lensman

Yes, still openings, come check it out. Plenty of Lore additions

I am willing to try. The answer is yes, I accept a player that is GMT +1

It really depends on a couple of criteria. 1. When are you most likely to post? I am PT 2. How consistent is that schedule, how many posts are you likely to have? 3. What is your command of the English language, both written and spoken? 4. How would you rate your knowledge of HERO system generally?

Foundry does not have a HERO System mod... for now Until that time, I am running a Play by text. Magic very Rare, no Rary jokes, and only one MU is allowed in party, that slot is filled. 225 ts 50 Complications. RPOL is free to join, run by me, Lensman, I have run HERO since it started had two friends in the original playtest. One played Centurion, one played Freon. Look for : Tornathian League, City States*M I also have a little Discord, Tornathia & Westerlands

Enough to grok the genre, the setting, the themes. More info for home-brew worlds than published settings. In the beginning it is an agreement on terms. Pirates, Count of Monte Cristo, Lace & Steel. Is that enough? It is a start. As mentioned above, Hyborian Age, Human only, grim-dark. Minimum I need is a page (500+ words), assuming I know the references used, literary, cinematic or historical. The more I read, the clearer the picture, the less time I need to FAQ the GM on his campaign before starting to build a character.

So many different paths to take in HERO. I am not going to answer along the path of Superheroic. On that oath rolls really may not make narrative sense. I will go down the Heroic path, and there are some branches I am taking. First, you want rolls to not power escalate upwards? Just change the -1 / 10 AP to -1 / 20 or higher. There is also the ability to buy specific Skill roll levels for an individual spell. If a Wizard has a spell which is outsized in AP, they rest being just a clustered around a similar AP total, buy a couple of those Skill lvls. You can have a rule that more Limitations on a spell than Advantages, gives a + to Magic roll, every - .5 gives a +1 or every -1. You can always institute a Jammed Limitation for RSR over a certain amount, like 16-, An idea I have used is going to Delayed Effect. Wizards can use the calm and safety of a base or camp, 'rack' the spell and then give a big bonus to Magic roll to cast to rack the spell. Less pressure to buy up the roll and when combat comes around, those out of combat bonus' mean some real risk. Next is complimentary skills to that RSR Magic roll. Having an Apprentice or other mage to increase the roll with a complimentary skill would lessen the pressure to have high skill rolls.

This character, I presume you are the GM, has a Title and wealth. The Perk is of Lesser Nobility, the title flows from the King, or equiv, whether inherited or newly granted, the character shows up on the OP (Order of Precedence). Al the lands of the Kingdom are paid for by the Political Power, a King, Queen, Mage, Theocrat, Congress etc. There is such a thing as landed and non landed nobles, maybe +1 pt, or not, if the character is now landed, otherwise the character gets the fief as a reward / burden. Followers, as the Bard tells us, therein lies the rub. You want good people in charge, or anyone tied to the character, then Followers is where I start. The perk: Wealth may or may not flow from the fief, if so, have a number in mind. Credit the character on a seasonal basis. Which works well on the HERO time chart. Four times a year, and if he takes over, money flows out first or is borrowed on the promise of peasant productivity, taxes, or character adventuring activity. You have to address the chain. Does the character report to a Baronet, then a upwards to Count, Viscounts, Dukes, Archdukes, it all flows upwards to the Throne. What about neighboring fiefs, rivalry, pilferage, banditry. Definitely a Base. Write out the population, the infrastructure, resources, production. All at no points t the character. He wants to build a manor, kee, tower, pay points for those. Wants to raise a peasant levy, or train some levy to actual units, pay for that with points and materials with money. He wants to build improvements or create bridges, roads, mills, etc, pay for that. He wants to hire experts or mercenaries, pay for those with money. To Tjack's blunt opposition, make all of these actions and decisions off line, blue book, email whatever. If the player just wants to dip out and go adventuring and not deal, well that has only as many consequences as the campaign allows and those can all be dealt with as the character's Reputation and adventuring swell his coffers Buying the fief as a base, just the land and any obvious resources or Kingdom relevant infrastructure, at zero cost to player, just what he starts with . You can throw in the population of peasants as followers at zero cost.

I read this, "how to build a character" and wondered if you could expand on this. Is thee more to this How To.. than just selection of Race templates, Age Templates, Profession templates, etc, more than just mechanics?

We will skip over the rules for Grab, CV mods, Resisting Grab and the penalty for Object suitability for Range mod/CV for hitting another person that can generate a DCV, as well as the STR for range based on STR over the STR required just to lift the person/object to be thrown. 6e2 pg 80, mentioned above by IndianaJoe3. The Limiting factors for Damage are the DEF and BODY of the object/person thrown and the DEF + BODY of the object/person being hit. This demonstrates the idea of throwing a melon against a wall and it splattering everywhere and throwing a spear through a Shōji (look it up) wall. The Troll (STR 40) picks up a human, unarmored farmer, 3 PD + 10 BODY, 100 kg., +30 STR, can Throw, 6E 81 pg., with a Standing Throw 24m ( 78.7402 ft.) the Farmer into another target, barn door, armored Knight, etc. Throwing a Character, 6E2 82 pg. "In either case this typically counts as a separate Attack Action, so it cannot be performed in the same Phase when the character Grabs the object/character to be Thrown." Characters As Weapons, 6E2 124 "Using another character as a club entails a weapon Size/Shape penalty of -2 OCV (if the club” is unconscious) or -4 OCV (if he’s awake). A character used as a missile is neither balanced nor aerodynamic (minimum of -4 OCV)." Long story short. Troll can do his full STR damage 8d6 against any target, melee or ranged because the Farmer has 3 DEF + 10 BODY, allowing up to 13 d6 The Target and the Farmer both take the same damage roll and apply it to their Defenses and then BODY and STUN. In the case of using the farmer v. a Barn door, made of just fitted wood planks that is not very solid, let us call it a: from 6E FH, 420 pg. a Light Wooden door, with discounted BODY for Poor construction meaning 3 PD + 2 BODY The maximum damage possible is 5 d6. In this way it resonates with Knockback distance = Throw distance Easy, right?

Here now my reply, in order of post, by author. @ Tjack : Well I will get to looking those posts up, later. @ Panpiper : You have hit upon the point, I am going to be starting a game with six, three newbies to HERO, three veterans. I am not looking to deprive anyone of the building process. It does start and end with the player. The narrative created by the player is Step 1, then begin how well I understand it, then with my questions, we explore, expand the narrative. Then the drafting, showing the work to the player, then the iterations, questions, and agreement. I do not see how this collaborative process deprives any player o anything, except the pride of exploit or mastery of mechanics knowledge. Both of these will be born out in the process, while also integrating world lore. Any choice that happens where, as we know, HERO can build things many ways, where player build and GM build differ, that can be talked about and hammered out, as opposed to player build being submitted and thought of inviolate and unimpeachable. Yes, it is interesting, this idea of narrative as expressed by 175 starting pts. If the narrative is thin, then points are left over, gigantic amounts of narrative can consume all of the starting character pts. As example, D'Artagnan, I am a simple farm boy raised by a Master swordsman, My skill with rapier is matched only by the finest swordsmen in the King's Guard. Simple, good for a two hour movie, not enough for a campaign. However, I agree, where possible, if possible, points should be left to assigned by the player. How you think that this entire process is not personalized to that player, enabling his vision of the character, as expressed solely by them is a mystery. You must be arguing some other, as yet unexpressed, point. You pointy out that I am not wrong, yet.., you spent a good bit telling me that my error is " they can feel some personalization," by implication saying, they will have none, or next to none. If you are trying to convince of , "You can please some of the people, some of the time, not all the people, all the time." I do agree with that, yet with decades of GM'ing I feel I have run into this very concept many times, and solved it for ... let just say, most of te people. These games will be me dealing with unknown players, literally the only thing I will know is whether they are new to HERO or not. The idea is worthy, it will be used. What ever the percentage comes out to be, every character has to be Danger-worthy. @ Doc Democracy : Safe to say, we disagree. Players build everything, they build it in narrative and then if misunderstanding is with one or both, it gets hashed out, and then, transparently, the mechanics are shown, and polishing can begin. Some players will chafe at the process, I am not inflexible, where I can make accommodation, I will. I counter the idea of, "Never let them build, they will never learn to build, " with , they will see the translation of narrative, a word problem, into mechanics, ask questions, receive answers, compare result with narrative and see the whole process. It is not a black box, it is transparent and where clarification has to be made, it will be on one or both sides. If you want to defend the hill where if the character appears to be the same, GM build and Player build, so why not let the Player build it, in my experience there is no problem and maybe a little shared respect. Also, a lot more to the game than the initial character build @ theinfn8 : Yes, I get it, you are not trying to impune my motives, just take the worst motives and ascribe them to the process, as a cautionary point. I am looking for the players to take the ink and draw what they see, put it into a character narrative and have it join to the existing campaign. Not all concepts are equal or valid. Demi-God, out. Extra-dimensional traveler, out. Dragon, out. Monstrous creature, out. Now I agree that all this is for a series of min series runs, the restraints, if you see them as that, loosen as I see players develop through the run(s). If that is your experience with grand epic stories, it has not been so with me. I define a Session 0 differently, it is a solo run, sans other players, or it could have one or two, call those Session 0.5, where we get the character in motion and setting direction, becoming familiar with expectations. @ Hugh Neilson : Hugh, you're preaching to the choir. Were it ever so. Some players, you can pull out the chair, yet... they never sit at the table. If that happens, it happens not through my inaction as a GM. As for your example, I council that the ask for a beginning character is too high. Best in your village, best in the county, best in the Duchy, but unless you have been everywhere, challenging every Archer, you can not know whether you are the best in the Kingdom. That form of fiat does not exist for beginning characters, though they be mighty and a clear step above the ordinary or trained. We agree of course, fulfilling the expectation of th e player is the point, a reasonable point. I can see that a thread is running through the replies, yes, with the GM as unknown, caution and reason are indicated. @ bluesguy : Right. I do not have the luxury of knowing the players online, and the work I see in the link, well done. You get that I am trying to avoid: Player makes entire character, submits entire Elf build to GM, GM says, no Elves in my game, players goes and makes entire Demi God build, GM says No Demi gods in my game... etc. Though this is mostly avoided since I am using a published campaign setting, Turakian Age. Mostly. @ MordeanGrey : 100% spot on. Mechanics can show me what the character does, not who the character is. At one time I was part of a group that gelled for many many years. All things must and do.. change. Your point is a good one, I credit most for understanding the mechanics. My concern is balance and seeing the character concept fulfilled. @ pawsplay : Maybe we envision too different amounts of time being consumed. Given that the player has to make the character and ask questions and learn or incorporate, how could you not invest the time . To be sure, for character generation, I make the time. Though I am unsure exactly what you mean by trade-offs, it is a process, so decisions, ie trade-offs, will be made. Also i think the narrative creation smooths out the decision process, if the player puts exactly what he wants down and communicates it clearly. Some players just need feedback and options. @ LoneWolf : I am going to take " interrupt " as interpret. To your first point, I say, Let not the Perfect be the enemy of Good." To be clear I do not agree the Rashomon effect applies to defeat character creation, unless you all talking about going out past 5 decimal places. Since this has been answered above to others, I will reiterate, player narratives always change, add, effect the world to enable the character to exist, barring destruction of whole Empires, even the, it is a discussion. To do otherwise leads to madness. In the spirit of warding off the worst possible conjuration of motive and aberration, my only motivation is seeing the player vision completed, within reason. The risk is reversed, if the GM does not build to the narrative provided by the player, the player bounces, as the kids say. It is a conceit, I have enough faith in my ability in HERO and to communicate that the risk, from a reasonable process, of failure, is low to extremely low. While I like a good rant and rail, as objective warning to the worst possible outcome, you make assumptions about the process that are unwarranted, however, it does serve as an example of what an idea could be unchallenged. @ pawsplay : Since the player supplied narrative covers all of the character, spells, and psychs are completely within their domain, to be modified as the player sees fit, given they understand the mechanics, or learn the mechanics and adjust one way or the other. Complications may be the point where players have to be aware of mechanics to best see the concept realized. @ Ninja-Bear : My point is not that players will break the game. The point is that balance is required, certain points, that players would see as wasteful are required for balance and fulfilling narrative. These omissions, or trade-offs, are made by players in an attempt to maximize survivability, or just plain paranoia. The larger picture will be seen by the GM concerning all the characters, and thus balance.

I know my world better than any player. My argument is this, players supply a character narrative, his life , events, actions, faults, abilities. No mechanics. As GM, I build that character and the conversation continues to hone the player choices until the character build is complete and turned over to the player. Defeat my argument if you can. I cannot build a character creation guide complete enough that Players will not find cracks or make reductive or mechanical constructs that I must tear down and create a more adversarial atmosphere, based solely on what they read vrs. what unknown to them, yet, known to me as GM. This is compounded by the use of a published HERO setting, the Turakian Age, where I have added details left undiscovered, compounded again by a middle step Black box approach to magic, from a mechanics POV. Likely someone will make the claim of micro-management or even a claim of egomania on the part of the GM. Which is a smaller set, player expectations and the hammering it would take to bring into compliance, or the tuning back and forth after the GM receives the character narrative with any conversation to explore what is possible? HERO system is a construction set, I get it, can I write enough on all possible Optional rules, from all available HERO sources to shed light on all edge cases? I do not think it can be done. Hence, better to build from narrative of, war orphan, street urchin, pocket dip, gutter Ear, wharf scrounge, Guild member, second pilfer, Quarter rook, whisper-broker, implausible savior, reluctant contact, unlikely pupil, sociable rogue, amiable agent, clandestine disquisitive.

@DShomshak: Planning to do just that @Lord Liaden: I do, and it is the place I start @PhilFleischmann: I envision both. A deck of two parts, a suited, numbered part and a major Arcana part (Have not named it yet) it will have the unique cards. Thanks for the lead, never heard of Everway. Plan to post results.

Need help building an Alt deck for fortune telling in Turakian Age Short pithy names for concepts and events in Ambrethel. Anything would be helpful. Thanks in advance for the crowdsourcing, what ever form it takes.

I should do that, just saw the thread, read it and posted. Now its starting to get real. I know it's not for everyone, have to cast as large a net as possible.

That is my hope. To form another group I am a Lllooooooooooong time HERO GM / Player / Evangelist and I have my sights set on the next thing for On line gaming. Called Tabletop Simulator. Available on Steam for a one time cost of 19.99 Better than Roll20 which puts you on the treadmill. Recently a British programmer has finished a HERO Virtual Tabletop for this software and it is being play tested, going to be released ... <Buckeroo> Real soon </Buckerroo> I want to learn it, master it and run a Turakian Age game. TTS (Tabletop Simulator) is Virtual, 3 D and even usable with Oculus, though that part we are not doing. I admit that the interface will be new, but the game itself is HERO, have that down in spades. We would use Skype for VOIP My pitch is this, I have the time for a dedicated 6 hour a week game, likely on Sat or Sun, definitely not on a Tues. I am a Role player and enjoy Role play, Intrigue / adventure and combat I have definite ideas on how Magic, Clerical and combat works in Turakian Age. Turak itself is a Myth, it is a story you tell to scare children, Turak is so far removed form the events of Arduna that the Ages have made any effect it had on the world nothing but hoax or hallucinogenic fever dream, as the Gods intend. If you have interest, I will consider all char submissions as character description / history and will build the characters myself, leaving !25% to be finished by the player.

Alrighty, did a Fantasy HERO game happen? Anyone still looking? By which I mean, an online game, not one in the East Bay Threaddus Resurrectus

Is there a source for art of the Turakian Age? Is there a collection of Drakine art somewhere? Or suitable substitutes for Drakine? What would be most useful is a line up of the major Turakian races, if not just the Humans by country. Maybe I will have to find an artist who would undertake that project for a few shekels.

Figured it out with help from a friend. All good.

Currently no idea how to 'Clim my Account' Have two messages

Would like to join the Discord.

Appeal to Denial of Entry of Utgor Son of Angor I am Stave, retained to argue for overturning the Denial of Entry and the Admission of Utgor Son of Angor to this Fair City. Question 13. This question, as probing and fair as any, was in fact answered by Utgor. The answer given did transcribe his surprise, not an objection to the question. Utgor Son of Angor is not now, nor has he ever been possessed, as I understand Possessed to be defined in City canon. Question 17. This question was answered in all honesty. Question 18. Utgor Son of Angor hails from a homeland that defines the word 'they' to only refer to bipedal races. Utgor Son of Angor's plain understanding of the word 'they' has one frame of reference, bipedal persons he currently travels with that are also entering this fair city. Utgor Son of Angor would amend his answer to Question 18, he would strike his given answer and amend that his unnamed and well bred horse is not literate. Thank you for your attention to this matter. Stave

1) Full name Poltir 2) Mother's maiden name unknown 3) Any titles you have and where they were granted Blade Master, Iron halls of Myrmidon Uthordrak-Qog, Orc Chieftain of the Red Crag Tribes Kafiej-Paode, Conclave of Padashar of the Bright Desert Prince-Errant, Hold of the Ten Thousand Faithful 4) Place of birth summit of the Shattercrown Peak 5) What is your reason for visiting our fair city? to secure commerce or contract 6) Education informal 7) List your previous three jobs Captain Commander, 6th Phalanx of 1st Expeditionary element of The Army of Seven Kings Consort Protector of the Princess of Endless Tides, Daughter of the Moon, Ruler of the Jewel Coast Emissary-Khadiq, Ars Elemental Council 8 ) List of references (preferably at least one within the city) None in city Arch-Militant Ophir, Commander of the Sequestori Defier 9) Preferred religion Aftagiel, Lord of Patient Silence 10) Any outstanding tax debts none 11) Any outstanding bounties and the circumstances of why a bounty has been placed upon you Bounty offered by the Pirate Xoa-Wu Qin; destruction of landing parties, City-State of Byzartium Bounty offered by Cult of Kjistiloth, for raid, murder of Priests and destruction of the Tower of Wisdom 12) Declare all dangerous companions and all dangerous items in your possession Companions, none. Items, I hold bladed weapons of various lengths and weight 13) Declare whether you are possessed I am not Possessed 14) Do you eat carrots? Only in stew, goulash or salmagundi 15) Emergency contact information Master Li Mu, Monastic Order of Salves 16) Are you literate? No, answers scribed by companion 17) Do you have a horse or other livestock which you are bringing into the city? None 18) Are they literate? Two are literate, the Engineer and the Minstrel Giving false information on this form is punishable by fines, imprisonment, and/or execution as deemed necessary by the local magistrate and such punishments may be inflicted in any order.

Mallet, scanned your post but do not have time now. The newest construct of HERO Mechanics that just came to me. Buy the Images as IPE. Use Naked Advantage, Personal Immunity, put Usable by Others on the Naked Personal Immunity. Now The Images are seen by granted Immunity and we dodge the whole Limitation/Advantage debate. More later today.

We are in search of proper game balance and that reaches, so far, into mechanics, SFX and metaphysics; ie Whether to incur additional expense simply because it could clarify beyond a simple mechanical construct of the system. We, at least I am, are looking for the simplest answer. And that may be outside of Powers in the system and include skills, see my EDIT in my last post.

Problem seems to be Variable Limitation; also SFX. You are suggesting a narrowing of SFX and what is and is not possible by SFX, not Power, Limitation or Advantage and by extension Compound powers. In a Fantasy genre, Magic is the SFX I am dealing with. Specifically Turakian Age which has 12 main branches of Magic. Generally my starting point was anything is possible. I do not subscribe to Tech being superior to Magic in SFX. The answer to these questions concerning my op, raise questions about how any sufficiently creative player can justify anything by SFX. I just need to have a firm grasp of when to step in with mechanics. Ie. for Images to only work on a descendant of a Family line or any lineage. That just seems to beg for a Detect with Discriminatory. Though that leads to Naked Advantage and Powers that could link, as Link could be Variable Limitation. EDIT: Though with Magic, Research of Spells is a thing, so research for a particular Limit would lead to amount of time and sufficient knowledge to include such a limitation.