Star Hero
Science Fiction Roleplaying in the worlds of the future!
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I was watching a drone racing competition on TV and decided it had a place in my science fiction society. After all, people in the future will need entertainment like we do today. And it looks futuristic, especially with all the trappings. Despite movies like Rollerball and Running Man, I don't see a lot of ultraviolent sports in my future society, although combat sports will still be around. Maybe robot combat will be a popular alternative, as will virtual reality combat, like the old BattleTech Centers in the 1990s. Laser tag is still around, even though it's past it's heyday. Of course, there's more to entertainment than sports. For those interested in t…
Last reply by tkdguy, -
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Hi! Concerning the possibility of aliens speaking English, on a scale of one to ten ("one" being "No extraterrestrials speak English and meaningful communication between them and humans is virtually impossible." and "ten" being "Everyone speaks English and no one bats an eye; the frequently featured 'universal translator' may not even be required."), where do your science-fiction games reside?
Last reply by Scott Ruggels, -
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I understand why there are lightsabers in Star Wars; the Jedi Order is (or was) a part of the setting. But there are other examples of swords in scifi. Klingons have the bat'leth. The Narn and Centauri have their own blades. Traveller, Warhammer 40000, and Halo all include swords in their arsenals. But why? Swords aren't used in combat nowadays, and they aren't about to make a comeback in the battlefield anytime soon. Why would they make a comeback in the far future? The Traveller rpg has some explanation: Swords are used instead of guns to prevent damaging internal systems when fighting on board a starship. They are a feature on sword & planet…
Last reply by steriaca, -
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A couple of threads that were talking about Traveller hero made me think back to the old games a traveler that I used to really enjoy and the new games that frankly just aren’t as fun. When I played the old games the universe was an unknown, exploration was the big thing and even a small starship could have an impact. In the new traveler, not really new but super developed, the unknown is not really a thing it feels more like playing in a Star Trek Star Wars setting rather than a frontier setting. I think the issue is that technology is far too available and travel between the stars is far too easy. So I started thinking about what exactly changed and I decided to go back…
Last reply by Duke Bushido, -
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In my game, the hyperdrive is the main method of FTL travel. It is a clone of the Traveller jump drive, with a maximum of Jump-2 (2 parsecs, taking 1 week). Ships carry enough proton fuel for anywhere from 1 to 4 jumps before needing to refuel. Paired with fuel scoops, ships can refuel from gas giants or oceans. Hyperdrive: Teleportation 62m, MegaRange (1m = 1 trillion km; +4) (310 Active Points); Extra Time (1 Week, -4 1/2), OIF Immobile (-1 1/2), 4 Fuel Charges (Recovers Under Limited Circumstances; -1 1/4), Conditional Power (Power does not work in Common Circumstances) (Non-Functional In A Gravity Well; -1/2), Requires A Roll (Skill roll; Dimensional Naviga…
Last reply by Duke Bushido, -
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Links: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=570&e=13&u=/nm/space_mars_dc http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=96&e=2&u=/space/firstinvisiblegalaxydiscoveredincosmologybreakthrough
Last reply by Scott Ruggels, -
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I got thinking recently about the different ways that people attempt to create energy. In ancient times, people had muscle power in some form, either human or animal. Eventually we figured out power of moving water, then came other forms of power that are either more powerful or portable (or both). Today we possess a wide array of ways to create power - muscle, hydro, steam, wind, petroleum, solar, among MANY more. Including discussion about their strengths and weaknesses, I would like for us to brainstorm possible ways people can create energy that either are only theory today or not even at that stage, might even talk about completely fictional sources - tho…
Last reply by IndianaJoe3, -
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One of the biggest problems with weapon deployment for infantry in the 24th Century was logistics-deploying massive amount of infantry weapons for the United Army. There was no practial way-with the early hyperdrives and engines-that an army could be properly supported with ammo, food, and stockpiles across interstellar distances. LogCom (Logistics Command) searched, and found an easy solution to one of the biggest problems. Chemical-propellant firearms had topped off in the mid-22nd Century with electro-thermal propellants, with the newest innovations merely introducing a level of compactness and reliability to the design. When the first hyperdrives were deployed…
Last reply by Scott Ruggels, -
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I think this was done in the latest Shadowrun edition, where everything is in the Matrix. I'm coming up with my own setting mixing alien pawns/characters from Cyberpunk/Battletech and Starfinder. So we have aliens, (human-sized) mecha and cyberpunks loaded on the mapboard on my table right now. All I am missing is names, backgrounds and some cool gadgets for these folks until I can kick off the scenario. So I have a group of tough guys with numerous mecha to aid them about to blast into a bar (from CPRed beginner box) and try to capture a hacker (one of the group inside). Inside there is a mech, a rifleman and the hacker. What I thought would give the scenario…
Last reply by Ninja-Bear, -
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This thread is similar to the Random Links thread in the NGD. It's for scifi-related videos, articles, pictures, etc. for topics that don't quite fit anywhere in the threads here. If you find something interesting but don't really want to start a new discussion about the topic, feel free to post it here.
Last reply by tkdguy, -
- 13 replies
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Last reply by Tom Cowan, -
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So, I'm running a Star Trek game on Hero. The PCs are crew members of an Ambassador Class ship (think Enterprise C) in 2380 (post Star Trek: Nemesis). I am assuming that the ship has civilians on board like the Odyssey class ships we saw in Next Gen, both dependents of Starfleet personnel and civilian contractors. My question is: what do the civilians on board a starfleet vessel do to pass the time and feel productive? The only examples I can remember from Next Gen are Wesley Crusher, a teenage genius who became an acting crew member and later a starfleet cadet; Keiko O'Brien, a biologist who passed the time teaching; and Guinan, who ran the bar/lounge and was not a depen…
Last reply by Old Man, -
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My group had our character creation session for the new campaign using Mongoose’s Pirates of Drinax campaign setting this weekend. It was quite a lot of fun, like a time-compressed pre-campaign session, and everyone had a great time following their character’s life paths. One character started out with a fantastic stat set (three 12s rolled in front of me) and the other two were closer to average. Of those other players, one had his best stat as his social standing, and the third was fairly average with social standing as his dump stat (a five as I recall). Because there was a pretty big difference in the totals of their characteristics, we all decided to let …
Last reply by Steve, -
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So, I'm working on my own starship design and classification system, and some interesting dilemmas have come up. The first one is "what, practically speaking, is the distinction between a 'space torpedo' and a garden variety 'space missile'? " I tried to think about the qualities of a "torpedo" vs a "missile" and what I can come up with so far: torpedoes may be slower but harder hitting, and it may be possible to evade a space torpedo. Another option is that the torpedo essentially becomes a ball of energy of some sort(plasma?) when fired, so that conventional missile defence/deflection tends to be less effective against it. That might also explain it being less…
Last reply by pinecone, -
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With season three starting, I think this show is really finding its legs. I wasn’t terribly impressed by the first season, but the second season showed some improvement. The new season shows even more. The dialog still reminds me of an RPG group playing a homebrew Star Trek game though, which does add to the humor factor.
Last reply by Scott Ruggels, -
- 0 replies
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I read Terracide both in its "original" form as a handful of documents on surbrook.devermore.net, and in the form of the pdf (quite neat! Has some good ideas for how to handle "hard SF" aliens in the RPG context, particularly with the Titans). I remember the stuff about "steampunk ice age yetis" or whatever it was that was supposed to be the intelligent species on an "Earthlike" alien world, but, it appears that in the editing of Terracide, details of this were cut. The GM's section says: However, there is no section on Xi Scorpii D. So far as some CTRL+Fing can find, there's only a couple insinuating mentions of a potential 'new Earth' in reference to …
Last reply by Haemolyph, -
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For folks who pay attention to FFE, yes, I'm that Don McKinney... legacy Traveller errata, Mongoose Zhodani book, etc. My local gaming group wants to return to HERO, but the last time we all played was 4th. Looking to combine my T5 and other efforts, since everyone but me wants to give HERO a new shakeout. So, is there anyone who has done some preliminary work on converting TH to HERO 6th, and is there enough interest that I would start collecting TH errata/material. Sadly, I know a TH CD is not an option.
Last reply by Steve, -
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So someone mentioned the issues with monetary systems for Space Opera campaigns but I would like to discuss what would be the most likely system in a world that survives nuclear Armageddon! James Axler's Deathlands books to my mind have the best idea. Bullets! Ammunition! In a world where everyone is scavenging the dead husks of nuked out cities with a population less than 10% the world was before the catastrophe the main source of power would be guns. Guns are useless without ammo so it stands to reason the one commodity everyone would want to barter for would be ammunition. Finding guns might be easy given the number of gun stores and the gun…
Last reply by Chris Goodwin, -
- 4 replies
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Some of you may remember Winchell Chung, aka Nyrath. He owns the Atomic Rockets site and used to be active in the Star Hero forum. I just learned on another board that he is gravely ill. I wanted to confirm it before posting here. I have found his tweet about his condition. If you want to send him well wishes, you can add to the notes here. I cross-posted the news in the NGD.
Last reply by Chris Goodwin, -
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With the great abundance and variation of spacecraft that exists in the different scifi stories, games, and other methods that people have to entertain each other, they have developed many different abilities, styles, functions, features, and other elements. Due to the extensive list, I will not attempt to make a list and allow everyone to mention their preferred craft and give the reason for it. The only requirement that they must share is that they allow reasonable transport from one planet to another. Weapons, armor, FTL, sensors, and other abilities will all be special features unique to the vehicle and system and need to be described.
Last reply by shadowcat1313, -
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I vaguely recall coming across a discussion of how to simulate the seven lightsaber forms practiced by the Jedi in the forums years ago, but my Search Fu has failed me. Perhaps it once existed but has since been deleted. Does anyone else recall this, or am I suffering from the Mandela Effect?
Last reply by Steve, -
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- 3 replies
- 142 views
Anthony Miller posted his thoughts on Traveller Hero here
Last reply by SCUBA Hero, -
- 2 followers
- 7 replies
- 195 views
These felt right, and I worked with the data I gleaned from the Battletech: A Game of Armored Combat box set, and other sources I forgot. BT damage to Hero Damage Classes: 1 (LRM damage, light machine guns, 6 damage classes) = 2d6 2 (SRM damage, machine guns, AC/2 etc., 9 damage classes) = 3d6 3 (Hvy machine guns, 10 damage classes) = 3d6+1 4-5 (RAC/5, AC/5, flamer, pulse laser, 12 damage classes) = 4d6-1 10 (AC/10, large pulse laser, ER PPC, etc., 13 damage classes) = 4d6 15 (Heavy PPC, ER PPC, 14 damage classes) = 4½d6 20 (AC/20, 15 damage classes) = 5d6-1 25 (Long Tom, 17 damage classes) = 5d6+1 30 (Long Tom flechette ammo against infa…
Last reply by shadowcat1313, -
- 6 replies
- 187 views
If I missed it, please let me know where... If not, does anyone have a conversion of Endurance to Joule (J) or have suggestions to design one that does a reasonable job of making energy expenditures consistent? i.e. size solar from panels to charge a space station vs an exotic material battery
Last reply by Lord Liaden, -
- 21 replies
- 474 views
Anyone using Star Hero for Trek? I'm pretty sure I have seen PDFs in 4th Edition for such a game. If you have used it, has it been effective? I'm thinking of doing a game. Drawbacks? Suggestions? Generally I run every Hero game of mine just using the main 5e book--not going into the alternate genre books (i.e. Hero books that aren't Superhero genre). Except for space stuff for some reason. Like, if I'm running a spy game, I just use the main 5e book. But I've had recent experiences that have shown me the other books are the smart way to go. I think I used to have more time, and now I appreciate more that the Hero book catalog can save …
Last reply by Tjack,
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