Kazei 5 starting soon

[csmith868]

Guys~

 

Whew; it's been a while since I've been on the HERO forum board. Glad to be back

 

A few weeks ago I dusted off my copy of HERO 5th because my group decided to play Abberant (from White Wolf). I personally groaned inside because I'm not a fan of WW's Storyteller system, and after starting play my mind started racing with ideas for games for HERO. I ran into a little eBook called Kazei 5 which piqued my interest, and I'm *very* glad I picked it up.

 

A small group I'm going to begin play with are new to HERO (thank God for HERO Sidekick) but enjoy the anime cyberpunk scene, with emphasis on Ghost in the Shell. After talking to them about a possible G-S game, they got very excited and began thinking about neat character concepts, ect. So... we begin in two weeks.

 

I come to the board with a couple of questions for those familiar with Kazei 5 before I start the campaign:

 

1) How many points does it take to make a proficient character similar to those in a setting similar to "Ghost?" I noticed a lot of cybernetics and some psychokinesis powers available that would rise a character's cost a fair bit, so I'm thinking of going with 100-100 pts. The book uses characters that cost 240+, but I wasn't sure if some of that was due to exp. Anyone have a suggestion otherwise?

 

2) I know that a cyborg, in general, is going to cost more than a human. Have there been any problems in campaigns where one person received more points due to their cybernetic requirements than others? I don't mind a few points difference between characters, but I do need to find a good line to make the human players *somewhat* competitive. 50 pt. difference too much?

 

It'd look like this:

 

Human: 100 pt. +100 disads

Cyborg: 125 pt. + 125 disads

 

I'm open to any suggestion. This'll be my first anime-type game I've run, but not the first dark-toned game, so I'm looking for it to be a cool, kick-arse romp in Neo York.

 

Charles

[Enforcer84]

Re: Kazei 5 starting soon

 

Paging Dr. Surbrook; Dr. Surbrook, your patient is ready.

[Susano]

Re: Kazei 5 starting soon

 

Guys~

 

Whew; it's been a while since I've been on the HERO forum board. Glad to be back

 

A few weeks ago I dusted off my copy of HERO 5th because my group decided to play Abberant (from White Wolf). I personally groaned inside because I'm not a fan of WW's Storyteller system, and after starting play my mind started racing with ideas for games for HERO. I ran into a little eBook called Kazei 5 which piqued my interest, and I'm *very* glad I picked it up.

 

Thank you.

 

A small group I'm going to begin play with are new to HERO (thank God for HERO Sidekick) but enjoy the anime cyberpunk scene, with emphasis on Ghost in the Shell. After talking to them about a possible G-S game, they got very excited and began thinking about neat character concepts, ect. So... we begin in two weeks.

 

I come to the board with a couple of questions for those familiar with Kazei 5 before I start the campaign:

 

1) How many points does it take to make a proficient character similar to those in a setting similar to "Ghost?" I noticed a lot of cybernetics and some psychokinesis powers available that would rise a character's cost a fair bit, so I'm thinking of going with 100-100 pts. The book uses characters that cost 240+, but I wasn't sure if some of that was due to exp. Anyone have a suggestion otherwise?

 

Here's the Major, as I tried to build her:

http://surbrook.devermore.net/adaptionsanime/kusanagi.html

 

Note she's 532 points. Or 436 if you remove her 96-point gadget pool.

 

On a similar vein, Briareos (Appleseed): http://surbrook.devermore.net/adaptionsanime/appleseed/briareos.html, is 426 points, while Deunan: http://surbrook.devermore.net/adaptionsanime/appleseed/deunan.html, is 313.

 

Another Kazei 5 cyborg is Kiddy Phenil, http://surbrook.devermore.net/smz/char/ampkiddy.html, who is 387, or 279 minus her 100+ points of AMP gear.

 

Finally, I spent a lot of time developing a street samurai character (who will appear in an upcoming Digital Hero) and he was 275.

 

Basically, what is boils to is that anime characters tend to be more points than normal. They are highly cinematic, and need cinematic point totals. If/when I get to do Kazei 5 2.0, I was seriously considering going for (at minimum) a 150+100 to a 200+100 point total for charaters. This, of course, presumes that you make people buy armor and weapons. If you let them use what ever is needed or they have on hand, then you can go with a lower point total. However, cyborgs and espers (replace all references to psychokinesis and psychokinetics with the term esper, esper powers, and my favortie: esper weapon), have inherent powers (such as armor, strength, leaping ability, TK, EBs, and so on) and need more points than "normal" humans who have cyberware, focused armor, and guns.

 

Of course, all of this depends on the game you'd like to run. Appleseed is probably on the low-end of the scale (Briareos not withstanding), with most characters 100+100 (these guys are special forces, have lots of skills, martial arts, some implants, and so on). Ghost in next. The Major is loaded with combat ware, as seen by her EC, but others have the same. Silent Mobius characters are all over the map, but considering each of them carries around 100 points of weapons and gear, 150+100+100 points of gear equals 340-370 point PCs.

 

In the Kazei 5 PBEM, characters range from 215 (roughly) to around 400. It works well, but mostly because the PCs aren't in direct competion.

 

I consider espers to basically be superheroes. 150-200 base, with totals of 250-350. Cyborgs can be made for 250+ (give them the Major's basic stats [about 121 points worth]) and don't force them to buy guns. Street samurai, if made to buy weapons, come in at around 250-275 as well.

 

If you'd like to keep the points down, make it 100+100 and don't make anyone buy weapons and armor. Just make sure people don't go crazy grabbing stuff they really shouldn't have (like CBA and autocannons).

 

2) I know that a cyborg, in general, is going to cost more than a human. Have there been any problems in campaigns where one person received more points due to their cybernetic requirements than others? I don't mind a few points difference between characters, but I do need to find a good line to make the human players *somewhat* competitive. 50 pt. difference too much?

 

It'd look like this:

 

Human: 100 pt. +100 disads

Cyborg: 125 pt. + 125 disads

 

I'm open to any suggestion. This'll be my first anime-type game I've run, but not the first dark-toned game, so I'm looking for it to be a cool, kick-arse romp in Neo York.

 

Charles

 

 

See all my comments for question #1. There is no benefit to playing a "normal" human. A normal, unmodified human, built on 250 will probably have just as many skills and such as a street samurai built on 250. However, as the sam gets to buy cyberware with limitations, odds are he will have better stats and CVs. The cyborg built on 250 will have less skills, but better physical stats. People who play by numbers will want to play characters with these sorts of abilites, those who are more into concept may want to play a normal human, regardless of balance.

 

Once thing to consider is some sort of EMP weapons versus cybernetics that will act as a Drain or Dispell versus cybernetic SFX. This can be a powerful check versus people with cyber. The normal human, of course, being unharmed.

 

I have written a great deal of additional stuff (in rough form) for the game and for the PBEM. I recommend you check it out.

[csmith868]

Re: Kazei 5 starting soon

 

Michael Surbrook~

 

Thanks for the info. I was hoping to keep the power levels down a little bit (due to the players having no previous HERO experience), but I think it'll be more fun if I bump them up to what you recommended. I've been surfing the website and love the Kazei 5 PBeM, and I'm directing my players to it. Awesome source for inspiration.

 

Thanks for the great cyberpunk supplement. Methinks I'm gonna get a lot of use out of it.

 

Charles

 

P.S. You're very quick to respond; that's awesome! I look forward to seeing you on the boards.