Tom Carman

Re: My Star Wars Force Powers

I think you might dispense with Force Choke. Seems to me it's just a Dark application of Telekinesis with Fine Manipulation.

Re: Walking Past Combatants (Attacks of Opportunity)

I don't think there is a book-legal way to prevent this in HERO, tho you can make the villain regret it. There may be something in FREd about penalties for ignoring attackers (but I don't have that on hand, just the old Ed.4 PDF). If 5th doesn't have anything covering it, you could simulate it by treating this as a combat Surprise attack (halved DCV).

Re: Battlestar Galactica Hero

SO is there a Battlestar Galactica Hero yet?

You could start writing it...

In the (great!) new one, no laser handguns, they seem to be gyrojet rocket guns. Can't recall any energy weapons, actually. Missiles are the heavy weapons. The Vipers and Raiders seem to be armed with autocannon, though I haven't noticed any recoil effects. Possibly they are also gyrojet guns, with the rockets burning out before leaving the barrel.

Re: HERO System question

These conversations sort of confirm my hesitancy in running a HERO system fantasy game. In a d20 game (he shudders in revulsion), the GM just sort of tries to make sure everyone ends up with something, in an round about way. My current group has an elaborate "pay gold shares for magic equipment we'd otherwise sell" so PC's are compensated in gold for items that stay in the group.

 

In HERO system, I have to make my PC's pay for what they encounter and get through their adventuring--so, they are paying twice. Once by risk and derring-do in obtaining the item, and again, in effectively docking them XP to pay for what they've already earned. It is cumbersome and inelegant.

I don't really see the problem. In a Heroic game, I would not charge them XP for any treasure. Sure, it's a nice magic sword, but it is also inherently an Independent item and liable to go away. Oh and here's the fabulous Wand of Fireballs (with either non-recovering Charges or a Burnout roll). In this genre you DON'T get items permanently (unless it's cursed! Read Lawrence Watt-Evan's The Misenchanted Sword about a powerful magic weapon that just WON'T go away...)

Re: Variable Power Characters in the Same Game

I'm confused, paying for equipment is a defining characteristic of Superheroic games, not heroic.

 

The big issue I have with paying for equipment is that this is a "war-time" setting. Its silly and unreasonable to charge someone points for picking up a gun from one of their numerous fallen opponents, especially when they are out of ammo. And weapons aren't "signature" (except for a tiny number of exceptions) so they can all be broken, stolen, destroyed and the players shouldn't expect to get them back (just like in a non-point based game).

I believe the usual rule (for any rational GM) is "yes, you can pick up that gun and use it. If you want to keep it around permanently, you pay the points." (Though the characters better have the weapon familiarity for whatever they pick up.) The point of a VPP resource pool for the normals is to keep the power of their attacks in line with those of characters with innate power for a similar cost. We're not talking about signature weapons here, just standard issue gear. They are built as OAF, not Independent. The guns and binoculars and radios will likely get lost or trashed in the course of a game, but Supply can issue replacements after the usual b!+c#ing.

Re: What's the Worth of 4th Ed. Books?

Thanks!

 

I was curious, because I was considering picking up some books in genres that aren't slated yet, like Horror HERO, Western HERO, and especially anything like CyberHERO and post-Apocalyptic-style HERO games.

I would say that Western HERO is a good investment if you want to play in that time period. Some of the things it added to Hero4 base rules made it into FREd.

Re: d20 conversion to/from Hero System

On skill rolls:

The "average" Hero roll is 11-, and the system is set up so that average stats will get that "average" roll: 9 + stat/5 = 11 when the stat is near 10. To convert to a roll-over system, 10+ is equal to 11-. I find it convenient to retain "stat/5" as a "stat bonus". The revised characteristic roll becomes 3d6+bonus. With the average bonus (from average stats) being 2, raise your target number for standard success from 10+ to 12+.

Stat-based rolls for a base skill are 3d6+bonus. For skills with a flat 11- base, use a flat bonus of 2. For Familiarity rolls, the bonus is -1.

So, roll 3d6, add stat bonus and levels, subtract penalties, to "beat 12".

Re: Wild West Hero

Im Away this week so whilst away i am going to write an adventure for a wild west game.

 

I have no idea where to start, I am not a big fan of western films but I do like the idea of running an adventure set during this period.

 

I am going to give them only 50 points +50 disadvantages

 

Any help with any aspect of this genre would be much appreciated

Well, the first thing is to get hold of a copy of Western HERO.

Re: When caught in a time paradox, what happens?

Another option, this one with more psuedoscientific theory:

 

I go back in time, and do something that makes me not exist. A "ripple" travels through time and rewrites history from that point forward, taking into account my actions in the past, until it reaches the point where I time-traveled. If I no longer exist, then at that point I could not time-travel, so a second ripple goes backwards through time, and then erases me from the past. This creates a new time-ripple, this time going forwards, and having the same result.

 

Now, this would seem to create a neverending loop, but...use the idea that events are not predestined, that at a basic level the universe is random. So every time a ripple rewrites history, it will do so in a slightly different way. Since the time-ripple takes no time, this will happen an infinite number of times between ticks of the clock - until eventually a reality appears that resolves the problem. What this translates to is that, if someone creates something that would result in a paradox, history rewrites itself into a likely form that would prevent the paradox - no matter how bizarre it might be - and it always was that way from a temporal perspective.

ObSF ref: Thrice Upon a Time (by James Hogan, I think)

Re: Pistols = Reduced Penetration

I used to run a Space:1889 campaign in HERO, and there was armor around (since it was in the source material). However, I ran it that armor only had half-value against firearms. Leather is 3 DEF, chain is 5 DEF, and plate is 7 DEF. When halving, the defense rounds UP against handguns, and DOWN against rifles.

Re: VPPs: Your experiences

"With great power comes great responsibility." So if the player is irresponsible, don't allow them that sort of power. My characters are usually the ones with the VPP, but GM doesn't bug me because I'm pretty circumspect about using them.

Example: the gadgeteer - high INT, 1-2 universal skill levels, Scientist, and a raft of science skills; must invent a gadget to use it. Usually starts an adventure using a gadget weapon with Charges; any rebuilds of that weapon have the same AP, and Charges (spent and unused) carry over - use up all the Charges and the RP of the weapon is "locked out" until he can get new supplies. New gadgets must be within his science skill set, and buildable with the limited kit of components he carries plus whatever can be reasonably added from the immediate environment (fighting in a junkyard can be fun).

Example: credit-card-at-the sporting-goods-store. All VPP items must be real-life commercial products, and reasonably within your budget. Real-world limitations like waiting periods for guns will apply. Proximity to appropriate stores and several hours of shopping time are required.

Re: held action

I also frown on Haymakers launched in Phase 12. The system should not drive a character's actions' date=' it should be the other way around.[/quote']

Oh, let them have their Phase 12 Haymakers. Just fine them their Post-12 recovery when they do it. (They are in the middle of launching an attack, so obviously they are not pausing to catch their breath...)

Re: Asterix the Gaul

An Astérix campaign should be possible with 2-3 adjustments to the system :

 

1 - ALL damages are "STUN-only"; no one ever died in any book of Asterix. Even a menhir falling on your head only makes you "stunned" or eventually nuts for a time.

 

2 - magic potion enhances your strength and gives you additional dices of HtH damage (stun only again and increased knockback).

 

I've got a french version of Dragon Magazine with Asterix adapted for ADD. i will try to re-read it to get an idea.

 

 

PS : What are the english names for the various villagers ? i only know Getafix by his original name ("Panoramix").

The village bard was Cacafonix (sp?). The local Roman centurion was Crismus Bonus.

Re: Instruction Request: VPP vs MP

VPP: The VPP reserve is based on RP' date=' not AP, so the amount of AP you can have active in the pool at once depends on how many limitations are applied to those powers.[/quote']

Not quite. The VPP uses both Real Points and Active Points. The maximum size of any single power is the AP of the reserve. The maximum of all powers used at once is the RP of the reserve. In contrast, the MP can only have up to the AP of the reserve active at the same time.

Re: Tank chargen: low-strength, high-soak

Pts. Disadvantage

10 Social Limitation: Vulnerable Clothing (Frequently, Minor) [Notes: Bulletproof is invulnerable. His clothes are not.]

Heh. Just had a memory flash from an earlier series of She Hulk. She got attacked in her lawyer suit, and her clothes were totally trashed. Except for her underwear, which was completely untouched. When asked how that could have happened, She Hulk showed the little tag on her slip "Protected by the Comics Code Authority". No nudity allowed, you see...

Re: So I'm thinking of running a Western HERO scenario...

IIRC a .44 Colt is a 3d6 RKA. Unarmored humans have no resistant defenses. Average damage' date=' a single shot from a .44 will take a typical human to -1 BODY.[/quote']

I was re-reading my Western HERO the other day, so here are the damage ranges. The wide variety of gun calibers was reduced to .38 and .45. Both do the same base damage, but the .45 has a higher STR Min and +1 STUN multiplier.

 

Pistols do 1d6+1K. (Derringers are listed as 1d6-1K and -2 Rmod. I thought that made them too weak, so I upped it to 1d6+1K, same as revolvers, but added Reduced by Range. So they are dangerous up close, but damage and accuracy drops fast.)

 

Carbines (short rifles) are 1.5d6K, and Rifles are 2d6K.

 

.50 cal Gatling guns and Buffalo rifles are 2d6+1K.

 

These figures are for black powder cartridge weapons; for cap-and-ball guns, apply a 1 DC reduction.

Re: So I'm thinking of running a Western HERO scenario...

I had a couple of ideas.

 

Number one - Dark Champs pg 193 features "Grace Under Fire" optional rule. Maybe use a variant to decide showdowns?

 

Number two - why not apply REC healing per wound instead of on the total damage taken. That way, one big wound still takes a long time to heal but lots of little wounds heal at the same time.

Western HERO has a couple options like your Number two. The ground rule on injury is to track wounds, not overall damage. Next, allow a successful Paramedic roll to reduce any wound by 1 Body (only one roll per wound). Finally, it was either let all 1-Body "flesh wounds" heal overnight, or heal your REC's worth of 1-Body wounds overnight. Basically, any serious wound is going to take time to heal but any minor one (or one that can be "doctored" down to a minor one) has no lasting impact.

Re: Powerguns

The tanks they were fighting had lasers. That is actually one of my favorite books, one of my two favorite Drake books (from the Heart of darkness ??)

 

The osmium penetrators were encased in a "flourocarbon" sabot, that partially sublimed iirc under the pressure and temperature of passing through the Diamond Squeeze bore.

On the other hand, Diamond doesn't actually handle hight temperatures all that well....

Don't drop one into an oven.

Yes, I noticed the laser bit when I re-checked after posting. On the other hand, lasers and powerguns have much the same effect on their targets. A powergun is probably more compact, while the laser has that handy continuous beam.

Re: So I'm thinking of running a Western HERO scenario...

IIRC a .44 Colt is a 3d6 RKA. Unarmored humans have no resistant defenses. Average damage' date=' a single shot from a .44 will take a typical human to -1 BODY. In my world, -1 BODY is critically wounded. They are not yet dead, but they [b']will[/b] die without medical attention (which is harder to come by in the Western genre than in a Modern or Superheroic one). However, if they still have STUN, they can shoot back, make a speech, etc.

You're a bit high: according to my handy 4th ed. PDF, a modern .44 magnum is a 2d6 RKA (a .50 caliber machine gun round is 3d6K). I don't have my Western HERO on hand to check, but I think black powder weapons have a bit less power. Also, cap-and-ball guns have a bit less power and reliability than cartridge pistols and rifles.

Re: Powerguns

Another of Drake's novels The Forlorn Hope is set in the same universe, but introduces a different weapon technology: Cone-Bore rifles. The gun barrels are diamond and the needle-bullets are osmium. I think the cannon models also used osmium penetrators, not explosive shells. Toward the end, there was a short battle between powergun-armed tanks and a starship being moved cross-country using landing repulsors and a small power-beam receiver (its own powerplant was wrecked by an attack). Mercenaries were in the cargo hold with cone-bore cannon, and a pump spraying mercury out above the open hatch. The powergun hitting the mercury spray flashburned some of the mercs, but the osmium rounds had no such problem...

Re: Stretching And Senses

The USPD has a Stretching power "see around corners" built using No Range Clairsentience...I could see reducing the limitation to "only to follow stretched limbs" for -1/4.

I had a character with Stretching, doesn't pass thru intervening space, defined as opening a micro-teleportal to punch/kick at range. As a one-adventure stunt, the GM let me open the portal to the other side of a wall and just listen. I figured I would need to buy a power to repeat it. But maybe not: it already had an Advantage to deal with intervening walls, and it wasn't linked to attacks.

Re: Heroic Campaign Guidelines & Equipment

That is a decent explination, but the problem is that in a RPG (and the show for that matter) if your character has a choice of 2-3 obliteration shots or 40 2d6 RKA shots, you will usually choose the big one.

If you are anywhere near resupply, it is generally be more efficient to use one shot to disentegrate the rock, a second to evaporate the opponent behind the rock rather than expose your fragile character to return fire.

 

I always sort of viewed the change in tactics to the the GM quietly saying that the power level was out of hand and everyone did less damage now.

In one TOS episode, "The Omega Glory" I think (the Yangs vs the Comms), it was mentioned that several expended phaser powerpacks were found at a battle site among several hundred Yang bodies. Obviously Captain Tracy was trading damage for duration there.

Re: Thunderbirds are Go!

I still don't get this Megascale movement. I haven't really played a game of Hero since 3rd edition.

It is an Advantage to allow high velocity/long range powers without the cost getting too extreme; it redefines the scale of 1" in system terms. Megascaled movement is always considered to be noncombat, with all of the accompanying downsides. Megascaled attack powers (which the GM better examine very closely) have a lot of reach but no short-range utility, and are really only good against large targets.

Re: Should all skills be everyman to some degree?

Interestingly enough in the Star Hero setting Computer Programming is actually a rarer skill. Computers are so user friendly and well programed you don't need it at all. "Hello computer' date=' I'd like to research this and that." "Working...." It would be like having "Operate Toaster skill" [/quote']

Personally, I think elementary computer programming should be a required course in high school. Nothing advanced, just a course in simple BASIC (this being precisely what BASIC was written for in the first place - Beginners All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code.) Even if the students never again programmed a computer, the exposure to logical thinking and step-by-step procedure ought to come in handy.

Re: Do you always use character points to buy weapons & armor?

When Suppress, Drain, and Dispel enter the picture (as a spell or a gadget or a power), the Active points of your equipment will make a difference in how it affects you.