allen

September 14, 2005

Re: Anybody playing Valdorian Age?

It was my intent that an elementalist could summon any of the four types of elementals.

September 9, 2005

Re: HERO GAMES staff - What are some of your favorites?

Ah, let's see...

Of the ones I've created, superhero-wise my favorites are the Motor City Defenders in Teen Champions and The Answer in Dark Champions: The Animated Series, and of the villains, Luther Black and the Inverted Trinity in DEMON: Servants Of Darkness, the Teen Dream from Teen Champions, and the Lemurians in Hidden Lands.

Of the others, some of my favorites in no particular order: The Black Paladin, GRAB (because too many villain books have too few villains who aren't trying to conquer the world), the moon-sized Mechanon's Head (from Galactic Champions; but I think I'd make it planet-sized), the Slug, Tesseract, Zorran the Aritficer, the Monster, Dr. Macabre, and Captain Chronos. Of the heroes, I like the whole Black Mask thing, and Mentiac from UNTIL: Defenders Of Freedom.

EDIT: Shucks, I totally forgot Tappan Arkwright and Lamplighter from Arcane Adversaries

July 22, 2005

Re: Everyman - What Do *You* Want To See?

How will the write up be different than the brief?

Hugh's got it -- what I mean by write-up is Background/History; Personality/Motivation; Quote; Campaign Use; Appearance; and a Sidebar for plot seeds.

As for the Package Deals, I'll definitely keep it in mind. Usually there's blank pages at the end of a book to make it enough pages to complete a signature, so I'm thinking Package Deals or something similar would go well there.

July 21, 2005

Re: Everyman - What Do *You* Want To See?

Each character will have a character brief -- three lines for stats, a section for important abilities, and a section for pertinent Disadvantages -- a portrait, and a write up. Each will be a page long, with a handful taking two pages if necessary.

June 10, 2005

Re: John Sable: Freelance

The newly released comics' date=' are they done by Grell also?[/quote']

Yeah -- he's both writing and illustrating it. I was only a casual John Sable fan when it was at First, but after reading issue one of the new series, I didn't think it was as good as the old one. Too many plot points introduced too quickly for me, and I was left pretty confused at the end of the issue. The art, however, is as good as ever.

May 14, 2005

Re: valdorian age sorcery system

i am a little confused ..........let get a simple exemple if i am call a demon for take the mind of a foe (a mind control attack)......the demon gonna use my speed or is speed for make the attack and for the same attack we use my ecv or the ecv of the demon?
i hope i am clear

stef the french canadian

excuse my english again

Just to reiterate what Eosin said....

If the Mind Control is a slot on the sorcerer's Multipower, then use the sorcerer's ECV and SPD.

On the other hand....

If the sorcerer Summons a demon with the Mind Control Power, then use the demon's ECV and SPD.

Hope that helps.

March 21, 2005

Re: Valdorian Age

I'm apparently not the only one who thinks of this as "Dark Champions fantasy."

JG

Funny... I was thinking the same thing

Many of the campaign ideas can easily be translated into the Valdorian Age, and rules-wise, I think there's stuff you could do with the Resource Points from Dark Champions that could be neat. It didn't occur to me to explore Resource Points until late in writing the Valdorian Age, so I didn't have time to fully develop the ideas, but definitely some potential there so long as the campaign is centered in Elweir.

March 11, 2005

Re: Valdorian Age

Just a final addendum - this is a great fun read. Difficult to do with a straight face without squirming.

hmmm... made it to: "Prepare to embrace your creators in the stygian haunts of hell, barbarian", gasped the first soldier." without laughing out loud.

That's pretty brutal; Eye of Argon has got to be published by Leisure Books.

March 10, 2005

Re: Valdorian Age

YADADKO.

Ah ha! And here I thought it was some kind of Danish thing...

Anyway, thanks for the kind words about VA, guys, and those of you planning to get it, hope you enjoy.

March 7, 2005

Re: Valdorian Age Elweir City Guard Question

Who handles the law enforcement needs of the Foreign Quarter?

Thanks

Individual residents of the Foreign Quarter are responsible for hiring guards for protection and agents to investigate crimes, and these might include members of the city guard depending on the resident's importantce. Of course, Magistrates from Gibberish and Uphill East would be more than happy to assist prominent residents of the Foreign Quarter, while those residents in the Prince's dog house or who are no longer that important (for political reasons or whatever) are on their own.

Hope that helps

February 25, 2005

Re: Storage and transport of minis

Pistol cases from Walmart are fairly inexpensive, come with good, tough foam, and can transport a lot of figures.

I'll second pistol cases as a cheap (relatively) alternative to miniature cases. Just be aware that some folk might think you're carrying around a handgun, and if you leave the cases in the car, you'll want to move them to your trunk or at least get them out of sight.

If you attach magnets to the bases of your minis, you can use pretty much any old box by sticking a flat piece of metal on the bottom of it. This might be a little hard core, though.

For taking a handful of minis back and forth to an RPG or something else low key, you can just use a box and toilet paper (I like the USPS "video casette" boxes for this). Primitive, I know, and you do run a high risk of chipping the paint job, but low investment.

February 25, 2005

Re: Psychic Wars

Thanks for all the recommendations, guys; keep 'em coming.

I took a trip down to the used bookstore last night and picked up Psi-Man by Peter David (David Peters, actually -- gotta love having two first and last names, surely a sign of a superior person too... haha...). Sadly it's Volume Five of the series, but I figured what the heck. So, Sketchpad, anything I need to know before diving into this?

I looked at a Lumley book... Blood Wars, I think, or maybe Blood Kingdom. Whichever it was, it was the third in a trilogy. Judging by the back cover text, it wasn't really appropriate. Are the other Necroscope books less Wampyri (I think that's how it was spelled), more psychic stuff?

Some other stuff I picked up, which I don't think have been recommended yet:

Psychic Warrior by Robert Doherty. Old Soviet psi-project (remote viewing/aportation) leads to creation of evil super psychic. It falls to a hastily assembled team of Green Berets with cursory training in psychic warfare methods to stop the evil psychic. I'm about fifty pages into it -- the writing's kind of bland, but the plot is a good one for [/i]Psychic Wars[/i].

Mindhopper by James B. Johnson. I haven't started reading this one yet. From the back cover: "THE MIND MASTER-- Manuel was a small boy gifted with mental powers that just might be the next step in human evolution. And now, Special Security, the secret arm of the government of what had once been the United States of America, wanted Manny and the secrets his brain contained."

A couple of recommendations of my own that I haven't seen mentioned:

More Than Human by Theodore Sturgeon. Easily one of my favorite science fiction novels. Thematically it fits pretty well into what I conceive going on in Psychic Wars. The novel To Marry Medusa has some good hive mind stuff.

Someone already mentioned The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester. The Stars My Destination is also well worth reading (although, as I recall, it's too far future for Psychic Wars -- I need to re-read it).

The Three Stigmate of Palmer Eldritch by Philip K. Dick. It's probably too surreal for (most) roleplaying games, but the use the corporation has for precogs is interesting.

Some random comments concerning other people's posts:

Accreting ectoplasm to change shape is an interesting idea. I'll have to look into the Manly Wade Wellman stuff -- I've only read some of the John the Balladeer stories.

I do plan to look at other RPGs eventually, QuestionMan, but I prefer to look at that stuff when I'm further along in a project and have a more concrete idea about what I'm doing. I also prefer to rely on "primary texts" than roleplaying games for information.

February 25, 2005

Re: Psychic Wars

will psychic powers be significantly more effective against those who lack them? i.e.' date=' will there be any campaign "house rules" which improve the effectiveness of some/most/all BOECV powers vs. normals?[/quote']

Well... this is something I still need to work out. Ideally, the rules will allow those with psychic powers to easily control "the guy on the street," while at the same time a player can play a non-psychic and still be useful. But I'm not sure how that'll work at this point.

February 22, 2005

Re: Psychic Wars

Oooo ... basically Psi World Hero then?

You mean the FGU game, right?

Star Hero thread for discussion of Psychic Wars here: http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28257

February 22, 2005

Re: Psychic Wars

Here's one to answer (please), if you don't mind:

Will this be a part of the official Champions/Hero Universe? If so, in what approximate time frame?

No...

Star Hero thread for discussion of Psychic Wars here:

http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28257

February 22, 2005

Re: Psychic Wars

To answer some questions:

Oooo ... basically Psi World Hero then?

You mean the FGU game, right?

Errr... if so, I've actually never seen the game. That being said, I don't honestly think I've ever heard anything good about the game either -- do you like it? Recommend it?

Here's one to answer (please), if you don't mind:

Will this be a part of the official Champions/Hero Universe? If so, in what approximate time frame?

No.

February 22, 2005

Opening this thread to field questions for the upcoming (2006 sometime) Hero Games product, Psychic Wars.

Concerning the nature of the product:

As one poster put it, Scanners meets X-Files is a good way of putting it, I think.

In a nutshell: Scientists prove the existence of psionic powers, leading to an increased understanding of human consciousness. Psionics establish themselves as the next step in human evolution, break up into various camps, and pursue various agendas.

It's for Star Hero, although I'll be begging, borrowing, and stealing from Dark Champions since Psychic Wars will have a near future setting (couple of decades from now, I think). It has a near future setting for a couple of reasons, one of which is I want to introduce psionic technology.

It'll have a detailed discussion of rules for psionics, but I need to take a look at the Ultimate Mentalist before nailing anything down.

First, from this thread: http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?p=627148#post627148

Hmm... what is meant by "psionics" here? And what is the rough power level? As in' date=' how powerful are the psionics going to be? Is this mostly mind control and telepathy or can these guy deflect bullets and crush cars with their minds?[/quote']

All of this is subject to change when I start working on it, especially once I sit down with Steve to hash out an outline, so with that disclaimer....

PCs will be something 200 or 250 points. Definitely more than just telepathy and mind control -- using your own examples, deflecting bullets sounds reasonable, crushing cars sounds a bit much, but whatever the specifics telekinesis (and other "kinesises"... maybe "kineses" is more correct....) will definitely be more than bending spoons.

The goal with the project is to formulate a plausible, or at least not implausible, theory of psionics, and then build power-sets based on that in a logical and rational manner. So for instance: if the theory goes something like 'the map is not the territory,' the nerves aren't the whole of the nervous system. Some people can project their consciousness outside the body to perform various feats. A telekinetic can extend his consciousness to occupy objects and control them. Mind control works by grafting one's consciouness onto someone else. ESP works by projecting one's consciousness far, far away while retaining sense-related functions. And so on.

Also, I'd love to get some recommendations, so let me know your recommendations for novels, short stories, comics, movies, manga, anime, and whatever with psionic/psychic themes. Non-fiction recommendations are especially welcome -- I have some stuff around here somewhere, but for the most part too much crystal, not enough science (or psuedo-science, if one prefers )

February 22, 2005

Re: Psychic Wars

Hmm... what is meant by "psionics" here? And what is the rough power level? As in' date=' how powerful are the psionics going to be? Is this mostly mind control and telepathy or can these guy deflect bullets and crush cars with their minds?[/quote']

I'm going to start a topic in the Star Hero topic, and answer this (as well as any other questions) there.

February 22, 2005

Psychic Wars

Hey guys... to answer some questions concerning Psychic Wars...

As one poster put it, Scanners meets X-Files is a good way of putting it, I think.

In a nutshell: Scientists prove the existence of psionic powers, leading to an increased understanding of human consciousness. Psionics establish themselves as the next step in human evolution, break up into various camps, and pursue various agendas.

It's for Star Hero, although I'll be begging, borrowing, and stealing from Dark Champions since it'll have a near future setting. It has a near future setting for a couple of reasons, one of which is I want to introduce psionic technology.

It'll have a detailed discussion of rules for psionics, but I need to take a look at the Ultimate Mentalist before nailing anything down.

January 24, 2005

Re: Sharper than a Cottonmouth's Tooth

Bravo again Allen! Anyone have any feedback?

thanks... glad you liked it.

Concerning Cottonmouth: yeah, I'd just use Diamondback with STR 40 and SPD 6, maybe a higher DEX too. If the PCs have already encountered Diamondback, I'd probably change up his venom -- maybe a Sight Group Flash instead of an RKA for poison spittle, and maybe a STR and DEX Drain (paralysis or something) instead of CON for Venom.

January 22, 2005