Star Hero

I have been considering a construct I wish to use in either a game or other format, specifically a RIGID space elevator. Flexible enough to avoid cracking due to wind-shear and such, but a solid construct up to low earth orbit, with perhaps a tether to an asteroid in geostationary. The elevator is hollow - open at the top to allow railcars to simply drive into the hollow centre, but sealed and in vacuum all the way down, so cars need simply drive down or up without having to "re-enter" atmosphere at all, docking with airlocks at the base. Now, I realise this means an absurdly strong material and structural design, but that isn't my problem. My question is: wha…

I'm getting information together to run a game in the Babylon 5 setting, using the HERO system. Can anyone here recommend good reference books for the B5 setting? I really think I only need some system maps, and maybe some ship listings/designs. I want to avoid buying every B5 RPG supplement and really just need the basics, so I'm open to suggestions. Thanks.

I’m currently working on crafting a post-apocalypse setting where it has been several hundred years since the end of civilization. Because of this, it seems to me that most modern firearms would stop working after all that time due to broken parts except for revolvers, which seem to have the most robust and simplest construction. Such weapons could be family heirlooms, I suppose. Ammunition also seems to have a limited shelf life, admittedly one that could be measured in years or decades. However, after several hundred years, all ammunition would then likely be more like home-made reloads. Does this sound like a reasonable way to look a…

OK, I'd like to talk about Alien species in SFRPGs including ones you might borrow from other sources and stick directly into a game you're creating. For a little known pair of entries, icd like to bring up the Spectrals and the Dragoncrests from the Living Steel RPG. You can look them both up on the net but in short the spectrals are implacable bad guys who must feed on sentient races to live and have some unique methods of invading a world in a way that lets them maximize the chances of each spectral feed directly on a sentient being. They kinda border on mystic in some ways but have a hard sf feel to them in some. http://living-steel.wikia.com/wiki/Spectrals …

Robots. Droids. Synthethics. However you call them, they are a staple of SciFi. But they come in all kinds of shapes and sizes. I noticed a number of very interesting variations in particular in Star Wars the Old Republic. Having 8 base Classes, the Developers tried to give most of them at least one unique "Quirky Droid" companion. C2-N2 - shared droid for all Republic Characters. C2 is a costodian droid of Spaceships, and such every Republic Player aquries on with his ship. Apparently the series is "overlerly focussed on Comfort" and pleasing his master. If he does not have a Critical Crafting result he calls that "less then Ideal". His Alliance Alert propa…

Ok how much science do you out in your sf games?

wow.... Battlefield Press is going to be printing new versions of the old Terran Trade Authority books, with the original art, later this year or early 2019.. I remember reading these when I was a lot younger... they are really hard to find at a reasonable price these days. some great source and inspirational material in them, sadly I only have Space Wars, Worlds, and Weapons on my shelf still

Male Char Female 13 STR 8 10 DEX 11 13 CON 13 10 BODY 10 13 INT 13 10 EGO 11 13 PRE 13 10 COM 10 3 PD 3 3 ED 3 3 SPD 3 6 REC 5 26 END 26 24 STUN 21 Total Characteristics Cost: 25 Points Cost Skills 3 Navigation [Ground/Space] 12- 20 Universal Translator 12- 2 TF: Science Fiction & Space Vehicles 25 Skill Set Total Skills Cost: 50 Points Cost Powers 15 Armor +5 rPD +5 rED 45 Multipower (45 Points) 4 u) EB 9d6, STUN Only (-0), [16c] (-0) or HKA 2d6, No END (+1/2) 3 u) HA +6d6, HTH Attack (-1/2), No END (+1/2) 4 u) RKA 3d6, …

You've seen it, that little gizmo that lets the marines know the aliens are coming in from all aides. I was wondering what different builds people might have to get this up and running. Here's my initial take: 30 Spatial Awareness (Unusual Group), Increased Arc Of Perception (360 Degrees), Telescopic: +6

The forums have seemed slow lately. I must do something about that. Would anyone like to see materials from my old Planetary Romand campaign? Setting is Sard, Planet of Adventure. My gaming group used it in two campaigns: First I ran "A Princess of Sard," and then another player ran "Gods of Sard." For a start, though, next post is a bit of fiction to introduce you to the world and the universe beyond. Dean Shomshak

Orion's Spear The Future is what you make it someone once said. This then is the story of a future that I have made. It began as something to do when I was working as a security guard, a brief and entirely forgettable period of my life some 35+ years ago. My presence was completely unnecessary and I was only there to get the company's insurance rates lowered. There was absolutely nothing for me to do so I just sat unobtrusively at my desk, took out my notebook and started to write. I wrote about quite a number of things, most of them totally forgettable, but there were two stories that took on a life of there own so to speak. Both were written in …

OK, kidding aside, what sort of futuristic replacement could you see for common, modern, ubiquitous tools in the world of tomorrow? Let's start with that Hero of a thousand uses, duct tape. What could duct tape be like in, say, the 23rd century? Could we have some sort of nanotech based duct tape that could be programmed with a tool in various ways? Maybe it could be set to adhere only to itself, or to adhere to specific surfaces like metal, glass, wood, etc. Maybe it could be programmed to release and reset to a new state. Could it be rigged with tiny lights to show how much stress it's under, so green lights means fine and red means it's near its limit? Could it be…

Bolter Pistol: +40 STR, 32 Charges (+1/4), Autofire (10 shots; +1) (90 Active Points); Only For Throwing (-1), OAF (; -1), No Figured Characteristics (-1/2) Bolter Round: EB 1d6+1 (standard effect: 4 STUN, 2 BODY), Autofire (3 shots; +1/4), Penetrating (+1/2) (12 Active Points); 1 Charge (-2), OIF (-1/2) Variant "Hold Out" Bolter Pistol: +40 STR, Autofire (10 shots; +1) (80 Active Points); Only For Throwing (-1), No Figured Characteristics (-1/2), OIF (; -1/2), 12 Charges (-1/4) After a long evening on warhammer40k.wikia.com I realized Bolters are awesome. They have a propellant sufficient to clear the barrel, but are autonomous drones that go aft…

So, we are playing the Star Wars universe. Droids are awesome. I like the idea of Han Solo wiring droid brains in the Falcon to help pilot. So how would you design a Star Wars "Artoo Detoo" Astromech droid brain in this system? If you have a writeup, let's see it!

The Article At Livescience Interesting that they didn't have an entry for artificial gravity--that's a concept found in many, many science fiction movies and TV series, so much so that it's almost a surprise to me when it doesn't appear.

Let's say you have an FTL drive that relies on Hyperspace, Jump Space, or some other theoretical construct that gets you over a great distance by having you enter some other dimension linked to it and travel an experientially shorter distance. Normally I would imagine this would be written up on a Star Hero ship as merely a special effect of the FTL power. But I'm wondering if it might be an Extra-Dimensional Movement power instead in some campaigns, and here's why -- you may not be the only things there. Imagine everyone going through Jump Space goes through the same plane of Jump Space (or whatever you call it). This makes some sense -- your Jump Drive shouldn't…

Working on a SH campaign, and I'm trying to create some basic package deals that could potentially represent a player-character's background. My basic Marine (enlisted) PD (cost: 4 character points) Abilities: Combat Driving (3 pts), Concealment (3 pts), Demolitions (3 pts), Interrogation (3 pts), Martial Arts (Commando Training - 24 pts), +2 OCV w/ Martial Arts & Combat Rifle (4 pt levels; total 8 pts), Survival (3 pts), Tracking (3 pts), TF: Tracked Vehicles (2 pts), WF: Small Arms - SF (2 pts). Total: 54 pts Disadvantages: DF - Marine (-5 pts), Watched by Higher Authority 11- (-10 pts), PsychLim - Loyal to Government (-20), PsychLim - Always obeys order…

A while ago I made a number of Stellaris "playthrough reports". The idea was to try something new and give you guys some ideas for a setting if you ever need one. Stellaris got a Update, so time to make a new one. While as usual the new empires are not quite "playable" yet due to a number of bugs/oversights, I will keep to a more traditional human Empire. Setting for Humanity: Humanity of Sol is mostly Unified under the Global Government of the UN and has been for around a century. About 100 years before gamestart they Started the "Ulysses Initiative". 6 Arkships with unstable but powerfull Wormhole generators. 0.5 Million colonists in cryosleep each. They were send…

I'm working on a premise for a Star Hero campaign, and is crossed my mind that Star Hero Complete would make a nice addition to the Complete​ product line. The idea has bounced around in my head for a few days now, so I thought I'd leave it here to get some feedback. If such a product were in the works, what unique elements would you like it to contain that would differentiate it from Champions and Fantasy Hero Complete? For example, ​Fantasy Hero Complete​ differentiated itself by including Ranged Martial Arts, and Talents drawn from Fantasy Hero ​(such as Turn Undead), but excluding modern skills (such as Bugging and Computer Programming). It had a more extensive c…

Here's something for your characters if they ever have to go outside in vacuum--Courtesy of Jack Kirby Hail To The King.

Okay as mentioned in my other post I'm working on a Star Hero/Fantasy Hero type campaign. Debating on completing it and releasing it as a product. I need a good name for the campaign, I've put a few in the poll. Please list any others you think of and we might add them to the poll. Here is a small PDF with some of the thoughts for the campaign. Planets for the campaign.pdf

So, I just watched Valerian. And I do not know if it was a bad translation or those scenes landed on the cutting room, but I feel like I am missing a lot of Information to fully understand the Film. It was like I was reading a comic, but the Author Information boxes were missing. As if I am reading a comic like this, but can not 'hear' the Narator: http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2003-03-09 The pieces I am missing: 1. The Great Market. They said it is in another Dimension. But the way they represented it, it was more like a virtual reality. To use Shadowrun Terms: The glasses and gloves are "using VR". While the boxes are "Jacking into the Martix" (more effect bu…

Posting this here rather than NGD because I'm more interested in the implications for roleplaying than I am in debating what is/isn't canon. Also hoping to keep this from spiraling too far down into political commentary on the current state of our society. (Tho I do feel there are some parallels.) Most Citizens of the Star Wars Galaxy are Probably Totally Illiterate This blog post is a few years old but it's new to me. (It got referenced in a WaPo article yesterday for the Fourth plugging the author's new book.) Basically the author points out that in 8 SW movies we never see anyone reading for pleasure, and most people don't seem to read at all beyond "I know tha…

Can I ask questions about non hero games products here and can I recommend a good none here product I think SF RPG gamers could use? I don't want to cause trouble.

I'm hoping someone can help me figure out how to do something in 5th Ed Champions. One of the common things in sci-fi is the terraforming of planets, and I'm trying to figure out how this can be accomplished within the game. I've seen one other method listed elsewhere on this board (using Summon) but it seems more like that would create a new planet where none existed rather than changing one that was already there. Suppose we were starting with a Mars-like planet: 6800 km diameter, average surface temperature of -80F, gravity approximately 1/3 that of Earth. We'd like to terraform it into an Earth-like planet, which means the average surface temperature needs to incr…