Spence

When you take a look at the Navy I'll be glad to help. Though I could help with jokes about Air Force types

Fun game. Now I'll have to dig my copy out.

But isn't that what passes for high art these days. It has been years since I have seen and honestly funny comedian or comedy show/movie that didn't center on profanity or just hating on one person/group or another.

To be fair, Dark Shadows was a dark drama in its age. It only looks campy to us now. Which actually makes this recent Burton/Depp offering more horrific.

I can't say this will be exceptionally helpful but here is my 2 cents. In a "fantasy" setting, I try to build backwards. If there is magic, define how it works, for creatures, for heroes, for devices/weapons. Define the threats and the powers/abilities that they will have. Low end threats, middle threats, greater threats and of course epic big bads. Then once you know how tough it will be, then sketch out PC's builds, any requirements the must have, any things they cannot have and any required limitations/advantages. Fantasy Hero simply covers too wide a range of possibilities to be able to give a credible answer until you have established ground rules. Personally, I like to pick a series, movie, anime, etc. that I can use as an example to describe things for the players. Once they have an idea of how the campaign world works, players are pretty good at building unique PC's for that world. And adding spins that make the games fun.

Nice character sheet.

I didn't know Zack Snyder was involved with Daredevil. Or Electra.

Well this has become just another 6th Ed versus any other edition with each side ignoring any relevant point made by the other. Time to unfollow the thread.

As a player I prefer pencil and paper to build characters. As a GM, Hero Designer is a favorite tool and I am really missing it while building up my 4th Ed game. While I know it will never happen and do understand why. The appearance of 3rd and 4th edition support would be a fantastic thing if it ever magically happened. HD is probably the reason I keep circling back to 5th Ed.

Just follow the original books (80's). Not the rewrite/revision stuff. They have a great storyline.

Using CC as my ref, Contact costs do not differentiate by "area" or "location" covered. Just by how useful. The NYC Contact may be "Very Useful" while the worldwide Contact may be "Very Useful" with "has extensive Contacts of their own". Or not. But that is only +1.

I think this highlights a major difference in philosophy on Contacts. For me a Contact is never a lesser used item. They are not the equivalent of a flashlight. Lesser or incidental interaction with NPCs are covered by skills and as has been mentioned, KS's. (I'm using my phone vice a computer so it hard to keep up and find relevant posts) 😕 For me a Contact isn't just a resource for the PCs, it is also an indication of what players would like to see in their adventures. Hunteds, Contacts, Favors, Reputations, Dependent NPCs and so on. The more details the better. They all help the GM flavor the adventure with plot points directly keyed into the players characters. But neither "philosophy" is wrong, and I hope no one reads my posts as a criticism

You can actually have both ways 😁 The PC is a world traveler and has contacts all over the world. They pre-pay for three contacts. At this point they are undefined (who and what they do). The PC is in Shanghai (1920s) trying to get to the bottom of a smuggling ring. They cannot find anyone via skill rolls that will risk helping them. The PC decides to "cash in" one of his Contacts. He runs into Victor Chang, an old buddy he served with during the Great War whose family just happens to be a powerful family in the Shanghai underworld. After the immediate session Victor is fully fleshed out and becomes a permanent Contact. I especially like permanent Contacts because I weave them into the story much like hunteds. Except not as influential. Now if Victor should die then the points revert to "pre-paid" status. If you pay points, then there should be a solid benefit. To me a casual one time minor npc just doesn't need to be paid for in points. Of course YMMV 😉

For me yes. The High Society roll will cover an incidental meeting with someone you have just met or only know casually. Locating the slightly gullable bell hop at the Grand Empire Hotel. But a Contact isn't a chance meeting with a "Bob the Bell Hop". It is meeting with Robert "Deadeye" McCabe the you spent 3 years with back to back in the trenches and you've lost count of how many times you saved each others life. I try to flesh out Contacts into full fledged NPCs that will be reused. A Contact is not made willy nilly on the fly, it is a detailed build.

For myself what I don't use "floating contacts". They are pretty much what Lucius describes. I do use Contacts, but they are solid and reliable. The roll probability is not about whether they will help, but rather if they can. It is kind of like the difference between a friend and an acquaintance. Most people are surrounded by acquaintances that they incorrectly think of as friends and don't realize that you only meet a handful of actual friends in a lifetime. The people that you come across using the Lucius method, via skills are like acquaintances. They may or may not give you help, but mostly they will only do something if it is easy, without repercussions and gains them something. In other words, if there is no downside and they get something out of it, they might help. A Contact on the other hand is someone that will risk severe penalties to help you, even to the extent imprisonment or threat of death. A Contact is a person solidly in your corner. The roll isn't if they will come through, but whether they can come through. A failed roll indicates that the aid you asked for isn't available for some other reason. That is why Contacts cost points. Of course there are many other ways to interpret Contacts, this is just mine.