Jump to content

Eodin

HERO Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    614

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Posts posted by Eodin

  6. Your "2006" Pet Gaming Projects

    in Other Genres

    Posted

    Re: Your "2006" Pet Gaming Projects

     

    Once I get things back on track, I will continue with TravellerHERO 1.x. I'm slowly working on Star Hero Adventures as time permits, hoping it becomes a book for sale, but if not we'll see what becomes of it.

    With the foster kids and work, life is somewhat more complicated ;)

  12. Your "2005" Pet Gaming Projects

    in Other Genres

    Posted

    Re: Your "2005" Pet Gaming Projects

     

    As a way of recharging my creative batteries, the muses have moved me start on "Star Hero Adventures". I've sent a proposal in to Steve to see if there's any interest, but even if there isn't at this time, it'll be a good exercise for me. If nothing else, it may turn into a large series of Digital Hero articles. It's sort of Villany Amok for Star Hero.

     

    The first few sections, which are just thoughts at this point, are

    SECTION ONE: Adventures In Time and Space

    Chapter One: In Memory Of, covers the classic dead civilization scenario.

    Chapter Two: Time And Again, covers the classic time loop scenario.

    Chapter Three: It’s Just An Interphase, covers the interphase or dimensional rip story.

    Chapter Four: We Aren’t Supposed To Be Here, covers the alternate universe scenario.

    Chapter Five: Save The Past, covers the travel back in time to fix things scenario.

    SECTION TWO: Aliens

    Chapter Six: Alien Manipulations, covers alien illusions and manipulation scenario. [Man Trap, Day of the Dove, Wolf In The Fold, etc.]

    Chapter Seven: With Power Comes…, covers the powerful alien scenario. [squire of Gothos, Organians, etc.]

    Chapter Eight: No Longer Human, covers the transition scenario [What Are Little Girls Made Of, Metamorphosis, Charlie X, etc.]

    Chapter Nine: First Contact, covers the tense First Contact scenarios [Corbomite Maneuver, Spectre of the Gun, etc.]

     

    There's more in my head, but it hasn't formed words for the ideas yet.

     

    Here's a small excerpt from the first chapter, prior to edits of course, just as a whet your whistle kind of thing.

     

    CHAPTER ONE: IN MEMORY OF

     

    <1>DEAD CIVILIZATION ENCOUNTERS

     

    The discovery of civilizations that developed, thrived, and then died out long before man reached the stars is one of the standards of science fiction. It’s a facet of science fiction that speaks to the vastness of time and space. These extinct civilizations are often mysterious, lending a sense of wonder, and sometimes terror, to a story.

    A dead civilization may be encountered by accident, its remnants discovered while exploring a previously unexplored world. There may be legends about the dead civilization, and the legends may lead to searches for lost cities and expeditions of treasure hunts. Remains of the dead civilization – probes, robots, etc. – may wander about and discover the characters by accident.

    Often, the dead civilization has something of value – information, art and treasure, ancient technology – and this something of value causes problems. There may be others after the same valuables, there may be an ancient guardian protecting the valuables, or the valuables may take on a life of their own with ideas contrary to what the characters had in mind.

     

    <2>DEAD CIVILIZATION BASICS

     

    First consider what kind of civilization it was. Was it peaceful and artistic, or militaristic conquerors? Did they travel the stars or never leave the confines of their world? Did they have enemies that wiped them out, or were they victims of a natural disaster? Each type of encounter is different; compare And The Children Shall Lead (ST:TOS) and its horror component to The Inner Light (ST:TNG) and its romantic component.

     

    <2>PLAYERS SEEKING DEAD CIVILIZATIONS

     

    Player characters may be seeking a dead civilization for a number or reasons. Decide what it is about the dead civilization that the characters need or want.

     

    <5>Buried Treasure

     

    The dead civilization may have been quite wealthy, either from its artistic or technological abilities, or from the acquisition of wealth from other civilizations. Star Trek’s Iconians and Traveller’s Sky Pirates are examples of wealth through piracy.

    ****************

     

    I never know what the muses are going to inspire me to write, which is fun but troublesome too. It also means that Master of Orion Hero, Arcanum Hero, etc. are low priority to my creative energies this year, since the muses moved me in a different direction.

  14. Traveller Hero is ready for Download

    in Star Hero

    Posted

    Re: Traveller Hero is ready for Download

     

    ...but these guys put their noses to the grindstone and got the job done. Good work!

     

    And now, pull out your 5ERs and build yourselves some new noses. ;)

     

    Thanks Steve, we appreciate that!

     

    But the question is, have we earned the Experience Points needed to build even better noses ;)

  17. Traveller Hero questions

    in Star Hero

    Posted

    Re: Traveller Hero questions

     

    That's one of the things we may change in 1.0 as to the writeup... it takes one week to make the jump. So you initiate the jump ( 1hour) which takes 1 week to arrive (1ch for 1 week), and when you come out of the jump you could jump again if you have enough fuel.

  19. Traveller Hero is ready for Download

    in Star Hero

    Posted

    Re: Traveller Hero is ready for Download

     

    It feels so good to finally get this out for general viewing. And I can refresh my batteries a little before working on 1.0 ;)

     

    In the meantime, please provide feedback to Shadowcat, Tancred, or me. There are some things we can't do because of licensing restrictions and copyrights, but if there's something you'd like to see, let us know.

  20. A more realistic feel for SH

    in Star Hero

    Posted

    Re: A more realistic feel for SH

     

    In the various merchant campaigns I've run, unless the plot said otherwise, characters kept track of their money. We assumed that while aboard ship they didn't spend any money, and while in port they spent x credits per day for food, shelter, etc.

     

    Because they kept track of how much money they had, they were inspired to be clever about obtaining special weapons or sensors, and so forth. The captain of the merchant vessel also kept track of the company funds, so that on the few ventures that went particularly well financially, he could invest money in upgrading the ship. After one adventure, he visited a stardock and was able to upgrade the ship's transporter from a 2-man to a 6-man transporter, which later saved some lives.

     

    They also kept a list of what some would call personal equipment: weapons, sensors, communicators, guitars, whatever (life aboard ship doesn't allow for a lot of belongings).

     

    In another campaign, the captain invested some of the earnings in the interstellar stock market, which formed a plot hook for several adventures.

     

    Personally, the point is not to be anal about "you spent 6 credits at Starbucks and 23 credits at O'Reilly's ", but if they're on a desert world with no access to an ATM, buying or trading for a hyperspace fluxor may prove challenging.

     

    My 2 cents.

     

    Also, in the Star Fleet campaign I ran, characters kept track of money only because it influenced what they could afford to do at shore leave. But in such a campaign, money is not that important, since the service provides all the basic needs.

     

    If your running a campaign where money does have influence (merchant, bounty hunters, pirates, mercenaries, diplomats, etc.) I'd have them keep track of the grand total and just use up a fixed amount for daily expenses, which gives them the incentive to work on jobs that earn them their money. On the other hand, if it's a campaign where money has little effect (military/war campaign, TNG-style economy, and so forth) I'd say to let them keep track of funds only lightly.

     

    Again my 2 cents.

  21. A more realistic feel for SH

    in Star Hero

    Posted

    Re: A more realistic feel for SH

     

    That’s very, ah, generous.

     

    Might I suggest a price break on at least some skill levels? Or a boost in effectiveness? Asking people to build to concept is nice, but it’s nicer when they don’t have to cripple themselves to do it. The 3 points for an extra Perception level and the ability to use complimentary skills are a fairly big deal in such a low point game.

     

    Keep in mind that these are suggestions on how a GM can run a particular style, in this case a realistic rather than TV or movie style, and how to do so without changing the cost structures. If a GM house-rules any of the skill level costs, that's perfectly in his/her right to do so.

  22. TravellerHERO PDF in the works

    in Star Hero

    Posted

    Re: TravellerHERO PDF in the works

     

    on another subject' date=' as far as timelines, I think including the Traveller Integrated timeline or at least a link to the site would be ok from what Marc has said[/quote']

     

    Right. We still have the links to the Traveller Integrated Timeline, Freeport, and all the other websites of interest in the pdf.

     

    By the way, Marc responded and said it's fine to post the current pdf. So I'll make a few tweaks, update the table of contents, and export TravellerHero 0.9 sometime tomorrow (Thursday) evening,and send it to Shadowcat for posting... I'm calling it v0.9 because there are the possible alterations noted at the StarHeroFandom website discussion area, which will be additions and/or alterations to a few things. And if Black Lotus does some illustrations that we can include, we'll add that too.

     

    But I'd like to say one thing... :) :) :) Yay!

  23. TravellerHERO PDF in the works

    in Star Hero

    Posted

    Re: TravellerHERO PDF in the works

     

    Something to keep in mind is that I've had to scale back or remove some chapters I was going to include, because Marc Miller doesn't want us to give away the Traveller universe for free (and rightly so). I would love to have deck plans and timelines and other good stuff, but some of that would lose the need to own Traveller books, which is not a good thing.

     

    So lot of good conversion stuff, packages, gadgets, ships and such.

    Black Lotus - if you want to do some weapon illustrations, that would be cool. I've got an autoshotgun and a magnum revolver in the thing, but no others so far.

     

    As far as money, it's handled as per most heroic campaigns, though I think resource points could be useful.

     

    But until we hear back from Marc Miller, I'm not working on the thing except for smatterings of insight and formatting. Speaking of which, Shadowcat, any word at all yet?

  24. A more realistic feel for SH

    in Star Hero

    Posted

    Re: A more realistic feel for SH

     

    And in the TravellerHERO pdf we will be releasing (whenever we can get Marc to get back to us) we have this bit of wisdom for more realistic characters, using 75+50 or 100+50...

     

    Characters in a TravHERO setting have primary characteristics mainly in the 8-13 range, with some rare 15s. But most characters have aged through the military service route, and have had most of their characteristics lowered through aging (Age 40+ and Age 60+). To maintain this feel, most characters should have no more than one or two characteristics in the 15 range, and most in the 8-13 range.

     

    Strength

    Except for HTH Combat and STR Min for weapons, STR is less important in a TravellerHERO game. With cargo-loading robots and heavy-work machinery, most humans in the Imperium will have STR in the 8-13 range.

    However, geneering (genetic engineering) was practiced by the Ancients ( see the Vargr) and even by other human races in the past. The GM may design genetically engineered humans (such as the Heavyworlders, Martians, and Selkies) on far off worlds with enhanced characteristics.

     

    Dexterity

    As with STR, DEX in the Imperium is not usually important except in combat and certain skills.

    If the GM wishes to keep the DEX in the 8-13 range, he can allow characters to buy 5-point levels with DEX-Based Skills, 3-point levels with a cluster of skills (e.g. Light On His Feet: +1 with Acrobatics, Breakfall, and PS: Dance ), Lightning Reflexes, or additional DEX with the limitation Only For DEX Rolls (-1). This keeps character’s CV within the norm, but allows the DEX-Based skills to become heroic.

     

    Intelligence

    In a high-tech universe like Traveller, INT is very important, since so many tech skills are INT-Based. If the GM wishes to allow higher rolls but not have everyone running around with an 18+ INT, he can allow the character to buy 5-point levels with INT-Based Skills, or 3-point skill levels with clusters of skills (e.g. Specialist: +1 with Electronics, Mechanics, and Computer Programming).

     

    The point of that excerpt is that if you stress skills and keep the stats reasonable, you'll have a more realistic feel. Hope that helps.

×
×
  • Create New...