Jkeown

I'm planning on getting this and ripping into it big time with Hero Designer. I figure with these guys producing 40K stuff at a reasonable rate, I should be able to keep up with them for a while. I know the idea has merit, but I don't know how interested we all are. Does my stuff at HEROWiki get much interest? If not, I'll keep the conversion to myself and my gang.

Re: Atlantis? What do you do with it? I think my plan is to have some villian or group disrupt the on-going negotiations between Atlantis and the UN. Who is a good question. I've had one of Teleios' Cloned Soldiers try to assasinate a non-superpowered Atlantean visitor and the IHA attacked one of the mutant heroes. The PCs have conflated the two events, so I might try to justify the IHA having a beef with Atlantis. I do not think that's too far out of bounds. They may view the near-human Atlanteans with the same eyes as mutants. I feel Teleios and the IHA would not work together, but for one to find the other working toward the same goal might be fun. The PCs, too, might enjoy being caught in the middle as the Clones and the Mutant-haters try to maneuver. The next step, clearly, is to plan Atlantis' reaction to the assasination attempt, would they send a few superpowered heroes to complicate matters or cut off dealings with the landers? Obviously, if they retreat beneath the waves, the story is over. So what other Atlanteans have powers? I'm thinking they should have a supergroup and a Batman analog, plus several solo heroes... any of them taking a serious interest in the suface will draw Stingray and a few solo Atlantean villians to Millenium City... and viola... those folks who hate or fear Atlanis will have a field day. Now the campaign has all these undersea-types using MC as a proxy battleground. The PCs won't know any of these strange visitors and misunderstandings will pop up like toadstools after a downpour. Thanks for your input, both past and future!

Anyone tried their hand at Hancock? Flying Brick... bad attitude... Looks like it will be a fine film.

How do you handle Atlantis? I'm just starting to introduce it in my Sunday Game, and I'm interested in its history in your campaigns. I've read everything about it in CU, CKC and other books, so I know the Official stuff.... I think it will be a fun arc, in a game that won't have any sort of meta-plot. All my other games feature long-drawn out stories, I think I want my Champions game to be very episodic.

Re: Game Design: Champions Online Fine. How's this? Champions Online A Proposal to Revolutionize Massively-Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games. Champions broke ground decades ago by replacing Dungeons and Dragons’ Character Classes with a points-driven system that allowed the creation of the character that players wanted to play. Now, with the advent of a number of successful Online Games, Champions can once again revolutionize gaming by acting as the background for a game that breaks the mold. Player Experience Character Archetypes MMOs are dominated by a number of archetypes. These go by various names, but generally breakdown into Direct Damage, Support, Tanks and Melee/DPS types. Champions has the opportunity to break out of this and into a true player-driven experience. Certainly, each of typical Champions archetypes can be used to create the “Classic MMO Archetypes” but the freedom exists to do otherwise, and create a quality single-player experience. The MMO types are replaced with Champions Archetypes that reinforce what is actually seen in comic books, more accurately reflecting the genre. We feel this will result in a more satisfying experience for the player. MMO Stereotype Typical Power Set Tank High Defense, Taunt, Melee Attacks, High Health Direct Damage Low Defense, High Powered Ranged Attacks, Low Health Support Low Health, Healing, Buff/Debuff powers. Melee/DPS Medium Health, High Powered Melee Attacks (occasionally Stealth) HERO characters scarcely map to these stereotypes. The centralizing feature of HERO being character concept, we propose breaking out of the stereotypes and into a concept-centered game engine. Carrying this into an MMO would be relatively easy, given the HERO System's auto-balancing points-based design. HERO Archetype Typical Power Set Brick High Strength (“Brick Tricks”), High Defense Energy Projector High Powered Ranged Attacks Gadgeteer Technological or Magical Items Mentalist EGO-Based abilities Metamorph Shape Shifting Mystic Magical Abilities Powered Armor High Defense, Ranged Attacks Speedster High Movement, Speed-Related Attacks The first fifteen minutes of play are the most important in any game. You must inform the player of how he will advance, what he must do to advance and what the rewards of advancing are. This can be show-cased in the character creation sequence. When the character is created, its potential is laid out for the player’s review, he knows where he’s headed well in advance of getting there. This helps him make choices in an intelligent fashion. Each HERO Archetype carries with it a set of “weighted” powers. After the player defines his concept, he chooses an archetype that most closely matches it. He is presented with a selection of powers that are most commonly associated with the Archetype. For example: Bricks are free to choose ranged powers in the Champions pen and paper RPG, and thus should be allowed to do so online. Some limiting factor must be implemented as the game’s internal balance will be thrown off by several million flying, energy-projecting bricks logging in each day. If too much freedom is given, the game will become stale. Stale games don’t sell. Thus, the Brick chooses most of his powers from the Brick List, and can choose from other Archetypes power lists, though these powers are reduced in effectiveness. In HERO terms, they are the same powers, bought at a lower Active Point level. Perhaps his “Primary Powers” all have a limit of 50 AP, his choice of powers from the Energy Projector List are capped at 25 AP. Limitations are built into the powers when the character is created. In order to simulate the advances normally gained in MMO’s players use experience points to buy off these limitations. Two mechanisms of advancement spring to mind; a “power-editing” feature that allows the removal of a limitation of the players choice, or a “power scale” in which increases in effectiveness alternate with limitation removal on a menu of advancement. Certainly, the Power Editor provides more player choice, it gives a greater range of freedom which allows character concepts to stay in place. One player might choose to increase a Brick’s defenses over time, whereas another might choose to remove limitations from those defenses, this method results in the “no one right way” approach that Champions is known for. Disadvantages After selecting his Archetype and Powers, the player can select from Disadvantages. This was a new concept when HERO introduced them in 1980 and they will be new to the MMO scene as well. The character will literally be a part of his environment, and different from those around him, because his character is not just distinguished by how he affects the world. The world will affect him. Some disadvantages from the HERO system are very easy to code into the character. Vulnerability simply requires mathematical adjustment of incoming damage. Powers will be flagged with a Special Effect and Vulnerability Logic will read the tags and adjust the characters status each time his special effect is applied in the form of an attack or environmental effect. Even a Dependant NPC can be included at this stage. When the player chooses this option for his character, a separate, low end character generator is invoked. The character picks the details of the DNPC from available options, chooses an in-game avatar from those available, and decides how much danger the NPC can experience. Simply having the NPC puttering around would be meaningless. The game will make the PC earn the points gained by actually involving the DNPC in the games mission structure. Missions can be generated that involve the NPC, placing them in danger or in the path of on-rushing doom that the PC will have to rescue them from. Perhaps at log-in, the player can toggle a series of Game Event click-boxes that allow DNPCs, Rivals, and Hunted missions to be generated by the game’s environment. Experience gained is modified by the number of Game Events the player selects. If he gets bored with saving Cousin Jed every day, he un-clicks the DNPC box and selects his Hunted instead. Now he’s fighting Viper agents this session, and a more individual character narrative unfolds, rather then the player simply wandering through the in-game plotline. There is more... but its in even rougher form than the above mess.

Re: Game Design: Champions Online On my hard drive at work, I've a multi-page doc I was going to send to Steve, but I might post it here. You might find my plan a bit out of scope as well.

Re: Most Oscure Reference You've Ever Worked Into a Game The personal correspondence between Jung and Freud and how it was connected to a Nazi plot to steal atomic weapons from the future. The Greek invention showed up as a colony administrator in another time travel game (and again in Gamma Hero) as "Archimedes Screw." Bits of Richard Feynman's Autobiography. Whole chapters of Ancestor's Tale by Richard Dawkins. Things Adam Sessler has said on X-Play. I could go on... but I won't.

Re: City of Heroes - Online Hero Game I play Bob Violence on Virtue. My Global is Bob Violence. He's a Mutant Tanker. About Five-foot nuthin' Goggles, big honkin' steam-powered fists. Can jump half a mile. Fun Fun Fun

http://scienceblogs.com/neurophilosophy/2007/10/nanoscale_radios_and_solar_cells.php

Re: Traveller Hero... What's Next? I think an "Enemies" book would be nice...

Re: Our First Traveller HERO Game... I think I just might convert all of Call of the Wild and its sequels to TH, ask Avenger and you guys what I should do with them. Perhaps Avenger could include TH stats in future revisions of their product if we create them... a Hero Community Service?

Re: Our First Traveller HERO Game... It was a little rough around the edges, but everybody really relaxed when "Pavel" showed up. I switched to my "Lazy Russian" accent, slouched in my chair and offered everybody a drink... "Ve haf... um... Beer... and.... um... Beer." I'll be converting most of the critters and people to Hero over the weekend. I think next week will be even better!

...went very well. It was thrown together quite quickly, two folks played "Virtual Characters" meaning they didn't have character sheets yet. They played off of package deals and we just played to get a feel for things. The scenario was "Call of the Wild" from Avenger. It is a very detailed adventure. If you're ever going to do a planetary survey type game, you should pick it up. Bottom line.. We had a blast!

... my current game is Gamma Hero, with 150pt post-apocalyptic heroes gaining mutations and high-tech gear at a frankly alarming rate. But this is the way I designed it. If someone gets Radioactive Goo on him, he developes strange abilities and we go on. But what about an even more rapid rise to power? How about 50 pointers getting all sorts of power very suddenly. Normals gaining 250 pts of superpowers in a weird accident, or normals in a modern world who discover alien dimensions and the bizarre paths to power that lurk hidden just beyond sight. How would you go about introducing your players to such a world? My folks reject it practically out of hand. They don't want to play as those folks before the accident, the big reveal, the Dark Secret that changes their lives in an instant. They want, in other words, to start out as Heroes and that's it. I think it would be more fun for them to know nothing about the world and let them wonder for an episode or two where all this is leading. Suspense is often a rarity in gaming, methinks.

Re: Traveller Hero... What's Next? Any thoughts on when or how the missing HDPs will be made available? We're starting up a game on Friday if all goes well. One of my players was visibly drooling at the prospect of Traveller HERO....

Re: Traveller Hero... What's Next?

Re: Traveller Hero... What's Next? I'm sorry. I was in a hurry when I posted that. I meant... where are the prefabs for Hero Designer? I have both PDF's... I just want more Hero Designer support. Even if I have to create it myself and make it available (if I'm allowed). I don't know the details of your agreement, and if posting the .hdt's and .hdp's would cause trouble, I won't do it.

Re: Traveller Hero... What's Next? I'd like info on the Nobility... I'm thinking of getting GURPS Traveller Nobles, but I'm keen on not having to convert it. Also... Where are the Racial Prefabs/Templates for Traveller? If they aren't available, and I just do them myself, are they postable? I'd rather not cause trouble for Com Star and Eodin, etc...

...being the impatient goof that I am, I bought both THero PDF's. I had to have them RIGHT NOW. Couldn't wait on a bound copy. What Era does everyone play? I ask because I'd like to do a few adventures, small scenarios...nothing to threaten the balance of one's campaign or anything... I want to make sure that whatever I write will be useful to most folks playing. So... what Era? Huh... whatcha doin?

Re: [PAH] Themed Characters I'm going to be using your Abrams tonight... I'm renaming it to the "Cathedral of St Abrams." The episode's lynchpin NPC was supposed to have gone there... but they won't be told exactly what it is...the PCs will track her to it's last known position when a number of Bad Guys attack. They'll learn where the Naughty Mutants have taken Honey DiJon, a member of the White Hand Healer's Alliance, and have to rescue her. I think the priest in the tank should have a good military name... Father Schwartzkopf or something...

Re: [PAH] Gear and Mutations... I started mine in Excel, with columns for Assemblies, Needed Components, Skill, and Shop Type (Forge, Gunsmithy, Chemlab, etc) It's coming along nicely, one item is a spare brain that remembers stuff, so you don't have to.

Re: [PAH] Gear and Mutations... I've begun work on expanding it to a full DH article. I'm going to provide a mix of items, from simply useful, to rather Wahoo. My games tend toward the bizzare.

Re: [PAH] Gear and Mutations... I should add that... Thanks!

http://scienceblogs.com/neurophilosophy/2007/09/invisibility_cloak_materials_m.php

Re: [PAH] Gear and Mutations... Anyway, stuff can be looted from various things and critters in the game world. For example, looting a Robot might yield 3 Electronics and 3 mechanical spares (or you could just fix the Robot after you bust him up). Loot tables would be broad enough to handle, say, any number of possible results, think of how much tubing and scrap metal you'd get after an assault on an Oil Refinery... But someone's PDA is not going to yield but 1 electronics spare. Even then, fail your Scavenging Roll and you get nothing... Number of spares would be dictated by how big the object is, what kind by what type of item, and some are just lying around. One man's trash, etc.... Item----------------------Requires Autofire Assembly---------1x Spring, 2 x Scrap Metal Ball Joint------------------Scrap Metal Battery-------------------Chemicals Bio-Gel-------------------1x Chemicals, 2x Bacteria Bolts---------------------1x Scrap Metal Bronze Sheet-------------1x Copper, 1x Tin Bronze Tube--------------Sheet Metal Carbon-------------------1xwood Ceramics-----------------1x Ore, 1x Glass Chemicals----------------Ore Circulating Pump----------2x Scrap Metal, 1x Motor Clockwork----------------2x Springs, 1 x Sheet Metal or 1x Scrap Metal Cloth Rags----------------N/A Cloth Strips---------------2x Cloth Rags Coolant Assembly---------2x Tubing, 1x Chemicals, 1x Circulating Pump Coolant Fan---------------1 x Sheet Metal/1 x Scrap Metal Copper Sheet--------------Ore Copper Tube---------------1x Copper Sheet Copper Wiring--------------1x Copper Sheet Display Device-------------1x Copper Wiring, 1x Glass Sheet, 1x Emitter Dry Cell--------------------1x Copper Wire, 1x Chemicals Duct Tape-----------------1x Cloth, 1x Chemicals Duralloy Sheet-------------1x Ore, 2x Chemicals Emitter--------------------1x Copper Wire, 1x Chemicals Fiber Optic Cable-----------1x Pastics Fuel Cell-------------------1x Chemicals Gas Bottle-----------------2x Glass Gears Large----------------2x Scrap Metal Gears, Small----------------1x Scrap Metal Hard Disk-------------------1x Copper Wire, 1x IO Board Heat Sink -------------------1x Scrap Metal Incendium-------------------3x Chemicals, Sulpher Interface Device-------------1x Copper Wire, 1x Mechanical Widget Internal Combustion Engine----4x Iron Bar, 3x Copper Wire, 1x Rubber Tubing IO Board----------------------2x Circuit Board, 1x Copper Wire IR Optics---------------------2x Diodes, 1x Lens Iron -------------------------Ore Iron Sights-------------------1x Scrap Metal Keyboard---------------------1x Copper Wire, 2x Plastics Leather Straps----------------1x Hide Limestone---------------------Ore Media Player------------------1x Emitter, 1x Memory Device Memory Board-----------------2x Circuit board, 1x IO Board Memory Device----------------1x Memory Board Metal Tank--------------------2x Scrap Metal Mutagen X---------------------2x Chemicals, 4x Bacteria Nuclear Cell--------------------1x Radiactive Goo, 1x Glass Jar, 1x Scrap Metal Nuts---------------------------1x Scrap Metal Optics-------------------------1x Lens, 1x Diode Plastic tank--------------------2x Plastic Radioactive Goo-----------------1x Chemicals, 1x Radiation Source Receiver-----------------------1x Copper Wire, 1x IO Board Rifle Stock---------------------1x Wood Rubber Tire---------------------1x Plastics Rubber Tubing------------------1x Plastics Scrap Metal---------------------n/a Screws-------------------------1x Scrap Metal Servo--------------------------1x Motor, 1x Rubber Tubing Sheet Metal--------------------1x Ore Solid Tire-----------------------3x Plastics Springs-------------------------1 Scrap Metal Steel Tube----------------------2x Steel Sulpher-------------------------Ore Tire----------------------------2x Plastics Toxin 9-------------------------3x Chemicals Transmitter---------------------1x Copper Wire, 1x Circuit Board Trigger Assembly----------------1x Clockwork, 1x Scrap Metal Universal Joint------------------1x Scrap Metal UV Optics-----------------------2x Diodes, 1x Lens Washers------------------------1x Scrap Metal Wheel--------------------------1x Scrap Metal