Christopher

I played in a Champions game last night and ran my Danger International game today, and I have one piece of advice based on experience that I think will help.
 
Don't use OCV.  Add 11 to it and call it Attack Roll or Attack Value or something similar, and have that show up on the character sheet.  Maybe a couple of adjusted values for 1/2 OCV and 0 OCV, if those ever come up in play.  
 
That seemed like the hardest concept to get across.  Start with 11!  Add 11 to your OCV!  
 
No, just add 11 to it to begin with, and put that on the sheet, in big bold letters impossible to miss.

We all know that Anime/Manga/Video weaponry can be wierd. Stuff like a hammer that has rocket jets. Or a blade that is also a key. Or a blade that is also a gun.
But as I just learned, they are totally behind the curve in that regard. History one ups them every step of the way:
 
The problamy most bizare shield in history:
https://youtu.be/0AIUF6iCPj0
This explanation was given below in the comments and it makes a lot of sense:
"I remember this shield. It was specifically designed by "Broma Venschwitz" in the early 1600s. The entire point of the lantern shield was to see the shinny reflection of the deadly pommel throw at night. Once you caught the glinting pommel speeding towards you it was simply up to the master forged shield to stop such an executing blow. "
 
The oldest "tactical flashlight" or just a new way of saying "no evil shall escape my sight"?
https://youtu.be/6ikqHAN2ySc
As for the reason, my best guess is that guy had lost one hand. It tended to happen in those times.
 
Next up, "Keyblades are so pre-gunpowder":
https://youtu.be/a5TlMsLT6-8
 
And finally a longer list of even more weapons. If you thought the Swiss Army Knive was versatile, you will have at least one suprise:
https://youtu.be/WMG9_VS2hNw
And yes, most of these weapons do come from Germany and India.
 
The part where none of those are widely known speaks to volumes to their useabiltiy in combat, particular large scale battles. But I guess not every combination can be a "Bec de corbin":

Do not allow Diverging Speeds for Heroes. I would fix it to 3 or 4, depending on powerlevel.
The problem is that in the lower Points of Heroic, every single point of difference is huge. Hero lacks Granularity in those low vlaues. And adding variation to those values only makes it harder.
5, 6 and 7 are pretty close together action economy wise. 5 has 1/6th less then 6. And 7 1/6th more then 6. +/-17%
But with 3, 4, 5 we talk about +/-25% compared to 4.
And 2, 3, 4 or 1, 2, 3 are even worse.
 
For monsters and adversaries of course, you got a full amount of SPD values availible.
SPD more then most other values can be used to simualte the Power Level differences. Look at Shadowrun where combat Characters can get up to 4 actions per turn for a granular example. And Hero is propably more combat focussed then Shadowrun.
A random Guard with 2 SPD is no match for most Heroes with 4. The Hero can abort to both attacks and still act 2 times. Never mind if the hero has the first strike, forcing the enemy to abort. The Hero can get 3 strikes in while the enemy does nothing but defend.
A "Boss"* has to have more SPD to allow it to challenge a whole group.
While someone in another Thread mentioned a Superheroic foe that had only 1 SPD, but a really OP attack and defense for a interesting challenge.
 
 
*Single, strong adversary in any form or shape

Let us look at some rules. In particular the ones for Surprise. Because getting that is what stealth is about:
Suprised enemies do not get to act on Phase 12 of the first "Turn" 6E2 18
"Characters who are Surprised normally cannot Abort their next Phase; they have, afer all, been taken unawares (see Surprised, 6E2 50). However, the GM may, in his discretion, allow them to Abort." 6E2 22
That means they also do not get to use their CSL. It is still a Free Action to apply the CSL. It is usually trivial to do that as part of a Abort/before your previous attack, but they do not get either of those.
If Dodge or CSL are applied from a previous maneuver aginst another enemy, they are also halfed.
 
6E2 50:
"Attacked from behind (Surprised) out of combat" (the first strike of a combat) means: 1/2 DCV, 1/2 Hit Location Penalties, x2 STUN damge taken. Wich can of course cause the "Stunned" effect too.
"Attacked from behind (Surprised) in combat" 1/2 DCV
 
Deadly Blow covers all thse things from D&D: Weapon Specialisation, Favoured Enemy, Sneak Attack, Lawfull/Chaotic Weapons and even Paladins Smite Evil attack.

As I just learned, the Design of the Character Sheet can help you figuring that out:
 
On the Default Sheet, Page 1: The central parts are teh Vital Information (HTH Damage, Phases, CV, CSL, Pre Attack) and Defenses. It also contains the Hit Location, Combat Maneuver and Combat Modifier table. There is only one part of page 1 that is unambigiously not realted to combat: Experience Points.
So as I said Combat is a pretty big focus.
 
If you really want a different game, it might even be nessesary to make a minor reorganisation of the sheet.

Do not allow Diverging Speeds for Heroes. I would fix it to 3 or 4, depending on powerlevel.
The problem is that in the lower Points of Heroic, every single point of difference is huge. Hero lacks Granularity in those low vlaues. And adding variation to those values only makes it harder.
5, 6 and 7 are pretty close together action economy wise. 5 has 1/6th less then 6. And 7 1/6th more then 6. +/-17%
But with 3, 4, 5 we talk about +/-25% compared to 4.
And 2, 3, 4 or 1, 2, 3 are even worse.
 
For monsters and adversaries of course, you got a full amount of SPD values availible.
SPD more then most other values can be used to simualte the Power Level differences. Look at Shadowrun where combat Characters can get up to 4 actions per turn for a granular example. And Hero is propably more combat focussed then Shadowrun.
A random Guard with 2 SPD is no match for most Heroes with 4. The Hero can abort to both attacks and still act 2 times. Never mind if the hero has the first strike, forcing the enemy to abort. The Hero can get 3 strikes in while the enemy does nothing but defend.
A "Boss"* has to have more SPD to allow it to challenge a whole group.
While someone in another Thread mentioned a Superheroic foe that had only 1 SPD, but a really OP attack and defense for a interesting challenge.
 
 
*Single, strong adversary in any form or shape

I

This game has apparently been around since 2011.
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUGPyvyUxnM
 

In the comics, Carol is 5'11" while Brie Larson is 5'7".  It ruined the movie for me.
 
Also, her breasts weren't big enough.  

Deleted
 

https://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=1897

Finally caught up with Orville (up to Ep 9 anyway).  I probably wouldn't have bothered if I hadn't seen this thread title and been dying to click on it for two weeks, but I'm glad I did.
 
You know, the battle itself was somewhat anticlimactic.  By the time the shooting started any plot or character development had already occurred.  We knew what was going to happen, and the fight itself could have been skipped almost entirely.  The ship-to-ship action was well made but dizzying.  If not for the color coding it would have been completely incomprehensible.  None of this changes the fact that it was a good conclusion to a great two-part episode--even a great four-part episode if you include the ones with Dr. Finn.
 
As something of a military history geek I prefer a more capital-ship feel to space combat.  We got no detail as to weapons, defenses, or tactics other than a general sense that Kaylon ships are more dangerous than Union ones.  There's nothing there for technobabble fans.  But I understand why that is.

I think I’ve been overly concerned about allowing Blocks with a large penalty (-5). Really what’s the odds of it succeeding? 1 in 216? And even if it does, since Block can be described as “Dodging” and Green Dragon is specifically described as Blocking and Dodging Missiles, I don’t think it would be bad to say that if a Normal rolled 3 ones, the sfx of the Block was some sort of luck involved which caused the attack to be missed.

I don't see DC as "flailing" at this point. I believe they're trying to do just what we've been applauding Marvel for -- find the style and tone which fits each distinct character.

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

Case 1: Generally attacking Large Objects (Mountain to Planet Size) is not very effective. Wich is why APG II 113 introduces several new Damage Models for "attacking and destroying large objects". One of those might be better at supporting your case 1.
 
Superman flying so fast he goes back in time (basically a time machine similar to Star Trek 4) is one of those powers that nobody ever mentioned again. Not even the same movies in that continuity. Mostly because it is hilariously OP, as HISHE keeps reminding us every time they use it.
 
The flash explicitly said "I can never go that fast again. If I do, I will not come back."
There were several similar cases for each Hero of the Teen Titans. Like Cyborg Defeating Brother Blood. Or any of the other titans defeating their villain.
There are two common parts:
- they were the only solution to a problem
- everything in the story worked towards this being the only solution
- they are always one time solutions
 
I doubt that it can be translated to a RPG setting at all. There is one fundamental divide between a RPG table and any work of Fiction:
- in a work of Fiction, the Author controls the Protagonist, the Antagonists and the Environment.
- on a RPG table, each Player controls one Protagonist. While the GM controls the Antagonsits and Environment. All the rules realy do is resolve the inevitable conflict if two authors try to direct the course of a story.
But if you really want to try, here is my best advise:
 - set those story moments up with the Characters player. Those stories exist solely to show how awesome the Chracter is
 - alternatively, it could be a fallback option for really rotten dice luck. Or when you accidentallty design a villain too OP (like LuthorBraniac).
 - within limits, something like Heroic action points might come close.
 - maybe make it a sort of token each player can use once per Campaign. A "Heroic last stand".

This thread is an example of why I'm backing away from these forums for now. We have angry responses, accusations and so on.

"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.

I think you really are at the coal-face of, is there a limitation, and is it worth anything.
 
As a GM, I am looking and saying that, in my judgement, there will be times that the 12D6 blast will not be available to the character at times when he wants it to be.  I am saying that the lack of this 12D6 will significantly impair the effectiveness of the character but perhaps only as often as an IIF focus.  
 
Good grief, ?I have just realised that I have wandered down a rabbit hole.  I have stopped talking about the use of a no conscious control limitation on the reserve of a small bonus damage element to a main power to its use on primary powers.  I am inclined to be a little bit more generous on the bonus colour items than the core stuff.  
 
Talking about the bonus additions, the player has no choice as to whether his 12D6 blast is supplemented with a small flash or minor drain or a bit of NND damage.  It happens always and randomly.  That is not hugely important and the savings over purchasing a flash that only goes off when the core power goes off is zero.  I might allow the NNC to give a -1/2 limitation to the reserve, same as the linked limitation.
 
In the event of NNC being added to the reserve of the multipower you were talking about, the player would have no conscious control of when the points in the reserve shifted.  That would bring the time factor into play much more regularly and be FAR more limiting than a straight 12D6 blast...
 
So while I see the principle you elucidated using the 12D6 multipower, I think it is a different judgement being applied to core powers and flavour elements around the core powers.  I also think that there is a real difference in applying NCC to the reserve than time taken to activate.  Each one comes to a different judgement when I apply the “will it limit the character” test.
 
Doc

I think you need to think harder about stuff when you begin throwing large limitations around.
 
I am of exactly the opposite opinion to you here.  I think the reserve is limited but the slots are not and the limitation is not as severe as the rules say for no conscious control. 
 
If you allow a limitation that does that does not limit the character then you have gone wrong.  I would have slashed the value of the limitation on the reserve to -1/4 making the reserve cost 48 points, a fixed slot cost 6 (no limitation as it is not the power that is limited it is the ability to switch between powers). So 60 points to have the ability to switch between blast and flash.  Same price, more utility but I think I could live with that...or I might allow the full delay limitation but they apply to the slots as default, so it always takes five minutes to activate a power, much more restricted, much cheaper.
 
Doc

Wait, so you formulated a negative opinion without learning what Brie Larson actually said (and in full context)? Well that's disappointing.