Eye beams?

[Bushipunk]

So, either Frank's brain-squid has eye beams, or its eyes glow when it's using more powerful manifestations of its telepathy (say, psychic attacks against the Shan). The way the latest comic is drawn, though, we can't really tell... I'd be fascinated to find out. This is Frank's first time in an "action" scene, and I'm wondering if we'll see more of it in the future.

Also worth noting is that Frank and Hook have never looked cooler than in that last panel, and they're one of the coolest-looking pairs of characters going in any format, that I know of. Seriously, that's a teaser poster for the Strange Daze movie right there.

[Acolyte]

Ph34r da p0wer of da Squ1d!

Mmm. Eyebeam, by Sam Hurt. Now that was one screwed-up comic. I miss it so...

[Mirober]

So, either Frank's brain-squid has eye beams, or its eyes glow when it's using more powerful manifestations of its telepathy (say, psychic attacks against the Shan). The way the latest comic is drawn, though, we can't really tell... I'd be fascinated to find out. This is Frank's first time in an "action" scene, and I'm wondering if we'll see more of it in the future.

I'm going to go with straight up pyrokinesis: squid eyes glow, insect bursts into flames. And I'm just getting started on the action scenes for this story ...

Also worth noting is that Frank and Hook have never looked cooler than in that last panel, and they're one of the coolest-looking pairs of characters going in any format, that I know of.

Thanks! I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, as well.

Seriously, that's a teaser poster for the Strange Daze movie right there.

Please keep in mind that I have absolutely no artistic integrity: when I sell out, I'm going to sell out HARD! If such a movie were produced, every other scene would feature something that can be made into a vehicle and/or playset (action figures sold seperately), Jack and Thera will have fallen in love by the end of the movie, the squid would have sweet googly eyes so sickeningly cute that it would make a My Little Pony wretch, Maria would belt out pop medleys by whatever Mousekateer Disney still has shoved in a utility closet, and Sirrus would be a wise-cracking can of Shasta voiced by some actor from whichever sitcom is most popular at the time of production.

Aaaah. I can almost smell those sweet, sweet wads of cash now.

[Clem]

Burning chaos still smells like apples. Great bit of continuity!

Apples in the air
When Azathoth beasts are burned
Who expected that?

(Sorry. Obsessed with "haiku" lately.)

[Quantum Alchemist]

Clearly, your next step is to come out with 'Strange Daze: The RPG'.

[Seafog the 3rd]

Hmmmm. I could see D20 Modern or Shadowrun working fairly well. Any other good candidates?

[Mirober]

The times I've considered it, I've mainly been looking at the Tri-Stat system, if only for the amount of character creation options it provides. Just my 2 cents.

[Quantum Alchemist]

There's always Hero System! Of course, you can do anything with Hero System...

So long as you have a powerful calculator and a lot of room to take notes...

[Seafog the 3rd]

And hense my problem with Hero System (I'm not even sure I've played it).
Tri-Stat? Isn't that what they use for those anime games? If it is, I always thought it was a poor system. Too undefined for me, or not undefined enough (I like Amber, now thats pretty freeform). Maybe not enough one or the other. And is all you liked the character creation? How is the actual game play? If options is what you want, how about GURPS? The game of options.
I liked Shadowrun for a lower power game, and D20 Modern for a more mid power level.

[Mirober]

Tri-Stat? Isn't that what they use for those anime games?

Yep. Also, Silver Age Sentinels.

If it is, I always thought it was a poor system. Too undefined for me, or not undefined enough (I like Amber, now thats pretty freeform). Maybe not enough one or the other. And is all you liked the character creation? How is the actual game play?

Everytime I ran it, game play was extremely smooth. The mechanics are straightforward (roll three dice, target defined by stat or skill + situational modifiers), and the powers seem pretty well defined to me. It's a really nice system, in my opinion.

If options is what you want, how about GURPS? The game of options.

<pedantic geek>
'Cause Tri Stat is GURPS done right.
</pedantic geek>



(I like the idea behind GURPS, and own several GURPS sourcebooks, but I just don't much like the implementation)

[Seafog the 3rd]

Sounds like what I think about the Palladium system. I liked playing Robotech, I really like the idea behind Rifts, but the cut between SDC and MDC and the problems therein, and the 'skill' system really got to me. The idea that armor is hard to bypass is fine, but the implementation hurt.
I'll have to look at my Tenchi RPG again. Only tristat thing I own. I was turned off by some of the things they did because they missed some canon info. I also got a Mickey Mouse feel from the different tristat products I'd seen. Maybe I didn't give it a fair reading. Your description reminds me of the Dream Pod 9 Silouette system. Generally a nice system, just a bit...vague (sort of like what I thought about tristat ) sometimes. The catagories of action difficulty are somewhat broad, or at least they were in first edition, haven't looked at the latest two. Have you guys run Silouette games?

[Zerethkat]

The Tecnchi RPG is based off of BESM. I think Mirober would be more likely to want to use Tri-Stat dX, which has more options for how to do things and fixes some balance issues. (Silver Age Sentinels is basiclly Tristat dX at d10. Some things have changed, but if you're familiar with it, you're pretty much familiar with dX as well.) I agree, thier anime liscence sourcebooks are bad. I liked how in the Trigun book everybody JUST HAPPENED to come out to an even multiple of 5 in CP.

http://www.guardiansorder.com/games/tristat/

Oh, and it's "Roll two dice, try to get under stat + skill + situaltional modifiers". (This was slightly differnt in BESM, but the math works out the same.)

Steve Jackson Games is also coming out with GURPS Fourth Edition soon, but I don't know how they're changing thigns in that.

EDIT: Er, you need to hit the "downloads" button ratehr than the "free electornic download" link, since GOO apparenlty moved their free pdf of dX from RPGNow to Drive-Thru RPG.

[Mirober]

I'll have to look at my Tenchi RPG again. Only tristat thing I own. I was turned off by some of the things they did because they missed some canon info. I also got a Mickey Mouse feel from the different tristat products I'd seen.

Hrm. Can't comment on the Anime sourcebooks: the only books I own are BESM 2nd Ed and Silver Age Sentinels (and even then I haven't reread the BESM rules in years). As Zerethkat surmised, dX would be my preferred ruleset. (And yes, it should be two dice, not three; I got it switched around with GURPS).

Have you guys run Silouette games?

Not yet, but I've been meaning to take a look at Tribe-8 for a while now; I like what I've heard about the setting.

[Mirober]

Steve Jackson Games is also coming out with GURPS Fourth Edition soon, but I don't know how they're changing thigns in that.

These are some of the changes I've been told about:

1) They're reducing the number of skills, making them a bit more broadly applicable.

2) They're changing attribute costs, as well as how skill scores are calculated, so that you don't get every character simply maxing out dexterity and intelligence.

3) Combat is now going to use Cinematic style as the base, with more realistic combat rules now being the option.

So far, I like what I've heard.

Oh, and welcome to the forum, Zerethkat!

[Bushipunk]

Have you guys run Silouette games?

Not yet, but I've been meaning to take a look at Tribe-8 for a while now; I like what I've heard about the setting.

The setting for Tribe 8 is awesome; I bought the books ages ago because the game is set around places I knew (the store I bought it at is actually mentioned in the source material), and I dearly love it. That said, the system it's based on seems to leave a bit to be desired.

Stats are so much more important than skills that it's almost not worth having skills (which is amusing in a "zero average" system where the normal character creation actually forces you to start out bellow average). This is easily the worst aspect of the system; for a starting character, any test is either too easy to bother rolling for, or at least a fifty-fifty chance of total failure. And since stats are harder to raise than skills, that remains true for quite a while.

On the upside, the open-ended magic system is great if your players get into it - it can be a rough transition for some. I had some issues with a lot of the rules being vague, too, and stuff like the selection of skills they defined and so on, but what system don't you have to improvise stuff like that for?

Honestly, though, I'd say the best thing about the Tribe 8 books is they spend way more space on the setting than the rules, so if you buy them and decide to just run the setting with a different system, you still get your money's worth.

Hm. Come to think of it, if memory serves it has some intriuging comonalities with Strage Daze....

Bushi