StGrimblefig

Re: Hackable cyber-brains? IMHO, if the cyberbrain is hacked, the hacker can only control the equipment connected to the cyberbrain. For safety (and complexity) reasons, I would think that there would be a limited amount of connections between the cyberbrain and the flesh. It would be an engineering marvel to connect it to the just brain, much less anywhere else in the body. - If the victim has cybereyes (or a vision enhancement system of some kind) then the hacker can alter what the victim sees. - If the victim has any cyber limbs, they can be controlled, but any natural limbs that are not receiving assistance are safe. - if the victim has a full prosthetic body (as some in GItS do) then the only thing that they hacker cannot affect is the organic brain itself. I think what cyberbrain hacking really requires is an in-depth knowledge of how a cyberbrain works, and what its weaknesses are (i.e. a skill). A cyberbrain is itself a computer rig, but there may be certain kinds of software or hardware (i.e. skill levels) to help either offense or defense. There should be some basic level of security built-in to the cyberbrain (i.e. it should have a defensive skill or bonus), but it might vary by model. The actual hack attempt seems to me to be an opposed skill test. Any software or hardware used to help is represented by skill levels (perhaps with their own limitations). You could make it more complicated, creating a kind of "mental combat" to use for hacking (I understand there was something like this in the old The Ultimate Mentalist, but I do not have it), but that seems to me only to make it take longer. My first thought is that the cyberbrain itself is a multipower, and any built-in functions (absolute time sense, wireless communications, visual data overlays, etc.) and/or software for it are slots in the MP. Any other enhancements would be bought as separate powers, with their own limitations. I highly recommend Michael Surbrook's Kazei 5 sourcebook (which is available in PDF form in the online store at a great price). It covers several options for cyberspace, in several forms seen in anime.

Re: Class systems -- is there no escape?

Re: Class systems -- is there no escape? Then there are the other FRP games that do not use character classes, like RuneQuest. I was introduced to roleplaying via D&D, but shortly thereafter was playing more RQ (and Traveller and Champions, but that is off-topic) than D&D. In RQ, rune magic was prevalent enough that almost everyone used at least a little magic in their day-to-day lives. The really powerful magic was only attained by those who focused on it, however. Fighting skill was not mutually exclusive with magical prowess, but the more time and effort you spent on training for combat, the less you could spend on magic (and vice-versa). RQ had in the rules that you could only spend XP to improve a skill or ability that you successfully used in an adventure. Okay, that is a little rambling, but the point is that you do not HAVE to use classes (or levels) in FRP to have an enjoyable game.

Re: Quiz/Brainstorm: What's your Special Ability? What ever you do, do not think of "Yellow Submarine" . . . NNNOOOOOooooooooo!!!!!!!!!11one

Re: Quiz/Brainstorm: What's your Special Ability? Ooh, so THAT'S what happened to that guy the other day.

Re: Dark Champions the Anime Series

Re: Dark Champions the Anime Series What about Hikaru No Go as a DC campaign? ... ... ... ... Sorry. I'll go away now.

Re: Ultimate Skill (STR Min 13) I can handle the STR Min, I just want to know how you got Donnie Osmond to appear on the cover. (Then again, after seeing him in the video for Weird Al's "White and Nerdy," I guess he'll take any work these days.)

Re: A Question for the Super-Tech designers amongst us So, a PC is designing and building the gear for everyone? Wow, the group must owe him a major favor for using his personal XPs for them like this.

Re: New Idea For Mental Powers I think this would only be workable (i.e. not a balance issue) if you changed the mechanic to use INT for a "to hit" roll of some kind, and then used EGO to add to the purchased effect. That way, you have an analogue of HTH combat, where INT is the mental DEX, and EGO is the mental STR. Since mental combat is not affected by range, it makes more sense to use the HTH combat model. I would have to re-think the CP costs of mental powers, though, to make sure they are in-line with the cost-per-effect of HTH/HKA/etc. The more I think about it, the more I like the idea of changing ECV to Mental Combat Value (MCV = INT/3) and changing the mental effects to add (EGO/5)d6 (just like STR) to the effect. Then add mental effects to the Damage Classes table, and balance as needed. Would it make more sense to keep the current EGO+X level of effect tables, or give everyone mental defense and go with a normal/penetrating effect + normal/resistant defense model?

Re: "Naked Advantage"

Re: "Naked Advantage" Naked Advantage? What about L337 N3kk1d Skillz (http://www.megatokyo.com/index.php?strip_id=70)?

Re: Question: Must I model everything I own? A while back, PhilFleischmann posted what he called "The Normal Person Doctrine (For Champions)." It stated simply: (Sorry, I have lost the original thread link) I tend to add the "Wal-Mart Extension to the Normal Person Doctrine" which says that, in addition to the above, if you can buy it at Wal-Mart (without a federally mandated waiting period), you don't have to pay points for it.

Re: THE ULTIMATE MENTALIST -- What Do *You* Want To See? I would think it would affect OECV more than DECV. It seems to me to be easier to concentrate on defending against an incoming attack with ambient distractions than it is to clear one's mind in preparation to initiate such an attack in the presence of said distractions. Of course, asymmetrical modifiers kind of goes against HERO philosophy.

Re: THE ULTIMATE MENTALIST -- What Do *You* Want To See?

Re: Tri-system experiment Guilty as charged -- not that I would misuse my company's resources for personal uses. No, no , no. Of Course not.

Re: Tri-system experiment PowerPoint? EEWwwww! If I want to make a pretty presentation to a customer with lots of short, pithy bullet-points and meaningless pictures, I use PowerPoint. If I want to do something like this, I would use Visio -- it gives you the layout control that you want, plus it is actually intended to be a drawing/diagramming program. I haven't tried the new InfoPath yet, so I cannot say if it would be useful, but it says it is specifically used for forms. As for the larger question, it sounds like the OP wants a separate character design form and a simplified character play sheet. Isn't HD capable of outputting based on different templates?

Re: The "Classic" Elements Funk has only three elements: Earth, Wind & Fire.

Re: Advice for GM'ing Download the "Intro to the HERO System" (http://www.herogames.com/FreeStuff/freedocs/HRO_int.pdf) and the "Two-Page Combat Summary" (http://www.herogames.com/FreeStuff/freedocs/Two-Page%20Combat%20Summary.pdf) documents from the Free Stuff page (http://www.herogames.com/FreeStuff/freedocs.htm) and print enough copies for everyone. That should be a good start for everyone that has played roleplaying games before. They will probably still need help with building powers, since that takes a specific mindset to do efficiently, but the basics of stats and die rolls will be covered. I also like the idea of a one-shot combat practice night -- I would call it a "danger room practice session" or something. You could even have this be something that happens every so often between major plotlines, so that players could practice with their "new" powers as they spend XP.

Re: Champions LARP There was some good discussion about this in this thread (http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=44693) back in May.

Re: Please help me with new game setting

Re: A Focus that can Shrink to be hid. Okay, I'll take the hard line. A focus that can shrink to be hid ... is probably not a focus. It is probably just a special effect of a HKA. That way he can have it do whatever he wants when he is not using it. If the sword cannot be stolen, etc. while he is fighting, then it is definitely a special effect. If the sword can be stolen while he is fighting with it, then maybe one of the above solutions could be used. But I would give the miniaturized sword a greater than normal chance of being lost or "misplaced" while small -- because it sounds to me that he is trying to get around the dangers of having an OAF with this (i.e. hiding it kind of goes against it being "obvious").

Re: CyberComedy: Is it possible? I get the strangest inspirations. Reading Shrike's sig, I remembered where I first saw that quote from John Gall -- listed as the Fifteenth Law of Systemantics in "Murphy's Law Book TWo" (ISBN 0-8431-0674-3). I wonder if one could take a few of the applicable entries from the Murphy's Law books and build a series of running gags from them? Like: Greer's Third Law - A computer program does what you tell it to do, not what you want it to do. Could be used whenever a character interfaces with a computer, especially if the interface is voice input. The computer takes everything literally, and misunderstands (in the most humorous way) whenever possible. -or- Naeser's Law - You can make it foolproof, but you can't make it damnfoolproof. Especially useful for generally incompetent DNPCs or recurring NPCs. Or perhaps for the target of an "extraction" that is absolutely brilliant in a specific area of knowledge, but utterly inept at everything else. -or- Flugg's Law - When you need to knock on wood is when you realize that the world's composed of aluminum and vinyl. Have a character or NPC occasionally use the phrase and stop to look for some wood. There are probably others, but I am at work (yes, I have the Murphy's Law books at work).

Re: What does OMEN stand for? How about not an acronym, but an abbreviation? OMEN could be short for "The Ancient and Powerful Brotherhood of the Keepers of the Omen of Eternity" or somesuch. Just like the Illuminati (or, the Bavarian Illuminati) used to be called "the Ancient, Illuminated Seers of Bavaria."

Re: CyberComedy: Is it possible? Look at the TV shows and commercials in several near-future high-tech sci-fi movies. For example, the recurring "I'd buy that for a dollar" tagline from Robocop -- they never really explained the show, but it was always seen with a nerdy, bespectacled, middle-aged man surrounded by perky, scantily-clad women. Something like this could be used as a "running gag" comedy relief in a serious game, as well.