimited 1-3 Question. Weak Acids??

Unread post by Pepsi Jedi »

Reagren Wright wrote:
And Sex? Heh... seldom mentioned and only obliquely at the very best/worst. Cross breeding is all but outlawed in the books with a few rare exceptions. Not "Because science" reason (Which while boring, would be plausible) but because 'ew sex!'. Any mention of sexual assault, or rape are few and far between. (I'd say absent but then someone would pull up one instance out of like 200 books and say I was wrong). Even prostitution only appears, side handed mentioned in one or two books. Namely with the 'Traveling shows' in rifts. Where they get... one line. A possibility of having them present
"Prostitutes:(3) Ladies of the night who sell sexual favors, also used for black mail schemes." Pretty but rock bottom MA.

lol that's IT. That's the extent of sex and reproduction in Palladium books. Well the old 'Homosexuality is an insanity" :( in one of the older books but that's not been repeated so I don't 'count' it at present.


Okay I know we're talking about APS-Acid on this topic, which I must say Pepsi you did a fine
job in revising, but I saw the quote and didn't get a chance to respond to it because I was at
work. Yes Kevin targets a PG audience because he witnessed what happened to D&D during the
1980s when various religious and "moral" institutions went after RPGs and the infamous James
Dallas Egbert III incident occurred (if you don't know how this guy is, look him up and see what
he caused). However, like Disney studios,


I'm not trying to be dismissive, and sadly when I make the statement it's going to seem like it is.

It's not the 80s. It hasn't been. For a long. Long time. Part of Palladium's current problems is that they -are- stuck in the 80s. Their books haven't changed since the 80s. Same cover style, same binding, same black and white, two column format. Same quarter, half or full page black and white art. With out telling someone when a Palladium book was printed, you could hand them one from the 80s and one from last year and it's a pretty fair bet they couldn't tell you which one was from the 80s and which one was' modern' other than pure blind guess.

I was role playing in the 80s, I remember the news stories but lets not be silly. It's 2017. Not 1980.. or 85.. 9r even 90... 95... 2000, or 2005.. or 2010.. it's 2017.... Saying a fear from 40 years ago is why ___ is ____ today is absurd.

Reagren Wright wrote:
Kevin KNOWS his target audience so he has
subtle inserted sex into the Palladium megaverse. I give you the following examples...


I really don't think he does. His target audience may have been 10 in the 80s but we're approaching 40 these days.

Reagren Wright wrote:
1. The Selkies (Bizantium and Northern Islands). Okay when I originally wrote these things up
they were very PG friendly. Kevin revised these things and made them "light skirts". Does it
still work for them, oh yes :D ! I was trying to infer this information. Kevin just straight out said in the writing.


Not sure I remember those. Or what a 'light skirt" is.

Reagren Wright wrote:

2. Pleasure Bunnies (After the Bomb 2nd edition). Okay this an Erick Wujcik creation, but we
know the friendship between him and Erick. These very attractive "animal humanoids" release
pheromones that make people "indecent" and want to be with the Pleasure Bunnies and each
other. These animal humanoids are originally white rabbits :o so 'nough said about that.'


But not. That's the thing, It's another case in the 'PG or lower' category. Because it alludes a bit, to the sort of thing that a young teenage male would be appealed to. A creature who has "THE SEX HORMONE" and can pump it out to make people a little high around them and think about SEX! WHOOO!" but it doesn't actually go all the way into it.

It's a teen aged boy's ideal of a sexual encounter with an animal. Nudge nudge wink wink look we made a playboy reference. It's.... exceedingly juvenile and sexist and not one of Palladium's best moments. Compounded by the fact that what they're stimulating in the game setting is a 'human' ideal (More specificly a shallow 1980s young teen male ideal), and it's a game where everyone is playing different animals.

Yes it alludes to sex in a very oblique manner, but not in a realistic way, and the way it is addressed seems to be written by a horny 14 year old.

Reagren Wright wrote:

3. Blind Warrior Slaves of Splugorth (Rifts). We all know the original Rifts cover and we all
remember the artwork from Rifts Conversion 1st edition-Splugorth Slaver licking the blind
warrior woman. Later in Rifts Atlantis we are told these are clones of a race called the
Altarains and goes in more detail about them. But originally in Rifts Conversion 1st edition it
says "Not so much from their appearance, which is always very attractive, loyal slaves, others
have suggested that the women are the ultimate examples of how humans can be trained,
controlled and augmented for inhuman masters. Nobody knows what the Splugorth do with
their human captives" :rolleyes: Hmm, good thing he decided to clarify this later on.


Having attractive Humans/humanoids in RPGs and videogames is hardly new. Yes they could be considered 'pretty'. But the "chain mail bilini' is a trope for a reason. Such objectivaction of women happens in many if not 'most' rpg's and videogames. To the point that the trope has been old and tired and even retired for a while and now stuff is done almost as a homage to the way those sorts of things used to be done and made fun of.

Still, having a character, or race with breasts doesn't actually allude to sex. Not directly. More over, they did come out and say they're just clones and don't reproduce. It's like a female terminator.

Reagren Wright wrote:

4. Ogres (Palladium Fantasy). Since 1983 we've be told "Many female ogres are sterile
(possibly the result of mutant genes), prompting the male ogres to kidnap and hold captive
human females for breeding purposes". Ogres are 7-12 feet tall (2.1 to 3.6 m) :? . I don't think
they breed new ogres using artificial insemination.


No. And I remember this one. it's one of the extreme few times that sex has been alluded to. There's actually threads on this topic that I've been very active in. Not the least of which pointing out the shall we say... biological logistics(and results) of such parings. It's also one of the extremely few 'exceptions to the RULE' about cross breeding. Exceptions that were pointed out by me above.

Reagren Wright wrote:
5. Sex Magic (Mysteries of Magic-Book One). Of all the upcoming Mysteries of Magic books. My
fellow players want to know what exactly does this magic discipline entail :twisted: Does it
include rituals or incantations? Not sure if this was a magic originally created by Mark Hall or
Kevin, but I curious to see how this magic turns out.


Hadn't heard about this, but I'm not a huge 'magic' guy, and even less of a Palladium Fantasy guy (Why, when there's Pathfinder?) *Goes to look*

Maybe I'm missing it.. but my copy, doesn't have any sex magic in it. Now, I'm not going to lie and say I've read every word (haven't.) But I skimmed all the way through and didn't see any instance of sex magic what so ever? Can you toss me a page number on this, or something?

Reagren Wright wrote:
Other examples but let's get back on the topic of APS-Acid. Once again I like the revision Pepsi.
Carry one folks :ok:



So mostly you have some 'Nudge nudge wink wink' glances aside at sex with a few instances that are closer. (The Pleasure bunnies, the ogres) One being a shockingly juvenile example of such and the other, yes an instance of rape (Not 'actually' spelled out, but little doubt is left)

Out of 100s of books. That's few and far between as I'd previously said.

Not being rude but 12 year olds aren't going into gaming stores and picking up Palladium books (If they can find them) and going 'AWESOME!!" and buying 100s of the back catalog. The games are played by we people approaching 40 (Some beyond it) and maybe second generation to our teen aged kids.

If you look at the World of Darkness, and how much money White wolf made off of 'not' dodging sex and darkness. The iron clad 'PG or less' rating and targeting young teens for RPG's is not really a viable strategy in 2017. Nor is acting like it doesn't happen.

Now.. you don't need slutty stuff and sexual stuff on every page. or in anyone's face. You don't. And there's a couple of more instances out there that wern't mentioned above. There's a rather tasteless comic in a recent dead reign book, that... alludes to Zombie rape. (I wish I was kidding. I'd almost say I was shocked to see it, but I wasn't, it just came off as amazingly tasteless in 2017. Almost like 'How did this actually make print?")

Still these instances are few and very very far between indeed. And by and large is an artifact of writing for children. When your audience has grown up and some have KIDS that are older than that audience. (I've a 16 year old almost `17 year old son that RP's with us now.) These are tame for him.

Thanks for the stuff on APS Acid. :D
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Re: Powers Unlimited 1-3 Question. Weak Acids??

Unread post by Pepsi Jedi »

Nekira Sudacne wrote:
Pepsi Jedi wrote:Ehh.... from what I've picked up there's the 'If you feel changes are needed, make them"

But from Kevin himself, he tends to like his games to be on the soft and fuzzier side of PG (Meaning closer to rated G than rated PG13 or R), he likes to aim for the 12 year old, when writing his books. It's why alot of them are "Concept of cool" vs "Remotely realistic". Stuff like the Glitter boy and boom cannon and such. Even in the 'Burbs' of the CS where abject poverty is supposed to reign, we don't really see that. We see aliens with giant blade fists, playing pool and drinking with other aliens.

Even the 'bad guys' and 'demons' and 'monsters' are presented in a very PG sort of way. The Demons are "ohhh legions of evil that will... subjugate.. KILL... and even.. *GASP* Enslave people! Oh the horror!"

But it's kinda written just like that. You're told the evil's are evil but other than 'invading realms' now and then and 'keeping slaves' (Which while certainly bad, as written is pretty mild). you're not really 'shown' the evil.

Dead Reign gets a little closer and there were a few moments where it'd push PG13 or maybe even a soft R rating but I kinda get the impression those are the parts left over by the orgininal writers. Most of Dead Reign is like 1980s Fangora splatter punk magazine type stuff. Again, what a 12 or 13 year old would find "Gross-out-cool' vs truely frightening.

And Sex? Heh... seldom mentioned and only obliquely at the very best/worst. Cross breeding is all but outlawed in the books with a few rare exceptions. Not "Because science" reason (Which while boring, would be plausible) but because 'ew sex!'. Any mention of sexual assault, or rape are few and far between. (I'd say absent but then someone would pull up one instance out of like 200 books and say I was wrong). Even prostitution only appears, side handed mentioned in one or two books. Namely with the 'Traveling shows' in rifts. Where they get... one line. A possibility of having them present
"Prostitutes:(3) Ladies of the night who sell sexual favors, also used for black mail schemes." Pretty but rock bottom MA.

lol that's IT. That's the extent of sex and reproduction in Palladium books. Well the old 'Homosexuality is an insanity" :( in one of the older books but that's not been repeated so I don't 'count' it at present.

Which circles back around to this thread in that, yeah, I could see APS Acid and Corrosive spray having been written by Carmen to be pretty hard core, but getting nerfed before print by Kevin, to try and keep with that 'PG' rating he likes most of his books to have.

My games are a bit between full Black Trenchcoat, and Pink Mohawk.

I err towards the side of realism, while still.... having super heroes in spandex (Armored spandex... i.E. Flexi Steel) Costumes flying around.

The heroes aren't -all- 'hard gritty anti heroes in battle armor packing machine guns" they're comic like. Just not 'silly/stupid'. (and hey, Comics had Punisher, so there's room for hard and gritty with a machine gun. Just not every hero)

Thus if someone can turn into acid they can be pretty offensive with it. Just like someone turning into plasma or energy or light can be.


Kevin Writes largely in a similar style as the comic books and movies he loved growing up. The Rating is very much like those, as you said, aimed at tweens and young teenagers think is cool, rule of cool vs. realism, but occasionally touching on the darker and more mature side of things to add a bit of an edge but always backing off before parents can get too upset.


Indeed. The problem with that though is, that Kevin grew up in the 50s and 60s..... It's 2017. While one doe -not- have to be hard core, rated R in all aspects, all the time, in your face with gore and sex and drugs and everything else, ignoring it and only vaguely, kinda sorta, randomly and very rarely mentioning it stands out just as much. I'm not asking for Rated XXX Rpgs. It's just a bit of a strange read.
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Re: Powers Unlimited 1-3 Question. Weak Acids??

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Furthermore on the subject of books written PG, most parents these days allow their kids to read more mature books and kids are more used to reading mature material. Kevin is simply behind the times in that respect.
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Re: Powers Unlimited 1-3 Question. Weak Acids??

Unread post by Pepsi Jedi »

Indeed. The "Young adult" section covers some somewhat grizzly things. Hunger games are written as young adult and there's teens and pre-teens murdering one another in a game for entertainment and that's before you get to the hyper genetics to turn corpses into monsters and all the stuff in the capital.
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