Chris Goodwin

Kaja Foglio as well!

I would like to nominate Phil Foglio.

It's a lot easier for me to deal with setting clocks back in the fall than forward in the spring, but that still doesn't mean easy. If I were going to choose one to stay on forever, I'd choose daylight saving, because in the winter north of 45 degrees, it's dark as midnight by 5pm.

Those are stats from the DC Heroes game. No applicability at all to Champions and the HERO System. To be honest, I'm not sure what they are either. I think that Alexander (the author of the blog post) probably meant to write a couple more posts on how to convert them. Let me see if I can find some rules on converting DC Heroes to Champions.

If this helps, one of our board colleagues, @KawangaKid, has the beginnings of a suggestion of how to write up the Powerpuff Girls on his blog, here: http://armchairgamer.blogspot.com/2019/03/gaming-with-kid-fighting-crime-trying.html Edit to add: Note that Strength values for DC Heroes characters (of which the PPG writeups are) are 1/5 their HERO System values, while the other stats will approximate 1/3 of their HERO System values.

An "average human", which is averaged from everyone from babies to special forces experts, has primary Characteristics (Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Ego, Presence) of 8 each. Player characters start with a base of 10 in those Characteristics. A Strength of 10 is capable of lifting 100kg, and the amount doubles for every +5 STR. Typically a character's Strength is benchmarked by figuring out how much they can lift. If you don't know that, the next best thing is to compare them to known comic book characters: an Olympic weightlifter, Captain America, Spider-Man, Iron Man, the Thing, the Hulk. A character who can lift 100 tons would have a Strength of 60; as a rule of thumb, 10 doublings (or +50 STR) approximates a factor of 1000. (In "HERO System doubling" it is a factor of 1000; in real world doubling it's a factor of 1024.) If it helps, "normal humans" have a Characteristic maximum of 20 in the primary stats; "legendary humans" could go as high as 30. Captain America would probably be in the legendary humans category. 9 is slightly higher than that mythical average human; 10 is equal to a starting player character's base value; 12 is just a little higher than that.

True, but the GM saying "No" also works.

Presumably because a number of way-back-when games (Espionage!, Justice Inc., Danger International, Robot Warriors) included the lists of weapons and such for their genre, but didn't include lists of powers with which to build them. ("Killing damage" and "resistant defenses" are properly game mechanics, not Powers.) "Normal" equipment was whatever was expected in-genre for a spy, or a soldier, or a detective, or a federal agent, to carry, and in those games there was no point costs applied so there wasn't any point (pun intended). It was expected that heavy weapons would need to be requisitioned (with rules given for doing so) or acquired on the black market. Danger International did include some James Bond style gadgets, but they weren't statted up with powers. (All of those games did refer out to Champions powers for building special gadgets, with a separate set of assumptions from standard Champions baked in.) Fantasy Hero way-back-when did normal equipment the same way as other games did, but assumed magic items would be built using its subset of the power system which included different base assumptions from Champions. I think fourth edition Fantasy Hero tried to stick with that, in order to make it as easy as possible for anyone who already had Fantasy Hero campaigns running to switch with minimal conversion needed.

As another option... Treat them as superheroes, only they haven't had their "origin" yet. Their origin involves gaining magic items. Have them write up their characters as 175 points, or whatever power level you decide to start them at. Except that mentally, you've decided that their power level is "really" 400 points. Alternatively, why not either let them write their characters up at 175 points, and you add magic items to bring them each up to 400 points? Or let them write their characters up at 400 points, including magic items of their choice? If the players and the GM want to play in a game where characters have a bunch of magic items... why not just start out with that? Why pretend that it's a "standard heroic" power level game? Why go through the gyrations of placing magic items for them to find? In a way, this is something like the "resource pool" expanded to include magic items, which seems to be pretty common among Fantasy Hero games.

I'm making my updates on the Google Doc rather than in the post.

I'm going with Structural Metalwork, which should include metal parts as well. Do sailors come out of boot camp being trained in the professional skills (welding, etc.)? I know Damage Control and Firefighting are definitely part of basic training.

Spence, do you mind if I steal your Navy template? Let me know what name you want me to credit.

Awesome! That's exactly the kind of feedback I was looking for. 🙂 Yep... it's AFSC in the Air Force I was USAF from 1988-1992, so in theory I'd be the one to write that... but they've added two weeks of, I'm told, actual combat arms training. When I went through we learned how to shoot AR-15's chambered down to actual .22 caliber, with one day for classroom training and one day at the range. But I'll give it a go.

Dr.Device is a good writer. I recommend her story wholeheartedly!

These are military templates, converted to 6th edition from my "Global Task Force Omega vs. the World Terror Front" Danger International game. I haven't run any of these through Hero Designer, so there may be errors. And there may be straight up military errors as well; feedback and corrections from other prior service members here are welcomed. (The document is here and that's what I'll keep most up to date.) Military Hero Adapted from GTFO vs. WTF. Any errors are mine; any assistance correcting them is appreciated! Stat Blocks Choose one from the spreadsheet. Total Cost: 65 points Skills Everyone gets the Basic Military Template. Basic Military Template 3 Breakfall 3 Climbing 3 Concealment 1 Paramedic 8- 1 Stealth 8- 3 Survival 1 KS: Enemy Forces 8- 2 KS: Theater Operations 11- 2 KS: Military Procedure 11- 2 PS: Soldier/Sailor/Airman/Marine 11- 4 WF: Small Arms, Light Machine Guns, Handheld Grenade Launchers 5 +1 with Ranged Combat Total Cost: 30 The Basic Military Template represents a typical combat-oriented troop, especially one that comes out of US Army basic training or US Marine Corps boot camp. The Background Skills listed above are as follows: KS: Enemy Forces. This refers to the general training military members receive about the forces of countries that are opposed to the US. These will usually refer to Russia, China, North Korea, and various Middle Eastern or Central American countries. Coming out of basic training, a character typically has an 8- in this skill; AIT, A-school, or tech school will move this up to 11-, and will usually specialize in forces based in whatever theater the individual is ultimately assigned to. KS: Theater Operations. This refers to specific operational knowledge of the theater the individual will ultimately be assigned to, and refers as much to unwritten rules and customs as it does to anything learned in a classroom. "FNGs" or "newbies" straight out of secondary training might not have this skill at all, or if they do it will be at 8-. KS: Military Procedure. This includes general knowledge about the military the individual learns in basic and secondary training. It usually refers more specifically to the individual's home service, but most characters will learn a fair amount about other services, especially regarding their officer ranks and when to salute. Any character coming out of secondary training should have this at 11-; most characters will have 11- in this by the time they complete basic training. PS: Soldier/Sailor/Airman/Marine. This represents the character's day to day ability to function as a professionally trained member of their branch. It includes things like drilling/marching, the wearing of the uniform, grooming standards, military bearing, and so forth. Career military members might have this at 12- or 13-. Taking one stat block and the Basic Military Template puts a character at 95 total points. Everyone also gets up to 15 points worth of options from the Personal Skills Template: Personal Skills Template Options: 5 Additional Skill +1 3 One of: Brawling (Talent: +1d6 HA), Additional Skill, or Skill Enhancer 2 KS: _____ (interest or academic study) 11- 2 PS: _____ (hobby or past job skill) 11- 1 One of: Language (1 point) or Weapon Familiarity (choice) 2 Additional Skills or Characteristics (choice) This template is largely optional, and represents skills, knowledges, or abilities the character may have brought with them from their time before enlisting. Sometimes these will prove helpful to the character in their MOS. If the character doesn't take these specific skills, they may spend up to 15 points on similar items, or ignore them entirely. Stopping here leaves the character at 110 points, assuming they spend the full 15 points from the Personal Skills Template. MOS's The most expensive MOS package is the Navy Seal at 45 points, bringing the character to a total of 155 points. Decide how many total points characters will be (150-175, depending on the campaign). Everyone gets at least one MOS. 11B MOS 11B refers to an Army infantryman. In the Army, every soldier is considered infantry at their core; the Basic Military template above refers to a bog standard infantryman. The following MOS templates represent other MOS's that are often assigned to infantry platoons. Armourer/Mechanic Comms Demolitions Expert Driver Heavy Weapons Expert Leadership Marksman Medic Research/Intelligence Armourer/Mechanic 5 Gunsmith +1 5 Mechanic +1 2 +1 to one of the above 3 +1 with Crafting Skills 3 +3 STR (max 20) Total Cost: 18 Comms and/or Hacking 5 Bugging +1 3 Computer Programming 7 Electronics +2 5 Security Systems +1 3 System Operation 2 KS: Electronic Surveillance 2 KS: Radio Communications 11- 3 +1 with Electronics & Security Skills Total cost: 30 Demolitions expert 5 1d6 Luck 7 Demolitions +2 1 Electronics 8- 1 Lockpicking 8- 1 Mechanic 8- 3 PS: EOD 12- 10 +1 Overall Level 3 +3 EGO 3 +1 Enhanced Perception Total cost: 34 Driver 2 Area Knowledge (area of operations) 11- 5 Combat Driving +1 1 Mechanic 8- 3 Navigation 1 PS: Loadmaster 8- 2 TF: Wheeled Military Vehicles, Tracked Military Vehicles, Large Motorized Ground Vehicles, Two-Wheeled Motorized Ground Vehicles (choose two) 5 +1 with Ranged Combat 1 WF: Vehicle Mounted Weapons Total Cost: 20 points Heavy Weapons expert 3 Gunsmith 1 WF: Light Machine Guns 1 WF: Mortars 1 WF: Heavy Machine Guns 5 +1 with Ranged Combat 3 +1 with one of the above 6 +3 STR, +1 PD, +5 END, +2 STUN Total Cost: 20 points Interrogator 3 Interrogation 3 Persuasion 3 Charm 5 Language (4 points plus Literacy) 3 Streetwise 2 PS: Intelligence Collection 11- 4 +1 with Interaction Skills 3 +3 PRE (max 20) 3 Perk: Security Clearance Total Cost: 29 points Medic 4 Paramedic (full skill) +1 2 KS: Anatomy & Physiology 11- 3 KS: Emergency Medical Protocols 12- 3 PS: Diagnosis 12- 2 +1 DEX 6 +3 EGO 4 Movement Skill Levels: +2 with Running Total Cost: 24 points Navy SEAL (combat plus underwater) 20 Commando Training 3 KS: Scuba 3 PS: Scuba Instructor 5 +1 with Ranged Combat 6 +6m Swimming 8 +2 CON, +3 EGO, +1 PD, +5 END, +2 STUN Total Cost: 45 points Pilot 2 Area Knowledge (area of operations) 11- 7 Combat Piloting +2 1 Mechanic 8- 3 Navigation 1 PS: Loadmaster 8- 2 TF: Small Fixed Wing, Large Fixed Wing, Rotary (choose one) 5 +1 with Ranged Combat 1 WF: Vehicle Mounted Weapons 3 Rank (officer) Total Cost: 25 points Research/Intelligence 2 AK: (area of operations) 11- 5 Languages 3 Linguist 3 Scholar 3 Three KS's relating to enemy forces/disposition/techniques at 11- 3 +1 to Perception 3 +3 INT 5 Speed Reading 3 Perk: Security Clearance Total Cost: 30 points Search and Rescue As Medic, plus: 4 +2 to Survival Skill 3 PS: Parachuting 12- 3 +3 STR 2 +2m Running 1 +2m Swimming Total Cost: 13 points Stealth expert 2 +1 to Concealment +1 4 Full Stealth +1 2 WF: Bows/Crossbows 3 +1 with Bows/Crossbows 5 +1 with Ranged Combat 2 +2m Running Total Cost: 18 points Finally, one or more of the following (not MOS's, but official or unofficial additions to any of the above): Leadership 2 PS: Leadership 11- 1 Rank Gym Rat 10 +3 STR, +3 CON, +1 PD, +3 REC Hand-to-hand Combat Expert 5 +1 with Hand-to-hand Combat Lucky 5 1d6 Luck Marksman 6 +2 with a Small Arms weapon group Runner 2 +2m Running 2 +2 REC 4 Movement Skill Levels: +2 with Running Weapons Expert 5 +1 with ranged combat Tough 5 +2 PD, +1 ED, +1 REC, +2 STUN Fast 10 +1 SPD Cool 6 +3 PRE, +3 EGO Primary MOS 5 +1 with Primary MOS Skills MWR Specialist 3 Bureaucratics 3 Charm 3 Streetwise 2 KS: Mixology 2 KS: Who Knows Who 1 PS: Barber, Tailor, or similar 8- (from before service) 3 Well Connected 5 Contacts (MWR = Morale, Welfare, and Recreation. This usually refers to recreational facilities on base, but here it's used as an inside joke to refer to the unit's horse trader, dog robber, wheeler dealer; this person usually ends up serving drinks at parties and giving their buddies emergency haircuts at $5 a pop the night before an inspection.) Complications The military works very hard at weeding out individuals with Complications, especially Physical, Psychological, or Social, that would tend to be disruptive to military discipline and unit cohesion. That's not to say that some don't sneak through, but the character will likely have to work to keep them a secret. All active duty military characters will have the following Complications: Distinctive Features: Uniform, Grooming, Military Bearing (conc.) Hunted: Branch of service (more pow, frequently, NCI, large group, watching) Social Complication: Subject to Orders

Why not power stunting your spells? Unless it was explicitly disallowed, I would. As a player I would buy it, and as a GM I would encourage it. I've bought Power Skill for characters without a single RSR ability. Also, I've been mulling over a magic system that has characters starting out buying all spells with RSR at -1 per 5 at first, then letting them buy those down to -1 per 10, -1 per 20, and eventually buying it off completely to represent spell mastery. In that case, characters could easily have some spells without RSR at all, and others that range throughout the difficulty levels. (Edit to add) I'm looking at a tiered difficulty, so the first tier you buy are at -1 per 5, and you can't start buying tier 2 until some amount of your tier 1 spells are at -1 per 10, then tier 3 at -1 per 5 once your tier 1 are at -1 per 20 and your tier 2 are -1 per 10. I don't have it really worked out, though.

Change Environment can be used to provide penalties to a lot of different Skills. For instance, let's say I want to build a lock that is more difficult to pick. Change Environment: -3 to Lockpicking Skill. How about a nightingale floor, one that is built such that Stealth is difficult or impossible? CE: -5 to Stealth rolls. In this case, it's providing a penalty to Magic Skill Rolls. In the event there are spells that don't RSR: Magic Skill to cast, the GM needs to have some idea of how they're going to handle it. I'm suggesting the same way you'd do an icy floor that requires a DEX Roll at -4, or an Acrobatics roll, or else you fall down. Actually, that's a good analogy. Running doesn't normally RSR, but Change Environment can require you to make one or something bad happens. Same with spells that don't Require A Skill Roll. You still have to make a roll, and I can't imagine there not being the opportunity to buy some kind of Power Skill for magic even if the system itself doesn't RSR.

In a change from my usual questions about robots, I'm wondering if anyone has any writeups for either a Boston Dynamics "big dog" or an EOD robot. I'll write them up myself (and post them here) if no one else does, but hopefully someone else has something they can share.

I found the other thread, here. It was pointed out over there that per RAW, a single point past defenses from any attack (requiring an Attack Roll or Mental Attack Roll) is enough to disrupt Gestures and/or Incantations. Do with that what you will. Edit to add: To quote myself from that thread... Bolding the above in my quote, even though I didn't bold it previously.

I voted sometimes, and am elaborating as requested. My answer: It depends. There was a thread in the past year or two on exactly this, but I can't find it at the moment. My response then, as now is: yes, Gestures and Incantations are Limitations for a reason, but not every single attack will disrupt them. If an attack damages or destroys the hand, arm, and/or throat, this pretty much disrupts Gestures and/or Incantations, by definition. A Grab or Entangle, especially one that affects the hands or mouth will probably disrupt them. If the Entangle is built with Stops A Given Sense (Hearing Group, or Voice using the voice-as-sense guidance on 6e2 p. 10), or the caster is hit with Darkness vs. Normal Hearing or Hearing Group, Incantations will be disrupted. Most Entangles will disrupt Gestures, unless they're specifically built not to. In the last thread, I suggested allowing an attack specifically to disrupt Gestures or Incantations, based on a similar rationale to Disarm. I don't remember the specifics of it though. If an attack doesn't hit the hands or arms (for Gestures) or the mouth, throat, or head (for Incantations) then it probably won't disrupt the Gestures or Incantations. Attackers can make called shots against those locations. If you're looking for a suggestion, I'd borrow from Impairing and Disabling Wounds for guidance. 6e2 p. 61 suggests that an Impairing or Disabling wound to the hand can cause the target to drop something they're holding, and gives guidance on how to decide. You could also look at 6e2 p. 108 under Wounding for more guidance. 6e2 p. 111 has the rules for Impairing and Disabling. You might also allow a Stun damage comparison similar to Body damage comparison for purposes of Impairing and Disabling; I'd suggest that if the STUN done, after defenses but before or after the STUNx for the Hit Location, is equal to or greater than half the character's CON, they might need to make a roll to keep Gesturing or Incanting. There is nuance in pretty much everything, especially when it comes to heroic level games.

In general, if spells already have RSR, then Change Environment can increase the penalty. The RSR Limitation already says, make the Skill Roll or the spell doesn't work; Change Environment can further penalize that. It gets more difficult when there are some spells that don't have RSR, or when characters can buy off the RSR Limitation on some of their spells because they are Just That Good. eepjr24, do you have all spells requiring a Spell Limitation? Something could be built into that. As one of the conditions of the Spell Limitation, even spells that are bought to not RSR can still in some cases require a Magic Skill Roll to cast, or -- and I believe this is suggested in the description of CE, if not in at least one of the rules questions I linked above -- a Characteristic Roll. In much the same way as a CE: Icy Floor can require characters to make a DEX Roll or an Acrobatics Roll, the magic-disruptive CE can require an appropriate Characteristic Roll or a Magic Skill Roll. I would also expect that even casters who have bought off the RSR Limitation on some or all of their spells might still have Power Skill: Magic, because it can still be used to power stunt their spells, but also because at some point in their early days they were a lowly journeyman caster, all of whose spells were RSR at -1 per 10 Active Points.

Change Environment can do any of the following: Apply penalties to affected characters Require affected characters to make a roll at penalties or something happens (i.e. make a DEX roll or fall prone) There have been at least a couple of rules questions asked to Steve Long specifically about Magic Skill Rolls. I can't find any of them, but I remember asking him one myself (I might have actually brought it up to him in conversation), and the answer was: yes, that's a pretty neat idea. (Here's one) If we're getting into a magic system that allows some highly skilled practitioners to essentially buy off the RSR Limitation on some of their spells, because they're Just That Good, there are a couple of ways to go. I'd leave it up to the GM; like Hugh, I would feel like it was unfair if I bought RSR off of some of my spells in order to reflect being highly skilled, only to have a few points worth of Change Environment require me to make the roll again. On the other hand, it is a pretty neat idea, and well within the rules. Change Environment is pretty GM-driven, so the GM will need to decide in the end. References: https://www.herogames.com/forums/topic/93873-change-environment-for-power-disruption/ https://www.herogames.com/forums/topic/94705-change-environment-requiring-a-roll-vs-penalties-only/ https://www.herogames.com/forums/topic/93901-change-environment/ https://www.herogames.com/forums/topic/93952-follow-up-to-change-environment-for-power-disruption/

I've thought of different ideas for crits. Like, choose from one of the following: Maximum damage (the default) Choice of hit location Ignore some armor (maybe half, maybe all) Automatic impairing or disabling wound (making it an actual "critical hit" -- hitting something critical to the functioning of the opponent) Some other choice for the player (eye shot? Cut off arm?) Luck roll (also triggering target's Unluck)

Every time we reason from effect we're going Doylist. Why should this be different?

There could also be exceptions. For a species in which, for instance, the males are cute, fuzzy, mindless teddy bears, and the females are half mama grizzly, half Alien xenomorph, a gender change would easily be Major or Severe. I can see that being an argument for calling it Major in a TFOS setting, in fact, but so far no one has made that argument.