Vondy

Re: "Realistic" gun damage I usually try to answer questions like these according to RAW because, when I don't, people give me grief about "house rules" and then drone on like Charlie Brown's teacher about the perfect immutable glory of RAW, or why I shouldn't propose unofficial solutions....

Re: "Realistic" gun damage

Re: A Thread for Random Musings My employer has its sight set on mediocrity. I have always tried to be humble and understanding. But there is a time to call a spade a spade. Its pathetic. Time to move on.

Re: Sign Language If all you are doing is the letter signs, this is correct. But, fluency in sign language requires learning new grammar, syntax and words (gestures) for things. There is also an interpretive level in terms of facial expression and body language (and deaf culture to a certain extent) if you want to reach a complete or idiomatic level of fluency.

Re: Sign Language I think the various Sign Languages should be treated as no different than any other language skill. I also agree with the notion that gestures is apropos. If you gag a hearing person their languages "don't work," either. And, yet, they get no cost break for it.

Re: "Realistic" gun damage If you use the optional damage rules like hit locations, bleeding, and disabling firearms damage becomes more "grizzly" and somewhat more "realistic." I find the default rules work well for cinematic and superhero games, whereas the options work better for "grittier" heroic games.

Re: Adonis and his ladies (New Mastermind and henchwomen) Sort of off topic, but I have a martial artist with supervision (incl. precog, retrocog, and remote viewing) who has Floating Contact - "His Ladies" 14-

Re: Damage Limits

Re: Damage Limits Most of my heroic games weigh in at 8-9 DCs with 12-14 def, of which half is resistant. This is, of course, a general rule rather than an absolute one.

Re: New Millenium: Bay City New Millennium used the Fuzion rules set. For most people this was a non-starter. Fuzion is okay for a rules system, but its not Hero. Also, it was so poorly presented that it was extremely difficult to ken the system. It was a brain-busting exercise. As for the setting, I like Bay City and felt many of the elements and characters were good. On the other hand, some established "classic" characters were changed willy-nilly (like Doc D) when it wasn't strictly necessary to do so. This annoyed many. On the other hand, there were some interesting "updates." I far preper Team Defender to the traditional defender. Nonetheless, many simply would not forgive New Millennium for sinning against their preferences. And, frankly, the way Fuzion was foisted onto the community - as the "new hero" which wasn't - did much to bring out the torch and pitchfork mentality in terms of how people reacted. I think the setting had good ideas and some interesting new characters that could be mined (and some of the updated characters would make good NEW characters without messing with the originals), but I wouldn't use it "as is."

Re: A Thread for Random Musings If you walk into my house, start shouting fighting words, and try to push me around you will be punched in the mouth. Natural law demands it.

Re: Balancing social skills and role playing The question becomes, is your gaming a science or an art? Creating balanced systems for everything is great gaming science. But, in my experience, it usu. restricts choices, or imposes a strange rules-based decision making psychology that doesn't necessarily reflect good role-playing from a character perspective, or simply hampers and slows down the gaming experience. In other words, its horrible in terms of gaming as an art form. The tabletop RPG experience is neither drama club, nor war-gaming. Its a meta-level in between. Its a balancing act. The more rules you impose, and the more mechanics, the more it becomes like a computer simulation instead of a collectively told tale. In my opinion, tabletop RPGs are group storytelling exercises. The rules should be mean, lean, and facilitate that in a quick orderly fashion. They should allow the group to focus on the art of role-playing. A gazillion sub-systems for every imaginable thing is for people who have no art. But, then some of my favorite gaming experiences came from those old school games people vetch about for being vague or "incomplete." Its the people at the table who make the game fun. Systems can help or hamper - depending on how well fashioned they are - AND how discreet they are in terms of forming player thinking.

Re: Balancing social skills and role playing

Re: Balancing social skills and role playing

Re: Balancing social skills and role playing

Re: Balancing social skills and role playing I humbly submit there is a distinction these discussions frequently fail to make. The difference between the player's first person personal acting and speaking abilities, and their ability to accurately and vividly describe what their character does in the third person. While the former can be entertaining, I have never considered it native to the traditional tabletop role-playing medium. Traditional tabletop RPGs are traditionally third-person modelling and scripting exercises. Or, even when you use "I," it is delivered in first person meta-description... "I tell them X," or "I walk in, hessian boots clicking on deck plates, cape swirling around my angles, helm under my arm..." First person delivery is largely leaven, and not strictly necessary to traditional tabletop RPGs. If I wanted to act I would join a drama troupe, go to renfair, or LARP. Those mediums of play are designed for first person delivery by the person acting out the role, which is different from describing the role or action. Also, these mediums blend the player and the role they are playing more directly than the traditional tabletop medium. A traditional tabletop RPG functions with greater distance, both personally and conceptually, between the player and their character. Because of that the player's personal charisma and dramatic skills should be less important. In my opinion, in a traditional tabletop RPG, bonuses should be given for good third person description (or first person meta-description) and not for personal charisma and dramatic-speaking talents. The medium itself is a sort of leveler. Every player should be able to script/direct/describe their character's actions with a relatively equal impact on play. I do give small bonuses (+1) for good descriptive prose and interesting in-character meta-play. Everyone can rise to that occasion, in my experience. I do not give bonuses for being a ham at the table and trying to prove you can do Hamlet or deliver the state of the union.

Re: Balancing social skills and role playing If you mean by "role playing" the player's personal acting ability at the table, I agree. No bonuses to rolls. The system traditionally suggested a 1XP bonus at the end of the session for this kind of good role-playing. I think that is the best way to handle it.

Re: What "Pulp" have you read lately ? I love this show. Very modern day western.

Re: Musings on Random Musings Very much so.

Re: A Thread for Random Musings For the first time since moving to Israel I have updated and sent out my resume. In reviewing my own professional history I began to feel like my brain was being skewed six degrees off planet earth. Its... colorful. And has some high points. But I'm not sure colorful, or having one's brain wrung out like a a dishrag, is what recruiters are going for.

Re: A Thread for Random Musings I was raised with a very simple ethic. Be nice. Be Polite. Be willing to compromise. Avoid a fight. If forced to fight, keep pulling the trigger until the slide snaps back.

Re: Musings on Random Musings Wrong Thread

Re: A Thread for Random Musings Religion and science coexist reasonably well, unless you're Amish or Richard Dawkins

Re: A Thread for Random Musings I hate office politics.

Re: Hero System Sixth Edition Concise