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Ninja-Bear

HERO Member
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  1. Like
    Ninja-Bear got a reaction from Christopher R Taylor in Cutting through a tree   
    The thing is dealing with the martial arts world, heroic and super heroic is muddled.
  2. Like
    Ninja-Bear got a reaction from Duke Bushido in Cutting through a tree   
    The thing is dealing with the martial arts world, heroic and super heroic is muddled.
  3. Like
    Ninja-Bear reacted to Doc Democracy in Is Hero still your "go-to" rpg system?   
    Probably a common thing - superhero games are difficult to run and difficult to get players properly bought into because they are different from what people expect.  Cinematic mythic stories where the powers are emblems of the archetypes represented - not sure HERO actually captures this aspect of superheroes. 
     
    I think HERO is best in delivering the Indiana Jones and other pulp larger than life adventures where the supernatural mixes with the mundane....

    Doc
  4. Like
    Ninja-Bear reacted to Stanley Teriaca in Heroes In A Hurry Villain Writeup, Professor Hyde   
    Campamg Use
     
    Someone who is going out stealing strange chemicals...
     
    An excuse to introduce an origin for a new villain...
     
    A baby crime lord just making his moves upon the city...
  5. Like
    Ninja-Bear got a reaction from Rich McGee in How is Chaosium Basic Role Playing compared to Hero System?   
    @Rich McGee, I see on the Internet that (at some point) that Battletech added the idea of what can be customized on a Mech and where. So certain modifications can be made in the field and the more extensive ones has to have a factory. So a nice compromise is that a group might play Merc and in the Periphery so your options are limited compared to just using the Construction Rules. I think that’s a great! 
  6. Like
    Ninja-Bear reacted to Stanley Teriaca in Heroes In A Hurry Villain Writeup, Professor Hyde   
    It should be noted that I don't have a game or players. This was just an exercise in character creation (especially villain creation). I used Champions: Heroes In A Hurry book as inspiration for the villain.
     
    The big idea here is an homage of Doctor Jeckel/Mister Hyde, who's thing is drug addiction and the question of what is evil. Of course, this character isn't the only homage to the same source (Marvel's own Mr. Hyde comes to mind really easily).
  7. Like
    Ninja-Bear reacted to Rich McGee in How is Chaosium Basic Role Playing compared to Hero System?   
    That's one example of why point systems are never perfect (or even close), especially in engines that are designed to give you real freedom of genre, optional rules and campaign norms. There's just too many variables for any single list of costs to be universal, and the GM always needs to think about how their personal campaign modifies the utility (and therefore cost) of individual elements of the game.
     
    It's a game design quandry that I just don't think can be solved beyond cautioning GMs to watch out for unexpected interactions with setting options.  The parallels to mixing meds prescribed by different doctors who aren't talking to one another is notable... 
  8. Like
    Ninja-Bear got a reaction from Rich McGee in How is Chaosium Basic Role Playing compared to Hero System?   
    @Rich McGee, I’m sure that any point system isn’t 100% accurate. Even Hero System it point costs get argued over their values. Back in the day we played giant robots smash each other too and it ‘s fun. But looking at mech builds, even though I probably won’t play combined arms type game, I now appreciate certain builds that fill in a certain role. I’m glad now that MG are a threat to infantry and PPC not as much. I would like to play a game with design quirks sometime. At a more Meta level though this reminds me of a problem that any game can have. In Hero if one character is built to include skills and another doesn’t and the GM runs a game that don’t make taking the skills worth it. Who’s the better character? 
     
    Btw, I have Mechwarrior 1st Ed. Let’s roll up lances based on those tables. An Urbanmech comes up way too often for my tastes! 😂
  9. Like
    Ninja-Bear reacted to tkdguy in A Thread For Random RPG Musings   
    Long story short, the characters fought off some bandits with minimal damage, then fought some goblins in a different area. Most of them took a bit of damage from the goblins, which led to their deaths when the bandits came back for round 2. I decided to give the bandits another chance because I made a mistake on the morale rules.
     
    My biggest issue with the rules I've used is allowing a saving throw on the Sleep spell, which is not allowed on Basic/Advanced D&D. OSR characters are on the whole more vulnerable than d20 characters at level 1*, and a Sleep spell can make the difference in the party's survival. In this case, 2 bandits were hit by the sleep spell, but one made his saving throw. He spent his action waking up his sleeping comrade instead of attacking, which helped the party. But all bandits were awake and combat ready in the next encounter. The previous time I used the sleep spell (different characters), 3 out of 4 orcs made their saving throws, and those characters had to run for their lives. I plan to use the B/X version of the spell in the future.
     
    * Remember that in Basic D&D clerics don't get spells until level 2, and hit dice for all character types except for magic-users were lower than those of their AD&D counterparts.
  10. Like
    Ninja-Bear reacted to Rich McGee in How is Chaosium Basic Role Playing compared to Hero System?   
    That's one of the other issues with "balancing" the game.  There are two similar but different ways to calculate BPVs at this point, both of which were added to a system that was never meant to have them, so they produce some strange results at times and there's definitely no universal consensus on which is better, or even if either is worth using.  There's folks who insist using the lists C-Bill costs is the right way to go, which makes most advanced tech prohibitively expensive to use in volume and lets low-tech junkers outnumber anyone using Clantech or significant amounts of IS advanced tech by quite a lot.  The C-Bill system was even less intended to be a balance mechanism for one-off games, having been invented for strategic campaigns and the RPG.  And with the huge differences in tech levels the original (albeit crude) "just take the same tonnage of mechs"  doesn't work any more unless everyone is on a level field tech-wise.
     
    I'm unconvinced the game's ever been or will be balanced in an objective sense.  The best BT games I've had in the last twenty years saw four-six of us each bring four mech designs of our choice, then hand them to the player on your left so they can pick one and pass the rest on, repeating until all the mechs are handed out and everyone had a full lance.  Pretty much a Magic CCG draft with mechs.  Results in a chaotic mess of unexpected mechs for everyone, but they were fun and a decent test of how well you used the random stuff you'd wound up with.
     
    Sometimes just chucking the pretense of largely illusory game balance is the best answer. 
    Yeah, that's the truth.  If it had gotten some more supplemental material (adventures, or setting books) it would have helped a lot.  Mekton was just as versatile and just as generic originally, but they course corrected and stuck an optional default setting in the core book, then went on to bang out quite a few more setting expansions.  That really helped give it a feel of its own without leaving all the work to you.
  11. Like
    Ninja-Bear got a reaction from Rich McGee in How is Chaosium Basic Role Playing compared to Hero System?   
    @Rich McGee and @Duke Bushido and anyone else, did you guys design you own Battlemechs? Or at least customize them? I find that building your own that fits into 3025 era (starting) has a certain feel and is similar to building a good character.
  12. Haha
    Ninja-Bear got a reaction from Duke Bushido in How is Chaosium Basic Role Playing compared to Hero System?   
    Oh so it’s D&D then! 😁 I’ll dodge now!
  13. Haha
    Ninja-Bear got a reaction from Rich McGee in How is Chaosium Basic Role Playing compared to Hero System?   
    Oh so it’s D&D then! 😁 I’ll dodge now!
  14. Like
    Ninja-Bear reacted to Stanley Teriaca in Heroes In A Hurry Villain Idea List   
    Here are a list of villains I have an idea for and like Professor Hyde I plan on eventually using the Heroes In A Hurry book to start the characters out 
     
    Miss Innocent 
    Apparently a young girl wearing lolita fashion, she has mnd control powers and specializes in getting people to physically give her what she wants.
     
    Winterblade
    A thief who steals a high-tech sword with an ice generator beam inside it. Loosely an homage to Captain Cold. This one definitely needs to be modified before I start writing it up 
     
    Blackhead
    A brick who gained his strength and durability (and extreme acne) thanks to a rejected Professor Hyde drug.
     
    Which one would you want to see first?
     
  15. Like
    Ninja-Bear reacted to tkdguy in A Thread For Random RPG Musings   
    Yesterday I played a solo session of Basic Fantasy. I had a group of level 1 characters, so I sent them on their first adventure. Unfortunately, it also turned out to be their last. RIP.
     
    Today, I found a couple of old calendars from work. 2018 started on a Monday just as this year did (although this year is a leap year), so I decided to use it as my campaign log. The unfortunate band of adventurers are listed on the calendar.
     
    While I have a bunch of fantasy maps available, I'm thinking of using old historical maps where California is drawn as an island. I'll have to work on the history, but Emperor Norton I will be part of it.
     
    The campaign setting won't be bound by any one game system. I may play HERO one day and Rolemaster another day, but the adventures will take place in the same game world.
  16. Like
    Ninja-Bear reacted to Christopher R Taylor in Walking on rice paper   
    You could as a GM rule that if you roll x or lower then there's no visible or audible trace of your passage.  For example: if you make your roll by 5, there's no sound.  If you make your roll by 8, there's no visible damage to the rice paper.  This is more old school Hero, but certainly within the concept of the skill.  It just represents someone with astoundingly great stealth or an amazing effort doing things beyond the believable.
  17. Like
    Ninja-Bear reacted to Duke Bushido in How is Chaosium Basic Role Playing compared to Hero System?   
    Our _country_, Sir.  Our entire country.
     
  18. Like
    Ninja-Bear got a reaction from Duke Bushido in Cutting through a tree   
    My initial thought was High DC with AP and maybe x2 AP for Hardened. Then I was going to suggest the ever unpopular and cheesy EDM-at least for  the tree only. But I think a reasonable build might be Drain Body as Drains bypass DEF normally. A high Drain should cut the tree in a punch. 
  19. Haha
    Ninja-Bear got a reaction from Duke Bushido in Anti-Clinging   
    That why I said only versus Clinging. 😜
  20. Like
    Ninja-Bear got a reaction from Duke Bushido in Anti-Clinging   
    How about Desolid only vs Clingng? It’s a real wall that you can damage but if you try Cling to it, you can’t hold onto it. As for the Change Environment, which I also like. Buy it high enough and it just works, no roll allowed, just how Talents work.
  21. Like
    Ninja-Bear got a reaction from Christopher R Taylor in Anti-Clinging   
    How about Desolid only vs Clingng? It’s a real wall that you can damage but if you try Cling to it, you can’t hold onto it. As for the Change Environment, which I also like. Buy it high enough and it just works, no roll allowed, just how Talents work.
  22. Haha
    Ninja-Bear got a reaction from Duke Bushido in A Thread For Random RPG Musings   
    Dude let me introduce you to my stable of suboptimal characters! 😂 I have taken 17 CON on a Fantasy Character cause I noticed all the book examples had 18 CON. Trust me building Suboptimal is not hard to do.
  23. Like
    Ninja-Bear got a reaction from Duke Bushido in A Thread For Random RPG Musings   
    @Duke Bushido, I actually wavered between most and many. I’ll even go with many. I think the issue I have with Min-Maxers is that in wargamming they ignore the spirit of the game just to win. And with that complain about suboptimal builds as being dumb. Let me say too that I can appreciate an efficient design in Hero System especially trying to fit a character concept to points.  I do agree to that having a sub-optimal character doesn’t equate to Roleplaying. 
  24. Like
    Ninja-Bear got a reaction from Dr.Device in A Thread For Random RPG Musings   
    I think I have a working distinction between Optimizers and Power Gamers. Both can Min-Maxers but that in itself isn’t very telling. The distinction is an Optimizer optimizes so as to play a concept however he is willing to not use a legal build if said build is found to be Over powered or in a Hero game not really fun. A Power gamer will stand on the ground, well that’s a legal build therefore I should be able to take it even though that can really mess with game play. 
  25. Like
    Ninja-Bear reacted to Ragitsu in A Thread For Random RPG Musings   
    Me be a very happy chappy.
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