Brainstorming and what to present to players

[drsid]

Okay, so I've decided to create a urban cyberfantasy setting. The scale of the game will be standard heroic. As I see the Hero System as a RPG design tool, rather than universal rules ala GURPS, I am thinking that I will simply have my players buy the Hero System Basic rule book. A couple want to actually help me work on the project from the ground up and will pick up both 6e vol1 and vol2.

 

Now, lets say I design a campaign setting, my plan is also to have concrete character creation guidelines. For example, taking the information from Character Type Guidelines Table, I would simply tell the players we are playing a standard heroic level game and you have 175 character points with 50 points in matching complications. I would then indicate that they should spend approximately 100 pts in characteristics, 85 pts in skills, perks, and talents, and 15pts in powers/equipment. In other words, I don't see any particular reason for the players to actually see the "backbone" of the system.

 

Racial Templates seem to be a pretty easy thing to do, at least with Hero Designer, so I was planning to build racial templates for the following races: Elf, Dwarf, Ork, Ogre (never liked trolls, so a good opportunity to get away from that motif). Now, would you also build a template for humans, or would that simply be "the standard?"

 

I like the idea of resources mentioned in the advanced player's guide, so will likely implement something like that.

 

I noticed that in the some of the other supplements and setting books, particularly the Kazei 5 sample page I saw, the author does a great job of laying out the information in K5 terms, but also then gives the specifications in Hero System game terms. Is that a common approach or a stylistic thing? Is that a means of having an additional opportunity to check things are correct? I ask as I have seen this on Killershrike's stuff as well.

[torchwolf]

Re: Brainstorming and what to present to players

 

Okay' date=' so I've decided to create a urban cyberfantasy setting. The scale of the game will be standard heroic. As I see the Hero System as a RPG design tool, rather than universal rules ala GURPS, I am thinking that I will simply have my players buy the Hero System Basic rule book. A couple want to actually help me work on the project from the ground up and will pick up both 6e vol1 and vol2.[/quote']

Enthusiastic players!

 

Now' date=' lets say I design a campaign setting, my plan is also to have concrete character creation guidelines. For example, taking the information from Character Type Guidelines Table, I would simply tell the players we are playing a standard heroic level game and you have 175 character points with 50 points in matching complications. I would then indicate that they should spend approximately 100 pts in characteristics, 85 pts in skills, perks, and talents, and 15pts in powers/equipment. In other words, I don't see any particular reason for the players to actually see the "backbone" of the system.[/quote']

100+85+15 = 200, which is the point total in that case, not 175. Having less than 50 points in matching Complications just gives you less points.

You may also want to either set an Active Point maximum (say 50 Active Points maximum, equal to a Killing Attack of 3d6+1) for equipment or just decide on a general level (50-75) and decide on a case-by-case basis. Such considerations are mostly important with direct damage-inflicting Powers, though. If you design available powers/equipment yourself, you need not state any such limits to the players at all, just examining them yourself for balance issues.

 

A note on Characteristics:

PD/ED (including commonly worn armor) should usually be 2-3 times the average Damage Class done by the most common attacks, and PD/ED + CON should probably equal 3.5 times the average Damage Class or so, otherwise the characters will end up being Stunned more often than not if they are hit.

OCV and DCV (including levels) that are more than 3 higher or lower than their expected opponents will usually result in the character almost always or almost never being hit.

These are generally the most important balance considerations when you design both equipment and characters. There may exist some 4d6 or even more damaging weapons, but as long as they are uncommon and generally unavailable, this works.

 

Racial Templates seem to be a pretty easy thing to do' date=' at least with Hero Designer, so I was planning to build racial templates for the following races: Elf, Dwarf, Ork, Ogre (never liked trolls, so a good opportunity to get away from that motif). Now, would you also build a template for humans, or would that simply be "the standard?"[/quote']

If humans are standard (which they probably would be in this case), then that is the default.

It may be useful to build a template containing any Everyman Skills/Perks/etc that every character would possess by default, just to have it on the character sheet, but that is strictly up to your preference - some GMs do this, others just have a list of those abilities available separate from the character sheet.

 

I like the idea of resources mentioned in the advanced player's guide' date=' so will likely implement something like that.[/quote']

The Resource rules are very suitable for campaigns where the actual equipment possessed by characters tend to fluctuate, and it also further simplifies opacity of the rules not having to write up game mechanics on a character sheet. Generally, with some very powerful weapons and other equipment likely to end up in the characters' possession occasionally, those rules offer a good way to maintain some balance, and a fair warning to players on the limits for overloading with cool stuff.

 

I noticed that in the some of the other supplements and setting books' date=' particularly the Kazei 5 sample page I saw, the author does a great job of laying out the information in K5 terms, but also then gives the specifications in Hero System game terms. Is that a common approach or a stylistic thing? Is that a means of having an additional opportunity to check things are correct? I ask as I have seen this on Killershrike's stuff as well.[/quote']

It is a standard formatting. The Effect is for overview purposes (listing the main parts of the Game Information), the Description is the info that describes what the game mechanics actually represent (and probably the only part you need to provide to your players if you want the system to remain opaque), and the Game Information is a complete listing of the Hero system writeup that is usually more detailed than the Effect section (and also lists Active Points and Real Cost).

OK, I probably over-explained that, just wanted to be clear.

[drsid]

Re: Brainstorming and what to present to players

 

over-explanation is never a bad thing!

[Susano]

Re: Brainstorming and what to present to players

 

I noticed that in the some of the other supplements and setting books, particularly the Kazei 5 sample page I saw, the author does a great job of laying out the information in K5 terms, but also then gives the specifications in Hero System game terms. Is that a common approach or a stylistic thing? Is that a means of having an additional opportunity to check things are correct? I ask as I have seen this on Killershrike's stuff as well.

 

That was a stylistic choice on my part. I wanted the primary text to draw you into the setting, and then follow up with the specific game mechanics.