Barwickian

Re: LOTR thoughts

Re: Fantasy Art Thread Here's an image intended for my creative commons gallery which I haven't got round to uploading to my website yet. Released under the Creative Commons 'Attribution - Non-commercial - Share Alike' licence. Required attribution: http://www.penultimateharn.com. You can (and I hope will) use it in any non-commercial project you choose to. [ATTACH=CONFIG]38040[/ATTACH]

Re: Tell me whats changed in 6th edition please The biggest changes are that there are now no figured characteristics. Raising your DEX does not automatically raise your OCV, DCV and SPD. Instead, you buy OCV, END, STUN, REC and all the other old figured characteristics independently. As a result the cost of what used to be the primary characteristics has changed as well (now 1pt per point, except DEX, which is 2pts). Comeliness has gone, replaced by a perk. The typical point allowances have also changed to reflect the fact you need to buy more characteristics. A Standard Heroic character is now 175pts, including 50 points of matching Complications (the new word for Disadvantages). Hero no longer uses hexes and inches, or the 1" = 2m scale. Instead, everything is measured in metres. The STUN multiplier for Killing Attacks is now 1/2D6, not 1D6-1. Changes to some skill and skill costs. CSLs are now little more expensive. Rapid Attack and Two-handed Attack work a little differently. Various other changes as well. Numerous changes to powers and power modifiers - most minor, some more extensive. The Environment Control multipower is no more. A number of defensive powers have been folded into a couple of new ones (eg Armour and Force Field are both now aspects of Resistant Protection). There's no DEF any more. Objects have PD and ED instead. Oh, and the rules are now in two gorgeous full-colour volumes printed on high-quality cardstock. Edit: Or I could have just said see this thread

Re: Fantasy Art Thread Thanks. I ran it through quite a number of PostworkShop filters to get the look right. Incidentally, I have some generic fantasy portraits on my website which people are free to use under a creative commons licence - both raw renders and filtered. I'll be adding to them when I find my round tuit. www.penultimateharn.com/3dgallery/gallery.html

Re: Fantasy Art Thread Here's one of mine... Poser and PostworkShop

Re: A Fantasy World Map with something for everyone (well except RexMundi, no Hyboria Bonus! (Actually, I rather enjoyed the Belgariad as a lightweight fantasy romp. The follow-up was repetitive, though.)

Re: A Fantasy World Map with something for everyone (well except RexMundi, no Hyboria Sweet. I want to play in this world... You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Escafarc again.

Re: LOTR thoughts I can think of three broad possibilities: (1) Go to be with others of your kind - this would mean Umbar, where the descendants of the losing side in Gondor's Kinstrife (aka the Corsairs) went to live with the descendants of the evil Numenoreans who durvived the fall of Numenor. I think the Corsairs' numbers were fairly heavily depleted in the War of the Ring, but there's bound to be some still there. (2) Strike out on your own - you could go far (east of Mordor or south of Harad) or somewhat closer (Rhovanion or Rhun would probably some have some space, and are reasonably temperate). Hollin or even Arnor could be a possibility, even though Aragorn's Gondor would claim hegemony. (3) Stay and work for change - I can see a lot of fun in a game where they PCs are rebels against Aragorn's rule. They might even be an embarassment to Faramir by working to put him on the throne.

Re: How to build : a putrtefyied hand which become a group of bees Exactly. And you can represent this by buying extra Presence as a power, with the limitations Only to cause fear/shock and Only when hand is revealed. You culd happily buy an extra 20-30 PRE this way (and pay fewer points for them because of the limitations). Thanks. This may be where you run into an inherent difficulty of a game (any game). Under standard Hero rules, in order to make an attack, you have to make an attack roll and that ends your current phase. You have to wait until the next phase to move away. This rule is designed to stop characters doing what you want to do - attacking, then moving out of danger before they're attacked back. And the reason for stopping characters doing this is because it gives an unfair advantage in the game. If you want to stay out of harm's way, how about making the bees a Ranged Attack? It isn't the power exactly as you envisaged it, in that it requires the character to have conscious control over when the hand turns to bees. But you could consciously launch a swarm of bees at a victim from a distance (if the hand becomes the bees, then this leaves the character without handswhile the swarm is attacking). You'd be safe from hand attacks in return, but would still be vulnerable to ranged attacks from enemies. Another way of doing it, keeping closer to your power, is to say that the victim experiences incapacitating pain when the bees go into him. I'd build that as an Entangle, I think, probably targetted at the victim's EGO (since it represents pain). That should immobilise them until you move away - however, you may still be vulnerable to the victim's friends. Heh. With a power like that, I wouldn't expect a happy origin story.

Re: How to build : a putrtefyied hand which become a group of bees If this takes some time to achieve (ie, if the entire swarm doesn't lodge immediately), add the limitation Extra Time to both the linked Aid powers. I meant an attack roll, as the power is built as an attack. As a GM, you're free to rule that a DEX roll will suffice, but that doesn't really give an opponent much defence against the bee-touch. My advice is to stick with the attack roll. I take your point about the character's poor combat skills, but Hero has several ways we can work with this. Keep the overall OCV and DCV low, and look for advantage in particular circumstances. First, I think it's easier in hand-to-hand combat to touch someone than to hit them with enough force to damage them. And your power requires only a touch, not an all-out punch. If you agree, you can represent this by buying a number of 2-point combat skill levels (CSLs) only to touch. How many depends on the usual OCV/DCV in your game - enough to make a successful touch possible but not certain. Second, look for situational advantages: surprise attack, attack from behind, etc, will reduce your opponent's DCV to half its usual level. Third, if the hand has a disgusting or shocking appearance (see below), merely exposing it could class as a presence attack. A high enough success with the presence attack can reduce an opponent's DCV to 1/2 its usual level (this requires an presence attack success of EGO+20), or even down to DCV 0 (EGO+30). This will probably only be effective the first couple of times the character uses the presence attack on a particular set of opponents; after that they'll get used to it.. Not really. I'm thinking of this putrifying hand as having a disgusting appearance - withered flesh, weeping or bleeding sores, pus, exposed bone and sinew, foul odour; you get the picture. Something that will shock and revolt people if they see or smell it. But the character can conceal it with a glove and perfume. If the hand looks perfectly normal, there's no reason to take the distinctive feature. A normal-looking hand is, by definition, not distinctive. Nor does the distinctive feature necessarily reveal what the character will do with his hand, although if word gets out about his power, you could give him a reputation to represent people's growing knowledge of his hand.

Re: HSMA: A combat test He started with two sticks. One of the was lost when my opponent disarmed it in his first move,

Re: How to build : a putrtefyied hand which become a group of bees Justice, if this is your first go at a roleplaying game, as you mentioned in another post, I'm very impressed with your creativity and understanding of the way RPGs work. I love this bee/hand idea. There are several ways of building what you want - what you have to do is work out the primary purpose of it is. Then work out which parts involve game mechanics and which are just special effects. Mickael's suggestion of a dependency is a good one if the character has to keep using the power in order to maintain his abilities. But if it's a bonus, you may want to look at it more detail. Please note that some of the suggestions below may not be in the basic rulebook, but are in the full Hero 6 Character Creation book. First off, the shortness of breath/heart issue is easy: just buy lower levels of END and REC (and possible lower STUN and CON as well). By lower levels, I mean lower than average for PCs in your game (if this is a superheroic game, even a short-of-breath superhero is likely to have higher END than a normal). The fact that the hand is slowly killing the PC seems like background to me, so isn't worth any points in game terms. Now decide whether the bee/hand is an attack. Can it be turned off (for instance, by wearing a glove)? Or is it a curse, preventing the character using the hand (in which case it's a Physical Complication, possibly also with Distinctive Feature). If the bees do damage to whatever they burrow into, you're probably looking at some kind of attack power. You could make a case for either normal or killing damage, and you could also make a case for the power advantage No Normal Defence (defence is sealed coverage of the body part touched). If the burrowing bee takes a while, you could add Damage Over Time. You also need to work out how much damage the attack does - ie, is it a serious threat to opponents (higher damage), or is just a nasty way of getting some extra END (lower damage). It also sounds like the attack doesn't take much effort from the PC, so I'd buy Reduced END. It sounds like the character has no conscious control over the bees, but I don't think I'd call that a power limitation as he still has the choice touch a living thing or not (ie, to attack or not). To simulate the easing of the character's breathing, I'd buy Aid END and REC and link it to the attack (or, if you aren't treating the bees as an attack, than buy it as standalone Aid END and REC, and make it contingent on touching someone). If the character feels pain when a bee is killed (I assume this happens when the attack is used), this is a side-effect. Call it 1D6 STUN damage (I'm pushing the rules a little here - the limitation should be 3d6 STUN for a minor effect, but I'm assuming a lower-powered campaign where 3D6 is significant) As the number of bees goes down, the character's problems disappear... why not just use experience points to buy more END and REC as time goes on. Only allow the player to do this if the character has used enough of the bees to justify an improvement in his condition. When you and the player agree the time is right (when the END and REC are high enough), simply rule all the bees are gone. The character loses the attack power (maybe the points can be switched into more END and REC), or buys off the complications. So, taking some of these ideas and working them up in game terms (and remember the exact levels and modifiers may change in your campaign)... (1) Buy fewer (or sell back) REC and END points. (2) Hand of bees: (Total: 50 Active Cost, 23 Real Cost) Killing Attack - Hand-To-Hand 1/2d6, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Attack Versus Alternate Defense (target is insulated; All Or Nothing; +1/2), Damage Over Time (2 damage increments, damage occurs every Turn, +1 1/4) (32 Active Points); No STR Bonus (-1/2), Side Effects: 1D6 normal damage to character, Side Effect occurs automatically whenever Power is used (-1/2) (Real Cost: 16) plus Aid END 2d6 (12 Active Points); Only to Aid Self (-1), Linked (Killing Attack - Hand-To-Hand; -1/2) (Real Cost: 5) plus Aid REC 1d6 (6 Active Points); Only to Aid Self (-1), Linked (Killing Attack - Hand-To-Hand; -1/2) (Real Cost: 2) (3)Complication - Distinctive features: Putrefying hand (easily concealable with glove and perfume; Causes major reaction; Detectable with commonly used senses) 10pts. How's that? Edit: The way I've built this, the character will have to make an attack roll to touch someone with his bee-hand; if the attack succeeds or not, he'll take 1D6 stun damage (the pain); if the attack succeeds his END and REC will get better for a short period of time. You may like to rule (purely as a special effect) that the pain damage only occurs if the attack succeeds. If the attack succeeds, the victim will take 1D3 killing damage immediately, another 1D3 killing damage one turn later and the final 1D3 killing damage another turn later. If the character wants the REC and END boost, he will have to touch someone, and they will have to suffer the damage. If they undergo the process voluntarily, he character has to use an attack move (thus ending his phase), but he won't have to make an attack roll as they aren't resisting.

Re: Super Heroic Behavior Hi Justice, Welcome to roleplaying, and welcome to Hero System in particular. I think your reward system is duplicating something that's already in the rules. What you're looking for you'll find in the chapter on Complications (p78 in the Basic rulebook) - in particular, Psychological Complications (p81). You could require all PCs take the complication Code of the True Hero (Very Common, Total), -25 points. In order to do something ignoble, a PC would have to roll against EGO (with a -5 penalty on the roll). However, I'd expect players to roleplay it rather than fight it. And if you make it a campaign requirement you could rule that it's not worth any points (which frees them up to choose other complications). You might decide that's too restrictive, and lower the requirement to Code against Killing, Code of Chivalry, etc. If players play in character, you give them more experience points (p83) than if they don't play in character. The main thing is to have your players buy into the idea - they have to agree to play heroes. If they do, you can have a lot of fun exploring what it means to be a hero, putting them in situations which call their moral strength into play - for example, if a villain puts their girlfriend and an entire coachload of civilians in danger, who would they rescue? Would they follow the Spock Principle (the needs of the many outway the needs of the few), or would their own feelings be strong enough to overpower the logic? Or can they find a way to rescue everyone and avoid the moral conundrum? What if a player doesn't want to play a True Hero? With good players, this can be great fun - one is the moral weak link in a team of heroes. He's willing to take moral shortcuts the others aren't. Does he hide this? Do his team-mates become suspicious? Can they convince him their way is better? Are they right? In this case, be aware that you are setting up the potential for conflict between the PCs; not all groups are comfortable with this, but in groups that are, it makes for great stories. What if your players don't want to play True Heroes? Well, find out what they do want to play and create that kind of a campaign instead. Trying to force them to play a game style they don't want to will only end in frustration. Pyschological and Social Complications are a great way for defining the kind of story you want to tell about the characters. Whereas things like Physical Complications, Vulnerabilities and so on tend to act as in-game hindrances, Psych and Social ones open up much bigger issues. For example, if I have a character with Code of the True Hero and Fear of Heights, I would expect any GM to present me with a situation where he has to climb something to rescue people. Now he has two psychological limitations in direct competition with each other. Which will prove stronger? What will that do to him? If he conquers his fear and succeeds in the rescue, will his fear diminish? If his fear wins, what will that do to his sense of self-worth as a hero?

Re: My character building technique (How to build Hero System Characters) Only just notice this thread, but... You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Tasha again. Excellent guide Tasha - very useful, and the first steps are also good for newbie players, for whom the GM really has to do most of the mechanical elements of character design. It's also an interesting guide to the info a GM should be providing more experienced players.

Re: HSMA: A combat test That looks pretty good to me. I had thought about it a 'target falls' element, but I'm not sure that's necessary, as not all sprawls end in a takedown. The simple grapple covers a subsequent throw/takedown, clinch or lock attempt.

Re: HSMA: A combat test Heh. You're quite right, but I think that for a martial arts game, HSMA *is* the extra detail. From that point on, I prefer interpreting the mechanics to suit the detail, rather than adding more mechanics. And it's always possible to build extra maneouvres (such as 'sprawl') using the system if our interpretation of the off-the-peg styles differs. When I've had a chance to sit down with Mo and work on some specific MMA moves, I'll post them as a style. Of course, most MMA fighters will have a couple of other styles as well (Muay Thai, BJJ, collegiate wrestling, etc). Kudos to both you and Susano; HSMA (and the earlier UMA/Ninja Hero) is the best martial arts rulebook I've found. And I can't think of higher praise than a practising fighter liking it so much he wants to work with it further. Edited: typos.

Re: Historical Late Medieval Period RPG There's a few bits and bobs on my website; I'm one of those OCD Harn fans Markdoc was referring to. http://www.penultimateharn.com/history.html.

Re: Inspiration for Dark Champions protective gear Is this the same as the 'bulletproof custard' armour which appeared int he British press last summer? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10569761 I rather liked that. Reminded me of the reflex armour Louis Wu uses on the Ringworld.

Re: HSMA: A combat test Yeah, I'm a great believer in penalty skill levels myself. I didn't use them with these fighters as (a) they were put together on the fly, with no prior experience in hero martial arts. Howver, I don't think I'd limit them to hit locations. PSLs against the OCV penalty when being grappled would be useful too. Disable/impair didn't really come into this bout - the escrima fighter's PD was so high he never took any body damage; the bandesh guy got stunned and then knocked out. The big issue, if we were to modify with house rules, would be the ability of a grappler to select the limbs he grapples with a succesful attack roll. Feeling an opponent out would seem to fall pretty squarely into Analyse Style. PSLs and Rapid Attack/Off hand is a nice aproach to escrima - I like it. I went with the powers basically to try them out and to give each fighter an appropriate signature move; the thinking here was more gamist than simulationist (dragon whips his tail!). And yeah, Mo has been telling me the importance of structured attacks particularly. My combat training is many years behind me, and was largely limited to touching attacks for ippon. Full contact is a whole different ballgame (I've had two full contact bouts and collected broken ribs in both). Having seen Mo do some serious striking combo training, yes, I now recognise the value! (There's a video of Mo doing his combo training, and working out with pro MMA heavyweight Marcos Oliveira here ) And as for MMA, yeah, I think that's where we're going next. Mo wants an in-game octagon. And he has an encyclopedic knowledge of UFC fighters' strengths and weaknesses (eg. BJ Penn, awesome BJJ and a superb jab; Brock Lesner superb grappling, no striking to speak of, and can take massive punishment). The question is how we model those abilities in Hero; that will come with experience. Nice suggestions. Thanks, Rex.

The idea A series of one-on-one encounters between 175/50 6th edition standard heroic martial artists, each following a different art. The testers Myself: tabletop gamer for nearly 30 years. Wide experience of systems, somewhat oldschool. Growing hero system experience. Martial arts experience: a couple of years' judo as a kid; about 8 years of wado-ryu karate in two separate stints, ending a decade ago with a green belt. Moderatley interested in MMA/UFC; got my ribs broken a few months ago sparring with my son, who trains MMA 3 times a week. Mo: tabletop gamer of around 10 years' experience, mostly D&D3/3.5. Recent convert to Hero System (delighted to find a game he hasn't been able to break yet). Martial arts experience: brown belt karateka in his teens; currently trains MMA, including a couple of sessions with Royce Gracie; major UFC fan (not only does he never miss a fight, he passionately watches reruns and every Ultimate Fighter episode). The set-up I asked Mo to pick several martial arts from HSMA. Fighters would meet one on one on a small island, featuring a 'fighting platform' of around 40m diameter, then a 2m mini-cliff down to the beach, about 6m wide. I wanted to give someone the opportunity to drop or throw an opponent over the edge. Since we're discussing starting a South China Sea Pulp Hero campaign, Mo picked seven South Asian and Southeast Asian arts. I only had time to build three of them (bandesh, bando and escrima fighters). The big fight The first bout was, in fact, the only bout of the evening as it took us longer than expected to finish (partly because we spent a lot of time watching developments in Egypt on Al Jazeera English). We picked the fighters randomly (character sheets attached, for those interested in looking further). I ended up with the escrima fighter, who had SPD4, OCV7, DCV8, no skill levels in escrima (that extra SPD is expensive), and the Weapon-based Strike autofire power from HMSA to represent escrima's flurry of blows. His major complication was 4 levels of Unluck. Mo ended up with the the bandesh wrestler, SPD3, OCV7, DCV7, 4 CSLs with bandesh, Feint as his power (built as a Drain), and an old knee injury causing a vulnerability as his major fighting weakness. We were please that we ended up with two radically different fighters, a wrestler and a striker, built on different concepts (speed versus skill). We both spent a bit of time circling, staying out of half-move range, before I closed, allowing Mo the first attack. He stepped in an opened with a grappling disarm, putting all his skill into attack, which left one of my sticks 2m away and me on the ground. I stood and struck with my remaining stick, missing. Mo grappled, locking my weaponless arm (a distinctly gamist move - he wanted to leave me some attack ability, although I did explain my character could also fight barehanded). The grapple proved impossible to break - that wrestling STR add is VERY significant at heroic level. For a while the fight devolved into me trying a variety of attack moves, all failing miserably (oh, that OCV penalty for being grappled), while coming perilously close to being gassed (using up my END reserve). Then Mo started the throws. We somewhat misread the MA throwing rules, and having no familiarity with bandesh, figured the fekan move was a strike/throw. So I basically took double damage from those throws for a while. However, my character had a high PD, so remained conscious and active. I managed a succesful hit which did minor damage. Realising my PD was tough to overcome, Mo threw me and let go, planning to use his choke NND on the next move. He succeeded, and my STUN was becoming low. (He did object to his visualisation of this - how can I choke while I'm standing and you're on the ground - but I suggested that rather than standing, he should visualise control and picture a rear naked choke). It was Phase 12. I aborted to my +5 dodge and avoided, then, having the next phase, finally managed to land a blow, causing enough damage to stun him. We mutually decided that this broke his grapple. I stood and replied with my autofire attack, which I'd tried and failed with before. This time it worked, and I rolled a 6 on the attack: three successful blows, which knocked Mo out. What we cocked up We didn't know enough about bandesh to figure out how it worked. Note to others: at least google a martial art before you try to play a practitioner. We incorrectly combined the standard grapple/throw maneouvre with the martial throw. Despite giving one of the characters a localised vulnerability, we didn't use the hit location rules. In the end, it didn't matter much as the two successful attacks I made did what was needed anyway. Stuff we learned In Hero martial arts, as in real life martial arts, a wrestling specialist is an absolute nightmare to fight if you have no wrestling skills yourself. They can tie you up in knots and you can do absolutely nothing about it. Hence the importance of wrestling and BJJ in UFC and similar franchises. A balanced fighter must have some martial evasion/breakout/breakfall skills. Speed versus skill - the old debate. Despite the fact that my character won in the end, it was a close call and a lucky roll. I think skill probably has the edge. High speed and aggressive moves mean you are likely to get gassed (use up all your END). As a GM, look at characteristics carefully. My high PD made me nearly invulnerable to normal attacks. Not an issue if killing damage is involved, but this character probably had too much PD for a martial arts contest. Mo's comments As a practising martial artist, I paid close attention to what Mo thought about the contest. He really liked the way it worked in general. He continues to be impressed with Hero System. He thought there should be some better defence against grappling - not to break out, but to avoid the grapple in the first place (takedown defence, in MMA terms). He wanted more detailed rules for groundwork, particulary guards and transitions. I suggested this was probably more detail than ANY tabletop game should have, and he said he agreed for a standard campaign, but if it came to a martial arts tournament, he wanted as much detail as he could get. He also likes the system enough to want to build some of his favourite UFC fighters with it. I think he may be planning an expansion to HSMA... My thoughts I figure most joint locks should be built around NND strikes, with a requirement that they follow a grapple. These things are generally there to cause pain and force a submission rather than simply immobilise. Having not run a martial arts contest before, I think I can build better martial artist characters now. Lower characteristics and more skills would be better, I think. Comments on the conduct of the session, the findings and the characters will be all much appreciated. [ATTACH=CONFIG]37877[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]37878[/ATTACH]

Re: A Culture Hero Myth You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Susano again.

Re: WWII Hero Now the Interweb has let me sluice down its pipes once more, here's the German small arms I've statted so far. The eventual idea is for each to have a description/history like the Schnellfeuer, and for each to be illustrated - for presentation purposes, I plan to hand players 'weapons cards' as they find or otherwise acquire new guns. (Yes, to answer an obvious question, I am hoping to attract some video gamers to the tabletop. No, I'm not directly planning Wolfenstein, though the source ideas are similar. I'm also trying to avoid statting weapons covered in Pulp Hero, though some are similar - the Schnellfeuer being an autofire version of the C96, and the K98k being similar to the longer-barelled G98.) MP40: Killing Attack - Ranged 1d6+1, Autofire (5 shots; +1/2) (35 Active Points); OAF (-1), STR Minimum 9-13 (13; -1/2), Real Weapon (-1/4), Required Hands One-And-A-Half-Handed (-1/4), Beam (-1/4), 32 Charges (+1/4) Mauser Karabiner 98k (Total: 51 Active Cost, 12 Real Cost) Killing Attack - Ranged 2 1/2d6, +1 Increased STUN Multiplier (+1/4) (50 Active Points); OAF (-1), STR Minimum 14-18 (14; -3/4), 5 Charges (-3/4), Required Hands Two-Handed (-1/2), Real Weapon (-1/4), Beam (-1/4) (Real Cost: 11) plus Penalty Skill Levels: +1 vs. range with to offset a specific negative OCV modifier with any single attack; OAF (-1), Required Hands Two-Handed (-1/2), Real Weapon (-1/4) (Real Cost: 1) Luger P-08: (Total: 22 Active Cost, 7 Real Cost) Killing Attack - Ranged 1d6+1 (20 Active Points); OAF (-1), 8 Charges (-1/2), Real Weapon (-1/4), STR Minimum 4-8 (8; -1/4), Beam (-1/4), Required Hands One-Handed (-0) (Real Cost: 6) plus +1 with any single attack (2 Active Points); OAF (-1), Real Weapon (-1/4) (Real Cost: 1) Mauser M1932 Schnellfeuer: Killing Attack - Ranged 1d6+1, Autofire (5 shots; +1/2) (35 Active Points); OAF (-1), STR Minimum 14-18 (14; -3/4), Beam (-1/4), Real Weapon (-1/4), 20 Charges (+1/4) The Mauser Schnellfeuer (unofficially known as the Mauser M1932) is a fully automatic variation of the C96 'Broomhandle' Mauser. Like its predecessors, it uses Mauser 7.63mm rounds, which achieve a muzzle velocity of 425m.s (1,394fps) and its wooden holster doubles as a detachable stock. It replaces the C96's internal magazine with a 10- or 20-round detachable box magazine. The weapon has selective fire. In fully automatic mode its rate of fire is about 900 rounds per minute (15 rounds per second). Production began in 1932 and conintued to 1936. The weapon was primarily intended for export to China, but was also used by both sides in the Spanish Civil War. Around 8,000 were bought by the Luftwaffe during the Second World War, and small numbers by the Wehrmacht, who designated it the M712. It saw service with the Fallschirmjaeger (paratroops), and some may also have found service with the Waffen-SS.

Re: WWII Hero I'm slowly building a Second World War resource pack at the moment, but it's nowhere near finished yet. I'm adding to it as and when, but I'm really preparing it for the campaign AFTER next, so I'm in no great hurry. (Next campaign is Sengoku-era ninjas, so no crossover with the planned Thule Society occult zombie fest). My rough worksheet, at least initially, is... German small arms MP28 MP40 (aka Schmeisser) - done Mauser Karabiner 98k - done Luger P08 - done Walther P38 Mauser Schnellfeuer (aka M1932) - done German support weapons MG34 FG42 MG42 (aka Spandau) Panzershreck Flammenwerfe 41 Steilhandgranate British small arms Webley No IV - done Lee-Enfield No 4 - done Lanchester Mk 1 (use same stats as MP28) Sten Mk II British support weapons Lewis Mk I LMG Bren Mk II LMG Vickers Mk I MMG PIAT No. 36 Grenade (Mills Bomb) Lifebuoy Mk I flamethrower British special weapons Welrod pistol German vehicles BMW R75 motorcycle/sidecar Kubelwagen Steyr 1500 car Blitz truck A tank (probably a Panzer IV, but will depend on when and where I actually set the game) Maybe a Bf109 or a Stuka for if I'm feeling really nasty (or they're trouncing the opposition faster than I expected) Since I intend the players to be operating behind enemy lines, Allied vehicles are not immediately necessary. However, I am extremely tempted to find a use for my Donald Sutherland impersonation, so they may just find a Sherman and its crew as allies. A Sherman can give you a nice edge. (You should hear my other Donald Sutherland impersonation.) However, if that's the case, then the game pretty much has to be set after the Americans have entered the war, so American weapons may be needed.

The long-threatened redesign of the Penultimate HarnPage is nearly finished. It's close enough that the new-look site is now up and operational, anyway. As always, when decorators have been in, it'll take a little while to unpack everything again and put it in its new home. Most notably, the new versions of the farming calendar are not yet ready. The HTML masons tell me the rough work is done, but the decorative carving may take a little longer (though they promise it will be worth it). I've also had to postpone plans to make PDFs of the major articles until I found a decent and affordable replacement for Acrobat 4 (note to those upgrading: Acrobat 7 and below does not work on 64-bit Windows; Bullzip PDF, however, does - and its price can't be beaten). Some sections, such as the link-ware image gallery, are a bit sparse at the moment (2 images and a gag - and counting!). I'll be building that up pretty continuously. The other sparse section is the Hero 6 resources: three pulp-era vehicles do not an entire section make. It's more a statement of intent than a full-on resource, and will be added to fairly continuously. Anyway, if you want to see that the HTML masons have been up to, it's at www.penultimateharn.com.

I was going to post this in the Star Hero forum, but as it's actually modern day, it could also apply to Dark Champions. A pair of US researchers have managed to hack into and control a car's electronic control systems - they say it's possible to control acceleration or disable the brakes. Full story here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/10119492.stm. My first thought for modeling this is to use Cyber mental powers and Mind Control or Possession against the car's computers, using the rules in the APG. However, we don't really buy modern (or Star Hero) cars with computers - most designs simply assume those functions make the car easier to drive. It's only if we're after some kind of autopilot (autodriver?) that we go to the extra effort to put a computer in. So should we start putting computers in, at least for Cyber Hero games, or rely on Drains and Supresses? Or is there a better way still to wrest control of a vehicle from its driver?