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Mentor

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Posts posted by Mentor

  3. A Thread for Random Musings

    in Non-Gaming Discussion

    Posted

    Re: A Thread for Random Musings

     

    I think I have finally figured out why Firefly failed to hook the legions of American SciFi fans during its brief run on Fox in 2002. Whenever I discuss the series and the movie with my peers, middle age male long time science fiction fans, we all agree on the basic marketing flaws, not of the Fox network, but of Firefly fans.

     

    Instead of talking up the spaceships and shootouts, cool backdrop universe, complex and believeable characters, invariably, the twenty something, mostly female fans would enthusiastically reveal that since it was a Joss Whedon project and since he was the moving force behind Buffy and Angel, it just had to be a winner.

     

    For future reference, getting the interest of most older science fiction fans for a series or movie should probably avoid extolling the virtues of campy teen cheerleaders who are usually fully dressed and metrosexual vampirotica relationships as proof of the creator's genius. Be sure and highlight bloodthirsty reavers, the war connection, smart mouthed pilot, hot babes and the running from the law and really bad guys when highlighting a project such as Firefly.

     

    Just a suggestion.

  8. Bricks Get Hosed, Or Not

    in HERO System Discussion

    Posted

    Re: Bricks Get Hosed, Or Not

     

    Its funny, this all goes round and round, and in the end it comes down to... "Let's play fair, work together, and so long as the group is good with it, let it be..." as an overall concensus, which is nice.

     

    Hero, to me, is intrinsically not balanced. Its just the nature of the beast. By rules alone, you can still come up with some really really broken stuff. It errs on the side of allowing things and letting the GM control it all rather than forcing a certain level of balance as many other games do, to keep its players from abusing each other.

     

    In the end, a roleplaying game is only as good as its participants in any case. I think Hero does a good job of allowing everyone to play as they wish, and if you need a lot of hard rules to enforce balance amongst your group, there's probably a problem person or more in the group.

     

    On of the biggest draws of this game is its ability to do so much, no reason we can't all play differently... we have no RPGA or organization of that sort, nor are we competitive, so it all works pretty well.

    You said it. repped.:thumbup:

     

    As the GM, I have all of the points. A player might build build a power that stymies my villain(s) once, but the next time either a new baddie or the new and improved previous one will be more of a challenge. Oh, and much to the consternation of the "war gamers" (which is my origin as well, BTW), I will fudge the villains during play if the encounter is too deadly or too easy. Not by much, as I don't want punish good roleplaying or reward lousy teamwork, but sometimes the supervillain in conceptual stage didn't work out as intended in practice. Role playing is not about who can build the most powerful attacker for 350 points plus XP. The problem comes in when either the other players are overwhelmed by challenges designed to deal with the unbalanced PC. Bricks only get hosed if the tricky metagame builds are the rule, especaially for other PCs.

     

    Sociopathic loners are a genre of PC that don't usually belong in a team oriented Champions setting IMHO. Certainly they don't fit into our very Four Color universe. If a concept is lame or just doesn't fit into the current team in play or design, then it is up to the GM to say no, based on campaign balance, whether or not the construct is legal or the only concept the player wants to play.

     

    See what two cents can buy.:D

  9. Staring into the sun

    in HERO System Discussion

    Posted

    Re: Staring into the sun

     

    I have a supervillainess named Plasma for whom I used Darkness to create this effect; with the Limitation "Not vs. characters with 5+ Sight Flash Defense: -½" and defined as light so bright you literally can't see through it.

     

    That was the villain I was thinking of. Glad you chimed in.:D

  11. Rant? Speed in Hero

    in HERO System Discussion

    Posted

    Re: Rant? Speed in Hero

     

    [stir the pot]Doesn't Z'lf have a 15 STR? I'd call a stat of 15 or so as much "in the human average range" as a 3 SPD. [/stir the pot]

     

    I think the difference is that the Super Category Standard is that a 4 to 7 Speed range is the norm, so a 3 is astonishingly slow compared to other Supers. On the other hand, having "only" a 15 STR, INT, EGO, PRE or 16 COM (or BOD, which I assume you left out intentionally) still falls well within the parameters of "normalcy" for Supers, as well as the parameters of "normal" for, well, normals.

     

    It's really DEX, SPD and CON (and, by extension, STUN, REC and END) whose "Supers" range lacks any real overlap with "human normalcy" range, as they all tend to start at or above the NCM limit. PD and ED to some extent, but some Supers rely on powers like Force Fields and aren't that far off the human norm without those powers.

    Maybe we have a different perspective. I consider Joe Average stats 8-10 with average heroic types 15-20 and 3-4 SPD. If the average street cop has a 10 STR, Z'lf is lifts twice as much as Officer Doe.

     

    OTOH, we agree that while she is very high for normal as opposed to average;) human in stats, her STR is on the lower end for supers.

     

    Imagine if Angel of the mutant wings, certainly one of the lamer super concepts, flies up to a teenage gang member and gets his but kicked because he is perceived to only have 10 STR and 3 SPD. Many Champions players assume that all Supers have higher than normal human stats in more than the primary one.

  12. Rant? Speed in Hero

    in HERO System Discussion

    Posted

    Re: Rant? Speed in Hero

     

    BTW Mentor... 9 Characters?!? Thats a huge group. Grats on being able to handle so much. Combats must take hella long though.

     

    We have nine players, of whom five are GMs at various times. I have semi retired my original PC, and four former players have moved away, so their PCs are retired. Average games involve six or seven players at most and yes combat does require some work, but we manage.:D Thanks, though.:)

  13. Rant? Speed in Hero

    in HERO System Discussion

    Posted

    Re: Rant? Speed in Hero

     

    If the only way to differentiate characters was with high DEX and SPD, I'd think you raise a good point. But the fact is those are only two of a myriad of ways characters can excel in combat (if indeed the character is supposed to excel in combat). I play a character with incredible stats in both (DEX 43; SPD 9), but for darn sure she doesn't dominate our typical combats. Other characters have higher defenses, unusual and/or more powerful attacks, higher defenses, etc. It all works out.

     

    Of the 8 characters active on our team, we have one SPD 4, four SPD 5's, two SPD 6's, and a SPD 9. The CU may have a glut of SPD 6, but that's not a flaw with the system but rather a problem with the corporate setting. The CU was designed by committee over a period of two decades, and it shows. Home-brewed campaign worlds tend to be much meatier and better rounded, at least the ones I've seen on these boards. That's as it should be.

    Two SPD 4 and 3 SPD 5. You have to keep up.;)

  14. Rant? Speed in Hero

    in HERO System Discussion

    Posted

    Re: Rant? Speed in Hero

     

    Uhh... That is my exact point. Only instead of everyone having a SPD 12' date=' everyone has a SPD 6. Thank you for agreeing with me.[/quote']

     

    Except everyone doesn't have a SPD 6. I am a co-GM in Trebuchet's campaign. The name team in the Midguard universe has diverse 2-SPD 4, 3-SPD 5, 3-SPD 6, and 1-SPD 9 character. No PCs in the game lack for playing time, value to the team, effectiveness in or out of combat. none of them have ever been too powerful either.

     

    I will concede that nobody elected to have a "Joe Average" SPD of 2 or 3, but neither do they have a "Joe Average" STR, DEX, CON, INT, EGO, PRE, COM, PD, ED, REC, END, or STUN. None of them. So it seems that singling out only SPD for not being a default in the human average range is mistaken.

  19. Post-Apocalyptic Hero -- What Do *You* Want To See?

    in HERO System Discussion

    Posted

    Re: Post-Apocalyptic Hero -- What Do *You* Want To See?

     

    Yeah' date=' something like that -- or from a more gameable perspective, something akin to The Morrow Project. One of the best PA games I ever played in was one where we all played ourselves, who'd been cryogenically frozen and neuro-fed all the details of a given skill-set while we "slept." We then had to make our way across the ruins of North Carolina. ;)[/quote']

     

    That "rebuilding team" would be my preference for a frozen sleep genre.

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