Lucius

Re: Star Wars - Balancing Jedi with everyone else and heroic vs. superheroic Your initial idea sounds fine to me, if I understood it correctly. I don't think setting out the kind of points guidelines you're talking about is any more "un-Hero" than limiting damage classes or active points or any other campaign guidelines. And you can always waive them if someone has an idea that just doesn't fit, but that you still think will work as a character! Lucius Alexander You'd be surprised at where I can fit a palindromedary...

Killing as an Advantage; Some Alternatives Which would be fine, if the problem were the "stun lotto." It isn't. There are people who have a problem with the stun lotto, and this among other suggestions is a way to combat that. But the real, Hero-violating-its-own-rules PROBLEM is that a killing attack is a "free" advantage of the Attack Vs Limited Defenses type, and the counteracting defense is a plus half advantage. However, this is a structure well worth considering; it reminds me of the one someone already proposed, also based on rolling dice as for a normal attack, and applying it against only resistant defenses. Lucius Alexander Palindromedary Enterprises

Hero System design considerations

How to handle RKA? I hope you good people don't mind.... I crossposted to a thread in Hero System Discussion called "Killing as an Advantage." (Not about the advantages of killing people (which would have gone in Non Gaming Discussion I suppose) but about making "Killing" an advantage on an attack power rather than its own set of stand alone powers.) It's been said before, and it'll be said again....how do you define "lethal?" As far as a normal human being is concerned, a 10d6 energy blast is a "lethal weapon" in the sense that it will kill him, the only sense that really matters to HIM. Wether something is defined in game terms as a "killing attack" is really irrelevant to the issue of "unrestrained use of dangerous powers." So the "Stun Lotto" is "broken" because it doesn't work for supers that well? Is Knockback "broken" because it doesn't work for most adventures at the heroic level? Some things work for some kinds of game but not for others. See below.... I'd say eliminating the Stun Lotto for supers may make sense - but not necessarily giving a points break for it, just as you probably wouldn't let a fantasy mage or martial artist take "does no knockback" as a limitation. Well, they doubled the cost of Aid because it was percieved as an abuse-prone power. But why double the cost of defense? If you decided armor piercing had become exceptionally useful in your game and doubled its cost, would you then double the cost of harden? This is interesting. Basically it's stripping Killing Attack down to its basic, defining feature of being an Attack Vs Limited Defense. Lucius Alexander With thanks to brianca Alexander for the new palindromedary avatar.

Carried Over From Another Thread..... I thought this was relevant......this is the post that started the thread over in Champions When it was concluded that the Aid power was too easily abused, they eventually doubled the cost. As for the "Stun Lotto" being a "broken mechanic" : maybe if you're playing Supers. Knockback would be pretty broken if you used it in most heroic settings. It's just not appropriate there, so the rules say use it only for supers. Maybe they need a similar change to the "Stun Lotto," saying don't use it for Supers. I can see why you didn't realize that. The cost of 1d6 killing is the same as for 3d6 normal. You'd THINK they'd be equivalent in value. Killing attacks aren't overpriced - they're underpriced. That said, if you do want to eliminate the "stun lotto" for supers, there shouldn't necessarily be a cost break for it, just as a fantasy mage or martial artist at heroic level can't take a "does no knockback" limitation. This is an interesting idea. It certainly eliminates the "Stun Lotto" Lucius Alexander Thanks to brianca Alexander for the palindromedary avatar

Re: Hero System design considerations Many Many years ago, I played, briefly, in a game called "Bushido" which was translated from the Japanese. They also had karma points, and they did the same thing - having more karma points meant your next incarnation was better. As I recall, though, if you got up to 50 karma points the game recommended starting over "unless you really want a living Buddha in the game." As for the rest of this thread, a lot of good points made all around, but I honestly can't think of much I can say that isn't already being said. I've heard from people elsewhere that Hero has a greater tendency than other games to have the players end up saying "Now I'll hit him with my 10d6 energy blast" rather than "Now, Ogre, feel the power of my stellar photonic blasts!" I think part of the reason we - or maybe I should just say I - don't "hide the plumbing" more is a desire to let the players be creative, and you CAN'T create anything if you don't see how the system works. But perhaps that is a false perception. I have certainly had a player ask "Can I do this with this spell?" (A spell I deliberately designed to have both variable advantage and variable effects, to make it flexible) without knowing how to describe what she wanted in game terms. I knew that what she wanted was well within her capabilities, and told her what rolls to make (magick roll, attack roll to get the area of effect targetted, damage roll.) Something else I've used to make magick more unpredictable - a limitation -1/4 called "capricious." It means just that - the magick is unpredictable. If the Game Operations Director wants to, they can change the description a little bit each time it manifests - sometimes even being a good thing, but on balance inconveniencing. Maybe a lot of work for the G.O.D. - but if "mysterious and unquantifiable" is the feel you want, that's exactly the work you'll want to be doing. Someone else (so sorry, I forget your name) who has been criticizing Hero, also remarked "D&D is just as mechanistic, just more arbitrary and unsystematic." In that case, I would venture to say you don't really have a problem with Hero specifically - you have a problem with ANY system that has what the people on this board call "crunchy bits." And that's fine, if that's what you want. Much as I like Hero, I don't think I'd want it to be the only option for roleplaying games. An ironic thought just struck me. Here I find people saying Hero is bad for simulating magick - and I remember, way back with Champions II, seeing the Gadgeteering rules, saying "Finally, a system flexible and nuanced enough to do magick right." Part of what really drew me into the Hero System (before it was called that) was thinking how well I could do magick with it. Lucius Alexander The palindromedary points out that I've run on much longer than I planned...

Re: Looking for NEW words of transformation: (SHAZAM, Thunder! Thunder!...) Not a transformation word, but from the Destroyer novels - and I think it's actually a direct quote from one of the Hindu Vedas "I am created Shiva, the Destroyer. I am Death, the shatterer of worlds." However, I agree with the person who suggested either "Schrodinger's Cat!" or else "Wave form" and "Particle form" to switch back and forth. That seems to fit the character. Lucius Alexander The palindromedary suggests "Sator arepo tenet opera rotas." To switch back, say it backwards.

Hero System design considerations Exactly HOW does a "1d6/5 pts" mechanic "create a superhero feel?" I'm afraid that confuses me. Lucius Alexander The palindromedary says the word of the day is ___________

Re: Growing Up Polytheistic Do I know you from ISCA?? Lucius Alexander And the invisible pink palindromedary

Re:Sponding to a Lot of Posts Thank you. I am rediscovering the pleasure of this unique online community. A VERY good idea. I will probably use it! Thank you. "Real Weapon" limitation. Assumed to be part of the build of "normal" equipment. It basically says you can't use a weapon to do something it obviously can't do, like cut down a tree with a pocketknife (unless you're willing to take a LONG time at it....) Already in the system, but I don't feel like looking up the page number. I intend to use hit locations. Where hit locations aren't appropriate, I do plan to use the "Stun Lottery." I consider the wide range of stun possible with a Killing Attack to be an approximation of reality - for whatever that's worth. It is quite possible to be knocked out or go into shock from wounds that are not at all life threatening in themselves, and people have also been known to stay on their feet and keep fighting until they literally fall over dead. I was reading earlier tonight about a man who was shot, drove off his would be robbers, and went on to deliver four pizzas before finding out he had taken a bullet in the leg. Um. Maybe so, and maybe I've just been out of the game too long, but I didn't understand that. Did anyone else? Lucius Alexander The palindromedary proudly points out that the pedant has posted with multi-quote for the first time, and he's using too much alliteration too.

Re: Growing Up Polytheistic Even among people who share the same pantheon, the specifics of the myth may differ - depending on what town you're from, what temple you go to, even on who exactly is telling the story. Consider the myth of Persephone and Hades - one of the more vitally imortant of the Hellenic myths. No matter who tells the story, Persephone ends up eating some pomegranite seeds. But exactly how, and why? I've seen one source even contradict itself, stating that Hades "tricked" and "forced" Persephone into eating the seeds. Others have it that she ate them willingly and readily. Lucius Alexander Pompous pedantic Pagan on a palindromedary

Killing as an Advantage; Some Results I am stunned! (Recovering from being stunned.) Okay. First of all, this is very close to what I had already decided to do as a house rule. (That's why I was stunned.) And I have also been wondering for some time when someone would point out the obvious - that the Killing Attack/Resistant Defenses complex of game rules is an obvious violation of some of the basic principles of Hero System, such as "For every attack there is a defense, and the defense is usually cheaper." Killing Attack is, as you say, merely a kind of ABSOLUTELY FREE Attack vs Limited Defense advantage, and the defense against it is a ** +1/2 ADVANTAGE ** (!) I am not sure how this situation has remained uncorrected through all these revisions, other than to say that it has, after all, always been this way and people are so used to it that they just don't see it....until it's pointed out. If someone introduced a brand new attack advantage and counteracting defense advantage that were so grossly out of balance, it would be shot down - or corrected and put in balance - almost immediately. Now, here is something else that really struck me hard, reading everyone else's posts.... HERO SYSTEM IS NOT JUST CHAMPIONS. In theory, as I understand it, Hero System is supposed to work for everything. Consider that the whole knockback question does not even usually apply except in superheroic games. What does it do to your equations when you factor that in? Same goes for the question of "do you want your supers doing that?" or however it was expressed. Well, generally speaking, your four color supers don't have killing attacks anyway. That's for villains, agents, and the occasional "Wolverine" type. But more to the point, not everyone uses Hero to play "supers." Now, personally, I never had a problem with the "Stun lottery" for the simple reason that it more or less cancels out. Also, I usually play with Hit Locations. What I have a problem with is the simple fact that Killing Attack is an attack advantage that, under current rules, you don't have to pay for - and that the counteracting defense is a +1/2 advantage. My solution is to make "Killing" a +1/2 advantage that turns a normal attack into the equivalent damage class of killing attack - so 15 base points turns into a 1d6 killing attack. That still leaves the defensive advantage at the same cost as the attack advantage. If I get the game up and running, and find I have any useful observations on this solution, I may post them. Meanwhile, I have a question for Nucleon (no, not "why do you speak in the third person?" I regularly interact with people with even more distracting affectations.) What do you do with the idea of STR adding damage to hand to hand Killing Attacks? Or do your players never use them, opting for ranged Killing Attacks, so the situation never arose? Lucius Alexander Palindromedary Enterprises

Kushiel's Hero To explain what it's about - The main character, Phedre, is a courtesan and a masochist. Her bodyguard, Josclyn, is one of the Cassaline order. One of my favorite scenes is where Phedre is with an army about to try to lift a seige. If someone could get word to the queen in the city that help is coming, so that the defenders are expecting the relieving army and ready to assist, it would help their chances of victory tremendously.... So, the night before the attack, Phedre sneaks off from her bodyguard, and lets the one man in the camp she trusts to NOT try to stop her know what she is doing. He says "But if they capture you, they'll torture you to find out what you.....oh." She is going because, if she even CAN be broken, it would take them too long for it to be useful. He realizes this - and lets her go. Earlier, when she and her bodyguard had been betrayed and sold into slavery to outlanders, it is Phedra who keeps them both going, when the warrior-monk Josclyn is ready to lie down, give up and die. More than once, during their captivity and then escape through wilderness, she keeps them going - and Josclyn is NOT a weak character, but very much a hero in his own right. I reccommend the books. Kushiel's Dart is one of the greatest novels I've read in a long time. But this doesn't get me any closer to writing it all up for Hero. Lucius Alexander Palindromedary Enterprises

A Justice Inc Story Before there was Pulp Hero, there was Justice Inc - an early Hero System game of the twenties and thirties. I played a character who was a witch. Dec 14 and familiarity with knife - otherwise, no combat ability, but with some interesting skills and psychic powers. One of the game villains kidnapped my character's DNPC. The other players were going to go rescue him, and because they said my character was no good in a fight, I was left behind. This was a mistake. I think the reason for kidnapping my little brother in the first place was to lure them away and give the villain's henchmen a chance to kidnap my character. In any case, I am working in the curiosity shop owned by another character's aunt, when a couple of trench coated oriental gentlemen come in and are very insistent that I accompany them elsewhere. It takes no great psychic gift to know this would be a bad idea. So I pick up one of the brighter baubles lying around, and ask "Have you ever seen anything quite like this? It is fascinating. Look at the way it reflects the light....look closer...." Unfortunately, it is difficult to hypnotize two men at a time who already had a clear intention in mind. So that failed. They took me by the arms and were hustling me out. So I picked the pocket of the one on the right. Sure enough, he had a gun in his coat pocket. I didn't even bother to draw it out - I pulled the trigger where it was. No hit roll needed. The other man thought the old woman (the other character's aunt) had shot at them. He wheeled and fired, fortunately missing her - the only time either of us were in real danger. Before He could pull the trigger twice, I had the other man's gun out and pressed to the back of his head. When the other player characters returned triumphantly with my little brother, they were flabbergasted to learn that "that helpless girl" had disarmed and captured two armed minions of Fu Manchu.... And now you know one of my favorite roleplaying stories, and one that I think has a direct bearing on the topic at hand. Lucius Alexander That was before I even had a palindromedary.....

Has anyone given any thought to adapting the world of Kushiel's Dart and its sequels, either as a whole or by adapting certain elements to a campaign? I am interested in anything anyone has worked up for it, but in particular I am thinking of adapting the Casseline Brotherhood for a kind of caste of bodyguard-priests. If anyone has suggestions for stats on the martial arts, equipment such as the vambraces, roleplaying tips or suggestions for how they would fit in a more traditional campaign, etc, I would appreciate it. Lucius Alexander Palindromedary Enterprises.

Re: New to system... character ?? For a pulp style game, I'd say you definitely need skills rather than powers....there are probably lots of limits on what powers you are even allowed. Assuming a base 75 points to start with, I'd say you want a DEX of 14, maybe more, and a SPeeD of 3 - less is too slow, higher only if you want a really impressive martial artist or something. Spending 2 pts for 7 hexes of running can help you get away when necessary, and gives you a half-move of 4 in combat, that can be helpful. Danger Sense and Defense Manuever have already been mentioned, and Luck might be useful too. Make sure you get Weapon Familiarity for any weapon you want to use, and possibly some Combat Skill Levels. Lucius Alexander With the Ride Palindromedary Skill

Re: How many Power Skills?

Re: Negative STUN: Use the Time Chart for Recoveries? I knew people who said "GM's Option" meant it was at the GM's option if you were still ALIVE or not...... LA p

Re: How many Power Skills? Having slept on it... I'd say you could do it one of two ways. You COULD have a skill with all your own powers. That would work, but ONLY very specifically on your own powers. You might use it to work the "partial shapeshift just long enough to get a PRE bonus" but it could NOT tell you if any item you find (like take off a captured villain) is magickal, let alone what it can do. This would represent familiarity with only your OWN powers. Or, you could take one or more of more general skills like Sorcery, Gadgeteer, Electronics, Mechanics, etc, that would have a lot more application, but only apply to SOME of your own powers. Lucius Alexander With the Ride Palindromedary Skill

Campaigning in a Shinto world I am told that the word "kami" actually means "that which inspires awe." What is kami for one clan is not necessarily kami for another; however, kami always means something that is important to a group, not just to an individual. Or such is my understanding. Lucius Alexander The palindromedary points out that Lucius is not Japanese

Sci-fi wear swords? An interesting historical perspective.... I'm told that, within 50 years of their introduction to gunpowder, the Japanese were making BETTER guns than were being made in Europe at the time. Within 100 years of their introduction to gunpowder, they had stopped making guns at all. I guess they just decided they liked swords better anyway. Of course, then the American Admiral Perry (if I remember the name right) sailed in and forced them to face the fact that, without guns, they could only keep the rest of the world out for as long as the rest of the world chose to ignore them...and that time was coming to an end. But Japan does provide an example of preferring melee weapons on a purely cultural basis. Then again, it also provides an example of how that only works as long as the culture isn't forced to interact with other cultures with no such bias. Lucius Alexander Insert funny palindromedary tagline here

Re: Psychic Wars

Happy Medium I looked over "contact" in the rules, and realized a contact does not have to be a specific individual. So a medium could have "Contact: Spirit World" LA p

Oh Wow Oh! Wow! I see some people had nice things to say about me. Now how do I do it, or can I? Lucius Alexander (-: :-)

Rep? You're doing better than I. I don't know what "rep" is. Lucius Alexander I doubt the palindromedary knows either.