[Interest in a HeroCentral game]

[Kirby]

EDIT: Applications are closed

 

I'm throwing this out as a feeler, to see what people think.

 

I'm thinking of starting a Champions campaign with the following in mind:

• It will not be in the official CU, but will have 4th Ed, 5th Ed, and San Angelo characters in it.
  
• I will not be placing a limit on the types of characters (in other words, if there ends up being five Bricks and two Energy Blasters, I won't ask for less Bricks and please add MAs.)
  
• The PCs can start out in any country, but with the understanding there will be a GM guiding hand (railroad? ) to bring them all together quickly.
  
• The game will be 350 points (200+150) and players may even play established heroes (such as Defender, Nighthawk, Kinetik, etc), though, I reserve the right to only allow Chad Riley to play Brigade.
  
• The group will probably be larger than normal group sizes and thus might be taking on bigger enemies (Crowns of Krim, Eurostar, VIPER bases) earlier than normal.
  
• There may be different scenarios/adventures/crime going on in multiple locations. The team may choose to split up, or may ignore some threats (in hopes of other hero teams handling it).
  
• If I put forth three or more "crimes/adventures" and the PCs only choose one or two, the GM (that'd be me) won't "whammy" the PCs with "you're a bad person" comments.
  
• This will probably be heavier in combat than most games. Either the PCs might be outnumbered by lots of lower character point NPCs (such as agents) or fighting much more powerful (though generally lower numbered) villains.
  
• I won't have a problem if a PC designs his character to oppose a certain NPC or team (such as a PC with protection only versus black magic [Crowns, DEMON], fire [Firewing], or skills vs a group (KS: VIPER, Tactics +3 vs VIPER),etc.
  
• I'll probably prefer people to *not* play aliens, unless it's one like Ironclad or another established alien (perhaps an established villain who's turning over a new leaf or who's had his identity exposed by the courts and is forced to be a hero).

 

Does this sound interesting? Any questions?

[CrosshairCollie]

Re: [interest in a HeroCentral game]

 

Does this sound interesting? Any questions?

 

My curiosity is piqued, at the very least ... though I'm completely unfamiliar with HeroCentral and how all that works.

[McCoy]

Re: [interest in a HeroCentral game]

 

I'd like to play. Let me think about a character.

 

 

Tempted to call "dibs" on a reformed Foxbat, but I won't. Yet.

 

[clsage]

Re: [interest in a HeroCentral game]

 

I'm throwing this out as a feeler, to see what people think.

Does this sound interesting? Any questions?

 

Count me among the number of folks who are interested in knowing more...

 

-Carl-

[Kirby]

Re: [interest in a HeroCentral game]

 

The game will be 350 points (200+150) and players may even play established heroes (such as Defender' date=' Nighthawk, Kinetik, etc), though, I reserve the right to only allow Chad Riley to play Brigade. [/quote']This is of course, assuming (1) Chad wants in and (2) he wants to play Brigade. If you've happened to have a character named after you and want to play him, please let me know.

 

The group will probably be larger than normal group sizes and thus might be taking on bigger enemies (Crowns of Krim' date=' Eurostar, VIPER bases) earlier than normal.[/quote']

This will probably be heavier in combat than most games. Either the PCs might be outnumbered by lots of lower character point NPCs (such as agents) or fighting much more powerful (though generally lower numbered) villains.

There may be a time or two that the team faces a large number of higher powered supers (such as 4ed Eurostar), but this won't be the norm. If I do throw the team up against a group that's both more numerous and more powerful, it's probably early in the plot and to establish a theme or idea (like "fear them" or "we have to think of a better plan such as...").

 

If I put forth three or more "crimes/adventures" and the PCs only choose one or two' date=' the GM (that'd be me) won't "whammy" the PCs with "you're a bad person" comments.[/quote']What I mean by this is I won't say "here are four events happening right now; if you don't choose all 4, I'm going to punish you." If I throw out four, I may *want* you to avoid one (in hopes of creating/continuing a sub plot or having something happen later) and won't be upset if you avoid two.

 

I won't have a problem if a PC designs his character to oppose a certain NPC or team (such as a PC with protection only versus black magic [Crowns' date= DEMON], fire [Firewing], or skills vs a group (KS: VIPER, Tactics +3 vs VIPER),etc.

Though, if you do this, please make your background appropriate or related. (Such as either a divinely blessed super [Crowns, DEMON] or an ice creature, etc.)

[Kirby]

Re: [interest in a HeroCentral game]

 

Some other things I'm thinking about:

 

I don't want players to think their PCs need to be super-powerful or next to impossible to take down. I'm not looking for Someone with Lack of Weakness, Flash Defense, Power Defense, Mental Defense and Knockback Resistance. Even for a Juggernaught character (my favorite Marvel character, btw), unless there's some glaring weakness (Vulnerability, Susceptibility, low resistant defenses, etc.).

 

Requiring everyone to have at least 1d6 of Unluck. Note: I don't plan to abuse this, but it helps when the GM may want something to happen. I hate fudging rolls, especially on HeroCentral. I would use it more like to apply a minus to a roll that you normally would have made or to change the DCV you normally would have hit. I wouldn't use it like "Oh, you go to pull the plug from the supercomputer, but there's an exposed wire you didn't see and you take electrical killing damage."

 

The one's place in your primary stats cannot have two that end in the same number. (I've seen too many write-ups where the stats end in 0 or 5 and the occasional 3 and 8 tossed in.) For example, your character could have 10 STR, 21 DEX, 32 CON, 23 Body, 34 INT, 15 EGO, 26 PRE. (Just an example.) [Established hero PCs might be waived on this.]

 

I'd like to see uneven defenses. Instead of having a 20/20 PD/ED, maybe Power Armor would have a 30 PD/20 ED, or an Energy Blaster would have 15 PD/35 ED. For Martial Artists, I'd like to see lower defenses, but higher OCV/DCV.

 

I'm not interested in "uber charcter." I don't want to see the brick that can't be beat down, the detective who can solve everything, the mystic who knows all, etc. (And, I'm really turned off to speedster Martial Artists. Speedsters are OK, just not MA skills or throws/grab-bys. Taipan is a good speedster build, though obviously more than 350 points. And a villain.)

 

I'll *probably* not put too many restrictions on starting characters, unless I see some abuses, power gaming, or munchkinism.

[jkwleisemann]

Re: [interest in a HeroCentral game]

 

Hmm... add me to the list of those interested.

[RPMiller]

Re: [interest in a HeroCentral game]

 

San Angelo characters you say? I may just have to toss a hat in the ring, and may just have to discuss some SA possibilities.

[Agent 13]

Re: [interest in a HeroCentral game]

 

I'm in.

[Dino]

Re: [interest in a HeroCentral game]

 

The one's place in your primary stats cannot have two that end in the same number. (I've seen too many write-ups where the stats end in 0 or 5 and the occasional 3 and 8 tossed in.) For example' date=' your character could have 10 STR, 21 DEX, 32 CON, 23 Body, 34 INT, 15 EGO, 26 PRE. (Just an example.) [Established hero PCs might be waived on this.']

 

I'll *probably* not put too many restrictions on starting characters, unless I see some abuses, power gaming, or munchkinism.

 

You realize of course that in your effort to avoid min/maxing, you're instead forcing a level of inefficency in character builds that is just as unrealistic...

[jkwleisemann]

Re: [interest in a HeroCentral game]

 

Not if folks take a *little* care to avoid serious trouble with the 1's place. Put the 'min-maxed' numbers into your most important stats, slip the little 'one point over or under break' ones into your secondaries, or into the cheap ones, and make sure you watch out for Com, which I notice is the only one not listed in his example.

 

And keep in mind that you pull out breakpoints a lot more easily with your CV determination stats, which makes those odd numbers more worthwhile there (a 17 in Ego is worth more than a 17 in, say, Con, unless you're *really* worried about getting that extra point of Stun on the cheap.)

[Doc Samson]

Re: [interest in a HeroCentral game]

 

I'm interested. Let us know when you want us to start throwing out character submissions.

[Squall]

Re: [interest in a HeroCentral game]

 

Damn you, Kirby! *shakes his fist* Why do people keep starting up games when I've got so much other stuff to do?

 

Put me down for an "interested" slot. Don't hold a space for me if it fills up otherwise, but I might toss a character your way if time allows and you can use another player.

[McCoy]

Re: [interest in a HeroCentral game]

 

Some other things I'm thinking about:

 

I don't want players to think their PCs need to be super-powerful or next to impossible to take down. I'm not looking for Someone with Lack of Weakness, Flash Defense, Power Defense, Mental Defense and Knockback Resistance. Even for a Juggernaught character (my favorite Marvel character, btw), unless there's some glaring weakness (Vulnerability, Susceptibility, low resistant defenses, etc.).

 

Requiring everyone to have at least 1d6 of Unluck. Note: I don't plan to abuse this, but it helps when the GM may want something to happen. I hate fudging rolls, especially on HeroCentral. I would use it more like to apply a minus to a roll that you normally would have made or to change the DCV you normally would have hit. I wouldn't use it like "Oh, you go to pull the plug from the supercomputer, but there's an exposed wire you didn't see and you take electrical killing damage."

 

The one's place in your primary stats cannot have two that end in the same number. (I've seen too many write-ups where the stats end in 0 or 5 and the occasional 3 and 8 tossed in.) For example, your character could have 10 STR, 21 DEX, 32 CON, 23 Body, 34 INT, 15 EGO, 26 PRE. (Just an example.) [Established hero PCs might be waived on this.]

 

I'd like to see uneven defenses. Instead of having a 20/20 PD/ED, maybe Power Armor would have a 30 PD/20 ED, or an Energy Blaster would have 15 PD/35 ED. For Martial Artists, I'd like to see lower defenses, but higher OCV/DCV.

 

I'm not interested in "uber charcter." I don't want to see the brick that can't be beat down, the detective who can solve everything, the mystic who knows all, etc. (And, I'm really turned off to speedster Martial Artists. Speedsters are OK, just not MA skills or throws/grab-bys. Taipan is a good speedster build, though obviously more than 350 points. And a villain.)

 

I'll *probably* not put too many restrictions on starting characters, unless I see some abuses, power gaming, or munchkinism.

OK, all the work I did on a character last night has just been flushed.

 

Can we define "speedster" here? I was working on a MA with a speed 7 and 9" running. That's not really a speedster, is it? :bambi eyes:

[mojo_bones]

Re: [interest in a HeroCentral game]

 

I am interested as well, but have never used HeroCentral. How difficult is it to use?

[Kirby]

Re: [interest in a HeroCentral game]

 

Can we define "speedster" here? I was working on a MA with a speed 7 and 9" running. That's not really a speedster' date=' is it? :bambi eyes:[/quote']No, I would not consider this a speedster. By speedster, 7+ Speed, but also 20"+ running/flight. The speedster martial arts can really upset GM Plot Devices if one person is supposed to get away, but the speedster keeps running by him, knocks him down, and runs away, so that the target spends 1/2 phase getting up, 1/2 phase moving and can't escape or do something the target needs to do to further the plot/subplot.

 

Taipan (CW, p.207-8) is (IMHO) a great speedster build. I've made a 7 Spd clone (and I do mean clone) of him to try as a PC. Kinetik (CU, p.80-2) is a good speedster build also, though he does have the Speedster Martial Arts. But I would allow him for three reasons: 1) I said pre-established heroes would be acceptible; 2) With 20" of movement and 9d6 damage, his Passing Throw isn't superdamaging; and 3) his Speedster Martial Arts aren't his only "tricks" since he has a nice NND and DEX drain as well.

[Kirby]

Re: [interest in a HeroCentral game]

 

You realize of course that in your effort to avoid min/maxing' date=' you're instead forcing a level of inefficency in character builds that is just as unrealistic...[/quote']On the contrary, I believe it is more realistic for the PCs to not all have a 15 PRE, 13 INT and 25 CON. And I do believe you're underestimating players if you consider a build with such as inefficient. Kinetik, for example has the following: 15 STR, 26 DEX, 23 CON, 10 BODY, 18 INT, 14 EGO, and 12 PRE. He's an efficient build and the numbers in the one's place don't repeat themselves. I also happen to like that he has 15/6 PD and 14/6 ED.

[Kirby]

Re: [interest in a HeroCentral game]

 

My curiosity is piqued' date=' at the very least ... though I'm completely unfamiliar with HeroCentral and how all that works.[/quote']

I am interested as well' date=' but have never used HeroCentral. How difficult is it to use?[/quote']

HeroCentral is pretty easy to use, actually. As a disclaimer, IE can mess up the looks/layout of it and there are a few things that IE isn't compatible with, but nothing that would really affect posting/reading. (Rumor has it that IE 7 *should* be compatible.) Mozilla Firefox works great.

 

Here is a link to Of Masks and Metahumans which Hermit runs if you want to see what some posts look like.

 

Campaign Information: Simply what the campaign is about. Only the GM has access to this.

Campaign Messages: Messages (all out of character) from the players or GM. Either to ask questions or to say "I'm on vacation next week."

Characters: Where all the PCs and several NPCs are listed. Generally by name. If you have HDv3, you can post your character to the board. You can also post a picture of your character (and GMs can post pics of NPCs as well).

Story Board: Where the story takes place. This is where the limited visibility can be used. This is where the story/comic/game takes place.

Search Story Board: Self explanatory, I think.

Die Roller: This tells you how to post die rolls in your post, from EBs, KA, to those with explosions and stun modifiers.

 

With HeroCentral, the GM can create threads that can only be viewed by the GM and one player, threads for everyone, and even threads somewhere in-between. Even if a thread is for everyone and you want to post something for only the GM to see, you can remove the visibility of other players.

 

The thread also rolls the dice for you and time/date stamps it so there's no cheating (from Player or GMs!).

[jkwleisemann]

Re: [interest in a HeroCentral game]

 

BTW... at the risk of asking a Stupid Question, what sort of tone and such are we looking at here? Bronze-ish, I imagine, but not having read San Angelo yet, there's a lot of room in 4th Ed, 5th Ed, and an unread book to tweak with those little things.

[mojo_bones]

Re: [interest in a HeroCentral game]

 

HeroCentral is pretty easy to use, actually. As a disclaimer, IE can mess up the looks/layout of it and there are a few things that IE isn't compatible with, but nothing that would really affect posting/reading. (Rumor has it that IE 7 *should* be compatible.) Mozilla Firefox works great.

Thanks for the info.

[TheTemplar]

Re: [interest in a HeroCentral game]

 

I've never done the HeroCentral thing, but it sounds interesting. Sounds like you're looking for a 4-color feel. Anything else to be aware of thematically? CvK appropriate/ required/ discouraged? Any banned and/or discouraged powers (other than SPD 10 w/ 35 pts. of Kung Fu?)

 

I've got a mentalist concept that I've been kicking around forever... I'll get it fleshed out a bit more and let you see if you think he'd be a good fit.

[RPMiller]

Re: [interest in a HeroCentral game]

 

Kirby, I gave this some more consideration last night and I've been avoiding jumping into new campaigns, but I just can't resist something that will contain SA material, for obvious reasons, and would very much like to play. What will the name of the campaign be so that I can keep my eye out for it?

[TheTemplar]

Re: [interest in a HeroCentral game]

 

Oh, what about skill rolls and skill point totals? Any suggestions/ requirements?

[Kirby]

Re: [interest in a HeroCentral game]

 

BTW... at the risk of asking a Stupid Question' date=' what sort of tone and such are we looking at here? Bronze-ish, I imagine, but not having read San Angelo yet, there's a lot of room in 4th Ed, 5th Ed, and an unread book to tweak with those little things.[/quote']Probably somewhere bewteen Bronze-ish and four-color, if that makes sense. And more of the DC version than Marvel. While the nasty villains (Black Paladin, Crowns of Kirm, DEMON, Eurostar, Holocaust, etc) will be nasty, the non-nasty villains (like Anklyosaur, Bulldozer, VIPER) will just want to beat you up and get you out of the way (unless you have a Hunted: VIPER, kill). Of course, there are other bad guys (GRAB, Rainbow Archer, Icic--Snowblind) who will try to avoid combat, because they are criminals, but not "evil," if that makes sense.

 

Once I have a better feel (and more time - probably a weekend), I'll put the "tone/continuity/importance" stuff up.

[Kirby]

Re: [interest in a HeroCentral game]

 

Anything else to be aware of thematically? CvK appropriate/ required/ discouraged? Any banned and/or discouraged powers (other than SPD 10 w/ 35 pts. of Kung Fu?)

I'll probably follow the guidelines for Superheroic Standard (FREd, p. 15). CvK is fine, but I won't require it; however, "likes to kill" or "vigilante mentality" I'm not going to accept. If you don't have a CvK, I'm going to treat that as the 0 point "reluctant to kill" such as Police Officers and Soldiers have. There's no reason to kill Bulldozer, VIPER takes hostages in order to escape (and can be talked out of it 50/50 or so) while if DEMON or Eurostar takes a hostage, you'd better act fast, because they'd kill them out of spite. (And I'll be using more of the 4th Ed DEMON/Eurostar than 5E - I like the power suits and false front of DEMON and 4E Eurostar was nasty.)

 

What will the name of the campaign be so that I can keep my eye out for it?

I have no idea' date=' yet. As GM, I have a 'railroad/gm fiat' method where the PCs [i']could[/i] be international, but there's no reason they must be. (And most -not all- of the events will take place within the US, because that's what I'm familiar with.)

 

Oh' date=' what about skill rolls and skill point totals? Any suggestions/ requirements?[/quote']Normally, I have a 25point non-combat skill requirement (and usually skills, not perks, talents, etc.); however, I know that there are those out there who could roleplay Grond very well, so I may request 25 points in noncombat skills/perks/talents as a group, though it's quite possible with a good write-up that I'd accept someone with less.

 

I'm really going to be looking for someone who has a personality (not necessarily a job) outside of being a hero. Heck, even Cavalier (MC, p. 40) has to maintain his website and do commercials.

 

I played Grond in a pseudo-post-apocalyptic type game once. While he had no job, during 'noncombat' time, he liked to play card, build card houses and jump off the hotel roof (abandoned hotel where the team was based) into the swimming pool with a sheet wrapped around his neck, pretending he could fly. (He also did the Foxbat thing of pretending he was other members of the team, but that was only at the hotel.) Something like that could be acceptable for someone with less than 25 points in non-combat areas.

 

One point I will be adamant on (and may be seen as a drawback) is that ALL PCs MUST be 18+ and have graduated high school, if not college. This won't be a Teen Champions game (I found out the hard way that I suck at that genre, even though I like the concept. ), but I've also had very bad experiences with players wanting to play teens in an adult world/game.

 

I'm also not looking for angst-ridden, antagonistic characters who are hated by society. Even if your PC isn't gung-ho about everyone on the team, I expect the character to be very favorable to teamwork and getting along.