Stormraven

Been looking at it more.

There are some elements of what could be a decent, fast-paced game. Of course, having spent so long with effects based rules, it's a little tough getting back into picking from lists, and the game is definitely very heavily combat centred. Overall, I'll keep an eye on it, and it may wind up in my RPG collection.

I have the playtest. You can generate characters of your own design.

Obviously, being a playtest, it's incomplete. It's a little fiddly and I don't fully agree with all the choices - and I haven't read it thoroughly enough yet to fully grok it - but I'm cautiously optimistic. I could see using it to play What If in the Marvel Universe so you can get the same feel.

10 hours ago, Spence said:

Played V&V in the day as well as DC Heroes/Blood of Heroes.  They just didn't seem to stack up against Champs.

 

Tried M&M, and though chargen was fun and the game is nearly as flexible as Hero (much of it reminds me of 3rd ed) their resolution system just didn't work.  They rely on 30+ "conditions" instead of damage or effects.   There is a hierarchy of conditions but that hierarchy seems to be firmly anchored in jello and of course there is no such thing as a flowchart to firmly establish exactly what does what.

 

I gave up.

 

 

Yeah, M&M does pretty good for character creation, but trying to keep track of all the conditions, when they clear, and the like is a pain and a half.

I've gotten into other Superhero games since - DC Heroes, Mutants & Masterminds, even various versions of Fate.

But I still very much prefer Hero, and given the option, it will always be my go to game.

I've played V&V, and also Superhero 2044 - also the original Marvel RPG. But once I ran across Champions, I never really looked back.

It's got some good ideas that often get buried in a very dense, idiosyncratic writing style.

BITS - Beliefs, Instincts, Traits are a great thing - especially Beliefs and Instincts. The first are ways for a player to define what is truly important to their character. It's a good guide for a GM to know where to push plots.

Instincts, on the other hand, are a good short cut for furthering communication between player and GM, indicating things that are automatic for a character. One the one hand, it helps the player ensure that certain things will always be their character's first action unless overruled. On the other hand, they give the GM a way to get the character into dicey situations in a way that stays true to the player's desires for their character. And, of course, as noted, they can be overruled - but do it often enough and it's no longer an instinct.

Then there's the one that I think should be explicitly called out for every single game out there. Let it Ride. When you've made a roll, good or bad, the roll's outcome remains unless and until the circumstances change. (Combat is always changing, of course.)

An example would be picking a lock. If your character fails, just trying again and again won't change anything. But getting ahold of different tools, taking some time to learn more about the lock itself, etc., would change the circumstances enough to give another roll.

14 hours ago, ScottishFox said:

Given the very limited amount of BOD/STUN characters typically have and how fast that damage leads to being stunned, KO'd or killed a critical hit system has to be changed substantially.

 

What we ended up using is in Fantasy HERO a critical hit just guarantees a maximum damage hit.  Players have been pretty happy with it and a max damage hit that lands on 3-5, 12 or 13 generally stuns or KOs an opponent - especially when 2-handed weapons are in play.

 

When we were playing champions guaranteed maximum damage was just too much.  12d6 blast going directly to 24 BOD/72 STUN was one-shotting folks.

For champions we set the crit effect to roll 1/2 of the dice on the attack.  The rest of the dice are 6s.

 

 

That's how I've done it in the past, and how I would do it in future, if my players wanted Critical Hits.

I've generally been partial to Dr. Strange, but usually as one of a rotating top 5, including Spidey, She-Hulk, various versions of Batman, some versions of Supergirl and Kitty Pryde.

I have Mythic D6. I'm struggling with it a bit, mostly because it lacks any real benchmarks - it's tough to calibrate what a given character should look like at a given power level.

Although there's not a big Hero presence there, if you drop by Black Diamond Games in Concord, you'll definitely find other RPG players.

Time stands still in canterville
For ages this curse lays upon
Pass the night walking for four hundred years
longing for this liaison

The barren almond  once shed the leaves
The splendour has crumbled away
This harm was done and the green-eyed one
Once it had led him astray

(pre-chorus)
Here in the absence of light
Het a willing ear roam
And far into the night
A ray of hope will lead you home

(chorus)
So will you stand beside
Among those evil-eyed
Voices will whisper into your ear
So believe you`re immune
So will you beg and pray
To leave this endless gray
Once of his age he was boast
The canterville ghost

Bathing in tears and swim in delight
Yearning for feelings long gone
One sorry sight, one fly by night
As this girl in her prime came on

But love will be stronger, than life and death
When cupid`s dart has hit you
As if by magic the almond will bloom
The beginning of something new

(pre-chorus)
(chorus)

Tears for my sins
I have no more
Now pray for me
I know what for
Angel will you
Have mercy now
And the house shall be still

(chorus)

Re: Spell Casters are Lucky, not Skilled

Let's see - in the first sentence, you say 'this applies to NPC and PC spell-casters alike', then in your vision statement, you say your vision is that the world doesn't have any PC spell-casters.

So just say 'No PC spell-casters, because trying to cast magic is the definition of insanity in this world, and I won't allow insane PCs.'

Job done. You can rule for the NPCs however you want.

Re: Things You'd See in a World Full of Supers...

In keeping with the idea of low level supers getting paying jobs, Super-Temps. A Temporary agency for super / para humans, to fit your every need.

Re: Mind Scan vs. The Detective

It's always such a bother coming into threads like this late. Everything I wanted to say is said already.

That said, I suddenly got a really fun idea. Build a detective without any skills at all. Just Post-Cognition, Telepathy and Mind Scan, all built with IPE, and with the TP and MS being cumulative. Put them on an Int roll if you like. You have a nearly infallible detective, as long as he has enough time.

Re: The Practice Effect

Trouble with that, CT, is, as Maelstrom pointed out, that requires keeping track of XPs for literally everything. With the aid idea, you don't. You just have to keep track of what's being practiced. A bit easier, IMO.

Re: The Practice Effect

I've read the book, but hadn't thought of how to do it in Hero. But yeah, I agree with Chris. Treat it as an Aid - probably ½d6 per day, in most cases, with some folks being able to increase it. I believe the main character probably had a 6d6 value at points.

Re: Unwanted advances

Checkmate would give anyone hitting on him a 'my, you're being irrational' look, as he has a public ID, and is very publicly married. I doubt it would go beyond that, as Checkmate's scornful gaze is very nearly a weapon itself.

Guardian is openly gay, though not possessed of a public ID. But as an ex-model herself, she's well used to pick up lines, and would let the person down easy.

Re: Approved by the Comics Code Authority

I stopped replying to these a while back - there were just too many at one point - but this one, I've gotta.

Guardian Couldn't even start. Her backstory involves a brush with underage prostitution, and most of what she fights wouldn't be allowed (or would be heavily censored) by the CCA.

Checkmate Doesn't change overly much.

I have several more current characters, most of which exist in worlds that would probably have to be shut down if the CCA got implemented upon them.

Re: Istvatha V'han - why can't she conquer Earth?

As another of Kirby's players, I fully expect my suggestions to not become part of the campaign

 

One possibility is that she can't just punt her entire army through the portal to Earth. For some Dimensional Physics reason, only a small force can get through to start with, with limited armament. However, if that force can get a beachhead and construct a portal at their end, then the invasion proper can begin.

 

Perhaps the portals she has available to her aren't simply doorways you can walk through - there is a "pull" exerted on things in the wrong dimension, and without the expenditure of a fair amount of energy, they will snap back to their home dimension (there was a recent JLA book featuring the Evil Versions of the JLA, the Crime Syndicate, with something similar, although in that case, your counterpart would "snap" back into your universe 24 hours after you arrive). They have to build a gateway on our end to allow the free movement of troops.

Pretty much my thought. It might be that portals into a new dimension are limited until you can build a reciprocating terminal. Then, and only then, can you send troops over in any amount.

Of course, dimensional portals appearing anywhere on Earth have a tendency to attract attention, so her forces are never given enough time to create the reciprocator.

That could change, though, as soon as she manages to get one suborner to an Earth scientist. Build the reciprocator in conjunction with its V'Haanite counterpart and activate them at the same time, maybe she could win then.

Re: Heroic Endurance and Stun

Okay, how many times do I have to say it? If I want short, super-lethal combat, I know exactly how to get it in the Hero System. Lethality is not what I'm looking for.

I want the PCs to be able to survive combats. I just want them to know they were in combat for more than a minute of rest.

I will also grant that this is not likely to be a huge issue most of the time. It's a PBEM game, so there will be times when I just pass right over ten or twenty or thirty minutes. In fact, I'll even grant that that'll be the majority of the time.

So why is it such an issue for me?

Well, it started with me wanting to limit mages. I realized that, no matter how much End their spells cost, they'd recover it very quickly, and be casting spells left and right, much more than I wanted.

Now, I could fix that with a required End Reserve, but I didn't want to force players to spend more points on magic than they already would. I also realized that the problem with Magic Users was also a problem with anyone who used a lot of End.

Of course, the obvious answer is LTE. Trouble is, the LTE system comes off as being pretty complex. I wanted a simpler answer, one that could be quickly calculated for when I jumped over longer periods of time.

Of course, limiting free recoveries - which is what I came up with - would also limit Stun recoveries, which I considered entirely appropriate for the type of game I was running.

I am well aware that Stun in the Hero system isn't supposed to be bodily insult, so healing Stun quickly doesn't conflate with healing bruises and muscle aches, but - as has been pointed out by others - those are things that most players won't play out without some mechanical guidelines. That has been my experience, and it isn't even an attack on players. I do it myself when there are no firm guidelines as to how the system handles damage that isn't broken bones, deep cuts, etc.

So I was trying to come up with a way to reinforce, in players' minds, that their characters aren't at their best, without having to make combat more lethal, or throw in a 'death spiral'.

As to why it's so important to me? Well, Hero is my favorite system, in general. I mostly run cinematic and superheroic games, so I've never really noticed this issue I have with recovery until trying to set up a game that isn't cinematic.

I'll admit that I've never really considered it appropriate for lower level games, but my concerns in that area were always about characteristics - I'd never considered the other aspects of it.

My investment in this is because I want Hero to work. I know the system, I know my players tend to prefer it, and I have a whole bunch of supplements to back it up. I just wanted Hero to be able to do what I want it to do.

It seems, however, that for that to happen, I'll have to do something that'll alienate my players, and I'm not willing to do that. So, it looks like I'm right, at least in this instance - Hero can't do what I want.

Re: Heroic Endurance and Stun

I do have to say that my first thought was to reduce Recoveries, to once per five minutes. My current player core gave that a resounding 'meh'.

That won't stop me if I determine it's the only way to do it, but the reaction was enough that - if I can find a better way, or even a better system for what I want, I'll look there before coming back to my first idea.

Re: Heroic Endurance and Stun

Which is one reason I wasn't saying - and won't say - that I want combat to be more 'realistic'. If I wanted more 'realistic' combat, I'd lower defenses, or add in all the optional rules, and let Body damage accumulate.

What I want is the after effects of combat - exhaustion and pain - to remain for more than one frelling minute. I want heroic, not cinematic, not superheroic characters.

Re: Heroic Endurance and Stun

Doesn't work for me. Well, I had hoped that the Hero board folks could help out, but it looks like Hero just isn't going to work for this game.

Re: Heroic Endurance and Stun

Even a minor bruise doesn't heal in 1 minute, though. So that change still doesn't quite do it.

Re: Heroic Endurance and Stun

I don't want to up the Body, because I don't want combat to be extra lethal, and because the characters aren't going to have lots and lots of heavy armour.

I think the thing is, I don't see Bruises and aches as Body damage. I see Body damage as something that has seriously insulted the character's body. Cuts, broken bones, etc.

I see bruises as heavy Stun, which is one reason I don't want Stun healing back quite so quickly.