HERO SYSTEM VEHICLE SOURCEBOOK -- What Do *You* Want To See?

[Steve Long]

While Darren puts the finishing touches on the UNTIL sourcebook, I'm going to get a jump on The HERO System Vehicle Sourcebook, so I thought it was time to start another one of my "fan input" threads. ;)

The HSVS is a collection of vehicles for HERO System campaigns. It's like the HSB or MMM -- it's a bunch of pre-built stuff (in this case vehicles instead of creatures and monsters). It's not a rulebook about vehicles (we've got TUV for that) or the like -- it's just pre-created vehicles for you to drop right into your games or have your characters buy with their hard-earned points. ;)

Basically it's going to have four chapters:

Ground Vehicles
Air Vehicles
Water Vehicles
Fantasy and Superhero Vehicles

We've already published plenty of space vehicles in our SH line, so I don't want to go into that subject in this book. The book will include civilian, military, and emergency services vehicles. The emphasis is on real-world vehicles, mostly from the 20th and 21st centuries; the Fantasy/Supers chapter is probably going to be the smallest in the book.

My current guesstimate is that the book will have 150-200 vehicles, making it a 128-170 page book (the exact length depends on many factors, of course).

So, what sort of vehicles would you like to see in the book? Feel free to describe them generically ("WW2 tanks") or to list specific vehicles you think deserve coverage ("Stutz Bearcat").

Another issue I'd like your input on: should the HSVS reprint the 37 sample ground, air, and water vehicles printed in TUV? That would be about a fifth to a fourth of the contents of the HSVS. I'm perfectly content not to reprint them, but if there's a strong interest in seeing them copied over I'll be glad to consider it.

[specks]

We'll,

I would like to see writeups for something along the lines of the vehicles Batman uses (not exactly; copyright restrictions you know) like the car, the boat and the plane and the vehicles that JLA, Avengers and X-men use.

My take anyway

P.S.

No, the reprints are not worth it.The book would be fine without them.

[Dr. Anomaly]

Steve,

How on EARTH did you know the Stutz Bearcat is one of my all-time FAVORITE cars? No, I'm not kidding...it really is! :)

On your question, though...

Adding too many specific vehicles (like the Bearcat) may be a mistake. IMO, it would be better to cover a broad range of time & types, and chose a representative vehicle for each of those. (That representative type may indeed BE the Bearcat, though.)

Example:

For automobile-type ground vehicles:

An early internal combustion engine, ala the Ford Model A or Model T, perhaps with suggestions on how to turn it into one of those early flatbed trucks or buses (add X levels of Size, +X STR = Y points)

A compact (or low-end "basic") automobile, a mid-sized sedan, and a sports/race car for each of several broad time periods (pre-WWI, post-WWI, WWII, post-WWII, 1960's-1970's, etc.)

Motorcycles, of course. Perhaps a few ranging from the original Harley-Davidson to the supermodern Yamaha "no sane person would ride these" racing bikes.

Steam, Diesel, and Electric Locomotives. How can you honestly tell if your character is "faster than a speeding locomotive" if you don't give them something with which to compare themselves? Plus, having to stop a runaway locomotive is a CLASSIC superhero bit!

Solar-powered cars (Sunnyracer).

Tanks, from the first clunky ones used in WWI to the modern battlefield behemoths. Perhaps a few notes on how to take these write-ups and use them as "templates" to produce other military vehicles -- for example, replace the main gun and reduce SPD and DEF, add a gun with some Megarange to get a self-propelled artillery piece like the ... uhm ... drat, the name escapes me at the moment...

Some specialized military machines, such as those vehicles that launch anti-missile rounds (Missile Deflection At Range, Charges, Prep Time, Bulky, Trained Crew, etc. etc...you know the routine).

Aircraft, from the early non-powered gliders to the Wright flyer, to biplanes & triplanes, prop-driven monoplanes, early jets, modern jets, and some of the modern commercial turbo-jet or turbo-prop designs. Again, a representative example of each time period & type will probably do: if you've done biplanes, you probably don't need to do triplanes or Louis Blario's first successful monoplane -- a single write-up will probably do for all of those, since the rest is basically fluff. Likewise, for WWII you might do a fighter, a bomber, a fighter/bomber, and a cargo plane. In game terms, whether it's American, German, Japanese, British, Italian, or whatever probably won't matter, the game stats should be *roughly* the same. Some planes, though, MIGHT merit a little special attention. The DC-3, for example, had such a well-deserved reputation for taking punishment and remaining airworthy that it might have a special note such as "to simulate the extreme durability of the DC-3, add 25% Resistant Physical Damage Reduction to the cargo plane template."

VTOL jets.

Stealth Aircraft.

Human-powered aircraft (the Gossamer Albatross).

Non-airplane aircraft: a hot-air balloon, a blimp, a zeppelin.

For water craft, split between civilian and military.

Civilian: motorboat, powerboat, private yacht, cruise ship, large cargo ship (oil tanker?). Hydrofoils. Sailboats (modern small ones and the big "clipper" ships).

Military: cutter, destroyer, cruiser, battleship, aircraft carrier. For most of these, the differences between WWI, WWII and modern will be relatively slight in *game terms*. Example: "to turn a WWI destroyer into a WWII destroyer, add +x" of Swimming, add +5 Pentaly Skill Levels vs. range, and increase the damage of all weapons by +3 DC."

Submarines: very early (Turtle, Hunley), WWI U-Boats, WWII subs, nuclear subs (attack and ballistic). A couple of super-deep subs or submersible vehicles (Alvin, Trieste, NR-1).

Break-in-mid-thought-note: It might seem at the beginning a waste of time to do a version of such early/primitive craft like hot air balloons or a submarine like the Hunley -- but those could be adapted with little or no change to a fantasy setting, or a Victorian-style "LXG" or "Secret Adventures of Jules Vern" setting. I know you said you want to concentrate mainly on the 20th-21st centuries, but I thought I'd throw these in here nevertheless.

"Extreme" machines. I don't know if these would fall under your "fantasy" vehicle classifications or not -- I suspect you're talking more like things such as the Fantastic Four's Fantasticar, or Batman's Batmobile -- but in any case:

Record-breaking craft from the real world: Thrust II , a car that has broken the sound barrier; Burt Rutan's Voyager, that flew around the world on a single tank of fuel. Solar-powered airplanes like the Helios. Giant dump trucks like they use in strip mines. Tunnel-Boring Machines (TBMs). The Space Shuttle.

"Vehicles" that may not normally be thought of as vehicles: sleds, bobsleds, skis, parachutes, parasails, hangliders.

More thoughts as events warrant... :)

[rjcurrie]

Hey, Steve:

While you say that you don't want to go into space vehicles, I don't believe that you have yet covered modern day space vehicles. For example, it might be nice to have write-ups of the Space Shuttle, or Apollo era space vehicles. It might also be nice to see slightly futuristic takes on these things.

Other than that, I would like to see write-ups for the following:

city bus
intercity coach
passenger train
freight train
subway trains
various sizes of modern passenger aircraft
a selection of aircraft from different eras
a selection of cars from different eras
executive aircraft

When I mention different eras, I would think that the emphasis should be on eras that are popular in Hero games. For example, the 20s and 30s for Pulp and Horror Hero, the 40s for Golden Age Champions and other WWII-related games, and the 60s for Silver Age Champions and Cold War spy games.

I would also like to see references to existing write-ups in other books, so people can find them quickly when they don't find them in this book.

Just a few thoughts on the matter,

Rod

[Steve Long]

it might be nice to have write-ups of the Space Shuttle

AAMOF, I'm wedging open the "Air Vehicles" category just enough to slip this one in. ;)


I would also like to see references to existing write-ups in other books, so people can find them quickly when they don't find them in this book.

Assuming I don't reprint the TUV vehicles, I definitely plan to have sidebars in each chapter listing the vehicles it contains, along with brief mentions of what one can find in VIPER, UNTIL, the SH line, and so on. Wouldn't want to miss an opportunity for cross-referencing. ;)

[Dr. Anomaly]

Steve,

I really wouldn't want to see the TUV stuff reprinted. Others have said (and I agree) that in the case of adventures, you really do need at least a thumbnail of characters that appeared in other works to be reprinted in the adventure (after all, apart from the rule book itself, aren't adventures supposed to stand alone?)

In the case of a reference/sourcebook, though, I think reprinting that much material would be a mistake. It would either up the page count (and the cost) if you still included as much material as you would otherwise, or means we DON'T get to see some of the new material that you didn't put in so you could reprint the TUV stuff.

By the way, some of the things I listed in my "I'd like to see x" post may indeed have already appeared in TUV -- I just don't have it handy to double-check. If anything on my list already appears in substantially the same form in TUV, then please ignore it being on my list.

Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to go find my TUV so I can refresh myself on its contents... :)

[Lord Mhoram]

Another vote No on the reprints. Although I do like the sidebar idea.

I'd like to see a good cross-section of "standard" vehicles for each major play era, as already been mentioned. The shuttle and the Apollo would be great. I'd love to see more Mechs but.... ah well.

What I would really like to see, probably in the fantasy/superhero section is a collection of "how do I build this?" kind of vehicles- not unlike the appendix in USPD section with the Negabeam and Transference touch. Things like transforming vehicles, vehicles within vehicles, and other such things.

I'd also love to see some famous fictional vehicles approximated. Chitty chitty bang bang, Blue Thunder, KITT, Bond's Car (whichever one you like).

I'd also love to see a write up of a supercarrier.

[dugfromthearth]

I would like to not see vehicles reprinted.

I really liked how the beastiary has little options added like unluck for black cats

It would be great if you did something like:
WWII Tank - and then options of "main gun is 88", "german optics" (rmod bonus), "russian optics' (rmod penalty), heavy armor, etc. So with a couple of changes you could make a heavy russian tank, medium german tank, etc.

The same could be done (in theory, with me having to none of the work) with regular cars - two door to four door conversion, stationwagon, hatchback, etc.

Thinking in Car Wars terms, the basic vehicles could be:
1930's compact, 1930's luxury, modern subcompact, modern luxury, modern pick-up truck, etc.

And then under each have two-door, four-door, options if applicable.


Vehicles I particularly want to see:
VW bug
garbage truck
limousine
police car
traffic helicopter
school bus
monster truck
scooters (powered ones like vespas)
back hoe/tractor

[Hugh Neilson]

Originally posted by Steve Long
Assuming I don't reprint the TUV vehicles, I definitely plan to have sidebars in each chapter listing the vehicles it contains, along with brief mentions of what one can find in VIPER, UNTIL, the SH line, and so on. Wouldn't want to miss an opportunity for cross-referencing. ;)

Lots of good ideas here already. YES cross reference and NO reprints, which I would agree with, seems way up there. It would seem contradictory to have a policy of not reprinting characters in adventures and then have mass excerpts from TUV in the Vehicle sourcebook.

We need covered wagons for Western Hero and chariots for Fantasy Hero, please. Maybe with some options for hitching up different beasts (or a magic self-propelled chariot). Oh, and for sure the traditional magic carpet and witch's broom!

Oh, yes - and a flying surfboard ;)

[Steve Long]

Thanx for all the suggestions, guys! Keep 'em comin'. ;)

Just a friendly reminder -- you might want to check your copy of TUV before making a suggestion. (What's that? You say you don't have one? Go out and get one right now! :)) A lot of the specific vehicles being suggested are already in TUV (since I deliberately chose a lot of the most commonly-used ones for it, for obvious reasons). ;)

[McCoy]

No reprints, do like the idea of a sidebar/crossreference index.

What I REALLY want to see is not going to happen due to licensing restrictions, write ups for the Enterprise from Star Trek: The Original Show and the Star Destroyer from Star Wars IV A New Hope. Not gonna happen.

Second choice would be the TARDIS, or a TARDIS like vehicle.

Would like to see unconventional vehicles, a Hindenberg like blimp, Captain Nemo's Nautilus, maybe some vehicle designed to tunnel (haven't seen The Core, but hope that gives you the idea.

What I would probably use most is conventional RL police/military vehicles/weapon systems; police cars, paddy wagons, the bomb disposal van, troop transports, tanks, attack subs, missle subs, boats and ships, maybe even an aircraft carrier.

Looking forward to it.

[Sociotard]

*thinks* It would be fun if you threw in a few extremely famous vehicles, such as the spruce goose or the U.S.S. Constitution. Okay, revelutionary war superfrigates are not 20th century, but after "Pirates of the Carribean" I know a few people would be interested in a sloop writeup or two.

No Segways. Don't even think about it.

Were there many muscle powered vehicles in Ultimate Vehicle? Bicicles? Rowboats? Viking Longship (Doh! not 20th century)? How about that muscle powered aircraft that flew accross the English Channel? what was it's name, the Gossamer Albatross maybe?

Both KITT and Airwolf (see the poll I put on the star hero board), by other names, of course.

Mostly, I really do like the sail-powered vehicle writeup idea.

[BobGreenwade]

What would I like to see? How about my name on the front cover? ;) (Just kidding.)

Seriously, I say go for some of the more unusual vehicles of the 20th and early 21st centuries, like volantors, the Segway, monowheels, ultralights, and such. Also some unusual fictional vehicles such as hoverboards would be good.

Also hit some areas not well covered among the samples in TUV. I'm thinking specifically of Indy race cars, luxury cruise ships, and derigibles, though I'm sure you can come up with more.

I think you should go light on the reprints from TUV (and STK), but do it. Reprint some of them -- particularly the most significant and/or archetypical -- but not the whole batch.

Unless you plan on including them in the "air vehicles" category, I'd add a section for at least a few recent, modern, and near-fugure space vehicles: Mercury and Saturn modules, the Space Shuttles, spaceplanes, and possibly an in-system exploration vessel.

Let's have at least a little major construction equipment, too. A bulldozer, a backhoe, a dump truck, a cement mixer, and a tunnel borer would be a decent selection.

For some items (such as race cars and most mass transit vehicles) a list of options for adjusting each type to a particular purpose would be a good thing, giving even more vehicles for each entry. For instance, several options under the Indy racer could make each car unique even if they all used the same basic character sheet.

Make notes (mostly sidebars) on how some of the optional vehicle construction rules from TUV can apply to various cases. For instance, the above-mentioned Indy racer could be an example for "fine-tuned" movement (TUV page 23), while the luxury liner or a sports car could ge used as an example for the COM characteristic. At least one of the fantasy/superhero vehicles could be built with INT and perhaps EGO.

An appendix (no more than three or four pages) covering ways to create vehicle-centric campaigns would be cool too, though I can see the reasons why you wouldn't. I'm talking about just two or three paragraphs each on settings to simulate things ranging from Team Knight Rider to The Love Boat.

[McCoy]

Originally posted by Steve Long
Just a friendly reminder -- you might want to check your copy of TUV before making a suggestion. (What's that? You say you don't have one? Go out and get one right now! :)) A lot of the specific vehicles being suggested are already in TUV (since I deliberately chose a lot of the most commonly-used ones for it, for obvious reasons). ;)
Thought I had, now see I'm among the offenders.

Vehicles in TUV listed for reference, if this crosses the copyright line please accept appologies and delete this post.

Ground Vehicles
Ten Speed Bicycle
Chariot
Stagecoach
Two or four door Automobile
Lotus Esprit Turbo
Sports Utility Vehicle
Supercar
Tractor-Trailer Truck
School Bus
Armored Car
Steam Locomotive
M2 Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle
M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tank
Harley-Davidson VRSCA V-Rod
Hovercraft
Cybertank

Water Vehicles
Canoe
Trireme
Viking Longship
Galleon
Speedboat
Zodiac F-470 CRRC
Cruise Ship
Spruance-Class Destroyer
Nimitz-Class Aircraft Carrrier
Los Angeles Class Nuclear Submarine

Air Vehicles
Flying Carpet
Sopwith F-1 Camel
Airship (Zeppelin)
Mitsubishi A6M2 "Zero" Fighter
McDonnell-Douglas F/A-18C Hornet
Lockheed C-130H Hercules
Lockheed F-117A Nighthawk Stealth Fighter
AH-64 Apache Longbow Attack Helicopter
Boeing 747-400
Learjet 31A
Superjet
Powered Armor Suit

Space Vehicles
Space Yacht
Scientific Surveyor
Space Merchantman
Space Pirate Vessel
Warp Fighter
Military Cruiser
Star Ravager
Chronoportation Box

Mecha
M78 "Black Scorpion" Mech
M1012-J Panthamech
Transmatron
Shining Warrior Epsilon

[Lord Liaden]

As usual, Steve, you have a good idea of what you want to do, and as usual you've already gotten lots of good suggestions.

What I also would like to see, either included with the appropriate grouping of vehicles or in a separate section, would be a number of pre-built vehicle components that could be added to existing vehicle templates to allow for quick customization. I don't just mean beefed up armor or movement speed, but more sophisticated equipment that exists on modern vehicles. I'm thinking of things like common vehicle-mounted weapons with brief notes on the size and configuration of vehicles that can carry them (kind of a "strength minimum"); various types of stealth equipment including radar reflectors, "whisper mode" engines and camoflage painting; sensors such as wide-field and precision radar and sonar, navigation aids, or infrared viewers that can "see" heat patterns through walls; ejector seats and other escape modules (especially for extreme environment vehicles like submarines and high-altitude aircraft).

[specks]

McCoy wrote:


What I REALLY want to see is not going to happen due to licensing restrictions, write ups for the Enterprise from Star Trek: The Original Show and the Star Destroyer from Star Wars IV A New Hope. Not gonna happen.

Second choice would be the TARDIS, or a TARDIS like vehicle.



Steves reply


We've already published plenty of space vehicles in our SH line, so I don't want to go into that subject in this book. The book will include civilian, military, and emergency services vehicles. The emphasis is on real-world vehicles, mostly from the 20th and 21st centuries; the Fantasy/Supers chapter is probably going to be the smallest in the book.

I'd like to see a TARDIS writeup to (more extensive than in SH) maybe in Galactic Champions :D umm?!

[Dr. Anomaly]

Originally posted by McCoy
Second choice would be the TARDIS, or a TARDIS like vehicle.

We DO already have one. The Chronoportation Box from TUV. :)

[Hugh Neilson]

Originally posted by Steve Long
Thanx for all the suggestions, guys! Keep 'em comin'. ;)

Just a friendly reminder -- you might want to check your copy of TUV before making a suggestion. (What's that? You say you don't have one? Go out and get one right now! :)) A lot of the specific vehicles being suggested are already in TUV (since I deliberately chose a lot of the most commonly-used ones for it, for obvious reasons). ;)

Mea Culpa - I've got it but haven't dug through it in any detail! Retract any suggestion already in TUV (is there a chariot pulled by lions?)

[JmOz]

On the issue of inclusion:

I would not reprint the write ups BUT I would make sure that you included all the same types again. For example their is a Harley motorcycle in TUV, I would include another ake of harley (same goes for another Power Armor suit, super transport, race car, etc...)

I would like to see some more Super vehicles (IE the stuff characters like Batman uses)

Some filed off the serial numbers vehicles

A B-Movie Flying sauser

Vehicles that use unusual movement powers (Tunneling, Swinging, Leaping)

[eepjr24]

Don't know how specific you want, here are some things I would like to see:

1967 AC Shelby Cobra, with 427 Cobrajet

Something like the Mach5 from Speedracer.

A couple basic construction vehicles (front end loader, crane, wrecking ball, asphalt roller, whatever)

Emergency Vehicles (Police car, ambulance, fire truck, rescue helocopter)

"Set path" vehicles (trolley, gondola, elevator?, monorail, etc)

That should do it. Alot of other stuff mentioned is good too.

- Ernie

[Steve Long]

What I also would like to see, either included with the appropriate grouping of vehicles or in a separate section, would be a number of pre-built vehicle components that could be added to existing vehicle templates to allow for quick customization.

Well, that's Chapter Seven of TUV, it seems to me. Is there something different you have in mind?

[Steve Long]

(is there a chariot pulled by lions?)

There's a chariot. What you get to pull it is up to you. ;) The towed vehicle rules would certainly allow for the use of something other than horses, if you prefer.

[starblaze]

Well it's been mentioned, but I would like to see Police cars, Fire/Rescue, Ambulances, as well as special civic servant vehicles. This would include Police Motorcycles as well as those big tank like vehicles they use.

WWI-II Vehicles would be good too, especially for me since I run a game during that time. Also as stated before some 20's-30's stuff would be welcomed.

[JmOz]

Originally posted by Steve Long
Well, that's Chapter Seven of TUV, it seems to me. Is there something different you have in mind?

I think something more akin to the "Quick character generator" would be interesting, though I don't know if I would actualy want one in the book (If that makes any sense.

[Space Cadet]

What I'd like to see in the HSVS is something like the MARS-1
vehicle from the Morrow Project RPG -- a vehicle that
could be designed and built in either the 20th or 21st Centuries,
but would be intended for use in a post-apocalyptic world.

By the way, Doc A., the self-propelled artillery piece that you
were probably trying to think of is the Paladin Mobile Gun, a
105mm(?) gun currently in use with the U.S. Army.

Space Cadet :cool:

[zornwil]

I agree re no reprints (unless you cram it in tiny, tiny text! but that's absurd), but sidebar is a great idea.

One thing I can think of is "animals as vehicles", like the Lone Ranger's horse, a griffin a fantasy hero rides, etc.. The difference from the bestiary being quite specific, that is to demonstrate how the beast survives combat and such (defenses, luck, whatever) and how it is attuned to the owner (RSR with penalties for non-owner, telepathic link, etc.). I would find that cool.

Actually, complete tangent here, how about a new electronic side-product - a subscription that, after every book comes out, gives the subscriber a MULTI-BOOK index of EVERYTHING! By "everything", I simply mean the combination of indices from the various books. The problem though is that people could easily give it away to others. What if you gave it to the current DH/Playtest subscribers via their login? It shouldn't be too hard to maintain (again, I'm not asking for anything beyond combining the work already done, just adding on the book it's in to the pages) and therefore shouldn't "cost" too much to HERO if it gets abused a bit by some piracy (I am NOT advocating or excusing piracy, just looking at it from the concerns you guys would have). You could publish it as a PDF like you do now. Just a thought...it might increase sales even as people see the various references - ?

[McCoy]

Originally posted by zornwil
Actually, complete tangent here, how about a new electronic side-product - a subscription that, after every book comes out, gives the subscriber a MULTI-BOOK index of EVERYTHING! By "everything", I simply mean the combination of indices from the various books.
Second the motion for an on-line multibook index. Good idea, especally from a reptile.:)

[Tempuswolf]

I suggest:

A sky needle like that in Arthur C. Clarke's Fountains of Paradise or maybe the pinwheel variant from Gregory Benford's Tides of Light.

[zornwil]

Originally posted by McCoy
Second the motion for an on-line multibook index. Good idea, especally from a reptile.:)

Thanks McCoy. But we need more allies - a pro wrestler and a reptile just don't have much inherent credibility. Stupid humans with big brains.

[Dr. Anomaly]

Originally posted by Space Cadet
By the way, Doc A., the self-propelled artillery piece that you were probably trying to think of is the Paladin Mobile Gun, a 105mm(?) gun currently in use with the U.S. Army.

Yeah, I think that's the one...at least it *sounds* right! :)


Oh, and count me in on the "multibook index" thing. Hey, my avatar *is* a brain! Is that good enough for ya, Zornwil?

[Talon]

I was in the middle of writing a DH article for realistic spaceflight that was going to include current-day space vehicles writeups...if you run out of space in this book, Steve, let me know. :)

Another no vote for reprints here.

One thing I'd like to see is some sort of summary for complex vehicles, particularly military ones. Trying to run off the writeups for the big tanks and ships in TUV is very hard.

I don't have specific vehicle suggestions, but I'd like to see as much breadth of coverage as possible, so that (in theory) I could use this book to pull out any vehicle a modern or near-modern group could need, maybe tweaking the numbers slightly if they have a good or a bad model. Ultralights, mini-subs, etc.

[mattingly]

Hobby/Sport vehicles -- balloons, hangglinders, skateboards, rollerblades, bicycles, SCUBA gear & flippers, gocarts, dune buggys, nascars/racecars, pogo stick :).

P.S. For someone to be "more powerful" than a locomotive, it'd be nice to know how powerful a locomotive is.

[Supreme Serpent]

Goblin Glider

Autopilot/remote control suggested writeups.

[Balok]

I'd vote *against* reprints; especially at 1/5 to 1/4 the book's contents. Since TUV isn't out of print, this material is available.

If you get "specific", including a car such as the Stutz Bearcat, you might consider a section on how this car was different from similar cars -- this would be of benefit to those who wished to make something more generic.

I also wonder about this: how many of the "little touches" that differentiate one vehicle from another in the same general class actually have (game) mechanical impact? If you wrote up a specific car, would you spend a lot of effort attempting to find mechanical reasons why that car wasn't like other similar cars?

[zornwil]

Originally posted by Dr. Anomaly
Yeah, I think that's the one...at least it *sounds* right! :)


Oh, and count me in on the "multibook index" thing. Hey, my avatar *is* a brain! Is that good enough for ya, Zornwil?

Sweet! Steve can't deny us now! Although we are more like a super-villain team - a brain, a reptile, and a pro wrestler - heck, that sounds like a fun team to fight, maybe I'll make that for this weekend's game.

[zornwil]

edit - dagnab double-posting thing...deleted

[Nevenall]

I agree with Doctor Anomoly.
What I like are good generic writeups with lots of options.
I image a Generic Sportscar writeup, with option packages for specific cars, like Porshe, and Ferrari, etc...
I would also be interested in seeing more about mecha and cyberpunk type vehicles.

[CorpCommander]

There have already been tons of good replies.

First my vote on reprints? **NO**

I'd like to see more non-generic vehicles that will tend to be involved in games. I can make up my own stats for a Ford Escort (4 hexes, ZERO Def, great gas mileage, starts losing body randomly for the next 8 years before you sell it for scrap.)

What vehicles end up in games?

Ground Vehicles:
Cop Cars ( See the film The Blues Brothers ;) )
HUMMV
SWAT Panel Vans
Cleveland Police Mother II (look it up, it rocks)
Commando 150 Armored Car

Choppers:
Bell Huey
Sikorsky Blackhawk
Cobra Gunship (thankfully not in the hands of Viper!)
News 5 Eye in the Sky ;)
Sky Crane (saw one once as a kid - they should appear at least once in every modern game because they are cool.)
Chinnok

Boats:
Any thing the US Navy Seals use in the Special Boats Units
Special Boats Unit Description with pics (http://www.specialoperations.com/Navy/SBR/default2.html)
Other Brown Water craft such as the PBR, SWIFT, and River Monitor, Very Slender Vessel (no, really, its called that), Mark V Special Operations Craft (MK V SOC -- the Hummve of the Sea!)

Unusual Vehicles:
Jet Packs
Ducted Turbo Fan Flight Pack
Moller Skycar (See it here (http://www.moller.com/news/) )
Tilt Trikes (like General Motor's Lean Machine (http://www.3wheelers.com/gmlean.html) ) Oh if only they had come out with these!!!

Those are my crazy ideas for now. Hope you like em.

[BobGreenwade]

Originally posted by CorpCommander
Moller Skycar I'm about 97.3% sure this is already in the manuscript. (I had one written for TUV, but while Steve kept the write-up he didn't include it in the book, commenting that he wanted it for later. I kinda figured this was what he had in mind.)

As with the Skycar and other volantors, I'd like to see plenty of vehicles that are currently in the design/prototype stage. These would be very handy for those near-future settings as well as "ahead-of-the-tech-curve" superhero games.

On another note, while a TARDIS-like time machine was included in TUV, I'd like to see one similar to that associated with H. G. Wells. (For that matter, I don't think you'd even have to file off the proverbial serial numbers on this.)

[Space Cadet]

__________________________________________________
Originally posted by BobGreenwade
__________________________________________________

On another note, while a TARDIS-like time machine was included
in TUV, I'd like to see one similar to that associated with H.G. Wells.
(For that matter, I don't think you'd even have to file off the
proverbial serial numbers on this.)
__________________________________________________
I'd wouldn't mind seeing something along those lines myself,
especially if said time machine bore a resemblance to the
one that appeared in the TV-movie version (the one where
the inventor of the time machine went forward in time and
discovered that superweapons he had designed in his own
era were responsible for the near-destruction of mankind).

Space Cadet :cool:

[Alibear]

Car-chase rules, rule.

[Thirdbase]

Space Cadet The Paladin is a 155 mm Howitzer.

Um, I was hoping for more low tech/fantasy vehicles.

[JmOz]

Originally posted by Alibear
Car-chase rules, rule.

See TuV

[BobGreenwade]

Originally posted by Alibear
Car-chase rules, rule. Thank you. :)

[Captain Obvious]

Looks like a lot of good ideas have already been posted. One of these days I'm going to camp out waiting for Steve to post one of these "what do you want" threads so I can get credit for the good ideas and not just be the guy showing support for them....

As the guy showing support for good ideas, I say no reprints (cross-referencing is great though), and go generic for most writeups and give us packages to modify for specific models. I like the detail in TUV, but each write up took up the better part of the page, especially for modern military vehicles. Too much to get much variety into a workable page count. On the other hand, a generic WWII battleship with specific packages could take up two pages and cover damn near every battleship in the war....

[Space Cadet]

Originally posted by Thirdbase
Space Cadet The Paladin is a 155 mm Howitzer.

Um, I was hoping for more low tech/fantasy vehicles.

Thanks, Thirdbase. I wasn't sure about the gun size when I made
that post, which was why I put the (?) after the shell size.

Space Cadet :cool:

[Space Cadet]

Originally posted by Thirdbase
Space Cadet The Paladin is a 155 mm Howitzer.

Um, I was hoping for more low tech/fantasy vehicles.

Thanks, Thirdbase. I wasn't sure about the gun size when I made
that post, which was why I put the (?) after the shell size.

Space Cadet :cool:

[Space Cadet]

Rats! Another frelling double-post :mad: ... Oh, well, such is life :rolleyes:.

Space Cadet :cool:

[Hugh Neilson]

Originally posted by Space Cadet
Rats! Another frelling double-post :mad: ... Oh, well, such is life :rolleyes:.

Space Cadet :cool:

If you go to Edit, you can delete a post.

Double posted before? No, not me - why do you ask? :rolleyes:

[Shadeja]

All of the suggestions sound great so far, but how about something quirky like the old Centipede Mobile of Foxbat Fame. Every master supervillain needs a cool ride.

[Lord Mhoram]

YES YES YES.... We must have the centepedeboile!!!!!

It's the amazing Fobtax.

[megaplayboy]

I'd like to see a fantasy genre "war wagon", ala Gustavus Adolphus;)

[Dr. Anomaly]

Originally posted by Lord Mhoram
It's the amazing Fobtax.

Err...what's a fob tax? Something you pay for wearing an old-style pocketwatch? :D

[Thag13]

I would add in some cool suggestions, but it looks liek to me everything has been added that can reasonably be added to the book

I do vote for not having reprints of the TUV book in the new book.

Sidebars would be useful.

I hate doing "me too" posts, but at least I did get a vote in.

Great Ideas everyone.

[JmOz]

A second Index of all the vehicles in print, listing all the ones from TuV, CKC, Champions, etc, plus the ones in this book of course

[Koshka]

Originally posted by Dr. Anomaly
Submarines: very early (Turtle, Hunley), WWI U-Boats, WWII subs, nuclear subs (attack and ballistic). A couple of super-deep subs or submersible vehicles (Alvin, Trieste, NR-1).

I did a 5th edition version of the Hunley for a recent issue of Haymaker. Steve, if you think you can use it, you can have it.

Count another vote for WWII vehicles, though I enjoy playing with the vehicle creation rules so I'd probably still make up my own version :) . I'm working on the V-1 and V-2 right now, in fact (plus the never-used-in-combat manned V-1).

[PhilFleischmann]

Some small one-person vehicles:

Jet Ski
Snowmobile
Segway (I don't know who'd use it, but why not?)

Asteroid Hopper/Miner
Wonkavator

Perhaps a few writeups of the form:

X Military Aircraft:
...full stats...

For Y Military Aircraft, use X as above, but change Flight to A, STR to B and other stat to C.
For Z Military Aircraft, use X as above, but change Flight to D, STR to E and weapon system to F.

This would save some space and allow similar vehicles to be listed together, highlighting their specific game-effect differences, rather than having to list multiple vehicles that are 95% the same as full separate write-ups.

A good sampling of fantasy/Supers vehicles like:

Supers:
Super Car w/oodles-o-gadgets
Flying Motorcycle
Spider/Insect-shaped Mecha

Fantasy:
Flying ship pulled by a dragon
Fully furnished back of a ship-size turtle
City-sized castle of a demon lord in hell, mounted on giant wheels and pulled across the arid plain by a million souls of the damned. (Did I think of this myself, or did I steal the idea from D&D somewhere? I don't remember. Oh well. They say memory is the second thing to go.)

And most importantly:
Correct the weird rule in TUV for towed vehicles that says that the animal/engine that tows the trailer must be able to *lift* it. This of course makes no sense. Horses couldn't lift most of the carts and carriages they pull. It's funny how the game system takes into account space flight, FTL, teleportation, and even time travel, but fails to understand the wheel and the inclined plane.

[JSenecal]

What I most want to see stats for are a full sized van, and a small panel truck. I'd expect any group of agents, and even some villian groups, to be in the back of one of these vehicles when they arrive. But neither has been done in 5th Edition :( (other than as 'use pickup truck')

Also useful would be an assortment of cars (compact, sports car, family sedan, luxury sedan, etc.)

And finally, most of the time I don't need a full writeup, just speed, movement, defense, body, and weight. So one page chart that listed this info (perhaps one per chapter) would be a very handy reference chart!

If you wanted to include a large number of real world modern day vehicles such as different models of sports cars, I think pages could best be spend by providing a full writeup for one, and then handle others as options. Each could have it's own line in the chapter chart :)

[Blue]

Can't believe I missed this thread until now.

As I don't foresee WWI or WWII sourcebooks coming out anytime soon, it would be great if there were some early-to-mid twentieth century war vehicles.

Zepplin
Tigershark (bomber)
U-boat
Panzer tanks

While we're at it, how about a Hydrofoyle

As for non-WW period vehicles, how about some mecha! Unless yer gonna reprint robot-warriors :D

[oldguy68]

boats ,boats ,or some boats would be nice . What self respecting game dosen't end up with a fight at the docks . Every good criminal /drug lord needs a yacht or two . Some large modern sail boats would be nice . It would be nice to see some deck plans , space permitting.

[JmOz]

I would like to see some Mecha (Especialy a roboteck style Fighter/Hybrid/Robot Transforming one)

I also would like to see a serial number rubbed off SDF-1

[caris]

First, I would have preferred if TUV had been split into multiple books, and had the materials in both these projects divided differently. I would have preferred something like Ultimate Ground Vehicle, Ultimate Mecha, etc, and have a more extensive set of write ups of that type of vehicle in each book.

Having said that, what I would like to see is a write up of a towed barge, either a modern version that is pulled by a tug, or one like the ones used on the Erie Canal.

[CorpCommander]

Actually I like what they did with the TUV. It covers a wide swath of vehicle interests. Individual genere source material can be made from it. I think a line of PDF products would be good because it had negligable distribution costs and you don't have to guess how large your production run needs to be.

Its a LOT of work making good lists of vehicles, characters, equipment... I am working on a campagin book for my Post Apocalyptic world that I plan on giving away in PDF format. I am working on the equipment lists now. Oy what work! In working on my book the TUV has become extremely useful as I have to devise both very hightech and very low tech vehicles.

What would be nice is the Hero Community producing more free stuff. There are some fantastic examples of this already. Grey Hero comes to mind. I have a lot of knowlege of the American Civil War, several periods of Samurai history and WWII. It makes sense for me to begin the work on creating lists of weapons, armor and vehicles for those periods. They are things many people running Hero games could use. We'll have to see. The popularity of my Post Apocalyptic book will determine how interested I am in producing additional books. Watch the Star Hero board for an announcement for V1.0 soon.

[Captain Obvious]

Reading the weekly update about all the research Steve puts into each vehicle write-up reminds me of something else I'd like to see: How these stats were derived.

Undoubtedly, some of us will drag up some bizarre real-world vehicles to use in one campaign or another, and these will never ever show up in any official capacity, because they're so off-the-wall. Having some sort of official guidelines for how real-world stats translate into game stats would help to keep home-brewed vehicles in line with the rest of the game.

[Insaniac99]

dunno if this has been mentioned but:

a vehicle that is a base, and nt like a small mobile base mind you, but a full blown this is where some characters live type base

a vehicle with a larger inside then out (wouldn't it be a suprise to the new member who climbs into the Bug and falls down a flight of stairs?)

just some of the more outlandish type things...

[Vondy]

A tricked out "Bond" style Aston Martin DB7!

[Insaniac99]

Originally posted by McCoy
Second the motion for an on-line multibook index. Good idea, especally from a reptile.:)

I'm a flaming skull and I vote for this as well, NOW THEY CAN NOT DENY US!!!! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[BobGreenwade]

Originally posted by Captain Obvious
Reading the weekly update about all the research Steve puts into each vehicle write-up reminds me of something else I'd like to see: How these stats were derived. It's starting to look like at least a few rules sets that didn't make it into TUV will be called for.... ;)

[Vondy]

And a Harely Davidson Fat Boy!

[Space Cadet]

I'd like to see a writeup for the Sukhoi S-37 Berkut ( the Russian
counterpart of our own YF-22 Raptor ). This baby looks like some-
thing the guys that work on the G.I. Joe series would've
designed.

Space Cadet :cool:

[John515]

Have you done those yet? I am very familiar with them and specifically, what they're really capable of. I used to race them (qualified for the world finals, thank you very much...) and have a lot of experience with the day to day use of them. Let me know if I can help!

John

[Steve Long]

Will do, John; thanx!