ghost-angel

I'm pretty sure we're all on the same page regarding how Skills could/should work in the system. As they're currently presented in the rules, however, it doesn't appear to actually accommodate these ideas. Currently the system is very much "here's the skill list" and does little to show why/how one can shift the detail to taste.

That skips over the ability to go broad or narrow ... that's my general complaint: Hero does a decebt job describing Skills, it does a poor job describing how to set up a Skill System for your game. In one game PS: Blacksmith may be all you ever need to make and repair weapons. In another game PS: Blacksmith itself may be inappropriate and you have to buy exactly what you're good at: Weaponsmith: Common Melee Weapons & Weaponsmith: Common Firearms. A third campaign might decide that just Weaponsmith itself will cover making any and all weapons, master of arms style. Yes, it's more fiddly tool-kitting BS, but that's the core of the System. Individual campaign books should nail down exactly the kind of granularity the campaign calls for (or enterprising groups can replace it with their comfort level: super detailed or super broad).

The problem I've always had with the Skill System is not the granularity so much as the lack of direction... PS: Whatever should be default include all the SS/KS/etc Skills inside it's tree of knowledge. If you get to the point where you actually practice something, you should know all this stuff, forcing more points to be spent on essentially the same thing feels like forced redundancy. The only reason you buy a SS: Medicine is because you're aren't a Doctor, you're reflecting the same underlying knowledge without any of the professional level practice that comes with knowing how to do the actual job for a living. I've never liked that to be a Doctor you'd have to buy 2-3 skills. Like Vondy, I like the idea that PS covers it all. That's what it's for. The base system is also not particularly clear on how to make new skills, for one game it focused around various kinds of hackers so "Computer Programming" as the catch all failed; we broke it down to; Programming, Networking, Phreaking, Administration, but for a game that doesn't care, all that should easily fold up into one Skill, without invoking the "penalty for lack of specificity" BS. Which brings us to the other problem with Skill Modifiers; modifiers for having a broad skill should only apply if a narrow skill is useful to the game, but the system does a poor job of explaining that, seemingly forcing characters into long, nearly useless, skill lists to feel like they know everything they want. I like the ability to zoom in and out with the Skill System, but there could be a few more paragraphs dedicated to how to use that to best effect.

Weapons aside; 8pt CSLs will also work with all Maneuvers; while 5pt CSLs are defined as specific Martial Arts Maneuvers.

That's the idea... Because I really like the longer, more individual Skill List of the current system. As I said, you would either use the Broad List or the Narrow List, or the combination that fits your game and style more. A Court Intrigue Game? Probably wants distinction between the various kinds of Interaction Skills, but the Combat Related DEX Skills not as much. War Hero? Probably not using all those Interaction Skills, but definitely uses many of the DEX Skills in a more specific manner. Sci Fi Hero? Uses the Expanded Systems Operations Skill Tree. You just create a Tier Bases System and choose which Tier your Game uses. It has the disadvantage of adding more front loading, but has the advantage of creating a better toolkit.

Personally, I like the expanded Skill list of the Hero System, I'm always frustrated by short, overly broad, skill lists. But, if we're on the idea of looking how to overhaul the Hero Skill System, Creating a kind of list you could Expand or Collapse as you need for each game you're playing, going with the Toolkit approach. We already have this to a certain degree; Systems Operations for some games is the only skill you need to work any kind of computer like device; but some games like Star Hero will have an expanded tree breaking out Medical Equipment, Communication Equipment, etc and so on. There's no reason that concept can't be used across the board. Don't feel like dealing with the majority of Interaction Skills, because your game doesn't focus on them at all? Then we use "Interaction Skill" instead of the individual Skills. The DEX Based Skills could be broken into discrete aspects as well. Group Stealth, Shadowing, Locking Picking, under a Skill called "Subterfuge" instead, for example. The Cost doesn't even need to change at all. A Game would use either the Broad or Narrow Skill List, or whatever combination the GM felt was appropriate of the game. The System is already designed with the idea of increased and reduced granularity in this area, we'd just need to expand it to cover the entire Skill System.

You don't, actually. And no GM should make you pay points for something that any NPC in the game has or has access to without it being something better and above.

I haven't read it yet. Like Nolgroth, but the time it finally got to me I kind of didn't care anymore. I'll probably sit down and read it this summer though.

This... I mean, it's literally a Computer.

Vondy is right, for the lack of direct DOJ products, Hero isn't nearly as dead as it was in the mid 1990s....

A reminder that Wireless does have limitations; An article that reminded us to adjust some setting in our own Wireless Network this afternoon... http://m.theregister.co.uk/2016/04/01/cabling_is_good/ a point to the naysayers on that (though a properly secured switch with a segregated public network using proper domain controllers is generally as safe from war drivers finding your network as the random internet hacker is coming in the other door... the security concerns - assuming the sysadmins are doing their jobs - is minimal IMO), The rest though, the rest points out the inherent problems in WiFi.

Depends on the battery and if the charge circuit is working properly or not...

I'd argue that happens in real life too... It is one of the reasons pack animals and riding exists... The CON/REC part is part of why I'd recommend decoupling the whole endeavor from Characteristics almost enturely. LTE is a separate thing from your short burst REC and CON. LTE = END; You lose and regain LTE independent of your REC, it's based solely on Travel and Rest periods. When travel stops, you could perhaps give a bonus to those with higher REC to regain LTE/Max END faster, but that's it. It removes some of the gamesmanship from it. (and of course if a player puts XP into END after traveling around a lot to keep up with the group, well, that seems a natural consequence of traveling a lot...)

Well, as people are certainly one of the most equipped animals on the planet for endurance and long distance movement... Personally, I'd abstract the whole thing a little more so it doesn't become a book keeping exercise when you go to the scene where we watch the red dotted line go across the map... Find the slowest person, & lowest recovery person; 1 LTE/HR seems a good start, you can travel as fast/far the slowest person (if someone buys down their Movement because they're old, or whatever) for instance; and you can travel as long as the least robust person... Without pursuit, and if you need to spend more energy hunting (assuming you didn't catch anything of opportunity during the day) hopefully trading off who hunts will minimize the LTE loss over extended activity. Say, 2 hours of hunting = 1 LTE just for the sake of brevity and simplicity (i.e. minimize book keeping as much as possible). 1 Hour Sleep/Full Rest = 1 LTE REC; Again abstracting over time versus your actual REC. Short night sleep? Still got some LTE, been driving yourself hard with no sleep? You're going to need a good long rest at the end of the journey. We want ease of playability as we do any semblance of realism. The system isn't always terribly realistic anyway.

This is one of those conversations where the more I talk the less gets through. Suffice to say, wireless is not dead. It is not going away. Cellular is encrypted by default and is not totally insecure. You do not clash with everyone on the same RF as you in the same way you do not clash with everyone using the same trunk line as you (or did you think a building ran individual fiber runs for each computer on a network from the switch to the modem leading outside? Because they don't, it's one 'wire'). I would use a repurposed TV satellite dish, not a shotgun mic, to intercept wireless communications, were I that bored and/or inept. There is a lot more bandwidth in the air than you think there is. Hacking a network from the internet side using anonymous IP redirectors is much easier than anything 'in person' or even 'in vicinity', making the argument of how you're on the network moot. I'm out.

Like the US... where the service industry seems to be fighting EMV tooth and nail...

Not everything is done for money... Or just for money. Though my block list has grown today... so there's that.

RE Pacemakers; Bluetooth has low power requirements, low protocol overhead, and the data itself can still be encrypted; basically it fits all the needs of an adjustable, monitorable, purpose built appliance like a pacemaker. Security, even over hardline, is not a If You're Breached scenario, but a When You're Breached scenario. Spending all your time keeping people out is a lost battle; You still take security measures, but what happens once breached is infinitely more important than the actual breach itself. The whole "wired is more secure therefore we should only use wired" is only relevant if you're in an isolated system. The second you connect to the outside world your interior connection type is meaningless, they could be anywhere in the world and still get on your network. It doesn't matter if you plug your device into a wall or connect via WiFi hotspot; if you get on the internet at all, 1000km and 10 feet are effectively the same distance. There are very few truly isolated systems in the world, and yes, those probably don't use wireless connections. If you think you're on a 'separated medium' when you're the only one jacked into a wall socket, you're mistaken. As long as that wall socket goes somewhere you're accessible. Period. The hyperbole about the only secure computer being buried was trying to prove a point: If you're connected in any way to a network, it doesn't matter how, you're accessible. You are almost never going to be hacked in a point-to-point connection, it's going to be through the network you're on. How you access the network is irrelevant. Security starts with the Routers, Managed Switches, and Servers, not the devices on the network. [Actually, Security starts with people, the majority of Credit Card theft occurs physically in person still, not by hacking a computer. It's like car crashes versus airplane crashes - airplane crashes get all the flack because more people are killed at once, but overall car crashes cause way more deaths per year; same with something like CC - far more are stolen in small batches by a single person than are stolen in large groups by a guy with a computer (but that guy gets 1000s at once, so it just looks worse). Of course, the new EMV system aims to stop that using point-to-point encryption... (i.e. the chip & pin set up where you now physically insert your card); Even that's already been breached...] Security is more about controlling data than controlling access. And wireless systems are not only far more convenient, but easier to work with from a user point of view; as Tasha pointed out above.

Tonight's Star Wars game; The Rodian, Jako, tracks down some other Rodians who stole all our money... Jako: Revenge is sweet and best served cold. Oskara (the Twi'lek pilot & gun bunny): Revenge is ice cream?

The thing is, I like a bunch of Zack Snyder movies. I do not like his Superman. He does not understand Superman as a character, nor dues he seem to understand Heroism for the sake of Heroism. He is the wrong man for this story.

Depends entirely on size & deadlines. I have work for Denver Comic Con that's taking most of my free project until Mid June.

I have some In-Design Templates with sidebars of various sizes, it can create a PDF. But that's it.

As someone who used to hack phone trunks... wired =/= secure. The only secure computer has all it's networking capability removed, is powered down, placed in a fire safe, in a concrete cube 200 meters thick, lined with lead, and buried 1000 meters underground. Everything else can be breached.

It's things like that that cause me to twitch whenever I see something like a networked refrigerator ... why does your fridge need to be online? I mean, other than allowing someone to turn it into a SPAM server or node for a DDOS Attack... The temperature of your 8 day old leftovers is not imperative.

Only if it has a wireless network card...