Tips/Tricks/Advice

[kjamma4]

Being a new player of HERO, I am interested in any advice on how to make the games run smoother/faster/easier. Based upon a fantasy game played recently, I will be bringing a chart outlining hit locations and damage classes to speed up combat.

 

I am mostly looking for little tidbits that will help the game move along. An example of what I mean (as applied to another system) would be the tip in Deadlands to use colored paperclips to keep track of wounds and wind.

 

[Tips for both players and GMs would be appreciated.]

[Nucleon]

Re: Tips/Tricks/Advice

 

Being a new player of HERO, I am interested in any advice on how to make the games run smoother/faster/easier. Based upon a fantasy game played recently, I will be bringing a chart outlining hit locations and damage classes to speed up combat.

 

I am mostly looking for little tidbits that will help the game move along. An example of what I mean (as applied to another system) would be the tip in Deadlands to use colored paperclips to keep track of wounds and wind.

 

[Tips for both players and GMs would be appreciated.]

 

Combat is what is going to take time, in a universe where characters are both fast and tough. To fully let your main players express themselves in the intense strategical feat that HERO combat represent, Nucleon would suggest you the following:

 

* Resolve NPC combat in a abstract ways. Don't bring the spotlight on NPCs fighting among themselves unless they're critical plot device.

 

* Throw few dice yourself. Damage dice are long to count. Use damage averages (1d6=3, 2d6=7) on both Stun and Body dice, unless something critical and/or dramatic occurs, for your own NPCs. Throw only "to hit" dice. Replace dice counting with descriptions.

 

For players, who by all means just love to throw dice around, suggest them to regroup Stun damage dice by groups of ten (sixes with the fours, and so on). Also, make "DCV/OCV To Hit" tables so even novice players can play smoothly.

 

*Delegate. Pass the Speed initiative table to a player. Make another one have a rulebook ready if "looking for a rule" occurs. Make another one responsible for the Base, etc.

 

*Finally, play it big; Not only do they have superpowers, but super-attitudes as well. Give to the genre. Make your NPCs bigger than life. Powers may come and go but a fascinating personality will imprint the player's memory for a long time.

 

Nucleon whishes you a most pleasant campaign, Mortal friend.

 

[Silbeg]

Re: Tips/Tricks/Advice

 

Couple of things, some minor, some maybe less so...

 

• If you are using hit locations, then have the players throw two differently colored set of dice per attack... one for the attack roll, the other for hit location.
  
• Have "Speed Charts" set up prior to the game for each of the combats... listing characters by DEX, with the SPD matrix. If possible, summarize critical info there.
  
• Teach "OCV + 11 - roll = DCV hit"
  
• Pay attention! Side chatter may be good for socialization,but tends to leave players waiting until the last minute to make their decisions.
  
• "OCV + 11 - roll = DCV hit"
  
• Use "mook" factors... if facing a unimportant NPC, they may just be KO'd regardless of the damage roll.. if hit, they drop.
  
• If OCVs are typically higher than DCVs, combats will tend to go faster (more hits mean more damage inflicted!)

Just a few random thoughts...

 

Oh, and "OCV + 11 - roll = DCV hit"

[AliceTheOwl]

Re: Tips/Tricks/Advice

 

If you REALLY want combat to run faster, may I suggest that, if a player doesn't know what they're doing during a round in combat, you skip them until they've figured it out? Easily HALF the time of most of the combat I've been in has been someone who was paying no attention going, "Um, okay, where am I? And where's that guy I was hitting? What happened last round? Okay . . . Ummmm . . . I gotta look something up. Hand me the book?"

 

SO frustrating.

[keithcurtis]

Re: Tips/Tricks/Advice

 

Some of us will roll our to hit and damage rolls ahead of time and leave them on the table till our turn comes. Of course it's understood that the roll can be ignored if the situation changes (If you need to escape or chase someone instead of hit them, for instance.)

 

Mook rules are great. Minions should go down with one or two hits.

 

Eleminate all combat options you can live without: Hit Locations, Bleeding, Disabling, sectional armor, etc.

 

Keith "Simplify. Simplify. Simplify." Curtis

[ghost-angel]

Re: Tips/Tricks/Advice

 

"OCV + 11 - roll = DCV hit"

I agree, this will end up being one of your players' favorite formulas.

[Black Rose]

Re: Tips/Tricks/Advice

 

"OCV + 11 - roll = DCV hit"

I agree, this will end up being one of your players' favorite formulas.

In fact, just have players write down the total of their OCV + 11 on a stickie note and place it in from of them for easy reading. I find that stickie notes help with a lot; OCV, DCV, current Body, Stun and End totals, Charges, anything you need.

[prestidigitator]

Re: Tips/Tricks/Advice

 

Until you are quite comfortable with the rest of the system, ignore End use except in conditions such as the following (some more appropriate for Heroic games):

• A character wakes up after having been Knocked Out. You still don't have to be strict, but play up the fact that they are going to have to take it easy and possibly even take a Recovery or two or risk damaging themself.
  
• Character(s) have been exerting themselves nonstop; enough to merit some Long Term End loss.
  
• A character has been making use of a very tiring Power or other ability that uses up a lot of End. Quick rule is that if (End Cost)*Speed > Rec, the Power shouldn't be used very often. If it is overused, track End temporarily or just figure about how many uses will exhaust the character (bring them to--or close to--0 End). Warn the character as they are getting tired, so it doesn't come as a big surprise.

Encourage characters to be built such that they shouldn't be running out of End quickly in any case, so when and if you do start tracking End more thoroughly, things don't change a whole lot. For Str and oft-used Powers, make sure (End Cost)*Speed is not much over Rec (give them at least a good 4-5 Turns of activity before exhaustion sets in). There will also be some variability because of Movement and such, but I've found this to be a good rule of thumb.

[Derek Hiemforth]

Re: Tips/Tricks/Advice

 

If you REALLY want combat to run faster' date=' may I suggest that, if a player doesn't know what they're doing during a round in combat, you skip them until they've figured it out? Easily HALF the time of most of the combat I've been in has been someone who was paying no attention going, "Um, okay, where am I? And where's that guy I was hitting? What happened last round? Okay . . . Ummmm . . . I gotta look something up. Hand me the book?"[/quote']This is an excellent one. (I've given out too much rep today, so I'll have to catch you tomorrow )

 

Nothing wastes more time in combat (IME) than players who hadn't been paying attention, and don't know what the situation is or what they want to do when their action comes around. It's a great idea to make a house rule that says:

 

"If you're not ready to go when your action comes up, you're assumed to be Holding Your Action, and we'll move on to the next character in the combat order."

[Sean Waters]

Re: Tips/Tricks/Advice

 

As the GM, you don't want to be spending forever rolling dice. Use random number tables. Here's a couple I've prepared using Excel (although they are now in Word). First one is 1d6, second one is 3d6. First table averages 3.5, second averages 10.5. Perfect. Each has 540 numbers. Cross off each one as you use it then start again on a fresh sheet (or the same one if you used pencil ). You can make up ones for 2d6/4d6/8d6 if you like too (and just use average BODY results).

 

I actually ran a game once where NO ONE rolled - I had the tables behind a GM screen and just interpretted results - obviously the players do not get to see the tables. Workd really well and no one ever knew if I had to ceat a little.

 

Not that I did.

 

Honest.

[John Desmarais]

Re: Tips/Tricks/Advice

 

"OCV + 11 - roll = DCV hit"

 

This simple little formula will probably do more towards speeding up combat that just about anything else you can do. The player just has to announce what DCV they'll hit and you know immediately whether they should roll damage or not.

[Silbeg]

Re: Tips/Tricks/Advice

 

This simple little formula will probably do more towards speeding up combat that just about anything else you can do. The player just has to announce what DCV they'll hit and you know immediately whether they should roll damage or not.

 

This is the best thing about it... as GM you don't have to do the calculations yourself... nor do you say what the DCV of the target is (though deductive reasoning will eventually give the players that information!).

 

As GM I have started doing that as well.. just state what the DCV is that the NPC hit... players will know their characters better than you (usually).

 

Personally, I use a little Java app I wrote to handle the speed chart. In its current incarnation (pretty well unchanged for the last 4 years) it handles everythign but mid-turn SPD and DEX changes (oh, and the never-used Lightning Reflexes) very well... simple tools can help a lot!

[Susano]

Re: Tips/Tricks/Advice

 

Oh' date=' and "OCV + 11 - roll = DCV hit"[/quote']

 

The version I use is "Dice = 11 = My OCV." If you roll over/under, adjust your OCV by that amount and inform the GM.

 

i.e. If your OCV is 10 and you roll a 12, you hit DCV 9 (11=10, 12=11+1/10-1=DCV 9).

 

Make sense?

 

I find it very easy to determine the DCV I hit with this and all I have to announce is "I hit DCV X" and the GM goes from there.

[Silbeg]

Re: Tips/Tricks/Advice

 

The version I use is "Dice = 11 = My OCV." If you roll over/under, adjust your OCV by that amount and inform the GM.

 

i.e. If your OCV is 10 and you roll a 12, you hit DCV 9 (11=10, 12=11+1/10-1=DCV 9).

 

Make sense?

 

I find it very easy to determine the DCV I hit with this and all I have to announce is "I hit DCV X" and the GM goes from there.

 

Yeah, have done this for years... until a fellow player showed our group the 11+OCV-roll = DCV hit... much quicker than calculating deltas, and as Black Rose stated, you can write down your 11+OCV, then only one calculation is required.

 

Simple is easier than less simple. what?

[Susano]

Re: Tips/Tricks/Advice

 

Yeah' date=' have done this for years... until a fellow player showed our group the 11+OCV-roll = DCV hit... much quicker than calculating deltas, and as Black Rose stated, you can write down your 11+OCV, then only one calculation is required.[/quote']

 

But what if you have various levels and the OCV keeps changing?

[Duke Bushido]

Re: Tips/Tricks/Advice

 

you already know your OCV+11.

 

Add your levels; then roll dice.

[ghost-angel]

Re: Tips/Tricks/Advice

 

But what if you have various levels and the OCV keeps changing?

1) What Duke said.

 

2) Add any modifiers after the DCV is determined. Have +2 Levels, putting them into OCV? Hit a DCV of 6? Add 2 now it's an 8, no need to recalculate the formula.

 

Same with any modifiers - add or subtract them directly from the DCV Hit number. the GM Imposing a hidden -1 to all To Hit Rolls? Player states "I hit DCV 7" and the GM subtracts 1 and the Player has hit a DCV6 instead.

 

This also keeps players guessing the opponents DCV directly.

[Super Squirrel]

Re: Tips/Tricks/Advice

 

Create a list of names and leave space to the side of the names. Whenever you need to create an NPC take a name off the list and write the new found duty of the NPC beside it. If you need to reuse the NPC you can always build it between games.

 

Don't waste your time with the BODY score on goons unless a player is using a very lethal attack and you need to know if the goon dies or not. Likewise, don't waste too much time determining whether or not a goon hits a player. Unless the goon is doing something notable, just use their OCV vs the player's DCV. Save the combat modifier charts for the main badguys.

[Duke Bushido]

Re: Tips/Tricks/Advice

 

In your spare time, write up five mooks. Stat them out, and give them a 'rough draft' skills list.

 

These five guys now represent all the mooks in your campaign.

 

Make short lists-- maybe ten or twelve, of 'mook equipment.' When you need a mook with a bit more-- a bit, mind you-- detail than "down in two punches," pull one of the five pre-made mooks, pull a card of equipment--

 

Instand stoolie, informant, punching bag, shady passer-by, whatever.

 

I tend to do this for mooks, agents, and police officers. Really, the difference is the equipment.

[Old Man]

Re: Tips/Tricks/Advice

 

Create a list of names and leave space to the side of the names. Whenever you need to create an NPC take a name off the list and write the new found duty of the NPC beside it. If you need to reuse the NPC you can always build it between games.

 

Read movie credits to get a huge list of random names, just switch around first and last name.

[Duke Bushido]

Re: Tips/Tricks/Advice

 

heh heh heh heh---

 

actually, some years back a friend of mine-- GM for another group-- joined me in a game of darts at a bar in town. He ran out to the car first, and came back with a page torn out of a phone book, which he fixed into the board.

 

????

 

He explained that it was his 'name generator'; he kept an old phone book and tossed darts at pages from it to compile NPC names for his campaigns....

 

Seemed a bit over the top, but it's remarkably easy.

[keithcurtis]

Re: Tips/Tricks/Advice

 

I have determined that next time a play a modern game, I'm just going to draw names from my spam folder. Here are the latest 6:

 

Roscoe Felix

Maritza Vernon

Sidney Rhodes

Abraham Butcher

Rod Rich

Ronald Casey

 

Keith "There. That took like 10 seconds" Curtis



[ghost-angel]

Re: Tips/Tricks/Advice

 

I have determined that next time a play a modern game, I'm just going to draw names from my spam folder. Here are the latest 6:

 

Roscoe Felix

Maritza Vernon

Sidney Rhodes

Abraham Butcher

Rod Rich

Ronald Casey

 

Keith "There. That took like 10 seconds" Curtis



well that's odd... I never once thought "Damn, I don't get SPAM."

 

I think that deserves rep.

[Duke Bushido]

Re: Tips/Tricks/Advice

 

well that's odd... I never once thought "Damn, I don't get SPAM."

 

For the record, I tried to rep you!

 

And Kieth---

 

neat idea.

 

For a minute I wondered why it never occured to me. Then I realized how much older that the internet I was.......

[ghost-angel]

Re: Tips/Tricks/Advice

 

For the record, I tried to rep you!

 

And Kieth---

 

neat idea.

 

For a minute I wondered why it never occured to me. Then I realized how much older that the internet I was.......

Well, I meant Rep for Kieth on the good idea ... but I won't turn down more Rep.

 

I'm still trying to get over the fact I actually HAD that thought. It hurts somehow. Deep down inside it hurts.