bigdamnhero

Addendum: an online lecture I found by Prof. Kenneth W. Harl of Trinity College gave these stats: Viking Longboats typically sailed 8 hours per day In open water under oar, can easily average 3-4 knots With the wind under sail can do maybe 8-12 knots So an average sailing day could cover 40-65 nautical miles (45-75 statute miles) In 845 a Viking fleet sailed from Denmark to attack Paris. They covered the 900 miles to the mouth of the Seine in ~ 3 weeks. (~40-45 statute miles per day) It took them 3-4 days to sail 150 miles up the Seine to Paris against the current: (~40-50 statute miles per day!) He claims one of the Vikings biggest advantages was that even on rivers they were 3 times faster than the typical European land army, so they could completely outmaneuver their opponents.

So here are the best estimates I've been able to cobble together based on everything I've read and some fooling around on Google Earth. As noted above, there were a ton of different routes used, but I'm only looking at a couple of them. Distances are approximate, and are all given in statute miles for consistency. The swags I'm using for speeds, based on estimates from a couple of sources, are roughly 3 knots upriver and 8 knots downriver, which assuming 8 hours of travel per day works out to roughly 28 statute miles a day upriver, and 75 miles a day downriver. For the portages, I'm guessing dragging boats overland you're probably not going to do much better than 1 mph, so call it 8-10 miles per day? PLEASE VALIDATE/CHALLENGE THESE ASSUMPTIONS? So given all that: the fastest route appears to be the Riga Route, which starts in the Gulf of Riga, up the Dvina, portage to the Dneiper, and down the Dneiper to the Black Sea: Riga Route south from the Baltic to the Black Sea: From Sweden (vic. Stockholm) to Riga: 300 miles, call it 4 days (with a good wind) Up the Dvina River to around 35 miles past Vitebsk: 420 miles, call it 15 days Up the Kasplaya River to Lake Kasplaya: 140 miles, call it 5 days Portage from Lake Kasplaya to the Dneiper River vic. Smolensk: 22 miles overland, call it 2 days Down the Dneiper River (past Kiev) to the Black Sea: 1160 miles, call it 16 days Add a couple days to negotiate/portage around the 7 rapids on the south Dneiper: call it 2 days Across the Black Sea to Constantinople: 485 miles, call it 6 days (with a good wind) Total travel time: something like 50 days, plus stopovers Return trip: Riga Route north from the Black Sea to the Baltic (same distances but different times due to direction of current): From Constantinople across the Black Sea to the mouth of the Dneiper: 485 miles, call it 6 days Add a couple days to negotiate/portage around the 7 rapids on the south Dneiper: call it 2 days Up the Dneiper River (past Kiev) to Smolensk: 1160 miles, call it 41 days Portage from the Dneiper to Lake Kasplaya: 22 miles overland, call it 2 days Down the Kasplaya River to the Dvina River: 140 miles, call it 2 days Down the Dvina River to the Gulf of Riga in the Baltic Sea: 420 miles, call it 6 days From there to Sweden (vic. Stockholm): 300 miles, call it 4 days (with a good wind) Total travel time: something like 63 days, plus stopovers A more popular route appears to have been the Novgorod Route which started further east in Lake Ladoga, took longer and had a 2nd portage, but went past Novgorod, which was a key trading center: Novgorod Route, south from the Baltic to the Black Sea: From Sweden (vic. Stockholm) to the mouth of the Neva River (currently St. Petersburg): 445 miles, call it 6 days Up the Neva River to Neva Bay: 45 miles, call it 1.5 days Along the shore of Lake Ladoga to the Volkhov River: 60 miles, call it 1 day Across Lake Ladoga and up the Volkhov River to Lake Ilmen: 160 miles, call it 6 days Up the Lovat RIver and up its tributary the Kunya River: 270 miles, call it 10 days Portage from the Kunya to Lake Zhizhitsa: 8 miles overland, call it 1 day Down the Zhizhitsa River to the Dvina River, and down the Dvina to the Kasplaya River: 80 miles, call it 1 day Up the Kasplaya River to Lake Kasplaya: 140 miles, call it 5 days 2nd portage from Lake Kasplaya to the Dneiper River vic. Smolensk: 22 miles overland, call it 2 days Down the Dneiper River (past Kiev) to the Black Sea: 1160 miles, call it 16 days Add a couple days to negotiate/portage around the 7 rapids on the south Dneiper: call it 2 days Across the Black Sea to Constantinople: 485 miles, call it 6 days (with a good wind) Total travel time: something like 58 days, plus stopovers Return trip: Novgorod Route, north from the Black Sea to the Baltic From Constantinople across the Black Sea to the mouth of the Dneiper: 485 miles, call it 6 days Add a couple days to negotiate/portage around the 7 rapids on the south Dneiper: call it 2 days Up the Dneiper River (past Kiev) to Smolensk: 1160 miles, call it 41 days Portage from the Dneiper to Lake Kasplaya: 22 miles overland, call it 2 days Down the Kasplaya River to the Dvina River: 140 miles, call it 2 days Up the Dvina River to the Zhizhitsa River, and up the Zhizhitsa to Lake Zhizhitsa: 80 miles, call it 3 days 2nd portage from Lake Zhizhitsa to the Kunya River: 8 miles overland, call it 1 day Down the Kunya River to the Lovat River, and down the Lovat to Lake Ilmen: 270 miles, call it 4 days Across Lake Ilmen and down the Volkhov River to Lake Ladoga: 160 miles, call it 2 days Along the shore of Lake Ladoga to the Neva River: 60 miles, call it 1 day Down the Neva River to Neva Bay (current site of St. Petersburg: 45 miles, call it 1 day From there to Sweden (vic. Stockholm): 445 miles, call it 6 days (with a good wind) Total travel time: something like 71 days, plus stopovers

I came across a great book called "The Urge To The Sea: The Course of Russian History: The Role of Rivers, Portages, Ostrogs, Monasteries, and Furs" by Robert J. Kerner. The entire book is about the role these river trade routes played in the formation and development of the Russian State, from the 9th Century onward. Small fortresses called Ostrogs were built at the most prominent/popular portage locations, which over time grew into town. Bailiffs were appointed to manage traffic over the portages and collect taxes. There are even records of instructions to the Bailiffs specifying which nations' traders have priority over others based on who has signed treaties with whom recently. It sounds like it was way more organized and controlled than I would've imagined. In subsequent centuries, the Russians extended the river trade routes eastward literally all the way to the Sea of Japan! The author argues this was what fueled Russia's expansion eastward. Later on when railroads were built, they mostly followed along these established (and settled) routes. 45 pages of the book are spent just listing all the different routes & portages he could find documentation for, up this tributary across that portage to that lake and down this tributary. It's remarkably exhaustive. But of course, still no discussion of how long the trips would've typically taken... (I would've emailed the author but he's passed away.)

Some gems from last night's FH game, only some of which were because one of our players just had surgery and was on major pain meds.... The Fey are telling our Heroes about two legendary swords: Fey: "They have been known by many names, but in the legends of your people they are sometimes called Fragarach & Moralltach*" Thyri: "Wait, Fraggle Rock and More Talk?" (OOC) "Shut up, I'm on pain meds!" Later... Thyri: OK, so we find these swords, Latitude and Longitude or whatever..." (OOC) "Shut up, I'm on pain meds!" A few episodes ago, Father Edmondo got poisoned, tortured and generally mistreated, and was hallucinating. The others are giving him a hard time about it. Thyri: "You got into a theological debate with a lamp..." Edmondo: "It was a good discussion." Thyri: "...and you lost." Edmondo: "In my defense, that lamp made some surprisingly good points about the nature of God that I hadn't considered before." Aeddan: "What kind of lamp? Just curious." Edmondo: "An oil lamp. Of course. No mere kerosene lamp could match my intellect!" Aeddan the Ranger gets into an archery challenge with a Fey woman named Aletcien. There's some mutual flirting as they head off: Edmondo: "Have fun. Be sure to empty your quiver." [cue juvenile snickering that cannot be fully blamed on pain meds] Edmondo: "What?" With some lucky rolls, Aeddan manages to win the contest. Aletcien is so impressed she jumps his bones there and then. Thyri: (to Edmondo) "You did tell him to empty his quiver." Edmondo: "Yeah, my bad." Afterwards... Aletcien: "So are all the men of your land so skilled with their...arrows?" Aeddan: "Yeah, pretty much." Thyri: (OOC) "Dude, seriously? That is not the right answer!" * Actual sword names from Celtic myth that the GM did not make up.

Yeah, that works. Roll once: 11- means it hits the plates, 12-14 it hits the base armor level, 15+ it misses the armor completely (ouch). I'm afraid someone else will have to defend the Activation Roll probabilities vis-a-vis Hit Location probabilities; I've always considered that an awkward kludge at best. Personally I I feel if you want to have different armor for different locations, and you're going to add another roll anyway, you may as well just roll for Hit Location. If you don't want to bother with Hit Locations, then just abstract armor to a generalized value that applies against all attacks and go with that. [shrug] As for Hit Locations, yes they can change the feel of the game a bit. That's by design: head shots should be more lethal than arm/leg shots. But remember the multipliers apply after defenses: a Head Shot that does 7 Body vs 6 rDef does (7-6) x2 = 2 Body, not (7x2) -6 = 8 Body. And given that odds of rolling a head shot are roughly 1 in 20, I I haven't found it unbalancing. It does however introduce more randomness. (Some of us have house rules that, for example, let characters apply Skill Levels to pull Hit Location rolls so it's not a complete crap shoot.) It does let you make a nice challenge for sniper characters by giving a monster high enough defenses that the only way to kill it is with a called head shot! Some people really like Hit Locations, particularly for more realistic/gritty games; other dislike them, particularly for more cinematic/comic book games. It really just depends on what style of play you're looking for. That also has been debated loud and long on these boards! But remember you can use Skill Levels for other things like adding damage (and in some games, pulling Hit Locs as mentioned above). Skill Levels are also less likely to get Drained than Characteristics. Plus many Heroic games limit normal human Characteristics to the top of the "Competent" range (table p90), and beyond that costs double.* So beyond 7 or 8 CV, Skill Levels become a bargain. Just different ways to do do different things. * Normal Characteristic Maxima is an optional rule in the main books, but wasn't included in MHIRPG.

If anyone's curious, here's my write-up for Santa's Sleigh: Secret Santa's Sleigh VAL CHA Cost Notes 3 Size 15 Length 4m, Width 2m, Height 2m, Volume 16m^3 Mass 800 kg, OCV +2, KB -3 50 STR 25 HTH Damage 10d6 END [5] 18 DEX 16 6 OCV 15 6 DCV 15 5 SPD 30 Phases: 3, 5, 8, 10, 12 10 PD 12 10/25 PD (10/25 rPD) 10 ED 12 10/25 ED (10/25 rED) 13 BODY 0 Movement Cost Meters Notes RUNNING -2 10m/20m END [0] SWIMMING 0 4m/8m END [0] FLIGHT 60m/240m TELEPORTATION 100m/200m - Only For Presents Characteristics Total: 136 Cost Powers 45 Jet Engines: Flight 40m, x4 Noncombat [Notes: Move-Through damage: 10d6 +v/6 => 17d6.] 0 40 Super-Jet Engines: Flight 20m, MegaScale (1m = 1 km; +1) (40 Active Points); 1 Continuing Fuel Charge lasting 1 Day (-0) [1 cc] 55 Force Field: Resistant Protection (15 PD/15 ED) (Protect Carried Items) 0 4 Bag Of Presents: Cosmetic Transform 4d6 (Inanimate object into same object with 1/10th size and mass, healed by removing item from bag), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2) (18 Active Points); OAF (-1), Items cannot be used while in bag (-1), Item must start out small enough to fit through opening (-1/2), Limited Target Inanimate objects only (-1/2), No Range (-1/2) 0 39 Present Delivery System: Teleportation 100m, No Relative Velocity, Usable By Other (+0), Grantor pays the END whenever the power is used, Grantor can only grant the power to others, Grantor controls the power totally, Safe Blind Teleport (+1/4) (137 Active Points); Limited Power Inanimate Objects Only (-1), Concentration (0 DCV; -1/2), Extra Time (Full Phase, -1/2), Limited Arc Of Fire (60 degrees; Oriented Down; -1/2) 0 13 Radar Array: Radar (Radio Group), Discriminatory, Increased Arc Of Perception (360 Degrees), Telescopic: +14 (32 Active Points); OIF Bulky (-1), Affected As Sight Group As Well As Radio Group (-1/2) 0 4 Communications Systems: High Range Radio Perception (Radio Group) (12 Active Points); OAF Bulky (-1 1/2), Affected As Sight And Hearing Group As Well As Radio Group (-1/2) 0 19 Sealed Environment: Life Support (Safe in High Pressure; Safe in High Radiation; Safe in Intense Cold; Safe in Intense Heat; Safe in Low Pressure/Vacuum; Self-Contained Breathing) 0 Cost Skills 6 +3 with Flying Cost Talents 3 GPS: Bump Of Direction 4 In any weather...: Environmental Movement (no penalties in high winds, winter storms) Value Complications 10 Distinctive Features: (Concealable; Always Noticed and Causes Major Reaction; Detectable By Commonly-Used Senses; Not Distinctive In Some Cultures) 25 Hunted: Secret Santa Very Frequently (As Pow; Vehicle has a homing beacon; Capture) 10 Vulnerability: 2 x BODY High-frequency lasers (Uncommon) Total Vehicle Cost: 368

Welcome to the Hero Boards! A common complaint with MHIRPG was that for a beginner book they could've done more to simplify the builds, or at least simplify the presentation. Plus yeah, some uneven editing. So it's not just you. Yes, you're calculating it correctly AFAICT. And yes, I believe it was done that way because it's cheaper (7 RP vs 9 RP), even tho it makes for a more confusing write-up. Your first one is correct as written. I'm not sure why they made the last 2 PD vs Piercing wasn't made Resistant. If I had to venture a guess, I'd say it may have been an oversight and the Wight's Body was meant to be Resistant for 12 PD/6ED. I'd probably make it 12rPD just to simplify things, but that's me. Yeah, that one's clearly a typo in the Characteristic section; it should be 12rPD & 8 rED. Or you could reduce the Resistant (Power) to only 3 rPD/3 rED; I can't remember how tough Bullmen were supposed to be in the books, so I don't know which would be more appropriate. Go with whatever feels right to you. Yeah, it looks like the last +2 PD Only vs Piercing got left out of the totals under Characteristics. I think it's supposed to be: If the Burrower/GM fails the 11- Activation Roll (ie - the shot missed the armor plating) then its defenses are: vs Piercing: 10 PD (8 rPD), 3 ED (2 rED) vs Slashing: 8 PD (6 rPD), 3 ED (2 rED) vs Else: 6 PD (4 rPD), 3 ED (2 rED) If the Burrower/GM makes the 11- Activation Roll (ie - the shot hits the armor plating) then add +8rPD and +8rED to those numbers. You're correct - the cost for DN should be 120 pts. As written, you're right that the Shoggoth only gets one attack per Phase. I believe that is again an oversight; the fact that the claws & mouths were written up separately leads me to conclude Steve wanted the Shoggoth to be able to make multiple attacks. The regular Hero rules have a Multiple Attack Maneuver (632 p73 or CC p151) that lets a character make more than one attack at -2 OCV per additional attack (1/2 DCV, Full Phase), and a Rapid Attack Skill that lets a character make Multiple Attacks as a 1/2 Phase action. But those elements were inexplicably left out of MHIRPG.* My advice would be to go with something like that: the first attack each Phase (claw or mouth) is at full OCV+Skill; if that attack hits, it can make an additional attack (claw or mouth) at a -2; rinse & repeat until it misses. And yeah, I would've written it up differently. * Actually the explanation is that MHIRPG used the 6ed Basic Rules, which left out that Maneuver among other things. Why they made that call is the inexplicable bit. Yes, see MHI p125. (That used to be a default rule in earlier editions; under 6ed it's an optional "if it fits your campaign" rule. I guess Steve felt it fits the MHI setting, and I would agree.) Sorry for the confusion. The good news is you seem to be understanding the mechanics correctly - ie, the problem isn't you. Let us know if you come across any other head scratchers.

Yeah, prisons really aren't that hard. Especially if you have advanced tech, you don't have to worry about visitors or basic civil rights, and oh yeah you can surround the prison with vacuum!

Just curious what kind of Christmas-themed stories you've done in your games? I've only done it once, a few years ago when Christmas in-game happened to coincide with Christmas out-of-game. It seems Foxbat managed to get his hands on a high-tec flying platform made up to look like a sleigh and fitted with a short-range teleportation device, and spent Christmas Eve flying around the country teleporting presents into kid's homes. But of course it's Foxbat, so his idea of appropriate presents included things like nail guns and other power tools, small explosives, and the occasional Hooters gift card. Our heroes lept into action to stop him! Quickly deducing that Foxbat was basing his deliveries off a list Time Magazine had done of "nice" kids who had won awards that year for one thing or another, they're able to anticipate where he's going and head him off. The sleigh turns out to be protected by a strong forcefield, and Foxbat Santa had equipped his minions elves with Ping Pong Ball Guns, so it turned out to be a tougher fight than expected. Things got Even More Complicated when the sleigh's real inventor - calling himself Secret Santa - showed up to reclaim his tech that Foxbat had stolen. A massive 3-way donneybrook ensued, with the PCs trying to defeat both sets of would-be Santas while keeping anyone else from getting hurt in the crossfire. Eventually, both Foxbat and Secret Santa were defeated and taken into custody. One of the PCs used her contacts with various charities to get companies to donate age-appropriate gifts to replace the ones Foxbat delivered. Yay! Christmas is saved! What's been under your tree?

Yeah, how many HAPs the players have available is crucial. If you only have a handful of them, then players hoard them carefully: "If I spend it now to get a better Hit Location, then I won't be able to re-roll next time I miss completely..." That sort of thing. Hand out too many and it quickly becomes the driving force behind combat. (Not to bash on Savage Worlds, which is a decent system overall, but I really feel like Bennies are the primary combat mechanism, overshadowing things like characteristics, skills, etc, which among other things tends to make every combat - and to some extent every character - feel the same.) Oh, regarding pulling Hit Location: to date, my players have mostly used this to change a x1/2 location (arms, legs) to a x1 location (chest), rather than to change a x1 location to a head/vitals shots. If I had different players, I can see maybe instituting a rule about only being able to pull towards chest or another x1 location, but not towards head/vitals?

I watched the first episode of the new Dirk Gently series. I found it...kinda painful actually. I haven't read the books in years but I don't remember them being so LOUD AND VIOLENT!!!! It's like someone threw a bunch of blood and explosions into Hitchhiker to appeal to an American audience. And most of the characters I just wanted to punch. Awful. If anyone made it past the pilot: are they all like that?

Arq, on Netflix. (A film, not a series.) Starring Steven Amell's cousin and the chick who plays Trish on Jessica Jones. An entertaining little time-loop story ala Groundhog Day or Edge Of Tomorrow. Like most such stories, it works best if you don't think about it too much. But enjoyable.

No, I said a normal guy can Abort to take his next action early, which is a Full Phase Action. All that's being changed is the Initiative Order (to use a non-Hero term). The action takes the same amount of time that it normally would - it only seems instantaneous because of the artificiality of the Turn Sequence. That said, I did just remember the book does say you normally can't Abort to a Movement Action. I've been willing to handwave that under certain circumstances, particularly with speedsters, but that's not RAW. No, they both take 1/2 a Phase. That is time. That's why I said Triggered Movement is essentially buying yourself more time. Tho that would technically be true of Teleportation as well, Teleportation is already a magical superpower that defies physics & common sense, so I'm less likely to throw the BS card at that one. Look, if you want to treat Running that way, and you can sell your GM on it, then juego con dios. I think it's playing with the letter of the rules to subvert the clear intent, and is completely unnecessary to boot. But it's your game.

Yeah, I can see where the idea might make you nervous, since I didn't post those rules. In practice, they're both much more narrowly-focused. For Pulling Hit Locations: they can spend a Hero Point to add/subtract 1 to the Hit Location for every 2 above what they needed to hit. So if someone needed to hit DCV 4 and hit DCV 6, they could pull it by 1. So yes if they rolled a 6-Hand, they could pull that to a 5-Head. But I'll still take that over the perennial "I rolled twice what I needed to hit, but I rolled crap for Hit Location!" problem, which drives me nuts. I could see another GM ruling they could only pull it to 7-Arm, but honestly it hasn't been an issue for us. The Attack Of Opportunity rule is a new one we're trying out. It only applies when a character is ignoring another character in melee, such as taking advantage of the artificiality of the Turn sequence to run past an armed & ready opponent with impunity just because it doesn't happen to be their Phase. And it doesn't grant an additional attack - just lets you Abort to your next action early. It hasn't actually come up in game yet - it's really meant more as a disincentive to people gaming the Turn sequence, and I'm fortunate to game with players who don't generally do that - but I've seen players try to abuse that in the past. Hurrying is basically like Pushing, but for Initiative instead of STR/Damage. For that one time when you really need to get your shot off first. It doesn't get used much - I honestly can't think of the last time - but with the wrong players I can see where it might get abused or overused.

Y'know, if I had a nickel for every time I posted a "Hey, check out my cool new totally original idea!" and someone responded with "Yeah, it's in the APG..." Yeah, that's pretty much exactly what I was looking for. Not crazy about the name tho, too close to AP. And I think it works easier as an Adder rather than a separate Power. But I like the pricing structure. Thanks! I had it as 2 AP; it just came out to 1 RP after Limitations. Also valid points. For this game, armor is very common, but people don't wear it everywhere. The PCs have already gotten into a couple fights sans armor in cities and so forth. Plus armor is mostly sectional and not always 100% coverage, so 1 pt vs armor is not going to always be the same as +1 Damage. But in other more traditional fantasy campaigns, I can see the math working out very differently. Definitely! I first tried to build it as Drain rPD. But because of defensive doubling, you need at least 2d6 of Drain to reduce a point of Def. Add on 0 END and you're up to 30 AP, which almost doubles the cost of the sword!

Sure you can: 1/2 Phase to Move and 1/2 Phase to Block. See also Interposing, 6e2 p128. Or heck, if you really think it's an issue it would be trivially simple to create a "Block By" Maneuver. Certainly cheaper than buying Triggered movement. If you want your speedster guy to be able to get anywhere instantly, then you should be buying Teleport, Must Cross Intervening Space; that's exactly what that power build is for. It seems to me like you're trying to solve a problem that doesn't exist, and in the process massively over complicating the way movement works for all characters. Sorry.

We use what we call the Radio Shack Exception - you don't have to pay points for things that are commonly & easily available, provided they're: 15 AP or less. 5 RP or less. Not a weapon.

Here's our group's version FWIW. Hero Points: Typically represents luck, the favor of God(s), etc. Gaining Hero Points:At the start of each session, each players rolls their Luck dice and gains one Hero Point for every Body on the dice. I’ll award additional HPs in game for good roleplaying, playing up your Complications, being excessively awesome, or sometimes for just making everyone laugh really hard. [i’m going to try to be better about remembering to do this.] HPs carry over between sessions, but the most you can normally have at one time is three; any HPs above that are lost. (If you have purchased additional dice of Luck/Divine Favor, that max is increased by 1 per additional die.) The GM gets to roll 3d6 for Hero Points each session, but they don’t normally carry over between sessions. Spending Hero Points: You can spend HPs to:Reroll any dice roll. You must reroll all dice, but can keep the best result if your reroll is even worse. You can spend an HP to Push or Hurry your action, to pull your Hit Location, or to Abort to an Attack Of Opportunity – see above House Rules. You can also use HPs to make minor changes in the plot, scenery, etc, subject to GM approval. For example: the armor you found just happens to fit you, or there just happens to be something soft under the window you fell out of.

Replies to other folks' omments: In our experience it really hasn't slowed things down beyond the occasional "Crap! I'm gonna blow a point to re-roll that!" It could if misused. Hasn't been a problem in our games, but definitely something the GM should watch out for. Right there with you! Typically while writing up the post-session notes is when I think about it and make a note to hand a few out at the start of the next session. That's fine. But I would point out this is not the Champions section, and the OP specifically stated they're playing monster hunters. Cinematic Superheroes is not the only genre Hero supports. XP is for character advancement, not character development. Two very different things. But that could be a whole `nother thread...

tl;dr - I like the concept! A few thoughts... We use this in our games and it works really well. It's mostly used for minor stuff like "It would be really helpful if there were a fire extinguisher nearby..." or "It would be cool if it turns out this random NPC and I went to the same gym..." It gives the players some tangible input into creating the story, but the limited quantity keeps that from getting out of hand. This is the most common way HAPs get spent in our games. I like it because it gives players the chance to get out from under One Bad Roll, but doesn't completely ignore the bell curve because your second roll may be just as bad or worse. (We always allow you to keep whichever roll was better.) Hmm... These seem overpowered to me, especially +3 DCs. Particularly for a Heroic game. If you're going to be good about handing out HAPs regularly, that equates to a lot of Get Out Of Jail Free cards. Depends on the style of your game & your players, but I feel like this might make the stakes feel lower if the PCs have that much ability to ignore the odds. I'm not crazy about this one either, personally. Feels too much like Savage Worlds spending a Bennie to Soak damage - the driving mechanism in combat quickly becomes not how tough or skilled or well-equipped you are, but how many Bennies you have left. YMMV. I've never tried using a Team Pool in Hero. I'll have to give this one some thought how it would work. I've seen them used in other games, but usually it's instead of individual pools, not in addition to them. It feels like the "everyone agrees who the leader is" thing is not going to vary much from fight to fight, at least in our games. So...I dunno. I like the conept; I'm just having a harder time visualizing it in play.

I’ve had an idea for my low-fantasy FH campaign, and could use some second+ opinions. I’m looking for a way to model weapons that are either slightly magical or else just very high quality. (And the line between those two categories can be blurry in low fantasy; perhaps the smith used magic when making them to make a better quality sword, but the sword itself is not inherently magical?) Rather than just adding to OCV or damage outright, I’m thinking more like they’re just a little better at cutting through armor compared to normal weapons. Armor Piercing is the obvious choice, but I’m actually looking for something a little more modest and also maybe a little more granular. Typical defenses in this game run around 6 rDef, so 1 level of AP gets you past ~3 points of armor, and buying additional levels only counteracts Hardened/Impenetrable. Penetrating has similar issues. I’m looking for something with a smaller effect that can be increased incrementally. So I’m thinking about using something along the lines of Reduced Negation, but that applies against standard defenses instead of against Damage Negation. Working title: Armor Reduction.* 1 point of Armor Reduction lets the attack ignore/bypass 1 point of the target’s armor. So if your sword has 1 point of AR and you hit someone with 6rPD armor, their armor is effectively reduced to 5 for that attack. This is a Heroic game and for the most part the PCs will not be paying points for these weapons, so the exact cost/build isn’t critical. But I always like to stat things out to see what they might look like, and in case I want to port them over to other games/genres. I first thought about building it as Drain PD, but that gets ridiculously expensive for such a modest effect, in some cases doubling the cost of the weapon. Instead, I’m thinking of it as a Limited 1 pip HKA, Only to reduce effectiveness of Resistant Defenses (-1?). Adding that to the standard broadsword build [31 AP, 12 RP] yields: Masterwork Broadsword: (Total: 38 Active Cost, 14 Real Cost) Killing Attack - Hand-To-Hand 1d6+1, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2) (30 Active Points); OAF (-1), STR Minimum 12 (-1/2), Real Weapon (-1/4) (Real Cost: 11) plus Killing Attack - Hand-To-Hand 1 point, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2) (7 Active Points); OAF (-1), Limited Power Only to reduce effectiveness of armor or other Resistant Defenses (-1), STR Minimum 12 (-1/2), Real Weapon (-1/4) (Real Cost: 2) plus Medium (1m) Reach: (1 Active Points) (Real Cost: 1) Or to make the write-up simpler, we just make it an Adder like Reduced Negation: Masterwork Broadsword II: (Total: 34 Active Cost, 13 Real Cost) Killing Attack - Hand-To-Hand 1d6+1, Armor Reduction (+1), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2) (33 Active Points); OAF (-1), STR Minimum 12 (-1/2), Real Weapon (-1/4) (Real Cost: 12) plus Medium (1m) Reach: (1 Active Points) (Real Cost: 1) The cost is a little lower on this build. Given that adding conventional Armor Piercing to the same sword only pushes it to 36 AP and 14 RP, I’m thinking this lower cost is more appropriate. Anyway, that’s my idea. What do you think? Interesting? Useless? Broken? Over/underpriced? Thanks for the feedback. * Suggestions for a better name are welcome too.

Yeah, Marston pretty-much said exactly that.

Sure, because Teleport is already a magical/superpower ability that most character don't have by default, and that is instantaneous and doesn't cross intervening space (unless bought that way of course). Running, Swimming & Leaping are all real-life things that real-life people have and that actually take actual time and actually cross intervening space. The way the rules model that as phased movement is imperfect but "close enough for gaming purposes." Triggered Movement exploits those imperfections to effectively turn Running into Teleport, Must Cross Intervening Space, and reinvents the entire movement system just to give a dubious advantage to a speedster, one which is already easily built within the existing rules. Have fun if you want, but I'll pass.

If that's all you want, it would be much easier to just buy a Triggered Strike, with the Trigger set as "in between two 1/2 Moves" or whatever. Or heck, just invent a custom Martial Maneuver built as a Move By that doesn't add velocity so in practice it's just a Strike you can use while moving. Either alternative is trivially easier and doesn't require you to reinvent/overcomplicate the way movement powers work for all characters. Since that's a defensive action, they can already Abort to it - I've never once seen a Champions GM rule otherwise. You're essentially using the Trigger rules to buy yourself extra time (ie extra Phases). Which is one thing when you're talking about attacks and the like that are effectively instantaneous, or defensive powers that just stay on. But moving from point A to point B takes actual time, and you're using Trigger rules to get around that. Honestly, it may be single the most cheesy thing I've seen on these boards this year, and it seems completely rules-munchkinism-because-I-can driven rather than coming from a desire for any particular effect.

It was just incredibly, unbearably tedious. "OK, Phase 1: everyone move 1 hex. Phase 2, everyone move another hex, oh wait you get to move 2 hexes you speed demon you. OK, Phase 3: someone gets to actually do something, yay! Phase 4: everyone else gets to do something, yay! Phase 5, everyone move 1 hex..." Yawn. And while we thought it would help everyone stay in-game because you always had an action coming up, in practice it felt more like being trapped at the table. You couldn't even go to the bathroom or go grab a coke because I need you to move your 1 goddamn hex. And no one felt like it added anything. Worst. House rule. Ever. (And I freely admit we've tried some bad ones.) That part was actually easy: we just had to define everything as based on Movement per Turn rather than per Phase.