[Torg] Jumping in Torg

[Benjamin Grant]

> Folks,
> 
> 	I haven’t been following this super well, so maybe I’m being
> dense, but here's my thought on the following:
> 
> "Even if the Flash doesn’t build ramps, and even if his vertical
> jumping remains unchanged, his jump distance increases even without a
> ramp.  Consider – I, in real life, can jump and spend one second in the
> air.  Assuming that when the Flash’s feet leave the group he doesn’t
> slow way down due to authenticity, then 1 second – average human
> jumping hang time – is enough for him to travel truly legendary
> distance horizontally, even if he never gets more than 2 or 3 feet off
> of the ground.  The point being that even a weak human jump such as
> even I can do, as out of shape as I am, is more than even hang time to
> go very far when moving at the speeds that the Flash does.  And of
> course, the Flash is free to build ramps."
> 
> 	It seems to me that the flash, which someone mentioned had a hard
> time getting over the speed of sound (767 MPH), would be taking flight
> from every slight bump in the road, as a car that is trying to move
> that fast would.  Clearly there is some force holding him to the ground
> or else every little hill would be like a ramp to the general lee,
> which he is at least an order of magnitude faster than, so I would
> argue that he wouldn't be able to jump _at all_ while running at super
> speed.  Can he turn off this force and jump?  Maybe so, but it
> certainly doesn't logically follow from the descriptions to his powers.

The reason he doesn't fly off the ground is precisely the reason why he *can* jump long distances - and in a way, you prove my point for me even better and better.  The Flash isn't just fast, he has absolute control over momentum.  Not only is this noted clearly on the Flash wiki, but as you yourself said, without control over his momentum, he *would* be flying off of every bump.

> 
> 	My point is this:  I agree with those arguing that effects based
> and 'power stunts' character creation are the best thing to go with.
> Just saying that he has the speed power and should be able to do the
> logical things based on that power doesn't work, because in a very real
> sense there is no logic to it.  The flash can clearly jump far because
> he's so damned fast.  The flash clearly can't jump at all because he's
> stuck to the ground through some force.  Obviously Superman's clothes
> will shred when he flies through the air at supersonic speeds.
> Obviously Superman's clothes are protected by his hero aura so won't
> shred.  There's no way to derive this stuff, it just depends on what
> the author wants to do.
> 
> Thanks,
> Peter Darley

There is logic, but like any truth, you have to work to achieve it.  You have to look below the obvious.

Any power must include ancillary abilities that help that power to work.  For example, someone who is actually invisible - such that even cameras cannot capture his image - would also have to be blind, because if light isn't being stopped by the character, how can he see?  Or another example - characters that can stop time - how can they breathe?  How can they see?  How can they interact at all with their environment?

Every power has considerations like this - does a teleporter who teleports to the other side of the world suddenly smash off due to a massive shift in angular momentum?  The answer always is, you do what you *have* to do to make the character playable.

Think of it this way - in very real ways, every super is a GOD.  A God of whatever their power is - like the Human Torch and Fire, or the Flash and Speed.  It makes sense that they can do not only the obvious stuff, but anything that would be necessary to be able to do the obvious stuff.  This includes the Flash being able to ignore air resistance so that not only the does the Flash not suffer burns and get his clothes burned off, but he doesn't have to worry about the air slowing him down.

And saying that the Flash can control speed but not momentum, not only seems to be contradicting the comics, which isn't even critical, but more importantly it's like saying the Human Torch can control Fire but that his Fire doesn't burn.  Because the incontrovertible truth is that speed and momentum are as closely linked as energy and temperature.  Hell, momentum IS mass times speed - therefore controlling the speed of anything with mass directly controls the speed anyways.  And like you said, if he didn't have momentum control, he couldn't stay on the ground.

In either case, if you like beer-n-pretzels supers games, than effects based gaming is fine - but if you like games with meaning and sense, you will have to do one of two things:  build character by purchasing effects, but then give unlimited free effects every time the character *ought* to be able to do something that he didn't pay for - which will happen a LOT, especially with creative or clever players, or simply use a *power* based game and not have to worry about it.

If you don't want to worry about things like Superman's clothing ripping at the speeds he flies at, effect based gaming doesn't fix that - because you only get the one effect.  Powers based gaming does.

I wrote an interesting essay on where supers get there powers from that may be a thought provoking read, I will find it and post it.

-Benn Grant
eFix Computer Consulting
benn at 4eFix.com
603.283.6601