Almafeta

Re: Rifts HERO?

Very nice! I note your willingness to put it here, when I'm pretty sure you've refused to do so on RPG.net. Pretty clever!

 

I like it, though I note that you seem to have included some skills of your own devising. "Radio (Base+1, 3 points)" would seem to be shorthand for "Systems Operations: Radio" at the same cost, but what is "EF: Weapons (1 point)"?

Actually, I copied and pasted this right from the RPGnet thread, which you can find linked to in the "Other RPGs converted to HERO system" thread. (I had also made an 80% complete conversion to BESM d20 -- only had mecha and spells left -- but that got pulled...)

"EF" is an "Engineering Familiarity," a takeoff on WFs and TFs. Because the RIFTS setting has so many different technologies (many of which do the same things, but in different ways), and the balkanization of civilization is an important part of the backdrop, I fudged rules for it. You're at -3 to skill to anything but the most banal Electronics (etc.) rolls if you don't have the right EF.

Re: Rifts HERO?

I have no exposure to hero system and am willing to give it a shot. Anything can be better than what we got now. What hero system books should I be purchasing in order to help with this conversion?

Definately Sidekick ($7).

Since it's a bit barebones, you'll want to look here to see what conversions have already been done.

Re: RPGnow categories

Umm...correct me if I'm wrong' date=' but wouldn't that be something that RPGNow would have to fix? I don't think that DOJ has anything to do with their online store apart from selling them the product. How RPGNow wants to order/sort things within their own online store is up to them.[/quote']

 

Products are inserted into categories based on where the publisher says they go; nothing in the product updating page prevents publishers putting their products into the wrong category. ^^;

(I wasn't sure what forum this best went in, so I supposed the most generic one was the safest bet...)

I noticed some of your products on RPGnow are miscategorized. Namely:

• HEROgylphs belongs in the Other/Universal section of roleplaying games, not a section for non-roleplaying-games.
  
• Pulp Hero and its support products belong in Modern, not Other/Universal. (Unfortunately, RPGnow has yet to create a non-d20 Pulp section to compliment their d20 Pulp section.)
  
• The Ultimate Brick belongs in Super Hero, not Other/Universal.
  

Finally, it seems Hero Games hasn't created any custom categories. Why not? My company does it by imprint, but your products would probably be best organized by line (Dark Champsions, Pulp Hero, The Ultimate Series, et cetera).

Re: Rifts HERO?

I still have yet to see a GB writeup, too! *hint, hint*

 

Here's the one I used a year or so ago:

Glitter-Boy (89 points)

Package Skills (27 points). Combat Driving (Base+1, 5 points), Demolitions (Base+2, 7 points); EF: Weapons (1 point), Electronics (Base+1, 5 points); Navigation (Base, 2 points), Radio (Base+1, 3 points), TF: Glitter Boy Environmental Armor (1 point), WF: Energy Pistol, Energy Rifle, Rail Guns (3 point).

Nickname of Glitter Boy (Frequently, Minor, Not All Cultures, -5 points)

Glitter Boy Environmental Armor (62 points). (STR 35; BODY 50 (35 points); -2 DCV (5 points); -5" KB; DEF 24 (66 points); DEX 8 (-6); NCM Movement Multiplier *4 (5 points); Leap 24m (24 points); and Suit Powers (189 points).)

Laser-resistant coating (Suit power, 20 points). Energy reduction 50% (30 Active Points); Only Works Against Lasers (-1/2).

Boom Gun (Suit power, 120 points). RKA 8d6 (120 points) with Charges (100 shots in 40-round drums, 15 minutes to change a drum; +1/4) (150 Active Points); Gestures (Must put pylons down taking three rounds or else take 6" knockback when firing, -1/4).

Sonic Boom (Suit Power, 31 points) Flash Hearing Group 6d6 (30 points) with Megascale (80m radius, +1/4) (38 points); Linked (Boom Gun, -1/4).

Thermo-Image/UV (Suit Power, 8 points)

+1 Initiative (Suit Power, 2 points). DEX +1 (3 active points); Only To Act First In Phase (-1).

+2 to Breakfall (Suit Power, 4 points).

+2 to Hit With Boom Gun (Suit Power, 4 points)

Shiny (Suit Power, Concealable, Major, -15 points)

Re: Extra Extra: Is 5ER actually bullet proof

Unfortunately, the tests for "If I hit you with my copy of Hero 5er, you would die" had less publishable results.

Re: Give me your house rules!

My most popular one: Six stats, with each stat being 2 points per +/- 1. The stats are STR, INT, DEX, BOD, CON, and PRE; 'Comliness' is just a limited PRE, Strength is doubled, Speed becomes a derived stat that's worth 20 points/+1 (bringing it in line with damage reduction), EOCV is INT/3, and EDCV is PRE/3.

One that's untested: Body damage for normal attacks becomes based on margin of success. (Roll stun damage like normal; damage that's automatic has a 'margin of success' of 1d-1.)

MoS 0: Body Damage = 0.

MoS 1: Body Damage = Dice * 1/3.

MoS 2: Body Damage = Dice * 2/3.

MoS 3: Body Damage = Dice.

MoS 4: Body Damage = Dice * 1-1/3.

MoS 5: Body Damage = Dice * 1-2/3.

MoS 6: Body Damage = Dice * 2.

Just an idle question re my purchases on RPGnow, that I've been meaning to ask for a while but not got around to.

I see that copying and pasting the text of the HERO Resource Kit is allowed.

But why isn't allowed in Sidekick?

Re: I dreamt of HERO last night.

What the hell is Nam-Shub?

A nam-shub is a sort of Sumerian incantation. The 21st century BCE version of 21st centure CE memes, except nam-shub supposedly altered a person's mind -- in effect, enslaving them to the writers of the nam-shub, or reprogramming their minds.

Re: Anthropomorphic/Furry HERO Resources

*holds hand up enthusiasticly* ME ME ME ME , I want them.

 

Pretty pleassse!

 

QM

Here ya go then.. As I look back on it, I see a few math errors (a toy dog should be 22 points, not 2 points), but these are usually glaring.

Re: Anthropomorphic/Furry HERO Resources

I'm not sure if this would be appropriate to go here (since few 'rulesy' things are being discussed), but I've written up some furry templates in HERO format if anyone wants them.

I very rarely dream of RPGs... but last night, HERO was an exception.

In it, I was a Champion. No, I don't remember what my powers were; in fact, I think the most super thing I did was ride a ride-on lawnmower. More on that in a second.

You see, I live just outside of the town limits. The road past my house goes up and becomes less and less developed, until it becomes a gravel road that stretches for about a half mile through woods and reaches the judge's estate. I've only been there only once, but it must have been enough for my subconscious to deem it a devious and spooky place, because in my dream, that's where VIPER had built their school.

It was five Champions, myself included; I can't tell you their names, because I don't remember which they were. Besides, we were all in disguise. VIPER was building a school where talented superkids were coerced, and normal dropouts and rejects were enticed, to become VIPER agents. We were all infiltrating the school in disguise, trying to figure out where they got their power, and most importantly, who was in charge so who would best take them out.

The 'school' was odd. It seemed nice in the foyer -- almost like Harvard or MIT -- but as the team left the main room, we found something odd: A room filled with nam-shub.

Our mystic quickly determined that the supers were being coerced by gradual introduction of nam-shub into their minds, and that was gradually changing their minds without their knowing about it. This ominous room (filled with lava flows, Incredibles-style) was where the nam-shub were written, and the plans for their introductions to the student body laid out. That was a hefty clue into who did it -- but it was also a danger, since even merely seeing them would also change our minds subtly, making us want to join VIPER. Going through the room with our eyes half-lidded, squinting to blur out any meaning in the letters and symbols, was not easy. At a split, three of us went left while two of us (me included in the two) went right; I never saw the three that went left again.

The two of us entered through an unusued door into a quite well used locker room. The locker room was serpentine, and I recognized some teenaged or pre-teen versions of other supers (including some pre-teen versions of heros in VIPER garb). We went towards where the weaker students denounced the 'bullies' as living, taking that to mean the super-teens, likely to be closer to the source of the school's leadership. The tunnels became smaller and more labrynthine as we went, and I was sure we had gone the wrong way. I lost the other Champion in the confusion. (We had to stick together, but we couldn't stick too together, as that would arouse suspicion... when it comes to having backup in case the shit hits the fan, and not having it hit the fan in the first place, I choose to have it not hit the fan.) And thus, I was alone.

References to the leaders being royalty (right down to a 'Serve the King' logo in the shape of a 'Burger King' logo above the mess hall) were frequent, but I never found out who the leaders were... because Mentalla found me first.

No, I don't know how I wasn't out-willed by her. Someone must have rolled an 18. But needless to say, I never gave her a second chance. I ran.

By the way... actual dice were being rolled, as this was a not only a Champions dream, but a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Champions (as in the book) dream. Occasionally as the dream went on, I read instructions to roll a skill check or make a EGO roll, I'd make the roll, and the story would change when the roll succeeded or failed.

Anyhow, Mentalla saw through my disguise like I would see through glass, the alarm was raised by her, and many armored teenage 'grunts' and bewildered superteens were alerted. I managed to run back through the locker room in the confusion before the students realized that this 'fellow student' was the intruder.

I never met up with another Champion as I high-tailed it, but I heard indications that my fellow faux students were giving the locals trouble. Sneaking through maintenance hallways and other areas normally not accessed by anyone but the maintenance and janitorial staff, I made my way to the grounds building.

You see, I could see across the estate's lawn to the fence. Their exterior peremiter was a normal wire fence (to maintain the appearance of normalcy) with two well-armed, fully-trained adult VIPER agents standing guard (because this was a VIPER instillation, after all). I knew I couldn't superspeed out, I couldn't fly out, and I sure as heck couldn't fight out. So I had to, well, Foxbat out.

The grounds building had a ride-on mower, so I had a crazy idea. I fired it up -- hardly noticed, as there were plenty of blasters going off perhaps ten meters behind the grounds building, and the gate guards were watching the front door, not the neglected side entrance to the grounds building. Firing the thing up to its maximum speed, I bolted out.

Now, you see, VIPER is prepared for many things. VIPER is ready for cyborgs. VIPER is ready for inquisition into the veracity of their fronts. VIPER is ready for speedsters, bricks, mentalists, gadgeteers, weapon masters, martial artists, personalities, and all sorts of enemies. They are not prepared for a kid streaking down their path at thirty miles per hour on a stolen riding lawnmower screaming at the top of her lungs.

Normally, VIPER's hidden FTL energy fence would have detected any speedsters running in and automatically activated, and their guards would have automatically taken out any slower threat. But these two agents were definately caught off guard by my 'advance', and as I blew by at the rather-slower-than-light speed of 30 miles per hour, I crashed through the fence without nary a blast.

Oh, they caught on to me, eventually. I had one of the faster agents (must have been super, in retrospect) run up to me and hang onto the back of the lawnmower, but I kicked his helmet and he fell off, just as I crashed the lawnmower -- well out of the forest, and back into the eye of public scrutiny. I was safe again.

The last thing I remember was walking back to Champions HQ, which looked suspiciously like my house at the other end of the road. And then I woke up.

No, I never found out what VIPER was planning to do with Nam-Shub U, or who exactly was in charge. I suppose I'm going to have to bribe a GM to finish this story for me...

(I wasn't sure where to put this, I hope this was the right forum...)

You, sir or madam, rock with the intensity of a thousand earthquakes.

Loveitloveitloveitloveitloveit!

1) When using the Can Apply (Remove) Adders adjustment advantage, is the number of points you must roll on the power equal to the difference in active point costs, or the difference between the base cost and the base cost modified solely by the adder to be applied/removed?

2) Is there any such advantage as Can Apply (Remove) Limitations?

3) What happens when you have he Extra Time: Delayed Phase (-1/4) limitation on a power, and your DEX has been adjusted to or below 0?

In addition, is there any general rule for other situations where you must halve a negative stat (such as low Strength and Casual STR)?

4) Again, a negatively adjusted DEX question. Can OCV or DCV be negative?

5) (This is not actually a rules question, but a question out of my own curiosity, but while I'm getting everything asked...) How many words (total, not individual) are in Sidekick?

Re: Six stats, take 2.

Hmmm...the big case against it is merging PRE and INT. Why not separate these into two again.

 

To keep 6 stats, we'll drop BOD and just use something else to track character life force. Let's call that "hit points".

 

Let's also rename EGO to be "Wisdom" and PRE to be "Charisma".

 

A few more changes and we could have a brand-new, original gaming system here - or am I missing something

Are you calling me an Action! player?

Re: Adding value to COM

I use PB in Palladium and Appearance in Storyteller to determine initiative...

Just taking an old idea another step. This is more complex, but I like it, and I hope I can explain it.

First, to reduce the number of stats, and reduce their cost to 2/+1, like in my old idea.

* STR is 2/+1

* DEX: Remove Speed from the equation, make Speed start at 2 and be 20/+1, and DEX is reduced to 2/+1.

* INT/PRE: Combined into one stat, Int, at 2/+1.

* BOD, CON, EGO: Stay the same.

* COM: Dropped.

Then, to reduce their 'resolution': make one pip of a stat under this system be worth 2.5 pips over the normal system -- that is, close to the value for CV/ECV, and an even multiple of the skill base value. So, a base stat of 10 in normal HERO becomes 4 in this sytem.

Since every stat costs 2 points, and every pip in this system is worth 2.5 under the normal system, that means +1 to a stat costs 2 x 2.5 = 5 points. (The same as +1 DC, but that's accidental.) So, you have six stats, STR, DEX, CON, BOD, INT, EGO, that start at 4; +-1 to a stat is +-5 points.

Finally, to change the skill system to work with the new scale. Combat and skills both work like so: (AV/Skill) + 3d6 verus (DV + 10)/Difficulty. One of the problems I see with the HERO system is that, for a system that's supposed to be scaled and not have absolutes, anyone can have an absolute skill for ~20 points; no automatic failure rules, so if you buy an 18-, you can't lose. With Skill+Dice v Difficulty, you don't have this automatic success problem; difficulty scales with compence. Skills are bought like before, but instead of being based on a formula, they're based directly on the stat. Unskilled rolls are at -8, a Familiarity is at -4, and everything else is Stat Plus X.

However, there are some problems with this setup:

* Problems with body points, and minor problems with PD/ED. You just can't get an average value of 10 from an average value of 4 with any simple math.

* Perception is 5 points/+1. However, under this new system, so would be INT, which it is based on...

* The influence of stats on skill rolls is doubled. This might not be a problem since the 'target number' would also be doubling in the same ratio as the stat.

Just thinking out loud. Maybe I'll write more cohesively after sleep.

Re: Looking for random-roll HERO

Well, I 'found' the page.

It was described in Power Point, a column in the 'zine Haymaker!. The author had his article up for a while, at http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Cavern/1905/pwrpnt.html ; but it isn't there anymore.

Ah well...

On page 314: "Each increment of Size on the table costs 5 Character Points."

Does this count the first increment of Size on the table (the 100kg line); i.e., does it cost 5 points for a 100kg vehicle, or 5 points for a 200kg vehicle?

Re: Is 5th Edition Revised going to be worth it?

I was kind fo surprised to see Steve Long say he was almost doine with a revised edition of the HERO System Rulebook 5th Edition. I have to orignal FRED and am very happy with it' date=' and am wonderring whether the $50 investment in a revised book will be worth it.[/quote']

 

If it included stuff like the Genre-By-Genre document and Combat Summary from the free download page, then definately.

I was wondering if this would work, or if there's something I'm not seeing. It condenses the eight HERO stats to six stats, that each cost 2/+1. The changes you make:

-- Change the cost of Strength to 2/+1, in line with its usefulness.

-- Divorce Speed from Dexterity entirely, and drop the cost of Dex from 3/+1 to 2/+1. Speed starts at 2 and costs 25 points per +1, in line with its power.

-- Constitution and Body are unchanged.

-- Ego seemingly exists only for Mental Powers; it's a point sump in games without mental powers. So divide its roles among Intelligence and Presence, making Intelligence being the 'active' mental stat (a la Dexterity) and Presence being the 'passive' mental stat (a la Strength/Constitution), both costing 2/+1. EOCV is INT/3, and EDCV is PRE/3. This also brings Intelligence's cost up in line its usefulness.

-- Drop Comliness altogether. If you seriously want it, take Presence at -2 (Attraction/Repulsion based) and maybe a 'self-conscious' social limitation.

Would it work?

Re: Hero Needs Reviewers!!

I was wondering what was going on at RPGnet... I don't think a single RPG revew day in the past month has gone without a review of something Herocentric. o_O;

Re: Looking for random-roll HERO

None of the above, unfortunately. I remember it being explicitly Champions-centric.

I've been looking for this website on Google, but with no luck since I can't remember the name. Hopefully someone else knows of it...

It was a random-roll character generation system for HERO, with most charts being 3d6. You'd roll for a 'class', which would grant so many points of powers; then, you would roll for two 'focuses', which would grant a lesser amount of points; then, you would roll for 2-4 'skill groups'.

The system also had random-roll modifiers for certain powers (the 'normal' attack powers, plus some mental powers).

Does anyone know off-hand where this site, or something like it, is?

Re: Pokémon HERO

Well, here's my current document. Five pokémon converted, and all 28 of their normal moves. No notes on the world or the like.