Lucius

I'm on record as wishing for an export template that includes just the names and notes. Of course, that would mean I'd have to make good notes. Lucius Alexander The palindromedary likes notes, as long as they're not notes of classical music.

I would say, if you are not making the knight pay points for the castle, the knight shouldn't have to pay points for the soldiers. But hired help is "easy come, easy go;" morale and loyalty may sometimes be called into question, etc. If the player WANTS to spend character points for one or more followers, they can get a much more reliable henchman, have more input into how the follower character is built, etc. There is a third way, by the way, using Summon. Here's an example. Leadership: (Total: 261 Active Cost, 31 Real Cost) Summon 8 200-point creatures, Loyal (+1/2), Variable Advantage (+1/2 Advantages; Limited Group of Advantages; Expanded Class, extend Time Limit, Extra Tasks; +3/4), Time Limit (1 Month; +2 1/2) (261 Active Points); 1 Charge which Recovers every 1 Week (-2 1/2), No Conscious Control (-2), Extra Time (1 Day, Only to Activate, -2), Arrives Under Own Power (-1/2), Summoned Being Must Inhabit Locale (-1/2) (Real Cost: 31) Due to natural charisma, hard earned reputation, or for some other reason, your character tends to attract powerful people or creatures as followers. Also, you could use a Perk such as "Rank" or "Noble" and say that this includes a certain number of automatic followers, whose reliability and capability will be somewhere between those bought as Followers and those hired for coin. Lucius Alexander Followed by a palindromedary

Oh, and Discretion Assured: (Total: 5 Active Cost, 5 Real Cost) Anonymity (Don't kiss and tell your spouse/old sibling/other possessive or protective person) (Real Cost: 3) <b>plus</b> Positive Reputation (A small to medium sized group) 14-, +2/+2d6 (DO tell your friends: For a Good Time, Call....) (Real Cost: 2) Lucius Alexander Again, don't tell the palindromedary

Because he's badmouthing this anthology in particular and women who write science fiction in general as a way of drawing attention to his own writings, and they don't want to give him free and undeserved publicity. Yes, I did decide to follow the link. Lucius Alexander Back and forth on a palindromedary

If I were to follow the link, would I gain any insight into why he bothers to make an obviously false assertion easily refuted by anyone with even a cursory knowledge of the subject? Lucius Alexander The palindromedary doubts it.

Teflon Don Juan Sex is for Fun: (Total: 4 Active Cost, 2 Real Cost) Change Environment (-1m of any mode of Movement), Area Of Effect (4m Radius; +1/4), Persistent (+1/4), Inherent (+1/4), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Uncontrolled (+1/2), Sticky (+1/2) (3 Active Points); Limited Power Only vs Spermatazoa (-2), No Range (-1/2), Always On (-1/2) (Real Cost: 1) <b>plus</b> Life Support (Immunity: Venereal Disease), Sticky (+1/2) (Real Cost: 1) They Can't Make it Stick: (Total: 5 Active Cost, 2 Real Cost) Fringe Benefit: Diplomatic Immunity (5 Active Points); Limited Power Only as pertains to ethical consensual erotic activities (-1 1/2) (Real Cost: 2) Resist Romantic Entanglements: (Total: 12 Active Cost, 5 Real Cost) +6 with EGO Roll (12 Active Points); Limited Power Only to resist Charm (-1), Conditional Power Only in romantic context (-1/2) (Real Cost: 5) Lucius Alexander Don't try to explain it to the palindromedary

Relax, they still don't have names or speaking parts. Lucius Alexander Not until the palindromedary ambles up and starts a conversation with them

I met one person who claimed to have used them, explicitly when her group had decided to experiment with actually using all the rules in the book and following them to the letter. She didn't say how long they'd kept at it but it didn't seem like it was for long. Obvious in that I know how I, personally, feel when I see a game system list "melee weapon" as a single line (and it's probably a telling detail that I haven't seen that very often.) Also obvious when I stop and put some thought into it and realize that players want to feel that they have meaningful choices, and if all weapons are identical, the choice of weapon becomes meaningless - in a sense, it's a form of "railroading." Lucius Alexander Obviously a palindromedary tagline

I put tons of detail into designing weapons for fantasy, and then found we mostly ignore it at the table. Neither I nor my players remember things like the initiative bonuses, the fact some weapons need to be "readied," etc. I've thought about scrapping what I have and starting over with the idea of keeping it as simple as possible from the start. Obviously though there needs to be some distinction between weapon types, I can't believe players will accept a sword, an ax, a pick, and a hammer, that are functionally identical. Lucius Alexander The palindromedary says of coruse Alexander's First Rule of Weapons Tables should always apply

Area Effect, Explosion, define the Explosion as meaning not lesser damage outside the central Radius, but no damage with full knockback. Lucius Alexander The palindromedary buys Healing, Area Effect, Does Knockback

Instead of basing armor on Resistant Protection, base it on Damage Negation. Higher tech weapons have Reduced Negation. Lucius Alexander The palindromedary gets Negated Reduction

To undo damage after it has been inflicted, the appropriate Powers are Healing and Regeneration. Trying to Drain or Suppress the damage dealing Power after it has dealt damage is like breaking a sword after it has cut someone. It doesn't do anything to heal the injury already inflicted. Lucius Alexander The palindromedary says if there's a poison in someone's system and you are trying to prevent FURTHER damage, Drain or Suppress might work - and so might Life Support.

It can be Lucius Alexander But I don't want to know what this stuff is I'm shampooing out of the palindromedary's coat

I was reminded of this issue again recently when the guy running the Monster Hunter International game suggested my character, a 30 STR Troll, should get a Killing Attack to leverage that STR. Lucius Alexander The palindromedary points out that my character has been carrying sharp stake but just not using it.

Healing is an Adjustment Power. Adjustment Powers have half effect on "Defensive Characteristics" such as BOD, STUN, & END. Does Healing therefore have half effect when restoring BOD, STUN, & END, the very abilities it would seem to be designed to effect and will be used for most often? edit: Thank you, I was pretty sure that was the answer but I hadn't found it after a search so I decided to ask. Lucius Alexander Adjusting a palindromedary

A lot of the differences have more to do with how much things cost or what they are called, than with how they work. Lucius Alexander 1st edition palindromedary

Okay, that does make a difference. Lucius Alexander The palindromedary buys Life Support: Diplomatic Immunity

You have a point.... edit: but it's more an argument for making longevity cheaper than for making immunity to temperatures more expensive. Lucius Alexander the palindromedary wants to take a century to consider it

Thinks that are archived don't turn up in search, unless you specifically search archive. Lucius Alexander Archival palindromedary

Tree Bond: (Total: 21 Active Cost, 2 Real Cost) Life Support (Eating: Character does not eat; Longevity: 1600 Years), Uncontrolled (+1/2), Difficult To Dispel (x4 Active Points; +1/2), Usable Nearby (+1), Grantor pays the END whenever the power is used, Grantor can take back power at any time (21 Active Points); 1 Charge which Recovers every 1 Season (-3 1/2), IIF Immobile Durable (-1 1/4), Extra Time (5 Minutes, Only to Activate, Character May Take No Other Actions, -1 1/4), Side Effects, Side Effect occurs automatically whenever Power is used (Side Effect occurs when character stops using power, Side Effect does a predefined amount of damage; -1), Costs Endurance (Only Costs END to Activate; -1/4), Gestures (-1/4), Incantations (-1/4) (Real Cost: 2) Joins the life force of the caster, and as many others as can crowd around and touch the tree, to the tree. Uncontrolled is so that the effect continues after leaving the tree and moving apart from one another. The bond can be severed by a sufficient Dispel or by destroying the tree itself; either way, the subjects take 12 BOD and 24 STUN. Until then, subjects age slowly and need not eat, their lives being supported by that of the tree. Lucius Alexander Palindromedary Bond

I converted the first two of those Giant modules into Hero, but that was ages ago, using 1st edition, and I have no clue where my notes are. Lucius Alexander I think the palindromedary ate them.

You flatter me.... My own approach to building "minions" has been to build "squad powers" that have the "requires multiple users" Limitation, so that a group makes one attack but the OCV, damage, Area of Effect, amount of Autofire, etc. depend on how many there still are. Individuals are still targeted and taken out as individuals, but instead of having to roll 5 different attacks I roll 1 attack with perhaps +10 OCV and Autofire. I make no claim that it's a superior solution but it's one that's worked for me in play sometimes. Lucius Alexander The palindromedary observes that sometimes Lucius Alexander's wit seems to dry up and blow away

The Game: Monster Hunter International The Game Operations Director: My long-suffering friend Mike I have been inconsistently referring to my character as a Trollop, thanks to Robert Asprin's "Myth Adventures" series using that word for female Trolls. I looked it up and the words ARE cognate! Titania likes to call herself Fiona after the princess is the movie Shrek, and uses the radio call-sign "Faerie Princess." Kylie gave up on trying to stop Titania from calling her "Crocodile." Remember the name: Surbrook's Stuff, source of more Hero characters and goodies than you can shake a Stick: (Total: 7 Active Cost, 2 Real Cost) Hand-To-Hand Attack +1d6, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2) (7 Active Points); OAF (-1), Hand-To-Hand Attack (-1/4), Real Weapon (-1/4), STR Minimum 3 (-1/4), Required Hands One-Handed (-0) (Real Cost: 2) at! Titania has taken to calling this character "Copperhead." Last session the Game Operations Director finally noticed that under Knowledge Skills I had put "Carnal." Last session the G. O. D. made it clear the name is "DOM" not Don. Copperhead's player and I agreed that we'd start imagining him as Dom DeLouise. Then we had to explain to Crocodile's player who that was. In any case Titania the Trollop always calls him "Big Boomstick." Crococile's player is the one with Clairvoyance, but Titania's nickname for Dom turned out to be precognizant. This (basketball practice with the tank holding the hoop) has since happened. The tank has also actually seen use; we'll get to that. So we end up fighting, and destroying, a giant scorpion that came up out of a tunnel. So we have to go down the tunnel to find out where it came from, if there are more, etc. Copperhead, who is carrying a grenade launcher and has "paintball" grenades (filled with brightly colored powders) opens a couple of them to make red and green arrows(edit: that is, arrow shapes on the ground. He's not turning missiles meant to be launched from a grenade launcher into missiles to be launched from a bow.) to mark tunnels we go down and tunnels we came from. At one point when we hear something coming we all douse lights, switch to night visions goggles, and make Concealment rolls. And it turns out that the night vision goggles themselves give off a green light that makes it impossible to hide in a dark chamber while wearing them. Our choice seems to be either to be blind or to be blindingly obvious. I resolve to buy up Titania's Inventor Skill and work on a solution to this. After a couple of scorpions reduce my Trollop to negatives in STUN and BOD: Copperhead (OoC): These monsters can one-shot us but we can't one-shot them. Fiona (OoC): I am starting to think Monster Hunter is designed to just shred player characters. Remember, Copperhead's carrying a grenade launcher and he's feeling ineffective about the damage he does. Goes to show even the Hero system can be a meat grinder if the monsters outclass the adventurers. Fortunately, Trolls regenerate so I'm in play again shortly. Fiona (OoC): Troll First Aid is "sit down a minute, you'll feel better soon." (Repeated several times, it's becoming a catch phrase.) Fiona (OoC): My team mates may hate me for saying this, but if I was stung and took BODy, am I going to be feeling the poiston soon? Game Operations Director: Oh yeah, I forgot. It's a STR Drain. (Rolls 3d6, gets 5) Lose 5 STR. Fiona (OoC): Lost 5 out of 30? I'll never notice. I wish he'd rolled that poorly on damage and hit locations against us... One scorpion is smeared with yellow and red substances, probably a clue to where it's been that we haven't figured out yet. Fiona tastes it and determines it's ketchup and mustard. Then cracks open a claw, tries some of the meat with ketchup and mustard - she has an Iron Stomach, Immunity to ingested poisons, pathogens, and noxious substances, on a CON roll. G. O. D. makes me make the CON roll; I fail, but it's not poisonous just noxious, so I declare that giant scorpion does NOT taste like lobster. We still haven't been down all the tunnels so we still don't know how it got condiments on it. Eventually we track the scorpions to their apparent source, where the tunnel came up as a big hole in the floor of a warehouse. First thing we do is get GPS coordinates and call it in, I think that was Crocodile's excellent idea. The place was guarded by two gargoyles. As we're falling back to the hole, hoping they won't pursue beyond the place they are programmed to guard, the Tank comes busting through a wall Everybody: HEY KOOL AID MAN! and opens fire with the main gun, shattering a gargoyle. Big Boomstick (Dom Gunn) pops out and grabs the Tank's machine gun and starts damaging the other gargoyle. G. O. D. :He's using a bigger caliber than anything you've got. Fiona, to Copperhead: See the size of that gun? I know why he's using such a big caliber. He's compensating for something. I've hacked into his account. Copperhead: He has self-porn? Fiona: I've read the emails from disappointed women. The second gargoyle actually manages to damage the Tank before it's taken out. Then Fiona runs up to Dom and says Fiona: Boomstick! You came to help and you brought the self-driving tank! Another hatch pops and the driver sticks his head out. Driver: What do you mean, self driving tank? Fiona points to Big Boomstick: He said it was self-driving! Driver: I'm driving this tank. (closes hatch) So far this character hasn't been named, but as far as Fiona is concerned, he's Kool Aid Man. Fiona checks out the office, and finds documents and computer (after a Hacking Skill roll) show nothing more recent than four months ago. She picks up the computer tower and carries it to the Rank. Big Boomstick: You know all we need is the hard drive? Fiona: Maybe all YOU need is a hard drive. Copperhead: Yeah, the rec room needs something to play games on. We search the warehouse, finding it mostly full of four month old foodstuffs, so the Trollop is snacking as they go along. Without the uncanny perceptual abilities of "Crocodile" Kylie, we never would have found the false bottom in one of the crates. Secret Security Systems rolls are made for both the redneck and the Trollop to see if there are traps, then Fiona opens it. The other two position themselves a few steps back. Of course there's a fiery explosion - an Energy Killing Attack. Fortunately Trolls do have some Resistant ED. I mark off a couple of BOD that won't Regenerate. G. O. D. : Don't you have a Vulnerability to Fire? He's right. I recalculate damage and mark off several points of BOD that won't Regenerate. Fiona: It burns! Runs towards the Tank, falls into the hole in the floor, makes Breakfall roll to leap to her feet again and keep running (remember, this was a tunnel sloping up to the floor; Fiona ran into it from the "back" and thus fell, then easily ran up the slope back to ground level) Fiona: Hey Kool Aid Man! bangs on the hatch Fiona: I need to cool down, where's the Kool Aid? Kool Aid Man pops out: There's no Kool Aid here. Fiona: You came busting through the wall like Kool Aid Man but didn't bring the Kool Aid? Copperhead: That thing doesn't have a Kool Aid dispenser in it? Crocodile: How soon can I go home? (Meaning back to Australia) Hey Dom, that trap was protecting some kind of case. It's locked. Big Boomstick: Bring it over here. They approach, avoiding the hole. Fiona, to Boomstick: Know what I hate about Humans? You invented fire. Big Boomstick: We didn't invent fire, the Titans gave it to us. Well, that's if you believe in legends. Fiona: You're talking to a Troll. The other two arrive with the case. Fiona: There aren't going to be any more fiery explosions, are there? Crocodile: If there are, you'll be the first to know. Fiona: I'll just wait over on the other side of the Tank. It was decided to take the case back to base for further investigation. Oh, and at some point regarding the burn injuries: Fiona: That's what Mother Ettindam's Unguent is for. Treating burns is the one kind of first aid Trolls WOULD know. And yes, I have since written up that Trollish secret unguent and if it meets with the approval of the Game Operations Director I'll be using it. Edit: Next time we played, everyone except "Crocodile" Kylie forgot about the case. Which turns out to contain a scroll that no one can read - except Crocodile. Seems we have a potential mage. Copperhead John started making Weaponsmith rolls to try to get some of the beneficial modifications Monster Hunster International allows for fire arms, and was frustrated by repeated failures: until our Game Operations Director remembered we were using Dom Gunn's facilities, which he'd already written up as giving a +6 to such rolls. Now we ALL have bonuses to our boomsticks; my character's light machinegun has a +4 OCV now. Oh, and we're all getting armor piercing ammunition. Copperhead engraved his own personal weapons and wanted to put flowers and the words "Faerie Princess" on mine, but I wanted something else on it. Fiona(holding up the machinegun and addressing it dramatically): I will give you a name. I will call you MINA'S REVENGE! Then I had to explain who that was (the character in the original Dracula story.) Lucius Alexander Correction: Palindromedary Enterprises has received no promotional consideration from Kool Aid. Mother Ettindam provided 128 cases of unguent, but the Game Operations Director confiscated most of them. Surbrook's Stuff provided the character John Lee Pettimore III but the version appearing here has been extensively revised and expanded.

Patrick Cakes, known as Baker Man, got his start supplying things like super sticky cream pies to villains like Foxbat and Clown, then came muffins that could be used as throwing weapons and finally exploding baked goods. He showed up at the first FTD organizational meeting because he though they were looking for people with flour powers. Lucius Alexander The palindromedary says that stuff may be baked but isn't good.

I knew there was something I liked about you.... Lucius Alexander ...besides that you're nice to palindromedaries