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Re: Inexperienced GM introducing group to Hero and having writer’s block…

Think "The A-Team", and adjust the darkness according to your wishes. Someone's in trouble, contacts the heroes for help, and adventure ensues. For plot specifics, watch any episode of any TV show that follows this basic formula. For character archetypes you have:

1) The Leader, based around Tactics, Deduction, INT and so forth

2) The Technician - lots of Mechanics and related skills

3) The Pilot - can drive anything with wheels, wings or tracks

4) The Bruiser - Combat Specialist, melee, ranged, or both, could be more than one of these

5) The Face - Interaction Specialist, high PRE, Conversation, Persuasion, Charm, et cetera

Everyone should have a few Contacts in their field, and the Face should have lots of them. Since it's not intended to be an ongoing campaign, you can set the gear available as you like, and not worry too much about the specific cost. Give them a vehicle, a small aresenal and bad guys to shoot at. Also remember that success on their part may have a significant impact on whether or not they like the system, so don't be afraid to make the first couple of encounters rollovers for the PCs. Make the final encounter challenging, but not overly so, and they'll have a sense of satisfaction that will help you argue for more play in Hero System. Good Luck.

Re: What Champions Universe character would you gender change?

But I agree. Also could use a female speedster in there too.

Oh, the chafing...

Re: Self-directed illusion

Some questions to get clearer on the "what you really want":

What can they do normal images can't?

Could they, for example, use Interaction Skills? (requires phases and Skills; maybe even KS/PS)

Spot things and relay them?

Could they be used as direct "relays" for the character? for example: creating a life image of the character he can direct and (combiened with clarisentience) used to talk "in person" without being in danger?

I'm still not entirely sure what I'm looking for. The idea is running around the back of my head, but hasn't congealed yet. Largely, though, it's a question of how realistically can the Image respond to its circumstances without direction from the caster. Such as, if the caster is not aware that someone has successfully attacked one of the Images, can the Image respond as if it were attacked? This includes appropriate noises, changes in body posture and position, altering appearance to simulate wounds, basic dialogue and so on. Is an Image capable of initiating a dialogue that the caster is unaware of, or at least unable to concentrate on? How does or can an Image perceive its surroundings, and with what degree of comprehension?

I have always assumed that the Images power required continuous direction from the caster (using 5e, haven't read much on Images beyond the basics, never really used in any games I've played/run). What I'm really trying to find out is how far from that central point does one go before swinging into Summon territory, where the entity summoned becomes its own being? If they can act on their own, how 'smart' are they? At what point does the 'does not compute' reaction occur?

Re: Weird ship names requested.

And the rest of it has the Inherent advantage.

Looks like I'm going to need a lot of convenient blunt objects, then.

Oh, and Blunt Instrument might make a good ship name. As well as Sharp Force Trauma, Wound Tract, Terminal Rigor and Latex Glove.

Re: Weird ship names requested.

Unfortunately a lot of stupidity has the difficult to dispel advantage.

I would pay a LOT of points. Anyone it didn't work on would get a much more old fashioned form (OAF Any convenient blunt instrument).

Re: Weird ship names requested.

Found this on the Seventh Sanctum

 

http://www.seventhsanctum.com/generate.php?Genname=shipnamer

 

Might be useful in other genre's as well.

Okay, just went to this site and messed around with it a little (great set of tools, by the way). Came up with a spell I wish I had in real life: Dispel Stupidity. That, I would pay a lot of points for.

Re: Where are the Big Dumb Objects in your campaign?

I think part of that is because magic tends towards the idea of the Wizard, who is in sole possession of the power necessary to do the bigger things. Science-fiction which refers to BDO's usually refers to the builders as entire races of beings with extremely advanced technology. Even in Tolkein, the most impressive works (Orthanc, Moria, Barad-Dur and the like), were done by large groups of Dwarves and others over a long period of time. Because Wizards can't delegate the magical labor, for the most part, such structures are less likely to occur.

All of which argues for a shift in the concept of Fantasy. Why can't magic produce the unbelievable structures that engineering can? Traveling from plane to plane is not uncommon, why not tap that kind of power for something a little more useful? We've kind of got it in our heads that Fantasy means Medieval, in thought as well as in technology, but that doesn't necessarily follow. For that matter, the average human being 500 years ago was just as smart as you or me, but a LOT less educated. Change the political situation and open up travel and communication, and the Fantasy world could become much more interesting.

Re: Why do tails cost points?

In real life, tails have significant impacts on the balance of the owner (none of this answers your question, but tails can be far more interesting than just an extra limb). I'd say a felinoid would get Skill Levels with Acrobatics, Breakfall, and the like from their tail. Some animals walk differently because of their tails, which move their center of gravity back towards a center that allows for better surefootedness. It might be worth adding this kind of thing to the character description to compensate for the fact that the tail costs points (or it could just add reasonable points, justifying having a tail in the first place). You could also throw in a Disadvantage for creatures whose tails tend to give away emotional signals by their position and how they move, even make it a feature of some anthropoid societies.

Re: Anti Magic-Field

Here's an alternative from another direction. I don't have access to 6e rules, so I won't bother with numbers, but this might work.

Transform (Volume of Normal Space into Same Size Volume of Space where Magic Does Not Work), Radius (4m), Healed by Decision/Death of Caster, Costs END to maintain, Affects Desolid.

This would eliminate the whole question of the AP of the Powers being affected, would affect both items and casters alike, would dispel pre-existing enchantments, et cetera. Not sure how many dice you'd want to buy, but I'd set this at 75-100 AP by GM Fiat. Don't get hung up on RAW if it doesn't fit what you want to do.

Re: Anti Magic-Field

Well, turning off a character's entire power set is supposed to be expensive, and this would turn off every mage within a four meter radius, as well as any items or devices that relied on magic as their special effect. For a plot area in an adventure, I can see this being legitimate, but for a personal power, it's something that should be restricted to the Big Powers only. I certainly wouldn't want a PC running around being able to do this.

What might work better would be to work on the Limitations of spellcasting, such as Gestures and Incantations. A silence field or Entangle (Only to prevent spell Gestures) would have the same ultimate effect without being quite so expensive or unbalancing. Or you could create a Custom Limitation for all powers you wanted to affect - Doesn't Work in Anti-Magic Field, and then create a Custom Power for Anti-Magic Field with what you feel is an appropriate cost, depending on the campaign. You could base it on Change Environment, and then even give it a scaling effect, with some fields simply making magic more difficult/expensive, and others making it impossible. Increased END costs, penalties to RSR rolls, Side Effects, all sorts of things could happen.

Re: Unusual Magic Items

There's some famous' date=' old D&D adventure/dungeon (The Temple of Elemental Evil? Something else with the word temple in it?) that is famous for being incredibly trap laden and deadly to PCs. From what I've read about it, it sounds idiotic since what was described couldn't be predicted or figured out by PCs (thought major kudos to those who engaged in lateral thinking and drove a herd of cattle through the place to trigger most everything, and boo to those who decry it). I would only consider that sort of thing fun if I knew what I was in for, and thus my character was built accordingly.[/quote']

 

Sounds a little like this Something Positive strip (potentially NSFW for language). Actually, that whole arc sounds like a very enjoyable campaign to be in.

Re: Unusual Magic Items

Okay. Maybe this one won't be as contrversal as the last one.

 

Ring of the Rock Thrower

 

This magical ring was created by a halfling wizard. Its properties make the wearer an expert in the art of throwing small stones. In fact, the wearer becomes an expert marksman with a rock, and not only is extremely accurate but can perform trickshots, ricocheting off walls, and disarming an opponent. The rock is not usually fatal, but the GM could make it a rare Goliath version that has the deadly blow talent vs giants.

 

In game terms the rock is probably 1d6 normal damage (or 1/2 dg KA). It has alot of CSL for trickshots, called shots, and to offset range penalties.

Now that, I like. Could also provide Martial Maneuvers (Ranged Disarm, Ranged Trip, and the like). I can also see it as being a significant bonus to PRE attacks, based on annoyance value.

Re: Night vision goggles

Oh, it's quite feasible if you have about $10K to toss around per agent:

 

But as I said, that's pretty new tech and not exactly readily available...

I stand very corrected. That definitely goes on the list of things I'll buy when I win the lottery.

Re: Night vision goggles

I think that if you are going for moderately realistic, then a one-mode-at-a-time option is best. For normal vision, flip the goggles up. Light Amplification provides Nightvision where there is light present at least equivalent to starlight on a partially clear night. Thermal uses the IR Vision Sense. Probably not feasible to have both in one unit in real life, but certainly handwavable in game. The unit will be bulky, so penalties to various rolls would be entirely appropriate (OCV, DEX, Hearing, maybe general Perception).

Remember that IR can have problems discriminating between objects of similar heat levels, depending on its sensitivity. Trying to cross a room where all of the objects within it have come to approximately the same temperatures can be difficult. LA has the problem that one can't distinguish colors while using it, and contrast can be a serious issue, as can response time to large shifts in general illumination (provides Flash Defense to the character, but is disabled itself as if Flashed, or something like that).

If you want to push it further, add modes for Active Sonar and/or Radar. Neal Stephenson uses millimeter-wave radar frequently in his books, although it is far less effective in reality for a variety of reasons.

How would you put together an ability that lets you create holographic or illusory images that are capable of maintaining themselves and acting within their surroundings? Not physical, and unable to directly affect their environment, but capable of action independent of the specific direction of the caster.

The idea came from the old idea of illusory duplicates of oneself to confuse opponents. The problem always seemed to be that they moved and acted in concert. What if they could each do their own thing?

I'm thinking either Images or Summon as the base power, but I'm not sure how to write the rest of it up. Questions like how far away can the illusion get, how much autonomy does it have, could it act as a completely independent character with intelligence, or merely mimic likely actions as decided by the creator, et cetera.

Thank you in advance.

Re: Worst Hero Names (of your campaigns)

There is on character Builder for SR4 where the description of this "cyberware part" reads:

[sPAM]Do you want a troll sized $%"§= ?[/sPAM]

In one of the supplements for SR4, they had detailed rules for breast and penis implants/replacements. Because let's face it, those will be some of the most popular kinds of cyberware/bioengineering out there, when it hits the cosmetic stage. For breast implants, there were a few options that would have had significant gameplay effects entirely unrelated to sex (hidden carrying, toxin generators/dispersers, a few other things). They didn't specify, but there are certainly similar things that could be done with any sort of genital modification (hey, where'd you get that flashlight?).

Re: Kong Fu Girl VS Samurai Girl

Very cool animation.

Re: Worst Hero Names (of your campaigns)

Let's see...

Spot, The Man-Sized Mutant Rat (always referred to by his full name)

Boy Boogie (a surf-themed sidekick to Lord Board and Johnny Surf, Defender of Maui)

G-Man (quickly referred to as G-String)

Richard Longfellow (went by Dick, Shadowrun character who had something special replaced with cybernetics)

We also had a Captain Cadaver in a long defunct group (his tagline was: He's dead, what else can you do to him?)

That same campaign had Silent E and Mellow Fellow.

Re: Unusual Magic Items

In my group, there is an unwritten rule. If the player/character has a chance to see it coming and avoid it or fix it after the fact, either through play or through a series of rolls, then save-or-die is okay. If the character is suddenly asked to save-or-die against the lightning bolt out of a clear blue sky, then that is Not Cool. The idea that one act that neither the player nor character has any chance to influence can kill them is a case of bad storytelling on the GM's part.

As to the Fate item, it could be interesting, if handled properly. In some ways, anyone playing in Call of Cthulhu has picked up this item regardless, and it can be a fun game. But we go into that game with that knowledge, and DO have a chance to influence at least what specific fate awaits us.

Re: Paper

No one should choose the "what". Some of our greatest archaeological and historical information comes from what were essentially trivialities of an era.

Space will be limited. Our ability to produce the information will outstrip out ability to usefully store it for the foreseeable future (say the next century). Therefore, some things will be archived, some will not. It's not a matter of what should we save, but what can we save.

Re: Paper

Information is our greatest "invention". Archiving really is important' date=' I agree...and I can't stress this enough.[/quote']

 

So what do we archive? Who chooses what gets stored and where? We'll need a very powerful indexing system to keep proper track of everything. Far more capable than anything that exists right now (including Google).

 

Where do we archive these things? Physical security and disaster avoidance will be crucial. The medium used will have to be resistant to environmental changes, impact, electromagnetic radiation, humidity, insects, mold, fungus and any other form of decay we can think of. All of this, and it will need to have a very high information density, and still be accessible on a fairly rapid basis (no more than a few hours to obtain access to a given file).

 

A standardized set of file formats will have to be determined. Just deciding what the categories will be is going to be interesting. Text documents, hypertexts, audio, video, images, database (relational and non), spreadsheets, documents written in XML and other markup languages, specialized data formats (including math, physics, chemistry and biology), maps of a hundred different types, the list goes on. And a clearly defined set of documents will have to be written up just to describe how to use this archival system. The system will have to be built upon the idea that there will be entirely new kinds of files to be stored in the future - 3D holograms, sensory recordings, telepathic data, mind maps, artificial intelligences, who knows what else.

 

So far, we don't have the technology to produce a truly lasting archive system, nor have we yet (as a global society) perceived the need for such a thing. It's one of those things that is going to be difficult simply because it is so big, and the initial investment will be massive. Hard enough to get people excited about going back to the Moon, much less spending tens of billions for the benefit of future generations.

 

It's important, I agree, but the pragmatist in me doesn't see it happening any time soon.

Re: Paper

Well, as an example, the last place I worked produced silicon wafers. They had to retain data on every single one produced for at least three years, for auditing and QA purposes. We built a 50Tb SAN as a test bed for a subset of tools for the new system. We ran into problems right away with the sheer number of files overwhelming the operating system (millions of files per month). The estimated data in terms of size alone for the three years if we had fully implemented would have been measured in petabytes, and the number of files would have been in the tens of billions.

We are generating data and information so fast that there isn't any way to archive any significant portion of it. Especially since no-one is quite sure exactly what is worth saving. Most of those decisions are only obvious in retrospect. In a way, we have a much harder problem now than the Roman Empire did, and they recorded everything they could, obsessively.

Re: You can't take my Likeness

Actually, this could be a significant ability for a thief or spy. People who have seen the person can identify her directly, but no mug shots, no security video, nothing by a sketch artist could be distributed to the authorities that would be useful. It would also help maintain a Secret ID, quite effectively. Even eyewitnesses could be problematic, as their general descriptions would probably diverge quite significantly. Well worth writing up, and I like Lucius' version, above.

Re: Mutant Inventor with Technopathy

I would suggest the following for consideration (some of these a really obvious, but I'm going for completeness):

30+ INT

Deduction - should be very high (25+), possibly with Penalty Skill levels to offset penalties

Skill levels with INT skills

Skill Enhancers - possibly with the Limitation Only Applies to INT based skills (not necessary for Scholar or Linguist)

Eidetic Memory, if you don't want to use the much superior Retrocognition build above

Speed Reading (x100, at least)

Spatial Awareness, Danger Sense, Combat Luck - an outgrowth of Always Pays Attention to Surroundings and Very High Deduction

Universal Translator - knows not only a lot of languages, but how the roots of one language get applied to another one

Mental Defense - while you attack this part of my mind, I'm multi-tasking and your abilities don't affect me as much

KS: All Trivia at ludicrously high levels

Life Support - Sleep (reduced or eliminated, although there appear to be purely biological reasons for sleep, in addition to the psychological)

Analyze skills of various types

Resistance - the character is able to compartmentalize the pain/stressors being applied to make him talk

Perception Bonus - big one

Invisibility vs. Mental Perception - can shuttle his thoughts around in such a way that a Mentalist has difficulty even knowing he's there (barring more direct perception)

Healing or Extra REC Only vs. Mentally Induced STUN

As to the gadgets v. power armor, both would probably get written up as Multipowers, alongside separate Defensive abilities, so it's kind of a wash. Gadgets can be written as each having its own OAF, while the power armor has the one OIF, which is trading points for reliability. I'd look at a Gadget Pool, myself. If you stay away from the zero-phase change types, they can work quite well for the hero on a budget.

Re: Unusual Magic Items

Um. While a somewhat interesting item' date=' the fact that there's no way to get rid of it and no way to avoid it would make any DM who used it a jerk. Unless it's the kind of campaign where the players expect that sort of thing, I guess...[/quote']

 

Funny, I was thinking the opposite. Any player who becomes aware of this (at least the guys I play with), would use this as an excuse to hurl themselves into stupidly dangerous situations, confident that I had a specific encounter set up where they would be betrayed, and that, up until that encounter, they were immortal.

 

Now, what might work is an artifact that carried a large Luck pool, with a Side Effect on an Activation roll. Fail the Activation (or succeed, or whatever) and the same amount of Unluck (or more) is immediately rolled. That removes the destiny aspect of it, but still gives a good flavor factor. In fact, it would work perfectly for a campaign a buddy and I are currently working on...