runescience

Re: Players wish to emulate dnd's sense motive. I think netzilla nailed it there. It has to fall into a set of complimentary skills. Im going to pass these forum thread onto my players to read.

Re: Players wish to emulate dnd's sense motive. hum. Analyze motive? I dont think spending more points on yet another skill solves the problem. I also dont think I need to by yet ANOTher hero book just for the sake of fixing an existing problem in the game system. I think KS:hrike has the right Idea. Everyone should be able to identify a liar. Maybe a combination of 2 ideas. I think the Int roll might be a better Idea. Int roll with ego as a cascading skill or conversation as a cascading skill. Perception is literally for senses. I dont believe this would do well for as a power for the average bloke. Also, I agree with others above that every man should have it, as well as bluff, which brings me to the next point. How do you bluff?

Players wish to emulate dnd's sense motive. One of my players is a Paladin, the Other is a smoothie of sorts. Both want to use a skill like sense motive. It seems there is a wealth of skills already in place. The paladin has: oratory, persuation, conversation, and seduction. I dont want to make it an Analyze skill. That forces the player to spend more. What do I do for sense motive/detect lies?

Re: Mounted Combat, and a Question of Historical Accuracy These stunts are all great Ideas, but they are very hard to do with out spending a ton of points in 5th edition. I anxiously await the responses to the questions posted above.

Re: Any Advantages to mounted combat in FH vs DND 3.5 wow... your horse girl must be close to 300 pts. i didnt count just glanced. You start campaigns with 75/75? Well I like you simplification of the riding rules. I also cracked open my old hero FH edition circa 1990 and found the text below. I think hero should have stuck with it. the new stuff is rediculously complicated. I will pass your suggestion on to my mates playing. Cheers. --------------------- Controlling a trained warhorse is .... The rider may move and attack with full OCV in combat without a Riding Roll. If he wants the horse to attack as well, he must make a Riding roll. If the character makes the roll, he spends a half Phase controlling the horse, and may spend the other half Phase making his own attack. The horse may half move and attack with hooves or bite, or can make a full move and run its target down with a Move By or Move Through. The Lance is a particularly effective ..... A character may do a Move By or a Move Through and use the velocity of the mount to add to the damage of a Lance attack. Characters making such a lance attack should be wary of enemies who are “Set vs. Charge” — ... wall of pikes. An attack by a mounted warrior is a fearsome sight, and worth a bonus to the PRE of the attacker. Add +2d6 if the rider is attacking normally, and +4d6 if he is charging with Lance (unless the defender is Set vs. Charge).

Re: What kind of fantasy campaigns do you love? I like a game run like heroic fiction. Style:The game starts light, then the characters hit a point of no return. A game where there are multiple plot conflicts per session/situation. I like a game run with a week to week episodic feel, and an over all story arc, like in a good Television show. Then as we advance in story line I like mid power. I like it the game a bit gritty. I like the players to stay in character, and act HEROICALLY aka High road role playing. You can have highroad style game and gritty, if you have balence. Grittiness makes the players look even more heroic when they do something GOOD. We enough @#$&% heads in our real lives. I like to see things in black & white for the sake of saving the world. Earth like definitely. Is that too much to ask for??? Apparently so. I haven't had a good GM/DM in about 15 years. Players think they are having a good time if they torture a prisoner. Last game I ran, Heralds from opposing sides met to discuss rules of engagement. The road back and forth twice. The last time the opposing herald road to drop a red kerchief on the field... and the players shot him in the back when he turned around. I have a good dm now, only problem is that he runs DND. Cant have everything.

Ive looked over the rules, which are fairly complex. They are scaring my newbie hero players away. One player looked at the rules, he is a cavalier/paladin type. He said: "I see no advantage what so ever using these mounted combat rules" Unfortunately I cant disagree with him. Can some one throw me a line and give me some thing i can tell the player to get him excited about doing mounted combat? dnd 3.5 seems to do a nice job of it. I found this posted elsewhere in the forum: Originally Posted by prestidigitator. I posted this here so that other people dont have to fish around for it and use it in their responses. ----- ----- ---- Okay. Given Steve's answer, here is my understanding of the complex part (what kind of actions the rider and mount can take; I haven't updated the pseudo-code): Originally Posted by prestidigitator Okay. Given Steve's answer, here is my understanding of the complex part (what kind of actions the rider and mount can take; I haven't updated the pseudo-code): * Untrained Mount: 1. The rider must take a Half-Phase and roll to control the mount (if not, it either throws him or flees and his Phase is over; this is arbitrated with another Riding roll). 2. If he successfully controls it, the mount may not attack but may otherwise perform a Full Phase worth of actions. 3. The rider can do whatever with his other Half-Phase. * Trained Mount: 1. If the mount does nothing, the rider may take a normal Full Phase (but obviously cannot move and stay mounted at the same time). Otherwise: 2. The rider must take a Half-Phase to control the mount (no roll required at this point). The mount may take its first Half-Phase. 3. If the rider wishes the mount to take a Full Phase of actions, a riding roll is required. If this involves two actions or a Full Move, the roll is made after the first Half-Phase (or after the first Half-Move). 4. The rider may do as he wishes with his other Half-Phase (but he might be screwed if he was depending on the mount making a Full Move and he failed the roll).

Atir Campaign: Here are the characters for the game Here are the characters for the game

Re: Atir Campaign: News papers published in towns where heroes have passed by all this and the sports and news at 11.

Part 5: Atir Campaign: News papers published in towns where heroes have passed by EXTRA!!! EXTRA!!! Bridgemar’s Soul Wracking Spirit Finally Vanquished! FINALLY! By Max Purpleprose. As sure as the day I was born, I looked that blood sucker one last time in the blackend gloom of the dark and rainy night, and watched the spirit plunder our town no more. The demon ran thru the streets howling carring a small child almost up to the north gates. It was chased by our very own Terianna, and her new passerby boyfriends: Kaiden, Akrev, Karas, and Alaganshi (spelling mosh?). They chased it clear up to the north gate, and hesitated not in slaying the thing. So fierce was the youngsters at dispatching the ‘thing’ that it didn’t have a lick of a chance to escape. Our mayor awarded them with commendations and a prise of 25 silvers. Their deeds are muchly appreciated! Tomarrows forecast: Rain. Next week: late spring rains continue. Hopefully our crops will be good. Till tomar!-- Max

Part 4: Atir Campaign: News papers published in towns where heroes have passed by Bridgemar Daily News Jun 16th/17th... Lead Article: The insidious Baron Arrives! By Max Purpleprose. Late last night in the midst of the seasons most devastating storm, 35 of Baron Hest’s fiercest soldier’s came to the pleasant and quiet shores of Bridgemar and scouted the town for annexing, under the guise of a piece trading mission. At about 7 pm in plain site of our Brave Marshal Dugud, 5 heavily armed battle carts drawn by the Baron’s own elite warhorses. The team of 35 easily made their way through town to Bryce’s tavern where they hunkered down and practically took the tavern and all of its occupants hostage while they took food and ale, and prepared for their arduous journey home. Bryce how ever tells a different story. He tells us that the team came under the guise of trade. He tells us that he complied and waited patiently for them to leave. Apparently from what he tells us is that the Baron is having his annual festivities and was sending out gifts of good will to all towns bordering ‘his’ lands. Bryce failed to convince this author that it was only a simple trading jag. Perhaps Bryce had his own agenda. Maybe he was part of the deed. This is what I thought. So I approached the Mayor on my suspicions. The Mayor Rebuked me and showed me a document of agreement drawn up between himself and the Baron, promising that there would be no attacks on either side. After viewing the document I was fairly convinced that something is afoot. Or maybe not. In any case Bryce made out well. It irks me. Know what I mean? This report will continue looking into events as they unfold. = = = = = = = = = (player written summary) Summary, Atir Campaign, 2007.10.08 Before I forget, here is what I saw in the story last night. Unfortunately, I did not get everyone's names. Hopefully all is understandable: We are in Bridgemar, in the Inn owned by Bryce and Carol, and their daughter, Tariana. Carol tells us of the flayed man who walks the streets. "About three months ago, a relic hunter told us about a relic of the Sophian eras. A troop of Sylvan Archers had used this relic against an enemy and defeated them as the result. They then bound the relic to the earth to avoid it being used again. The relic hunter went to look for it. That night, we found the relic hunter's flayed corpse hung in the basement, and his bloody footprints." The relic was never found. While we were interviewing Terrianna, the mayor's crier told us that Baron Hest was on his way with thirty men. At this point, Tariana left off after telling us that the flayed man walked the streets every time it rained. We decided that we should leave Bridgemar, that we had a higher purpose elsewhere. We were to leave to the south, the use the barge to get to Jontil. At the South gate of the city, the Marshall would not let us leave until we showed him our diplomatic papers. In the rain, we found a large one eyed war hound drowning. John Hughes telekinesis to pull it out of the river. It had a brand the letter "H". A barge unloaded three carts. We went back home. At this point a falcon landed on Eric. We arrived at town. The Marshall let us in. We decided to get rid of the bloody walking man for the 25 silver pieces the Marshall offered us as a reward. However, the stable boy told us that Baron Hess's men were staying at the tavern, and that a man who matched the description of one of the Grey brothers was with them! Now it appears that that scoundrel Hess is in cahoots with the Grey Brothers! The stable boy also told us that the bloody man would not show up until midnight. With a few hours to kill (literally), we decided to try to take out the Grey brother. We tried to poison the men staying in the tavern. But the front door was barred, and there was a war hound at the back door. John used a spell to get around the war hound, then used his presence to convince Tariana into letting him poison the stew. She must have lost her nerve after, though, because soon the soup was spilled! At midnight, we went after the bloody man at the north gate. We found him. However, when we tried to attack him, nothing touched him. It was as if he could not see us! He finally made his way to the tavern, where we saw the gruesome scene of the man hanging his own flayed body on a hook! With nothing else to do, we decided to bed down for the night. Just as we were all in bed (if not asleep!), the rain blew the door in. Mickey went downstairs and had an odd exchange with the spirit form of the one eyed dog. He spoke of "The Secret of Melanda", and how we were off course. At midnight, a tremendous thunderclap roused us all from slumber. We all searched the house for Tariana and Kayden, but to no avail. In Tariana's room, we found two half full glasses of wine, two impressions on the bed, the jewelry box empty, and a piece of her garment torn on the window sill. We then heard the scream, "DEMON!". We tracked Terrianna. We found a female demon wearing an evil looking necklace with hooks. We believe she may have been the annihilator of which we had heard in the relic story. Jordi struck her with his sword, and she went down. We took the necklace from her, and John broke it with a holy dagger. The demon started to become Tariana again. Beneath her we saw a large circular stone. We lifted this and found a pearl. There was runic writing that Kayden was able to read, telling us of the evil within this pearl. Terrianna tells us that she fell in love with the relic hunter. They found the artifact together—when she put on the necklace, it made her believe that the relic hunter was her enemy, and she killed him. At this point, the haunt of the flayed man was released.

Part 3: Atir Campaign: News papers published in towns where heroes have passed by Redbank Daily News Jun 13th/14th... Lead Article: Redbank Is spared! And the number of possible survivors grows in GREENDEL! Its seems that the incidents of looting pillaging and Razing was an isolated incident in the annals of current times. Isolated by not fought idly. No no indeed not. As one would expect, the last man standing was Captain Henning filled the shoes of the greatest heroes in the north west corridor. But he was in good company. It seems that other homes in the town of Greendel were ripe with heroes. Henning was also joined by: +Late Nobility of the house of the Sword Dancers in the service of the the council of Atir; +Late Nobility of the house of the Cabadons in the service of the the council of Atir; +Late Nobility of the house of the Sylvan Archers in the service of the the council of Atir; +Late Nobility of the house of the Sons of Julian in the service of the the council of Atir; +Late Nobility of the house of the Aresin in the service of the the council of Atir; And the survivors? It has not been precipitously established that the actually are survivors. However, It has been observed that the off spring of this newly exposed crop of nobility have either been killed and their bodies buried; or hurried off to the slavers market; or have miraculously escaped the foul deed of the razing! Last night, a dispatch was sent in to our capital city of atir in the hands of a very capable visiting Noble of the House of Warlords. Parting words will be offered by our Mayor of Red Bank in honor of our Sister town of Greendel. A wake will follow sponsored by merchants and benefactors of Redbank. Rest peacefully friend Greendel! you will be sorely missed. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Player written run report Sun Oct 7, 2007 Encountered an overturned cart that had a injured person. Name of Ramady of Beltain, and he was a Warlord Heir hero of some fame. he was a member of Atir's special forces. Crouton recognized name and bearing. Was on way to Atir with Diplomatic pouch for a person named Grenna. He was injured and we decided to take him to Longdale with us. Longdale was filled with baron hess soldiers, and the group decided to bypass the town and head to Bridgemar, a nearby town on the other side of the river. group felt that it was too risky to scout town, since we might be wanted people and we did not have the power to fight all the troops. There was a healer in bridgemar, and Ramady desperately needed a healer as his illness was one we could not cure. Forded river and met up with some bandits posing as LongRangers of Atir. Exchanged some pleasantries and saw through the deception. Koras's first shot killed bandit one, and the rest of the group captured bandit #2 for further interrogation. Ramady getting worse. made to bridgemar, but was attacked by shadow monster on way to town. it killed Ramady and the bandit prisoner. They died from being deformed by the monster's touch. Town has protection runes on gate, so shadow did not follow us into town. Lother cremated Ramady for transport back to Atir, as well as assumed responsibility for deliverance of diplomatic material to Grenna of Atir. Meanwhile, group went to inn, Koras and Jordi tried to hit on daughter and mother (both hotties). R-Rated at this point. Found out that a murder had taken place in the inn, skinless corpse of traveller impale on meat hook in basement, which was subsequently cremated. Lothar determined that this was both a murder and haunting. possibility of shadow monster being spirit of corpse. game ended.

Part 2: Atir Campaign: News papers published in towns where heroes have passed by (Written by one of the players...) This is a quick game summary of the important events from the first game. They are not extensive, since I did not anticipate doing this. Those present: Koras - Josh Jordi - Tim Akrev - Cooper Garland - Moshe Lothar - Me The group returned to town, after coming up short with the grey brothers. Greendale had been raped, pillaged, plundered, and torched. The only one left standing was the Captain of the Guard, captain Henning. It was decided that we would all check on our parents, to see of they escaped the destruction. Koras's house was first, but both parents had perished rather violently. A secret basement had been discovered that contained important information. Koras's dad was part of the Atir Council. Koras acquired some possessions, including a medallion indicating Council status. Lothar's was next, and his parents were not spared either, dad being kabob'd on the cellar steps, which Lothar had never been to. Lothar also found information that his dad was a mage and voice on the council of Atir. He grabbed some personal items and left, including a medallion indication council status. Jordi's house was next and parents were also not in the realm of the living. Dad had put up a good fight, but was found in bedroom dead. Jordi was balling like a baby, but we pressed on. He also found information about him being a prince of his clan. Dad was also on the council. Jordi also grabbed some things and we left. Garland's parent survived by hiding in a nearby cave, the gutless cowards. JG was waiting in the village for us when we got back. He was given information that we needed to head to Atir, and present ourselves to the council, especially a Judge Timeal. Akrev's parents also died, but role-playing got out of hand here and i do not know particulars. Short version is Akrev grabbed some possessions and also found out dad was council member. He also got a medallion. The Cabadon was off picking daisies, so I cannot comment on what he was doing. Bomshell was Capt Hess was commander of Atir's armies and was sent to protect us. Our parents were "back-up" in case something happened to Atir council. He had been watching and guiding us. he suggested we go to Atir by was of the river and sent us off to Longdale to catch boat to Jontil. A few days past, encountered a boar. First combat to familarize with combat rules. Akrev demonstrated a martial arts technique called "skewered by boar", but we killed it. Game ended. Loot - everyone got some items relavent to their character - 18 sp (added to 108 sp from 1st game) - looted herb shop (lothar gathered everything in herb shop while Koras was in celler) John ==================================================== Redbank Daily News Jun 12... Lead Article: Is Redbank Next? If ye haven't heard by now, our sister town of Greendel is now gone. At last count there was one survivor of the catastrophe. Just one. Captain Denning survives his wife, and 130 others in the small hamlet of Greendel. At first sign Redbank Mayor Duffle send out the bucket brigade and massive pump handle to Greendel, but upon their arrival most of the buildings had been raised. To wit, no buildings remained above the window sill level. Some massive battle was staged there. No one but Captain Denning saw the assailants, and he took on as many of them as he could. In the battle of Greendel square he counted a dozen and a half at the peek of the battle. Many of the militia did what they could. He told he over heard 2 of the mercenaries discussing a meeting point across the river somewhere. Unfortunately they engaged him before he could hear the rest of their plans. Surely times are darkening with the upcoming of Baron Hest and his horde of mauraders, on top of these unfortunate tidings. Will Atir send reinforcements? We shall see. In the mean time Mayor Duffle is speaking to the Dwarven Representative in the mining sector to ask for some help in fending off future waves. The death toll as follows: 3 dozen swords for hire, 153 men women and children. Secondary article: Spring wheat and barley prices fatten as less than expected rainfall causes a harvest shortage. More signs of things to come? Another article Will-o-whisps spotted between here and Longdale. Local seer informs us of a bountiful summer crop of fruit. Another article: Neuran Lederman found murdered in Redbank. Investigation to follow.

Dear Reader: I am going to set this up in a few parts. First the campaign notes and intro. Then the run reports generated by players and also some good old fashion jellied journalism care of the local npcs. Campaign notes and intro: Atir Campaign: http://runescience.googlepages.com/NewIndex.html To begin its going to be 50 point heroes. There can only be one martial artist, and one mage. Both of those are very rare. All humans. Possibly one exception. There are a few heritage groups: Sworddancers( think scottish highlanders) , warlords, Zercus Oolai, Sylvan Archers, Chardatian lancers, cabadon(paladin like)... more in the notes on the web pages Each player must pick one a heritage group. The game requires the minimum arch types: A mage requires a specific elemental school to begin with. Might be able to do some healing A ranger type (rangers do have sneak skills this is good) Sworddancers( think scottish highlanders) , warlords(heavy footmen), Zercus Oolai(bushmen-guerilla warriors), Sylvan Archers, Chardatian lancers medium and heavy mounted, good archers too) A fighter type (cabadons, warlords, sworddancers, Syvaln archers, chardatian lancers) A martial artist/healer/ herbalist (aresin) can learn spirit contact like shamanism. First Game intro: We will make characters as people show up. You are playing low level characters for up to the 3 games. The goal for first scencario will only be complete understood by somewhere towards end of the first session. It sounds vague but there it is. Background: 120 years after the fall of the Mesophian empire. Everything is wonderful. All of the players are considered best friends. Each of you takes an apprenticeship from your parents of from some one in town. It is now the late spring. A year ago this summer you all celebrated your test for rites of passage and are considered adults. For the last year you have been active in the militia, in your town of Greendel, learning combat training from Captain Henning and his wife Anastasia Henning. There are both retired palace guards, from the castle at the capital city. He was the captain of the guard. Each of you should take a weapon. That is your favorite weapon and have good skill with it. Everyone including the future mage. Your parents specialists in their fields. You may apprentice to them or apprentice to some one else in a field of specialty you would like to learn. The game begins with all characters converging at one of the characters homes for a hearty brunch of pancakes, summer fruit, yogurt, eggs etc. On the way over one of the players discovers something and shares it with the group. That player and i will will do this in front of the group. Should be fun. Npcs In Greendel aka Shadowcove +Mayor Guildo. +Skipper Harry the ferryman to the otherside of the river. +Mistress tava, the local mage/alchemist. +Mr Tilde, general store owner and postermaster. +The Hennings. +Cally, a peer, a gal whos dad owns the tavern in redbank. +Sheriff Campbel +Crouton Harmony. peer. rediculously smart. Knows some Runescience, and hedge magic. Fantastic in History, tactics. + Baron Hest: he is a larger than life figure in these parts. He has about 200 followers. Horse based hordesmen. Dangerous group. Baron Hest is trying to get local towns and provinces to support his bid to get rid of the city council and restore the monarchy. The monarchy WAS the Mesophians. But now he believes that the he should be the monarchy, to keep things moving into the future. He believes that the lands are stagnating and turning back to the old ways of wives tales etc. He wants to expand the borders well up into the Northtow mountains east past the forest into F'white (matriarchal kingdom) and well past the archpelago to the west. He frightens most people. They tell their children to behave or the Baron Will come and Get them! Please add to the list of npcs in town, or others that you might know. This is a group effort, that I hope will get very big. More info: Greendel is at the fork of a river. One fork goes east into the Northtow mountains, and the west fork goes north west into the ogre (forrest) lands. The river goes south for a few days and ends up in Jontil bay. Along the river, near greendel live the craftsmen who arent involved in mining and farming trades. You live in a farming community about about 200 men wim, and kiddles. It has a tavern, a general store, dry goods, a mayors office. Sheriffs office. Down the road from Greendel a half mile mile and cross the river is Red bank, a mining town. The mine has 300 or so miners in it. Also its a full trade town. Its sort of like a small western style town. 1 saloon, 1 tavern. Very good crafts men. This is one of the last public bastions for the dwarven tradesmen this far south in the mountains. Greendel has a scribe. Redbank has 2 engineer, 2 Mechanics, 3 smelters, you may need to go to a city like Jontil, or Silverland, or Atir to find a watchmaker. Having said that, a player could learn thievery skills. There is a merchant that lives about a mile north of Greendel who relies heavily on his trading skills with the north and south to hide his true intent. He is getting older. Your characters are assumed to be about and are apprenticing in town. When you hit the epoch time bump after a few games you will be around 19. You can choose to live with or away from your families. =============================================

Re: Magic of Melanda: Rune Science try rehosting on google pages. you get no subdirectories but well thats what you get for free space.

Re: Magic of Melanda: Rune Science Thanks. I put suggestion in the rules page. I might put a base cost on it, and levels on like the way defensive maneuvers goes up in levels. I guess I will also have to put a skill roll on it also. It should look something like this: Runescience I, II, III. Gives base roll of 11. lvl 1 gives 2 verbs, 4 nouns and transitory words. Cost? >= 10? lvl II raises it to 4 verbs, 8 nouns and transitory words. Cost? lvl III raises it to 8 verbs, 16 nouns and transitory words. Cost? Uncontrolled. Requires scribing. Requires material. Requires situational. Cant be done in Combat. Triggered? Side Effects? How specific are the runes? (Find human as opposed to find Fred Merriweather? Find human scribed on fred merriweathers shirt?) Requires skill roll. Skill roll modified by time, materials, situational. Concentration. Noun Verb combos have to make sense as 2 - 4 word commands. This is good because Spirit Contact in Melanda also requires Rune Science as a base. And I can do Spirit Contact the same way, sort of. Feed back?

There is a d20 game published around 1982 called Melanda. This game was developed out of group of players in Newark, Delaware. The idea of this world is that magic is common to the average person in small amounts. This amounted to rune magic. Its a noun/verb system. Now I found the improvised magic for FH recently. It was penned back in the mid to late 90's. It is almost what I am looking for, but I wanted it to be a bit more generic. In my game there is a very very small number of "book" (standard fantasy) mages around, using a vpp, high end cost, verbal somatic the whole 9 yards. They are quite powerful. Now I want to add Rune Science to my game. The original rules for it can be found at: http://runescience.googlepages.com/NewIndex.html Just click the Runes & Rune Science link in the left frame. If you read it you can get a good idea of what it does. I need help porting it over. Suggestions?

Re: Deathstalker novels for Pulp Sci-Fi Deathstaker, one rollicking ride! Some things to think about when building the game and components: -previously mentioned recharge time. -slugthrowers dont exist in the books. SPOILER: (XXXXXX until the technology is resurrected in one of the first couple of books ) -combat is done with swords, personal energy sheilds. I think they were considered dishonorable. - 1 (or 2 man) gravsleds/chariots(?), reminescent of Laserbolt and Light miniatures. -a hand gun/blaster that throws a massive blaster that can take out 4 or 5 people at a time. -royal houses -rome in decay: excess/debauchery -espers. elven?? battle elves or something?? no kiddin! -battle enhancer drugs -cyberspace -clones -cybermen(?): big ugly man machine hulkswho consider themselves better than men, who have extincted themselves (i think its been a while). One can take out many (,many,many) marines. -one (or several) last resort mega npc's who can save or destroy the known universe with a magificient gadget.

Ive decided on displacement drives for the mode of system to system movement, mostly because i was brought up on traveler. Im going to use some of the prebuilt ships in the herogames terran empires book. What do you do for in-system ships tugs and shuttles with star hero? How long should it take to go one au? and with what technology. Any one have any sample ships for me?

Re: Restarting FH after 10+ years:getting my grove back Orken Player: Orken Val Char Cost 20 STR 10 13 DEX 9 13 CON 6 13 BODY 6 8 INT -2 8 EGO -4 10 PRE 0 8 COM -1 4/10 PD 0 5/11 ED 2 3 SPD 7 7 REC 0 26 END 0 30 STUN 0 10" RUN82" SWIM04" LEAP0Characteristics Cost: 41 Cost Power END Options 8 1) Claws: HKA 1/2d6 (1d6+1 w/STR) (10 Active Points); Reduced Penetration (-1/4) 1 10 2) Fangs: HKA 1/2d6 (1d6+1 w/STR) 1 3 3) Weapon Focus: +1 with one weapon type [Notes: choose type when picking this feat (i.e. swords, axes, etc)] 6 4) Weapon Specialization: +2 with one weapon (10 Active Points); Only for DC (+1 DC; -1/2), Requires Weapon Focus with weapon (-1/4) [Notes: choose weapon type when feat is chosen] Powers Cost: 27 Cost Skill 3 Stealth 12- 4 WF: Common Melee Weapons, Common Missile Weapons 6 Penalty Skill Levels 6- 3 Riding 12- 2 Survival (choose one category) (Temperate/Subtropical) 11- 3 Breakfall 12- Skills Cost: 21 Cost Equipment END $75 Cuir-Bouilli: Armor (3 PD/3 ED) (9 Active Points); Independent (-2), OIF Durable (-1/2), Real Armor (-1/4) 0 $10 Arrows, Armor Piercing (10) [Notes: Body 1_Def 1] 0 Axe, Francisca: Killing Attack - Hand-To-Hand 1 1/2d6 (2d6 w/STR), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Ranged (+1/2) (50 Active Points); OAF (-1), STR Minimum 12 (-1/2), Real Weapon (-1/4) [Notes: Can Be Thrown] 0 $25 Longbow, Medium: (Total: 34 Active Cost, 8 Real Cost) RKA 1 1/2d6, 10 Recoverable Charges (+1/4) (31 Active Points); OAF (-1), STR Minimum 12 (STR Min. Cannot Add/Subtract Damage; -1), Required Hands Two-Handed (-1/2), Concentration (1/2 DCV; -1/4), Real Weapon (-1/4), Beam (-1/4), no horse (-1/4) (Real Cost: 7) plus Penalty Skill Levels: +1 vs. Range Modifier with All Attacks (3 Active Points); OAF (-1), Required Hands Two-Handed (-1/2) (Real Cost: 1) [Notes: Body 3 Def 3_Range 170"] [10 rc] $8 Cape, Light [Notes: Body 1_Def 1] 0 Full Helm, Animal Hide, Boiled Leather, or Reinforced Soft Leather: (Total: 9 Active Cost, 2 Real Cost) Armor (3 PD/3 ED); Normal Mass (-1), Location 3 - 5 Very Limited Type of Attack (-1), OIF (-1/2), Real Armor (-1/4) (Real Cost: 2) [Notes: Loc. 3-5] 0 $1 Liquor - (1 drink) Poor Quality 0 $5 Backpack [Notes: Body 3_Def 2] 0 $40 Warhorse, Light [Notes: Body 16_Def 1; Bestiary page 169] 0 Equipment costs shown above are for reference only, and are not included in Total Cost. Total Character Cost: 89 Base Points: 50 Experience Required: 39 Total Experience Available: 0 Experience Unspent: 0

Re: Restarting FH after 10+ years:getting my grove backTowniesPlayer: Townies Val Char Cost 13 STR 3 12 DEX 6 18 CON 16 12 BODY 4 13 INT 3 10 EGO 0 10 PRE 0 10 COM 0 4/6 PD 1 5/7 ED 1 2 SPD 0 7 REC 0 36 END 0 28 STUN 0 6" RUN02" SWIM02 1/2" LEAP0Characteristics Cost: 34Cost Power END 6 Alertness: +2 PER with all Sense Groups 0 3 Dodge: +1 with DCV (5 Active Points); Only vs One Designated Opponent (-1/2) 3 Snake Blood: Life Support (Immunity Ophidotoxins) 0 3 Weapon Focus: +1 with one weapon type [Notes: choose type when picking this feat (i.e. swords, axes, etc)] Powers Cost: 15Cost Skill 6 +2 with Bows and Crossbows 8 Penalty Skill Levels: +4 vs. Range Modifier with Bows and Crossbows 4 WF: Common Melee Weapons, Common Missile Weapons 3 Climbing 11- 5 Rapid Attack (Ranged) Skills Cost: 26Cost Equipment END $8 Buckler, Wooden: (Total: 13 Active Cost, 4 Real Cost) HA +1d6, (0 END; +1/2); OAF (-1), Hand-To-Hand Attack (-1/2), -OCV per DCV protection, (-1/2), Real Weapon (-1/4), STR Minimum 3 (-1/4) (Real Cost: 2) plus +1 with DCV (6 Active Points); OAF (-1), Normal Mass (-1), Real Armor (-1/4) (Real Cost: 2) [Notes: Body 2__Def 3] 0 $20 Heavy Cloth (1 PD/1 ED) [Notes: Body 3] 0 Helm, Heavy Cloth or Soft Leather: (Total: 3 Active Cost, 1 Real Cost) Armor (1 PD/1 ED); Normal Mass (-1), Location 4 - 5 Very Limited Type of Attack (-1), OIF (-1/2), Real Armor (-1/4) (Real Cost: 1) [Notes: Loc. 4,5,] 0 Sword, Short: Killing Attack - Hand-To-Hand 1d6, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2) (22 Active Points); OAF (-1), STR Minimum 10 (-1/2), Real Weapon (-1/4) 0 $20 Longbow, Light: (Total: 28 Active Cost, 6 Real Cost) RKA 1d6+1, 10 Recoverable Charges (+1/4) (25 Active Points); OAF (-1), STR Minimum 10 (STR Min. Cannot Add/Subtract Damage; -1), Required Hands Two-Handed (-1/2), Concentration (1/2 DCV; -1/4), Real Weapon (-1/4), Beam (-1/4), no horse (-1/4) (Real Cost: 5) plus Penalty Skill Levels: +1 vs. Range Modifier with All Attacks (3 Active Points); OAF (-1), Required Hands Two-Handed (-1/2) (Real Cost: 1) [Notes: Body 3 Def 3_Range 140"] [10 rc] $7 Throwing Knife: RKA 1d6 (15 Active Points); STR Minimum 7 (STR Min. Cannot Add/Subtract Damage; -1), OAF (-1), 4 Recoverable Charges (-1/2), Real Weapon (-1/4), Range Based On STR (-1/4), Beam (-1/4) [Notes: Body 2 Def 5] [4 rc] Javelin: Killing Attack - Hand-To-Hand 1d6+1, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Ranged (+1/2) (40 Active Points); OAF (-1), STR Minimum 8 (-1/2), Real Weapon (-1/4) [Notes: Can Be Thrown] 0 Equipment costs shown above are for reference only, and are not included in Total Cost.Base Points: 25Experience Required: 50Total Experience Available: 0Experience Unspent: 0Total Character Cost: 75 Height: 2.00 m Hair: Brown Weight: 100.00 kg Eyes: Brown Appearance: a bit rugged in appearance. Soft worn leather body cover, and a stiff leather helm. Tavern dwellers, Unkempt, and fearlessPersonality: They protect the antagonist who runs the town. They are a notch above militia and a dip below bandits. They are trained body guards. Quote:Background: These are the townies of Wine CovePowers/Tactics: They stay in near by buildings or at long range and pepper their enemies with arrows. They will leave their bows behind and engage with spear and shield or short sword and sheildCampaign Use:

Re: Restarting FH after 10+ years:getting my grove back One of my biggest questions was how to keep the game balenced. I wanted to see what other people are doing with the game enemies, and antagonists. I read up on your magic suggestion. I liked it. Speaking of antagonists, I made up some npcs for the next adventure.. SPOILERRRRRR If you are in my game please dont read this

Re: blowing out damage... oy! some minor designer q's What do you do to keep the encounters from becoming weapons damage races?

Hi gang. I finally found a group that was tired of d20(modern, and 3.5) and was willing to humor me on my decade old facination with Hero games. I ran FH1 for about 3 years. from late 80's to early 90's. I really enjoyed it. There was a theif, a ranger, a mage and martial artist. We started with fairly low characters (90 pts) and over the years we built them up to 200+pts. FH was simpler. Those were glorious days Now I have FH for 5th edition. I waivered around going back to 4th edition, but then I saw some of the neat talents in 5th edition. I commited to 5th edition. Recently I started a dnd edition 3.5 game, in a home brew world. After the characters were made, they approved my transition to FH. Boy was I happy. I felt like I've finally found my way back home. The setting I chose was my Iron Swords world, which i tried running back in '98 as a pbem. I had the honor of Robert Bose as a pbem player. Unfortunately Got busy and crashed it.. You know how that goes. By the way thanks to Robert for his turn submissions, I really enjoyed them very much. Im my new game I have a mage, a pitfighter (that guy with deadly blow), a dragonnewt(very LOOSE adaptation from runequest), and a thief. Here is a link to my old messy web page. On the lower left you will see a link entitled: Ironswords(ISE)Campaign at http://mywebpages.comcast.net/stryt...sFrameTest.html and ignore the references to Gurps. I had no gurps character submissions. Specials, gimmes and handouts ========================= I chose the heroic 150 character limit. It was close but didnt quite stick. The characters ended up costing more than I planned. I just made them as close as I could. The pit fighter 'Roi' Mage player: This player wanted to run an ice mage. I told him he could pay me 40pts for a 25 point VPP (loosely calculated). I told him the active points for each spell could be around 40 pts. I handed him the old FH companion I and II and told him to go through those spells for a list of 15 spells, and from those he could use 25 points of spells per day. He could use a magic roll to switch around the spells if he wanted. Dragonnewt player: The dragonnewt character I gave a freebie to: a medalion that would let him keep up the illusion of being human. Except when he gets into combat, then his illusion would shut down and his enemy would see him for his true form. His character would be a spiritual leader when he was not knocking the stuffing out of them baddies It also gave me a chance to give healing spells to the crew. Thief player: This guy wanted to play a theif martial artist. I don't know why but I have always favored players that want to play martial artists... its a quirk. Hands down best fighter around: This player wanted to be play a character like the masked gladiator from the simon green death stalker books. Nice touch. I gave him combat luck, deadly blow. He asked for some other abilities. His character is a work in progress. I run a lot of mystery, detective work, and action in my games. I try to make magic as mysterious and scarey as possible. My magic as I try to remember it from 12 years ago was not fire and forget magic. I did the VPP thing. I am a bit confused now, because I recently re-read the FH1 book and they say not to use VPP-magic pools. Here is a problem I'm discovering: speed is relatively low, and magic is not very powerful, so the players dont use enough magic to have a negative effect on their endurance. So if a person is throwing a 2d6k Fireball, he is only spending 6 end, or 18 end, if he does it 2 times in a turn. The player has a 6 REC and a 37 END. It seems he can hold out endlessly. (This is opposed to champions where a character with 48 endurance can hit the wall power wise after throwing 4 double endurance power burts from a 12d6 EB.) My first 2 sessions were basically getting the players aquainted with the vermin of the world: gianta beetle from FH1 book, lower level humans( 0-25 point critters), and spell throwers: the antithesis of dnd wizards, Wizards of the word. The players complained that the combat went to fast. In truth I agree. But I underpowered them so I wouldnt turn them off to playing. I so deeply dislike dnd because of the massive hit points and rediculous armor class scaling that I thought I could put something more realistic infront of them. Could you suggest some stuff based on the info given? Maybe some decent but not overwhelming enemies? It's been many years. Their first real adventure session is coming up. They are going on a 20 mile trip to fix a problem with undead they are having. On the way their, the will be hit by maruading Orcs, who are usually peaceful. And then get to the town were the archers are lining the towers, and the mercs are ready to spill blood. This is the 3rd episode in a 4 episode mini-arc. Characters are attached as a zip. They are works in progress. Thanks in advance.

Restarting FH after 10+ years Re: blowing out damage Hi gang. I finally found a group that was tired of d20(modern, and 3.5) and was willing to humor me on my decade old facination with Hero games. I ran FH1 for about 3 years. from late 80's to early 90's. I really enjoyed it. There was a theif, a ranger, a mage and martial artist. We started with fairly low characters (90 pts) and over the years we built them up to 200+pts. FH was simpler. Those were glorious days Now I have FH for 5th edition. I waivered around going back to 4th edition, but then I saw some of the neat talents in 5th edition. I commited to 5th edition. Recently I started a dnd edition 3.5 game, in a home brew world. After the characters were made, they approved my transition to FH. Boy was I happy. I felt like I've finally found my way back home. The setting I chose was my Iron Swords world, which i tried running back in '98 as a pbem. I had the honor of Robert Bose as a pbem player. Unfortunately Got busy and crashed it.. You know how that goes. By the way thanks to Robert for his turn submissions, I really enjoyed them very much. Im my new game I have a mage, a pitfighter (that guy with deadly blow), a dragonnewt(very LOOSE adaptation from runequest), and a thief. Here is a link to my old messy web page. On the lower left you will see a link entitled: Ironswords(ISE)Campaign at http://mywebpages.comcast.net/strytelr6/IronSwordsFrameTest.html and ignore the references to Gurps. I had no gurps character submissions. Specials, gimmes and handouts ========================= I chose the heroic 150 character limit. It was close but didnt quite stick. The characters ended up costing more than I planned. I just made them as close as I could. The pit fighter 'Roi' Mage player: This player wanted to run an ice mage. I told him he could pay me 40pts for a 25 point VPP (loosely calculated). I told him the active points for each spell could be around 40 pts. I handed him the old FH companion I and II and told him to go through those spells for a list of 15 spells, and from those he could use 25 points of spells per day. He could use a magic roll to switch around the spells if he wanted. Dragonnewt player: The dragonnewt character I gave a freebie to: a medalion that would let him keep up the illusion of being human. Except when he gets into combat, then his illusion would shut down and his enemy would see him for his true form. His character would be a spiritual leader when he was not knocking the stuffing out of them baddies It also gave me a chance to give healing spells to the crew. Thief player: This guy wanted to play a theif martial artist. I don't know why but I have always favored players that want to play martial artists... its a quirk. Hands down best fighter around: This player wanted to be play a character like the masked gladiator from the simon green death stalker books. Nice touch. I gave him combat luck, deadly blow. He asked for some other abilities. His character is a work in progress. I run a lot of mystery, detective work, and action in my games. I try to make magic as mysterious and scarey as possible. My magic as I try to remember it from 12 years ago was not fire and forget magic. I did the VPP thing. I am a bit confused now, because I recently re-read the FH1 book and they say not to use VPP-magic pools. Here is a problem I'm discovering: speed is relatively low, and magic is not very powerful, so the players dont use enough magic to have a negative effect on their endurance. So if a person is throwing a 2d6k Fireball, he is only spending 6 end, or 18 end, if he does it 2 times in a turn. The player has a 6 REC and a 37 END. It seems he can hold out endlessly. (This is opposed to champions where a character with 48 endurance can hit the wall power wise after throwing 4 double endurance power burts from a 12d6 EB.) My first 2 sessions were basically getting the players aquainted with the vermin of the world: gianta beetle from FH1 book, lower level humans( 0-25 point critters), and spell throwers: the antithesis of dnd wizards, Wizards of the word. The players complained that the combat went to fast. In truth I agree. But I underpowered them so I wouldnt turn them off to playing. I so deeply dislike dnd because of the massive hit points and rediculous armor class scaling that I thought I could put something more realistic infront of them. Could you suggest some stuff based on the info given? Maybe some decent but not overwhelming enemies...its been many years. Their first real adventure is coming up. They are going on a 20 mile trip to fix a problem with undead they are having. On the way their, the will be hit by maruading Orcs, who are usually peaceful. And then get to the town were the archers are lining the towers, and the mercs are ready to spill blood. This is the 3rd episode in a 4 episode mini-arc. Characters are attached as a zip. They are works in progress. Thanks in advance.