DreadDomain

Re: Strength as a Figured Characteristic

It becomes very problematic in Superheroic Campaigns where STR can have such wide ranging SFX, ones like "Preternatural Vampiric Strength" or if you want to take other references "The longer my hair grows the stronger I am." which has nothing to do with how much BODY they have, merely the length of Samson's golden locks. . .

 

Linking the two forces SFX to the Mechanics. If anything we should look to go in the opposite direction.

That is another popular option. At any given time, there is always a "Decoupling Figured Characteristics" thread floating around. On principle, I have no problem with this avenue either but I think deconstructing the system further might make it even harder to get for newcomers.

It would have the advantage to better balance characteristics with the whole system though.

Re: Strength as a Figured Characteristic

What I'm considering for Secondary Characteristics:

 

STR: BODY*1

PD: BODY/5

ED: CON/5

SPD: (DEX/10)+(INT/20), round normally

REC: (BODY/5)+(CON/5)

END: CON*2

STUN: BODY+CON

 

Comments?

Funny but a while age while thinking how I would reworked the characteristics (see this post http://www.herogames.com/forums/showpost.php?p=840778&postcount=33), I did the exact opposite; BODY was derived from STR. In short, I came up with (copied straight from said post):

------------------------

Primary Characteristics

All would start at 10 (average human at 8), have a NCM at 20 and an absolute "realistic" maxima at 30 (no more Int up to 50). The cost for all primary characteristics is 2 points per level*.

Strength

Dexterity

Constitution

Presence

Intelligence (although the name could be changed to better represent what it really means)

Ego

As you can see, Body and Comliness have disappeared from the primary. These were the two odd characteristics anyway and have moved to the secondary characteristics.

Secondary (or Figured) Characteristics

Physical Defense (1 point) : Str/5

Energy Defense (1 point) : Con/5

Mental Defense (1 point) : Ego/5

Speed (10 points) : 1+ (Dex+Int)/20

Recovery (2 points) : (Con+Ego)/5

Endurance (1 point because I hate half points) : Con+Ego

Stun (1 point) : (Str+Con+Pre+Ego)/2

Body (2 points) : 8+(Str/5)

Com (1 point because I hate half points) : 8+(Pre/5)

All have average, NCM and absolute maxima as per Hero 5. I also used formulas like (Con+Ego)/5 instead of ((Con/5)+(Ego/5)) because then having Con 12 means something when you have Ego 11. I also considered merging PD and ED to create Physical Defense at Con/5.

----------------------------------------------

I am a big fan of Speed = 1+ (Dex+Int)/20 because then it makes so much more sense to base any actions (mental and physical) on Speed.

*Actually, in the same post I go on figuring out that such an arrangement would probably cost closer to 3 points per CHAR but some people might like the point break coming with them.

As for Bricks, sure it might be a problem except that I don't buy the famous "STR +5 costs 5 points because it gives +1d6 of damage and +1d6 of damage costs 5 points". STR gives so much more than just damage in my opinion.

Re: Gestalt is Online

The fact that you want the book but can't afford it doesn't mean you should disparage the material [and that's what you did by criticizing the price and making statement about how poorly you think it will sell based on price] just because you can't get it.

I guess beauty must be in the eye of the beholder. I don't know him, never spoke or communicate with him in any way and it never crossed my mind to interpret what he said as "disparaging the material". It may be what you understood but not necessarily what he intended to convey.

Otherwise I'd suggest you buy the pdf. It's time for Hero players to come out of the "I hate pdfs" closet anyway.

Nope. I hate pdfs. I may at some point get used to tehm but all in all I never really succeeded in reading a PDF product I purchased so I don't buy them anymore. So I just hate them

Re: Song of Ice and Fire

is it true ......the song of ice and fire are un futur projuct for HBO

stef

This is what I heard also. There is even an entry on http://www.imdb.con for "A song of ice and fire"...

Re: Granularity

I have to say Sean that the DTV concept is excellent. I will rep you for it when it will let me do so again.

And under this system, it is easy to create maneuvers for other stuff than physical and mental combat. For Persuasion or Interrogation for instance.

Re: Granularity

I tell you what I'd like to see; you deal with skills exactly the same way you deal with combat: use CHAR/3, or 'Offensive Skill Value' (OSV), and work off a task difficulty table for 'Defensive Task Value (DTV):

 

Easy task: DTV: 1

Normal task: DTV: 3

Difficult task: DTV: 5

Impossible task: DTV: 7

 

You may wish to jiggle the labels and values, but then it just works like combat: (11+OSV-DTV)=roll to succeed. Skill rolls add as they always have.

 

To my mind you get better granularity, you get a consistent mechanism throughout the system for task resolution and you introduce the idea in a very obvuious way that not all tasks are equally difficult - difficulty modifiers for task resulution are comparatively rare IME.

 

Everyone is a winner.

Eventually I would like to see this for a sixth edition (I am not holding my breath). Sure we can house rule it as of now more more things must be considered.

One problem with 'improving granularity' this way is that it undermines the value of skill levels: at present a skill level with all INT skills would cost you 5 points' date=' but with this system it would only cost 3 points to get a +1 by improving your INT.[/quote']

 

True but I believe you cannot just change the divisor without touching the Characteristics cost. Lower the divisor and they become more efficient and should cost more so it does ask for a closer look on pricing in general.

Re: CHAMPIONS UNIVERSE: NotW -- Updating Villains

How about presenting an upgraded Grond in a Hulk-level power class' date=' capable of challenging the Champions all by himself? His relative lack of power given the historical level of power the character brought to bear has been the subject of a recent thread.[/quote']

 

I agree with Hugh but with a twist. I'd like to see "a" brick upgraded to a Hulk-level power class, capable of challenging the Champions all by himself. Since Grond and Ogre are both disqualified by Rule 2, I would vote for:

 

Ripper

 

or

 

Durak

 

Ripper fits more the classic idea of a superstrong unstoppable beast. On the other hand, Durak could represent an interesting growth opportunity both power wise and personality wise and at the same time significantly boost Eurostar.

 

But sure, Grond wouldn't be the supreme brick anymore. I could live with that.

Re: The Last Dominion Campaign Setting

Speaking of downloads, am I the only one to get some funny linkages?

Western Roen gets me to the Echoes of Glory Preview and Northrun to the calendar.

Re: Thrilling Places!

Well' date=' we love Pulp too, and Pulp Hero itself sold pretty darn well. But so far, to be honest, the supplements have been a bit of a disappointment sales-wise (which is a double shame, because Rob did a fabulous job on both.) So be sure to go out and spread the word on how cool these books are, because we'd really love to do more of them! dw[/quote']

 

Please Darren, could you stop writing me mails, leaving messages on my answering machine and knocking on my bedroom window at night? My girlfriend is starting to freak out now.

 

Beside, I bought both Masterminds and Madmen and Thrilling Places last week so you have accomplished your goal I guess.

Re: The Last Dominion Campaign Setting

 

Here is the template that I used to define each region.

Oooohhhhh! This looks very nice....!

Re: The Last Dominion Campaign Setting

You did notice that he said that there is art in the book itself already, right?

 

These are just rough sketches that he had extra.

 

TB

Sure did (the same that are in the PDF I would guess). I just thought these cultural sketches were very nice and very useful.

But hey, getting them in PDF instead is a nice solution anyway...

Re: The Last Dominion Campaign Setting

I decided not to include the various concept art in the Print version.

I am sad to hear this but...

Knowing that some of you are interested, I did decide to put it all togther in a nice little PDF... I am missing several pieces from here but they are on disk somewhere hidden in my office.

 

TLD Concept Art

 

I included notes about the key concepts and I flagged various "issues."

 

Randy

... but very happy about this. I guess it was just too much effort to get these concepts cleaned up of every issues and put in the layout.

Re: The Last Dominion Campaign Setting

Since we are here.

 

What I'd really like to hear is if anybody has had the chance to dig into the setting yet? I am most interested in hearing about:

 

• How do the mechanics work for you? (magic, weapons, packages)
  
• Where have you set the campaign
  
• Any "problem areas" for your group?
  
• Concepts that draw you to the setting?
  
• Concepts that turn you off?
  
  • Not everyone is going to like the same things. This is the extent of my consumer research budget so speak up.

This is obviously not what you were fishing for but I would have loved to see these http://pencil-pushers.net/?page_id=44 in the book. In a setting so vast and rich, drawings of the different cultures is a must to help both players and GM to visualize the world. To be even more demanding, I'd like to see such drawing for every cultures . Although I admit you already have quite a few setting evocative drawings in the book.

Personally, I love the human centric, politically moving tone of the setting. To get things really moving now I would like to see regions described in much more details. You know, geography, society, people, economics, political organisations and titles. But that is what future supplements are for.

I have TLD PDF but I will buy the Dead Tree version anyway and of course the next supplement.

Re: Questions for the Canadian HEROBoard members

There was talk about changing B.C.'s name back in the 70s' date=' when the NDP first came to power provincially, but they were generally laughed at (for that and other reasons).[/quote']

 

Really? I wasn't aware of that.

 

And as a history buff' date=' trying to wipe away every last stain of our heritage leaves a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. We don't need to follow in the example of cultures like the New Kingdom Egyptians who tore down and defaced the statues of the rulers of the last generation. The British weren't the nicest folk, particularly given what they did in Acadia or to the native peoples, and it's a mistake to romanticize them. On the other hand, there are far worse examples of colonial bastards on the history of this planet, and it's a mistake to get too reactionary about them either. [/quote']

 

Whoa! Hang in there. I don't know if this reaction was directed at my comments or at the NPD's policy back then but rest assured this is nowhere near what I was saying. I love history myself and wouldn't dream of erasing it. I am happy with the Royal part in any organisation you want even though there is nothing royal about them. I am quite happy with British and French symbols, tributes and traditions in our names, arms, flags, institutions or whatever.

 

But at the same time, I am all for looking forward as well. There is really three things I really dislikes : colonial flags (Ontario, Manitoba, heck even Australia), the fact that our Head of State is the sovereign of a foreign country and provincial names that make it sound like they belong to a foreign country (BC and PEI).

 

I guess I believe symbols are important for a strong independent country.

Re: Questions for the Canadian HEROBoard members

Well' date=' if we're changing BC to get away from the "British" connotations, we better look at Nova Scotia (New Scotland), and pretty much any place with "New" in its name. England, Jersey and York, for example, are also all British.[/quote']

 

Two things here.

 

First, I was not saying that in order to get away from the British connotations. Great Britain is part of our past and there nothing to be ashamed of. My dislike of the name would be the same if it was called the French Columbia.

 

Second, I have no problem at all with names like "Nova Scotia", "New Jersey" and such. I think it is a nice tribute to whatever origins these places have. As such, I have no problem with having both British and French symbols in our flags our arms. Québec has four fleur de lys and I don't complain about it.

 

It is just a personal nitpick of mine. To me "British Columbia" sounds too much like "this Columbia is British", "it is populated by British" or "it is own by the British" or something.

 

Hey, I never said my dislike was rational

Re: Questions for the Canadian HEROBoard members

Oh Lord Liaden, why keep "British" Columbia as a name? Is there any incencitive to change it or are you guys quite comfortable and happy with it?

Re: Questions for the Canadian HEROBoard members

OTOH a great many Quebecois migrate to Florida during the winter months. A number of businesses in popular areas of the state take Canadian money at par, and have been teaching their service personnel French.

 

Of course as mentioned earlier, many Canadians head south for the winter. We refer to them as "Snowbirds."

Correct. I was talking more about traveling to other provinces for work or school and such. For vacation, I don't think we travel less than anyone else. For holidays, a lot of people are going south (Florida, Virginia, Cuba, etc...), west (British Columbia, Alberta, California, Nevada) or across (France England, Spain, Italy)...

Re: Questions for the Canadian HEROBoard members

Now that you had a few very good pointers from my English Canadians fellows, let me give you some Québecois' perspective. Keep in mind that whatever I say is only meant to be a broad generalization so take it with a grain of salt as, obviously, not everybody feels and behaves the same.

1) Do the English-speaking Canadians have characteristic speech habits ("eh")? If so' date=' do these vary with province?[/quote']

 

I agree with both Lord Liaden and David Johnston here. I haven't much to add to it.

 

2) How do the people of one province feel about people from other provinces? Do Canadians feel the same way about the provinces that the Americans do about the states?

 

I'd say Québécois feel a bit isolated within Canada and we often think as Québec versus RoC. Contrary to what some would want people to believe, Québécois do not hate English Canadians and in any aspect of life, may it be sports, politics, wars or anything, we will always side with our fellow Canadians against in outside competition.

 

I guess badmouthing Québec is fairly common in RoC but again, I've met a lot of outside Québec Canadian, both while I was visiting or when they were coming here, and I heard a lot of "I thought " but most of the time, they were quite happy with what they saw and who they met here.

 

3) How strong are Canada's ties to the Commonwealth and to Great Britain? Are pictures of the Queen displayed in schoolrooms and places of business? How much does Great Britain come up in everyday Canadian life' date=' and how much does the U.S. come up? Be honest, could real live Canadians care less about either country?[/quote']

 

In Québec, it is fairly inexistant. The only place we see the Queen is on the 20 dollars bill and Great Britain doesn't come up at all in every day life. Most Québécois believe all the protocol around the Queen being Head of State and all is completely useless and should be scrapped. It is not like she has any real influence here. Heck I personally believe some provinces should think about changing flags to replace the old colonial ones. And what about British Columbia? What is wrong with Canadian Columbia? Or even the Vancouver Province (this one is for you Lord Liaden )

 

For that matter, even France doesn't really come up here. Both countries are part of our past but we feel neither British nor French even though we generally respect both countries. The US has more influence than both Great Britain and France though movies, fast food chains or big outlet. Maybe there is a stronger anti-american sentiment here then elsewhere in Canada but it doesn't have anything to do with the american people but everything to do with the Bush regime and the (perceived) arrogance of late American politics. In ant case, French, British, American, or else are generally very well received around here. Heck, we even greet Ontarians!

 

4) How do Canadians feel about the Royal Canadian Mounted Police? Are the Mounties equivalent to America's FBI' date=' or more like the Texas Rangers?[/quote']

 

Probably because we have a provincial police here ( La Sûreté du Québec), we don't interract much with the RCMP (which we call GRC here or la Gendarmerie Royale du Canada).

 

5) How much tension is there between the English- and French-speaking Canadians? Is it something people see every day?

 

None really. The tension were at the highest around both référendum in 1980 and 1995 and even then that was nothing really. The resentment that Québécois feels when they are not adressed in French in their own province is grossly exagerated. In fact, it is almost the other way around. If a foreigner comes here and tries to speak French, he will immediately wins sympathy and even respect. Sometime, even a "Bonjour comment ça va?" followed by an admittance that all your French vocabulary is exhausted will be quite enough to earn you sympathy. Now speak broken French and keep trying and you've got respect. If a foreigner (non-Canadian but even fellow Canadians only visiting) do no not speak French, it is no biggies really since we do not really expect him to (although we would love Canadians to be as much fluent in French as we are in English). From Québec English community we do expect more but will be merely annoyed that "he is not even trying".

 

Now, in Québec, if we get served in English in restaurants, outlets, movie theaters, government services and whatnot, then we get resentful

 

6) Do the Canadians travel much inside Canada? How much of Canada is accessible (without heroic effort)?

 

I believe that Québécois tend to travel less in other provinces than American and English Canadian would. I guess it is because we feel like foreigner outside of Québec.

Re: What fundamental thing would you change about the Hero system?

Also' date=' I've found that using a 2.5 divisor produces unequal "groupings" of roll values. stats of 9-11 produce a +4, but only 12-13 produces +5. Raising it to 3 would get rid of the unequal groups, and keep the emphasis on the skill, IMO.[/quote']

 

Without shaking things up too much, that would be my preference too.

Re: What fundamental thing would you change about the Hero system?

Oh! And I would like the Characteristic system reworked a bit (see this post for an example http://www.herogames.com/forums/showpost.php?p=840778&postcount=33).

But that would be far from a fundamental change in heroic games. It might upset things a bit in superheroic though.

Re: What fundamental thing would you change about the Hero system?

Get ready....

Reduce the number of subsytems. We have:

Rolling Normal Damage

Rolling Killing Damage

Characteristics Rolls

Characteristic contests

To hit rolls

Many different skill cost structures.

Comparison rolls (such as many mental powers and Pre attacks)

 

and I'm sure there are more.

Reduce the number of these. Aim for:

 

1) One resolution mechanic for success/failure:

To hit

Skill rolls

Cha Rolls

 

2 ) One resolution mechanic for effect:

Damage

degree of effectiveness

 

This is a "Me Too" moment!!!

Re: The Last Dominion Campaign Setting

POD perfect bound. I am still debating on color vs black and white. I spent an ugly amount of money on illustrations and cartography' date=' so it would be a real let down to skimp at the printing phase. However, people need to be able to afford it.[/quote']

 

True. I'd prefer color myself but then again do you have a range of price for both B&W and color?

 

Dread "I should really take the time to read it soon" Domain

Re: The Last Dominion Campaign Setting

Yes' date=' it will but probably not until after GenCon.[/quote']

 

Cool. In what format will it be printed?

Re: The Last Dominion Campaign Setting

No problem. Same goes for anyone esle who ended up without the maps...?

 

PS - be sure to tell everyone what you think when you get a moment. Maybe we can get a review thread going pretty shortly (I expect a few reviews in the short term).

 

Randy

Thanks, I got them! Yesterday I had a look at the download in the Hero Games online store and it seems there is only one pdf file (ppp00001.pdf).

Like I said, I just browsed it but it looks very promising. I soon as I get the time to read it, I will let you know what I think. Two things will slow down my progress. First, I am in the process of starting a GURPS* Warhammer** game and second, I have a hard time reading on the computer. That's why I never ever buy PDF. I made an exception with TLD because it looked very promising from both the blurb and the preview.

*At some point I was battling deciding between GURPS and HERO to play in WH. In the end, I thought it would be easier with GURPS 4 just because it is more gritty than Hero. It also helped that in the last five years I've played Hero exclusively and I thought a change would be nice. Would I have gotten TLD a month ago, my decision, both system and setting wise, could have been different.

**Do you know the Warhammer setting? If you, how would you compare TLD to it?

Re: The Last Dominion Campaign Setting

There should be two PDFs included in your zipped download. One is the main setting and the other contains the four maps at high res and with a full page layout. If you don't have both of those' date=' send me an email at [email']Eosin_the_Red@cox.net[/email] and I will send you a link to a file with just the maps.

Thank you Eosin. I just e-mailed you.

DD