Aryanun

Re: MMO already bringing in new Hero players... Yeah, my brother did the same thing. Meanwhile, I never gave up my rpg hobby. I'm a gamer girl to the core and always will be. My three year old already has a set of large dice and a D&D character. Now he's interested in making a character for "Superhero Dice Game." Since he adores superheroes this will be an easy sell for him. I wonder if his two month old brother is old enough to throw dice... (j/k ... I would never give a young child something he can choke on).

Re: MMO already bringing in new Hero players... I was finally able to convince my husband to buy Hero Designer. Now to convince him to make a few more Hero System purchases...

Re: Idea/Suggestion: Offline Character Generator I've been posting a similar idea around CO as well. I'd be all for it.

Re: A lot of new traffic from the Champions MMO website? I've been helping my City of Heroes supergroup get a little familiar with the game system and have started pointing them over here to learn more. I'm hoping to get my husband and brother-in-law in it as well.

Re: Who's Who on the Champions Online forums? Smack me for not paying more attention to these forums. I've been playing City of Heroes and spending time having babies (2 boys). I'm Kheprera on the CO and City of Heroes forums.

Re: Pregnancy and combat Being the mother of a 9 1/2 month old... Standing up from sitting on the floor was not a fun thing to do. I didn't sit on the floor a lot as a result. Sometimes even walking was difficult. You tend to lose some of the strength in your stomach muscles since you have difficulty using them, especially in the third trimester. I already had back problems. This was made slightly worse from the pregnancy. Your center of gravity shifts, and this is very hard to adjust for, and that affects your balance. Sharp changes in direction can make you wobbly. Size of the unborn child is also something to take into account. Mine was born 5 1/2 weeks early and weighed in at 5 pounds, 14 ounces and 19 inches long. He was also very active in the womb (and that hasn't stopped). A kick from baby in the middle of the fight can cause a little jumpiness. FWIW: I don't mind the thread at all and think it has great bearing on combat, especially since, being a pregnant mom-to-be, she will fight like a hellcat to save her baby. This, too, should be taken into consideration. If anyone dared to try and attack me while I was preggy, I would have tried to drop a car on them.

Re: WWWYCD: Caught in the Web Omen: Wouldn't care. Doesn't have a public or secret id disad, and so hasn't really tried all that hard to hide anything except when she first start out (15 years ago). Especially now, she wouldn't care at all. Rune: Her main concern would be for her son, foremost. Second would be finding out who the person was and if they were a political rival of her late husband, or a villian she's been coming against a lot recently. She'd definately want to get to the bottom of it and would use her late husband's military contacts to get to the truth of the matter. Chaos: Wouldn't know where to start on finding the person, but would be interested in why someone was so interested in her. Of courses, she's used to having worshippers, but not fanfic. That aspect would baffle her. She also would not assume the person was a native English speaker as English isn't her first language but she can read and write it better than a lot of the natives, especially when reading things online.

Re: Look for Feedback on a Homebrew. Basically I was going the No-Rules route so GMs could customize as they saw fit. As for the number of elves/other races. Just because I include a race or whatever doesn't mean they have to be used. The setting is going to be fairly loose so GMs can pick and choose what they want from it. Keep in mind I've barely scratched the surface. This is after only about three days work (and that's on my lunch break). There are going to be lots of dwarves, as I've listed, as well as humans, the Zathi, the cat-race (still unnamed), and the Tuatara. I just haven't gotten around to describing the dwarves yet. Also, I'm working on a whole undersea population. I've been looking into research of prehistoric ocean dwellers as well as deep sea dwellers. I'm also thinking about pulling the "shadow elves" and the aquatic elves off the elf list and into another category of their own as they've evolved into something much different than a standard elf. I'm still undecided on that.

Re: TK + a brick = deadly weapon? Sounds like a Fastball Special. I think the way we did it was as a Move Through (our brick at the time have very little movement).

Re: FYI: why more people aren't playing HERO (rpg.net) Actually, if it wasn't for HERO, I wouldn't be able to do math in my head. As it is, I can't see how people can think HERO is so complicated. Any game system is as complicated as you want it to be. No one says you have to absolutely GM by the rules. I routinely change some rules so they will fit into the flavor of the game I run, and I do this for any system. They're really more like... guidelines (to quote PotC). As for taking hours to create characters... yeah, it can take some time without the software, but at least you've got the flexibility to make what you want. I'll never forget the first time I played FH. The fact that I had so much to choose from astounded me (I came to Hero from playing AD&D 1st ed). And as a GM, I find there's less paperwork with Hero. Besides, who DOESN'T like rolling lots of dice? Mmm... dice.

Re: The Truly Evil GM Actually, I wasn't picking on you, but on myself for being such a hard-assed GM. I remember one group I had played with but never GM'd for thought they could push some rules raping by me. I had them turn their characters in a week before the game was about to start. We didn't start the next week. They were busily reworking their characters because I had covered them in red ink basically telling them "No, you're not going to get an IIF - A Chip Imbedded in My Brain Boosts My Powers past me." Once I had it settled that I wasn't a pushover and knew the rules, we settled down for gaming. Of course, this was the same group I pulled the Mind Switch with. Yeah, the Red Pen of Doom (as they called it) is my truly evil GM tactic.

Re: The Truly Evil GM

WARNING: this is a little long... I'd like some feedback on if what I've written so far for my as yet unnamed homebrew world is viable. Zathi: Reptile-like, with snake-like skin and smoother faces. The also have sharp, carnivore teeth as opposed to tusks and ear holes instead of ears. Poor hearing and average eyesight and scent, they have an exceptional touch sense, often being able to tell when an enemy is sneaking up on them from the tremors of the ground. Aggressive and warlike, they separate into tribes that don’t cooperate well. Certain tribes harbor deep antagonism towards specific others, leading to a natural rivalry. With a male dominated caste system where strength and battle skills are revered, females are often treated no better than slaves, taking second place even to livestock. As nomadic hunter-gatherers, they may herd some animals more for food-stock, keeping only a few around as pets or for labor. Carnivorous and slightly cannibalistic, they eat their dead in prominent ceremonies with the belief that imbibing their flesh imparts characteristics of the dead upon the living. They have a shamanistic belief system with several different animal gods, often one particular deity as the patron over a particular tribe. They do have some magic ability, though it’s a rare trait. Their skin/scale color tends towards black, dark blue, dark-brown, or dark red, depending upon the tribe. Eye color is generally a yellow or amber color although green is not uncommon. Elves: Ranging in height from four and a half feet tall to over seven feet, the elves have history dating back to the pre-dawn of civilization. Whispered rumor and a widespread belief on the more commonly known sub-races has led to an inaccurate image of the elf as a whole. Most elves enjoy a lifespan of approximately 400 to 500 years, giving them the illusion of immortality, but some have been known to live beyond the average expectancy, with the eldest known elf to have lived to an age of about 650. Plains: The most common sub-race, the plains elf tends to be more fair-skinned, with blond or light brown hair, green or blue eyes, and are taller than their woodland cousins, more along the human standard. With a nomadic lifestyle, they herd animals (different ones depending on the tribe – elk, horses, cattle, sheep) for food and clothing and travel in caravans. Magic is mostly divination type (gypsy) and clothing is quite colorful. Forest: A fairly common type, they typically have brown or black hair, brown, green or blue eyes, and a ruddy skin tone. A greenish hair color, however, is not unknown and those with such coloration tend to be more magical (no known reason). They live in elaborate tree-top cities with a barter system and utilize druidic or elemental magic. Average height is around five feet. Monarch, patriarchal society, they are strict vegetarians and are often referred to in the derogatory as “plants†or “dandelion eaters.†Very protective of their forest homes, they challenge any who would enter, even other elven sub-races. Desert: These hardy elves are dark of skin, generally a rich, toffee color, with dark brown or black eyes. Hair color ranges from a platinum blonde to medium brown. Standing as tall as the average human, these nomadic travelers specialize in surviving in the harshest climate of the desert. Utilizing camels and horses, they scavenge from failed caravans and long lost cities. Often found on the fringes of towns along the desert’s edge, they frequently sell their merchandise at town bazaars or trick the unwary out of their hard earned gold with their often cryptic prophecies. Divination and prophetic magic, as well as some elemental, run through the veins of these hot-bloods. Aquatic: Found only in the salt-water seas and oceans, these extremely rare elves live in magnificent cities of rock and coral deep beneath the waves. Generally reclusive, they tend towards iridescent green and blue skin tones with greenish-blue eyes. They don’t have hair. Instead, they have fins that run down the length of their backs, often to their tails, which have long, thin, sharp spikes. These spikes are tipped with a neurological poison that paralyzes their foe. With a patriarchal monarchy, these beings have been known to trade with other races using gold, silver, and other valuables found in the deep ocean depths that other races cannot reach. Magic is rare and nearly unknown, with those who do have the ability usually never knowing as there are no known practicing mages. Aquatic elves do, however, have a penchant, perhaps a psionic ability, that allows them to communicate with most other sea creatures on a basic level. Having finned feet and hands, as well as an eel-like tail that helps to propel them through the water at speeds, they almost never leave their watery home. If they do, they can only survive on land without magical aid for an hour, during which time breathing is quite difficult and they start to die within fifteen minutes. Ice: Found only in the cold, inhospitable Northern snow wastes, the Ice elves are the fairest skinned, typically with a pale ivory skin or blue-tinged white skin. Hair color is white at the lightest color, pale blonde at the darkest, and eyes are blue, gray, or, extremely rare, topaz. Ice elves tend to be about six feet tall, on average. Clothing is always warm furs or thick cloth woven from the wool of the Snow Camel. Armor is normally made of thick hides or the magical scale armor from white dragons. These rare elves have a matriarchal monarch society with a barter system. Magic ability runs rampant in their blood with even the lowliest being able to perform minor feats. Living only in their hidden city, they rarely venture beyond the frozen wastes, preferring the cold. Some rangers can be found along the border towns, however, acting as guides through the blizzard prone tundra to magnificent cities beyond. Shadow: Living deep in the jungles of the Dark Land, these elusive, strange creatures can barely be seen to be related to the elves. A fine fur, often brown, reddish brown, black, or blue-black in color, covers their body, with a fine, longer trail of hair running from their forehead down the spine to the small of their back. Towering well over seven feet in height, they have exceptional hearing and remain the most reclusive of all the elves. A diplomatic society, they are quite magical, often knowing several different doctrines and utilizing them to their fullest extent. In addition, they have the ability to change their shape into any other humanoid they have seen. Their typically blue eyes tend to have a milky, pearlescent sheen. Most remarkable about this strange sub-race is the thin membrane stretched between their arms to their knees. This membrane, when unfolded fully, gives them the ability to glide so long as the elf has a high enough perch from which to catch a draft. Their arms are in three segments, much like a bats, yet fold up to allow the elf to use their long, three-fingered claws as hands. For dwarves I'm kind of putting gnomes and hobbits in with them so the listing is thus (although not fleshed out yet): Masons: Stone work specialists - mountain regions Forgers: Metal workers - various areas but close to mountain ore sources Wood: Carpentry specialists - ranger and druidic types Burrow: Miners and farmers (re: more hobbit/halfling like) Tinkers: Builders (machinecraft - gnomish) Articifers: Magics and artifact creators. Other races include: Tuatara (a dragon-man type race), an anthropomorphic lionish race that is a main adversary of the Desert elves, and maybe orcs (but I wanted the Zathi to replace the traditional orc role in my world, so I'm still trying to decide on that part yet). Humans, of course, are a given, but will have seperate writeups, just like the other races, for cultural differences. I also had an idea of how to populate the Dark Land (I'll probably rename that to something more sinister sounding - think an overgrown Congo). Utilizing my anthropology knowledge, I'm thinking of going with a Hominid or Australopithecine type race (or maybe a mix of both). As for magic, I'm creating a system that utilizes schools of magic (Elemental, Divination, Necromatic, and so forth) where I can say "This high level NPC mage leans towards Elemental magic, but has been known to dabble in some Summoning and Anima forces as well." This way the spellset of a particular mage can be assigned by the GM as per whichever set of rules they wish to follow. Note: I'm trying to write this in a way where it is usable across platforms. I don't want it to be specifically HERO or specifically D&D. This will give GMs who decide to use things from my setting in their own (or the setting as a whole) and write up the NPCs as they see if. I will mention, in the final write up (which I will eventually post on my website - once that is up and running) how the races tend to lean (book smarts vs street smarts, cunning vs naive about the world outside their little area, and so forth).

Re: The Truly Evil GM

Re: Effective Concepts Your GM WON'T Allow. Flatulence Man: AoE NND. He can clear a room in seconds. The following have made appearances in my games as a lighthearted adventure after some serious drama adventures. Captain Hairdryer: Out to save the world from Bad Hair Days. Bruce the Towel Boy and Trixie the Gel Girl: Captain Hairdryer's sidekicks. The Lonely Hearts Club: The Walrus, Sgt. Pepper, Mean Mr. Mustard, Polyurethane Pam, and Silver Hammer - real name Maxwell (yes, I can have a sense of humor when so desired ... the players hated this group, especially after they got defeated by them the first time they went against them).