Steve

I am working up a near-future (2030s) campaign concept that will be part "real world", but with the main action taking place in a total immersion worldwide cyberspace game. In the real world, the characters will be 25+25 or maybe 50+50 normals, but the game world will involve 250+ point characters, with abilities that will mix sources such as The Matrix and the anime .hack//SIGN with video games and other fantasy and sci-fi films, with a touch of regular cyberpunk. The feel I am going for is that the characters have on online persona that can be pretty much anything they want, allowing for a mix of genres in the characters.

This is a write-up of the power setup I will be using to replicate the game interface. Due to the total immersion nature of the game, with complete sensory experience as if it was real life, there is a STUN only feedback to the player whenever they take damage in the game, but that is reduced by safety interlocks that reduce such damage. However, some adventures may happen where the safety interlocks fail (like happened on numerous Star Trek holodeck adventures) and perhaps even some where BODY damage feeds back (hence The Matrix reference. I'm not quite sure how to cost it out to the players though, since I plan to have them be able to improve their game personas with experience. My current thinking is that they will actually have the extra 95 points (or however many points the final version of the interface ends up being) as a "free" add-on to their characters. Then if they ever want to start improving their game persona instead of themselves, they can pay experience into improving the Duplication power.

Does anyone have any suggestions on adventures? The group would essentially be characters who belong to the same gaming guild or party. I can post more about this campaign concept if anyone finds it interesting.

I am working up a near-future (2030s) campaign concept that will be part "real world", but with the main action taking place in a total immersion worldwide cyberspace game. In the real world, the characters will be 25+25 or maybe 50+50 normals, but the game world will involve 250+ point characters, with abilities that will mix sources such as The Matrix and the anime .hack//SIGN with video games and other fantasy and sci-fi films, with a touch of regular cyberpunk. The feel I am going for is that the characters have on online persona that can be pretty much anything they want, allowing for a mix of genres in the characters.

This is a write-up of the power setup I will be using to replicate the game interface. Due to the total immersion nature of the game, with complete sensory experience as if it was real life, there is a STUN only feedback to the player whenever they take damage in the game, but that is reduced by safety interlocks that reduce such damage. However, some adventures may happen where the safety interlocks fail (like happened on numerous Star Trek holodeck adventures) and perhaps even some where BODY damage feeds back (hence The Matrix reference. I'm not quite sure how to cost it out to the players though, since I plan to have them be able to improve their game personas with experience. My current thinking is that they will actually have the extra 95 points (or however many points the final version of the interface ends up being) as a "free" add-on to their characters. Then if they ever want to start improving their game persona instead of themselves, they can pay experience into improving the Duplication power.

Does anyone have any suggestions on adventures? The group would essentially be characters who belong to the same gaming guild or party. I can post more about this campaign concept if anyone finds it interesting.

Re: Worm in your head?

For anyone who is interested in variants on this idea, you might do a search on this board for references to stargate, since the Gao'Uld and Tok'Ra are basically wormlike entities that possess humanoid hosts. If you were trying to do a more heroic character, something like a Tok'Ra would be good, since they do a true symbiosis with their host body.

Just my 2 cents.

Re: Delete me please

Howabout: how would you write up a "delete" power in HERO? Ability to remove something' date=' preferably with a way to bring it back?[/quote']

 

Well, two powers suggest themselves offhand, either Transform or Extra-Dimensional Movement. I don't have my books with me, but I believe Transform is the main power used in a CU spell called "The Word of Unmaking" which basically deletes something from existence, removing it in the present as well as the past, as if it never was. The Extra-Dimensional Movement power would be similar to how a wish is constructed, to a world where the thing did not exist. Then to bring it back just use the power to come to a world where it exists again.

Re: Girl Fight: The Talent Scout

Lady Blue occurs to me as a serious contender.

Re: PREDATORS -- What Do *You* Want To See?

I'd like to see a Dark Champions revamp of a few older characters:

Phoenix Fist from Murderer's Row: This lady always struck me as Dark Champions answer to Lady Shiva from the Batman comics, pretty much the best non-superpowered martial artist that you'd ever find.

Cain, also from Murderer's Row: This guy could give the Harbinger a pretty decent run for his money, only he's a criminal and a master of espionage.

Gunmetal Silk from Underworld Enemies: Another interesting character from the 4th Edition days. She makes for an interesting underworld bodyguard or assassin.

Purge from Underworld Enemies: While admittedly of the 'weird' powers type of character, the Purge suit made for a fun way to explore how different people made use of a common set of abilities that the Purge suit carried. It was another way to make an 'unkillable' sort of enemy.

I'd also like to see another criminal organization return, RAVEN. They were the sort of criminal organization that James Bond would go up against, and always reminded me quite a bit of SPECTER. Between RAVEN and Card Shark, I could keep a vigilante busy for quite a while.

I believe someone else also mentioned Arsenal and his gang. I would second that nomination.

I recently helped a friend put together a Dark Champions character, and I was struck by how a couple of the superskills worked in combination, namely "Disappearing Act" and "Ultimate Stealth" as an example. As long as the character can keep making Stealth rolls, she can zip around the battlemat area like a phantom with the vanishing teleport of "Disappearing Act" since the invisibility provided by "Ultimate Stealth" means no one can see her, which is very movie ninja-like.

Has anyone else come across any combinations of abilities which are pretty potent? I thought a thread on such and their uses might be helpful to others.

I was just wondering how close it is to playtest review. This book is one of my definite buys for 2005, so I am eager to see it.

Re: Starting from 8's in Primary Characteristics

AAMOF' date=' our soon-to-be-published Fantasy setting, [i']The Valdorian Age,[/i] has all characters starting out with 8s as a way of enforcing the Swords And Sorcery "feel" that Allen wanted for the campaign. It includes some notes and such about the implications of this approach and ways to tweak it if you like.

Actually, it was while I was reading through Valdorian Age that I got to thinking about this. I didn't mention it as the source of inspiration, since I wasn't sure it was allowed under the NDA.

Every calculation for CV or skill rolls gives you the same result at 8 as you get at 10, but there is this curious blind spot in Hero gamers when it comes to selling off characteristics. So you end up with scholarly wizards with a modestly buff 10 STR (as compared to an average human) or an unlettered fighter with a 10 INT, and other such oddities.

I would give the 25 points to a player as an addition to the starting points (say 175 instead of 150), but make them start from 8's in their stats and maybe starting at 5" of Running as well (to make up the 2 points spent to boost SPD to 2). Then they could choose to spend them on characteristics or other things. I would guess other things would eat up a portion of those points before they put them back into characteristics they don't plan to use much.

I also favor treating COM as a 2-point Perk or Penalty Level which affects certain Interaction skills and some PRE attacks, so it makes for a better scale to start at 8, then go to 12, 16 and 20 for bonuses (or more). Likewise, 4 and 0 COM giving penalties. Using five breakpoints like this gives a fair scale to use in showing general attractiveness.

According to the Hero 5th rulebook, the average person has 8's in their primary characteristics. Yet when designing a hero or superhero, the starting point is set at 10 instead. Has anyone ever run a campaign with the starting point for primary characteristics set at 8 instead of 10? Admittedly, we are only talking about 25 points (23 if you buy SPD up to 2 from 1.8), but it strikes me that it would be a method of helping to hold back stat inflation in Heroic level games (since it probably would not affect higher-pointed Superheroic games very much). A 10 would be something that required an investment of precious starting points, and a 13 or 15 would be more noteworthy than if the character had already started from 10 just by virtue of being a PC.

Anyone agree? Or am I a heretic for suggesting this?

Re: A high powered campaign

Well' date=' compared to the ususal starting levels of 100-150 points it certainly seems to be. [/quote']

 

Well, those points can get used up remarkably quickly, especially when characters start powering up their characteristics. As an example, a 26 DEX and a 6 SPD would make a character seem pretty godlike to a bunch of minion types with 10-15 DEX and 2-3 SPD, but with NCM running, that is a hefty load of points for just two characteristics.

 

Perhaps one way to approach it is to see what your players want to be able to do and figure the points needed to "almost, but not quite" build those concepts, letting experience polish the final expenditures. I've often found that starting a character a little light in points makes for a better-rounded character in the end. Yes, you could build Gandalf on 500 points out of the starting gate, but it makes it more fun to set the player's starting level at 400 points and let them build up that last bit through experience.

Re: Comedy Campaigns

I have run a comedy campaign, and the old chestnut is true. Comedy is hard, especially over the long haul.

The premise was straight out of anime: a high school setting and high school student PCs; strange local legends and a few odd NPCs; each of the characters was built as a martial artist (150+100 Video Game level characters using Ninja Hero powers for that level; and, all of the characters were staying at the Kamiyama School, one of the local dojos, as boarders.

I called it "The Kikaitani Chronicles." Kikai=strange/wonderful and tani=valley

If anyone is interested, here is the campaign document's description of the setting:

On the north-western edge of Tokyo lies the suburban area known as Kikaitani-cho (Mysterious/Wonderful Valley Town). Away from the busy life of central Tokyo, the traditions of an earlier age hold stronger sway. This place is rich in history, and tales of heroism by warriors of the past. It is bounded on two sides by small twin mountains, Kamiyama (God Mountain) and Oniyama (Ogre Mountain). The valley is dotted with tract homes on its southern end, farms and homesteads on its north end. A multitude of shrines also exist all across the valley, many are the site of legendary events of long ago.

Near the foot of each mountain lies two well-respected and ancient schools of martial arts (Shorinji Kempo to be precise) founded by two brothers from China over eight centuries ago. The Kamiyama School and the Oniyama School have maintained a semi-fierce rivalry as to which is the superior style of Kempo from their mutual founding. Due to their common origin long ago, both are very similar and share many special techniques. The main difference in the two styles is that Kamiyama-ryu Kempo is more acrobatic and evasive, while Oniyama-ryu Kempo emphasizes endurance and raw power. This rivalry may slumber for a time, but it is inevitably resurrected due to some problem or other that occurs between students of the two schools. Each school has been passed down through the same families since the brothers first arrived and took local brides centuries ago. In addition, there are other schools of martial arts in the valley that also occasionally strive to be known as the best in the valley.

The current master of the Kamiyama School of Kempo is Yoshi Kamiyama, a withered old man nearly 70 years of age who is still quite skilled despite his advanced years. He loves to tell grand tales of the valley’s past, and seems to enjoy putting a scare into the more impressionable local children with his “ghost stories.†One of his favorite stories is of a young kami (goddess/spirit) named Reimiko, a very beautiful but mischievous goddess who was punished by the elder gods for causing troubles among the younger male gods. She was sealed inside a hidden cave in Kamiyama to sleep until her “true love†released her. The elderly Yoshi sometimes teases the local boys with his stories, and that if they aren’t careful Reimiko will awaken and drag them to the Kami Plane for an eternity as her husband.

His wife, the outspoken matriarch Xian Kamiyama, retains much of the willowy beauty of her youth. She is an extremely formidable fighter trained in a form of Wing Chun style Kung Fu, and arguments between this couple of martial arts masters can turn physical pretty quickly. But they love each other fiercely, so any outsider threatening one or the other of them would have to face both of them. One of the rumors about her is that she married Yoshi after he defeated her in her home village. Neither of them will confirm any of the stories about how they met and became married.

One of their grandchildren is Natsumi Kamiyama, a 1st Year Sr. High School student, and current heir to inherit the dojo. Her mother died when she was a very young child, and her father is a dedicated salaryman in Tokyo. He does his best by her and sends money, but has left her upbringing to her grandfather. Yoshi is on the lookout among the young male martial artists for a husband for Natsumi, much to her distress. It’s not that she wouldn’t like to get married, but she would prefer to pick someone herself rather than submit to an arranged marriage. Natsumi is an accomplished and honorable martial artist, and she is quite enthusiastic about her training. This, along with her height, has kept the boys at a distance. She is rather tall for a Japanese girl (5’3â€) and somewhat plain of face, but she is well-built and athletic.

On the other side of the valley is the Oniyama School of Kempo, headed by Tenmako Oniyama. The wizened Tenmako is the same age as Xian Kamiyama, and the two of them have a long-standing dislike of each other. She is a fearsome old ogress by many accounts. Stories from long ago are that Tenmako and Yoshi were once involved, but the rivalry between their two schools drove them apart. Yoshi went to China to perfect his skills and came back with his Chinese bride, and Tenmako married a local man. Tenmako traveled extensively throughout Japan in her youth, and knows techniques from many styles. She is now grooming her grandchildren to be superior martial artists, and takes great pride in her School.

Kijoko Oniyama is Tenmako’s granddaughter, a 1st Year Sr. High School student, and often will act like the reigning queen of Kikaitani High School. She has great pride in her skills, and it drives her to seek after ever greater levels of ability. She has hated Natsumi since they were in grade school together, and looks forward to the day when she finally crushes her rival in martial arts. A busty beauty with long black hair worn in a loose ponytail, she has left a long trail of broken hearts behind her. She enjoys her power over men, but quickly grows bored with her conquests. No man has ever been able to resist her for long, and anyone that did would only inflame her passion. She is a bit of a bully at heart underneath her gorgeous exterior, but she acts honorably in a fight. She is Captain of the Women’s Martial Arts Club on campus.

Kenrei Oniyama is Kijoko’s older brother, a 2nd Year Sr. High School student, and Captain of the Men’s Martial Arts Club at Kikaitani High School. Solidly muscled, he lords his prowess in martial arts over his classmates. While his sister seeks glory without completely sacrificing honor, Kenrei seeks victory at any price. He acts honorably only as far as it will maintain his place in society, but does not believe in the ways of honor. Any threat to his supremacy would earn his hatred, and he acts even more the bully than his sister ever would. He finds Natsumi fascinating, but she is repelled by his odious personality and bullying ways. Any male character who develops a relationship with Natsumi would have to contend with Kenrei. Any female character that stood up to him could earn his undying passion.

There is a single ninja clan in the valley that has a small holding on the western side, the Kunoichi Clan. The ninja women of the Kunoichi Clan are well-trained fighters and stealth artists, and follow a strong code of honor. Little is known of their ways, but two of the younger generation attend Kikaitani High School. The eldest, Hitomi Kunoichi, is a proud beauty who is an expert ninja. Some might say that her pride is her biggest flaw. She is a 2nd Year Sr. High School student. Her little sister, Kurumi, is a spunky tomboy who likes to fight. She is a 1st Year Sr. High School student. Their elder brother, Ayumi, is attending nearby Kikaitani University.

One of the two major Shinto shrines in the valley is run by the Hiko family. A terrible demon is said to be buried underneath the temple, held fast by powerful spells and wards. The elderly shrine priest, Sho Hiko, lives here with his niece and nephew. His nephew, Shun Hiko, is more interested in studying Karate and Kobujutsu than learning what it takes to be a priest. His niece, Yumi Hiko, is taking the teachings seriously to become a Shrine Priestess, but is a somewhat shy girl with a graceful beauty.

Another notable Shinto shrine in the valley is maintained by the Shisaki family. Descended from the original samurai overlords of the region, they are an ancient and honorable clan. They also maintain the largest shrine in the valley. The elderly head of the family, Katsuhito Shisaki, is said to be very strong in spiritual power. Many stories of mysterious doings around the Shisaki shrine are commonplace, and strange-colored lights are occasionally seen at night around the sacred tree near the shrine. Shisaki-ryu Kendo is said to be quite excellent.

The wealthiest family in the valley is the Asagiri clan. They, along with the Shisaki clan, held a great deal of power up until the Meiji Restoration. The Shisaki clan retired from politics to follow a spiritual life, but the Asagiri clan threw their resources into business and industry. Over the decades since the Second World War, they have become a force to be reckoned with in a multitude of industries. The young scion of the family, Naka Asagiri, a 1st Year Sr. High School student, is a proud boy who fancies himself a swordsman. He is quite good at Asagiri-ryu Kendo, but he doesn’t practice as much as his father would like.

Finally, we come to Kikaitani Senior High School, where the campaign will be based around. Built in the early 1950’s, it has begun to show its age despite expert maintenance. The main building is three stories high with the traditional clock tower in the center. It follows the traditional architecture of the time it was built, being both functional and imposing. Freshman classes are on the top floor, Junior classes are on the middle floor, and Seniors have the ground floor. Incoming Freshman must get used to trudging up and down stairs. There is also a new gymnasium building donated by the Asagiri clan. The faculty of Kikaitani Senior High School is an eclectic bunch of odd sorts, and the Principal is a very mysterious sort who delegates most of his duties to the Vice Principal.

There are other colorful families who live in Kikaitani and places of note, but the preceding are the best known. Such things as aliens, ghosts, gods, magic, and curses are scoffed at by modern Japanese, but here in Kikaitani many things are possible….

Re: Anyone ever written up Red Sonja?

As observed elsewhere' date=' the original character was not in the Hyborian Age. She lived during the sixteenth century, and she didn't wear a chainmale bikini and had a pair of guns instead. The Marvel character is very different from the original character.[/quote']

 

I stand corrected. I have not read the story, and my information was obtained from a second-hand source. However, I do like the character created in the comic books and was curious if anyone had ever done a write-up for Hero. Nuff said on that.

Re: Anyone ever written up Red Sonja?

In what REH stories does she appear? I'm only aware of Valeria (RED NAILS) as REH's major "warrior woman."

Well, to be honest, the one I am most familiar with is the Marvel Comics one, and I take umbrage at calling her a bastard creation. I did a little research on her history in fiction. She only ever appeared in a single Howard short story, Shadow of the Vulture, and even then she was not the main character but only a supporting character to Conan. Red Sonja appeared in Marvel Comics’ Conan series in the 1970s and later expanded out of into her own line of comic books beginning in 1977 and then into a series of six novels by David C. Smith and Richard Tierney in the 1980s.

That's the one I am interested in seeing a write-up on.

Now that Valdorian Age is soon to come out, I was wondering if anyone has ever written up Red Sonja in Hero system. I've seen Conan and Belit write-ups, but not one of the She-Devil with a Sword. Since Conan is arguably the only man that could probably take her in a fair fight, how would you replicate her fighting ability? High Dex and maybe a 4-5 SPD? I was contemplating that maybe she has some levels that only work when she's fighting a man. Any thoughts?

Re: Sex and the Single Superhuman

I forgot to mention this is a really cool topic. Wish I'd thought of it.

Thanks. I've always found romantic relationships interesting in RPGs myself. This post has been getting more attention than my other post about "What RPG would your character play?" I think it's due to the title.

Let's face it. Superhumans have challenging romantic lives. If it's not that nosy girl/guy reporter trying to discover a character's secret identity, all the while ignoring that mild-mannered co-worker, you also throw into the mix alien beings, gods/goddesses from the Land of Legends, that sexy supervillainess/studly supervillain that a hero/heroine has chemistry with, and finally other members of the same superteam. What's a superhuman to do?

So what's the romantic life like for your character? Is he/she in a monogamous relationship with a DNPC, doing the Batman/Catwoman love/hate relationship with a supervillain, dating anything that moves, or something else entirely? Do your superhuman PCs lead active sex lives, or are they so dedicated to their life as a hero that sex doesn't even interest them? Are they straight-laced sorts, or are they care-free exhibitionists or hedonists in their free time? Do they have any dark secrets or desires they hide from others?

Re: H-League

WonderBra Girl

Heh. I am reminded of the villainess that showed up in one of the first issues of DC's Young Justice comic book, called Mighty Endowed. After gaining her powers, she was apparently so well-endowed that she promptly fell on her face and couldn't get up.

If your character ever sat down and played an RPG, what sort of character would they want to play? Would they play fantasy, sci-fi, or something else?

On a side note, have you ever had characters play games within the game? I'm not talking RPG's necessarily, but even something like Chess or Risk.

Re: Channeling Past Lives

If its reasonable to the player to establish that the character has only a limited number of forms to work with, like 8, then the power could be built as Multiform with 8 forms, each with their own skills and abilities, then you could apply a cost divider such as used in Fantasy Hero, such as 3 or 5. If they have an unlimited number of past lives they can draw upon, then the VPP options for Multiforms would be your best bet.

Re: Adding value to COM

One of the ways that you can make COM more useful is to define the special effect of it better. After all, you don't have just Energy Blast, you throw mystic lightning or fire bolt or raw chi energy or a baterang.

 

The following costs 2 points each, and gives +3 COM and a +1 bonus for Interaction Rolls in limited situations. As Rapier suggests, sometimes this effect backfires.

 

Impressive Clothes

Feral

Prim and Proper

Exotic (Elvish, Alien, Amazonian, the list goes on)

Mystique

Nobility

Down to Earth

Charming Voice

 

So Catwoman has Impressive Clothes and 2 levels of Feral and a level of Mystique (22 COM). But when she's in her normal ID, she has 13 COM (Mystique), but other might find her to be 7 COM (Hates the Mystique would prefer a Down to Earth type).

This actually makes quite a bit of sense to me, and it follows along the lines of how Reputation works. Perhaps when 6th Edition comes out, COM can be reworked to have more of a game effect and perhaps could be broken down into some kind of effects categories. For example, a butterfly, a sports car, or a gemstone can be beautiful, but so can a supermodel. Better defining the traits of things in terms of what their beauty means would be an improvement over the current bland structure of COM. Can someone be beautiful without being sexually attractive? Would you give COM to a painting or a work of art? At what point does COM induce a fascination effect in others? It would give a richer feel to this characteristic to better define it in terms of categories, especially for those of us who are esthetically-challenged when it comes to describing things.

Re: Goofy hero names that you still love

I once played a martial artist character I made up waaaayyyy back in 3rd Edition Champions.

His name?

Captain Karate

(which should be said with a lot of pride, maybe with some reverb and echo for best effect)

Well, I was only a teen at the time, but I still remember the name all these many years later.

Most often used in humor campaigns, but they also show up from time to time in regular campaigns and teen champions sorts of campaigns.

Heck, even Gotham City had the Condiment King, and he fought Robin and Batgirl.

So who are your campaign's most memorable goofy villains?

Re: Supers without costumes

Thanks for the suggestions given.

The group I am playing with has never done any sort of superhero gaming before or reads comics, so my thought was that taking the explorer/adventurer concept from other genres and bringing it over into the modern day might be a good way to introduce a world with superpowered people and adventuring possibilities amidst it. I will probably be making good use of both Champions and Dark Champions to a degree, and I anticipate a strong Bronze Age/Iron Age feel coming out in the playing.

I am putting together a campaign write-up to pitch to my group about doing a superhuman-based campaign, but one without them being 'superheroes' with costumes. The idea suggested itself to me while I was reading the comic Planetary.

I like the idea of the Planetary Foundation as a basis for adventuring, and I was wondering if anyone else had ever done such a campaign. What are the advantages and disadvantages you have found in doing superhumans in a superhero world who aren't costumed heroes, just adventurers who happen to have superpowers?