Labrat

Re: Post-Apocalyptic Hero -- What Do *You* Want To See?

Well' date=' maybe if we get the chance we can post the cover. IIRC Andy was able to get Klaus Scherwinski, who did the cover for [i']Hudson City,[/i] to do it -- he happened to contact us almost at the very minute we were beginning to think about the cover, asking if we had any work he might be interested in. That was just a little while ago, though, so as yet I, at least, have seen nothing concept-wise.

Maybe Mr. Lincoln will help motivate him to move faster on it. Know what I mean?

That would be ultra-cool if you could post it when it arrives. Thanks for considering it!

Re: Post-Apocalyptic Hero -- What Do *You* Want To See?

Steve,

Regarding the 'Tobacco Road' idea... thank you from the bottom of my heart. I hope that you actually have time to include this, especially as a model for 'apocalypsizing' your favorite city. I'm going to the gas station and getting a map of Philly now.

Can't wait to see the final product... I only wish that we could see some of the concept art (and the cover) before it publishes, but I'm sure it will be well worth the wait.

Re: Ghosts and other Spirits

Except that' date=' for other than Senses, the Powers that are Transdimensional must either be inherently Indirect (such as Telekinesis) or also buy the Indirect Advantage to at least the +1/2 level (FREd p. 174/5ER p. 268).[/quote']

 

Ah. I knew there'd be a catch.

 

Why Indirect though? I could see 'No Range' modifiers to represent the Ghost character that has to share the same position in both dimensions at the same time.

 

I figured that it couldn't be that easy. I'll look it up for myself tomorrow. Thanks for pointing that out LL.

Re: Ghosts and other Spirits

I was dying to see how 'legal' this build was but didn't have my books at work, now I'm at home and I came up with these:

Clairsentience (Hearing And Sight Groups), Transdimensional (Single Dimension; +1/2) (45 Active Points)

Sight, Hearing and Smell/Taste Groups Images 1" radius, Transdimensional (Single Dimension; +1/2) (30 Active Points)

*NOTE: Some ghosts can manifest as ONLY sounds or ONLY smells so this one is modifiable

Telekinesis (10 STR), Transdimensional (Single Dimension; +1/2) (22 Active Points)

*Or you can choose Chilling Touch, Darkness, TK AE (Poltergeist), PRE Drain (chains and harrowing howls) etc.

Total thus far is 97 CPs. Is it less expensive than Desold and build all else on "Affects Solids (+2)? It seems it should be. The Desolid cost is half of that alone and the TK 10 STR makes it more expensive just with those two powers:

Desolidification , Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Persistent (+1/2) (80 Active Points); Always On (-1/2) (53 Active Points)

Telekinesis (10 STR), Affects Physical World (+2) (45 Active Points)

Re: Ghosts and other Spirits

What do y'all think of building ghosts and other spirits (pc or npc) as naturally inhabiting their dimensions, and not having to pay all that cost just to merely exist?

 

In other words, no desolid-affected by blah, etc. Just like a character built on the 'real world' has to pay to affect their world, they have to pay to affect the 'real world', or to move into it, etc. But without all the other drek. I mean, PCs built normally don't have to buy Inherent to have their natural PD and ED, for example.

 

But if these 'ghosts' or 'spirits' so much as even want to Peek into the 'real world', they would have to buy affects solid.

 

In other words, no up-front costs just to exists, but every fragging detail of affecting the other side must be paid for.

 

Thoughts?

Default Dimension is 'Ghost World' and buy Clairsentience, Images and TK all based on Transdimensional Advantages?

Of course that's munchkiny as all get out...

Re: Post-Apocalyptic Hero -- What Do *You* Want To See?

And I'd still love to get my hands on a copy of Metamorphosis Alpha....

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary thanks I should just "wing it" and do a Hero version and call it Metamorphosis Beta....

I saw a copy on e-bay recently. I think it's the updated version though (still James Ward's material).

Re: Post-Apocalyptic Hero -- What Do *You* Want To See?

Actually the examples that spring immediately to mind are Doody from the comic Scout' date=' The Pilgrim from the comic [i']Just a Pilgrim [/i]and the Folk of the Fringe from Orson Scott Card's short story collection of the same name. I'm more interested in a nuanced, potentially sympathetic character package deal than How-to-make-Thulsa-Doom.

Sure, that's another aspect that pops up in the genre, but is it worth it's own package deal/write-up? IMO some of the suggestions made, even mine, on second glance are more or less addressable by Psychological Limitations than actual common skill sets.

This sets me up nicely to ask Steve once again to consider putting some aspect of the Sanity rules into this fine product, even as a practice run for the too-far-in-the-future Horror Hero. Is 'zealousness' also insanity? No it's not, but 'zealousness with murderous obsession' is. Also 'zealousness with morbid depression' could also be. 'The End Of The World' would certainly wreak havoc on the mental stability of those used to a fast-food nation where TV tells us what to do and the Internet solves all of our problems. If left entirely to his own devices, a good population of modern mankind may just freak out completely. However this would pass with time and definitely with subsequent generations so the application to the genre may be limited, thus deserving only a blurb in whatever section Steve puts Characteristics in (INT/EGO).

Of course this is all rhetorical since I've already been told 'no', but like a kid a Christmas my requests won't cease until after Santa's already come and gone. Of course Horror Hero is the best place for the Sanity rules that I'm referring to, but I think a mention of it is appropriate for the genre. This is the last time I mention it. I promise!

Re: Exclusive: Collector Amasses Complete DC Collection

Doesn't 30,000 comics seem a little like an under-estimate? I'm not saying it's wrong, it just seems a little 'light'.

30,000 books over, say, 70 years (1930s wasn't it?) is still 430 books a year on average and 36 books a month. Wowza!

Re: Post-Apocalyptic Hero -- What Do *You* Want To See?

This is really disappointing to me...

If PA Hero is going to be a stand-alone, unsupported product, I'd much prefer to see the sample settings each address a different PA "Period". Three "Hundreds of years later" settings seems to be a bit of redundancy. Hundreds of years later is the PA time period most divorced from player familiarity... Most modern artifacts will be gone, none of the "If we don't work for a better tommorrow, our children will never know that man once harnessed the lightning, flew, and walked on the moon" pathos, no wasteland raiders in carefully maintained cars (think rubber tires are going last hundreds of years?), no fighting scavengers for the right to search an old gas station and maybe find a few packs of smokes in a broken vending machine....

 

The Hundreds of Years Later setting is TOTALLY valid for PA gaming, but a mono-focus on the era seems like a huge waste to me, unless you're planning on really only making one base setting and presenting aways to tailor it to various apocalypses.

IIRC Steve isn't the only one making the mini-genre books, Darren and others will be also creating some. I'm guessing that all of the major eras will be represented (Zombie-Hero and Revelations will probably be even 'during' The Event). At least I hope I'm right about that...

Re: Post-Apocalyptic Hero -- What Do *You* Want To See?

It's not that the term itself is offensive; it's that some might be offended to have it applied to the rag-clad itinerant that feels his holy book' date=' whatever book that might be, is protection enow from the Horrors That Be. Some don't care for the idea of prophets with fleas, even role-playing ones.[/quote']

 

Post-Tribulationists (Post-Tribs?) would work just as well but they are definitely a recurring archetype in the genre. Unfortunately they usually backlit by bloody alters and pillars of flame while hoisting a sword in their hands... authors like to stereotype them as 'zealous weirdos'. Can't say that it wouldn't happen that way once the fear of 'I missed the train home' set in.

 

I agree with casualplayer's more genre-specific archetype names too. Gives more flavor to the game. 'Throwback' is brilliant, and I agree that 'Cryo' should be changed. 'Arachonaut' is ok, could be catchy, but how about something along the lines of 'The Awake' or 'Yesterday's Children'?

Re: GMs: making abilities useful

Perks and Talents may sometimes be useless. I' date=' for one, see no reason at all to include "latent psionic" from Star HERO. If a character's concept changed to include psionics along the way, then I'd just include it.[/quote']

 

 

On the contrary, I plan on starting 'psionically gifted' individuals with at least the Latent Psionic talent. What does it gain? They can buy Mental Defenses beyond EGO/5 and they can buy Mind-To-Mind Maneuvers as outlined in The Ultimate Mentalist without having to spend CPs on other Mental Abilities. It also gave me a Perq base for Alpha, Beta, Gamma, etc. Psionic Talents.

 

Along the lines of the rest of the thread I believe that if a player pays the points I should at least try to stick in some justification to use those abilities once in a while. Just like in novels, authors wouldn't bother describing some quirk, ability or talent unless the character will use it somewhere along the line. I like to GM using that kind of 'literature mentality'.

Re: Post-Apoc Adventures

Although I hate self-promotion here are a bunch of post-apocalypse plot seeds in various forms that can be used as a springboard for any PAH campaign. Although I mention Gamma World races and creatures you can easily adapt the ideas to any campaign.

http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Park/3440/rpgs.html

Look about half-way down the page, frankly I can't believe the host hasn't booted the pages off of the web yet due to neglect.

Enjoy... it's free.

Re: Post-Apocalyptic Hero -- What Do *You* Want To See?

I've been thinking about something of the sort; that's one of the notes to myself buried in the manuscript that I have to consider and act on (one way or another) during editing and revisions.

I also agree that Cultural Packages should be considered. I figure the following short list is valid for making distinctive Package Deals.

There really wouldn't be a 'Default' as I would consider as someone who looks a lot like a 21st Century Human.

I believe that the following from your list should be considered as Cultural:

Academic

Cryo (someone who somehow survives The Event without being directly influenced by the immediate fallout)

Ganger

Preserver

Survivalist

Here are some notes:

Survivalist 'Wildmen' Class = Woodsman, Mountainman, Coastal Dweller, Desert Dweller, i.e. just like the ones found in Fantasy Hero to represent the survivors got out of the urban zones right before The Event happened and taught thier children never to go into the Poisoned Cities. I also think that the AK's for these people would be heightened beyond the FAM level since they would know how to get around hot spots, the Survival skill is also the common denomonator obviously.

Survivalist 'Urban Survivalist' Class = which may have some level of appropriate resistance to the blights that caused The Event (of course not total resistance but in the case of a biological Event then this could be possible).

Survivalist 'Wanderer' Class = seeking something, may or may not be loners, could be as organized as, say, gypsies but just keep on the move. Usually more interested in selfish goals or the betterment of their family. The same package could represent some kind of Preserver 'Peacekeeper' Class = almost like Wanderers, but seek out where help is needed and then go and stick around for a while until they either solve the problem or educate the locals on how to take care of situations themselves.

Ganger 'Warlord' Class = feed off of the poor, oppressing overlord caste.

Ganger 'Reaver' Class = hell bent on destruction, finishing the job, wreaking havoc and liking the control that fear brings.

Re: Terran Empire Starships: Game Play

You know, I was thinking...both Alien Wars and Terran Empire ships have a pile of their DEF with Only Affects Hull or something. Before, when I was looking at that in Alien Wars, I assumed it meant that the missile launchers (bought as Foci) weren't protected, but taking the TUV Hit Location charts into account, maybe all those hits to anywhere other than Hull aren't protected by that DEF.

 

Whatcha think?

I think that the normal rules for Foci are applicable to the ship's 'peripherals'... so if the Limitation is 'for Hull DEF only' I would tend to say that it protects everything inside the ship and not anything hanging off of the exterior. YMMV.

Re: Post-Apocalyptic Hero -- What Do *You* Want To See?

May I suggest 'Death Race 2000'? I see it as a dark comedy... but I've been told that you only laugh if you're somewhat twisted. I would suggest the 'not-intended-to-be-comedy' 'Deathsport' too.

I actually caught Six String Samurai while looking through the usual On-Demand Free Movies drivel. I was pleasantly surprised.

Re: Post-Apocalyptic Hero -- What Do *You* Want To See?

No' date=' I don't see that as a large enough part of the genre to merit inclusion. Until we get around to publishing HH, my HEROglyphs column in DH #36 will have to suffice. [/quote']

 

Oh brilliant! I forgot all about DH #36. Problem solved!

 

And stop winking at me. People will start to talk.

Re: Terran Empire Starships: Game Play

OK, this idea is sticking in my craw.

IM me if you'd be interested in playtesting some ship-on-ship combats over on HeroCentral. It doesn't have to be a long-term commitment but if it's fun we may just start something that a lot of gamers might enjoy over there.

Re: Post-Apocalyptic Hero -- What Do *You* Want To See?

Now' date=' to be fair, the detailed nature of the HERO System tends to attract pedantic people, for whom its precision is appealing. I tend to be somewhat pedantic myself at times. But that doesn't mean we can't all use our common sense when thinking about this stuff. [/quote']

 

How about palindromantic?

 

(ducks in time for the 5th Edition Revised book to go sailing past head)

 

Ok... since I'm posting I may as well contribute. Will there be any (relative) room to address the Paranoia/Insanity rules that I mentioned previously? Beyond Psych Lims I mean. I figured (in a previous post) that since Horror Hero is a long way off that this might be a good place to put any Hero-based treatments of the 'last man on earth' complex and any other related psychological effects of surviving after the vast majority of a population has been destroyed. What are the long-term effects of such an environment on EGO? Of course this will be relative to the proximity of the Event... 'The Day After' scenario would benefit more from these rules (as in The Stand novel, there's a whole chapter on common people's reactions to such things and the dumb things they do...), but if a third generation nomad stumbles onto a city of glass and steel there may be some effects there as well.

 

Just askin'.

Re: Terran Empire Starships: Game Play

I believe that this is why the anti-missile systems (Missile Deflection) was wisely added to even the earliest (AW) ships. I say weaken the shields, especially when the anti-missile systems are on the alert.

Re: Terran Empire Starships: Game Play

It makes a lot more sense from a realistic design perspective to be able to power everything at full capacity at the same time. The ship I served on, the USS Carl Vinson, could run everything at full power . . . with one of its two reactor plants offline.

 

I see no reason that space warships wouldn't be built with the same redundancy.

Sure, I can understand that. On the 'pro' side of this argument is bigger and better power cores to facilitate this (plus powering large energy shields and large energy weapons). On the con side of it, allocating power more tightly and limiting it somehow may keep game play within a time bracket where it's still entertaining to play (i.e. doesn't drag on as per the original complaint).

Maybe Hit Locations are the one true equalizer...?

Re: Post-Apocalyptic Hero -- What Do *You* Want To See?

Speaking of Chernobyl' date=' if you haven't already y'all should check out Kid Of Speed. Beautiful, haunting photography of a literal ghost town...

There's a cult-fad (or used to be, been a while since I've had any real interest) called 'urban spelunking' that seeks out abandoned urban sites (at their own risk), gain access (probably not legally) and just go around taking pictures of the effect of time over once-useful buildings. The photos on some of the websites are very cool. The architecture and little details of buildings that are no longer in use were posted. I'm sure there's still a lot of interest in it and it's neat to see.

I remember seeing pictures of the old boarding houses on Ellis Island and some of the older hotels in New York City. Very cool. When I Googled 'urban spelunking' first I got my spelling corrected and then I saw that there was a myriad of pages to choose from. Check it out, good stuff for PA atmosphere.

I cannot stress enough that this activity is often illegal breaking and entering so I am not officially endorsing this activity. Some of the buildings are hazardous in and of themselves so there is really a high risk of injury, not to mention the 'locals' found in such places probably don't want to be discovered so I strongly advise against it. (Wow, this turned into a PSA quickly didn't it?)

The 'Infiltration' website (http://www.infiltration.org I believe) also has some info but I haven't been there for a while either.

Re: Terran Empire Starships: Game Play

Also if things got beyond the ship the PCs were on then I would have to endorse using a vehicle equivalent to the mass combat rules (another set of rules that I have zero experience in). I can't imagine rolling dice for more than a handful of ships. I'd like to know if the mass combat rules should/could be applied to vehicles and whether or not it would make things harder or more frustrating.

Re: Terran Empire Starships: Game Play

What about fighter-to-fighter combat? That doesn't seem like it would be too bad. Anybody ever do one of those using HERO rules?

Re: Terran Empire Starships: Game Play

IIRC' date=' the Alien Wars ships had power sources that could handle [i']almost[/i] anything you might want to do. You might have to back off on speed, or tone down the weapons fire, but you can run just about all the systems at once without much trouble.

 

If you do run a combat, I'd be interested to hear your results/interpretations. Maybe I overlooked an obvious tactic or didn't take some weakness into account.

Might be a cool thing to start over at HeroCentral... round by round action, each player takes one ship and sees how much damage can be done to the other guy. It doesn't even have to be Class-for-Class. A faster ship might fare well against a ship a Size Rank or so higher. Hmmm.

Wonder if there's interest.

Re: Post-Apocalyptic Hero -- What Do *You* Want To See?

There was an interesting and poignant scene in the novel Alas Babylon:

 

The protagonist comes across a corpse outside a jewelry store. The man had obviously been looting the place; he's loaded down with gold. The protagonist stops to examine the corpse to see how he died, figures it out fairly quickly, and gets away fast.

 

Metals, especially dense metals like gold, have absorbed massive quantities of radiation that was released when the nuclear weapons went off; and are likely to remain dangerously radioactive for a long time. From being precious and sought after, gold and silver have become dangerous substances that should be avoided at all costs.

 

If you're running a realistic post nuclear war game, gold isn't one of the treasures; it's one of the deadliest traps.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

What need have I of gold, more than the palindromedary here?

And all the silver I treasure, is moonlight bright and clear.

I absolutely love that. Now that, Alanis, is ironic.