bluesguy

Re: Fighter with two swords Thank you... That is excellent information. It has been a while since I built Hero characters and could use any suggestions like this that people have.

Re: Possible HERO System Supplement Kickstarters From Steve -- What Interests You? I would be willing to put more $s in the pot if I could submit a group - name, history, main NPCs, motivation, goals, and maybe some mini-plots/scenarios for GMs to use - and my name as a major contributor in the source material. Name in print is pretty cool.

Re: Need help building up skill list/set for horseback riding archer

Re: Need help building up skill list/set for horseback riding archer Very cool video. It still looks more like high skill level with acrobatics & riding rather than clinging. To me clinging would be the ability to stand on the side of the horse (a'la Spider Man) while the horse is galloping along. As I am running a Sword & Sorcery style campaign clinging would seem to 'magical' whereas using skills seems more like the campaign style.

Re: Fighter with two swords So this NPC got his first work out the last two sessions. I built him with: Fast Draw Fighting Tricks Defense Maneuver I-II Two-Weapon Fighting +5 w/ Swords SPD 3 OCV/DCV 5 Martial Arts - Sword fighting Prefab (which he can't use while doing the following) Whirling Blades of Death - H2H KA 1.5 d6, 2m Radius, OAF swords, Must make separate attack on each defender in target area, requires Fighting Tricks roll, increased End and +3 DCV Between having to make a Fighting Tricks roll & having to attack each target in the area of effect he was dangerous but not crazy dangerous. My daughter rolled some of his attacks and on one attack he basically killed two minions in one phase. She then used a presence attack and scared the crap out of the other bandits who were closing on him. Which was good because he was almost out of END by that point in time. He worked exactly as I would have expected. Now the 'fencer' in the party is 'interested' in learning some of his skills. Exactly the way I intended to use this NPC on a regular basis - training master for the 'fencer'. Thanks for the help.

Re: Possible HERO System Supplement Kickstarters From Steve -- What Interests You? I would be willing to pledge $25 to any of your projects.

Re: How can I judge if an encounter is balanced? One of the things I learned very early on in my GMing career is that the group mind (PCs) will always out think single GM mind. Sometimes (very rarely) is that needed. For instance in the last session the PCs ran into 10 bandits. The pretty much beat them easily - good NPC support and excellent planning on their own part. They also got lucky that the archer was on watch when the bandits showed up. She nailed three of them pretty easily. She did the perch in the tree thing, with the camp's fires between her and where the bandits would have to cross. They made nice targets from behind when they went past her position. Their wizard cast a mind control with the perfect command "Run Away" right after his buddy was shot 'dead' by an arrow from behind. And then the wizard did the same thing to another bandit who saw his buddy running away. The players are thinking "Hey that was easy we are soo bad ass." But on the way home they will be running into 20 bandits (I already planned it this way before they easily dealt with the 10) and they are tougher. It will be a harder fight and end up going more toe-to-toe. Because they know they are being trailed and have a chance to pick their spot, I am sure the PCs will win. But even so it will be a tough fight and they won't be sure until the end. They will go home to lick their wounds, count their coin and tell tales about vanquishing 20 of the Bandit Lord's men.

Re: Need help building up skill list/set for horseback riding archer Thank you all for the feedback. I am starting to think that a 'Nomad Package' would include: Riding WF: Bow Archery Fighting Tricks Acrobatics - only on horse back Either Animal Handler - Had to train your horse to be wiling to let you pull off this crazy maneuver OR Pay for a 'follower' horse with its own Riding skill and training to represent "Fighting Trick for the horse" because someone else trained the horse for you "Martial Art" - Medium bow damage + both hands + requires riding roll + requires Archery Fighting Tricks roll. -2 OCV +3 DCV (hiding behind horse). Side Effect : Missed riding roll : fall from horse; Missed archery fighting roll : lose opportunity to shoot. I think that should represent what I am looking for. The whole 'clinging' idea was too far out for what I want.

Re: Persuasion vs Oratory I always think of Oratory as a way to inspire & convince a group of people. I think of Persuasion as a one-on-one skill. I always consider Oratory to be a complementary skill when PRE attacks are made.

Re: Changes at Hero This is unfortunate. But not too surprising considering the economy, the publishing industry in general and gaming industry in particular. Good luck to Darren and Steve. Thank you for your hard work and dedication. I will continue to support the product line - just bought some more PDF versions of the game system.

So this PC is already has a good riding skill and a phenomenal archer. She comes from the Cynthian Plains in the Valdorian Age. I am treating the tribes as something as a cross between the Plains Indians and Mongols. What I am trying to figure out is how to simulate the horse riding "trick shooting" that both Plains Indians and Mongols would use. So here are some basics Riding 12- WF: Bow Archery Fighting Tricks Now it gets interesting... Should the character get Acrobatics - which in the skills book states "Skilled equestrians often know how to perform stunts while on horseback (or griffinback, whaleback, or what have you). They can perform handstands and other maneuvers on a fast-moving mount, lean out of the saddle and pick things up off the ground without falling off or damaging the object, and so forth. They use Acrobatics to perform these tricks. If a character can only perform such stunts while on a mount, he takes a -1 Limitation, Only While Riding, on the Skill. " Breakfall - Maybe less so if Acrobatics is taken... Animal Handler - Had to train your horse to be wiling to let you pull off this crazy maneuver Archery Stunts Combat + to offset the penalties for firing an arrow from horse back at a full gallop. I would guess the that it would be -2 or (something based on velocity) Combat maneuver to shot while hanging from the side of the horse. Maybe a -1/-2 OCV penalty but a +2/+3 DCV bonus. What do you think? Breakfall or Acrobatics?

Re: How can I judge if an encounter is balanced? Excellent point. I hadn't thought about it in this way. I will have to consider the options more fully before the encounter happens. Maybe a longer story arc where the bounty hunter (and friends) eventually clear out that gang from the neighborhood. Also the bounty hunter wants to develop contacts maybe he can turn the gang into contacts. hmmm

Re: How can I judge if an encounter is balanced?

Re: How can I judge if an encounter is balanced?

Re: Tracking combat The paper & pencil method works well for small combat situations - a few NPC combatants vs PC (2-4 at the most). But if you want to have the PCs wade through minions (20) and deal with master villain the paper & pencil method tends to bog down with bookkeeping. At least that was/has been my experience when I was GMing back in the late 70's & early 80's using Hero. From what I can see Hero combat is about the same so I would expect it to bog down again with bookkeeping. Computers are very good at bookkeeping - spreadsheets were designed for bookkeeping. So I figured I might as well use the tools at hand to help with bookkeeping. I think I will start a different thread about the whole use of technology during game sessions.

Re: How can I judge if an encounter is balanced? For me it is all about the story I am trying to tell. For instance the next adventure pits the 3 PCs, + some caravan guards + one really good fighter against +20 bandits. I put +20 bandits and three leaders (for the PCs to have to deal with directly) because I want to be able to add more if the encounter goes to easily. If the players lose then they will find themselves waking up in the morning without their equipment, money, horses, etc. about one day from the nearest settlement. Better figure out how to get home. More role playing options for them. Plus now they will really want to get those bandits - once they get re-equipped . Remember its about the story.

Re: Fighter with two swords Actually they are going to be going on an adventure together. The NPC is on a mission to deliver payroll & pick up taxes to/from a village with two elite guards and they 'attached' themselves to the caravan the PCs were hired to protect. On the way back the party will be attacked by 20+ bandits. Most of them will be low level and I will have the elite guards 'guard' the tax box, while this NPC wades in. The PCs are none to shabby either. So they will have to pull their weight. My intention is that he will be holding down the low level bandits while the PCs have to deal with the leaders - mostly one on one. Afterwards the idea being that the fencer is going to think - hmm he might make a good instructor. The other characters might see some other opportunities to work with the NPC. But this is really for the fencer. She needs an instructor.

Re: Tracking combat

In a typical combat situation in Hero there is a fair amount of bookkeeping to take care of. It seems that this would be a good place for a computer program. Has anyone found or written a program to do this? Also using Hero Designer files as the basis input for the characters would be a helpful starting point, IMO. Basically one would enter in the type of damage, body & stun (normal or killing), if it affected the character's vulnerability, etc. And then the result would let you know if the character was stunned, how much stun & body they had left. I would only use this for tracking NPCs. What do you all think?

Re: Fighter with two swords This actually a NPC that the players are going to encounter while working as caravan guards. He is a Lt. in the prince's guard. I figure they will have a recurring encounters with him. He is very much a follow the rules kind of guy. So I can see them ending up on his bad side and his good side (back and forth). One of the PC's is a fencer so I can see that character picking up some skills from the NPC if she plays her cards right.

Re: Fighter with two swords Do you mean use Sweep and add Area Radius HKA...? Or do you mean either use a) Sweep or HKA Area Radius 2" w/ OAF Swords? I think the 2nd way matches closer to what I was thinking. Plus the disadvantage that he has to hit individual targets in each hex not just the center hex. Your thoughts?

Ok I want to build a fighter who fights with two swords and basically has no penalties in a battle. I want him to be able to use both weapons in the same phase. I am running a Sword & Sorcery style campaign so no magic enhancements. So I know he needs Ambidexterity (no Off Hand Penalty), Two Weapon Fighting, & Fighting Tricks. I also included Combat Luck, Defense Maneuver I-II, Fast Draw and lots of combat skill with swords. So what is he missing to be able to make multiple attacks in the same phase? Is that Autofire of some kind?

Re: A very useful online site/tool for your campaign There are a lot of HTML features which the portal does not support. I am spending most of my time putting content out on my site. I figure if I get plenty of content on the site the other stuff (fancy graphics & backgrounds) won't matter too much.

I have been getting back into RPG and one of the things that was always frustrating in the past was how to organize the information. In the past I would use a ton of 3 ring binders with all the information about my campaign world. This also meant if I wanted to run the campaign it pretty much had to be at my place because dragging all the material around was way to difficult. At one point I thought about writing a Windows program, basically a RPG Personal Information Management system, for the campaign world I was using (Harn). I gave up after I realized how large of an undertaking it would be. Once I got back into RPG I thought there must be someone who has solved this problem by now. Sure enough there is an elegant solution - The Obsidian Portal. I have set up my campaign, Valdorian Age - Rising Power on the Frontier on the portal and have been slowly entering in the background material from the Valdorian Age. Am I going to put the entire book out there? No way. Just what I need from Elweir and from the places I need for my campaign. I will have a great way to track the campaign, events, items, characters and the plot all in a convenient location. All I need is my laptop at the gaming table and I am set to go. Just thought I would share my find with others here as well.

Re: Maps for Valdorian Age I did contact Steve and sent him the scanned maps. He said he would post them a free area where people could get at them.