Barwickian

Re: ADvice sought: Spirits and spirit combat (6th edition)

Have to spread rep before giving it to Lucius again (not that my rep is worth much after merely lurking on the forums for 4 years...)

What's forming is basic AI, lose the eiditic memory and the programmes-as-skills idea. Option: add PRE (helps with Possession consistency' allows presence attacks in spirit combat).

Drain End as a primary attack. Other attacks include the various mental powers: Mind Control is obvious. Telepathy, Mind Scan also useful.

Movement via Flight. High non-combat speeds. Fleeing maybe the only option to escape combat with a more powerful spirit. Mental Defence will also be handy.

Really nasty powerful spirits might have Entangle to prevent escapes.

I did contemplate the concept of mutable 'landscape' with an EGO contest to decide who dictates the 'field of engagement' - with a combat bonus based on success in the EGO contest going to the winner. But that's adding complexity, may give another advantage to the more powerful spirit and could be difficult to describe, given that I don't intend much int he way of physical description of the spirit plane (how do you explain colour to a blind person, or the third dimension to someone in a two dimensional world?). And I certainly want to playtest the basic concept before adding complexity.

On the material plane, spirits will have Desolidification. Depending on the type of spirit they might have Possession, Mental Blast, Mind Control, etc. Some (such as disease or emotion spirits) may have Drains or Transforms, possibly linked to Possession so the disease can be cured by exorcism.

Re: ADvice sought: Spirits and spirit combat (6th edition)

Bodyless AIs is a nice suggestion - very close to what I'm looking at. I'll maybe add PRE (for I'm figuring spirits can be impressive, for those who can percieve them), drop the eidetic memory (or maybe not...) and add various mental powers. Nice way of thinking of it.

The potential crossover with cyberspace combat had occurred to me - when a player approached me with the idea of playing an orcish shaman we started with a blend of Sami shaman with some juju and Voodoo thrown in. As soon as I thought Voodoo, I thought of Gibson's Count Zero... Hey, if we design this, we can use it for cyberpunk.

Unfortunately, I don't have a copy of CyberHero. There are some suggestions in Ultimate Mystic and Kazei 5 I can plunder, though (it's the older version, Michael - I will get the newer one, because Kazei is definitely something I want a print copy of, but this month's budget went on Martial Arts).

I think ideas are forming - enough that I can begin to construct a playtest version of how this may work...

Thanks for the advice everyone - and if anyone else has anything, please chip in too.

Re: ADvice sought: Spirits and spirit combat (6th edition)

If you notice' date=' I removed STR from the ghosts, but also gave them the option of (IIRC) "The Poltergeist Effect", which was "Affect Real World" Telekinesis.[/quote']

 

I noticed and liked - it's one of the things I was thinking of when I mentioned spirits buying appropriate powers to interact with the material world.

 

But I'm not thinking specifically of ghosts (although they will play a part) but of shamanic style spirits. Abstract nature spirits, spirits of disease, of emotion, ancestral spirits. Spirits which might be encountered only on the spirit plane.

 

Partly what's got me thinking of this is the new Possession talent in APG. If a possessor only carries his or her 'mental' attributes into the possessed body, then a natural spirit should only have those attributes.

 

All of which I'm comfortable with, until I start trying to figure out how to represent spirit combat and what to do with BODY and STUN.

 

I could re-evaluate my thoughts of spirit combat. Perhaps instead of Mental Blasts, spirits might use Drain and Suppress.

I'm trying to come up with some rules for spirits and spirit combat in the spirit world for a shaman PC.

I got to wondering why ghosts in the 5th edition bestiaries have STR.

Then I noticed Susano's ghosts in a Digital Hero didn't have STR.

Then I started wondering why ghosts or spirits needed any physical stats at all - especially (but not only) those native to the spirit world.

And I remembered that in old editions of RQ, spirits basically only had INT and POW, and I liked RQ spirit combat.

So I'm contemplating designing spirits with no STR, DEX or CON - in fact, as few stats as I can get away with.

Initiative will be based on EGO. SPD determines actions. Movement based on Flight, I'm thinking - and it might have very rapid non-combat speeds. Combat to be based around mental powers. Not all spirits will be able to travel to the material world - those who can will need to buy the extra-dimensional movement and powers (even stats) to survive there.

END will exist.

I'm debating about BODY and STUN - whether to keep them or replace them. STUN damage could reduce END instead. BODY damage might reduce INT.

Shamans who journey to the spirit world will do it with a combination of Duplication and Extra-deminsional Movement (linked), and will be able to reassign points (ie, they can sell back STR, CON, DEX, etc when buying their 'spirit form').

Does anyone have any thoughts? Does it sound like a cool idea or a rubbish one.

Should I keep physical stats (and if so, how do I justify them); am I right to think of ditching them - and if so, what should I do about STUN and BODY?

Re: As A Hero Gamer, Do You Use The Surbrook's Stuff Website?

Aside from herogames.com, yours and Killer Shrike's sites are my most-visited Hero sites.

I've visited most sections of the site over the years. I tend to find the essays and advice sections the most useful. The character database, although not immediately useful to me per se, is one of the most interesting parts of the site as it helps me understand character creation better.

Pictures the could be superheroes and the art galleries are probably the least useful to me.

I've throughly enjoyed the fiction, though - especially the Kazei 5 stuff, which helps flesh out the setting.

Re: Beginner Character Creation

Thanks for your input everyone

 

I guess i didnt word my question correctly though. I understand the theory of how open ended it is. But when i sit down to fill out my character sheet I just do not know where to start. Like i do not understand the first decisions i should make as far as what to purchase for my character

Once you have your concept (and Tasha and others have given excellent advice on this front), I'd be inclined to start with whatever is core to the character concept, move to secondary factors, then fill out tertiary abilities (or cool stuff you figure muight be useful and can justify) with points left over (if any). Note that disadvantages - complications as they're called now - can be core to a character.

For a superhero, the core will often be a power or a group of related powers. For a heroic game, characteristics or skills are more likely to define them.

The characters book has quite a nice breakdown of how many points you should spend on characterstics, skills and powers depending on your genre and the type of character you're playing - but it's just a guide.

So, if I'm creating the superhero Salamander, a loose rip-off of the Human Torch, I want to define and buy his Flight and Blast (Flame Attack) first. Next I want some Speed and some extra DEX, and add Vulnerabilities to Cold and Water-based attacks. Pretty much everything else is secondary to my concept, but sure, I'll want some extra combat skill levels, defences and so on. Some other complications - secret identity, perhaps, anmd maybe a dependant... I can work out what the identity is and who the dependents are later, when I come to writing up a full backstory - or I may already know, if I've already written a backstory (ie, I have a detailed concept).

For the heroic-level ace space pilot Han Singleton, I'm going to want TF with Starships, and several levels of Combat Pilot. I'll need some CSLs (and a WF) with Blaster Pistol, maybe an extra point of SPD, and some points in Fast Draw. Extra DEX is pretty important to the concept as well, as is Hunted (Jibberjabba the Shed, 11-). But equally important to the concept is Han's ship, the Centurion Hawk, and his sidekick Munchweed, so I'll probably design them loosely before working more on Han's character sheet.

If I want to play a ranger in a fantasy game, I think of the key abilities: bowmanship, outdoor foraging and survival, code of conduct (defend nature), good stanima (CON, END and REC), probably some knowledge skills relating to the outdoors and local geography. I buy them first.

Just because the rulebooks is organised Characterstics, Skills, Perks, Talents, Powers, Complications doesn't mean you should consider them in that order.

Work up your concept, decide what's core to the character, and spend points on those core abilities first. Everything else is a side order.

Susano's and Killer Shrike's sites are excellent places to look for further advice.

Re: Newbie and GM shouldn't go together.

I've found running trial combats with noobs very, very helpful. I use stock characters (so they don't have to bother with chargen at this stage), and encourage them to get creative, trying chancy or flashy maneouvres. I also look for ways to interpret their actions to introduce more concepts. This gives new players a chance to experiment in a sandbox with Hero's extreme tactical flexibility.

I've been using this technique with a regular player who's primarily familiar with 3.5 but open to other systems. However, he likes to try to 'break' new systems in trials by trying to do stuff he reckons the rules won't cover (so he can test the limits of the system, he says).

So far, Hero is the only system we've tried that not only has he been unable to break, but offers options he didn't even think of. (I still remember the look of overjoyed awe on his face when he downed an orc and, roleplaying, roared a battle-cry - which I interpreted as a Presence Attack; it caused the three remaining orcs to pause and retreat.)

After some similar trials we moved to a simple one-off combat scenario, again using pre-gens. The most recent was a Second World War special forces raid in a Nazi zombie stronghold - I moved away from a fantasy setting as players decided they wanted to try firearms.

I'm currently engaged on the third phase - character generation. I'm doing this one-on-one basis, which is a lot more time consuming, but enables me to give more help (and general discussion about the system). I find that using a genre familiar to the player is most helpful. Note that these are not characters we intend to run in a campaign (at least, not immediately), but are planned as dry-run characters, so they get a chance at designing something they can use in a one-off and see how it works.

I also introduce cool concepts like Dave Mattingley's Knacks (very little 1pt talents like Always gets to ride in the front seat or Always gets the last slice of pizza) which add considerable colour to a character (these are from an old edition of Digital Hero).

This may be a time-consuming approach, but I think it helps characters really come to terms with the paradigm shift and give them enough experience to design a campaign character with some degree of confidence.

It can also give me inspiration for short campaigns - one of my players is designing an Orc shaman which has forced us to invent a shamanic magic system (actually, we're only part-way through this) and some background. Both of us want to play a bit with this Heroic Orc campaign, if other players are also keen.

Excellent article in the NYT regarding the vehicular tricks drug smugglers get up to (cool info for any Dark Champions game).

The devious nature of the traffickers can be seen in some of the weaponry they install, which General Solórzano suspects is done in their own chop shops. Traffickers put a turret in one truck, allowing them to raise a machine gun through the roof while remaining safely inside a bulletproof chamber below.

 

Traffickers have also added fog machines to the back of their vehicles, allowing them to lose the authorities in a cloud of smoke. Another way they stymie the pursuing federal police is by pulling a lever on the dash and unleashing a cascade of twisted and sharpened nails.

Full article: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/13/world/americas/13mexico.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

Re: Noob here...

-Does anyone have a good online store to buy them from for Europe? (Dutchie here)

As mayapuppies pointed out, the Hero Games online store ships anywhere worldwide for free. I'm in the Middle East, with no FLGS I know of in the region, and I use the online store exclusively.

Also what do you really like about the system? What would make this the best game for Hero RPG's?

Mayapuppies mentioned the toolkitting nature, and that's a powerful plus point.

The other things I really like are the sheer flexibility of the system and (once you've wrapped your head around the concept of powers and modifiers) its ability to model pretty much anything in game terms relatively simply.

The thing that's sold my players is the tactical flexibility. Hero is designed to say "yes" when a player asks "Can I do this, that or the other?" (Of course, the character may not succeed, but invariably there's a rule covering pretty muchg anything a player can imagine wanting to do.)

My players have a ruthless approach to testing a new system. They set out to break it, to test its limits. So far, Hero System has survived everything they've tried. In fact, it even had some options they never considered - I don't think I'll forget the expression of delight on one player's face when, roleplaying, he let out a battleroar after killing an orc and I ruled it a Presence Attack.

I'm sure they'll find something to bend or break it eventually, but they've already accepted Hero is the most flexible (and fun) game they've played yet.

Re: Noob here...

Hero has several 'default settings'. It also has plenty of supported genres.

In general, a genre book helps you tweak the Hero System rules to suit the genre, and has lots of advice on creating your own setting.

A setting book assumes you have the relevant genre book, and supplies a pre-created 'official' setting.

Some people like to get only the genre books, preferring to create their own settings. Some particularly experienced Hero gamers even forego the genre books, and they understand the system (and the genres) well enough to use only the core rules.

Most settings have supplementary books featuring enemies, particular parts of the setting in more detail (eg, Millennium City for Champions Universe) and books of powers (or spells or equipment as appropriate).

Champions (superhero genre)

Champions Universe (setting)

Fantasy Hero (fantasy genre)

The Turakian Age (high fantasy setting)

The Valdorian Age (sword & sorcery setting)

The Atlantean Age (epic fantasy setting)

Dark Champions (modern-day genre)

Hudson City (modern-day setting)

Star Hero (science fiction genre)

The Terran Empire (space opera setting)

Alien Wars (military SF setting)

Pulp Hero (1920s/30s adventure genre)

Minor genres (these act as small genre books and include several suggested settings in varying levels of detail)

Urban Fantasy Hero (Fantasy Hero sub-genre)

Post-Apocalyptic Hero (Star Hero sub-genre)

Hope that helps.

"If there is any to see, then I at least am revealed to them," he said. "I have written Gandalf is here in signs that all can read from Rivendell to the mouths of Anduin."

I'm looking for advice on modelling such an effect in Hero (based on a similar effect in the second edition of MERP, if anyone remembers that).

I could simply rule, by GM fiat, that the Dark Forces have an certain chance of detecting spellcasting at great distances (eg, by rolling active points/5 or less), possibly reduced by the long range penalty, and that may be the best option.

But I'm wondering if anyone can suggest a reasonable alternative - building a disadvantage to apply to spells, or a perception which might reflect this.

Re: Fantasy Reproduction

Very impressive. It's an original, consistent and intriguing backstory for orcs.

There are a lot of implications and ideas for future development as well - for instance, perhaps one day a well-developed purebred settlement will decide not to dig a pit and create a peaceful orcish community. Imagine a party's surprise at discovering, not a murder band, but orcs enjoying a simple agrarian lifestyle. Will they still put the orcs to the sword?

I love the idea of the orc and his faithful (and cleverer) goblin life companion.

This is such a great piece of work. I almost wish I hadn't read it, since I'm working at my own FH campaign world at the moment, and it's going to be very hard to come up with an orcish backstory as good as this.

Repped.

Re: Herophile Fantasy art

OK, since the thread has come back to life, here's one I did this evening.

 

cheers, Mark

Man, oh man.

It's been what, nearly a year since we both swapped renders?

I spent the last year trying to get as good as you.

You spent the last year getting better.

Bad Markdoc. Bad, bad, Markdoc.

You are so repped!

Re: Herophile Fantasy art

Pingui Minerva

Superb stuff. And they laughed at Glorantha for having warrior ducks!

Penguins are just cool.

Re: What Are You Listening To Right Now?

Get off of my Cloud - the Stones.

Which reminds me of a joke...

The difference between a Rolling Stone and a Scotsman?

A Rolling Stone says, "Hey, you, get off of my cloud!"

A Scotsman says, "Hey, MacLeod, get off of my ewe!"

Re: What Are You Listening To Right Now?

Soul Limbo - Booker T & the MGs (and Time is Tight is going on right after that).

Re: First Annual: 12 Days of Christmas* Project

This may be rather too ambitious, but it's an idea I've been mulling over for some time. Let's hope this thread gives me the impetus to stop mulling and start writing!

Fantasy Hero Mundane Battlegrounds

The intention behind this series is to present a set of mundane locations, of the kind commonly encountered in a medieval fantasy setting, and show how they make thrilling – and distinctive – fighting arenas.

1. The watermill

2. Aboard ship

3. A peasant house

4. A castle

5. Woodland

6. Natural cave

7. The gallows

8. The joust

9. A log over a stream

10. Archery contest

11. Rooftops

12. A bar-room brawl

Each location will feature specific

Dangers

Distractions

Situational modifiers

Special tactics and stunts

Unlike the published Fantasy Hero Battlegrounds, locations are intended to be generic, rather than specific. Some degree of mapping to illustrate particular circumstances is anticipated, but it's highly unlikely I'll map out an entire castle!

Re: Herophile Fantasy art

Dammit' date=' when I'm finished with NaNoWriMo I'm [b']so[/b] getting back into doing some 3D...

Good luck with that. Six more days to go, and the last weekend upon you.

Are you going to post the novel when you've finished?

Re: Herophile Fantasy art

And another.

Re: Herophile Fantasy art

Here's another one...

Re: Herophile Fantasy art

It's been months since I've even had the time to read the forums, and I see one of my favourite threads is back from the grave.

Here's one from me, then, made in Poser 5 and Vue 5.

Looks like she made short work of the orc, but can she handle the troll? Course she can...

Re: DC artwork thread

And the second one...

Unlike Eosin's 'finding art' thread, this is intended for people to post their own artwork, similar to the thread in the Fantasy Hero forum.

I'll start - I don't have stats, write-up or even names for these characters yet - just messing about in Poser. But I like the pics, so I'll probably make a character or two out of them.

Re: Old Traveller RPG comic

Fantastic! I used to love this series.

And I was thinking about it just the other day when chatting with a friend about Firefly, and comparing Jayne to Gavin from The Travellers.

Re: What Are You Listening To Right Now?

The White Stripes, Ball and Biscuit