ender42

Re: What have you used Hero for? Meh, I do know shit is old. But I really enjoyed the thread, yeah? Sadly, everything I've done has already been covered by other people in this thread (although I would like to hear how people handled the Toon conversion). Nothing super-special going on here. But I do like reading about other people's stuff. Have *YOU* run zombies?

Re: What have you used Hero for? What type(s) of zombies did you use? What type of power(s) did you emulate on, any other details? A zombie-one-shot campaign sounds like fun.

Re: Real Locations that should be fantasy [ATTACH=CONFIG]35203[/ATTACH] Taylor Glacier in Antarctica's McMurdo Dry Valley

Re: I love me some xenomorphs! IIRC, it's not acidy-acid, it's molecularly reactive fluid. Kinda like free radicals, but more-so. So just dumping a xenomorph in baking soda, isn't going to neutralize their power....

Re: I love me some xenomorphs! Actually in one of the source materials, the larger head is room for IR signalling, which is how they communicate. And yes, they can see heat.

Re: Predators vs. Military Source? That states that Predator nukes are only tac-nukes? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mini-nuke: "Modern tactical nuclear warheads have yields up to the tens of kilotons, or potentially hundreds, several times that of the weapons used in the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki." You're still looking at a kill-ratio, and destruction ratio which (most likely) favors the Predators. Yes, you can quibble about how expensive it is for the Predators to come here, and that higher loses on humanity's part are an acceptable trade-off (like arguing that trading a scud for a cruise missile is favorable to the scud, because of the expense of cruise missiles). But, without real numbers to know how populous the Predator regime is, or how much of their industrial capacity is taken up by preparing ships/weapons, that's a pretty slender straw to wave around.

Re: Predators vs. Military That assumes they're wussy enough to believe that shit. I personally think that as long as people are armed, then they are acceding to the government they allow to remain in charge of their country - and are responsible for its actions and inactions. If the populace is unarmed, it might be arguable that they're being held hostage to the whims of their rules. Perhaps. Collective responsibility has been posited of entire species in Brin's multiple culture universe (Startide Rising?) That's because you've only ever seen ants fight. If there are no rules, how can you cheat? And vs. another species, for species survival - with no shared cultural bounds, there are most likely no rules. Send in the asteroids, or nova the sun. And we lose another city full of humans. Also assuming they'd go in an trip a claymore, instead of cutting the line (requires a tripwire - most of the time). Which assumes they're still hunting, and not engaging in warfare. Don't buy this. We can detect anything on the EM spectrum. We may or may not have off-the-shelf, optimized devices that can be turned into helmet-mountable optics.... As far as I can remember, that was just the control to the bomb - ie: a monitoring device, in case the hunter was killed, or if he wanted to suicide.

Re: I love me some xenomorphs! With unbreakable, infinite charge molecular acid projectors (that will eat thru anything on the ship), super-strength suits, the ability to climb quickly and web anything, and a single-point of failure electrical generator (plus motivation to want to get rid of it), I'll take the bushmen Actually, consider it a party of superhero PCs, with little or no direction, on an alien ship. Of course they'll make swiss-cheese of the thing, and break stuff so it's less operable.

Re: Predators vs. Military Assuming the predator doesn't feel like sniping them off from a distance (after they figure out itws war, and not trophy-gathering). Yeah, we could make trophy-gathering really painful for Predators. But that has little to do with how they stack up militarily. Like I said earlier, if they start losing every trophy gathering mission (and we start losing cities), they may decide we're a threat and get serious about getting rid of the vermin.

Re: I love me some xenomorphs! Who is this mythical 'everyone'? Define intelligence. Several different measures, which is why it's hard to factor G. Anyone who does is a moron, and hasn't studied human development. Babies learn to communicate, because food is involved. Language window opens more fully a little later, and that's because of the way the brain develops. Depending on the person - some people are lifelong language acquisition people, uhhh? not linguists... what's the term? No, I think I get a tribe of bushmen, and several weeks, plus I also need to give them incentive to do this thing. I'm sure if I give them several fail-proof bashing things (acid-projectors??) and a reason (food?) they could manage it.

Re: Predators vs. Military Yeah,got that comic. But it appeared to be inadvertent, not a planned military maneuver (ie: hit the herds, which were probably rounded up by helicopter). They could instead, stealth drop them into sewers and the like. Even distribution around the planet, etc, etc. And they could not go hunting, and instead wage war.

Re: I love me some xenomorphs! Define baby? Are you saying facehuggers, or chestbursters disabled the generator? Or, fully grown warriors? Yes, they mature fast. So what? And *I* have known of a 4-5 year old who got their hands on a screw-driver, and started disassembling the door, and literally everything they could reach, when left alone in a house. No flys on that kid.

Re: Predators vs. Military Hey, I do know a thing or two about snipers. Leonardo da Vinci ring a bell? But, sorry I wasn't clear - I was comparing LOS weapons, say 30 miles to Orbital, versus a non-crewed/non-vehicle mounted slug-thrower. Really, there's no comparison. Well, except the larger-sized slug-throwers needed to get sufficient range make excellently larger targets I disagree. And, I'd like to note for the warfare argument, that the Predators would have a much better kill ratio, if you are correct. Every hunter they lose, we lose one city to a nuke. Kinda takes all the fun out of warfare, don'tcha think? Also, amongst other weapons they've been shown to possess, they could drop xenomorph facehugger eggs, well, pretty much anywhere on the planet. They could just sit back, and watch us try to deal with that, and then laze us from orbit, whenever we try and bring a tank, or helicopter to bear on that problem. Even if they don't want to snipe individual humans. Thus driving all humans underground... into tunnels... which is the favored environment for Xenomorphs... Win-win? Heh.

Re: Predators vs. Military I see your sniper, and give you a computer targeted laser-beam. The problem with guns is the further the range, the poorer the accuracy. Also, let's not forget predator armor (for tasers). Since they breathe methane (and have been shown to be able to generate it from dead bodies in the comics), perhaps flammability is the route to go?

Re: I love me some xenomorphs! Also, from this prior thread (which discusses the mechanics of acid blood a fair amount - with a brilliant point: why're you modeling it anyways?): http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=32926 There's a link to an example write-up http://web.archive.org/web/20060911092347/http://surbrook.devermore.net/adaptionsmovie/alien.html

Re: I love me some xenomorphs! Just a note, I *HAD* been talking about Predators vs. modern / near-future military or colonial marines. As for Xenomorpsh vs. the military, I don't know. How impact resistant are they? How much damage do they take? Would a .45 put one down, or bounce/deflect, wing one, or just drip some acid onto you / your troops / your tank? As for favorable environment, you really need to factor in if the environment is target rich. Any large animals (cows or cow analogues for AvP:the comic), or humans? Is it a large military force they're facing? Because Xenomorphs are like zombies on steroids, anyone they kill can be made to join their team, which can deceptively turn the tide, and quite quickly. They can take out, well, any technological equipment by dumping acid from a kamikaze attack onto it, or sneaking up and leaking a little. Yes, if you could be and stay airborne and hose them down from helicopters / antigrav jetpacks from sufficiently far away (ie: not from a mere 20' up in a built-up urban environment, where they could get some elevation on you), you could take out a large number. But I suspect zenomorphs would just burrow, and eat everything they could grab. With their IR sensing, you'd have to cloak w/chillsuits to even begin to lure them out. That assumes you can make them hungry. They can generate new aliens from inorganic substances, 15lbs for a facehugger egg from every warrior, and more from a queen. They're quite the urban warriors, and can play take-away of urban centers. From a longer-term perspective, can you generate your population / technology fast enough (at all?) if you don't have citites (ie: distributed manufacturing)? If so, then you can beat them. If not, well it becomes problematic. Speaking of which, when specifically have we seen Xenomorphs *not* choose their terrain? They seek out technology (electrical grids) and urban centers / ships (more food?), and tight spaces (urban, as well as play to their strengths). Which, should be reflected in some psych dependencies, or limitations. Biggest thing, that I've not seen in any of the media, is if they can burrow / dig / or get thru concrete. A little tunneling would make them some fierce combatants, especially if they can use some acid-leak to take out rebar, etc. They probably took out the electrical grid by noting something was way too warm, and dripping acid on / bashing it - which could be instinctual . AFIAR, they didn't go in and flip a switch. However, in the comics/books, they've managed some great planned escapes, including (perhaps?) literacy to learn what things are dangerous that they couldn't directly manipulate (if memory serves).

Re: I love me some xenomorphs! Well, that's hitting my point for me. Someone was saying, they're wanderers, they could never get it together militarily. And I'm saying, either they are not (ie: we only see great white hunters, or coming of age rites, or something else) ...OR... they are wanderers, but can develop weapons of mass destruction (and eg, if like nukes - massive refining and technological infrastructure (all by their individual selves? SCARY)). ie: they're damn scary wanderers, if - in fact - they are, and they should not be dismissed as easy-to-conquer-militarily. And, damn if we're not way off-topic for xenomorphs. Point being, I don't think a current (mid-future) military unit could take a predator, even with sensors that see thru their cloaking. Laser, line-of-sight? Predator just steps back a couple of miles and lases away. Not as much fun for them, but there ya go. Colonial Marines? Still don't have good lasers. Pulse rifle != laser. And that's not counting any other tricks up the predator's sleeve... Assuming you can get the predators to take a war seriously, instead of considering it a hunt. And if they start losing enough hunts, they'll either go away, or consider it a war (especially if we come after them)...

Re: I love me some xenomorphs! In any case, talking xenomorph-wise, the comics implied that they could over-run a planet and be active, mobile, and maintain their social / infrastructure (is an ant colony a technology? / society?) Also, do AVOID the Terminator vs. Alien vs. Predator comic. You'd think there would be possibilities there, but it sucked, really badly. So bad, that even though I love all those franchises, and comic books in general, I decided not to get it. If people are arguing that Predators are tribal, wanderers, etc... well how did they develop technology? Technology that includes weapons of mass destruction (fusion or nukes?). They also seed planets with Aliens (AvP - the awesome one; ie: the original comic series), amongst other things. I do think humanity might have some issues in taking them on in a war, even if they were outnumbered. Even in colonial marine era. From the other active thread, the one on space combat (err, the first one, which is referenced in the one which is getting play), there's a link to a blog full of interesting thoughts that space warfare won't be like warfare as it used to be... more like terrorism and banditry, and other not-quite-warfare things. Where do I submit errata to the Hero Team? I'll go looking. Personal message me, if you're reading right now.

Re: I love me some xenomorphs! According to the RPG, xenomorphs have IR signalling, and resin for webbing (go up 8 yards a phase vertically), plus 1 charge/day stingers with paralytic venom. And an aside, there was some comic book with planet of competing queens, one blue one red? of Xenomorphs fighting each other...

Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Just finished _One Jump Ahead_, don't recommend, because of a Deus Ex Machina. Have finished _Axis_ and _Spin_, and enjoyed them. _Blind Lake_ a little less so. Been reading the Merchant Prince series, but was disgusted with book 2 - super huge plot holes. But some of the concepts are nice, what I think _Conquistador_ (Stirling) should be doing in his next book or two (planet as an exploration vehicle). And I've recently read _Better to Beg Forgiveness_ which was basically a one book re-write of Weber's _March (Upcountry, to the Sea, to the Stars)_ with humans instead of aliens. And excluding taking back the empire (in _We, Few_). But I laughed a fair amount.

Re: Life Support Dude, the forum software recommended this as a post I might like, and I *never* read the dates on things, so I was deeply engrossed in the discussion (and I'm a fan from, uhh? Way Back so it was all making sense....) and I had to comment.

Re: Extra Time ?s; or How do you halve a -3/4 Limtation? (Math fun) Well, it's not about being 'available', it's about turning on the power. Now, if the power is 0 END, and fully invisible, and doesn't otherwise impact the character (gee, sorry I bumped into you in the elevator with my damage shield), then yes, that certainly is a good question. I was contemplating a constant power that uses END. The limitation is that you need to keep the power running from the point you successfully activate it (and meet any other limitations it might have). I guess I need to include some other conditions for this, since I guess you could throttle back the power to one DC, and one END per phase, which most characters could recover all the time... And that's not what's intended. Intent is to try to turn it on during a fight, finally get the bastard running, and be able to keep it on without rolling again for every phase during the fight (preferably keep it on for the whole duration of the fight without it switching off). But not to run it all live-long day.

Re: Several questions. I'm a noob. Re: zone of silence In 5E The popular way was always hole in the middle - but that leaves you open to clairaudience, and other work arounds. And required some serious space, as well as at least 2 hex radius of effect, in order to get the hole into the middle. I've been a big fan of advantages on advantages: usable by others on just the personal immunity on the darkness (or on images vs. hearing, or CE - reduced perception). But, you could also do it as a mind-link, and define it with some SFX and limitations. Ring could be an automaton w/own speed and action abilities. Or independent power, with SFX.

Re: Life Support Off-topic: I'd say glass is more durable than plastic. I think most plastics have a 100 year shelf life. And most won't last nearly that long in strong sunlight (voice of experience here). Glass, OTOH, has lasted 1000s of years in dig-sites. Yes, it's more fragile than new plastic (you drop it, it most likely will crack). Older plastic gets brittle, and arguably - is more brittle than equivalently aged glass.

http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=74035 Talked about how RSR and Activation (in 5E) are almost the same. And I'd come to the same conclusion, because I'm looking for a real activation roll. Yes, I'm not sure if something will activate. But that really shouldn't have anything to do with whether it continues running. Can you get the junked motorcycle to startup? Yes, that needs a roll. Might work this time, might not. But if the engine is otherwise fine, you wouldn't expect to have to keep rolling for it, *every* Phase. Hmm, not an Activation Roll then. RSR? Well, I guess we could give the motorcycle its own skill... Uggh. I'm using increasing and decreasing activations as limitations as a house rule.