Hierax Posted January 29, 2004 Author Report Share Posted January 29, 2004 Yeah, I'm just doing final edits/conversions on Orcs and Half-Orcs and should have a suitable version 1.0 of them ready for export for the website by the end of the weekend. FWIW, I put the files up as .pdf (e.g., orc.pdf) but will try to remember to put up orc.hdt and/or orc.hdc as well, I'm not going to put links up for them, just change the extension in the location bar of your browser when I upload them and it should bring it up, if not e-mail me to remind me to put the .hdt there too. I would have had them done earlier but I've been tweaking my .RTF Export Template so I can make the .PDFs with less effort. Slows me down in the short term but should streamline production in the long-term, I'll never be able to crank 'em out at Shrike level quantity but I'll try to put up a few here and there when I have time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hierax Posted January 30, 2004 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2004 Orc Webpage Update with .hdt and .hdc Ok, I've done a quick update to the GreyHero webpage, as always, you can find the updates list here: http://www.hierax.com/hero/fantasy/grey/updates.html Orcs are now available as .pdf, .hdt, and .hdc Further feedback, corrections, etc. are still always appreciated... Half-Orc to follow... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hierax Posted January 30, 2004 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2004 FWIW, the goal of my Orc conversion was to see what HERO could do with one of the most standard xD&D monsters to make it have a more logical and unique flavour. I asked what is it that makes Orcs different than humans in the source material and how might this be logically extended using the richer HERO System? I figured that when it came down to it, Orcs were survivors of the inhospitable wastelands -- underground caverns, rock-strewn, volcanic plains, deserts, windswept tundra, infested swamps, overgrown woodlands, or whathaveyou. They needed to be strong and tough to survive in harsher conditions that some of the other races (as per the Cosmic Mythology about the origins of the Orcs). They could see in the dark was established so I linked that to a real world example of good ability to see in the dark; they had pig-like noses so I made that prominent feature embematic of enhanced sense; they lived in filth and squallor so I thought that they should be more resistant to dirty places infested by all sorts of nasty vermin, insects, snakes, etc. Basically, since they should be able to stand to live in more extreme environments than humans, they needed to have abilities with in-game effects that let them do so. Do you think that the abilities of my write-up sufficiently get this idea across? Is there better ways to express these things in game terms? Do you see Orcs differently? Anway, thanks for all of the feedback it has all helped. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hierax Posted January 30, 2004 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2004 Half-Orc Update Half-Orcs are likewise included with .pdf, .hdt, and .hdc files: http://www.hierax.com/hero/fantasy/grey/updates.html The file is basically ready to use as a PC/NPC race -- for a 150 point game just add 125 points of custom options ... KillerShrike's site has many such package combos available. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killer Shrike Posted January 30, 2004 Report Share Posted January 30, 2004 Nice work Jason...just one question...how do you find the time to do the pdf's? I always pull my hair out when I start messing around in Adobe. Drives me crazy! Anyway, its looking good. Youve been churning stuff out lately; keep it up In other news I have a job interview tomorrow. Lets hope it goes well -- Id really like that job.....and my current job has been keeping me too busy -- working long days at the office (even though mostly Im just babysitting processes and can cruise the board) has been cutting into my productivity at night on the really important stuff, like adding content to my website Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hierax Posted January 30, 2004 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2004 Actually, Ed, the PDFs are quite easy (if you have the full version of Adobe Acrobat): I do up the character in HERO Designer, hit the Export button, Open the .RTF in Word, Hit the Acrobat button, and upload the file. The real time-consuming part is making the .RTF file with the proper format and HD XML tags, but after that infrastructure is set up is is simple. The idea is to have sheets suitable for printing and putting in a binder. And the HD Exporting saves me from the old way I did it of manually doing everything in word to get the look I wanted. Still some tweaking to go with the Export Template but it's ~90% there. Good luck with the interview! Hey, get a job that pays twice as much so you only have to work half as much and have even more time to create nice Hero stuff for us! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
assault Posted February 1, 2004 Report Share Posted February 1, 2004 Originally posted by Hierax FWIW, the goal of my Orc conversion was to see what HERO could do with one of the most standard xD&D monsters to make it have a more logical and unique flavour. ... Do you see Orcs differently? My approach is to ignore DnD entirely. Tolkien provides everything you need to know about Orcs - particularly in the Silmarillion. Personally, I take _some_ of this material, and tailor it to my own nasty tastes. So, in my games, Orcs are descended from Elves captured by the Forces of Darkness (FOD). Some, in fact, actually _were_ Elves captured by the FOD, long ago. There is also human and dwarf blood in some groups. And then there is something really nasty... You see, the original cadre for the FOD was the Generic Dark Lord and a gaggle of demons. Some of these demons adopted the form of degenerate humanoids... Yes, the "original" Orcs were Balrog-grade demons, without the fiery stuff. And they were immortal... Fortunately, they are extinct. And, incidentally, since early Orcs are the descendents of demons and Elves, they are immortal, too! This is lucky for them, since they have only narrowly avoided extinction on several occasions. The other effect of this is that Orcs are incredibly inbred... In actual fact, most of the present day Orcs have a considerable degree of mortal blood, and may be mortal themselves, but nobody is really sure about that. In short, my Orcs vary from "bog standard Orcs" to Major Bad Guy power levels. Some are even quite bright, can wield quite serious magic, and can (almost) treat 150 point characters as sword fodder. And you should see my Trolls. (There aren't actually a huge number of Orcs in my world, but don't tell anybody.) Oh yeah, and my Elves deserve the capital letter, too. Dwarves, on the other hand, are basically only found in large numbers in one area, and are ruled by - an Elf Queen! But there's lots and lots of humans. Non-humans are more or less local colour, even though some of them are ultra-nasty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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