Rapier

Re: Acronyms Ahhhh! Got it. I think we are actually arguing the same point! I don't think the problem is necessarily the acronyms as it is the character sheets are overloaded with useless and/or extraneous information. On that, I think it's safe to assume we agree? I also think that some genres are a lot easier on new players than others. FH or DC, I think, would be an easier transition into Hero simply because the games tend to be skill and/or equipment driven. Pick your weapon, pick your armour and tinker with characteristics and a couple of skills. Champions with it's 'here is a 600 page book, pick yourself some powers' is a bit more intensive.

Re: Field/Camping Gear +2 Survival, OAF. I'm not sure they qualify for Bulky. I also wouldn't much bother with Extra Time. It's not like the fact that it takes 5 minutes to set up a tent is really going to be much of a Limitation. Now if it was a Combat Tent (?). EDIT: To be a little less cryptic. When someone has a tool driven skill (eg LockPicking, Survival, Computer Programming) I assume that their base skill roll is sans tools. They can come at the skill naked and have that roll. "What?" you say? How can you pick a lock when you are nekkid? The skill roll allows you the knowledge in not only how to pick a lock but in what kinds of materials you could use to pick that lock. So that base skill would allow you to improvise a tool. This would be my scenario: The character is stripped of his super suit and is thrown into a broom closet and the door is locked behind him. The character has LockPicking but no picks. So he makes a LockPicking roll to improvise a pick. His level of success/failure determines the quality of his tool. If he makes it by 2 he has a +2 to his LockPicking skill. If he fails by 3, he is -3 to his LockPicking skill. He can then make his LockPicking roll to try and unlock the lock. In this case, the base Survival skill is what I would give the character with no gear. If he has gear, that Survival skill is a lot easier. Oh, I also ALWAYS build gear as levels. So a pair of lockpicks are +2 LockPicking OAF. I hope that makes some kind of sense!

Re: Best ways to put together a Dark Champions team? I also ONCE did the 'you wake up in a prison cell with no memory' thing. It didn't work so well. The characters were easily frustrated and some characters fell into a 'I'm in prison so I must have done something bad, so I deserve to be here so I shall do my well-deserved time.'

Re: Gladiators vs Werewolves I've still got copies in the storage someplace. I wrote them just about 20 years ago (ug). In fact, I wrote them on an Apple IIc.

Re: Acronyms I can see your point, but I think we are envisioning two rather different examples. I (and correct me if I err) believe your example is walking into a room with six Hero-NooBs and throwing a copy of the 6E1 on the table and shouting 'CREATE YOURSELF A CHARACTER!!!' Yes, I can very easily see that being rather daunting. I would think you would get a similar reaction if I did likewise with Vampire, Gurps, DnD, Paranoia or any other game. I was thinking more along the lines of having a detailed campaign document that outlined the types of abilities that one might expect and walking through character design with someone that knows the system. That's how I learned DnD. That's also how I learned Champions (and ShadowRun and Rifts and GURPS and BattleTech, etc).

Re: "Neat" Pictures I can't decide if that's soothing or irritating. It sounds a lot like whale song.

Re: Gladiators vs Werewolves WAAAAAY back in the day I did two research papers. The first was on vampire lore and the second werewolf lore. I first got interested because that shit is cool. I mean, cmon! But secondly was the 'every culture, regardless of isolation, has a vampire and werewolf analog.' A lot of the defenses were very regional or cultural and span quite a bit of weird. The garlic vs vamps and silver vs weres is a fairly new thing. Of course, this is why my poor players are in for a bit of a shock when they run across some most unvampirely vampires!! BWAHAHAHAAAA!

Re: Replacing the Speed chart with a shot system I'm not sure how I ended up being such a proponent of RAW. I'm usually the one that likes to tear apart the system and stick it to the man before he sticks it to me. Huh. This is far from the first time someone has brought up an alteration or replacement of the SPD Chart. I always ask 'why?' If you want to change how much DEX costs, that is a fairly (as it goes) insular and limited change in scope. Changing the SPD chart is not only going to change the actions during combat but duration effects, healing and recoveries, movement, adjustment powers and a whole host of other things. I can understand the desire to tinker, but before we could ever evaluate some proposed new system I think the first step is to ask 'why are we here in the first place?' What is it about the SPD Chart that was not working for you? Without answering that question it's impossible to evaluate a proposed system change (in a vacuum, as it were).

Re: Acronyms

Re: Acronyms Faster CharGen != Easier. In fact, I've created Hero characters much faster than I've seen some people create a DnD character. What Feat does he want? What Prestige this or that? Is it easier to throw together a roll 3d6 in order and create a fighter with a longsword? Maybe. But I can also throw together a FH fighter nearly as easily. Hero character generation may be more complex but I don't honestly believe it's much of any bit harder than most other gaming systems. So you believe that you can have a good DnD campaign with a GM that has a poor understanding of the rules? A GM in a DnD campaign also has a lot of work to do. The GMs primary focus in ANY game is going to be plot development and pacing. That's what GMs do. That is also why you see so many campaign supplements that are system generic. Because if you want to run an Elementally Evil Temple adventure, it's the temple itself that is all the work. Popping in a couple of orcs or goblins or guards is the easy part. A DnD GM also has to say "NO" to a lot of powergamers. We've all seen the guy with the Lvl 10 fighter with +3 Full Plate and a Vorpal Blade. Most of us have at least heard of the guy with doubled up Feats and Prestige and all sorts of other things. Powergamers are powergamers and they will powergame in all games.

Re: A Talent called 'Scholar' in 5th Ed? Scholar is a Skill Enhancer. 5ER, p77.

Re: Weighted Net Actually, I might go with a DEX Suppress instead. Enough Suppress can be just as effective as an Entangle. The problem with an Entangle is that there isn't really a mechanic around the 'I make a Roll to escape.' To escape you need to Break the Entangle which requires a bit of damage. It might be easier to say that a successful DEX roll will dispel the Suppress.

Re: Acronyms I also think that Hero has become a great deal more entry-level friendly. If nothing else the more homogeneity of the rules these days helps that a lot. The move away from SFX laden power names also helps (ie Blast vs Energy Blast). I don't think any RPG is necessarily easy to learn. If you've never played an RPG before the learning curve would be pretty steep regardless of what system you use. If you've played RPGs before, I think that Hero has enough common concepts and terms that I don't believe it would be a difficult transition.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... ------------ James (ooc): [i was sneezing so had muted my mic, GM asked numerous times for me to repeat how much STUN I had done] 42. 42! 42!! DUDE!!!! FOOOOOORTY TWO!!!!! ------------ Josh: "SPREAD OUT!" [whereupon he activates his Duplication, forming a line of three duplicates] ------------ GM: He attacks you and nicks you someplace non-vital...you know, life the neck. ------------

Re: Now this is Usable, and I use War of the Worlds a Lot. heh From: http://www.heavymetalmagazinefanpage.com/movieswaroftheworlds.html Not sure. I know that I certainly can't find a copy for sale anywhere, so maybe that poster is out of date? I know for sure that the website http://www.wotw-goliath.com/ just lists "Coming in 2010."

Re: Acronyms I would side with Derek. Acronyms are nowhere near unusual in everyday life. Just a little while ago I was watching the news on ABC. I just posted about AIDS and GRID. I just made reference to how much armour (ie AC) someone was wearing in AD&D. I found out on FB (ie FaceBook) that on the day I was born 'Crocodile Rock' was the #1 song and I LOLed. I don't think acronyms are at all unusual and I don't think that players are scared off by them. In many cases, the acronym makes things easier. Is it difficult to remember that CV stand for Combat Value? I don't think so. Once you know that CV stands for Combat Value, it's not much of a stretch to remember that O stands for Offensive and D stands for Defensive. M? Hmmmm. Mental? Not a problem at all. In fact, I would wager that even if you tried to resort to the full name Offensive Combat Value, new players would very quickly be talking about their OCV.

Re: Tools / Assistance for New GMs Well, it sounds like you are definitely on the right track. Are you getting hung up on any rules in particular? Are there times during combat where you have to stop and look stuff up? Do you have a GM screen or ready access to the right tables? Do the characters understand their options or are they having to look up tables and have maneuvers explained to them? Basically, what I'm asking is how much (if any) of the slowness is due to inexperience with the system? Because there are things we can suggest to speed that up a bit. The first question is: Are you using Hit Locations and Sectional Defense? In Champions, SuperHeroes are always considered to have all their defenses equally distributed about their person. It's the genre. However, in FH or even Dark Champions it's fairly normal to have characters who are only wearing armour on certain locations. If you are wearing the proverbial chainmail bikini you are in for a world of hurt...unless you have truly monumental assets. Hit Locations can slow down determining damage. It's an extra die roll, and then doing some minor math on the resulting damage roll. But if you have the appropriate Sectional Defense chart filled in it's not much slower than SuperHero/Single Value Defense. Sectional Defense means that at times the character will take a hit to an unarmoured/lightly armoured location and LOTS of damage will get through. The value range for Hit Locations (if you take a look at the table) are geared so that the torso (the largest single area of the body) has the broadest range. So most hits will land there, where most people will have the most armour. Having said that, when you explain this to the players, there will probably be a tendency for the walking tin-can syndrome. The Full Plate of our AD&D days. Keep in mind that lots of armour impacts DEX rolls and movement rates, as well as Endurance consumption. Hero Designer is your friend and a godsend. You can, even without prefabs, build a character in a very short amount of time. You will also get access to the vault which contains a lot of pre-built characters. The 5th Edition FH books will be useful. There isn't that big of a difference between 5th and 6th to make them unusable. They might require a little tweaking on costs, but on villains and adversaries, you don't really care about point totals anyway. Oh, which reminds me. For you average cannon-fodder level mook: 1) Build a generic. I've got a 'Generic Guard' build that I use regularly. I might change his weapon or his hair colour and uniform and language, but he's the same guy time after time. 2) Don't worry about skills. For the most part, they are going to be ground under the wheels of the combat machine, so it doesn't matter if each guard has an occupation or a love of plant lore. BreakFall might be appropriate for some characters, but definitely skip any non-combat related skills. 3) Arms and Armour are expensive. As opposed to what D&D has led us to believe during the past 40 years, not everyone has ready access to a sword and suit of chainmail. A sword might represent the earning of a peasant for an entire YEAR. A suit of armour could be worth more than a lifetime's wages. It's easy enough for an adventurer to come up with the cash for weapons and armour, but if you are outfitting an entire guard force those costs are going to reach staggering proportions rather quickly. Guards will frequently be armed with pole arms and simple weapons (you think the weapon is expensive? Try getting 50 farm boys to be proficient with the weapon). Armour will mostly consist of leather or perhaps brigandine. It wouldn't even be surprising to find footmen without any armour at all. So it is very possible that you are over-armouring your adversaries. Give them an appropriate level of armour. Save the chainmail clad guards for the elites guarding the throne rooms! 4) Don't allow the adversaries to take Recoveries. This just lets them regain STUN and END and makes combat last longer. 5) If you are a farm boy with a spear and you are faced with a marauding band of heroes that have just decimated your squad you should run away. Don't get caught in the 'must fight to the death' rationale. I hope this helps some, and welcome!

Re: Duplication vs Multiform... That is classically done with Duplication.

Re: Duplication vs Multiform... If it's possible to kill one form and not have it affect the other, I believe the only way to do that is with handwavium or Duplication (with the proper Adders). As a rule, I tend to lean towards Multiform for this kind of single form concept, but it sounds like you might need something a little extra for this build.

Re: Best ways to put together a Dark Champions team? Bad: "You all walk into a bar and a mysterious cloaked stranger is sitting in the corner, and he gives you a long concerted look...." Bad: "You all walk into a barber shop and a mysterious cloaked stranger is sitting in the corner, and he gives you a long concerted look...." Bad: "You all walk into a used car lot and a mysterious cloaked stranger is sitting in the corner, and he gives you a long concerted look...." The team right now are all members of the same organisation. They were teamed together by the COO because she thought they had complementary abilities (and some were known to one another). What we did was say 'at some time in the not too distant past, you were put together as a team. You've been on a few missions since then, so you are comfortable with one another.' It got over a lot of the difficulty at the beginning, because it was assumed that each character knew each other character and had likely, at some point, had their life saved by the other. I'm finding that it is important before character creation to come up with a cohesive team concept. If you and the players sit down and discuss how and why they are going to form a team it takes a lot of that initial difficulty out of the way and also ensures that the characters will be a tighter fit within the team and the campaign setting.

Re: Trying to figure out how to build this In theory, Radar RAW is not built appropriately. Radar waves detect an object by having emitted radio waves bounce off an object and return to the detecting apparatus. How large an object appears and how strong of a return depends a great deal on the size of the waves used and then the sensitivity of the detecting apparatus. An object the size of a human being would be unlikely to provide much of any (if any) return on certain types of radar. In fact, part of the whole concept behind stealth technology is reducing the returning waves to those of the approximate size of a large bird (or human being), which the detecting apparatus would then screen out (since nothing that small could be an enemy plane). Considering all that, it would be easy to rule that Basic Radar (RAW) cannot detect objects smaller than Size 6 (I think it's 6, but however large a small plane might be). For a +5 Adder I might allow it to detect one further size down the size chart. Further to the conversation, I should mention millimeter wave radar. These waves are so small that they can detect changes in the surface that allow the detector to tell the difference between two different craft of the same classification (eg between your Ford Mustang and your neighbour's Ford Mustang because yours has a different spoiler and a larger antenna). This level of Radar would be likely to be able to not only detect the character but to determine that is, in fact, that character and not the Human Flyer.

Re: How do I model this?? OIF Weapon of Opportunity, -1/2 Limited to Damage of Appropriate Weapon

Re: Champions Powers: Missing Chapter? Although I have to say that the Champions Powers book has a large dose of Complete in it. Not the full RDA of Complete but there is a LOT of stuff in there. You might not be able to yank the stuff right out of the book to create your CO character, but you can probably get most of the way there. I know that looking through the book has triggered a character concept or two in my head.

Re: Coming to Xbox 360? Last I recall that problem was in the subscription model of having to pay for XBox Live AND CO. I believe Microsoft was pushing to have CO included within the XBox Live fee end-users were paying. I remember thinking that it was just another instance of Microsoft doing what Microsoft does best, browbeating everyone else around them with their 'our way or the highway' mentality. There is a reason that the Big Satan has his mailing address in Redmond.

Re: Blindness and CSLs With the caveat that sfx, common sense and decency rule all. If the CSLs are "he is a great swordsman" then most certainly they should apply.