Gunrunner

Re: Bolstering the Fantasy Hero Grimoire I like them because you kept them all at a reasonable point level. I use magic as a multipower in my campaign, so I'm glad anytime I see a spell under 60 active points

Re: Keith Curtis' Incredible Lightning Mass Combat Engine I like it so far, but do you take certain abilities into account, such as having ranged attack capabilities? They should give that unit a special bonus. Perhaps wizards can give similar bonuses to the units to which they belong.

Re: historically correct simulation of armour Wow, those videos were frikkin' awesome! Thanks Markdoc

Re: historically correct simulation of armour The x2 Body is calculated only after DR is subtracted, but the last part is correct. Thank you all for your input, it is much appreciated. I wasn't planning on implementing any detailed optional rules to reflect realistic armor. I was only going to make one or two small changes that wouldn't add more detail to combat, but would serve only to reflect a better level of realism. Based on everyone's input however, I don't think I'll be making any changes.

Re: question about normal damage Hello Steph I believe that you subtract the person's rPD and PD from the body damage done. THEN you would use any BODY multipiers from the hit location table. If you want to check it out, the answer to your question is also on page 273 of the Fifth edition Hero book.

I was wondering if anyone knew enough about real armour to settle an issue with a buddy of mine. Does anyone know if Hero gives a good approximation of reality here: If a fairly strong man (STR 13 or 14) swung at a fully armoured knight in full plate (rDR 8) with a broadsword (1d+1 KD, min STR 12) and all his strength (two hands, haymaker), what do you think his chances would be of penetrating that armor if he hit it square on? Now keep in mind that I'm not asking what the results would be according to the mechanics of the Hero system. I'm asking from a realistic standpoint - if this really happened would he be more likely or less likely to cut through full plate armor of the 14th century (as compared to what the Hero system says)? Hopefully one of you guys or girls knows enough about real medieval weapons and armour to give me an educated opinion! Thanks in advance for any comments

Re: A Crisis of Faith... Well said. One thing that people don't take into account with the Hero System when they criticize it is that all the many rules in the book are all OPTIONAL!!! You can make your game as simple or complex as you want. The only reason Hero has so many rules is to have an objective way of handling every possible situation that can occur, that doesn't mean you have to use them all if they're slowing down the game. You can still can't "wing it" when you want to keep things moving fast and efficiently. I also agree that it is not a good idea trying to explain the Hero system fully to new players. I don't know how sidekick is (I ordered it online), but it seems to address the Hero system's intimidation factor perfectly Even if you don't have sidekick you can just teach your players on a need-to-know basis. For their first characters, Hero is flexible enough where you can create your players' characters just by having them describe in detail what kind of character they want to make. Assure them that once they learn some of the rules, you'll let them make a few tweaks to their characters if they find something in the system they want to apply to their characters. One of the most important things in a rpg is to keep things flowing steadily. If you have to make something up because you don't want to research the exact ruling in the book, then by all means do so At least Hero has the option to find an exact ruling in the book (if that is your desire) as opposed to a newer system where you're forced to make something up because the system doesn't account for how something works.

Re: Anyone have Tomb of Horrors? It wouldn't happen to be a Ravenloft module would it? I have a friend who used to run Ravenloft campaigns, so he might have it. Heck, he may have it even if it just normal D&D. In either case, I'll see if he has it and try to get a copy to you if he does. I'll get back to you when I find out.

Re: XM8 Assualt Rifle.

If a player wants to buy a new power as a slot for a multipower, but there is one advantage on the multipower reserve that cannot be applied to the new power, can he still buy the power as a slot in the multipower? For example, if he wanted to buy Energy Blast for a multipower slot, but the Uncontrolled advantage is on the multipower reserve, can he still buy it as a slot even if the Uncontrolled advantage cannot be legally applied to it?

I checked the FAQ but didn't find the answer, so here's my question: If I want a constant power to have the burnout limitation do I have to make the activation roll after I stop feeding END to the power, or after every phase the constant power is active? I want to build a constant power that has a chance of burning out, but only after the character stops maintaining it, not every phase. If the latter part of my question is the correct answer, then how could I do that?

Re: Turakian Age: Far East Style? It's your campaign, so make it however you like. Since there aren't many details on the region of Temeric, fill in the details to your desire. One thing I don't like about the Turakian Age is the fact that there are so many kingdoms and regions that there's not enough detail for each of them in the book. I would have rather had fewer kingdoms with more information about the culture, society, cities, weapons and character concepts for each region. Maybe leave a few kingdoms with vague information so the GM can shape them to his desire. I just can't get a feel for the setting with so many regions to keep track of and only general descriptions for them.

Re: XM8 Assualt Rifle. I could be wrong here, but I believe that the XM8 wins out over the OICW simply because it costs less to manufacture - not to mention that it is more versatile (in that it can be easily reconfigured), lighter weight, less bulky and probably more reliable and durable. Sure the OICW can do everything but cook you a steak dinner, but it is certainly more expensive. As far as replacing the M16, I don't see a problem. Some problems with the M16 were that it jammed relatively easily, required frequent maintainence, had sights that have to be zeroed before use, and it didn't retract. The XM8 solves all these problems and then some. Why do you think that the AK-47 is such a popular weapon around the world? It's certainly not because it is the most technologically advanced, but because it is one of the world's most durable, reliable and easily manufactured assault rifles.

Re: p.s.l. for hit location Another thing you could do is to let players take as many PSL's as they want, but they cannot reduce this penalty below -2 (or -1) for any called shot. So even with 8 PSL's they still take a -2 penalty to target the head (which will cause players to only buy 6 PSL's, but who cares?).

Re: Hitting Versus Damage I also have similar house rules as the above posters. I however don't have a "maximum damage" for players, since it would be practically impossible for a thief with average strength and a knife to kill, even with a well-placed stab.

Re: Possible solution for common GM problems Just a stab in the dark, but are you Dr. Mark Junkelmann, Markdoc?

Re: FH Grimoire 2: Who has it? Thank you all for the posts. The reviews were most helpful

Re: FH Grimoire 2: Who has it? What do you mean it's nearly run down? Thank you for the responses, but can someone answer my question? I'll read your review with gratitude, Arcady, but I'm just too impatient to wait for an answer

I was wondering what those who have FHG 2 thought of it in general. Also, are the new spell groups (Dark Magic, Chaos Magic, etc.) just sub-categories of existing arcana (such as Wizardry and Thaumaturgy) or are they arcana themselves that require wizards learn an entirely new skill? I would certainly hope for the former, but I suppose that if I don't like it I can change it anyways

Re: Post Apocolyptic Dark Champions Not necessarily. There can be post-apocolyptic horror, fantasy, sci-fi, etc. I would even go so far as to say that post-apocolyptic could be a genre in itself.

I noticed a lot of GM's having problems with players who don't play their characters realistically - especially when it comes to wearing armor. One way to deal with this is to reward players with extra experience/character points who play their characters realistically. If a player tells me that his warrior is not going to wear armor today because he begins to feel cramped and uncomfortable if he wears it for too long, I would reward that player for good roleplaying. Here's another, more mechanical solution: In game, it's easy to just tell the GM that you want your character to study and learn a spell for 10 hours straight, or wear heavy armor constantly. Realistically, if we were in the shoes of our characters, there is a good chance that we may just be too lazy/unmotivated to study 10 hours straight or wouldn't want to wear heavy armor constantly because of discomfort or lack of cleanliness. Also realistically, if we saw a ghoul many of us would soil ourselves and run away instead of stay and fight. This particular situation is dealt with as a test of willpower in most RPG's, so why not extend that to other similar situations? For example, if your players want their characters to do something you think they might not want to do - like sleep in plate armor or study for hours with no leisure time - then have them make an EGO roll possibly with a penalty modifier. If they fail, just say something like "your warrior is tired of wearing plate armor and just wants to sleep comfortably for the night" or "your wizard just doesn't feel like studying - he needs some leisure time to unwind" The downside here is that this would give your players less control over their characters. It would, however, at least make them realize that their characters are human too (or elven or whatever), not machines who are immune to the stresses on the mind and flesh. Any thoughts/suggestions?

Re: Paying Points for Equipment... Kirby, do you ever tell your players that they won't get any extra experience points if they don't roleplay their characters realistically? What kinds of things have you tried to balance armor use? Do you take away long term endurance for wearing heavy armor? I sorta have another method of handling this if you want to look at my other post. Anyways, I wouldn't charge players points for equipment for mostly the same reasons that Marcdoc doesn't. It seems to create many more problems than solutions. If a new player joins a party and a member of that party gives him an axe, would you make him pay points for it??? It just seems extremely counter-intuitive to me to do that. Perhaps make players pay character points for extra money or magic items, but not equipment.

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER Question: How long is the longest running thread that you've all seen? Is there one longer than this?

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER Just contributing to the thread. Nice kitty

Re: Using d20 instead of 3d6 (DON'T KILL ME!) I don't know why everyone's still debating, I offered you guys and gals a solution that's better than using d20 because you still only need 3d6 for a more linear/random roll