Alibear

All a matter of scale, IMO. If a normal person, you know a peasant, starts with 8s across the board instead of 10s and at 0+25disads (or less) you could easily start a PC with 25+25. You'd be surprised what you can get for 50 points. Having said that with no figured characteristics in 6e it would be very tight. 50+25 might be closer to the mark.

They're called garden walls, NB. We can still make those

If ancient knowledge wasn't always getting lost and forgotten why do we have so many experimental archaeology projects around? There are literally hundreds in Europe where people try to work out just how we used to do things. We're learning new old stuff all the time.

So, with broad strokes, how many points per level would you give a DnD character when we translate him to Hero? Just so I can see what that means.

If we say 'up front' that we're playing an 80s DnD-style game then it would fit the setting perfectly; its just not the game I normally GM.

Soldiering is dangerous during times of war certainly, but it is an honest profession and works in conjunction and within the norms of society and law. Soldiers don't normally have a choice who their local lord is and who the work for. Good points re the pirates but I have the feeling they lived outwith society cos they were running away from something, or to use a Trumpism, were pretty bad Hombres to start with. They were by and large making things worse not better for the rest of society and had pretty lose morals. But I accept your point that if you do have a large band of men coming together you will get a group of hangers on and merchants to service their needs. Food for thought anywhoo.

One way I can work out how to get a 'free action' is with duplication. Madly complicated & quite expensive of course... so we're back to a force wall requires a skill roll?

This is exactly how I picture it too, Christopher. And how that works in hero terms is: If you want to buy a one-off power you can; either a spell, a wish, a rune, a cantrip, a family heirloom, whatever, makes no difference you can do it but you can't have more than 20 active points without GM permission. You can even buy several of them. If you want to stick those in a power framework you can too but that power framework needs to take a Requires a Skill roll with a -1 per 10 AP and the skill roll is a Power Skill. That power skill unlocks a certain style of magic associated with it. A list of spells. That also comes with a lost of normally associated skills depending what the power skill is and how you learned it. e.g. seanchaidh are the rememberers and storytellers of the northern clanholds and pass on all knowledge orally. They have certain skills and spells associated with them and their warrior lifestyle which is totally differenet from the Wizards and Knights of the White Tower. If you want a to come up with your own spell list then we can talk through that. Strictly GM permission land.

13 million gives you about a hundred people capable of becoming wizards... not all of them make it that far. Even if 40 or 50 make it to the full height of their powers they are spread all over the country. Some, but not all go to the White Tower to study. As I said earlier, there are no elves. Bob the Elf is dead and has been for hundreds of years. Like all the other elves and dwarfs died when the Dragonlords came back to life and hunted them all to extinction for betraying them the 1st time round. And with all due respect it doesn't really matter if you don't 'buy it' I just need to sell it to my players.

They'd need to be pretty fancy cakes in the man-eating monster's hole

I picture a much different place in my head when I GM. If the first bunch of guys went out to the dungeon and nobody came back I think that would probably put off the next bunch. Maybe being bored on your Dad's farm ain't so bad after all? Unless they're Trollslayers or summit. Get rich quick is one thing; get dead quick not so much. When I GM players normally need a reason to go into a hole full of man-eating monsters and " 'cos that's the scenario I designed" wouldn't cut much ice with my group.

If a "Dungeon" is discovered you won't have hundreds of suicidal maniacs turning up to have a crack at it would you? Or do you run a game where a Dodge City springs up around a hole with monsters in it?

How many people are employed in the Adventuring Industry exactly? I can't really see that many people are involved to have an industry springing up to service it; its not exactly like mining or soldiering is it?

I use most all the extra rules but would reccomend only using all the extra rules if you really know 'em; nothing kills mood like looking up obscure rules. I really can't be arsed with tracking end so I cut it the stat from my games for all but supers.

That is very genre dependent. Taking out an enemy in Fantasy at 125m is quite impressive.

I played a character who could link himself to people's heartbeat so if he his he hit the vitals. To say that he was deadly would be an understatement.

So you're not using the hit locations rules? Unless somone specifically takes a called shot?

You're paranoid, Doc! Great idea though.

Of course, but we still have people who believe in things which are patently ridiculous in our very old world. So we'll have lots of people who do believe and some who don't in the game world too.

Are the golems avatars of some extra terrestrial God? Are they really, really big? How do they rule?

Grace under Fire rules for people with no combat experience whatsoever works particularly well.

If the PCs start on 175 points then they will not be able to buy any one-off magical effects, cast any spells, have psionic powers, call on the divine for help, own a magical heirloom* or the like. I will allow them to set aside some of those points for a 'radiation accident' at some point down the line. If and when they move into contact with magical properties, greenskin shaman willing to pass on his knowledge with large gold reserves, and/or I decide I want to slowly bring magic back online then they can either use that reserve or use any XPs they may have saved up to start learning simple spells. *If anyone does want to own a magical heirloom it won't actually do anything magical or have any magical properties. The most important thing is that the PCs don't have any way to difinitively detect magic one way or the other. For any of this to work the PCs can't be sure if magic is real or not.

When I did a Jack Bauer write up I gave him a Hunted by His Past as he always seemed to get into trouble with suff he did before the show started. No matter what problem he solved from his time in Sarejevo another problem would get written into his past as fast as he could kill the last one.

Yes but only 1 in every thousand can do magic so it will be a dead end for most of them. I in every 1000 enquiring minds which leaves 999 for other intellectual pursuits. They won't just be interested in Magic, they'll be interested in all other scientific fields as well.

Young Dude, "You are telling me stories, Grandad, magic isn't real!" Grandad, "I am not, I saw a wizard when I was your age and he pulled a penny from my ear!" Young Dude, "You are a senile old fool, Grandad!" Grandad, "Magic is real!" Young Dude, "Prove it!" Grandad, "I can't actually prove it, but its real alright!" Young Dude, "Right. Is it time for your nap, Grandad?"