John Desmarais

Re: How the...? Well, I suppose if you let the players buy a wide-slam open cosmic VPP, yes. A few basic concepts for using VPPs for spellcasters. [*]Keep the game machanics consitant - if you are going to use VPPs, then all spellcasters use them. [*]Define a standard set of limitations that will be applied to the VPP Control that define how you want magic to work (ie. Skill Roll Required, Must study spellbook to change spells in pool, Extra Time required to change pool, etc, etc...) [*]In addition to the "standard limitations" listed above, I also like to add "Only for spells in a known school" [*]Don't worry about the players balking at the reduced functionality - remind them that it comes with a reduction in cost as well. [*]Fantasy Hero has suggestions for using VPPs as the base mechanic for a magic system. I recommend reading through it. Additionally, may folks have created VPP-based magic systems and posted descriptions of them to web sites - a google search can yield a wealth of inforamtion. [/list=1] John Desmarais

Re: Re: Re: Fantasy Hero Websites Yow! I had not realized how many of links had gone "stale". For anyone interested, the list is cleaned up and all links are current now. http://www.sysabend.org/champions/webdir/Hero_FantasyHero.html John Desmarais

Re: Fantasy Hero Websites A list (although I haven't checked all of the links recently): http://www.sysabend.org/champions/webdir/Hero_FantasyHero.html John D.

Re: Lands of Mystery Got it, love it, used it many times (with Justice Inc. as well as 4th and 5th edition Hero). Possibly the single best pulp supplement ever published - one of the best rpg supplements I've ever read. John Desmarais

Just a few thoughts... MANA = EGO*2, cost 1/2 MANA RECOVERY = EGO/5 + INT/5, cost 2 Assume the mage is a very focused character, EGO and INT both 20. This (assuming no additional points purchased) gives 40 Mana, witha Mana Rec of 8. With a SPD of less than 4, your mage could pop off mid to moderate power spells all day without breaking a sweat. If you really want to slow things down a bit, simply declare that Mana Recovery operates on a Per Day basis instead of a Per Turn basis. Now (assuming no additional points purchased) your mage has 40 Mana to play with, and will recover 8 per day (double this is the mage specifically takes "a day of rest"). No superhero-like spell flinging here. Personally, I would also consider taking INT out of the equation and use CON instead in the Recovery formula (EDO/5 + CON/5) - but this only makes a vert slight difference. CON is not usually a priority stat for mages, so if we assume a CON of 10, then the mage has a Mana Rec of 6. John Desmarais

Re: Your first Champs character. 1984? (Maybe - it's been a long time). Turbo. A speedster with absolutely no offensive powers (I just didn't think about it - I revised the character a bit after the firet time I actually played the game). John Desmarais

Hmmm... That link shouldn't still work. use http://www.sysabend.org/champions/gnborh/ instead. John D.

Re: JLA vs. Avengers #2 (Spoilers) Actually, what was said was "It's conceivable you could beat me..." Not exactly what I would call a full out admission that Cap would win, just an acknowledgement that he could. John D.

Re: Ars Magica inspired magic I don't know if it will help you any, but quite some time back I took a stab at creating a Fantasy Hero magic system loosely based on the one from Ars Magica. You can find it here: http://www.sysabend.org/champions/spoo/JDD-Haymaker28.pdf John D.

Re: Are Normal attacks worth it? On the average, Killing attacks do more Body, but normal attacks do more Stun. In a Super Hero level game, where most character have at least a moderate amount of resistant defence (and have more DEF than the average body rolled) the fact that KAs ignore normal def is moot. Normal attacks are more effective. In a Hero level game, where most character have no or little resistant defence (little being less than the average body rolled), KAs are more effective. John Desmarais

Re: Your Favorite Secret Identity professions Personal favorite for character's I've played - Congressman. John D.

Saturdays, 10:00PM. Looks like generally they will be running it in two half-hour time slots (so you'll get to see part one and two on the same night - Yay!) John D.

Re: Science Fiction Plus Well, since almost every Star Hero game I have ever run (and most of the one's I've played in) have used an existing setting (usually filched from some book or movie that had recently impressed the group) I'd have to answer "not much". I'd classify all of my games as "Star Hero" as opposed to "Star Hero Plus". John D.

Re: Plot Ideas from the Comics It doesn't always work that way. There are many good writers who write stories that simply do not translate well into an rpg. Most of the folks writing team books like to break the teams up into small, more easily managed groups (sometimes individuals). In a comic this works just fine - as a way run an rpg it stinks (creates additional work for the GM and invariably some characters/players don't get enough "screen time"). John D.

Re: Attracting players You can try asking the members of the Hero System Mailing List (hero-l@sysabend.org, send subscribe to hero-l-request@sysabend.org to join). I don't know if there is anyone there who lives in Iowa, but there might be. John D.

Re: Re: Re: League of Extraordinary Gentelmen Give that man a kwepie-doll. John D.

Re: League of Extraordinary Gentelmen Well, let see. The game that I was run at the Richmond Gamefest (cancelled due you hurricane) was more or less in this vein - although set closer to the turn of the century. It had (would have had?) the following characters: Thomas Carnacki (the ghost hunter) James Douglas Henry (grandson of John Henry) Irene Adler (the only woman to get the better of Sherlock Holmes) Arsene Lupin (Gentleman Cambrioleur) Jules de Grandin (supernatural detective) John Reid (the Lone Ranger, retired) Martha Canary (aka Calamity Jane) Alie Dunbar (the Beautiful White Devil) Digory Kirke (bonus question: Who recognizes this name?) Hopefully, they can rescheduled the cconvention for sometime I'm available this Spring. John Desmarais

Re: Re: Lensman HERO Actually, the biggest problem I've seen with using lensman as a campaign setting is the way the series treats women. You would never get a female gamer to play a Lensman game. John D

Re: Lensman HERO Actually, I've thought about it a lot recently (thanks to Old Earth Books reprinting all of them). The GURPS Lensman book has a lot of good stuff in it, and being a GURPs product, is very easy to convert to Hero. Unfortunately, I don't own a copy of it (it vanished in one of my moves). I'd be very interested in seeing anyone Hero adaptation of Lensman. John D.

And? If a player whips up a spell write up that doesn't fit in your campaign then you simple tell him such. Problem solved (unless said player throws a tantrum like a six year old). As for intimate familiarty with the rules - I generally find that players with a marginal grasp of the rules have an easier time with FH spells than they do with super powers. FH magic, for me at least, usually has a very standard set of modifiers that will be applied to all spells to insure a certain "mechanical feel". Player starts with spell concept, selects the appropriate Hero power(s), applies standard modifers, spell done. Again, I'm hearing what sounds like much ado about nonthing. John D.

By way of contrast - I could call the same number of folks that I have gamed with, with similar or greater years of experience,ask the same question, and get the response "We do it all the time." Everyone's mileage varies. Personally, I have found VPPs to be a relatively ellegant method of allowing spellcasters to "know" a large number of spells, but only being able to uses a subset of them at any given time - which is the way I want spellcaster to work in my games - very Vancian. I have never had a problem caused by using VPPs. The only severe caveats I place on them is that (1) all effects within the pool must be chosen from a pre-written list, and (2) pools may not be changed in combat time (don't like to have games delayed while people fiddle with their pool). Sometime I work from spell lists that I have pregenerated for the campaign, sometime I let the players do it. In my current game I am using the forthcoming Fantasy Hero Grimoire as a source of pregenerated spell-lists (playtesting). I've seen several responses in this thread that indicate that some GMs would think that allowing the players to create the spells is a horrifying idea. My response to that is: if you don't trust yout players, why are you playing with them? John Desmarais .

Re: Setting On the "buy a setting" concept, I would also recommend Kingdoms of Kalamar. It's a D&D setting, but the Campaign Sourcebook is well thohght out and amazingly free of game system stuff, concentrating instead of describing the world. This is the setting I'm currently using for my Fantasy Hero game and it's been very easy to drop Hero System into the setting. John Desmarais

Re: Re: Transhuman Space HERO I've got a link in here that offers translation of Hero to GURPS - I guess you could go backwards... http://www.sysabend.org/champions/webdir/Hero_Rules_Converting.html John Desmarais

A few more guesses (based on other info I've heard about the upcoming season). Comfort and Joy - Christmas special Wild Card - Joker and Harley Hearts and Minds - Despero? John D.

What, specifically, do you not like about the MetaCreator print-outs? I've been pretty happy with the character sheet it produces, but sometimes I'm a little to close to it to see all of the problems. John D.