Galadorn

Re: Pulp Hero?? I would agree, definately one of the best supplements around. Aaron really captured the "feel" of the Lost World, subgenre. I wonder how it sold...

Re: Pulp Hero?? Pulp Hero was a Hero Games Supplement in fourth edition HG, I believe. Try buying this supplement on e-Bay.

Re: New Limitation: Does not Stack. Gm's please look Progression Cap: Defenses equal total character points/15. Sounds fine to me. You may think that this thread is about how not to make a cap without being heavy-handed. I think this thread is about what the title says: "Mew Limitation: Does Not Stack. GMs Please Look." I don't see any comment about perceptual "heavy-handedness" in this thread at all. And I don't think a cap is heavy-handed at all. I would say it's rather: "Game Balancing." Some people can handle rules and discipline. Some people rebel against both.

I think this is beating around the bush. I think you should just tell your players what maximum defense they can have. And tell them not to have that cap, would unbalance the game. I would do what I said as above. I think an interesting insight I have gotten from writing both fantasy adventures, and short fiction, is that gameplay simply can't be the same as a fiction story. It just doesn't work. If you try to make a consistent magic system, and rationalize your disadvantages because of the way magic works, you end up like Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, in your rationale. This puts us in with D&D. This is interesting though. I think the thing to do is develop a list of rational alternatives to justify the no stack rule: 1.Religious Limitation: Wizards take a vow not to wear armor. It's against style quotient. J/K. Maybe because it's a indication of a lack of faith in magic. And a kind of human faith is required to cast magic. 2. Freedom Limitation: As described in the quote, directly above this list. 3. Magic Metal Limitation: Magic doesn't work with large amounts of metal. 4. ...Role Limitation:Wizards must take combat luck, they cannot have any other protection, because of their societal role. Social factors do influence human behavior, btw. 5. Form Limitation: Platonic Philosophy and Plato has the theory of "forms." Forms are the "ideal," or perfect structure, of a given object. So there is an ideal form (in heaven?) of the ideal chair. Only as a chair conforms, in some way, to the form of the ideal chair, can an object be called a chair. The same with wizards, only as they conform to the ideal image (form) of the ideal wizard, (in heaven?) can a wizard be called a wizard. This includes dress, apparatus (staff, wand, etc.), incantations, gestures, etc. I know it's specious, but that's Plato. 6. And the most pandering...Genre (Satisfaction) Limitation: It simply ruins the genre for wizards to have armor and forcefields, thus it ruins it for other player's and their satisfaction levels. Personally, I like the first limitation. According to critics, it's an underlying rationale behind much of Tolkein's work. I'm sure GM's can come up with many more, though.

Sounds interesting. I would disagree, versatility is powerful. Being adaptable is a power in itself. Also, I believe, having many languages is powerful as well. Here's how: That's, how language can be very powerful. Sounds like an interesting game. I wonder where your GM got the resources to run the game.

Re: Doesn't anyone like low-powered campaigns? I agree totally. My fantasy hero campaign is 50+50, and characters are fairly powerful. I do allow Multipowers, Variable Power Pools, Elemental Controls and Spells outside any framework. I also created optional rules for skill usage, that magnify the applicability and usage of the limited amount of skills that players can purchase. There's a few other posters on this board, who love low-powered games. If Steve sees enough demand, then maybe I'll submit my low-powered fantasy hero campaign for publication. It seems there's a growing demand for low-powered games, I suppose this comes with the advent of fantasy realism and other genre realism literature.

Good ideas. Heres the ironic story. You spend YOUR character points on a sword that you created, and a thief steals the sword and stabs you in the back with it. I'd rather have a focus, instead, thank you.

Re: I dont know if im supose to be here Best way to learn the slang of fantasy roleplaying games and stories, is to start reading Eod. Why not start with "The Hobbit," By J.R.R. Tolkien? It's a good read for people your age. Also, you might like "The Chronicles of Narnia" by C.S. Lewis. Though, the Chronicles might be written for people a little younger then you.

I agree with 99% of what was said here. I've played Hero Games for twenty-two years. Well I don't if I would say that HKA's are much "better" in low-armor games, but they are more effective.

My experience has been, that GMs award experience at different times, and in different ways. I had one GM who awarded 32 experience points to one of my characters, for a five session game. Which seems kinda high. I tend to follow the Hero Games Rulebook guidelines, with a caveat. +1 experience point is awarded to characters who use their variable power pool, creatively, during a game session. For a creatively, culturally, and mythologically appropriate use of the VPP: That is, a way that adds new ideas to my campaign-setting. I suppose this experience point could be given to non-spellcasting characters, as well. Since only spell-casting characters have a VPP. So, I'm going to expand it, I will add: 1. Warriors for a new tactic; relevant to my campaign world (monsters, magic, politics and peoples). 2. Rogues for a clever ploy, relevant to my campaign world.

I will have to say that it's hard to critque this character, without knowing the campaign and setting he is operating in. Generally, I would say he needs some magic points. Some very simply things like images, burning hands or ignite fire, presence-enhancing spell, comeliness-enhancing spell, etc. Should be very helpful. But, again, this depends on the campaign, setting and character design guidelines. You character should do extremely well in a Medieval Historical Campaign. But, for a campaign packed with magic: I would call the character experimental. Play him a few times in such a setting, and see how things go, would be my suggestion.

Pretended expertise indeed. Go on ignore.

Mark, I suggest you read the Medieval Village in Digital Hero #14. Check out the references. I have studied this issue thoroughly. The idea that land was not a commodity at all, is a myth of the Middle Ages. Check out "The Medieval Village" by France Giles, the chapter on "The Villagers," I believe has information on the exchange of land amongst villagers. If you don't understand basic economic theory, you won't even understand my points.

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Land and Wealth I agree.

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Land and Wealth True, the acquistion of land was an elaborate set of affairs. Bit I think this begs the point. It doesn't matter what scale of land exhange and trade we are taling about, nor what the law said, we are talking about the norm in society. And the norm was, to treat land as a commodity, no matter how involved the process was. Bottom line is land was a commodity, and tended to be used by the owner, however the owner wanted. This is not an all or nothing affair - owning land was part commodity, and part social obligation. Take care.

I'll let this slide...

I agree. I was just being specific. Geesh.

Ummmmmm, this is a table. A chart would be a graphic, like the one in the Hero System Rulebook, with the square and round boxes.

I think the assumption was, that you had just started on designing this world. Well, never miiiiind. Sounds cool. Great. Whats the premise of the world? Tolkienish, Le Guinish, Brooksish, or something all together different?

Re: Re: World Creation Issues - Opinions Wanted I agree, take a page from the scriptwriters book. Start out small, then expand. If you study the comments made by scriptwriters, most of them, Star Trek included; started out small, then built upon their small foundation. I agree with this point. A language chart helps to crystalize a world as "real" in many fantasy fans minds. I use a language chart in my campaign, and it does wonders, if even for my own concentration and suspense of disbelief.

Re: Re: Re: Land and Wealth Actually, your point is dead wrong. If you study the feudal economy, you would know that land was traded from one person to another in exchange for services and goods. Early in the Middle Ages, possession of land was common, Only in the later Feudal period, did Nobles possession of land become absolute in many cases. Now, fealty to the king was required to take possession of the land, thats why we have "My Lord Bishop:" Lord and Bishop being two different titles. But there still was exchange of land, and for all intents and purposes, it was treated as property. Of course we are talking about England, it seems, by the tone of your argument. In Papal lands things were quite different: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/600Gregsucc.html In The Holy Land, this tended to be the state of affairs: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/1169landpldg.html In England, this was what Henry II said about the Jews: *Chattels = Possessions. Obviously, Jews owed land according to Henry II. Seems possession of land was more common than you want to think. Secondly, land was bequethed by lords and others (Jews for example) to the Church. How can someone give to the Church what he does not himself own? Case closed, nail driven into coffin lid.

Re: Land and Wealth I don't know if this has been said before, I'm not going to read every post. But land is money. Yes, that's an oversimplification, but I'm saying it to make a point. All assets an individual owns has a monetary value. Money is just a medium of exchange, so in short, land is money. If we didn't have money, we would be trading goods instead, and that would be tooooo tedious - that's why a monetary system was invented in the first place. So, economically, if you would rather have a barter system stronger then a monetary system, just research the early Middle Ages in England (6th-11th centuries); that's how their economic system was set up anyway.

Regardless, the roleplaying mythology, is a whole other story.

Re: Lord of the Rings question of sorts We had this topic discussed months ago in the Hero Games archive. Here is a basic encyclopedia on Middle-Earth: http://www.glyphweb.com/arda/default.htm

Ummmmmm, it depends on your mythology, but a lich is usually preserved by magic. Some GMS say it is simply the desire to live, in a mage, that causes him to live - but this desire works because of magic.