Laundry Knight

Re: Superhero team Leader: PC or NPC? I'm thinking of going with a NPC strategic leader who pretty much points the characters were to go but leave the tactical leadership up to the players once they get to where they are supposed to go.

Re: Superteam Package Deals I think that is rather cool. Maybe, I should consider something like that for the homebrew campaign I am crafting.

Re: Background Story Rewards Hey, Bodkins, does your name have anything to do with Jed and clan? If so, kudos. I actually have an NPC names Flaming Desire inspired by the same TV show.

Re: Background Story Rewards Both Greywind and Sean Waters make valid points and represent where I am getting even if I have failed to make it clear. If I read you guys correctly, you more or less agree with me when I believe that fair and balanced are seldom, if ever, the results of game mechanics. They are a matter of how the story is ran which to me means both the choices of the GM and the players. One of my aphorisms is "roleplaying is a team sport" meaning we either win together or lose together, and if we are playing as a team, the differences between character point costs shouldn't matter.

Re: Background Story Rewards Of course, that brings up the question of whether a game can be balanced and fair at the same time. It seems the two concepts often work against each other.

Re: Background Story Rewards As far as fair and balanced, games like Hero are not fair and balanced as the advantage goes to whoever has the time and money to invest in learning how the system works and are willing to use that knowledge to gain an advantage. It also gives the advantage to the player that only spends his points to make his character better in the adventures but spend hardly anything on making the character interesting. If you want fair and balanced, you need to go with D&D and games like it and have everyone roll their scores while you are carefully watching. Games like Hero and GURPS is that you free to go off the rails and try to make the character you actually want to play, and yes, that does mean that they are subject to abuse my munckins, but there is a downside to every advantage; so, let's get over it and have some fun.

I am slowly trying to develop my own campaign, and as someone who is more interested in the story than the mechanics, I am wanting to offer bonuses for players who can come up with good, cohesive backgrounds and am willing to pony of the dough, as it were, to reward them for good backgrounds. I was thinking that if a player had a good background, but fell a little short of some points for making the character that I would spot a few points, and I have considered giving free bonuses to skills, contacts, favors, and reputation, also. Does anyone else practice this way? If so, how well does it work, and what guidelines do you employ?

Re: Create a Hero Theme Team! The Idiot Savant Eddie McNair has been preparing for the coming end after being informed by a wise man after one his stays in the local psych ward. With his inventive but eccentric mind, he has been devising a large number weapons and contraptions to arm up and has accrued a many seemingly ineffective but surprisingly useful artifacts; however, he recently started trying to warn society of the impending doom but so far has not been taken seriously which is probably because walking around with a sign that reads "The End is Near" is viewed more than a little strange much to the frequent surprise of Eddie.

Re: Western Hero If you are going to be using dynamite, you should also account for sweating dynamite, dynamite that has become old and unstable. I'm not sure how to do it mechanically, but you'd need to give it a chance of blowing up on its own if jostled.

Re: Force Field Thanks! And, it also sounds like I need to put the APG on the top of my to buy list. Just about everyone and everything seem to refer to it.

I am trying build a character that can erect a force determined as a solid light shroud with 20 PD/20 ED. It requires an activation with no role and no endurance cost to erect but does use endurance when it is struck. How is the best way to build that? I looked Endurance Limitation. It looks like the middle option of "power cost END every phase the character uses it" -1/2 would work, but I am not entirely sure if I am reading that correctly.

Re: Superheroic fantasy You get what you reward. When I plan to run a game, the first thing I do is re-think how experience is rewarded. I don't like that most games reward players based upon kill count; so, I re-write the rewards to be split between goal completion and story forwarding. For instance, if the goal is to save the princess from the tower, then you get rewarded for rescuing the princess from the tower. It doesn't matter if you used up most of your resources and lost a couple of party members doing a frontal assault or sneak in through the back door and escape unawares. With story forwarding, I don't like players who make characters who are a complete jerk; so, the player can be a complete jerk and call it roleplaying; so, I define good playing as playing according to the setting and making sure the whole group has fun, and I don't tend to have an issue with players using out of character choices to make sure that happens, and by playing to setting, if I want everyone to play as gallant knights and a player insists on playing a chaotic evil assassin orc, then he had better figure out how to play a chaotic evil assassin orc gallantly or there will be no rewards.

Re: Near Sighted You're not considering the math. As I am only wanting a level or two of myopia, I would only get 1 or 2 CP in return. The minimum cost for a power bought in a focus is 1 CP; so, at most, I am only coming out ahead by 1 CP, and frankly, having one CP to spend is sometimes more hassle than it is worth when you are trying figure out where to spend that CP. Consequently, my proposal is far from being munchkiny and is more for flavor.

Re: Near Sighted I don't think it is any different than a physically handicapped character selling off characteristics and then buying them back as powered armor.

Re: Near Sighted I guess I would get more points back that way and coming up with creative complications is one of my biggest obstacles to creating characters, anyway.

Re: Question I would like to add my vote with TheQuestionMan for a vehicle book and a western book.

Re: Near Sighted I really only want it as a complication if the Focus is successfully targeted for some reason which is why I considered buying it characteristic loss that is shunted into a focus rather than as a physical complication as the physical complication doesn't seem to work the way I feel the nearsightedness should when I visualize (unintended pun) how it should work and level or two of for -1 or -2 points for a -2 or -4 penalty to distance modifiers don't seem to be unbalancing in anyway, or at least, that is my thinking.

Re: Question I personally don't have a problem with not having physical copies of books. I prefer eBooks anyway. I can always print out parts that I want to be more readily available while ignoring the sections I have no interested in employing. The only issue I have with the PDF's is that I have bought so far is that I wish they were better formatted for my Nook.

Re: Hero System and Backwards Compatibility Does that work in reverse? I see a lot of online games that are 5e, but I only have 6e. Which leads to another question, if someone were to make 6e character for a 5e game, or vice versa, what is the comparative point cost? For instance, a typical super-hero in 6e is made with 400 pts and 75 matching complications. What would be the relevant value in 5e?

I have in mind a character that is near sighted and wears corrective glasses in his secret ID and goggles that enhance his vision beyond normal range in his heroic ID. To determine the cost, I am buying it as a negative version of telescopic vision and will buy the heroic goggles as an OIF and call the normal glasses a free OIF. The question is, should the points received from the myopic vision be treated like selling back characteristics like selling back Strength, or should it be counted towards the complication points, or should it be a matter of discretion of the player? I am of the first opinion, but I would like to get the opinion of more experienced players.

Re: Create a Hero Theme Team! Thomas King was nothing more than a petty burglar until he broke into what seemed like a simple knick-knack shop only to discover it was just a front for the Society of the Golden Pin that was dedicated to overthrowing a dark cabal dedicated to unleashing powers men were not meant to know. The grandmaster of the Society caught Thomas in his crime and "enlisted" him in the fight against darkness. Thomas was quickly trained in advanced combat and stealth techniques and armed as needed on a mission by mission basis.

Re: Question I like the idea of a Golden Age or Silver Age Champions.

Re: Like Jazz Heroic Name: Like Jazz Real Name: Mike "Skizzy" Johnson Val CHA Cost Roll Notes 15 STR 5 12- Lift 200 kg; 3d6 HTH Damage [1] 13 DEX 6 12- 15 CON 5 12- 15 INT 5 12- PER Roll 12- 15 EGO 5 12- 20 PRE 10 13- PRE Attack: 4d6 5 OCV 10 4 DCV 5 3 OMCV 0 4 DMCV 3 4 SPD 30 Phases: 3, 6, 9, 12 6 PD 1 Total: 12 PD (6 rPD) 3 ED 1 Total: 9 ED (6 rED) 8 REC 4 30 END 4 12 BODY 3 30 STUN 5 Total Characteristic Cost: 92 Movement: Running: 12m/24m Leaping: 4m/8m Swimming: 4m/8m Cost Powers & Skills 12 Nanoweave Uniform: Resistant Protection (6 PD/6 ED); (OIF, -1/2) 5 HRRP Handset Radio: HRRP (Radio Group): (OAF -1, Affected as Hearing Group as well as Radio -1/4, 1 Continuing Fuel Charge, Battery, easy to obtain, -0) 4 Cool Shades: 6 Def Flash Defense (Sight Group): (OIF -1/2) 20 Blow That Horn: 35 pt Multipower: (OIF: Horns of Opportunity -1/2, Requires any horn based PS skill role -1/4) 4 -Play It Loud: 6d6 Flash against Hearing Group: (OIF: Horns of Opportunity -1/2, Requires any horn based PS skill role -1/4) 3 -Move to the Music: 3d6 Drain: Dexterity: (OIF: Horns of Opportunity -1/2, Requires any horn based PS skill role -1/4) 3 -Dance Party: 2d6 Drain: Dexterity: (Area 4m radius +1/4, Personal Immunity +1/4, No Range -1/2, OIF: Horns of Opportunity -1/2, Requires any horn based PS skill role -1/4) 4 -Lullaby: 4d6 Blast: (NND: No Hearing +-1/2, OIF: Horns of Opportunity -1/2, Requires any horn based PS skill role -1/4) Skills 3 Acrobatics 12- 3 Acting 13- 2 AK: Freedomsburg 11- 3 Breakfall 13- 3 Charm 13- 3 Conversation 13- 3 Deduction 12- 3 Fast Draw 12- 3 KS: Jazz History 3 Lipreading 12- 3 Oratory 13- 3 Paramedic 12- 3 Persuasion 13- 0 PS: Musician 11- 2 PS: Brass Instruments 5 PS: Trombone 14- 3 Shadowing 12- 3 Stealth 12- 3 Streetwise 13- 3 Teamwork 12- MA: Generic Martial Arts 4 -Block 4 -Dodge 5 -Kick 4 -Punch Total Powers & Skill Cost: 133 Total Cost: 225 Matching Complications 15 Social Complication: Public ID 20 Psychological Complication: Code vs Killing 15 Dependent: Uncle "Slinky" Johnsone (Incompetent, Infrequently) Total Complications Points: 50 Background/History: Like Jazz comes from a long line of jazz and blues men. While playing around with his trombone he discovered ways of using his musical talents for soften villains up for easy exploitation. Using his abilities he decided to fight crime and would eventually join the Regulator where he received advance crimefighting training. Personality/Motivation: Like Jazz is fun loving and loyal. He likes to entertain. When he is playing his horn, he is telling stories and jokes and generally acting up. He does have a love for the occasional friendly prank. Quote: Better to dead and cool than alive and uncool. Powers/Tactics: His favorite tactic is to get his opponents' toes tapping to leave them open his opponents. Appearance: Like Jazz is an African-American man who dresses in a dark blue leotard-style uniform with a light blue 8th note on the chest. He carries a small trombone in a holster at his side. Designer's Notes: The Regulators are team of mostly street level crimefighers who until recently had the reputation of being little more than a neighborhood watch in tights (Mostly ranging from competent normal to low powered super hero with a few exceptions). They were well-liked but not necessarily respected as heroes. Unbeknown to the general public, the legendary hero known as the Cardinal, along with a handful of other semi-retired heroes, have started training the Regulators to be more effective and using their influence to build up the teams technical and monetary resources.

Re: Hero System and Backwards Compatibility Thanks!

I was looking at some of the pre-6th edition stuff at the online store. Some of the items look intriguing and looks like they would interesting to include in a 6th edition game and was wondering if they would be worth acquiring. The biggest question on on how to incorporate older books into the current system. I realize that background information is easy to add, but how easy would it be to convert the mechanics to 6e? Which of these would a good investment, if any? I am currently centering on Champions products but am interested in other genres supported by Herogames, but I am monetarily challenged and want to spend my money strategically.