Alcamtar

Because they have reached the limit of what is technologically possible in the fantasy universe. At some point you have to reach the point where you are incapable of progressing further, either because you've learned all there is to learn, or because you are incapable of understanding more. If magic stands in for technology, then most fantasy worlds are already pretty "high tech." Compared to modern earth, they have better healing, instantaneous transportation and communication, heavy artillery, mind control... The big difference is that fantasy-tech ("magic") is not easily mass-produced, but requires long years to master. If wizards spend their whole lives trying to master the complexities of magic, they have little chance to surpass their teachers, much less discover the "deep secrets" of the universe. Maybe the "deeper secrets" are of such a mind-wrenching nature that they will never be comprehended except by the rare genius? In any case, "progress" is not really a theme in fantasy. Most fantasy worlds were *created* by the gods at a given level of technology, and never advance much beyond it. They have neither a stone age, nor a space age. If you consider that a fantasy world is normally near its technological ceiling, except during such times as war or adversity causes a temporary regression and loss of knowledge, then it works out okay. Anyway, that's one possible explanation. :-) Mike

Does Life Support vs. Intense Heat confer immunity (or partial immunity) to fire- or heat-based attacks? Thanks, Mike

For those GMs who give out experience, do you give every player the same amount, or do you award experience individually? Do you do it openly or privately? What factors do you consider in awarding XP? Thanks, Mike

Looks great on WinXP pro. Easy to use. In it's current incarnation I don't know that I'd use it extensively. What would make it a killer app for me: (1) Add a fantasy hero name generator (2) Add a "quick npc" version of the idea generator -- instead of hero backgrounds, have it generate interesting backgrounds, personalities and quirks for NPCs. This would make it a lot easier to run a game in a city where characters are constantly bumping into random strangers. (And of course, I'd want a fantasy version). (3) Add the random character generator. Again I'm interested in the fantasy version. BTW, the random character generator is very cool (and I expect to use it frequently), but would be even more useful if it produced character stats in a single preformatted block of text, instead of HTML tables. That way I could cut-and-paste into a word processor or text editor. Mike

I'm using encumbrance, but I'm basing it on casual STR instead of full STR. The standard encumbrance rules (using full STR) are so "generous" that you might as well ignore them and let characters carry whatever they want. Your version is definitely simpler than the enc rules, but ignores equipment. The reason I'm using encumbrance is because it seems ridiculous to hike for 8-10 hours in full plate armor, with a 30kg backpack on your back, carrying weapons in your hands, over mountains and across burning deserts, without feeling it. I don't want to cripple the PCs or hamper them in combat, I just want them to feel the effects of hard travel and encourage them to travel light. I get tired of the "kitchen sink" syndrome. Mike

Probably, 'cause I've seen you around too . I tend to hang out at whatever board supports the game I'm currently running. In the past I hung around DragonsFoot (as 'Mike'), the PEG Savage Worlds forums, and ENWorld. Lately I've only frequented the Hero forums. But the name "Alcamtar the Cleaver" is from the original edition of Fantasy Hero, in the writeup of the magical dagger Demons Fang (IIRC). Maybe you saw the name there. Mike

A book of nothing but character sketches would be just as cool, even with no backgrounds... :-) Mike

Wow, I really like that. She looks like a real person, not exaggerated like fantasy women so often are. In fact, looking through Fantasy Hero, all your women have this quality. Out of curiousity, do you work from models or photos, or "out of your head?" As a GM I have little real need for a specific commission, but something I would love is a book of illustrations -- NPCs, castles, taverns, that sort of thing. I really like your NPCs and fantasy scenes. The details seem right to me, in a "yeah that's how I would do it too" kind of way. Anyway, an illustration book would be really cool; pictures that a GM could hold up to show players what an NPC looks like, or which provide a visual "adventure seed". I would be very happy with simple black-and-white sketches. They wouldn't need to be finished in an 'artbook' way, interior art quality or even sketch quality would be great. If the book were spiral bound so you could open it "flat" to a single page, and if each sketch were enlarged to fill a page, it would make a great visual aid. This sort of thing could make it affordable for a GM to acquire multiple NPC and adventure illustrations, be a lot cooler than "everyone flip to page 229," and give you a market for your rougher sketches. A downloadable PDF would work fine, as long as it prints with reasonable quality (sometimes PDF art looks kind of weird.) Really for NPCs that I might only use occasionally I'd much rather buy three cheap books of rough sketches than a single more expensive book of finished art (though that would be cool too). Anyway, just an idea. Mike

I have decided that in my fantasy campaign, letters of credit do not exist (or are very rare), for the reason that they are easily forged magically. Gold and silver are two metals that cannot be permanently created or altered by magic and thus provide a stable economic base. Copper does not have this property, so "copper pieces" are really just smaller denominations of silver coinage. My motive is that I don't want PCs to easily carry around a king's ransom in their purses like in D&D (should they somehow manage to acquire such wealth), paying cash for castles and armies and stuff. I'd also like the freedom to have golden thrones and dragon hoards and stuff without worrying about having them easily looted. (We'll see if it works...) If they do loot a huge treasure, it'll be bulky and obvious enough to attract attention. I also like the "wagon trains loaded with gold" idea. Credit does exist, but is based on personal trust and honor, rather than a blind letter. If a noble shows up in person, or sends a known representative, he gets pretty much what he wants on credit; there'll be an account written on paper to keep track of it, but the paper itself is not authoritative. Mike

I originally planned to treat characteristics in packages as modifiers to the NCM (so a dwarf with +3 STR would have STR NCM of 23). But after thinking about it, I decided that this violates game balance, by giving you something you didn't pay for. It's equivalent to a dwarf character taking +3 STR with the limitation "usable only by a dwarf" (-1). He's getting a cost break for something that is not really a limitation. Sure maybe dwarves have +3 STR and dwarven strength ranges as high as 23... but the character should still have to pay for the ability. Dwarves also get Night Vision, but not for free... they have to pay for it, and don't get a discount either. Why should STR be different? Normally, I don't allow a character to take any ability score that exceeds NCM without GM approval. Since this is essentially superhuman ability, I feel it requires some justification other than "it makes me better in combat." For nonhumans with different racial norms, I'll generally allow them to buy characteristics up to "adjusted racial max" without special permission, but they still have to pay extra for anything over NCM. Anyway, that's my take on it. Mike

How much does COM 11 cost? Does the half-point round up (for a net cost of 1) or round down (for a net cost of zero)? I assume that whatever the answer is for COM, END works the same way. Thanks, Mike

Yes it was very helpful. Thank you all. I chatted with the player and he agreed to rework his disads. I disallowed the Hatred + Enraged combo, but allowed one or the other in combination with Hunted... I also suggested a total of 25 points related to orcs. IMC, orcs have been locked in genocidal war against the elves for thousands of years, but have yet to succeed. So the player had the right idea, just a bit too much. Regarding the racism thing - the orcs are definitely racist toward the elves; but the elves are more noble. This PC is unusually bitter for an elf, and the player understands this. I also made it clear that players will get "full value" for any disads they take. Mike

Re: Creating a fantasy $ system I agree. However, one thing you have to take into account is cost of living. I sat down with FH, made up a job table for various income levels, and included cost of living, in order to determine what folks *really* make and what things really cost in terms of buying power. I wrote this all up in a document, but my starting assumptions were: Minimum wage is 312 sp/year (1 per working day) Average living expenses are 500 sp/year for a family. That means peasants are (a) going hungry, and ( everyone is working to help make ends meet. I made up a job table, and figured this roughly at: Minimum wage = 1 sp day (unskilled/apprentice) Average wage = 2-3 sp day (craftsman) Good wage = 4-5 sp day (blacksmiths, etc) Wealthy make a LOT more. I also did a lot of calculations to break down the living expenses between food, shelter, taxes, tithes, and so forth. If you want a modern American equivalent, I came up with a ballpark equivalence of 1 sp/day = $20,000 annual, or 1 sp = $64. Remember that many modern families are two-incomes, and $20,000 household income is equal to 2x $10,000... Living expenses scale with income; the wealthy shop at more expensive stores, consume large quantities of very expensive food, have servants, etc. Surplus income (after living expenses) is probably a fixed percentage; I put it at 20% for anyone making 2 sp/day or more, but scaled it down gradually for the extremely wealthy on the assumption that a large part of their wealth is tied up in business and investments; Bill Gates is the richest man on paper, but he can't really spend all that money. So, I also added a column on my job table for "disposable income". Anyone who buys the Money Perk gets the listed disposable income instead of the total income for that wealth category. (4 pts of Money Perk is 18sp/day, 5616sp per year, but has a disposable income of 90sp/month after cost of living and business expenses.) A craftsman family making 2 sp/day will earn 624 per year, giving them a surplus of 124 they can use to buy "meat" and luxuries. The base figures in FH are actually a decent match for wages and prices in 14th century England; expensive stuff like weapons and armor and horses is way too low however. You can find historical price lists on the web. (d=penny=sp, s=shilling=12 sp, L=pound=240 sp). Here's a common list: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/medievalprices.html Some examples: Cheap Beer: 4 cp/gallon (restaurants always charge more) Cinnamon: 12 sp/pound Velvet Silk: 90 sp/yard Cheap Sword: 72 sp Suit of Chainmail: 600 sp Draft Horse: 120-240 sp Fancy Riding Horse: 2400 sp Knight's Warhorse: 1200-19200 sp (wow!!) Craftsmans House: 3000 sp buy, 20 sp/month rent. Merchants House: 10000 sp buy, 600 sp/month rent. Keep: 137,000 build (incl. labor) Small Library of 7 books: 1200 sp Large Library of 126 books: 27120 sp Weapons and armor got a lot cheaper as more efficient manufacturing techniques were developed. So with dwarves in my world, and thousands of years of history, I'm not too worried about this stuff being cheap. Most workers will be paying long-term rent at low rates, or have housing provided. Some will have food provided; others will buy food at low prices from local farmers markets. Travelers and adventurers will pay much higher prices for everything Well, you could work backwards from the price... If a blacksmith earns 5 sp per day and a sword costs 16 SP, then he's taking about two days to make it (allowing for the price of raw materials.) If that seems a bit fast, up the price. Or treat this as a "low quality" sword that is cranked out by the hundreds to arm peasant militia... Otherwise I don't know. That's a lot of research! ICE published a book called "And a Ten Foot Pole" which (IIRC) had item creation times and prices in it, but I think someone said it was way off. Still it's fantasy and any standard can work if it is believable and consistent. I think Steve Long is planning to cover this in The Ultimate Skill, but you may have to wait a few years for it! I don't think you can fix this easily. If you make the items really cheap, PCs will treat them like dirt and never be without one. With respect to guards, swords and horses and armor may be "issued" and someone will come looking for them. Also, it looks bad if the PCs claim to have defeated someone in "self defense" but then loot the bodies and run. Law abiding citizens would report a slaying to the authorities and turn themselves in, and would also turn in the deceased possessions to be given to the next of kin. Those that kill-loot-run are generally seen as bandits. In war, looting may of course be acceptable, but then too there is a difference between being an authorized representative of your government, and being a vigilante. Some other things to take into account: Silver and gold are common as coinage, but copper was not common in all areas at all times. Romans used copper/bronze, but I don't think medieval england did. (I could be wrong). But, you can have different "sizes" of silver coins. IMC there are large gold coins and large silver coins (gold being worth 10x as much for the same weight), and also smaller silver "pennies" (1/10 the weight and value of a "silver piece") that take the place of coppers. A world with dwarves (or other efficient and fanatical miners) may have more available gold and silver than earth. This will tend to make coins more common and worth less. Historically gold is worth 20+x as much as silver; IMC I debased it to 10x for convenience and just said "there's a lot of it around". Also, in a world with dwarves, iron may be much more common, and iron items (swords and armor) may be made faster and more cheaply. Mike

I have a player who is proposing (for his PC): -15 Psych Lim: Hatred of Orcs and Goblins (com, strong) -20 Enraged: when facing Orcs and Goblins (com, 11-, 11-) -20 Hunted: by Orcs and Goblins (8-, mo pow, public id) My question: Does hatred of orcs and goblins overlap with being enraged by orcs and goblins? It seems to me that both disadvantages are going to result in this character attacking goblins on sight. I'm not sure it's worth 35 points... Also, if he is HUNTED by orcs and goblins, he has a good incentive to fight -- self defense! Does he really need extra points for attacking them too? I'm looking for opinions. He's getting 55 points for this, and it all seems to result in "fighting orcs." Also, with this many points, I'm gonna have to stick orcs into virtually every session! Does this count as a "single category of disadvantages?" What do you think? Can these disadvantages work together reasonably? Could this be a "cool thing" in the campaign? These are all appropriate for the PC in my campaign, but I'm not sure about the combo. Mike

HSR p.106, Nightvision allows the character to "see in total darkness" HSR p.229, a "dark night" is -4 PER QUESTIONS: Is -4 just a "dark night" (for example, a new moon, or an overcast night), or is it a total lack of light, like being in a deep cave without a light source? If -4 is not total darkness, what would be the penalty for total darkess, or is that simply "you need light to see"? Does Nightvision allow perception in an utterly lightless cave? I notice that cats in the bestiary have it, and they need at least some light to see by, but Fantasy Hero races also have it, and in many RPGs they *can* see in total darkness. Thanks, Mike

Like AD&D/HM, Hero does powergaming very well. In some ways, it is a better D&D than D&D is. Like AD&D/HM, Hero is "old school" and doesn't have the latest mechanics, believing that if it ain't broke, don't fix it. However it was one of the first universal systems, so it doesn't have baroque mechanics either. But it does have a few gray hairs. Like AD&D/HM, Hero is highly tactical; combat is designed for a battle mat, things are measured in "inches", facing and position are important, and so forth. And there is a good bit of resource management -- ammo, spell points, fatigue, and so forth. Like AD&D/HM, Hero characters are very durable. They don't have a lot of hit points, but you can beat them to a pulp without killing them. Like AD&D/HM, Hero revels in 'power', be it magic or whatever. If you like powerful magic or varied magic, Hero does it very well indeed. A lot of point-based games do not allow you to wield the kind of raw earth-shattering power that Hero does. Hero also lets you design your own magic systems, and most fantasy hero campaigns feature multiple systems. Like AD&D/HM, Hero allows characters to be anything from a rank novice to a virtual demigod, capable of taking on armies. Unlike AD&D/HM, Hero lets you be pretty much anything you want. There are no fixed character classes or spells or anything. In D&D, you have to get the GM to give you special permission (and invent the rules necessary) to do something weird or unusual. In Hero, you can do that by default, and the GM is probably more interested in reigning in your flights of fancy. Unlike AD&D/HM, combat usually takes a bit longer in Hero, but it can be much more detailed. Instead of having ten encounters in a playing session, you're more likely to have two or three; that generally means you cut out the random/meaningless encounters and go straight for the important ones. The upside is that combats (IMO) are much more satisfying -- they have detail and depth, andyou can tweak just about every aspect of your character. It is also easy for a GM to challenge characters in very specific ways. Unlike AD&D/HM, Hero characters are more complex. It takes longer to whip up a major bad buy or custom monster, and the stat block is longer. But also unlike AD&D/HM, there are no specific requirements -- NPCs don't have to be point balanced, which means the GM can invent anything he wants without concern as to whether this violates a race/class combination, or why the wizard can't wear armor, or whatever. Hero can take more preparation work for the GM, but with books like Fantasy Hero, Bestiary, and Grimoire, it is possible to run a game "out of the book" and even off-the-cuff, with random encounters and the whole bit. Unlike AD&D/HM, Hero is not intrinsically balanced. It is balanced within a particular range of ability, but does not prevent you from stepping outside that range. In D&D terms, character classes are balanced with each other; it does not offer an invisible flying race with AC -5 at first level. In Hero, the "standard classes" would also be point-balanced without the normal range, but it does not prevent the invisible flying character. The GM must exercise discretion in what limits he sets, and what he allows. The good thing about balance is that since the GM controls it directly, it can be very finely tailored to the campaign. You won't have the problem where a high level wizard outshines the warriors unless you allow it (and warriors will have *many* ways to stay competitive too). You *can* allow an invisible flying race if you want, and Hero gives you the tools to make it balanced; it won't do it for you, but it gives you everything you need. Unlike AD&D/HM, there are no absolute effects in Hero. There is not 100% protection, no attacks that automatically hit, no attacks that automatically kill, no saving throws. This is probably the biggest fundamental difference. Unlike AD&D/HM, Hero doesn't feature "pick from the list" character creation. If your players are uncreative, they're going to draw a blank and then come up with really uninspired characters... or they'll try to reproduce a D&D stereotype. (The Fantasy Hero book can go a long way to fix this). OTOH if they're creative, Hero will have tbem bursting will great ideas and they'll build fabulously original characters, with nothing more than the core rulebook. FWIW, lots of people "play D&D" in Hero. All the monsters, spells, items, and character classes are easily stolen and used as inspiration. Lots of people even play in campaign worlds published for D&D. Mike

I liked some things about it, and bought several of the modules and sourcebooks. Mostly I think I just liked being able to buy stuff statted for Fantasy Hero off the shelf! :-) But I did like the Navigators, and the brooding feel of the world. The list of herbs was cool, and the Lords of Orhan were my first exposure to eye-popping power in Fantasy Hero. The whole "island world" thing didn't appeal so much though. I hate Dragonlance. Not sure why, it just rubs me wrong. WFRP Old World... nice maps, great atmosphere, cool names. I like it a lot. Mike

Arg! I bought a used Greyhawk boxed set, but when I opened it, it only had the eastern map! The darn things are too expensive nowadays to collect, though. I wish I hadn't lost my original boxed set. I think my dad tossed it a dumpster or something while I was away at college! > I agree about the GH maps having a realistic feel. The FR maps always struck me as extremely haphazard, dotted with tiny unconnected mountains, hills, forests, and other stuff, not to mention strangely shaped bodies of water. That, and a lack of clear political boundaries or natural settlement patterns. Okay I admit it, I hate the FR politics and geography. Mystara had nice maps and interesting geography, but too many oddities -- like stone age tribes in the middle of the civilized world, or a lake drained by two rivers flowing through parallel canyons to the same sea, and some weird cultures and politics. But it had a lot to like as well. Regarding the WESTERN SHORES, I actually like it a lot. I thought that the "cold war" was kind of trite, the "evil kingdom" seemed rather wooden, and the daemon's cleft thing was cheesy... but I rather liked all the other lands. In particular, I like Lantern Town, Irolo, Weyrcliff, Zylistan, and the pirates. Ambria was okay. The big problem with the western shores, and with most fantasy worlds, was the "one of everything" syndrome, and the lack of any real variety. It had exactly one of each type of kingdom, one land for each demi-human race, one evil guy, one good guy, one mountain range, one desert... and no overlap betweem them! Bleh. Mystara had this problem before it was expanded, and compounded it with jarring out-of-place elements. Middle Earth has this problem to some extent; too homogenous for my tastes. GURPS Yrth was a little better, at least there's some cultural crossover and limited geographical variety, but it still feels small and cramped. I can't tell if Forgotten Realms has this problem because everything is too vague and unrecognizable to really pin down; it seems original, but it is so different that it doesn't really "click" with me. Greyhawk had a LOT of kingdoms (and less-than-kingdoms) that strongly resembled one another, like squabbling twin brothers. It had multiple evil bad guys, multiple good guys (and they didn't all agree), multiple barbarians, multiple demi human lands, complex politics, interesting and varied geography.. and importantly, lots of borderlands, wilderness, and distant exotic locations. Unfortunately I don't like what they did to living GH; '83 boxed set for me! One world that is apparently very obscure is Vortimax from Fantasy Warlord -- a fantasy setting for a miniatures wargame. It has a lot of what I like about Greyhawk, but I think it's better in some ways. Like GH it has dozens of squabbling states, many of which are similar, lots of politics, a huge world, varied evil and varied good, fallen lands, and lots of exotic "off the map" destinations. The names sound better than GH (not hard), and the geography is very believable yet interesting. I'd use it if I wasn't so compulsive about doing it myself. :-) Mike

I love the Kalamar Atlas, but the maps are just littered with weird, alien, hard-to-pronounce, hard to remember names. Bleh. Also, the geography is not varied enough for my tastes. It may be realistic, but then, I play fantasy games for a reason! :-) I'd like to see vast deserts, more mountains, etc. And there *are* areas in the real world that pack a lot of varied geography into a small area. Mike

If you want to play Hero but at stuck in a D&D world, you might want to take a look at DUNGEON HERO... http://www.planetx.org/~joed/gaming/dh.html If nothing else, it is a great example of a straight conversion. It's not 3E, but it's close enough, I think. Mike

For the secondary power, just give the villain a spell that tracks the stone. No need to put the power in the stone itself. Maybe the stone is *both* an independent item, and a non-universal focus for the villain's scry spell. For example, Scrying Spell: Clairsentience to 1000 km, invisible power effects (+1/2), indirect (+1/4), IAF crystal ball (-1/2), Fixed perception point: crystal ball (-1) The crystal ball is an inobvious focus for the scrying spell, but an obvious focus for the "power boost". Indirect means that the spy-power still works even through magical anti-scry or anti-magic barriers, unless they are hardened... this ability to bypass defenses when voluntarily carried is a classic feature of a "bug" device. Since the spell is invisible, the focus inobvious, and the power itself not embedded in the item, the PC is going to have a very hard time tracing it to the crystal ball. If you really want to throw them off, give the crystal ball some sort of persistent, area effect anti-scrying suppress power... with personal immunity. Since the watching wizard made it, he's immune to its effect! The PCs will likely puzzle over what "personal immunity" means but will probably conclude that it lets them cast scrying spells out of the field. Whatever they conclude, let it work, to maintain the illusion. (Alternately the GM could rule that since the enemy Scry is indirect, targeted directly at the ball, and the suppress is not hardened, it works anyway without personal immunity.) Anyway once the PCs suspect they're being watched, the crystal ball will be their prize possession for it's "cloaking field". Alternately, you could just give the crystal ball something like: Watched (PC is easy to find, 14-, only watching). This is a purely plot-device type magic. The disadvantage could mean the wizard can always easily locate the PC and keep tabs on him, and has a 90% chance of actually watching him at any given time. Another idea: make the crystal ball an intelligent automaton. The enemy wizard can communicate with it via a Mind Link. The PCs could perhaps summon the "Servant of the Crystal" (and it would behave as an obedient "invisible servant") but in reality it serves the enemy wizard. Either it is unaware of its Mind Link, or it has a Total Psych Lim of loyalty to the enemy wizard. To disarm the PCs, build the thing into the crystal as a Summon Devoted Servant... they won't have the character sheet, but they'll assume the obvious. This is a sneaky sort of monitoring that will slip right past suppresses targeted at clairsentience, or even telepathy. The wizard could also have it perform sneaky tasks for him, like subtly sabotaging things or leaving clues that implicate the PCs in nefarious deeds. Great concept, have fun with it! Mike

You can?? How many kids (er, DNPCs) do you have anyway?

Well, borrowing an idea from Steve Long's WISH spell in the FH Grimoire... X-Dim movement, self into parallel dimension where the moon is the desired phase. Of course, since it is a parallel dimension, everything is identical (including your friends, the werewolves, the whole planet) except for the phase of the moon. Mike

Since a character can activate multiple powers simultaneously as zero phase actions, could a character with two HKAs use both simultaneously? (If using two hands, they could be truly simultaneous, so both attacks would be the "last action in the phase") If so, could each HKA be used to Sweep individually? This would go a long way toward making Two-Weapon fighting more attractive, compared to simply buying +2 PSLs for Sweep. If not, if an HKA was triggered or linked to be activated by another HKA, could each HKA be used separately to Sweep? (Allowing two sweeps in the same phase?) For example, Advanced Two-Weapon Fighting: HKA 2d6, Triggered by HKA (+1/4), OAF weapon of opportunity (-1), must use different hand than primary weapon (-1/2), limited to weapon damage (-1/2), Cost 12 With a power construction like this, could a character pick up a second weapon in his other hand and make two attacks per round, Sweeping independently with each weapon? Thanks, Mike

I have a player who can shapeshift from a non-human form to a human form. The shapeshift affects all five normal senses. Since the non-human form has extra abilities (wings, scaly skin, tail, claws) that are not present in the human form, he should get a limitation on the shapeshift...but how much? Initially I gave him a total of -1 limitations, but reconsidering I don't think he's losing half his abilities shapeshifting. He keeps all his skills, his magic spells, and equipment. Mostly he loses the ability to fly and his innate armor. (This is a Fantasy Hero campaign, so flight and armor and claws are very useful abilities... but are they worth -1 on the Shapeshift?) We considered Multiform, but he doesn't want to have multiple character sheets, and also wants the two forms to be identical except for wings and armor. Mike