Ner0Sputnik

Re: This is why I play Fantasy Hero That totally reminds me of this group I played with... once. I'd been playing Hero for quite a while. There was no one in the area who wanted to play Hero but my friend played with a D&D group. I went over, made a half-elf "scout" (thief subclass... god, I hate classes) or something. Despite being able to wear better armor I opted out and chose something light... because that's what my character would wear as a military scout. They all made fun and looked at me like I was crazy. I really didn't care. At one point we were in combat and I was up on this wagon where I had just dispatched someone... being a lithe character I described what I was going to do when I attacked my opponent (who was on the ground.) "I run across the wagon, do a sideways, cartwheel flip over him and hit him with my spear as I land... The GM looked at me in shock and awe. "Ummmmm..." Flips through book. "If you're going to do that you're going to have to make an acrobatics check and a... you're also going to have a negative to hit." "No, I'm just trying to spice up combat by telling you the special effect of how I hit him." "Yeah, but to pull that off you're going to have to make some rolls..." ::sigh:: Now I'm frustrated, so in my most monotone voice I say, "Fine. I walk up to him and hit him with my spear." Suddenly it clicks for the GM. He says, "I see what you're doing, ok." Elated, I describe it again, acting it out and roll the die as I feign a stabbing motion... and roll a fekkin' 1............. figures. BUT, the GM at least had something to play with. "OK. You misstep and land wrong, accidentally stabbing your spear into the ground and breaking it on your fall." That's ok, I'll take it. LOL

Re: Blowing up your own power armor I would agree with Balabanto. You're at the center of a pretty massive killing attack, your armor is destroyed, there's a possibility that you've blown your helmet off revealing your secret identity and you're going to have to call AAA to send out a flat bed tow truck to get your suit back to the lab. Once you've recovered enough from the massive explosion (if you did, indeed, survive) you should be able to work on repairing your suit and replacing the battery. But if you're going to explode the battery you really should NOT just be able to plop a new one in and go. Bad side-effects. Bad. If you want to do this there will be consequences. Fortunately, my players are usually game for this kind of flavor in a campaign.

Re: Moving out of combat You're right! It absolutely does! But if you're fighting a skilled opponent and he doesn't want you to get away, it's going to be a lot harder. In my own practical fighting history I've had guys come in, do the usual flurry of moves, I defended and when they backed off, I advanced. They tried to retreat but I didn't let them. I kept the press until I scored a hit. I've also had this turned around on me... That's why I believe making a Dex vs. Dex check would simulate this pretty well. You could even buy a skill called "Disengage" that would give you bonuses. I don't know why people think I'm going to give them a free hit. That's not the way it works. If it fails, it fails. You're still in HtH. It's not like you just drop your weapon, turn around and run. LOL! Yeah, that's pretty lame. They do that in D&D? LOL! There's a reason I don't play that game.

Re: Moving out of combat

Re: Idea - Hero Points I've been doing this for years. It's a great element to add to the game as long as you don't let it take over your game. Also, it's VERY important to make sure they've put aside the points for this, they can't just buy them on credit. I had one player that was trying to do that on me. I asked where his Hero Point pool was on his character sheet. He didn't have one. I denied his request to "burn a point" on something.

Re: Moving out of combat

Re: Moving out of combat Damn. What happened to the comment I posted yesterday? Oh well. Thanks everyone for the feedback. The problem was that he could move faster than my bad guys and, therefore, they had to do a full move to get into contact with him. I guess I should've done the math and done a couple of move-throughs on him or had one of the bad guys do a flying tackle or something. I'm just rarely ready for that eventuality. When I make my npcs I usually just have OCV/DCV I really should write down some numbers for move through and a few other basic maneuvers. I was also thinking of making a "Disengage" house rule where, in order to disengage someone you're fighting in hand to hand, you have to perform an opposed dex check. This would be for Fantasy only, though. I'm just tired of guys getting attacked and then just running away with no fear. And not caring if they get attacked. This will make it a bit more urgent if they are engaged in HtH. What do you think?

I've been playing Hero for a long time now and ran into a problem. One of my players was being attacked by many attackers. Not enough to surround him but I felt that he should not just be able to step away from combat. Doing this allowed him to whittle them down one at a time and they ended up running around like fools the whole time. I got the Combat Handbook and couldn't find any info on restricting movement when in hand to hand combat. Does anyone have any info on this like where I can find rules on this? What's your take on these kinds of rules? Anyone have any house rules on this? Thanks!

Re: Firefly To me it sounded like that was her problem with it.

Re: Firefly

Re: Firefly

Re: Firefly ROFL! Derivative? Of what? Westerns? Yeah, cuz Buffy was such a unique idea. Nobody had EVER heard of Vampires before that show.

Re: Firefly This was my exact impression. I didn't even know any of these people were going to be there. My friend had called me up and said, "Wanna go? My friend dropped out." So I went on her friend's pass. Hooked up with some friends. I asked them what there was to do. "Oh, well, we're painting here, there's open gaming over there, the Firefly cast is over there and the vendors are over there." "Oh, ok... Wait. WHAT?!" I looked over and there was Nathan and Morena. Holy crap! I went over there and no one was at the booths. Nathan was on the phone, I stood there patiently and he noticed so ended his call to talk to me. After that we shot the sh** for a good half hour. We talked about the show (of course,) other shows, how reality TV sucks and then moved into general BS and kind of a witty banter. Under other circumstances he and I would've probably ended up being friends. Then he got a call from his agent that he had to take and I talked to Morena. (Who's even hotter in person, if you can believe it.) She seemed impressed that I knew her real name and not just her character name. She was incredibly cool too but had that look on her face that all beautiful women get on their faces at gaming cons. As if the geeks were going to assault her at any second. Then my friend wanted to get Ray Park's autograph for a friend. He brushed her off to say "Hi" to me. He SWORE up and down that he knew me. It was funny. But I have digressed. The firefly people are seriously cool

Re: Firefly No, mate, it's not photoshopped. The guy has got to be one of the coolest cats I've met in a long time. He and I stood there and talked for a good half hour about anything and everything from reality TV to phone calls and, of course, a bit about the show. Here's a bigger version of the same pic.You can see he's got the pen clamped in his lips and the green dice are being held by his thumb, not balanced atop them.

Re: Another Star Wars thread I hear ya, old man. I had a player once that took a VPP in a Fantasy Hero campaign. I'd never used one so I was excited to see how he used it. He was good at the math, etc... but I got the feeling he was cheating. I didn't have the time to check his math and he always had the perfect spell for the perfect situation. I said never again. But it seems to fit right. You may be right. But I'm pretty much making my characters write out the powers they use on a general basis. Maybe elemental control is more what I need. And I could give them dark side points to use when there's a power they don't have. Like a 1 time use 15 point disposable power or something. But if they use too many they go over to the dark side. How do you work your light side/dark side struggle?

Re: Firefly Yes, this would be a brilliant rp experience. In fact, Nathan Fillion (The Captain, Malcolm Reynolds) was at GenCon last year and some guys talked him into playing with them. There's a great picture of him with some brand new dice, a pencil in his mouth and ready to roll on his character sheet (which is in front of him.) I talked with him there. Wish I'd been able to play the game with the guy who actually played the captain playing the captain! Damn.

Re: Another Star Wars thread Personally, I don't think the force should be limited by buying powers, etc... How tempting is it to use your dark side powers when you don't buy any? I like my characters to take a variable power pool and design the basics of the skills they think they will be using the most. But if something is happening and things look bleak, they can quickly write up a "dark side power" and use it immediately. Now, VPPs are very tricky and definitely limit them. Make sure the point cap on the pool is very low to begin with. (Make these decisions based on what the character wants to do with the powers, find a good beginning level and allow him to have that many points.)

Re: Fantasy Hero combat slower? It's your job as a GM to streamline combat as much as possible. Let your players know that sitting around waiting for 5 minutes while they figure out what to do is NOT cool. They should be thinking about their action before their turn comes up. Granted, what happens during the turn can change that but they should be spending their time figuring out what they're doing next. Also, combining die rolls is helpful. For instance. Roll damage and hit location at the same time. Use different colored dice to differentiate. This seems like a small thing but believe me, it does speed things up. If your players are having problems determining their actions, you need to up the ante for them. Take one of those small kitchen timers, set it for one minute, as you go from player to player say, "Go!" and start the countdown. If they haven't at least decided what they're going to do by the time the 1 minute counts down, move to the next player. They're confused for their turn and lose it. This seems harsh but is really designed to combat those people who like to spend tons of time figuring out every possibility. They shouldn't have that much time to think in combat anyhow. Split second decisions. That's it.

Re: Yet more to think about This is an excellent point. My players and I all agree that one on one the guard should be far less impressive and easy to defeat. Their strength should be their numbers and their teamwork. So, if you have your PC group of 3 run into 5 guards they should be able to overpower them... as long as none of them gets to his horn to call for backup.

Re: Stat Inflation This is how I explain balance to my players. "In this campaign, your average human is going to have an 8-10 str. Average heroes will have 13-15. Exceptionally strong heroes might have an 18. Now, what you're all starting here is a cold war. If you all want to go up to 20 Str then I just make my villains accordingly. Whereas they were Str 10 before with your 13s now they'll be 15-18 to your 20s. Would you rather spend the points elsewhere or start this vicious cycle?" They invariably go for lower points. It's also important to ask why they all want 20 strengths and then try to come with a middle ground. "Well, I want to do more damage with my broadsword." "OK, how about taking combat levels and using them to increse your damage? Maybe your character has done extensive training on finding kill areas and chinks in armor?" There are so many ways to achieve powers, don't be afraid to set up some limits and work with the characters to give them the characters they want to play.

Re: Character Questionaire These are the questions I ask all of my characters... if you know what the character holds, you can dangle it in front of him and pull it away just as he's about to grab it: 1) What drives your character in life? 2) What is your characters biggest fear in life? 3) Why does he/she adventure? 4) If your character could accomplish one goal in life, what would it be? 5) How far is your character willing to go to accomplish this?

Re: Magic System I generally leave that up to the player, but I do like end drains as a side-effect of failing your roll. Hellz yeah! I usually tell people who want to play mages that they're allowed a small end reserve that can take shape how they want, usually staff or a wand.

Re: Magic System See? And this is why I love passing new ideas past you guys before integrating them into a new campaign. Old Man - Good point on the one-trick pony. My players are usually better conceptually than that but I'm just asking for that kind of trouble with anyone new. I do like power frameworks just not Variable Power pools with no points assigned to specific spells. I had one guy come into my group for a couple of nights and try to pull this one over. No sir. You have to buy your spells I also like your ideas for the piety adjustments. Shadow Pup - I definitely use "requires skill roll" for all spells. (I'm also a fan of End drains on failed magic rolls.)

Now, I've not played with a lot of magic in the past. My Fantasy Hero world has been based on Renaissance to Regency Europe and has never had a bunch of magic in it. It's worked out very well but I've wanted to go back to a more traditional Fantasy setting... so I've been working on a magic system... and I figured that since this was a place to workshop ideas I'd share it with my fellow Hero fanatics. I've always had a problem with the D&D "When you cast a spell it disappears from your head" syndrome. Just seemed really lame to me. I know it's a way to keep mages in check but it's freakin' weak-sauce, let's face it. What I do like was that wizards really have to study a lot to keep up to date so this is what I came up with. Mages For every 5 real points in a spell, you must spend 10 minutes per day studying and practicing that spell. (I didn't want to do active points because that can get to be too much time.) After 3 days of not studying a spell, you get a -1 to your casting roll. Every day after that is a further -1. It just shows how you get rusty if you don't study. Clerics Basically the same as mages but instead of practicing the spell you are required to pray. (I've heard the Turakian Age has some great ideas on this so it may change once I pick up that setting and do some reading.) High Magic Wizards in my campaign are high-level mages. People you don't mess with, mostly npcs but for a high point campaign you could have a wizard in the group. Just be careful. This gets powerful very easily. Once a character has 75 points worth of spells, etc... it is possible for him to seek out a Wizard's school and seek out admission. If they think he's cool n' stuff, he will be sent on a quest (or a series of quests) to prove that he is worthy. If he succeeds they will take him in. (If not he's either dead or may try again if he didn't mess up too badly.) Usually these quests are not just to prove your might with magic but to prove that you're inventive with the magic and are of strong will. Temptations to go against the tenets of the order are almost always present on these quests. So, if he succeeds he is accepted into the order and spends a year (game time) training. At the end of this he has a 25pt power pool that he can use to pump up the effectiveness of his spells. As he goes along he puts more and more points into this pool. This is high magic. It is rare but when the players come across a "Wizard" they know to treat him with respect. (Imagine. He's a powerful mage in the first place. Has a 3D6 RKA Explosion (Fireball) and now can add another 25+ points into that... and that's just as a journeyman wizard.) Thoughts?

Re: Sword and Shield I think I would make my player make a decision on which he was using. The sword or the shield. You can't get bonuses for both. Sounds beardy to me.