Michael Hopcroft

I think you may have a point here. Conan the Barbarian wsn't just strong as an ox -- he had trained in all forms of combat to the point that he was a virtual killing machine. How many points is Conan worth, anyway?

What would it be like ot build a game around the standard fantasry tropes, but with superhuman power levels for PCs? Superpowers would be magic. Characters with extreme Characteristics would have dragons blood, giants blood or be related to gods. If you wnated a magic sword you'd buy it with your character points as a focus -- but that sword could chop through boulders. Only wizards and clerics would be able to cast spells, but they could weave powerful dweamors indeed. The PCs would be the greatest adventurers in the world -- and thus face the greatest challenges. They might indeed be a match for a dragon -- but what if they had to face an ARMY of dragons? And there are many types of power that cannot be represented by character points. Even if a knight is strong enough to win a kingdom by his sword arm, it will take more than his sword arm to keep it.... What would fantasy characters built within genre, but at the same point and disadvantage level of Champions beginning superheroes, be like? Even if you give them Normal Characteristic Maxima (and don't give them the points for it), there's a lot you can buy for 300+150 points.

King of jesters, jester of Kings You probably remember that the character Danny Kaye played in The Court Jester was not the real Jacomo. The real one used his jestering as a cover for his true business -- assassination. Giving much cause for comedic misunderstanding in what has to be one of the two or three funniest fantasy films ever made. Remember -- the chalice from the palace has the pellet that is poison, the vessel with the pestle holds the brew that is true!

I can;t help but ask.... But is there a spell for turning princes into frogs?

I saw the ad in the bvack for Fantasy HERO Grimoire and i was wondering just what sort of book it was going to be and what kind of spells would be in it. Will it be just a book of spells, or would there be more to it? Finally, will there be a Hero Designer package for Fantasy HERO including the Grimorie, and will it be just as expensive as the UNTIL Superpowers Database kit? (I;'m sure there has been a thread on this subject, but I can;t find it. If someone could point me to it, I'd like to read and contribute to it.)

If characters go on a quest to learn skills that cost points (like Martial Arts), hoe do they earn the points to buy the skills as they train in them? Does the GM award the points by fiat if he feels they have spent the proper amount of time out of play training?

Social Disadvatnage: Prejudice against Dragons (could face serious social conequences if discoeverd he was raised by a dragon, and since most humans hate dragons no mater what their alignment anyone who defends dragons is quickly going to be ostracised by humans). Psych lim: More comfrotable around dragons than around people. Phsyical limitation: Unfamiliar with human culture (and raised by a mother who scorned humans with the exception of himself). If Literacy is the norm in your campaign, you might consider him being able to read only the dragon tounge and, whoile able to speak Common, unable to read or write it.

I haven;t read my Star HERO book in a while (in fact, I recenttly had to replace my copy after losing it) but I seem to recall there being a lot of character package deals in it. I don;t have tE any more, but there may have been even more in that. What i was wondering is if there package deals for character types like dissolute nobles (useful NPCs who can get a trading ship PC party in a lot of trouble). I also wonder, on a related note, if it is possible to buld a bio-mechanical race like Alternity's Mechalus. They were a really cool race and would make interesting PCs, and I'd like to see one in a Star HERO game.

I have had a lot of fun with B-grade fantasy movies over the years. I don't know if it's been mentioned yet, but Roger Corman's "The Raven", withVincent price and Boris Karloff, has a lot of funny stuff in it and also has a great climactic wizard's duel -- for the effects he had at his disposal in 1963 with no budget, Corman did a materful job. Someone mentioned "Sword of the Valiant". I wish I could see that again -- I really enjoyed it when I first saw it on TV (the only time I've ever seen it). Slayers: the Motion Picutre is a Japanese animation with two powerful sorceresses wreaking havoc on a resort island. Clearly inspired by someone's AD&D campaign, the characters are a hoot. The TV series is even better, and the OVAs (original Video Animation) are hilarious. "Wait a minute -- your mirror-oppoosites are shy, demure pacifists! That means the orignals must be -- oh bleep!" Record of Lodoss Wars is a classic D&D campaign brought to life -- literally. Pirotess the Dark Elf is a great character. And Shakespeare is a great source for fantasy campaigns. Franco Zeferelli's Hamlet with Mel Gibson is extremely inspirational, as is just about any version of "that Scottish play".

How would one go about desiging a FH world based on Japanese, Chinese or indian mythology? Would Samurai and Ninjas get their own package Deals seperate than theyr UMA/NH versions? What kind of magic would be used and who would use it (no self-respecting Samurai would sully his hand with magic!)? What about the Chinese mythos? It's quite colorful in its own right. And india has very rarely been done in RPGs, but an India=style setting would be quite interesting. The Gods might actually be walking the Earth making michief, or might have contradictory natures (to Western eyes -- a Hindu sees no contradiction in Kali being the goddess of both birth and murder, for example). learning how to use other mythos seems to be the next step towards developing a truly unique and alien fantasy world for your campaign....

Unit-level MA It makes sense that a unit of archers would have trained long enough to have Archery martial manuvers, making them even more deadly on the battlefield. Until musketeers start showing up, then they become obsolete.

I have Ultimate Martial Artist, and need to get a new copy of Ninja Hero, but now that I have Fantasy hero I was wondering if FH adventurers who knew UMA martial artist practices were viable in fantasy worlds. I can see fantasy worlds in which there are 'exotic" reigons where these arts are pracitsed, and it may even be a quest in itself to learn them. A very experienced Elf adventurer who has gone to the Oriental lands and studied both Kenjutsu AND Kyuujutsu and brought it back to his home woods could train a cadre of deadly Elf warriors. And especially if he knew battle magic he would be an extremely formidable warrior himself.

Gods There are some fantasy worlds, though, where Gods, while they are theoretically immortal and immensely powers, are beings like any other and can be killed by sufficient force. Especially when they venture outside their natural planes. In one particular fantasy series, Gods of Light and Gods of Darkenss fought a war that lasted for a thousand years and slew nearly all of them, leaving the world in the hands of mortals. As a result of this massive casualty rate, Gods becamse reluctant to interfere in human affairs beyond granting spells to priests and priestesses. (I believe it was part of the backstory of Record of Lodoss Wars, but don't quote me on that.)

Is there anythign special you need to do to design a magic item so that it can only be used by ONE person? Examples include a wizard's staff that only the wizard who made it can use (for everyone else it's just a stick) or a sword that grants its bonuses only to the regining King of All the Lands (to everyone else it's just an ordinary sword, perhaps even duller than usualy, but for the King it can cut through anything). This is the opposite of Independent, and almost certainly makes the item more expensive. It also makes the items useless if found as treasure. (But if the Sword of the Kings is found in a dungeon where a King died a hundred years ago, and the finder takes it back to the capital and somehow becomes King of All the Lands, will the sword work for him?)

Magical idols A magical idol singer may cost more points than you think. besides the Multiform (preteen girl to teenager), you also hace the various magical effects that the idols use to enhance their performances. Rivalry is a natrual disadvantage (there's always a rival diol determined to wreck the heroine's career), as is a variation on Limited Duration (the powers go away after a year is a common theme in magical idol shows.) And there's nothing to stop you from designing a campaing in which a Magical Girl is both an idol AND an adventurer. Such a campaign could indeed be very interesting. Finally, there is the variation presented by I'll Make a Habit of It, in which a popular idol singer also happens to be a poweerful martial artist who has to go to great lengths to pursue both careers,In this case, the heroine becamse an idol to pick up disciples for her family dojo, only to find that plan didn;t work. So she disguises herself as a boy to get into a tough school -- and that's when things get weird, even by anime standards.

Courtuney would play the Brigadier twice more -- in the 20th anniversary story "The Five Doctors" 9where he was transported with patrick Troughton to the Dead Zone on Gallifrey and got to knock the Master out with a hard right) and in the Sylvester McCoy story "Battlefield" (where we met his successor at UNIT, Brigadier Winifred Bambera, who was a formidable character in her own right). And nit=pick here -- the Key to Time storyarc was four years before "Mawdryn Undead", a Peter Davison story which began a plot to kill the Doctor by inserting an evil companion itno his party. (Turlough later rejected evil and reformed).

Sailor Moon as an example Sailor Moon satrted out as very uncerttain about herself and her abilities. But she didn;t win because her enemies were somehow stupid -- they weren't. She won because she had willpower (although she needed encouragement and experience to discover it). Bother her power and her skill in using it grew along with her confidence -- a perfect analogy to many RPG campaigns. Even a beginning superhero might not have that much confidence in their powers or their judgement in using them. By the end of the season, she was much more confident and powerful. The important thing in a magical girl story of any sort is that the character grows and develops in both personality and ability over time.

Pertwee died in the late '90s. I met him once on a tpour to Portland -- we traded notes of having been in the same show ("A Funy Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" -- he played Lycus on the West End, I played Hysterium in college.) Every actor should do Forum at least once in their careers.... Tom Baker has aged visibly and not very well, but is still active and still has that incredible voice of his. He was in the suppedly excreble Duneons & Dragons movie, and when he appeared in one of the BBC Narnia series ("The Silver Chair", I believe it was), the old magic was still there. Peter Davison has gone quite bald over the years. His major role after Doctor Who was the title role in Campion, a series that ran in America on Mystery!, and he was very good. I haven't heard anything about Nicholas Courtney (Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart) in years.

For the benefit of the anime fans who play Hero, what do you guys think would be the most effective way to build a magical girl? There are several different kinds of magical girl, as anyone who has read one of my books will know. I'm thinking of several of these types, such as the kind who transforms into a colrfully dressed warrior maiden with magical atatcks and defenses, or a thief who uses magic powers to commit her robberies, or the preteen girl who tranforms into a beautiful teenager so she can achieve fame and fortune as an idol singer. How do you build any of these characters in Hero, and at what point level should you build them?

Do you have the Hero Designer file for Yuri that I could either download or have e-mailed to me? I love collecting characters (I convinced Derek to send me all the characters from his Challenge of the Superfirends game from DunDraCon) and wish there was more exchanging of hero Designer files. The character sheets look very good. I too am looking forward to Mughi. I'd really like to see a Hero Designer file of Mink (from Dragon Half) someday. She must bem what, 600 points?

Getting back to the horse The hrose would be worth even more as a DNPC if you were a peasant or commoner in a fnatasy world where only the nobility are allowed to ride horses (as opposed to having an oxen to pull your plow). Ask anyone with a liger about the charms of having a pet who could land you in jail just by existing....

I'm trying to determine whether my scheudle will enable me to attend GenCon SoCal, but I'd love to go to Dundracon again and run a game of something. And hopefully get to play in a few more. The question is how I'm going to afford a hotel room and transprotation, and whether I can get the time off from work. I actually would probably prefer the atmosphere at DunDraCon -- I'm familiar with it and more comfrotable there. After some of the fiascos I heard about at genCon Indy this year, i wonder if the company that runs GenCon can put on three good conventions in a year, especially with one of them a new launch.

As far as PCs are concerned, for game balance purposes it should be relatively easy to defend against the power. Only those who are truly unaware of the attack are certain to be captured. If the Extra Time limitation is taken, then a simple DEX roll may be all that is required to step out of the way before the portal opens. The more difficult question for PCs is the possibility that one of their DNPCs or someone else very important to the campaign may be trapped in the "pocket Hell" and need to be rescued before their mind is destroyed. Although it would be a very traumatic experience, a good mentalist 9or even a good physchiatrist) can heal the damage once the character is out of the dimension.

It would probably be simple to model a villain whose major attack power was to transport his enemies to a pocket dimension 9(a sort of pocket Hell) and trap them there for etermity (or until some can get in there to plukc them out, by which time they might well be quite mad from the painand fear they've suffered). the attack would have two parts -- the act of teleporting the person from their present dimension to the pocjket Hell, and a Continuous NND EGO attack against the victim while he is there (which applies to anyone who enters the dimension, even briefly). Perhaps the villain thinks he really is opening one-way portals to the real Hell....

In the period from 1955 to 1990, the British Broadcasting Corporation produced several remarkable science fiction series for its television service. It was the age of Quatermass and the Pit , Doctor Who ,Blakes 7 and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy . The shows were marked the the paradoxical combination of cheap, often cheezy effects and often truly creative storytelling. The era ended when Star Trek: the Next Generation proved concolusively that a government agency that relied on TV license fees could never raise the financial resources to compete. Since then BBC SF has been limited to satires like Red Dwarf , which have proved popular but not quite as satisfying to me at least. Could Star HERO be used to put together a campaign in ther style of one of those classic series?