RE: [BNW] Glory Days Questions

["Steve Crow" <crow_steve@hotmail.com>]

>True, it depends on the setting etc.. Say "A-team"  B.A. could be a gadget
>or Ace with high STR, Face would be I think a Charmer (could also be used 
>as
>a translator with high Spirit and lots of bluff, etc..) Murdock an Ace 
>(with
>a few quirks), and Hannibal a genius (with good Shooting skill). Want to do

He was a Chameleon of sorts too, wasn't he?  Not with inherent face-changing 
abilities, but nonetheless a master-of-disguise type.

>Mission Impossible, take a translator (again with high Spirit), a sneak, a
>changeling, add in a gageter, or genius perhaps a gasser, or blaster. But
>the more subtler deltas would work better. Same kind of setup for say a
>"dirty dozen" kind of game.
>

*heh* But my point, and I suspect Jennifer's, was that even in a MI-style 
adventure the Translator would be useless.  The IMF doesn't sit around 
trying to break codes or speak foreign languages. Heck, they had Barney 
sneaking into Eastern Block military bases dressed as a soldier.  :)  
Realism and dealing with the real world cultural differences of the foreign 
countries they worked out of was never one of their strong points...

Even in a "subtle" campaign, the Translator doesn't seem to have much to do. 
  You can give them something to do, I suppose - "Code of the week" or 
something.  But the power doesn't have a combat application, it isn't good 
for general information gathering (i.e., Hacker), and if the Translator does 
have a use, it'll just focus on a problem with the adventure setting:  what 
the heck does the rest of the group who don't speak the language do?  "Yeah, 
we're sending your "subtle" team off to Lower Slobovia to infiltrate the 
base and steal the NOC list. And heck, we'll even give you one guy who 
speaks the language.  That should help the other five of you...ummm, right?"

Hmmm, which suggests a new Trick that _might_ make the Translator useful 
(heads off to his web site...).

> >(Maybe we should work out a numerical 1-10 ranking system for powers so
>that
> >we can make such comparisons on a book-by-book comparison?  Lets see, 
>with
> >Blaster at 10 and Translator at 1...  ;) )
>
>This could come in handy too for setting up a game, then you could gauge 
>the
>power level of the players. You could also use this as a guide for making
>PC's, you could say ok pick a rank 4-8 power or some such, say for 
>espionage
>games pick 1-6 or something like that.
>

Something else to do at my web site today. Of course, which Tricks you have 
makes a difference, but we can probably assume that someone with the Power 
Package has both of the power-related tricks.  Otherwise, say, the Freezer 
and Dessicator go way down on the list.



---

Steve Crow

"Worm Can Opener Extraordinare"

Check out my website at:  http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Stargate/4991/

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