Alibear

Re: battle Wear vs. Town Wear Has anyone here ever GMed a game for a PC sat as a guard of 'stuff' while the other PCs went of and had an adventure? I never have in 20 odd years GMing. Dragons only fly cos they're inherently magical in nature. Stone statues only walk if a magician animates it. A zombie only only rises again by magic. Magic doesn't explain away why a normal villager would blink away a strange soldiers dressed for war strolling up and down the main street. And certainly doesn't explain why the local law would ignore it.

Re: battle Wear vs. Town Wear I'm from rural Scotland and grew up there in the 70s in a family of field sportsmen. I owned a 20 guage shotgun at 10 years old. People did not walk around with shotguns or any other weapons openly. Hunters or farmers would have them in the back of the Land Rover or propped in the wardrobe. If you did see someone with a gunbag over his shoulder you'd look twice and he'd likely be on his way to shoot game in in a field or take to the sportshop to have repaired perhaps. Some of the 'shooting' community had other weapons for fun, 9mm pistols or pump action remmingtons or the like but that was very much a rarety most people had an 'over an under' or 'side by side' and perhaps a .22 rifle.

Re: the meter and the hex (stretching) If I run a game the game is never limited by the map*. I just extend the map not constrict the battlefield. Even if I have to ditch the map or start adding notes to the edge Rubber Johnny 100m thataway. *Not that I've ever used battlemaps mind Perhaps the strangest thing I've encountered on hero in some time.

Re: Altered Life Death Cycle Effects Do you still have penguins or would such large, and presumably tasty flightless birds be too easy for man and Polar bears to wipe out?

Re: Altered Life Death Cycle Effects Point taken. Not sure there is anything which suits as well as a well-trained dog. There is a reason dogs are our best freinds and not wolverines I suppose.

Re: Altered Life Death Cycle Effects But snakes are cold blooded and it's set in a cold climate... which will be a problem. I reckon minks or weasels of something of sort would work well. Perhaps even wolverines!

Re: Altered Life Death Cycle Effects What would poor people do? The people who can't afford ellaborate burial service. Prop them in the cold store with the winter vegetables and hope for the best?

Re: Air Pirates in a Fantasy Setting Cos he was my Champions/ Hero GM for years and we're still freinds. Not sure he's got 6th Ed yet, must ask him next time we speak on facebook.

Re: Air Pirates in a Fantasy Setting And for bonus points King is or certainly was a big Hero fan.

Re: Altered Life Death Cycle Effects Another thought. If peoplle can influence by their actions, or even think they can influence their chance of coming back then that will be the basis of many religions and cults. People will be more X (heroic or pure or whatever)in the hope that they'll rise again.

Re: Altered Life Death Cycle Effects I think instead of having little boys with sticks you'll have domesticated animals of some sort, cats or WHFRPG small yet vicious dogs. They might even have some sort of protected status like some animals, monkeys iirc do in India. Perhaps become semi devine guardians of the not quite dead. But yes masuleums will be often be big lavish affairs where people will spend large amounts on Ststus symbols, parties and upkeep. I can imagine rich families might have private guards to protect the not quite dead and others might kidnap them for ransom.

Re: battle Wear vs. Town Wear I think I repped him but am not sure with this new board.

Re: Altered Life Death Cycle Effects Sounds awesome. Is this where vampires and undead come from? Have decayed and come back to life perhaps? The undead would be stick on bad guys in my opinion.

Re: battle Wear vs. Town Wear My GMing style is sometimes squite arbitary. I just explain the situation in a few sentences and skip the boring bits or bit where players will do stupid stuff. It might go something like this. "A weeks travelling in the wilds, often wet miserable and cold, sleeping rough more often than not you find yourselves in the Elephant's Toe Inn in the town of Rockferry. You've shaved, bathed and sent your travel clothes to a local seamstress, your armour to the smith to have holes and dents repaired. With a full belly and a good night's sleep you wile away the afternoon with mug of the local cider in your fist and sit by the fire and swap stories and tales with the locals and flirt shamelessly with the serving wench. It feels so good to be in civilisation, not wearing uncomfortable, chaffing armour, not lugging around a heavy pack and cumbersome weapons. You feel rested, safe and warm for the first time since you left Manndorf." Some things are a given, that they might have a sword in the corner out of the way but armour or bows would not be reasonable in such a setting. However if it's not such a cozy setting, if I had set it up to be a wild and lawless place then i'd assume the players would take my hint and keep amred and armoured. It depends on how the GM sets up the game.

Re: Air Pirates in a Fantasy Setting Demonslayer and Dragonslyer by Bill King feature an airship, gyrocopters and Airship to dragon combat.

Re: Air Pirates in a Fantasy Setting I remember War of Powers too. Big flying city which randomly flew between several points. Slaine (2oooAD) had Skyblades IIRC too, basically Viking raiders in magical flying longships called Skyblades. In my current campaign I've used an airborne oar-powered submarine (basically the submarine hung from a massive balloon) and have planned to add a flying city at some point.

Re: Prince Madoc Erik the Red was the viking who landed in New Foundland wasn't he?

Re: (Equipment) Axe vs. Sword Not forgetting that in many situations dagger guy is at an advantage to longsword guy. Fighting in 4 foot wide sewer pipe? In a social situation where swords are not permitted? Need to conceal your weapon? Don't forget that weapon length bonuses become penalties when the shorter weapon gets past your guard.

Re: Western Spaghetti Samurai Frontier Feel to Fantasy Sword & Sorcery Great indeed. A bit slow to start but a timeles classic nonetheless. It's been years since I saw it, might have to dig out the video this weekend. Al says 10 outta 10.

Re: Western Spaghetti Samurai Frontier Feel to Fantasy Sword & Sorcery You think the diector of the movie wasn't using a metagame style approach to film making? If the diector wanted him to have armour he would have written it into the script somehow. Did they wear armour in Seven Samurai? I seem to recall they did but that was a battle situation.

Re: Western Spaghetti Samurai Frontier Feel to Fantasy Sword & Sorcery I think, certainly in Yojimbo that his whole 'schtick' is that he is faster and better than the people he fights ('cept perhaps the bad guy with the revolver - end bad guy) and that armour would slow him down and stifle his fast moving style. The scene where he rescues the girl killing half a dozen guys on his own, and he has to rough the house up to make it look like the work of a dozen guys, reinforces this point I think. For us, how I read it anyway, he has a high DCV and doesn't want armour penalties.

Re: Western Spaghetti Samurai Frontier Feel to Fantasy Sword & Sorcery But all that has nothing to do with 'dueling' we see in spaghetti wetserns which is a whole other kettle of fish and that's what I thought we were trying to emulate? In a frontier town where people are murdered regularly in brawls, a place where carrying a weapon is the norm then it follows that those who think they might get into trouble would sometimes wear armour if available to them. If the local law enforement is so toothless that you're battling gamblers and bandits in the street and you 'knew' you were about to get into a lethal confrontation I'd question why you wouldn't wear armour?

Re: Western Spaghetti Samurai Frontier Feel to Fantasy Sword & Sorcery You think you would get arrested for running around naked? I doubt all cultures were as pruddish as the one the Victorians left us.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/nov/09/staffordshire-treasure-stirs-midlands-soul Some Staffordshire clay has come home clinging to the sinuous curves and filigree ornament of the most spectacular heap of Anglo-Saxon golden loot ever found. More than 100 pieces of the Staffordshire Hoard, a glittering treasure from the world of Beowulf, news of which has gone around the world in eight months, is back in the county that hid it for 1,300 years. Many objects, including a gold horse intricate as a piece of lace and no bigger than a postage stamp, have never been displayed before. Among them are images of wolf warriors, first published in the Guardian. These will be in the exhibition opening this weekend at the Potteries Museum in Stoke-on-Trent, not 30 miles from the nondescript field where the treasure was found. Local people were anxiously checking opening times at the museum information desk. "This is a part of our history and we still don't know the questions it will answer. It is a huge thing for us to have it here," Deb Klemperer, senior collections officer, said. The same reddish Mercian clay that made the Six Towns world famous as the heart of the potteries industry and formed over a tonne of Saxon pots in the museum's collections, is clinging to many of the pieces of gem-studded gold on display. One still has blades of grass that grew up through it in the newly ploughed field. "And there could be blood on them as well. These pieces still have a lot to tell us," Klemperer said. When a small army of excavators hit the field last July, the police cover story was that they were investigating a murder. There may well have been a murder, but it was a long time ago. Unlike the coins and women's jewellery usually found in hoards, the pieces reek of battle and a macho warrior culture. They include scores of sword hilt and pommel decorations, fierce little animals biting their own tails and legs, from helmets and shields, and Christian crosses wrenched from their original mounts and folded as casually as a pair of socks. "It's warrior booty, and we would all like it to turn out to belong to Penda, who died in battle in AD654 having killed two kings and a saint," Klemperer said. She even wonders if the cross could actually have been looted from the saint: Edwin, who was struck down in battle by Penda in 632. Edwin is recorded as being sent lavish gifts by the pope to nail his commitment to Christianity. The theory interested the Vatican sufficiently for representatives to put in a few phone calls about the hoard. Last July, when Klemperer first saw a photograph of one of the pieces, she was reduced to tears by its beauty. When in September she spent a day with the local coroner poring over the whole collection – more than 1,600 pieces – she had to lie down for a while in a darkened room when she got home. An amateur metal detector called Terry Herbert found the first piece of garnet-studded gold in Fred Johnston's field in early July, changing both men's lives forever. He called in the professionals in something like panic when his whole dining table was covered in gold. The hoard has sparked intense local interest and pride. When first displayed last autumn at Birmingham City Museum, thousands queued for up to half a day to get in, despite opening hours being repeatedly extended. It was the most successful exhibition in the museum's history. This time Stoke asked for volunteers to help with the expected torrent of visitors – including Charles and Camilla next week – it got twice as many as it needed, and it has signed up 4,500 unpaid working hours. The exhibition opens to the public on Saturday and is free. But the museum hopes money will pour into collection boxes for the appeal fund set up by the Art Fund charity, to help the Potteries and Birmingham City Museum raise £3.3m, the value fixed by the independent experts of the Treasure Valuation Committee. The appeal is supported by the historian David Starkey, who memorably described the hoard as "gangland bling". In a rare display of unanimity, the leaders of all three major political parties are backing the appeal, as are celebrities including Dame Judi Dench. Since it was launched last month, more than £600,000, including £80,000 in small donations from the public, has come in. The museums have until 17 April to find the reward, which will be shared between Herbert and Johnson. Lots more will be needed, however, to pay for conservation and research work, which will keep scholars arguing happily for generations to come.

Re: Western Spaghetti Samurai Frontier Feel to Fantasy Sword & Sorcery I don't normally play duels like the 19th century Gentleman's Club with rules and decorum, extras and doctors on hand. In my fantasy game, usually it's more like Clint Eastwood doing whatever he had to do to kill the other guy or guys who get in his way. You still have that few seconds/ minutes where they face off and weigh each other up and trade indsults before it explodes in violence and the GM calls "Phase 12!"