Polaris

My copy of Fantasy Hero has arrived! Polaris

Nyakki, Wow, that program is quite impressive!! :) I am glad that you have 27 hours a day there... get some sleep! :) Polaris

Re: Re: Thank you... It's a good thing you two found each other.. j/k. If I may ask, what is a 'combat rater'? Polaris

The group I play in recently completed a High School campaign. Our characters were part of a high school team of "superheroes". While they were trying to deal with their newfound special abilities, they also were concerned with not being embarrassed (for being a 'freak' when things seemed to happen), making it to prom (even when other matters were perhaps more important to most in the outside world), etc. One of the characters had finally gotten a date with the beauty queen type, only to get a call that he was needed when he was on his way to pick her up. Yes, I think this is quite possible to play in such a game. Some of the most interesting aspects of the game were the efforts to have a 'normal' life while answering the call as superheroes (and, for at least one of us, the temptation to USE the growing fame of the superhero identities to get a date). The characters graduated from high school, and are now heading off to college (all but one.. he is still trying to get into college, and is working a construction job and taking some pick up classes at night until he get fully admitted). Polaris

Thank you for the link SirWilliam. I have been using the program for some time.. and I too am very impressed with it. I own CC2 (with the various add-ons for city designer, character artist, dungeon designer), but mostly use autorealm. It is quite intuitive and does what I need for it to do. Polaris

I am playing in a game that the TE and Spacer's Toolkit material transported easily into, but I don't know if I would regard it as overly important. What I would suggest is to get Hero 5th and Star Hero (as you are planning). If you have some extra money, think about getting Hero Designer (it will help in putting together ships, weapons, technology and the like for your game). The Sector generator software (available for FREE from the Free Stuff section) is quite a nifty program (it uses the Star Hero rules to generate star systems). Keep an eye on the online Spacer's Toolkit. For about 5 dollars you can get the Character pack for Star Hero and Spacer's Toolkit for Hero Designer. If you are going to get HD, this would be money well spent. The descriptions of the technology and ships or character packages are less important than the designed technology (since you are not using the Terran setting). So, in order: 1. FREd (Hero 5th) 2. Star Hero (really, these first two are all you need to do what you want to do with quite a bit of ease). 3. Sector Generator (it's free, and very useful) 4. Hero Designer (cut down on paperwork and math... use the computer to do much of the work for you) 5. TE/STK character pack (for about 5 dollars, you get a lot of very useful prefabs for use with Hero Designer). Good luck! Polaris

Incidentally... even if the guy would be acquitted for killing a villain.. how would the other heroes react to him after they witness him kill someone?? Would THEY regard the killing as necessary? That could lead to some interesting intra-team role play... Polaris

John, Deadly force can be used if it is reasonable and necessary in the defense of oneself or another. If White Flame is about to use force that could reasonably be feared to be deadly force against your hero, or a passer by, and the hero could reasonably believe that the only way to stop White Flame was the application of deadly force, then the hero would be justified in using the deadly force against White Flame. If Joe Thug were to have a knife and be moving toward your superhero, and your black ops superhero (who is probably an extremely good shot) blows his head off, even tho it was defending himself, that would not likely be accepted as reasonable and necessary. This is because being a Black Ops specialist, he likely is a fairly accurate shot. He could likely have shot the knife out of the guy's hand, or shot to injur and not kill. There is also quite a reasonable chance, being a superhero, he could have defended against the knife attack and restrained the thug. As you can undoubtedly see, a lot of it comes down to whether the hero acted in a reasonable way, and only used 'necessary' force in the defense. These standards are ultimately up to folks like the District Attorney, Grand Jury, and ultimately a trial jury to interpret and decide. We have probably all heard lawyers use the phrase "an argument can be made...." If the hero uses deadly force, and someone dies, I would suggest allowing the hero to 'make his argument'. Was the force reasonable and NECESSARY. If so, then the hero goes free. If not, well... "nobody is above the law" (and if you want the heroes to be folks that preserve, and not take, life, then if this hero takes it without it being reasonable and necessary, then perhaps a prison sentence would be an appropriate way to remove him... if, he does respect life, then I think it reasonable that a black ops hero would not have a code against killing and still fit into a supers team). Polaris

What would people think of this idea: 1. To determine the 'basic' size of a system, take the Active Points and divide by a system factor (engines would be factor 7, weapons would be factor 10 or 15, and so on... the idea here is that the same amount of power could take more space depending upon the type of system... with engines being the largest). 2. Empires can invest in "minitiarization" technology. Each level of this technology reduces the size the system requires. This would enable empires to invest in the ability to make fighters that could have vastly better engines and weapon systems than other empires. This is kinda taking some of the ideas here and coming up with something off the top of my head. Any thoughts?? Polaris

Thanks a ton Nightshade! :) Polaris

Monolith, They made the mistake. I have the receipt that I paid for Fantasy Hero and not FREd. I sent them an email and attached the receipt. Hopefully I can get FH soon...! Polaris

I got a "parcel package" today... my Fantasy Hero book had finally arrived!!! I was thrilled.. until I realized THEY SENT ME THE WRONG BOOK! (I got a second copy of FREd instead). Polaris

Greetings, In designing starships, does size matter? Meaning, how do I as a GM or a player know what size a ship has to be in order to hold all the systems that I want it to have?? I have FREd, Star Hero and Terran Empire, and have been unable to find this information. If there are no restrictions, could someone make a very small ship (to get the OCV advantages) and put a large amount of systems on it (to get the firepower)?? Other than the GM going through each ship and making a "is this reasonable" judgment, is there some guidance that can be provided as to what size a ship needs to be in order to have X amount of systems?? Thanks! Polaris

Here is a link to the Galactic Encyclopedia of Starfire. It provides good information about the various empires in the Starfire universe. Hope this is useful to some... http://www.starfiredesign.com/starfire/encyclopedia/index.html Polaris

Alan: Very well put.. Rest: If the US could so easily defeat "scores" of LDCs, why are there any bases of al Qaeda left? Why is Iran allowed to build a nuclear weapons program? Why is North Korea allowed its weapons proliferation programs (which they have already said they intend to SELL on the international market)? The US does have limited military forces... scarcity... that can be spread too thin. As we 'level' countries that side with Dr. D, what stops him from using that massive weapon hidden in orbit from destroying New York or Washington? There are nations with the ability to deter the western powers. The key is having weapons that ensures "unacceptable consequences" (such as the USSR had). Kristopher: You say we shouldn't "think for one second" that the western powers don't have troops every bit as well trained and well equipped as anything Dr. Destroyer can field... his troops are 300 point characters. If someone were to play a US soldier in my game, I would not give them 300 points. I do not believe our troops are 300 points, but I guess we can agree to disagree. You then go on to say: "Ah yes, another person who thinks that once you accept one fantastic premise in creating your setting, you have to accept them all. A solid worldbuilding process actually goes something like this: once you assume the fantastic element of super-powers, from there proceed in a logical manner to develop the rest of the world. The typical comic book setting is different in dozens of ways from the real world, and most of those differences have nothing to do with -- and no bearing -- on the presence of super-powers. The people don't act like real people. The governments don't act like real governments. Never mind the inconsistencies and contradictions that build up like plaque in the setting's arteries." In many role playing games of superheroes, people seek to simulate the comic books. You bring up an interesting point that sometimes comic books do not get stuck on being 'real' or as close to 'real' as possible... they try to come up with a good story. That, to me, is what role playing is about. There method seems to be working quite well, and I suspect will continue. Polaris

I think this fits into this book: 1. I would like to see giants (hill giants, frost giants, storm giants, and the like). These are good for quick adventures, and to help newer hunting parties (kinda like some GMs use Grond in Champions). 2. Perhaps my favorite enemy in fantasy: Gnolls! 3. I am confident you are already planning on various undead creatures, but in case not, I would throw that in as a suggestion to. Undead are just too convenient to have stats for (clerics in group.. paladins... party moving through plains... want to establish an evil necromancer, etc). 4. I am glad that you are planning on evil versions of player races... evil dwarves, evil elves/Drow, etc. 5. Dragons of various kinds. In our fantasy game, dragons are extremely wise, and tend to be benevolent but a bit arrogant. There is a religion in our gameworld that worships dragons, and helps preserve the natural supply of dragonberries (which the dragons, of course eat... and some like to make into a very potent wine). Good dragons, bad dragons, and in between dragons. That rounds out the top 5 of my wish list for the book. Thanks Steve for taking suggestions... Polaris

Dbsousa, Wow.. I really like those ideas! Thanks! Polaris

It would not only be the 20,000 super-troops that would be fighting... the western powers would also have to contend with the armies of SEVERAL countries (potentially simultaneously), weapon systems that could threaten entire cities (his orbital base has weapons 'more powerful' than the one used to hit Detroit). The ability to make duplicates of himself to send in cause problems, then teleport back to base. I can not see how one would think that this idea is 'laughable'. I do not believe the US would act militarily (and risk massive retaliation)... like most nations, the US is not interested in fighting wars that would so devastate its own nation. There is a big reason that North Korea's WMD program (which has now developed nuclear weapons technology, they have declared themselves quite willing to use the weapons, tested a missile that the US government believes could threaten American territory, and told US diplomats that they intend on selling the weapons technology... how much bigger of a threat is that than Iraq, who had a GDP 20% less than the state of Idaho, inspectors going through their country, surveillance flights over, etc?). The US does not want a fight with a foe that can do real harm to the US (who would want to fight someone that could hit really hard). How well would the US military do when confronted with such a massive amount of less trained, less equipped troops... supported by 20,000 super troops... with robotic equivalents of Dr. Destroyer (the most powerful super villain on earth), and a massive weapon able to come crashing down on them from the stars? How well would the US military do when the enemy can match or exceed them in technology? How well would the US do when the enemy is quite a bit smarter (Dr. Destroyer is described as an exceptional genius... a description I certainly have not heard about Bush or General Meyers)? I don't know... it is hard to tell because this is a condition the US military has not faced during the career of anyone presently in the US military. However, that would not be what this story is about... It is important to realize that this is a comic book story... many threats handled by the Avengers could be handled by the government. It's handled by the superheroes because that is what the genre is about. If the Avengers just stayed home and let the government confront the threat, then... well... it wouldn't be much of a comic book. The Avengers are the folks that the US government turns to to handle many such threats. The PCs are the superheroes of this story, and they are the ones the US government would turn to try to stop Destroyer, without having US cities get wiped out in the process. Given such a tough task, would they be willing to accept an offer to work with Eurostar and Viper (are stakes, millions of lives, in particular, worth working with known enemies). Polaris

Thank you very much Monolith! Michael: I agree, that would be interesting. It sounds like the Hero system could allow people to play military commanders and command armies into battle (like a wargame RPG). One could duplicate different battles or create hypocriphal ones (of course). Polaris

In our game of 3E (soon to be FH I think), we have the gods gain their powers from magic pools created and augmented by the deities followers... the more followers, the more power the god(dess) has. Needless to say, the deities using relgious wars and crusades to weaken their rivals is not at all an uncommon event. One Queen ordered her army to slay followers of one deity that the Queen blamed for problems that her kingdom/queendom was going through. It provides another interesting area of conflict (religion) to the normal racial and political and economic conflicts of the world. Polaris

It's selling very well here in the Portland area too. Catseye, I am sure that DW will get more copies out to your area of the country as soon as he is done SENDING MORE TO OREGON. Polaris

Does FH have the information in it on determing things like unit modifiers and using the Mass combat record sheets in the free section? I am sorry for asking so many questions, I have not been able to get over to the hobby store to pick it up. Dragon magazine recently had an article on mass combat in d20.. but I hate doign conversions, and would love to not have to start on it if I know I am going to get good rules in FH on the very subject. Polaris

Greetings, I have a player that has come up with a character concept he wants to play in a game. He is unsure how to make it, so I said I would put it out to see if anyone here might be able to come up with anything. He wants to play a character that can pick up on skills effortlessly, but can't remember them for super long. In essence, he would be able to duplicate what he has seen others do, but the skill wouldn't last very long. FREd mentions that you can purchase skills as powers. I was thinking of something like a VPP with limitations: only usable on skills; must have witnessed skill being used by someone within last 30 days. Does that sound right? Also, how much of a limitation would those two be worth? Thanks! Polaris PS: Another idea I had was for him to purchase Overall Levels with the limitation that it had to be applied to skills he has seen used within the past 30 days. The difficulty with this, of course, is he would have to have the skill to apply the Overall Levels to (this would be more applicable if witnessing someone use the skill he already has would enhance his use of the skill).

Assuming that we are excluding Istvatha V'han from this (how could we not choose her as the one you would not a war with), I would have to agree with the people that are saying Menton is the next big bad. His ability to mind control leaders, other powered people, etc makes him a huge threat. You don't need a lot of strength if you can mind control Grond. You don't need a lot of money if you can mind control Bill Gates or some other person with super wealth. You don't really even need a lot of expertise in various areas if you can mind control experts to help you with various tasks when needed. You don't really need political power if you can mind control political leaders. Polaris

Greetings, I was looking at the Fantasy Hero Mass Combat record sheet in the free stuff section. Does the new FH have information on calculating things like unit modifiers, and good ideas on running mass combat?? If so, are these ideas also applicable to running mass combat in other genres of the Hero system? Polaris