bluesguy

In my current campaign the players are on an epic quest.  They know that they have to stop a plot which will open the world of Nyonia to the plan of one of the gods who wants nothing more that war (and all the ugliness that goes with it).  I laid out the overarching quest into three parts, each part had a starting and ending point.  What happened in-between was driven by the players.  I always knew what the opposition was doing along the way.  Sometimes the players interrupted the opposition's plans.  Sometimes the opposition interrupted the players' plans.  In game time the quest has been going ~7 years.  In calendar time I think it has been going on (off and on so other GMs can run) for 4 years.  We are at the end chapter, which I expect will take a while to play thru but will be a very short period of game time.

I asked the players before the campaign started if they wanted to play in an epic campaign, they said yes.  They know that success is possible (so is failure).

What makes this more fun is they are playing at a critical historical moment in the overall timeline.  I say that because a previous campaign I ran in Nyonia takes place 1000 years later and they are in the middle of something that changes everything on Nyonia.

In my games there are priests, shamans, and warrior priests.  Each of those types of 'clerics' is associated with specific god.  There are two gods that the are most associated war and battles, so they have the warrior priests.  The shamans are associated with a few different gods and also with a couple of 'spirit worship'.  The other gods mostly have priests or in one case there are no priests but rather mages tend to be associated with that this one off god (knowledge and hidden things).

I think the important thing is to make sure any gods you have are unique enough to have spheres of influence and that their priests reflect those spheres of influence.

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I stole the Harn Pantheon for my campaign world.  It works pretty well for us.

I have played both a 'tank' and 'nimble' fighter in Hero games with different GMs.  I never felt particularly overshadowed.  When I did it generally had more to do with the GM and they combat situations they set up rather than a comparison with my character.  For instance my current character is a nimble dualist - he fights w/ two scimitars, has martial arts, plenty of skill levels and penalty skill levels, a high DEX/SPD/OCV/DCV.  He is virtually untouchable if he is just using a thrust on his opponents, especially if he uses his skill levels in DCV.  He has one ranged weapon, a sling.  When we have been in fights lately the only player who really has been effective was the mage - LOS 'elemental' arrow (he can pick the element - Variable SFX).

I had a tanky character - warrior priest.  Kind of like a paladin but without all the stupid LG stuff.  He was a warrior who was also a priest.  He has some 'spells' that would improve his abilities and the parties abilities but he didn't have any 'combat spells'.  He wasn't hard to hit, he could dish out some crazy damage and take some crazy damage.

And since Hero combat is suppose to be a cinematic style, here are some examples:

• Stunned & Knocked out ~48 seconds in this clip it sure looks like Aragon is stunned and knocked out.
• Stunned (and we think he has been killed) at ~1:11 and at 1:38 he looks dead or at least knocked out
• Lots of Body (and a poor Stun multiplier) - might be stunned ~1:20
• 1:51 More body and better stun multiplier
• 2:36 < 0 body and he is dying but not stunned or knocked out

11 hours ago, Arcanuum said:

I have 3 players and the edition I'm using is Champions Complete.

Start with something very simple. 

1. Remember character creation in Hero is based on a character concept first and then you build the character to that concept.  Champions Complete has some 'template' characters I would suggest using them as a starting point for the players. 
2. My groups tend to like maps and tokens/miniatures for games.  If you have them then use them if the players are a 'tactical bunch of folks'.
3. Create a simple speed chart with each of the phases and which phase each player will act in.  Use some kind of token to track the phase.
4. Create a simple story for the initial game
   1. How do the characters meet?
   2. Why would they work together (if they just meeting for the 1st time)
   3. How do they find out that their help is needed.
   4. Provide a simple conflict that allows everyone to learn how combat works.  If the superheroes are street level supers (i.e. Daredevil, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, and Iron Fist) then a simple bank robbery with a bunch of well armed thugs (guns and some kind of clubs).  If they are more at the Avengers level, trade out the thugs for a bunch of agents and one supervillain.

On 8/9/2021 at 10:37 PM, Ninja-Bear said:

Years ago I played a Fantasy game and the GM’s brother was a Robin Hood type archer and could do head shots all day. We still had fun just because of the players. I mean we were outshined by the character so I wouldn’t recommend having such a powerful archer in the group.

It is important to create situations where the archer just isn't as effective (party is ambushed, party is underground or in enclosed spaces, close combat has started - make the archer character take an extra phase to offset penalty of possibly hitting a friend).

On 8/4/2021 at 12:11 PM, AlgaeNymph said:

One of the complications demons have is Utterly Evil.  (This puts a damper on my fantasies of being captured, but I quite digress.)  But what does that mean?  How does that manifest in an NPC's actions?  The best I have are the sorts you'd see on 8chan and LinkedIn.  Does anyone with more relevant specialized knowledge have any better ideas?

I would suggest reading a short book by CS Lewis called the Screwtape Letters.  Lewis gave the demons/devils a motivation for why they were doing evil things and how subtle they could be.

On 8/9/2021 at 6:42 PM, Steve said:

Heh. I didn’t have anything quite that grandiose in mind.
 

I was planning to start small, like a 10-20 page adventure, some themed NPCs (like a ninja clan or Hudson City PD officers) or a mini-setting book.

I picked settings but only after I saw you write that you are thinking about mini-setting books.  Give me a piece of the 'campaign' puzzle that I can use for an adventure but can help build up the campaign as well. 

Here are the rules of thumb I have been using for a long time now.  They seem to be working:

• Character Benchmarks - Famous fictional fantasy characters and their characteristics.  I stole it from someone's site.  If anyone knows whose it is I will add an appropriate authorship.  It is possible to argue with the characteristics for each of theses fictional characters.  That isn't important.  The important part is the relative comparisons.
• For my campaign, Nyonia, I provide the following rules and information for the players:
  • Characteristics
  • Combat Skills

So far we have had everything from a well armed and armored knight (chainmail + breast plate), sword master (fighting with two blades), archer, and a martial artists/monk who fought with a pair of clubs/fighting sticks.  Everyone had their moments in combat.  Everyone had the crazy hard fight and everyone had the chance at a one shot.

As someone who has run a lot of Fantasy Hero and plenty of folks who want to play archers.  Here is what I usually do:

• Allow up to +3 vs  Range
• Allow up to +3 vs Hit locations
• Allow up to +4 with bows
• OCV no higher than a 5
• Generally the bows can only do up to 1 1/2 d6 RKA

There were characters that were able to shot 3/4 way across the gaming table.  If the target is unaware then the archers almost always would take a head shot (and usually connect).

Simone Biles is absolutely amazing.  I think her skills and talents acrobatic skills are probably at least at the Captain America level (i.e. Maximum Human Capable).

You want to download the latest version (1.14) which has the fix for Entangle problem you identified.

Release Notes v1.14:

Defects fixed:

• Defects fixed: STR can't be used to break free from an entangle.
• After breaking free from an entangle the wrong character is highlighted as being next.

Thank you for your purchase.

My question would be why?  I can't imagine the rings of power being in an actual game.

Lon Chaney - The man of a thousand faces.

Also Bruce Lee

Most of my players end up taking the Wealth Perk so they don't have to deal with petty purchases and tracking of money.  They also tend to like to buy big things.  Current group bought a large, custom designed and built viking style boat.  The campaign has involved traveling up and down rivers and oceans.  They also bought a bell to summon a wind elemental to 'push' the sail so they can go really fast when they needed to. 

I also like to have treasures that are primarily commodities - some coins, gems, jewelry, furniture, rugs, cloth, spices, dyes, alchemy ingredients, potions, weapons, oil, alcohol of various types, etc.  Sometimes the most valuable things are the hardest to transport (if only we could figure out how move the 20 barrels of saurian brandy we would be rich).

Everything is a work in progress.

☹️ Sorry to say, I won't be releasing the update this week (7/9/2021).  While I was testing I found another error that occurs after a character tries to break free of an Entangle.  I was ready to try and debug it last night when we got a call from one of our adult children asking "Dad could you help us out?"  In any case I hope to have this wrapped up quickly in the next couple of days.

There will be an update with the fix to this bug by the end of the week.

Yes that is a bug.  When using a normal attack to break free of an entangle, the normal body doesn't seem to get through.  When using a killing attack it works.  The work around is to use the GM Adjust.  Sorry about that.  I will work on a fix this weekend.

Thank you for purchasing HCM.

I will take a look at this tonight.

Could you also provide either the xml combat record or the HDC characters.

2 hours ago, Steve said:

Or golems?

Are golems sentient?  I always thought of golems as the medieval equivalent of a very dumb robot (do this based on this stimulus).

Not in my campaigns.

In my current campaign people who commit certain crimes will get sentenced to some form of 'community service/labor'.   The time period is based on the seriousness of the crime and whether someone is a repeat offender or not.  The offender can be 'loaned' out to a private interest with some very specific legal expectations.  For instance the party needed some labor and ended up hiring a 'prison crew'.  They had to keep them well fed, not abuse them and at the end of their term had to pay them a minimal amount.  When the prisoners' terms were completed they characters offered them permanent positions and most signed up.