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Steve

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  1. Thanks
    Steve reacted to Scott Ruggels in Activation Roll Converted To Hit Locations   
    U nade this chart for Hit Locations, back when Fantasy Hero was new. 

    Hope this helps.
  2. Thanks
    Steve reacted to IndianaJoe3 in Activation Roll Converted To Hit Locations   
    There's a short table on 6e2 212, but it only has a few examples. Fantasy Hero and HSEG have armor by hit location, but it doesn't break it down into a generic activation roll.
  3. Like
    Steve reacted to LoneWolf in Retired Military Officers   
    Giving any high ranking retired military officer well connected seem appropriate.   
  4. Thanks
    Steve reacted to Lord Liaden in 6E GM Screen?   
    There are several here on the website for free download. Check here: https://www.herogames.com/search/?q=6E screen&quick=1&type=downloads_file&search_and_or=and
  5. Like
    Steve reacted to Scott Ruggels in Retired Military Officers   
    "....Next on Newspoint, we invite our regular Guest, Retired General Alexander McQuarry, to comment on the situation."   Those News Appearances pay, and get one contacts within a major News Organization. 
  6. Haha
    Steve got a reaction from Scott Ruggels in The Orville: New Horizons   
    With season three starting, I think this show is really finding its legs. I wasn’t terribly impressed by the first season, but the second season showed some improvement. The new season shows even more.
     
    The dialog still reminds me of an RPG group playing a homebrew Star Trek game though, which does add to the humor factor.
  7. Like
    Steve got a reaction from Durzan Malakim in Retired Military Officers   
    In the Traveller Hero game I’m starting, for the first character I converted over I set a retired Brigadier General perk as 3 points (half what the Perk is in HD for an active member of the service and much less than other sourcebooks had it at), thinking this would still allow the character some access to Imperium military bases and additional other uses where being a former officer might be of benefit. To simplify things, I’m treating it as a form of limited security clearance with other small benefits thrown in.
     
    The retired, scarred, arguably slightly embittered sergeant in the group may be charged a point for having a retiree military pass, so he can at least get on to bases without fuss. He won’t be invited to tea with the base commander and swap war stories like the general will though.
  8. Thanks
    Steve reacted to LoneWolf in Retired Military Officers   
    Military rank especially high rank gives you a lot of things.  For one it gives you the right to give orders to those under your command and to some extent to those of lesser rank.   It also allows you access to restricted areas like military installations.  You also get some security clearances.   In the game it is a bundle of different perks grouped together for sake of convenience and to give you a break in the price. When you retire many of those are lost or at least severely reduced.  You can no longer give orders, and some of your clearances and access are reduced.
     
    The way I would probably handle it is have a perk retired military costing 1 point.  This gets you basic access to military installations and services like medical care.  Any security clearance the character retains would be purchased normally.  A retired sergeant will probably not have much if any security clearance, but a retired general might still have fairly good security clearance.       
     
  9. Like
    Steve reacted to HeroGM in Retired Military Officers   
    I'd say  lot of that would go into Contacts and Favors more than actual ability to do anything.
     
    "Well I know a guy from this post I was at who can help us get a flight to Germany..."
    "Well I'll make a call and see what's going on..."
     
    Super-Hero I know but look at The Incredibles? Helen knows that guy who can get her a plane, they know that guy who can help them clean up some of the stuff, though it's a heavy price.
  10. Thanks
    Steve reacted to Killer Shrike in Retired Military Officers   
    In the USA, all military retirees (honorable service, 20 or more years or equivalent medical discharge) have some perks such as exchange / commissary base access, VA benefits, a pension, some burial privileges possibly including burial rights in Arlington (recipients of certain medals), a pension based upon highest rank attained, preference for hiring for federal jobs, and so forth. In particular, General and Flag officers generally continue to enjoy additional deference or consideration beyond what is strictly defined (particularly "famous" ones who played a prominent role in a conflict).
     
    There are also less significant unofficial benefits, like some places will extend military discounts to retirees. Prior service (retired or not) might help get you out of a speeding ticket (allegedly, cough cough), or get you some deference in some situations...but again not something you can count on or insist on...sometimes it provides a bit of social greasing and sometimes it doesn't. 
     
    This is probably worth a Perk in HERO terms for a gritty or realistic modern setting depending upon context. For instance, if your campaign is set specifically in Oceanside or San Clemente California access to Pendleton might be a narratively useful Perk, and so on for some other campaign explicitly near a military base you as the GM intend to make relevant to your campaign...
     
     
    In addition to the obvious and legally protected benefits, and the less quantified but non-zero influence of social credit and "in-ness" from being prior military (whether you did 20+ and retired, or not) in an official context, a similar and in many cases more relevant benny is the social ties of useful contacts whom you once served with (some of whom may still be in service and others may have moved on to some other useful position in life), as well as civilian counterparts (who may still be in some position of authority within the government or a defense contracting firm). This will vary from individual to individual, but is certainly fodder for one or more Contacts in HERO terms. 
     
    This is particularly true of General / Flag officers, many of whom continue to have some influence with former subordinates who are still in service; some also sit on policy or advisory boards, speak at various political action groups, act as a sort of Greek chorus on current military matters in the form of "expert opinion" provided to various new outlets, and so on. And, of course, some go on to a second act in politics, such as a political appointee to one of the intelligence agencies or the state department, or as an elected official...where their military background may or may not be relevant but at a minimum is a factor in selection or part of their election campaign narrative.
     
    Hopefully some of that is helpful...
  11. Like
    Steve reacted to Duke Bushido in Traveller Hero: Pirates of Drinax   
    It's a minigame before you play the game.
     
    Realistically, you can, with a bit of familiarity, roll up a Traveller character in under ten mimutes; using the original (ie, "unexpanded") character generation rules, you can do it in under five minutes.
     
    Unlike most roll 'em games, though, the entire process lets you choose from different themes (careers or other "life paths").  All you are doing is rolling up you skills and a few random perks (maybe), but the thematic way in which the tables express the results is both kind of fun and extremely helpful to folks who have trouble coming up with backstories for their characters--  the skill generation system is quite literally presented as "you life up until the moment this adventure starts."
     
    You absolutely do not have to use the story generated, of course, but if you are given to explore your characters, the entire process is a little bit addictive, and I personally believe it had a lot to do with Traveller catching on and its incredible staying power.
     
     
  12. Haha
    Steve got a reaction from Duke Bushido in Just some random Traveller Hero thoughts   
    Whoa. That’s some heated competitive spirit there.
  13. Like
    Steve got a reaction from Chris Goodwin in Traveller Hero: Pirates of Drinax   
    I converted over the first of the PCs to 6th Edition Hero on Monday, and it went pretty well.
     
    Brigadier “Mes” Meson came out to a surprisingly high 225 points after converting his stats, adding in the package deals for Marine and Marine Officer, some bonuses to those skills based on his career events and some extra tweaks I threw in. His high point value was almost all due to skills and perks. Thanks to having four ranks in Leadership earned during his illustrious career that ended in honorable retirement, his highest characteristic is a 20 PRE (since setting it at 19 bugged me), further boosted by some positive reputation bonuses.
     
    Complications weren’t that hard to do based on his life events. A Hunted earned from his career events, the Imperium officer he reported for failure after a fiasco mission which later earned Mes a promotion for doing so. The package deals also gave some very good suggestions for psychological complications that fit: Marine Code-never leave a man behind. I added in “The Burden of Command” which I can’t recall right now if it came from the book or was my own idea.
     
    For his Equipment load out, he has some mesh body armor (not battledress), an auto pistol and a cutlass. All in all, he would not be out of place as a “sword and planet” hero.
  14. Like
    Steve got a reaction from Durzan Malakim in Traveller Hero: Pirates of Drinax   
    I converted over the first of the PCs to 6th Edition Hero on Monday, and it went pretty well.
     
    Brigadier “Mes” Meson came out to a surprisingly high 225 points after converting his stats, adding in the package deals for Marine and Marine Officer, some bonuses to those skills based on his career events and some extra tweaks I threw in. His high point value was almost all due to skills and perks. Thanks to having four ranks in Leadership earned during his illustrious career that ended in honorable retirement, his highest characteristic is a 20 PRE (since setting it at 19 bugged me), further boosted by some positive reputation bonuses.
     
    Complications weren’t that hard to do based on his life events. A Hunted earned from his career events, the Imperium officer he reported for failure after a fiasco mission which later earned Mes a promotion for doing so. The package deals also gave some very good suggestions for psychological complications that fit: Marine Code-never leave a man behind. I added in “The Burden of Command” which I can’t recall right now if it came from the book or was my own idea.
     
    For his Equipment load out, he has some mesh body armor (not battledress), an auto pistol and a cutlass. All in all, he would not be out of place as a “sword and planet” hero.
  15. Thanks
    Steve got a reaction from Duke Bushido in Just some random Traveller Hero thoughts   
    That’s an intriguing notion. You might also take a look at Ogre for ideas for starfighters versus capital ship battles.
  16. Like
    Steve reacted to Old Man in Traveller Hero: Pirates of Drinax   
    Jeez, it's like you had to run a campaign before you could run your campaign. 
  17. Like
    Steve reacted to Durzan Malakim in Traveller Hero: Pirates of Drinax   
    It's a pre-campaign character-creation-minigame where much of the effort is on us PCs. We're the ones who concocted the stories that connect our characters. Mostly @Steve just had to look up tables and the results of our rolls. Although he also gave us our official campaign introduction to Drinax and our beat-up pirate ship in need of repair and a crew. The premise reminds me a bit of Our Flag Means Death with our group playing a mixture of the Black Beard and Stede Bonnet roles. Our ocular-challenged gunslinger might be Black Beard (Black Eyes?) and the two brigadiers have delusions of being gentleman pirates. We'll see if our campaign of piracy is more Captain Nemo or the Three Stooges. Daddy warbucks might not be happy to learn that his famous brigadier son has gone rogue. Much depends upon how well we follow Dexter's code: Can we prey exclusively on other pirates? Can we cover up our crimes and keep our secrets? Can our veneer of civility inspire the the remnants of the Kingdom of Drinax enough to transform a pirate fleet into an actual navy? Too bad literally none of us actually had a career in the navy. We've got an abundance of swashbuckling and a dearth of deck swabbing.
  18. Like
    Steve got a reaction from Durzan Malakim in Traveller Hero: Pirates of Drinax   
    Ah, I did miss that.
     
    Based on my past experiences with the game in days of yore, most Traveller characters will be Average Joes struggling to make a living in unusual situations, which would translate into lower-point Hero characters in the 8-13 primary characteristic range. Our cyber-eyed gunfighter will probably have an 18 DEX as his best characteristic.
     
    The Trojan Reach looks like it will have plenty of adventure potential.
  19. Like
    Steve got a reaction from Scott Ruggels in Traveller Hero: Pirates of Drinax   
    Ah, I did miss that.
     
    Based on my past experiences with the game in days of yore, most Traveller characters will be Average Joes struggling to make a living in unusual situations, which would translate into lower-point Hero characters in the 8-13 primary characteristic range. Our cyber-eyed gunfighter will probably have an 18 DEX as his best characteristic.
     
    The Trojan Reach looks like it will have plenty of adventure potential.
  20. Like
    Steve got a reaction from DentArthurDent in Traveller Hero: Pirates of Drinax   
    My group had our character creation session for the new campaign using Mongoose’s Pirates of Drinax campaign setting this weekend. It was quite a lot of fun, like a time-compressed pre-campaign session, and everyone had a great time following their character’s life paths.
     
    One character started out with a fantastic stat set (three 12s rolled in front of me) and the other two were closer to average. Of those other players, one had his best stat as his social standing, and the third was fairly average with social standing as his dump stat (a five as I recall). Because there was a pretty big difference in the totals of their characteristics, we all decided to let the two with lower characteristics have some rerolls on their life paths to make up the difference.
     
    They all then decided to go to the military academy for the Marines, and that’s when the fun began. My player with the golden stats failed to get into the academy and was drafted instead, ending up in the Marines anyway as a private. The low SOC player managed to successfully enroll on his first try and the third used one of his rerolls and managed to get in on his second try (and we explained that as his high SOC meant Daddy pulled some strings).
     
    The other two later managed to graduate with honors without rerolls, entering the service as lieutenants, while the stat-lucky player finished pounding it out in his first enlistment and was promoted to a higher level noncom. The player kept joking about “college boys” like that sergeant character from the old “Black Sheep Squadron” tv show.
     
    After that, things continued to be interesting. The golden-stat player kept getting injured and ended up losing both eyes, one each on two separate tours of duty which were replaced with the marines covering most of the cost. Meanwhile, the two academy grads steadily ascended in rank, never once failing an advancement roll and never getting injured that I recall. They also accumulated a small collection of contacts, rivals and enemies during this phase.
     
    The high starting SOC player served his entire career in the motor pool, and the other graduate was a Star Marine.
     
    During one particular enlistment later on, there was apparently a disastrous military campaign that took place that was the fault of the commanding officer. The low SOC player decided to turn in his commanding officer and received a bonus to his next promotion roll and advanced again in rank. The noncom player ended up getting injured in that mission and lost his other eye, getting that one replaced and picking up a bit more medical debt.
     
    The golden-stat player, having had enough of the dangers of military service by this point, changed his career to being a corporate agent and then ended up almost burning his face off on his first tour of duty for his new employers but gained the Demolitions skill. This added to his accumulated medical debt for more repair work. Even before this, he was being compared to a young Nick Fury.
     
    The other two players retired as Brigadiers with pensions and earned a lot of mustering out benefits. They also decided to pay for anti-aging treatments. The formerly low-SOC player finished with a 10 SOC thank to his rank, and the other somehow managed to become a decorated war hero with a SOC in the low teens all while commanding the motor pool.
     
    After everyone settled their medical debts, the two Brigadiers joined up again with their old service buddy, who had become a deadly gunfighter based on his skill levels by then, and they ended up in the Trojan Reach together to begin their new adventure.
     
    I’m now going to take their rolled characters and convert them over to Hero.
  21. Thanks
    Steve reacted to Durzan Malakim in Traveller Hero: Pirates of Drinax   
    I picked up the Traveller core rulebook update 2022 and discovered that we made some rolls incorrectly for some of our life events that involved skills. Evidently you're not supposed to add a characteristic modifier to these rolls, but since we're simply using them as inspiration for Star Hero characters I don't think we need to be sticklers. Rules as written, there should be many low-stat and in-debt Traveller characters who live short brutish lives. I suppose Champions and 5th edition D&D have spoiled me for starting heroic characters. I look forward to a life of piracy in and around Drinax.
  22. Like
    Steve got a reaction from tkdguy in Traveller Hero: Pirates of Drinax   
    My group had our character creation session for the new campaign using Mongoose’s Pirates of Drinax campaign setting this weekend. It was quite a lot of fun, like a time-compressed pre-campaign session, and everyone had a great time following their character’s life paths.
     
    One character started out with a fantastic stat set (three 12s rolled in front of me) and the other two were closer to average. Of those other players, one had his best stat as his social standing, and the third was fairly average with social standing as his dump stat (a five as I recall). Because there was a pretty big difference in the totals of their characteristics, we all decided to let the two with lower characteristics have some rerolls on their life paths to make up the difference.
     
    They all then decided to go to the military academy for the Marines, and that’s when the fun began. My player with the golden stats failed to get into the academy and was drafted instead, ending up in the Marines anyway as a private. The low SOC player managed to successfully enroll on his first try and the third used one of his rerolls and managed to get in on his second try (and we explained that as his high SOC meant Daddy pulled some strings).
     
    The other two later managed to graduate with honors without rerolls, entering the service as lieutenants, while the stat-lucky player finished pounding it out in his first enlistment and was promoted to a higher level noncom. The player kept joking about “college boys” like that sergeant character from the old “Black Sheep Squadron” tv show.
     
    After that, things continued to be interesting. The golden-stat player kept getting injured and ended up losing both eyes, one each on two separate tours of duty which were replaced with the marines covering most of the cost. Meanwhile, the two academy grads steadily ascended in rank, never once failing an advancement roll and never getting injured that I recall. They also accumulated a small collection of contacts, rivals and enemies during this phase.
     
    The high starting SOC player served his entire career in the motor pool, and the other graduate was a Star Marine.
     
    During one particular enlistment later on, there was apparently a disastrous military campaign that took place that was the fault of the commanding officer. The low SOC player decided to turn in his commanding officer and received a bonus to his next promotion roll and advanced again in rank. The noncom player ended up getting injured in that mission and lost his other eye, getting that one replaced and picking up a bit more medical debt.
     
    The golden-stat player, having had enough of the dangers of military service by this point, changed his career to being a corporate agent and then ended up almost burning his face off on his first tour of duty for his new employers but gained the Demolitions skill. This added to his accumulated medical debt for more repair work. Even before this, he was being compared to a young Nick Fury.
     
    The other two players retired as Brigadiers with pensions and earned a lot of mustering out benefits. They also decided to pay for anti-aging treatments. The formerly low-SOC player finished with a 10 SOC thank to his rank, and the other somehow managed to become a decorated war hero with a SOC in the low teens all while commanding the motor pool.
     
    After everyone settled their medical debts, the two Brigadiers joined up again with their old service buddy, who had become a deadly gunfighter based on his skill levels by then, and they ended up in the Trojan Reach together to begin their new adventure.
     
    I’m now going to take their rolled characters and convert them over to Hero.
  23. Thanks
    Steve reacted to DShomshak in Sample Hero Base: The RV Liaden   
    Part Five:
     
    Upper Deck: About two-thirds of this deck is also open as a sun deck. There’s enough room to park the flitter if the main deck helipad is needed for guests. A large hatch leads to a shaft down to the lower decks.
     
    The rest holds a forecastle that used to hold the ship’s bridge. That room is now the communications center and main security office with monitors for all the hidden cameras about the ship.
     
    Another stair leads up to the roof of the forecastle. This holds a satellite dish and communications antennae. There is also a meter-wide polished steel ball on a gimballed pedestal. Controls in the comm center activate this device: The sphere splits and unfolds into petals framing a mechanism with a large plasma ball in the center and a barrel wrapped in a spiralling fluorescent tube. The tube pulses on and off while what is very obviously a powerful energy weapon makes a loud wom wom wom hum. The pedestal extends and swivels as the comm center controller directs.
     
    As the representative from the Landlady explains, their service usually builds villain bases, and villains usually want at least one location wired for a superweapon. The Liaden is similarly equipped. The “weapon,” however, is merely an impressive-looking fraud.
     
     

  24. Thanks
    Steve reacted to DShomshak in Sample Hero Base: The RV Liaden   
    Part Four:
     
    2nd Lower Deck: The bottom deck is divided into a series of rooms. The narrow triangular room at the fore holds miscellaneous stores. Furthest aft is the generator room with diesel fuel tanks and banks of batteries.
     
    A corridor leads from the gymnasium to a narrow triangular storerrom at the fore of the ship. On one side is a small sickbay (at this point little more than a couple beds and some first aid gear). On the other is a lab. Well, it has a workbench, plumbing and power connections for a lab; the team hasn't decided what to do with it yet.
     
    Aft of the gymnasium, a trophy room bends around a vault. Avant Guard didn't keep trophies and mementoes from its adventures. No problem: The Landlady pre-equipped the trophy room with odds and ends cleaned out from the bases of villain clients who were captured or killed, and which could not be sold to other villains. Only a few are identifiable. Here's what Avant Guard received:
     
    • A giant credit card (non-functioning).
    • The scepter and lion-man costume of the deceased animal-controlling villain called the King of Beasts. The scepter is just a club with a flashlight and some flashbulbs in the head. The costume has ballistic cloth lining, but no special powers.
    • Costumes of Rhinestone Cowboy and his minions. The laser jewels were removed, but they still look ridiculously gaudy.
    • Several hooded cultist robes, dark blue, blazoned with the I Ching hexagram #23 ("Breaking Apart").
    • The Coach of Crime's whiteboard showing the "game plan" for his gang's last robbery.
    • A fake marble bust of Marcus Aurelius with a hidden compartment for a canister of knockout gas (now removed), formerly owned by the Rome-obsessed criminal who called himself Caesar.
    • A bell jar full of swirling green smoke.
    • A metal canister labeled "Q-Matter Containment Unit — Do not let power reserves drop below 10%." The indicator is at 9%. There is no obvious way to recharge the unit.
    • A mini-fridge holding a can of Diet Sprite and a half-eaten hot dog (mustard only). If you remove them and shut the door, a new can and half hot dog appear five minutes later.
    • The infamous Gay Ray Gun of Alternative Person, allegedly a variation on the Professor Pain/Doctor Bliss technology.
    • A large black slab, framed like a work of art but apparently featureless.
    • Arm of a battlesuit with fried circuitry.
    • A fire extinguisher stenciled with a silver cross and Bible verses.
    • An oversize blue ring octopus in ajar of formaldehyde.
    [UPDATES: The security system recorded Helix taking the blue ring octopus, apparently an early creation to which he feels sentimental attachment. "Who's a genetic abomination? You're a genetic abomination, yes you are!" Also, the King of Beasts' son recently contacted Avant Guard and asked them to destroy his father's costume and scepter: He saw it in the YouTube tour the team posted of their new base, and he found the sight of his father's criminal gear upsetting. Avant Guard did as he asked.]
     
    Aft of the trophy room, two stairs descend to a well-equipped machine shop with tools for both electronics and mechanical engineering.
     
    Finally, the rearmost room holds a diesel generator, drums offbel and racks of batteries.
     
     

     
     
  25. Thanks
    Steve reacted to DShomshak in Sample Hero Base: The RV Liaden   
    Part Three:
     
    1st Lower Deck: This deck consists of rooms fore and aft, a corridor between them, and matching rooms to either side. Two pairs of stairs come down from the main deck, and continue down to the second lower deck. A wider central area holds the foundation for the crane and a small guest bathroom. Steel pillars connecting the decks help strengthen the ship’s structure. A shaft in the ceiling leads to the upper deck, while a steel hatch in the floor below leads to the lower deck.
     
    The forward triangular room holds the base’s water pump and heater; the underside of the hot tub sticks down through the ceiling. The curved rear of the deck is a home theater with a projector in one corner. A wet bar in the other corner lets this double as a party room.
     
    In between, the larger rooms are bedrooms for Anunit, Csongor, Huntsman, Night Train, Thing Fantastic and (if he returns to active duty) Nomad. Each bedroom has its own closet and a compact bathroom with toilet, sink and shower. Interspersed among them are six smaller guest rooms, each with a small closet.
     
    One small room wedged between a stairway and the hull is actually a getaway capsule (another villain base-inspired feature). A small console lets the people inside seal the door, blow the hull and eject the capsule, which can speed away underwater for several minutes. The capsule can also tap into the security cameras.
     
    The other small room is left for the team to develop for themselves.
    (ADDENDUM: New teammate Huntsman turned it into a "panic room" against demonic attack by painting warding pentacles on the floor, walls and ceiling. Not represented as a Power; it takes advantage of demons' Physical Complication that they can't enter or leave a correctly drawn pentacle.)
     

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