kjamma4

Re: I can't help it, I'm obsessed, made my own STUNx d6

How about a slight redesign of the wildly popular HERO Dice?

 

With no ado at all, here is a "paper die" version of a HERO Multidie:

Perhaps body pips under the "half-die" numbers?

Re: Acronym Refresher

Until then' date=' TUM stands for Tumbling ammunition

TUM is what's on the little tablets I need to take after reading this thread.

Re: Got Gadgets?

Nothing extraordinary. However, the fun thing about pulp is you get to give your gadgets cool names. No "Armor 3ED/3PD" but rather, Bi-phase electro-static shield generator!!!

Re: Resolving a Combat in One Roll?

to resolve non-essential fights in one die roll

If the fight is non-essential, why does it need to be resolved?

Re: How to get out of the Inner Earth?

PS: Nazis were always bad guys. Intrepid pulp heroes just weren't always in shooting wars with them (yet).

Really intrepid pulp heroes WERE in shooting wars with them. They were on the cutting edge.

Re: Luck as a Characteristic

The same is true of roullette' date=' which has several strategies that will provide more wins than losses over a period of time.[/quote']

 

Most of those strategies involve doubling your bet when you are losing. Unfortunately, most gambling places invoke an absolute maximum to the amount you can bet which nullifies this strategy.

 

Given the constraints of the "house", roulette over the long run is a losing game (as is every game at a casino - otherwise the casino would implement "rules" which would make them so.)

Re: Cool SPD chart in export template

I have stopped indicating what manouvres the bad guys use until it comes time to throw the dice.

However, you as the player announce that you are using your action to begin a haymaker and then the GM knows that you are vulnerable. It would be nice if there was a game mechanic to deal with this rather than metagaming.

Re: Cool SPD chart in export template

I just don't allow a recovery for the initial post-12. It:

A) Doesn't make sense. Combat just started.

Maybe it is the characters reacting quickly to a combat situation and then pausing to consider their surroundings.

Encourages metagamed pushes.

Good point. They are basically getting a recovery for only one action. Still, see above.

and

C) speeds up combat by denying everyone a recovery they might otherwise have had.

Of course if you have players that have metagamed their push, they have already built their recovery into that and will immediately know what their recovery is.

Keith "As for the problem of haymakers' date=' smart combatants hold that phase 12 action if they can" Curtis[/quote']

 

The problem with haymakers is that if you declare you are using your action for a haymaker, then you become a target for a "haymaker buster." Maybe a good skill/power would be the ability to "disguise" the fact that you are doing a haymaker. Still no way to remove the metagaming aspect though.

I was downloading a bunch of prefabs, export templates, and such and ran across a SPD chart that had the column for Phase 12 first followed then by the columns for Phase 1 through Phase 11.

I thought that was a pretty cool "modification" since all combat starts in Phase 12.

[Mid post edit: It was Killer Shrike. A sample of the template is here:

http://www.killershrike.com/HeroDesigner/CombatExportTemplateSamples/DEXChart.htm

and you can download that and others here:

http://www.killershrike.com/HeroDesigner/KS_HTML_CombatExportTemplates.zip

Thanks KS.]

Re: PTOLUS Conversion Open Discussion

Just my opinion' date=' but he caters to the lowest common denominator of D&D gamer.[/quote']

 

Interesting that catering to the "lowest" common denominator of D&D gamer resulted in so many sales. Perhaps just "most" common denominator would have been more accurate.

Re: RKA & HKA cost the same?

If both are broken cost-wise' date=' does it matter which is more broken?[/quote']

 

All are broken equally, just some more equally than others.

 

"George Hero-rwell"

Re: Creative Writing - Myths

Among some people (generally Jews) there is a taboo against spelling out the word. To use The Name is forbidden, and while this is not "THE" Name, it is "A" Name.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

Wisely leaving the palindromedary out of it for once.

I thought that the taboo was not against spelling per se but in writing it down because, as Robyn posted, there would be a chance that the physical spelling could be desecrated/destroyed. I thought I had seen years ago there was some sort of council/consensus that electronic spelling did not constitute a "real thing" hence desecration/destruction was impossible.

P.S. Found this. I guess with anything religious, there is rarely consensus

http://www.schechter.edu/askrabbi/judaism_deletename.htm

Re: Creative Writing - Myths

Hey. Asking G-d to save Douglas Adams is MY line. And when did you get all Jewish on me? The hyphenation of G-d is something I was only introduced too when Ilene did it in an email one day.

Sorry to hijack the thread but I'm not following the hyphenation thing. Can you explain?

Re: The Ultimate Pulp Era Gear Archives - Over 100 pages of Free Pulp Research

I honestly can't believe no-one has posted this before

One of the few times I was on the ball!

http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=49197

Re: Question: Must I model everything I own?

But most billionaires do not own zepplins' date=' nor do they have heat seeking missles or radar-jammers on the private jet.[/quote']

 

Then what's the point in becoming a billionaire?

Re: Best way to make a spider mine?

I would suggest getting to know the spider better. Spend time with the spider, talk to the spider, listen to the spider. Find out the spider's likes and dislikes. Meet the spider's family. Before you know it, the spider will be yours.

Re: Flyboys: WWI pilots, dogfights, and zepplins!!!

I am worried about historical accuracy (zepplins not seen in daytime and were mostly but not all early WW1) but I will still see the movie.

I have also heard (but cannot confirm) that the German pilots exclusively fly Fokker Triplanes.

I guess if you go into the movie NOT expecting accuracy you won't be too disappointed (assuming that the flight scenes are exciting).

Apologies if I've already been scooped:

http://www.unclebear.com/wiki/index.php?title=Ultimate_Pulp_Era_Gear_Archive

Over the course of a few threads, there has been talk about how some people eliminate the SPD chart, preferring to have a set number of actions per turn and just go in DEX order. An underlying thought was that it was a pain to keep track of actions/phases.

I am relatively new to HERO but think that the SPD chart is great*. To relive the GM of some of the logistical duties (so he can concentrate on story telling) we have one of the players handle the SPD chart**. We have a chart with at least the characters' info and their phases pre-set. You can use a glass bead and move it to indicate the phase and dex order. Works well.

*We migrated over to Fantasy HERO from D&D 3.5. Although I liked the multiple attacks per round in 3.5, I disliked that all of them came at once during your initiative. With HERO, you get more of the "give-and-take" of combat rather than the "I go, you go" feel.

** We also did this when we played 3.5 - having a player keep track of initiative and the duration of spells.

Re: Is HERO an ideal or even an adequate game for those new to RPGs? Should it be?

My answer to your question (as others have already stated) depends on how you are going to proceed. I think that almost all RPGs can be daunting to the person who is new if they are going to run the game for new players. Less daunting would be if you are new to RPGs and playing under a new GM. Even less daunting is if you are a new player playing under an experienced GM.

I have been roleplaying for over twenty-five years but I first played HERO at GenCon 2005 in a game run by this board's Koshka with Zornwil and Barton as co-players. Although I would not qualify as new to RPGs, it took very little time with their help to "get" the mechanics of the game. Under tutelage like that, it is not hard to conceive that a total neophyte would get it too.

Following that, I joined Bartons' Pulp HERO campaign with other members of my family. On the first night there, Barton created our characters (I believe about five or six in all) in less than an hour and a half using HERO Designer. All we had to do was tell him what we wanted and he designed it. Again, granted, he has a wealth of experience but I did not see any difference in him teaching us the HERO system as someone teaching a different system.

As to your original questions, HERO is more than adequate for those new to RPGs and in some ways, I would say it is ideal since it will allow you to play whatever you want. I would think that showing a new player that one ruleset can be used for any genre would be a great selling point.

[As an aside, I too thought that HERO was only used to play super-heroic games. However, my first introduction to HERO was for pulp gaming and following that, my pre-HERO group quickly switched from D&D 3.5 to HERO for our fantasy campaign. It works really well for both. Having played in only two Supers games (and those both at conventions**), I don't have quite as much experience but from what I can see, HERO has no problems with scaling.]

**Side note to Barton: Maybe it's time to do a one shot of Supers?

Re: From the mouths of babes

<Lord Liaden said: Sometimes we spend too much time worrying about themes, logic and internal consistency in our game worlds, and tend to forget that first and foremost they're supposed to be fun.>

This should be Rule 0 of any RPG.

Make sure you safe guard that. Fifteen years from now you can pull it out and smile. Twenty five years from now you can pull it out and show it to the four-year-old child of your child.

Re: Supermax Prisons in Europe

- Use transdimensional bombs as failsafe devices. In case of riot' date=' just push the button and drop the bad guys and the prison in the Phanton Zone or something like that[/quote']

 

Why not just have the prison in the Phantom Zone to begin with?

Re: Why do we object to mechanics?

I generally don't object to them as long as they place that little paper sheet in my car when they are working.

Re: I can't help it, I'm obsessed, made my own STUNx d6

I couldn't help myself... I bought a few blank dice at Gen Con from the Chessex booth' date=' and proceeded to make my own STUNx die, with 1x, 1x, 2x, 3x, 4x, and 5x on it.[/quote']

 

Last year I made my own too. I took a black die w/ white pips, colored in the pips on the "6", and then drilled a hole in the center of the "6" and painted it white.

 

I probably spent five times as long doing it as you did and mine looks ten times worse than yours.

 

Great idea and great execution!!!

Re: Cool Things About Last Night's Pulp Game

Another good session last night. We were able to get Haile Selassie to agree to leave the country with us via airplane. Of course the Italians had other notions.

Our pilot had spent most of the adventure trying to patch up the airplane and had done a good job. I had to rewire my Engine Stopping Ray to start up one of the engines. We got strafed and The Wraith, already badly wounded from a bombing attack, took the brunt of the strafing. He was one BODY away from death and only there because he expended all his Hero Action Points.

We loaded him on the plane and took to the sky but were beset upon by an Italian airplane. The pilot was doing a good job hitting us and we hit back. However, the Italian was unfazed and continued to attack. He hit the crew compartment and the pilot had to spend a HAP to avoid being hit. Unfortunately, our newest player (playing The Question, a mystery man) took the hit. Roll for location - vitals. Ouch.

Next phase, I was unable to get a bead on the Italian plane but two of the group hit with the Lewis guns. The Italian fired again and hit. Crew compartment. Pilot spends another HAP. New guy is hit. Roll for location - head. At this point, he has to spend his only HAP and changes the location to hand. Still bad but not deadly.

This time, the Italian plane is in my sights. I need to roll 6- to hit. Decided against using a HAP and rolled - a six exactly. Rolled the dice for effect and was able to stop the engine. Italian plane goes into a flat spin. Pilot tries to get out but we never saw his chute.

A great session. Despite the pounding, The Question did real well and he was instrumental in convincing Haile Selassie that he should leave the capital in order to fight another day. Great fun had by all (and only three more planes until I'm an ace!)