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AlHazred

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Posts posted by AlHazred

  1. Nostalgia: Anybody Else Convert Old Gaming Material?

    in Fantasy Hero

    Posted

    Re: Nostalgia: Anybody Else Covert Old Gaming Material?

     

    I should mention I thought of this topic after seeing my work converting Larry DiTilio's Cerilon articles from Dragon magazine. He published two articles covering aspects of his home campaign world of Cerilon (about runes and poisons) and then never went on to develop anything further. In fact, after writing the Masks of Nyarlathotep campaign for Chaosium, he went on to write He-Man scripts for quite a while.

     

    Googling him brought me this interesting tidbit:

    DiTillio still writes games for his own use, and would willingly return to the RPG field. "I'm a professional writer, who will listen to any offer of paid work. I did create my own system and world, Cerilon, and I'd love to get that published. Nudge nudge, wink wink."

     

    He developed Cerilon, a percentile-based fantasy RPG system derived from D&D and RuneQuest, when he tired of "constantly checking charts and tables for every damn move anyone made. Everything players needed to know about the system was right on the character sheet. No more checking rulebooks or tables, just act and roll. My notion of roleplaying is that it should be cinematic. The more time spent rules-lawyering, the more boring the game! Flow is what you want.

     

    "[Cerilon] has a very diverse population that mirrors our real world. I found most fantasy games to be too white-bread, so I folded in black people, blue people, red, yellow, etc. Each race had its own culture and customs, culled from lots of reading on African, Asian and Native American mythologies. I did include elves, dwarves and hobbits, though I did not adhere to the typical Tolkien paradigm of these kindred races. Typically for me, it's a very adult world; Love-making and Flirting are both popular skills. The adventures ranged from small forays to full scale wars, and I wrote a ton of them, more than enough to play for several years.

    I intended to convert the published Cerilon articles to Hero, and got started under 5th edition, but the material has lain fallow and incomplete for years. I should get back to it sometime.

  5. From the Tesla files...

    in Pulp Hero

    Posted

    Re: From the Tesla files...

     

    I read the first sentence in the article as "The sorcerer-electricians who have for years been trying..." and instantly became more interested until I saw I'd misread "scientist".

     

    Thanks, though! Now I have a new idea for Fantasy Hero!

  6. What would you do as GM when our intrepid . . . . . .

    in Fantasy Hero

    Posted

    Re: What would you do as GM when our intrepid . . . . . .

     

    I've thought about it some more, and disagree that an 18 rolled on a Survival skill should have equivalent effects to an 18 rolled during combat.

     

    My reasoning goes like this: combat in Hero is not very abstracted. You roll an average of fifteen times per minute in Game Time. Given the huge number of dice rolled, we can expect 18s to come up with frequency -- that one-in-216 chance seems more likely to occur every session or two when you're rolling several dozen times each game session.

     

    On the other hand, Skill Rolls are extremely abstracted. You roll once, and the result determines the success or failure of a hunting expedition that might last anywhere from an hour to six hours in Game Time. You probably won't see more than one or two of those 18s for any particularly common Skill Roll during the course of a campaign.

     

    Therefore, the 18s rolled in Skill Rolls should definitely have a more serious impact than a similar failed roll during combat.

  7. Why We Should Go Into Space

    in Star Hero

    Posted

    Re: Why We Should Go Into Space

     

    We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things' date=' not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.[/b']
    I agree with that guy! Mike, I got to use that quote one of these days, and I'll be sure to attribute it to you!

     

    We can't give up now! Where's the spirit? Where's the guts, huh? Did we give up when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? No! Did we give up when the Mexicans killed those other guys at the Little Big Horn? No! We got to go there, man!

  10. D&D 4E Powers as Fantasy Hero Powers

    in Fantasy Hero

    Posted

    Re: D&D 4E Powers as Fantasy Hero Powers

     

    I deliberately slowed down the progression since you guys were starting out as Very Powerful Heroes. You can easily do something to give a feel more of level-based progression -- give the PCs 4-5 XP per adventure. If you get 12-15 points saved up, you can pick up significant abilities rather quickly.

     

    Running a game based on WoW, you're going to have to plan for a really, really high level of power at the end of the campaign. Plan ahead -- build the packages the characters are going to buy early.

  11. D&D 4E Powers as Fantasy Hero Powers

    in Fantasy Hero

    Posted

    Re: D&D 4E Powers as Fantasy Hero Powers

     

    I played in Al-'s Hero game and he did a great job with race package write-ups' date=' so I'd like to see if it can be done here.[/quote']The PDF with all of the race packages can be found linked here: http://www.herogames.com/forums/entry.php/1471-High-Fantasy-Races-Part-2

     

    I never bothered to make all of the Hero Designer package deals available, since only a tiny subset of the available races were going to be used, but they're somewhere on my hard drive if you want them to start with.

  13. What would you do as GM when our intrepid . . . . . .

    in Fantasy Hero

    Posted

    Re: What would you do as GM when our intrepid . . . . . .

     

    He ends up stalking something that stalks him as skillfully as he stalks it. Then suddenly they come upon each other, him fighting with his weapons it tearing at him with tooth and claw. Play out one Phase of combat, where the wound he inflicts on it inflicts damage to him as well and vice versa.

     

    Then turn to the other players at the camp and ask what they're up to. Have them roleplay through some camp stuff. Then, they suddenly hear the most horrible howls and screams echoing from the woods. Dark animals and... other things... break from cover around the camp and flee away from the sounds of fighting. Intrepid characters who try to investigate rapidly become lost in the brambles and thickets that choke that part of the woods; the trees overhead completely block out all light from the stars there, and only luminescent moss lights their way. As they try to find a way to penetrate the thicket, the sounds cease; after a pause of a few seconds, the insect noises begin again.

     

    Then bring the hunter to another room and reveal that the that his prey turns out to be the Darkly Feral version of himself. Play out the combat. It should have the same number of points as him, but no weapons -- just claws and fangs, and a fiercely intelligent hunting/fighting style.

     

    If he wins the battle (and it should be dramatically tough), tell him he thinks its hide looks especially valuable. Should he skin it or take other souvenirs, they should be worth something -- a small one-time (or extremely limited use) bonus to Survival or Tracking, or a single charge of Moderate poison damage.

     

    If he loses, he passes out. When he comes to, both the hunter and the area the battle took place in are completely covered in blood and gore. He's down to 1 BODY (or half his BODY stat if healing is not readily available) and he feels terrible, but he's alive.

     

    Secretly, you know that the hunter and his Dark Shadow have merged. It will slowly try to turn him towards feral nature and away from civilized society. There are benefits to be had (let him buy Tracking Scent, and give him +1 bonuses to OCV or Survival once in a while) but always at a price -- if he takes advantage of the gifts he slowly submerges his higher self into the primitive urges and savage fury of the shadow.

     

    Should be worth a subplot that runs for at least one season or so of campaign.

  14. Hero System Grimoire - and a magic system to go with it.

    in Fantasy Hero

    Posted

    Re: Hero System Grimoire - and a magic system to go with it.

     

    I used Resource Points for my High Fantasy game for magical and mundane equipment and it worked reasonably well except for certain caveats. Potions and scrolls didn't fit right, for instance.

     

    If you're going to expand the definition of the Resource Pool to include spells, then you're better off forgetting about it and just tacking the extra 70 points or so onto each character; tell them they have to buy a Resource Pool VPP, and then stringently define the limitations to reflect what you want for it.

  16. D&D 4E Powers as Fantasy Hero Powers

    in Fantasy Hero

    Posted

    Re: D&D 4E Powers as Fantasy Hero Powers

     

    I'll go. I'll assume Hero System 6E for now, but 5E suggestions are also welcome:

    1a) A silence field *burst* of a limited (1-hex radius) size that also restores END to the user.
    The restoring END ability is merely the second part of a Compound Power, an Aid END. In D&D 4E, most abilities that inflict Conditions on people (such as Silenced) would be "save ends," which means at the end of every round the creature gets to roll a d20 and on a 10 or better, the Condition ends. So, some effects can last all encounter, while others last one Phase. That looks like some sort of Requires A Roll limitation; since ordinary D&D 4E abilities should be modeled without a Skill Roll (i.e., they always go off when used) this is probably worth a -1/2 bonus. Also, in D&D 4E, you have to target each creature in a burst separately for most attacks; this is the Nonselective modifier to an Area Of Effect.

     

    So, this power looks like this:

    Steal Voice: (Total: 27 Active Cost, 15 Real Cost) Darkness to Hearing Group 2m radius, Costs Endurance Only To Activate (+1/4), Sticky (not standard Sticky - power remains on initial targets when they leave burst zone, no other targets affected; +1/2), Time Limit (5 Minutes; +3/4), Invisible Power Effects (Visible to Magic Sense Group Only; +1) (21 Active Points); Requires A Roll (11- roll; target makes Roll at the end of each Phase or effect ends; -1/2), Nonselective Target (-1/4) (Real Cost: 12) plus Aid END 1d6 (6 Active Points); Only to Aid Self (-1) (Real Cost: 3) END=2

     

    1b) As 1a, except instead of a silence burst, a small amount of damage that has a chance to stun opponents.
    That would take the above power and replace Darkness with a Blast.

     

    2) A passive ability that gives combat bonuses to followers (like a hunter's pets or a necromancer's ghouls).
    This is a typical ability for leader character classes in the new D&D. This is similar to the Inspire Talent in Fantasy Hero.
    Inspire Competence: Aid OCV 2d6 (standard effect: 6 points), Area Of Effect (32m Radius; voice radius; +1), Selective (+1/4) (27 Active Points) END=3

     

    3) An ability that removes a mind-control or -affecting effect (charm, sleep, fear)
    One important point: in Fantasy Hero games, I almost always build Mind Control powers with the Can Be Dispelled limitation, as it's much closer to what we see in fantasy stories. If you did that to begin with, this is just a special Dispel Power. Note that this means your Fear powers and Sleep spells need to be built as Mind Control.

     

    4) A cannibalism ability that lets a critter consume a nearby humanoid corpse to rapidly regain END.
    This is just a (particularly gruesome) Expendable Focus limitation for an Aid END, Only To Aid Self.
    Gruesome Renewal: Aid END 1d6 (6 Active Points); OAF Expendable (Very Difficult to obtain; fresh corpse; -1 1/2), Only to Aid Self (-1)

     

    Also, what kind of power limitation would you put on an ability that could only be used once per combat (essentially mimicking an Encounter Power of 4E)?
    Encounter Powers in D&D 4E last until the end of the encounter or for five minutes. This makes it easy -- buy the Fantasy Hero powers with a 5 Minute duration and call it a wash.

  17. D&D 4E Powers as Fantasy Hero Powers

    in Fantasy Hero

    Posted

    So, I've been playing a little D&D 4E recently, and they've definitely done a number on the system. It plays much more now like a MMO than a tabletop game, but they've made some good changes as well.

     

    One thing they did was to standardize a set of Conditions that characters can bee suffering from, such as Immobilized, Restrained, Stunned, and so on. They also changed the way characters gain abilities. Now you have three kinds of powers based on your class: At-Will abilities you can use all the time, Encounter powers that only work once per encounter, and Daily powers that you only regain when you take 8 hours of rest (called an Extended Rest).

     

    I've been toying with converting some of these abilities into Hero terms, but the list is huge -- you choose one power from a list of at least three almost every level. It would be interesting to come up with some general guidelines though; I put that in my "to do" list.

     

    Then a buddy sent me this email:

    Not looking for formal write-ups, just an off-the-cuff suggestion on how you'd model it in Hero.

     

    1a) A silence field *burst* of a limited (1-hex radius) size that also restores END to the user.

     

    1b) As 1a, except instead of a silence burst, a small amount of damage that has a chance to stun opponents.

     

    2) A passive ability that gives combat bonuses to followers (like a hunter's pets or a necromancer's ghouls).

     

    3) An ability that removes a mind-control or -affecting effect (charm, sleep, fear)

     

    4) A cannibalism ability that lets a critter consume a nearby humanoid corpse to rapidly regain END.

     

    Also, what kind of power limitation would you put on an ability that could only be used once per combat (essentially mimicking an Encounter Power of 4E)?

    I thought I'd open it to the floor.

  18. Project Pterosaur

    in Pulp Hero

    Posted

    Re: Project Pterosaur

     

    Hmmm... This is one of those where you think it must be fake, then you think it might be real, then you think it must be fake again. Not getting some of the jokes doesn't make it real, I suppose.

  19. Project Pterosaur

    in Pulp Hero

    Posted

    Re: Project Pterosaur

     

    I started reading it thinking it was a spoof -- I vaguely noticed a Landover Baptist link on the side, and that's one of my favorite religious spoof sites.

     

    Then I realized they were serious.

     

    That site is just full of unintentional humor! The Project Pterosaur mission is just the tip of the iceberg! They also want to shut down Landover Baptist, since they see it as overall anti-Christian (when it's really more of a site that makes humor at the expense of fundamentalists).

     

    Wow! That's ten pounds of crazy in a one-pound bag.

  20. Fantasy game props

    in Fantasy Hero

    Posted

    Re: Fantasy game props

     

    I recently started trying again to use sound effects in my games. I think it can lead to a more immersive experience, especially if you can use subtle sound cues to build tension or give nonverbal cues to the players. I'm thinking the villain of the piece, who seems perfectly reasonable, should have his own "theme sound" so that I can use that to elicit tension from the characters.

     

    Many years ago at GenCon, I picked up the Toxic Bag Productions' The Game Masters Collection set of sound effects clips, along with their Battles CD. I've used them before, so I can speak to the quality of the recordings -- they're great! Clean and crisp, and designed to be loopable.

     

    But you don't have to spend any money to get started. The Freesound Project aims to create a database of sounds licensed under the Creative Commons license. They've got over a hundred thousand sound bites in there now, covering a wide range of user-generated clips.

     

    Then, all you need is a program to set up your sound environments. I started a thread to cover mine (and, hopefully, other people's) investigations into these resources.

  22. The Italian Connection

    in Pulp Hero

    Posted

    Re: The Italian Connection

     

    I'd have to check but I think Mussolini was favorably regarded pre-war around in the world. At least in certain popular circles. (at least he seemed so when he came to power in 1922-ish and through the rest of he decade)
    Well, that's not helping! :)

  23. Vehicle Martial Art

    in Star Hero

    Posted

    Another thing to consider is that there shouldn't be one "Vehicle Martial Art." What works for a motorcycle probably won't for a 400-ton Subsidized Merchant starship.

    Instead, consider creating Weapon Elements for different specific Transport Familiarity Vehicle groups (Two-Wheeled Motorized Vehicles; Tracked Military Vehicles; etc.) the same way most other Martial Arts have Weapon Elements for different specific Weapon Familiarity Weapon groups (Axes, Maces, Hammers and Picks; Blades; etc.)

    Then make your Vehicle Martial Arts "styles" as different as regular Martial Arts styles. Keep in mind that pilots and drivers will have different goals than the guys manning the vehicle's guns; keeping in motion and such is much more important than hitting the target. I would hazard a guess that most maneuvers should involve an OCV penalty to represent this. Exceptions could be made, such as "Combat Motorcycling" for example. For the most part, I would only allow Vehicular Martial Arts for vehicles that are supposed to be maneuverable: space fightercraft and maybe smaller freight haulers or general-purpose vehicles in a Sci-Fi setting; motorcycles and sports cars in a Modern setting; chariots and small carts in a Fantasy setting. Larger vehicles are likely to have their own defenses.

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