jackalope

I like how all of your examples, except perhaps one, are of Conan wearing a mail shirt, which I had already noted he occasionally wears...

Well, that's simply wrong. The only armor Conan ever wore in the Howard stories was the occasional chain shirt. In the vast majority of stories, he wears nothing more than a loincloth, broadbelt, and maybe a helmet.

Robert Howard's Red Sonya was a Renaissance-era cossack. The character of Red Sonja is entirely the creation of Roy Simmons, and she shares nothing in common with Red Sonya except a name and her hair color. This is her only description: It was a woman, dressed as von Kalmbach had not seen even the dandies of France dressed. She was tall, splendidly shaped, but lithe. From under a steel cap escaped rebellious tresses that rippled red gold in the sun over her compact shoulders. High boots of Cordovan leather came to her mid-thighs, which were cased in baggy breeches. She wore a shirt of fine Turkish mesh-mail tucked into her breeches. Her supple waist was confined by a flowing sash of green silk, into which were thrust a brace of pistols and a dagger, and from which depended a long Hungarian saber. Over all was carelessly thrown a scarlet cloak. Sonja's original design was much closer to this description:

Psuedo-feminist claptrap like this always make me unreasonably angry, but this one really grinds my gears. First of all, all of the designs are infected with a bland sameness. Too muted, too much use of material specific texture, it makes the costumes all feel identical. But that's hardly the main issue that is pissing me off. Second, the attempts to de-sexualize the characters makes them all look prepubescent and is, ultimately, more disturbing. Third, the artist who did these designs has no concept of The Marvel Way and how to draw heroic proportions. Superheros do not have realistic proportions, they are bigger and bolder as can be seen in this chart: Here's an example of Captain America standing next to a more realistically proportioned man: By reducing the proportions of these female superheros, all the artist has done is make them look younger, weaker and less heroic. But okay, so the artist doesn't know why comic book heroines are drawn the way they are. That's ignorant, but not so much so that I'd actually get pissed off. But no, it's the Red Sonja panel that has me upset. Red Sonja is really important to me. The movie came out when I was 11 and my dad took me to see it. It was awesome. So awesome that a few weeks later I saw the Red Box D&D in a store and bought it because it seemed like it was set in the same kind of world as Red Sonja. A few months later I would buy the 2nd edition of Champions. So in some sense, Red Sonja is why I'm posting on this forum at all. I care about Red Sonja a LOT. So if you're going to redesign Red Sonja, you damn well better know what you're talking about, and this artist doesn't know shit. Excuse my language, but by the bloody steppes of Hyrkania, I cannot tolerate this sort of brazen ignorance! Sonja's initial garb was a chain haubrek and steel helm. The chainmail bikini was something she donned to sneak into a sultan's harem and kill him, and she's worn it ever since. She wears it for several reasons, ONE of which is that it's distracting. The PRIMARY reason she wears it is because it invites attention from men who don't respect women. That armor leads to men thinking they can get away with putting their hands on Sonja, which is exactly what she wants. She wants men to grope her and try to feel her up. Because then she's justified in defending herself from their rude advances, which means she gets to kill them. And Sonja loves killing men who don't respect women. But to put Sonja in ARMOR? IN ARMOR? HOLY CHRIST! The Hyborean World has rules, and rule #1 is ONLY P****ES AND COWARDS WEAR ARMOR. You can wear a mail shirt, and that's it. Full armor marks you as cannon fodder. But hey, okay, so the artist doesn't understand genre conventions. She said Red Sonja is only human! HOLY ****! Why not just start off the whole thing with "I've never read a Red Sonja story in my ****ing life!" Red Sonja is not a normal human being! She's SUPERHUMAN. She's was raised from a state of near death (possibly from death) by the goddess Scyrah to become the embodiment of women's vengeance. She can leap thirty feet into the air, dance between a hail of arrows, cleave twenty foot tall demons in half with a single blow, and shrugs off sword blows while receiving scratches. Literally the only thing ARMOR can do is slow Sonja down. That's why she continues to wear the chainmail bikini -- it doesn't hinder her movements at all. I. Just. Can't. So. Much. Nerdrage. I sentence this artist to death by being buried alive in Red Sonja back issues.

Yeah, I wouldn't have fallen for that either. Breaking out is not a defense in my opinion, so NND on an Entangle would just be wasted points, like Reduced END on Life Support. But nice try!

Wait...how does an NND Entangle even work? There already is no defense against Entangles. I'm wondering how that was adjudicated in session that it was never allowed to happen again.

The evil wizard in the adventure I'm currently running has a constructed servant, Kârgar, who is a Galvanic Magen, which is essentially an artificial human with electricity-based powers (from Basic D&D). I've imagined him as a skeletal metal frame covered in solid, green rubber-like "flesh." Since he's a construct ("gens magica") and not a living being, he's got these abilities: Gens Magica 1) Only Looks Human...: Life Support (Does not Breathe, Eat, Sleep; Immune to All Poisons, Diseases; Immortal; Safe in All Environments); Cost: 40 2) Solid Cast Body: Physical Damage Reduction, 50% plus Cannot Be Stunned plus No Hit Locations; Cost: 45 As Lucius noted, you don't have to be a mindless Automaton to have Automaton powers. Because I intend for him to become a major campaign villain (once his own master dies), Kârgar has some lightning based powers that are all about controlling player movement and maximizing his ability to hold off a group of warriors without killing them. Galvanic Magen 1) Absorb Lightning: Absorption 10 BODY (energy, DEX, SPD and END), Absorption As A Defense (Resistant; +1), Expanded Effect (x3) (+1); Limited Phenomena (Electrical; -1/2); Cost: 20 2) Lightning Lash: Blast 6d6, STUN Only (+0), Area Of Effect (16 2m Areas; +1); No Range (-1/2); Cost: 40 3) Paralyzing Grip: Suppress STR 3d6; One Use At A Time (-1), Must Being Grabbing Target (-1), Costs Endurance (to maintain; -1/2); Cost: 8 4) Ride The Lightning: Telekinesis (20 STR), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Area Of Effect (16 2m Areas; +1); Instant (-1/2), No Range (-1/2), Linked (Lightning Lash; -1/4), Affects Whole Object (-1/4); Cost: 30 5) Static Shock: Blast 4d6, Real Electricity (+0), STUN Only (+0), Damage Shield (+1/4), Constant (+1/2), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2); No Range (-1/2); Cost: 30 What makes him actually effective as a minion, and the reason I bring him up, is his skills. In my current adventure, he's been tasked with preparing an ancient fortress with a concealed vault in such a way that the NPC the PCs are escorting will be lead directly to a concealed vault and enter it. At the same time, he has to make sure as few of the PCs survive to reach the vault as possible. He's had about eight months to work on this, and has access to a fairly vast library of books on arcane lore and scholarly subjects. Here's his skill list: Ever Learning 1) Cramming 2) Deduction 17- 3) Inventor 17- 4) Language: Hrani (imitate dialects; literate) 5) Lockpicking 12- 6) Mechanics 16- 7) Science Skill: Chemistry 16- 8) Science Skill: Natural Sciences 16- 9) Security Systems 16- Dungeon Designer 1) Animal Handler (Oozes, Puddings and Slimes) 11- 2) Animal Handler (Mutant Horrors) 11- 3) KS: Mining and Excavation 11- 4) KS: Subterrean Horrors 11- 5) KS: Puzzles and Traps 11- 6) PS: Engineer 16- 7) PS: Architect 16- So, while Kârgar is not technically a "guardian", he is a constructed servitor assigned to protect a specific location, and his greatest power in that regard is his skill list, which allows him to design and construct traps, capture and train guardian creatures, etc.

I just discovered this song last week (it came out 8 years ago!) and it instantly became a favorite, I've been listening to it non-stop.

Thanks guys. I think I'm going to go with Markdoc's idea, since it seems to easiest method to make the power transferable -- I intend this crystal to start in the hands of a villain and end up as a reward for the PC wizard.

I want to make a "spell stabilization crystal" that allows a wizard holding it to cast spells without having to make a skill check. All of the wizards spells are bought through a VPP that requires Skill Rolls. Here's the VPP: Wizardry: Variable Power Pool, 23 base + 115 control cost, Powers Can Be Changed As A Half-Phase Action (+1/2), No Skill Roll Required (+1) (167 Active Points); Wizardry (-2 3/4); all slots Gestures (Complex; -1/2), Incantations (Complex; -1/2), Requires A Skill Roll (Skill roll; -1/2), Spell (-1/2), Concentration (1/2 DCV; -1/4), Extra Time (Delayed Phase, -1/2) Cost: 46 I want the crystal to remove the Requires a Skill Roll. I know there is a way to do this, but for the life of me I can't remember what its called or where to find in the rulebook. Help?

I've been running a Fantasy HERO game for a group of complete n00bs for the last two months. Their only experience is with D&D 4e and Pathfinder, and for the first few weeks they really didn't understand what I meant when I said that HERO was cinematic in a way those games couldn't hope to be. Now, after several weeks of combats, they're starting to understand what "cinematic" means. They're understanding that combat that goes badly for them tends to end with most of the party knocked-out, not dead. They're coming to understand that varying your attacks gives you huge advantages unlike most system, where it tends to be "This round I use my best attack. Repeat forever," and that incidental effects like Knockback can be powerful multipliers. Like my players are all slowly cluing in on the idea that if they outspeed an opponent, they can get in Haymakers and recover their DCVs, and that Normal damage boosts Knockback over their regular Killing attacks, so I've started seeing the swordmaster do the classic "Sword Block, Sword Block, Spinning Heel Kick!" combo that every cinematic fantasy hero uses. They're also in love with the whole PRE Attack mechanic and how it allows role-playing to actually influence the battlefield -- all of the low DEX characters are becoming battlecry experts! In our last session, the epilogue to the first adventure arc, I attacked all of my players with hired thugs and assassins. They had revealed damaging secrets of powerful aristocrats, and provoked a nasty response. Here's the thing though: I attacked them all in their own homes, after having spent the last few weeks making sure they all had their own digs. I ran it as one huge combat with each of four PCs in a separate location, unable to rely on each other at all. And because the HERO System produces heroes and not 1/4th of the requisite power needed to fight effectively, each of them survived. At the same time as I was running the combat, I wove in descriptions of things happening in other areas -- NPCs who had helped the party and knew bits and pieces of the whole conspiracy being killed by assassins. After the session, all of the players were talking about how the whole session had felt like a "montage" and using other cinematic terms to describe what had just happened. It was the kind of thing I'd never try in a D&D clone. It would have wiped out the party. But its exactly the sort of play that HERO empowers, which is precisely why I use HERO.

Here you go: Seventh Sanctum's Bookspinner Donjon's Ancient Tomes and Random Tomes Chaoseed's Random Call of Cthulhu Tome Generator That should keep you set until judgement day.

I really wish I wasn't drinking coffee when I read this.

I thought this was an interesting challenge, so this is the design I came up with. Cost Powers 24 Delivery Methods: Multipower, 30-point reserve, all slots OIF (Toxin Rigs; Multiple Foci; -1/4) - END= 2f 1) Darts (Injected Poisons): Ranged Killing Attack 1d6, Increased Maximum Range (300m; +1/4), Penetrating (+1/2); OIF (Toxin Rigs; Multiple Foci; -1/4), 8 Recoverable Charges (-0) - END=[8 rc] 2f 2) Claws (Injected Poisons): HTH Killing Attack 1d6, Penetrating (+1/2), Reduced Endurance (0 END, +1/2); OIF (Toxin Rigs; Multiple Foci; -1/4) - END=[0] 1f 3) Mist Sprayer (Contact Poisons): Blast 2d6, Area Of Effect (8m Cone; +1/4), AVAD (Life Support (Sealed Suit) or Force Field; All Or Nothing; +1); 8 clips of 1 Charge (-1), No Range (-1/2), OIF (Toxin Rigs; Multiple Foci; -1/4) - END=[1] 1f 4) Gas Grenade (Aerosol Poisons): Blast 2d6, Area Of Effect (4m Radius; +1/4), Attack Versus Alternate Defense (Life Support (Self-Contained Breathing); target holds his breath; All Or Nothing; +1); 4 Recoverable Charges (-1/2), Extra Time (Delayed Phase, -1/4), Range Based On Strength (-1/4), Can Be Deflected (-1/4), OIF (Toxin Rigs; Multiple Foci; -1/4) - END=[4 rc] - END= 37 Poisons: Variable Power Pool, 20 base + 80 control cost, 30 Charges (+1/4), Powers Can Be Changed As A Half-Phase Action (+1/2); Limited Class of Powers (Poisons) (-1); all slots OAF (Poison Cartridge; -1), Must Deal Damage With A Delivery System (-1/2) - END= 0 1) Knockout Spray: Blast 6d6, Area Of Effect (8m Cone; +1/4), AVAD (Power Defense; +1); 1 Charge (-2), OAF (Poison Cartridge; -1), No Range (-1/2), Must Deal Damage With A Delivery System (-1/2) Real Cost: 13 - END=[1] 0 2) Knockout Gas: Blast 6d6, Area Of Effect (4m Radius; +1/4), AVAD (Power Defense; +1); 1 Charge (-2), OAF (Poison Cartridge; -1), Must Deal Damage With A Delivery System (-1/2), Range Based On Strength (-1/4), Extra Time (Delayed Phase, -1/4) Real Cost: 13 - END=[1] 0 3) Knockout Serum: Blast 8d6, AVAD (Power Defense; +1); 1 Charge (-2), OAF (Poison Cartridge; -1), Must Deal Damage With A Delivery System (-1/2), Limited Range (300m) (-1/4) Real Cost: 17 - END=[1] 0 4) Muscle Relaxant Spray: Drain STR 6d6, Area Of Effect (8m Cone; +1/4); 1 Charge (-2), OAF (Poison Cartridge; -1), No Range (-1/2), Must Deal Damage With A Delivery System (-1/2) Real Cost: 15 - END=[1] 0 5) Muscle Relaxant Gas: Drain STR 6d6, Area Of Effect (4m Radius; +1/4); 1 Charge (-2), OAF (Poison Cartridge; -1), Must Deal Damage With A Delivery System (-1/2), Extra Time (Delayed Phase, -1/4) Real Cost: 16 - END=[1] 0 6) Muscle Relaxant Serum: Drain STR 8d6; 1 Charge (-2), OAF (Poison Cartridge; -1), Must Deal Damage With A Delivery System (-1/2) Real Cost: 18 - END=[1] Powers Total: 65 So this build presumes a multi-part "toxin rig": The character has a bandolier with 30 cartridges containing different poisons. These do not need to be defined ahead of time. There are four delivery methods, each of which requires a Half-Phase action to load (i.e. changing the VPP power), and will require a skill roll (a failure means grabbing the wrong cartridge, failing to load it properly, etc.). Each power is built with 1 charge so even repeat uses of the power require re-loading it. Right-wrist mounted Dart Launcher which fires reloadable darts that can penetrate non-hardened armor and deliver a serum. The character has 8 darts which can be recovered and reloaded into the Dart Launcher. Left-wrist mounted Mist Sprayer which fires a stream of liquids that seep through heavier armors. Each use of the Sprayer requires a gas cartridge which must be reloaded after each use (represented by the clips). "Claws" which are hypodermic needles that spring out from the fingertips when pressed against a target. Because they are not real claws and would be ruined if hammered into someone or used as slashing weapons, the "claws" get no STR bonus. Gas Grenades that can be hurled and release an aerosolized toxin. The grenades come unloaded and can be recovered and reloaded, but it takes longer to pressurize the grenade than to load the other weapons (represented by the Delayed Phase). The poisons are then built to match the dispersal pattern. I provided two poisons, one that deals tons of STUN through an AVAD vs Power Defense, and then a "Muscle Relaxant" that drains STR, but you could change it to any other characteristic.

In my campaign world, Rhûne, the vast majority of the world's population subscribes to one religion: Simonism, which is the veneration of Simon of the Iscadari also known as Simon Rex or The Crownless King. Most folk are members of the The Holy Church of Simon Rex, but there are a number of unorthodox sects that have combined the worship of Simon Rex with older religions. The reason for the insane success of Simonism? It's the only faith that provides healing magic and the only religion that can sanctify weapons, buildings and people to protect them from or make them effective against daemons -- which is important, because the more powerful daemonic avatars are pretty much immune to any attack that isn't sanctified. Of course, there are no "gods" in Rhûne. Simon is not a god, he was just a mystic warrior. He's unaware that he is worshiped, because he's long dead. Even the "Old Religions" were nothing more than a mish-mash of cults serving daemonic masters, collections of superstitions and folk magic effective against the natural terrors of Rhûne, and "civic gods" that were mere props for priests to manipulate people. The priests of Simon are just sorcerers and wizards, not much different than evil sorcerers they decry. The only difference being that they have access to the body of knowledge that Simon left behind, and Simon was genetically programmed with knowledge of celestial (angelic) magic by the cabal of celestial beings that engineered his birth.

My last entry in this thread is on page 30. That's 577 pages back. Good lord. So two great quotes came out of today's session. The first comes from new player Ben. We explained to him how PRE Attacks work, and he immediately wanted to try it out against a band of bandits trying to waylay him and his sister. His character is a super-badass archer who, thanks to an Autofire stunt, Rapid Fire, and Autofire skills can lay down an impressive rate of fire. His Danger Sense warned him of the ambush long before he reached it, and he started firing into the bandits, forcing them to close with him. He knocks two arrows at once, aims at the pair of bandits charging him and says "It is raining death in this place and by the end of the day YOU WILL ALL BE SOAKING!" I thought that was totally worth an extra dice, but sadly he rolled a 7 on 4 1/2 dice. The second quote came from disgraced nobleman Hannewig Marcellus, who is involved in a romantic relationship the Lady Seeta Zadi. Marcellus is a disgraced nobleman who has become an assassin; Seeta is a scheming femme fatale who rules an empire of blackmail and extortion. Commenting on his initial reaction to meeting Zadi, he said "I knew the feeling was love...or I'd been poisoned."

I just realized I may have been doing HTH Attack weapons wrong for some time. Or I am entirely overthinking things. I have a Hired Goon built with a STR 15 wielding a Club. The club is a +4d6 HTH Attack with a STR Minimum of 10. How much damage does my Hired Goon do with a Strike? A ) He does 7d6 Normal Damage because his base STR damage is 3d6 plus the +4d6 from the HTH Attack. The STR Minimum has no effect beyond determining whether he takes OCV/DCV penalties. B ) He does 5d6 Normal Damage because after subtracting the club's STR Minimum 10, the Goon's effective STR is 5, for a base STR damage of 1d6 plus the +4d6 HTH Attack. C ) He does 8d6 Normal Damage because his base STR damage is 3d6 plus the +4d6 from the HTH Attack plus +1d6 because he is 5 STR over the minimum (6E2 199).

The absolute best fantasy novel is The Conquering Sword of Conan, which is the third book in the three book collection of Conan stories Del Rey recently published that contains Howard's original stories, with none of the later edit by Sprague and DuCamp. While all three books are worth reading. Conquering Sword is the best because it contains the two stories every fantasy GM must read: "Beyond the Black River" and "Red Nails." Between these two stories you have the two most basic plots of all great fantasy adventure. In "Beyond the Black River" you see the terrors of the wild, with barbarian savages, forest demons, and a primitive sorcerer who controls the beasts themselves. The quintessential Wilderness Adventure. Then in "Red Nails," you've got the other gaming classic: The lost city, with the once-glorious civilization fallen into degeneracy, dark sorcery, and all manner of wicked evil.

Re: Sci-Fi Melee Weapons: Bat'leth, Lirpas, Lightsabres, Rykk Blades, Koltari, Denn'B I haven't seen any mention of the Ka D'Argo's Qualta Blade from Farscape. That should definitely get tossed into the mix.

Re: 1000 Star HERO Weapons

Re: 1000 Star HERO Weapons #37) MI-31 Ion Rifle Developed for the Terran Alliance by the Zedler Weapons Consortium, the MI-31 is considered a top of the line military rifle throughout Terran space. While the manufacturer touts the advantages of a lower intensity Non-Lethal setting, soldiers familiar with the MI-31 often joke that it has a Lethal and Really Lethal setting. MI-31 Ion Rifle: Multipower, 75-point reserve, all slots OAF (-1), STR Minimum 13 (STR Min. Cannot Add/Subtract Damage; -1), Required Hands Two-Handed (-1/2), Real Weapon (-1/4) u 1) Lethal Setting: Ranged Killing Attack 3d6, Autofire (5 shots; +1/2) (67 Active Points); OAF (-1), STR Minimum 13 (STR Min. Cannot Add/Subtract Damage; -1), Required Hands Two-Handed (-1/2), Real Weapon (-1/4) u 2) Non-Lethal Setting: Energy Blast 10d6, Autofire (5 shots; +1/2) (75 Active Points); OAF (-1), STR Minimum 13 (STR Min. Cannot Add/Subtract Damage; -1), Required Hands Two-Handed (-1/2), Real Weapon (-1/4) Additional Features * Accuracy: +1 OCV; OAF (-1), Two-Handed (-1/2) * Battery: Endurance Reserve (210 END, 10 REC) Reserve: OAF (-1); REC: (10 Active Points); Requires Power Source (-2), OAF (-1), Lockout (-1/2) * Range Finder: +1 versus Range Modifiers; OAF (-1), Two-Handed (-1/2) This next gun, the PC's default weapon in my campaign, is based on the Nintendo Zapper, which was released in 1983 (hence NZ-83). #38) NZ83 LasGun The NZ-83 is a cheap, mass-manufactured laser pistol originally designed by the Nain-Zedler Group for the United Nations Colonization Project. All of the pieces necessary to construct the NZ-83 can be produced on 3D printers with commonly available materials. It is currently the most popular sidearm in human history, and is practically ubiquitous on the frontiers of human space. In addition to being cheap to manufacture, fairly reliable and easy to repair, the NZ-83 comes with a hip-holster that features a dynamic capture device that converts the kinetic motion of walking into electrical power to recharge the pistol, giving it essentially unlimited ammunition. NZ83 LasGun: RKA 1d6+1, Required Hands One-Hand (+0); OAF (-1), Beam (-1/4), Real Weapon (-1/4), STR Minimum 3 (STR Min. Cannot Add/Subtract Damage; -3/4), plus Endurance Reserve (20 END, 5 REC); OAF (-1) This next weapon was inspired by the story about the Swedish plan to launch a satellite-capturing satellite in the Space News thread. #39) Electroplastic Mesh Grenade The EPM Grenade consists of hundreds of thin plastic ribbons, each about one inch across, connected to a powerful battery and packed into a small silver sphere. Each ribbon is lined with a thin electrical conduit; when a current is applied the ribbons either straighten out or curl intensely tight. When the grenade is thrown the ribbons are activated, wrapping themselves around the victim and cutting off movement. Once snared, the thin plastic strips offer no protection against attacks made against the snared creature. Electroplastic Mesh Grenade: Entangle 3d6, 3 DEF, Entangle And Character Both Take Damage (+¼), Area Of Effect (One Hex; +½) (52 Active Points); 3 Charges which Never Recover (-3 ¼), OAF (-1), STR Minimum 13 (STR Min. Cannot Add/Subtract Damage; -1), Cannot Form Barriers (-¼), Range Based On Strength (-¼), Real Weapon (-¼) This weapon was created for alien security guards, to give them something that felt very different than human weapons: #40) Yun Corporation Power Staff Developed by the Yun Corporation for their guards, the Power Staff uses vortex technology to fire a ring of superheated gas (plasma) at a target. In addition to the scalding heat of the plasma, the ring carries significant kinetic force and can easily knock a man off his feet. Yun Co. Power Staff: Multipower, 30-point reserve; all slots OAF (-1), STR Minimum 13 (-1/2), Real Weapon (-1/4) ($130, 1.25kg) u 1) Plasma Ring: RKA 1d6+1, Does x1 1/2 Knockback (+1/2); OAF (-1), 6 Charges (-3/4), Cannot Use Targeting (-1/2), STR Minimum 13 (-1/2), Real Weapon (-1/4) u 2) Staff: Hand-To-Hand Attack +2 1/2d6; OAF (-1), Hand-To-Hand Attack (-1/2), STR Minimum 13 (-1/2), Real Weapon (-1/4)

Re: How To Run Interesting Starship Battles 2D -- trying to manage a 3D battle just seems like it would be a needless hassle.

Re: How To Run Interesting Starship Battles I think of it more as Hobby Synergy.

Re: How To Run Interesting Starship Battles

Re: How To Run Interesting Starship Battles It's not the complexity that is an issue (I wouldn't play HERO if complex rules were something I found objectionable!), it's the wealth of options the book gives. Star HERO doesn't present a set of rules for starship combats, it presents a wide array of different optional rules that work towards different objectives, and I'm not sure how to pick the best options. I was hoping to get feedback on people's actual play results of the different options, but it sounds like most people either don't deal with starship combat or use a different rules system.