NuSoardGraphite

Well, I have aquired The Ultimate Vehicle. Soon, I shall begin with the barrage of Gundam writeups. I also plan to write up the many Variable Fighters found in Macross and Macross Plus (and the VFX Videogames) though probably nothing from Macross 7. I will also be writing up the VF-2 from the ill-fated Macross 2: Lovers Again, because I like that particular mecha design and will be using it as the standard Variable Starfighter for my Star Hero campaign... Soon.

Oops! I see Steve already posted this. I thought I had scrolled down to the end of the posts, but I didn't scroll far enough...

Re: Electrokinesis, Pyrokinesis, etc. This is already allowed in HERO. Or rather I should say this will be allowed in HERO when The Ultimate Mentalist is (re)released. Those exact rules were printed in the 4th edition version of The Ultimate Mentalist, and I'm sure they will return in the 5th edition version as well. 5STR TK can move 1DC worth of energy around. When doing this, the energy (such as fire) does not need fuel to remain around...the Psychokinesis powers/fuels it. But when its used to attack with, the energy is expended. It works very well in both Psionic themed campaigns and standard Superhero campaigns (as well as an Anime or Fighting Game based Ninja Hero campaign)

Lets look at various uses of Powers in the Star Wars movies (movies only) and compare them to Hero powers equivalents: Episode-1: Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan both sense that something was wrong shortly after Knute Gunray decided to kill them. [Mystic Danger Sense] Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan wade into a squad of Battledroids laying waste to them seemingly with no effort whatsoever. [High speed...possibly speed aid. Skill levels with Sweep] Both Jedi use Telekinesis to shove Battledroids out of the way. [Telekinesis. Energy Blast w/x2 knockback. Stretching with Invisible power effects; sight.] The Jedi stand their ground against an entire squad of Battledroids firing blaster rifles at them. They deflect the bolts away and reflect several of them back at the attackers. Neither Jedi is hit even once during this action. [Missile Deflection/Reflection(beam weapons only) with bonus levels to deflect. DCV Skill levels(only while Missile Deflecting). Force Wall(does not block AE attacks)] Qui-Gon Jinn attempts to cut through a solid metal door with his lightsabre...and does a good job at it. They close the (very heavy!) blast doors. Qui-Gon shoves his lightsabre though the blast door, attempting to heat it to the point of melting. The blast door is glowing red hot and beginning to melt in the center...the point nearest the lightsabres blade. The heat is hot enough to burn cloth/skin/hair within 6 or 7 inches of it. Qui-Gon's hands are mere centimeters from the extremely hot blast door, yet the heat does not seem to bother him in the sleightest. A precedent for Energy Absorbtion/Dissipation. [LS:Immunity to Heat. Damage Reduction(energy). Energy Damage Resistance.] Droideka's appear before Qui-Gon can melt through the blast door. The Jedi can't reflect blaster bolts into the droids because of their energy screens, so they flee at SUPERSPEED to escape the enhanced battledroids and come up with a plan. [Enhanced running. Aid to running. Aid to Speed. Increased noncombat multiplier for running.] On Tatooine, Qui-Gon attempts to use the Jedi Mind Trick to convince Watto to sell them a part for their starship at a severely reduced price. It fails however because Watto is a Toydarian. [Mind Control(not vs Ego 15+).] Qui-Gon tries to convince Watto to bet Anakin on the outcome of the race, but Watto counters with either Anakin OR his mother depending on the random roll of his chance cube (obviously loaded). Qui-Gon waves his hand and affects the outcome of the dice roll. [Telekinesis; Fine Control. Luck.] Darth Maul is bearing down on Qui-Gon and Anakin swifly. Qui-Gon detects this and yells for Anakin to "Get Down!" and readies his Lightsabre for combat. [Danger sense] Whew! So many! More to come later...

Re: Re: Jedi Powers Actually, this is an ability that the Sith have refined over the millenia...the abililty to be in plain site and remain hidden. Its effecitvely a snub aimed directly at the Jedi...the fact that the Sith is among them and they have no clue.

Well, get to it! Btw, how is Turn A Gundam? I haven't seen it yet but so far I despise the mecha designs. *shudder* The one I'm looking forward to seeing is Macross Zero...

Heck yeah! I've found the GURPS Space Atlas books to be of invaluable help in creating my Space Opera campaign setting....over 140 planets spread over 4 books....thats 140+ planets that I don't have to write up myself!

Oh damn! I forgot about my Sengoku game! Heck, that was one of my best games! I can't believe I forgot about that one... Also, I have definate plans to run a Wuxia game based in 15th century China. Got a good storyline laid out based on some actual historical events...

I use them as DCV. If an attack misses because of the shield DCV or the character uses the Shield to actively block an attack, the damage is rolled vs the shield. I usually use these stats: Size/Body: Buckler/3 Medium/4 Large/5 Wall/6 The defense of the shield depends on its material composition (hard wood= Def-4, +1Def if it had hard leather coverings, Def 6 for a wooden shield with metal inlaid, and Def-7 for an Iron shield etc)

Try it as a variant of Duplication

Why don't you make it a Talent that the Martial Arts Style in question requires. Make it a +4OCV w/Sweep skill levels (8pts) and call it Multiple Attack. This would allow three attacks with no penalty (not counting Off-hand penalty). If coupled with a Fast Strike Maneuver, the character could pull of 4 strikes with no penalty!

Hmmm...lets see: Standard Superhero (champions universe) Gritty Superhero (Based on Image/Wildstorm's STORMWATCH comic) Scifi (Space Opera) Cyberpunk Fantasy (both Low and High) The Five Star Stories (Very powerful Heroic or low Superheroic campaign that combines Fantasy, Scifi, mecha and superpowers into one kick ass campaign setting...based on a popular Manga) Tentative plans for the future include: High Fantasy (based on ICE's Shadow World setting) Space Opera (original setting: Dark Universe) Anime Cyberpunk (based on various anime and manga such as BGC, Appleseed, Angel Cop, GiTS etc) Lots more Five Star Stories...

Yes, I've written that one up before. I simulated the vacuum with Telekinesis (only for grab). The TK holds them in place and you get a free whack on them with some good bonuses. It could also be done with an HKA-Autofire-2 or better still; HKA (standard) HKA: AE-1 hex (so the attack cannot be dodged, but it can be blocked) Linked to 1st HKA. Thats probably the most servicable option.

No, I haven't. Unfortunately right now, I don't have a subscription to DH. My own computer is in storage and I use a computer at work to post on message boards and answer e-mail, so I'm holding off on the DH subscription till I get internet access in my apartment.

Yes in Rifts, you calculate what the Juicer can lift normally, then multiply by 4. This is AFTER figuring in the PS bonus for being a Juicer. (and for Martial Arts and Boxing and Gymnastics etc) M. U. N. C. H. K. I. N. Spells RIFTS!

Actually, the Cyclones are from Genesis Climber Mospeada aka Robotech: The Next Generation. Southern Cross featured the Hovertanks. I personaly plan to get to work on writing up various models of Variable Fighter (Veritech in Robotech terms) from the Macross universe as soon as I get my hands on The Ultimate Vehicle (well..after I do the Gundams from Endless Waltze)

Well, as soon as I get ahold of The Ultimate Vehicle, I plan to write up a bunch of Gundams and post them here. Probably starting sometime next week (I'm going to try to aquire TUV this coming weekend)

I've run a campaign that was decidedly Kenshin-esque. One of the PC's was a Samurai in the Kenshin mold (used a Battojutsu style and everything). The PC's were all 150 pts (to start). You could easily make Kenshin (and others on his level like Saito, Aoshi, Shishio, Enishi etc) on 200-250pts and be fairly accurate. Multipowers are king.

I understand where you guys are coming from about people "making up hit locations on the fly" but sometimes HERO's you gotta pay points for everything format takes the fun away from potentially imaginative roleplaying and quick thinking. Thats why I'm much more lenient on this sort of thing than most HERO GM's I think. If someone wanted to hit the "Eyes" location I would let them try....at a -12. An impairing wound temporarily blinds them and a disabling wound permanently blinds them (this is already figured into the Impairing and Disabling rules, thus, there is no violation of the HERO rules ) Personally, I don't believe that a player who wants to target specific hit locations is trying to "buck" the system...they just want a little more flavor from their combats. Nothing wrong with that. Just make sure that particularly vulnerable hit locations (such as major veins and arteries, Heart, Lungs, eyes etc) are particularly difficult to hit....-10 or more...and you shouldn't have much of a problem with it. A bonus Stun multipler or additional body damage is a reward for making such a difficult shot and a good justification for specific damage if an impairing or disabling wound is achieved.

Damn you guys at HERO! I haven't even gotten my hands on TUV yet, and MORE BOOKS ARE COMMING OUT! Sheesh, slow down. Give a brotha a chance to get some books... Hehehe. Just kidding. Keep em comming. I'll probably attempt to aquire both TE and TUV sometime next week if I can. Kick Ass!

First things first: Where is the jugular? In the neck. Thats location 5...part of the HEAD location. -8 OCV. I might even charge an additional -1 or -2 because its such precise targeting. Next, what would the effect of hitting the jugular be? Lots and lots of blood loss! Thus if I were using the "Bleeding" rules, I would double the normal amount of blood loss generated by the wound in addition to the normal bonuses for hitting location 5 (X2 body/X5Stun/X2NStun). If I weren't using the "Bleeding" rules, then I would just have the opponent lose Body each turn, as if they were below 0 Body. (or perhaps lose Stun and pass out from loss of blood after a few turns) Easy.

Re: truly realistic movement rules? Hey! I've been doing flight this way for about 3-4 years now. In fact, I just mentioned this method to someone on another Thread in the Star Hero section. It would only really apply to vehicular movement in a Heroic level game, and would only ever really be an issue in Scifi games. I recommend this method to anyone who plans on running Star Hero.

Okay. I'm going by the standard Hero System movement rules as laid down in the FREd. In those it states that a character or vehicle can only accellerate (or decellerate) an amount equal to its combat movement in a single phase. Thus, charactes (or vehicles) with a large noncombat multiplier can take several phases or even several turns to accellerate to its maximum movement. Long, long ago (during the 4th edition days) I determined that a vehicles Combat Movement was its "power" or "Thrust" (i.e. its ability to accellerate) and that the noncombat multiplier determined its maximum attainable speed in an atmosphere...usually based either on mode of travel (like Wheeled or tracked vehicles) or its aerodynamic streamlining (Thus, Jet Fighters have much higher noncmbt multipliers than Commercial Jets) and I ran some numbers compared to real-world combat and civillain aircraft and everything jelled just right. Thus, in space, since there is no atmosphere working to produce "drag" against a vehicle, there is no "maximum attainable speed" (unless you count the Speed of Light barrier)...they can accellerate to their hearts content, Adding or subtracting their Combat Move to adjust their current velocity...Noncombat movement should have no bearing whatsoever on this, since the Noncombat movement bonus is merely a determination at which a vehicle reaches its Maximum speed in an atmosphere. However, this is my personal observations/justifications based on my experience on using Hero for Scifi. Its not "the way it should be done" or anything like that...just a slightly more realistic system than the one provided in Star Hero (and as James/Steve pointed out, the version is Star Hero is far from accurate, and those who are savvy enough to know that are probably smart enought to come up with their own system, like I did ages ago) I understand why they did it the way they did (60"/Turn=1G) because its nice and easy, linnear math. Also, their change to the standard Hero movement rules, allowing Starships to figure Noncombat movement into G-accelleration makes it so that players and GM's don't need to give ships astronomical movement rates to reach speeds desired (merely increase the noncombat move and BAM! more accelleration). Certainly my method is more mathematically correct (if not totally accurate) but the Star Hero method is more intuitive. Use whichever one appeals to you most. I only suggested it because Babylon 5 is one of the few Sci-fi tv shows to pay attention to realism when dealing with movement of their starships (at least to a reasonable degree)

If you want realistic accelleration numbers here are some: Since 1G of accelleration is 10m/s/s (actually something like 9.98m/s/s, but 10m is good enough for gov't work!) this works out to exactly 5" per segment (this is covered in the "Falling" section in the FREd) Thus someone accellerating at 1G adds 5" to their current velocity every second/segment. This increases the distance they travel each second. Here's a chart carried out to 12 seconds (1 turn) Segment/Velocity/Total distance Travelled 1/5"/5" 2/10"/15" 3/15"/30" 4/20"/50" 5/25"/75" 6/30"/105" 7/35"/140" 8/40"/180" 9/45"/225" 10/50"/275" 11/55"/330" 12/60"/390" Thus a vehicle that starts with a velocity of 0, then suddenly accellerates at 1G will, by the end of the turn, have travelled a total of 390". Remember that Combat movement only is used to determine accelleration (according to the basic movement rules in the FREd) thus, your Starfury above accellerates at 25" per phase...at 4 phases per turn it looks like this: Phase/Velocity/Distance 3/25"/25" 6/50"/75" 9/75"/150" 12/100"/250" Thus, your Starfury can travel a total distance of 250" in 1 turn (starting at a velocity of 0") which comes out to .64G's (250/390) Noncombat movement shouldn't figure in to this calculation. In a Vacuum, the maximum speed is about 99% of lightspeed (or thereabouts) and a vehicle can keep accellerating (using their Combat Movement) to their hearts content until the run out of fuel so a Noncombat multiplier isn't needed. Of course, if the vehicle is designed to be used in both space and an Atmosphere, then a Noncombat multiplier is necessary. This represents the maximum attainable speed in an earth normal atmosphere and should be based on the aerodynamic streamlining that the vehicle has. Something like a Starfury would probably have around X8 noncombat multiplier (X16 for the aerodynamically streamlined version) This might be covered in The Ultimate Vehicle, but I'm not sure about that because I haven't gotten ahold of a copy of that yet. Hope that helps!

For a military SF show like Macross or Gundam, since the players don't get to choose their mecha, I say the characters do not pay for the mecha. However for a show that has more Superheroic style mecha (G-Gundam, Dangaio, Getter Robo etc) then the characters should most definately pay points for their mecha. For Macross, specificaly, the GM should design the Variable Fighters and assign them accordingly based on the mission at hand. (VF-11's normally, VF-17D's for Stealth missions and occasionaly give out a VF-19 or VF-22 to a player who has done well in the game as a reward) Then again, if you are playing something like Macross 7, maybe the characters should pay points for their mecha....obviously Basara and Mylene paid for theirs!