Doc Tough

I've been a member of the Forum for some time, but Life has kept me away from it for a while. Not exactly a lurker, but I'm trying to use a return to Champions as a form of recreation to keep my life from driving me nuts...again. How did you come up with your 'handle' (forum name)? It's the name of my most favored and longest running PCs. What was the first tabletop RPG you played? The first formal RPG was the 1976 boxed version of D&D...which grew out of the Chainmail game. What was the first tabletop RPG you GMed? The same...the guys I gamed with didn't quite understand the system so it fell to me to hash it iver and run some sessions. What are you currently playing/GMing? Currently I'm trying to go back over all my records of my original Champions game (1981 w/a 1st edition Champions set to mid 1990's w/ much house-ruled 5th edition). I hope to clean up the past concepts and dream about running a much better planned campaign in the Tacoma, WA area eventually.

Re: Your character's theme music! Doc sez... Thank you for the technical assist.

Re: 6E Rules changes confirmed so far Doc sez... Having had to step back from open activity in gaming for the past 2 years (new job...new son...new life in Tacoma, Wa...) I have missed all of the formative discussion over the anticipated 6th Ed. . I'm trying to slog through the massive backlog of posting. Please forgive me if you may have already heard what I'm going to be posting here and elsewhere, but I wanted to catch up on comments about the RPG I've loved for almost 30 years . ------------ *The basic 3d6-roll-for-success mechanic remains, and it will continue to be "roll-low." Glad for no changes here. Often Gaming Systems gain part of their identity and individuality from this most basic of resolution systems feature. *No changes to the Speed Chart. Good. Never had any real problems with it. *Movement will continue to be measured per Phase. OK. I've created an option House Rule for my games on occasions called the Segmented Movement System which conducts movement and actions on a segment by segment basis. Its best effects are to create smoother movement and keep players in the action every segment. *All measurements will be given in meters. There will be no use of "hexes" or any other mapping arrangement in 6E. OK. I'll miss "Hexes" and "Inches", and the use of hex paper in the official system for mapping, but I'll likely still use hex paper in home games. *Comeliness will no longer be one of the Characteristics. It's being replaced with a Talent, Striking Appearance, which a given group can choose to use in their game if they want a character's appearance to have a mechanical effect. Poor Comeliness. It was never a well understood or applied Stat. I think I would have like to seen it reformed rather than eliminated in the official rules. The switching of its "effects" to a Talent mirrors something I adopted (along with a similar Physical Advantage: Terrifying). I'll likely retain the House Rule system I developed in Home games. *All the other Characteristics will remain, but none of them will be "Figured," i.e. derived from other Characteristics. They'll all start with a base value that must be bought up separately. The costs of some of them have been "tweaked" -- no further details yet. Can't say I like this change, but understand it perfectly for the sake of granularity (although I oppose too much granularity). It seems a loss of a distinctive part of the system. The trend for uncoupling stats from other stats (and possibly other game functions) needs to be closely monitored unless stats become completely meaningless. Costs will need to well adjusted if too much is drained from their function. I'd loathe to see them become a bland "1 for 1" cost. *OCV, DCV, OECV, and DECV will become separate Characteristics, not derived from DEX and EGO. They'll start with a base value of 3 and will be bought up separately. Bad Idea and a glaring example of "granularity" sapping the identity out of the Hero Game System. I see "1 stat point per 1 character point" vanilla stats coming down the road. What is left for DEX other than Initiative use? *Suggested starting point totals will be raised to compensate for the change to Characteristics -- no specifics yet. No real thoughts about this until we see the new costs for STATs, Skills, etc. Long ago I used to ask players to retire PCs who were built on a 1000 CPs, now I may have to consider asking them to start at that amount . *Perception will still be based on INT. A step back from the potential brink. I guess a case could be made for uncoupling PER rolls from INT too for granularity's sake, but it would only make it easier to consider jettisoning INT as a STAT too. *Leaping will no longer be derived from Strength -- it will start at a base amount for all characters, as with Running and Swimming. More effects of granularity. If other apparent "muscle-powered" movement types are not connected to STR, why should LEAP be tied to it? I really do understand the appeal of granularity, but too much uncoupling of stat and abilities may derail the "game train" and create unwanted loss of System Identity . *Skills will still be calculated from CHAR/5, but there will be an optional "Toolkitting" note about changing that if desired. Other Toolkitting notes will appear throughout the rules -- no further details on those. . Another potential step away from the brink, although the optional "Toolkitting" certainly clears the potential for stat-less skills . *Seduction Skill will be renamed Charm. . Whatever. *No new Skills will be added, although a couple have been "tweaked" (no more details yet). I'll have to see more of the "tweaking" before comment. *Package Deal will be renamed Template More importantly than an acceptable name change will be what mechanical changes might occur. *Some new Powers have been added, and others have been removed. The only one mentioned is Find Weakness, which is being removed. There will be no official way to reduce Defenses below 1/2 as with Armor Piercing. No real comment till more specifics are made available (leaked ). Loss of FW is a blow to some character concepts, but so was not being able to reduce the targeted DEF by more than 1/2. Thank Heaven for House Rulings. *Adjustment Powers have been significantly reworked -- no further details yet. Another wait till we read more about (another) change to the rules of ADJ Powers. *Energy Blast and Killing Attack will still be separate forms of Damage, as they are in 5E. ok. *The Stun Multiplier for Killing Attack will become a straight 1/2d6. It will still be possible to buy up the Stun Multiplier with Advantages. . It takes some of the seriousness out of KAs. But I've found that the players were more ticked about potential for BOD damage than to STUN. *You will be able to apply your Normal Defenses to the STUN damage of a Killing Attack whether you have any Resistant Defenses or not. KAs take another hit to their seriousness. I never liked the idea of some rDEF letting all nDEF resist kSTUN. *Nothing has changed about the way STR adds to Hand-To-Hand Killling Attack damage. Another step back. *Increased reach for larger-than-normal beings and weapons will not necessarily require Stretching -- no further details yet. House ruled this ages ago. I use REACH Adv to powers to let power (and certain abilities) to extend into successive adjacent hexes (oops that will need to be adjusted now). *The method of Adding Damage is supposed to be simplified -- no further details yet. No comment until more info. *The Multipower and VPP Frameworks will remain, but Elemental Control is being replaced by a new Limitation, Unified Power (no value given). Aside from GM oversight there will be no restrictions on what Unified Power can be applied to. I'll have to see where this UP goes. *Damage Shield is going to be "different" -- no details yet. Ditto *There will be another, more granular way to make a Power ECV-targeted than using the BOECV Advantage. No specifics given, but it involves breaking the Advantage into its separate components (i.e. ECV Attack Roll, Line Of Sight, etc.) and "reassembling" them to make them more flexible (and simpler according to Steve). Steve implied that he's used this approach for other elements of the system. . OK let's get more info on this. Someone grab Steve and get the thumbscrews . *Disadvantages are being renamed Complications, and Psychological Limitations will become Psychological Complications. Whatever. *There will be a single index, printed in both 6E rulebooks, with a letter code before each number to indicate which book it refers to. Sigh. There had better be if we get the rule spread more than one book. ------ Just some quick thoughts. I'll have more later here and in other threads. Doc Tough

Re: Your character's theme music! Doc sez... Although not my prime PC, Breakneck's theme is Molly Hatchet's Flirtin' With Disater (If someone could link the YouTube video ). He's an extreme sports star turned speedster turned unwilling criminal turned outcast. He sees his kinetic powers as more of a curse...ruining his life everyday.

Re: WWYCD: This Is A Very Delicate Operation... Doc sez... Doc would likely scrub up too as he's a formidible surgeon. He'd watch to make sue nothing underhanded occured by the hands of the other attending doctors. All other PCs would watch and guard her to make sure nothing funny happens. Doc Tough

Re: Where would you go? Doc sez... If this is supposed to be a relaxing vacation send them anywhere warm and sunny. However, if you are looking to make this a "working vacation" then on March 13th the Kitty Genovese occurs in NYC (perhaps they might be able to rescue her) or in Alaska on the 27th is the Good Easter Earthquake in Anchorage (perhaps they accidentally boarded the wrong plane). Doc Tough

Re: Name That Band Hero! Doc Sez... ...Transvision Vamp.

Re: Name That Band Hero! Doc sez... Rush is correect. I thought that it would be an easy one. But let's try a villainous team. Hammer Horror: A monstrously strong brute Experiment IV: a psycho-sonic terrorist Rubberband Girl: a murderous shapeshifting sociopath The Fog: Silent and deadly 'darkness' user Any takers? Doc Tough

Re: Name That Band Hero! Doc sez... I don't know if this group has been used before but... Working Man: Martial artist/gadgeteering fighting for the average joe. Big Money: Corporate-sponsored size changer Cygnus X-1: Alien cyborg spending time one Earth lookin for its home Coldfire: Thermal energy blaster Kid Gloves: Teenage brawler/ side kick of Working Man Superconducter: Lightning blasting scientist This might be a little too easy... Doc Tough

Re: Name That Band Hero! Doc sez... Are we looking for Styx? Doc Tough

Re: Name That Band Hero! Doc sez... If you are still looking the correct bands for... ...Its Culture Club. Doc Tough

Re: Name That Band Hero! Doc sez... J. Giels Band is the answer? Doc Tough

Re: Presence attacks never work? Doc sez... PRE Attacks are so genre, but the mechanics often get abused. I usuaully counsel my players to use them sparingly or else they become hack very quickly. The problem I have more often than the Attack is the reaction from players. Some players do play out the attack well, but rarely will they let themselves embrace the effects of higher value attack results (ie FLEE). Doc Tough

Doc sez... I know this post also belongs elsewhere, but I'd like to hear if anyone has used the aliens from the The Thing movie in their campaign and what they've done with them? I very much like the movies and the original story and thought they represented a more insidious alien threat than other more recent juggernaut alien killers. Doc Tough

Doc sez... I've uncovered a number of old Traveller characters I played age ago and wanted to convert them into Hero System. I have printed out the TravelerHero Text ( fine work boyos ) but now want to find a site that carries the actual text of the Classic (black book) traveler and or the New Era rules since I can't find all the infor I need (including the original creation rules and charts.) Does anyone know of a location for this info? Doc Tough

Re: Champions 25th Anniversary Commemorative Edition Doc sez... 25th already?! I'm too young for celebrating a 25th anything!! I CAN'T be getting THAT old!!! Doc Tough (of course this means I've been playing D&D of well over 30 years too. )

Re: Scenarios For Power Outage? Doc sez... Be sure at the beginning of the adventure whether or not it is important for the players to determine the cause of the blackout. If they are conditioned to always look for a villain behind the event they may becaome distracted to dealing with the effects of the disaster and helping out heroically. There are a vast number of problems that occur when a city is left without power. Cities are particularily stricken by outages sicce they absolutely depend on power to do 99% of daily routines. No lights, no computers, no ATMs, no alarms, no subways, no gas pumps, no freezers, maybe no ovens.stoves, no microwave ovens, restricted food processing etc. Some things might work if the have back-up generators like in hospitals, police stations, prisons, and others but maybe some businesses don't have generators of their own or they failed to work. And no cell phone coverage. Depends on the area, but often you'll find this sort of trouble starting as soon as criminal types find unprotected stores and know that the police are elsewhere. The stereotype is for poorer areas to suffer looting first and then it moves out into "better off" areas. If they have no back-up power the trains will stop and commuters will have to walk to daylight and may have encounters in the tunels along the way. Other problems would mean no street lights, no stop lights or other traffic control devices. Look for pplenty of auto accidents, traffic jams, fights among drivers, etc. Riots, food shortages, limited hospital availablility, mass confusion in the public as they try to guess at what is going on, limited media contact, limited fresh water, stressed out police and emergency workers, gang activity, panic in the population, etc. But you'll also find acts of great heroism by normal people and police and other emergency workers. You might want to highlight instances of the good in people in crisises. Thanks in advance. Hope this helps... Doc Tough

Re: When should a GM allow missile deflection? Doc sez... I have found the System's relationship with SFx and "GM's Permission" one of the positive aspects of the Game. It allows the player to NOT have to think of every little property of a power effect and have to model it. The GM is allowed to tweak situations based on a PC's SFx in order to further distinguish one character from another. Of course, the GM needs to balance out the positives and negatives of a SFx and to be sure to prevent repetative uses of a power without making the frequently used SFx driven power be purchased. Besides, I enjoy it when a player has enough interst in their character and their education to actually take the time to look into the properties of their PC's SFx. Edward

Re: If YOU have been playing Hero since the 80's why do you still keep coming back? Doc sez... I'm happy to say that I was into Champions right from the beginning getting the "1st Edition" manuals from my local friendly gamestore (who I worked for occassionally at the time). The owner knew I liked Superhero RPGs, although there wasn't a huge following at the time in the Cleveland area, and went out out of his way to get me "this new RPG system" and to keep getting the difficult to obtain supplements. Why do I stay with it? Because it is simply the best commercially available system on the market. It allowed me to even play a Hero System based D&D game with friends I turned onto the System with just a little bit of effort and time. The System has gotten even better since those early days, even with having to endure the Fuzion Era and other tumultuous periods of the Game. Doc Tough

Re: When should a GM allow missile deflection? Doc sez... Also remember to note the level of Deflection being used. Base Missile Deflection is for attacks aimed AT the character so that if a grenade is targetted AT the character it may be deflected, but targetting the hex the character may not be allowed to attempt the Deflection since the grenade ISN'T being aimmed at them. Doc Tough

Re: Comics you loved...but apparently no one else did Doc sez... The series I wished to stayed around longer are usually the ones from the non-Big Two comic companies. Not in any particular order... Elementals...I know it ran more than a 20 issues, but I was put off when it was finally cancelled. It was a great series even when it became somewhat convoluted towards the end. UN Force...A very nice series that probably would have gotten better over time. A great introduction to interantional hero concepts (beyond the Global Guardians). Others would be Hero Machine, Legions X-1 and X-2, the Survivors, System Seven, Hero Alliance, The Fazers, etc. I even would have like to see the Amalgam comics continued one in some fashion. Doc Tough

Re: Your personal comic book origins Doc sez... My introduction to comics and collecting them was the late 60's Teen Titans. I recall getting and reading the issue that have the Teen Titans battling an immortal who was trying to claim the children of a town based on an old agreement made by their ancestors. However, it was the Legion of Superheroes from the pages of Superboy comics that hooked me. Its a pity that this beloved team has been punished again by yet another reboot. Doc Tough

Re: 6th Edition thoughts Doc sez... I'd rather not have to consider a new edition for some time. I would like to see, perhaps, something like a "best of GMs' House rules" compilation...that is a volume of purely optional rules submitted by players that are not official, but playable within the main rules of the System (I think Steve may have a few free seconds here and there... ). The House rules would have to be easily integratable to current System rules (no major rewrite of the System, just meaning "advanced optins" that could add a new perspective). This book or Best of annuals could be a source of play-testing variant rules for possible consideration in a future edition. Doc Tough

Re: 6th Edition thoughts Doc sez... New edition? New Edition?! NEW EDITION!?! (...reaches for the pitchfork and torch...looks up address of thread starter...gets car keys...) Doc Tough

Re: Doc Savage Doc sez... As a Doc Savage fan I'm biased about what is a good range or not. All the novels have their good and bad points. I liked all of them, bearing in mind the era in which they were written. Doc Tough