CrosshairCollie Posted September 2, 2007 Report Share Posted September 2, 2007 Racial packages: Check. Character creation guidelines (points, etc.): Check. House rules: Check. Magic System: Check (thank you, FH Grimoires) General World Overview: Check. Specific World History: In progress. Other Packages/Archetypes: In progress. Fighting Styles martial arts packages: In progress. Anything important I'm overlooking? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghost-angel Posted September 2, 2007 Report Share Posted September 2, 2007 Re: Okay, what do I need here ... Generic NPCs. Always good to have a bunch of Town Guard, Tavern Wenches, Barkeeps, Orphans, Thugs, Hoodlums, Ladies-In-Waiting, Average Guy. . . And a big list of names for 'em. Generic Monsters. (Monsters, Minions, & Marauders can cover this). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrosshairCollie Posted September 2, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 2, 2007 Re: Okay, what do I need here ... Generic NPCs. Always good to have a bunch of Town Guard' date=' Tavern Wenches, Barkeeps, Orphans, Thugs, Hoodlums, Ladies-In-Waiting, Average Guy. . . And a big list of names for 'em.[/quote'] Good point. Generic Monsters. (Monsters, Minions, & Marauders can cover this). If I can get my hands on it, I may (That and/or the Bestiary for those Conjurers). I tend to use few monsters over NPCs in my fantasy games, though. Does MMM have a lot of 'new' monsters, or is it just the classics (your goblins, orcs, dragons, minotaurs, and the other stuff we've seen in D&D since the 70s)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghost-angel Posted September 2, 2007 Report Share Posted September 2, 2007 Re: Okay, what do I need here ... Bit of both. Here's a review Fantasy Hero actually has the generic Goblin, Giant creatures I believe (not next to my books to double check). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrosshairCollie Posted September 2, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 2, 2007 Re: Okay, what do I need here ... Bit of both. Here's a review Fantasy Hero actually has the generic Goblin, Giant creatures I believe (not next to my books to double check). Hrm. Assuming this isn't in the 'more information an allowable by board rules', could someone tell me how many new and old monsters are in MMM? I'm mostly interested in the new stuff. For background, this was originally going to be a D&D game, but one of the first things I did was throw out all the monsters (with a few exceptions) that fit any of the following criteria: 1. Based on real-world mythology (Minotaur, Medusa) 2. Looks too human, as there are are no humans on the planet (Satyr, Centaur) 3. Have been around FOREVER and the players will identify them on sight (too numerous to mention). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thia Halmades Posted September 3, 2007 Report Share Posted September 3, 2007 Re: Okay, what do I need here ... Players. Do u has playrz? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrosshairCollie Posted September 3, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 3, 2007 Re: Okay, what do I need here ... Players. Do u has playrz? I thought Captain Obvious had his own screen name. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghost-angel Posted September 3, 2007 Report Share Posted September 3, 2007 Re: Okay, what do I need here ... I'm stepping out to pick up dinner, I'll post a bit of a rundown along what you asked for in 30 minutes or so. If you really want to throw the players off pick up the Asian Bestaries and Tuala Morn for the Celtic Bestiary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghost-angel Posted September 3, 2007 Report Share Posted September 3, 2007 Re: Okay, what do I need here ... There are about two dozen monsters that aren't D&D Monsters or at least not common ones. The rest are either common monsters (Giants, Demons, Undead) but different enough that the Hero Version is not the D&D Version or are very common (dark elf, dark dwarf, goblin). There are a few that superficially appear to be D&D monsters, though not by name and maybe not by abilities (haven't compared them side by side). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrosshairCollie Posted September 3, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 3, 2007 Re: Okay, what do I need here ... There are about two dozen monsters that aren't D&D Monsters or at least not common ones. The rest are either common monsters (Giants, Demons, Undead) but different enough that the Hero Version is not the D&D Version or are very common (dark elf, dark dwarf, goblin). There are a few that superficially appear to be D&D monsters, though not by name and maybe not by abilities (haven't compared them side by side). Figures. Borderline purchase ... I'd have to flip through it, and I have no capacity to do this whatsoever as the only place I have to physically look at HERO merchandise is 90 miles away and, at best, has about six books, two of which are Revised Fifth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thia Halmades Posted September 3, 2007 Report Share Posted September 3, 2007 Re: Okay, what do I need here ... I thought Captain Obvious had his own screen name. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghost-angel Posted September 3, 2007 Report Share Posted September 3, 2007 Re: Okay, what do I need here ... None of them are copies of D&D Monsters - and you can always tell the players that you're using common monster names, and some common monster bits - but don't think D&D when encountering them. Unless you're going for the You've Never Seen It Before trope of Fantasy with fantastical beasts that aren't well documented/known in your world. One of the reasons we have common monsters like Goblins is there is the instant familiarity that helps ground the Player into the genre. But it can work against you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghost-angel Posted September 3, 2007 Report Share Posted September 3, 2007 Re: Okay, what do I need here ... Equipment - what's available to whom, how hard is it to get in certain lands (places with no metal have to trade for metal armor, making it rare and expensive possibly hard to repair there). Do certain cultures eschew certain technologies (are cows sacred? leather becomes both outlawed and offensive in most cases - unless it's obviously not cow-leather). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrosshairCollie Posted September 3, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 3, 2007 Re: Okay, what do I need here ... None of them are copies of D&D Monsters - and you can always tell the players that you're using common monster names, and some common monster bits - but don't think D&D when encountering them. Unless you're going for the You've Never Seen It Before trope of Fantasy with fantastical beasts that aren't well documented/known in your world. One of the reasons we have common monsters like Goblins is there is the instant familiarity that helps ground the Player into the genre. But it can work against you. I'm pretty familiar with it working against me, though it works against my players more often. "It's just a kobold!" *BOOM* "Kobold sorcerer." A lot of it is just wanting to get away from ... all those things that've been around forever. Not even 'we never encounter them', but the outright 'they do not, and never did, exist'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghost-angel Posted September 3, 2007 Report Share Posted September 3, 2007 Re: Okay, what do I need here ... I'm pretty familiar with it working against me' date=' though it works against my players more often. "It's just a kobold!" *BOOM* "Kobold [i']sorcerer[/i]." A lot of it is just wanting to get away from ... all those things that've been around forever. Not even 'we never encounter them', but the outright 'they do not, and never did, exist'. I can understand that. There's only so many times you can fight Orcs without wondering if there aren't any evil dog-people around somewhere. . . (there are in MMM, ) I've always liked the concept of playing in a game where the ubiquitous monsters aren't so common so running into a monster, any monster, can be a unique and interesting event ("ho hum another giant" turns into "A GIANT! How are we gonna win this one!?") Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thia Halmades Posted September 3, 2007 Report Share Posted September 3, 2007 Re: Okay, what do I need here ... How are you paying for equipment? I has a Resource Pool (and GA has an index). I can recommend both of the what'sits... Asian Bestiaries. Mine are poorly printed, but they're really solid books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghost-angel Posted September 3, 2007 Report Share Posted September 3, 2007 Re: Okay, what do I need here ... Hey yeah currency - good thought Thia. Going with the standard "gold is gold, some of it has funny faces on it" or the more complicated exchange rate system or trade and possibly even barter in some places? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Desmarais Posted September 3, 2007 Report Share Posted September 3, 2007 Re: Okay, what do I need here ... One of the reasons we have common monsters like Goblins is there is the instant familiarity that helps ground the Player into the genre. But it can work against you. Not just help ground (or perhaps grind) them into the genre, but the common monsters can really help enforcing with a particular feel/flavor within the genre. With the FH campaign I'm running right now I am deliberately aiming for a bit of the old xD&D feel and having all of those traditional D&D-type monsters is an important part of that - and the write-ups in the published material are similar enough to the classics to feed that need. Conversely, if I were to get a chance to do a Tuala Morn game, I wouldn't touch any of those monsters with a 10 foot Lithuanian. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Desmarais Posted September 3, 2007 Report Share Posted September 3, 2007 Re: Okay, what do I need here ... Hey yeah currency - good thought Thia. Going with the standard "gold is gold, some of it has funny faces on it" or the more complicated exchange rate system or trade and possibly even barter in some places? Multiple exchange rates throughout the lands is cool, but can frequently be more cumbersome than it's worth (yes, I'm lazy). I've pretty much just stuck with the "major coinage denominations have values based on the value/weight of precious/semiprecious metal involved". If Kingdom 'A' has a coin containing 1/10 of an ounce of gold, it will have the same basic purchasing power as a 1/10 of an ounce gold content coin in Kingdom 'B' - but don't try to spend coins from an unfriendly nation around here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrosshairCollie Posted September 4, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 4, 2007 Re: Okay, what do I need here ... How are you paying for equipment? I has a Resource Pool (and GA has an index). I can recommend both of the what'sits... Asian Bestiaries. Mine are poorly printed' date=' but they're really solid books.[/quote'] I don't charge points or fuss with point caps or whathaveyou with heroic games (on the rare occassions I run them). The PCs will have what they have. Questionable by virtue of the 'player recognition' factor. One of my players is an embarassingly stereotypical Otaku (A 40+ year old bachelor living alone with a metric f***-ton of japanimation and several bookshelves full of female figurines in provocative poses), so he'll probably ID the Asian monsters in a heartbeat. Hey yeah currency - good thought Thia. Going with the standard "gold is gold, some of it has funny faces on it" or the more complicated exchange rate system or trade and possibly even barter in some places? Going with the KISS principle here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markdoc Posted September 4, 2007 Report Share Posted September 4, 2007 Re: Okay, what do I need here ... You sound like a GM after my own heart. By and large, I don't do "monster races". I do Monsters. Yes, folks, every one unique - never seen before, never seen again! (or pretty close to that*). I just feel that "monsters should be monstrous" . If the players feel they know a creature, it becomes a little bland, regardless of what you do: you know, like in the old joke, "A troll an Otyugh and a Modron go into a bar...". It's actually not that hard. The key is "mash-ups". And the way to do it (for me at least) is to have an idea of what I want - "a bitey, rippy monster" or "a really hard to kill monster". I then make those by taking a basic template and adding or removing bits. Last session the players faced off against "a sneaky, seductive, but also tough monster". I took the lamia template out of the .... MM&M, I think ... slapped an area effect mind control on it (spread by her scent, with gradual effect - the longer you spent close to her/it the larger the effect). However, I also - inspired by "The stress of her regard" - gave it wings, a reptilian appearance and a protective attitude towards the men (and women - the players don't know about that yet:D) she/he/it has seduced. Lamia as depicted in the FH book are actually suprisingly tough, so I didn't need to tweak that. And that's it, good to go. Total work-up time .... um ... 2 minutes. And the best part - played and described differently I could use the same basic template again and the players would never know. Each monster inspires a certain amount of trepidation, because the players never know exactly what it's got. Previous monsters include an animated statue/gargoyle. Made of stone, returned to normal form, position at daybreak - I used a stone golem template with prodigious amounts of leaping and since it was a statue of a satyr, I gave it a certain ... attitude . That monster was basically unkillable with the abilities the players had to hand (and luckily for them, killing PCs was not its priority - it merely hurt them every time they got in its way) - they had to find its eyrie and destroy it while in statue form. It's a solid, basic, not very imaginative monster, but because of its role in the story and its attitude, it's never going to be just "Oh, yeah, that stone golem". cheers, Mark *there are exceptions - zombies, for example. For some reason I just can't do without zombies Or vampires. Or Dragons. Or giants. But all of those last three are customizable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrosshairCollie Posted September 9, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 9, 2007 Re: Okay, what do I need here ... You sound like a GM after my own heart. By and large' date=' I don't do "monster races".[/quote'] It's less that I don't do monster races, more a case of familiarity breeds contempt. I'm tired of the same old stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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