Trencher

Re: 1/2 Dice and Stun Multiplier Dice

I just thought it would be kinda cool to have dice that ALREADY had the calculations done. (apparently I'm the only one:confused: )

You don't have any? I have one its a big wooden one. I am sure your local friendly game shop has some.

Re: The purpose of a system - academic and geeky...

Just Top Secret' date=' AD&D, Boot Hill, a game of Mutants and Masterminds, [/quote'] All solid games, except for Adnd. (never played Boot Hill)

Off course they are all games with hit points. Reinforcing the “game†feel.

I think you're confusing setting with game objective. The system in Dogs is much more abstract and combat isn't the purpose, per se. It has a combat resolution system, sure, but that isn't the point. Not all roleplaying games are about adventure.

Actually I am not confusing the setting with the game objective, it is just that my first thought about game mechanics for social and moral action is that it is not really necessary except for defining the personality of the characters. However I have never played the game so what do I know?

 

That depends on the game, doesn't it? You're just talking about values here. There's nothing wrong with an RPG doing this. That's in fact part of what Dogs specifically does, because it must, as it is a game about social interaction, more specifically about moral values and what people do about moral quandries.

I would not go as far as calling it wrong, particularly if the game is fun. But maybe a little unnecessary?

I have spent some time checking the game out and the setting looks cool but I am not quite sure about having game mechanics for moral quandaries.

 

Like I was saying before about doing a political RPG, you would HAVE to do rules about social interaction, including mass social interactions with elections. You can do this in Hero but only with gross approximation, or you'd rewrite it massively to deal with demographic appeals, ideological attraction, sponsorship, and so on.

I actually strongly disagree with this.

 

But it's hardly distinct in this regard from Savage Worlds or GURPS or even FUDGE. The difference among these systems lies in other things.

Don’t know about Savage Worlds but neither Gurps or Fudge has the detail and flow of Hero in my oppinon.

I don't want to violate its intellectual property, of course, but here's a few basics without giving away too much in details:

Thank you for taking time to tell me about it, I must defiantly check it out. It has recently been reviewed in Imagonem a local rpg magazine, I think I buy it for that.

 

You could model something in Hero but by the time you were done, well, you'd have a different game and you may as well have just done it this way. Or invented something new if this system weren't to one's liking. I would add that as you may expect my brief discussion doesn't do it justice, as I was trying to just give the appropriate flavor and not give too much away.

Yes and no. It would be a different game yes but you could do the setting justice no matter what. Characters, issues and settings can never really be bound by something as trivial as gamestats. The stats are just the reflection in the mirror the system provide. You think of it as games and maybe your right but I think of it as stories, the best story mirror I have is the Hero system. I would go so far as to say other systems (particularly level based ones) can sometimes transcend the story and setting it self.

 

The point isn't that either system is better, they address different needs, different design visions.

That is a good point

I am not trying to trump Hero through as the final game of all time, I just try to define how I think it is vitally different from all other games. The reason is that I sometimes see dnd mindset influence in some of the Hero supplements. Dex has turned into something like levels for instance, and that is why I try to say that Hero works best when you take away the dnd influence.

Or of course people can just enjoy sticking with one particular thing because it brings a value/joy and that's fair, too. It may not have anything to do with them not growing otherwise.

I got to admit that I feel antipathy towards typical dnd play with all the xp counting and treasure dividing and endless rule evaluation (what does this spell do, what does this do, how can I use it to my advantage…)

I tell you about one incident: (Mega short version) Once several years ago my ten year long dnd campaign was nearing its end. The two highest level characters had after several years of actual play built up their power base and after tense careful negotiations between each other. They had prepared to attack the “dark overlord†of the campaign.

As a reward of their road towards peace between themselves and for their courage and skill the powers that be decided to give them aid, aid that would come from a completely unexpected source: The most powerfull dragon in the region came to join them in the fight. The players very happy about this off course and they went off to fight. War raged across the land and army after army got routed and/or decimated. After a long and exiting war the final siege of the villains main capitol began. Both armies were weak now and the dark overlord and his pet demons was attacked in his castle by the players and their dragon ally.

The fight raged, the players had their hands full with their nemesis and the dragon killed off his demons they actually had a chance! After he had dispatched of the demons he joined in helping the players and they almost killed the dark overlord but after the dragon had used his breath weapon for the third time something unexpected happened. The players attacked the dragon and almost killed it. In the confusion the dark overlord managed to escape, the dragon escaped by casting an illusion of its three family members teleporting in to join the fray and then flying off while the players where fleeing. They quickly discovered the ruse however and decided to head for the dragons cave and its hoard. In dnd the battlesystem for mass combat is very dependent on their leaders and I told the players that if their weakened armies where going to attack the city they would need to bee there. They did not want to waste any time leading their army however since they had to hurry getting to the dragons cave before it healed up. Using high level spells they flied there faster than any dragon could smashed through its defenses and got the treasure. Meanwhile the dark overlord led his army to victory of the leaderless players armies scattering them. The players took the treasure and headed home.

When I asked them why they did what they did (I was surprised since the dark overlord was their most hated enemy) they told me simply that there were simply no way they were going to get more xp and tresure for killing him than they would get for killing a dragon.

Off course the dnd game is not to blame here since you get no xp for betraying your allies or driving off already wounded creatures also since they lost the war they don’t get any xp there either. But their actions were rooted in the dnd mindset. The characters goals and personalities were not so important as the power they would gain. If it had been in a book they would never have done it since both characters were rich from before and characters in books don’t kill allies “just to learn somethingâ€. I have seen similar behavior again and again.

 

My point is that the game comes before the story in some games and dnd is such a game.

Hero simply is the story, nothing more. It does the same as the improv games do but with a game system.

Re: 1/2 Dice and Stun Multiplier Dice

1 and 2 is one

3 and 4 is two

5 and 6 is three

Re: The purpose of a system - academic and geeky...

I haven't played the ones you mentioned, but I suspect, at least based on the ones I know, that they're fantasy, and I generally don't play fantasy. I only played fantasy early on with D&D and from something like 1983 until just this year never played fantasy again.

I really don't think Hero is as open-ended as you say. Try applying Hero to play a game like Dogs in the Vineyard, where faith and moral decisions are important, and it quickly falls flat or you reinvent it. Or other such things. "

Never played Dogs in the Vineyard but I’m going to look into it.

But it is an role-playing game and as such it made up as a theoretical version of plausible events in an fantasy/sci-fi world. Therefore that world can be simulated and those characters can be simulated in hero terms.

Dramatic" action, perhaps, but what about "soap opera hero"? I'd say you'd really have to do an awful lot of work to simulate, in a fun way and with rules that are appropriate to conflict resolution and further to reward genre-appropriate actions, with Hero, and by the time you're done I think you have a different game.

I'm not claiming you need to have combat, but the interaction system and the rewards system only goes so far in modeling social interactions and the affects of relationships and other intangibles on character changes and decisions.

Social interaction in games can not and should not be subject to rules beyond psychological limitations in my opinion. Off course you can get xp for good role-playing or weaving a clever intrigue or figuring out a mystery.

As I said right above here, hero system can simulate the characters and the world, but I freely admit that they can not copy a game mechanic directly the GM have to figure out what the source material “is†and then defining it in hero term, which can off course be a lot of work.

This is what I mean when I say that other rpg’s are games while hero is a language or science if you will.

And at some point, if you're not even bothering with much conflict resolution and "just" (nothing wrong with that!) roleplaying, you can just as easily be using almost any system.

I don't think so. The hobby is rife with veterans of D&D/AD&D/d20 for over 20 years, just as there's Heroites of similar vintage. Though it's likely that play styles changed from hack-n-slash over the years, though that can be said of many Heroites as well (even if the starting context is different from hack-n-slash and perhaps is a change from simplistic or sophomoric play to more elaborate styles).

Well it can take a very long time, some people never manage to free themselves from their hierarchical mindset either in their hobbies or in their life otherwise.

PS - so style was a bad choice in my prior post - I would say that d20 "kill stuff, get power" mutates in sophistication for longer-term/more mature players.

I understood you, I say the same thing but it is not only their goals that change but their understanding of their character (any character) as well.

Re: Clerical magic?

As BBlackmoor say the "magic" employed by early catholic priest were the same magic as the witches they tried to controll, it is was not as much they were trying to wipe out magic itself as much as they tried to ensure all magical abillity was under their controll.

Another way of doing it is if you define the god that they are worshiping and give him mind link with his followers, then he uses his god powers as he see fit after reciving the prayer from his priest.

Offcource the priest should pay a lot of points for such a perk. (contact: God! contact is allpowerfull, contact has significant contacs of his own since he created the universe)

Re: The purpose of a system - academic and geeky...

This is a very interesting statement. I sort of agree but sort of do not...my first experience with DnD was with a very tactical war game approach per the GM. I had no clue what was going on. However, one thing I noticed with DnD, back then, was that everyone took to the roleplaying aspect in one way or another, because the system allowed for and somehow encouraged it.

Some spells kills everything under a certain hd or level, spells had longer range outdoors and so on.

Have you ever played any warhammer games? Those games, even though they are for the most part completely table top encourage rpging too after a fasion. I think that dnd started out as a miniature game where you only used one mini and evolved into a rpg from there.

Hero being one of the first games that really tried to leave dnd rules behind instead of just “improving†them created a plausible simulation of superpowers (and later other genres) and in so doing gave the control to the players of the game and kicked the chair under a lot of old power gamer tricks.

All rpgs or rpg inspired games have a certain element of role-playing and a certain level of wargaming (except hero I explain little further down).

Have you played mordheim? Talisman? Heroquest the board game? This is what I would call rpg inspired boardgames. Then you have dnd and such games which are not lighter on the rules but takes away the board and give the players more options. After that you have for instance shadowrun or the world of darkness series which has rules and let you utilize tactics but try to focus more on storytelling than actual gaming. And so it goes until you come upwards to diceless games and even completely gameless “games†where you only tell story and not even the line between GM and player is clear.

There are myriads of games to choose from catering to everybody to daydreaming wargamers, role-players to actors who loves improvisation.

There is a line if you will where pure wargames at the left and improvised story telling in the right. Dnd falls somewhere to the left of the centrum but as you will agree not as far as its criticizers seem to think.

Herogames comes in from another direction. As physics are a way to define actions and reactions the real world so is the hero system a way to define everything in a story. Rather than go with the tables of other games it has created a language! that can be implemented to determine what happened when the characters deal with each other in the story. As such it comes close to being a wargame but a wargames language is more like the Chinese alphabet with symbols for every word while the game-language from hero games is made up by effect, cause and definition just as the Greek alphabet is made up of symbols for every sound that can be put together to describe anything we can think of.

Hero is about character definition, it put the power in the author of the characters hands.

Just as it is in the improve camp, but in hero you can make him yourself and compare him to others. Something difficult to do for the improvesatists.

It is ironic that so many other games have made the claim to be story/character driven when the first (and best) story/character driven system has existed for so long and they (Hero games) have never made the claim.

Herogames give all power to the author of the game but so much power can easily destroy a campaign therefore it is important that the characters are mature and ready for the intellectual responsibility that a herogames role-playing game session is. (Academic and geeky remember?)

I think that it is time for Herogames to take it into next level and create a virtual world game on the computer where the players and programmers can come together and create their own worlds and characters.

Think about a completely customizable computer game with hero rules! That would be more than just an rpg it would be a cultural factor.

Rpg’s are a way for us non-authors to stretch our literal muscles herogames lets us do it.

I don't have the old rules, I did read the first AD&D rules and have seen the old DnD rules on occasion. I am sad to say I don't recall why, but I do recall that aspects definitely put people on the path to RPGing not centered around either wargaming or pure power-gaming, as it were, so I think it is owed an awful lot of respect out of that. I think it had something to do with the class system, oddly enough; while now I hate classes, especially when people try to force them into supers games, I think perhaps that was the early path to character distinction.

The class system is an easy way for beginning players to get a grip on what they are supposed to do, also different people like different things so everybody can choose something they think is cool.

After a while you don’t need that help, the training wheels come off as they must.

I would quibble a bit on that. First, it is definitely for action hero gaming, which is a restriction off the top (even if of course most RPGs are, and, btw, I prefer action hero gaming, I am not a "roleplay vs rollplay" snob). Second, I think it has some prejudices in terms of emphasizing certain types of characters and certain types of stories. However, it is certainly not driven as much towards d20s core ethos, which I've best heard expressed as "kill stuff, gain power."

Hero is in no way an action hero platform, it can be.

But it is also ideally suited for drama character interaction based games.

I have run a game based on the same time line as the Hornblower series. And there was not much action there, but the little that was where very dangerous. Most of the sessions were based on talking and trading and discovering.

I also heard of a girl that used hero for running an elf campaign where the character never fought anything but just went around in the forest and discovered mysteries and role-played elves. Yes that group were only made up from girls.

I also heard on the boards people using hero games as a platform for les-miserables kind of games.

Well, I dunno, I have seen evidence plenty of people enjoy sticking to a particular limited style.

Give them time, either they tire of role-playing altogether or drift towards wargames or they tire of dnd and becomes ready for hero. It can take several years however.

Re: The purpose of a system - academic and geeky...

This makes sense.

But, personally, I like levelling for certain aspects. I grafted on a Reputation Levelling system to Hero, and the players like it quite a bit.

Well I see that your system here can be helpful in the game because they have to go about getting their bases, vehicles and followers and such. Level as a matter of status and reputation is good!

Levels as an estimate of raw personal power though is harmful to certain aspects in the game in my opinion. It makes it difficult to create exactly that character you want to since most fantasy character that players are proud of can handle themselves in a fight even tough they might not be invincible.

Dnd is a game first and rpg second hero games are a role-playing tool to define character in a story and for adding a certain level of strategic maneuvering and random luck to conflict resolution. In hero you have a character concept and you assingn points after that not the other way around like in other rpg's.

And my MAIN point is that if you take your dnd game attitude with you into hero then you will not like the game much, you are lost trying to recreate heroes that can take as much damage as they would have done in dnd.

Many games have tried to copy dnd and they are all dead and gone. Even though hero can simulate dnd it can never simulate dnd as well as dnd can.

If your players need he hit point safety net and/or show hierarchal tendencies then you should just let them play dnd. Sooner or later they grow up and go tired of it then you show them hero. Works every time

Re: Building robots

No I will let the robots be built, the millitary need them.

My question as it relates to the hero system is that I was wondering about how to formelaize and structure a rules set that gives the player choices about how to desing these robots.

Maybe it could be used for venchile creation or for necromacers in fantasy later?

Re: Building robots

Skill rolls are the least of my problem. I want to put down some rules for him picking and choosing abilities for his robots all the time trying to find angles for keeping costs down.

Otherwise he is just going to write up a robot with 10 in spd, 30 in str, 30 in hardned armour, with 4d6 armour picering killing attack and 10 skill levels with all combat plus 8 more "only" to counteract hitlocation penalites.

Then I have to put my foot down and we are going to waste precious game time on discussions about game balance a concept that the player in question barly understand and does not acept.

"But _I_ would think that it would be fun to have an army of super robots and win the war without any real problems, is not fun the most important part of gaming? You are a bad Gm if you don't let me have super robots"

I can allready hear his voice in the back of my head

Re: The purpose of a system - academic and geeky...

It is a little difficult to explain but there are several things.

Danger as recourse allocation: In dnd you have many hit points you might meet monsters that can kill you but you will see how dangerous the monsters are by how many hit points you loose. Combat go back fourth but in general a couple of sword stabs from a 200 kilo grams lifting orc will not kill you.

Linear power gain: In dnd as you get more xp you gain levels, levels are decided and balanced. You know what you get either you want it or not. And you allways grow more powerful challenges that were horrendous to face when you started out playing is a laughable joke when you close in on the higher levels.

Powerful beats good tactics: In dnd tactics are less important than level a first level warrior is not going to kill a twenty level fighter even if the twenty level fighter don't wear amour and the first level has the high ground and is armed with a long bow. He can shoot and hit the twenty level ten times, stab him in the gut with his sword it does not matter the twentyleveling will yawn and kill him in one round.

Furthermore you cant shoot people a shotgun blast in the back does 3d6 points of damage end of story. How many pc's go down after being hit by 3d6? Not many.

I am also high level: As the dnd campaign progress you meet more high level characters. One or two people in the world might be lucky and skilled enough to explain away the reason they can take more arrows in the chest than an average black bear but twenty of them? Several hundred?

The rules say clearly that I can do this: In dnd every spell feat and magic item is has its own rules often jumbled together with the description and history. This leads to a lot of rules lawyering.

I have to get to tenth level to be somebody: In dnd you work your way up in the rank you look forward to reaching that and that level since then you can cast that and that spells or wield that and that ability and so forth. This leads to a wrongful sense of progress when it is not progress at all it is just running around in pre-made circles.

Hierarchical solutions- High level characters can push around lower level characters granted not everybody does this but the possibility is there.

Feel free to ask again or comment.

Re: Supers With Pictures: Fun For All

DARKSOUL

Val Char Cost Roll Notes

10 STR 0 11- Lift 100.0kg; 2d6 [1]

26 DEX 48 14- OCV: 9/DCV: 9

18 CON 16 13-

12 BODY 4 11-

10 INT 0 11- PER Roll 11-

20 EGO 20 13- ECV: 7

15 PRE 5 12- PRE Attack: 3d6

14 COM 2 12-

20 PD 18 Total: 20 PD (0 rPD)

20 ED 16 Total: 20 ED (0 rED)

5 SPD 14 Phases: 3, 5, 8, 10, 12

6 REC 0

40 END 2

37 STUN 11 Total Characteristic Cost: 158

Movement: Running: 7"/14"

Flight: 20"/80"

Leaping: 2"/4"

Swimming: 2"/4"

Cost Powers END

55 Mind over matter : Multipower, 55-point reserve

5u 1) Smashing darkness: Energy Blast 11d6 (55 Active Points) 5

5u 2) Cutting darkness: Energy Blast 7d6, Armor Piercing (+1/2) (52 Active Points) 5

5u 3) Darkness within: Ego Attack 5 1/2d6 (55 Active Points) 5

5u 4) Dark command: Mind Control 11d6 (Human class of minds) (55 Active Points) 5

5u 5) Mastery over matter: Major Transform 4d6-1 (Anything into anything, By blessings, holy water or item or being in a church or other holy place) (55 Active Points) 5

45 Flight: Flight 20", x4 Noncombat 4

3 Basic Strike +1 +0 4d6 Strike

4 Charge +0 -2 4d6 +v/5 Strike, FMove

5 Flying Grab -2 -1 Grab Two Limbs, 20 STR for holding on; FMove

5 Flying Dodge -- +4 Dodge All Attacks, Abort; FMove

3 Flying Tackle +0 -1 2d6 +v/5 Strike; You Fall, Target Falls; FMove

4 Martial Block +2 +2 Block, Abort

4 Martial Disarm -1 +1 Disarm; 20 STR to Disarm

3 Takedown +1 +1 2d6 Strike; Target Falls

5 Passing Strike +1 +0 2d6 +v/5; FMove

5 Passing Throw +0 +0 2d6 +v/5; Target Falls; FMove

Perks

5 Money: Well Off

2 Reputation: Supervillian gone good (A large group) 11-, +1/+1d6

4 Contact: A FBI agent (Contact has access to major institutions, Contact has significant Contacts of his own, Good relationship with Contact) 8-

Talents

20 Combat Sense (Discriminatory) 11-

Skills

3 Acrobatics 14-

3 Acting 12-

3 Analyze: Combat 11-

2 Animal Handler (Felines) 12-

3 Breakfall 14-

3 Bribery 12-

3 Bugging 11-

3 Climbing 14-

3 Combat Driving 14-

32 +4 with All Combat

3 Conversation 12-

3 Interrogation 12-

2 KS: the supervillian world 11-

3 Security Systems 11-

3 Seduction 12-

3 Sleight Of Hand 14-

3 Shadowing 11-

3 Stealth 14-

3 Streetwise 12-

3 Tactics 11-

8 WF: Common Melee Weapons, Small Arms, Garrote, Homemade Weapons, Mortars, Shoulder-Fired Weapons

Total Powers & Skill Cost: 292

Total Cost: 450

200+ Disadvantages

10 Hunted: Demon 8- (As Pow, Harshly Punish)

10 Hunted: The police 11- (Less Pow, NCI, PC has a Public ID or is otherwise very easy to find, Watching)

10 Psychological Limitation: Loves cats and children (Common, Moderate)

20 Psychological Limitation: code vs killing (Common, Total)

5 Psychological Limitation: Ashamed of former crimes (Uncommon, Moderate)

15 Reputation: supervillaness, 14-

15 Social Limitation: Former criminal (Frequently, Major)

5 Unluck: 1d6

10 Vulnerability: 2 x STUN Demonic or other unholy powers (Uncommon)

10 Vulnerability: 2 x STUN Demonic or other unholy powers (Uncommon)

140 Experience Points

Total Disadvantage Points: 110

Background/History: The woman known as Darksoul ran away from her Mother when she was only seventeen years old. Her mother was an abusive drunk and had a new boyfriend every other week.

Mary went to the big city hoping to find work and maybe become an actor but she was tricked and kidnapped right off the bus by an evil cult who wanted to sacrifice her to a demon. (who knew the tabloids were right?)

The demon however sensed more anger and potential evil in her than in the cultist so it gave her the power that it had promised the cultists. Atleast that was what it said to her when it was finished.

And she became the supervillianess known as Darksoul. After a long and sucsessfull crime carrer Darksoul was defeated and imprisoned.

In jail she found religion the preacher that suksessfully converted her told her that the demon that gave her those powers did it not because she had more potential to evil than the cultist but because she was a good person and that corrupting as many souls as it could is the demons purpose it does not care about who got the power. since the cultist were allready evil he could just eat them and let their souls go to hell. Corrupting her too would be the icing on the cake. Mary was shocked over this discovery she had allways assumed that she was dammed from the day she got her powers and now she was given a way out. And hell was anything like what this demonhunter/cartoonist/preacher said she did not want to go there!

Right then and there Darksoul decided to do good in the world instead of evil.

She got out early because of good behaviour (she did ten years) and threw herself into charity work.

Personality/Motivation: Darksoul is a complex woman who have had her ups and downs in her life. She does not like to use her powers because she is afraid that it will tempt her to do evil again.

Darksoul does a lot of charityable work for homless children and cats (her two favorite charities) but is willing to lend her famous face to any charity that needs her.

When people talk to her they get the impression of her being a friendly thirty year old woman with little education or insight in the world today that is mostly interested in charity and cats.

It is then a little suprising if the conversation turns to the world of super crime and super where she talk like the old pro she is. Darksoul is very modest and a hard worker who allways does her best and she never cuts corners.

Mary Burke has no children or living relatives.

Quote: Points to her cats: "This is Mindy I adopted her from a old couple down in Detroit they just could not take care of him anymore, that is Trixy she is the youngest of three and there is Captain Photon I call him that because he behaves JUST LIKE Captain Photon"

Powers/Tactics: Carefull planning and use of the terrain is Darksouls m.o. She is likely to use her powers to the best effect in any combat, she is adabtable and cunning and never underestimate anybody. If it had not been for the fact that she does not kill she would have been one of the most dangerous supercrimminals in the world.

Campaign Use: Darksoul is the rehablitated villian, she can give information to the pc's or she can serve as a springboard for further adventures as her hunters might come looking for her or she could turn bad again.

Appearance: A good looking blonde woman in her thirties she wear a black costume with silver highlights.

Re: Supers With Pictures: Fun For All

Shoo-shoo

Damm what are all these crickets doing here?

Well anyway I just made up another character sheet for one of my characters in the pics that could be a superteam thread.

-----------

HORRORSONG

Val Char Cost Roll Notes

8 STR -2 11- Lift 75.8kg; 1 1/2d6 [1]

11 DEX 3 11- OCV: 4/DCV: 4

8 CON -4 11-

8 BODY -4 11-

10 INT 0 11- PER Roll 11-

12 EGO 4 11- ECV: 4

10 PRE 0 11- PRE Attack: 2d6

6 COM -2 10-

4 PD 2 Total: 4 PD (0 rPD)

4 ED 2 Total: 4 ED (0 rED)

3 SPD 9 Phases: 4, 8, 12

4 REC 0

16 END 0

20 STUN 4 Total Characteristic Cost: 10

Movement: Running: 5"/10"

Leaping: 1"/2"

Swimming: 2"/4"

Cost Powers END

71 Horror generator: Drain PRE 8d6, Affects Desolidified Any form of Desolidification (+1/2), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Cumulative (96 points; +3/4), Area Of Effect Nonselective (16" radius; +1 1/4) (320 Active Points); Fuel Dependent (fuel is Very Common; must refuel Once per 20 Minutes; -1 1/4), IAF Bulky (Huge horror machine; -1), Arrangement (-1/4), Gradual Effect (5 Minutes; -3/4), Real Weapon (-1/4)

11 Colt python: Killing Attack - Ranged 2d6-1, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2) (37 Active Points); OAF (Gun; -1), 6 Charges (-3/4), Beam (-1/4), No Knockback (-1/4) [6]

Skills

3 Bureaucratics 11-

7 Concealment 13-

3 Conversation 11-

3 Deduction 11-

1 WF: Handguns

2 TF: Common Motorized Ground Vehicles

3 Electronics 11-

2 Sound engineering: SS 11-

4 Computer Programming (Personal Computers, Military Computers) 11-

Total Powers & Skill Cost: 110

Total Cost: 120

150+ Disadvantages

15 Psychological Limitation: Sadist (Very Common, Moderate)

10 Psychological Limitation: Dislike causing pain (Common, Moderate)

5 Hunted: Police 8- (Less Pow, Harshly Punish)

10 Rivalry: Professional (With other fear based villian; Rival is More Powerful; Seek to Outdo, Embarrass, or Humiliate Rival; Rival Aware of Rivalry)

5 Distinctive Features: Shabby (Easily Concealed; Noticed and Recognizable; Detectable By Commonly-Used Senses)

Total Disadvantage Points: 45

Background/History:

Horrorsong has been a sadist since he learned to interact with other people. His strict and unforgiving parents “taught” him to dislike physical pain however and he got interested in psychological torture in stead. When he was young he imagined presence as a “force” some people had and some people lacked. Clearly the ones who wielded this force should rule the others. After an un-eventful childhood Horrorsong got a job as a scientist working to find a way to psychologically influence soldiers to give up. He rejected the fear gas the other inventors came up with and designed his own fear generator which used sub vocal sound waves to influence the brain pattern of the subjects.

He failed to make the horror generating machine portable however and the machine produced waves in all directions making all people sick with fear not just the enemy, he tried to generate a projector device but he just did not have the skills necessary.

The machine was rejected and Derrick was to start another project when he got the not so bright idea to use the machine to play a joke on one of his subordinate researchers. He tricked her into coming over to his lab and then he switched on the machine to see who could “stand” the fear effect for the longest. To his surprise she went into a hysteric fit right away and when he turned it off she promptly quit her job. Then she sued the company for millions of dollars. Derrick got fired for his stupid stunt and his over-specialization and arrogant personality made it difficult for him to find a job that he did not feel was beneath him.

Unemployed and alone Horrorsong started to slowly sunk more and more down into self-pity and his anti-social ideas from his childhood started to return in full force.

Only he understood the “force” that made some people better than others.

People rejected him because they were envious of the potential they saw in him.

He desired vengeance and over the years he almost sub-concisely collected all the parts he needed for creating another machine.

He loaded onto a truck and drove into town, parked it turned on the machine and left the truck. As a diversion he had donned a gasmask and used several fear inducing gas grenades. Then he proceeded to rob a jewelry store. A superhero showed up and using his powers over air quickly got rid of the gas but it did not help him with the sound waves.

Horrorsong could leave in peace while security, customers, the superhero and the police lying on the ground shaking with fear.

He had never felt so powerful! Now Horrorsong truly went over the bend and became more and more delusional, he started to see himself as an artist a master of the horror force, fit to be king over man!

Personality/Motivation: Horrorsong see himself as an artist in horror. He through his power over horror is better than others and have the (natural) right to do as he please.

He dislike pain both causing it and feeling it himself.

Quote: And gigants walk among us tall, but on clay feet..

Powers/Tactics: Hide the machine/truck on a corner and walk into a store and fill his bags with loot.

If faced with serious resistance he tries to shoot them with his gun. Horrorsong is arrogant and not prone to change his plans just because he should.

Campaign Use: As a one trick pony Horrorsong could be used in an adventure or two. His equimpment might fall into a more competent vilians hands.

Since Horrorsong has faced some hard times and does not try to kill or injure people some heroes might try to cure Derrick of his delusions and help him into a normal life. That will probably fail since Horrorsong is a sociopath just with a taste for causing fear rather than pain. It would take long time in a very good mental asylum to help him live a normal life.

Appearance: Average size and weight. Allthough Horrorsong like to wear expensive suits he does not clean them as often as he should so he comes off as a little dirty and scruffy looking. He has black greasy hair and brown eyes. He often goes a day or two witouth taking baths.

Re: Building robots

Actually he only got the blueprints for making really sophistcated AI, useable for combat and immune to emp.

Re: The purpose of a system - academic and geeky...

Just a quick comment from someone who have played mostly heroic campaigns.

Hero is more a "random happening in a story tool" rather than a game.

Hero system works very well for heroic level campaign. IF you throw all the dnd stuff out of the window. All genres can be simulated and mixed without rule problems.

Game balance can be an issue but with the right attitude it will be easily fixed.

All serious GM's should know the hero system even if they do not use it.

Re: Building robots

Well' date=' I'd start off with a rival who pinches the blueprints and then undercuts the quote [/quote']

Well off course, both rival and enemy spies. That just goes with the territory

...as for a budget system' date=' say first 50 points cost 100$, next 50 cost 1000$ and so on - you can juggle with the numbers and thresholds. It will be far cheaper to have a number of inferior 'bots to your PCs 'ultimate design' - and compromises will have to be made. [/quote'] When you say and so on.. What do you mean?

In fact that would be manufacturing cost.

Yes

Then you have research and development - similar but add 5 or 6 zeroes - which is why industrial espionage is such an attractive option.

To each bot or only once?

Then you have plant and manufacturing - add 6 or 7 zeroes...can't get round this except with sub standard contractors/materials.....

What do you suggest for sub standard materials?

Is there money in your game?

Yes It is based on dollar. In the campaign money have never been an issue since the players are given equipment based on the mission. If they left the military then I would use the point system for money.

If so, then it should probably be a matter of a skill roll and money expendiature.

What do you suggest I should do for this? How much money should he save in on a skill roll made by three contra one made by five?

If you're going to bring points into it, then the machines should be Independent, anyway, since they're going to belong to his superiors, not him, and he should only have to pay for the Prototype.

I am going to bring point into it but only as an estimate for how much the robots will cost to develop and make, the character does not have to pay for it with his own points.

If you want to think of it this way: the character getting to build these things for his leaders is essentially the reward for all the crap he went through to get the blueprints- I'd just let him do it, assuming he has the right facilities and stuff.

Yes I am going to let him do it, I just have not really decided how to go about it.

Re: ??

Hold action.

Re: Supers With Pictures: Fun For All

Oh well, I posted it as rich text format, none of the hero board friendly templates were very hero board friendly. (There is a reason for it, don't remember what but I bet its good).

Anyway you can see the character now.

Exuse me while I correct some spelling and grammar errors.

Re: Musings on Random Musings

I promised my son we'd spend all day together tomorrow... and he's used to me living up to those promises. I have no idea what I am going to do. None at all.

The child is going to blame his mother and not you I think.

Re: Supers With Pictures: Fun For All

And I can't read a HDC file anyway.

Do you have the latest update? I updated yesterday.

Re: Supers With Pictures: Fun For All

FREEFORM

Val Char Cost Roll Notes

35 STR 25 16- Lift 3200.0kg; 7d6; [3]

21 DEX 33 13- OCV 7 DCV 7

16 CON 12 12-

10 BODY 0 11-

8 INT -2 11- PER Roll 11-

8 EGO -4 11- ECV: 3

25 PRE 15 14- PRE Attack: 5d6

16 COM 3 12-

23 PD 16 Total: 23 PD (23 rPD)

21 ED 18 Total: 21 ED (21 rED)

4 SPD 9 Phases: 3, 6, 9, 12

10 REC 0

40 END 4

36 STUN 0 Total Characteristic Cost: 146

Movement: Running: 11" / 22"

Swimming: 9" / 18"

Leaping: 7" / 14"

Cost Powers END

19 Freeform body: Physical Damage Reduction, Resistant, 25%, Inherent (+1/4) (19 Active Points) 0

6 Really freeform body: Extra Limbs (8), Inherent (+1/4) (6 Active Points) 0

49 Freeform body part 2: Damage Resistance (23 PD/21 ED), Inherent (+1/4), Hardened (x4; +1) (49 Active Points) 0

17 Heavy fists: Hand-To-Hand Attack +5d6 (25 Active Points); Hand-To-Hand Attack (-1/2) 2

30 Spiked fists: Killing Attack - Hand-To-Hand 2d6 (3 1/2d6 w/STR), +1 Increased STUN Multiplier (+1/4) (37 Active Points); Reduced Penetration (-1/4) 4

25 Body controll: Power Defense (20 points), Inherent (+1/4) (25 Active Points) 0

25 Body forming: Shape Shift (Hearing Group, any shape) 2

10 Stretching: Stretching 2" 1

7 Re-forming: Aid Body 1d6 (10 Active Points); Self Only (-1/2) 0

Perks

6 Money: Wealthy

9 Contact: A fence. (Contact has significant Contacts of his own, Contact has very useful Skills or resources, Contact limited by identity, Very Good relationship with Contact) 14-

Talents

4 Double Jointed

3 Simulate Death

Skills

3 Streetwise 14-

2 WF: Small Arms

3 Stealth 13-

3 High Society 14-

2 Language: English (basic conversation; literate)

3 Lockpicking 13-

3 Security Systems 11-

3 Bribery 14-

8 Gambling (Card Games, Dice Games, Sports Betting, Roulette) 11-

Total Powers & Skill Cost: 240

Total Cost: 386

200+ Disadvantages

10 Psychological Limitation: Snobbish (Common, Moderate)

5 Psychological Limitation: Greedy, a real miser (Uncommon, Moderate)

15 Psychological Limitation: Envy of the strong and disdain for the weak (Very Common, Moderate)

10 Reputation: super-powerd killer, 8- (Extreme)

20 Hunted by International police forces: 8- (Mo Pow, NCI, Harshly Punish)

5 Vulnerability: Electric attacks (Uncommon)

121 Experience Points

Total Disadvantage Points: 386

Background/History: Michael Cord was born a mutant in the south American nation of Costa Rica. His father was a petty criminal who had lost his nerve for crime after a run-in with the police.

He was very happy over the fact that his son was special and teached him all he knew about surviving on the streets.

Freeform never knew his mother.

When Freeform became a teenager he reblled against his father since he thought it was ufair that he should do all the work while his father "kept watch".

Freeform dumped his father and got involved on the international supervillan scene.

His father later sold him out to the police for some easy cash, that is why Freeforms identety is not secret.

Personality/Motivation: Freeform likes money more than power but he also craves respect from everybody around him.

He does not work well with master villians because they have a tendency to order him around and (gasp!) belive that they are more powerfull and important than him.

Freeform does not employ minions or genric thugs either since he despise people who are less powerfull than him and does not want any "freeloaders" hanging around.

Freeform can be hired to steal a spesific object, allthough he looks upon super mercenaries, assasins and muscle with disdain and will not take such jobs himself.

Quote: "If you know what is good for you, you would let me pass senor"

Powers/Tactics: Freeform is very straightforward in his tactics, he simply walks into the building where his target is trying to use his shapechange power to remain unoticed for as long as possible and use his great strenght to rip through any defences. Then hesimply pick up the loot and run off trying to hide with his shapechange power.

If somone try to stop him Freeform attacks, normals and supers alike. He does not hold back.

Freeform never bother with hostages or other such tactics trusting his own powers to save him. "A real man does not hide behind women and childeren senor"

Campaign Use: Freeform is a solo villian who should be able to give a team a good fight. He is interested in stealing, but also be hired to steal for others.

Appearance: A young good looking hispanic man of average size and weight. He dresses like the snob he is.

Re: Supers With Pictures: Fun For All

Ehhh... Sorry about that let me see if I can get it up and going.

Okay after some serious risk taking, fighting and backstabbing one of the characters in my sci-fi setting has gotten his hands on plans for some very sophisticated AI.

He now plans on designing his own line of battle robots, they will not be comanded by him but his supriors. (He is a scientist and loyal to his faction).

He got the skills, he got the blueprints. he got the industrial might to start his project.

I want him to have a say in how the robots turn out offcourse but I don't wont it to take compleatly off either, there is budgets to concider after all.

How do you go about doing this? Should I create a budget system with numbers contra quality? If so where do I start doing that?

Any suggestions would be welcome-

Re: DnD's Spiked Chain

It's funny' date=' because on my browser, when I do that only my posts get stretched--everyone else's fit just fine.[/quote']

Mine to, I was wondering why Old Mans posts were so long.

 

I just figured it was because he had gotten more longwinded with age.

Re: Supers With Pictures: Fun For All

Lets see if this works..

Re: IK Hero?

Would anybody be interested in seeing a version of Iron Kingdoms converted over to Hero 5th?

YES!