Delthrien

Re: Storn's Art & Characters thread.

Heh. Kinda gives a whole new meaning to the term "Hot Potato"

Re: Storn's Art & Characters thread.

Taking a name from a previous comment...

"Malfunction"

Re: Narcolepsy

for the game mechanics, I'd just model it after the "Berserk/Enraged" disad, with the initial roll determining how easy it is for the character to fall asleep under the condition(s) in question. The second roll would (obviously) be for the character to wake up.

My two shekels...

Re: Game Maps and Counters Exchange

This one was kinda nice. Even editable in Illustrator.

I'm working up a Transform power but I don't have FReD here at work (some drek about gaming being a drain on productivity...) and I haven't used the power for a character in many, many moons, so...

I want the character to alter the shape of stone to be able to make things ranging from statuettes to a functioning boat.

Strictly speaking, it would merely be changing only the form of the material while leaving all of the other characteristics intact -- this suggests a cosmetic (perhaps minor?) Transform.

OTOH, the use of the power -- in game terms -- could conceivably add abilities to stone that it doesn't ordinarily possess. For example, if shaped into a boat, it would effectively be given the power of "swimming."

Any advice on which way to go with this?

Inquiring minds and all that...

Re: Torg HERO

I'd be tempted keep the speeds at 2-4 (as suggested) but largely ignore DEX order on the speed chart and just use the cards to govern who goes first in a given phase. Perhaps use one initiative draw for a turn (or perhaps every 6 segments in dramatic encounters).

I may have to throw a group together REAL soon and try some of this stuff out.

Re: Torg HERO

Sounds like a way to go. I'm wondering, though. Would you be including Arcane Knowledges as skills in Hero or merely replacing them with the Multipowers? Was there ever a use (in Torg) for the Arcane Knowledge skills beyond casting spells? (I plead failing memory )

If so, it might be an interesting bit to allow the multipower to represent an ArcKnow skill (Abbreviated this way to avoid confusion with Hero's Area Knowledge) with the roll being based on the points in the MP reserve, perhaps something along the lines of the first 5 or 10 points representing a familiarity, with each additional 5 points representing a +1 to the roll. Or something...

Re: Torg HERO

Phil: Out of curiosity, would you be inclined to leave the axiom ratings as they are or would you tweak them a bit for Hero?

My own inclination is to leave them alone (the less work the better) but if tweaking them would make a better fit, I wouldn't mind...

Re: Torg HERO

First, no apologies for the long post -- that's awsome! I may be able to make use of that in the near future. We're about to start up a small group here (found out both one of my co-workers as well as my next door neighbor are gamers) and we're trying to decide on both a system and a setting we can all enjoy.

Second... well... If ya want, I'll keep your, er, relationship(s) under my hat.

Re: Torg HERO

I have to say that Torg is probably my second favorite game out there. For the most part, the work is already done for you; you can find magic and equipment scattered throughout the Hero books. The problem is going to be the things you say you disliked from the original game: the mechanics.

 

The first thing you would have to consider is how to handle disconnecting and the Cosm Axioms. In Torg the Reality Skill is used for 1) Reconnecting 2) Fighting other characters with Reality Storms 3) Resisting Reality Storms 4) Deactivating Stelae. This means you will need to develop a Reality based Skill and Power in the Hero version. The Reality Skill will be needed for reconnecting, whereas the Reality Power will need to be some kind of Transform - person of one reality to a person of a different reality.

 

You also need to think about if you want to bring over rules such as the Drama Deck, World Laws, Possibility Points (and using them to effect game rolls).

 

If you are still looking for ideas, we can bounce a few back and forth.

By the mechanics, I was thinking more of the need to roll the d20 to generate a total that would give you a bonus that would then be applied to the base ability... seems like a long way to travel to get to the final result. My main complaint (if it could be called that) was that the basic mechanic seemed to make things needlessly muddy. Could just be my inherent laziness.

Reality Skill

This doesn't seem like it would be too difficult to implement -- perhaps make it EGO-based. I think the hardest part would be determining how difficult it would be to do things like reconnect, since the axioms can vary so wildly. The other applications (reality storms, etc.) seem more like an opposed test. The actual consequence of failure in the case of Storms would be the transformation. I don't know that an actual power would need to be worked up for that.

The Drama Deck

Well... that seemed like a mixed bag to me. There were some nice things about it, but I was never really keen on "approved actions." I have to admit, though, they were pretty good for sparking the cinematic bits in an encounter -- especially when the players had to come up with an "in game" rationale for being able to use their cards to help another player.

World Laws

I think you'd almost have to use these if you wanted to maintain the flavor of the game.

Possibilities

I suspect this would be the most difficult to implement. One could go with one of the variant mechanics for "Luck" but since Possibilities were also used for character improvement, that wouldn't quite get it done. I suppose one could set it up so that XPs could be spent in the same way as the Possibilities in Torg, but it might be necessary to tweak the XP awards for a given adventure.

If you (or anyone else) have any ideas to toss out, I'd love to hear 'em.

Re: Torg HERO

Nope, it wasn't me, LL. I think I ran across that post on RPGNet myself. In my web wanderings, I've found an initial (and possibly aborted) attempt to do a D20 version of Torg. I vaguely recall seeing something on the web a few years back in which the Hero System was used as the game mechanics. I'll have to check my old back-ups to see if I saved a copy.

NSG, I was never overly thrilled with the Torg mechanics, though I did think the setting was worth salvaging. I may be slightly biased, though. My initial experiences with Torg were with Greg Gorden acting as GM. It probably helped a tremendous amount that the guy running the game was one of the game's creators.

I'm almost certain I've come across a conversion for Torg using the Hero System but I'm coming up with a big goose egg in my search -- both on these boards and the net in general.

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Thanks (or "Thnaks" as I more commonly spell it...)

Re: Spirit Transform- Examples wanted

Oooo. A few of the comments above have got me thinking of a nifty side effect for a "shape change" spell.

Once the caster (or subject) of the spell assumes a new form, there is a side effect for a cumulative Spirit Transform that starts working to make permanent what they've turned into... A bit like the True Change from the Earthsea books. I think. Been many moons since I've read them, but I remember something about the dangers of taking on a new form.

Anyway, sorry for the tangent. I sort of needed to jot this down while I was thinking about it...

Re: What Would You Like To See In Upcoming HEROglyphs Columns?

(brought over from the Digital Hero board...)

Hmmm... Some (or all) of the following may have been covered elsewhere, but:

Defenses (general): Perhaps something that covers a single defense characteristic, or additional defenses (like a base score for Mental Defense, Power Defense, etc.)

Tweaking Powers: Like getting rid of Energy Blast & the "Hand Attack" limitation in favor of "Ranged Normal Attack" & "Hand-to-hand Normal Attack" powers (much like RKAs & HKAs)

Battlesuits/Powered armor without using focus limitations: OHID covers the inability of Joe Villain to remove the armor from John Q. Battlesuit, but other technology related problems/situations occasionally arise (though not often enough to warrant a limitation...). Something to address the occasional damage to the armor, re-wiring the circuits for a new (temporary) effect, or some even the odd system "crapping out" at inopportune times. "Field repairs" could be covered with this as well...

Re: Sample Oddity From Gestalt-Earth

Heh... ever see the Fighting Foodon cartoon? (anime -- no idea what the original title was...). My guess is that they'd look something like that.

Re: Champs Worldwide: Whaddya want?

Perhaps some characters that have powers but choose to live "normal" lives instead of fight crime. Things like:

• The brick who uses his strength to move heavy loads around on the dock
  
• a speedster self-employed as a courier/delivery guy
  
• a cop who posesses senses keen enough to sniff out drugs, explosives, spot smuggled weapons, etc.
  
• a teacher that can impart knowledge telepathically
  
• a doctor with healing abilities or at least senses to aid in determining medical problems (x-ray eyes, microscopic vision, etc.)
  
• a bartender who really *can* solve the problems who pour their hearts out over a drink.
  
• you get the idea...
  

Essentially a league of non-super supers, perhaps employed by the same agency. Perhaps just people who decided to use whatever abilities they have to make a living (much like professional athletes...).

Re: Self-Exiled Angel -- Character Background Brainstorming

Well, a whole bunch of angels were supposed to have defected along with Lucifer, so you can always fall back on that as an origin.

I rather like this idea.

No longer willing to follow Lucifer (a decision made either long ago, or recently -- as you wish) but no longer welcome in Heaven. Very useful for a "seeking redemption" theme if you go that route...

Re: The Incredibles

That guy looked like John Lithgow in Buckaroo Banzai. I kept expecting him to call Mr. Incredible a monkeyboy!

Heh. With that hair, I was thinking more of "Heat Miser" from the old Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer animated special...

Re: Telepathy -- reading jumbled/chaotic thoughts...

Have you considered that instead of using a mental defense strategy the gm should have the reader make a perception roll to see if they are able to make sense of whats in your head. The person with the jumbled chaotic thoughts should also receive a penalty on their own focus as their mind is not clear and sharp.

That was my initial thought with the Change Environment -- I wanted to set up some kind of penalty (or force a PER roll) for getting anything useful from the mind in question.

Now that I think about it, some of the above suggestions would also lend themselves rather well to characters that possess several minds in a single body (something else I've wanted to work up...).

Re: Telepathy -- reading jumbled/chaotic thoughts...

Wow. I hadn't even considered that... Man, I love these boards!

Thanks!

Re: Telepathy -- reading jumbled/chaotic thoughts...

Hmmm... I was just looking over the ablative limitation, too. It might be useful for reducing the effectiveness of the defense over time -- given time, the telepath could sift through the jumble to find the nuggets.

Thanks for the suggestions!

I want to simulate a "pseudo-defense" against Telepathy. It doesn't so much prevent telepathic contact as much as make it difficult (not impossible) to get anything useful. The effect is that the subject's thoughts are so jumbled, unconnected, chaotic or rapid that it's useful info.

Would Change Environment work for this? or maybe just extra ego only for resisting effect of telepathic probing?

Re: Favorite Pulp Character

Gotta go with The Shadow. Can't say for sure why, just something about the combination of the mental powers coupled with the Two-fisted action and a huge support network. The twin .45s and The Laugh just top it all off...

Re: Eliminating Killing Attacks

My own two shekels:

I rather liked the DC Heroes version of "normal" and "killing" combat. I like the idea that most attempts to kill an opponent are matters of intent rather than inherent... well, aside from attacks designed to do BODY damage -- could never figure out how to favor stun damage with a .357 magnum...

My own preference would be to make "killing" attacks a maneuver rather than separate kind of attack power. It would represent "not holding anything back" perhaps easier to enact (a small OCV bonus), but more difficult to defend when engaged (an equivalent DCV penalty). The kind of thing a berserk (or enraged) character would use.

On the whole, I think it's a matter of style. Golden or Silver age games might be better suited to something like this. Bronze or Iron age games less so.

Re: Ultimate Wonder Twins

My two shekels (likely overpriced)...

Keep the powers relatively the same -- without the lame requirement that they first make contact...

Make Zan's shapeshifting "fluid only" (none of that "ice giant" drek) -- not necessarily liquid, but very flexible forms (a little like Mr. Fantastic).

Jayna's could remain the same, but maybe limited to vertebrates or "rigid" forms (no snakes, slugs, jellyfish or buckets of water).

Their personalities could be a reflection of their powers. Zan could be a little more easy-going, go-with-the-flow (or even "morally flexible") and Jayna more of a hard-ass.

Throw in the "cultural ignorance" that two alien teens would naturally possess and I might be willing to read the book... maybe...