Mike W

Re: House rule I'm considering, Hit Location

I disagree with this entirely. If anything it lends players of skilled characters more confidence as it is a less random which will influence their roleplaying for the better IMO.

 

At any rate when we used it I never felt like our roleplaying or risk taking was discouraged in the slightest.

 

 

 

Why indeed?

On the other hand, where is the need to describe what you're doing in combat? Just shoot the guy and see if you made the roll by enough to change "I hit him to" "I hit him in the head". I think it adds more if you describe what you're actually trying to do and I think this system would discourage such description from a lot of people I played with - or at least lend itself toward the laziness of not seeing a need for it.

Re: Total Newbie Here; prospective HERO-er

You'll need the black and green HERO system book. But after that, you'll want to decide what genre you're playing. The core world is Champions, which is superheroes but there are other game types(Pulp Hero, Fantasy Hero and so on, HERO is a generic system like GURPS). It's important that you think carefully before moving rules from genre to genre. Some things are done differently,depending on the genre - and magic is a big one.

HERO's skill system is designed to cover anything a character might be good at - so yes there are rules for interpersonal skills like Conversation or Seduction and for established relationships(e.g. - Contacts) but most GMs try to mix the die rolls with the roleplaying. Basically, you roleplay it out a bit and then make roll to see how convincing you are. Some GMs will modify the roll based on well it was roleplayed, others won't. Part of that stems from the argument of "well, if the character is much more charismatic than me or knows better what to say, he/she would have done things a little differently".

But ultimately, what makes HERO great(and occasionally frustrating) is that it is flexible enough to handle anything you can think of - possibly in multiple ways. The trick is to experiment around with it and see what you like best.

BTW: I would recommend posting on the Player Finder thread and try finding a way to get in contact with some local GMs to see how they handle things. At least as a starting point. Because HERO is so generic, some things can be tricky to sort out right at first. Most commonly, it comes in the area of providing the proper amount of challenge for the characters. That tends to come with experience. One guideline I tend to use though is the "rule of four" which states that for every imporant attirbute(OCV, DC of main attack, etc) the overwhelming majority of heroes AND villains should fall into a range for four steps. For example, my Champions games usually look something like this:

Damage Classes of main attack: 9-12

DEX: 18-27(each 3 points is one "step" and affects base OCV and DCV by 1)

SPD: 3-6(1 point is 1 step)

DEF: 20-30(each "step is about 3 points or so, since each die of damage does about 3.5 points)

Re: Something bothering me

Like the others, I tend not to worry about how you got the end result of your character building, so much as whether the end result is worthwhile. I've gamed with a lot of people over the years and I've seen a lot of different ways of making characters. Ultimately, as long as the end result is a character that you want to play and that contributes to the game, who cares how you got there?

For me, lately I've been obsessed with VPPs and MPs, but especially VPPs. Probably because I like having lots of options and nothing gives you options like a VPP. My latest character is derived from a Celtic warrior and can trace his lineage back to the Morrigan. So he has a small magic VPP as part of his powers. They work out pretty well from an RP standpoint because I have plenty of restraint when using them. Most of my characters have "just enough to get the job done" mentality because they don't like showing off what the are REALLY capable of going full power. It detracts from the "ace up my sleeve" advantage that I like to have. Since I'm great at computations, I can write whole new spells on the fly when I absolutely, positively need to get nasty and pull something out of the fire that almost looks like a deus ex machina ending to a play.

Re: House rule I'm considering, Hit Location

I tried to search the forums for any mention of this house rule I'm considering, but the search system didn't seem to be working.

 

I'll be amazed if anyone hasn't already proposed this.

 

I was thinking of a house rule for a Heroic Level campaign where PCs can use the overage on their hit rolls on a one-to-one basis to modify their roll for Hit Location.

 

So, example, Dick Dashingford, Private Eye, is punching at an assassin who is rushing at him with a machete. He needs to hit, so he doesn't call a location. He hits on a 13- and rolls a 8, succeeding by five.

 

The GM calls for Dick for roll Hit Location, and Dick rolls a 10, hitting the guy in the Chest location. Not that helpful.

 

But the GM rules that he can adjust his Hit Location roll up or down by up to five, the amount by which he made the roll.

 

Dick adjusts it down to Hit Location 5, which the GM says is the attacker's chin.

 

Would this rule be rankly abused all the time, or would this be a good way to introduce a more heroic tone?

 

It's not often that a strong-jawed hero in a pulp novel punches a bad guy in the shoulder.

I'm not crazy about this simply because I think it discourages roleplaying and risk taking. Why bother EVER trying a called shot and taking the negatives when you can make a standard roll with better odds?

I also think this has the possibility to get abused really easily, especially if you using disabling rules with it.

Re: List of Forum Members - Super Teams & Members

VANGUARD, Chicago

 

- Vector

- Catacomb

- Wraith

- Penance

- Nemesis

- Magma

- Golem (reserve)

- Obsidian (reserve)

Vanguard was the name of the team in the first Champs game I ever played in.

Re: Super Populations and other goodness

One of the perks of my job is Advanced Reader's Editions. I grabbed one called "Soon, I Will Be Invincible!" and began to read. I simply had to share this opener:

 

The author is Austin Grossman, a freelance game designer. I should think so! I just knew it had to be a gamer behind the pen.

 

I love the super population breakdown. I've done similar lists before, but never to this level of detail. I never thought to include microscopic individuals in the breakdown, for example. And a listing of off-continuity, that's just cool. So, how many living weather patterns does your universe have?

 

 

 

 

BTW, on the book: The narrator of that first chapter is Doctor Impossible, the world's smartest man and fourth most dangerous man alive. Very nice. The book is a fun read, though there are a few pages missing in the front. I sure hope they catch that for the big run. Oh, and the dominant superhero team? The Champions.

I don't have anyone I would describe as a "living weather pattern" but I do have a couple of characters that I tend to think of as "forces of nature".

Re: Musing on D&D spellcasting conversion

Use multiple multipowers, each one with a limited number of charges. One MP for each spell level the character knows. Put charges on the MP as a whole. This represents the number of spells they can memorize at each level. Then each spell is a rote they must learn and which takes up one slot in the appropriate MP. The biggest problem you're likely to have is that when you convert them over from D&D the spell costs may not line up well - so you may have to do some fudging about that.

As for each spell, just build each one individually as needed and it has whatever advantages and limits are necessary to replicate the spell.

Re: KA Vs Energy Blast

I was playing with EB's and KA's one day, when I realized that I don't see the point to an energy blast at all. Point for point, Killing attacks seem to do more body than an equal number of active points of Energy blast, espesially when you figure in the fact that Killing attacks ignore unresistant defenses.

 

So what's the point to buying EB's?

EBs are far less lethal. EBs almost never do BODY to anyone who belongs on the field(normals would take BODY but that's a different story). Anyone with decent police issue BODY armor or any super is generally not going to take BODY from an EB. But since Killing Attacks ignore non-resistant defenses for the BODY(all DEF counts toward reducing STUN if ANY DEF is resistant), you can kill someone in short order since a lot of people don't have resistant DEF(or at least don't have enough to totally stop the BODY damage). As heroes, you're generally not supposed to be trying to kill people.

Also, Killing Attacks, if you're using the STUN multiplier, tend to do wildly different amounts of damage each time they are rolled. EBs are more consistent. Even if you aren't rolling for the STUN multiplier, Killing Attacks still have a lot more variation in how much damage they do.

Finally, there is the matter of special effect. Sometimes, energy is potentially lethal - a lightning bolt for instance. But other times, it is not(a shock from an electric security fence like you use to keep dogs in the yard). Fido doesn't have resistant DEF, so you have to make the electric fence an EB(unless you really WANT to be rolling every time he crosses the barrier to see which of his BODY parts is no longer functioning properly.)

Re: Theory Discussion: Defense Alternative

Well, I think part of it is based on cost. Defenses are cheaper(and are supposed to be cheaper) than attacks. If they worked the same way mechanically, then you'd probably have to raise the price on all defenses which would cause you to have to think about repricing everything else.

Primarily, however, I think the best reason for having fixed defenses is to make the attack damage a bit more predictable and reduce the variation in damage you take from a given attack. If you have a 12d6 attack and I have 25DEF, then I can expect to take around 17 STUN and can take no more than 47 STUN(and anything over about 25 is going to be VERY unlikely). I can also feel safe that I won't take any BODY damage. In other word's I can be "bulletproof" up to a certain point. If I had to roll my DEF every time I was attacked, I'd have to buy a several extra dice of DEF to make sure I never took BODY - or buy a ton of BODY to make sure it doesn't matter. 25 DEF would only work out to about 8d6 of DEF at 1 die for every 3 pts spent. So that same 12d6 attack would now do on average a little less STUN(14 points) but with more variation(it would be a once in a million shot but I COULD take as much as 64 STUN and the chances of me taking 25 STUN would go up a lot since now I could take all that extra STUN by EITHER the other guy rolling high or me rolling low.). More importantly, I would now take an average of 4 BODY each turn. In order to avoid taking BODY, I would have to buy the same number of DEF dice as what the attacker had in his attack power. This means that fights in such circumstances could last a very long time since I would also take, on average, 0 STUN. But if I stick with the 8d6 to make the STUN amounts I take balance decently, I would have to buy a boatload of BODY to make sure I survived a each fight - not mention probably needing regen or some other accelereated healing power to avoid spending lots of time on the "injured list".

Re: Green Goblin Jet Boarding Questions.

I'm with MitchellS on this one. Given the fact that it has remote control and all sorts of other gadgets in it at times, it really should be bought as a vehicle.

Re: The Hero Forum's Hottest Man in Comics.

This reminds me of one of a short piece in the back of one of the West Coast Avengers annuals(or was it Avengers, I forget. It's been a long time since I read it) where Wasp and Shehulk played "Rate the Hunks" with all the male Avengers. It was hilarious.

Re: DEX levels in your campaign.

Currently, most characters in my games are 18-22 DEX. Bricks on the low end, most supers in the 21-22 range. 23-25 for high end "standard" supers. 26-29 for very select speedsters and martial artists. 30+ is reserved for people like the Flash; there MIGHT be 5 people in the entire CU with that much DEX.

Re: Worst. Hero. Ever.

The Punisher.

Wolverine.

Iron Man (recent writing).

Batman (recent writing).

Punisher wasn't really ever a true hero. Or wasn't meant to be.

Wolverine can be a great character if he's written as someone who actually thinks and has a conscience.

Out of the "major" heroes, my least favorite has always been Superman. He's just too powerful, even after getting powered down following Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Lamest hero I can think of off hand is tough(and I refuse to count the likes of Juggernaut or characters who "converted" simply because some writers wanted them to; characters must actually make sense as heroes and WANT to be heroes). It would probably belong to one of the several uninteresting Generation X characters like Skin. "Hey, my mutant power is that I have 12 feet of extra skin.' The guy was probably named Angelo Espinoza for no reason other than as a bad attempt to play to Hispanics, like ANYONE would go for such a lame character concept.

Re: Strength and Doubling Damage

Like the others said, I think play balance is a big factor. There is a general belief that STR is already underpriced as it is(and it really is). It doesn't need anything else making it even more useful.

But logically, this was build on as the "straw through a palm" rule. If you watch Mythbusters, they did an episode where they were trying to shoot straw through a palm tree and even though they got the straw going faster than any tornado or hurricane ever could, they couldn't shoot the straw through the palm because the straw simply wasn't strong enough. Same thing with damage cap rule on STR. Of course, in a superheroic game, the rule only applies to killing attacks.

Re: Your occupation, please.

It seems as though every super with a secret ID will fall into the same group of occupations: journalist' date=' military, photographer, or wealthy. While there are exceptions to this norm, they are rare and far between. The most common exception is a younger character being a student. I would like to hear about some of the more unusual occupations that a super would take. This could be related to their power(s) (track/field for speedsters) or with skills (private dective for detective skills). There might even be no connection to the adventuring character (ie: accountant). Any character occupation that would make you drop your jaw is what I would like to hear about.[/quote']

 

Let's see, jobs for my characters have included:

 

scientist

detective

professor

 

But the best one: one of the PCs in the last group I GM'ed ran a comic book store in his secret ID. This had all sorts of implications on his character(including his sometimes knowing things about villains from reading comics), doing "research" by checking in with the fanboy websites, and his tendency to pick up/"acquire" real superhero/villain artifacts which he would occasionally sell online for extra bucks. And of course, his own character did a live appearance at the store opening.

Re: Making paperminiatures

I do things the easy way:

1. Print a picture of the character off the computer.

2. Past picture to posterboard or other thick card stock.

3. Write name of character on back of card stock.

Done.

To hold the characters, I have small, painted wooden circles(color coded as blue for Heroes and Red for villains, available in the crafts department at Michael's and similar stores) with small magnets glued onto them. When it's time to fight, I use a metal binder clip to "attach" each paper miniature to an apporpriately colored circle.

Re: STR and Damage Shield are too expensive

I am sold on schtick preservation. My problem is that I have never been able to get my players to agree to what their schtick will be before play. Maybe I just need to demand a better' date=' non-character sheet driven, concept before I actually let players crunch numbers.[/quote']

 

I usually make my players write up a full character description - background, personality, powers, etc - without using any numbers. Only after they finish that are they allowed to get out a character sheet and start filling in numbers. When you combine the write up with the baseline charts I mentioned in the previous post, I it seems to make things go a lot smoother.

Re: STR and Damage Shield are too expensive

One thing I've found over the years is to create a set of campaign baselines. Print something up that says, for example, what a typical STR is for a typical type of character - and what the campaing maxes are, using examples. So just off the top of my head with STR(and please, let's not argue over who should be where, it's just an off the top of my head example):

Strength Guidelines:

10 average human - you

13 tough human - gang leader, beat cop

20 very strong human - Batman

25 max human - Capt. America, olympic weightlifter

30 low powered super - Luke Cage

45 borderline brick - Spiderman

60 typical brick - The Thing

75 among the strongest beings in the universe - Superman, Hulk

Normally, I fill every 5 points but I didn't want to overstretch the example.

Giving characters baselines lets them see how tough they already are and makes it easier to convince someone that "You're already above average for most supers in X number of categories, that's enough" Plus, if they can see what the absolute max is, most players won't try to munchkin above that line(or not far). In short, the charts help to establish play balance right away and as long as the campaign maintains that balance, I find that powergaming isn't nearly as common because the characters are already tough enough and the players know where they rank in the world, so to speak. Of course, you'll still probably have to deal with someone occasionally who just has to be the biggest, baddest guy on the block. But nothing can prevent that short of not letting them in the campaign to begin with.

Re: Examining existing rules

I think dodging vs. multiple attackers is covered fairly well by the potential modifiers. You don't get full benefit against people you can't see(e.g. are behind you). Plus, multiple opponents might be able to coordinate. As far as what types of attacks dodging should apply to, I'm willing to let dodge work vs. all attacks for two main reasons.

First, it's simpler. Simple is good. Do we really want to create a list that says: For this genre, you can dodge this type of attack but for this one you can't. I mean, sure, Joe Detective can't outrun a bullet - but the Flash can.

Second, and most importantly, I look at dodging as a way to make you a tougher target. Sure you or me can't outrun a bullet, but anyone who has ever tried to hit a moving target be it with a gun or a rock, or a football, knows that hitting a moving target is tougher than hitting a stationary one. No. I can't outrun the bullet, but if I am running or ducking or moving in any way, it means the shooter has one more thing he has to take into account when aiming.

Re: ONE power: what do you do with it?

I would love Teleportation. Don't have to worry if I forget something, just pop back home and get it. Best of all though, I could see the entire world for pennies. "Yeah, I've got a couple hours off this afternoon, thought I'd teleport to Paris and have a coffee on the Champs Elysee. Maybe on the way back I'll swing through Rome and check out the Colesseum. Money? I got $10, so I'm good."

Re: Cap is dead!!!!

If Marvel hadn't already given me enough excellent reasons to quit reading their product...I'd be upset. Now, I'm almost blase - simply because they have killed my ability to care about what they do anymore. Still, if they ever started writing comics I wanted to read again...it would be a strange Marvel Universe without Cap.

Re: Odd Situation

In a fight scence currently underway, a PC has tried a couple of relatively small attacks that didn't have allot of effect on their opponent. Since they didn't work the PC has opted to martial dodge for rest of the fight until authorities arrive, about 15-20 minutes by estimation. With all their levels in DCV and Martial Dodge the NPC need a 3 to hit them. Mechanically it is sound but narratively it seems a little odd that there going to do nothing but evade after 2 attacks with little chance of getting hit for 1oo+ or so "phases" for their opponent and not even be tired. Its probably just the novice GM in me seeing something odd here since most of the systems I'm used to this tactic would be much more risky.

 

But, am I doing something wrong?

Depending on the situation, there are a lot of possibilities here. What was the NPC out to do. If they're robbing a bank and already have the loot, maybe they just leave since the hero isn't hurting them. You can try area effect attacks. Or use the area against the hero(rip out a lamp post and start sweeping hexes, collapse a wall behind the character). They could take time and Aim or Set to gain bonuses to hit. If there is more than one NPC, they could coordinate attacks to get a bonus.

Re: If Marvel and DC really *do* collapse

As mentioned, these things go in cycles. Superhero comics were in pretty dire straits post-WW II, were considered in full retreat and dying up until the Comics Code suddenly reset the playing field followed by the Silver Age revitalization (not that the 2 things were intrinsically related, but they certainly reinforced each other in market effect).

 

So, sure, superhero comics could go downhill again. As mentioned elsewhere, manga is doing great and growing. There seems to be some audience that will exist for comic books ongoing, but the types of books will no doubt change and the proportions for various genra will change ongoing, just as they have for the past nearing-a-century. And as others mentioned, some of it will be online-influenced and further evolve even in art form as well as market.

 

To me, the collapse of Marvel and DC would be good, it would open up new perspectives and opportunities in comics and overall lead to a new beginning. As someone else said, the marketing tie-in for the company that owns Marvel and DC (Warner Bros./whatever conglomerate they're part of now) is also too great, so more likely we might see Marvel and DC go truly "Amalgam" or just bumble along as they are, which I think is more of a problem. Artistically, it's become unhealthy, as the parent company really just needs the comics to reinforce, not lead, their other media, and at the moment management internal to those companies seems cynical, both artistically and commercially, and who can blame them given this set up. But it's also an opportunity, as when WB bought the companies up it also liberated them to do some experimentation with the budgets they had (Vertigo, etc.), and we may see more of that just depending on the vicissitudes of the marketplace and how much and more importantly want kind of stress the parent media company puts on the comic book arm. Right now it's a mentality of "just keep pushing superhero comics, that's what you're good for, our movies prove it." I think in the end result the movies' success has sort of hurt the comics even more as it's resulted in this. I think before the mainstream success of the movies and so on, when WB was counting on comics more to be ad pages for "kewl rebellious up yours" music as well as regular pop music, they were allowing a bit more experimentation than now. Then again, the cultivating of certain writers has been a positive step. We'll see.

I'm not sure that experimentation is the word I would use. On one hand, I kinda see your point in that a lot of the writers seem to write the same story(or stories) over and over again. So there isn't much experimentation in that sense. On the other hand, they are also making irrevocable changes that previous writers wouldn't have even considered(or not seriously anyway). Things like the virtual elimination of the secret identity. Or the fact that major heros can become villains. Or get killed, permanently. I mean, really, the old joke was that the only people who are never coming back are in Marvel Comics were Bucky Barnes, Uncle Ben, and Capt. Mar-vel. Guess we were wrong there huh? And whoever thought that Jason Todd would turn out to be alive in the Batman books? I think the problem is actually that they are taking too many "chances" or experimenting a little too much without thinking about the long term consequences. It's the cumulative effect that is the real problem. Kind of like what happened to Gotham City. The Clench. And the earthquake. And the prison breakouts. by themselves, they were problems and good stories. But eventually, someone looked up, did a little math and realized that they had killed 1/3 of the city in 5 years and sooner or later the money was going to run out for all the rebuilding.

Re: If Marvel and DC really *do* collapse

Agreed, comics are a niche market that took a huge bath due to some bad business decisions in the 1990s. They are still around largely because it is easier to maintain the copyrights in print form(and cheaper). But both companies are owned by megacorporations that don't care about comics, they only care about making money off the characters. Couple that with some(maybe I should say many) bad writers, and the comic book as an art form is in trouble. But the movies, tv shows and such do well because they have the handful of good writers working on them, for the most part. It's no accident that the best Batman movie(Batman Begins) had Denny O'Neil as a consultant, or that the first two X-Men movies were really good and had Chris Claremont on them.

I really think that both comic universes have basically reached the "point of no return" and either are going to need cosmic storyarc to "reset" them or are going to be perpetually mired in mediocrity at best. Too many things have been irrevocably altered to just "fix" them.

This is also a reason why I've started haunting comic book shops again. I want to get as much of the good stuff from the 70s and 80s before it becomes really hard to find.

Re: Standard Effect

The Stun Multiple Debate thread shows pretty clearly how valluable that Stun multiple volatility is over the long run. A 4d6 KA averages 14 BOD and gets 14,14,28,42,56,70 STUN. Assuming a 20 defense target, that will do 0,0,8,22,36,50 STUN - 2 likely chances to STUN and an average STUN past defenses of 26. A standard effect KA will do 12 x 2.5 = 30 Stun, 10 after defenses, or a loss of 61.5% of STUN potential - much greater than the loss on an EB. Make the SM 3 and it's 36, 16 after defenses, and still a loss of 38.5%.

 

And against that 15 DEF barrier, the standard effect KA is a lot less useful than a 4d6 KA.

The Standard Effect for KA is 3(or at least it is in my games). Also, the Standard Effect only applies to the STUN Multiplier, not the BODY roll. So you average 22 STUN on a typical 4D6 roll, can get hot and get 63 or so, but even if you flub the roll, you'll still get in the 20s, enough to get something through.

So let's try that again, with 14 BODY since that is the actual average roll, and x3 Multiplier since that is the suggested multiplier in the book. Also, since 25 is closer to the medium defenses in most cases, let's use that:

STUN Lottery - 14, 14, 28, 42, 56, 70

So that means I get 0, 0, 3(who cares), 17, 31, 45. Two good chances to CON Stun, but two rolls where I do no damage and a third where it is very minimal. Overall, I average 16 STUN through.

With the Standard Effect, I always get 42, so 17 always goes through. Therefore, I GAIN damage overall, but I get fewer huge numbers. On the other hand, I get fewer NDE(no discernible effect) results as well.

Even if you drop someone's DEF to 20, it still holds.

STUN Lottery - 0,0, 8, 22, 36, 50 = average damage of 19.3

Standard Effect you always get 22.

They key to get the big numbers is allowing people to roll the BODY but not the Multiplier. This is perfectly legal. And it still gives you more variation than a normal attack without getting so many "one punch" fights and you also get a lot fewer "no damge" results. You don't get as many 60+ STUN results but you get a lot fewer 21 results too. And how often do you really roll a 12D6 attack and get 60 STUN? Or get 22? It almost never happens with a Normal attack but happens regularly with a KA. Also, by using a flat multiplier but not a flat BODY roll, it keeps the damage range the same as a Normal Attack(12-72 in the case of 12D6 Normal or 4D6 RKA), instead of having a potential of 4-120 if you use the STUN Lottery. And since the campaign requires that EVERYONE'S Killing Attack gets a x3 multiplier it is fair. It is also balanced since the "average" roll on 4D6 is 14, which makes 42 STUN and an equivalent 12D6 normal damage attack gets 12 BODY and 42 STUN.

Finally, I've come across a couple of players who consistently rolled slop. It got so bad that they wouldn't play characters with KA simply because they never got a decent enough roll on the STUN Multiplier to do any damage. That was one of the big reasons why we went to the Standard Multiplier.(Well, that and my ability to consistently pull out a "6" when I really needed one. I took out three members of the Zodiac, including Aquarius on one shot RKAs in a single fight, that suddenly got a lot easier than the GM ever intended).