Labrat

Re: Testimonials: Perfect Pitch Nope. If it smells like anime, looks like anime and quacks like anime. It's probably anime. I'd rather watch old episodes of Hee-Haw. Not that there's anything wrong with anime or Hee Haw, it's just not my thing.

Re: Testimonials: Perfect Pitch I hereby bequeath to thee... the coveted PAT ON THE BACK AWARD. <---JmOz (funny how 'Back Award' looks like 'BackWard' in that font)

Re: Testimonials: Perfect Pitch Well the 'useful' part was said in jest (she didn't laugh either). That just got me thinking about posting this thread to see what kind of stories are out there that involve using 'Perfect Pitch'. I have found the 'Result Modifier' purpose of Perfect Pitch to be the most common use... I think it's even outlined in FRED that way so that aspect of it's value isn't entirely lost on me. I can be dense, but I do have my good days.

Re: Testimonials: Perfect Pitch

Re: Testimonials: Perfect Pitch Verily. I figure that if they bought it they might as well get a chance to enjoy it.

Re: Testimonials: Perfect Pitch Wow... I stand corrected. Although a few of these seem to be pushing it into the realm of 'super-hearing' or Detect/Analyze I must admit those are some clever uses for a Talent I never took too seriously. Good stuff.

A recent conversation I had with another Hero player while discussing a character build: Me: Well she's supposed to be an aging flower child right? Why not give her some singing and poetry skills? Her: Yeah, then maybe I could finally take that Perfect Pitch thing. Me: Yep. Or you can save your points and get something useful. Her: ? Anybody have any interesting stories about how they've witnessed a constructive in-game use of Perfect Pitch? Especially one that justifies the cost?

Re: Indusharan destinations (Turakian Age) I will buy my credits now to make sure I get that issue!

Re: Indusharan destinations (Turakian Age) How about a Key of Khem (listed with Dembrose)... maybe you can connect it to the spell-book of Kristor somehow. Or the Shadow-staff? Both would work well with the legend of Kal-Turak's demise by 'the sun and the moon' (sorry I have to paraphrase since I don't have TA with me...)

Re: Indusharan destinations (Turakian Age) I was just reading about Alarch Denbrose (NKN p115) and thought that I might point you in his direction (assuming you have NKN). I don't think Steve put in a 'base of operations' for him and he seems to be 'Indian-like' in his appearance, maybe he'd make a great master villian for the heroes if you based him in the Taj Mahal suggestion that Steve put forth. Add a nasty Mordak cult (i.e. the Shadow Priests of Khem in this instance) and other wicked groupies (slavers like the Red Talon guild?) and that would definately be one place I would want to send my PCs into! ...funny that I always made the Indusharan connection with India, probably the name itself inspires that 'feel'.

Re: Indusharan destinations (Turakian Age) I'm currently re-browsing TA for my reborn '5000 SE' game. I'll let you know if I hit on anything, Bob. Maybe it's me being dense in the mid-afternoon but what exactly are you looking for? Actual items, plot seeds, contacts, references from TA itself? Forgive my density. It comes and goes, but mostly I have good days. It might be good to slip in Silvertine from NKN somewhere...

Re: Any tips/resources for Turakian Age? Ah the Earthmage returneth! At this point it's more of a probablility than a possibility so stay tuned. I'll IM you when I'm 100% ready to go, Tim.

Re: Any tips/resources for Turakian Age?

Re: Any tips/resources for Turakian Age? Get Fantasy Hero Battlegrounds immediately. Well worth the cost and plot seeds aplenty custom made for the TA setting. I can't recommend it highly enough. It really is everything that you are asking for. If you have the means, I also recommend buying Monsters, Minions and Marauders as well. It's a bestiary geared just for TA, but you will need the Hero System Bestiary as well or else you'll miss out on all of the 'standard' fantasy creatures.

Re: Shields The DCV write-up, to me at least, is a misnomer. The attacker can still hit you so the Armor power would represent the effect better. I think damage should still be able to 'get through' the shield. That is to say, if a shield-bearer got the full brunt of an ogre's club directly on his shield he should suffer some damage. It's not out of the question to even break an arm when trying to suffer the brunt of a large weapon... especially repeatedly in battle. I like having 'WF: Shields' as well. This might nullify the indirect damage from getting a shield between attacker and the shield-bearer. Technically, and if it didn't add even more mathematical complication, I would also be in favor of applying 'Move By' rules to the use of shields for situations where a successful 'Block' was executed.

Re: The Rider and the Mount Shall Be As One

Re: The Rider and the Mount Shall Be As One Yeah, that's kind of the point I think, but these added powers would be part of the 'Prime Character' and then when the two 'Duplicates' are separated the rider would lose these qualities. Then you just have to set a time limit so that the 'Prime Character' of horse and rider can't be together all the time.

One of my gaming friends came up with a thought that we're loosely batting around (not on paper yet though since we've both been too busy to sit down and look at it closely). Has anybody ever try to do a Duplication build reflecting a rider who is so comfortable with his/her mount that they act as one being? This could work with 'pets/familiars' as well I guess (like dogs, wolves, ferrets, etc.). The base Form would be the two working together and then when the rider and his beast are separated, they would each be distinct but weaker entities. Eragon comes to mind here as well. I like this idea but it seems far too expensive for the effect it's trying to represent... however, it could justify itself if the character needs a bulk-load of Riding levels and possibly things like Mind Link or a bulk-load of Animal Handling to properly reflect the integral relationship. This really wouldn't work well for a PC I don't think, but for NPCs it might be neat... like the riders from Rohan in LOTR. Was this covered in The Ultimate Metamorph? That's the next book on my list.

Re: Treasure map Dude, the voice-over to 'Legends of the Hidden Temple' was scary-funny. I'm ashamed to even admit that I recognized it. Kudos.

Re: Apocalypse Hero This would be a definitive story I think. It's so well written. However, it's the chronicles of a couple of main characters dealing with the immediate aftermath. Consider it very highly recommended though. If nothing else you get a very good glimpse of what kind of environmental impact a meteor would have on the human race. Think about it this way, if a meteor or meteors did do in the dinosaurs, humans survived... and actually progressed rather nicely despite it. I don't think society would collapse, there would probably be an era of warlords and bandits disguised as 'reconstructionists' and 'scavangers' but ultimately I think the human race would return to some civility even within a single generation. Of course, 'civility' does include 'factions with opposing agendas' so you still have power, greed and territorialism angles that you could work. We just wouldn't throw ourselves back into 'Planet of the Apes' like cavemen. (IMO of course)

Re: encounter tables No prob, amigo. When you add some randomization numbers, kick it back to the thread if possible and then we can all have access. I've been wanting to get back to this project but I've kind of been in a Terran Empire/Alien Wars mode. I'll have time during the summer to update it though, I'm sure. NB: I see that I wrote 'FHB' for 'Fantasy Hero Bestiary' when I really meant 'HSB' for 'Hero System Bestiary'.

Re: encounter tables [ATTACH]24511[/ATTACH] Attached is my ever-adapting Turakian Age worksheet (Excel) that has a tab of all monsters from HSB and MMM sorted by habitat. It may help... it may not, but it costs nothing. Hope it helps... Let me know if you have any issues, lately when I post .zip files they get corrupted. I don't know if it's what I'm doing or if it's happening when I try to open it back up on my own computer. After you save it locally, right click and 'Extract All'.

Re: Alien Wars: DropZone PBP Yeah I was thinking the same thing, and in all reality you'd be 100% correct. I'm sure there'd be a few homage names like: Skywalker Seven New Jedi Order Clone Troopers The Ceti Alpha Six Kirk's Kamakazis Kirk's Red Shirts The Enterprise Landing Party Picard's Better Squad The Real Klingons etc... Thanks everyone! Keep 'em coming. I would especially like more advice on the do's and don'ts of a 'Space Marine' like campaign, specifically any Alien Wars experience would be appreciated.

Re: Alien Wars: DropZone PBP Great stuff guys! At first I wasn't really too keen on Allen Thomas' vision for the WWII look to the standard issue gear given to the soldiers in Alien Wars, but now I'm really intrigued to follow that line of thinking and see how much I can work it up. That new perspective has me picking up AW again (having read through it once already just for completion's sake). Here is a 'short list' of what I've liked/done so far: Apocalypse Riders Comet Jockeys Cosmic Marauders First Beyond Pluto (even though it is no longer a 'planet') Galactic Hawks Immortals of Olympus Maelstrom Knights Mare Vaporum Sharks Meteor Swarm Saturn’s Ring Wraiths Sol Defense Prime Solar Flares Swords of Mars Terran Furies The Apollo Dragoons Vacuum Rats Xenohunters Some are better than others. Can anyone tell me how much 'choice' one has in getting placed in a favored unit? Are soldiers routinely assigned based on need or is there an application process? Both? Thanks!

Re: Alien Wars: DropZone PBP I would consider Mars in the 'Terran' system during the period of this genre, especially since Earthlings have 'annexed' the entire Solar System where it resides. "Solar Flares" "First Beyond Pluto" "(Milky) Way Warriors" "Luna Skulls" *Writing all suggestions down! Thanks guys! I'll be using quite a few of these to name other rival units competing for the same battle glory!*