Polaris

Greetings, I don't play in the Terran Empire campaign setting precisely, but after buying it yesterday and spending quite a bit of time last night reading it, I have found quite a bit of material that I can use for my own campaign. One of the parts of the book that is of great use is the other imperial powers and galactic species material. I was wondering if anyone would like to share information about any species or empires that they have designed for their games? Polaris

Wow... After reading some of the experiences here.. I guess I haven't really had any (I just need to stop complaining when the minor problems come up). Captain Xenon.. I have to ask why you stayed with the group as long as you did? Polaris

I do not get as much use out of the genre books (I did really like Star Hero), but overall feel like the genre books seem to focus on "here is how you role play superheroes/fantasy/sci fi/etc". I can see how they would be nice to have, but not generally worth AS MUCH to me as other books. I really do like the ultimate books. Books that give equipment are good (my SH game is quite effected by galactic politics, so prebuilt ships that I can enter into HD and modify a little bit is a big help). I usually don't place a huge priority on setting books, but am going to go buy Terran Empire today. I like the author's writing style, and if SH is any indication, I am confident I will be able to find good use of James Cambias' ideas from TE. Polaris PS: Ben, I hope none of the comments from people are discouraging to you. Perhaps Steve will let you write a personal equipment book that some people seem to be wanting??

Cool! Thanks Bob! Polaris

Greetings, Does the Terran Empire book have a map of the galaxy (a map of where various empires are relative to each other)?? If not, is there a chance that this could be put somewhere? Looking through the book at the store, I noticed that it shows a quick map of the shape of some of the empires, but didn't see any galactic map. Polaris

Starlord, Artemis is GREAT! Think I might steal it...err.. rather.. 'borrow'... Polaris

I would think that Dr. Destroyer would make it to Galactic Champions (at least his suit, perhaps in the hands of someone else). I think his huge army of followers could suffice as a 'superviallain team'. I would suspect that Dr. D right now is of the belief that time is all that can stop him... and, would be putting some resources toward making sure that not even time could. Well, that is my opinion... Polaris

Greetings, I am running a science fiction game that has been using the Starfire system for some time. I have gotten the group interested in switching to Star Hero for it (Starfire's big strength was its simplicity, and they have managed to make it super complicated without adding a lot of power to the system, IMHO). One of the more important aspects of a game like this is keeping an "imperial budget" (and therefore knowing how many credits a planet should be worth). I have thought of various systems for doing this. I had thought about building the planets using points (points can be spent on agricultural production, Industry, science, population, militancy, etc). Then, people can use their beginning points to purchase planets for the start of their empire. This will become very problematic in a short period of time when the PC empires want to explore NPR (Non-Player Races) empires. I would rather not have to go through and do that much calculation of how many credits each planet would be worth. Has anyone worked up a better (easier and quicker) system for doing this? I am looking for a system for determing how many credits a planetary economy would be worth. Thanks in advance! Polaris

Greetings, I have been transferring stuff from d20 into Hero for our group, and came to an ability that I am having trouble with. The ability (an ability of a 'Devoted Defender" prestige class) allows: If the defender is five feet from the person being defended, the defender can switch places with the person (in essence, if someone were standing nose to nose with the defender's charge, then the defender could instantly switch places with the charge and have the opponent standing nose to nose with the defender, while the defender's charge is behind the defender). I hope I am explaining it well. Any ideas?? It would only work to switch places with the devoted defender's charge (person the defender is devoted to). It would be instant, and the charge would not need to act in the movement. I suppose in Hero the charge would probably have some way of defending against it, but the power would not require the charge's consent to be moved. Any suggestions would be really appreciated. Thanks!! Polaris

Oops! I just noticed I don't have flight... tought on a fighter to not be able to fly. Polaris

Please let me know what you think. --Polaris Hornet Player: Terra Val Char Cost 55 STR 0 30 DEX 60 24 BODY 5 9 SPD 50 4" RUN-42" SWIM00" LEAP0Characteristics Cost: 162 Cost Power END 30 Reinforced Structure: Armor (10 PD/10 ED), Hardened (+1/4) (37 Active Points); Real Armor (-1/4) 25 Battery: Endurance Reserve (50 END, 20 REC) (25 Active Points) 43 Phaser: Energy Blast 13d6 (vs. ED) (65 Active Points); Beam (-1/4), No Knockback (-1/4) (uses Personal END) 6 50 Tactical Sensors: Find Weakness 15- (All Attacks) 30 Shields: Force Field (15 PD/15 ED) (uses Personal END) 3 7 Norton Cyber Proetection System: +10 Mental Defense (10 points total) (10 Active Points); Coverage does not protect passengers (-1/2) 5 Tactical Squadron System: Mind Link (One Specific Mind), No LOS Needed (15 Active Points); Only With Others Who Have Mind Link (-1), Limited Class Of Minds Members of unit (-1) Powers Cost: 190 Cost Skill 9 Acrobatics 18- 5 Breakfall 16- 15 +3 with Ranged Combat 7 Navigation (Air, Space) (9 Active Points); Only works on planet or system aircraft assigned to (-1/4) 12- 5 Teamwork (7 Active Points); Only works after has conducted training exercises with unit (-1/2) 17- 7 Tracking 11- Skills Cost: 48 Cost Perk 12 Contact (Contact has: useful Skills or resources, Very Good relationship with Contact), Organization Contact (+2) (12 Active Points) 8- Perks Cost: 12 Cost Talent 3 Absolute Range Sense 3 Absolute Time Sense 26 Danger Sense (Area: Immediate Vicinity, Discriminatory) 12- 5 Eidetic Memory Talents Cost: 37 Total Character Cost: 449 Val Disadvantages 20 Craft of Terran Air Force: (Not Concealable; Always Noticed and Causes Major Reaction; Detectable By Commonly-Used Senses) Disadvantage Points: 20 Base Points: 200 Experience Required: 229 Total Experience Available: 0 Experience Unspent: 0

Thank you Victor! I noticed that some of the items have the limitation "Real Weapon". I saw that on HD, but am unsure what it means. Could anyone shed some light for me on when a weapon can take that disadvantage? Thanks! Polaris

So, when you are purchasing a piece of equipment you made, you pay credits/currency (as per the SH table) for all the points spent on abilities and advantages, then don't get a discount for the limitations? Polaris

Greetings, I just want to make sure that I am doing this right. If I build a system for a starship, the Active Points cost (and therefore the point total that is going to determine the currency cost in accordance to SH table) is the cost in points AFTER the additions/limitations are calculated in... right? Polaris

Thanks! Thank you for the files... it is a big help!! Polaris

Lord Liadan Well put...:) Polaris

Old Man, I agree with much of what you are saying. I, as a newer Hero GM, would like to see more material that I can easily drop into a story. I can take the world and develop it very well, but any building blocks can be helfpul. Others (often more experienced GMs) have an easier time with rather vague advice on "this is how to RP fantasy/superheroes/science finction", etc. I appreciate your voicing desire for publication of more solid materials (which, i believe hero puts out with their villain book, USPD, Spacers Toolkit, TE, etc, but could do more with the genre books to give solid foundation to playing that genre with more concrete examples). I believe that Steve and Co are aware that many of the people on here tend to be more experienced Hero players. That materials that appeal to newer players is a good thing (not to say that you are new, since I have no idea how long you have been playing Hero). The main thing you hae said that I would take exception to is the idea that most of the stuff on the web is crap. I have not seen the majority, but I have found some very impressive stuff. Some sites even have tools that help (the GM Mastery site has a tool for subplots that have sparked some interesting ideas for the Innkeeper or some other NPC that may not have had quite so much of a role in the story before). Polaris

ATRI ratings and TE power levels Greetings, I do not mean to be critical, but since Hero is a system that encourages maximum GM creativity, and people were talking about game worlds they had in mind for SH even before TE came out (implying, at least, that many of us are gaming in SH games outside of the TE setting), what is wrong with including technology ideas that are not set to TE?? I do suppose people could just post the ideas here in the forums, I just thought the online database might be a particularly good place to trade and share ideas. Polaris

Zargliff, Sorry... don't have it memorized.. hehehe :) Thanks McCoy... I don't know how I missed it. Polaris

Greetings all, My gaming group is looking to start a Superhero game. The game will be a 'troupe game' (meaning everyone is going to be sharing GMing duties). Our game is going to mostly focus on the lives of people that are college students and starting their superhero careers. Each player will be allowed to play one beginning hero, and if they choose they can also play an experienced veteran hero that the others can get advice from. Anyway, one of our players that is new to the system wanted some guidance on setting characteristic values. I was told that FREd had a table to show roughly what each value would represent. I could only find that average human was 8-10 and that 20 is normal human maximum. Can anyone tell me what page I could find this guidance (a table or something)? I have looked, but have not had any luck. I do have the BBB, but it is packed away and do not want to try to dig it out if I don't have to. Thanks in advance... Polaris

Spacers Toolkit Ben, Please don't take down the online toolkit. I am not completely fluent in Hero system, but am trying to work on some ideas to add. Others have indicated that they are planning on contributing, and those are a huge help. I think that contributions will pick up (probably to grow so much that you will probably miss these days when there are none.. ). Polaris

Herolover, I do like Fantasy, and definitely intend on buying it. It seems that most people here are certainly interested in buying it. There are a few that are wanting to see it before buying it (definitely a good idea... look before buying, so that people don't buy it thinking it is something it isn't). Thanks for the feedback and comments on my question. Polaris...

I have been looking forward to the coming release of FH. Yesterday, I was talking to a member of our group (the longest running player of the Hero system in our group... he has been playing since first edition). I asked him if he would like to carpool out to the FLGS (our store is a bit of a drive from here, but worth the drive... they never fail to get Hero products in quickly) when FH gets in. He said that he wasn't going to be picking it up. Basically, he (keep in mind, he is not one to bash Hero, so this is not a case of someone that is just cynical) said that the old version of FH is just as good for helping run a FH game as the new book will be, and we should save our money for actual new products. Although he did not make the comparrison, it kind of reminded me of the 3.5 discussion in another thread (I do know that the two are NOT the same... the time between 3.0 and 3.5 was VERY short, and WoTC has put out a pamphlet that helps update the 3.0 books to 3.5, and is not planning on redoing those other books, etc). I have the ebook FH of the last version. I started playing Hero system shortly before FREd came out, so I am more accustomed to Fifth Ed. Even if the updates are somewhat minor (updating stuff from fourth to fifth edition), I would still be buying it. So, this question is not so much for me, as for people that have been playing Hero for a while, and has the older version of FH. Do you plan on getting the new FH? If so, what are you hoping it will have that will be different then what you already have from the older/'classical' version? As people with DoJ think about future update books for FREd, this might help them with some ideas of what people are hoping to get with the new editions. Even if not, I think it would be interesting and could convince some to buy it. Take care, Polaris

Andrew, Does that mean that you are going to get FH BECAUSE of Storn's cover? Polaris

Number Crunching Role Playing First off, excellent topic! This is something that our group has been going round and round in, and is the main reason that some in our group want to switch away to a less mathematical system. We have a large RP troupe (we have several games going on of various genres, and players within the troupe play in the ones they want). Here are some things we have tried and what happened: 1. We tried the "you provide a description, and the GM will assign stats". I liked this idea, but we ran into some problems with people asking for guidance on what would be appropriate or too strong (would I be too strong if I could lift a battleship over my head?). The GM (and the rest of us) finally got tired of that. 2. One of the role players (she knows little about the system, and is FAR more concerned about role playing and seeing how her character can overcome adversity and challenge than how quickly she can smite the villain) pointed out "it doesn't matter how powerful the other players are relative to yours... you aren't going to be fighting THEM". This was great in theory, but it didn't always work in practice (the 'number cruchers' tended to steal all the glory). 3. We are presently trying a "just make your character, and don't worry about the points". After the players make their character, a GM is going to look it over and make sure that it is roughly in line with the group. This way, it is not an exercise of how you can squeeze points. Since we are just starting this, I don't know how it is going to work. While playing Fuzion (which is what brought our group to Champions), we had the Rule of X, and that seemed to work very well in our group. We have always, and continue, to have limits on Active Points in a power. Polaris