mallet

The movie "Miracle Mile" from the 80's is great for showing the breakdown of society in a short period of time. The Americans have launched nukes at Russia and Russia has retaliated and launched nukes at the USA. Only a few people know at first as word gets out at like 1am in the morning. Then as word spreads the city (LA) quickly descends into anarchy as everyone is fighting to get out of the city before the nuke's hit or is it fake news/panic and nothing will happen at all?

Can you link to what the Gemini Game is? The official website? Sorry, but I have never heard of it and the links provided only go to the app, which isn't much help since I still have no idea what the game is, and even the app ad on youtube doesn't have a link to the actual game website, and searching for "Gemini game" on google only brings up the 90's game console. I am guessing it is a TTRPG? What genre? or is it a universal system like HERO? Is it based off of HERO? Links to something other then the app would be helpful.

Lots of other factors in this as well (sorry if covered already. I read through most of the posts but might have missed if these were brought up already): First, Fighters can lose their weapons and armor (and/or maybe have to put their armor on, find and draw their weapons, etc...) while a spellcaster always has access to their spells (in most magic builds). Second, the rules have to be looked at as a whole. Fighters, more then most, have to worry about encumbrance. You might need STR 17 to use that Great Sword, but it also has major weight when combined with full armor and other adventuring gear, that can make fighter's slow, and lose DEX, END, long term END, etc... Now if your game house rules away encumbrance that's fine, but then don't blame fighters for being overpowered compared to mages because they have tons of high damage weapons and can take a ton of damage. There is a reason Conan had a great sword but ran round fighting in a loin cloth, he didn't want to be slowed down by the weight and limitations of heavy armor. Same with the Spartans and Ninjas and many other examples. If you ignore the limitations and drawbacks of heavy, difficult gear (because no one wants to keep track of bookkeeping, and such) then the characters are getting major advantages without any of drawbacks so of course they will be overpowered in some instances then other characters. The same also with allowing Fighters to wear their heavy armor all the time. Like, how do they take a piss or dump when they are in plate mail and wearing gauntlets? How do they scratch an itch on their back? How long does it take to get sand or a rock out of their armored boots? If they have to spend ten minutes and make a lot of noise taking off some or all of their armor every time they need to go to the bathroom and then even longer to get back in the armor? How about sinking deep into mud or drowning in a lake or river? There are major limitations and disadvantages built into most fighter's gear, but if the GM doesn't bother with them that is on the GM for making things unbalanced, not the rules.

I would say that a race is a form of combat between two or more competitors (not all combat needs to be punching or shooting each other) so racing shouldn't use "noncombat" speeds or rules. Lightning Reflexes should be used to see "who goes first" in the combat as the difference between first and second (or third) in most professional sprints is a matter of milliseconds and who reacts and gets off the blocks first often wins in short sprints like 50 or 100 meter. In this sense it is much like a duel in the wild west. Who draws first/fastest often wins if everything else is equal. In a real race blocks should be considered necessary equipment, just like shoes. Using them is standard and allows you to do your best, not using them should have a negative effect.

Anyone who still continues to make 3rd Party content for D&D after this has only themselves to blame when in 3-5 years WotC tries to do this again and succeeds. I actually find it very pathetic how many people who were crying and screaming about "never supporting WotC again", even if they went back on implementing OGL 1.1, who are now, like predictable lemmings, are going back to WotC and playing D&D.

Best numbers I could find is that 12-16 million people play D&D regularly. Wizards of the Coast apparently made something like $400million profit last year, but easily 75% of that was from Magic: The Gathering. So D&D maybe accounted for less then $100 Million. D&D suffers from the same issue all other RPG's suffer from. Once a group buys the original books, they don't need to spend any more money. Adventures, new sourcebooks, more classes or whatever, are nice, but not necessary. As HERO System fans we are more then aware of this. If you have the 2 main rule books for 6th ed, you never needed to buy another Hero System book again if you didn't want to (and were willing to do all the building yourself). I know a few D&D groups where only the DM had all 3 core books, and the players only had the Player's guide (and not even all of them had it). If we average each core book at $50, and a table of 5 players and 1 DM, that means WotC made about $350.00 from that group. And maybe nothing more, even years after that group started playing the game. That is a business model that only survives if you keep constantly drawing in new players, and even then every few years you need a "new edition" to get the older player to re-buy the core books. I am 100% certain the the WotC game plan is to change that business model. They want to go all digital, all subscription based. Charge DM's $10/month for a subscription and players $5/month. Now that group of 6 people I mentioned earlier are going to be spending $35/month to play D&D. So in 10 months they will have paid what the originally spent on the books, and everything after that is more profit for WotC. Under this model, even if they lost 50% of their player base, so from 14 Million down to 7 million. They would still be making about $40million a month in subscription fees. In 3 months they would be making more then what D&D is currently making in a year. That works out to about $480 million a year. That would more then double WotC's profits in less then a year. And that is even after losing 50% of their players. And you know what, it would still be an amazing deal for people who played D&D. Subscription would give you access to every book, including all new books that would come out. All setting, all adventures, all monsters, all magic items, everything. The online character builder would allow players to build everything they want that was rule legal. Their VTT would be fantastic for at home and online play. You know they would have the budget to do that. And with all that extra money they could triple their output of new books and material, again all for "free" to subscribers. And they could connect players looking for games from around the world. You could play it on your PC, laptop, ipad/tablet or smartphone. And if you stopped playing D&D for a bit to try another system, you just stop paying for a few months, then re-subscribe when you want to play again. They would also sell this as being environmentally friendly. No physical books, means no cutting down tress for paper. No international shipping and delivery using gas and oil, no printing with harmful chemicals and glues and dyes. Plus it would save them tons of cash. No need for all those printing and international shipping expenses, especially in these days of supply chain disruption. No need for a whole department in the company that deals with publishing, printing, shipping, storage and delivery. All that money saved on wages. I'm sure something like this has been the dream of every game company in existence, but only recently has the technology reached the point where it is doable, and only D&D has reached the size and popularity where they could actually make it happen. The OLG 1.1 license is just the first step on the path to this. All this "noise" of people complaining online about it is, honestly, almost nothing to the size of D&D. I know it sucks for the people making a living off of D&D and OLG, but that is a really small % of people who play D&D. Looking at twitter at the height of #openD&D trending they was 20k tweets. You know a lot of those are the same people tweeting 2 or more times. so lets say 15k individuals. That is less then 0.001% of the people who play D&D regularly. Even if it was 1-2% that is still nothing. It is just all blown way out of size by the echo chamber that is social media. People on social media like to believe they speak for everyone, but they in fact speak for almost no one but themselves. Millions of D&D players around the world could careless about the OLG. They stick to playing their one game, refuse to play any other system, and are happy to do that. It is those people WotC is counting on. When they go all digital subscription base system, also long as they can keep around 50% of those players, then they will still be making more money then they ever dreamed of.

Have all your character's start with 8 in each main stat, rather then 10. Selling back those points gets them 14 extra character points to build their characters with. This will provide more of a spread in their starting characteristics and allow them more points to individualize their builds from each other.

I'm not saying we need to get into any detail as to why the numbers (damage, def. etc...) for weapons and armor set at what they are (realistic to us or not) just that we can say that "this is the level of development they have reached with weapons and armor". So arrows do do 1d6 or more vs plate armor. Plate armor, or mail, or whatever, does have this much Def and weighs this much. It might not be exactly how our historic and understood versions of armor and weapons work vs each other, it is just that in "this" setting they have had the time to innovate and get them to this point (RAW stats). In another 1000+ years in the fantasy world, maybe those RAW stats will have changed because of developments, but for now this is where the game setting is at.

I know this will come across as a bit of a "cop out" answer, and it is one that I often dislike myself, but in this case it might be useful/accurate. The fact of the matter is that almost all fantasy settings are developmentally impaired. By that I mean almost all of these settings "current" civilization is 5,000 - 10,000 years old, but technology has stalled out at a pre-gunpowder level. They have never moved on to guns, or to steam power or to electricity or the combustion engine (yes, some fantasy setting use some of these features, but most do not, even those that do usually have an extended period where the technology didn't exist). Take Amberthal as an example, they have over 5000 years of recorded history, with civilizations, cities, castles, temples, trained horses, weapons, armors, magic, currency, etc... yet in those 5000+ years they never got beyond swords, bows & armor. Doesn't matter why, that's just how it is. Same for tons of other fantasy settings. But just because they didn't move beyond that level of technology doesn't mean they never improved on it beyond what we did in our history. In our history they stopped working on it once guns came along. But in a fantasy setting they have/had another 3000+ years for the blacksmiths to come up with and improve arrows, swords and armor. In a fantasy setting maybe what they call a standard arrow is vastly superior to what a standard arrow was/is to us. Maybe they found new alloys to make the arrow head out of? Or different forging techniques. Maybe they have different designs or the arrow heads is actually forged in different pieces, then assembled. So that it pierces armor then expands or the parts behind it shatters (a "hollow point" arrow if you will) but to them it is just an arrow. Same with plate mail armor. They've had an extra 3000+ years to improve on the design beyond what we ever did. Maybe they use cloth and leather in a way inside the armor to make it comfortable to wear all day? Maybe there are more hidden vents to keep it cool? Maybe the padding and articulation they added means that it can move quite silently. And quick attach and release clips and straps to make getting in and out of heavy armor a lot quicker and easier then anything we ever came up with, because we stopped trying, but they had no choice but to keep working on it. Same for the costs. The longer a technology has been around, the more people know how to quickly and efficiently build it, the costs goes down. So after 3000+ years, maybe a set of plate armor doesn't cost the same as what a village makes in a year. I guess the point is if we are going to try and add more realism to the armor and weapons of a setting, then we should also be factoring in how much more time (thousands of years) that the people making the weapons and armor have had to improve on it beyond what we ever did as a civilization.

Well it works if it is a college professor to a college professor wearing a werewolf costume.

You've got to have a special Crossroads somewhere out there. Maybe one where there was an already natural "crossroads" based on the geography, then over time it became first made by animal trails, then human trails and pathways, and now dirt roads. This Crossroads is the special place of Lady Luck/Trickery. It symbolizes: the unknown future/destiny and paradoxally also choosing your own fate/direction in life, chance encounters, the road less traveled, adventure, the unknown, and so on.

That sounds like you gained a point or two in STR (or Penalty Skill Levels vs Encumbrance). Either way, it was spending some of your character points to make carrying around all your books easier.

In a system like HERO where potentially there is no "class" restrictions against any character wearing any armor or heavy armor, I think if balance is to be maintained with the players having access to heavy armor like Plate Mail then the GM does need to make the disadvantages to wearing it come into play. It can mean extra book keeping, which no one enjoys, but otherwise it can be over powerful. What we should be trying to do is find ways of making the book keeping part of of wearing the armor simpler but still realistic. Off the top of my head, some options: -Having the armor being an issue to carry around and transport when not wearing it. Especially if the characters are walking and have no horses or carts. Carrying 55 pounds of oddly shaped metal on your back, along with all the normal travelling gear would be a major hassle. If the characters know they are going to need to hike 20 miles through a swamp, then up a mountainside, then they know that they shouldn't bring the plate mail along this adventure. If they are riding their horses 5 miles up an old trail to an abandoned keep, then sure, no problem, bring it along. -The time it takes to put on and the fact that you need at least one other person to help the character put it on. -When it is on, no first aid/normal medical aid can be provided. You can't quickly bandage up a stab wound to the chest if the character is still in plate mail. The armor has to be taken off first. So only magical healing is possible. -Stealth check penalties -Maybe some version of Long Term Endurance specifically for characters wearing heavy armor. Derived by from average of STR, CON & EGO (ego because lots of things could drive you crazy while wearing heavy plate armor that the character would have to mentally block out (can't scratch an itch, adjust their clothing underneath, the sweat running down their faces and backs, the heat, and so on...)) this version of LTE would maybe calculate how many hours (non-combat) the person could wear the armor for, and then how many turns in combat, before suffering penalties. Then they would need a rest before they could put it on again. Maybe a character with 18 in STR, CON and EGO, could wear full plate armor for 6 hours (non-combat) then 10 TURNS of combat for each "hour" left from when combat starts. After all those Turns of combat run out, or 6 hours pass, the character starts taking penalties that increase as time goes on, until they remove the armor and spend X amount of time not wearing it before putting it on again.

Yeah, to me that sounds like someone just having a higher base OCV then another character. Maybe have Improvised Weapons come with a -2 OCV to use, then make, like Steriaca suggested, a WF: Improvised Weapon (for 1pt) that negates the -2 OCV for using an Improvised Weapon. Characters who have the WF have an easier time using improvised weapons then characters who don't, but someone with a really high OCV and no WF, will still be better then someone with a low OCV and the WF when using Improvised Weapons, which is how it should be.

Well this ability would only allow for the detecting that a disaster is happening, and the mechanics of the disaster area. For example, if it was a flood, they would know how deep the water was in each area, how fast the water is moving in each area, etc... it wouldn't tell them if people were trapped in each area, or how many people, or that kind of thing. The sense/detect is only specific to the "disaster" itself, so the flood, fire, lava, radiation, earthquake, etc... if they wanted to sense "whatever" was happening inside the area of a disaster, like people in trouble, damage to buildings, lost puppies, etc... then that would be more like Clairsentience with a limitation "only in areas of disasters" or something similar.

Is this some Limited form of Danger Sense that you or one of your players has built? Would probably help if you posted the power build here first.

It all depends on the "type" of campaign you are running and what the player's expectations are. You are right a lot of travel time is waved away in lots of games, as everyone is excited to "get to the evil temple and get all the loot." I think this comes from most RPG's being "goal orientated" and historically in game travel has been "aimless", in that it was often left to random encounters, book keeping food and water rations, etc... If you are not just GMing an "adventure", but rather a "campaign", then to keep travel interesting you could look at the route the journey will take, and not only come up with a few adventures along the way, but design each of them to specifically target/be of interest/challenge at least one member of the party. Maybe have them provide items or skills or experiences that currently seem unimportant, but the players will later need in the "main adventure". As so many things, it often comes back to The Hobbit. Imagine if Tolkien cut out the entire journey to the Lonely Mountain where the real "Adventure" was? Half the novel would be gone. There would be no tricking the troll's on the mountain top, no giant spiders of Merkwood, no daring escapes by barrels from a goblin keep, and Bilbo would never have found "The Ring". In RPG terms, maybe all of those mini adventures gave the party enough xp to be powerful enough to survive the "main adventure" at the end, and gave Bilbo the ring that he would need to complete the adventure later. I guess what I am getting at is that any travel "mini adventure" or encounter is going to feel boring or a "Waste of time" to the players if it doesn't seem to organically fit into the story, and if it isn't of some interest/challenge to at least one member of the party. (for example, come across a small roadside church that has been getting raided by bad guys. Well make it a church to the same God the cleric of the part worships so he/she has a religious and personal goal to help defend this church (heck, maybe the pastor of the mini church is an old friend from the religious seminary where the cleric/priest trained?). Or something is poisonings the plants and animals in an area, so any druidic type character, or a hunter or barbarian (or any character type that likes nature, animals, plants or what not) feel invested in finding the source of the poison and stopping it. TL;DR Do something, anything, to make any mini-adventures seem non-random, and important adventures in their own right.

What is/was the landscape and environment around the city and region? If it was all swamps or mountainous or thick jungle, then a chariot wouldn't be viable, rather a horse would be more likely. If it was generally dry and flat then a chariot would make more sense.

In my last main fantasy hero game we dropped the Speed Chart, had a few new-to-hero players and the chart just confused them more then helped. Every turn characters got number of actions equal to their SPD. We went in DEX (+ any relevant Lightning Reflexes or other ability mods) order. Highest first, then all the way down to lowest (or any held actions remaining), then start at the top again until all actions had been taken. That was the "end of turn" and when Recovery would happen. Each "Phase" the DEX order might change by the changing of Lightning Reflexes or other abilities, plus the house rule that for every 1 Body of damage a character had taken their DEX (for action order) was also reduced by 1. So a 22 DEX Character that had taken 4 BODY damage last phase, now had a 18 DEX position in the action order. We really enjoyed that rule as it meant as Players and opponents got more injured, they reacted slower in combat. It added a nice amount of realism to the fights, and added new tactics, without making major rule adjustments or slowing things down.

In 6th, I can't remember if it is the same in 5th, if the target is prone (laying on the ground) then they are also at 1/2 DCV. So if you can trip or knockdown your target then that is another way to get them to 1/2 DCV.

I'd love for there to e a Fantasy Hero version!

There could be uses for this in some campaigns, settings, characters. Imagine a character with 4 arms, and the ability to make 2 of them invisible. They could be picking pockets/stealing things with those 2 invisible arms, while their 2 normal arms are fully visible so no one expects the theft to even possibly be happening. Or for magic tricks and the like. 2 extra, invisible arms/hands could make for some interesting/impossible seeming illusions and slight of hand magic. Character could be picking a lock with their two invisible hands while the other two are out in the open carrying stuff (and blocking the view of the lock). Same could be said with some uses of Stretching, the characters full body is visible, but one of his arms that he seems to be leaning against the wall on is actually invisible and stretch out going around behind the guard to attack him from behind or hit an alarm or whatever.

Ammo is a good one. I think though the value should depend on what the most common fire arm available is, plus the most common ammo. A quick search on google shows that the two most common ammo's and firearms are the .22 and 9mm, so those would be the most common to have lots of (and to be found, both ammo and guns) in a post-apoc world. So they would be lower in value in my opinion. Another factor is how much damage they do, more damage equals more worth. For example, 12 gage shotgun shells are also super common currently and make the top 5 most abundant ammo in the USA today, so while they might not be rare after an apocalypse the fact that they are so deadly makes them worth more. So maybe a .22 is worth $1.00, a 9mm $2.00, 12 gage shot gun shell $4.00, etc. Factors like condition, (and is it original or a re-load) might adjust the value of each bullet up or down. Black powder might be sold by weight. How easy it is to make (certain areas might not have the right natural resources to create it) and how many people are making it, would be a factor on how much it is worth compared to Bullets and to how many people have access to Black Powder weapons. Depending on the setting, clean water might be super valuable and maybe used as a currency, but most certainly bought and sold. Most rivers and natural fresh water sources are today too polluted to safely drink so imagine how bad they will be after a nuclear war.

Like the mirrored surface, and such, but another example is using a sword (usually a magical one) to block/defend against a magic attack spell or Dragon breath attack.

Some random thoughts: I wouldn't classify a god of the hearth or forge as a God of Chaos. Forges are used to build tools to create order out of chaos. Hearth is generally a symbol of home and stability and safety. Lady of the Seasons feels to me like a Neutral Goodness, rather then one of Order (the constant change of the seasons seems neutral to me, rather then always one ordered thing. although i can see the argument for order as well, since it is a repeating, unchanging cycle) I'd maybe put "healing/hospitals" under gods of knowledge. People get sick, that is natural (and thus neutral) but knowing how to heal has to be learned and studied, so fits under god of knowledge to me. Now maybe their is a Neutral god of stamina/health (which covers the bodies own natural healing abilities). Tactics and logistics shouldn't be under a chaos/war god, but rather a learning/knowledge god in my opinion. Might have a god of communication/diplomacy as an Order God It wouldn't be a Chaos god, but a god of learning/growing from mistakes, evolving from chaos, overcoming adversity, might be a wisdom god