Daleks, Bezzerkers and mechanoids, OH MY!

[DhAkael]

both.

Well here in Canuckville under the Tor / Baen liscence, it's spelled with the double "Zed"

Oops... my bad.. or, the publishers bad.
Looks like I'm one of the lucky few who got the anthology with the title typo'd.
Errrmmm... Carry on citizens

[Aramanthus]

It's ok. I know publishers do have to modify the titles sometime going accross borders.

[Rallan]

Rallan, look at the way the experience points are stated... In PB's games, there is little to give for killing anything, but plenty for good RP. In D&D, the only thing giving the player XP is the killing.

Darkmax, look at the way the books are written. Virtually every setting and every storyline in every Palladium game is all about kicking ass. The vast bulk of available equipment is either weaponry, armor, or handy adventuring gear. The whole thing's written in the assumption that the typical group of PCs in every setting (except Beyond The Supernatural) will be a bunch of heavily armed professional asskickers with either supernatural powers or seriously impressive equipment. It doesn't matter that Palladium's experience system (which is just a thinly disguised imitation of D&D's experience system in the first place) doesn't scale to high-level critters the way D&D's does, because that doesn't change the fact that Palladium's games are all about delivering larger-than-life asskickings on a regular basis.

I mean let's be honest, there are games that really encourage other forms of roleplaying ahead of combat and adventuring. Wraith: the Oblivion, Little Fears, the old Chaosium version of Call Of Cthulhu, Dallas (okay it's been out of print since the 80s, I'm just stoked about owning a copy)... but Palladium doesn't exactly have any titles that are gonna make that list.

[Rallan]

example ... you roll a nat 1 against HF ... WHAT do you do?

Change my pants?

[KLM]

Just to trying to get back to topic:

Anyone read "Those from nowhere"?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carsac

In that the "villains" were metallic blocks, who were
- probably - sentient and alive via superconduction.

That meant they were killed by high temperatures,
like -80 celsius or so.

Problem was, that they were snuffing out suns
to expand.

Adios
KLM

[shiiv-a]

example ... you roll a nat 1 against HF ... WHAT do you do?

Change my pants?

oh joy, someone reacted to that little question.

personally i was hoping for more than that for a reaction.
thats about as exciting as 'i scream' ...

[DhAkael]

example ... you roll a nat 1 against HF ... WHAT do you do?

Change my pants?

oh joy, someone reacted to that little question.

personally i was hoping for more than that for a reaction.
thats about as exciting as 'i scream' ...

"My characters' heart races, his vision blurs as the overwhelming horror of the thing /sitaution / knowledge hits home. Finally, with a small scream, he falls senseless to the ground"

That work for ya?

[DhAkael]

Just to trying to get back to topic:

Anyone read "Those from nowhere"?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carsac

In that the "villains" were metallic blocks, who were
- probably - sentient and alive via superconduction.

That meant they were killed by high temperatures,
like -80 celsius or so.

Problem was, that they were snuffing out suns
to expand.

Adios
KLM

Hmmm... can't say I have. Now I know where the boys over at Games Workshop got some inspiration for their 'Necrons', or more specificaly, the C'Tann from

[Nekira Sudacne]

Just a quick observation and question here.
Am I the only schmuck on this entire board who sees the VERY close simmilarities that the Mechanoids share with both Daleks and Bezzerkers?
Cuz I've been saying for years that the mechies are just loosely altered versions of either.
Help a brother out...
Oh..and no poll, just comments please; who'd you pick as #1 villan?

Bezzerkers? planetoid sized killing machines with millions of robotic avatars bent on destruction of ALL biololgical life?

Daleks? Psychotic cyborgs bent on dominating / extermination of all that is not Dalek? Nearly indestructible unless one uses the concentrated firepower of a tac-nuke or another Dalek weapon.

Mechanoids? Supposedly light-years more advanced in technology and science than most sentient beings, yet only have mid-range MDC in comparrison to almost every other being listed in any of the books, and weapons that only go out to 4000ft. max range?

My money is on the rolling pepper pots

You DO realize that Mechanoids was written by a man who used Doctor Who as an NPC in the origional Palladium (fantasy) Of Desires campaign directly prior to writing Mechanoids?

[DhAkael]

Just a quick observation and question here.
Am I the only schmuck on this entire board who sees the VERY close simmilarities that the Mechanoids share with both Daleks and Bezzerkers?
Cuz I've been saying for years that the mechies are just loosely altered versions of either.
Help a brother out...
Oh..and no poll, just comments please; who'd you pick as #1 villan?

Bezzerkers? planetoid sized killing machines with millions of robotic avatars bent on destruction of ALL biololgical life?

Daleks? Psychotic cyborgs bent on dominating / extermination of all that is not Dalek? Nearly indestructible unless one uses the concentrated firepower of a tac-nuke or another Dalek weapon.

Mechanoids? Supposedly light-years more advanced in technology and science than most sentient beings, yet only have mid-range MDC in comparrison to almost every other being listed in any of the books, and weapons that only go out to 4000ft. max range?

My money is on the rolling pepper pots

You DO realize that Mechanoids was written by a man who used Doctor Who as an NPC in the origional Palladium (fantasy) Of Desires campaign directly prior to writing Mechanoids?

That WOULD expalin a whole lot...

[DhAkael]

That's KS we are talking about, right/

A-Yups

[Aramanthus]

I agree! That makes a lot sense!

[DhAkael]

KS is a Dr Who fan..... Steven Spielberg a Transformer fan.... great all of us fan-boys are coming to the mainstream now.... Geeks we are, no longer!

Geeks have always been on the forefront of all that 'will be' cool

[shiiv-a]

never was a 'geek' or 'nerd' while in school

that implies i would have to have brains. i never did. sorry

i am what i am, and darned proud of what i can actually do, when compared to others isn't really a lot, but hey .. it's only me thats getting compared

[taalismn]

'Geek' properly is the sort of nut who bites the heads off chickens at the county fair freakshow.....showhow the name's gotten mixed up with 'nerd', which is often ascribed to Doctor Seuss (who cited it as coming from the word 'nerdfogel')....socially inept, perhaps dull, but academically and professionally capable people...Unfortunately, 'Nerd Squad' doesn't sound quite as catchy as 'Geek Squad' for advertizing...though I'd rather have a squad of nerds at my place than a covey of geeks....

However, the definition of 'geek' now seems to have taken over what was once 'nerd' territory...a sign of the changing times, since 'nerds' have now become tolerable, socially acceptable, and therefore mainstreamed(and not quite as attractive as fringe-culturists as a result, by those wishing to be set apart from the 'rest of the sheep').

Doctor Seuss also intreoduced in the same line the name 'nerkle', but I have yet to see that term used to describe anything....

[Aramanthus]

Thanks for those definations Taalismn!

[Rallan]

KS is a Dr Who fan..... Steven Spielberg a Transformer fan.... great all of us fan-boys are coming to the mainstream now.... Geeks we are, no longer!

A TV show that's still only watched by nerds and teenaged boys, and a kid's cartoon turned into an action movie that was only watched by nerds and teenaged boys are "mainstream" now? Come on dude, reality check

[DhAkael]

KS is a Dr Who fan..... Steven Spielberg a Transformer fan.... great all of us fan-boys are coming to the mainstream now.... Geeks we are, no longer!

A TV show that's still only watched by nerds and teenaged boys, and a kid's cartoon turned into an action movie that was only watched by nerds and teenaged boys are "mainstream" now? Come on dude, reality check

Rallan.. I think your are the individual needing the reality check.. though I do agree with the Transformers part.

[Talavar]

Wow, throwing around the term 'nerd' on a PnP role-playing internet forum. Watch out, you might offend someone.

Doctor Who is a cultural institution in Britain, but I wouldn't really call it mainstream. I think Transformers is crossing over to the mainstream with the big movie this summer, though it's never personally been an interest of mine.

A better example of geek-chic in my opinion is the popularity of the Lord of the Rings movies, Harry Potter, and the recent deluge of big superhero movies.

[shiiv-a]

hey .. most people that take the time to exercise their braincells past highschool rejoice.

you are entering the group known as 'eggheads' ...

NOT to be insulted though. the braindead and those that fall into the category of braincell impaired [10 or less ... =p ] .. tried to come up with a term to be insulting ...
best part? ... egghead in the dictionary ... means a really smart person ...

cool huh? ... if thats what being an egghead stands for? .. count me as one, as i keep trying to do stuff to keep the mind active.

[Aramanthus]

I think this topic is slowly moving towards being moved for wandering off topic badly.

[shiiv-a]

i remember the Dalecks from the Dr Who series .. from years ago, yes it seems that while they resemble pepper-pots, the fact that they are totally single minded in their determination to slaughter humans, that would make me think twice about calling them anything. sure they were on dollies and had to move about with just the toe tips .. and the front laser would wobble about all the time when they were moving, and prior to firing, that gave them character

still don't mean i wanna meet them or pick them apart.
all in all, at the TIME the show was made, they weren't that bad a baddie. they went into the colorful versions later, when they got Technicolor .. or something like that.
so i don't worry about 'they can't go down stairs' .. gotta ask yourself ... 'how did they get onto the various floors of the building if they can't go up or down stairs ? '

[there ... i think i got it back on track .. maybe .. ]

[DhAkael]

i remember the Dalecks from the Dr Who series .. from years ago, yes it seems that while they resemble pepper-pots, the fact that they are totally single minded in their determination to slaughter humans, that would make me think twice about calling them anything. sure they were on dollies and had to move about with just the toe tips .. and the front laser would wobble about all the time when they were moving, and prior to firing, that gave them character

still don't mean i wanna meet them or pick them apart.
all in all, at the TIME the show was made, they weren't that bad a baddie. they went into the colorful versions later, when they got Technicolor .. or something like that.
so i don't worry about 'they can't go down stairs' .. gotta ask yourself ... 'how did they get onto the various floors of the building if they can't go up or down stairs ? '

[there ... i think i got it back on track .. maybe .. ]

Okay.. evolution of the Daleks (an armchair fan-boys recounting);
-First appearence (and the VERY first foe the Dr. ever encountered), they could ONLY move in their own city along electrified floors. In fact, they would DIE if they lost contact with the floors & ramps of said city.

-Second Gen. They were able to move about using spacecraft, could slowly move across roadways and flooring, and had these ape-like creatures to do their bidding..y'know..like getting targets from the second or higher floors of buildings (Daleks: Invasion Earth).

-Third Gen. The genesis of the Daleks. We encounter their progenitor, Davros. Even though these are supposedly FIRST generation Daleks being created, they are able to deal with fairly steep angled ramp-ways and trundle along rocky ground (independant suspension, anyone? ). Also, the Shells of the Daleks were proof against 90% of balistic and coherent energy weapons, and their guns were effectively rifle sized X-Ray laser projectors. Fans have speculated that the first time the Daleks had been encountered, the Dr. had found a degenerate colony that had regressed back to a relative "stone age" of Dalek tech. Again, this is fan speculation.

-Fourth Gen. I forget who was playing the Dr. at this point (Sylvester Mc'Coy I think). The Daleks finaly figured out how to deal with their nemesis, stairs; they created hover jets directly into their bodies, and had surf-board like contraptions for earlier marks of Dalek.

-Fifth Gen. The "New" Dr. Who series (and the as yet un-written / filmed 'Time-War saga'). Daleks have enormous Dimensional Fortress flying saucer styled battle ships with multiple launch bays and multi-megatonne nuclear torpedo launhcers. THIS is not the scariest thing however. ORDINARY grunt-soldier Daleks have; auto-repir functionality, energy field projectors, quantuum fractal skins for their bodies, 360 degree rotating mid-section, multi-function energy weapon...and... full functional anti-gravity systems built into their carriages. STILL pepper pots, still having those rediculous eye-stalks, but now they can fly....VERY well.
They don't need stairs..they just "El-E-VATE!"

[KLM]

Signed.

What is more, there was a cut where Daleks poured out of their
mothership, paling both cylons and TIE fighters with their sheer
numbers.

Another scary thing was, that a lone "new dalek" demonstrated
abilities best described as the super psi power Telemechanics
and was able to wreak havoc with the West Coast's (?) powergrid
in the near future ( I hate time travel... messes with tenses).

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

Now this kind of evolution is traceable in every major scifi
setting. Someone made the plot, and later - based on their
technical possibilities - the inventory of the setting was broadened.

One of my favourite examples are transporters from Star Trek.

First there was the shining to move the crew, because the
studio budget did not allow shuttles. Then they came up with
bio-filtration, so tranported crew did not bring back microbes.
Then - in DS9 - hostile soldiers were transported from a ship
without their weapons...

Same for Stargate, the CS in RIFTS, and then Daleks.

After all, the pepperpots, who
a, still convinced, that they are THE ultimate
b, wiped out the Timelords (and were a major threat
to the galaxy)

must deal somehow with stairs and other hazardous terrain.

So... "ELEVATE" first, then "EXTERMINATE".

Adios
KLM

[Aramanthus]

Those are pretty cool ideas everyone! Thanks for sharing them.