Barwickian

Re: The cranky thread I feel at a very low ebb creatively. Games I plan to run don't survive the enthusiasm of the initial idea. I pick up rules system after rules system listlessly - what grips me as a must-use in the morning is forgotten or rejected by the evening. They're either too complex or too simple, require too much input or not enough. I'm prepared to play what others want to, and yet I want to proselytise for stuff I love. I want to run Trav - but which version? I want to run something that makes many of the decisions for me, yet I don't like the decisions it makes. I'm tired. If I go to bed early, I wake early. Social events - which I enjoy, don't get me wrong - eat into game prep time, but it isn't a loss because I'm not prepping. I need my mojo back, and I'm not sure where I left it.

Re: Ablative Defenses and EVE Yeah, if you want all the detail, play EVE. I'm still intruiged by the idea of building some simplified EVE ships in Hero terms, though. I was also thinking that it's best to ditch power grid and CPU limits, but I was thinking of pushing it further than the simple three module option. I'd thought of pushing it as far as high, mid and low slots, with turrent hardpoints or launcher limits for the highs, and creating modules to fit them. The number of available slots for each vessel can be ported straight from EVE. I'd say frigates can only fit small units, cruisers up to medium and battleships up to large ones. That is a simplification. For instance, a Rifter would have, as in EVE, 4 highs (3 turrets, 2 launchers), 3 mids and 3 lows. Because we aren't modelling EVE skill trees, I'd forget meta levels and T2, so each race would simply have a range weapon and a low-range damage weapon at each size class. On the other hand, my hardcopy of Fires of Heaven just landed, so...

Re: Ablative Defenses and EVE Yeah, that's pretty much what I had in mind. Makes me wonder about working up some EVE ships. I know that wasn't the oroginal intention of yor post, but it's still an interesting idea,.

Re: World building resources

Re: World building resources Shall I plug my medieval farming calendar again in yet another bit of shameless self-aggrandisment? I shall. This'll tell you what's happening when (and sometimes why) in a north-western European setting with High Medieval agrarian technology. Value diminishes as you move geographic region or technology (no early modern watermeadows or breaj crops, for instance, nor viniculture, olive-growing, transhumance or irrigation). www.penultimateharn.com/history/medievalfarmingyear.html My medieval history page contains some authentic farming treatises and a couple of other goodies. www.penultimateharn.com/history.html

Re: Genre-crossover nightmares The Leningrad Cowboys go Captain America West Bank Story (not only was this done, it was bloody excellent, and won the 2005 Oscar for best short film). The Avengers (John Steed and Emma Peel join Iron Man, Hulk, Thor and the rest). American History X-Men Cool Hand Luke Skywalker Don Peyote (take that, windmills!) Pan's Labyrinth (starring David Bowie) Bill and Ted's Excellent Pride and Prejudice (Yo, Regency babes) The Childcatcher in the Rye Chitty Chitty Kiss Kiss Bang Bang The Man from Uncle Buck

Re: Ablative Defenses and EVE Ablative works a very differently in 6E (which is what I'm using), in that it reduces the activation roll of the defence rather than reduces the defence itself. 5E ablative is probably closest to what you want, though it does lead to some extra book-keeping, and doesn't play nicely with other EVE concepts like reppers and hardeners. I think the way I'd handle it is to run with the EVE EHP idea, and use characteristics as powers like so: Buy batch of BODY and define it as Shield. Buy another batch of BODY and define it as Armor. Your regular BODY is your hull. Damage goes first to shield, then armor, then hull. Keep track of the three different BODY totals separately. You can buy damage reduction to represent hardeners or other resistance boosters, and healing (5E) or regeneration (6E) to represent reppers pr boosters, with the limitation Only affects Shield or Only affects Armor (I'd rate that as -1/4, since you'll be building your ship around an armor or shield tank; hull tanking is, of course, crazy). You may want to add Requires a Roll for partial resists. You shouldn't try to shield tank and armor tank on the same fit, but if you do, keeping the limitation at -1/4 will mean you end up paying more points for the defences, representing the inefficiency of mixed tanks. Add Costs END to damage reduction for active hardeners. Shield extenders or armor plates are bought as extra BODY and applied to shield or armor as appropriate. If you want to include shield recharge, you could buy that as a low level of healing/regeneration as well, but I'm not sure I'd bother unless you're planning a series of distinct engagements (such as mission running or incursions). Speed tanks and transverse velocity are probably handled better natively by GURPS (heresy!), but you can hack them in Hero by buying extra DCV for speedy ships (and if you really want to go the whole hog, that means you should buy armor plates with a DCV penalty, and ABs/MWDs as a compound power with a DCV bonus). Use END Reserve to represent your capacitor, with enough REC to cover all your END use for a stable fit, and less for an unstable fit or pulse tank. Missiles and artillery are bought with Costs 0 END, but they and hybrids use Charges (I'd probably handwave hybrids required END and charges; that doesn't work too well in Hero). This method will work with either 5E or 6E, though 6E costs more for the END Reserve. Making shields and armor BODY also fits the feeling you get in EVE when you notice your tank starting to fail, and adds a little spice to what is basically a war of attrition. That's more of a gut thing than a game mechanics thing, and your gut may vary. Anyway, that's how I'd do it.

Re: The cranky thread It'll cost the equivalent of around $600 dollars to fix the broken a/c in my car. Apparently the mechanics will have to remove the dashboard to get at the bit that needs fixing. And they'll need the car until Sunday. It's still above 40 celsius at high noon. And inside a metal and glass box it's much hotter than that. This is not a job that can be put off; an a/c is a necessity in cars in the Middle East, not a luxury.

Re: The cranky thread Gewing, L. Marcus, my deepest sympathies.

Re: What do I need? New to HERO. I think this may be a defining concept of Hero System. Play is indeed simple, once you have the core concepts, but also very flexible. My players love the tactical options, and particularly the Presence Attack. The complexity lies not just in character generation (that's really Stage Two of running a Hero campaign), but in deciding how the setting will work (Stage One). Mostly that's an issue of choosing which options to use and how to make them work. The fewer optional rules, and the more guidelines/package deals you use for chargen, the simpler Stage One and Two become. On which books are absolutely necessary, I'd class the core rulebooks (vol 1 and 2) as luxuries in most cases. All you really need is the Basic Rulebook (which is still available in both brint and PDF form). Basic skips all of the optional rules and some of the powers and power modifiers, but it's a workable, self-contained version of Hero. However, your campaign, being grim and gritty, will likely benefit from the extra detail and optional rules of Core Rules Vol 1 and 2. I think you'd also benefit from Fantasy Hero, which discusses a number of grittier rules variants for fantasy games, and also has more detailed examples of fantasy/historical arms and armour than you'll find in the core rules. It also has a discussion on how to use the core rules to create custom magic systems. Most of the other books are support. Bestiary, Grimoire and Martial Arts don't provide much (or any) new rules; they take what's in the core rules and use that to build pregenerated monsters, spells and martial arts manoeuvres and styles. You don't technically need any of them, but they are big time savers if you're happy to use off-the-peg builds.

Re: Herophile Fantasy art That's pretty good, Christopher.

Re: What have you used? I've probably had most use out of Robin Hood: A Giant Outlaw Campaign (Graham Staplehurst) and Mythic Greece (Aaron Allston), both ICE/FH3 products, as campaign settings. I've also used Fantasy Hero 5 and 6 editions. Of the recent campaign settings I've only used Turakian Age. I'd like to give Valdorian Age a spin, but my players are not that keen. I have Atlantean Age as well, but not got round to serious reading of it. I've just picked up Tuala Morn andf Acquitaine, and have only had time to skim them. Same with Kamarinthin of the third-party settings. I use most of the rule-support books for most games: Martial Arts, Grimoire, Equipment Guide, Ultimate Base, Ultimate Vehicle

Re: What is the building in which a mason works called? I've left the sandlands for a brief visit back to the green and pleasant land to discover a major renovation project at the east end of York Minster. Here's the masons' lodge. It is temporary, but is obviously intended to serve for several years. It's how I'd expect a small medieval lodge to look (and I think that's the intention). Photo taken yesterday. [ATTACH=CONFIG]44401[/ATTACH]

Re: Blind Fighting

Re: Blind Fighting I can't recall seeing Christopher being wrong about a rules question. He's got a damn good grasp of the details. Were I ever to GM for him, I'd instantly appoint him Rules Consultant, a technique I often use to get players who are more rules-savvy than me to free up my time from rule-hunting.

Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Just finished Mass Effect: Deception, by William C. Dietz. It's typical game fiction, not the worst I've read, but far from the best. The writing style is irritating (Dietz constantly breaks sentences down into two or three different sentences, something that should only be done once in a while for effect). Characterisation is shallow, plotting equally bad. It makes Salvatore look good, but it's better than Gygax's Mythus novel (The Anubis Murders?). Or to put it another way, it's about what I was expecting, but not what I was hoping for. Unless someone I trust recommends otherwise I won't read another Dietz novel, or pick up any of the other Mass Effect novels, even though they're not written by this guy.

Re: Herophile Fantasy art This is Melisande, Nina's elf in our currently-on-hiatus Fantasy Hero game. The pose on this is rather stiff; I should rework it sometime.

Re: Herophile Fantasy art Two very nice pics, Mark. Especially like the lighting on the paladin's skin. Is the fire postworked, or did you find a decent model?

Re: Advocacy on other sites... I think advocacy is probably the wrong approach, and going out of your way to promote Hero may end up annoying people. It looks pushy at best, spammy at worst. But mentioning Hero when it's appropriate certainly won't hurt. I got into Hero thanks to a couple of people (one of them being Vondy) posting about it on the Harn Forum, on a thread specifically asking peope what systems they used. Both the posters were people who'd had a number of interesting things to say on other topics, and I was interested enough in what they had to say about Hero System to give it a try. At that time both were posters of some years standing, and though they'd mentioned using Hero System before, neither of them proselytised for it. That being said, Harn Forum posters, like Hero Boards posters, are generally well mannered and intelligent. I also picked up The Riddle of Steel and, recently, Burning Wheel as the result of recommendations from the Harn Forum.

Re: The cranky thread

Re: The cranky thread Sympathy. I've just got over a couple of bad-back days, which segued seamlessly from four bad-gut days. What can I say? I took my first leave of the year. I think my body just decided it was OK to take some time out while I wasn't forcing it to go to work.

Re: 6E - Low Fantasy Hero - Game Balance Issues - Advice Requested I think this is the single most useful guide in all herodom. I ought to rep Tasha over and over again for it. However, I need to spread some rep first. Killer Shrike's pages are also gold.

Re: Herophile Fantasy art Thread, arise! A character illo for the Chrysanthemum War game I'm putting together. Since it's set in the early Sengoku period, this woman's using the older style of sword fastening - tucking the katana into the belt and keeping it edge uppermost was a style developed in the later Sengoku period.

Re: question about a sword with "armor piercing" Most anything designed to get great force into a point would count. Swung weapons were probably most effective - bec de corbin (represented by a pick in Hero System), warhammer (yes, they were beaked), poleaxe. The sword version is the estoc. Nothing to add on the AP sword build for Hero - it's been well covered. But on the flaming sword... bring it back to concept, don't get hung up on the power. What's the flame supposed to do: make the sword deadlier. I'd add another DC of killing attack and resolve it as one attack. The flame bit is just the special effect - the justification for adding an extra DC more than the typical broadsword or other sword of choice. But since it is the FX, that extra DC won't count against creatures immune to flame (and will count double to creatures with a vulnerability to it). That extra DC would be worth 1d6 if it were a normal attack, but since it's a KA, it'll only be one extra point of killing damage. I too believe in keeping things simple.

Re: House rules: speed, height advantage, gang up bonus, facing, dodging? TFT and Hero System both use 3d6 task resolution, so it's possible, if you want to simply port TFT situation bonuses over. However, Hero tends to apply situational bonuses to the defender's DCV, rather than the attacker's OCV. TFT doesn't have a DCV equivalent that I remember (it's been a long time since I've played it). You should do one or the other - apply TFT modifiers to OCV and ignore Hero DCV modifiers, or use Hero DCV penalties and ignore TFT offensive modifiers. If you use both, you'll basically double the bonus in situations where both apply. I'd be inclined to stick with the Hero modifiers, as they work well with Hero's extremely flexible tactical combat. And it is flexible: I've brought players across from D&D3.5 (itself quite a tactical game), and they've been overjoyed by the options they have in Hero. From the sound of it, you're playing a Heroic level game. SPD is designed to handle anything from ordinary mortals to superheroic speedsters. The easiest rule you could apply is to limit the SPD players can buy. At its harshest, you may simply rule that all characters have SPD 2. A little more relaxed, you may allow them to buy SPD 3. Remember, as a GM you have the right to approve or disapprove any character build for your games. SPD is one of the things people coming to Hero have most difficulty with. It is very common for new players to buy SPD 4 under almost all circumstances, presumably under the rationale that more goes is better. More experienced players tend not to do this. SPD 3 is nice (and keeps you on par with most of the experienced NPC combat specialists), and you spend the extra 10 points on something that'll make sure your slower PC hits more often. For example, those 10 points will buy me +5 vs the range penalty with my bow; or +3 Combat Skill Levels with Swords with a point left over; or +5 OCV-only combat skill levels with a particular type of sword (if my GM will allow +5 in OCV bonuses; it's a common house rule to cap out at +4). If you use hit locations, those points could go to counteract hit location penalties, giving a much better chance of headshots. Or they'll buy you 2-3 Martial Arts manouvers. Or the Sword Tricks skill and some cinematic swordsman manouver (hey, dude, you may have SPD 4, but I have a signature move: watch this!) Though you haven't mentioned it, a similar issue afects Combat Skill Levels. New players like to be broadly powerful. But in place of their 10-point +1 with all combat, I can buy +3 with longswords and +2 with longbow. That gives me a significant advantage when I have my favourite weapons to hand - and they get a lesser advantage if I don't. In short, what I'm suggesting is that you get more used to Hero System, and grok the way it works, rather than trying to fit TFT into it.