Count Zero

Re: Removing the Speed Chart

what exact part of the speed chart gives you trouble.

 

Im assuming your not actually looking at the speed chart in combat, I usta just have all the phases that my NPC's and PC's go on written on my char sheet and then i can just say 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12, lather rinse repeat.

 

but that might not be whats ttipping you up.

I find it tends to slow down games I want fast-paced. The structure of the speed chart isn't a problem... I even use the hero designer on so I have the speed chart printed out for me.

Some of the best rounds of combat that took place in my games are when I threw out the speed chart. They were simply more exciting.

Jonathan

Re: Removing the Speed Chart

A variant on cards which may be a bit faster than cards for each player which I saw suggested somewhere in the past.

 

Shuffle the deck. Draw a card. That's what segment it curently is (1-10; jack is 11; Queeen is 12). When the king comes up, everyone gets a PS 12. ONe deck is sufficient for four turns, after which it gets shuffled. Since few combats exceed 4 turns anyway, one deck should be adequate.

 

Of course, we're still using the Speed chart with this approach, just applying it in a different way.

Actually I kind of like this one.... that has quite a bit of potential. You could have the players draw the number of cards equal to the number of actions they get. You start at aces and work your way donw. You could even have something like you can hold a higher card and use it to pre-empt someone. If you abort to an action, then you discard the highest card in your hand.

The reason I have wanted to remove the speed chart is I am trying to do a more cinematic, fast-paced combat. I have found that the speed chart tends to make people not think about trying to be cinematic. Also, I dislike the lack of randomness...

I like the speed chart, but when you read a comic book you really don't get the feel of a speed chart. If I were running a spec ops game, the speed chart would be essential, but this is supposed to be fast paced. I would also probably use it in a fantasy game, but the last thing I want to do is be calling out what phase it is.

Since most characters are going to be average Spd 2-4, I have considered cutting it in half to 6 phases. I have also considered just giving every character one action per round.

I am also going to dumb the hexes... but that is for another discussion.

So I have been looking at running a Hero game but I have found the one thing that slows down my game is the speed chart.

I have been loooking at a few things... how to represent speedsters and their extra attacks, how to do initiative where it is a little more random, and finally, a way to make it so that it is really fast paced. Basically I am trying to speed combat up.

Any suggestions...

Thanks,

Jonathan

Re: Power Defence... Ugg

Don't allow it without limitations. The key is the all of the powers are base effects. It is the advantages, limitations and special effects which really define them.

Jonathan

My computer crashed and I lost all my bookmarks.

I know there is a site out there that has all the classic marvel and DC characters done in HERO. I wonder if anyone might have an links like this.

Also, if anyone has any possible archives of superhero images I would be in your debt.

Thanks,

Jonathan

Re: Surgical Sterility Field

As with McCoy' date=' this is how I'd build it.[/quote']

 

Actually, I have a wilder idea... why even build it. Just say there is a device that does that. While I love the hero system, there is really no need to build all this stuff, and I have never really seen the reason to point everything out like this.

 

I know the arguement is that the character's will need to pay points for it.. the question arises, does it really matter if they pay points. If you want the players to have it then they do, it it does what it should and if you don't want them to have it then it doesn't work.

 

If you are really determined to point out the things a ship can do like sterility fields and such then simply give them a VPP labeled "mundane things a ship can do".

 

This kind of device is something that doesn't need stats... your time figuring this out could be spent on things like more detail for the story.

 

Jonathan

Re: Surgical Sterility Field

Why not just do it with Change Environment... it seems like that would be a much easier.

Jonathan

Re: This may seem odd....

Thanks... while I don't like all the art I like the fact that it is simply full pictures of a character...

Any other sites that do things like this?

Jonathan

Alright... I am looking for this comic that seemed like it was on-line. It was an old thread that had a title like "Is anyone reading this..." or something like that. It had some really neat art on the page. I think it was something about people submited their own heroes but I am not sure.. I have some of the art on my hard drive... I have attached a piece of the art work... does anyone know where to find it and what the name is..

Thanks,

Jonathan

Re: Need help with names!

Gun Bunny is not a name I would recommend... it is kind of goofy. Most likely the players would just make fun of it and she would never be taken seriously. Have her name be based off how she uses the weapons...

Gunbunny = Ricochette (sp, sorry suck at spelling), Longshot or Ghost (if a sniper), hmmm... what else... how about Snapshot if she is quick... just some ideas.

Glider guy:Slipstream (if really fast), Strafe (if using passing attacks), Afterburner (if uses sudden bursts of speed), Sideswipe (if using ramming attacks)

Doc Ock guy: I liked the idea of Cy-Dra, but you could just call him Hydra. Once again, I would base his name off how he uses his powers or their style. For example, maybe his arms are like the ones in SM2 and they can control him, so he has a dark side and good side and you could call him Janus, after the two face god.

Later,

Jonathan

Re: Aliens in your Universe

In my setting aliens exist but the world does not know they exist. It is the same with magic in my setting. It is very rare and powerful and wizards are the only character types allowed to have VPP.

The U.N. and the world governments have concealed their existance from the world in order to prepare them properly for the existance of aliens. The U.N. has UNTIL and a super team called Stormwatch has a pair of top secret teams which contain alien landings. While Stormwatch has other teams which enforce international law, it is the two teams (Blue and Black) which deal with supernatural and alien threats and conceal them.

Later,

Jonathan

I am running a game right now that uses bits from the Champions Universe.

I like the name UNTIL and the idea behind it, but I took it one step further.. UNTIL is an active international police force with and the UN has a standing army which is deployed to deal resolutions. I have a website set up at http://worldobserver.rpgmainframe.com

Hopefully it will help you some. While the information isn't complete, it is steadily growing.

Jonathan

When I started to run Hero system I realized I was going to need miniatures in order to do combat well. I decided to use Heroclix

I eyed the superfigs for a while and thought about it like this..

I don't like to have unpainted minis on the table. Metal miniatures are far more expensive and I still have to paint them. Also, I work in a game store and tons of people by Heroclix. The people in my group were really not be comic readers. They new comics and read them a little. Also, I managed to get a lot of figures I didn't recognize. That was one goal. I also went for stylistic aspects (i.e. speedster, blaster, brick, etc.). We, as a group decided, it didn't really matter what clix-figure we used, as long as it was consistantly the same one. Each figure only cost me between $0.25 to $1. I wasn't going for uniques.. I was after the figure. Most of the players at the store I work at had tons of extras and were just glad to be rid of them.

If you aren't too picky you can get some really good figures for your super hero game. Sure it is spiderman on the table, but instead he is a figure with swinging. I often use the recognizable characters to immediately give people the impression of what his basic powers might be. That way we don't get confused. I really recommend hitting Hero-Clix players up for their extras.. that way you get what you want.

Jonathan

Okay Guys,

I have been hunting for about two weeks now for an image of the Four horsemen characters that were Image comic villians. I saw them in a WildCATS, Stormwatch, or some other image comics character sourcebook a while back. They had just the right look for some villians I am working on. Does anyone here know what I am talking about? It might not have been Image comics. It may have been another company. I remember the picture pretty well, it was four guys who looked rather emaciated corpse-like with headbands on with different symbols on each. I remember one was red... I think and one was green... I know this is really vague, but I know there are a bunch of comic fans here who might know what I might be talking about.

Jonathan

I do a website for my game mainly... here is the URL

http://worldobserver.rpgmainframe.com/

It is for my world that I created which has concepts from Champions I liked. The World Observer is the website for a newspaper in the world. I give hints about upcoming adventures and NPC's. I also modify real news stories from MSNBC and the Guardian as news stories for my world.

Also, I do maps and other necessary hand outs per adventure. It all depends on my adventure. A friend of mine has a rule of one prop per scene or hour of game time. It makes it real interesting, but I it hard to keep up with some of the stuff.

Jonathan

Originally posted by Terry Wilcox

A lot of fantasy literature is based on post-apocalytic worlds. Often the world is "early in the third age", meaning that the last two ages ended in some horrible world-ending conflagration that nuked almost everybody back to the stone age.

Wouldn't the Dark Ages have felt like an Apocolyptic Age compared to the "enlighted age" of the Romans... apocolypse is a perspective in most fantasy worlds.

As to why fantasy worlds don't advance... well in the Tolkien model, the writer hated most modern technology. He saw the internal combustion engine as one of the worst things to befall mankind (who knows... he might be right) and kind of believed he was born a few hundred years to late. There is also the aspect that it is fantasy. You can't really use traditional common sense. Also keep in mind that humanity only really started making major advances in about the past 200 - 400 years. We have advanced in leaps and bounds in the past 60 years. Perhaps these cultures haven't hit that point yet. They haven't been through a rebirth and enlightenment. Also, keep in mind that when you thing about the fact that it took about 700 years to move from bronze to iron to steel.. that is pretty slow development, but we tend to forget that.

Jonathan

Originally posted by KA.

I think you mean, weird as it sounds, batman

as in: (from Merriam Webster's M-W.com)

Main Entry: bat·man

Pronunciation: 'bat-m&n

Function: noun

Etymology: French bât packsaddle

Date: 1755

: an orderly of a British military officer

 

On the other hand, the idea of guys running around killing things without ever showing any interest in normal sexual relations, makes me a bit uncomfortable too. It is more like a glorification of serial killing than anything I would find "heroic".

 

I like the Narnia books by C.S. Lewis, I like Tolkien, but when you get to more of the "kill things with swords" type stories, a total lack of normal sexual interest (not rape, and not pornography, but enough to let us know that the hero is not the next Hannibal Lector) can be disturbing too.

 

And sorry again for teasing you. Sometimes this stuff pops into my head and I can't seem to keep it off the keyboard.

 

KA.

Ah... batman.... damn brits on the DVD... stupid accent... we should conquer them and make them speak English like us.

I honestly hadn't really notice the teasing. I agree with you though... the flipside of the coin with excessive violence is just as bad. I like my fantasy characters to be more... well normal (psychologically speaking). Likes sex like any normal person and kills if they have to but doesn't reval in it.

Jonathan

Originally posted by AnotherSkip

On Tolken and Sex: There is something kinda strange from this side of the sexual revolution about Sam Gamgees "loyalty" to Frodo. Perhaps it is one of the great things we have lost to the changes of times that men have a difficulty trying to express asexual fellowship without someone thinking they are trying to lay the object of their affection.

From what I understand it was actually suppose to be akin to the relationship between an officer and his "backman". Effectively the unlisted or non-com who is there to take care of the officier.

Jonathan

Originally posted by assault

This is called page bloat, and is a result of poor editing.

 

If you look at the _good_ Conan stories, as opposed to the ones written within the last twenty years, you will notice that they are very sparsely written. This is particularly true of those written by Howard himself. The Carter/de Camp stories are a bit more verbose. The fake stories are almost as flatulent as anything else on the market.

 

Of course, these are the very same Conan stories that feature some rather gratuitous T&A! Actually, that's part of the formula - it's not a Conan story without it, any more than it's a Conan story without the supernatural bit. Actually, the latter is probably more disposable...

Interestingly enough, I was watching the special features from the SE Two Towers DVD (I had the day off and didn't feel like painting miniatures) and they mentioned that Tolkien did this quite a bit... because he was an amateur. I don't think the details like Tolkien's are a problem... because he executed it well, but I figure the details of every meal the characters eat is a bit much, unless they are trying to show the how horrible or exceptional it is for that unique moment.

Jonathan

Originally posted by assault

I was jerking your chain.

 

Actually, it sounds like Conan isn't your cup of tea. At least, there are some bits in there that are a bit iffy, and would probably set you off.

 

The other authors and books I mentioned are classics - in the "if you haven't read them, you haven't read fantasy" category. They are the kind of guys who show up most of the more recent writers as the hacks and drones they are.

 

And I suspect you wouldn't like them.

 

And there's always Shakespeare, Homer, Virgil, Spenser, Ariosto and Malory. There's nothing like getting your fantasy from the source.

When I watched the movie Conan I liked it. I have always liked the Conan movie. I felt the sex scene between Conan and his girlfriend was handled well, if not a bit corny, but I thought the stuff with the witch in the hut was just kind of silly. I could understand its placement and Conan's reaction at the time, but it was still silly and not needed. The orgy scene didn't bother me because the followers of set were decadant and they didn't spend a lot of time on it. It was to show the decadance and it was handled well. As long as that is the extent of sex I can expect from Conan then I figure I will like the stories. Outside of the sex... are the stories good? I have heard they are very well done and the battle scenes are amazing for the detail of weapons and armor.

I will pick up a couple of those books and check them out. I have also been eyeing the Grey Mouser books again because I expect the story I read might have been a bad one.

I have been looking at the classics recently because I have never managed to read enough of them. Of course... I have read enough Shakespere to kill an elephant, so I will pass for a bit.

Originally posted by Catseye

Originally posted by Count Zero

. I grew up a while back, I like a solid story and can do without gratuitous sex.

 

Me too! Give me well justified and plot important Sex!!!

 

But I get the feeling thats not what you really meant.

 

Please tell me there is some really good fantasy out there that is mature.

 

I'm sorry IMO but there is nothing mature about a fear of sex as a subject, in fact the opposite is true. Sex is an important part of the human experience, one of the most important in fact, reaching deep into our origins and bilogical purpose as the most complex system every developed for replicating a peice of DNA. Its one of the strongest drives human beings have and thus a basic of human nature.

 

We here in the US still suffer the twisted reasoning and social ills that come from our puritanical roots. Most other reasonably developed societies are a LOT more mature about the subject and can handle it without either titilation or disgust.

 

Once again... I think you misunderstand me. I'm not a hormone soaked 14 year old. I am tired of these stories that have sex which does nothing for the story. I am tired of the unnecessary sex and the abusive sex which shows up so often in fantasy and sci-fi stories. It is childish and pathetic. If the sex moves the story along and is done with taste rather than being softcore/hardcore porn then I am fine with it. If you can tell that Freud would have a field day analyzing this writer's work for sexual repression, then I really have no urge to read it. I don't need to read about sex... I will just go ahead and have it. That's more fun than reading about it.

 

I have noticed that most gamers can't seem to realize that the sex in the stories is unnecessary. It often does nothing for the plot. I don't need to read about some abusive brother pinching his sister's nipples so the will stand up straight and impress the lord (i.e. Game of Thrones) or the sorid affairs of Fafhrd (i.e. The Snow Women, Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser). It just feels like I am reading Penthouse. Those are the things that make me roll my eyes and put a book down. I don't need to know the character of the story is a stud. Would Lord of the Rings have been better if there would have been a detail sex scene between Aragorn and Arwen? I seriously doubt it. A lot can be implied without details... that is the sign of a really good writer. Kind of like in the old Star Trek where in one scene Kirk would be kissing the girl and the next scene he is sitting on the edge of the bed pulling on his boots.

 

It seems the writers can't seem to communicate evil with out rape and abusive sexual activity and communicate skill without having the main character a stud.

 

Jonathan

Originally posted by Catseye

I know what you mean, I'm getting really tired of Porno that is almost Fantasy...

 

Seriously, if you want Porno your looking in the wrong place. I'd suggest either Heinlien's "I Will Fear No Evil" or Niven's "Ring World Engineers" (otherwise known as "Louis does ringworld") as far more sexually explicit.

 

In fact I don't really remember much of ANY sex in F&G. Given what your average White Wolf source materails are like, however, I'm suspicious of an editorial taint to the collection you read.

But I don't want the sex... I think you misunderstand me... but anyway...

It wouldn't suprise me if White Wolf somehow changed it. It is white wolf after all, they were the company that produced a book with a vagina with teeth on the back.

Jonathan

Originally posted by assault

OK, well, don't bother reading the Conan stories.

 

If you do, don't bother telling us what you thought of them, because we're not interested.

 

Another author you shouldn't read is Poul Anderson. In particular, avoid "Three Hearts and Three Lions" and "The Broken Sword". You'd hate them.

 

Also: avoid Fletcher Pratt. Totally old school. "The Well of the Unicorn" would particularly annoy you.

If old school means so much sex it feels like I am reading stories to Penthouse, then I think I will pass... If that is what I have to expect them perhaps I will just skip Conan all together.

So I take it Paul Anderson and Fletcher Pratt can't write a story without a unecessary sex scene? If they can I might be interested. I get tired of the equivilant of chainmail bikinis and hot, elven girls, if this is what I have to expect from most fantasy, then I might have to pass. I grew up a while back, I like a solid story and can do without gratuitous sex. Please tell me Conan isn't that bad. If the other guys, who I have never heard of, are the same maybe I just need to give up on fantasy once and for all. It seems to be part of the genre. I'm not 14 anymore.

Please tell me there is some really good fantasy out there that is mature.

Jonathan

I usually prefer to be a GM because many of the games that I play in just seem to suck. I have been told I am an awsome GM which is more encouragement to GM (even though I doubt the fact that I am as good as everyone says). I have noticed in most games... nothing every really happens, it is just an excuse for people to get together and chat and joke. There never really seems to be a story. It makes me not like to be a player. I have only played in two games where I really was excited about the next game was disappointed if the game didn't happen.

Also, I think I like to be in control and manipulate people so being a player is just painful.

Jonathan

Re: Fritz Leiber a sex freak???

Originally posted by FenrisUlf

Originally posted by Count Zero

I picked up the Fafred/Grey Mouser series when White Wolf released them not to long ago. I read the first story and there were things I liked about it here and there, but as a whole I felt like the writer was a sex depraved looser.

 

Guessing that you meant 'depraved loser' there.

 

No offense, Count Zero, but you might want to watch the remarks about Leiber. If there's any old-school SF fans around here they will definitely view them as 'fighting words'.

 

And as far as Leiber being obsessed with sex -- from what I've read of him, he thought it was /society/ that was obsessed with sex. Hell, he thought PLAYBOY was pure crap and once idly tossed off a remark that 'the only reason you see so many ridiculously busty women in fantasy and SF is due, I think, to homosexual editors' contempt for women and those men simple-minded enough to like them.' He did several non-fantasy stories in which he lampooned kinkiness.

 

That may well be that he thought society was obsesed with sex, but I was rather turned off by the story when the first story I read had a sex scene in the first few pages. I felt like I was reading a book by a guy who never got out of the house. While there were aspects of the story that I liked (I thought the Ice Witches were cool) and the culture wasn't bad, it just seemed to have a little too much sex. That might have been because the people were "barbarians".

 

Jonathan