HERO SYSTEM VEHICLE SOURCEBOOK -- What Do *You* Want To See?

[Steve Long]

While Darren puts the finishing touches on the UNTIL sourcebook, I'm going to get a jump on The HERO System Vehicle Sourcebook, so I thought it was time to start another one of my "fan input" threads.

 

The HSVS is a collection of vehicles for HERO System campaigns. It's like the HSB or MMM -- it's a bunch of pre-built stuff (in this case vehicles instead of creatures and monsters). It's not a rulebook about vehicles (we've got TUV for that) or the like -- it's just pre-created vehicles for you to drop right into your games or have your characters buy with their hard-earned points.

 

Basically it's going to have four chapters:

 

Ground Vehicles

Air Vehicles

Water Vehicles

Fantasy and Superhero Vehicles

 

We've already published plenty of space vehicles in our SH line, so I don't want to go into that subject in this book. The book will include civilian, military, and emergency services vehicles. The emphasis is on real-world vehicles, mostly from the 20th and 21st centuries; the Fantasy/Supers chapter is probably going to be the smallest in the book.

 

My current guesstimate is that the book will have 150-200 vehicles, making it a 128-170 page book (the exact length depends on many factors, of course).

 

So, what sort of vehicles would you like to see in the book? Feel free to describe them generically ("WW2 tanks") or to list specific vehicles you think deserve coverage ("Stutz Bearcat").

 

Another issue I'd like your input on: should the HSVS reprint the 37 sample ground, air, and water vehicles printed in TUV? That would be about a fifth to a fourth of the contents of the HSVS. I'm perfectly content not to reprint them, but if there's a strong interest in seeing them copied over I'll be glad to consider it.

[specks]

We'll,

 

I would like to see writeups for something along the lines of the vehicles Batman uses (not exactly; copyright restrictions you know) like the car, the boat and the plane and the vehicles that JLA, Avengers and X-men use.

 

My take anyway

 

P.S.

 

No, the reprints are not worth it.The book would be fine without them.

[Dr. Anomaly]

Steve,

 

How on EARTH did you know the Stutz Bearcat is one of my all-time FAVORITE cars? No, I'm not kidding...it really is!

 

On your question, though...

 

Adding too many specific vehicles (like the Bearcat) may be a mistake. IMO, it would be better to cover a broad range of time & types, and chose a representative vehicle for each of those. (That representative type may indeed BE the Bearcat, though.)

 

Example:

 

For automobile-type ground vehicles:

 

An early internal combustion engine, ala the Ford Model A or Model T, perhaps with suggestions on how to turn it into one of those early flatbed trucks or buses (add X levels of Size, +X STR = Y points)

 

A compact (or low-end "basic") automobile, a mid-sized sedan, and a sports/race car for each of several broad time periods (pre-WWI, post-WWI, WWII, post-WWII, 1960's-1970's, etc.)

 

Motorcycles, of course. Perhaps a few ranging from the original Harley-Davidson to the supermodern Yamaha "no sane person would ride these" racing bikes.

 

Steam, Diesel, and Electric Locomotives. How can you honestly tell if your character is "faster than a speeding locomotive" if you don't give them something with which to compare themselves? Plus, having to stop a runaway locomotive is a CLASSIC superhero bit!

 

Solar-powered cars (Sunnyracer).

 

Tanks, from the first clunky ones used in WWI to the modern battlefield behemoths. Perhaps a few notes on how to take these write-ups and use them as "templates" to produce other military vehicles -- for example, replace the main gun and reduce SPD and DEF, add a gun with some Megarange to get a self-propelled artillery piece like the ... uhm ... drat, the name escapes me at the moment...

 

Some specialized military machines, such as those vehicles that launch anti-missile rounds (Missile Deflection At Range, Charges, Prep Time, Bulky, Trained Crew, etc. etc...you know the routine).

 

Aircraft, from the early non-powered gliders to the Wright flyer, to biplanes & triplanes, prop-driven monoplanes, early jets, modern jets, and some of the modern commercial turbo-jet or turbo-prop designs. Again, a representative example of each time period & type will probably do: if you've done biplanes, you probably don't need to do triplanes or Louis Blario's first successful monoplane -- a single write-up will probably do for all of those, since the rest is basically fluff. Likewise, for WWII you might do a fighter, a bomber, a fighter/bomber, and a cargo plane. In game terms, whether it's American, German, Japanese, British, Italian, or whatever probably won't matter, the game stats should be *roughly* the same. Some planes, though, MIGHT merit a little special attention. The DC-3, for example, had such a well-deserved reputation for taking punishment and remaining airworthy that it might have a special note such as "to simulate the extreme durability of the DC-3, add 25% Resistant Physical Damage Reduction to the cargo plane template."

 

VTOL jets.

 

Stealth Aircraft.

 

Human-powered aircraft (the Gossamer Albatross).

 

Non-airplane aircraft: a hot-air balloon, a blimp, a zeppelin.

 

For water craft, split between civilian and military.

 

Civilian: motorboat, powerboat, private yacht, cruise ship, large cargo ship (oil tanker?). Hydrofoils. Sailboats (modern small ones and the big "clipper" ships).

 

Military: cutter, destroyer, cruiser, battleship, aircraft carrier. For most of these, the differences between WWI, WWII and modern will be relatively slight in *game terms*. Example: "to turn a WWI destroyer into a WWII destroyer, add +x" of Swimming, add +5 Pentaly Skill Levels vs. range, and increase the damage of all weapons by +3 DC."

 

Submarines: very early (Turtle, Hunley), WWI U-Boats, WWII subs, nuclear subs (attack and ballistic). A couple of super-deep subs or submersible vehicles (Alvin, Trieste, NR-1).

 

Break-in-mid-thought-note: It might seem at the beginning a waste of time to do a version of such early/primitive craft like hot air balloons or a submarine like the Hunley -- but those could be adapted with little or no change to a fantasy setting, or a Victorian-style "LXG" or "Secret Adventures of Jules Vern" setting. I know you said you want to concentrate mainly on the 20th-21st centuries, but I thought I'd throw these in here nevertheless.

 

"Extreme" machines. I don't know if these would fall under your "fantasy" vehicle classifications or not -- I suspect you're talking more like things such as the Fantastic Four's Fantasticar, or Batman's Batmobile -- but in any case:

 

Record-breaking craft from the real world: Thrust II , a car that has broken the sound barrier; Burt Rutan's Voyager, that flew around the world on a single tank of fuel. Solar-powered airplanes like the Helios. Giant dump trucks like they use in strip mines. Tunnel-Boring Machines (TBMs). The Space Shuttle.

 

"Vehicles" that may not normally be thought of as vehicles: sleds, bobsleds, skis, parachutes, parasails, hangliders.

 

More thoughts as events warrant...

[rjcurrie]

Hey, Steve:

 

While you say that you don't want to go into space vehicles, I don't believe that you have yet covered modern day space vehicles. For example, it might be nice to have write-ups of the Space Shuttle, or Apollo era space vehicles. It might also be nice to see slightly futuristic takes on these things.

 

Other than that, I would like to see write-ups for the following:

 

city bus

intercity coach

passenger train

freight train

subway trains

various sizes of modern passenger aircraft

a selection of aircraft from different eras

a selection of cars from different eras

executive aircraft

 

When I mention different eras, I would think that the emphasis should be on eras that are popular in Hero games. For example, the 20s and 30s for Pulp and Horror Hero, the 40s for Golden Age Champions and other WWII-related games, and the 60s for Silver Age Champions and Cold War spy games.

 

I would also like to see references to existing write-ups in other books, so people can find them quickly when they don't find them in this book.

 

Just a few thoughts on the matter,

 

Rod

[Steve Long]

it might be nice to have write-ups of the Space Shuttle

 

AAMOF, I'm wedging open the "Air Vehicles" category just enough to slip this one in.

 

I would also like to see references to existing write-ups in other books, so people can find them quickly when they don't find them in this book.

 

Assuming I don't reprint the TUV vehicles, I definitely plan to have sidebars in each chapter listing the vehicles it contains, along with brief mentions of what one can find in VIPER, UNTIL, the SH line, and so on. Wouldn't want to miss an opportunity for cross-referencing.

[Dr. Anomaly]

Steve,

 

I really wouldn't want to see the TUV stuff reprinted. Others have said (and I agree) that in the case of adventures, you really do need at least a thumbnail of characters that appeared in other works to be reprinted in the adventure (after all, apart from the rule book itself, aren't adventures supposed to stand alone?)

 

In the case of a reference/sourcebook, though, I think reprinting that much material would be a mistake. It would either up the page count (and the cost) if you still included as much material as you would otherwise, or means we DON'T get to see some of the new material that you didn't put in so you could reprint the TUV stuff.

 

By the way, some of the things I listed in my "I'd like to see x" post may indeed have already appeared in TUV -- I just don't have it handy to double-check. If anything on my list already appears in substantially the same form in TUV, then please ignore it being on my list.

 

Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to go find my TUV so I can refresh myself on its contents...

[Lord Mhoram]

Another vote No on the reprints. Although I do like the sidebar idea.

 

I'd like to see a good cross-section of "standard" vehicles for each major play era, as already been mentioned. The shuttle and the Apollo would be great. I'd love to see more Mechs but.... ah well.

 

What I would really like to see, probably in the fantasy/superhero section is a collection of "how do I build this?" kind of vehicles- not unlike the appendix in USPD section with the Negabeam and Transference touch. Things like transforming vehicles, vehicles within vehicles, and other such things.

 

I'd also love to see some famous fictional vehicles approximated. Chitty chitty bang bang, Blue Thunder, KITT, Bond's Car (whichever one you like).

 

I'd also love to see a write up of a supercarrier.

[dugfromthearth]

I would like to not see vehicles reprinted.

 

I really liked how the beastiary has little options added like unluck for black cats

 

It would be great if you did something like:

WWII Tank - and then options of "main gun is 88", "german optics" (rmod bonus), "russian optics' (rmod penalty), heavy armor, etc. So with a couple of changes you could make a heavy russian tank, medium german tank, etc.

 

The same could be done (in theory, with me having to none of the work) with regular cars - two door to four door conversion, stationwagon, hatchback, etc.

 

Thinking in Car Wars terms, the basic vehicles could be:

1930's compact, 1930's luxury, modern subcompact, modern luxury, modern pick-up truck, etc.

 

And then under each have two-door, four-door, options if applicable.

 

 

Vehicles I particularly want to see:

VW bug

garbage truck

limousine

police car

traffic helicopter

school bus

monster truck

scooters (powered ones like vespas)

back hoe/tractor

[Hugh Neilson]

Originally posted by Steve Long

Assuming I don't reprint the TUV vehicles, I definitely plan to have sidebars in each chapter listing the vehicles it contains, along with brief mentions of what one can find in VIPER, UNTIL, the SH line, and so on. Wouldn't want to miss an opportunity for cross-referencing.

 

Lots of good ideas here already. YES cross reference and NO reprints, which I would agree with, seems way up there. It would seem contradictory to have a policy of not reprinting characters in adventures and then have mass excerpts from TUV in the Vehicle sourcebook.

 

We need covered wagons for Western Hero and chariots for Fantasy Hero, please. Maybe with some options for hitching up different beasts (or a magic self-propelled chariot). Oh, and for sure the traditional magic carpet and witch's broom!

 

Oh, yes - and a flying surfboard

[Steve Long]

Thanx for all the suggestions, guys! Keep 'em comin'.

 

Just a friendly reminder -- you might want to check your copy of TUV before making a suggestion. (What's that? You say you don't have one? Go out and get one right now! ) A lot of the specific vehicles being suggested are already in TUV (since I deliberately chose a lot of the most commonly-used ones for it, for obvious reasons).

[McCoy]

No reprints, do like the idea of a sidebar/crossreference index.

 

What I REALLY want to see is not going to happen due to licensing restrictions, write ups for the Enterprise from Star Trek: The Original Show and the Star Destroyer from Star Wars IV A New Hope. Not gonna happen.

 

Second choice would be the TARDIS, or a TARDIS like vehicle.

 

Would like to see unconventional vehicles, a Hindenberg like blimp, Captain Nemo's Nautilus, maybe some vehicle designed to tunnel (haven't seen The Core, but hope that gives you the idea.

 

What I would probably use most is conventional RL police/military vehicles/weapon systems; police cars, paddy wagons, the bomb disposal van, troop transports, tanks, attack subs, missle subs, boats and ships, maybe even an aircraft carrier.

 

Looking forward to it.

[Sociotard]

*thinks* It would be fun if you threw in a few extremely famous vehicles, such as the spruce goose or the U.S.S. Constitution. Okay, revelutionary war superfrigates are not 20th century, but after "Pirates of the Carribean" I know a few people would be interested in a sloop writeup or two.

 

No Segways. Don't even think about it.

 

Were there many muscle powered vehicles in Ultimate Vehicle? Bicicles? Rowboats? Viking Longship (Doh! not 20th century)? How about that muscle powered aircraft that flew accross the English Channel? what was it's name, the Gossamer Albatross maybe?

 

Both KITT and Airwolf (see the poll I put on the star hero board), by other names, of course.

 

Mostly, I really do like the sail-powered vehicle writeup idea.

[BobGreenwade]

What would I like to see? How about my name on the front cover? (Just kidding.)

 

Seriously, I say go for some of the more unusual vehicles of the 20th and early 21st centuries, like volantors, the Segway, monowheels, ultralights, and such. Also some unusual fictional vehicles such as hoverboards would be good.

 

Also hit some areas not well covered among the samples in TUV. I'm thinking specifically of Indy race cars, luxury cruise ships, and derigibles, though I'm sure you can come up with more.

 

I think you should go light on the reprints from TUV (and STK), but do it. Reprint some of them -- particularly the most significant and/or archetypical -- but not the whole batch.

 

Unless you plan on including them in the "air vehicles" category, I'd add a section for at least a few recent, modern, and near-fugure space vehicles: Mercury and Saturn modules, the Space Shuttles, spaceplanes, and possibly an in-system exploration vessel.

 

Let's have at least a little major construction equipment, too. A bulldozer, a backhoe, a dump truck, a cement mixer, and a tunnel borer would be a decent selection.

 

For some items (such as race cars and most mass transit vehicles) a list of options for adjusting each type to a particular purpose would be a good thing, giving even more vehicles for each entry. For instance, several options under the Indy racer could make each car unique even if they all used the same basic character sheet.

 

Make notes (mostly sidebars) on how some of the optional vehicle construction rules from TUV can apply to various cases. For instance, the above-mentioned Indy racer could be an example for "fine-tuned" movement (TUV page 23), while the luxury liner or a sports car could ge used as an example for the COM characteristic. At least one of the fantasy/superhero vehicles could be built with INT and perhaps EGO.

 

An appendix (no more than three or four pages) covering ways to create vehicle-centric campaigns would be cool too, though I can see the reasons why you wouldn't. I'm talking about just two or three paragraphs each on settings to simulate things ranging from Team Knight Rider to The Love Boat.

[McCoy]

Already in The Ultimate Vehicle

 

Originally posted by Steve Long

Just a friendly reminder -- you might want to check your copy of TUV before making a suggestion. (What's that? You say you don't have one? Go out and get one right now! ) A lot of the specific vehicles being suggested are already in TUV (since I deliberately chose a lot of the most commonly-used ones for it, for obvious reasons).

Thought I had, now see I'm among the offenders.

 

Vehicles in TUV listed for reference, if this crosses the copyright line please accept appologies and delete this post.

 

Ground Vehicles

Ten Speed Bicycle

Chariot

Stagecoach

Two or four door Automobile

Lotus Esprit Turbo

Sports Utility Vehicle

Supercar

Tractor-Trailer Truck

School Bus

Armored Car

Steam Locomotive

M2 Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle

M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tank

Harley-Davidson VRSCA V-Rod

Hovercraft

Cybertank

 

Water Vehicles

Canoe

Trireme

Viking Longship

Galleon

Speedboat

Zodiac F-470 CRRC

Cruise Ship

Spruance-Class Destroyer

Nimitz-Class Aircraft Carrrier

Los Angeles Class Nuclear Submarine

 

Air Vehicles

Flying Carpet

Sopwith F-1 Camel

Airship (Zeppelin)

Mitsubishi A6M2 "Zero" Fighter

McDonnell-Douglas F/A-18C Hornet

Lockheed C-130H Hercules

Lockheed F-117A Nighthawk Stealth Fighter

AH-64 Apache Longbow Attack Helicopter

Boeing 747-400

Learjet 31A

Superjet

Powered Armor Suit

 

Space Vehicles

Space Yacht

Scientific Surveyor

Space Merchantman

Space Pirate Vessel

Warp Fighter

Military Cruiser

Star Ravager

Chronoportation Box

 

Mecha

M78 "Black Scorpion" Mech

M1012-J Panthamech

Transmatron

Shining Warrior Epsilon

[Lord Liaden]

As usual, Steve, you have a good idea of what you want to do, and as usual you've already gotten lots of good suggestions.

 

What I also would like to see, either included with the appropriate grouping of vehicles or in a separate section, would be a number of pre-built vehicle components that could be added to existing vehicle templates to allow for quick customization. I don't just mean beefed up armor or movement speed, but more sophisticated equipment that exists on modern vehicles. I'm thinking of things like common vehicle-mounted weapons with brief notes on the size and configuration of vehicles that can carry them (kind of a "strength minimum"); various types of stealth equipment including radar reflectors, "whisper mode" engines and camoflage painting; sensors such as wide-field and precision radar and sonar, navigation aids, or infrared viewers that can "see" heat patterns through walls; ejector seats and other escape modules (especially for extreme environment vehicles like submarines and high-altitude aircraft).

[specks]

McCoy wrote:

 

What I REALLY want to see is not going to happen due to licensing restrictions, write ups for the Enterprise from Star Trek: The Original Show and the Star Destroyer from Star Wars IV A New Hope. Not gonna happen.

 

Second choice would be the TARDIS, or a TARDIS like vehicle.

 

 

Steves reply

 

We've already published plenty of space vehicles in our SH line, so I don't want to go into that subject in this book. The book will include civilian, military, and emergency services vehicles. The emphasis is on real-world vehicles, mostly from the 20th and 21st centuries; the Fantasy/Supers chapter is probably going to be the smallest in the book.

 

I'd like to see a TARDIS writeup to (more extensive than in SH) maybe in Galactic Champions umm?!

[Dr. Anomaly]

Originally posted by McCoy

Second choice would be the TARDIS, or a TARDIS like vehicle.

 

We DO already have one. The Chronoportation Box from TUV.

[Hugh Neilson]

Originally posted by Steve Long

Thanx for all the suggestions, guys! Keep 'em comin'.

 

Just a friendly reminder -- you might want to check your copy of TUV before making a suggestion. (What's that? You say you don't have one? Go out and get one right now! ) A lot of the specific vehicles being suggested are already in TUV (since I deliberately chose a lot of the most commonly-used ones for it, for obvious reasons).

 

Mea Culpa - I've got it but haven't dug through it in any detail! Retract any suggestion already in TUV (is there a chariot pulled by lions?)

[JmOz]

On the issue of inclusion:

 

I would not reprint the write ups BUT I would make sure that you included all the same types again. For example their is a Harley motorcycle in TUV, I would include another ake of harley (same goes for another Power Armor suit, super transport, race car, etc...)

 

I would like to see some more Super vehicles (IE the stuff characters like Batman uses)

 

Some filed off the serial numbers vehicles

 

A B-Movie Flying sauser

 

Vehicles that use unusual movement powers (Tunneling, Swinging, Leaping)

[eepjr24]

Requests

 

Don't know how specific you want, here are some things I would like to see:

 

1967 AC Shelby Cobra, with 427 Cobrajet

 

Something like the Mach5 from Speedracer.

 

A couple basic construction vehicles (front end loader, crane, wrecking ball, asphalt roller, whatever)

 

Emergency Vehicles (Police car, ambulance, fire truck, rescue helocopter)

 

"Set path" vehicles (trolley, gondola, elevator?, monorail, etc)

 

That should do it. Alot of other stuff mentioned is good too.

 

- Ernie

[Steve Long]

What I also would like to see, either included with the appropriate grouping of vehicles or in a separate section, would be a number of pre-built vehicle components that could be added to existing vehicle templates to allow for quick customization.

 

Well, that's Chapter Seven of TUV, it seems to me. Is there something different you have in mind?

[Steve Long]

(is there a chariot pulled by lions?)

 

There's a chariot. What you get to pull it is up to you. The towed vehicle rules would certainly allow for the use of something other than horses, if you prefer.

[starblaze]

Well it's been mentioned, but I would like to see Police cars, Fire/Rescue, Ambulances, as well as special civic servant vehicles. This would include Police Motorcycles as well as those big tank like vehicles they use.

 

WWI-II Vehicles would be good too, especially for me since I run a game during that time. Also as stated before some 20's-30's stuff would be welcomed.

[JmOz]

Originally posted by Steve Long

Well, that's Chapter Seven of TUV, it seems to me. Is there something different you have in mind?

 

I think something more akin to the "Quick character generator" would be interesting, though I don't know if I would actualy want one in the book (If that makes any sense.

[Space Cadet]

What I'd like to see in the HSVS is something like the MARS-1

vehicle from the Morrow Project RPG -- a vehicle that

could be designed and built in either the 20th or 21st Centuries,

but would be intended for use in a post-apocalyptic world.

 

By the way, Doc A., the self-propelled artillery piece that you

were probably trying to think of is the Paladin Mobile Gun, a

105mm(?) gun currently in use with the U.S. Army.

 

Space Cadet