bigdamnhero

Re: Firefly Book *is* in the movie, `tho his part is a little smaller than I might've hoped for. bigdamnhero “I’m a busy man and I can’t be bothered to punch you at the moment. Here is my fist; kindly run towards it as fast as you can.â€

Re: Dinosaur Planet Interesting ideas: sorta Marion Zimmer Bradley meets Land of the Lost. As it happens, I'm in an unfocused, brainstorming sorta mood this morning... So only one PC then? Just checking. For weaponry, the obvious way to go would be limited non-recoverable charges, so he has to ration them carefully and decide if each fight is worth wasting a bullet. Doesn't really matter if it's energy-based or a slug-thrower. The advantage of this method is that it gives the character an initial advantage until he's learned the lay of the land, learned to shoot a bow, etc. Another possibility for energy-based weapons would be to at some point allow him to jury-rig a recharger, but one that’s only strong enough to give him "x" number of shots per day. If you really do want to wean him off guns make it so that recharging degrades the battery over time, so after awhile the number of shots per day declines, eventually reaching 0, or maybe one per month, or whatever. Typical survival gear might include rations, water (or some high-tech way to condense water from the atmosphere), a good knife, a radio, binoculars, a fire starter, mirror, etc. Other tech will depend largely on how powerful you want your hero to be compared to the lizards. Wouldn't be hard to give him one or two gadgets that effectively grant him a couple "powers" to make him respected +/or feared by the locals. Some sort of datapad or hand computer is a possibility, but be careful you don't give the PC access to too much reference material unless you want him to go all Connecticut Yankee on you and start manufacturing gunpowder and the like. How much do you see your hero fighting against this society, vs. working with them? Does he eventually befriend one tribe, and possibly help them to rebuild parts of their fallen civilization? The story is about him, not the lizard NPCs, right? You mentioned an escape pod of some kind. How minimalistic it is depends on how much tech you want him to be able to salvage. Other options might include shuttles, transporters, or just surviving the crash of the main ship itself. Giving him a shuttle obviously gives him more technology than it sounds like you’re wanting, so I’d stick with the pod idea. This also gives you a little flexibility down the road: if you decide you want him to have some piece of tech, he can jury-rig it from pod components; if not, then sorry those components were destroyed in the crash. I'd say it depends on who your PC is. Soldier = warship. Surveyor = explorer. Merchant = freighter. Vin Diesel = prison transport. If not, then he’s basically never going home until/unless someone rescues him, right? So if you want him to spend at least some of the time worrying about getting off the island – sorry, planet – then he probably needs to have at least the wreckage of a ship to try and repair. Of course, it’s a big planet, so he may have a lot of traveling to do before he gets to the crash site if you want that to be a “later†element. Another option is to give him an FTL beacon or some other reason to expect that another ship will eventually come to rescue him. I would argue against that, as it takes the PC out of the equation; all he has to do is stay alive until the rescue ship gets here. Definitely; that way there’s at least the *possibility* that others may have survived. Especially if this is going to be a one-player campaign, it might be nice for him to have some other humanoids to interact with at some point. And even if you want to keep him the only human on the planet, that doesn’t mean you can’t send him chasing off after rumors of other “pink-skins.â€

Re: SPD, DEX, and Movement

Re: If you hate Killing Attacks, how would you replace them?

Re: If you hate Killing Attacks, how would you replace them?

Re: Manipulating opponent position in combat - how? It occurs to me that we may be talking about two different things here: 1) a way of giving characters an advantage for successful maneuvering in combat, and 2) a way to keep the miniatures moving on the table. Not that the two are mutually exclusive, mind you, but what works for one might not work well for the other. If you're not using minis (or counters, or some kind of marker) then it becomes very easy to abstract it away and just picture lots of movement in your mind. But if you are using figures - which I normally do for large combats - then a little more work may be required, as they tend to be fairly static little critters left to themselves. Lots of interesting ideas here! I may have to try out a couple of them. bigdamnhero "Wuh duh ma huh ta duh fung-kwong duh wai-shung doh!" [Translation: "Holy Mother of God and all Her wacky Nephews!"]

Re: Firefly

Re: SPD, DEX, and Movement Of course, if we're going to divorce movement from SPD, then that potentially opens several other worm-cans. What about recoveries? Should someone with fast reflexes be able to recover stun at a faster rate? Or get over from being Flashed quicker? Or pay more END for non-attack powers that are on all turn (like force fields and the like)? Kinda playing devil's advocate here. Given how expensive SPD is, I don't actually have a big problem with there being a few other "secondary" advantages. But the movement thing is one that seemed easy to "fix" without slowing up gameplay. bigdamnhero Seasoned? That’s a hell of a thing to say to a man!

Re: Troop morale Yeah, that's pretty-much exactly how I've run it in the past. I dunno. The idea seemed awful simple in my head, but re-reading it, it does sound like a lot of tracking. I'll give it a shot and see how well it works. Thanks for the feedback. bigdamnhero “We’ve got a blind date with destiny...and it looks like she’s ordered the lobster!â€

Re: Manipulating opponent position in combat - how? Great question, Fitz! There are few things more boring than having 2 figures stand in the same place and trade blow after blow. (Imagine the swordfight in Princess Bride if they'd been stationary throughout...) One rules-free way to address this is to encourage your players to "narrate" their attacks, rather than just rolling to hit. You don't have to give them an OCV bonus everytime they shift one hex to the left, but if they know that you frequently give surprise bonuses for creative moves, they'll be more likely to try. [War Story Mode: In the very first FH game I ever played, I got in a swordfight with an NPC who I knew was much better than me. I managed to score a lucky leg shot early on, and then kept circling to force him to put weight on his injured leg. The GM gave him a CV penalty for it, which gave me just enough of an edge to win.] Another way to get the miniatures moving on the tabletop is to allow a character (PC or NPC) to adjust his and his opponent's position slightly (1" or less) following any successful melee attack. This can represent simply forcing the opponent back a few steps, or circling around him, or whatever. The opponent can resist this forced movement with a CON or DEX roll, but doing so may give him a DCV penalty or increase the damage he takes by a DC or something. One last possibility: I allow characters to make a half-move after attacking. I know that's Hero Heresy but it encourages players to move about a bit. Most players seem inclined to think first about attacking, with movement seen as primarily getting into or out of range. But after their attack is done, they're more likely to look for other things they can do to round out their phase. bigdamnhero "Is this the human value you call friendship?" "Don't give me that 'Star Trek' crap. It's too early in the morning."

I've been thinking about how to handle morale for henchmen, followers and other "troops." The specific instance I'm thinking of is a villain who has a number of low-level thugs working for him, but I can also see it applying to a knight's followers, a random pack of punks on the street, or any large group of sub-heroic NPCs. The FH mass combat morale rules don't quite answer the question I want, which is: "When do they attack vs when do they run?" I'm looking for something a little more solid than "When the plot requires them to." But I'd also prefer not to have to make a ton of EGO rolls every phase. So here's my idea: The first time a henchman is exposed to a reason to check morale (ie - the heroes burst through the window and start tossing 10d6 EBs around the room), he makes an EGO or PRE roll. How much the henchman makes or fails the roll by is recorded as his starting morale score. So if he made his roll exactly, he'd start with a score of 0; if he made it by 2 he'd start with +2; if he missed it by 3 he'd start at -3, etc. In general, positive numbers mean he is more eager to fight; negative numbers mean he's more likely to run away. To simplify matters, this roll can be made before the game starts and pre-recorded. Or it could just be assigned based on circumstances & plot requirements. Morale Score: +3 or higher: strong, will egage with ranged or melee attacks as appropriate. +1 to +2: steady, will engage with ranged attacks; will engage with melee attacks if he has a perceived advantage. -1 to +0: hesitant, will fight with ranged attacks if he has a perceived advantage; will avoid melee combat. -2 to -3: shaken, will fight defensively if pressed, will consider fleeing. -4 or lower: broken, will flee at the first opportunity. Events that can lower a henchman's morale: - henchman takes Stun: -1 - henchman takes Body: -1 - henchman takes Knockback: -1 - henchman gets stunned: -1 Events that can raise a henchman's morale: - opponent takes Stun: +1 - opponent takes Body: +1 - opponent takes Knockback: +1 - opponent gets stunned: +1 The above are all cumulative, so taking Stun, Body and KB would be a -3. Heroes & major villains can make PRE attacks to raise morale on their side, and/or lower morale on the opposing side. The character (PC or major NPC) makes a PRE attack as normal, but counts the BODY rolled on the dice; this number is added to or subtracted from the henchmen's morale as appropriate. What do you think? It's still kindof a rough idea, and I haven't tried playtesting it yet, but I think it looks good on paper. bigdamnhero "Hell I dunno, if I wanted schoolin' I'dve gone to school."

Re: Thinking about stats below 10 I like the idea, especially for NPCs. As mentioned in other threads, I use 8+Char/3 for heroic-level games, because I feel it gives a better range of skill rolls. In most of my non-supers games, it seems like most PCs have most of their primary characteristics in the 13-17 range, with maybe one higher and one lower, so everyone winds up with the same base skill roll. But even under my house rule, your 3-Int guy would still have a 9-. It makes sense to bend the range a bit for the lower end of the bell curve. bigdamnhero "I can't keep track of her when she's *not* incorporealy possessing a spaceship."

Re: Ever have one of those moments when...

Re: Ever have one of those moments when... Amen! It's odd how many players forget that the guy doing the bulk of the pre-game work should also get to have fun. And then they wonder why no one wants to GM... Hmmm...I dunno. I've had periods in my life when I would've killed for even a bad game. But I had circumstances. Usually, the alternative to bad gaming is just to find different gamers. Oh, and having now read my previous post by the light of day, I didn't mean to suggest you should be so confrontational about it. You could use the XP idea as a conversation starter: "OK guys, if I'd had to hand out XP last session, here's what it might've looked like..." Then use that to lead into a conversation about what everyone wants from the game, as Chris and others have suggested. bigdamnhero "Alright you primitive screw heads, listen up. See this? This is my BOOM stick."

Re: SPD, DEX, and Movement

Re: SPD, DEX, and Movement That's essentially how I run it, except I treat SPD 3 as the baseline because that's more normal for PCs and combatant NPCs (non-supers, obviously). So base is 18" per turn: works out to 9" per phase @ SPD 2; 6" per phase @ SPD 3, 5" per phase @ SPD 4, etc. (Round in character's favor as always.) Buying +1 running by the book actually buys you 6" per turn. Velocity-based damage is handled similar to BL's suggestion. Been running it that way for years and it's never been a problem. Most high-SPD players seem to feel that the extra moves more than make up for the moves themselves being shorter. May not be to everyone's taste, `tho. bigdamnhero "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the road less traveled by and they CANCELLED MY FRIKKIN' SHOW. I totally shoulda took the road that had all those people on it. Damn." - Joss Whedon

Re: Firefly And who can blame her. bigdamnhero "In a sense, this is really *your* movie. So if it sucks, it's *your* fault." - Joss Whedon

Re: Ever have one of those moments when... Here's my question: how many XP did you hand out for this debacle? If you really think the players don't understand they screwed up, here's an easy way to get their attention: -1 XP for group squabbling (up to you whether all players get this, or only some of them), -1 XP for increasing anti-super paranoia, -1 XP for the player who attacked another PC, -1 XP for the player who tried to abandon the group, -4 XP for the player who killed 4 innocent civilians... ...you get the idea. You don't have to hit them with all of these; just enough to get the point across. Not that XP is everything, of course. But if the purpose of Hero XP is to reward good roleplaying (and not just a high bodycount), then you have to be willing to dock players for "bad" roleplaying. From here, one of three things is likely to happen: 1) The players (or at least some of them) realize they screwed up and try harder next time: win-win. 2) The players (or at least some of them) still don't get it, but you use this as a springboard into a "What kind of game do WE want to play" discussion: you either come to an agreement, or go your seperate ways. Or, 3) The players (OALSOT) get pissed off, quit, and you go out and find new players: still better than what you've got now. Good luck - it's a tough situation. Let us know how it works out. bigdamnhero "Life is like a sewer: what you get out of it depends on what you put into it."

Re: Another How would build question Don't forget some kind of limitation for "doesn't work in total darkness or 360-degree bright light." Probably just combine that with your existing "close to the ground" lim and call it "target must have a shadow at least 1/2 size." I'm not sure that makes it worth more than -1/4 tho. bigdamnhero "You must be like wolf pack, not six-pack."

Re: Streetwise and Contacts One possible way to handle this would be to let the player start out with just streetwise, roleplay out his first few attempts to buy whatever, then turn the NPCs from those encounters -- the successful ones, anyway -- into contacts once he's got a few XP to burn. That way you sort of ease him into the expense. bigdamnhero "If people see you are unarmed, they'll never hurt you...nine times out of ten."

Re: Streetwise and Contacts Right. You may be able to get the job done with streetwise, but it'll take longer, cost more, and there are no guarantees. If your player insists on just going with streetwise, okay... but make him work for it. bigdamnhero "Zathras is used to being beast of burden to other people's needs. Very sad life. Probably have very sad death, but at least there is symmetry."

Re: Pistol Damage Class By Caliber Looks about right from a realism standpoint. Tho from a balance standpoint that's a little more lethal than I want guns to be in my game. Not saying you're wrong, mind, just that in my campaign(s) I'd prefer to have pistols not do more than about 6 DC. Of course, by capping it at 2d6K I lose a lot of room for distinguishing between different calibers, so everything's a trade-off. I'll be curious to see what your rifle ammo DCs look like with pistol DCs this high. bigdamnhero "He thinks we're either a threat, food, or a mate. He's gonna either kill us, eat us, or hump us."

Re: Firearms granularity Spoilsport. And now that I think about it, the only time I ever fired the DE was 2-handed anyway. Still, 17 STR seems a *little* high to me? bigdamnhero "Jayne, your mouth is moving. You might want to see to that."

Re: Damage Reduction hit by Armor Piercing

Re: Firearms granularity