Jujitsuguy

Gang:

I have a game that is at 165CP and I have a calculator that has a sliding value for Max AP in the game, so as the characters increase their CP, their AP cap increases.

I have a character that wants to play a Multiform "Brick", and tried to set the AP value for the Multiform to 80 whereas my cap is 40...if I cap it at 40, the character's multiform would ONLY be like 200CP, which is not much more than 165.

I was thinking of allowing him for this particular power to do an additional 10-15AP on his Cap, so allow his multiform to run 50-55AP, making the alternate form 250-275CP...which is more powerful than the 165CP limit.

Is there a general rule on this or is it open for GM interpretation?

The Player's Guide as well as Adv Player's Guide doesnt' appear to have anything on this.

Any info greatly appreciated.

Chuck D. aka "Jujitsuguy"

Hey all:

Looking for two new players to fulfill my quota for a Campaign that is a mish-mash of Blade Runner, Prometheus/Alien, along with other numerous Genres, including Magic, Psionics, and Mutants.

Reach out to me here, or contact me on Discord @ Jujitsuguy#5977

Best regards...

Chuck D. aka "Jujitsuguy"

I have a 2nd round of a Playtest game I am running, which fits into the Blade Runner/Prometheus/Alien Universe, that also has Magic, Psionics, and Mutants in it.

**Please do not be confused by another post I have which is for the same game, but the initial group, looking for some replacement players...this is a new game**

The listing is on roll20, which here is the link:

https://app.roll20.net/join/13948971/69-6GA

The description of the game has the possible character arch-types suggested for the game, which one can make from these, a combination, or even suggest one that may be a great addition to it.  I am looking for 5-8 players, 6 is preferred.

The intent of this game is a playtest for a Campaign Source Guide that I hope to produce for a new universe, based on the Blade Runner/Prometheus/Alien and more genres.

I am open to new and seasoned players, but not those who wish to Rules Lawyer the game.  Advisement and discussion of rules are welcome to ensure gameplay, but not intended to bog down the experience.

Feel free to click the link to review the game or ask me any questions on this thread.

The game is "technically" scheduled for Oct 16th, but that is when I will be finalizing the character listing and helping people develop their characters.  In this game, I look to provide backstories, which I also have multiple scenarios to "fit" one into the game...this is a new GM technique for gaming which makes it more integral to the player, as opposed to the GM simply providing a baseline adventure with no frills campaigns...this is meant to be a new gaming experienced for individuals, to get them as the center of a storyline.

Chuck D. aka "Jujitsuguy"

All:

I have an existing campaign that I am running that is Hero 6E...genre is based on Blade Runner/Prometheus/Alien Universe, but with a twist, involving Magic, Psionics, and Mutants.

I have three possible existing characters that one can choose from, or one can create their own character that falls under any number or combinations of character arch-types.

Here is the roll20 invite to the game.

I am looking for two possible players.  This is an adult game, and open to new and seasoned players.  I am not looking for rules lawyers or those who twist the rules (Munchkins).  I will have a detailed discussion to see if you feel you are a good fit and the intent on this game is entertainment value, which I have brought to the existing team thus far.  We have had people have life changes, who had to bow out.

Link for the game for review:

https://app.roll20.net/join/1409272/fGi33g

We use Discord for our voice channel, for reference.

Feel free to ask any questions concerning the game here on this thread.

Chuck D. aka "Jujitsuguy"

10 hours ago, megaplayboy said:

Useful map scales depend upon the movement rates of the vehicles involved.

 

1 meter per hex is fine so long as nobody is moving faster than about 30m/second (about 67mph).  10 meters per hex works fine for fast cars and subsonic aircraft.   100 meters per hex works fine for fighter jets.  1km per hex is good for vessels in or near orbit.  10km per hex for vessels relatively close to a planet.  100km per hex for maneuvering inside a planetary system.  1000km per hex for encounters at the fringes of star systems, and 10k km per hex for deep space combat (30 hexes per segment is lightspeed!).   If you're going to permit FTL combat, I'd just abstract it out since the distances involved are immense, and ships too far apart in speed simply won't be able to stay in range of each other.  

If you want to model realistic effects of collisions at high speeds, simply use the optional velocity factor rules and work out the relative VF of vehicles based on their speeds.  Fair to say that collisions at near-light speed are ones that nobody is walking away from.  

@megaplayboy:

THANK YOU for the observation and wisdom on this...I was thinking in these lines relative to the speeds used.  In my campaign, I left the physics in general to allow ships up to 0.1-1% Light Speed (LS) at a Combat Speed rate, to accommodate these velocities for combat, and will scale it as necessary.

Cheers to all...

3 hours ago, unclevlad said:

What Grail said.  Redefine a hex for ships.  To go a step further, don't bother specifying it, like 1 hex = 10,000 meters.  A core mistake in sci fi is over-defining;  it just comes back to bite you with inconsistencies.  Space is HUGE.  1 astronomical unit (AU) is the distance from the earth to the sun, 90 million miles or 150 million km.  So to cross 1 AU per hour, you need to move 2.5 million km per minute, or 500,000 km per turn.  That's not meters, it's km.  Let's say SPD 5 for the ship, so it's 100,000 km per phase.  So you're looking at +2 Megascale, 1" = 10,000 km unless you want to assign a really large base level.

 

And that's just 1 AU per hour.

 

The problems get even weirder if you insist on megascale for the ship movement and the weapon ranges, because you kick in the combat penalties for noncombat movement...OCV 0, DCV half.  Oh, and if you use it...the ships have velocity-based DCVs from hell.  DCV 1/2 has the nasty aspect that you do it absolutely LAST...so that cuts the DCVs down, but they're crazy high to start with.  MegaRange takes care of the range mods, but velo DCV is meters per turn...and our 1 AU per hour pace shows that's 500,000,000.  500 is 7;  x1000 is +20 (10 doublings).  So it's DCV 47.

 

Nooo thank you.  Redefine and abstract.  Sci fi does it all the time.  Military sci fi may not...but e.g. Glynn Stewart's ship combats include "we'll know in 15 minutes when the missile salvos reach"...and that doesn't work for a game.  

@Grailknight & @unclevlad:

I do such in my game to accommodate MegaScale, just as @LoneWolf referenced.  The OCV vs DCV at that level I am scaling to put it at the same reference as we would for players at lower speeds and same relative size, to help gameplay move.  Also, I make it mandatory all ships at that level have computers to indicate flight and fire control are managed at this layer.

Weapons have a MegaScale for range to accommodate this, so it matches the MegaScale movement, as well as sensors have this as well, in my game/campaign rules.  Also, I say in my gaming rules for ship combat--as per my game's "physics"--combat speeds for MegaScale are at max 1% LightSpeed(LS), which is flight at 3m, MegaScale 1m=1000km, base, depending on ship speed.

0.1LS = 3000Km/sec for reference.  If you had SPD 12 that would accommodate base movement at that rate, which is 36000Km/Turn...

So, a SPD 3 ship would be at 12m, MegaScale 1m=1000km, which would be the max for combat speed....just some quick numbers here for reference.

My map uses each "hex"--I don't use a grid on Roll20, but freeform calculations--which each "hex" is roughly 50-100km for scaling purposes.  I might change this to 1000km per hex w/ a huge scale map to accommodate, as indicated before.

Even if the above doesn't go, I make the Combat speed to under 0.1% LS...makes the scale 1/10 the original.

I appreciate both of your observations and wisdom here...

Cheers...

15 hours ago, LoneWolf said:

The big problem when moving at megascale speeds is that you end up out of range of the other ships weapons and sensors when you move a single hex.  When you take a -14 penalty to OCV, and perception rolls for a target that is 1hex away it makes combat kind of difficult.

 

The way I would handle it is to have the weapons and sensors of the ship buy the same level of megascale as the movement.  At that point everything is about equal and combat should be able to be run normally.  You can also scale up the sizes at the same time so that the ships are not getting penalties because of size. This is probably going prevent some weapons from being used.  This is similar to what they did in Robot Warriors.  

 

One thing I have noticed in a lot of your post is you are pretty focused on the rules and are often looking for rulings.  The Hero System has a complex rules system and for the most part the rules are fairly well written.  But the philosophy of the Hero System encourages the GM to modify things to suit their campaign.  When Steve Long was answering the rules questions, he almost always added a line like “This is how I would do it, but the of course the GM is free to alter if they choose”.  Most people on the forums also go by this idea.   We may argue on some aspects of the rules, but almost everyone here expects there to be a lot of house rules.   In the Hero System you will almost never see some of the ridiculous RAW arguments that other game systems have.  You are not going to see someone here arguing that a dead person can take an action like I have seen in other games.       
 

@LoneWolf Yes I agree on the use of Megascale and implementing such to accommodate.  I am using a hybrid of Star Trek and Traveller Hero rules to design ships, so all is consistent, instead of 80 different means to implement things.  Movement, Weapons, Sensors are all at Megascale and I am making it a General Rule in my campaign.

As for your observation on my rules request, it is because I am not one of those folks that memorizes all the rules, and during the game I get occasional Rules Lawyering occurring during gameplay, bringing the game to a near halt.  One of the players in my group--who left the game partially due to this--indicated that the GM rulings are end-all and let's keep the game moving forward.
I am trying to put down the law such that if there is a solid statement that we can implement quickly, then we do it..otherwise, I rule and get the game moving.  If later and OFFINE we can discuss the rule and I can review to learn it and implement it reasonably.

I do appreciate your input and wisdom here...hope to implement this successfully in my campaign.

Cheers...

Gang:

I have a game which genre shares the use of Star Hero in that there will be spaceship combat.  As a practicality, my universe won't allow combat at FTL, but most ships in space if not going FTL, they travel at Megascale speeds.

That said, I read that any use of Megascale automatically makes it non-combat when it is applied to movement.  (If I am wrong on this, please point me to the rules for such)

In this case, an Megascale be used as non-combat as ships have immense power and can handle combat at much higher than normal speeds.

Is there a ruling on this in the RAR, or may I need to make a general exception as a GM in my game?

I appreciate any and all wisdom here...

Jujitsuguy aka "Chuck D"

6 hours ago, Grailknight said:

 

I have Star Hero 6th Edition, and when I looked up rules for Ship combat, on SH6E 27 it references "See HERO System Vehicles" for Ship combat.

Which sourcebook has this?

I see a PDF for "HERO System Vehicle Sourcebook PDF", but the description only appears to explain designs, unless I am missing it.

If not this sourcebook, which one would I use for Starship combat rules?

In my campaign, I have a character that has a portable AI that is capable to do visual and audial illusions.

In one scenario, there are a pack of wolves attacking the team and the player doesn't want to kill the wolves but drive them away.  I entertained an unspoken rule to say that you can cause an Ultrasonic Ear-Splitting pain in an AoE that encompasses a cavern they are all in with an exit.

The player is programming his AI to release an Ultrasonic-level, high amplitude sound, which would cause pain to the Wolves.  Instead of Stun, which would Knock someone out, this is a sound that would cause them discomfort, in which they would need to roll an EGO (or PRE) roll to stay and fight at a -1 (or -2).  If they fail, they would run away.

Instead of having it rolled as damage, I figured it could be treated as a form of Flash, that lasts so long, which causes a -1 on all activities the Wolves attempt if they pass their EGO(PRE) roll.

I don't seem to know where in the rules to look into this to see if this makes sense as per RAR, but I figured this is a good alternative to answer the effect.

Any thoughts/mods/suggestions on this?

Thanks all ahead of time...

Jujitsuguy aka Chuck D.

Gang:

Thank you for all your wisdom here...helps me with this campaign.

The campaign itself, to answer @LoneWolf, is a Heroic Campaign that will eventually become Low-Powered Superheroes.

In the end, each player will get a portion of points to add their own labs, work areas, etc.

Hey All:

Something came up and I wonder if this is first an acceptable item in Hero, and if so, how to properly go about it, Rules As Written(RAR).

I have a team in my campaign--I am the GM--and One player was going to wait and build up points to make a base.

I was wondering, to expedite this and give all players equal access to this resource, is there a RAR means of being able to provide a group pooling of XP(CP) to "buy" resource points for a base?

Of course, the long term resolution is to literally give them a base of operations on.

This includes for example an Interstellar FTL Starship, which can be VERY expensive.

Any and all wisdom is greatly appreciated.

Chuck D. aka "Jujitsuguy"

Team:

I have had my Hero Designer install run w/o issue on Ubuntu 18.04, with Java 8 default install.

When I upgraded to Ubuntu 20.04, HD stopped working altogether.

Looking into it, the default-jre was set to the current 11.x, so I changed it back to Java 8 (1.8.0.xxxx), which is the correct version.

After setting the executable bit--got changed for some reason to not an executable--and with the default to Java 8, I now get the startup splashscreen; however, it gets stuck on "Loading Plugins"...I wanted to troubleshoot this further, and logging from the system or HD app would help.

I will check dependencies for Java 8, but does anyone have the actual location for logging and/or how to turn it on?

Best regards...

Chuck D. aka "Jujitsuguy"

Just as a closure on this thread....after I presented him w/ my proof his character is not only illegal, but messes up the campaign, he chose to stick with the character he settled on when we started the game.

I need to hire guys in the towns where my players live....so in case they pull shit like this, I give Bruno, Jimmy, etc., a call and he goes over with the "Whack" stick to readjust their shit and get them with the program.

Hmmm....I think I might just have a niche in that market...rent out RPG thugs that adjust remote/online players who don't conform to game rules....  😉

All:

O managed to respectfully give my observations and indicate it would greatly change the campaign.

The player caved and indicated no changes…they will play the same character.

Cygnia:  Good call to call out their bluff…it worked.

Thanks all…

All:

I appreciate the observations, feedback, and advice on this subject.  I just sent him a list of questions for the character, indicating this is the last rendition we will do in this game...I also am pointing out the fact I put ina lot of energy to "fit" him into this campaign and now all of that work is by the wayside, although it was my choice to do so.

So, we'll see where it goes and I will update this post to reflect that.

Cheers...

Jujitsuguy

4 hours ago, Cygnia said:

Is this player a friend that you can talk to outside of the game or no?

Cygnia:

I have known and played in this individual's campaigns for over 5 years now...he is a friend, and outside of the game, not a bad person at all; however, any game conversations that he feels are not in his favor go south immediately...he has even shut down games because he disagreed with a player....I don't mean major fallout, but just because something he didn't like...

Whenever I try to discuss these things, he throws a fit and threatens to leave the game.  So, this is the final where I say, "Last change on your character and these are the things that are acceptable on the character."

If he leaves, he leaves, simple as that...the campaign can get no more harm to it whether he stays with this character or leaves.

Duke Bushido:
 

I am at my wits end and yes, I will have this as the last rendition; however, he has changed the character concept to something 180 from the original and current, which I had tied in a lot of things in the game.

Also, his replacement is super Munchkin, which even I as lacking in all Hero knowledge is waaaaay off of what the rules are.  I already double-checked this w/ two other players that all of us know this player from a while back.  Where this goes is that I will point out all infringements, where he made totally wrong assumptions with the character concept and my game, and how he needs to fix it to be able to game with us.
At this stage, if he gets upset and bails, easier on me.

Also, as he has changed this, I will make it more difficult for them to get what they need.  If he leaves, I will NPC his recent character to be able to play the game through if I have to.

2 hours ago, Steve said:

I’m now kind of curious as to what sort of campaign this is. Superhero? Sci-Fi? Fantasy? Espionage? Palace intrigue?

Steve:

Funny you should ask...the genre is Blade Runner/Prometheus, with other similar genres mixed in, including existence of Mutants, Psionics, and Magic.  Imagine Blade Runner and Prometheus/Alien--which do exist in their same universe--and mix in a dash of ShadowPunk.  I have adapted a lot of movies/stories that are tightly linked and connected them together.

Example:

Besides the link between Blade Runner and Prometheus/Alien, most people don't realize that the movie "Soldier" with Kurt Russell is VERY strongly tied into the same universe.  If you go to the garbage planet where Sgt Todd 3465 was dropped off on to fight alongside the civilians against the baddies, you clearly see a police spinner from Blade Runner in the trash pile.  Also, the Bad guy, played by Jason Lee Scott (Caine 607), was actually a Replicant, believed to be Nexus 3, which replaced the Soldiers from the "Adam Project" which Sgt Todd 3465 was part of.

In addition, aside of canon or not, Predators are also part of this universe.

I managed to also tie in Westworld, as I found a reference between the two--however, I can't find it now--but also if you look at the Hosts on Westworld, they are very similar in structure to those in Prometheus/Alien.  I also found in a wiki that Yutani sued Weyland for the creation of Weylands first synthetic, David:

https://avp.fandom.com/wiki/Yutani_Corporation

So, they have synthetic flesh and bone, used to emulate the human body.

The game started with all at 165 CP / 40 Complications, which I call "Exceptional" level normals, above Competent normals which are 125 CP.  We are in Chapter 1 of 5, which they are on Delos Island, hunting down copies of Delores' pearl--if you have ever watched the HBO series of Westworld.

Gang:

In general, the person is only 1/4-1/5 through the campaign thus far and now doing this.  To me, unacceptable.  The same player dumps on other players if they don't like or agree w/ their character archetypes saying they are getting too much.

1 hour ago, Steve said:

I think you need to settle with the player what “more fun” means. Are they not getting enough screen time? Are they not as effective as others in combat? Is the player borderline ADHD?

 

I throw the last one in because I’ve dealt with players that just keep wanting a change apparently for change’s sake and just never seem happy with their characters, like it’s boring for them to play the same thing more than once or twice.

Steve:

I thought the same thing ADHD....and yes, your explanation makes sense....

Jujitsuguy

5 hours ago, Certified said:

There are a number of factors here, from game system to campaign style. If you have long term story hooks that involve the character, that's probably something you should discuss with the player. There may be a chance to salvage the existing character, or bring back the original, if you are able to work with them to make changes to their power set, or some other aspect of the character. 

 

With that in mind, I think part of this comes back to session 0, and expressing the format of the campaign.  For my personal games, I don't have an issue with players character swapping, and in a super team, it's kind of expected as rarely do you see every here "on screen" at the same time, so I like to set up rotating conditions to bring heroes in and out. As I mentioned before, if we need a specific character for a part of the larger campaign, I'll let the player know that we want to spotlight this character and they can swap later. 

 

Sorry for the plug, but it relates to the conversation. The Metahumans Rising core book talks to these concepts for a session 0, people running multiple characters, one at a time, and swapping them in and out between stories.  

Certified:

Thanks for your plug, well-accepted and made me thing on this a little.

Prior to Session 0, as I "build" my character's storyline INTO the campaign, to make sure all are significant, I was very clear with them all.  All other players had no issue and were actually jazzed about their involvement in the game and are looking forward how they "fit".  As for the player in question, that player knew and beyond a shadow of a doubt prior to Session 0 they changed their character, making me "fix" all prior into and "fit" the new character into the timeline.  Now, this latest change may make it messed up, although I'll do what I can to "re-fit" them into the campaign.

Highly frustrating and as you note Steve's post, I did think my player has a form of ADHD, because they act like this as a GM at times.

I have a player in my Hero 6E campaign who has changed the character already once in the game prior to starting.  We have played six sessions, which is maybe 1/4 or 1/5 of the way through the campaign.

The player now wants to play a digressively different character, because he said it would be more fun.

Would any of you allow this?

As a GM, I am highly frustrated at this attitude period I believe it is showing a great disrespect for the effort that I’ve made to not only create this game, but I actually work with the players to create a backstory which will fit into the game and allow me to write their stories into the campaign material.

Am I wrong to think this way?

MrKinister:

Sorry to hear...unfortunately, we've already as a group locked in the Thursday schedule...keep in mind, it is at 5:30PM Pacific...of course, I don't know your schedule...

Happy Gaming Sir!