archermoo

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Re: The cranky thread

I only get headaches from lack of sleep. Hunger just makes me more cranky than usual. A lot more.

Oh, I get the cranky too. I get crankier, and my head feels like it is splitting open.

Must be nice. Fortunately I don't have IBS or GERD yet' date=' at least.[/quote']

 

Yeah. I don't get hung over either.

Re: The cranky thread

Lately I've found that I just can't eat the same stuff I used to be able to eat. I always have to be aware of whether I can afford to go into some kind of food coma after I eat' date=' to which the answer is almost always no. The worst thing I can do is to allow myself to get really hungry, because then I overcompensate and eat a month's worth of food in one sitting, and then coma.[/quote']

 

Yeah, I can't go too long without eating or I get a headache that just won't quit.

 

Fortunately I'm not generally susceptible to food comas.

Re: The cranky thread

I'm supposed to go somewhere this weekend' date=' but right now I'm very depressed and don't want to move. Maybe it was the 1/2 chocolate milkshake and piece of French Toast.[/quote']

 

Eat some protein to balance out the carbs.

Re: The cranky thread

Let me know if you need a new QAT' date=' I just got let go as of an hour and a half ago.[/quote']

 

My sympathies. I don't suppose you're Epic (healthcare software) qualified, are you?

Re: A Thread for Random Musings

A man without religion is like a fish without a bicycle.

Re: Foods for those that just don't care anymore

Relevant here

My problem with BLTs is that they have lettuce and tomatoes on them.

Well, and in this case Mayo.

Re: The cranky thread

I didn't realize Viagra was an anti-depressant.

No, but it is used to treat pulmonary hypertension. Though it is called Revatio when used for that. A few years back one of my officemates at the time (a nurse dealing with pulmonary hypertension patients) went round and round with an insurance company. Revatio only comes in certain doses, whereas Viagra (exact same medication) comes in a wider variety of doses. It was much easier for this particular patient to get the correct dose using Viagra instead of Revatio. The insurance company however only covered Revatio, and not Viagra. Even though they are the same exact drug, made by the same company. I believe she eventually got through to the insurance company on it and the patient got what she needed.

Re: Foods for those that just don't care anymore

I would want one of those burger-patty-press thingies just because' date=' when I try to form burgers on my own, I always make them too thick, resulting in them being either burnt on the outside or too rare/raw on the inside (or both).[/quote']

 

Cooking at a lower heat can help with that too.

Re: Foods for those that just don't care anymore

There are a few kitchen tools I swear by. Now that I have a decent set of knives' date=' it makes my job easier. I love my cleaver. Mind you, reminding the husband to actually use the PROPER knife is still a chore. I love my bamboo steamer. I love my garlic press. I'll admit, there's more than a few gadgets out there I'd love to have (mandolin, pasta roller, food processor, a proper dutch oven), but our kitchen is too small to hold them.[/quote']

 

For garlic I just buy crushed garlic. One large tub of it isn't particularly costly, and it lasts me at least several months.

 

I'm quite fond of the egg cooker we've got. Though the combination of the coffee grinder (nice burr grinder) and the Aeropress are probably my favorite gadgets.

Re: Foods for those that just don't care anymore

In a restaurant I could see it. For home use, the time to takes to dig that out of the pantry and clean it after use does not justify the time saved forming patties. Consistency I'll give you, but that's not a big deal on the backyard grill. If I was making these often enough to warrant a gizmo, I suspect my accuracy and proficiency in hand forming them would go up.

 

I'm not saying there isn't a time and a place for kitchen gadgets, lord knows I've got enough cluttering up my kitchen drawers, I just don't see the need for this one.

 

I have a springily rolling pin. It makes cookies with little embossed shapes on top. I make them once a year, every year, for Christmas. They are a pain to make, but traditional. Is it a one job kitchen gadget? Heck yes! Will I ever get rid of it? Never. Somethings are worth it. Everyone can decide what level of clutter they are willing to put up with.

 

Obviously, hamburger patty presses don't cross my "need" threshold.

All good points. I was just answering the "what does it do that my hands can't" part. Whether it is worth it or not is obviously a personal choice.

Were I to get something like this, I'd use it to bulk make a lot of patties (possibly with different fillings) and then freeze them for later use. And by consistency I was more thinking of consistent quality (no leaks in the pocket, etc) rather than making sure they all looked the same.

Re: Foods for those that just don't care anymore

What does that extra piece of junk do that my hands won't?

Do the job quickly and consistently.

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER

I always suspected you were a socialist. ^^

Naw, I just like the weather.

Re: Brittlizing an Engine

The disconnect here, to me, is that the game mechanics are limited by necessity. If we want 0 PD objects to be broken by high winds, then high winds must have the capacity to inflict BOD damage. But then we look at tiny creatures who we build, in game, with no PD or ED, and 1 BOD, because even a swat from a 5 STR person will reliably kill them (and even then we get a 1 in 6 survival rate for a mosquito - do you REALLY swat a mosquito with full STR? An above average roll with 10 STR should inflict 2 BOD on your arm!), and we know they fly when it's windy and don't get wiped out. And we can't give a small spider the 1 BOD damage needed to kill the mosquito, because then 8 spider bites reduce a normal human to 0 BOD.

 

Unless we want to, say, multiply all the numbers by 1 million, so Joe Average has 8 million BOD, and starting characters get 10 million BOD, so we can have a cat's claws inflict 100 - 600 BOD, and a tiny gnat does only 1 BOD, there are going to be granularity issues. Playability conflicts with realism.

 

And if we make the above change, then someone will be unhappy that the wind does only 1,000 BOD so it will take 1,000 segments or phases or turns to break a glass windowpane with no PD.

 

People fall on their bathroom floor and die, and they fall from aircraft and survive. Good luck finding a game system that reflects these statistical possibilities.

Well put. It is important to keep in mind that the Hero System isn't intended to be a reality simulator. It is an RPG geared towards representing Heroic Fiction.

Re: Brittlizing an Engine

Guess what? I have NEVER said that it would. But naturally occurring effects (like strong winds on tall buildings) would.

 

I think folks are having a disconnect on the math consequences of having 0 PD (like the rose in nitrogen example). 0 PD means almost ANY application of force will do BODY to the object. To argue otherwise is silly imo.

No, having a 0 PD means that any attack that does at least one BODY will do BODY to the object. Someone with a 5 STR could punch an object with a 0 PD and have a 1 in 6 chance of doing no BODY to it.

To argue that forces that don't do at least 1 BODY worth of damage will do BODY damage to objects with 0 PD is silly imo.

Re: Brittlizing an Engine

This is not a custom campaign setting issue anymore than the write ups for vehicles and guns are. This is a fundamental definition of what 'real world' effects actually means. It's no different than the drowning rules, but a lot of people seem think it is for some reason.

Oh, and of note as I missed this before: The write ups of vehicles and guns are absolutely a campaign setting issue. The writeups that are included in the rules are examples of vehicles and weapons that can be built using the rules. A battle axe doing 2d6KA with a standard Stun multiple and a Strength minimum of 13 isn't an integral part of the rules. It is just an example of how a battle axe can be built, and specifically how one is built at the power level used in at least most of the settings that the folx at Hero write.

If you want to say that in your campaigns internal combustion engines do damage to themselves just by running, but that normally the PD or ED of the engine stops that damage from actually doing any BODY to the engine, that is certainly up to you. But it isn't part of the rules as written.

Re: GM conundrum - CSLs

The characteristics' part of BR. Read the twenty first pages and you'll understand.

 

 

Right. But limitations doesn't increase characteristics. In the 6th edition I mean.

 

 

 

If the GM gives you 400 CP for all ( perks, skills, characteristics, talents, equipement and so on...) it is not to buy one power with limitations for 500 by discreasing the characteristics.

Yes , you are right. It is possible. In this case you will have a 80d6 blast and a blind and death and dumb and a paraplegic ( and a unlucky ) super hero who cannot use the blast.

You seem to have some pretty significant misunderstandings about how the Hero System works. Your characteristics don't start at 0. You have to take a specific number of Complications, but that doesn't change depending on the number of points you spend on a single power.

Also of note, most of us trying to help you out here are actually quite familiar with not just the Hero System in general but specifically 6th edition. Several of us were on the advisory committee that Steve set up to bounce rules ideas off of. So rather than assuming that since we are disagreeing with you that we haven't read the rules and don't know what we are talking about, you might want to consider the idea that you might actually be mistaken and actually listen to what we have to say.

Re: Brittlizing an Engine

So what happens if a character uses a PD Drain vs. a plane of glass in a window on a windy day?

 

By all the RAW arguments everybody keeps throwing around (incorrectly imo) it sounds like the window would NOT get damaged by the wind even though it has reduced defenses.

 

This is not a custom campaign setting issue anymore than the write ups for vehicles and guns are. This is a fundamental definition of what 'real world' effects actually means. It's no different than the drowning rules, but a lot of people seem think it is for some reason.

what rules exist for say, a fuel leak on said car to asplode, and the fire hurt people?

 

if there are hazards that can cause damage, for which no points were paid, then . . .

Determining the effect of things like this is what Refs are for.

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER

You'd enjoy life here.

Of that I have no doubt.

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER

We're getting a bit wider variety of temps, but there is a chance that San Fran will be getting snow for the first time since the 70s.

Re: GM conundrum - CSLs

Wrong.

I politely advice you to buy BR . And no to recuperate some information taken from different places of this forum to learn the HS 6th without buying 6th books.

If you already bought BR , I apologize and seriously ask you to read again it. Maybe what you are saying works with 5th , but I am sure not in 6th according to BR.

What part of the Basic Rules do you think invalidates Hugh's example?

And of note, the Basic Rules are a subset of the 6th Edition Hero rules. Volume 1 (Character Creation) and Volume 2 (Combat and Adventuring) are the core rules.

Re: Brittlizing an Engine

In each example I put forth if no attempt is made to actually use it for its intended purpose nothing gets destroyed.

Example: the car engine and tires will be fine when the Drain fades. they only suffer damage if used while the Drain is active.

And if you are the Ref and wish to declare that in your world a car engine does {x} amount of damage to itself by simply being used, that is entirely up to you. However short of such a declaration simply draining the PD and/or ED from something doesn't make it start taking damage.

Which goes back to one of the fundamental parts of Hero that even veterans can lose track of sometimes. In Hero you are buying discrete mechanics. When you buy a 12d6 Blast, you are buying a way of doing damage to a single target. The fact that the SFX are of a jet of flame doesn't change that, and even though a number of other effects of being hit by a jet of flame might make sense logically (being blinded by the light, having your belongings/clothing set on fire, etc), you don't get those effects unless either you buy it as part of your power or the target has taken it as a complication.

And if you want to delve into things that would make sense from a real world POV, freezing objects to the point of making them brittle actually can permanently weaken them. So it would make just as much sense to say that something drained in that fashion permanently loses some amount of its PD and/or ED as it would to say that it should start to take damage simply from being used while it has reduced PD and/or ED. Giving either or both of those effects to objects that you feel it would make sense for as part of the implied "real {x}" complication that real things have would be perfectly reasonable. But it certainly isn't part of the RAW.

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER

... Allways with the idiocy!

In general if cheaters were smart they would just redirect the energy they waste in trying to find ways to cheat into, you know, learning the topic at hand.

Re: My character building technique (How to build Hero System Characters)

I've known players who would have complained in the situation I described. By deceiving them from about the existence of magic, I unfairly restricted their character options, preventing them from creating a wizard, faerie, half-demon, magic sword wielder, etc.

Yup, it is equally possible to have bad/unreasonable players. As a player I never assume that the options available to me are all of the options available in the entire universe. If I'm playing in a campaign that centers on a crack military unit, I realize that while I'm restricted to playing a military character that there are in fact non-military people in the world. Same with any other kind of campaign. The guidelines the Ref hands out as to what kind of character you can play aren't necessarily restrictions as to what can exist in the universe, but are frequently at least in part a measure of what kind of campaign they want to run.

Not being allowed to build a wizard character doesn't necessarily mean that magic doesn't exist in the world. It just means that the PC's don't get to have it, at least to start with. But there is a big difference between the players finding out that the world is different than they thought it was (magic really does work, the Illuminati really does exist, whatever) and being told to create characters in a world where for instance there is magic, and then being transported to an alternate reality where magic doesn't work for the rest of the campaign.

But then' date=' I've known players who feel that a GM shouldn't create plotlines in advance; Everything that happens in a campaign should be a reaction to what the players do and any prearranged story is railroading. [/quote']

 

When I Ref, I make sure I have a good idea as to what is going on in the world. I'll generally have a number of potential plots going on, whether the players choose to interact with them or not. Then I'll leave plot hooks laying about. If the players jump one (or more) of them, we'll explore it/them together. If not, things will go in a different direction, and I'll come up with more plot hooks. Or the players will end up generating their own. Though they might get pulled back into one or more of the plots that they skipped/didn't notice initially later, as those things will still advance whether the players are directly involved or not.

 

I don't generally have storylines that I want the players to follow. I have events happening, which tend to be the things that they players are interested in doing.

Re: Order of the Stick

The Hindenburg had a smoking room. Little known fact.

 

Still think airships are incredibly cool.

No reason for it not to. Or at least no more reason for it not to than for a gasoline powered craft.

The hydrogen filled the gas bags used for lift, not the passenger area.