Jas

Something about the "anti-power" Complications - many of them are actually the least-useful to the GM. You're a being of fire, and therefore take double damage from cold and water powers. That sucks, and I may decide that there need to be bad guys who can take advantage of that. But it doesn't really do much for your character at all. Even a hunted gives the GM more to work with than a vulnerability or susceptibility. Unluck bridges the gap a bit, but I'd almost rather you had Enraged or a Psych Lim that tells me something interesting about your psyche than just a mechanical hook to beating you down easier.

Re: Wish List: Other Licensed Content

Seriously.

Heck I've thought about writing a gritty hard S/F PA setting. If I decide to get more serious about writing it might just happen.

I would totally help. And I'd have to break out my old copy of FGU's Aftermath! to use as guide material. God I loved that game. The mechanics are, as has been said, pretty kitchen sinky, but it scratched all the right itches when we encountered it back in high school.

Re: Building "Combat Stims" or "Pep Pills"

Have you considered that the Stim Shot could be something that doesn't, in fact, grant him extra END, but instead Aid's his REC for a while, so that he more radically and quickly recovers his END while under the influence?

Re: Magic and END cost?

I am definitely in the Personal END camp - but then I was pretty thoroughly impacted by the way that Magic works in Shadowrun, so I love a system that wears the user down, energetically at first, then into consciousness and perhaps even delving into physical injury.

Re: FTL Combat

SFB doesn't worry about realism, and neither should you. Ships traveling at multiples of the speed of light fire weapons that can traverse the space between them effectively instantly (in the case of phasers and photon torpedoes) and at up to 32c in the case of drones and the like. If you really are statting out the ships, just build the weapons like any other, unless they're physical objects like drones or shuttles, in which case I might make them into a limited use summoning that creates the physical object and links a large killing attack to a move-by maneuver.

Re: HAP: How to use them

Just a thought' date=' but I wonder now if the Drama/Fate/Bennie/etc point appeals to Narrativist players more than it does to Gamist players. I have a player who has a similar outlook as you in that he almost always just accepts his rolls. I, on the other hand, look at dice as these dumb objects that you can always count on to let you down. I would definitely classify him primarily as a Gamist (followed closely by Simulationist) while I am more of a Narrativist.[/quote']

 

As someone who identifies as almost entirely Simulationist, I would argue that these sorts of meta-game result modification tools are most likely to be embraced by Narritivists (who can use them to steer the story the way they want it to go), Gamists will likely appreciate them for different reasons (notably second chances when they're "losing"), and Simulationists will find them artificial and jarring (for the reasons I listed in my first reply). But again, just my GNS-based two cents.

Re: HAP: How to use them

I don't use them, and would not under most any circumstance use them, in my games. But then I also dislike Fate points, Bennies, and Hero Points in every other game I've encountered them in. For me, the dice, and the luck that they produce, is what makes the game. I want to roll with that roll, and let the story happen as it does, even if (and sometimes especially if) it's bad news. I would rather take a bullet to the throat on a lucky roll from a villain and die a horrifying death, forcing me to create a new character, if it means that the other characters will all get a visceral experience out of the event.

Basically, any mechanic that I see as "meta" - that is, outside of a decision made by my character - is directly counter to my immersion in my character. So no, I wouldn't use them in my games, and were I in a game where they were in use, I would probably not ever use them for that very reason, and if the GM was worried about my "saving them up" and didn't take me at my word that I wasn't ever going to use them, I'd burn them all on a ridiculous roll, like a perception check, in the first act.

Re: Lighter Light Spell

I do wish there was a better mechanic for it. Was it this way in 5e and 4e as well? I don't remember enough of the original Champions! to know.

Given that it grants the same +4 against darkness penalties to your enemies, and explicitly doesn't counteract the Darkness power, it feels like it ought to be a wash.

More to the point, I think the smart wizard will simply learn a Night Eyes spell instead, to keep himself and his comrades from being easy targets.

Re: A spell that acts like a "lightning rod for magic"

I like Deflection, usable on others, with an automatic side effect that it is deflected into the wielder of the device.

Re: Lighter Light Spell

Some characters are blind even in the light.

Interesting point - so what's a better choice? Flash isn't intended to always mean light - I mean, a poke in the eye is a Flash attack.

I'm leaning towards some manner of Change Environment or even a Transform at this point...

EDIT: and then I re-read Change Environment and am told explicitly not to use it for light! So, back to the drawing board on that idea... But a 1d6 minor transform (standard effect 1 BODY) would only be 5 active points, and could transform a tiny rock into a tiny glowing rock that gave a +2 to PER rolls, maybe?

Re: Wish List: Other Licensed Content

The Third Imperium is usually known a Classic Traveller

To most, yeah. The original CT didn't have a default universe, and the Imperium just grew up organically over time. I was in middle school when I first met Traveller, and the Imperium was pretty well situated by then ('82).

I gave the Traveller Hero book a look, the v0.9 PDF at least, but it was too full of references to the Terran Empire book that I didn't have. I'd love to see it done right, from the ground up - but with both Marc Miller and Mongoose doing products, it seems an unlikely one.

Re: Wish List: Other Licensed Content

Well, if we're including existing RPGs in this, then yes, The Third Imperium, Star Frontiers and Shadowrun are three that I would love to see formalized.

Re: Wish List: Other Licensed Content

I really think SE would need to be full-color and hardcover to do it justice; but this could be a unique "prestige" HERO product that IMHO would draw attention to the game from a lot of folks unfamiliar with it.

I think that similar styles of material has helped to propel Savage Worlds to the position it holds in current RPG circles. They came at it from the direction of Deadlands, and expanded it out to include many different published settings right away, akin to the way GURPS did things back when 2nd and 3rd edition were out - mostly "world books" instead of "mechanics books" like they do now.

I'm trying to put together some rudimentary spells for an apprentice's spellbook, and had hoped to compile them all into a single 10 point multipower. Unfortunately, one of the spells I wanted was a light spell, and while the real cost for just creating light using Images isn't bad after the -1 for To Create Light Only, it leaves the active cost entirely too high.

Anyone got any other ideas for a cheaper active cost way to create a source of light bright enough to read by?

Re: Non-Phase Segments - what is happening then?

Most fights in Hero are over far too quickly for their real life counterparts anyway. Fist fights often take only a turn or two at most' date=' and gunfights are often even quicker. Most actual fist fights involve a lot of testing the water and most actual gunfights involve a lot of missing and ducking behind cover, and can get very protracted. If you actually play it in 'game time' then a team of superheroes can probably enter, scout and defeat the soldiers and end of level bosses of a medium sized VIPER base in less than two minutes, with maybe another 12 seconds to raid all their data bases.[/quote']

 

Yes, and that's a bigger problem in GURPS, where some battles last all of two or three seconds due to the combination of "attack every second" and "one hit can easily be fatal" mentality.

Re: Non-Phase Segments - what is happening then?

I am beginning to appreciate the nuances that longer "action periods" lends to HERO over the "hack every second" potential of GURPS, just based on this discussion. I'm happy with a system that still models individual actions or action parcels (Martial Dodge, for example, being a series of dodges depending on the situation), and will run through some more test encounters to ensure I'm really grokking how the system works.

Re: Non-Phase Segments - what is happening then?

GURPS combat actions do not involve anything analogous to END or Recovery. Try acting every second in Hero and combats will be either very short (everyone falls over from exhaustion) or very long (everyone buys Zero END on everything' date=' so attacks do less damage and less gets through defenses).[/quote']

 

That's very true. You can eventually get into advanced rules and see individuals burning Fatigue Points for maneuvers, and long combats can leave one fatigued, but it's not a default mechanic at all. Definitely something for me to keep in mind.

 

Like what other people have mentioned I've always seen this time as either the time it takes to fully set-up/finish your action or recover from the previous action. While you can fire a couple of shots with a pistol in a couple of seconds(ie, like rapid fire), they wont be very accurate (I've been to firing ranges a few times so I can tell you that it takes a normal person a couple of seconds to line up a decently accurate shot). Also think about how long it would take you to move X meters (more than a second I can assume) and also shake off getting hit by someone. If someone punches you, even if it doesn't do much damage, you still generally have to regain your balance or reset your fighting stance (unless you're trained, which is why martial artists have high speed in general). It's not only the time it takes you to complete the action but the time it takes to set up and reset from the action as well as processing the fight and determining the best course of action. Just look at any MMA fight. A good portion of the time neither guy is acting since they're trying to pick the best attack to use.

 

I suppose it does give a better feel for the sort of things that happen in real combats - where the fighters circle a bit between hits, sizing one another up.

 

I think you're over-analyzing it but understanding the 'why' is always a good thing.

 

Welcome to my style of gaming. I am beginning to realize that I prize simulation just a little too much in my games.

Re: Non-Phase Segments - what is happening then?

Non-phase segments are for the smokers.

 

Really it is no different to a game where you have one action per turn and an initiative order in that turn: what do DnD characters do between their turn and the next? Everything is still happening: you are still moving/dodging etc.

D&D is the worst offender of my sensibilities. "Roll once, and that'll determine the broad results of everything you did for the last ten seconds, offensively." No, thanks. I'm actually a fan of the GURPS one second rounds where actions are very atomic, and really generally enjoying the mechanics in the last few editions of RuneQuest, with their "special effects" based on mutual dice results.

Re: Non-Phase Segments - what is happening then?

I suspect I'm just trying to make it too finely grained for what the system intends. I'm coming at this from GURPS with one second turns and would rather hew closer to that than the old D&D "lotsa stuff happens in a combat round" abstraction.

Between "slow reaction time means taking time to decide to do things" and "the slack time is build up to the resolution" and "it may not happen exactly when the speed chart says, but that's when we'll roll and resolve the results" I think I can suck it up.

The MHI kickstarter was quick to reach 100% funding, and still has two weeks to climb higher.

That makes me wonder if there aren't other properties that could be looked into that would have similar success stories. So I ask you, HERO community, to dream big, and then maybe dream a little more realistically. What would be your dream licensed product, and what ones do you think actually have a shot?

As an example, I'd love to see the Dresden novels brought into the HERO system, officially, but with the existing FATE edition it seems less than likely. ASOIAF would be lovely as well, but again, someone's already doing it. And blast it, I'm pretty sure there's already at least one, if not more, Black Company games out there...

So for less dreaming, it would be wonderful to see Harry Turtledove's Videssos made into a licensed HERO product. I'm almost certain nobody's done that yet!

Re: Non-Phase Segments - what is happening then?

Conceptually' date=' your action takes place across the 4 second period. Practically, we have to divide the combat period into discrete sections in order to resolve it in an orderly fashion. "How fast can I pull the trigger" is not the same as "how fast can I line up the moving target across a chaotic field of combat and get a bead on my target that I think will hit him and not do any collateral damage".[/quote']

 

This leads me to think that, for a very realistic style of play, I ought to enforce the optional rule to start combat on phase 1, rather than starting on phase 12 to give everyone a chance.

 

Also, which side of the fence do you stand on - the four seconds (for a SPD 3) start on your phase, or do they end on your phase?

Re: Non-Phase Segments - what is happening then?

In 6e see Multiple Attack (5e split it up based on range; HTH = Sweep' date=' Ranged = Rapid Fire).[/quote']

And yet, it would still all take place, be resolved and the effects be felt on the same segment. I would start shooting at 12:24:14 and finish at 12:24:15, and then not do anything else until 12:24:20, assuming a SPD of 2. Should I assume I really was firing from 12:24:09 on through :14, or from :14 through to :19 or something else entirely?

Something I'm trying to come to terms with, so please bear with me while I spitball a bit over the notion of speed, turns, phases and segments.

If I have a SPD of 3, I get to act three times in twelve seconds. Every four seconds, by the default reading of the rules. The question then arises as to what I'm up to during the other nine seconds in the twelve second turn - did I use up the three seconds leading up to my phase in preparation for what I did in that phase? If so, shouldn't I have to declare it pretty much as soon as my last phase ended, so that other characters who are acting before me can react to my activities? Or is it the other way around, I do something on my phase, it takes the whole phase (or perhaps it was an attack and while only using a half phase, it ended my actions for the segment) - and then I'm doing something associated with the action for the next three seconds until my next phase arrives. That explains why I keep getting bonuses for my Martial Dodge. I'm spending the intervening segments jitterbugging around in my hex, making it hard to hit me. But if my action was to fire a semi-automatic pistol, I've managed to fire a single shot and then sit and wait three seconds, effectively reacting to the pull of the trigger.

Now, I'm no marital arts superhero, so my SPD in real life is probably closer to 2, if not 1 (what can I say, I'm a stereotypical older gamer) - but I know for a fact that if you put a pistol in my hand I can get off more than two aimed shots in twelve seconds - maybe only four or five, if the caliber was large, but still...

It's very abstract, and I'm trying to make it more concrete - maybe a wasted exercise. I wonder about how to make these things work for me in my desire to take a system that's self-described as being much more dramatic and cinematic than realistic, and make it more realistic.

Ideas?

A beginning character will never have enough points for everything he feels the archetype needs. GURPS may not be the best exemplar -- the power creep in the Fourth Edition is so serious that they didn't even try to set a standard starting value for PCs and build any templates or examples within it.

That's actually exactly what SJG did in the first Dungeon Fantasy PDF - they took a 250 point level for "bad ass, over the top heroes" and made templates, with plenty of room for customization within the template, for all of the D&D-style archetypes.

Re: Fantasy Race Bloat?

But I draw the line at weird half-this/half-that-with-a-template-on-top builds, because ... it's just not cool to twist the system until it bleeds.

You know, someone on Reddit said they wanted help with a half-elf/half-dragon build for some D20 variant and I felt bad - because I assume that person is about twelve years old, strictly based on the mary-sue sounding race choice.