Duke Bushido

Landed in Raleigh a few hours ago. Going to meet up with a forum member tomorrow, so Christmas is lookin' pretty good from here.

Not true! I know a guy that uses the 2e rules to this day!

Ditto! And then some!

Now I am one-hundred percent certain that most people don't consider this to be a Christmas song, but there are just a few of us complete whackjobs that do, so I guess it's the musical version of Diehard that way. Anyway: A personal favorite here-- granted, I do prefer it in english, but honestly, if you have it in Pavarotti, by all means listen to it in Pavarotti! another one from my youth that doesn't see air time anymore: My tastes are, when spoken of politely, eclectic: By way of apology, let me offer you a classic: Anyway, before some pop singer murdered it, there was an original and more palatable original version of this song: And why not top it off with the greatest song ever recorded?

Well, we all know I like this one: But this one is another, more modern favorite:

Guys, I really, _really_ miss this thread. So maybe we can get _something_ rolling, as an alternative to listen to the phlegmy voices of smoking relatives and well-wishers this season? Let's try a really easy one, maybe? I say easy because there's a lot to choose from, and it's really genric, to boot! Go nuts! Pick one; pick them all! Go serious; go funny-- just get to it!

Not me. I've got _enough_ issues; thanks.

You browbeat someone to depression, it's not much harder to drive them to taste-testing pistols, either. The ne2s used to be full of stories like that. The only reason there arent as many now is _not_ that the problem has been solved, but that we're so used to it that only report the cases with a "good hook" they can milk for ratings. There are damned few social forums or sites on the net that arent absolutely toxic, but people dock on Facebook almost exclusively because currently "Zuck bad!" sells advertising slots. I don't have a cure, but I think if everything you ever posted came with your nsme and address in the tag line, a lot of it would dry up. Just the crazed ideas of an idiot, though. Indeed it is! That's what's killing me, actually. Though the way things are going, i almost look forward to drowning ib my own juices. 😕

Pretty sure that's a guy using 5e shapeshift. He'll get the altered mass options when he's picked up a few XP.

Mosquitoes.

Okay, fine; that will work, too. I can't believe the lack of love for Scotch tape around here..... >:[

It's a sword with more sci-fi geek cred than usual.

Dude, HERO did that when they split "Maneuvers" and "Martial Maneuvers" back in the very first edition. It got _worse_ when the co-opted and officialized Alston's martial arts schtick. Throw in things like "Weapons Elements" and the "Weapons Master" and "familiarity versus skill," and.... well, it's just not more than a drop in the bucket at this point. And I am not suggesting any intermingling between the actual maneuver charts and the weapon-specific maneuvers. I am simply suggesting I am simply suggesting the idea that weapons-specific maneuver charts are worth investigating, given that I believe they could be used to create the granularity and differentiation you say that you are seeking.

First and foremost: Thanks, Beast! That's sort of the key how you would do it: Swords getting a +1 OCV.... when? All the time? Or with certain maneuvers? Make a maneuver chart that includes the standard maneuvers and then sword-specific maneuvers. In other words, rather than try to refigure all the damages and DEX modifiers and all that per weapon, create a weapon-specific maneuver chart. I could be way, _way_ off base, but I think it would allow you to specifically demonstrate more difference between one sort of sword and another, if that's what you're going for. Even from weapon to weapon: Swords get a "Stab" or "thrust" maneuver, and axes do not-- or they are very, very bad at it, given that all their weight is as far from the wielder as it can get. Spears do not get "slash" or "chop" maneuvers-- or these maneuvers are defaulted to "subdual damage only" or something like that, and possibly even take damage from being used this way. In this way, rather than "swords get a +1 OCV, period," one class of swords gets +1 OCV with these things; -1 OCV with these things, +1 DCV with these things-- etc, etc, etc. Plus you can have damage mods based on the maneuver: Thrust may take a CV penalty, or even require an extra Phase, but my have a BODY damage bonus all it's own, or perhaps even grant "armor piercing" or some such to at least some part of its damage. Like I said, I really didn't put thought into this; I was at work, so I was only able jot down the quick glimpse I took around the the room when the light flicked on. Lots of work? Definitely. Worth it? No idea. However, the work, like almost everything else in HERO, is front-loaded. Once it's done, then it's done. When Koloth the Virile buys his axe, it comes with this handy maneuver chart he can tape to the edge of his character sheet. Sure: "Weapon's Element" and all that-- but here's another angle. Remember that the current beloved and "core essential" martial arts rules were originally not that at all, but a particularly creative GM playing around with Skill Levels to custom tailor some ideas for a very specific campaign. The idea caught a lot of fancies, and >BOOM< -- essential rules; inviolable part of the HERO System; Duke has to hear about it forever no matter how silly he finds it to be. Such hyper-specialized "this is how fantasy weapons work" rules might be next; who knows? if this is accurate-- and I assume it is-- then we were kicked out for sparring with $1.29 Shinai. about 40 inches long, make a great slapping noise when hit and sting.... well, more than a bit, but what do you expect for a buck-and-a-half? A strip of masking tape down the length makes a handy edge. And yes; seriously. We were kicked out of the SCA for sparring with whiffle bats. Apparently, in spite of it being whiffle bats-- the very thing with which siblings and stooge beaten their other siblings for a couple of generations-- because we were not wearing armor while doing it. I haven't told that story in years. In fact, the last time I told it, I told it here. Right after the myth of the North American Whiffle Bat, actually. We had a couple of Australians from Perth who did not understand how a Whiffle bat could terrorize one roommate but not the other, so I sent them one.

That has been the popular defense (and dont get me wrong; I like the sword thing, too, but I also acceot that it is entirely,because I think the anachronism is very cool. Then there are the "rule of cool is uncool" guys, and I accept that, too), but having been forced to watch most of the movies, I am exceedingly certain that a light saber would puncture a hull, etc, wtc, decompression.

Just tossing this out with no thought at all, but hiw do you feel about "familiarity" means x penalilties, while "skill" means less penalties? This was the idea that caught my interest. Perhaps a "weapons maneuvers" chart, either per weapon or per type or something, would better allow or reflect what you are after. Swords and such would have "deflect" as q dodge option, and have a "thrust" and separate "swing" maneuver, perhaps divided between overhand chops and horizontal swings or even from-the-ankles heave maneuvers? Subdual options availaible with each, etc. Again: havent put much thought int I it at all, but now I kind of want to.... For those of us who havent dabbled in fencing and also may have been thrown out of the SCA for dueling with whiffle bats, could you explain what that actually means? No alarm; I genuinely,have no idea what half of those terms mean, and I would like to fix that particular knowledge gap.

You are not alone, Amigo.... On the plus side, it finally knocked seventy-aeven santas out of there...

I have tried four times, and given up. I cannot finish reading this without singing it.

That might be interesting: 3d6 STR damage; 3d8 for fist loads; 3d10 for a cudgel-- that sort of thing? Interesting.... Though how to count Body... Hmm.... time to cogitate a bit!

Bigotry has _never_ been rational. It does, however, follow a set of patterns that have been well-demonstrated throughout history.

killer Shrike covered most of it, but it cones down to the bell curve. When rolling for a Skill check, there is a typical range generated by the results of 3d6. Your players can expect to roll in this range, and still be concerned about that possible flub and still hold hope of that gkorious perfect success. If you are inclined to use fumble and critical successes, they still happen on 3d6, but instead of fumbling 5 perxent of the rime (d20), they will only fumble about one-half a percent of the time. This alows the characters (and by extension, the players) to really be the competent group of highly-skilled adventurers they want to be. A critical success becones equally as rare, making it something even more special, and therefore more exciting. Skill progression becones more interesting as well, and again, this is because of the bell curve. Once characters fight there way to 11- or so, each step after that- even a single level, demonstrates a radical leap in ability (owing to the percentage breakdowns of any given result within the curve. Once the come out of that midrange, they are -demonstrably world-class masters of their skill: a 16 or less means less than a ten percent chance of failure (assuming no penalties are assessed). In regards to damage, the curve works the same way. It is extremely important when considering this to remember that armor and other defenses are radically different between HERO and the polyhedral game. In the polyhedral game, better defenses mean the attack misses. In HERO, there no such correlation. The armor has no bearing on the success of the attack, but does affect how damage is determined. If a character has an atttack that does 2d6 damage, he can expect to roll somewhere around 7 the bulk of the time. This is not the case with a d12. Not only can he expect to roll less than 7 about half the he rolls, he can expect to roll a 1 every 12 rolls, which is something he absolutely cannot do on 2d anything. This is important when the GM is trying to balance his games, and it is important when the player is spending his resources. Both know that defenses at about 10 will mean that a lot of strikes will result in no damage to the character, but it still preserves the fear of mortality by resulting in some,damge from a lot of possible strikes. With a d12, defenses of 10 would make the character nearly invulnerable, meaning he would only take damage one time in six. If that damage was 1d20, he would take damage haof the time, and a fourth of it would be heavy damage indeed. The d6 bell curve works quite well with the system HERO uses for damage and for skill resolution. That makes sense, given that the system was designed specifically to take advantage of that curve. The end result is enough consistency to allow players and gms to determine lumits and levels that make play as light or as deadly as they want it to be and still have a realsitic threat of spectacular success and failure. If you really do want to tinker with the dice, though, I woukd toss out the suggest to try swappibg d6 for d4. The curve is spectacularly loaded for consistent center-of-the-road results, with the extreme ends being almost eliminated. It is very remiscent of games that say things like "does 25 damage."