tkdguy

Come to think of it, this would make a great Highlander campaign too.

I just saw that flick last night, and I enjoyed it, even if it has more cheese than an extra large pizza. Definitely it qualifies as a fantasy; the fact that people can bring their katanas in an airplane without a fuss is proof enough. Not to mention taking lots of damage without dying. Anyway, here's the idea. It's set in modern-day earth, with all the modern-day conveniences: electricity, good plumbing, medicine, cars, etc. The difference is that people duke it out with swords and other melee weapons found in FH and UMA. That is, when they're not doing any kung fu (or any other style) fighting. That leads to a couple of questions: First, what happened to all the guns? Just don't allow them. Maybe they don't exist. Maybe they're only used to fight wars. In either case, all your assassins use bows and crossbows. Okay, the movie had guns once in a while, but this is FANTASY, okay? The other question is: What are the cops doing to stop all this? You could answer this several ways. Maybe cops are ineffectual or corrupt, answering to the local crime boss. Maybe there are no cops, or they're hired by big businesses to enforce their policies. Again, a stretch of imagination is required. The nice part is, you can use package deals from different sourcebooks. Aside from some of the warrior package deals in FH, you can use some of the ones in Star HERO, like the doctor and the scientist. Ninjas would fit well in this genre. You know where I'm going. You can even add things not in the movie. You don't want a humans only campaign? Use a few races from Star HERO or FH, although the former sourcebook would fit better IMO. Also, psionics would fit better than magic, but but there's nothing stopping you from having magic if you want it. But it's best to keep the power levels low eithe way. Is this logical? Not in the least, but then, neither was the movie. Is it fun? I think it can be if you do it right. I'll let you know how it turns out if I try it soon.

Actually Enforcer, I have to admit I was the whacked out individual. My best friend was expecting to recue me (in the game), only to see footage of enemy soldiers amputating my fingers one at a time when they were questioning me. I got already gotten one arm blown off by a blast from a Pig (M-60). Eventually I was killed with a knife thrust to the throat. My friend's surprise was priceless. God I love being a twisted individual.

I had a friend play himself in a RECON game. He led a group of soldiers to find me and a new weapon I had retrieved from the enemy. As for dying in the game, I intentionally killed myself off just as a surprise. He wasn't expecting that. Disturbing? Maybe, but it made for a good story.

Popular Science Magazine just came out with an issue called Space 2100. It has lots of good ideas you can you to run a hard science fiction campaign, including robots, solar sails, and colonizing Mars. This is a great resource and a font of ideas.

One 4th Ed. game I played in had a VPP for magic. Our characters didn't need to learn any specific spell. We just used whatever power was needed and applied whatever advantages and limitations we wished. The only restriction was having a maximum number of active points we could put into each spell. We started with a maximum of 30 active points, but we could buy more, to a maximum of 45 to 60; I forget which.

You could always just buy the Magic skill once and use knowledge skills to show how familiar your character is with a school (ex. KS: Alchemy, KS: Runes). That way, you have just one source of power and many different ways to apply it.

Lately, I've been doing low fantasy, even to the point of excluding magic. I've wanted to do it for a long time (since AD&D 2nd Ed. was new), but I wasn't familiar with the HERO system or GURPS at the time, and AD&D is not well-suited for such a campaign. So how much realism do you include in your combat? Do you use the bleeding, disabling and impairing rules? I was sorely tempted to do so, but I decided against using them for two reasons: 1. I'm a first-time GM (for HERO, anyway), and my players are new to this system. 2. These rules don't fit very well in a swashbuckling campaign, at least in my opinion. How do you people like to run combat?

I'm not sure if Time-Life Books still publishes this series, but if you can get your hands on The Enchanted World series, you'll find a ton of info about legends around the world. These are actual myths and legends, which you can use in your campaign, even if you're playing in the "real" world. There's even an entire book on Arthurian myth in this series, so you can have a campaign in Camelot (Well, you could anyway, but you'll at least have a general timeline of events).

With a few modifications, you can use the Warhammer 40K universe for your game. Just an idea, although I like your concept just fine. How did magic get introduced to the world?

That's the beauty of the HERO system. You have a lot of flexibility to take an idea and modify it to your tastes. If you want immortal, sword-wielding Chaos Blades, no problem. If you want to do something else with them, piece of cake. That's why I'm trying to wean my players out of D&D. Not that it's a bad system, but you can do so much more with HERO.

I found this site last night. It's very interesting. http://www.alternatehistory.com

My campaign is what I said it would be a while back. It's based on 17th-century Europe, with a few Asian influences. There is no supernatural element in this game: no magic, monsters, or non-human races. What is there, then? Lots of swordplay and martial arts. But combat isn't the only thing there is. There's also political intrigue, mercantilism and religion. Religion is based on Christianity, with a few elements of Buddhism and Hinduism. BTW, the players got full XP for meeting the challenges I set out for them last weekend without combat.

Right now, the characters in the game are in such a place. This is a fantasy game without magic, so there are no powers. The players decided to have their characters go to this part of the world, so I can implement this idea ASAP.

Crunchy bits. I like!

I have long been considering a campaign based on the Spanish Inquisition and Machiavelli's The Prince. Lots of political intrigue, backstabbing, religious persecutions, and all that general goodness. I had originally excluded the use of powers in the campaign, but then I thought about the damage psychics could wreak. Then I can add Orwell's 1984 into the mix. Can you say "thought crime"? BTW, I also posted this in the WOTC board (with a few changes) to see what that group thought of it.

Mithras and Isis? Now there's a kinky couple for you. Seriously though, Rome would have collapsed eventually because of economics and bad leadership. Its army had become primarily non-Roman, the the lack of new conquests made it more difficult to pay the soldiers (no more looting). Also don't forget Atilla and his boyz rampaging around Europe. My friends and I got into a big discussion whether the Huns would have been able to get away with it at the height of the Empire's power. I said Rome would have crushed the insolent fool; my friends weren't too sure.

Not strictly true. While the armed martial arts predominated, unarmed martial arts were used as backup. The samurai used jujutsu if they were disarmed in the heat of battle, at least until they rearmed themselves. Knights learned wrestling as part of their training for the same reason. Monks were notorious wrestlers during the Renaissance; they just didn't fight in wars like the Shaolin monks or the Hanebushi. Don't foget that during the Renaissance civilian combat flourished. While long swords and armor still ruled the battlefield, unarmored warriors duelled with rapiers and side swords. And most commoners didn't have swords and armor; they relied on daggers and wrestling. Unarmed combat was definitely more popular with them than with the nobility.

If I may make a suggestion, I suggest using Aikido, Tai Chi Ch'uan, or another internal art for the Order. These arts focus on submission and redirection, making them more merciful (for lack of a bettter word) than other arts, but still capable of dealing damage when necessary. You can always westernize the names if you desire. A Code Against Killing also seems to be in order here... Just my 2 cents.

The whole point is to figure out what would be almost (but not quite) the same, and what would be radically different. Keep in mind there is more than one reason for doing something. Let's stick with the Europe vs. the Ottoman Empire storyline. Even without religious differences to fight about, there's still a possibility of a conflict because someone decided he needed more territory. Or both sides wanted a monopoly on trade with China. Never underestimate the power of human greed. Also, what would have happened if Harold had repulsed William at Hastings? Definitely English would sound very different today. The Hundred Years War would probably never have happened, but does that mean the Magna Carta would also go the way of the dodo? England may still have conquered the rest of the British Isles, albeit under Saxon or Danish kings rather than Norman kings. Keep in mind that this is just a mental exercise. You don't have to use athises things. Since my ideas never even happened, all it's good for is flavoring for the campaign. Of course, there's a lot of stuff that did happen that you can use. A campaign set in Renaissance Europe could emphasize Machiavelli and the Spanish Inquisition. I' think I'll reread The Prince.

I'm toying with the idea of how Renaissance Europe would look like if certain events were replaced by other events. I read somewhere that if Zoroastrianism and its offshoot Mithraism had remained the dominant religions of the Middle East and the Roman Empire respectively, the Crusades may never have happened. Of course, the Romans were fairly tolerant of other faiths as long as the followers paid both their taxes and some lip service to the state gods. So the witch burnings may never have happened either. The Moorish conquest of Spain and the spread of the Ottoman Empire would probably have happened, though. Greed would still be a major factor. If Clovis had never conquered Gaul, there would be no France to speak of, and no Charlemagne either. The French and English languages would be very different. Same deal for England if William the Conqueror had been repelled at Hastings. If Charles I beat the Parliamentary forces and hanged Cromwell, he would have become an absolute monarch. He may have eventually rescinded the Magna Carta. If Marco Polo had returned to Venice with a few kung fu masters, would that have had a major development in western unarmed combat? What do you guys think?

Looks pretty good so far. Have you made a package deal for the Order of St. Anne?

If you want a Highlander theme in your campaign, just modify the Immortality Jar spell from The Arts Arcane and use the Chaos Blades abilities. That would work. After all, nothing is stopping you from learning spells from different schools.

If everyone in the kingdom is immortal, such as the elves, the society would either be very conservative or somewhat reactive. In the former case, everyone has his or her place in society and will not expect to change, barring events such as wars and accidents. On the other hand, there could be a relatively reactive society. I say relative because mortals would perceive the kingdom as stable, but the immortals will see a revolution take place every few centuries or so. "Dad has been king for 2000 years now, and what has he done for the kingdom all this time? It's time for a change in leadership!"

Sounds interesting. I'll post when I design something. How about a castle?