AlHazred

Re: Here There Be Dragons

 

Hmmm... Not very Greek in inspiration, is she?

 

Or is this Scylla?

Re: The Italian Connection

 

The reasons this wasn't done so much in the Pulp Era were two-fold.

 

The Nazis weren't actually a regular Pulp threat during the 30s and early 40s because they weren't thought of as an enemy until the war. How many Afghani or Iraqi villains did we see during the 80s? Only the later Pulp heroes, and the modern retro-Pulp characters like the Rocketeer, fight Nazis at all.

 

Mobsters had a love/hate relationship with the public at large. Many criminals were thought of as heroes of the working class. Mobsters were bad guys because they tried to become too powerful, but individuals were still thought of as having redeeming qualities. This is why there is both a criminal villain NPC archetype and a Thrillseeking Criminal PC Package Deal in the Pulp Hero book.

 

Somehow you'd have to combine Fascists (who, as wartime enemies, would not be shown to have any redeeming qualities) with gangsters (who, as criminals, need to be able to draw on at least a thread of sympathy). Difficult at best! I salute your attempt!

Re: Spirit Companion

 

IMO the Spirit Companion class feature from the 4E Shaman class is not a distinct Follower. Instead, it's a specific Power, which Power is determined by whichever form of Companion Spirit the character chooses.

Companion Spirit

As part of your initiation as a shaman, you acquired a spirit companion, an animal spirit that accompanies and assists you. Many shaman powers have the spirit keyword (PHB 2, page 220). Your spirit companion must be present when you use such a power.

You gain the call spirit companion power, which allows you to call your spirit companion to your side.

In addition, choose one of the following Companion Spirit options. Your choice provides you with a Spirit Boon as well as a special attack made through your spirit companion, and your choice determines one of your at-will attack powers. Your choice also provides bonuses to certain shaman powers, as detailed in those powers.

 

Protector Spirit

You draw on the strength of the bear or a similar protective spirit to defend and bolster your allies.

Spirit Boon: Any ally adjacent to your spirit companion regains additional hit points equal to your Constitution modifier when he or she uses second wind or when you use a healing power on him or her.

This is an Aid to REC for all nearby allies.

 

Stalker Spirit

You call on the stealth and cunning of the panther or a similar stalking spirit to empower and position your allies.

Spirit Boon: Any ally adjacent to your spirit companion gains a bonus to damage rolls against bloodied enemies equal to your Intelligence modifier.

This one's a little trickier. Your best bet is to make it an Aid to STR for all nearby allies, with the limitation that the extra STR is only for doing extra damage.

 

Both of these Aids are best modeled as Area Of Effect (2m Radius), Selective, Mobile, so you can move them around the battlefield.

 

The Call Spirit Companion power says:

You conjure your spirit companion in an unoccupied square in the burst (i.e., some square within five of the one your character is in). The spirit lasts until you fall unconscious or until you dismiss it as a minor action. The spirit occupies 1 square. Enemies cannot move through its space, but allies can. When you take a move action, you can also move the spirit a number of squares equal to your speed.

 

The spirit can be targeted by melee or ranged attacks, although it lacks hit points. If a single melee or ranged attack deals damage to the spirit equal to 10 + one-half your level or higher, the spirit disappears, and you take damage equal to 5 + one-half your level. Otherwise, the spirit is unaffected by the attack.

So, the modifiers granted by whatever power the Spirit Companion becomes are Nonpersistent, Physical Manifestation, and some form of Feedback (so you take damage when the spirit is hit.) Since you get the spirit back at-will at the start of any Phase that it isn't in existence, it should be a 0 END power.

Hmmm... You could build it as a Talent (either extra PD/ED for the ship with Limited Coverage, or Barrier which already has coverage limitations built in). Or you could define Reinforce Shields as a Block -- the PC flying the ship uses his Phase to Block the incoming attack. If it works, it doesn't matter how large the attack is, the Block deflects it (assuming the thing blocked isn't unusually large/powerful -- asteroids and massive Wave Motion Guns might cause the GM to declare the attack does damage anyway). Neither is more right than the other -- it's just a matter of seasoning to taste!

I thought about this more after I posted last night. In movies and books, you have a variety of "vehicular tricks" that characters use. In Hero terms, some of these are best represented as Talents, while others are best represented as Martial Maneuvers. In general, anything that does extra damage should be designed as a Martial Maneuver; Talents would cover every other kind of trick. For instance, one trick that's constantly used on TV and in movies but that rarely shows up in books is the ability to eke just a little more speed out of a vehicle. This can be bought as a Talent based on the Aid power; if you bought it as actual extra meters of movement, then you'd need to buy the Usable Simultaneously Advantage with lots of extra mass.

 

2 Just A Little More Juice: Aid Movement 1d6, Any Movement Power (+1/2); Only Works On Vehicle For Which Characters Is The Driver/Pilot (-1 1/2), One Use At A Time (-1), END=1

On the other hand, you could design an Automobile Martial Art for your 70s Cop Hero game, where the character is adept at using the mirrors on his shiny Pontiac GTO to blind people next to it.

 

4 Flashy Wheels: 1/2 Phase, -1 OCV, -1 DCV, Flash 4d6

So, there are lots of options.

I've been waiting, and no one else brought it up, so...

Weapon Elements. You can do this relatively cheaply by designing a Martial Art using the regular Martial Maneuvers list, and then defining its default Weapon Element as "Usable with Wheeled Vehicles." This is how you fight with Giant Mecha, you purchase "WE: Usable with Mecha" for your Karate, and then go to it.

The second paragraph under "Weapons" (HSMA 90) says, "A few Weapon Elements (e.g., Use Art in Zero Gravity, Use Art in Armor) work a little differently -- they function sort of as Limited forms of Environmental Movement, allowing characters to use their Martial Arts in situations where they would otherwise be unable to use them or suffer penalties.

It should be possible to design a Vehicular Combat Martial Art. I'd give all maneuvers either the FMove element or Requires a Half Move, as this feels like how vehicles should do damage to people.

Check out the attachment to see what I'm talking about. The Martial Art there is for a Murdoch-style (The A-Team) character who gets into lots of car chases on the streets of Los Angeles, but the same principle applies to Captain Starkiller and the SS Zero Gravitas. It's a particularly cost-effective way to do it without sinking lots of points into specialized Powers/Talents -- if you're going to have whole sessions go by without a chase scene or space battle where they can be used, the 50 points you sank into them tend to look wasted.

Prefab file is located here.

Martial Arts - Vehicular Combat.pdf

Re: Writing Setting Material

 

I favor the idea of "found documents" as setting material. For example, go with number 2 of your choices, but also include post-it notes dispersed throughout the printout that put the lie to what the propagandists are saying within. If you have some photorealistic graphics you wish to use for the game, then printing them out on glossy photo paper and dropping them in there is good, too. Maybe a file folder with edited memos containing hard statistics and raw data.

 

The idea being, this is what the character sees. How the player interprets that information is part of the art of role-playing. Good luck, and please post what you can -- I love to improve my own GMing by seeing what other people do.

Re: Weird Animal Species for Your Games

 

This octopus looks like a probable evolutionary ancestor of the squibbon.

The squbbon and several other analogues are mentioned on the "Save the Tree Octopus" website. It's really exhaustive when it comes to research!

Re: Weird Animal Species for Your Games

 

How about a giant killer panda (and not a panda that kills giants, no sir...)? Or a palm-sized pterodactyl? Surgeon crabs? The domestic gryphon (admittedly far more appropriate to Fantasy Hero, but with a new description it could be alien)? A gargantuan underwater mollusk?

 

I need to do a writeup of another endangered species from that part of the world, the Mountain Walrus.

I was reading this article, which led me to this page about the plight of the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus, and the attempts to get it on the endangered species list to save the last few members of this now-rare animal.

 

I can't do much about endangered species except raise awareness. So, as a Hero gamer, here's how I do that:

 

 

Character sheet is located here.

 

For a real combat challenge, supersize one and give the Beak one or two levels of AP and the tentacles some Stretching. Should be a real threat for Fantasy Hero or Star Hero PCs, especially if you give it terrain bonuses, like if it grabs one guy and attacks him in the trees while his friends are on the ground.

 

It occurs to me that a thread with creatures not specifically designed for a particular genre would be a good resource -- it'd be nice to have them all in one place. So, I open the floor to suggestions.

Re: Historical Late Medieval Period RPG

 

what about Pendragon from Chaosium

Pendragon's not really a "Late Medieval" RPG. In fact, if realism's what you're after, I would stay away. It's extremely good at what it does: Arthurian romantic RPGing.

Re: Your "2011" Pet Gaming Projects

 

Unfortunately' date=' the wonderful Traveller Hero stuff seems to be gone forever (prob. has to do with FFE + Hero licencing)[/quote']I still curse myself that I was unable to acquire the hardcopy books in a timely manner, as now my chances seem remote. I'll be the unlucky boob paying through the nose for them on eBay (and considering myself lucky to do so).

Re: Your "2011" Pet Gaming Projects

 

Since my list from last year was fairly complete, I'll just update that.

 

Champions

 

• Write two more modules for the Legacy of Champions convention campaign. I continue to be woefully far behind due to Real Life and other projects. 0% done. If it gets close to convention time, I may just steal somebody else's ideas, but I really hate to do that...
  

Dark Champions

 

• Port an organization I built for the Spycraft 2.0 RPG, the Disciples of the Word, into Hero terms. 0% done. Low priority anyway.
  

Fantasy Hero

 

• [postPONED] Complete work on my massive High Fantasy Hero campaign, In the Hands of Fate. It's about 75% done but the campaign was put on indefinite hold due to an upset in the player base. It might be too cerebral for a Tuesday night anyway; we're currently doing Dark Sun D&D 4E there, and that seems to be more at the mental level people can manage then.
  
• Convert the magic of the DragonQuest RPG to Hero 6E in three flavors - pure Fantasy Hero, as-close-to-DQ-as-possible-in-Hero, and a comfortable mix in between. About 90% done. I had this on-hold due to other commitments, and it's about time I finished it off and posted it.
  

Pulp Hero

 

• Update my write-ups of Fu Manchu and his minions in the Si-Fan. 0% complete. I did take the books off the shelves and acquired one of the two follow-ups written by Cay Van Ash, so I have hopes it'll be even more complete and thorough than the 5E Hero version.
  

Star Hero

 

• Still haven't begun work on the next leg of my Traveller Hero campaign, Flight of a Thousand Years, currently in hiatus. I found some excellent third-party resources on the Trojan Reach, which the PCs had just entered at the break point, so it looks like most of my work will be of the "cut 'n' paste" variety.
  

Other Hero

 

• Convert World of Darkness RPG Vampire: The Masquerade into Hero 6E. Basic template is 100% done and posted. I don't think I'll convert the rest as it's not something I can use in any other current games.
  
• Convert World of Darkness RPG Werewolf: The Apocalypse into Hero 6E. Basic template is 100% done and posted. I don't think I'll convert the rest as it's not something I can use in any other current games.
  
• [postPONED] Convert World of Darkness RPG Mage: The Ascension into Hero 6E. Mostly the magic system. 0% done. Indefinitely on-hold as it's not something I can use in any other current games.
  
• [postPONED] Convert World of Darkness RPG Changeling: The Dreaming into Hero 6E. 0% done. Indefinitely on-hold as it's not something I can use in any other current games.
  
• Convert World of Darkness RPG Wraith: The Oblivion into Hero 6E. Basic template is about 95% done, everything else is 0% done. It's not something I can use in any other current games, but it's so close to finished that I might just finish it up to post it and be done.
  
• Write-Up: Ham the Astrochimp. Completed today and posted.
  

Other Game

Re: In Praise of Ham the Astrochimp

 

Okay, let's honor him the Hero Boards way.

 

I was idly looking online for blueprints for the TARDIS (futile, I know -- the vehicle is able to be reconfigured, so any blueprint would be only a snapshot in time) when I came across this thread on the Trek BBS forums. He has some designs on Deviant Art, and Imageshack. I'm frankly impressed with this guy's attention to detail (even as I might wonder about his sanity). However, I'm not enough of a Doctor Who geek to properly evaluate (appreciate?) the designs.

 

Any takers?

Re: Shadow World setting

 

The current SW situation has modified conditions on that continent a lot (according to the game world author in the ICE forums). Bladestorm was not originally going to be in any previously-published campaign world' date=' but it got dropped into Kulthea in the hope of boosting sales.[/quote']Interesting! What are the current conditions if you don't mind my asking?

Re: FTL Newsfeed

 

I always thought the Traveller News Service in Traveller was an interesting idea; considering that in that setting information travels only as fast as people (1 to 6 parsecs a week), you get a somewhat analogous situation to the news media during the Civil War. They should really have done a supplement with news snippets that might or might not be adventure seeds (maybe in the style of 76 Patrons).

Re: Historical Late Medieval Period RPG

 

I'm sorry. Is there a reason that we can't call Harnism a cult? 'Cuz I'm calling it a cult.

As a "Hero Zombie" I think it would be unfair of me to comment on the "cultish" fanaticism of fans of other systems.

I figure it's time to try something new.

 

So, some background. James Blish was a well-known speculative fiction author. He is primarily known for a few things: he coined the term "gas giant" and wrote a large number of official Star Trek episode novelizatioins. Most importantly for the purpose of this thread, he wrote a series of four novels set in the same universe: the Cities in Flight series.

 

The series explores two technological innovations and their ramifications: the spindizzy is an anti-gravity sub-light drive that works more efficiently the more mass it must move; and, drug therapies that drastically extended human life to potentially thousands of years. Between these two inventions, mankind is able to colonize the galaxy.

 

The Cities in Flight series had some interest among fans: the first and second books are decent science fiction. However, IMO the third and fourth book fall flat -- they're mean-spirited and somewhat silly. Nevertheless, the books routinely show up in the middle-lower portion of "Top Classic Science Fiction" lists that include the Golden Age of Sci-Fi.

 

What I'm interested in modeling here is the spindizzy itself. Here you have independent engines which can affect their surroundings. Presumably the size of the engine(s) affects the size of the landmass it can lift. I propose the following:

10 Dillon-Wagoner Gravitron Polarity Generator: Flight 3m, No Turn Mode (+1/4), Full Reverse (+1/4), Sideways Maneuverability (+1/2), MegaScale (1" = 100,000 km; +1 1/2), Can Be Scaled Down 1" = 1km (+1/4), Usable As Attack (x1,048,576 maximum weight per inanimate target; +6 1/4) (30 Active Points); OAF Immobile (-2)

 

I'm not sure if it's ever established how fast the spindizzy will let an object go, but since it builds its antigravity with the mass it carries, it stands to reason that the larger objects will travel considerably faster than the smaller ones; the island of Manhattan, for instance, might be capable of 0.4 or 0.5 C.

Re: Eberron Hero

 

Avast' date=' ye necromancer![/quote']Obviously, a follower of the Blood of Vol. Or a Karrnathi. Or both.

Re: FTL Newsfeed

 

For a minute there, I thought this was going to be a thread about the ansible!

Re: Potions and Scrolls with a Framework Magic System

 

I usually give Potions a Gestures limitation. They're not quite as easy to use as a gun; you can slap your hand over somebody's mouth to prevent them drinking, but sticking your finger in a trigger is much harder.

Re: Historical Late Medieval Period RPG

 

Oddly, there's an even better source albeit not from an RPG.

 

Frances and Joseph Gies wrote a number of books on the subject of life in Medieval times, but three of them were wildly popular among Medievalists when I went to college: Life in a Medieval City (1969), Life in a Medieval Castle (1974) and Life in a Medieval Village (1990). All three were collected in one volume in 2005, Daily Life in Medieval Times. They're not too deep, and focus on ordinary life as opposed to famous people. They also span a decent chunk of the Medieval period.

 

Google Books links: Life in a Medieval Village, Life in a Medieval City, Life in a Medieval Castle.

Re: Shadow World setting

 

Shards were interesting from a difficulty standpoint, but they never really grabbed me -- they had no cool back story that I ever heard, and aside from the difficulty of hitting them, seemed not to have a lot of combat options. I like my monsters with a little more meat.

 

They need a great origin. Any takers?

Re: Eberron Hero

 

That's okay, I think. With the resurgent possibility of a Wonder Woman movie, the Brelish Bravura comes once more to mind.