tkdguy

I think I saw that movie, Rob. It was many years ago, but I vaguely remember someone without legs fighting while on the back of his friend who had no arms.

Stuff like "Shot through both ears. Target is instantly killed, and any earwax is removed." Sounds funny when you do it to them; not as funny when it's done to you (except to your buddies). I also like the fumble chart. It is funny when some one gets a penalty because he rolled the result "trip over imaginary deceased turtle" or "-20 due to pulled groin; foe is stunned 2 rounds laughing." Those were the days...

I agree with that statement. The Tri-stat system seems to be more flexible than the d20 system. The only problem I see with it is having only 3 stats makes it hard to individualize the characters sometimes. But it's still a good system, and it can be used to wean players out of the d20 mindset and prime them for Hero. At least, I hope so. I'm going to start a campaign using BESM 2nd Ed. Don't forget that if you got it before the revised version came out, you can get the revisions as a free PDF download at the Guardians of Order website.

Thanks. Me too.

No, I wasn't offended at all. Don't worry. I just haven't done it in a while, and I'm getting rusty. I teach mostly math right now at a special program. when I taught physics it was at another special program. The reason I couldn't take a very good look at your post earlier today is because I had this strange feeling in my head. It wasn't exactly a headache, and it wasn't exactly dizziness. It could have been vertigo. I was at the computer, and I felt the need to lie down. Weird feeling.

Because I can! And the fact that I come up with lots of ideas AND I'm the only one who had previous experience with the HERO system has something to do with it.

Nice to know. It would be very embarassing for someone with an astronomy degree and experience teaching physics to get that one wrong.

Nobles also have several estates and hire stewards to run them. Remember: land = wealth = status, so kings sometimes award land to favored retainers as a reward.

At this point, I'm still trying to get the players used to the Hero system (we hardly play at all), so I'm trying to keep them alive until they get the hang of it. I want them to understand what they can do. I try to describe combat as much as possible, as it is a martial arts campaign. The fancy moves are what make it look different from a streetfight.

Yes, your math is correct. I've only given it a cursory glance right now, but it looks about right. I think the ship's mass isn't too important when calcualting it because it is so tiny compared to the star, but you could argue it's very important to the people on board. I'm not fully awake just yet, so I'll take a closer look when I am.

Actually I did enjoy MERP. Just don't play solo. The combat takes forever. My 8th level dwarf warrior once singlehandedly killed a 25th level vampire (he got initiative had rolled one critical hit after another), only to die at level 10 at the hands of two level 2 orcs. and my half elf bard got permanently paralyzed from the neck down after taking a nasty hit.

You can calculate the force of attraction between the star and the ship by the equation F = GM/d^2. G is the universal constant of gravitation (6.67x10^-11Nm^2/kg^2), M is the star's mass (the ship's mass is negligible compared to the star unless it's the size of a giant planet), and d is the distance. Note that the inverse square law applies here, ie, if your ship is twice as far from the star than another ship, the star's force of attraction on your ship is 4 times weaker than on the other ship.

How about an Immortal Lensman? If that thought doesn't scare you, I don't know what will.

Sounds good. I was basing the cost based on the number of people normally under the officer's command. How about this one for infantry types: Squad Leader: 1 Platoon Leader: 3 Company Commander: 5 Battalion Commander: 7 Brigade Commander: 9 Corps Commander: 11 Division Commander: 13 Army Chief-of-staff: 15 The point cost for Executive Officers is 1 less than his immediate superior. Thus a company's XO is 4 points, and the platoon sergeant position is 2 points. This also apples to senior NCOs and those in the administrative staff of generals. I know things get expensive at the higher levels but the officers in those positions have the rank of general (although some Brigade Commanders are colonels). So these costs should work out fairly well. And what GM would allow his players to start out as generals anyway?

Heavens, no! I'm one of the good guys.

The nice thing about Star Wars is that Lucas names everyone, even if they don't have any lines, and you only see them for a moment. So it's easy to find their names and make up stuff about them. As for the Nazgul, the LOTR card game has names for the Nazgul which are different from the names ICE gave them. If you can find Lords of Middle Earth vol. 2, you'll see the history of each of the Nine. As far as I know, the writers at ICE made them up entirely. But since info on them is so scarce, can you blame them? As for my ci-wielding MAs for my game, I have already given them names (titles, actually) and their duties. Watch out for the Elder Cousins.

For ideas on how to create a realistic world including its races, see my review on this thread.

I'd probably enjoy a hard science campaign myself.

In Fantasy Hero, having a military rank is a fringe benefit. Would you include it in a Star Hero campaign, and how many points would you assign to it? This is what I did for a Star Trek game: Petty Officer/CPO = 1 pt. Ensign/Lieutenant JG = 2 pt. Lieutenant/Lt. Commander = 3 pt. Commander/Captain = 4 pt. Commodore/Admiral = 5 pt. Later, after having bought the new FH, I wrote this down for my game, with different point costs. Corporal = 1 Sergeant = 2 Ensign = 3 Lieutenant = 4 Captain = 5 Major = 6 Colonel = 7 General = 8 Note that during the Renaissance, ensign (or ensign bearer) was an army rank. Today, perhaps the Warrant Officer grade would be the equivalent. What are your ideas about this?

Sometimes sciences are taken as background skills and sometimes as INT-based skills. Why is that?

The Unfinished Tales mention Khamul. Gothmog is mentioned in passing in Return of the King (Chapter 6: The Battle of the Pelennor Fields) as the lieutenant of Morgul. I thought he was a Nazgul himself. However, ICE made him not a Nazgul, but half-troll warrior who was among the most powerful servants of Sauron along with the Witch King, Khamul, and the Mouth of Sauron. Keep in mind that the stuff ICE wrote for its MERP game isn't necessarily canon (cannon fodder maybe, considering how easily characters can get killed in that system).

Actually, all this talk of the Nine has given me an idea for my martial arts game. The mysterious crime lord has nine lieutenants who oversee his entire operation. Of course they won't be wraiths, but they would be dangerous martial artists with a few Chi powers.

As far as I know, Khamul was the only one named by Tolkien, and he only said that Khamul was the second of the Nazgul, and he was afraid of daylight and fire. The Lord of the Nazgul is just known as the Witch King of Angmar. Most of the names of the Nazgul were invented by ICE. Here is what ICE wrote in page 14 of the Mannish Races: "Characters denoted with an * are purely ICE creations." All the Nazgul except the Witch King and Khamul have * beside their names. Also note that ICE expanded much of Tolkien's lands. In their version, the map of Middle Earth in LOTR is a tiny part of the world.

Actually, I never heard of Michael Scott Rohan. I just saw this on the internet somewhere; probably in the Worlds in the Net website. The person who did this may have ripped it off from Mr. Rohan, though.

I think it goes something like.. I am a doctor out in space And man I really groove this place Because of all the neat diseases Not just your silly coughs and sneezes Then I forget what's next. Boy, did we derail this thread or what?