Orion

Re: Using a D20 I've never liked the d6 systems for skills and combat. It's the thing I dislike most about the Hero system. I would prefer a percentile-based system any day. As I see it, I want a +1 to the roll to always mean the same thing. If two characters each get a +1 to their roll, but their bases are at 11 and 14, it has a very different affect for each. I want to be able to say this gives you a 5% or 8% or whatever better chance - and everyone should get the same bonus. It should also be the same affect every single time, whereas now it can be quite different depending if other penalties and bonuses are in action. I guess I'd have a slight preference for d6 over d20, but see both as a poor substitute for d100.

Re: TV show concept First of all, it would have to be written for an adult, not kids. Next, it would have to feature adults, not kids. If I wanted kids, there are already plenty of shows for me to watch. I'd probably not have much in the way of romance and family life. Take your typical cop show - that's about the level of family activity I'd want. Show the realistic affects that supers would have on society: religious haters, cape chasers, pro and con vigilante actions, etc. Animated or live action, makes no difference to me. The movie Hancock and the comic book Powers would be the feel I would want, not the Superman movies, which always left me cold.

Re: how do you deal with guns and superheroes in your campaign This is how I operate. My versions of Viper, Demon, and Genocide are potential primary opponents. All use lots of guns; Viper and Genocide often have access to advanced tech (lasers, blasters, etc), but this isn't much better than gunpowder-based weaponry. Most heroes can wade through agents without too much worry. However, a significant minority of villains do not have resistant defenses. Cops can take these out, and do, although the damage caused in the meantime is often severe. The more buff villains can basically do whatever they want unless a hero is nearby.

Re: Fading Stars...when and why should superheroes retire? One last adventure - "You know, I always wanted to see the stars, and these guys have an empty seat on their starship..." The hero can later return with lots of new, power gizmos to offset age, or has been rejuvinated through the use of alien technology. Time to end this - "Dr Destroyer has been causing problems for too long. Howsabout we ditch the costumes, go undercover, and overthrow his evil empire. Do one last good thing before we hang it up. Anybody with me on this one?" Secret mission - "I'm going to be away for a while. You may not hear from me. It's important, but I can't tell you what it is."

Re: God of Magic My god of magic is more aptly termed the god of knowledge. His priests hoard knowledge of all types, of which magic is just one. There is no divine vs arcane distinction - magic is just a skill that can be learned by rare individuals. Some of these do nothing else and are called mages. Some work for a church and are called priests. Many priests can cast no magic at all, and some churches forbid it completely. I have a clear distinction between a church ritual, such as blessing a birth or wedding, which are all non-magical, and casting a spell. And a non-spellcasting priest may be able to work a miracle (exorcism, healing) once in a blue moon, but it's by convincing the god to help, and cannot be relied upon (i.e., beg the GM for help, and I might toss out something).

Re: PCs owning slaves: Do, or Don't? Of course they can. If in ancient Rome or Egypt, rich characters would be expected to have slaves. There would be an equal chance some of the other characters would be slaves. In some cultures, you were better off being a slave than a serf. I won't run an evil campaign, but this is judged by the setting, not by modern day morality. If we are doing Vikings, then piracy, pillaging, and taking slaves is the norm, and female warriors are not allowed. When doing Amazons, all the characters would be expected to be female, and to look down on men. For those that refuse to allow slaves in an appropriate setting, do you also ban pirates, tomb robbing, raising the dead, and killing others (human or monster) just to take their treasure? If not, why? Seems to be an equal level of evilness to me, so why is one more acceptable than another?

Re: How does your Hero relax? Off Time Activities Orion - too driven to ever take time off or relax. Used to play softball and work on cars. Lack of a life is a serious issue and source of stress/depression. Emerald Knight - race power boats, examine off-world technology, surf, mingle with California girls and movie stars. Think of a non-alcoholic Iron Man as played by a young Matthew McConnaughey. Adamant - Montana cattle rancher. Bombshell - has a fetish clothing and adult toy store; BSDM lifestyle. Warhawk - working with troubled youth in Miami; anti-drug campaigns, though that's just an extension of his fight against drug lords.

Re: PCs owning slaves: Do, or Don't? To me, it only depends on the campaign world. If in ancient Egypt or Rome, a well-to-do character is going to be expected to have a slave or ten. There's an equal chance at least one of the characters is a slave. I don't try to enforce modern sensibilities onto the game - I'm more interested in emulating a time period or setting from a book. Personally, I won't run a campaign in which the characters are working towards something that would be considered evil for that setting. In Traveller, that means no sexism or slaves. In my fantasy campaign, sexism is a given, and while there aren't many slaves around, there are mistreated serfs and war captives. I think it's the difference between wanting historic fantasy and high fantasy. For those that don't allow slavery...do you also ban looting old graves, disallow any thieving activities, and prevent fighters from taking over a nearby town/manor/country because that isn't a nice thing to do? If not, what is the difference?

Re: Paranormal threat levels Good thoughts from all. I'm stupified that I didn't specify a Champions campaign, as that does make a big difference. Using 4th ed rules, although if this gets off the ground I will likely get 6th ed and take a look at it as I've heard good things. I've been doing fantasy stuff in Harn for years, and have just decided to try and do super heroes again. Don't think I have anything for Champions that is less than 20 years old. No actual players at this time, and I'd let them decide the overall power levels. I do have guidelines on what to expect from a wimpy, average, and tough opponent, but it's up to the players to decide the campaign power level and genre (agents, monster hunter, alien invasion, etc). Frankly, I just tell them to show up with a character. If balanced characters are important, they can agree on a point cap, but I won't set one. The character background and story are far more important to me. The only reason I'd want the extreme levels is to be complete. I'm not going to have a Spectre or Galactus show up in the campaign, but that doesn't mean they aren't in the database. I guess I'm envisioning this as the UNTIL database, or the Wikipedia entry for each publicly known paranormal. I hadn't considered a danger level before, but that will definitely be included now.

Long-time Hero system user, but just found this discussion board. I look forward to reading a bunch of the historic threads. In the meantime, maybe some of ya'll can help with my current problem. I'm writing a new player guide to my campaign. In it I plan to have a Known Paranormal section. It would have a paragraph or two of known info about each paranormal, good or evil, description of powers, etc. No stats or rules whatsoever. A key part of this would be a Threat Level / Power Level / Classification thing. I've seen a similar thing in some comic books, but never a detailed chart. I'm hoping someone has already done this and could post it or direct me to one on the web. I'd prefer something rules agnostic, but would look at any suggestions. A general idea would be: 0 - normal human 1 - normal with guns, some HTH training 2 - automatic weapons . . . 9 - can destroy Earth single-handed 10 - able to destroy universe, rewrite reality What would you as a player or GM want to see in the level gradations? Is it better to have a single system, or a separate chart for technologists, mages, mutants, etc? Thanks all.