Steve

When I was in the process of gearing up for a new campaign, I presented my players with a number of setting options, all non-fantasy, and the one they chose was Alien Wars. They're even okay with starting out at the 50+50 level as raw recruits.

So at least in one gaming group, Star Hero is alive and well.

What character design or campaign concept proved to be the most difficult for you to simulate with Hero?

I was wondering if anyone has come up with any interesting noble families or individuals for use in the Terran Empire setting. Have you ever played within this aspect of the Empire's power structure much, either as nobles or retainers to a noble family?

Well, for an example of a corporate-sponsored superteam, there was Zen Team from the 4th Edition Allies supplement.

Re: A Superteam as a family

Originally posted by Michael Hopcroft

One thing that occured to me in another context but might work well in Champions is designing a PC hero team that is an actual family unit -- father, mother, and children with possible other relatives or adopted children on the team as well).

The comic Noble Causes is like this, but it is more like a soap opera about a superpowered family.

Originally posted by Monolith

Just as a side note, I am personally using the Star*Guard in my CU game closer in design to the Jedi Knights than the Green Lantern Corp. The Star Staff replaces the lightsaber, but they use the Star Staff in a similar way with their Martial Arts package. There are no "Force" powers but the versatility of the Star Staff gives them a certain "Force-like" feel.

I can see it now...

"The Star*Guard are extinct. Their fire has gone out in the universe."

Makes me wonder if Mordace may have somehow contributed to the end of magic, which would effectively end the Star*Guard as a major power in the galaxy, until they experience a rebirth in the Galactic Champions era.

Originally posted by BobGreenwade

I think that's almost exactly the way to handle it, to tell the truth. It keeps a certain level of "connectedness," and also makes for a really good campaign hook during the interim periods. The weakened, underground Star*Guard might even have had a hand (secretly, of course) in the formation of the Galactic Federation.

I like this notion, that the Star*Guard do still exist, but on the fringes of interstellar society, fading into legends until the Galactic Federation and the Galactic Champions arrive on the scene. Since they would not have superpowers, they would have to rely more on available technology.

A few things suggest themselves to me. First would be some tie-ins to the rest of the Champions Universe. Is the race of the Elder Worm up to some nastiness in this era? Is there a rogue Malvan running around with high-tech somewhere? Since magic is at strong levels, what sort of superpowers are around? Maybe some groups that would work up and down the power spectrum, like thieves guilds and organized religions. A Turakian Age progenitor form of VIPER would be an interesting touch.

Has there been any explanation given as to what the Star*Guard are up to during the Alien Wars and Terran Empire eras? Did this organization simply vanish when magic faded and superheroes went away? I assume they might return as part of the Galactic Champions era. Anyone else given this matter any thought?

I thought this article on the author's page was interesting for superhero RPG purposes:

http://www.javapadawan.com/calliope/mv41.html

Originally posted by Morningstar

My FLGS just got theirs in yesterday, here in Orange County, Southern California, and I picked up the copy they were saving for me today.

 

The chapter dividing pages make it easier to navigate around in the book. It was a great idea.

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Wonder if we went to the same place?

 

 

Where did you get it? I live in Huntington Beach and pre-ordered it from frpgames since they always seem to have things faster than the the WOTC store, which doesn't carry anything but there own product now anyway. I would just like to know wher eany other decent shop near me is.

I shop at Game Castle, in Fullerton. They always order Hero stuff.

And everything is 5% off cover price.

My FLGS just got theirs in yesterday, here in Orange County, Southern California, and I picked up the copy they were saving for me today.

The chapter dividing pages make it easier to navigate around in the book. It was a great idea.

Originally posted by Klytus

IMHO...

 

If you want attacks that are designed to take down heroes without killing them, go with the EB construct. If the agents are out for blood, then us the KA's.

EBs are fine for a Silver Age style of 4-color comics, where agents are the background opposition. I'm trying to simulate something more like the graphic novels, where blasters are like another form of gun, only with cooler special effects. With an EB, my experience has been that it will throw off a range of BODY damage that will be +/-1 per 3-4d6 used, so an 8d6 pistol will usually do around 6-10 BODY. A normal without armor could theoretically have 8 ED, in which case the BODY damage of a blaster weapon would have an even chance of just bouncing off his skin.

Using KA's for STUN is pure cheese. A Killing Attack is meant to KILL THINGS! Killing Attacks are made to chew through barriers and blow holes in people. They do BODY first, STUN second. Energy Blasts (and other normal attacks) do STUN first, BODY second.

I'm not sure if you have been reading my previous posts all the way through. To deal with the STUN lottery, I am using a flat x3 STUN multiplier for killing attacks. This brings them into line with regular attacks, which do 3.5 STUN per BODY on the average. My proposal was to cut two damage classes from the UNTIL blaster write-ups, use an RKA instead, and then add in a +1 STUN multiplier. An 8d6 U-SHL pistol will become a 2d6 RKA with a +1 STUN multiplier. You have to wear armor to resist the BODY, and it will do roughly the same STUN and BODY as an 8d6 EB (since an 8d6EB does 28 STUN and 8 BODY, and a 2d6 RKA with an assumed x4 STUN multiplier will do 28 STUN and 7 BODY on the average).

Besides of which, unless ALL of your heroes have strong Resistant Defenses, somebody is going to start bleeding after thos RKA's start flying. If that is the effect you are after, go for it. But to my mind, UNTIL-style agents, who are trying to capture their foes, would go with Normal attacks. Its the VIPER-style agents that would use the Killing attacks.

Again, this goes back to the whole EB (Silver Age) to RKA (Graphic Novel) difference I am wrestling with. If agents are armed with 2d6 RKA pistols and 6 Def Armor, that gives a more gritty feel than using 8d6 EBs, which would pretty much just work like a stun only attack, assuming 4 ED and 6 DEF Armored agents.

Originally posted by Gary

If you're interested, I have a spreadsheet to calculate all dice probabilities for d6's up to 24d6. It was designed to calculate the average damage through defenses for normal and killing attacks, and to calculate con stunning probabilities. I can probably adapt it to d8's and d10's with a little work.

 

Just give me an email address. Warning, it's a big spreadsheet.

Since this sort of math question pops up every now and then, maybe the file could be posted to the Hero Games site as a free download? This sounds like something that would be useful to many GMs and players.

Originally posted by tkdguy

The martial arts involved will either be western styles or eastern styles adapted to the west. There won't be any wuxia-style fighting, and I'll probably reduce additional damage classes to +1 or +2 maximum. Acrobatics and breakfall will still be included to allow for cinematic combat. Can't be a swashbuckler without it!

In one campaign I saw, STR and Extra Damage Classes were limited together to a maximum of 5DC. So you could have a 15 STR and 2 Extra DC, a 25 STR and no extra DC, or any other combination of STR and Extra DC you like. It nicely headed off the problem of encouraging every character to load up on STR in order to do damage.

Originally posted by Monolith

It does not bother your players that a Killing Attack does less STUN, on average, than an Energy Blast? My would probably shoot me if I tried to do that.

Well, interestingly enough, since I am using a x3 flat multiplier, if I build the blasters with a +1 STUN multiplier for +1/4 advantage, then an 8DC weapon would do 9 BODY and 36 STUN on the average for the same 50 points that a 10d6 EB would cost and do 10 BODY and 35 STUN. The big difference is that the BODY damage for a blaster designed this way, instead of bouncing off regular ED, requires Armor or some such resistant defense to be worn. While it is almost exactly the same damage, the special effect feels better to me to simulate the type of damage I am looking for without bending the writeups for an UNTIL blaster rifle or pistol out of Champions Universe too far out of shape.

Originally posted by Tom McCarthy

In my experience in superhero games, the agents need to use normal damage attacks. It's all in the rule of large numbers, and it's the 4-colour genre.

 

For a super agents game, I think you need to look at 6-8 DCs of normal or killing damage. Indeed, I think you might want to try and find the old Dark Champions supplement and its guidelines for damage and defences, and optional combat rules (wounding, flinching, disabling wounds, limited defences, etc.).

Luckily, I do own a copy of Dark Champions and An Eye For An Eye, so I can use it for reference. And I do plan on looking over the optional rules for combat. 6-8DCs is about where I was thinking of going, given that I planned to leave armor in the 6-8 range.

I was also considering borrowing an idea from the old Ninja Hero comment on samurai armor and guns by maybe making regular Kevlar worth 1/2 value versus blasters and more primitive armor worth 1/4 value. My thought was that super agent armor has something extra in their makeup that resists blaster fire better than ordinary armors.

Completely off topic rant...

 

In a superheroes game, agents aren't scary because one of them can hurt you; rather they are scary because there's so many of them one WILL hit you and hurt you a bit. 10 DC of normal attack is noteworthy because it will do about 32-38 STUN reliably, and cost a hero some STUN. If you go to a 10 DC killing attack, the heroes typically will still shrug off the 11-12 BODY, but with a D6-1 STUN multiplier, you'll frequently get 11-24 STUN (negligible), occasionally get 33-36 STUN (same as normal), and occasionally rack up 48 or 60 STUN (CON stunned or KO'd hero). Either the heroes are afraid of the BODY the agents can do (very workable in Dark Champions, not very 4-colour) or the STUN's what's important, and KA's just have too much variation in STUN damage. If only one agent in 10 hits, I want the hero to feel it but not be KO'd. Normal damage does the job. [/b]

Well, in this campaign, I was planning to use a flat x3 modifier to deal with the STUN lottery.

I am starting up an UNTIL-based super agents campaign in the near future, and I have been pondering the weapon damage issue. In Champions Universe, blasters are written up as 8d6-10d6 EB, and the agents average a 4 ED, 6 points of Armor, and 25 STUN. On the average, one shot and a character is out, but they have taken no BODY damage.

I have been considering changing blasters to killing attacks, for more of a "lethal" feel, but I was curious how other GMs who have run super agents campaigns have handled this issue. Do you use killing attacks of 2d6-3d6, or leave them as 8d6-10d6 energy blasts?

Since the average human is listed as having an 8 in all of their primary characteristics, is this the number that people apply the racial modifiers to, or do you add it to a base number of 10? For example, Malvans have +3 PRE. Does this mean the average Malvan has an 11 PRE or a 13 PRE?

What about Knockback?

How would you calculate Knockback for Flight, only in contact with a surface, defined as a type of hyper-running? Is it done like you would real running, or would you do it as if they were actually flying?

Q: If a character has both Cramming and Linguist, could they be considered to have 2 points of effectiveness in a language they pick up by Cramming?

Re: Victoriana

Originally posted by Syberdwarf2

Do you have a link?

Here is the only one I found:

http://freespace.virgin.net/j.tuckey/introduction.htm

I came across this Steampunk setting in my FLGS, a fantasy RPG set in the Victorian era, using the Fuzion System. From what I have read so far, it looks to be pretty good. While I am not that interested in the Fuzion system nowadays, at least it should be fairly easy to convert to Hero System.

Anyone else seen it yet? I think it just came out recently.

If Only Usable in Hero ID is a -1/4 Limitation, then what would be a suitable level of Limitation for not being able to use an ability or skill in your superpowered ID that you can in your non-superpowered one? I am thinking that -1/4 may still be appropriate, but I'm not sure.

I didn't see anything in the FAQ on this, but I might have missed it.

1) Can you use a mental power on yourself?

2) If you can use Telepathy on yourself, could you use it to recall memories that have been blocked or suppressed into the subconscious, like being under Mind Control or a Mental Illusion? Could you use Mind Control on yourself to reveal such things? Would you need to roll a higher effect number than the Mind Control that blocked the memory rolled?

3) If you have a psychic surgery type of Transform power, could you use it to rewrite your own memories?