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3 hours ago, Christopher R Taylor said:

I would love to have a lot of the old Hero covers as posters; Justice Inc, Danger International, Fantasy Hero (any of the editions), Lands of Mystery, Champions 4th edition as you say, there's been so many great ones.

Absolutely. My only request, outside of them being in good resolution, is that the trade dress not be as forefront as a cover is. In some cases that's fine, but that Perez 5th ed Champions cover? I would love to have it as a "virgin" image as they say in the comics field.

22 hours ago, Rich McGee said:

You're looking for posters of the existing art, not something original done on commission, right?

Correct. I have plenty of my own stuff hanging on my walls.

This might be better directed to @Jason S.Walters, but does anyone know of any Champions posters in the world? I know I'd love to see a poster of the Perez 4th ed Champions and Hero Systems books. Does the art exist in such a way that posters could be made from them? Are there hi-res images that don't have the trade dress in the same manner as the book? 

16 hours ago, Susano said:

PS: The Blood is at over 14200 words and I am about 1/3 way though the assorted NPCs. Then comes some scenarios, and then on to the Circle.

You know you're a Hero player when you see "PS: The Blood" and think it's a professional skill.

On 1/8/2024 at 11:20 AM, Duke Bushido said:

Charging for an indestructible costume that has _zero value_ beyond not being naked is a jackass move.

On 1/8/2024 at 3:29 PM, Duke Bushido said:

My apologies if it hit you wrong.

Well, yeah, it hit me wrong Duke. We're good... but comments like the above kind of burn me a bit, as I really enjoy the game I've been playing since the mid-80s, and whenever someone looks for help that skews a bit different, I get chastised or a lecture on how I should run my game. Gods, that just makes me angry. I don't need lessons on how to run my campaign, I'm just looking for build advice most of the time. If I need help with my campaign, trust me, I will ask. 

7 minutes ago, DShomshak said:

I'm sorry if I became snarky; I was rewriting my post while you responded.

 

In most cases, yeah, being immune to a character's own Powers is just handwavium. The comics often seem to be fine with that; I am fine with that; many other people seem to be fine with that. One can say "Unstable Molecules," or "Magic," or just dramatic license.

 

May I suggest your question about unstable molecules was perhaps unclear. Would a more precise question be, "How (if at all) do you write up a costume being immune to a character's own Powers? Assuming circumstances in which this goes beyond the mere fact that the costume isn't instantly destroyed by Powers that, in the real world, would destroy ordinary cloth." If I work at it, I'm sure I can think of situations where, say, the Human Torch's non-burning costume could be used for purposes other than not leaving Johnny Storm buck-naked when he turns off his flame aura. Under those circumstances, a GM might want to specify what can and can't be done with a costume when the character isn't wearing it -- even if one isn't charging Character Points for it. (Or it's a campaign where characters are not limited to arbitrary point totals.)

 

Am I getting closer?

 

Dean Shomshak

Thank you, Dean. That seems to be the consensus of everyone, so I went ahead and made it just that. I had a thought that Personal Immunity might have played a role, but it didn't seem  to be something needed. Yeah, I would imagine using a costume in a creative way basically a stunt of the costume.

4 minutes ago, DShomshak said:

*Sigh* Re-read post. Emphasis added. If a costume has Resistant Defense and can change color/whatever, those are additional Powers that can be written up normally.

 

Dean Shomshak

I understood what you had said, Dean. So if a costume is immune to the wearer's powers, is that Handwavium or something else? Folks mistake Unstable Molecules as being armor when it's normally not. The reason why I quoted my original question is that I was wondering if anyone built them. Instead, I got arguments on how superhero costumes are immune to all damage... which they aren't necessarily... and then insulted. It's unnecessary for a simple and honest question. Hence the heated response. 

29 minutes ago, DShomshak said:

Indeed. A costume is a Focus, even if it's only Power is the 0-point one that you avoid indecent exposure, and whether Foci are breakable or unbreakable does not affect the point cost.

 

Dean Shomshak

But if that costume has rPD or rED, is immune to someone's powers, and can alter it's coloring or shape? 

1 hour ago, Duke Bushido said:

Charging for an indestructible costume that has _zero value_ beyond not being naked is a jackass move.

Wow. Ask a simple build question, and get this? Thanks, folks. Man, since everyone knows what kind of campaign I'm running, I look forward to future comments before I even begin talking about them. I didn't realize using the system in different ways would invoke the Fun Police. 

6 hours ago, Christopher R Taylor said:

Frank Miller tried to show Joker at his most unhinged, most horrible so that Batman had to take extreme measures to stop him -- and later authors took that as a base line and wanted to make THEIR Joker story even more awful.

Are you talking The Dark Knight Returns? Because Batman doesn't take the Joker out in that. 

1 hour ago, Doc Democracy said:

I think, in the good stories, more than any other member of the rogues gallery, Joker is the antithesis of Batman. It is that direct contrast that often makes the story a good one, the opposite throwing the heroic into sharp relief.

IMHO, Joker works best as a foil to Batman. He's an intelligent villain who's psychopathic focus is on the concept and reality of Batman. Some of the recent stories have kind of shown some different sides to him. Batman: Three Jokers was an interesting concept, but seemed a bit half-baked. There seemed to be more story that should've been told for that. Whereas Batman: Death of the Family kind of dealt with the horrors of Joker knowing too much. The recent Batman stories have teased a Joker: Year One storyline that could be fun, so long as they keep the badger in the bag. We don't really need a definitive origin for the clown. He works better when we're guessing what's real and what's been slathered together in that squirrel's nest he calls a mind. I dig the villain, but then I also like a chunk of the Bat's rogue's gallery. 

On 1/5/2024 at 1:18 PM, Rich McGee said:

Not one of those examples winds up that way in the majority of their stories over their careers.  Even Spidey only gets really torn up when the writers want to remind us he sews his own or make keeping his secret ID with a torn mask a plot point.  The rest of the time it's almost always just artsy rips or no damage at all.    Being torn and tattered to emphasize the hero's having a rough time is a long way from regularly winding up starkers, either from your own powers or the rest of the universe.  Even Empowered doesn't go past PG cheesecake normally, and her big schtick is a fragile costume.

 

And let's be honest, a big part of why supersuits are usually so durable is that drawing a damaged suit makes it much, much harder to stay on model.  Just go look at some of the godawful work that was all over the Nineties when artists decided to be more "gritty and realistic" for a while.  Wandering bloodstains, whole ripped off sleeves going from left arm to right arm between panels, bullet-riddled capes that magically heal over time (and as the submission deadline draws near), it's all pretty hilarious.

I've got to respectfully disagree with you here, Rich. It seems every time I read a Batman or Spider-Man comic lately, their costumes are taking a beating. Seeing the armor under the Bat-costume. And don't even get me started on Daredevil. Heck, even Superman, who was once described as having a kind of protective field that protects him and his costume, has had his costume beat up. 

But rather than beat this dead horse, I've said all I care to about this. Thanks for the suggestions, folks. 

On 1/2/2024 at 6:30 PM, Rich McGee said:

What Hero campaign starts with the universal expectation that costumes are vulnerable to destruction, no matter the source?

Quite a few actually. Batman, Superman, Spider-Man, Captain America... the list goes on. Heck, in the current Gang War storyline at Marvel, Spidey's costume is in ROUGH shape. Costumes get damaged all the time, and have been that way for decades. Heck, in Daredevil Fall from Grace, Matt was wearing rags practically. 

Just now, DShomshak said:

"Unstable Molecules" are a Special Effect for powers such as Instant Change, not a thing that needs a write-up in its own right.

I disagree a bit, Dean. It's more than Instant Change, as it primarily protects a hero from destroying their costume with their own powers.

Sorry for the thread necromancy... Has anyone ever statted out Unstable Molecules? Like what kind of build would costumes created with it have?

Wouldn't this basically be a Systems Ops roll? HRRH to receive the various signals, but System Ops with modifiers to determine the proper signal/source?

On 12/27/2023 at 6:27 PM, fdw3773 said:

I noticed that in recent years Chaosium relaunched its classic role-playing games in conjunction with updated versions of others. Of note was Super World, which I heard a lot of good things about in reflecting the style and feel of the superhero genre. I also came across similar reviews for its fantasy themed RPGs. More recently, Chaosium has released Basic Role Playing, which is arguably the counterpart to the core system rule book published by Hero Games.

 

How is Chaosium Basic Role Playing compared to Hero System? I haven't read Chaosium Basic Role Playing or games under that system like Super World yet, but previously ran Pendragon (1st Ed.) many years ago, so I have some familiarity with Chaosium products.

I snagged the new BRP book when it came out and have enjoyed the read. It does have a "powers" section that covers a few types of magic, psychic abilities, mutations, and super powers. I always thought Superworld, as a concept, had a lot of potential. BRP is a fairly simple system to pick up, with most rolls being d% (with crits being 1/2 and 1/5 of the original roll IIRC). For me, the original Superworld was trying to reinvent the wheel a bit, and seemed a bit incomplete even with the SW Companion. The art was fun, the layout was easy to read, but there just seemed to be something missing. The section in the new BRP books is just a smattering of rules which lays a basic foundation. Like Hero, there's possibilities to build a score of super abilities based on the powers given, but it could use more. I know Steve Perrin had been working on a new Superworld before his passing, which I hope Chaosium manages to eventually publish.

4 hours ago, Asperion said:

HAPs and Luck both have a similar in-game feel,  despite the different mechanics. Because of this, I would wonder about characters who have both. 

In the APG, a suggestion is to add your luck dice to your HAP roll. So if you have 2d6 Luck, you'd roll 4d6 at the beginning of the game. I'm kind of digging the idea of it, and am thinking of having Unluck create a pool for the GM to spend.

Howdy HEROdom!

I've been looking more into HAPs for my upcoming campaign, and kind of dig the rules in the APG where Luck adds to the HAP roll. That said, how would Unluck work in the same respects? Would this subtract from the initial roll? Get roll by the GM to use against the player with the Complication? 

12 hours ago, Christopher R Taylor said:

It would be cool to imagine Space Ghost being a part of a much larger organization, one Space Ghost per system, because they are honestly really powerful.

Didn't DC do something like this in the Space Ghost mini?

19 hours ago, unclevlad said:

Come on, we know what happens.  If we ignore the foreknowledge, of course we do.  If not...forget it!  With the Tardis, well, MAYBE nothing bad happens.  With the Titanic, it WILL happen.

 

The Titanic is one of my "if you had a *small-sized* time machine...wearable unobtrusively, where would you want to go?" scenarios...after it starts to sink, either

a)  hit up the First Class bars and stash the booze...just because...or

b)  for value, hit up the purser's vault.  There would be hundreds of millions in jewelry there.

c)  hit up the staterooms of the elites for furs, jewelry, etc.......

 

In case you aren't familiar?  The Titanic would have TOP end wines from before the disastrous phylloxera plague that did MASSIVE damage to the French vinestock.  The only fix is to rip out the old vinestock and graft new, resistant vinestock...but that also means you've changed the wine.  The value per bottle would be......incredible.

 

This doesn't even create causality issues per se because in principle, no one would ever know what you took.

There is one small hitch in grabbing stuff from a past time and bringing it directly to the present: age. Things like wine would need some age testing done, otherwise someone may make a modern duplicate that doesn't have the proper aging. Especially if you make a claim that it dates back to a certain time. Bottles, labels, and the wine itself can be tested for age. If doesn't pass the test, it would more than likely be considered a forgery. The same could apply to certain jewelry. It'd be better to jump to place where you can store it and let it age a bit. Like a safety deposit box from a bank that stayed in business through the years. 

On the topic of the TARDIS, while it can go through time, I'd be more interested in traveling through space and dimension in all honesty. 

3 hours ago, Asperion said:

Let's start: can get on the TARDIS,  what is your decision?

Absolutely. 

I would build it as a Compound Spell with the Heal effect and maybe a KB Only effect linked. Maybe something like:

Healing Rebuke (Incantations, Gestures (Both hands), Requires Divine roll (11-)

• Heal 3d6; AOE 4m Radius (Selective)

• 4d6 Blast; AOE 4m Radius (Selective), Double KB, Only vs. Undead or Unholy Creatures

I once ran a game where the heroes had to stop a robbery during a Black Friday sale at a Walmart-like store. They had to navigate a sea of people to get to the villains and still make sure everyone was safe. Pure chaos, but fun. During my teen campaign I ran some time ago, I had Krampus show up and put the heroes on the defense for some of their foes.

23 hours ago, Christopher R Taylor said:

Well, let's put it this way: if your concept is the full potential of a comic book speedster when logically followed through to their natural consequences and the way they are on occasion depicted... nobody has that many points and you cannot build that character.

 

But you can build a speedster that acts much like a comic book speedster in most of their encounters.  No, there's no chance anyone can shoot their freeze ray gun faster than the Flash can dodge it.  No, Mirror Master could not reach over and push buttons on his wrist before the Flash could run around the world seven times, eat a pizza, and read a book, then stop the button pushing.

 

And both of those things happen in the comics: the freeze ray goes off before Flash acts, Mirror Master pushes his silly buttons before the Flash can stop him.

For me, this is the story told after the game.

"Man, I can't believe that Barry's Flash was able to dodge that freeze ray by Captain Cold. I think the GM was figuring he'd have stopped Flash cold." 

"Tough luck Barry, the dice gods definitely weren't smiling on you when you got hit with Mirror Master's trap! Good thing that Wally was able to play today, otherwise you might need Bruce to come in and save the day. Again."

20 hours ago, Christopher R Taylor said:

I was always more focused on the character i was trying to make rather than ruthless efficiency, so I built bricks with 13 DEX and energy projectors with 11 CON.  Was it the best possible build with secondary characteristics?  No, but it fit the character design I had, no matter what the breakpoints were.  This guy wasn't especially durable no matter how many points of END I'd get for free, so he had a low CON.  But I admit that I was an outlier in this.

19 hours ago, Duke Bushido said:

Yep.

 

Most or my characters were like Christopher's:  not particularly "effective" except dor their particular Schtick.

 

They all ended up with solid Endurance and often higher ED than PD, though, just because I thoight Constitution-- the over well robustness and wellness of a character- was a hallmark of the broad-shouldered, square-jawed, chiseled,cheeks HERO type.  We disnt even use the Stunning rules for the first few years: the high CON was just part of a HERO concept for me.

 

Heck, I _still_ do that.

 

 

Completely agree with the above. For me it was all about making the concept work within the world and always has been. I had a player that would min/max the hell out his characters for my games, and then get a bit burnt when I took advantage of their "point saving limitations." Kind of funny when I think back on it.