Christopher

5 hours ago, slikmar said:

Or, you can get out and taunt it and show Darwinism at work: https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/News/video/man-car-taunt-bison-yellowstone-57008452

Sorry, not sure how to embed the video.

I have a rule:
Never get into a conflict with something that weights more then twice of me.

Bisons, cars, Trains - all of those I show a high amount of respect. Because they would feel a colission a lot less then me

5 hours ago, Toxxus said:

Brie felt robotically stiff in most of her acting scenes.  There's a bit early on where she's told to control her emotions and my first thought was, "What emotions?". 

  

They could have used a billboard of her with some lip animating software for some of the scenes.  Just. Awful. 

The 90's were not a time where a women could be successfull and show her emotions. And then she had the whole Kree Education.

I mean, I do not expect someone from Vulcan to be good at emoting either.

5 hours ago, Toxxus said:

That and a couple of lame man-bashing bits that seemed like they were thrown for a certain, tiny segment of the audience did nothing to enhance it.

Wich ones were those? All I could see was the usual "arogant flyboy" from Topgun wich had "90's Sexism" added to his reportoi.

90's Movie + Flyboy + Female Protagonist. Entirely expeected.

5 hours ago, Toxxus said:

The way Fury lost his eye was beyond stupid.

Clawed out by a alien, shapshifting horror that shortly before ate entire Kree patrols? Does not seem very stupid to me.

1 hour ago, Ninja-Bear said:

I was going to say, in a sense, using Block is a Saving Throw. 

Only in the sense that you make a roll. Any other thing I can think of is different.

Block is a Active Defense Maneuver (the closest D&D equivalent is the Full Defense action) that can be aborted too (D&D has no such concept).

With games like Warhammer Fantasy where you get 1 Block per turn, I could see some closer similarity.

But at it's core, the Saving Throw is simply a inverted attack roll.

With normal attacks you roll Attack Bonus + 1D20 vs AC.

With saving throws you roll Saving Throw Bonus + 1D20 vs Spell DC. You roll defense, rather then attack.

14 hours ago, Asperion said:

Over the years authors have developed many different ways of getting around the censors, especially where it comes to swearing.  In Red Dwarf, everyone used the term smeag whenever they wanted to swear.  Other authors went with ancient words that most people will not recognize.  How do you prefer to make these non-swears?   

Battlestar Galactic had "Frag" in the same way.

13 hours ago, Pariah said:

One word: Farscape.

 

(Frell yeah!)

Farscape is definitely way up there. Apparently the Translator Bacteria had a censorship filter:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCNDdlCo4rA

And Zort, for the Fictional Talan Lanaguage of the game Outcast.

Also sometimes "Ptok'chai" - and pardon my Klingon here.

And from Dragonball Z Abridged: "Ah, Crapbaskets".

13 minutes ago, Territan said:

Okay, so combat, combat, combat, combat, and combat. We can put that topic to bed now. 

Sometimes the only advice we can give someone is to get out of a Relationship that does not work. It does not mater if those are Economic, Romantic or Player/GM relationships.

Confirming that those are the only paths we see as well can be a big help here. And everything you said has just been confirming it.

19 hours ago, archer said:

Okay, let's try this one on for size

 

 

I feel like she is listening to the world and that gives me an idea based on a game: Melodies escape.

The Melodie Family had a story similar to the Alan Familiy: One superpower being passed down or appearing across generations.

In their case it is a "harmonic induced hyper flowstate". In laymen terms, they are able capable of peakhuman feats of agility and strenght - but only while listening to music. The partial need for a technological focus was always a bit of an issues for these heroes, but it seemed like technological progress might eliminate it for the current generation.

When it turned out the newest member of the Family was deaf, the family was between distraught (about the disability) and releived (that she would not dos something as dangerous as superheroing). Except the deafness might have been a tradeoff for her other superpower: Electromancy. The ability to manipualte and semse EM fields.

Airwave does not need ears to hear music, for she can hear the radio stations directly in her mind. Moreover while "in the flow", she has additional powers like limited flight using a form of magnetic levitation and propulsion.

Most of her time "on patrol" is spend just listening to the peacefull music of the city. But she always is aware of any major indicents that happen because she also listens to the Police Radio. Her main reason to interfere might be annoyance with this "disruption" of the peacefull music, but she is a powerfull Hero none the less.

3 hours ago, DShomshak said:

 

Heck I'm stealing this.* It's one of the best bits of quasi-Hermetic associations I've ever seen.

 

Dean Shomshak

 

* For personal use only in my games. I don't plagiarize.

I largely distilled this down from someone elses writing. Wich was written as a free suplement to someone elses RPG setting.

So I am honestly unsure what the legal ownership of any of that is.

On 3/19/2019 at 2:15 AM, Scott Ruggels said:

  Some traits we admire in men are unattractive in women.

I dislike them in both Genders.
I just can not comprehend someone trying to offset their lack of ability with abundance of activity or unwaranted certainty.

On 3/18/2019 at 3:51 AM, massey said:

--Group superhero stories in the comics virtually never involve mysteries. 

That is very true. Questions never go beyond "who is the villain?", "what is the villains plan?" and "where is the villain so I can punch him to stop him?"

And even those questions are usually designed so the Heroes can not fail to solve them.

I mean if the heroes somehow manage to fail all 3 questions, the villain will reveal himself (and his plan) publically in short order. If nothing else, to brag and lament how dull the heroes are

On 3/18/2019 at 3:51 AM, massey said:

--Some players may like solving mysteries, but that doesn't mean their character has any skill or interest in it.  The Incredible Hulk is not known as a great detective.

His solution is usually to start a rampage and have other superheroes solve the Mystery so they can calm him down with the solution. "Playing to your strenghts" and all that

4 hours ago, Christopher R Taylor said:

Yeah there's a big difference between "you can run your game however you want" and "this is the official rule book"

To the best of my knowledge, this is the official rule book.

I really dislike the concept of a House Rule. Too many uncertainties with those. That is why I can not agree to it being called a House Rule.

At worst it is a campaign rule.

A best, it is RAW.

And in the middle it is a 4th option compared to:
"a) NO!

b) No. And I am seriously tired of you trying to pull *bleep* like that!

c) Lower it to 14 DC with the same limitation and we can talk."

And it is not like I hesitate to call something a House Rule, even when giving the option.

2 hours ago, Ninja-Bear said:

What your saying Christopher that 3 pts isn’t worth the chance to grab an opponent and while he’s at 1/2 DCV to be able to pummel him at no penalty? [Scratches Head]

You have that ability as a normal, 10 in all Stats human. Puching someone while he is grabbing you legs is not a exceptional ability.

I mean for example, here is captain kirk. He uses his legs to grab Khans neck/head, while using his hand to hold himself in a position for this maneuver:

"Hello to all, A question for GM, I'm going to start a campaign this summer and I'm working on it. For the sake of history one of the players will play a considerably powerful noble, a viscount. When players decide to play noblemen, how do you manage their possessions? For the currency and the titles, the players pay in charaters points but for its castle for example, how do you proceed? The player pays with his character points the castle ? Or castle enter in the category of equipment?"

A castle in general would fall under the "Base" rules construct. I mean it is literally a book example, so it will not get clearer then that:
"Vehicles range from a barbarian warrior’s chariot, to the souped-up coupes and sportscars driven by pulp heroes and Dark Champions spies, to the faster-than-light spaceship of an intergalactic smuggler. Similarly, Bases can range from a medieval castle, to the sprawling underground headquarters of a supervillain, to Space Station Gamma-9"

However, that asumes it will actually be usefull during adventuring. If he is a wandering Adventurer and the castle is not wandering as well, it would usually be out of reach. Unless there is some instant access via Teleportation or what no - the effective reachability most of the time maters here - it is not usefull during adventuring. And if it is not usefull during adventure time, it might simply fall under the "What not to spend points on" rule.

As usual it can still be brought up by the player once or twice per campaign. And as the GM, you are allowed to make it the center of any numbers of adventures. But at large it might be so little worth for the player, it is not worth accounting for it.

2D6 Drain STUN

plus

2D6 Normal Damage Attack, NND (any Power Defense), Does Body, Linked (to the drain), only Body.

As the number of dice in both powers match, you could just decide to use one 2D6 roll for both to save time.

3 hours ago, dsatow said:

 

But you could get a great car like this!

 

Seriously though, if they want to add that kind of mechanic, why not.  Hero allows people to do their own thing.

There is a lot of room between reinventing the wheel and making a fully designed winged car. And more likely then not, the reinvented wheel will not be round or not roll properly.

7 hours ago, Toxxus said:

I feel like I owe them something more nuanced than that as I've been GM'ing Hero since the 80s.

If you do something long enough, sooner or later you will start repeating the mistakes of the first year learner.

7 hours ago, Toxxus said:

Even in the big fights if it is team vs. team then I can have a mage type working to free someone who is paralyzed.  It is only the iconic team vs. dragon (or other epic monster) fights where it is currently a huge problem. 

If it is really only the boosses, then re-designing them is a simple solution.

Team vsTeam fights are less vulnerable, simply because one entangle can not take out 100% of the opposition.

An entangle is a major interference in the action economy. Especially if there is only one guy able to act.

"And I would have gotten away with it, if it was not for that worm with Blindsense!" - Haley Starshine, paraprhased.

19 hours ago, zslane said:

Carol Danvers, on the other hand, never really went through a similarly "humbling" experience. Sure, she started to doubt her own personal history, but that smug sense of self-satisfaction was always there. I never really felt she showed a vulnerable side, the way Pete Mitchell did, both in terms of his somewhat awkward pursuit of "Charlie" and in terms of his psychological journey back into the cockpit. 

Maybe it is just the most recent interpretations, but the Charater Captain Mavel seems to be rather..arrogant.

On 3/18/2019 at 3:37 PM, Cygnia said:

Ah, the Atragon and Seaquest. I remember watching those movies/shows.

The Atragon/Gotengo even fought it's old foe Manda in the opening of Final Wars. Fitting to the dragon to bite it's own tail for a Aniversary Movie

11 hours ago, Pariah said:

No Red October?

It is based of a real russian sumbarine class with only one fantastical feature. Allowing that as category might be a bit too inclusive.

3 hours ago, Ninja-Bear said:

Just thinking, giant Scorpions should have indirect on their tails because they can attack at odd angles.

Quite the opposite, actually.

Scorpions need the Grab to even have a decent chance to land the stinger against equal sized targets:

17 hours ago, Ninja-Bear said:

That’s why it’s cheap! 3pts

Seems to expensive for the benefit. Do not forget the "What not to spend points on" rule, 6E1 31

" But the corollary to that is, if a character wants an ability that’s not likely to have any effect during the game, there’s no reason for the GM to make him spend Character Points on it — he should just get it “for free.” For example, suppose that a character wants to be an expert on Italian literature. In HERO System terms, that would be a Knowledge Skill: Italian Literature. Unless the GM has a lot of adventures planned that involve interpreting Dante’s Divine Comedy or Bocaccio’s Decameron, KS: Italian Literature isn’t of any use in the game — it’s just “flavor” to help make a character distinctive and define his background a little. There’s no reason for the character to have to
spend even a single Character Point on it, so the GM should just let the character write down KS: Italian Literature 14- on his character sheet for no cost"

In a grab Focussed Campaign I could see it. But that is one specific setting vs the average setting.

20 hours ago, archer said:

I'd have automatic doors on sensors everywhere in a habitat that was outside of an atmosphere. That's one thing I think the original Star Trek series got mostly right.

Star Trek pretty much just copied the concept of Bulkheads from seagoing vessels. And updated it to Automatic Emergency Force Fields.

There is a lot of design/psychological overlap between Navy Service and space exploration/colonisation. Submarine service in particular.

19 hours ago, Shoug said:

This honestly sounds like it would negate our biggest hurdle. We understand play fairly well, checks and effect rolls are very simple, most things are self explanatory. We just had trouble with a few pieces of gameplay rules (the range ones mainly) and the details of all the powers. I'm gonna try this out.

I wrote this list once. Maybe it is the droid you are looking for?

https://www.herogames.com/forums/topic/85482-power-guide/

32 minutes ago, Tech said:

The permanent houserule in our campaign is Mental Defense automatically reduces body by 1 for every 10 pts of MD (6 pts of MD rounds up so it's 1 Body reduced).

 

A revision on any monsters DECV and mental spells needs to be reviewed in your campaign. If the Mental Entangle of 2d6 is vs anyone/anything, then enemies need to be prepared for it. However, even in D&D, Hold Person and Hold Monster automatically allow you to save to prevent it from holding. Perhaps the Mental Entangle requires an automatic Ego Roll: if the Ego Roll is made, power has no effect, but if the Ego Roll is failed, then it takes effect. Some D&D monsters are immune to paralyzing spells so maybe ridiculous bonus amounts of Ego (only vs Mental Hold powers) can be added to the monster.

For me the D&D saving throw only exists to fix issues in D&D. Hero does not have those issues.

Please do not try to reinvent the wheel. We already have a fully working car standing right here

The first counter to problematic powers is to remove them. And that is just game mastering HERO 101:
"You, and your players, need to be ready to make retroactive changes in characters if necessary. Sometimes an ability doesn’t seem unbalancing or overly effective at first blush, but the rigors of play reveal that it’s not something you want in your game. If so, tell the player (in a nonconfrontational way) that the ability simply isn’t working out and that he’ll have to change it.

Stress the need to keep the game as a whole fun for everyone — good, mature gamers will accept this explanation (or at least accede to your request gracefully). For the sake of fairness, make sure the players know in advance that you reserve the right to do this."

6E2 273

The second counter is to allow instant, casual STR/EGO to break out like you do agaisnt a grab. This helps generally with a Abusive "miniature" Entangles.

On 2/26/2019 at 1:55 PM, Christopher said:

I often consider Entangle to be a form to "detached Grab". They pretty simialr rules. There is however one diffference:
You get a instant, free Casual STR roll to defend against a Grab (same way you get your DCV). You do not get the same against entangle.

 

Wich is why the APG part mentions the option to allow said instant, casual STR/EGO rolls against entangles as well, should the players abuse it like that

Buffing the effective STR/EGO (by using EGO+Mental Defenses instead) can be added to this.

24 minutes ago, Tech said:

11 Stun is ordinarily drained but for this power, 3 Body would be taken by opponent.

Wait, Drain or Transfer?

It sounds more like transfer.

Also, why not just use a Linked power?

5 hours ago, Bazza said:

Plenty do. It's called military chain of command. ?

The once tried to order him to sign the Zokovia Accords.
It did not work so well...

2 hours ago, novi said:

But does Cap outrank an ordnance technician at a full sprint? 

Please. Steven Rogers outranks an ordonance technician

Of course with his superbody and the option to put the shield over it, he can counter or survive most explosives to begin with