CorpCommander

I've gotten my group hooked on Hero by running an "Iron Kingdoms" game using it. Now some of them are pressuring me into doing an Alternate WWII game with superheroes (basically "Godfire" but for Hero.) I have a great deal of knowlege of WWII being that my other hobby is Historical Miniatures. Still, the problem is, I am being held back by knowing TOO much of the reality. Even light super powers would disrupt everything. The Super Heroes would have to be extremely limited in number - otherwise I would have to reinvent the entire war. Nope, not on my watch. So where do I begin? My initial thought is to look at all the big turning points during WWII and figure out Nazi plots to ensure they turn for them! Example: Operation Drumbeat signals the end of the U-Boat menace almost over night. What would make the Nazi's invincible in the seas again? A flying superhero(es) to take out the VLR Aircraft with centrimetric radar and Leigh Lights and their bases. Another target is the HF/DF radio finder sites that dotted the Atlantic coasts looking for any U-Boat that used it's radar. However this could get linear fast. I need some interesting plot twist, some subtle reworking of history. I am in need of an idea. Can anyone help? Pete

Maps are expensive Really expensive. Privateer Press made a great map and put it in "Lock and Load." I bet that prevents "Lock & Load" getting another printing. Just a guess - I would bet that that one insert cost almost 40% of the entire "Lock & Load" project. Having done printing for other projects I know it gets pricy fast. However, home office printers are getting better and better - my cheapo Lexmark Z52 prints great. I think the suggestions about using campaign cartographer are great. I think the software costs more than my printer does! Pete

It is a Fantasy game and even I the GM and suscpetible to Polkas! Fire isn't natural to creatures who live in water so it was an obvious one and it's also something these characters have access too. Electricity is too, um, Vernish! Plus they will suspect that immediately. Since it is a steampunk campaign set in the Iron Kingdoms I guess they might have some recourse to electricity but they won't have time to get anything electircal before they face off The CREATURE! Muhurahahahaha! Sorry, GM's laughing can be distrubing to some of you...

Great ideas Hey, those are all great ideas. I built the squid on 250 points to go up against 5 150 point characters. I suspect someone will get hurt. However it wasn't needed for tonight but surely next Wednesday I will need it so I still have time to tinker. One thing you never see in movies with giant squids (and there are a few!) is that the squid doesn't really seem to mind losing a tentacle here or there. Lord of the Rings, 20,000 Leagues Beneath the Sea, etc. all feature this sort of creature getting some rough damage on the tentacles and shrugging it off but when the main body is hit, oh boy, watch the pain it takes! I gave it Darkness (ink glands) 3x a day. I made it susceptible to fire. I have a multipower for the tentacles. That seems to work pretty good. I can shift power around in it and get the right effect - the thing has to make decisions about how it is going to use it's tentacles but has leeway. The EB still makes sense because it has razor sharp suckers on it however there are other ways (as suggested above) that are more effecive or cost efficient. I don't mind the entangle being used as a grab mainly because I also bought stretching with it which allows it to extend it's reach to do damage or to draw the striken foe to its Gaping Maw ! I will look at the hydra example though. It sounds like a great place to look into doing something extremely differently than I had considered at first glance! Thanks.

Ok, I am trying to create a special type of giant squid that sits in pools of water and attacks players that come near. I purchased multiple limbs to represent the many tentacles. For the short tentacles I purchased entangle with limited range (2"). For the larger tentacles I purchased an EB with autofire (2 attacks). I am a little unclear about how the skill rapid autofire, the advantage autofire and the manuever rapid fire are differentiated. Here is what I think can happen: The Rapid Fire manuever allows a ranged attack to be used multiple times. The negative benefit is reduced OCV. The Autofire advantage allows an attack power to be used more than once. Rapid Autofire allows an autofire power to be used with the Rapid Fire manuever. Therefore if I have Autofire on my EB and Entangle and the rapid autofire skill then this squid can use all of his tentacles to attempt to get several characters at once. No? I've also given the squid some martial arts. Do I need to buy stretching for it to use them in non-adjacent hexes or is there a better method? No Non-combat, only to cause damage, limited body parts. How does that sound so far?

Is Ether a primary element as well or part of AIR? I know the Greeks believed the planets were held in suspension in Ether.

Ohhhh the power! Hehe, got mine from the FLGS. I ran my Witchfire campaign conversion tonight and after flipping through this mighty tome I can see a lot of work is going to be taken off of my hands... Read: Many Hours Worth! Its a beautiful book and after having simply flipped through it I think this should sweep the next set of awards -- its good. Really good. Heck, it has rules for Sieging Castles. And here I am with a very large Hudson & Allen 25mm castle and lots 'o troops. I can't wait. Big shout-out to S.S. Long - Job Well Done. You've got the coolest job on the whole planet!

It's still the GM who gives out experience for role playing and he is definitely IN THE SYSTEM. As a GM I look for cheeze in characters. If you come up with an idea for your character but then violate it because the numbers run better another way you get penalized when it comes time to get the rewards. The system works best when people work towards better role playing. Hell this goes for any system out there. When the players don't want to play nice then its up to the GM to stomp on their character sheets. Their easily hurt feelings be damned.

Re: Re: Captain Kirk + Phasers Uhhh, right. Whatever you say.

Captain Kirk + Phasers If you build a Captain Kirk you'd HAVE TO include the following power. +20 COM unconrollable (shirt comes off in combat!) Lasts long enough so that Kirk can improve his seduction attempts on the moon princess or any other female within one parsec of the action!

I suggest the acronym be BABE. Big Ass Bound Entertainment. Bountiful Advantages Begging Enjoyment Beautiful And Big Edition (not to be mistaken for the Big and Beautiful Enuchs club of Akron Ohio.) OR B&B Bailies & Basalisks 3.5E (oh wait, is that taken already?) Bars & Beholders Boulders & Benedictines Borders and Ballistas The possiblities are endless!

Damn you Unholy creature! (Oh, I repeat myself!) The funnary rags used in the mummification process point directly at necromantic work. Knowing the lore of the Egyptians, the whole funary process was to protect their pharoh and give him eternal life on the other side. However, was he damned by the Gods? I am not even sure if Egyptian Gods damned anything! So, undead - absolutely sure. Damned or not - I can't say based on the evidence I have. That I definitely can give you. The more I've thought about it the more I can see how something can be both damned and undead. My definition of undead is quite narrow though, perhaps more narrow than yours. To me, undead == reanimated. I think I better come up with concrete definitions of the limitations Undead and Unholy - thankfully they won't be needed for Wednesday's game allowing me to not rush it.

hehe Where is Evil Dead 4 when you need it????? Surrounded by Evil, trapped in time, low on gas

Undead vs. Damned Undead are specifically those things reanimated by necromantic magic. I consider reanimation as a disadvantage and thus identifiable in game terms easily. Being damned is also, most likely, a disadvantage! I would consider it one if I were damned at least. However it is different from undead. It is UnHoly in the same sense. Again, making it a distinct disadvantage puts it in identifiable game terms. For example. In the movie The Exorcist is Linda Blair Undead or Unholy? To me she is clearly Unholy and of course the other characters react to her state quite extremely! In the movie The Mummy, is the Mummy Undead or Unholy? Again, necromantic work was done therefore he's clearly undead. We don't know if he was damned at all. Now then, if you had a demon, who was killed and then raised again you could have Evil Damned Undead which pretty much would suck for the players! I wonder if anyone sells such a figure? Probably a silly concept.

Look at the cost The Change Environment option is certainly another way to go. Lets see, 5 points for a hex of effect, +4 points for -2 PER. Add in Focus, increased time, 1 continuous charge, megascale and a minor limitation (-1/4) doesn't affect swamp gobbers. That will do it too. I love it. There are so many options with this game system - it is a benefit and a detriment at times!

Thanks! This is great advice. I haven't played hero in over 10 years so I am relearning everything. I haven't DMed a game in as long too. Its refreshing. Hope I can pull it off tomorrow night.

what values would be good guidelines for the limitations? My world will feature lots of undead so "Only vs. Undead" should be maybe -1/4 or -1/2? Offensive only sounds like a -1/4. Does that sound good?

How would one go about creating a cleric in a 75+75 std. hero game? I'd like to be able to turn undead. I am not sure how that would work actually.

That does sound better cost: 4pts Sight Group Images, -2 to PER Roll, Megascale (1" = 1 km; +1/4) (20 Active Points); Extra Time 5 Minutes (-2), Character May Take No Other Actions (-1/4), OAF Fragile Expendable (Difficult to obtain new Focus; -1 1/2), 1 Continuing Charges lasting 1 Hour each (-1/4) Would this require a perception roll then everytime you wanted to target something? Pg.283 of FREd gives the penalty for attacking something you can't target. It seems right but I'll have to fight a mock battle first to test it out. Is there something that would allow me to put negative modifiers on ranged OCV only?

Hybrid Money System I don't like accounting. Odd since I have a degree in business. Let me restate that. I don't like accounting when I am playing a game. That said, here is a simple money system that I am trying out for a Steampunk Fantasy game. Money is represented in points of buying power. The basic point will get you something you need. A room for a week at the local inn. Passage on a ferry. Any basic gear. It costs 1 basic point to keep the party in lodging and food between adventures. 2 points gets you something good. A weapon, some light armor, a bribe of the gateman at the local merchants guild. 5 points gets you something really good. A decent weapon/armor, something uncommon. Horses for the whole party. 10 points gets you incredible stuff like lightly enchanted weapons/armor, a safe house, a small keep. 25 points gets you rare items, enchanted items, will let you bribe out the secret name of the dragon from one of his minions, etc. Of course this is all subject to availability. Money perks can offset all or some of the cost over the course of a year. 1 point makes sure that you always have money for basic stuff (food, board, etc.) 2 makes sure the whole party has stuff. 3 is the same as two but also lets you buy one level 3 item per year without changing the value of the party's money. 4, and 5 follow the same trend as 3. Example. The party has raided a local crypt, killed the Litche, boffed his minions and taken his loot. The GM tells the party it is a decent haul. The GM notes the party now has +3 points of money. The party goes to town and spends 1 point of money to cover food and lodging. This leaves 2 points left over. They might with bartaring/theiving be able to up that again to 3 points. If so then they could buy a new weapon for a party member. One thing I am thinking about doing is never telling the party exactly how much they have. Just let them know they "probably have enough to purchase a couple of decent weapons." How much do things cost? I think a good guideline is active points. Items sold off generate about 75% off for smaller items and 50% off for larger items. Bartering and roleplaying can help change those values. I don't know if this works, I am just starting to use this system. I thought of it last week and it seems like it has potential. It is certainly easier than dealing with money conversions, gem appraisals and so forth. Party money can be divided up easily enough and so forth.

I am converting Privateer Press' Iron Kingdoms over to Hero. They have a trilogy of adventures out and in the first one there is an unusual weapon: Alchemical Fog Machine. It produces a thick fog in the target area. At first I was going to use Darkness for it - but darkness is too strong. It is described as giving a bonus to concealment (Stealth in Hero). So I defined it as a skill level as follows: Cost: 3pts Gobber Fog Machine: +2 Stealth, Megascale (1" = 1 km; +1/4), Area Of Effect (One Hex; +1/2) (17 Active Points); Extra Time 5 Minutes (-2), OAF Fragile Expendable (Difficult to obtain new Focus; -1 1/2), 1 Continuing Charges lasting 1 Hour each (-1/4) Is this sane? Is there a better way to do this? Thanks in advance!

From one who has taken the same steps Hello all, My name is Peter and I am a D20aholic. Through my good friend Steve Long and the wonderful 12 step program offered by Hero Games I've been able to break my addiction to bad RPGs. So far, so good. I've been on the wagon for months now. I hope to never again look at a Prestige Class crack pipe or an incomprehensible psionics handbook. Go. Buy a copy of FREd. Read it. It will change your life. Your old 4th Edition friends will still be there and they will be faster, stronger and more dangerous without expensive bandaid books like 3.5E. Welcome back to the fold.

Well obviously, but you've missed something. I am the GM. The clarisentience is a once a day type of thing. You get one shot. The character who has it, has pychological limitations on getting into danger. It may be useful to the party but on the other hand the one guy who doesn't like going into battle is the one who finds out first. Other than that, you don't see a problem on technical grounds?

Why Care to expand on that one? How is it any worse than any other combination?

Ambush Breaker The idea was to break ambushes or at least have a chance at discovering them. It was bought with Non-combat and Immediate Vicinity. The nature of the ambush isn't revealed, just the fact that there are creatures waiting in ambush. I have decided to not make it useful against traps since they just lay there. If I allowed that it would be useless. Think of all the things that could be considered "traps" even if unintentially such as rake laying in the grass ("bonk") or someother hazard.