Barwickian

Re: After-action report: Turakian Age/Borderlands That's exactly why I picked it, Liaden. It's also occurred to me that although the adventure didn't bear much relation to the module, I can run the Caves of Chaos in a later session (fairly heavily modified). The Evil Clerics will follow the Red Gods and will be the power behind the caves, pushing the humanoids to weaken the Keep's garrison - unless Our Heroes can stop them... But yeah, there's no shortage of other adventure potential in that area.

I've just finished the opening game in what may turn out to be a campaign. The physical setting Three players, one of whom has played half a dozen Hero adventures before and has wide D&D3.5 experience, and two Warcraft players, a husband and wife; he played a fair amount of AD&D in the '80s, she has no prior tabletop experience (but was a Warcraft guild leader). Damn fine multicultural mix too: A Brit (me), an Emirati Arab (the player with Hero experience), an American (the husband) and a Malay (the wife). We'd have added a Kenyan as well, but my stepson was working and couldn't play. The temperature having dropped to a chilly low 20s Celsius (low 70s Fahrenheit), we played outdoors on our manama (Arabic-style seating platform), with our battleboard (a framed, glass-covered 1.5m by 1.5m hex grid) in the centre, and used Cardboard Heroes as minis. Fortunately wind was not a problem, though we did have Blu-tack to hold the minis in place if necessary. Water-soluble felt tips allow me to draw maps on the battleboard on the fly and wipe them off with a tissue when the scene changes. I had planned to create pregen characters, but ran out of time, so we built on the fly, me using Hero Designer and them telling me what kind of characters they wanted. We ended up with... A dwarf scout A super-hot elven ranger babe (her words, not mine) An Ulronai warrior-mage Our ranger wanted an animal companion but (a) didn't really have the points and ( insisted she wanted a shark or tiger, despite the inland European campaign setting. We went without. The campaign setting We used Turakian Age, on the borders of Vestria and Khirkovy, just north of the Greyward mountains. Players were members of a mercenary-adventurer company, called out to a border keep by their old sponsor who was worried about missing supply waggons. I'd planned to an a scenario very loosely based on the old Basic D&D Keep on the Borderlands module - why not recycle 30-year-old modules? In the end, it was so loose that it bore very little resemblance (other than using the map of the keep). Their sponsor had been arrested for a pub brawl and they quicky realised the jailbird was an imposter. A little bit of persuasion with the guards, and they got to interrogate the suspect - a little bit of roughing up and some Intimidation rolls and they discovered their mentor was held by a bandit gang who'd been robbing the supply waggons and had just scored the biggie: the garrison's pay. They reported their findings and what they'd learnt of the bandit hideout to the marshal, then scouted for the patrol of 15 men (including the marshal) who went out to deal with the bandits. They did manage to sneak up on two scouts, which gave the noobs their first taste of Hero combat. Our elf snuck up behind one sentry and chose to smack him over the head with a rock (in hopes of keeping him alive - good thinking for a new player), which stunned him. The dwarf ran up and skewered him with a sword. No prisoner there. The second sentry managed to raise the alarm (our dwarf scout rolled a natural 18 on his sneak) before they killed him. None of the players had significant riding skills, so they hung back as the patrol moved into an attack line. That at least meant they weren't caught in the rockfall as the patrol rode into a ravine approaching the bandit hideout. 7 troopers and the marshal survived, all injured (GM fiat, not by rolls), and our heroes skirted the ravine to try and hold off the bandits. When they reached the top of the ravine, they saw 15 bandits approaching in three waves - two waves of five swordsmen and one of archers hanging back. The Ulronai and the ranger stayed on top of the ravine, let the first wave pass and attacked the second with bows, while the scout charged down to deal with/distract the archers. I won't detail the combat, but we saw the use of plenty of strikes, some good tactical movement, a couple of Presence Attacks, a Move Through (the dwarf breaking out of a ring of archers who'd surrounded him), some Ulronai magic and some excellent shooting from the ranger, who had a total OCV of 10, including skills, before range penalties. After a lengthy combat, they downed most of the bandits while the two survivors fled. The Ulronai took a nasty (7 point) swordcut to his foot, enough to impair him, and the dwarf a minor knife wound to the shoulder. Rules I used I used hit location and partial armour coverage with impairment/disabling rules. I disregarded END, except for the Ulronai's spells. It was getting to be too much for noobs to keep track of, and post-segment-12 recovery would have largely cleared it anyway. The Heroes were all in light armour. I ruled that the patrol would kill any of the bandits attacking them, but each one they Heroes didn't deal with would cost the life of one of the injured troopers in return. In the end, the Heroes only down one of that group (headshot - rolled, not aimed for - from the ranger), so four more of the garrison died. Mopping up, they found their sponsor in the hideout. The handful of remaining bandits, including the leader, had fled. Their old mentor asked if they'd seen the priest the bandits were working for... The combat was lengthy, but fun for me. I haven't run that scale of fight before - 3 PCs, 15 enemies and some allies (even with my winging it on the patrol, it was still 3 PCs and 10-15 enemies). Previous games being martial arts and pulp games, it was nice to see how some armour affected combat as well. Armour is Good. Player reactions They guy who'd played Hero before loved it. The guy with the 80s AD&D experience enjoyed it, but thought there was a lot of maths involved (I used the OCV+11-3d6 method for attack rolls; I may change back to the old system for ease), but also wants to play again. The Warcraft guild leader was pleased to pick up a new geek achievement (she's now played tabletop), and said she'd play again if she had nothing better to do. The two noobs were surprised they didn't usually down people with a single blow, but were also surprised at their own survivability (the dwarf's player expected to die after being surrounded; his Move Through was, he thought, a kamikaze attack). For me, I loved it. Big high fantasy combat - I haven't done that sort of thing in a very long time.

Re: Turakian Age: The Raven Company My first thought was to make it a social complication. However, it doesn't seem to fit the general trend of social complications (secret identities or people having an issue with you for being not like them), and fitted the PsyLim examples better. I'm not too concerned about whether players would regard it as a social or psychological complication; I can see a case for both.

Re: The Elves are Dying Out Is he the elf who went on to become Elrond Hubbard?

I'm running a game for an experienced player and a couple of Hero noobs in a couple of days. At the noobs request they'd like a stereotypical fantasy (they're both WoW players, one of whom has never gamed tabletop before). Rather than have them start in a tavern, I've decided to take Turakian Age's concept of adventuring companies and make them members of the following organisation. I rather like the idea of the company perqs being tied up in the ring. As an OIF, PCs will have to actively show the ring to get the perqs - and it does occur to me that someone could steal the ring and bring the company into disrepute by posing as a member. The Raven Company The Raven Company is a small, loosely knit mercenary-adventurer organisation based in Vestria. It has a fluctuating membership of around 30 people under the loose control of Tedvan Collair, a former soldier and adventurer, who founded the company nearly 20 years ago. He rarely adventures himself these days, but devotes his time to running the Company and to his private trading ventures from his home in Ashburn, on the Silverrock River in central Vestria. The company has a good reputation throughout the Westerlands. Its members are generally capable and honourable individuals who operate under the company’s code of conduct, which forbids theft, murder and banditry, and strongly discourages disorderly or riotous behaviour likely to harm its reputation. Members should also observe local laws. Members who breach the code of conduct may have their membership revoked; those committing serious crimes will be handed over to the relevant authorities in addition to losing their membership. The company rarely operates as a coherent unit, though small bands of members often operate together. Ravens are expected to assist each other when necessary. Recruitment is by sponsorship from an existing member, subject to veto by Collair, who usually consults with senior members; not all those put up as prospects are approved, and not all those offered membership accept. Collair’s primary concern when approving or rejecting members is their personal capabilities and their effect upon the company’s reputation, including their personal history and his judgement of their character. Members of the Raven Company are given a signet ring to prove their membership. The ring is silver, set with an onyx stone carved with the device of a raven displayed. The member’s name and date of acceptance is engraved on the inside of the ring. Raven Company signet ring: (Total: 3 Active Cost, 2 Real Cost) Member of licensed mercenary company: Fringe Benefit: Membership; OIF (-1/2) (Real Cost: 1) plus Member of the Raven Company; Positive Reputation (Large group (The Westerlands)) 11-, +1/+1d6 (2 Active Points); OIF (-1/2) (Real Cost: 1) Members should also take the following Psychological Complication Cost Details -10 Code of Conduct: Uphold the honour of the Raven Company (common, moderate)

Re: "Neat" Pictures Thank you. No, it's not Sutton Hoo - that's in Suffolk, IIRC. Sutton is a fairly common placename in England. (A quick google reveals its meaning is 'southern settlement'). I suspect Hoo is a variant on Howe, as Howe is a dialect word for mound or hillock, and the burial mounds at Sutton Hoo were readily visible.

Re: "Neat" Pictures Way, way back at nearly the start of this thread, Doc Anomaly posted a map of medieval Nottinghamshire I'd made in collaberation with fellow gamer and history buff Chris Golden. I've finally managed to get all my research notes unpacked (5 years in boxes - that's what moving from a low-rent Yorkshire village to a high-rent Middle-Eastern city does!) and got round to doing something I've wanted to do for years. I added the borders of Sherwood Forest to the map. From the perambulation of AD1218, the earliest one that survives. Updated map is here.

Re: Hero System 101: Comments sought That'd be cool, IKerensky

Re: Hero System 101: Comments sought I'm glad I'm not the only one who's surprised by this KA STUN issue. Learning that I've been doing it wrong for several years is the most valuable thing I've got out of this so far, and demonstrates the value of going back to basics once in a while. It also demonstrates the value of the combined wisdom of the board. @ Doc: Thanks for the thoroughness - all of it very good advice. I started to realise when rereading the thing yesterday that it had growed and growed. Some restructuring is definitely in order. But it was pub night last night. Restructuring will come... later.

Re: Hero System 101: Comments sought I think you're right, and you're on the right track with describing the effect. I'll work on it. Something like: Normal Defence protects against Normal Attacks, but only stops the STUN of Killing Attacks. Resistant Defence protects against both Normal and Killing Attacks. Some special attacks, designated No Normal Defence (NND), bypass both Normal and Resistant Defence, but every NND attack must have a counter which completely protects against it - for example, a garrote may be designated NND (protection is rigid protection around the neck). If a character has rigid neck protection, he takes no damage; if he does not, he takes full damage. Addendum: Esay updated to include this change, and renamed HS101: Core Mechanics. I think there's a separate essay on Hero System In Play.

Re: Hero System Vehicles: Sailing Ships On the other hand, both HSVS and TUV are half price at the moment (as are all available 5th edition books).

Re: Hero System 101: Comments sought

Re: Gorilla You'd probably need some kind of distinctive features (impossible to hide), or some levels of hideous appearance. You might balance it by some levels of positive reputation (gentle giant). In other words, his appearance is shocking, but his behaviour is not. Those who know him will look past his appearance. The tragic character idea reminds of of the way The Thing was portrayed in the Fantastic Four movies - deeply saddened by what's happened to him, possessed of great strength and an anger born of frustration, unable to function in the society around him and thus rather reclusive. For the smarts, load him with knowledge and science skills. Let him rely on his raw strength, armour and size in combat, but don't load him with Combat Skill Levels. You could give him a psychological limitation (bookworm) as well. And remember, gorillas are primarily vegetarian. The other thing an intelligent gorilla reminds me of is this: That's a young Rowan Atkinson inside the gorilla suit. Wild? I was livid!

Re: Hero System 101: Comments sought

Re: Hero System 101: Comments sought Thanks. Essay amended.

I'm working in a short series if introduction to Hero articles I'm calling Hero 101. This one here is a draft of Hero In Play - the key concepts a player should grasp to understand what's going on at the table. I thought I'd seek some imput before I nobble the final version together. I'm addressing success rolls, effect rolls, attack rolls and damage (normal and killing). Does it read OK? Will it help a noob, or have I made it too complex? Is there anything else it should address? Have I cocked up the mechanics somewhere? Subsequent essays will cover character creation, simple combat (with only standard manoeuvres and no optional rules), advanced combat with some of my favourite optional rules and perhaps campaign creation. Emphasis on them will be heroic scale, rather than superheroic, as those are the games I tend to play. [ATTACH=CONFIG]40430[/ATTACH]

Re: Avian Aliens Main thing for a flyer is to keep the weight down (or more accurately, the weight to wing area ratio). Hollow bones, like birds, may well mean lower BODY. Large breastbones are also a must: those wing muscles need an anchor. Also for weight reasons, they're likely to lay eggs or grubs rather than have a mammalian-style pregnancy. There was a meme in 60s/70s SF that flyers are unlikely to be intelligent; the brain mass is too much. I don't know if more modern research agrees with this or not, but Poul Anderson came up with a supercharger system, a series of wing-powered breathing slits which provided extra energy when flying, to allow for flying the extra brain mass. Can't remember the name of the species, but they're in the Earthbook of Stormgate collections in his Polysotechnic League stories. A species from a world with a denser atmosphere but standard gravity will have an easier time of it (maybe the world has no moon, so hasn't been subjected to atmospere stripping). But the race may not be able to fly in standard grav/standard atmosphere worlds (though they may still be able to glide). A higher oxygen mix may also help provide energy while flying.

Re: Genre-crossover nightmares Inspired by the Harlan Ellison thread Lucius quoted The Secret Lives of Walter Mitty on the Edge of Forever (this sounds like something Moorcock would write) "Repent, Harley Quinn!" said the TickTock Man I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream, Blacula, Scream A Boy and His Reservoir Dogs Dangerous One Vision

Re: What non-fiction book are you reading, and is it good? David Crouch, The Normans. It's superb. I've read Crouch's work before (his King Stephen is one of the best modern accounts of the 12th-century English civil war known as The Anarchy). The Normans goes back to the beginning: Hrolf the Viking (better known as Rollo) and how he and his descendents turned piracy into feudal nobility and, eventually, monarchy. It's the fullest accessilble account of the origins of the Duchy of Normandy I've read - and I'm only on Chapter 4. As a pirate, Jack Sparrow has a very great deal to learn from the Normans.

Re: GURPS Spaceships to HERO? Not a spaceship, no, and not 4th edition. I still use 3rd edition GURPS (I have the 4th edition core books, but I've never used them in a live-fire situation). I did create a coal-burning tramp freighter in Vehicles and converted it to Hero 6. I am, however, planning to do some for a hardish-SF game. Spin gravity, that sort of thing. It's fairly low down my priority list at the moment, though. Much as I love the ease of constructing vehicles in Hero, the grognard in me still likes the verisimilitude of a detailed GURPS design. GURPS Vehicle Builder is a must for me, though, otherwise I'd never get anything built with it. Design and build in GURPS. Find out what it does. Convert to Hero. Use all the little GURPS details as flavour. PS: In light of the note on GURPS' wide damage, I ought to add that I convert the real-world details (volume, speed, etc) into Hero terms. I always operate a loose conversion of game mechanics from one system to another. Big weapons in Hero to a lot less damage than big weapons in GURPS, because Hero likes to emphasise characters' abilities more than their equipment. When converting game mechanics, I aim to get the feel right, rather than follow any kind of mechanical procedure. For armour, weapon damage etc, I look for something similar in Hero terms and use that as a base.

Re: Genre-crossover nightmares I seem to recall Cohena, the daughter of Diskworld's Cohen the Barbarian, was a hairdresser. And got terrible urges to kill, maim and mutilate whenever she held anything sharp. Like scissors.

Re: Space the final frontier An idea I borrowed off a friend is to make the captain a group character. It works in almost any military situation -- my friend told me about it when we were discussing Age of Sail naval campaigns -- and avoids the problem of a one player being able to pull rank on the rest, and the problem of the captain's player not showing up. Basically, when the captain must make a decision the players discuss it, come to an agreement, then one of them roleplays it as the captain.

Re: Jokes From a Muslim gamer friend: "Muslim clerics are useless. They can't cure light wounds, turn undead or anything." === An American tourist visits Britain. He tours St Paul's Cathedral on Monday, taking plenty of photos, and notices a golden phone behind the altar. "What's that?" he asked a passing cleric (Anglicans can't turn undead either). "That's a line to God," the clergyman tells him. "Can I...?" "Certainly, but I have to warn you, calls cost £50 million a minute." The tourist whistles, takes a photo and moves on. Tuesday, Canterbury Cathedral. The shrines of St Anselm and St Thomas Becket, incredible gothic architecture. Behind the altar, a golden phone. A passing verger tells him, like the one in St Paul's, it's a line to God, and calls cost £50 million a minute. It's Wednesday, it must be Ely. The tourist goes to see Oliver Cromwell's house, then the cathedral with its beautiful painted ceilings and wooden tower. Behind the altar, he notices another golden phone. He asks a priest and, sure enough, it's another line to God: £50 million a minute. Thursday, Lincoln, same thing. Another golden phone behind the altar in the Cathedral. £50 million a minute to call. On Friday, he reaches York. So much to see: the Jorvik Centre Viking Museum, the ancient walls, the National Rail Museum, the medieval Barley Hall. There's good Yorkshire ale to sup in the pubs. After his lunch he goes to York Minster, the largest medieval church in Europe, and the seat of the Archbishop of York. Behind the high altar, he sees a golden phone. "Let me guess," he says to one of the wardens. "Direct line to God?" "Aye, it is." "£50 million a minute?" "Nay, lad. Ten pence a minute." "Only 10p? Why?" "It's a local call from here."

Re: Bows I don't know if the depiction was historically accurate, but one of the Amazonian tribes used such footbows in the film The Mission. Hmmm... I could do with watching The Mission again. It's been a very long time, and it was a very cool film.

Re: An overview of caravanserai for your FH Arabia use Likewise.