AlHazred

As far as starting out with a "green" character...

If that's what you want, Hero is as capable of serving you as any other game. In D&D, because they use level to determine ability, they have to start out very low to accomodate those who want very unskilled characters. Dark Sun got around this by giving everyone a couple of levels at the very start.

In Hero, you can start at any level of play. The 150 point "standard" allows you to start out as good as most fantasy novel characters. At 100 points, you are "grittier", like one of the main characters in the Black Company series. If you want to be really gritty, you can shove that starting total all the way back to 0 point base + 25 in disads, as one of our group's GMs was thinking of doing. Would have made things challenging...

I think Duplication is overly complicated for most Dual Brains I've seen portrayed. It works really well where the brains are slightly different, but in most games, it just makes you harder to affect with mental powers, let's you concentrate on two different things at the same time, and (usually) control both arms equally well.

Taken seperately, that's

One Brain Per Hand: Ambidexterity (3 Penalty Skill Levels). Total Cost: 9 points.

Concentrate On Different Things: +3 Skill Levels with Intellect Skills (15 Active Points); Only To Counteract Combat and Limited Time Frame Penalties (-3/4). Total Cost: 9 points.

Twice As Resistant To Mental Attacks: Mental Damage Reduction, Resistant, 50%. Total Cost: 30 points.

YMMV

I don't know that two brains would let you react more quickly; if they're both as slow as my one brain before caffeine, well, let me tell you...

Powers for two brains would be pretty unusual - think two different things at the same time, maybe use both hands equally well. If the guy's a mentalist, maybe you can use a variant on the Multiple Power Attack rule to make his two attacks without crunching a lot of rules...

I run a Harn Hero game, which I try to keep low magic. So, none of the players had any magic weapons for the longest time, but they had cash to spend. So I decided to let them buy "fine" weapons. I defined them as normal, with an additional power: +1 DC, Reduced Endurance Cost (0 END; +1/2) (7 Active Points); OAF (-1), Standard Effect Variant (Does +1 BODY only; -0). Real Cost: 3 points. The 0 END and lack of STR Min limitation means that it's not any harder to swing than a normal sword; if it was made lighter than normal, but still as good (different alloy or something), I'd have knocked the STR Min down a point or two as well.

It's not much, but I'm trying to combat point inflation in my games.

What Mavnn suggested is actually pretty good.

One thing I'd considered is defining a new Power, a defense which requires the target to be struck twice by any attack roll. It occurred to me that you could apply this as a physical power as well, to reflect Cloaks of Displacement or similar effects. However, as much as I think this would be an interesting mechanic for the Hero System, I think that defining a fixed cost for it would be difficult. One of my friends said it best, "If the character has a low DCV, a high cost would be too much, but if he's a superhero with a high DCV a low cost would be too cheap."

Probably the most elegant solution is the 50% Mental Damage Reduction, which would reduce all Mental Power effects by half... I like that too...

The problem is there are multiple effects for the power. Reading from the book, Dual Encephalon (I got the name wrong, from memory *sigh*) has the following description:

"... dual-encephalons ... have the ability to use both sides of their brains independently and can concentrate on two different subjects at the same time. They are ambidextrous, and can avert the need for sleep by resting one brain at a time. When one brain is resting, [reduce the character's Int bonus by half]. Dual-encephalons are allowed two chances to resist any spell or substance that affects thought, brain functions, or emotions."

This is a suite of abilities. The simplest is the Ambidexterity Talent, bought to the 9 point level. Next is the ability to resist sleep; this is just Life Support (Diminished Sleep: Character does not have to sleep at all), a 3 point power. We can apply a limitation to the Intelligence characteristic bought for the character to reflect the special effects of this. Similarly, concentrating on two different thoughts at the same time is a trivial ability in game mechanics terms; we could just buy Int Skill Levels only to counteract the penalties of trying to use several Intellect Skills at once.

The difficult one is the influence resistance. I think Duplication is a little complicated for this. I shall continue to ponder with one brain, while resting the other...

I'm currently trying to figure out how to reflect Sindaran Dual-Encephaly in Hero 5th terms.

Briefly, Dual-Encephaly means that the Sindaran's have two brains; they are capable of thinking about two separate things at exactly the same time, they have two sets of skills, they get two chances to resist any attempts at Mental Influence, etc.

I'm still trying to get my mind around the "two chances to resist Influence" bit...

For those who are unfamiliar with the Talislanta setting , it is a Fantasy Post-Holocaust setting, where a magical disaster has left the land reft with wild magic. Strange and alien races abound; the tagline reads, "Extensive World Setting. Updated Rules System. Still No Elves."

I think there was some material for this on the old message boards. Anyone done anything with this? I think some of the races would make excellent additions to any fantasy campaign - I'm thinkin', Thralls and Neurians and Sarista, oh my!

Originally posted by Tweedle

Contacting Aliens: An Illustrated Guide to David Brin's Uplift Universe by David Brin and Kevin Lenagh

I picked this one up. I have to admit, it definitely removed some of the alienness of the alien races for me. I like it when the author tries to remove aliens from the group of easily identified stereotypes; this book, in describing them and, even worse, showing you line drawings, puts the aliens right back into the stereotypes again.

This thing on?

Wasn't sure there was any interest. I'll post more tonight when I get home. The only problem with making Moya a character was defining her "Capacity". In other words, I had to use Usable By Others and some guesstimations for maximum capacity.

I spoke to one of my friends who is a GURPS guru and has been a playtester. The bulletproof vests and metal chestplates in GURPS Cliffhangers were put in for the "Doc Savage" crowd, while the bulletproof vests at TL 6 in GURPS High-Tech represent the M-12 vest. Neither of these were evident during the Pulp Era in the real world.

However, if you're running a true Pulp game, don't worry about it. Pulp Heroes wear dinky "chainmail vest made of the latest experimental metal" or "a coat woven of metal fibers." Somehow, they only got hit where they had coverage (allowing for a cliffhanger at the end of one episode of the serial and a revelation of their survival somewhere in the next). Also, the armor seems to weigh nothing, and never becomes a factor when encumbrance is important (like when diving into the water to fight that crocodile hand-to-hand).

To answer some of your questions that haven't been answered:

2. How would you translate the [bulletproof vests in GURPS Cliffhangers ("PD 3, DR 4") and GURPS High-Tech ("PD 4, DR 6" for TL 6, which represents 1900-1950), and the concealable metal chestplate in GURPS Cliffhangers ("PD 4, DR 10")] into HERO terms?

The GURPS Cliffhangers bulletproof vest represents very good armor that stops a bullet cold; assuming a normal round, I'd call that a 6 or 7 DEF vest. For the reasons given above, I wouldn't give it either the Limited Coverage or Real Armor limitations, although IIF might be appropriate.

The GURPS High-Tech bulletproof vest represents the M-12, "a 12-pound vest of aluminum plates and nylon fabric" which made standard Army issue before the end of the War; it was primarily designed to eliminate wounds caused by shrapnel and metallic fragments, since making it truly "bullet-proof" would have made the soldiers clumsy and over-encumbered. I'd give this one 4 or 5 DEF (for the aluminum plates, Limited Coverage: Locations 9-14) and 2 DEF (for the nylon layers, Limited Coverage: 7-8 & 15-18).

The concealable metal chestplate in GURPS Cliffhangers is probably best represented with a DEF 8 breastplate from the fenatasy armors section (Locations 10-12), with the same Pulp Era caveat.

4. What armor values (in HERO terms) would you give for WW1 and WW2 helmets?

WW1 helmets were of variable quality depending on who made them. The British developed "Type A" helmets by 1915. I found a link which gives them the ability to stop "shrapnel ball travelling at 750 ft/sec". This would seem to indicate a pretty high DEF. I'd give WWI helmets DEF 5-8, depending. Coverage would be limited to locations 4-5, except for your "man in the iron mask" Doctor Doom types. Subsequent development of helmets has made them more comfortable, and standardized the DEF, but I'd say 5-8 is a good range.

5. What armor values would you give for clothing like heavy leather jackets? Would you give them a point or two of PD, with the limitation not vs. firearms, or would you handle them in some other way?

I normally just give them 1 or 2 points of DEF, with the Limited Coverage limitation. This represents well the miniscule reduction of damage from a rifle round, will sometimes stop direct low-caliber rounds completely, and provides some insulation from fire and electricity - all qualities of real world leather jackets.

Here's the Military Flyer reposted as a Word document. I took the opportunity to reduce its STR even more, since further reading indicated that 400 kg was way, way too much for its capacity.

I chose not to add Towed Gliding, or Gliding of any kind to the Flyer, since my further reading indicated that the runners were not designed for long term use; if we don't make regular planes buy a movement power to represent their landing gear, then the Flyer doesn't need any either.

This represents the extreme low-end of military aircraft, and I thought it a good starting point for aircraft unlikely to make it into the Vehicle Sourcebook.

Originally posted by BNakagawa

You also need to account for the possibility that somebody other than yourself can light off fuel you sprayed onto a target, including actions of your target.

[sNIP]

Also, once you've saturated ground with fuel, it isn't entirely obvious that's what's happened. Obviously nobody would walk into a field that's been set on fire, but with ground clutter or plant growth, it wouldn't be immediately obvious that an area has been doused with flamethrower fuel. Until of course you walked into it and smelled it. Then it's probably too late.

You can handle this by making it a multipower. Something like this:

Multipower, 75 point pool (75 Active Points); OAF Bulky (-1½), 1 Fuel Charge lasting an 1 Turn (-1¼), Real Weapon (-¼), 2 Handed (½), 10 STR Min (Extra STR Doesn't Add to Damage; -½). Real Cost: 25.

Slot 1: RKA 1½d6, Area of Effect (20" Line; +1), Continuous (+1) (75 Active Points); Limited Power (Not In Wet Conditions; -¼), No Range (-½). Real Cost: 4u.

Slot 2: RKA 1½d6, Area Of Effect (Any 32 Hex Area; +1¾), Trigger (+¼) (75 Active Points); Limited Power (Not In Wet Conditions; -¼), No Range (-½). Real Cost: 4u.

Total Cost: 33 points.

For the Champions version, remove the STR Min and Real Weapon limitations.

I thought about this at lunch. Another way to do it that takes advantage of new rules in 5th Edition is to give the flamethrower Boostable Charges as opposed to a single Fuel Charge (Boostable Fuel Charges? Wouldn't like to do the math on that one!) The Boosting effect could reflect taking the time to "hose down" an area with flame.

I have the RW statistics for the USMC Portable Flamethrower M2-2: Weight=32 kg, Fuel=18L, Range=25-40m, Duration=10sec.

Translating to Hero, I could see it as a:

RKA 1½d6, Area of Effect (20" Line; +1), Continuous (+1) (75 Active Points); OAF Bulky (-1), 1 Fuel Charge (1 Turn; -1¼), No Range (-½). Real Cost: 20.

'Course, I'm at work, so the Advantage and Limitation values could be off. Also, I'm assuming that the damage looks right to you - I have no statistics on the survival rate among the... uh... flamethrown... so I can't say how damaging it should be. A 1½d6 Continuing Attack should do it, though, for your average 8 BODY soldiers in a "gritty" campaign, especially if you're using the Impairing rules.

[Edited to add "No Range".]

I am not a GURPS guru, nut PD is Passive Defense (the effect of armor of causing blows to "glance off"), while DR is Damage Resistance (the effect of armor stopping some of the damage of a blow that lands).

If I was to translate anything into Hero terms, I would just go by what it is, i.e. the actual item itself. Thus, I would translate kevlar according to Hero standard given in FREd. If GURPS says a suit is slightly more protective than kevlar, I'd give it a little more DEF than the standard medium kevlar.

I'm also not an expert on the development of armor, but I know that many pulp heroes had something to stop bullets, usually something that fit under their trenchcoats. The idea was there, even if the actual armor wasn't yet.

I've been giving this some thought since the last episode aired on Friday.

To start with Moya:

Characteristics:

STR: 81

DEX: 20

CON: 30

BODY: 36

INT: 15

EGO: 14

PRE: 30

COM: 14

PD: 16

ED: 16

SPD: 4

REC: 22

END: 60

STUN: 91

Total Characteristics Cost: 248

Flight: 28"/896"

Teleport: 10 LY/10 LY

Powers:

Biomechanoid Flight: Flight 28", x32 Noncombat (81 Active Points); Limited Maneuverability (-1/2) Total Cost: 54 Points

Starburst: Teleport 10", Megascale (1"=1 LY; +3 1/2) (90 Active Points); Full Power Only (-1/4), No Noncombat Multiple (-1/4) Total Cost: 60 Points

Starburst Charge: Endurance Reserve (10 END/10 REC) (11 Active Points); Slow Recovery (6 Hours; -2 1/2) Total Cost: 3 Points

Toughness: Damage Resistance (16 PD/16 ED) (16 Active Points), Total Cost: 16 Points

Total Powers Cost: 133

Total Character Cost: 381

Notes:

Since she's a living being, she's a character rather than a Vehicle; this is just like the case of the Cybertank. TShe seems to be "vaguely large" in the series. I can't remember any one episode where someone made a reference to it, but the Farscape RPG lists her as 1,000 meters long by 250 meters wide by 200 meters high. Based on her scale seen in Episode 2 (US): I, E.T., that seems about right. That would make her between Size category 23 (based on Width) and Size category 27 (based on Length). Based on Area, she's between Size categories 25 and 26; if we called her Size category 26, she'd pay 130 points for size and have -17 DCV and -26" of KB. We'll give her a Physical Limitation: Really Colossal (1,000m long or in diameter; -18 DCV, +18 to PER Rolls to perceive) (Frequently, Slightly Impairing) for 10 points and buy her 26" of Knockback Resistance for 52 points.

The Farscape RPG lists her cargo capacity at 2 ktons, which would mean she has a STR of about 81. However, in the series, she never has trouble carrying any particular cargo or number of passengers. It's a plot thing - she has as much STR as she needs to carry out the plot.

That's a preliminary assessment. More later.

Originally posted by Space Cadet

Is The Avenger the one who gets whacked upside the head after his wife and child disappear from the plane they were all riding on, and winds up becoming an albino overnight?

Yup. The Avenger suffered such a shock when his wife and child disappeared, that he went insane for several months. Afterward, his skin and hair were chalk-white, and the muscles in his face unresponsive - they would assume whatever shape he put them in. This allowed him to assume anyone's likeness with a little work; I believe this ability made it into the Champions sourcebook under "Pulp Hero Powers". (As an aside, one of his companions had the "Door Smashing Fists" also in the sidebar.)

Gear Krieg!

Originally posted by Shadowpup

Gear Kreig is supposed to be Pulpish too but I know nothing about it.

Gear Krieg: Two-Fisted Pulp Super-Science in a World at War! is a neat idea from the Dream Pod 9 guys. The game design basically started with the idea that Germany could have constructed large "Walkers" to rearm in secret after its defeat in WWI; the "Walkers" are, of course, transforming mecha that ordinarily resemble ground vehicles with wheels (to get where they want to go quickly) but can be transformed into large legged fighting machines. This basic idea (introducing mecha into WWII) was used in the setting in the Dream Park module The Fiendish Agents of Falkenberg, and it supplied a sprinboard to create a setting in which a lot of high-tech "paper projects" actually managed to get constructed.

Great setting, and good execution. Its application to a standard Pulp campaign might be rather limited, though.

Originally posted by AnotherSkip

After all there is no right way in HERO!

Sure there is.

I've got my Right Way. You've got your Right Way. They can be completely different Right Ways. The beauty of Hero System is they can all still work.

To be fair, I have bought a lot of Hero supplements, and the few old supplements I don't have (Wings of the Valkyrie) I've at least seen and paged through. None of them are really that bad.

Before I get anyone's dander up, I feel compelled to remind people of the Bad Old Days of gaming, when product quality standards were nonexistent, and anybody who had a photocopier, a pen, and some paper thought he had all that it took to put out a gaming supplement.

Hero's come away easy. You think Bad Medicine for Dr. Drugs is bad? Ask a Glorantha fan about Eldarad or Daughters of Darkness. Ask a GURPS player about GURPS Wild Cards or Billy the Axe. Ask an old-time D&D player about the old Dimension Six products.

All that being said, I really didn't care for Cyber Hero. But some of the art's okay. And it just inspired Mike Surbrook to do a better job with Kazei Five.

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"Look on the bright side. Dying is the next best thing to living." -- Sgt. Strict

Hey, I posted for comments. I appreciate all comments, especially those that differ from my own for good reasons; I've been known to change my mind from time to time...

As far as the vehicle's mass, my reading of TUV seems to indicate that it's the "size" of the vehicle that goes into determining the Size stat; in other words, it's the physical dimensions that count, as far as length, height, width, etc. From what I read, it seems to me weight is meant to be variable within the range of "zero" to "the weight based on Size".

Originally posted by Basildrag

The length of 28' 11" is closer to size 6.

Sure, it's closer. I always thought that the Length/Width/Height stats under "Size" indicated the maximum, in which case, since the 28' 11" is over the Size 6 Length and under the Size 7 Length, you go with Size 7. I'll fiddle with it today at home.

As far as Running goes, the Wright plane was physically pushed out to the airstrip by a couple of strong guys (two guys with 15 STR should be able to do it). You'll note the absence of wheels; instead, two runners allow it to be slid along the ground. Forward velocity is imparted by the props, which drive the plane along the ground until it reaches its Stall Velocity. At that point, it can take off. I'll think about it, maybe "Pulled Vehicle Gliding" is in line. Hey, what do you want for 1909 flight technology?

That would normally be true; however, TUV also states that it's okay to adjust the weight, as long as the other Size effects stay the same. They even give the example of aircraft carriers, which have a weight based on Size of 400 kilotons, but which should actually weigh about 50-90 kilotons. The Wright Military Flyer is actually an incredibly light plane, almost a kite; you're probably right that the STR should be higher, but I wouldn't place it higher than, say, 25 or 30.

I think I'll edit my post to remove the text, and instead post it as a Word document.

[Edit - I deleted the Wright Military Flyer. I have no idea where the extra space was coming in, but it affected readability. I'll repost it as an attachment to a later post.]

I was reading The Ultimate Vehicle for the seventh time, really getting into "design mode," when I hit the Web. While surfing, I came across a really good site, the US Air Force Museum. There's plenty of great descriptions of a variety of planes, and my mind immediately started to convert reality to fantasy. I wonder, what sort of aircraft have people made use of in game?

Since my current campaign has a PC military test pilot, I plan on including a lot of air battles and stunts for him to do. I decided to stat out a few of these great planes; since I like to know what other good ideas people have had, I thought I'd post them online. Not wanting to step on DOJ's toes, I figure on statting only planes I don't expect them to put in their Vehicles Compendium book.