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Re: Victorian / Western HERO Firearms Thanks I remember that thread and seriously considered using your idea of "concentration" for the loading process. But decided that the time needed to load was enough of a slowdown. I tweeked the Malfunctions to try and make real weapon mean something. For malfunctions I have some additional things like +1 to the roll for malfunctions only for every three shots where the weapon is not cleaned. Plus I was toying with a load speed penalty for a weapon that is fired a lot to represent the build up of power residue. I am also looking at “buck and ball” as well as “small balls” and shotguns. I wanted to settle the format and process for flintlocks firing standard caliber ball first. Then I will add other types of ammo, plus other firelocks such as Matchlock, Wheellock and Caplock. If things go as intended it may even be good enough to write up a DH article.

Re: Soldiers marching. Excellent point! After you mentioned it I think I remember seeing that somewhere before. But I cannot recall. It does make perfect sense, given the climate and terrain.

Re: Soldiers marching. Remember the weather. As assault mentions above. Most early roads were just dirt, not paved. Even a little rain could turn roads bad. Add in a few hundreds of infantry and cavalry plus ox carts and the road become a quagmire that could reduce the rate of travel to 1 or 2 miles a day. I have read of accounts where heavy items like siege engine parts and cannon actually get swallowed up in the mud. Even open fields could become impassible to carts and sledges. Cavalry and infantry could cross open soggy ground if they dispersed into smaller units and took different routes. Of course that turned your force from an army to penny-packets to be snapped up and destroyed. Choke points like river fords could really slow down an army. Usually the "Campaign Season" was the local "not winter" and "not rainy" season.

Re: Victorian / Western HERO Firearms Lots o good stuff. I finished up my rough guidelines. It reads a lot longer than it is in practice. I went with game-able over reality. Give me a chance to get behind cover.... and let the flames and potshots begin

Re: My Cool Color Hudson City Map Me too me too! Trebuchet: need to work on the whining part. Put a little Wahhhhh into it

Re: My Cool Color Hudson City Map OK everyone! All together now..... More Whining

Re: Pirate Hero Well that is a bust. I'm not paying money just to access a free product.

Re: Pirate Hero oops should have scrolled up

Re: Pirate Hero

Re: Pirate Hero What program is associated with .rar ?

Re: Pirate Hero The Rote Lowe free download link isn't. Instead of a plan the link downloads some type of .exe file that doesn't run. Too bad, the thumbnail looks great.

Re: Victorian / Western HERO Firearms I'm right with you. My plan was top start with flintlocks. Once I have a workable handle on them I intend to add the other types, with the most "common" first. So the first would be "flintlocks wielded by individuals".

Re: Victorian / Western HERO Firearms Thanks, I'll need a bit of time to digest the info.

Re: Victorian / Western HERO Firearms Yes, this has been an ongoing project for several years. Of course not a steady several. I have been in a few old discussions on the boards over the last 2-3 years. I have a dozen different sources and the 3 per minute is what is expected from a "well trained soldier" with the old style musket with conical ramrod and conventional touch hole. If they had the cylindrical ramrods and conical touch holes (no need to reverse the ramrod and no separate pan priming operation) this expected rate could go to 4.5 to 5 rounds a minute. Of course this is for a "well trained soldier", not average, not green, not elite. And these rates were more about what a single soldier was capable of, when volleying in ranks the rate of fire went down, even waiting for the noise of the previous volley to die so the command "aim" and "fire" could be heard adds time between shots. Sustained action also quickly reduced rate of fire. The old blackpowder caused the barrels to foul quickly. I have a few translated accounts that describe soldiers not even bothering to use the ramrod the first few shots because the ball was small enough to just be dropped in. But this was rapidly replaced to needing the ramrod to get the round down and in short order the fouling being so bad the ball wouldn't fit at all. I can't remember which one, but one account describes soldiers urinating in their barrels to help clear the fouling. Fitted ball for muskets and any rifle takes this even further. I have to agree with the opinion that the quality of the powder was a key element in determining overall sustained rate of fire. I guess I kinda jumped in when I read your damage values. There is an endless supply of data about rate of fire, accuracy and hit probability. But as ThothAmon mentions, muzzle velocity figures are impossible to find. The 320 meters per second mentioned below is the only mention in any of the books I have. I was thinking of just doubling it too. But if I can dig up a more accurate value, I'd like to. Just so people don't misunderstand my intentions. My plan is to come up with blackpowder rules (?) suitable for a cinematic heroic game (swashbuckling pulpish). I just want real world solid data to use a reference point. Except for the actual damage value, I have everything else worked out. I just need to edit my notes so they make sense. In a few days I'll post it and see what you all think.

Re: Victorian / Western HERO Firearms I have been doing a lot of research on 1600-1800 blackpowder arms with a view toward adopting them to Hero. The one thing that none of the books generally mentions is actual load or even muzzle velocity. In fact, beyond the almost universal repetition of how “low velocity” they were (one lone example is a French fusil with a muzzle velocity of 320 meters per second). But there are also a never ending litany of statements like “It must not be forgotten, however, that the ‘stopping power’ of its enormous bullet was formidable indeed. As one contemporary writer put it, ‘it would stop a bison in its tracks’; and a man hit by it would almost invariably have been incapacitated if not killed” {pg 11, Firepower: Weapons effectiveness on the Battlefield, 1630-1850, Major-General BP Hughes CB CBE}. In your list you have Major snippage----- For black powder weapons your list has the .75 ball doing less damage than the .54 ball. I am assuming the guns being referred to are rifles and not smoothbores. The weapons I am looking at writing up at present are all smoothbore. For determining damage I am have a few problems. According to my research there were three accepted “types” of rounds for each caliber of musket. Small (loose fitting) – could be fired 3 – 6 at a time for a “shotgun” or “canister” effect. Caliber Balls – up to caliber but with a small clearance – the normal round. Fitted Balls – full caliber size that would have to be forced. Since accuracy wasn’t really a something that smoothbores do, the key phrase of infantry was rate of fire. Caliber balls, from what I can tell were the standard for use in an Army. The British Brown Bess with a No. 11 Bore (.76 cal) fired a No. 14 bullet (.71 cal) for example. This allowed the bullet to be dropped in rather than rammed the first shot (or two) and ensured rate of fire as the barrel fouled due to burnt powder. Fitted balls seem to have only been used when hunting or by skirmishers when rate of fire wasn’t the goal. I have still to find an example of “Small”. They are mentioned as existing, but I cannot find an account of them in battle. I am assuming that the damage from the three different rounds would vary the damage done. So for my purposes I am going to stick with the “Caliber Ball” as a base line. Here are the calibers I have identified from my books on hand. Converting the damage above (using the DC/3 you suggested) I get the following Hero damage. .61/15.5mm .62/15.7mm .66/16.8mm .67/17mm .67/17.2mm .68/17.5mm .69/17.58mm = 1D6+1K .70/17.8mm .70/17.78mm .71/18mm .73/18.57mm .75/19mm = 1D6+1K .76/19.2mm .78/20mm These numbers don’t come close to equaling the “one hit = incapacitated or dead”. Since a single round can disable or kill in one shot, it has to have the ability to generate at least 10 body in one roll (20 for an outright kill). 1D6+1 max’s at 7 body which isn’t enough. I thought the BodyX from the hit location would compensate, but it really doesn’t. Only a hit to the Head or Vitals with X2 would. And yet all of the accounts I have read are replete with accounts of chest and stomach wounds achieving an “instant kill” and a stomach would is pretty much a guaranteed disabling wound when given by a musket ball (but a 1D6+1K attack in hero would not achieve the needed 10 body to “disable” an “average” character). That leaves me in a quandary. I believe the large caliber infantry musket should deliver enough damage it is possible to “Stop a bison in its tracks” or more to the point generate the 10-14 body needed to drop a 10 body being. I also don’t think there is really a need to split hairs and generate a vast array of damages. Generally a musket is a musket. I was thinking along the line of three damages: Small (less than .50cal) 1½D6K Medium (.60cal to .71cal) 2D6K Large (.73cal and up) 3D6K But am really open to suggestions. Carbines and pistols would have proportionally reduced damage. Now this is all going to be part of a larger Black powder “rules” package. I am working on guidelines that take into account the lack of accuracy of smoothbores as well as reload time. The aim is to make the guns support a swashbuckling setting without dominating. In close quarters (such as a boarding action) you will get one shot that might hit something, and then fall back on steel. With sources estimating a 15% misfire rate in line infantry from one case or another, the odds of the pistol that has been flopping around in your belt while jumping across to the other ship has a good chance of not firing. Anyway. As soon as I get it done I will don my asbestos suit and post it.

Re: Pirate Hero I missed the Oone ship plans, last time I looked they were all "dungeon" stuff. From the looks of it, the pirate ship looks to be a carrack(??) or maybe a round ship (??). Those huge fore and stern castles argue the earlier age of sail. And I am floored by the description that indicates you "Alternative hexagonal grid available". Great stuff. repped!

Re: Pirate Hero I'm pretty sure if they do, they have the same "not really a deck plan" deck plan that most have. Just the exposed weather deck akin to a from a height looking down drawing. OK........ so I'm still griping......

Re: Pirate Hero I will check my books and get you a few more titles that have some great deck plans. I will also see if I can find some "not too embarrasing" deck plans that I may be able to finish up and email. I have been tinkering with CC3 and have a few plans started with CC2. I just never had a reason to finish them and couldn't crack the scaling code for CC2, ie I could complete a map, but could never find out how to "set" the scale so the grid was accurate. In CC3, so far it appears they actually have a default scale now and I have been able to set grid scales that seem to actually be accurate. I don't think conversion will be that bad. I was going to aim at a Sloop-of-War I had been tinkering with, but a small frigate isn't too far off. No promises but I may be able to crank something out.

Re: Pirate Hero As much as I’d like to see a Pirate Supplement, I am writing off this one before it even starts. I have copies of most of the “Pirate” RPG’s and “Pirate” supplements out there and to be frank, they all s*** the big one. Yes, they all cover to various extents the backgrounds, various versions of skill and PC makeup as well as the Pirate World. I suspect that the DOJ version would be fantastic. But in the end they all fail miserably. Why? Why do they fail, you ask? Simple. Ships! Pirates = Ships. A pirate without a ship is a bandit. Not a Pirate. Pirates are all about boarding actions and seizing merchant cargoes, fighting the Royal Navy and so on. 95% of the action is at sea on ships. Since it is an RPG, you need deck plans. No…..that is not right….. You need DECK PLANS !!!! The deck plan should admit that Decks is plural! A basic supplement for a PIRATE game should include at least 4 DECK PLANS. A large Military/Pirate ship A small Military/Pirate ship A large merchant ship. A small merchant ship. Lets say the period is for the 1700’s. A basic multideck plan for a Sloop, a Brigantine, a Sloop-of-War and a small Frigate would do. Not every single feature would need to be mapped. But at least the major decks and holds. Interior of the Foc’sle for example. In this case including a hexgrid to scale and a square scale to 5'. I’ve gained enough understanding of CC that I would make the makes of a high enough resolution so that when someone buys the PDF they could print the deck plans out large enough to make one hex = one inch on the table. But I really don’t expect anyone in the RPG market will ever get a clue of the demise of pretty much every “ship” based RPG. Most players and GM’s simply do not have the resources or time to whip out a deck plan to play test a new RPG. It is pretty hard to describe the action of a boarding action with no visual aids. Especially when most players are clueless about the structure of a true ship. 100% accurate is not needed. General overall layout is critical. Did I mention a Pirate supplement needed deck plans?

Re: Fantasy Travel Question

Re: [Review] Teen Champions I think you have hit the nail on the head. TC is pretty solid within a narrow scope. Which is what a sub-genre book is for. I didn't need most of the book, but Chapter One was great as a source of ideas and perspective. It gave me other ways of looking at issues in a Teen game. While I probably won't use the rest of the book directly, I still find it useful to spark ideas and view things form a different angle. While I am a from supporter of complete adventure modules, I also don't expect genre and sub-genre books to be more that guides. Am I disappointed that it aimed at the version of TC it did instead I my personal choice if Anime based TC. Yes. Is it the books fault? Not in my opinion.

Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it...

Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Yep, but it wasn't ERB alone. Most of the Pulp I have read from the same period is like that. Even some of the space/fantasy/adventure stories from later. They may be hokey, but they are rip roaring fun reads. In addition to ERB's Carter of Mars and Carson of Venus series, you may try Lin Carters Callisto series and his Green Star Series. Alan Burt Akers (Pen name for Kenneth Bulmer) also wrote a series with several different names. I call it the Dray Prescott of Scorpio series and it runs about 37 volumes. 1970's paperback volumes so they only run to half the page count we are used to now. But lots of daring do, flashing blades, super science and scantily clad babes

Re: Points Equality Pretty much says it all. The only time I ever really had Points as a problem is with new to hero players. If they came from D&D or Palladium, their entire world is usually all about the points and jockeying for supremacy of power. (I know that this doesn't apply to ALL players out there, maybe I'm a nut case magnet ) For me in a starter intro type game, I introduce the system with pre-built PC's I made myself, along the lines of a con game. Then the players write up their concept in plain language with no point calculations. I build it for them using the point limit as a target, not a hard ceiling, with a few tween session rebuilds if the build didn't hit the concept. Usually after a few sessions, the players "grok" what is happening and then it really isn't than much of a problem. I give them the point level guide and they build their PC's. Some people still try to squeeze every single umph from every possible point, but most just build the concept. In the end it really has never been that much of a problem. Not anymore than when a new D&D player brings in the 1st level PC in a party that averages 3rd level.

Re: How to get swords on your starship Actually the problem is not power, it is space. Engaging in a fire fight in a 10x20 space with steel walls will mean you are getting wacked as much as the enemy by your own rounds. Plus the collateral effects of any ongoing fires, leaks lack of visabilty (once the lights are off the inside of a steelbox is dark and battlelanterns really dont give huge amount of light).