UbiquitousRat

On improv, I'd strongly recommend Walmsley's booklet: http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/106247/Play-Unsafe?filters=0_44293_0_0_0 Lots taken from drama improv, but applied directly to roleplaying. Another question: I keep asking players to describe what they want to have their character be able to do, not to worry about the mechanics of modelling it. That allows me to focus them on the roleplaying, why I solve the questions of roll-playing to emulate their ideas. When is it appropriate for a player to take more direct control over modelling their own creations? What are the risks / benefits from letting them do so?

Lots of useful comments. Thanks!

Lots to process there... thanks, guys!

Having recently started playing HERO, my group is keen for me to put together some key advice in the form of a Roleplayer's Guide. Although a lot of the content is system-neutral, I feel that the inclusion of HERO-specific advice is also important - mostly because, in a separate discussion on the topic, the players said that they feel the GM should help players to understand how to "finesse" (at least at a basic level) the choices they make for their character. To this end, does anyone more experienced than me (which means a person who has played more than 4 sessions of HERO) have any advice, nuggets of wisdom, or other guidance aimed at players of HERO? If so, would you object to be quoted in our Guide? Secondly, how does one approach ensuring that anyone you write and provide online does not infringe HERO Games copyright? I can't seem to locate the appropriate guidance that I am sure used to exist. Thanks in advance for your assist!

The idea of the Conditional Power is to limit the damage of the additional missiles to no more than the original missile. Thus, if I fire my Light Bow (1d6) I can only have 1d6 damage from the Multimissile. Of course, in this case, I might want to up my Bow damage a few damage classes with my CSLs to take advantage of the spell's power. The Time Limit works to limit the spell, which is cast on a missile (say, an arrow), to function for no longer than 5 minutes after the spell is cast. Thus, the caster has to prep the arrow and use it inside the Time Limit, or lose the benefit. Of course, there are questions around whether I want to import the RuneQuest-inspired parameters. Hmm. Could you build it as a naked Power Advantage, with Limitations? Thus: Multimissile Spell: Autofire (2 shots; +1/4) for up to 40 Active Points of a single missile attack, Time Limit (5 Minutes; +1) (20 Active Points); 1 Recoverable Charge (-1 1/4), Requires A Death Rune Affinity Roll (Skill roll; -1/2), Incantations (-1/4), Costs Endurance (Only Costs END to Activate; -1/4)

While we're at it, here are two other spells: Speedart Spell: +9 with a single missile attack; +3 CSL to OCV, 6 CSL (+3 DC) to damage, Time Limit (5 Minutes; +3/4) (47 Active Points); OAF (spell cast onto a missile; -1), Requires A Death Rune Affinity Roll (Skill roll; -1/2), Incantations (-1/4), Costs Endurance (Only Costs END to Activate; -1/4) Silence Spell: +4 with Stealth, Time Limit (5 Minutes; +3/4) (14 Active Points); Requires A Harmony Rune Affinity Roll (Skill roll; -1/2), Gestures (-1/4), Costs Endurance (Only Costs END to Activate; -1/4) These seem more straight-forward.

Yes, I've been referring to it. I'm not, however, emulating RuneQuest... just referring to it. The set up for Multimissile there uses a continuing, recoverable charge: Power: 2d6 RKA, trigger (fire missile, +¼), (can only do same damage as original missile, -½), Consumes POW (-½), requires a magic Roll (-½), limited range (-¼), 1 continuing (5 minutes) recoverable charge, (-½) Isn't a continuing charge going to mean that the missile continues to do damage for 5 minutes after striking the target? That is not the effect I want. Ok. So what will get me additional missiles (up to 4, depending on the version of the spell) all in one go when you fire the original missile? Is it enough to simply drop the "cannot be recovered"? Multimissile-1 Spell: Killing Attack - Ranged 2d6, Time Limit (5 Minutes; +1) (60 Active Points); 1 Charge (-2), OAF (cast on a single missile; -1), Requires A Death Rune Affinity Roll (Skill roll; -1/2), Conditional Power cannot roll more damage than original missile (-1/2), Incantations (-1/4), Costs Endurance (Only Costs END to Activate; -1/4) Suggestions, please?

I've begun to set-up a campaign set in the classic Glorantha setting. So far, so good. Today, I've tried to create a Multimissile spell. I'd like to know if you think it makes sense. In short, you cast the spell on a missile like an arrow or sling stone. When the missile is fired, the spell releases additional copies of the missile which do the same damage dice as the original. Multimissile Creates a second missile, doing the same damage as the first. Multimissile-1 Spell: Killing Attack - Ranged 2d6, Time Limit (5 Minutes; +1) (60 Active Points); 1 Charge which Never Recovers (-4), OAF (cast on a single missile; -1), Requires A Death Rune Affinity Roll (Skill roll; -1/2), Conditional Power cannot roll more damage than original missile (-1/2), Incantations (-1/4), Costs Endurance (Only Costs END to Activate; -1/4) Multimissile-2 Spell: Killing Attack - Ranged 2d6, Time Limit (5 Minutes; +1) (60 Active Points); 2 Charges which Never Recover (-3 1/2), OAF (cast on a single missile; -1), Requires A Death Rune Affinity Roll (Skill roll; -1/2), Conditional Power cannot roll more damage than original missile (-1/2), Incantations (-1/4), Costs Endurance (Only Costs END to Activate; -1/4) And so on... Thoughts?

Quick update: Four of five regular players have played the new HERO conversion Tikhon campaign, and all seem happy. Just one guy to teach, who's only absent due to work pressures. Also had interest at the school club for an MHI scenario, allowing me to demo HERO to the teen lads. Looks good. Once again, big thanks for prior and ongoing support!

Thanks, mhd! My guy has a Heavy Bow (1 1/2 d6) and struggled against the Skeletons armoured with 7PD full panoply armour. Most of the time, he couldn't do more than scratch them. The 2d6 Hvy Longbow, however, does pack more punch, I guess. I might go the root of Draxian War Arrows, an enchanted and very rare commodity, with AP. That seems a nice, flavourful compromise which also reveals that, although Drax don't usually use bows, they can make cool arrows for their allies.

mhd: Forgive my ignorance here, but can you qualify / explain how bows are too good against armour without AP? Thanks to the others for suggestions - keep it simple, eh?

Question about Bows: We are using the Bow designs from the HSEG. One player wants to use Armour Piercing Arrows. What is the recommended way of handling this? Do I design the AP Arrow as an item? Does that mean I need to redesign the Bow and add a normal Arrow? Or should I add to the Bow, perhaps making it a multi-power with AP and normal arrow options? Thoughts?

Although not essential, I am going to write a Player's Guide to Tikhon. What do I need to include? What would be nice to include?

Wow - Spence - that Trek stuff is also high quality fan work! Thanks, dude!

Thanks, Spence! Got that.

I've got Kazei 5, but it's a bit more Japanese Anime rather than Shadowrun. Ok, so better question: Has anyone done those AND have a set of resources I can pinch to setup my own versions with?

Has anyone adapted HERO to any of these settings? 1. Judge Dredd 2. Star Trek 3. Shadowrun Just musing over what to prep for the teens... and SF appeals...

The overall skill level comes from a Priest's "blessing" power, so was just checking. Thanks! I need to research the Enc rules for armour, I guess. Urgh. Dislike encumbrance. :-) Thanks, guys!

Thanks for the comments, guys... although it sounds like NuSoardGraphite is referring to pre-6e with those figured CV tips...? What are movement in armour levels? The guys used vanilla HERO combat, really, on Friday. We got to tracking END, which was ok. Am thinking of using Hit Locations, which make things deadlier, as they tend to like the addition of details. That said, I'm shying away from anything I can't easily track using HD, so sectional armour is probably a no. Other options may come with time, but I to want keep things relatively simple for starters. Have made some natty weapon cards, which outline the damage at levels of STR above the STR Min, plus the max damage in the case of items like Daggers and Shortswords (having discovered the max is 2x base DC). These also revealed that HD does not accurately list the damage from additional STR on character sheets, so I am glad I did them on several levels. I have a question regarding Skill Levels: the +1 Overall applies to Skill and Characteristic rolls; am I correct to assume that's only Char rolls that are using the basic 6 Char Roll numbers, and excludes things like CV rolls? Today I am mostly outlining adventure obstacles...

Am thinking that Goblins with Teamwork will be nasty...

Thanks for the comments and link, bluesguy! Yeah, I own the Combat Tracker. Playing with it solo, however, it took longer to resolve actions than doing it manually. Paper is quicker, it seems. :-) At least until the tool allows me to click a weapon / power and just apply it as an attack. Besides, doing things manually means I can learn the rules better anyhow.

Feedback time! Session #1 with HERO was cool. Two players (the most enthusiastic one, and the slowest learning one) were able to make it. This was actually a boon because I was able to focus on just teaching the game rules. We ran Umbar and Jon versus six Mountain Goblins (slightly tweaked Goblins from Bestiary). They minced them in two Turns, but got to try out their weapons and powers. We also ran Umbar and Jon versus a Mountain Ogre (the Ogre from Bestiary), which lasted for 1 Turn. At the end of the combat, small tweaks were made to both characters to optimise CON and boost key fighting abilities for each. The fact that the guys made those tweaks was very encouraging. First combat was slow as we learned the rules. Quite a few look-ups, but no more than a regular "learning" session with other games, eg. equivalent to when we learned D&D 3e/4e. Second fight was over inside about 15 mins. Everyone agrees that the HERO versions of the characters are VERY much more powerful than previous OSR-inspired home rules. But... they enjoyed that, and revealed their true desire to mash things. Learning for me was two-fold: 1. I might need to either use a LOT of Goblins, include Power-using Goblins, or soup up the basic Goblin. A combo of numbers and "boss" Goblins with Powers is probably appropriate. Ogre needed either support or beefing up as a "boss" challenge. 2. I need to decide on upper-limits for things, such as OCV/DCV, Active Points, et al because my guys will need boundaries once they earn more XP. Advice welcome. As GM, it was quite a blast seeing the guys excitedly battling minions. It was easier to administer, although I think I need a "boxes sheet" for tracking BODY, STUN, and END for creatures. One innovation that was welcomed was my creation of crib-cards for the Priest's Miracles, basically summarising the power and guiding the player on how it rolls. They asked for Weapon Cards too, outlining the stats without the HERO notations. Easy to do, methinks. Thanks to all for advice thus far... now to build a proper adventure session AND win over the other three players next session. Game on!

Tomorrow night's the game. Wish me luck!

Right... So, you got me playing HERO. You got me converting my regular group's fantasy game. All good. Next development: Would introducing HERO to teenage RPG newbies at the school club be a good idea? What would be different?

All of those issues are related to the characters that the players have built. Yes, they are all pretty dim, for example. I have been trying to maintain the flavour of their characters faithfully. I suspect that, as play continues, there are tweaks that they are going to ask to make. I think that a big part of the problem is in the difference between the two systems. At present, the heroes are not really much better than peasants with a few cool abilities - the game is quite Old School, meaning that the characters are only now (at higher levels) starting to look heroic. Shifting to a 175 point HERO conversion is actually quite a bit more powerful... but it makes my life as a GM easier when it comes to using creatures and magical powers which I can take from the HERO supplements. The prevalence of 2H weapons is because they kick out more damage in the homebrew game. Also, the guys like the image of the 2H guy wading into combat... especially as the setting is quite early medieval / late antiquity in feel, set in a Germanic tone, and quite wild: the guys like axes. That's a big part of giving them the Weaponmaster talent. I ran some combats yesterday, solo, to see how they stack. These heroes will eat Goblins but it was interesting to see how they'll need to team up on more powerful foes.