casualplayer

Re: Do opposed skill rolls work? If she makes the Charm roll by enough and you fail to oppose, she gets what she wants and if you are lucky it is something that you were willing to provide. If she makes her Charm roll and you succeed in opposing, you see what she's after and you still might be willing to work out a compromising position. If she botches her Charm roll and you succeed in opposing you still have the option of allowing things to proceed but with you in control. Or you can move along.

Re: Do opposed skill rolls work? Maybe a successful opposition skill roll should provide nothing more than insight into the aggressor's intentions? In mutually aggressive situations, multiple successful rollers can meant that I know that you know that I know and you know that too. In a vacuum with tabula rasa participants, it's raw skill versus raw skill. Most situations don't pan out that way. I'm on a winning streak (+1,) but Jabba wants his money (-2,) also I'm cocky (-1,) but lucky at cards, unlucky at love (+2.) The house is keeping me supplied with free drinks (+1) delivered by a girl who is just my type (+1) who arrives just as I'm about to decide to raise or call (+1.) If I don't make an EGO Roll to pace myself or oppose the waitress' Seduction/Charm roll, the House is pretty likely to clean me out as the odds are likely in their favor as they are operating at a +3 to Skill while my modifiers push. Unless I'm such a good gambler that I can be 3 in the hole and still have the advantage. I have a slightly different perspective of Skills than most HERO gamers, I believe. Most think 14> is highly competent and it is if you aren't in a stressful situation and can use the time chart leisurely. If you are relying on a 14> Acrobatics roll to make the jump off a rain-slick building cornice (-2) while under fire from Two-Face's goons (-2) then I hope you know a good recipe for street pizza. Most of my PCs who want to be considered skilled have skills in the high teens-low twentys, because they know they are going to need them most in the worst possible situations. They bolster their skills with supplementary skills to retain and maximize their potential. I realize that this is not how most characters are created in published stuff but whatever. If I see one more mage with 14> magic skill roll trying to scorch off a 60 AP spell..... "Roll 8> for success, please." "Wait, what?!" Many a gamer uses skills as flavor text, background liner notes, grudgingly spending the campaign mandated minimum. That's not the perspective I'm coming from.

Re: What do you think of supervillain teams? The ones that are intentionally created are tactically balanced, if their theme allows. Fiacho recruits carefully for Eurostar. The Ultimates took a look at themselves and went "Aw crap, our only ranged attack is Elmer's glue" so they added Thunderbolt (subbing for the subtracted Plasmoid but anyway.) The Crowns of Krim have nothing in common other than vast power stemming from the same artifact source. GRAB's personalities mesh but their powers only sorta. PSI only has psychics so as much as they might want a brick for the team they are SOL unless they find a tactile telekinetic. The Injustice League makes perfect sense if you look at some of the additions to the roster bringing insight rather than power to the mix. And if your base can fly, why not hide it in a swamp?

Re: What do you think of supervillain teams? It's GM-intensive setting the stage, because you have to describe every nook and cranny to make it work, but it's extremely satisfying for one PC to take on a team. The player gets a target rich environment and even if they happen to lose they get to console themselves with "It took 10 of you to take me." I can't imagine not using teams as a supers GM. I mean, no VIPER Squads? No UNTIL or special forces? No mirror universe villain group of the PCs?

Re: What do you think of supervillain teams? Teams in gaming can seem stupid. There are hundreds of thousands of gaming groups out there with a Paladin and an Assassin as part of the same team, characters with nothing in common and every reason to be antagonistic toward each other, adventuring together solely because their players are sitting at the same table. Many GMs use villain teams as some singleminded hydra, every "head" slavishly loyal, and completely abandon the fun that can be had when the "heads" interact. Teams in genre can seem stupid as well as it has been the fashion to make teams of loners for some time now, books that are Kewl! but only run about 36 issues. Eurostar has been mentioned upthread, and is both a good and bad example of a team in action. We have witnessed Eurostar both add and lose members. We have seen their methods have to evolve to accommodate the leaps in technology and finance that have occured since their introduction. I mean the old roster might knock over a bank but they aren't crashing any economies anymore until they add a hacker to the roster. They used to be the go-to team for an efficient, no-holds-barred foe but now they seem Not Iron Age edgy enough, almost quaint. In my old campaign we often did side campaigns to keep things fresh and one of those side campaigns was a Villains campaign. They were a team with all the many reasons for a team to form: the Leader had manpower-intensive goals, the Speedster wanted to have fun and didn't care who got hurt, the Brick was Viking-minded and intentionally recruited to fill a hole, the Demon had absolutely no regard for life and was happy to get the chance to sow chaos, the Swordswoman was sworn to serve even a cruel master. We had some fun and the game eventually subsided as we resumed our main campaign. In one of the storylines, the hero team followed Durak to a Eurostar meeting and got real concerned when some of the descriptions of who was there sounded suspiciously like some of their villains! Since the villains were spawned by a change-of-pace campaign often the villain was the exact antithesis of the same player's heroic character. They were playing that night with a mixture of pride and dread, and some people sheepishly cheered when their villains got in a good one against their own teammates. Good times.

Re: Do opposed skill rolls work? Each player rolls their "convince" skill until they accumulate enough successes to reach an arbitrary threshold. Or you can keep track of the gross amount that each player rolls in excess (in recess?) of what they need to succeed and whoever amasses the most in a set number of turns or crosses a threshold wins the argument. You can also have the listener make opposed rolls if they are difficult to convince. Anyone who zeroes out their gross successes or margin of success commits a faux pas that takes them out of the argument.

Re: Just saw 6th Edition and got a chance to leaf through it... That's the big 6th win reason for me too, although I made 4th work just fine by not giving a rat's patootie about gross point totals being equivalent between characters. If the guy who wanted to play a Thor-clone ran 400 pts and the street fighter went 290 and both players were content then let's start rolling. 6th lets me do things that were more costly in previous editions but if your goal was emulation of your imagination rather than "efficiency" then previous editions served quite well. There needs to be a survey course, superficial version of HERO because the core rulebooks are too much of a commitment for most. I can't even muster up enough energy to make it cover to cover and I flatter myself a superfan. I sure wouldn't have gravitated toward HERO 6th when I was first starting out gaming. It looks like a college textbook. Sidekick used to be this introductory experience, but the 6th edition version might be thinner than the core rules but it still looks like a college textbook. It doesn't shout "Let's play!" It shouts "Let's study." Save the graduate level stuff for the people that decide to major in HERO but put something attention catching and less exhausting out there for the undeclared.

Re: Do opposed skill rolls work? In most cases people neglect to define what happens with a tie but ties have different effects depending on the conflict. In a tie versus Systems Op vs. Security Systems you don't advance any further but you don't trigger any alarms either. Conversation vs. Conversation, no significant information is exchanged but the clock keeps ticking and the bomb is about to explode! Gambling vs. Gambling, some chips move back and forth but no significant reallocation or advantage gained. In some cases ties will go to the house, in some cases ties will go to the runner and in some cases ties will just eat up precious time.

Re: The Nightmare of Megascale Teleport

Re: Just saw 6th Edition and got a chance to leaf through it...

Re: Just saw 6th Edition and got a chance to leaf through it... Chicken and egg. DEX has always been a ridiculously good deal in HERO so players bought a lot for their characters so gaming sessions were designed to emphasize DEX so players bought a lot for their characters so..... The games we play reflect not only the tools we use but the tools we favor. Sherlock HERO would probably have INT cost 2 pts per. My main reason for not liking DEX at 2 pts per, and house ruling it to 1 pt per, is that it is aesthetically unpleasing to have one basic stat with a different cost structure. Makes it a pain for adjustment powers and also explaining character generation to new folks. Being exceptionally costed draws the attention and encourages inappropriately inflated stats leading to chicken, egg escalation.

Re: The Nightmare of Megascale Teleport Sounds to me like there is a primo villain team recruiting place in the asteroid belt. "You wanna sign up?" "What's it pay?" "A one-way ticket off the rock you're sitting on." "Deal." I'm somewhat interested in how the teleporter established his Floating Locations, because that seems sketchy to me to have "tagged" a few asteroids. How did the PC go about doing that exactly? What this guy is doing is kidnapping people and locking them in solitary. It wouldn't be hard for this to be spun into a reputation-destroying storyline for the media. Also other heroes might take exception. Strongly. Since it's a Grab-and-Go, it has all the limitations of Grab. You Grab me and I Grab you, and I guess we sit here on this asteroid until one of us falls asleep. Also Damage Shield, or whatever it is called now, would ruin this guy's day.

Re: Do opposed skill rolls work? Why not? Most gambling houses are designed with distractions to keep you from being able to focus and make good decisions. The "defender" gets complimentary skill bonuses too.

Re: Ways to manage a huge team with a lot of characters? People who have to do resource allocation quickly realize the error of putting all their eggs in one basket. Whoever's in charge is going to keep some superstars in reserve, save them for a rainy day. If the Alpha Team keeps getting sent to the first blip to come across the trouble-alert, how long will it be before the villains realize that they can lure the heroes to the other side of the globe of what their true objective is with a cracked dam or forest fire? The rotating membership is a great way for the understudies to get a chance to take the stage, Elongated Man to get to do some detective work for example. How often does the Justice League try to call in Batman and get a gruff "I'm buzy. *click*" A chance for Mr. Miracle to show off his agility and escapology, Black Canary her hand-to-hand skills, Blue Beetle his gadgets. There will be subgroups that naturally tend to congregate and address missions, and not only because they are the best powerset for the job. Ultra Boy-MonEl-Shadow Lass-Phantom Girl are powerhouses and their main squeezes. Shrinking Violet and Lightning Lass, same deal. Wildfire-Dawnstar-Blok-Timber Wolf-Invisible Kid-White Witch is probably the most well-rounded, handle-anything clique of the Legion, the one that actually looks like a preplanned team.

Re: A Lich's Phylactery Should it? No. Could it? Yes, but most people wouldn't be willing to only accept the +1/4 for IIF or +1/2 for OIF rather than the +1 most GMs would allow for Conditional Power: Only in Moonlight. Many mystic traditions "pull down the moon." Maybe they are Grabbing someone's Focus? Retrainable is in that nether region of Able to be Incapacitated with a Grab and Not Able to be Removed from Character's Possession with a Grab. If we had more Limitation gradation it would be +3/8. I put it out there as an build option. It's an option that many people apparently find too out there. No skin off my back but there is no counterexample yet given that hasn't been treated as a Focus in our source fiction a time or two. I don't have to have the server in my back pocket to be able to access the power of the internet; I just need an interface. You don't have to have the device in your possession if you have some way established of using it at a distance.

Re: A Lich's Phylactery

Re: A Lich's Phylactery Why dubious, Lucius? How else do you write up artifacts that feed people energy or abilities? If have magical abilities that are embued to me by a eldritch ritual I performed at Stonehenge, isn't Stonehenge a potential Focus for my character? Certainly not Accessible unless it's Spinal Tap's Stonehenge, travel-size for my convenience. If it glows when I draw on its power, Obvious. If it just sits there all plinthy and quiet, Inobvious. If I have powers that are enabled by being bound to a familiar, isn't the familiar potentially my Focus? If he has to stay close by and roam free or they fade, Accessible. If he can be chilling back at my wizard's tower, Inaccessible. There were powers that The One Ring gave both Sauron and Frodo, both when and when not in their possession. Different levels of accessibility but still a Focus. There's a half-dozen ways to write up the lich schtick, each with its own flavor, advantages and disadvantages. Go with the one that best represents what you want to have in play, QuietusEmissary.

Re: Common superhero types you've never seen in play Pre-zactly! Most do it with Find Weakness but I usually prefer Conditional Skill Levels based on Analyze Style for called shot havoc. Watch, dodge, wait, evade, lurk, STRIKE!

Re: Common superhero types you've never seen in play Meh. Most of the Legion of Super-Heroes has "just" one power. Guess that's why they are such pushovers. Cripes, Zatanna has just one power. That was one of the few good things about Elemental Controls. Everyone understood that they were "just" one power, with a half dozen applications. I wish more characters focused their powers more instead of the swiss army Multipowers I see most characters packing. Evidenced by the Atom Syndrome, I don't see enough Nimble Distractions, characters whose purpose is to set the enemies up and let someone else take them out. Characters who feel useful even though they don't swing the biggest stick. Characters that may best serve as scouts, medics and rescuers. Most of the lamented characters mentioned fall in this category. Angel used to draw fire, evade it then set you up for Cyke's optic blast or Beast's ginormous instep. Nightcrawler ports behind you, distracts you then sets you up for Cyke's optic blast or Colossus' wallop. Pete couldn't hit the broad side of a barn back in the day unless Kurt painted a target on it for him. Robin, Jack-in-the-Box, Phantom Girl, Invisible Kid, the list goes on and on.

Re: A Lich's Phylactery The funny thing about Foci is that Foci are funny things. Nolgroth delved into this a bit but Inaccessible can mean "Stored Seven Leagues Away." Making it unable to be incapacitated with a Grab can mean it isn't even there to be Grabbed. There would be a trail of power for those with eyes to see (Sense/Detect Foci-based Powers, Discriminatory, Tracking) and the adventure is often trying run the gauntlet between here and there. Some lich (lichs? liches? lichen?) keep their phylacteries close at hand, even on their person, and protect them with their own vigilance and power. Some rely on nothing more than concealment and Concealment. Some put theirs in a chest, Davy Jones' Locker for a recent movie example. But in each case the mortality of the character is wrapped up in an object.

Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I'm not too proud to admit I will pony up cash just to find out what's new with Brienne, Jaime, Tyrion, Arya and Jon. Bran's stuff was all foreshadow, no substance. If GRRM can write Sansa to redemption, or even likability, I'll kiss the hem of his robe.

Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I know, right?

Re: Order of the Stick Yeah, you could probably neutralize Thog with a Monster Summoning I spell. Or a Bag of Wonders. Now, where did Roy leave his? Hmmmm....

Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Finished A Dance with Dragons. Sucked.

Re: Order of the Stick Roy was using his demise as a tactic in tying up the attentions of one of the Linear Guild. Huh? Guess that makes sense when you have done the resurrection waltz before.