Shaddakim

Re: Hero Talk Magazine Nudge, nudge. Part 2? May? Anytime soon? Please?

Re: Hero Talk Magazine Ha! The Lirby Koo quote is great. I look forward to Part 2 of "Who's the Master"

Re: Hero Talk Magazine Doc, I like the style and I'm interested in the story. I hate where you stopped (which, believe it or not, is a good thing). Now I have to WAIT. I like the inclusion of Seeker and the reference to the Infamous Doctor Lirby Koo, one of my favorite villains I've never seen. Please post more!

Re: Need Resources for a Pulp Space Opera I found that back in the day, but forgot I had it. Thank you for the reminder. I'll go check that out. Again, thank you for the suggestions. Reps to follow! EDIT: Oops! I need to spread some more rep before I can rep you a second time.

Re: FH Gripes Yep, that's true - FH does take more work than many other game systems. On the other hand, there are short cuts you can take. For example, when I run mook-level NPCs (NPCs that are a minimal threat to the PCs), I found I really only need a small subset of stats: DEX, BODY, SPD, STUN, skill levels, weapon damage, and DEF. I assume they have the STR to use their weapon and a CON of 13 or 18 for stunning purposes. Now putting together a named-level NPC that is a spell caster is a pain if you do not use the Grimoire or have a huge set of spells pre-built. I use the Grimoire for basic spells and select from a growing pool of designed spells that I have accumulated over the various editions of the game system (Hewlett's Horrible Haddock was the toughest conversion into the current rules - it drops 1000s of three-day-old fish on the target causing nausea, disorientation, and being trapped under the mass of fish, try and find that in a published book). My game has been running for 10 years, so I have a pile of spells, but it has only been recently that I've started codifying the magic system. This is a strength of the system, but as others have pointed out, you CAN present players with something they can't hit as long as there is some other way around the problem. Make 'em think. I disagree. I've been able to make very good use of the monster and enemy books, mostly as-is, for the length of my campaign. I'd like to find a way to establish something like a CR from d20, but that is a tricky thing for HERO and total point costs don't necessarily work out to equivalences. Matching opponents to the PCs is indeed an art form. Yeah, they don't float my boat either. Then again, I haven't played in a published gameworld with HERO in over 10 years, so I am very used to using what I want from anything I find interesting and chucking the rest. One of the last original characters in my campaign has been causing this problem. Anything that is a challenge to him KILLS everyone else. He does 4.5d6 (I use an older version of the Greataxe that does 2d6+1) and he has maxed out everything he can to reach the maximum damage and ability to hit to the exclusion of everything else. I had a talk with him when he asked for access to dwarven matrial arts (his character is a dwarf) or to make a legendary greataxe that does more damage. I told him for either of those, he needed his PC to re-integrate himself into dwarven culture. This meant buying cultural skills beyond his every-dwarf skills. Additionally, he needed to develop actual metalworking skills and find someone to train him. I also told him he could buy no new CSL (his OCV ranged 13-16, depending upon circumstances), but could start upgrading his grab bag of 2 and 3 point CSL to more general skills, if he found an in game place to train. This has stopped the arms race and lead to a more rounded (and interesting) character and led to more role-playing. When we finish the current story arc, his character will go into retirement as the campaign shuffles a bit. His character is now a legendary dwarven hero and is being called back to his home kingdom to fight for his people in the Mountain Wars and will make cameos as an NPC when the new batch of PCs are in an area he is active in, just like the other three original PCs who are still alive occasionally make cameos (sorry about that drowning Carl). If you want to do this, find out early what the PLAYER sees as the end-goal is for the PC. Another thing you could do is rule that once mook-level NPCs go below 0 STUN, they're out for the rest of the fight. Named-level NPCs should have a chance to get back up, especially if their minions distract the PCs. Oh, heck yes. And don't let them have magic items that reduce the END lost from being encumbered. That will keep the tanks in line (50kg of armor tires them out pretty quick if they aren't careful). I made this mistake and paid for it until the item got de-magiced by player action. As mentioned by others, type up your house rules and give everyone a copy up front. I run with very few house rules, but have been fairly clear with my players as to what kind of campign I'm running and so the need has not been great. Your mileage may vary. Another thing I suggest always using for FH are hit locations. A 5d6 to the hand or foot is not as life threatening. Plus, this way players start allocating CSLs to making called location shots on single targets rather than mowing down multiple targets. Also, any power with a stop sign should not be allowed in the hands of a PC and never allow PC spellcasters to have a power framework. My campaign started with the PCs being 75/50 points. The last original PCs are retiring with point totals over 200 points after playing once a month for 10 years. New characters come in at a lower point total to avoid "points inflation" and needing hard resets when the entire party is 300+ points. Hope this helps.

Re: Traveller=Pulp Hero+Star Hero

Hey, I'm in the process of putting together a Pulp Space Opera campaign and could use some insight on resources. I'm going to borrow the look and feel heavily from the Rocketmen game (in fact, I'll be using it for the space combat system), but need more information as to what tropes I need to include and things I need to consider. The Pulp Hero book has some pointers for the Pulp side of things, but very little for the space opera side. My questions are: 1) Does Space Hero have anything I can use? 2) Any recommendations on other resources? Thank you ahead of time.

The Mobs of Capital City The Mobs of Capital City Capital City, despite its grand name, remained small and unimportant until Prohibition started. Local bootleggers and moonshiners needed a friendly place to tranship their wares and hide their boats. With the long approach from the Bay, lookouts with radios or (later) telephones could be placed to provide ample warning of the approach of Federal agents by boat or ship. Peppino "Peppy" Malone made an offer to the Mayor and Sheriff - turn a blind eye and accept a personal cut and "taxes" off the profits and Peppy would keep the bootlegging discreet. Seeing the advantage of adding a second "industry" to the taxbase (not to mention the personal financial incentives), the Mayor and Sheriff agreed. Peppy paid to improve the docking facilities and had warehouses built for "Malone Shipping". Look out posts were established to warn of approaching Revenue agents and a small hotel was built to house members of the Malone gang and any rumrunners that needed to lie low for a while. Peppy started bringing in alcohol from stills hidden in Virginia and points south and from ships in Rum Row off the coast. The alcohol would arrive by boat and be unloaded at one of the new docks in an area obscured from sight, keeping the agreement between Peppy and the Mayor. The alcohol would then be readied for distribution by truck or fast car and sent to speak-easys closer to Washington D.C. and the various naval bases on Chesapeake Bay. As more booze was shipped through Capital City, the Malone organization grew and the town did as well. The "taxes" paid to the city by Malone Shipping allowed for improvements to the town infrastructure and "salary adjustments" to the city council to keep things running smoothly. In order to provide a veneer of legitimacy to his cover organization and new revenue streams, Peppy had Malone Shipping purchase three small ships. He had two of the ships rigged for hauling cargo (mostly locally grown tobacco) and one as a floating casino and brothel. The casino/brothel ship, the _Devonian_, sailed twice a week for two day excursions out beyond US territorial waters. The cost to get in was fair, the drinks cheap, the women good looking, and the house's take of the gambling reasonable. Cost of entry for city council members and the sheriff was free. This was later extended to sheriff deputies as well. When prohibition ended, the Malone gang was entrenched in Capital City, which was starting to grow to meet its lofty name. Peppy had expanded Malone Shipping to a small fleet of cargo ships and smaller fleet of casino ships that ran up and down the East Coast. Several other businesses that took advantage of Malone Shippings good rates and cheap (stolen or counterfeit) goods opened offices in Capital City. A local college had been established which drew faculty that was willing to work cheap due to "troubled" employment histories and the need for a second chance. Enrollment was low initially, but it grew over time, especially after World War Two. After World War Two, the Malone gang started to factionalize over the introduction of narcotics. The Don recognized that the sale of narcotics in Capital City had the potential of breaking his agreement with the City Council to keep operations discrete. Cesare "Double Z" Zarrazina, one of the Don's newer lieutenants, saw the immense profits to be made and felt that the gang had enough control to run the city, City Council or no City Council. Zarrazina made a deal with the “Diamond” Nick Bartalucci of New York for additional muscle and support and then made his bid for control of the family in 1951. The mob war lasted nearly two years and ended when the City Council was forced to ask the FBI to intervene. The FBI investigations led to the arrests of both mobsters, sheriff deputies, local judges, and particularly corrupt members of the city council. The replacements to the City Council ran on "Law and Order" planks and were elected by a landslide. Little known at the time was the fact that most of these candidates were funded by the organization Kraken. Additionally, Don Peppy was able to utilize favors owed him by several senators to avoid prosecution and went into retirement, moving to Las Vegas. For the rest of the 50's and the early 60's, Capital City grew by emphasising its cleaned up reputation was a modest city by 1963. The city's criminal underworld had learned its lesson about becoming too visible and reorganized into several smaller families: the Malone's, the di Centa's, the Scarpelli's, and the Bartalucci's. With the growth of the city and its economy, there was money enough for everyone and turf battles were rare. More importantly, the "Arrangement" with the remaining old guard members of the City Council was re-established and slowly expanded to include some of the newer members of the City Council. Things started to crumble as the 70's started. With the downturn in the economy, growth stopped and turf wars between the Families and the street gangs associated with them became more numerous. In 1978, the di Centa's and the Scarpelli's went to war for control of the heroin trade in southern Maryland and northern Virginia. With mobsters being hit on an almost daily basis, the Malone's and the Bartalucci's were concerned about the "Arrangement" being broken and so stepped in to end it quick. In a combined offensive, Malone buttonmen and Bartalucci thumb-breakers quickly moved in and took out both the di Centa's and the Scarpelli's. The Malone's took over the drug trade, the Bartalucci's took over numbers and stolen goods rackets, and they split the rest of it between them. It was not until the 80's, when Cocaine became King, that it became clear that the Malone's had gotten the better of the deal. It was also during this time that Kraken started gaining influence over the Malone Family. In 1984, Julias Malone retired as the head of Malone Shipping and as the Don of the Malone Family. His oldest son, Eduardo "Eddy" Malone, was given control of Malone Shipping, but his eldest child, his daughter Lara, was given control of the Family. Lara had shown an aptitude for "the business" and had gained supporters among the capos by developing new rackets dealing with white collar crime. She also brought in a source of advanced weapons for the Family to use. The members of the Malone family and their client street gangs started carrying these advanced weapons. This made them more fearsome and allowed the gangs to start encroaching on Bartalucci territory. The few times the Bartalucci gangs pushed back, they were cut down by the superior firepower of the Malone gangs. This led to Bartalucci client gangs abandoning them and joining up with the Malone's. Seeing the writing on the wall, the Bartalucci Don sued for peace with the Malone's in 1989. This allowed the Bartalucci's to continue to operate as a family, but they were now subserviant to the Malone Family. That fact rankles the Bartalucci Family to this day. In 1988, Eddy Malone nearly lost control of Malone Shipping, Incorporated, to corporate raiders. Lara used the Family's muscle to "convince" several of the raiders to change their mind and staved off the attack. In 1991, Lara had to keep corporate raiders from taking control of Malone Shipping from her brother for the second time. Having had enough of this, she tapped her alliance with Kraken for the necessary deep resources to fend off the raiders and to seize direct control of Malone Shipping herself. She installed herself as CEO, put in a loyal puppet as president and restructured the company's finances so she would never have to go through this again. In the process, she discovered she liked corporate raiding and picked it up as a hobby. By the end of the 1990's, the Malone Family had control of several powerful members of the Capital City city government and the Capital City Police Force, control of several judges on local, state, and federal levels, and control of several members of Congress. This has made Capital City a ripe plum that several groups are wont to pick. Additionally, by 2006 more superhoeroes have started noticing that things are not quite right in Capital City and looking closer and several of the underworld factions are starting to get tired of the Malone's being on top. The "Arrangement" The "Arrangement" has been kept fairly intact between the Families and the City Council since the 1950's. New members of the City Council are either brought in or find they have trouble getting re-elected. The mobsters keep the public believing that any drug problem is a street gang and occasionally feed a gang that has displeased them to local law enforcement. This keeps the public feeling like the police are doing their job and keeps the street gangs in line. The "Arrangement" has also let the Families avoid the federal problems that plague their brethern in cities like New York or Chicago by appearing to the FBI to be an area with minimal mob activity with rare flare-ups of activity.

Short Timeline Here is a short timeline for Capital City, Maryland, current base of operations for Four Summoners. 1864 Tobacco Port, recently rebuilt after being destroyed during the Civil War, is renamed Capital City. 1923 Malone Shipping established and dock facilities constructed. 1924 Malone Shipping fleet starts service, mostly carrying product for the Capital Tobacco Company. 1928 Malone Shipping fleet now 12 ships 1929 The Great Depression starts. 1930 Capital City Community College established. Capital Tobacco and Malone Shipping major contributors. 1951 Mob War 1 starts 1953 September FBI puts an end to the Mob War, arresting most of the Zarrazina Family and many corrupt local officials. 1953 November Many new local officials elected to "clean up the city" 1954 Peppino "Peppy" Malone, founder of Malone Shipping retires. Ownership goes to his son, Julias. 1955 Capital City Community College becomes Capital City University. 1958 Peppy Malone dies peacefully in his sleep at his mansion in Nevada. 1961 Chronos Chemicals moves their Corporate Headquarters to Capital City. 1964 Capital City celebrates 100 Year Anniversary. Malone Shipping now the number five short-haul shipper in America. 1967 Military Advanced Research Systems establishes offices in Capital City 1978 Mob War 2 starts and ends. The all members of the di Centa and Scarpelli Families disappear or are found dead. 1980's Some street gangs gain access to advanced weaponry and fight for turf. Blamed on cocaine trafficking. The Capital City Police make some notable arrests and drug seizures and things quiet down after 1989. 1984 Julias "Ceasar" Malone retires and ownership of Malone Shipping goes to Eduardo "Eddy" Malone, Julias's eldest son (but not his eldest child...) 1986 Julias Malone dies in his sleep of a stroke. 1987 Eddy Malone takes the Malone Shipping company public to moderate success. 1988 Eddy Malone nearly loses control of the Malone Shipping, Incorporated, to corporate raiders. Only intervention by his older sister Lara, Julias's oldest child, and some fortunate breaks keep the company in family hands. 1991 Malone Shipping is once again the target of corporate raiders. This time Lara Malone uses the event to her advantage and seizes control of the company herself. Eddy is forced out. 1993 The Malone Investment Group, under Lara Malone, incorporates and starts acquiring other companies for piece-meal resale (corporate raiding). 1996 Eddy Malone dies of a drug overdose. Exactly which drug is unclear.

Re: UnCaped: February Issue Hey, any updates? I miss the new covers...

Re: What would your Master Villain do? Professor Demigauss leans forward: "I concur with Dr. Hexx. Having their own master tactician plan out their own demise not only provides a sound method, as he should know their weaknesses best, but will pleasantly add salt to the wound afterwards. Once their "Pantheon" has apparently fallen to infighting, the sheep will be less trusting and more suspicious of their "heroes." Not only will we divide and conquer the Pantheon against themselves, but also against they and their support networks. We could go even further, providing evidence of ethically and morally behaviour. Incorporating The Maestro's suggestion, we could provide "proof" that they are setting themselves up as gods to rule over ther rest of humaity. A few staged events and the sheep will turn on them, driving them from their santuaries. Then we strike them down, when no one else will raise a hand to stop us."

Re: What would your Master Villain do? Excellent plan! Doesn't deal out the Pantheon, but excellent plan none the less. I need to spread some more rep before I can rep this.

Re: (worst ever)...reasons to be a supervillain

Re: Hero Talk Magazine HA! That was great - it had me snickering the whole time. On the covers, I like the advice topics. They add that little touch of what you expect from a personality magazine. Please keep sharing!

Re: UnCaped: February Issue Whoops, missed that. Thank you for the assist Hermit. Hey Publius, I'd like to make references to your magazine covers later in some short fiction I'm posting on another thread (http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=53696). May I?

Re: UnCaped: February Issue Hey, I want to give rep to Publius for this. How do I do that?

Re: PBEM: Capes! Working on the questionaire, but I have a question or two: 1) What are the Gate Keys? 2) What can you tell us about the Third Gate Key? (When did the incident happen? What triggered it? That sort of thing.) 3) Does answering "Yes" to question 5 automatically disqualify an applicant or just put them under tougher scrutiny? (It is such a tempting thing to do....) 4) What point level should we be aiming at? Thank you for your time.

Re: (worst ever)...reasons to be a supervillain Being a hero smacks of effort.

Re: List of Forum Members - Super Teams & Members Four Summoners ~ Villains Professor Demigauss - Gadgeteer Summoner/Mastermind Doctor Zarathustra - Tri-form demon questing for souls Menagerie - Huntress cursed to randomly turn into endangered species she has hunted when under stress or injured Cannonade - flying EBer able to blackout all radio communications in a one mile radius Recently joined: Goralac - Demonic associate of Doctor Zarathustra looking for work For short stories, see Four Summoners thread: http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=53696

Re: Der Dämmerungprojekt

Re: Zeppelins! Hey, what software did you use to make those maps? They came out crisp and clean and I like that.

Re: Metal Master

Re: Q & A: DC Geography Lessons I seem to recall that Metropolis was based on Manhattan and Gotham on Brooklyn, both boroughs (sp?) of New York City.

Re: WWYCD: Dependent no more Professor Demigauss does not have any DNPCs, only associates and minions (see the Four Summoners thread). As all of his associates are superpowered villains already, it would have to be one of his minions, preferably his contact in the Bardalucci Crime Family, Michael "Mickey Blue Eyes" Spinelli. Mickey would gain super strength, enhanced tracking capabilities, and his pump action shot gun would gain the ability to fire different types of projectiles on command. His trademarked metallic blue sunglasses would provide enhanced sight and improved levels of flash defense. He would become a feared member of the Capital City criminal underworld and more effective at pushing Professor Demigauss's agenda of taking control of the city. Bwa-ha-ha-ha!

Re: UnCaped I agree with Publius, the legal proviso was a hoot! Doing some -ahem- research, Playboy's cover price is, I believe, $4.99 an issue. So I think both of you are in the right price bracket, especially considering the relative rarity of the photographic content. I'll also bet both publications have gone over to digital photography, which leaves a slightly pixilated effect on the curves. -Ahem!-