Jump to content

Uncle Shecky

HERO Member
  • Posts

    240
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by Uncle Shecky

  1. The PDFs available on DriveThru RPG (and presumably also in HERO's online store) for 1st and 2nd edition Champions currently have the wrong front and back covers. Back in late February, the PDFs on DriveThru were correct but misnamed (and so assigned to the wrong product in the store): "1st edition" had a complete and correct PDF of 2nd edition, and "2nd edition" was the complete PDF of 1st edition. I contacted DriveThru to let them know about that misnaming problem, and the PDFs were updated on March 7. I assumed then that the problem was fixed, but now that I've re-downloaded the PDFs, I see that it was mostly fixed but with the cover problem introduced. Champions 1st edition should have a full-color cover, front and back. The back is the continuation of the front illustration: it has Gargoyle and 2 other characters on it. The text inside should have a 1981 copyright on page 1, and it should end on page 56, with a brief afterword and a Vic Dal Chele illustration of a costumed man (with ice or stalactites above him). Champions 2nd edition should have the speed chart and combat modifier table on the back cover. The front cover illustration should be the greyscale version. There were color versions of the 2nd edition cover as well (I believe they came first but were replaced by the greyscale version later), but the scanned version that's available is the greyscale one. The text inside should have two copyrights on page 1 (1981, and revised edition 1982), and it should end on page 80, with the character write-ups for Pulsar and Shrinker. I hate to be a pest about this: I know having the correct text for each edition is the most important thing. But there has been a lot of confusion about these editions over the years, even among dedicated HERO players, and this mix-up doesn't help. I had access to physical copies of 3 versions of the rules (1st in color, 2nd in color (which I still own), and 2nd in greyscale) in the early '80s, and I'm certain my information is correct. In brief: the PDFs have the correct text for each edition now. Just swap the front and back covers between the editions, and they'll be complete. Thanks.
  2. Re: KA.'s Idea Thread That's several cool ideas together. Hope you don't mind if I just mess around with them a little. The part about creating a non-evil duplicate reminds me of the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode where Riker discovers a duplicate of himself who, due to a transporter accident, has been trapped alone on a planet for several years (our Riker was beamed back to his ship, the other Riker materialized on the planet). The duplicate is every bit as much Riker as the character we already know: as far as he's concerned, the Riker who made it back to his ship is the duplicate, so he's resentful and feels like he's lost his life to someone else. He eventually accepts that everyone else thinks our Riker is the real one, so the duplicate takes a new name (Thomas, our Riker's middle name) and goes on with his life. I think it's a little hard to get to the "non-evil duplicate" point from the ".1% of their mass" at-a-time idea. I just don't see the tiny cells developing into a duplicate with any kind of awareness of where they came from--unless someone else is intentionally causing it to happen, and educating the clone; or maybe the cells could be used by a demonic entity to create a body to inhabit and enter our dimension? Otherwise, I'd think a duplicate would be better created as a one-time teleportation accident. Or perhaps, creepily, every time the character has teleported he's created an alternate version of himself, and now there's a pocket dimension where 500 different hims all live very unhappily, waiting to get out. Another direction to take the ".1% of their mass" at-a-time part: something is consuming the character when he teleports. Just a little at first, but it grows each time it feeds off him, so it gets bigger and consumes more of him each time. He starts to notice bumps that look like tiny bug bites. After teleporting more, he develops scratches and wounds that look like animal bites. Eventually whatever is consuming him will either kill him in transit, or it will be strong enough to appear with him after a teleport.
  3. Re: Looking for help with a Hero name If her parents have similar powers, and she doesn't want to be associated with them, I think she would choose a hero identity that draws attention away from her powers. She could still use the concepts of "green" or "fire" in creating her identity, but she'd probably want to avoid using both together. Many of the best character concepts are defined around the person's psychology, more than his or her powers. Batman and Captain America are perfect examples: their abilities have nothing to do with bats or America. Their identities are more symbolic, meant to frighten criminals or inspire the masses. (There are plenty of counter examples of course, like Spider-Man or Plastic Man.) So, if you have an idea for her costume or other interests she might have, I'd try to base her identity around that. Maybe, among other things, she's an amateur astronomer: she could call herself something based on comets, meteors, pulsars, etc. Something like "Corona" implies flames (but also crowns) without being as explicit as "flame" or "fire." You can also work the "flame" or "green" elements into the identity, just as long as that isn't her entire concept. If you're going with the amateur astronomer idea, maybe something like "Greenstreak" (like the trail of a green meteor, but also implying that she might be the envious or jealous type). Maybe she's a budding biochemist: she might know that the enzyme that creates the green glow of fireflies is called luciferase and derive a name from that. Or even just use "Firefly." Her age matters too. Is she the adult child of these supervillains, or is she still a teenager? Is she trying to sound more grown-up than she is (so she might add "Woman" on to her name instead of "Girl,"), or is she happy being a teen (in which case, she might have a slangy or trendy aspect to her name)? Is she pretentious ("Meteora," Madame Meteor," "Comet Queen") or light-hearted ("Burnout," "Firefox," "Hot Chick")? Think about what she's like and what she's interested in, and you'll probably have more names than you can use.
  4. Re: Gaming Historical Zeitgeists I'm not sure this can be done well without excellent players, but it's a cool idea. Here are a few ideas: It might help to merge the paradigm shift with a conventional RPG plot. I think the Matrix is a decent example here. It plays on the old idea that the world could be an illusion perpetuated with some kind of sinister intent (a notion that goes back at least to Descartes, probably much further). If this idea is revealed as the truth in your world (as in the world of the Matrix), it becomes a paradigm shift. The Matrix uses this change as dressing for an action movie (which is a bit more exciting than reading Descartes or Berkely, for me at least, YMMV), but it is still essential to the story. Also, making the paradigm shift contrary to expectations of the RPG genre would make the shift more real for the players. When aliens show up in a JLA/Avengers-style Champions game, no one is terribly surprised; but I once played in a swords-and-sorcery-flavored D&D game where aliens landed. The DM made the rest of the plot very conventional, so the arrival of a spaceship with little green men was a real surprise. I think introducing any modern scientific concepts into a pre-modern fantasy campaign can have that effect if the players are fully invested in the genre and the setting. You say your games are primarily historical: are they still fantasy? If your characters believe they can be raised from the dead with their memories and abilities intact, they're already accepting that they have souls that contain (or at least duplicate) the information in their minds/brains. Playing on this assumption could be interesting: e.g, a slain NPC with vital information could be reanimated in a new body, but might know nothing of his previous life; telepathic examination of the brain of his dead body could reveal the vital information. The key is getting the players to see this as anomalous at first (why does this guy's dead body have these powers?), until they realize it's true of everyone (his body isn't magical: we're all like this: is this fantasy or the real world?). If your games are more realistic, I think it could be very difficult, especially if the players approach the setting with a modern perspective. If they think an NPC who speaks in tongues is an unfortunate victim of schizophrenia who would be properly diagnosed and treated in the modern world, you've got your work cut out for you. Making your players believe they're in a fantasy world without ever giving them direct evidence of any magic (e.g. they're told about monsters and wizards, but they never actually encounter them; they have items they believe to be magical, but they don't have any real evidence of their power) could establish the right frame of mind.
  5. Re: What?? Bruce Wayne isn't Batman??? Ditto. Good series. A little "Astro City" in the DCU.
  6. Re: Old School Dungeons and Dragons Question. I don't think it could be "Palace of the Silver Princess." I don't think that module was still in stores in 1989. It's much older than that. Early '80s, I think. Well, that sentence sums it up: Joel McGinniss is relaying this info 3rd or 4th hand. This detective told him that his wife read a book that said blah blah blah. We're playing "telephone" here. It might not have even been a D&D module. It could've been something in "Dragon" or "Dungeon." It could've been a D&D novel. It could've been a true crime book shelved in the wrong section of the bookstore. We're not even sure how literate this woman is... However, if the woman got the princess's name right (Aleena), then some D&D fan out there will know what it's from, though I'd be surprised if the wife's description of the content was accurate. There is an "Aleena Paladinstar" in the "Baldur's Gate" computer game. It's possible the character in that game was pulled out of some of the early Forgotten Realms stuff. I think the first Forgotten Realms books came out around 1987-89, so the wife could've found those in a bookstore. That might narrow it down. Maybe not. And Blue's right about "Fatal Vision." For a Karl Malden TV movie, it was pretty cool. "Kill the Pigs. Acid is groovy."
  7. I don't have any really specific challenge ideas (I'll give it some thought) but here are some potentially helpful thoughts: The best contests on Survivor have some flexibility in the rules. There are some clearly defined rules to the challenge, but other parts are left hazy, to give more clever players an advantage. Here's an example: in the most recent Survivor, the teams had to remove weights from submerged boats, bring the boats to the surface, bail them out, and row them to shore. They were given 2 bailing buckets to help them empty the boats, but they were never told thay HAD to use those buckets. One team got their boat to the surface quickly, then started bailing with the buckets. The 2nd tribe got their boat to the surface, pulled it out of the water, and tipped it over, emptying all the water immediately. They won the contest easily because they bent the rules without breaking them. Some simple skill vs. skill contests would be fun (especially if a villain and hero were the world's best at a particular skill), but you need to create some challenges with rules that can be exploited by creative use of skills and powers. You need to throw in some semi-useful equipment (like those bailing buckets) that could hinder the players as much as help them. Also, each contest needs several check points where the lead can change. For example, they often do "move a really heavy object" races that require stops to perform some kind of task, like the challenge where they moved a heavy, flaming cart, then stopped at intervals to light torches. Each torch lighting should be some kind of easy DEX roll, with a time advantage for the players who roll under by the greatest amount. A heavy cart on wheels will need a certain combined STR to move it. It could have crappy wheels that limit its max move. Maybe clever teams with enough STR could move it faster if they lifted it completely off the ground. The effects of the lack of food, sleep, and shelter: Deprivation could limit a character's END and REC. It could make it harder to push a power, or throw a few more negative modifiers on a skill roll. Underwater challenges: You can't recover while holding your breath, so you have to watch your END. Players will try different strategies: burn END and some STUN and hope you make it vs. lower your SPD to 3 and hope slow and steady wins the race. Personality conflicts: People on Survivor act freaky partly because they're starving, tired, and have a shot at a million bucks. The direct competition between players might bring out some of this behavior (especially with a great reward), but you could require players to make EGO or PRE rolls to keep their cool. Failure could affect other skill rolls.
  8. Yeah, but is Ms. Marvel Bronze Age or Silver Age? I don't recall when she first appeared, but I never saw her until after the death of Gwen Stacy. (I might be totally wrong on the dates.) I think Marvel's tougher heroines came later: She-Hulk, Phoenix, Storm, Dazzler (well, she's not all that tough), even Red Sonja. Sif might is the only exception from 60s Marvel that I can think of, but she was never a lead character and couldn't compare to Thor. (She seemed to be almost as tough as Baldur though.)
  9. It was Bucky II (Jack Monroe?) that became Nomad. I think he might have been paired with Captain America III though (though I could be wrong). I think Cap II was the former Patriot. Anyway, whichever Cap he was paired with is dead. A lot of the old All Winners Squad and Invaders are pushing up the daisies: the original Union Jack, the Whizzer, the Patriot, probably Miss America, the Blazing Skull, Red Raven, etc. Cap and the new Union Jack killed Baron Blood many years ago, but he could've come back. Lots of Peter Parker's human associates (Gwen and Capt. Stacy, Jean DeWollfe, Uncle Ben, etc.). The White Tiger (Hector Ayla?) was killed very recently in Daredevil. Lots of members of X-Force/X-Statix have been killed, U-Go girl being the most recent. And current X-Statix member Dead-Girl is undead. I think The Torpedo died in an issue of Rom. Some of the New Mutants: Cypher. Maybe Karma (not sure she stayed dead). Some dead hero/villains too: I don't think anyone ever brought back the Swordsman (former villain who became an Avenger) or the Executioner (Thor villain who sacrificed his life in Hel). Villains: Terrax died back in FF 269 or so, but he might have been restored too. He'd be an extremely powerful zombie! Count Nefaria maybe? Scourge killed a few classic (and many not so classic) villains. The Basillisk is one. Edit: I forgot some good ones: Guardian and Sasquatch, from Alpha Flight.
  10. I never played Earthdawn, but I love the way they handle enchanted items. For example, all the abilities of an enchanted weapon can only be used by someone with knowledge of the weapon's history. For every piece of important information about the weapon (its name, who forged it, where, when, why, and what happened to it), a new power is unlocked, until the weapon's full capabilities are available to the user. If you know nothing about the weapon, it's normal or only minimally-enchanted in your hands. The funny thing is, Forgotten Realms was once more like Earthdawn in that way. About 20 years ago, when Greyhawk was the official AD&D setting, Ed Greenwood wrote great articles in Dragon Magazine, using his campaign world (FR) to flesh out the details of whatever game item or mechanic was being described. He wrote an article about magic swords that described only 6 weapons, but each description included a long history of the weapons manufacture, use, and disappearance; and these stories were rich enough to serve as hooks for entire campaigns. That's why FR became a published setting: everyone wanted to see this great place he was describing, with its fascinating history and treasures. Once it was published, it became watered down and generalized: too many novels, too many cooks, etc. Throw out all the tacked on crap, and FR can be a great setting. IMHO, common magic (especially magic items) ruin most fantasy settings. I solved this in my games with a simple rule: all magic items (beyond healing herbs) are unique. There are no Rings of Protection +1, Wands of Frost, or Vorpal Swords; instead, one person might own M'az greb's Ring of Salvation, the Icy Talon of Shoom, or Brak's Blade. There can be multiple items in the world conveying the same kind of protection--they might even be identical in game terms--but they didn't all come off the MagiCo assembly line. Magic items aren't available from street vendors and corner potion shops either: they are jealously guarded treasures that one would keep as secret as possible or sell only out of desperation. Use your magic sword in a tavern brawl, and every thief in the city will have a dagger at your throat. In this kind of setting, magic items are even more important and powerful, but they don't pollute the world. And characters must rely on their own abilities much more, saving magic for problems with no other solution. That kind of campaign isn't to everyone's liking, but it worked for us. If you pursue the other option, high magic, than go whole hog. If magic is so common you can buy it at the general store, then everyone will have it and use it. It should be the technology of that world, and that will lead to constant innovation in the complexity and abilites of items. The middle ground presented in most D&D settings is the least believable and least intersting to me: too common to be special, too limited to change society.
  11. +1 for 3 pts is unfairly expensive when immunity is only 3 pts, but I think Kintara is right that this is the GM's reasoning: +1 CON roll takes +5 CON and costs 10 pts, so even with all the possible lims, you won't get +1 for less than 2 or 3 pts. I think you could argue that you should be able to buy +1 for 1 or 2 pts by looking at it as a skill level. After all, your GM probably isn't treating acohol as an attack modeled with the HERO system (STUN drain? negative skill levels? EGO attack?): he's just treating it as something to address with a CON roll. If that's the case, you should be able to modify that roll very cheaply, just like you can modify a perception roll. I think it should be as cheap as buying up your PER roll with a single sense: +1 per 1 pt. That's still a rip-off given that total immunity is only 3 pts, but it's a much better deal. And you can still get drunk due to excessive intake (even gnomes have a limit) or due to a blown skill roll (perhaps representing you losing track of how much you've had).
  12. Sorry man, I was referring to Champsguy: he's worn the Munchkin King crown for a long time. (You probably haven't been on these boards long enough to know that yet.) You can proclaim yourself a Munchkin Knight or Munchkin Duke, if you'd like. Although I think I'd prefer Lord of All Humans too.
  13. Re: Yeah, but... I think the Munchkin King is right on this one: you get diminshing returns until it no longer works. You can't raise the dice of the absorption with this feedback: with the +3 adder, it costs 20 cp per die, and you can only get 12. So raising the max is the only way to do it, but even that peters out. This is how I see it: You've got a 2d6 Absorption going to STR, PD, ED, and Absorption (to raise max), with +3 in total advantages. So at first, your absorb max is 12. After you absorb 12 BODY, your new max is 18 (4 cp per +2 max, so 12 BODY will give you +6 max). Now your max is 18, but you've already absorbed 12 BODY. You can absorb 6 more BODY, but at 4cp per +2 max, that only gives you a new max of 20 (with 2 cp left over). Now you can only absorb 2 more BODY. Add that to the 2 cp leftover and you have +2 max, for a total of 22. And that's where it stops: 2 more BODY won't raise the max. Ifyou take off the +2 adder for the return rate, you're only paying 2 cp per +2 max, so it will go on forever (I think); but that also only works if you raise the max, not the dice. Absorbing to the dice, even with just a +1 adder, will cost 10 cp per +1d6, so you'll only raise it 1d6 after the first 12 BODY, and nothing more (unless you get into 1/2d6s for Absorption, but even then it'll stop). You'll have a 3d6 Absorb with an 18 max, but you can only absorb 6 more BODY, and that won't raise the dice again. Maybe I'm wrong (hell, I've already been wrong in this thread), but that seems to be correct to me.
  14. Re: Re: Re: Almost anything that loops is a problem Yeah I get it. I misread p. 73 as 2 cp for +1 max (which would be a rip-off), so I thought it was a better deal to raise the dice. It isn't. Also, since this power has a total +3 advantage, if it did absorb to the dice of the Absorption, it wouldn't work. At +3 advantage, it would take 20 cp to give +1d6 Absorption. So raising the max is the only way to do it.
  15. Re: Almost anything that loops is a problem Damn, that's clever. I couldn't believe this power was legal, but I couldn't find anything in FREd that explicitly forbids it. There's a bit in the Rules FAQ that warns about it, but it is only a warning: As a GM, I would rule that the maximum you could raise the Absorption would be the original maximum, so you could turn your 2d6 into a 4d6 Absorption, and give yourself a max of 24 points for STR, PD, and ED (though PD and ED would be halved), but no more than a 12 max for the Absorption. That rule seems arbitrary to me though (and it makes the power construction a little pointless, although it might be a cheaper way to increase the max): If it increases the max for STR, PD, and ED, it should increase the max for Absorption too. I think I'd have a hard time convincing a player that he couldn't build his power that way and get the effect you described.
  16. I'd recommend looking for some of the "Citybooks" and "Maps: Cities" published by Flying Buffalo several years ago. The Citybooks (there were at least 4, but I've only read 1 and 2) had maps, desriptions, and/or plot lines for many different types of fantasy city buildings and characters that you could adapt to any game system. I adapted most of books 1 and 2 to my FH campaign years ago, and they were some of the best parts of the campaign. There's some work involved though: the books don't even have d20 stats, just descriptions of powers and abilities in general terms, with a simple system for comparing skill levels in different types of magic. I found the adaptation to be well worth the effort. I've never seen "Maps: Cities," but I understand it has full city maps that you can flesh out with new material and ideas from the Citybooks. Both of these products might be out of print now, but I'll bet they aren't too hard to find.
  17. There was a thread on this topic a few months ago. You might find some good ideas there: super speed and invisibility
  18. Well, A) I'm sure he's only gold in color. The whole "Body of Gold" thing is probably just for flavor. and Sounds like a great character concept and psychological limitation (lazy) to me. "Aw geez, I don't feel like stopping another bank heist. Can't someone else do it?"
  19. Re: "The Emerged" Has the best Avatar Me too. Buster might be the cutest dog I've ever seen. And sure, Starlord's avatar is hypnotic, but I doubt those things are real ...
  20. Re: The Wild Bunch My group used the Raiders--a villain team from Enemies 3 (and Classic Enemies, I think)--as sort of a modern day Wild Bunch. The Raiders weren't great characters IMHO, but the concept was good: mercenaries who'll take on villains or heroes, as long as the price is right. That's not exactly the Wild Bunch, but it's a similar approach for a Champions game. Another approach would be a PC or NPC team that are definitely criminals (they pull heists, etc) but have high ethical standards of their own kind. They're loyal to each other, they don't kill innocents if they can avoid it, and they might even help out people who they think are getting treated unfairly. Geez, it sounds a little like the A-Team! They are a good model for this sort of thing too. Just make them less ridiculous.
  21. Yeah, I always thought they were sort of a "What if Dr. Doom had created the Fantastic Four?" team. In 1st/2nd edition, this was my favorite Champions villain team. I never saw Muerte as "Dr. Destroyer-lite" because there was no Dr. D in our games. In 1st/2nd edition, Dr. D only appeared in a couple of modules, not the Enemies books. We didn't have those modules, so our armored, uber-villain was Muerte. Once I finally saw Dr. D (in the more powerful BBB version) it was clear why Muerte wasn't that impressive to most people. But the Prof still had lots of potential if used properly. And while it's been annouced that Muerte won't be officially returning in any HERO products, Steve Long left enough room in the story of his death to allow for Muerte's return. There are a few threads around here devoted to that subject.
  22. Yeah, that's a good point, and that is more the effect I was looking for anyway. Invisibility is as viable a speedster power as desolidification, but the sort of free ability I was thinking of probably shouldn't be invisibility: more like unrecognizability. On "Smallville" the gust of wind Clark creates is sometimes noticed, but no one can tell what it was that raced by them.
  23. Thanks for the feedback guys. William Bushway's method is very close to how I would build it (if it had to be built), although I wouldn't give it Always On. (This goes back to the Great Linked Debate. Let's not go there. ) And I would make the limitation related to velocity, not distance moved (you can gain 5" velocity for every 1" moved). Something like: Invisibility, linked to Running (-1/2), must move at 50+"/phase (-1/4) I really like The Emerged's house rule for this sort of thing (in a special case): the observer's SPD helps to determine whether he can see the character or not. Without using a house rule, it could even be a limitation to the power above: e.g. not vs. SPD of 6/more (-1/4). That isn't as rich as The Emerged's method, but it gives some of the same effect. If I gave it for free, I'd use a penalty vs. the observer's PER, modified by a related skill (Power skill, maybe Stealth or Sleight of hand); but I think you guys are right about the potential for abuse.
  24. Bullseye, I should've been more specific. You're right in the case of trying to be invisible in one area, but I meant effective invisibility while moving past someone while traveling a long distance at top speed. Page 229 of FREd has a list of sight PER modifiers. I was thinking that really high velocity movement could act as a negative modifier to PER. I guess a variation on range modifiers could do the trick.
  25. On the show "Smallville," Clark Kent often runs so fast that he is practically invisible. He's really just invisbile to sight (the requisite whooshing sounds and air wake are usually there). I've never given this ability to a speedster, but I was wondering about the game mechanics behind it. Of course, one could just buy Invisibility to sight with "linked to Running," but I'm curious if people would allow a character to gain effective invisibility from a high velocity. And what would that velocity be?
×
×
  • Create New...