keithcurtis

Why ST ships in particular? I would certainly consider the Death Star to be a plot device. Keith "It's too small to be a moon..." Curtis

Thanks for the post, Lensman. I'd like to remind folks that not everyone views the boards using the same colors. Most of your post was invisible unless I selected all the text. Keith "Black on white" Curtis

Some quick thoughts: Combat Luck works better with an ACT roll, IMHO. It's more dramatic and gives the possibility of being hurt by a knife blow, just a smaller likelihood. It's easy to stop heavily armored people from using Combat Luck: Don't allow it! You are simulating dramatic luck, not reality. If you want, you can put an extra -1/4 on combat luck (can't use while wearing armor, but I wouldn't bother. It's cheap enough already. Other ideas for restricting armor wearing. Laws. Make it illegal to wear anything greater than leather while in a town. The local magistrates don't want people running around who can scoff at the constabulary. You can also institute similar restrictions on weaponry, particularly missile weapons. If the party is going on month-long treks through wilderness, require an hour or two per day for armor maintenance. Yes, I have seen articles that state that plate armor is not encumbering. Baloney. Why do professional athletes wear as little as possible? Why do backpackers agonize over the weight of an extra pair of socks? The more you carry, the more tired you get long term. Impose some real penalties on long term wear. And be realistic about sleeping in rmor, the amount of time it takes to put it on and so forth. Intelligent foes. Logically, combatants will try and take out the biggest threat. Target the most threatening looking character more often. Also, use called shots, or in a variant we use (since we use armor on activation, not HitLoc), allow skill levels the option of reducing an activation roll as well as giving OCV/DCV/Damage bonuses. Keith "Just some ideas" Curtis

I would say plot your adventure very carefully and only allow limited breakpoints. In other words, make it very clear that "Event X" can result in "Future A" or "Future B". Make Future B really, really unpleasant (Sentinels take over, Nazi-world, etc.) so that they players are motivated to prevent it. I did an adventure where the players failed to prevent a time traveller from changing the outcome of WWII. The next adventure had non-super-powered versions of their characters from the new timeline being contacted by a second time traveller who remembered the original timeline. Eventually, these nascent heroes came to realize that they could change the horror of their world and found a way to un-reverse the event so that the better of two alternatives could come to be. Keith "Why couldn't I travel back in time to kill my own Grandfather? Because it wouldn't be NICE!" Curtis

Actually, one episode had scenes that took place on the yacht, but it was never disconnected from the ship. Why bother? Keith "Why bother?" Curtis

Just to muddy the waters, I say "5E" when I speak of the latest rules revision and "FREd" when I mean the physical rulebook. Keith "Veruca is Latin for wart" Curtis

I wrote a BASIC program to generate characters. Sheesh, in order to buy the ability to pilot a starship, you needed 60+ points worth of pre-req.s. And they weren't listed! You had to look up each individual pre-req to find its pre-req and so forth. I repeat: Sheesh! Keith "Not to mention the entire page of rules devoted to throwing an object from one character to another" Curtis

This is entirely a house rule, but it could solve the problem of those wanting to mix and match. I have always run weapons technology being used against earlier tech levels as being automatically armor piercing. Thus a future gun is armor piercing against modern armor. If the gun is already armor piercing, then it has two levels and can negate a level of hardened on any modern target. Thus your future guns are far more devastating against modern targets, and you don't have to do a ton of re-writing, or a ton of dice rolling. Keith "Cutting the Gordian Knot" Curtis

It would take a snot load of energy to accelerate a penny to that speed. Probably far more than it would generate on impact. If you can generate that much energy, you are probably misapplying your resources. Use that energy to power factories to make bombs or planes or feed the enemy's enemies or something. Heck if you can generate that much energy, just attach jumper cables to opposite ends of the enemy country and watch 'em fry. Keith "Who in no way advocates the wartime applications of the common penny" Curtis

For a true First Level feel, I'd start with Competent Normals (50+50). I'd be pretty lavish with XP at first until they reach Standard Hero Level (75+75, or about 150 points), then I would taper off. I think that would give a good D&D feel.. By that time you should have a better feel for how rapid you want their advancement. Keith "I hated playing first level" Curtis

Unless the third target is in orbit, in which case the Missouri is no more effective than a mall cop in a rowboat. Also, should the Missouri be somehow lifted into orbit, it would do a fairly good job of destroying itself. I see the problem as apples and oranges. We haven't seen a Star Hero land or water based flagship. Perhaps they're tougher? Perhaps space based weaponry is more difficult to design, operate and maintain, necessitating a different design emphasis: i.e. efficiency over raw damage. Keith "Give me the Argo's (Yamato's) Wave Motion Gun, anyday" Curtis

I thought Wolverine won that fight. Though how, I've no idea. Lobo stands toe-to-toe with Superman. I thought that fight was the cheesiest. The artist (and probably writer) obviously didn't have the time to script or draw the fight unti the last minute, so it was set up so that only one panel would have to be created: the winnah coming up and grabbing the cigar. Keith "Wouldn't it have been a kick if Monica Lewinski had been behind the bar?" Cirtis

Heh, you've just described my Savage Earth map. I rotated the world 90°. The main action takes place in equatorial Nunavut (The territory west of Hudson Bay). I have climatology maps for the whole world. The north pole is approxiamtely halfway beween the closest points of S. Amerca and Africa. The history of the campaign has this happening to the world. It is not an alternate earth. If you're interested, I have a spinning globe animation on my website. Keith "Just can't beat an equatorial fjord" Curtis

That would be a brawling manual, I take it. Keith "See, 'barney' is slang for a fight, and... oh, never mind" Curtis

Heh, if you want to see an outrageous munchkinism, Mr. Vimes' thread on surviving a Horror game has a great suggestion. Buy illiteracy, so you can't read the books. Not only does it make you immune to evil tomes and get you free points, he further suggests buying illiteracy in multiple languages to garner even more points. Keith "Now that's Brass!" Curtis PS. Apologies for the temporary de-rail.

I wasn't intending to respond anymore, but I feel you are misrepeesenting my remarks. I will only address those points where my meaning was not clear or I feel you have put a spin on my words (intentional or not) Yes, I am smart enough. I'm also smart enough to use bleeding and impairing. I am also smart enough to design my own game system. Being smart enough to do somethig has nothing to do with the desire to do it. I'm not sure what you're refuting here, or why you seem to be fixated on a face wound, a point which I stated was just a minor example. I stated how certain aspects of the HLC do not match up with the fiction I want to model. Minor point. So minor in fact that I will concede it. Combat is dangerous and somethimes bad things happen. You are using the word hit points. Not me. I'm not sure what you mean by this anyway, save that you feel your method leads to less generic damage? I stated that I will roll a hit location for role-playing purposes if necessary. Do you use bleeding impairing and blow through? Do you model the potential for wound infection? Long term disability? Characteristic loss due to injury? Everyone likes a different level of graininess and realism to their combat. When modeling Superhero combat, FReD recommends using the HLC for color only. Different genres and styles/different needs. Please re-read my words carefully, I said: "Characters don't generally die fighting guards. " Key word: "Generally". I didn't say it was impossible, just not likely. We lost a major character to a minor encounter about six months ago. I didn't step in and deus ex machina the event. It happened. Combat is dangerous and the potential for death is always there. I never said it wasn't. Many rule systems (even Hero) have rules for making simply-overcome villains (Feng Shui's mooks rule, one-or two-hit agents, etc.) You're welcome to come to that conclusion. It's erroneous and totally unsupported by testimonial evidence of over a dozen players. But if you want to judge me sight unseen, I can't (and woudn't want to) stop you. Then why do you keep trying to convince me I'm wrong? Rebut if you want, but if you want a reply, ask for one specifically. Otherwise I'll be happy to let you have the last word. Keith "." Curtis

As a request on the sofware page, could you list the system requirements in the description? Mac, Linux or Unix, etc. users would appreciate it. Keith "Guess which one I am" Curtis

Re: Proof that I am a movie geek... Unless Watto is just ethno-centric. i.e. because he is immune and he is proud of his heritage, he ascribes the immunity to his own lineage, rather than an innate ability. Much like those who are the products of selective breeding (Old Money families), tout their lineage as proof of their superiority. Keith "These are not the droids you're---hey waitaminnit!" Curtis

The Average Humanâ„¢ is not a superhero, and therefor has to pay money for equipment, not points. Keith "Just sayin' is all" Curtis

Actually, the combat handling is only part of the database. It also keeps records and creates characters. But I don't program during a game. I don't like combat luck as written, since it always succeeds. I have thought about putting an activation roll on it, just for the thrill of it, but who wants to re-write all the existing characters? The quote above is what I was referring to. A face hit is a face hit. You have no way of knowing to dodge before the hit is announced. If you are dodging or blocking, you are dodging and blocking all attacks, not just called ones. Unless you require your NPCs to announce to the players that they are going to aim for their vitals before they roll? Please. I am not "deathly afraid". I took one consequence of HLC to make an example. I am not afraid of hitting a character in the face. And I have seen too many munchkins exploit things like the HLC (in GURPS, admittedly) to distasteful effect. I once saw an Archer take out King Kong because the GURPS chart stated the eyes are 0 Defense. His eyes are HUGE. It was silly. Granted, the HERO chart is much better in that regard. Despite what I said about the genre we are playing, combat is not that central to the game. It's a fun adjunct to the story, which might be a mystery or political intrigue or exploration. It's not important enough to add too many options. For example, bleeding or impairing. No. I stand by my remark. I think what my players are more comfortable with is synonymous with what is more fun to play in this case. If people are uncomfortable with a rule, then they aren't having as much fun as they might. I do have other house rules that modify the uncertainty of combat, but our games are fairly story-oriented. Characters don't generally die fighting guards. Again, it might be too unrealistic for your taste, but we don't play in the same game. If Conan dies on page 4, there isn't much of a story. If Boromir dies from a random arrow in Moria, it's not nearly as much fun (to play) as dying defending the hobbits while Frodo gets away. You're welcome to your opinion. I think you would have to attend one of my games before you could come to the conclusion of how I run combat. I have no problem with occasionally rolling a hit location if it's important. For example, two characters are climbing ropes and get into a knife fight. I might rule that anyone who gets an arm hit must make a Con roll to remain suspended. I just oppose adding the HLC calculation into every combat hit. If someone wants to run it for their own character for color, that's fine. If they just want to decide where they were hit, that's fine too. My current players are pretty good roleplayers. I don't want to upset the apple cart by starting an armor race, or have everyone want to by PSLs vs head shots or something. Besides, a blow that does 5 body could be a minor leg wound or a major head wound. Modifying the damage after the location is announced is fun for you, superfluous to me. A person can be fatally wounded in almost any location of the body. It's a pretty trivial thing we're debating here, anyway. I freely admit that most people use the HLC at heroic level and have a great deal of fun with it. We don't. At this point we should agree to disagree, since I rarely argue a point this long. No one is going to change anyone's mind. Keith "To each their own" Curtis

No, it's a book thing. Read the description as they set out from Rivendell. (Fellowship, Ballantine PB edition pp. 365-6) Gimli is the only one openly wearing armor, a short coat of rings. (no helmet, I mis-remembered). Frodo has his hidden shirt of mail and Bormoir has a shield. That's it. Not even leather, though they did have jackets and cloaks lined with fur. I agree about Combat Luck, though. Only problem I have with Combat Luck is it should have an activation roll, or the characters are fairly immune to low-level attacks. Keith "I'm not sure if I made any real point there :)" Curtis

Is this free DCV a house rule? Because permanently small 5ed characters have to pay for that DCV. It really sounds like your dealing with a munchkin, and that nothing you say that makes logical sense is going to make a bit of difference. He sees his character as numbers to be leveraged, not as a game description of a concept. He wants something for nothing, not to play a character. Keith "TANSTAAFL" Curtis

If your game guidelines state a convention of your world, any prospective player would have to have giant cajones to debate them. Especially when they are logical. Give him a short broad sword and say, "Here's your two-handed sword, there's the door. Choose." But say it more nicely. Keith "Never let players into your world. They ruin everything." Curtis

If you feel daunted by the artistic challenge, I would suggest working backwards. Find an illustration you like and extrapolate an alien from that. I have done that in the past if I found miniatures I thought were cool. The advantage is that your visual reference is "dead-on" BTW, for the alien in question, it was a "First Contact" ever situation. I actually made a hand puppet for the players to react to. They were peering into a dark spaceship, so I had them turn off the room lights and only use a small mag light. Besides providing atmosphere, it hepled hide the puppeteer. Keith "God, did I have too much time" Curtis

I vote: All crushed and mangled... Keith "WWWF Grudge Match fan" Curtis