Zedwimer

Re: Now taking suggestions - HERO System Combat in Two Pages

I'm still hoping that Narf might finish it someday.

 

Unfortunately, I haven't managed to get near as much play in as I'd like, so my understanding of combat lags way behind my understanding of character creation (of which I've done lots).

I totally understand, I've only just recently got back into a Hero game as a player and I'm working on setting up another game that I want to run (hopefully later this year or early next year), so I've been rather out-of-practice as well. I'll just have to keep an eye on this thread and hope that your Hero-playing fortunes turn around soon!

Re: Now taking suggestions - HERO System Combat in Two Pages

Thanks, Hyper-Man, but I've already got Hero System In Two Pages (and I must say it is awesome). This thread, however, was for a follow-up product that Narf the Mouse was working on: Hero System COMBAT in Two Pages. Even though it's been over two years since it was last discussed here, I'm still hoping that Narf might finish it someday... if he hasn't done so already.

Re: Now taking suggestions - HERO System Combat in Two Pages

I hate performing thread necromancy, but in this case I could REALLY use this, it would make an excellent companion to the HSi2P, especially for new players. Has this project fallen by the wayside, or was it completed & posted elsewhere?

Re: MYTHIC HERO Kickstarter

I just upped my pledge as well, and I've been poking my gaming friends to join in or do the same. Fingers crossed...

Just a thought: Steve, given that there's only four days left, this might be the time to throw in one last project update with a plea to all the existing backers to upgrade their pledges (if they can).

Re: 6th Edition Heroic Action Points

I came up with a house rule for tying HAPs and Complications together that I think handles things a lot more fairly (of course, that's my opinion; YMMV). You can read all about it in the following thread:

http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php/84974-Tying-Heroic-Action-Points-to-Complications

Re: Replacing You

I'd put the EDM with UOO on the third form with a Trigger (When Third Form Manifests). Since EDM is Instant, it's normally permanent, so I'd also add a modifier like Limited Power (Target Returns When & Where Third Form Disappears, -1/4) or something to that effect.

Question: in the third form, can the person who's body has been replaced perceive what the PC is doing? Or are they asleep for the duration? If they can see what's going on, you could also throw in a Clairvoyance with UOO and Only Through PC's Senses as well...

And for the second form, don't forget to check out the Possession power (APG 74) (if you have the APG), lots of good stuff there.

Re: Hero Dice ...collector's item, but still in demand.

bought the dice cores from BrickLink

had the faces etched using BrickPrinter.com

Those are cool! I cannot find the parts you used for the cores on BrickLink though... what are those parts called?

Re: Dwarves with No Spirits

Ahhhh, that page was very enlightening. Thank you, Captain, much appreciated.

Re: Combat Incompetence

Here's an ability that has a point, or at least, costs a point.

 

Anti-Tactics 10- (2 Active Points); Usable By Other (-1/4), Grantor can only grant the power to others, Side Effects (See notes; -1/4) Real Cost: 1

Notes:This skill is good for generating BAD ideas in combat. It therefore counts as Tactics, Usable on Others (only) as the character's companions may be able to gain a tactical advantage by listening, then doing the opposite or at least avoiding the bad advice: "I think we should charge!" "Yeah? Then we should probably stay here under cover!" The Side Effect is that, left to their own devices, the character will probably do something harebrained and hopeless, and so might anyone listening who hasn't figured out that the character's suggestions are always wrong. If the roll is failed it still generates a bad idea, but it's not even a usefully bad idea; such as a complex "Rube Goldberg" plan that hinges on some asset the character does not have.

I love the maneuvers, but Anti-Tactics was (so far) my favorite of the lot. I'm definitely going to have to incorporate this into one of my characters at some point in the future (especially the way I play).

Repped for this one...

Re: Followers and Limitations

Requires A Roll for limited availability makes sense, though that could also be handled through follower Complications (of course this depends on how you are handling follower complications; in general, followers shouldn't be allowed Complications unless they complicate things for the PC they are following too).

Re: Dwarves with No Spirits

By the way, I think the distinction between soul and spirit in AD&D came from Tollkein, not that he used that terminology.

 

But in Middle Earth, Elves are immortal and if the body dies, the Elf goes into the West; and many Elves of course go into the West without physically dying. It's even possible (though kind of epic) to go back and forth.

 

But when Men die, they go "somewhere else" far beyond Middle Earth. No one knows where, and they never come back. The Elves actually refer to this as "the gift of death." There is no mystery to them about where they're going; but where Human souls go is a mystery that lies closed to Elves.

I haven't had the chance to read the Silmarillion (well, beyond the first chapter) or other books beyond The Hobbit / LOTR, but the way I understood it, elves were immortal because they were the physical embodiment of immortal spirits. If they wanted to pass on to Aman (Heaven), they had to actually go there physically, sailing "the Straight Way" across the ocean. If their physical bodies died, their immortality died with them; they were gone, end of story. This is why the elves always considered it such a massive, tragic loss when one of their own died... there was no afterlife for a dead elf, only for the living.

This was also why elves said that humans possessed "the gift of death"; when a human died, their immortal soul was freed from their body and passed on to the afterlife (somewhere beyond Aman?). So while humans lived terribly short lives (compared to elves), their immortal existence in one form or another was guaranteed.

As to how Tolkien perceived how these things worked for dwarves, hobbits and other races, however, I have no idea. Perhaps, since they were not mentioned in Eru's grand scheme (only Elves and Humans had a special place in Eru's creation), maybe they really did not embody immortal spirits or have immortal souls... so they lived short lives like humans but died without an afterlife like elves? Who knows...

Of course, in my own fantasy campaign world, I handle spirits/souls differently... (it's a bit complicated to describe here, but let's just say that all living things have immortal spirits, but what happens to them / where they go after death is dependent on which group they belong to: beings with human-level intelligence, all other thinking beings, and all other living beings... with a few exceptions.)

Re: Driving Under The Radar

A pair of heroes wanted by local and federal authorities have rambling cross-country adventures in a pristine 1969 Ford Mustange Boss 429. Its a conspiciously rare and flashy muscle car. Yet the authorities who may well have seen the BOLO never make the connection that this is the car your looking for...

 

How would you guys build this?

I'd try building it with a Mental Illusions (Cosmetic Changes), Self Only (-1), Always The Same Illusion (Heroes' Car Looks Unremarkable; -1/2), Reduced END (0 END; +1/2) and Trigger (Whenever Law Enforcement Officials Aware Of The BOLO Look At The Car; Takes No Time; Character Does Not Control; Resets Automatically; +3/4). Of course this means you have to give the car an OMCV with Limited Power (Only To Create Mental Illusions; -1 1/2) for the MCV attack roll...

Could lead to some funny situations when an officer sees a video or photo of the car (such as with a red light camera) and recognizes it from the BOLO, but when they finally chase the car down and see it with their own eyes, they think "Darn, that's not the car... but I woulda sworn...". Or when a civilian sees the car and recoginzes it from a "wanter poster", tells the local authorities, but when the cops look at the car in person, they think "Hmph, another false alarm... that's the third one this week!".

Re: Only while asleep

Zedwimer raises some interesting points.

 

Yes, by the way the power is constructed, she pretty much will be around all the time. As she does have her own secret ID, part of her time will be spent off screen doing things for herself. I did consider Summon, but performing a limited number of tasks and then vanishing was not quite the feel we wanted for her.

That's why I recommended those two custom modifiers for Summon, which really aren't a big stretch based on how it's written up, and turn it into what you're trying to achieve.

While a 24 Hour time limit is not very limiting' date=' she will vanish if she is killed as well.[/quote']

Interesting... if she vanishes when she's killed, does she reappear the next time he falls asleep at full health? (I assume so since she's called Phoenix...)

Re: Only while asleep

A bit more background. The character is part of a martial arts duo' date=' but one of the pair died before the campaign began. The pair also has additional abilities related to having a psychic bond (like Mind Link). The Duplication has a 24 hour Time Limit and only occurs when the character is asleep. Other modifiers would be things like Ranged Recombination and that the duplicate does not average characteristics with the player character. It is a separate entity returned to life but remains tied to the player character.[/quote']

By the way, if this power (or complication) has a 24-hour time limit, the NPC will be around almost all of the time. For example, if the PC usually goes to sleep around 9 PM each night, and the NPC appears at that point, she'll be around until 9 PM the next night... and if he goes to sleep again at 9 PM, she appears almost immediately after she disappears. Seems to me it might be better to peg the time limit to something shorter, like 12 hours or 16 hours... or even more interesting, make it random, like 2d6+12 hours or 3d6+6 hours...

 

Also, what happens if he goes to sleep before her time limit expires? Does the time limit simply get reset while she's there (thus extending her current stay)? Does she suddenly disappear and reappear X segments or X rounds later? (That could be inconvenient during a battle if he's knocked unconscious.) Or does she miss the opportunity to reappear this particular night after she disappears?

 

And FWIW, I'd create this as a Summon rather than a Duplication or Follower. If you use Summon, I'd recommend the following modifiers: Trigger (When PC Falls Asleep; +1/4), Specific Being (+1), Amicable (+1/4), Time Limit (3d6+6 hours {or whatever you choose}, -1/4), Summoner Cannot Exert Control (-1/2) and Summoned Being Cannot Leave Willingly (+1/2). [Those last two are custom modifiers; adjust to your personal tastes.]

Re: Everyman Complications

Actually, the lack of what might initially be perceived as an "everyman Complication" for a setting might itself be the real Complication in that setting. If most characters in the setting are Believers, then being a Non-Believer is the real Complication. If most characters in a setting believe in Honor Before Life, then Lacking Honor Before Life is the real complication. If most characters in the setting possesses Modesty Towards Nudity, then Lacking Modesty Towards Nudity would be the real Complication. And so on.

It's not just whether a Complication represents something you are forced (or encouraged) to do, it's sometimes also a matter of whether doing (or believing in) something -- or not doing (or believing in) something -- will get you in trouble.

Re: Tying Heroic Action Points to Complications

That does have its own drawbacks too' date=' as it rewards Complications for their own sake rather than for living up to their purpose.[/quote']

Except when you consider that Complications already work that way in the standard rules anyway... the character points you don't lose for taking Complications aren't conditional, they don't come and go based on when (or if) your Complications affect you. You get those points just for having the Complications on your character sheet, period. At that point, it's the GM's job to make sure that your Complications are "enforced".

Re: Tying Heroic Action Points to Complications

Basically' date=' with a direct incentive in play (HAPs), some players may try to squeeze every HAP out of the GM that they can get, but all the while they break the spirit of Complications by their persistent insistence on their presence in the game.[/quote']

That is why HAPs should be tied to total Complication points rather than each occurrence of a Complication. Assigning HAPs by complication occurrence not only encourages gaming of Complications, it also requires that HAPs be bankable (which, while possible, requires more bookkeeping and encourages HAP hoarding (something I've seen happen in plenty of games, and is the reason I like the concept of getting a new pool of HAPs each session instead)).

Re: Tying Heroic Action Points to Complications

Setting the HAP based on the point value of the complication neatly avoids these issues.

That is exactly what I was thinking.

I'm not crazy about "reduce the dice when the issue cannot come up". The GM sets the circumstances where the issue may come up' date=' and its likely frequency overall helped set the number of dice rolled. Should the example character get extra dice, over and above those dictated by the point value of the complications, if the next arc takes place on a small tropical island so he is always surrounded by seawater?[/quote']

Yeah, I was waffling on this part when I wrote it, that's why I added the "option" tag... but the more I think about it, the less I like it too. After all, how often you're likely to face a Complication is built into the Complication rules and is part of the Complication's point value, and it's up to the GM to enforce that frequency. Good catch, Hugh.

Re: Seemingly Silly Things to Model

Carpe Diem: EDM (to the same location a parallel dimension identical to the character's home dimension except that the current day of the week is named after the character (and everyone knows it); for example, if The Orator uses this power on a Tuesday, then he is transported to a world in which Tuesday is instead called Oratorsday), 20 Active Points; Incantations (the character must say out loud "The day is mine!"; -¼), Time Limit (until midnight; -¼). Total cost: 13 points.

Re: What sort of technology do you use in yiour games?

It varies with what game I'm playing, but in the HERO games I've played, we almost always use HD for characters, and I regularly use my iPad or netbook at the game table to look up stuff in my 6E PDF library (no room for physical books in my cramped condo right now, but maybe later when we can move into a bigger house).

Lately in several at-the-table and over-the-net games I've played, we've used MapTools for a virtual gameboard and it has worked out really well. There's also a MapTools client for iOS called Mapnakotic (made by the same guys that make Dicenomicon), but I haven't had a chance to try it out yet.

Re: Tying Heroic Action Points to Complications

Depending on how often you want them to affect play' date=' I might be inclined to lower that to 1 Step per 10 Complication Points instead of 5.[/quote']

That was the progression I originally considered, but when I compared the "default" 3d6 HAPs per session to the limit of 50 points of matching Complication Points for heroic characters, I came up with the 5 Complication points per Step.

 

Perhaps it would make more sense to have Normals and Heroic characters use the 5 Points per Step scale, and Superheroic characters use a 10 Points per Step scale?

I was reading through the options for Heroic Action Points (6E2 291) the other day and noted that a suggested way to earn bonus HAPs was to give players a HAP or two each time they endured the trouble caused by a Complication (so to speak). I liked that idea, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that giving out HAPs for enduring Complications would only be fair if each player got the chance to endure one of their Complications with the same relative frequency (once per session, once per X sessions, etc.). If the GM didn't enforce this (and it would be easy to miss someone even if you were trying to keep it fair), it might make some players feel slighted. It places a heavier burden than normal on the GM to make sure Complications are involved in the game AND involved in a frequent and evenly-distributed basis.

But then it hit me... what if, instead of giving HAPs for overcoming a Complication, you gave out HAPs for having a Complication? After all, the mere possession of a Complication has a distinct point value, whether or not you encounter the complication during any given game session.

With this house rule, a character's total Character Points are no longer reduced by having less than the full matching points of Complications. Instead, the character's total points of Complications determines how many dice are rolled for the character's Heroic Action Points per session:

5 total points of Complications = 1 HAP per session

10 total points of Complications = ½d6 HAPs per session (2 average)

15 total points of Complications = 1d6 HAPs per session (3½ average)

20 total points of Complications = 1d6+1 HAPs per session (4½ average)

25 total points of Complications = 1½d6 HAPs per session (5½ average)

30 total points of Complications = 2d6 HAPs per session (7 average)

35 total points of Complications = 2d6+1 HAPs per session (8 average)

40 total points of Complications = 2½d6 HAPs per session (9 average)

45 total points of Complications = 3d6 HAPs per session (10½ average)

50 total points of Complications = 3d6+1 HAPs per session (11½ average)

55 total points of Complications = 3½d6 HAPs per session (12½ average)

60 total points of Complications = 4d6 HAPs per session (14 average)

65 total points of Complications = 4d6+1 HAPs per session (15 average)

70 total points of Complications = 4½d6 HAPs per session (16 average)

75 total points of Complications = 5d6 HAPs per session (17½ average)

... and so on.

In the standard rules, you can take more than the full value of matching Complications, but you don't get any extra Character Points for doing so. With this house rule, characters instead have a limit on how many dice can be rolled for HAPs per session based on their total Character Points:

Normal

Standard Normal (25 total points): 1d6 HAPs per session

Skilled Normal (50 total points): 1½d6 HAPs per session

Competent Normal (100 total points): 2d6 HAPs per session

Heroic

Standard (175 total points): 3d6+1 HAPs per session

Powerful (225 total points): 3d6+1 HAPs per session

Very Powerful (275 total points): 3d6+1 HAPs per session

Superheroic

Low-Powered (300 total points): 4d6 HAPs per session

Standard (400 total points): 5d6 HAPs per session

High-Powered (500 total points): 5d6 HAPs per session

Very High-Powered (650 total points): 6½d6 HAPs per session

Cosmically Powerful (750+ total points): 6½d6 (or more) HAPs per session

Option: If a character is ever in a situation during an entire game session where one of his Complications cannot affect the character at all, it is fair for the GM to reduce the dice rolled for that character's HAPs for that session accordingly. For example, if the character has 50 points of Complications (one of which is a 20-point Susceptibility to seawater) and then the character spends the next three game sessions on a moonbase (where there is no chance of encountering seawater), it would be fair for the GM to reduce the character's HAP dice from 3d6+1 down to 2d6 for each of those game sessions.

What does everyone think? What problems (if any) does anyone forsee with this kind of house rule?