Blue Jogger

Re: Active Points For Spell Builds I use 10 "active" points for simple small spells. 20 "active" points for bigger spells and 30 for the really big powerful spells. Realize that active points doesn't quite work for how weak or powerful that spell is. If it adds to combat effectiveness, it might be twice as powerful than the active points might place it. If it is just used for convenience and has some pretty big limitations, then the active point might be half or even less. Here's some quick examples: Light spells is something like 27 active points, just to light up a large room with sunlight. Since it has a -1 Only to make Light, you might consider this effectively 13 "active" points. A cheaper way is just to give yourself and a a handful of friends Night Vision that's 10 active points. Weird. A sharpening spell is only 15 active points, but it gives that fighter another die of killing damage. This might be as effective as a 2D6 HKA (2D6+1 w/STR) Flaming Hands spell which would be 30 active points.

Re: What Makes a Good Non-Human Fantasy Race?

Re: peasent campaign: simple spells

Re: What Makes a Good Non-Human Fantasy Race? You have to see this. Tiefling and the Gnome.

Re: New HERO GM, Fantasy Campaign Advice Welcome aboard. I'm sure you'll get lots of questions, comments and feedback.

Re: Help with the name of a package deal You can use the one that our thief uses... Treasure Hunter - "Oye! Look at the fangs on that Mimic!"

Re: peasent campaign: simple spells Animate Furniture Old mages, despite being quite powerful, often are physically weak due to ravages of time. This spell was developed when it was discovered that old wizards had discovered a way of nagging even inanimate objects into helping them. As many sorcerer's apprentices have learned the hard way, this is one spell that it is easy to cast, but hard to control. Animate Furniture: Summon 22-point creatures, Expanded Class of Beings Very Limited Group (+1/4) (5 Active Points); Gestures (Complex; Requires both hands; -3/4), Requires A Skill Roll (-1/2), Side Effects (Side Effect only affects the environment near the character; Creature becomes a bit TOO animated.; -1/4), Antagonistic Annoyed (-1/4), IIF (Magic Hat; -1/4) 2 Real Points

Re: peasent campaign: simple spells For about 5 points, you can summon 12 points of vehicle (you need Slavishly Loyal). Here's two different vehicle designs. Magic Cart 15.... Size: Large Cart (2 Hexes), Carry: 800 Kg -10... -1 SPD 6...... 0 END on 6" Run (2 / 4 MPH) Traving Horse 5...... Size: Motorcycle (.8 Hexes), Carry: 200 kg 6...... 0 END on 6" Run (4 / 8 MPH)

Re: peasent campaign: simple spells Lembas A carefully guarded secret of the elves, a tiny bite of this wonderous food will sustain a man through one meal. A few slices of Lembas, if stored properly will feed up to four people for up to a month. As a side note, it will not work on truly vile creatures. Although Lembas is incredibly tasty, after a few days, the eater will soon wish for just about anything else. Life Support (Eating: Character does not eat), 1 Continuing Fuel Charge lasting 1 Month (Fuel is Difficult to obtain; +0), Usable Simultaneously (up to 4 people at once; +3/4) (5 Active Points); OAF Fragile (Lembas; -1 1/4) 2 Real Points.

Re: peasent campaign: simple spells It changes your world dramatically if it becomes a simple spell that even peasants can cast, but here's a surprisingly cheap one. Golem Once a form has been put together, this creates a golem, who if treated fairly well, will slavishly follow you around and do whatever if asked of him/her (within reason). Some golems have been designed to be nine feet tall, while others are only two foot tall and left to play with kids. Summon: Summon 12-point creature, Slavishly Devoted (+1) (4 Active Points); Extra Time (1 Minute, -1 1/2), Requires A Skill Roll (-1/2), Gestures (Requires both hands; Putting together parts; -1/2), Side Effects (If Skill Roll fails, eventually the Golem with turn from Slavishly Loyal to Violent; -1/4) Tall Golem Nine Feet Tall: Growth (+10 STR, +2 BODY, +2 STUN, -2" KB, 400 kg, +0 DCV, +0 PER Rolls to perceive character, 3 m tall, 1.5 m wide), Costs END Only To Activate (+1/4) (12 Active Points) Slow: -1 SPD (-10 Active Points) Resistant to Damage: +3 rPD, +3 rED Armor (9 Active Points)

Re: Magic Jar Magic Jar is a tough one. I think it is closest to Summoning. You "summon" a nearby victim, Slavishly Loyal (+1), who happens to inhabit the locale (-1), and must be within 120 hexes of the Magic Jar or already possessing the victim (-1), caster's body is in a trance for the length of the spell (-1). Mind Link to any Possessed Body (10 points) Now, as long as your "tasks" hold out (and he's not too many points to be controlled), the caster has successfully taken over the body.

Re: Which mechanic for magic works best Here's an example of someone using a VPP in my game. Note that I added rules to make it simpler, more spontaneous but limited in scope. Basically, we work out the general "level", look up pluses and minuses on a table, and then roll dice and see if it works. Player: "Hmm, the desert sun is going to be a problem." Me: "Yes, by noon, it will be unbearably hot." Player: "You're just saying that because I'm playing a bearman. Actually, I'm in human form currently." Me: (smiles) Player: "Ok, well, I have the skill Body Manipulation, so I'm going to take this small lizard and break off its tail. And I'm going to weave a spell to make us cooler." Me: "Life Support: Extreme Heat, covering less than 8 people, we'll call that 10 point spell or less." Me: "How long are you going to take?" Player: "Well, I'm not in a hurry, so I'll take an hour." Another Player: "Well, using your table, that's 16 or less." Me: "Roll." Of course, the roll succeeded, since it was a very tiny spell taking a full hour not to mess up. Me: "Ok, you cast a spell, and you all now look like Lizard men. Except the Catgirl who looks like she has something that is neither red fur nor green scale but something inbetween." (The side effect was directly from using Body Manipulation and the fact that a lizard's tail was used. They would also have the Disadvantage: Cold Blooded, but in the desert sun that wasn't going to be a problem.) The rest of the party looks at the player. Player: "What, it worked didn't it?"

Re: Need suggestions The classic dungeon crawls: 1) Tombs or Crypts 2) Treasure Hoards 3) Lost Cities/Ruins (good if you need to find something ancient relic or research on how a past civilization did something) 4) Dimensional Vortex (sounds like you have extra-dimensional realms, the gateways may be guarded to prevent people from escaping or invaders coming in) 5) Monster Lair (think of it as a bunch of low-rent apartment complexes that happen to be underground and filled with monsters) Non-standard ones: 6) Scenic Route (if you think about it, traveling to another city can be like a dungeon crawl) 7) Dreamscape (the party has a realistic adventuring dream, the items gathered are not physical, but have symbolize the characters hopes and desires, and the monsters are manifestations of their fears and nightmares) 8) Shopping Trip (the party goes into a nearby city to restock on supplies, however, monsters, thieves, and con-men see walking money bags) What's on the bottom? You lost me at infinity. In fact, I think my gameworld might actually be on a part of Dragonia where the local inhabitants just think they are on an extremely large planet. After all, no one has travelled to the four corners and found out.

Re: We Loves Us Some Elves, Dwarves, and Orcs You know, I just realized the reason I killed off all the pure-breed Elves in my world probably was heavily influenced by one or two players who played super-annoying snooty, noble Elves back in the early college days. It was so cathartic, and I didn't know why.

Re: Which mechanic for magic works best It depends on the campaign and the concept of magic that you want to have for your game. In my current game, I use a VPP (but very limited) and individual spells. If a mage can cast practically anything, but it is limited by his skill, and not a whole lot of power, then VPPs are good. They're like the swiss army knife, lots of possibility, but you're stuck with relatively small amount of active points for the cost. The drawback (for most GMs) is it becomes the sonic screwdriver, solving way too many problems with a simple diceroll. To keep this from being a problem, limit the active point, require a skill roll (and do not have an uber-Magic skill but break it down into categories). Multipowers are good for modelling a spell or a device that can be used in a different ways. A lightning wand that can produce light, produce lightning, or produce chain lighting (all pulling charges from a central reserve). ECs are simular to Multipowers, but they have subtle differences. The main one being that they use END (usually from an END reserve) and they can all be used at the same time. Spell familiarity is good if magic is simply thought of as a skill. Slayers is a good model for this. Nina learned Fireball and everyone knew what that was and almost every mage that studied fire had it. Dragon Slave (which was a dragon-slaying sized Fireball) was another skill. Giga Slave (which is a minor demon lord-slaying sized Fireball) was another skill (and presumely you needed to know Dragon Slave before you could learn this one). Granted, very few mortals knew that skill. This works great if your campaign has lots of very well defined spells. I think of buying individual spells as sort of a talent. For roughly the same cost as a talent, you can get a decent spell (20 to 40 active points) with lots of limitations that represents one of the few spells that one has mastered and becomes a talent that you have. I've also looked at using the 3-for-1, which is kinda like Spell Familiarity without the skill.

Re: Most interesting character ideas you've seen from others? Mongo-Jerry and Rumple-Teaser A female martial artist with claws and a male brick, both cat people, that would trade places (both would multiform into each other's character). It was a neat concept. "Was it Mongo-Jerry, or Rumple-Teaser? Or could you have sworn that it might have been both?"

Re: We Loves Us Some Elves, Dwarves, and Orcs

Re: Damage from fire and Enchanting a sword? In our group, we have to roll an EGO roll to do things that make sense intellectually but involve pain and suffering and/or hard work to do. Jumping through fire certainly qualifies. Also remind the player that burns tend to scar, so he might want to do something to prevent from taking damage where he probably doesn't have armor (like head or hands).

Re: Peasent Campaign The biggest thing for a 25+25 campaign, is to figure out what the player wants. If they want hack and slash, make hackable and slashable monsters and give 3 or 4 per character. Surprisingly, the high number makes it easier to balance. You, after chopping kobold #3 in one swing, all five go after you. If they want nobility and intrigue, make sure to include a murder mystery. Don't be afraid to add familar characters, I introduced the Van Pelts. Lucile and Linus. And they good old wishy-washy friend, Sir Charles the Brown.

Re: Peasent Campaign When I started my FH campaign, it was 25+25. I did magic as a VPP with ever-increasing limitations as the point total increased. To keep it from being too unbalanced, the player would describe the spell, I figured out the active points (sometimes I would rule that a limitation applied towards the active cost) and that determined the minuses to the roll, extra time figured out the bonus. Roll, if successful, it casts the spell, if failed, damage occurred (usually a cute and irony backfire). The number of spells that you could "stack your rack" were INT/3. If they wanted to "fast cast" as a full phase action, that was fine, but it was at a -3. Otherwise, it took at least a turn (this prevented mages from slowing down combat by wanting to suddenly cast something they didn't prepare first) to get a -0. The highest bonus was +4 for hour.

Re: Kandor Although Kandor has changed considerably over the decades. The original 1958 explanation of how Kandor worked. http://www.supermanartists.comics.org/superwhoswho/kandor-action242.JPG In all modern views of Kandor, the sun is stationary in the sky. And I have to agree with Yansuf, the scale of Kandor is not quite accurate given the size of Kandorians being shown to be anywhere between 1 cm and 3 inches tall. If I had to guess on Krypton's gravity, if we assume it turns 60 STR people into 10 STR, so that's 10 doublings or 1000 times greater than Earth. Luckily, Kandor's artifical gravity only works on the inside or else the bottle would weigh 1/64th of the equivalent non-shrunken Earth city. Nowadays, they don't talk about gravity and assume all planets are naturally 1G.

Re: Ideas for combat runes Rune of Betrayal/Malice, Deadly Blow, Note: Used properly it will help slay a foe for an act of betrayal or unusual malice, but if used unjustly or called upon too often, will lead the caster towards malice and being betrayed. Side Effect: Slowly transforms the wielder into malicious being worthy of having this rune used against him.

Re: Kandor One of the biggest differences is that Kandor must have had, at least in the beginning, was there must have been a massive (well on their scale) redesign of the city. Air is not a problem, Brainiac was nice enough to supply Kandor with an ability to recycle the Kryptonian atmosphere, although Jimmy and Lois seem to breathe it without any difficulties (as long as they counteract the artifical gravity down to Earth levels). According to my calculations, however, Kandorians would produce roughly .7 gallons of waste per day or 4.9 million gallons of waste per day that needs to be converted back into water and soil. Now we are talking about Silver Age Krypton, so it's not impossible to think they had some clever recycling machine, but they had robotic farmers to farm the apparent large amount of farmland that happened to be also transported, so it's hard to say. They seem to have built the artificial sun, so it's not unreasonable to think that power generation is not a problem for them.

Re: Alignments I have lots of stories where that happened. But I did turn it around in one game. One player insisted on trying to steal my mage's spellbooks and my character being basically good did not punish his "good nature" attempts to get rich quick. However, he did cross the line and attempt to kill the mage rather than steal from him. One web spell stopped the thief cold. The GM reminded us that there was an active volcano nearby. "Wait, you're GOOD. You CAN'T leave me to die out here." The thief whined. I took a very deliberate look at my character sheet and broke character, "What's my alignment again? Oh yes, Chaotic Good." (In character) "There's a fairly good chance that you will escape long before the lava comes down the mountain. And if not... Que sara sara." My mage managed to catch up with the rest of the party. Knowing what transpired out of game but trying to play in character, "What happened to the thief?", the fighter asked. "Oh, he got TIED UP dealing with some sticky problems." The GM ruled the party could figure what happened, which I didn't mind and rescued the thief. That was the running gag for several campaigns, I would just give a wicked smile and say, "Hmm... What's my alignment again?" But after that point, we never had a serious alignment related problem again.

Re: Building an Urban Fantasy Setting Just like in the non-magical world, there are those who plunder resources much faster than its ability to renew. However, there are the rare few, that make much magic then they use and invested in people, places and things in the hope to make the world more magical. However, unbeknown to them, too much magic can be as deleterious as too little. Far too little, is easily known, lack of hope becomes despair and perhaps even lead to depression and death. Too much, and the body becomes lost in wonder, delusion and grandeur. Unlike other addictions, magic overdose is rarely fatal by itself but the loss of judgment and intellect can be.