tunglashr

Re: Blogging on my PA Game I just read it. I am glad you are keeping good notes on this, now I wont feel guilty if I dont meticulously post on my wiki about it!

Re: Munchkin Build Contest? I think I like the illegal but hilarious powers like: 8- Survival usable as attack. ? 'I rolled a 13, you dont survive.' Whats that, like 2 points? How about Simulate Death, usable as attack, area effect?

Re: Superhero Politics I havent gotten this deep into the specifics of Soviet history yet, this is why this thread is so important. I can investigate the things you guys suggest and find a way to get them as part of the world. The Warsaw Pact does exist, and they bring 11 Exemplars to bear (10 Russians and 1 Pole). There is also an East Asian Alliance and a Western Council (partially replacing NATO). Im still formulating who is part of what.

Re: Superhero Politics This might have been very difficult to handle except that the vast majority of Exemplars come from highly developed nations. This is a plot point I am hoping the players pick up and investigate. Something like 100 of the estimated 250 known Exemplars in the world work in the service of one nation or another, and only one African nation (Egypt) has a representative. More than 90% also come from the northern hemisphere.

Re: Superhero Politics Interestingly enough I have already made Molniya as the USSR's mouthpiece Exemplar, but he isnt an energy projector, he's a speedster. My idea to introduce the players to the world, besides the wiki, is to play through 2-4 sessions of one shots that detail things that happen in history. The players take the roles of historys movers and shakers and experience the events that made the world what it is today. One of these scenarios is 'Molniya Saves the Iron Curtain'.

Re: Superhero Politics

Re: Superhero Politics Ill check out those books. I hadnt considered that last point. With only an estimated 250 supers in the world there isnt much room for lots of shadow types, but I would assume that the countries that can afford to do that, do. Countries to have 'Mouthpiece' Exemplars, those who travel the country recruiting. Some, like the US's Magnum, are semi-retired very accomplished heroes of the past. Others, like Brett Hart from Canada (yes, that Brett Hart), just took to it naturally because of their previous experiences.

Re: Superhero Politics Hey, doesnt Vestnik=Harbinger? You may be happy to know that my non-American heroes mostly have names in their native tongue. Since my girlfriend is from Armenia she gave me a hand with the Russian ones. And like you have pointed out, the Russian section of history is the most important to drive the Cold War. My history begins to divulge in the early 80's with the rise of the first superhero (Fist). Superheroes are called Exemplars, and especially early Russia had an inordinately high number of them per capita. This tended to reinforce the inherent communist jingoism, and worked to keep their economy strong. They also had more scientific breakthroughs (most likely because of borderline super-types with super intellects), which worked in tandem with the nationalism to keep the Soviets on the forefront of world technology, instead of lagging behind.

I have been working on creating a superhero world where the cold war continues to rage in 1999, and supers (who have only been around 15 years or so) are tokens in a political game governments play against each other. In other words, countries weild political power with their heroes, not their nuclear weapons. These heroes who represent governments also tend to have a nationalistic bent (due to the worlds origin). Any ideas for this kind of a setting would be appreciated. Also, I know its going to be difficult for me to implement the under the table politicking that I am sure should be rife in the setting, so any suggestions on that front are solicited double. Our game group has a wiki, so I spend time writing things for the players to read. I would welcome someone else if they wanted to help me work on this as well, but since the wiki is open, I cant have too many people messing things up. Anybody interested in helping to create a world then watching it as it grows via the wiki? You could even work on concurrent world events, news reports and the like. Help me, I want ideas!

On page 28 of the regular 5th Edition rulebook it states that if a character has to perform a task in less time than it normally takes, he suffers a -3 penalty for each level up the time chart. Can you take a skill roll (which is normally a half phase action per page 233) penalty of 3 to finish instantly (0 phase)? Or in the inverse, can you spend 3 skill levels to reduce a skill roll to a 0 phase action? On a related note, even though Find Weakness isnt a skill roll, can you take a penalty of 3 to do it instantly? What about to move it down the time chart to 1 segment? Thanks for the help.

I am making a villain character called Negra Gato (he doesnt speak Spanish) who has a power where you become unlucky if you cross his path. I considered using change environment, but that would only affect those who are actually on his path, unless I use the whole area. I think I need to use trigger and nonselective target etc. The problem is, which attack? Transform attacks their BODY, so larger characters are less likely to become unlucky. I just want something that makes a reasonable amount of sense, but also is limited to 60 active points. Any suggestions?

Is it possible to create a character that can attack in both ranged and HtH combat in the same turn? The concept is a 6 armed space bug with full ambidexterity and 360 degree vision. I wanted to 'arm' him with 2 pistols and a sword. My first inclination was to give him TWF in both types of combat, but that doesnt allow the combination of sweep and rapid fire. I guess multiple points of SPD with lims like only usable to make attacks and if properly armed could accomplish the goal, except I was hoping there might be a better solution.

Re: Space Opera redux: one year later The good thing is, they recognized it. They actually mention lensmen by name in many places. They have a planet called Hoth in a Star Sector Atlas, and a complete Dune ripoff as well, including Fremen and Spice. I cant find a reference to a punch gun anywhere in the book, where did you see that?

I have had this villain idea for a while, and Im finally going to use him. The game is a 300 pt game, with a 60 pt active max. This guy is a major villain, he is 400 so he and a few agents will fight the players. This is only a first draft, and Id like any input you guys have on what might be done wrong, how I can improve him, and whether or not the idea sucks. He is called the Mime. Everybody hates mimes, and the heroes will totally hate this guy. Virtually anything he can mime, he can do. His hammer, punch etc is BOECV, so he will nail the players with it and it will hurt. He's nearly untouchable in hth. He will be fun to play, and will allow a lot of creativity. One question is, he already has stretching, if he isnt using his special attacks and movements pool, can he buy more stretching and add it, thereby increasing his range? It sounds to me like he can. I think this is a great 4-color hero idea, but I could totally see how the players will think its bs. Also, would it be overboard to have a partner of his, Hush, who creates darkness to hearing or something of the like so the players also cant talk or use sonic powers when he is around? I tell you what, when/if the players ever beat him, they will LOVE it.

Re: Space Opera redux: one year later The mechanics are terrible. There are different systems for each kind of thing that you could do. It was actually designed by 3 people in different parts of the world who didnt communicate with each other during the development process. They sent their pieces and the whole thing was stuck together. Thats why its so poorly edited as well. I have been playing this Hero revision for a while and its certainly a lot smoother, and it still has a similar feel because its all in the universe. The biggest problem with the original was the lack of organization during character generation. If youre really interested in actually playing the other game I can send you the skills reorganization I did, it really streamlines char gen and makes the skill stuff make a lot more sense. I got pretty obsessive back in the day...

Re: Space Opera redux: one year later Hey, Im glad you appreciate it. I did notice I forgot some basic stuff, like 1 inch =25LS and the ECM value of a StarTorp is its OCV/DCV. Some of the conversion stuff is not exactly accurate, Im not sure why I decided Fusion guns are tech 9, in actuality no weapons are higher than 8 TL. In any case, it works out well this way. If any notices any mistakes, please point them out to me. Thanks BTW

Re: Space Opera redux: one year later And now for the Starship Combat system. I would really like to hear what everyone thinks of this. As previously mentioned, it is being programmed into a web version, which will be more detailed. Any ideas greatly appreciated.

Re: Space Opera redux: one year later Conversions, finally. This is by no means complete, but it gives a good idea of the basics of what Im doing. I will be making a separate doc for starship combat. I am also including an hdc of a klackon warrior that I have used. This is the veteran warrior. In my campaign klackons are feared by all, but in reality they arent much of a threat because they just dont reproduce at the same speed as bugs. On an individual scale, they are much more dangerous, however.

Re: Space Opera redux: one year later I should have the conversions up here this week. I forgot to email it to myself from my work email so I havent finished it yet. Yeah I work on it at work sometimes, so sue me! Anyway, on a much larger note, I did a Hero/Space Opera mish-mash space combat system, and my roommate and I are programming it in php/mysql so it can be played as a web game. It really isnt that hard, but once its up anyone should be able to log in and play starship combat versus anyone else who is also online. It will have a ranking system and everything. Keep bugging me about it until its done.

Re: Space Opera redux: one year later

Re: Space Opera redux: one year later I think I had this figured out already, but it seems the point is missed here. I was seeing it all incorrectly. To answer my own question, no you still cant perform a melee and ranged attack in the same phase. But can you perform sweeps with multiple weapons? A 4 armed, amibidextrous, 360 degree vision mantis may be able to do so, but Im not sure if the rules allow it.

Re: Space Opera redux: one year later

Re: Space Opera redux: one year later Yep, you got it. Blast Pistol gives you +2 Lightning Reflexes, while a Laser HMG is -4 Lightning Reflexes. In reality, this is why we have carbines. They combine rifle firepower with greater ease of movement, with a small sacrifice in accuracy at range. In RPGs, this is rarely modelled, which frustrates me. Space Opera itself does it with melee weapons, I just went one step further and included ranged weapons.

Re: Space Opera redux: one year later Planet generation is really system independent, so I havent worried about it. So far I have only used those which have occurred in the Star Sector Atlas I, it gives me a kernal of an idea and I can run with it. Its pretty cheesy, but the Space Opera universe works well enough.

Last year I came around here and spoke briefly about my big idea of converting the Space Opera universe to Hero. Eventually I got around to it and early this year we started playing. Because of my personal low combat style of GMing a lot of the actual conversion stuff never really mattered much. Now, however, we have been using it a lot more and I want some feedback from experienced Herophiles. One problem I have seen with science fiction roleplaying is the different tech levels. It doesnt make sense to just jack the damage up higher and higher for tech as it increases, so I came up with a work around. I make lower tech armor automatically Ablative vs higher tech weapons, Body/Stun ablative if the tech level is two higher. Higher tech armor counts lower tech weapons as reduced penetration. Another thing I dont particularly like is that no matter how big your gun is, you act on your Dex. I gave weapons a lightning reflexes level that adjusts how easy they are to maneuver and aim, it ranges from -4 to +4. I also modelled the starship combat after theirs, counting the ships computer Mk as the OCV/DCV of the ship itself, with an adjustment for size. On a slightly related note, I made a 4 armed buggy kind of dude and bought 2 weapon fighting for both HTH and Ranged, does this mean he can attack twice in HTH and fire in one phase? He also has full ambidexterity and 360 degree vision. Id love to hear thoughts on if these ideas can be abused, or if there might be a better way to accomplish this stuff.