simplygnome

Re: Player Openings: Knights of New L.A. PBEM

As a note Kirby, Corven seems to be doing a good job so far in the PR department. He's been really good about working with storyline and character concept to mesh with the game.....It seems like a pretty nifty storyline too.

- Gnome, aka ShadowShot

Re: Review my campaign guidelines

The zero phase recovery was only for using a Hero Point, which is only granted 2 per game, so the abuse wouldnt be as bad as you think. You can just house rule away the 0DCV for all hero point taken recoveries....

Re: Teleporting focus to owner

*gets on knees*

If the mail-gods are good to me, Ill have my 5er in four days or so...!!!

With a group of new players, Im about to start them off on a 300pt (200 + 100) supers game. Im looking at 75pts max in powers...with a couple exceptions. How do you experienced GMs limit things like OCV, rPD/ED, etc etc so things are still balanced.

The problem Im looking at is giving my plays who are new to the Hero system 300 pts, and watching the power gamers in them buy up gobs of armor. If I say powers are limited to 75pts, I can almost bet one specific player already plans to grap 75pts of FF, with Damage reduc, with armor, if Ill let him . Another problem is people buying up OCV/DCV like mad.

How do you put caps and limits while still teaching players how to make a balanced character? I already plan on taking a direct role in modifying/improving their character afterwards anyhow....

Re: Not reasoning from effects

I like the sound of the Duplication, with an altered duplicate, and then have an EDM but only to switch places with the other....

Its very much how they modelled Astral Travel in FRED.

Re: Of Rules Changes and AOEs/DFC (or, How to Beat the Brick)

Thanks for the all help my "two digit" experienced Heroplayers.

Another reason I called to arms is, I have severe favoritism to the best archet...errm...I mean speedsters.

I just wanted to see the pros and cons, because AOEs do seem an easy way to put a party on the defensive....then again, it is balance, so that makes sense.

Thanks again all.....Too many house rules out there to consider so Im trying to use your help to compensate for my semi-limited play knowledge in Heros!

Ive seen several posts recently about the abuse of AOE attacks, specifically when used by a large STR brick based character.

The problem lies with the Brick either holding his action (confident that he will survive the attack) and then use a one hex aoe (or larger) to pulverize the said attacker, assumed to be a speedster, MA, or other "squishy". Since the "squishy" has already taken an action, they cannot DFC, and the brick can just hold his action indefinately, putting a stalemate on a 1 on 1.

One such House Rule solution was this:

One other idea is to just slightly change the rules. Say that a character can abort to a defensive action after an attack but it costs him his one lost phase and he is only allowed to do a half phase action on his next move. That will force BCG to use some different tactics as well.

I would like to know the thoughts on this idea. I have tried it only once, and the game didn't contain enough combat to really see its effects (also, it was a Heroic game, without many AOEs). Has anyone used this, and has it worked?

For any rules lawyers out there....tell me why this would be a BAD idea, because I personally would like to keep this rule as a mainstay in my hero gaming....

Re: Review my campaign guidelines

Doesn't seem bad to me. Two questions:

1) Do you think your players will actually pay 5 whole CPs for a Hero point that they get two of free during each adventure anyways and is a one use item? Thats a whole point of DCV!! Or 1d6 luck, if you want a similar effect. While Mr. Hero points buys four hero points during the course of ten sessions or so (for 20cps), Capt. Points Monger buys either 4d6 luck, usable EVERY game, or +4DCV...or even +2 Overall Combat levels or even +2 SPD!!!...Now, I can see spending five points on the ability to START each adventure with an extra HeroPoint (ie, 5pts to start with 3). With that mentality, you might want to make them worth more...not to sure how it would balance out. The ability to act during an extra phase is a HUGE advantage, but not worth paying 5 pts for a one time use....

2) Same NCM as above...Will they get points for it, and why do you want a supers game with NCM? This will all but eliminate speedsters (my GOODNESS itll get expensive buying up that 60" of running =p), and mentalists will have a problem. Bricks wont really see much of a HUGE set back considering theyll be doubling Str at 1pt anyhow. Mentalists might have a problem buying up enough EGO, their Mind abilities, and STILL have something left over for decent defenses/movement powers. The people who get the most from this are the Batman esque skill mongers and Martial Artists. They will be at almost full effectiveness, while everyone else is cut down...by a good portion. In a game like this, I have a feeling youre going to see LARGE amounts of CombatSkillLevels, seeing as how DEX is going to be a PAIN to buy up high. However if thats what your going for, then try it out. It might work....I haven't really tried it. Seems like the balance of skill users and super bricks might be lessened a bit...Then again, a smart MA/Skill user is just as effective as a brick even without NCM...if used and build to be so...

As another note: The hero point idea is pretty nice. I wouldnt mind a recovery every now and then as a 0 phase action. Will you be giving similar abilities to high powered super villians?

Re: 5er Invisibility pwoblem.

Well, I dont even have 5er yet and Ive already made a universal house rule - Thank you hero boards =P!

For me...Im not going to put logic behind it. Incants dont have to be heard, just said. Invisib. to hearing group makes you non-hearable...end of stoty. You buy incants and are invisible to hearing, then incants still work...Its still a form of restrainable if being gagged, underwater, etc...as previously mentioned.

Re: How to keep the 4-color mood, while in Gotham....???

What I would suggest in order to make it work:

 

Start out with a more traditional 4-color game. Heroes form team, become popular, powerful, well known, etc. Run with this for 6 months or so IRL (assuming roughly weekly games) and a few years game-time. During this time they encounter and thwart the main villain a few times.

 

Then switch it up. The main villain beats and captures them. Next session, they wake up and escape - only to discover how long they were out and how much the world changed. In the intervening X years, the villain has taken over, etc. Don't have the heroes being used as mind-controlled pawns - instead say the villain was able to use them to grant their powers to his mooks temporarily (of course, the mook burns out quickly). It was the super-mooks who were his shock troops, not the heroes themselves. (note - make sure the characters are types where this would work - more actual "powers" and less mystic/tech characters)

 

Now the heroes emerge, and have to repair the world and defeat the villain. They are already established as 4-color characters in gameplay, and should continue to act accordingly. They aren't directly tainted as the villain's pawns. The public can remember them "as they were" and hail their return, like Captain America returning after being frozen for so long. Their return helps spark the rebellion, with the PC's old allies and contacts coming out from hiding to help, etc.

 

Longer setup, but I think it would work much better.

I DO like that setup SS. I dont know if it would work better, or just easier.

I am torn on one issue. On one hand, I like the effect of the heroes themselves being tained by what they had done unintentionally (or at least the clones method). It gives the a very Vash-like (trigun) plight to get over...having to fight valiantly for people that hate you, even if it is in blind ignorance....Having the struggle to re-clear your name, fight against the odds, and hey...even Supes had his dark hours, right?

On the other hand, the two other methods given so far do keep more of a four color tone to it....

I 'think' a balance can be met, and I dont think I have the patience to wait 6 months before running the game .

Re: How to keep the 4-color mood, while in Gotham....???

Thank you Vanguard, for the help...Ill take that into consideration!

Trebuchet: Quick clarification, I dont have limited GM experience...Its limited Super hero campaign XP. Just fyi =D

And secondly, I dont know. The whole death of superman series was pretty dark. What about Hal Jordan/Paralax killing every GL in the galaxy and destroying the guardians wasn't dark (or snapping Mephistos neck with his bare hands)? Or how about when the JLA was taken out of the reality stream and the world suddenly turned against them, while now suppoering their enemies, leaving them alone and hated worldwide. These these remained four color themed despite eveything, yet were very dark indeed.

Im not saying its the easiest thing, but I certaintly think that the setting and events will not be the only thing that dictate the overall tone. The npcs reaction, the PCs setting in society, and the daily dealings with the world will.

Re: Brick tricks

TRL - One thing Ive noticed...

It seems that all your complaints with the HERO system that youre trying to do one thing: Make it fair and balanced...

I beleive therein might lie your problem? Please point to me the issue of JLA that had a complete blanaced team of heros. Please point out to ANY one rpg that didn't give advantages to someone at one point in time. Please point out to ANY one RL city that is fair....any one neighboorhood then...okay, how about any one household....The point is, life in GENERAL isnt fair. SOMEONE will always hold the upper hand, have another card up his sleeve, or be in a better position than you at some point in time...But then so will you too have your time to shine....

When you choose to play a brick, you do so because you like the advantages of having immense strength, such as the ability to apply it to the real world.

When you choose to be a mentalist, you do so because you like the advantages of having superior mental control and the ability to manipulate your opponents (IE MENTAL ENTANGLES =P Sound like a familiar argument ^_~).

When you choose to play a speedster, you do so because you realize, inside, that you're just that darn good....errmm...I mean because you like speed, yadda yadda, yadda =P

The point is, There is a LOT of unfairness...in everything, but as long as the players and GM work together in HERO, they can assure that the characters are good at something, or in some situation, and give them their time to shine accordingly.

That just my opinion. Im a rules lawyer too....Sometimes it makes more sense to have fun, nitpicking be damned.... =D

Re: How to keep the 4-color mood, while in Gotham....???

I think it will be very difficult to do this. Given how you plan on starting the campaign, and the state the world is in, the players SHOULD want to spend every waking minute trying to take this villain down.

 

And trying to do a 4-color campaign in a dark world will be difficult.

 

If your players are being held to 4-color standards in a world that doesn't cooperate, and are prevented from pursuing the villain that mind controlled them and used them to help take over, I can see some very frustrated players.

 

To do it successfully would take a lot of work and thought on how to do it right, and it would be a fine balancing act. Personally, I'd suggest reconsidering how you want to do the campaign.

Thanks all for the help. Theres some good ideas here

Supreme Serpent, I understand that this should be hard, but what Im trying to get across is that the PCs are HEROES in all accounts. When you stand for something as controversial as justice and truth, youre going to face opposition from all directions....

In a campaign that will last a very long time, I need the ability to break off every now and then........

A GREAT example of what Im going for is SLADE from the new Teen Titans cartoon. He is ALWAYS a threat, but NOT ALWAYS a target. Thats how I want to make the several main plotline points in this game.

As to the response Ive been getting so far, I dont this its as unattainable as you think, and I daresay that any game needs deviation from time to time from the main story points...

Thanks for the help all...Please, continue if it suits your fancy!!!

Re: How to keep the 4-color mood, while in Gotham....???

Actually, yes the escape was going to be relatively easy. There would be a lot of confusion though, as is the point. Theyd run into a good set of mooks (50cps or so...meh), one 'decent' mook (150cp?) surrounded by normal mooks, and then a super hero from the outside world (who actually came there to blow up the facility, and inadvertantly destroyed the source of our Heros mind control....at this facility that is...). That last encounter has several different outcomes....

Im just not sure what to do right after that...How to insert them into the world and how to start the rebuilding process...

See, I dont want the heros COMPLETELY engrossed in the main plotline of restoring the world and taking out the person who controlled them etc etc.. I want a standard set of hero subplots and such, common robberies, unrelated supervillians...and I can think of many senarios, just not a way to really set the heros up...Its not like they live in Titan Tower or anything

Re: Brick tricks

Well first off, I was more reffereing to the NPC VILLIANS dictating where to fight the car-obsessive PCs =P

Secondly....Thank you for the overconfident quip! I do rather enjoy speedsters and, to some extent, tricky martial artists....I mean seriously...being able to outrun a race car, out talk a politicain (imagine what a SPD 8 diplomat can do =P), and having a DCV higher than most of your enemies IQs (at least from my point of view =P....COME-ON NOW..You GOTTA love the power!!!!

EDIT - Meh, Ill check the math later...Its early in the morning and I havent had a nap yet =P. See what I mean by using the growth chart though...was just the easiest reference for me...Ill look at it later...youre right though +9 OCV is nothing to scoff at.

Re: FYI: why more people aren't playing HERO (rpg.net)

FS - I might just steal that Hero Training idea with my group of players. Hope you dont mind too horribly!

Re: Brick tricks

TRL - I COULD be wrong, but judging by the growth chart in FRED pg 118 (and inverting the DCV minuses to OCV pluses) I calculate that the subway car would only get a +6 (if you go by weight) to a +8 (if you go by size) OCV bonus. Still pretty impressive, but not too overpowered imho. Not against a speedster that is...Others might want to hold their actions and abort to a DFC or flyingdodge maneuver.

The "special effect" you're worried about is just a missthrown rail car. The speedster was just a bit quicker and jumped up as it slid under him and thumped harmlessly behind him or he dove down as it flew over his head. Possibly he had to pull a spider man and jump through the windows of the oncomming monstrosity and out the other side....Meh, let the characters get all artsy with it...

I've got a better idea to avoid it though........DONT FIGHT A BRICK WITH 50+ STR NEAR A SUBWAY CAR!!!! =P Obviously this isnt always an available option, but theres no rule saying a PC or Villian for that matter can't just go where they arent at a disadvantage. When The Prankster lures the Green Meenie out into a pasture, about the most dangerous thing youre going to get is flying fence posts and really upset cows....

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As for a brick with acting...ermm...well:

"Well imagine that....An INTELLIGENT guard!" - Titan A.E.

(Actually...good point. Never had that happen...would definately throw me for a loop...not that Id care...As a speedster I wouldnt be anywhere near him anyways =P Or id be moving so fast he couldnt see me...or Id kick dirt in his eyes...meh, try me now lummox boy! Still, I see your points.)

I am about to start GMing a 4-colored supers game based in a very dark location. The mood of the world is very dark with feelings of hoplesness and despair, however I need to keep the 4-colored feel alive at the same time.

The characters will be asked to make characters of 200+100 (about 25pts of limitations will be a few mandatory campaign specific flaws). They will be told to use any origin and BG story they like, with any specific origin of power (except magic, because it has no place in this world set). All background flaws will be disfavored (for reasons Im about to explain), while psych. and phsic. limitations will be looked upon favorably.

However, at the start of the game, the characters will find themselves separated and locked in confinment cells, with no recollection of what happened. They will everntually remove themselves for their cells and take a tour of the compound, which will have sirens blaring and be heavily on fire....

Once the characters make it to two specific locations (one being the main control room of the compund, the other being ANYWHERE outside the place), they will find the world they know in shambles. They will find themsevles stranded in the middle of a hidden compund somewhere in the mountians of Colorado. The nearest town will be destroyed, almost completely obliterated, with only a handful set of people left cowering in the shadows.

Come to find out, the PCs memory stops about two years ago. At this time a terrorist organiztion led by a master villian began capturing the world super teams, and using them as powerful strike forces to make the world cower in fear....the PCs are one such group that has been, for the last two years, terrorizing the cities they once protected... They are recently free from their bondage by reasons unknown to them....

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Now....How do I turn this bleak out look into a good four-colored hero type game? Any types of GMing tips would be great....Story hooks even better....

How extensive should I make the "damage" to the world....?

I'll be honest, my superhero DM skills are not the sharpest, as Ive been using Hero for Fantasy games more often than not.....

Re: Need resource opinion (5er VS UMA)!!!

Any girlfiend that will settle for an RPG book in place of a date near Valentine's Day is a rare find. Not sure if it's a good find' date=' but rare, and precious, indeed!. Treat her well. [/quote']

 

Muahaha. She'll definately appreciate the comment *slaps forehead and sighs*

Re: Brick tricks

A 5 pt CSL for HTH will do that...It already only applies to HTH combat, without range. This CSL would work for all close combat manuevers, but not when throwing a car and such....

Although it would still work for using the car as a club, or a light post or something....so still giving you some instances of AOE or stretching...

Re: Need resource opinion (5er VS UMA)!!!

Thanks all...at a moment of great weakness, I went with option C today and just ordered them both =P

I'm sure my girlfriend will understand why I don't have the money to take her out this weekend (j/k...shes already adjusted to me being cheap anyhow =P) .....Its okay though, she'll probably just take my "old" FRED book and claim it as her own now...

Re: Stuff to Make Up about the Gods

Dr.A, the part I think most important is how the gods relate to the world...

Can your gods walk upon the material plane when they want? How do they give clerics power, or do they? Are they worshipped, and do they care? How active are they with the world....

Im not saying you havent thought of this...Im just curious to see how you set this up in your game...

Re: Brick tricks

Also TRL, yes I do hold my actions ...on all phases that has an enemy action....My biggest strength is my DCV and SPD, so Im going to take advantage of it. When you think about it, the loss of 4 phases (assuming he has access to 4 cars every turn) isnt really that tragic when you think I still have 2-4 MORE phases in which he CANT dive for cover or abort to any action....

But I agree with Hawksmoor....add OCV, not AOE. It works much better IMHO.

Re: Brick tricks

Well, there are very good points, and I see the arguments, but I have yet to find this unbalancing.

As an odd note, I'm not really a fan of playing bricks, even if I'm a champion to their car throwing cause....

Im more of a speedster or dex monkey skillster type anyhow. Ive never really found car chunking Bricks to be a problem....After all, whats me having to dodge or dive for cover for two or three phases when I have a SPD of 8???? Or can disappear into the shadows?? etc, etc.

Anyhow, I guess different groups will react differently to different rules.

I honestly let STR be used without even the use of the power skill. I let them throw things for free....Because it makes sense and I have yet to see it absued. Even used every fight, I don't really see it as abuse....especially since I usually limit how/when these things are available....Sure cars are nice, but in an office building, I don't really think a Swivel-Chair is going to stand up against Dr. Turmoil.

The Power Tricks skill comes in when we're looking at things like shockwaves, and earthquakes and such....

I actually find an intelligent use of Speedster tricks to be a bit more unbalancing than Brick tricks...My goodness can speedster tricks get silly (not only is he already moving extraordinarily fast and using himself as a ramming rod every round with a SPD 8, but now he creates blinding dust trails, is moving so fast that hes invisible, and is creating minor duplicate images of himself [the run run STOP run run STOP routine] along the paths to confuse his enemies....Good luck hitting that sucker.)

Well, I hope you guys find a good balance for your games!

I have the money allotment (that Ive given to myself) of getting ONE hero book (for a time period lasting about six months of gaming or so). I currently am playing FRED.

I have decided to purchase either:

1) 5er, or

2) UMA

Now, the first choice is easy to explain. Obviously I want the rules clarifications, the typos edited, and a few other good resource examples to back up my generalized hero career, be it Champions, Fantasy Hero, or others....I have heard about a LOT of material that would greatly help out my games.

Also, I have noticed that since 5er has come out, more and more of the answers from the community Ive been seeing have been "Please see 5er pg XXX". Now I understand this is to pretect copywrit material and not "give away" Steves hard earned money...but it is a bit difficult to need answers to something fairly basic (ie, not answered in a specific sub-genre supplement) and not beable to get a straight answer because Im using a Not-really-so-outdated book.

HENCE..I want 5er.

On the other hand, I like martial arts for just about EVERY setting I use (sci-fi has it, ala cowboy bebop or starwars, fantasy monks, or batman esque heros). The UMA will show me how to MAKE MA manuevers...something I cant do right now (GASP!!). This is one rules set that has been driving me MAD for..well..since I got my hero book!

A pet project of mine is to create an extensive and interactive swordsman rules set that will make dueling more hands on and exciting. Hero is the best way to do this, but I have a feeling that the MA rules in UMA will help me out A LOT!

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So there is my plight....Or, option C..I could go without food for a week and just get both....

Any serious suggestions from those that have read the books?