Mordacius

Sorry to be so late getting back to you guys. I keep game related stuff at http://www.marshed.com/mordax (HERO & D&D). Everything there is currently in HERO Designer or Open Office format: I'll see about converting my notes over to something a little more mainstream tomorrow afternoon, since I have the day off.

I'm running a campaign that works that way right now, (it's actually in its third incarnation - been doing this for ages). The characters work for a mysterious multi-dimensional organization that calls itself Central, playing agents selected for their "Zelazny Immutability" - an unexplained property that allows them to keep cybernetic and mystical augmentation across dimensions with differing rules. The first couple of times I ran it, they worked for the R&D branch, where their whole purpose was to steal and test weird tech. The current incarnation of the game features a new, monster hunting branch ("The Uruk Project: Protecting a select subset of known worlds from dimensional incursion since classified.") If anybody's curious, lemme know. I'm toying with putting together a netbook about the game setting.

This came up in a game that I was going to run, and we settled on a Multiform VPP. It's got several advantages over the Transform: - It doesn't involve hand waving any rules, which saves on later confusion about what's legal and why. - It's not random in any way. All you have to do is flip to the appropriate page of the Bestiary, and check the beast's total points. Transform would take longer depending on the power of the shape assumed. (The animal shape wouldn't *just* require doing double BODY - the character would also have to do extra points if the animal form had a bunch of new powers they wanted. D&D Wild Shape is a standard action, IIRC.) - The character has an unlimited number of shapes, but still has an upper limit to the power of the abilities they can mimic. Technically, that construction of Transform does not. For instance, a really, really fatal snake would be possible under that Transform (which is limited only by size), but not under the VPP construction. That may not be true to the letter of the D&D rules, but I feel it's true to their spirit.

Yep. Lets it move through a gas, instead of a liquid. I thought the idea was hopelessly clever in real life, never mind a game. Pity about the Kursk, though. Hadn't heard about that.

Hrm...miscellaneous thoughts: Change Environment bothers me because I figured out a good fix for it in about five minutes: I don't allow it to give bonuses, but I *do* allow it to reduce penalties. For instance, light is bought as a reduction to sight penalties from darkness. Could use heat to reduce DEX penalties from ice, etc. Torn about the new Shape Shift. I understand the reasoning behind it, but I always end up paying more points than I feel are appropriate making an "authentic" change (covering the Radar group, for instance). I love the new Instant Change. Making it a specialized Transform allows much greater flexibility with costuming. I don't like the Healing cap or the new Regeneration rules much, but I don't really know what to do with them.

My game features a dimension spanning organization called "Central" that provides the players with all sorts of crazy gadgets (including a magically detonated suitcase nuke, just the once - things were Bad). Some weapons that haven't already made this list: - Supercavitating Gauss Weapons. They differ from the campaign standard in that they are a larger calibre than normal and feature a specially shaped head that is designed to cause a shockwave underwater, so the round can ride a bubble of steam at near-normal velocity. It's based on real weapon the Russians have. (Haven't actually used any in play, but a player is planning on requisitioning one. Apparently fighting house sized jellyfish with normal AP rounds wasn't an experience he wants to repeat. ) - High Impact Crossbows They're designed to look medieval for when the players are someplace low tech, but use advanced materials. They require STR 24 to reload with all that implies about damage, and incorporate a subtly hidden laser sight. The bolts are made of hyperdense material. - "Meep" Guns, aka Coherent Neutron Wands They fire a wide beam of deadly, invisible radiation. It's a 3d6 RKA AoE: 1 hex, NND Does Body (defense is LS [Radiation]), IPE vs. Hearing and Sight, Reduced Range 100".

Learning new skills? Probably. I'd allow a very high INT character to learn new skills as fast as they wanted to actually pay points for those skills, where I'd make a normal person take time to study in game. As for improvisation? As everyone else has said, a big no there. It's sort of like how a super high DEX isn't the same as actually paying for CSLs - no amount of raw talent can totally compensate for not having any idea what you're doing. Here's how I handle "uber smart" characters: Overall Skill Levels. That way, I can dump 2-3 points into a skill - any skill - and suddenly have a fantastically good roll. (Things like Cramming are good too, as well as Lightning Calculator: Analytic. )

If those things need to be able to guard locations, I'd probably go with the Summon, myself. It seems like a much cleaner solution to the problem, and it's been used to cover smart projectiles in official products anyway.

If I were going to run a game like this, I'd actually steal heavily from the Night's Dawn trilogy - just throwing out the Kiint and the Tyrathca. They had two things that I'd want in a campaign like this: 1) There was some debate over when a person was opting out of the human race via technology. Some groups embraced enhancement, others drew arbitrary (religious) lines, and some people just wanted to go back to The Good Old Days. I'd want to play that up, in a world with no aliens. (Modified humans can be creepier anyway. Frankly, I grok Klingons considerably better than Edenists.) 2) Humans didn't know *why* alien civilizations blew themselves up. It was a matter of considerable scientific research, rather than being something as obvious (and hokey) as inevitable nuclear war. I would so rip that off in a game like you're talking about.

tetsujin28: I don't agree with you about Power Frameworks, but I can understand most of where you're coming from about them being too effective. Not been my experience at all, but you're certainly entitled to feel differently. This is the part that I find odd, though: I don't see a difference in balance issues between those two genres. Why do VPPs work for you in one, and not the other?

I used to both play and run GURPS - still have a decent collection of books. I *love* their worldbooks. About the only one I read that I didn't like was GURPS Riverworld - in every other case I've seen, they've really done their homework. GURPS Space talked about at least a couple of things I later brought up in high school physics. Moreover, because GURPS is big on real world units, said books are often very handy in other game systems, such as HERO. I'd still consider buying a GURPS treatment of just about any genre, if only for the sidebars. (Someday I'm going to find time to convert GURPS Technomancer to HERO, and then I will play it again...) On the other hand, the system a mess. I have given up on it. This is more than just a design philosophy thing, as others have mentioned. There is that - GURPS reasons from a very different paradigm than HERO. But it's also about a lack of quality control in their rules. This is particularly glaring if you look at their magic system, which I genuinely do hate. After reading the GURPS Grimoire I was certain that not only had the spells been written by at least a dozen different people, none of them had the same idea of what spells should cost, and nobody had forced a consensus before the book went to print. So I have a love/hate thing for GURPS, rather than the more common HERO-fan hatred. After edit: Their fan based stuff is sometimes very good, though. If you want to see a really fascinating discussion of scale in roleplaying games, check out GURPS Gulliver.

Also, look into the Rapid Attack skill, and DCV bonuses (only to compensate for multiple attack penalties). Autofire cuts your DCV in half, which doesn't accurately represent the better coordinated D&D monsters. Finally, take a look at Fantasy HERO. They built Cleave in there.

In the campaign you're proposing, it'd cause no trouble at all. IMC, there are technobabble reasons to avoid it: 1) The rules for time travel vary from world to world, as do the consequences. And this is in places where it's possible at all: there are plenty of places it just doesn't work. 2) Time travel tends to generate dimensional "static": large quantities of unexpected parallel universes. This tends to mess with Central's ability to target gates. As a result, when the PCs asked about it, they were simply told that Central's official field policy on time travel is, "Just say no." After edit: So to answer your question: it's just not how I pictured my world fitting together.

D'oh. I knew I was somehow off. Darned subtlety.

Nah, it's something I could see her overcoming under the right circumstances, unlike a Physical Limitation. (I probably should've put Strong rather than Total on that: sorry.)

Wasn't that It's a Good Life? As for the girl: Cosmic VPP, some heinous Regeneration with the Resurrection advantage, and PsychLim: Doesn't Understand the Consequences of Her Actions (VC, Total). Frankly, I'd find a child with that power more terrifying than some sort of evil god - less predictable.

Got it in one. I'm a gamist. When I play, I care about the details of the story, and I want a good, logical world. But the thing I really look forward to is a chance to kick ass. Lets me blow off steam. I don't see anything wrong with this, because for me, this means outsmarting the competition, be it tactically or politically. It's not enough to beat the enemy: on a good day, they should never see it coming. Also, it means making winning a team effort because the other players are valuable paw-...er, they're my friends, and it wouldn't be fun for them if I hogged center stage all the time. (I kid: only their characters are valuable pawns. ) And while I do make powerful, efficient characters, I often handicap them to keep things interesting. Frex: the last time we played D&D, I made a Sorcerer with no combat spells, who waded into melee with a longsword right next to the party Fighter. Led to some truly excellent moments. Amen to that. Both of those types of people try to remove any possibility of losing from their games. I don't see the point in showing up, without a chance to fail.

Lately, I've taken to just jotting down what I need, but it's a time constraint issue. I like having full stat blocks for everything.

Oh, I loved the Perry Rhodan series. You might be able to get away with skipping the Bestiary, and I doubt The Ultimate Martial Artist will come up at all. However, the Ultimate Vehicle will likely be essential if you plan on doing anything with space combat, and I'd keep an eye out for the 5E Ultimate Mentalist, when they get that out. Also, I have to say that I think HERO is *the* system to do a Perry Rhodan campaign in. Even stuff as wacky as Ivan Ivanovich's ability to induce nuclear reactions at line of sight is possible without any sort of house rule (that's just spendy).

I'm actually running a game very similar to this, right now. Except it's not through time, it's parallel universes. The PCs are agents working for a mysterious organization called "Central" that provides them with package deal superpowers and a selection of James Bond style gear based on their mission. (Different worlds have different rules about what tech or magic works, etc.) It's interesting. I handwaved disadvantages almost completely - they have about 50 points from the campaign itself (Watched, Duty, Social Lims, etc.). Just required that everybody have interesting personalities and backgrounds. I have to say it's more work than any game I've ever run (by a considerable margin), but it's neat being able to change all the rules on demand. I imagine time travel would be about the same, except with the advantage of more familiar settings.

Great minds, yada, yada, yada.

I have another possible twist: If I were to run this, I'd pregen a bunch of alternate, heroic versions of Dr. Destroyer for the PCs to play. ('Cause really, how else would a person get to try running *that*? )

I'd just like to second that request. The Night's Dawn universe was just begging to be made into a roleplaying game, and I simply don't have the time...

Cool. I'll be curious to know how that goes, actually.

This depends on two factors: - Are there any campaign restrictions on psi powers, because you guys are trying to do a particular setting? (For example, nobody but nobody could have this power in Babylon 5 HERO.) - Are there any campaign restrictions against buying Desolid? (It is a potential game breaker, so some GMs won't want to deal with it.) If nobody cares about those two things, *anything* can be defined as a mental power, if you spin it right - as seen in the aforementioned Wild Cards example. BTW: Julian May's Saga of Pliocene Exile is another good example of people getting outright superpowers that are entirely psionic - a couple of characters in it probably qualify for very fit VPPs.