Duke Bushido

Because as a GM, you fell back on simple differentiation in your haste to make this throw-away character "a real boy" for just a moment, and instaed of a personality or making him a forgettable jerk, you dropped a quirk in in him as the only "personality" he would need for ten seconds of screen time. And the players went "ooh! This guy's quirky! He could be fun to pal around with for a while!" While your actual contact / patron / harbinger of doom tends to be presented as one of two to four "standard models" of that sort of encounter. Took me years to get to the bottom of this problem. My "I have had enough" moment revolved around having to rewrite a year-long campaign on the fly to turn an irate Chinese tattoo artist into a critical part of the plot because the players would _NOT_ do anything or go anywhere without consulting or even dragging this guy along with them. Ugh. So I learned: do not _ever_ make a plot-relevant NPC a "type," or at least dont make him look like one. Make all throw-away characters generic "types" or complete jerks.

Dice. Fixed. Fingers are too big for the phone keypad.

That! That right there! That is the thing I have been unable to put into words every time this subject comes up! Thank you, Sir! I one hundred percent agree! Now don't get me wrong: if it is your preference to dice your way through a social situation, then by all means do so. But do _not_ think that you are going to somehow _enhance_ the roleplaying experience, as these systems by their very nature must _replace_ it. Again: if that is your thing, then more power to you; I merely wish to shine a light onto the reality of such systems.

Right; understood it immediately. It is identical to the 4e era wave of "Desolidification as immunity to damage X" builds that were so popular at one time.

How the #$%€&× do you play chess?! Because I think I play it way differently, Sir. Way, _Way_ differently....

I dont know, Man.... If we are recreating old school D and D and Greyhawk, ask me if I would rather have a sword plus three, or one with a finely-honed sense of comedic timing and trust issues....

The Guys from the Office. This one stems from the Florists (ha! I kill me! Someone else missed the chance) in that they were always mindful of bugs ans live ears, so they spoke in code. When one got a call from King, and was passing on orders or information: "the office called. They say we are missing too many opportunities. We should study what we have found, put together a fresh team, and really sell the offer. Maybe a do-over is the key." Or "they don't think we've got what it takes. They are sending a supervisor." Or "three dozen long stems for [address, sometimes name and a dress]." "Three dozen? Is it date night or something?" "Yeah, I think this guy _really_ hopes to take her out..." Super simple stuff, but as much as the PC teams would develop codespeak, it almost always flew over their heads.

I have to admit, it _is_ a lot easier, what with being able to pre-visit and stake the place out, plan my exits, stash supplies, etc. _Way_ eaier than just showing up and reacting...

Claw -Claw -Bite

I quite like that one, actually.

Love to help you, Sketch, but this is the very first I have even heard of it.

On the commonality od magic items even in the scarcity of magic users: Chris Goodwin pointed me to a story some time ago that features a potential explanation. Sometimes people become "taken" with a drive to create something. Often it is craftsmen and artisans, but sometimes it is just Joe Anybody. This drive lasts as long as it takes to complete the thing or things they are crafting. It becomes an obsession, and the crafter may ignore hunger, elements, and go days without sleep. When the frenzy ends, the item or items he has creatwd will be magical, even if he himself knows nothing about magic. He will not know how he created it- he may not even remember having been taken by creative fervor- and he will most likely never be abke to repeat what he did. Now I know it isn't Greyhawk, but it is a potential explanation for all those oeky wands, rings, and bracers lying about the countryside and scattered through various dungeons. Alternatively, magic items are always magic. Even a wand with Charges, if left alone for a couple if decades, will return to full charge. Those that are broken or destroyed will reappear in a century or two. Factor in a world age of ten thousand years or so, and you could litter the place with magical items.

To some extent, yes, but mostly no in an extended campaign. If I am going to end up having to write it all down anyway, I prefer to get it done and out of the way and have that much prepped material I can toss out to the players on demand. Now That doesn't mean every world has a whole lot of detail- basic geography, climate, population-- possibly culture if there is a particulalrly dominant Or interwsting one. Possibly. Sometimes those are filled by the needs of the story at the moment, and sometimes they arw filled by the players (my charavter comes from a planet in this sector over here. It's a warm, wet world, and the humidity is so extreme in equatorial regions that only the cobalt miners live there. Mist of us are closer to the poles, which at least freeze a bit in their winter months. Tech level 8 exceot for farming, which bumps 10 in places, with a mostly semi-nomadic population away from the corporate farms. The government insist on strict laws, but since there is no real way to enforce them on most folks and the corps dont care, it'a pretty lax. My character was from a family of nomads blah blah blah) Okay, cool. Let me write that down / make a couole of tweaks and we can get started. If we end up there, I can add more detail as needed. Short campaign or one-shots? Or if you happen to wander out of the sandbox? Yeah: probably going to whip something up on the spot. I have an aversion to not having _something_ mapped out ahead od time. Not bwcause I can't wing it, but from a player comment back in the 90s. We had a new (to our group) player and very much near the start of the campaign, the characters are left with a decisiin on where to go next. Whilw my regulars took a moment to debate (in character), the new guy says "just pick one. Wherever we go, it is going to be the right planet, right?" The laughter was deafening until one od my regulars said "wow. Buddy, I dont know who you played with before, but you are in for a treat if that's what you're used to." I was embarrased over how proud that made me, and even though TJ hasn't gamed with us since 98 or so (he moved for a job), I go out of my way when planning a campaign to not let him down.

Flat. Hardbacks should be stored flat so that the weight of the pages doesn't stress the binding. This is particularly important if, as is usually the case, the cover is larger than the pages themselves.

Wait- Are you telling me that this isn't normal?!

I am like Doc: The Delaney Street Union. Southside Plumbing The Mechanics The Club That sort of thing. I feel that most criminal organizations would find themselves inviting a lot of unwelcome extra scrutiny with names like Evil Deeds LLC or Antagonists R Us or Conquerors Worldwide. The most successful criminal empire I ever had going in a cyber campaign was run by "King" James Posey. The referred to themselves casually as "the Florists."

If you stay up every night meditating on a three-week quest, you are going to suffer way more penalties than were ever assessed. Maybe they fall asleep face first in their spell books and soak it up that way.

I have always kind of assumes the reason wizards and such kept to thmselves was a combination of the rigors or spell research and Vancian magic. It is not like you are going to make a living using it: "Okay, that is the two instances I prepared for. Gotta take a nap now if I want do so it again...." Sequestered away to the corners in small groups, they can take turns napping.

YES!! _that_ was it! Thank you, Steve! It wasn't a matter of him defending the width of the bridge; he had reduced the available area to a size that he could defend. So say his front three hexes, which is totally doable in HERO-- If your Horatio is good enough.

What is the goal of the trading cards? If it is just a fun thing you want to do, consider using your own Champions characters.

Look, I was really hoping someone else would point this out-- mostly because my memory on this is really fyzzy, but didn't it only work out for Horatio (well, in the heroic sacrifice kind of "worked out") because some quirk of honor amongst his opponents required them to defeat him before going forward? Seriously- I meant to look it up, but got sidetracked and forgot, then someone bumped this thread... You know how it goes. But if this was the case, you have essentially created a situation where his opponents come to him. Granted, the larger conversation is still fails: how does one man guard a bridge that is more than three hexes wide.

What he said. Odds are the specific book you mention would not sell, as it is really only half a book. I mean, it is a complete book, but there was so much left,untouched that even when the book was launched the author himself commented on making preparations for a second book. Unfortunately, he died in an automobile accident almost immediately afterwards, and no second book was ever produced by anyone. Kazei 5, if you soet of tune out the catgirls and serious anime bend of the material, is a solid piece of work that will do everything you want for the cyberpunk genre, and if catgirls and tank police are your vibe, you get bonus material you can usue to recreate any japanese sci-fi cartoon from the 80s and up (except combines; there isnt much on combiners. Even an author who loves the xonventions of anime seems to know that combiners are stupid,. )

After the synopses given of the evolution of Greyhawk (and my thanks to both of you again), I am going to suggest that the first step might be deciding _which_ Greyhawk you will be playing in. For what it's worth, I was never a fan of grimdark as a _theme_, but it has value as a _threat_ (stop the impending grimdark), but frankly, I don't think any of us, under any but the most Monte Haul of DM, ever had a snowball's chance of keeping a party alive long enough to really become even an annoyance to Iuz the Evil or similar such published characters for any game in any genre. And the other problem was playing a game for three or four years with only a single end goal.... It never happened. We just lost interest and tended to find side quests to stay entertained. It's like retirement: ten years into the job, and you start counting down, because you have had enough of that already. That is apropos of nothing except to suggest that if the goal is to "stop Iuz the Evil,' I would encourage you to consider starting them out at sufficiently higher than 'starting level" characters: while videogame developers might not have figured it out, grinding for levels specifically to get levels to complete the single goal laid out at the beginning? Not a lot of fun. And just as commentary: I rather _liked_ the crumbling ancient Empire as individual cultures and city states came into their own. It was a rather oprimistic background that suited my own visions at the time. Besides, I live in 2023. I have had more than enough dystopia; thank you.

Oh, yes! I really do not care what they are called- package deals, templates, whatever-- they are part and parcel of Fantasy HERO, at least dor me. Yeah; other genres can use them, but I sonr always use them for other heroic games. I dont think I have ever done a fantasy game without them, though. Dont know that I _could_ from a flavir perspective. It depends in three things, Sir: The starting points limit for the game (the fewer the points, the more apoealing any discount becomes), the kind of players you have (how savvy are they in the system, and how do they respond do opportunities or temptation), and hiw many oackages any one character will be able to purchase (perhaps racial, cultural, and career? The more packages, the more points shaved, which can increase the appeal, especially if the bonus is relatively small). I have found by and large that a "bonus" of size sufficient to allow players to bump the effectiveness of one ability or skill within the package seems to be sufficient temptation for my players, as well as saving the cost on enough points to buy a single skill and raise it to somewhere around 12, 13 or less. I have never really looked at a percentage, so I can't say what works. Generally, I decide what I find for the game at hand to be an ideal number of packages and price the packages so that if that number is purchased the players may gain a rebate of somewhere between four and seven points in total, with larger and "combat" packages receiving slightly smaller discounts than knowledge, talents, etc. I could probably rethink that, since I havent seen Davien in a couple of decades, but still- the minute I tried to make all packages equal, he would show up in my doorstep with a paladin barbarian frost giant or some such crap. So yes; I think five percent would be quite temprinf indeed.

Thanks, Assault. And thanks To,you, too, LL, but Wikipedia is one of those sites the computer wont go any more, and it is a serious PITA to read on rhe phone. Too it off with not seeing any entry for "Greyhawk Wars" and I secided not to risk they eyestrain.