Glupii

Re: Spells: A Harper's Companion, Volume III

These are excellent! THANK you!!! I have been looking for these kind of write-ups!! You can be sure I am going to be looking for other posts of yours as soon as hit this reply button and download your hdp file.

--edit--

ACK!! I don't see either vol's 1 or 2 listed anywhere. Was this your first one of these? I didn't look through all your 1000+ posts to see. (silly me, doing this at work, don't have time to look through all of those) Have you posted any other spell lists?

Re: Magic system search

Oops, sorry bout that, didn't mean to ignore ya KS. The system I am developing is a mutant of several already published systems in the FH rulebook along with my own attempts to make it a little more like the D&D model so that folks who only know D&D (or d20) will be able to pick it up easier. I am putting the final touches on the second draft of it now and will email it to you (hopefully today) for perusal. It is pretty long so unless others want to see it, I won't bore the readers here with posting it.

Basically it uses different systems for different casters. It uses the 5 point talent to buy a 25 point VPP in a school of magic (I forget what that was called in the FH book and don't have it here with me at work) for Wizards, and a more traditional unstructured system for Sorcerers where by their spells cost less and are unlimited in their active points and design but that they have limitations in how many spells they can have. Divine casters are similar to Wizards but have a different spell list using spheres rather than colleges. Druids, Bards, Runecasters, and Witches are all closer to the Sorcerer model with slight differences and different spell lists.

The premise of the world as it stands right now (subject to change before I actually try to run it) is that The known world is under the thumb (talon?) of the Dragon Lords who keep a close eye on magic weilding humans and halflings. The only sanctioned spell casters are the Wizards who study at the Academy and are members of the official guild. But there are hedgewitches and sorcerers who are sort of underground. And the divine casters are all underground except for a few darker churches (again, sanctioned by the DL's). Druids are largely left alone because they are not understood by the DL's but they have never directly threatened them either. Bards are used seen as a giant spy network of such usefulness that they put up with them being largly on their own and out of direct control of the DL's in exchange for their communication and spying information.

I am trying to make this system as close to the d20 system as I can without losing the benefits of the Hero system that are promtping me to convert.

I hope this answers some of the questions I missed answering earlier?

Re: Magic system search

OK, I am rapidly feeling that the best way for me to handle this is to just judge each spell on its own and arbitrarilly grant it a level. Some spells which I can write at different levels will be easier than others. But it seems the only fair way.

What I was looking at using levels for is assigning what spells a character could cast depending on the in game degree to which he/she has advanced in the "arts". I might even scratch that as it is rapidly getting to complex.

Re: Magic system search

Wow! What have I ignighted here?

Actually everyone is making very valid points and I appreciate all the input. Many of these thoughts have never occured to me. I know that I have never been a fan of basing things strictly from the AP's and agree that limitations converting them to RP's have to be weighed in the mix to get a true idea of how powerful the spell is.

That being said however, in a perfect world that would exist. But I can put enough limitations on a very powerful spell that would still allow thespell to be more powerful than its RP's would indicate. Anyone who is or has had a good rules lawyer in their game knows what I am talking about.

That is why I originally thought to somehow take a sampling of both and tie them together to get a spell power value. Folks obviously do nto like the (AP/10)+(RP/10) so let me ask this next question of all you great thinkers out there. If I wanted to tie them together somehow, what ideas for modifying this eqation do you think would be the most fair?

Re: Magic system search

Have you played the system KS? How did it work out for you? I am curious and anxious to avoid any issues that will make it more difficult than it already will be to convince all my players to convert with me. So I need to get this right the first time.

Re: Magic system search

Has anyone ever tried the one recommended in the FH book about ranking spells by (ActivePoints/10) + (RealPoints/10) to get the spell level? I am working on a new magic system as I convert over to Hero from d20 that maintains some of the feel of the d20 system. I am using this in a 4 step (Apprentice, Journeymen, Adept, and Master levels) process and the point breakdown I am using (rough atm and could change) are 1-4=Apprentice, 5-8 Journeyman, 9-14 Adept, and 15+ for Master.

One problem I am already encountering is defensive spells. In order to make them fall in the level I was shooting for, they are going to be too powerful for the game.

Re: Poster map - Hudson City

Speaking just for myself and my group, I know we would be willing to pay for a wall map of each of the gaming cities we use, Hudson City, Millenium City, etc.

Re: Okay A question about posting Conversions to Hero

So how far does one go before one crosses copywrite? For example, if I want to post some things for a Post Apocolyptic game that were inspired by Gamma World? Is this considered less then legal? If this sort of thing is wrong, then I think a large percentage of posts/posters on these boards are guilty (and the only reason I am not yet is that I have been lazy )

This is an interesting point. How much can we legaly post and what, if any, pointers can we get in doing these conversions? Even if we have our own site for them, it would be good to know what is considered OK. And if we do have our own site, can we reference them here?

I don't want to do anything wrong, but it is not my fault all other game systems pale in comparison to Hero?

Re: The DEATH of the HERO System!!!

Pre 5th edition Hero was a novelty and a fun diversion from my main game system which was d20/D&D. However with Steve's commitment to providing plenty of genre material and all the hard work that made 5th edition so complete, this die hard d20 addict is putting away his WoC books (except for reference of course) and converting most everything to hero. Now d20 is the novelty game. Great job Steve and Crew!

Re: Multiple-Power Attacks--Untenable Rule

I am on board with everything Mitchells said.

I have come to a point that my trust of the system and its self balancing ways is near complete. If a player builds a character so unbalanced that nearly 2/3's of his starting points are in attacks, he is going to be very weak in other areas. I have, in the past, allowed my players to play any character they could balance by the rules. So if they wanted to do this, they could.

But over the many sessions, they have all come to the point of understanding that I play my villains intelligently. If they spend all their points on one area and leave their non combat abilities untouched, they have to sit back and do nothing when we are not in battle. More often then not, they have skimped on some area of defense or built in some debilitating weakness that grants them the room and points to have their massive offensive powers. And eventually, a villain figures this out or just stumbles blindly on it. When that happenes, they become disenchanted with their character and want to scrap them.

So today, my players (and myself included when someone else runs) tend more toward balanced characters. And Balanced characters generally do not have much that would allow MPA's that would be game killers. And they are a heck of a lot more fun to play since you have a decent chance of being useful in just about all normal situations in a game.

So my advice to the creator of this thread is to simply sit back and wait to see if it actually happens, understand the rules, use them to show the players why unbalanced characters have their weak sides, and all will be OK. The system IS pretty sound from a gameplay standpoint. Some argue with the realism of this rule or that, but playability wise, I think it is pretty solid.

Anyway, there are my 2 cents.

Re: Power Cells

Heh, good point. I guess I am letting my need for writeups get in the way of just making it a good game.

Re: Power Cells

I thought about the endurance Reserve but had hoped to do something with charges instead. I could blackbox it. That certainly wold fulfill what I am trying to do.

And just winging it is exactly what I had been planning to do if I could not come up with a good game mechanic way of doing it. The reason for the game mechanics being preferable is the use of HD2. But if I can't come up with a comfortable way of doing it, I will likely take Mr. Taber's advice.

I am putting together a PA game and want there to be a handful of standard powercell sizes for futuristic equipment to make the game a little more playable and fun for the characters.

What I want to do is for the powercells to provide so many generic "charges" per use when fully charged. Then items that use them will expend a certain number of charges per use. An example would be a Laser Pack cell having 50 charges. Then the equipment that used that particular cell would look soemthing like this:

Mark 1 Laser Pistol:

Mark 1 Laser Carbine:

Miner's Maglight:

Now the actual damage and such is off the top of my head here and only for the purposes of getting this discussion going. The real question is how would you folks write up the Energy Cells and the weapons/equipment that will use them?

Re: Question from a new GM

Excellant! This is going in the right direction, I can feel it. But I am not sure where the 4 points of End comes from that the character gets for granting it to others?

Also what would you think of a limitation on the granted power that they have no control since they have to go where ever the Main Hero guides the plane to?

Re: Your "2005" Pet Gaming Projects

I like one and two, but three sounds like a lot of work.

 

Whoa

 

QM

Actually it is less than you might think. I purchased a small roll of Steel Rubber from Renisance (I think I mangled that name) Gaming website for the game board. I have been building paper buildings and props and walls and such for a while now. So I just need to cut the thin magnetic sheets (or some of the dozens of gathered magnates I collected ) and glue them to the bottom. As for my miniatures, the biggest part will be putting the hex bases under them all. I purchased my first batch of them from the same site for a very good price. I purchased a roll of strip magnet from a parts house and it is the right thickness to fit under the bases. Again it is just a matter of attaching it under the bases.

Actually converting all the magic items and coming up with Random Trasure generation tables like I got used to in the d20 system is far more work in my opinion. Once it is done, I hope to make it available for others to use if they so desire.

Re: Wasteland Hero, 10 Years After

Mr. Miller,

As an avid Gamma World fan from the old days, I have long wanted to put together a PA game based on it. I asked the question so many of us have here on the boards "Are there any good resources out there?" and was promptly pointed to your site. It is a sheer wealth of fantastic ideas and the work and dedication you put into it are obvious. I join ranks with the many who have found your site inspiring and applaud you for your efforts.

I have recently purchased the GW D20 books and was going to attempt to run something with that. But now that I have been more fully "converted" to Hero by Tancred, I am looking to do it in Hero. And of course your site will be invaluable. The one thing that keeps me at bay yet though are the things in the new GW books that I genuinely liked and would like to try to employ. I would like talk with you if you are serious about updating your Wasteland site (I can even host it!) to see if any of the good things from these resources are something you think would fit. If time permits, I would even be willing to help you with some of the writeups. It would help me become more familier with the system I am adopting as my home gaming system. (I speak of Hero of course. )

Re: Question from a new GM

Just use the example of the "Gift of Flight" spell' date=' which you've already seen, and put Reduced END (0 END) as part of the "gift". It will still cost the original character END to create/start the flight for others, but it won't cost the others any END to use it themselves.[/quote']

 

OK I plead ignorance here, what is the "Gift of Flight"? Where is it? In a book or another post? Unfortunatly I do not have my books with me here at work so if it is in one of those I will have to wait until I get home to check them out unless someone has them posted somewhere.

 

Thanks for the help. And if ever my questions seem too basic, I appologize ahead of time. I am a old d20/D&D player trying his best to convert over to Hero. And you know what they say about old dogs . . .

 

ARF!

Re: Your "2005" Pet Gaming Projects

1. Learn the Hero system well enough to run any genre as I am converting my whole d20 set of campaings to Hero.

2. Convert all the usable magic items from my D20 game to Hero and create random tables for them like D&D has.

3. Finish my metal gameboard and magnetizing all my scenery and miniatures.

Re: Question from a new GM

Valuable info, but I think a little different than what he is looking for. He is looking to make a giant paper airplane that can carry several passengers. I guess the TK would work since it is not a cage of any kind. It is quite voluntary.

Our Hero expert had to stop playing for a while so I am left to try and keep the game going and I will be the first to admit, the holes in my knowledge of the Hero rules are plentiful and vast. So I come here to ask the experts.

I have a character in my game that needs to buy flight but make it usable by others, sort of like when green lantern picks up everyone in his green bubble and flies with them. How do I set up that power? I read the usable by others advantage and it didn't seem to address this, it was like they had to pay the endurance for it, not the initial character. This doesn't seem to fit. Thoughts?

OK I have a dilemma figuring out the best way to represent what my player wants to see in his character.

His power is based on a character that can do anything using paper. He saw it in a movie somwhere. He can throw business cards and make them darts. Throw up a wall of paper and harden it to become a forcewall, make a paper airplane and climb on it and fly. You get the picture. So we built it all into a multipower. Now the question we have is, we are looking to put some sort of limitation on it where by if the construct is hit by fire, it will burn. I thought about doing some sort of suppression of the power for fire based attacks only, but I am not sure how to design or judicate this. Any thoughts?

Re: Some thoughts on River Tam (Firefly)

Whoever is responsible for that malicious rumor that so built up my hopes of a new Firefly series, only to have them dashed on the cruel cliffs of reality, may Orca the Killer Whale relieve himself on your toothbrush.

Re: Has anyone ever converted Morrow Project to Hero?

Tancred is running us through a PA game right now that he used a very clever mechanic to begin. All the players were told was that we were starting a modern heroic level game and we would be expected to take on paramilitary and civilization building type missions. We were to be hired by a super secret organization that was affiliated with no gov't or military.

We played it out for a night and at the end of the night we were told we would be tested on a cryogenic freeze process. If all went well and our bodies could withstand it, we would be brought out in 2 weeks. If any of us started showing signs of trouble with the process, (we would be closely monitored) then that person would be brought out immediatly. that was how we ended the night.

The next week, we all woke to a darkened chamber with only bare minimum lighting to eventually discover that much more than 2 weeks had gone by and that something happened during our two week period that prevented us from being brought out of stasis, and it was only when the power levels finally got too low to continue to sustain the cryo units was an automatic awakening proceedure initiated by the base computer.

Moreover we discovered that whatever happened, also seems to have wiped out civilization as we know it.

And the story begins.

It was awsome! And it remains to be one of the most fun campaigns we have ever played. Obviously borrowed heavilly from MP as well as a little gamma world and other sources.

Re: Help with a character concept

Hmmm. I see your point. OK so in the second example, what would his attack look like if he fired all four weapons at one target on the same phase? Is there something he would have to have that would allow his stun to all add together into one attack like a teamwork roll would? Again, I am still in the early stages of learning this system so I appologize if the questions I ask are too simple in nature. Thanks for all for their great help.

Re: Dive For Cover

Doesn't diving for cover assume you have something to get cover from? And if so, would you not get cover bonuses from whatever you are hiding behind when being shot at by the archer? (Sorry if this is a dumb question, just wondering)