Steve

Something like the Bleeding rules could perhaps be repurposed for this, changing the time frame to a day per roll rather than by turn.

Build 20210804 I bought a skill (Computer Programming) at the 10- (Proficiency) level and then tried to add five points to it through Custom Adder. Those additional points weren't added to the cost unless I picked a full skill roll. When I picked Familiarity or Proficiency, they didn't add on. EDIT: Saved the character and then re-opened it, and the extra points were added then. Nothing else changed.

I use HAPs in my current Traveller Hero game, and they are mostly used to mitigate rolls at critical points. I home-brewed effects a bit. Neutral Luck (roll 3d6 and count the ones and sixes to see effect) also crops up from time to time. The players like that they have some control over the narrative using them. However, in my Delta Green Hero campaign I run from time to time as an alternate, I specifically don’t use HAPs to enforce the feel of an uncaring universe in that setting. If I ever run a pulp era Cthulhu Hero campaign, I would likely do the same.

From today’s Pirates of Drinax/Traveller Hero session. ”A man that can punch a gorilla in the nuts can do anything.”

For a real challenge, the Spirits of Christmas could try to reform the likes of Dr. Destroyer, Black Paladin or another major supervillain. Even Foxbat might be fun too. I would pay money to be able to watch them try. Can you imagine one of those major baddies going through a Scrooging? And just imagine if the Spirits succeeded? How about if one or more heroic, magic-based characters got roped into being among the Spirits? It would allow a rare insight into the haunted character’s past and could make for some great roleplaying in a session.

We’re now six sessions into the campaign, and the PCs have been away from Drinax for a few months now, exploring the nearby systems for loot and adventure. Not much pirating has been getting done, but they’ve successfully fomented two revolutions so far and profited handsomely from them. Captain Nemos and his crew are coming together nicely and picking up oddball NPCs along the way. Here is one of them. Blackfur: An uplifted ape (25 STR and knows a few martial maneuvers) that one of the PCs first came face to face with by defeating him in an MMA match on the pirate world of Theev, then later encountered in another system after having developed a rivalry for that PC over that loss. Two more fistfights in different game sessions ended with the dice giving more defeats for Blackfur, one from an uppercutting punch to the jaw (hit location 5) and a second with a solid shot to the nads (hit location 13). Neither hit was aimed there on purpose, just the luck of the dice. The player is thinking Blackfur wants to murder him, but he’s actually more of a grumpy, honorable rival that is secretly a bit embarrassed at being so soundly beaten three times in a row by a mere human who just so happens to be a trained boxer from his military days. Despite his grumpiness, Blackfur is a good mechanic, fights well on the PC’s side and is fitting in quite well on the crew.

What would be amusing is if one of his bad dice rolls causes a TPK or does something that implodes the campaign. I’m sure I’m not alone in seeing an epic failure like that happen, but I’m a grognard who’s been at this since the early 80s.

You could also flip the OP’s question around and ask “What if UNTIL was never formed?” In such a world, I suppose VIPER and other transnational criminal groups would likely overwhelm the defenses of many smaller, weaker countries as time passed. EUROSTAR might become the dominant force in Europe. The US would likely still have PRIMUS, and they might have become the model setup for other countries. In the end, there might be a few large power blocs similar to the Cold War era eyeing each other, each with their own super-agents.

UNTIL is the worldwide agency, but many countries have their own agencies as has been pointed out, PRIMUS being probably the largest and best funded of those. As a republic, the US could also field State-level and possibly even City-level agencies, which could make for an interesting setup. Some states might have very small agencies or just rely on PRIMUS due to not much going on there. Larger/wealthier states like Texas or California could easily have their own state agencies.

I’ve been doing this for a while. It’s pretty easy to turn a villain into a hero by swapping out Complications and sometimes adjusting skills and powers. I don’t use the same character twice in a campaign, so flavor is generally preserved and avoids copycat issues.

I just read that the actor who was the voice of Batman in Batman: The Animated Series and other works just passed away at 66. RIP Mr. Conroy.

I guess I’m an old school grognard, but I far prefer interacting with people face to face at a table rather than playing by text/email. I’ve tried it in the past, and it’s glacially slow in getting anything done that way.

I’m curious about something and wanted to throw it out for discussion. For character portraits, do you prefer using an actual picture or a drawing?

I checked my files this morning, and I bought it years ago (2014). So, it did once exist.

There was, but it does not appear to be there now. I posted a reply to the announcement of it. Maybe it’s just a store error of some kind.

This character pack is no longer in the store. Did it get deleted or moved somewhere from the 5th Edition Star Hero folder in the store?

Just a thought that struck me. Out of the CU’s cast of villainy, who would be best to use on holiday-themed teams? I’m mainly thinking Halloween and Christmas.

Missed this the first time around. An interesting idea.

I’m glad to hear that things are improving, especially that your husband is coming around at last. Hopefully it keeps moving forward to a better place.

That’s a Kidney Punch, but I guess a Liver Punch could be built the same way. I was hoping to avoid making it too lethal though which is why I was looking at other options. The Liver Punch comes in around the ninth and tenth ribs, so low in the Chest area or maybe the Stomach area, but to the side. In boxing, it’s usually done with a left hook since it has to hit the lower right side of the opponent at the bottom of their ribcage.

I’m wondering if it could be a 1 pip Killing Attack maneuver with the Disable element, but that would quickly get pretty lethal once extra 4-point Damage Classes start getting bought. The chance of rib breakage seems higher than just a straight up punch to the chest, since it’s lower down in the floating ribs area. This is for a Heroic campaign, so defenses will be staying lower.

I was doing some research on Boxing and came across commentary on how devastating a Liver Punch was. In looking at Hero, I'm uncertain how to best replicate it. There is nothing like a Liver Punch in the Hero System Martial Arts book that I could find. It seems to function like an Impairing shot to the Chest or Vitals but am wondering how to do it without requiring the target take half their BODY in a single hit. Maybe build a maneuver that targets area 11 with the Disable element? Per page 96 there is text that "At the GM's discretion, a character can define a single specific non-limb target (say, the Chest) for use with the Disable Element if he can use the maneuver only against that hit location and no other." Because it would have the Disable Element, it then doesn't take any hit location penalties. Maybe another way?

An interesting game world I came across was Eschaton by BTRC on DriveThruRpg. The world there had a single mass empowerment event a year before the game campaign should begin, complete with a timeline of what happened pre-campaign in that year. Whatever it was that granted those powers to people chose those who wanted to make a change in the world. For better or worse. Ninety percent of world leaders and countless legislators were assassinated in the first three days. The remaining ten percent survived only because someone with powers supported them or managed to get them away to somewhere safe.

Another thing to consider is if the appearance of superhumans is a one-time matter or recurring. It would be one thing if ten thousand supers suddenly appeared today spread all over the planet, but it would be different if a hundred new ones appeared each week. A sudden, one-time appearance is hugely destabilizing to society, but a steady influx in smaller numbers might be more manageable.

Numbers would likely be a large factor, also who is getting the powers. Statistics would imply that it’s far more likely for someone poor and socially powerless to gain powers than an existing tyrant or a member of the “one percent.” So, some former nobody in North Korea suddenly has godlike power, or a middle-class farmer with a family in Kansas, or a poor widow in London terrorized by street gangs, or a refugee in Mexico. And there are another ten thousand more stories like theirs. Maybe one or two of them are already rich or socially powerful. Boom, they all have superpowers, and some of them rival Superman. What do they do with them? How do people react to them? There’s the old saying, power corrupts. Would any people really use their powers to help others? How many of these people would feel they should eliminate the competition? How many of these newly empowered people would care if normal people freak out? Would they put on a costume to make themselves seem less scary? What if those chosen were people motivated to change things around them, if they only had the power?