Jkeown

Are there any rules for Sanity in the current edition? I remember that Horror Hero had such rules, but it's long out of print. I'm writing a conspiracy/horror/x-files thing and need some SAN LOSS effects. Thanks for reading!

Re: Random Pondering: Istvatha V'han This all has me thinking I need to use Istvatha V'han in my summer Champions game. Perhaps start with an NPC... Isabella Vayne... this universe's version of her, totally non-powered, completely normal...until the destruction begins... The PCs will blame her somehow. Could be an interesting character moment.

My sleep troubles forced me to nap a bit yesterday and this came to me whilst I was drifting in and out of consciousness. An Images Ring (OIF) with 10 active points is a 6 or 7 real point magic item. Say you could program the image or a set of them, customizing it for each buyer. Thus, mercenaries put on a Sell Sword Ring when they're out of work, merchants can post basic price lists that follow them around, guides have Wayfinder Rings that produce light, rather than carry a lamp or torch at night. Runes floating above a character's head indicate all sorts of things, and most folks use them as public notice of one thing or another... I even imagine Just Married Rings, Baby on Board Rings for pregnant females and Looking For An Elvish Girlfriend Rings for some lonely guys with distinct taste in women. The PCs will be immediately suspcious that I'm about to pull something. They'll be waiting for the rings to be revealed as mind control devices, power channels for evil wizards or something... So the question is, what percentage of the population should have them to make a PC question them? I'm not going to do anything odd or dangerous with them, but I think I want to make the PCs crazy and paranoid.

Re: Religions in SF settings. I've got something like the Orange Catholics from Dune in my SF Campaign. Also, some of the more ancient AIs are worshipped as gods. Some of them ignore such worship, others wallow in it, still others actively discourage worship, but get it anyway. I've kept Christianity and Islam alive in my game, and splintered it further. I suppose I might have 100,000 Christian sects and 70,000 Islamic sects in there...not that I've named them, mind you. I might throw in an Intelligent Design element into most of them, considering Dover... And those TE religions are quite tasty. Most folks in my game are Agnostic or Atheist, but in a galatic population of trillions, there are still plenty of strange cults to go around. If there is one thing I've learned in watching people and cats all these years, it's that no matter how technologically advanced a species becomes, there are those that will always need the unseen and mystical to provide purpose, ethics and guidance... That shouldn't change in the next 2000 years.

Re: Anyone working on a Fallout 3 conversion? Here are a few things I've done.

Re: Hero System Good Idea/Bad Idea... Good Idea: Fallout HERO Bad Idea: Fall Out Boy HERO

I made this to hold a prop for next week's Fantasy HERO game. The game kicks off the first FH outing for us in years, and to commemorate, I made this little box for the game's macguffin, a Deck of Many Things. I've converted the card descriptions to HERO effects, but a lot of them are just 10D6 Transforms, not terribly elegant or original. A stowaway will have the box on her person, running from the demon lord she angered by drawing one of the cards. Deck of Many Things A deck of many things (both beneficial and baneful) is usually found in a box or leather pouch. Each deck contains a number of cards or plaques made of ivory or vellum. Each is engraved with glyphs, characters, and sigils. As soon as one of these cards is drawn from the pack, its magic is bestowed upon the person who drew it, for better or worse. The character with a deck of many things who wishes to draw a card must announce how many cards she will draw before she begins. Cards must be drawn within 1 hour of each other, and a character can never again draw from this deck any more cards than she has announced. If the character does not willingly draw her allotted number (or if she is somehow prevented from doing so), the cards flip out of the deck on their own. Exception: If the jester is drawn, the possessor of the deck may elect to draw two additional cards. Each time a card is taken from the deck, it is replaced (making it possible to draw the same card twice) unless the draw is the jester or the fool, in which case the card is discarded from the pack. A deck of many things contains 22 cards. To simulate the magic cards, you may want to use tarot cards, as indicated in the second column of the accompanying table. If no tarot deck is available, substitute ordinary playing cards instead, as indicated in the third column. The effects of each card, summarized on the table, are fully described here. Anyhow, I've plucked many a fruit from the tree of the HERO Games Forums while preparing this run of Fantasy HERO, and I'd like to thank the bunch of you.

Re: Airships Here are the remainder of the hull templates...

So I'm sifting through the dross of the d20 glut from a few years ago, and there are a couple of books that seem to cry out for HERO conversion. Airships and Doom Striders. This is what I've set about doing. I converted most of the parts, and used Templates to create the base hulls of different materials. Any thoughts?

Re: Look at this and build it (or just suggest stuff) Here, for example, is a larger Shard, a sessile Blackshard Monolith. There are a few things to be worked out; why does it attack everything it sees, should it get points for not having hands, if it has TK? How exactly is its life-force maintained? From a distance (and it is often very flat in the Shardlands) they appear as large translucent black crystal towers. Up close, they appear as large translucent black crystal towers that are trying to kill you with TK, sonic blasts, and any other energy powers they have developed over their long lives. The one below is fairly representative of its kind. Belligerent, insulting and generally at odds with every other Blackshard Monolith in existence. Even though they have probably never met, they hate each other with all the darkness of the Pit Itself. Angry Ned, the Blackshard just outside Paarm. Val Char Points Roll Notes 55 STR 0 20- HTH Damage 11d6 END [11] 16 DEX 12 12- 10 CON 0 11- 20 INT 10 13- PER Roll 13- 23 EGO 13 14- 27 PRE 2 14- PRE Attack: 5d6 9 OCV 30 5 DCV 10 10 OMCV 21 5 DMCV 6 5 SPD 30 Phases: 3, 5, 8, 10, 12 10/20 PD 8 10/20 PD (0/10 rPD) 19/33 ED 8 19/33 ED (0/14 rED) 10 REC 6 50 END 6 29 BODY 10 60 STUN 20 176 Total Characteristics Points Cost Name 3 Analyze: Magic 13- 3 Conversation 14- 1 Language: Ithynorian (basic conversation) 13 Energy Manipulation: Power 16- 6 Survival (Subarctic Desert) 15- 3 Persuasion 14- 29 Total Skills Cost Cost Power END 4 Crystalline Re-growth: Regeneration (2 BODY per Week) 0 15 Crystalline Structure: Does Not Bleed 0 40 Crystalline Structure: Life Support (Eating: Character does not eat; Immunity All terrestrial diseases; Immunity: All terrestrial poisons; Longevity: Immortal; Safe in High Pressure; Safe in High Radiation; Safe in Intense Cold; Safe in Intense Heat; Safe in Low Pressure/Vacuum; Self-Contained Breathing; Sleeping: Character does not sleep) 0 10 Crystalline Structure: No Hit Locations 0 36 Crystalline Structure: Resistant Protection (10 PD/14 ED) 0 15 Shard Vibratory Communication: Mind Link , Alien class of minds, Specific Group of Minds (Shards), Number of Minds (x2) 0 27 Shard Reflection: Reflection (60 Active Points' worth) (40 Active Points); Requires An Energy Manipulation Roll (Skill roll; -1/2) 4 33 Domination: Mind Control 10d6 (Alien (Shards) class of minds) (50 Active Points); Requires An Energy Manipulation Roll (Skill roll; -1/2) 5 27 Gross Manipulation: Telekinesis (20 STR), Affects Porous (40 Active Points); Requires An Energy Manipulation Roll (Skill roll; -1/2) 4 40 Vibratory Blast: Blast 8d6, STUN Only (+0), Area Of Effect (18m Radius Explosion; +1/2) (60 Active Points); Requires An Energy Manipulation Roll (Skill roll; -1/2) 6 9 Greater Mass: +9 BODY 45 Greater Strength: +45 STR 9 9 Heavy: Knockback Resistance -9m 0 15 More Impressive: +15 PRE 45 Shard Mystic Awareness: Spatial Awareness (Unusual Group), Increased Arc Of Perception (360 Degrees), Range, Rapid: x10 0 9 Tougher: +9 ED 379 Total Powers Cost Cost Complication 35 Physical Complication: No Manipulators (All the Time; Fully Impairing) 35 Physical Complication: Sessile (All the Time; Fully Impairing) 5 Distinctive Features: Large, Hostile Crystalline Critter (Easily Concealed; Noticed and Recognizable; Detectable By Commonly-Used Senses) 10 Vulnerability: 2 x Effect Sonic Effects (Uncommon) 10 Vulnerability: 1 1/2 x BODY Impact Weapons (Common) 20 Enraged: Berserk Near Lifeforms (Common), go 8-, recover 14- 115 Total Complications Value

Re: Look at this and build it (or just suggest stuff) The purple ones are larger than the blue, smaller then the black. I figured the black shards are about 5 feet each, so maybe the purples range from 3.5 to 4.5 feet. The very largest of them (10 or more feet tall) are sessile, rooted to a cave floor or hillside. There they sit...being hostile. I have done some thinking on them, that they are randomly-occuring golem-like creatures resulting from an interaction between magic and natural crystal formations. Some are clouds of crystals, others form pairs or trios of objects. Bound by magical fields, they behave as one creature.

So I've drawn a beastie. Right this moment it's a Purple Shard, from the cold, desolate Shardlands of my new FH game "Ithynor." The Shardlands are like the Gobi, but with angry crystals, gem dragons and weird crystalcrafting lizard-folk. What's it like? What are its powers and needs? Provide a full write up or just suggestions. If this proves popular, I'll do it again and maybe soon we'll have a menagerie... And a PDF could be created to pass around and use at games. [ATTACH]36002[/ATTACH]

Re: Spell Multipliers in 6e? In the Advanced Players Guide (I think) he suggests using a 0.2 multiplier to level the field against folks who don't pay points for equipment. Spells in this instance cost more like skills. We're using it in my Urban Fantasy HERO game and it seems to work. Though that rule may be in 6E2, in the equipment section... do not have the books in front of me.

Re: Ghosts as Contacts I decided on the Contact easily enough. The PCs loved the idea of the Ghosts of Indiana coming to life in this setting. The game climaxed at the Indiana State Museum with a fight between the PCs and a necromancer, his forces consisted of a reanimated Dire Beaver, a reanimated Columbian Mammoth, and Zombie Abe Lincoln. Why? I do not know.

So Indianapolis seems to have more than its fair share of wackaloons who believe in ghosts. In fact, there is one sleeping about 20 feet away from me. I have to run a one-shot game today, and I was thinking of Urban Fantasy HERO: Indianapolis. Also known around here as Crossroads. One of the pregens will have James Whitcomb Riley as a contact. A kind, fairly boozy ghost who knows all the skinny on the supernatural in Indy. I think a ritual of summons might be required. You have to travel to Lockerbie in Indianapolis. There, get out a decent bottle of alcohol, read Little Orphant Annie aloud to an audience and apply copious amounts of patience. If James is about, he'll materialize, and talk while (reluctantly) partaking of whatever drink you provided. Written up as a power, I got this: James, Are You There?: Summon 548-point Ghost (110 Active Points); Extra Time (5 Minutes, -2), OIF Immobile (Location 528 Lockerbie Street, Indianapolis IN; -1 1/2), Requires A Roll (Summoner roll; -1/2), Summoned Being Must Inhabit Locale (-1/2), Gestures (-1/4), Incantations (-1/4) Real Cost: 18 But that implies James will be of more use than just talking about the magical happenings in the city. If he's not likely to go around Ghost-Touching folks, dropping them with cardiac arrest (hardly his style, you'll agree), then maybe this is just an elaborate Contact? For 10 points, you get this: James Whitcomb Riley's Ghost: Contact (Contact has very useful Skills or resources, Good relationship with Contact) 16- One is certainly more characterful, but campaign wise, the Contact makes more sense than the spell.

So I have this Darkness Orb that can, in addition to other darkness-related powers, heal a person. I had at first thought that a simple Healing effect would be sufficient. Upon further reflection, it seems like the Orb should mark the person it healed, with dark tattoo-like images on the areas healed. This seems like a transform. I expressed it thus: Dark Healing: Major Transform 5d6 (Wounded Person into Healed, Marked Person, Being Wounded Again) (50 Active Points); OAF (-1) So you get your 5D6 of Transform, and if it's enough, you get healed and marked up as one who benefited from the orb's power. This last bit is a campaign thing, and will leave PCs and others vulnerable to later influences. I'm thinking of a side effect that marks the user in a similar fashion. Your thoughts?

Re: Your "2010" Pet Gaming Projects Most of 2010 will be consumed with Dark Heresy. I had originally intended to HERO-fy it, but that fell by the wayside. I could try to bring Caleon (my homebrew) up to 6th edition standards... but that sounds like work. I think I shall set my sights on running a Kazei 5 game... Just got the PDF, and I think I should convert my DH group to HERO and force some Zero Zone action on them...

So, it's my birthday, and we're playing whatever I want. I want to play Fallout HERO. I've created 3 package deals: Admin, Security and Maintenance. This means 2 of my players will likely be the same branch. No big deal. The scenario is that vault-dwellers are starting to go missing. A few "random" encounters with crazed folks turns into more frequent encounters with actual ghouls. They must be getting in somehow. Players search for the breach in the vault. There is no such breach. The ghouls are the missing vault dwellers, of course. Long story short: Just as the ghoul population tips over and most everyone but the PCs are either mad, dead, dying or turned, the timer goes off and the door opens to the outside. Thus perhaps begins a long campaign of Fallout. Any ideas on spicing this up? Especially from those who've never played Fallout?

Re: Jeffery Keown's Chronicles of Amber I'd like some feedback on this. I originally tried using Mind Control, but it didn't seem long-term enough. Transform seemed to have the kind of "permanency" I was looking for. I also think a kind of Entangle could be written with this special effect. Compelling Compelling is the ability of a skilled conversationalist to subtly draw his target out and reveal hidden knowledge through casual talk. The subject matter shifts constantly, as the Compeller uses the relationship between opinion and fact to pull the truth from the target. Truthsaying At its most basic, a compeller can simply tell if the target is lying. With greater skill comes the Truth of the Matter. Facets of the reality of a line of questioning become clearer, and some can hear the truth with only a few words. Parting the Veil of Lies: Detect Lie 11- (Hearing Group) Real Cost: 3 The Truth: Detect Truth 11- (Hearing Group), Discriminatory, Analyze Real Cost: 13 ...And Nothing But The Truth!: Detect Truth 11- (Hearing Group), Discriminatory, Analyze, Rapid x10 Real Cost: 16 High Compelling Sometimes, after exposure to a Compeller, the target's own memories are compromised. He sees the Compeller as an ally, or recalls facts differently. Only some measure of therapy or physical evidence can reverse the effects of High Compelling. Edit Memory: Major Transform 4d6 (Unaffected Person to Person with Edited Memories), Works Against EGO, Not BODY (+1/4), Based On EGO Combat Value (Mental Defense; Mental Defense applies; +1) (135 Active Points); Extra Time (1 Hour, -3), Limited Target Humans (-1/2), Requires A Conversation Roll (-1/2), Incantations (-1/4) Real Cost: 26

Re: Jeffery Keown's Chronicles of Amber Grudgingly. I have my own ideas about where Roger was going after reading Dancing Mountains and Hall of Mirrors. It would seem that Bettancourt is ignoring the previous novels by using the first person narrative to assume that Corwin and Merlin lied through their teeth, so that none of the stuff they talked about actually occurred. They are a frustrating read. Here's the file, feel free to call me out on any stupidity I may have drooled onto the page. Any contributions will go into the final product, HEROWiki and any other media I'm allowed to produce (stage play, hardcore Amber porn, or birthday wrapping paper).

Re: Jeffery Keown's Chronicles of Amber I'll scribble something up tonight. I know what I want players to produce, but there is not a word of it written down. Thanks for the encouragement!

Re: Jeffery Keown's Chronicles of Amber I hate to serial post... The Extra Time Limitation on the various Shadow Walking abilities represents the full effort of walking from Amber to Chaos. While this might not actually happen in game (too many trumps around for that to be terribly common in most campaigns) I thought perhaps to limit it based on this, and let characters come up with tricks to shorten it, or subtly alter the powers, customizing them as the campaign matures. Everyone starts with the vanilla versions of the powers and hopefully they diversify, such as the tricks Random described in Hand of Oberon.

Re: Jeffery Keown's Chronicles of Amber More... Juno is a character I was playing about with...just to see what a complete 3rd generation character would look like. She could be built better, methinks. I'm still wrestling with Sorcery, Compelling and Black Channels...

Big risk, posting this stuff. Saturday, my Urban Fantasy stuff was no where near ready, so I decided to wing it and take mental notes. That ended up not happening. I stumbled across my physical notes for HEROes of Amber. This was supposed to be just a bunch of shadowdwellers who get caught up in some wacky plot to erase the Pattern and end up helping Corwin get some stuff done. Well... my friend Brian wanted some higher powered gaming after The Book of Dragons came out. So I wrote up 3 brothers, all of whom are children of Amber yet Shadow-lost and ignorant of their true birthright and yadda yadda yadda. I did not tell them that this is what we were playing. 6 hours later, I had accidently hooked them on Chronicles of Amber: The HERO System Conversion. They had walked a broken pattern, learned of the existance of Amber and now wish to kill their guardian of many years and then, go seek the wider world that is Amber, Shadow and Chaos. They will be exposed to a great many things, power being one of them. Experience will come fast and hard, and learning something you don't have points for will bring interesting people to your door, causing plots to spring up around you and generally making your life miserable until its paid off. This seems to be how its done in the Diceless game, and certainly simulates the novels well enough. Anyway... enough of me... my .hdps:

Re: What effects would you see on a terrestial planet in a binary system? There is a program I use called Celestia. I figured out how to write my own solar systems and then "stand" on one of the planets to watch the sky turn for a few virtual years to create a proper calendar for my main homebrew world. After you get it working, you then alter the text files to move stars and planets around in infinite combinations until it looks and feels right. I even wrote a randomizer in TableMaster to output solar systems.