Lysando

Re: questions about disads for dryad-like race Cool, thanks for the suggestions everyone, I will ponder. As far as the home tree goes, my thinking was that this was something which could become a real concern if someone discovers your "home tree". For example, if a Sylvani acquired an enemy or Hunted (Hunter?) who was somehow able to discover your home tree, you could be in deep trouble. You might be able to "snap" back to your tree and defend yourself, but...it would be problematic. I like to give GMs hooks on which to hang a plot, this is one of those sorts of things. As far as the need to root, I imagined that a Sylvani who was going into a dirtless area could carry a bag of dirt and maybe a box to contain it, much like a human would carry a mat, pillow and blanket to sleep on/with.

Hello all, I've been inspired by a couple of article in Pyramid to put together a package deal for a race I call the Sylvani. They are sentient trees, or live with/in trees. Don't think "ents", think "dryads" or "hamadryads". As PCs they would leave their home tree to go into society, they can leave their home trees. There are a few disads that I'd like to put in the package deal, but I'm not entirely certain how to build them... 1. A Sylvani must spend 6 hours out of every 24 "rooted" into the soil. This is similar to the need for humans, etc. to sleep. They are humanoid in form (in fact some of them are quite comely once you get past the green skin), but the bottoms of their feet are composed of many small rootlets. During this rooting period they grow into the soil. I built this as a Dependence. Any other ideas? 2. Sylvani can't consume solid food. Instead they drink sugar water, honey water, fruit juice, anything where sugar is dissolved in water. Is this even a Disad or Limitation,or just a "quirk"? 3. Sylvani are capable of leaving their home trees and travelling great distances. However, no matter how far away they are, they are still linked to their home tree. If their home tree is damaged, so will they be. If their home tree is burned up or cut down they will die. Obviously they will keep the location of their home tree very secret, and the Sylvani tend to live very far away from humans, in unpopulated areas. What would this be? Dependence? Dependent NPC? Susceptibility? Thanks for any help you can provide.

Re: 2008 Projects Stronghold:no Atlantean Age: probably not PS 238: no Ultimate Base: yes Scourges of the Galaxy: yes Lucha Hero: yes, absolutely! Urban Fantasy Hero: yes Book of the Destroyer:no Ultimate Gadgeteer: maybe...depending on reviews and if I need for my Pulp campaign Champions Beyond: no

Re: 2008 Projects Where did Steve say this? Is there a list of these "interesting new projects" somewhere??

Re: Move or Shoot Weapon Boys....don't make me come back there and spank you both. Remember, violence isn't an acceptable way to resolve your differences!

Re: Setting for a "realistic" campaign in space Coupla questions: At a distance of 100 AU, what would be the effect of the stars gravity on eachother? Is that close enough that their gravity would be trying to suck matter from eachother, and also maybe skewing the orbits of the planets? 4 habitable moons around a "gaz" [sic] planet seems awful high...When you say "habitable", do you mean in the sense that people live in an enclosed settlement/base, or as in having a breathable atmosphere so people can live there without air tanks?

Re: Why do you like to play Super Hero Games? I really don't particularly like super hero comics, etc. A friend of mine has a superhero campaign I play in, but I do so because I really like my character concept (a formerly evil djinn who is trapped on Earth until he does 1 million and 1 good deeds). I think one of the reasons we play super hero games because we come up with a particular character concept or concepts that we really like, and the games enable us to play out that concept.

Re: Best HERO system product One of these: Pulp Hero Post-Apocalypse Hero Tuala Morn Tuala Morn is the one I've enjoyed reading the most. Pulp Hero is the one that I think will be most useful to my gaming goals. PAH is just cool.

Re: First-aid kit, physicians bag So what exactly is in a typical physician's kit? Do we have any doctors on the forums here? If so, what do you carry in your "ready bag", the one you grab in an emergency as you head out the door? I'm finding an annoying lack of medical equipment write-ups in the Herosphere....I'm going to have to put together a pre-fab, or maybe several prefabs based on tech-level.... ntb

I have an equipment question about how one would write up a first-aid kit, or physician's bag, or things like that. These are tools or sets of tools that would be used by someone with Paramedic or PS:Physician. THank you! ntb

How useful would The Algernon Files 2.0 be if someone was running a "traditional" Pulp Hero campaign?

I noticed in Hero Bestiary that you've given "Cat,Domestic" (pg143-144) an INT of 10 and "Chimpanzee" (pg148) an INT of 8... Did your cats make you do that??

Re: Need Book Recommendations However, you might not want to give him The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress (by Heinlein) if you want him to improve his English skills. The characters speak a very clipped English with lots of skipped pronouns, etc., not really "correct" grammar. :-) I find myself writing like that after reading it. Lysando

Re: Review: Tuala Morn I have to agree with the reviewer, I have been very impressed with Tuala Morn. It is by far the best setting I've seen for Fantasy Hero yet, and one of the best settings books I've seen (and I have dozens of them). I almost didn't buy it because I'm only sorta interested in Celtic things. But I'm glad I did. Lysando

The Voice in the Dune series: PRE attack or Mind Control? Discuss.

Re: Pulp Comic Books Does it count if you used those awful dice that came with the boxed set with the blue book with a dragon on it? lysando

Re: Neolithic Hero But thinking about this in Hero terms....an idea would be to make characters pay for everything in character points. Your axe, your dugout canoe, your bow and arrows, your talisman that keeps the scarey things away, it all has to be paid for in character points. This would emulate the fact that you wouldn't own much, and that each thing you do own is a very powerful tool to help you to survive, almost magical in its capacity to stand between you and death.

Re: Neolithic Hero I'd highly recommend Dreamtime as well, it does a good job of capturing the spirit of what that age might have been like to live in. It also has the interesting idea of taking the player's character sheets away from them after they create them. The idea being that it helps to create the atmosphere of not being able to read, and having to keep everything in your memory. I'd also recommend GURPS Ice Age, the PDF for which is now available from Warehouse 23. The anthropology is a bit dated, but there is some useful info for running a realistic campaign.

Re: Help with alternate U.S. history? I would definitely put Virginia with the Christian extremist nation. Although it is also possible that Northern Virginia (which is much less southern and far more cosmopolitan than the rest of the state) might split off and join New England/Middle Atlantic, or perhaps even exist as its own small country, ekeing out an existence as buffer state. This is a thought to consider that not all states may end up going with one of the new nations or the other, but may be split between two or more. In your scenario you imagine a number of "centrifugal" forces at work causing states to split from eachother. The thing is those forces may continue down to the intrastate level as well. You can expect alot of conflict within states and between states when there is no Federal unifying force.

Hello all, I'm building a spell called "Light Coins" which can be used to enchant gold coins to produce light for a day. The idea being that in a battle in the dark you can chuck them around to produce light, or glue them to your helmet or whatever. This is basically Images, with the limitation Only to Make Light. My question is, would I still need the +4 (or whatever) to PER roll? Since it isn't really an illusion, and it doesn't matter if people can disbelieve it or not? Also, does giving this No Range make sense? Thank you all! Light Coins: Sight Group Images Increased Size (4" radius; +1/2), +/-4 to PER Rolls, Difficult To Dispel (x1 Active Points; +1/4), 4 Continuing Charges lasting 1 Day each (+1) (49 Active Points); OAF Expendable (Easy to obtain new Focus; -1), Only to create light (-1), Increased Endurance Cost (x3 END; -1), Requires An Enchantment Skill Roll (-1/2), Requires Expertise with Enchantment (-1/2), Side Effects (Max END reduced by 10 for 1 day; -1/2), Incantations (-1/4), Gestures (-1/4), Costs Endurance (Only Costs END to Activate; -1/4)

Re: From the mouths of babes Where and when do we lose that easy, flowing creativity....?

Re: How to model a Djinn whose soul is entrapped in a clay lamp Thank you! ntb

Hello all, I'm putting together a Djinn character who has a Disadvantage in which his soul is entrapped in a clay lamp. He was an evil Djinn who committed many evil deeds until King Suleiman bound his soul into a humble clay lamp 3,000 years ago. He cannot be freed until he does one million and one good deeds. He can move around and so forth, but it prevents him from returning to his true home, the City of Brass, which he greatly desires to do. Also if anyone gets ahold of this lamp they would be able to control the Djinn. How would I model something like that in the Hero system? Dependence? Thank you! ly

Hello all, I'm building a Genetics Analysis Laboratory to be installed in a spaceship. It will be used to sequence DNA, analyze it and return statistics, and compare it to a database of known sequences. This is what I'm thinking: Genetics Analysis Laboratory: Detect Genetic Information A Class Of Things 13- (Sight Group), Discriminatory, Analyze, Microscopic (x100,000) What do you think? This seems rather broad, and I'm somewhat new to the system. Thank you!! ntb

Re: Casual Survey: Age of players and Hero's utility vs. other games I just turned 36 (-sigh-). I've been playing RPGs for 26 years or so, started with DnD. Started with Hero in the last 7-8 years, with 4th ed. Play some GURPS also, but not often enough to justify the 90+ GURPS books I own. When I originally began I really didn't like HERO very much. It was too complicated for my little brain. But that is what my friends were playing so that is what I played. As time passed I learned the system better, and understood what it was trying to accomplish better. If I have a choice I would probably use GURPS for any campaign I would GM, but as I learn more about HERO that would might change. HERO impresses me more the more I use it.