Syberdwarf2

Now I get it. Thanx everybody.

Originally posted by Vanderbilt_Grad

The 52 Points came from a brain fart.

But the real question is...... who farted?!?!

Okay, so let me get this straight. I'll try to use a slightly different exampe to make sure I got it.

Generic Man has been built with a 25 DEX. In his 'Powers' section on his writeup, he has listed:

Variable Advantage +1/2

This comes out as a +1 modifier. So to figure it out, we look at the points paid for the DEX score, which is 45 points. This is also base cost for the purpose of figuring the naked advantage cost. So.....

45 (cost of characteristic) times 2 (1 plus the modifier) = 90 active points. The Active cost minus the 'base' gives you the real, final, quit-looking-at-me-in-that-tone-of-voice cost.

So, VA of 1/2 as a naked advantage on a 25 DEX would cost 45 points.

Did I get it this time?

A player of mine recently submitted a character to me for review, and I had a little trouble figuring out one of his powers. Okay, here it is...

Characteristic

30 STR 20

Powers

52 Variable Advantage; +3/4 (+1 1/2) on 30 STR, (7, 4, or 0 END)

Okay. 30 STR. 20 points. (If I can't figure that out, I don't need to be playing.)

Seriously, when I looked up VA, I read the description pretty thouroughly. I understand how it works as an advantage, but for some stupid reason I just don't understand the power write-up. How do you put an advantage on the characteristics? How would you figure up the BAR (base, active, real) costs on STR as a characteristic. I know that STR can be bought as a power, but that doesn't seem to be the case here. Am I looking at this right or did I have a brain fart?

While conducting campaign planning;

me: "...sure, but who's the villain?"

(house cat plops down on FREd)

wife: "The cat is the villain behind all of the heroes problems"

me: "Seriously, who is the one pulling the strings here?"

wife: "I am serious. Think about it. The cat poses as the pet of the 'main' villain, gets adopted by the group, and has unlimited access to the heroes plans."

(light bulb appears over head)

me: "And the group never suspects a thing until the climatic battle.....brilliant."

me: "And just to add insult to injury, the worst thing is that the leader of the group not only has no idea of what the cat really is........he also scoops its poop."

I like it a lot. Unfortunately, the black background would tend to eat up a LOT of my ink....

May I suggest a light grey background with black borders around the various 'fields'?

"Wizard's Sack"; an enchanted item from Fantasy HERO, pg 288.

If I were to do Matrix HERO, I'd consider it to be SH, not Champs. I say this because I prefer games that are heavy on the human interaction as opposed to use-of-powers. When I finally saw 'Reloaded', I was impressed with the depiction of Zion and how the characters lived their lives. I would have to go into great detail in making up the 'real' world, just because I find that part the most fascinating in world creation. Not to mention the fact that most of the game session playing time would be spent in the real world. Even if most of the time were spent in the Matrix, I wouldn't base the characters off of 350. I'd do maybe 150 points per PC as recommended for most SH campaigns. I'd also make the Only Usable While In The Matrix limitation at least a -1.

'course....that's just me.

plonk

Originally posted by Hermit

go frolic in a local creek.

Must...erase...mental....pictures.....

AAAARRRRGGGGHHHHHHH

Hero a day?...... good luck.

You don't think small do you?

Originally posted by Damage,Inc.

Are you beginning a new campaign or adventure? I/we live in post 9/11 and chose to not realize 9/11 in our campaign because of it's complex ramifications. I would suggest not to use terroism because of it's ''fear of the day'' influence.

Thank you, sir, for not being afraid to bring up the very sensitive subject of 9/11. I beleive that (and correct me if I'm wrong) what you mean by fear of the day influence is the reaction people may have to that in a way consistant with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder? We've pretty much all had that. Most of us had to find ways, quickly, to cope with it. Most of us did.

Now, I didn't have anyone personally involved with anyone related to the victims themselves. But I remember. I remember fearing for the lives of my children and not wanting to leave my home for days. I remember not being able to eat, or sleep, or change the channel.

I feel I've adjusted to the incident pretty well. 9/11 happened and there's nothing that can change that. I intended to show that in my games. Originally, it was just intended to be part of the history of superpwered origins in my universe because it was all I could come up with on very short notice. I don't feel that it is offensive, but it is sensitive. That's why I made sure, before my group started, that I asked all of my players how they felt about mature / sensitive subjects such as drugs, murder, rape, and terrorism.

My group is made of grown adults. We've all come to the table with a good degree of maturity. We recognize that these elements are real, and for the sake of reality in our games, they shouldn't be the main focus but they shouldn't be ignored.

9/11 happened. By pputting it in the history of my world I have moved on and coped. I show that I remember by dealing with it. I asked everyon before we started if they had a problem 9/11 being a part of the background; to which they said no.

I can no more ignore the events of 9/11 than I can the senslessness of the german death camps, or forced abortions in China, or...(insert historical act of senseless violence and human depravity here).....

It Is Just My Way Of Moving On.

Originally posted by Killer Shrike

Ill take a coffee. WIly Q likes Jagermeister. Just ask him

Wily should try a "Dead Nazi"

Rumpleminz, Jagermeister, and Goldschlager...

As for 'us' games. I'd never really tried it. Maybe because my best friend in High School (a 'core member' of our gaming group), was one of those guys who seemed to get just little TOO into it. The line was blurry with that one.

Originally posted by Dr. MID-Nite

The TK-No Conscious Control idea would be a thought(but'd it have to work over vast distances-Damien is in England when David Warner's character is beheaded in Jerusalem). I might just have to run with the Luck idea(which fits in with the filmaker's idea that everything that happens being explained away as unfortunate coincidences).

 

Rob

Don't forget Megascale...

Originally posted by Killer Shrike

Er...sorry if I came off didactitorial; just a pet peeve that occasionally gets a rise out of me.

 

In your defense however, Ill be the first to admit that far too many D&D groups are primarily Hack & Slash and I can certainly understand how people might extrapolate that to indicate that most if not all are.

No offense taken. No harm, no foul.

By the way, nice work on the High Fantasy Hero site. Any chance of Low Fantasy Hero site in the future?

Originally posted by Killer Shrike

As a side note, anything you can do in Low Fantasy you can do in High Fantasy, or Middle Fantasy, or Epic Fantasy, or whatever you want to call it Fantasy.

 

...

 

"It always cracks me up to see someone mention D&D with the assumption that all you can use it for is Hack & Slash, and that all D&D games are automatically Hack & Slash. While many GMs may run their games that way, that isnt all you can do with the system.

 

...

 

Give a group of players any gamesystem and they are going to spin it in the direction they prefer to play in.

Point taken. I stand corrected. Very good argument BTW, Killer Shrike.

Thanx for the refresher course, everybody. Please feel free to continue sending in your advice while we iron out the bugs. We'll be keeping you updated as to what's going on. Hopefully, we'll also get the character posted soon.

I guess I prefer Low over High because the lack of magic or rather, the low availability of magic encourages roelplaying more. It's hard to uphold realism when Schmedrick the Whyzard can heal you at the drop of a hat.

When the PC gets cut, he should bleed. Orcs have brains, they arent COMPLETE idiots; they should use them. LOTR orcs actually uphold this ideal by demonstrating a decent level of intelligence. Sure they're crude. But they arent stupid.

Other gripes: GOLD IS HEAVY. When was the last time you went around with 100 AP (Anything Pieces)? Ever carry around 10 rolls of quarters? C'mon... money is hard to come by and they didn't have the printing press in Greyhawk or Waterdeep last time I checked.

Re: nobody mentioned this, but....

Originally posted by grymlocke

Try this for a campaign....

 

place: europe, WWII, somewhere in france...

 

a PC's discovers (rumor from prisoner at least..) that there is a cache of nazi gold hidden in a small small village deep behind enemy lines...

 

the PC wants the gold...but it has to remain a secret....

 

he recruits a few 'other' pc's for a share....a supply sergeant, a tank commander, etc....

 

if all this sounds familiar, it should.....

 

its a movie that starred clint eastwood....

 

KELLY'S HEROES !!!!

 

put a group of pc's inplace of the main characters and let the fun begin....

Change Germany to Iraq. Make the Nazis the 'Republican Guard' and presto.....

"Three Kings" with Clooney, Whalburg, and Cube

Ladyhawke was IMHO an exceptionally well done example of low fantasy. Certainly, it had just the right mix of magic, swords and plot. Thieves' World was a great literary example of the genre. Perhaps there are some out there who would disagree with my classification of these as Low Fantasy (especially Thieves World), but they beat the heck out of the standard "DnD-esque" tripe.

Not that I don't enjoy a good dungeon crawl, mind you. In fact, I have very fond memories of DnD, and still play their rules (I refuse to call it d20) on occasion. I just prefer actual roleplaying versus hack-n-slash.

Make mine HERO.

I need some help with a psuedo-NPC. My sister is making up a character for my campaign as a sort of 'guest star' / recuuring role character. We're getting down to the nutznboltz here very soon, as the next game is in a couple of days. Before we sit down to get the rough draft underway, I was hoping to get some input and suggestions for what you think should go into this character t help polish it off.

Here's the concept;

The character is basically a cross between Gambit (of X-Men fame) and Artemis Entreri (Forgotten Realms).

I only have two main stumbling blocks. First, we don't often get a chance to sit down and hash out a PC because of our schedules. And Second, I have only passing familiarity with both of these characters.

I would greatly appreciate any information, advice or suggestions you may have. Thanx in advance.

Originally posted by Tech

I have a general idea of what the DNPC's stats are in my game but unless specifically needed, which I haven't run into, they don't get written up. The DNPC's match the activity of the heroes. Captain Star who lives in the country isn't going to have a lawyer DNPC in the city. The DNPC should be in the general vincinity of the hero, IMHO.

I see your point. But I'm not just writing them up for the sake of doing it. That would be a waste of my time and my players' time. I look at it this way; by constructing the DNPC as I would any other character (concept wise) and then writing them up, I am better able to do two things;

1) Develop the campaign based on the people that live in it guided by my initial preconceptions of the setting.

and

2)Develop those parts of the setting which relate not necessesarily directly to the PCs, but which are probably most important to them anyway.

This also, in theory, makes plot hooks a lil easier and a lot closer to home.

When I do a character, I don't just create a stat sheet or a background that gets thrown out the window the minute play starts. I try to use everything about a character to enhance my campaign and my players' enjoyment of the game.

Thanx Everyone,

You've been really helpful. As a sidenote, for those of you who may have been trying to view my webpage, I will (eventually) be getting the campaign info up there.

I now leave the debating floor open....

Going off of the suggestion from TheEmerged, I think I may go with building the DNPCs a few levels down the chart as far as point levels.

The problem isn't so much the character concept, as how to build it to suit with only 25 or fewer points. Do I throw in the ingredients and salt to taste? Or do I go by the recipe and build the DNPC as listed on the PCs sheet? The PC has her listed as an Incompetent Normal.

Originally posted by zornwil

I just figure out what kind of DNPC would "fit" the character. For example...

 

the Urban Druid had (among many other urban-based powers) the ability to command various urban animals, namely rats, pigeons, cats, and dogs. So his DNPC was a capable cat that he befriended.

 

Blazing Arrow has a sort of "roaming" DNPC (more of a Psych Lim but anyway) where he will save any animal endangered by people (at least unduly, he'd allow a "fair" hunter).

 

Peter Parker having Aunt May made sense given his back story. Other characters could tie in the same.

 

We have a character in our game whom I got to do a disad DNPC for. Given his unique self-reproducing body, I made his left hand sentient and separable. It became his sort of son.

why do i have a mental image of Gomez yelling at Thing to stop stuttering?

Seriously, I mean... I know who the character is supposed to be. For example, one of the players has a DNPC mother, age 40+. Okay. Simple right? So I turn to page 223 of FREd and look up 'senior citizen'. Now what? Said example writeup has almost nothing in it. I know that, the rules being what they are, take what works and throw out the rest. Make the rest up. That part I understand.

I guess that I'm really asking "How man points would you build the DNPC on?" Also, would you base 'normal' characters on the pre-built examples, use the 'character types guidelines tables' from the front of FREd, or just do a bio sheet/ background writeup and throw away concern over point levels as long as it fits the concept?

Thanx again in advance.

Recently, after a relatively successful get-your-feet-wet first adventure, I started working on the post-game paperwork (adventure recaps, etc.)

I had kinda thrown the adventure together. Even though it went well, and everyone had a good time, I've still got a lot of work to do on fleshing it all out. I figured a good place to start would be those people and places which are most important to the players; DNPCs and Hunteds.

Hunteds are easy. Most of them are straight out of the book. DNPCs are where I have the most hangups. I guess my question is this;

How do you do it? Do you start with a given number of points, or would you go off of the examples for 'Average Persons' listed in FREd? Or would you just give them whatever sounds good and points be damned?

If I were building a HERO character (PC or main NPC, regardless of genre) I try to start with filling out a bio sheet (Resource Kit) and then working out the stats. But when I try to do DNPCs, I find myself using stat 'blocks' from the book. The problem is that the characters made thusly become cookie-cut clones. They end up the same.

So, again...

How would you do it?