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Killer Shrike

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Posts posted by Killer Shrike

  3. Has anyone ever concocted a set of everyman skills for demons?

    in HERO System Discussion

    Posted

    25 minutes ago, LoneWolf said:

    The only exception seems to be that computer programing is considered an everyman skill for science fiction.  Personally I think that is a mistake, because the designers seem to think that using a computer requires knowing how to program.  This is probably due to the creators of the game being game designers not engineers.  Most people who use computers in their jobs know how to use it for specific things and would have absolutely no clue as to how to actually do anything else.  Most of what people do on a computer would be covered under a PS, or not even need a skill.  Do you require a skill to open a door, or use the phone?  Then why does using the internet require one?

     

    I agree with the core premise that a computer user is not a computer programmer. As to the designer's original intent, to be fair when the rules were written computers were much less pervasive in everyday life, most interactions were via command line / terminal as GUI's weren't much of a thing, and to even use one required some basic technical knowledge. It was not yet consumer grade technology. 

     

    It has been a long while since I ran a sci fi setting, but the last time I did I split it into two skills, Computer Usage and Computer Programming with a great deal of expanded granularity including a detailed list of modifiers,hacking rules, and a more realistic means of determining how long it should take to make new non-trivial software.

     

    http://www.killershrike.com/MetaCyber/MetaCyber_Technology_ComputerUsage.aspx

     

    http://www.killershrike.com/MetaCyber/MetaCyber_Technology_ComputerProgramming.aspx

     

    It was written in the 5e era and has some content specific to the setting's version of virtual reality, but is generally reusable for 5e or 6e if you just trim away the setting specific bit.

     

    I also took a stab at generic-ising real world programming languages, to avoid having to use real-world IP mentions in gaming content; so for example "Enoch" and "Enoch Plus" are obvious stand ins for C and C++. I made this list a long time ago, and if I were to revisit it I would update it to include more recent trends, particularly the encroachment of FP and FP-influenced languages, but it would just be embellishment:

     

    http://www.killershrike.com/MetaCyber/MetaCyber_Technology_ComputerProgramming_Languages.aspx

     

    In the model I put forth, a character with a high computer programming skill is good at fundamentals, theory, and practice, but they also need one or more computer language skills to actually apply that skill and take penalties when forced to program in a programming language they don't know.

     

     

  6. R.I.P. Country Music Icon Kenny Rogers

    in Non-Gaming Discussion

    Posted

    True story, my father was a country music DJ and MC and I met a lot of the genre icons of the 70's and 80's as I got dragged to a lot of concerts and festivals and hung around back stage while my father worked / MC'd; some of them even came to dinner at our house. One of the ones I met was KR, and I told him that I really liked his music (which was true); he laughed. Later, one of his people came back around and gave me a Kenny Rogers Fan Club box, in which was various curios and a belt buckle that looked like this:

     

    Image result for kenny rogers fan club belt buckle

     

  7. Be At Ease Campaign Arcs

    in Topics

    Posted

    So, given the givens of the current state of reality, I think it is probably best to postpone face to face sessions until things have returned to normal. If social distancing becomes the new normal for more than a couple weeks I'll look into getting an online virtual table top type of solution going. 

     

    In  the meantime, I've been chipping away at adding more meat to the Cortex Plus Heroic port. I did more character writeups , more Ability Trait writeups, and filled in the details on how dice pools are formed, how plot points work, and so on. In days to come I'll be porting over setting content, vignettes, npcs / monsters, and so forth. It might be of interest to some of you, and of course feedback is welcome.  

     

    Obviously, I hope all of you & your families are well. Stay healthy and safe!

  8. Be At Ease Campaign Arcs

    in Topics

    Posted

    Scything and I unexpectedly can't be there tomorrow; my daughter came home from school today not feeling well and just started puking all over the place. It may or may not be contagious, but no reason to risk it. 

     

    Sorry for the late notice, I was psyched to wrap up the arc, but that's how it goes when you are a parent. :(

     

  9. Passports, Drivers Licenses, and other Credentials under Fringe Benefits

    in Champions

    Posted

    It depends entirely on the setting of the campaign and the tone that I am going for. In a "realistic", lower pointed setting I do tend to use fringe benefits of this variety...particularly in a "modern" setting modeling something similar to "the real world". In a less realistic setting (such as supers) I don't because most of the time if I'm doing that sort of fantastical set up the focus is not on mundane things and too much granularity just pours grit into the gears.

     

    However, most importantly, if I do require characters to pay CP for things I try my best to make it matter in-game. I actively do not like "concept tax" abilities and avoid them when possible and try to make them matter at least once over the course of the campaign to pay for themselves.

     

    If, at the end of a campaign, I look over the player characters' sheets and see points spent that they never got to apply in some way over the course of the campaign, then something sub-optimal occurred -- either the player didn't incorporate such abilities into their portrayal of the character and make it matter or I as the GM didn't provide opportunities to make them matter, or a little bit of both.

     

    If such things also happen to be perks (or whatever) that I made players take out of some pro forma obligation then it is even worse.

     

    So, I make a conscious effort to make points spent on abilities matter commensurately to their cost and if I feel like that isn't going to happen, I'm not adverse to making adjustments to the pricing of certain things to discount them or to offer some other compensatory offset elsewhere on the character. I'll grant perks and similar things as story awards. I'll restructure contacts that aren't working out. I'll bundle fluff skills into some form that is costed based on benefit. Etc. I tune things as the campaign progresses in an active attempt to reach / maintain an equitable equilibrium.

  19. Be At Ease Campaign Arcs

    in Topics

    Posted

    Ok, so here are my thoughts:

     

    1) Normally if 1 player can't make it I prefer to still meet and work around it. 

    2) If two or more can't make it, I make a judgement call based upon where the the characters of the missing players are at narratively and whether or not their absence can be worked around without causing more trouble than it is worth.

    3) However, currently the team is in a critical place where I actually want everyone at the table. Particularly considering we just spent an entire episode / session jumping thru the necessary hoops to get the team back together in a way that avoided a deus ex machina.

    4) Unfortunately due to the holidays the current "action" has gotten stretched out in real world time over the course of a couple of calendar months and I feel like it has sucked away the urgency / emotional impact of the stakes involved for the characters. In the game world, the stakes are quite high, time is of the essence, and the situation is quite dire. In the real world, it may be hard for some of us at the end of January to remember and / or care about stuff that happened in November and to still feel the anxiety and engagement I hope was present when the current leg of the adventure unspooled.

     

    Now, real life presents us with challenges to all being in the same place at the same time and I get it. Work is important. Family is important. Shit happens, and when push comes to shove meeting to play a game or indulge a hobby is obviously of lower priority. However, I feel like we have a good thing going with this group and I at least am having fun with the campaign and would like for us to find a way to move past all of the recent disruption and continue. 

     

    So...here's what I want to happen and then we can discuss if we all agree and if we can make it happen:

     

    I want us to all be present for the next session, which will hopefully be Feb 8, and for us to all make an attempt to re-engage with the in-game narrative and try to get back into the headspace of feeling trepidation for the characters and caring about what's going to happen next. For my part, I will take a beat at the beginning of the session to reframe the scene and do my best to sink the hook for all of you. 

     

    If some of us are at a point where we need to take a step back from the campaign and focus on other things, or if we are tired of the campaign and don't want to continue that's ok too...I just ask that we all be transparent about where our heads are at.

  20. Curios and Curiosities

    in Topics

    Posted

    Evenstar flares on disk of night...I fall, R'lyeh rises to full height...

    Hidden shapes in cyclopean vaults...surge forth from schismatic faults...

    That is not dead which can eternal lie...and with strange aeons even death may die...

     

    Image result for lovecraftian ritual examples

  23. 6E Multiple Attack, No Skill Levels?

    in HERO System Discussion

    Posted

    On 12/26/2019 at 2:48 AM, Ninja-Bear said:

    I’m curious Killer Shrike Would you allow it regardless of RAW? 

     

    This actually came up relatively recently in actual play.

     

    I exercise the "Unless the GM rules otherwise," clause and allow a Grab & Throw as a single action, and I treat a thrown person as a person-sized & shaped AoE. I assign either or both the unerodynamic / unbalanced penalties and potentially other penalties depending on the situation and how the movement is described / what makes sense to me given the givens. 

     

    I do not treat this as a Multiple Attack.

     

    A secondary target who is aware of the attack can abort to Dive For Cover, or may abort to attempt to catch the thrown person / object and potentially reduce or cancel the damage depending on what makes sense. 

  24. 6th Ed Slower Character Development

    in HERO System Discussion

    Posted

    58 minutes ago, dsatow said:

    Yes, it slows down certain progressions.  It does not affect damage progression, as the costs to increase damage have stayed the same.  Increasing one's CVs has changed slightly.  Increasing one's OCV + DCV would normally cost about 8 points (9 points for Dex -1 for Spd).  The effect of buying up your CV would also give you benefits in tripsheet placement and Dex rolls (like breakfall and diving for cover).  Placing the conversation solely on CVs, raising OCV and DCV by 1 is 10 points.  Likewise, most combat skill levels have gone up in cost by about 2 points.  So, in changing CVs, the difference is about 1 extra game session for most people assuming at least 2-3 xp per session.

     

    The goal of raising CV is not to reach a specific number but rather to remain competitive with the average CV of the campaign.

     

    And thus the counter argument there is that a given character does not need to advance their CV to the same levels as earlier editions to be competitive unless everyone else is also, and as raising CV costs more for everyone across the board the speed of progression is internally consistent. A rising tide lifts all boats.

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