Star Hero
Science Fiction Roleplaying in the worlds of the future!
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In the future, it will become harder for people to tell the difference between us using historical methods, such as Chinese, American, English, black, Hispanic, etc. This will be because people will be mixing more than they have ever before, regardless if they are in space, on some planet, asteroid, or any other place. Those historical differences will disappear. However, humans being the separatist creatures that they are will develop other ways to separate themselves according to new lines in the future. Here are some forms I have considered - Spacer - These people live all to most of their lives off planet. Their entire existence is the ship, stat…
Last reply by Sundog, -
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I was working with ChatGPT 3.5 tonight and asked it this. “List Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics” It came back with this. “Sure, here are the three laws of robotics as formulated by Isaac Asimov. 1. A robot may not injure” And that was it. I tried asking it several different ways, and it kept cutting off at the same point. I’ve ever seen it truncate a short answer like that before. While I could get it to give me the second and third laws by asking for them directly, it would not give me the complete first law. Kind of weird.
Last reply by Opal, -
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The Questions forum is for 6e, and this is based on a 5e Star Hero book so I hope this thread is in the right place. If not then I'd be grateful if it could be moved to where it needs to be. In Scourges of the Galaxy (page 66), the Lord Vorpal's Snicker-Snack is statted as a Major Transform with a standard effect of 105 points, enough to transform a 104-BODY star into a black hole. But normally Transform needs to total twice the BODY of the target to take effect, and the Snicker-Snack has the All Or Nothing limitation so it needs to do this in one shot. Is there a rule somewhere in 5e that says objects only need to take their full BODY, and not twi…
Last reply by Rails, -
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I’m considering starting a campaign, maybe twenty to thirty sessions, in a setting where Han Solo and Mal Reynolds would be at home. Usually, I create giant sandboxes and give the players a lot of input. But some of the players prefer a more linear story. (I think it helps them evaluate how they are doing. Although, personally, I rate rpg’s on laughs and gasps.) So, this time I’m looking at a “Treasure Hunt in Space” or “Indiana Jones in Space” type of story. Have you done anything like this before? Do you have any thoughts about pitfalls to avoid? What would make interesting high-tech treasure? What are some high-tech clues to follow?
Last reply by Lord Liaden, -
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I recently picked up the new Star Trek: Lower Decks Campaign Book and was perusing it for ideas when I came across a mention of what subjects that science officers might specialize in. Two such mentioned science specialties caught my attention because they just seemed to come in from far out in left field: dentistry and podiatry. My imagination immediately began wondering what a medical officer specializing in podiatry or maybe even xenopodiatry might have to deal with on a Star Fleet vessel. Then I started wondering if there were other oddball sciences that people have seen characters take, and if they somehow proved useful.
Last reply by Sundog, -
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[EDIT: Someone has rightly pointed out that this discussion would be more appropriate for another forum, so I will be re-posting it there. Please disregard the post. Thank you.] I'm curious -- how does your table handle the "vehicles for vehicles/bases" rules when designing bases or vehicles? Some thoughts... At one end of the spectrum, "The Ultimate Vehicle" includes an example of an elevator on p. 167 as a vehicle. This seems unnecessary to me: surely an elevator or a turbolift can be considered "everyvehicle/everybase" equipment? As a more central position, that same book describes defining missiles as vehicles, and gives examples of various types …
Last reply by DeleteThisAccount, -
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Hey everyone, looking for some feedback. For my game this progression makes a lot of sense but still interested in hearing some feedback. I don't like the one in the book going only to 10. There isn't enough examples and not enough diversity. The book recommends a -3 to rolls for every tech level you are short. I use -2 because the list is much larger going to 20. I only use 3 examples of tech in each level range for simplicity. If my players ask about something not on the list, I just assign what tech level it would be around. Each example has a range. For example, particle beams at 11.1 - 12 is just the beginning, could easily have tech level 18 particle beams. Also, th…
Last reply by Darkhope, -
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People have always been attempting to improve upon their ability to communicate. In times past, they used voice, writing, animal, painting, smoke, and (more recently) electronic method. All of these are in the effort of making it so that people can communicate greater information, more clearly, with better speed. Each form has its problem that people are trying to overcome. The electronic method is our current best method, but there is the problems of energy efficiency and speed (that of light speed). As there becomes more people and we spread to more planets, both will become greater issues. People will need to look for other alternatives for their communica…
Last reply by Cancer, -
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Apparently none of them could be another Krypton.
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 Kealios, -
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. . .or not. Looking at how people entertain themselves over time makes one wonder how little things have really changed. Best forms of entertainment in antiquity were races, strength-based, agility-honing, or strategic. Today, the games most revered will all have some version of the above, just with electronic overlay. Looking into the future, I am expecting that electronic treatment to get more so in the games. I was wondering if anyone saw things differently, any flaws in reasoning. Anything else that you would like to add would be greatly appreciated.
Last reply by Scott Ruggels, -
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A long time ago, in theaters far, far away... hordes of sci-fi geeks gathered to watch the "final" *cough, cough* chapter of the galactic war that had been raging for years as Darth Vader and his Emperor tried to eliminate the Rebel Alliance once and for all. "Return of the Jedi" is celebrating its own 40th birthday by returning to Terrestrial cinemas. It will be re-released on April 28 and run through Star Wars Day, May 4. https://www.starwars.com/news/swce-2023-return-of-the-jedi-40th-anniversary May the Fourth be with you!
Last reply by archer, -
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That's the title. World-Building: A Writer's Guide to Constructing Star Systems and Life-Supporting Planets, by Stephen L. Gillett. Published 1996, so it'sw B. E. (Before Exoplanets) -- but Gillett still has some nifty ideas for worlds and a lot of useful basic info on astronomy, geology and their intersection. It's part of a series of handbooks for SF writers edited by Ben Bova. My personal favorite is the co-orbital pair, in which two bodies regularly switch their orbits back and forth. Gillett says that two of Saturn's moons (Janus and Epimetheus) actually do this! (These linked orbits are also called "horseshoe orbits" from the way each orbit looks from the frame …
Last reply by tkdguy, -
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https://batintheattic.blogspot.com/2009/04/how-to-make-traveller-sandbox.html?m=1 The example is Traveller, but works well as basic advice for a sandbox style campaign. Additionally, you can tag player’s life path results to the map notes as well to give folks a deeper background, and ties to the location.
Last reply by GDShore, -
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I have decided to completely redo my rather large vehicle template collection for Hero Designer heres an example TV Tracked Vehicle Template.hdt TV Tracked Vehicle Template.TXT
Last reply by shadowcat1313, -
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So, I've been toying around with statting up shmups as extra starships in a sci-fi game. Shmups, for those who don't recognize the acronym, are SHoot-'eM-UPS -- video games where you pilot a ship (almost always a fighter-style starship) around a scrolling map and try to shoot opponents while avoiding getting shot yourself. A few of the more popular shmups get some fluff text, which describes the imaginary capabilities of the ships in question -- which is always fun to convert to Hero System. Anyway, I figured the easiest way would be to start with a "generic shmup," a ship sheet that shows the assumed capabilities of a hypothetical generic shmupcraft. I'll post what …
Last reply by AlHazred, -
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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 Cancer, -
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A decade ago, the United Worlds and Vorn were at war. Just as we never knew why they attacked, we never knew why they withdrew from U.W. space, but given the losses suffered, we were glad they did. The Vorn remain a weight on the minds of U.W. military planners, but life goes on for everyone else. From the domes covering the frozen wastes of Tawhirimatea to the lush jungles of Yewel, humans the other races of the U.W. live, work and squabble on dozens of inhabited worlds, deal with the everchanging Jodoni demenses, wonder about the aloof, cryptically prescient Ethereans, and worry about what was important enough to the Vorn to have them retreat when their victory wa…
Last reply by BigJackBrass, -
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An example of World Building I haven't seen the likes of since the 1990s. Artist’s Tumblr: https://iguanodont.tumblr.com/ Artist’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/iguanodentist
Last reply by DentArthurDent, -
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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 novi, -
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Hey, I am running Rescue at Karadonna at Midwinter Con next year and if I could find a character pack for Alien Wars it would make things easier. So, does anyone one knows if there is a character pack? I didn't see it in the store.
Last reply by Steve, -
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All the package deals, equipment and vehicles from Alien Wars in Hero Designer format for only $5.99! Cool!
Last reply by Steve, -
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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 DentArthurDent, -
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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 DentArthurDent, -
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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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