AmadanNaBriona

Re: After The Magic

What if it's Iron that made Magic go bad?

Iron corrupts the energy, electromagnetism suppresses it?

EDIT: Lest it seem like I'm claiming this as an original idea, it sure ain't.

Good examples include Prachett's Lords & Ladies, Tim Powers' On Stranger Tides, and Ray Feist's Faerie Tale

Re: A Thread for Random Videos

I almost broke one of my friendships winning with that gambit

Re: Attractiveness - Comeliness Vs. Striking Appearance

I keep looking in on this thread and thinking about Pendragon.

I don't recall having to roll for most of our emotional responses particularly limiting our Role playing, although it did mean that sometimes our characters acted in unexpected ways and we had to handle that on the fly. If anything, I found it tended to knock players somewhat out of their RP comfort zones, which often resulted in better roleplaying.

Re: Familiar group, wanna teach 'em Basic 6th first, for a Girl Genius campaign

Another thought: minions in GG are mainly used as lab assistants to help a spark build more/better gadgets. So you could work out something where minions (whether bought as Followers or just commanded) add to a sparks gadget pool in some way' date=' either aiding the Pool or the Control, or reducing the time needed. Or even make them a requirement of reallocating pool points.[/quote']

 

Clever idea. A fairly simple build to reflect this would be extra VPP control with the (what it used to be called) Ritual lim that requires extra participants

Re: Quote of the Week From My Life.

"Are you combining the dark chocolate mousse and the creme brule? That might cause a taste singularity that'd implode your head."

Re: Quote of the Week From My Life.

There is more to life than money -- have you had your daily squee dose today?

I'm deeply in the red when it comes to my squee quotient, alas.

Having fallen back into crazy reclusive artist mode doesn't help my socializing much, although it does up the mystique factor when I make a rare personal appearance

Re: Quote of the Week From My Life.

"I underprice my work because, for the most part, when I price it at what it's worth, I don't like the people who can afford it. I try and set my prices so that the punk girls who I make go squee can afford to buy what I make."

Re: New Math suggests that Warp Drive may actually be possible

anti-protons have POSITIVE mass

 

outside the casimir effect, and "electron-holes" we have yet to encounter anything real that has negativer mass

D'oh. Right. That was kinda derpy of me

Re: New Math suggests that Warp Drive may actually be possible

But it doesn't deal with the real problem which is getting even a single gram of negative mass' date=' much less five hundred kilograms.[/quote']

 

Yeah, but we've had some successes in creating anti-protons using accelerators firing into cushions of neutral particles.

We're still at, IMHO, the banging-rocks-together-to-make-sparks level for this tech, which is why even with the current rate of advancement I give it a hundred years or so.

Re: New Math suggests that Warp Drive may actually be possible

It drops the power density requirements from "Impossible without a pet black hole" to something that we might be able to achieve with antimatter. It's really really groundbreaking and AWESOME news, but I doubt we'll see it in our lives unless we extend our lifespans. I expect we'll be able to take advantage of this discovery in about a century unless we go all Singularity, in which case we might solve all the technical problems pretty quickly. Then it's just down to actually building it and testing... but yeah... crazy exciting news, and not something I ever expected to hear

Re: What Are You Listening To Right Now?

Just found a rather good FMV for the song I was listening to...

Re: What Are You Listening To Right Now?

Sympathy For the Devil

one of the enduring theme songs of my life.

Unfortunately, this seems to be my current leitmotif

Re: Stop Hits

If you make this type of ruling then you have to allow for attacks that should be unaffected as well (example: Captain America making a shield-bash attack).

 

from this thread:

Of course, the RAW gives options for applying a DS to a focus hitting the DS rather than the focuses wielder, and Cap's shield is pretty much an Unbreakable Focus, so this build might not be needed, but it's a creative build nonetheless

Re: NBC Revolution

Actually there are quite a few others as well. I looked at the map they have at Battery Chamberlain, and there are still quite a few scattered across the Presidio and Marin Headlands. My favorite is the 5" pop up model they have on display at Chamberlain.

Yeah, I watched it. I was generally unimpressed, but I'll give it a chance. J.J. Abrams is kinda hit or miss with me. I hope he has a more coherent metaplot than he did for Lost... I gave up on it and have had a hell of a time motivating myself to finish watching it, despite the vast number of hours I've already logged.

Uncle Drunken Badass amused me quite a bit, I confess. He's totally the kind of character I'd play.

Everything did strike me as too clean as well. It just didn't really scream "We're 15 years after the Apocalypse" to me, and I really, really hope he gives us a semi-plausible explanation for the magic amulets (I know a plausible explanation for the magical internet is too much to ask)

Re: Stop Hits

I've done a bit of this in training myself, and seen a wicked demonstration of what I think was a Kung Fu style (it looked very bear inspired, might have been an Animal style) where virtually every block was also a hard strike to a major muscle group or joint on the attacking limb. I think the Trigger option is going to be the most accurate depiction of this sort of stop-strike, whereas the armed combat version is more to slow an opponents advance or interrupt an attack, and I think that Defensive strike is a perfect model for that sort

Re: "Neat" Pictures

'You brought no food but how many boxes of bullets?"

Re: Cool Guns for your Games

Link works for me' date=' though the weapon in question seems to combine the ugliness of tactical with the ergonomic limitations of a lever action...[/quote']

 

I have to admit, I really like it, but I think part of that is kinda that whole "It's so ugly, it's cute" thing

Re: Cool Guns for your Games

here, then

http://www.mossberg.com/products/rifles/mossberg-464/mossberg-464-spx

Re: Cool Guns for your Games

Ooooh, shiny.

Tactical lever .30-30

http://www.slickguns.com/product/mossberg-464-spx-30-30-win-1625-barrel-400-shipped

Re: Musings on Random Musings

Isn't that what those "hair club for men" things actually do? Transfer your hair from one part of your body to another? This may just be hearsay' date=' I admit I haven't ever actually looked into it.[/quote']

 

The prep period for hair replacement surgery involves stretching the donor skin to make it loose then harvesting the strip and cutting out the individual follicles and planting them in tiny incisions. The donor strip is generally hair from the bottom of the scalp/top of the neck. I had an ex who worked for the guy who pioneered the modern process (not Bosley, who pioneered the "Doll hair" style macroplugs, this was his former partner, although Bosley now claims that he invented the technique). It's sort of a an insider scandal in the field.

Re: 6E - Low Fantasy Hero - Game Balance Issues - Advice Requested

That assumes that the GM doesn't allocate points to take the house into account. Or that once play starts that you keep worrying about how many points are in the pool. People get so rigid about points. I use equipment pools to define STARTING equipment. After play starts what spells the PC's have access to' date=' Magic items they encounter and what money they get are controlled by ME the GM. So I don't really worry about the equipment pool after the first game. When/if we add someone new I figure out how many points of equipment that a Noob should have so they aren't overshadowed by the PCs.[/quote'] This is an excellent point I overlooked. Yeah, micromanaging equipment pools isn't really necessary. Using it as starting equipment is a perfect way to apply the system without letting it cramp your style.

 

If you allow Players to write up any spell using any power they like and lose the guts to say No it's your fault as GM. I always make it crystal clear that my first OK is provisional and that if during play something turns out to be unbalanced. I will ask that the item/spell be changed to be more balanced.

Yeah, learned that right out the gate when we first tried out the playtest edition of FH at Dundracon. It was originally Champions style pay-points-for-everything, and got unwieldy quickly without firm GM hand on the reins.

 

Usually we write up spells that are kind of like abilities seen in D&D. So Invis tends to go away once the person attacks a target. Fireballs allow for Dex rolls for reduced damage. etc. The idea is to have the D&D flavor without the stuff we find annoying. It's not that much different from any genre we play in Hero. We try to come up with guidelines that encompass the feel of the Genre we are playing. Otherwise Hero can feel like Champions Fantasy or Champions SuperAgents. AKA Superheroic powers in another genre. It's actually one weakness the system has. That you have to work a bit to make games not feel like Champions.

Indeed.

To provide a non D&D example, my FH setting has basically 4 types of powers:

(Raw) Magic: Chaos/Entropy/Change Does all the nifty magic stuff everyone thinks of as magic. Only works for people with entropy in their system. If you weren't born strange, you have to become strange to work this magic. It generally kills you, drives you crazy, mutates you, or otherwise makes you pay. Nasty Side Effects. Think Warhammer Magic, Lovecraftian and Moorcockian influences plain to see. Also somewhat inspired by the Magic of Recluse Chaos mages.

 

Order Working: Not really magic. More like mystical anti-magic. Removing all the Chaos/Entropy from a given system and hardening it. Expensive points wise, generally persistent effects more like powers and can include enhanced stats. Come with some drawback limitations/disadvantages/Side Effects. A lot of the kinda Paladin/Monk powers fall under his heading, as do the natural abilities of some of the Elder Races. Very inspired by the Black Mages of Recluse

 

Wild Magic: Nature has a way of balancing out the order and chaos in it's systems. It forms patterns which transform the entropy into energy. Tapping this natural energy is usually very, very, very dumb. And Fatal. But there are a couple of races native to my setting's world (Most of the races are transplants) that can do so, and every once in a while someone with the right stuff will figure out a way to ride the power for a while. Doesn't usually end well.

 

Tamed Wild Magic: This is your land of miracles, rituals, gods, and the like. The Otherworld that overlays our own is far more susceptible to intangibles like belief and faith, and when intelligent minds start believing in things, they form intangible patterns in the otherworld that beginning channeling the raw magic in the world in given directions. besides the obvious Celtic legendary roots, I also draw pretty heavily on the Hero Plane from Glorantha for the way I envision the Otherworld. Generally, crating a link with an Otherworld source for controlling wild Magic requires either aforementioned natural affinity, or deliberately creating a false affinity by introducing Entropy deliberately by ritual. This can range from mostly harmless (A vow of chastity violates your nature, for example, and scars or tattoos can as well) to expedient, powerful, and often vile (insert any of the number of ways one could become Chaos ridden. Lots of ways to break a part of your mind, body or spirit).

 

At one point in the not too distant past, during what passed for my Renaissance/Reformation, a bunch of rather serious philosopher types decided to prove that Gods were just false imaginations of men. They succeeded in creating any number of what were effectively Construct Gods, but discovered that once a God in the Otherworld was made manifest, it was no longer strictly tied to the belief of just it's worshipers, but also the other inhabitants of the Otherworld, and still wielded full access to their given suite of powers. A lack of worshipers, while hampering and greatly reducing their spheres of influence, did not in fact exterminate them. And wiping out a God's followers makes them really cranky, and likely to try and create a new generation of followers by coming and giving a nice personal show for the survivors to talk about for a few generations after raining down molten sulfur from the skies.

Not a lot of the Constructs survived the Apocalyptic war that followed, but a few still lurk in secluded spots, most notably the Spirit Forges, which were sort of like Unbeliever munitions factories. They still are capable of manifesting a number of interesting disposable wondrous weapons, but generally require some kind of sacrifice in return, life force being the preferred coin. (stolen lock, stock, and barrel from Legacy of Kain, because I thought they were awesome). That whole bit of background grew out of the possible ramifications of that last magic style.

 

And so it goes... just thought a quick example without any grit might help spark ideas.

Re: 6E - Low Fantasy Hero - Game Balance Issues - Advice Requested

... how does that happen? Because there doesn't really have to be a limit on what is in the stash' date=' only what the character actively has on him/her. Further, you could build the horse as adding to the character's pool (since he can keep stuff with him, but on the horse). Further- yes, at a certain point it's ridiculous that the character thinks he can keep piling things on.[/quote']

 

Indeed.

Heroic games can work using Resource Pool rules, but it helps if the GM really massages the system to get the feel he wants. I tend they work better in the kinda games where the loot isn't really the focus, where the characters all have pretty broad access to armories and the like (King's men or Guild work, those sorta games).

 

I generally avoid the "mundane items with high point cost issues by making most Standard/Simple Equipment point free but with Encumbrance cost (Encumbrance rules are important to Low Fantasy) as well as not being free-free (although they might be supplied, made or purchased), just points free.

 

Give enough points so characters can generally use the gear they want, subject to encumbrance, but this is where it actually works reasonably well at helping enforce genre (and oddly enough some reality)... it helps prevent folk from loading out like an old school stereotypical adventurer.

 

It does lend itself to the "everybody has a main weapon and a backup/alternate plus defenses" style of kit, but this is mostly what you need as a base. Better versions of stuff from the free list comes outta this pool too (I like the idea of giving your horses write up additions to the pool. OIF Saddle mayhaps?)

 

Speaking of Horses, most Riding & Draft animals should prolly come from the Vehicles/Bases pool rather than the Followers/Contacts pool. Might even extend that to background NPC's like porters or sailors, only use the Followers?Contacts pool for the more traditional styles of Follower & contact.

 

I don't know if there are fantasy examples for the Improved Availability Perk in 6th anywhere, But I do it as follows:

3pts Artisan (equivalent to Street Level in DC) access lets you buy custom made, Fine, master-crafted and otherwise exceptional versions of normal gear

5pts Mystical allows you access to curiosities. The more commonly available sorts of wonders and charms. Most settings these are things like potions, scrolls, blessings, holy water and the like

10pts Wondrous you're hooked into the most powerful stuff of your setting. Maybe you're an Immortal with a huge stash of storied treasures, or a Prince with a good enchanter as adviser, or you've got a Seven Eyed extra-dimensional being who follows you around and occasionally pitches artifacts at you for inscrutable plot based reasons.

 

I tend to consider these Increased access Perks to also function as a group Contact (suppliers) at a base of 11-, can be bought up like any other contact, and use that as something of a guide to how fast a particular new item can be hunted up

Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it...

I just finished reading Terry Pratchett's Witches Abroad to the wife. It was hilarious.

 

I could never get into Discworld until I started reading them out loud. Then they clicked.

Yeah, Pratchett reads aloud brilliantly! I've read Hogfather and Wee Free Men as bedtime stories.

Re: How do you Hero GMs prepare for new campaigns?

I just deleted a big response.

Let me 'splain. No, is too much, let me sum up.

Player Packets are golden, Cliffs notes are just the right speed. Give your players a bit of homework, an email to explain how they mesh with the setting packet you gave them. Then you can design personalized info-dumps for them based on the characters they built, throw them a lot of plot hooks while you show off your loving world-crafting skills, and roll the rest under the "This is something you should know..." bit as the situations arise.

BTW, if you want to see how I freestyle brainstorm a setting check my blog. I also have a semi-serious write up of myself in what I consider the Surbrook style, drawn heavily from the Character examples on Surbrooks Stuff. I find the personalized descriptions and quotes attached to the various abilities makes it a LOT easier to keep a coherent overall character design, and often makes Hero style Reasoning from Effect a lot easier by giving you a target goal for your mechanical builds to reach

Re: How do you Hero GMs prepare for new campaigns?

One thing I've seen Susano post about his campaigns is his use of Tropes to identify the game elements and get everyone on the same page. I think this is absolutely bloody brilliant, and can and should be used in conjunction with self identification from Roleplayer Type list in a freestyle brainstorming session with your players, if you're having issues coming up with direction. Take your direction from the gestalt. Done right it gives you a solid handle on what each player wants to have in the game, and a list of elements you can use to build such.

maybe we can get Susano to chime in with some advice or exampleage... Hey Mike?