Sire_Cedric

Re: Star Frontiers (I know, this tread is ancient, but I resurrect it nonetheless.) Thanks for bringing back all of those old files, they're very helpful to me. Out of nostalgia I started a STAR FRONTIERS session with some players who have never heard of it. But after 2 game sessions I simply couldn't relate to that old game system so I decided to keep the setting and replace the game system with STAR HERO. What I want to do is to update the setting (what little there is) and greatly expand it to a more modern feel (some stuff in SF is really outdated, especially the bit about computers). It will be mostly hard sf with some touches of opera thrown in. Did anyone else took STAR FRONTIERS under his wing and maybe gave it a new lift-off with HERO?

Re: HCPD - The 13th District (Campaign Idea) Yeah, that is a very cool idea, Steve! I am just starting a Dark Champions campaign with players used to "horror" or "weird" settings and I explicitly stressed that this was no such setting but a modern action-adventure/techno-thriller mix. So I might just drop in "Precinct 13" as a way to surprise them if the campaign goes stale. That is the nice thing about it--D13 was there all the time but the player characters really didn't notice... In any case: did you envision D13 to be a real, actual location - like a secret police station somewhere? Or was it more a "virtual" district with D13 officers working "undercover" in the normal, mundane police precincts until that "special call" comes in? I would opt for the second variation. Since you've read Delta Green (what a GREAT sourcebook!) you might be familiar with that Jean Qualls character? Now, wouldn't that be a cool idea for an "unusual" D13 character? If you're into that DG background I would strongly recommend the Delta Green novels (from the same authors) since they develop the characters much deeper and have some really weird and horrifying storylines. Edit: forgot to mention the tv-series of MILLENIUM which also featured the notion of a rising tide of darkness (approaching the biblical apocalypse around the year 2000). Starting out as a "hell-ride into the evilness of the human psyche", in later episodes the supernatural content of the show rises significantly. Although a bit too brooding and "non-weird" for the proposed D13-campaign it is IMHO nonetheless well worth watching, if only for that great Frank Black character portrayed by Lance Henriksen. This is a really in-depth hero character with a sorta "supernatural gift" (clairvoyance/retrocognition) that urges him to constantly walk that fine line between salvation and the lurking abyss that threatens to consume him. LOVED it.

Re: Fast combat? Well, if all the good points that the forum users did make still don't work out for you (which I doubt, really) then there is always the option of going for FENG SHUI, a Hong-Kong-Action-Move RPG with a very, very, VERY cinematic combat system that expects you to do WAY COOL stunts all the time! You might like it... and the setting background is rather cool, too. Me, I am just starting a Dark Champions campaign and speeding up combat is also an issue for me. The players are all unfamiliar with the system and character creation already proved to be rather mind boggling for them. But we're getting ahead. So, in order to not completey lose them I will try to speed up combat which IMHO is (or rather: can be) a time consuming process in the HERO system. But all the useful hints how to go about speeding it up have already been given here, so I have nothing new to add. In the end it all depends on how you want combat to "feel" for your game and then to keep it consistent. If you're going for the "kick in the door with both guns blazing" approach, be sure to not expect your players to be overtly cautious when it comes to confrontations. On the other hand, if you want to teach them that it's a deadly, unforgiving world out there, don't do away with all the combat minutae - use bleeding rules and hit locations to full effect. Luckily, HERO supports both styles and everything in between.

Re: My Cool Color Hudson City Map Okay, so I will chime in: I'd LOOOOOOVE to see a full-color map of HC, too. Just firing up a Dark Champions Campaign in HC and I have to say that this is maybe the damn best modern city sourcebook I have ever read. I will use HC as a major setting for another small side campaign called "Heroes of the HCPD" which will feature close to "normal" characters from law enforcement or affiliates, following along the lines of current "realistic" cop tv-shows (like CSI) or movies like HEAT, COPLAND or NARC.