Utech

Re: EGO Attack Ego Attack directly attacks minds, damage is subtracted with Mental Defense, only does STUN damage, has no effect on inanimate objects and most Entangles, and does no Knockback. Energy Blast is a normal attack at range, damage is subtracted with either PD or ED, does both STUN and BODY damage, effects inanimate objects and most Entangles, does Knockback.

Re: EGO Attack I couldn't agree with ghost-angel more. Ego Attack is not an Energy Blast with Advantages. It is a totally different tool in the toolkit. Trying to recreate Ego Attack with Energy Blast is like trying to turn a screwdriver into a hammer.

Re: Finding something Hero System can't model... Agreed.

Re: Finding something Hero System can't model... Went over that already. Rejected it. But I've come up with a different, satisfying answer. Thanks for your input.

Re: Finding something Hero System can't model... I think you've come to the crux of the matter. Since the Hero System includes rules for making new rules, I suppose it's fair to say that there is nothing that the Hero System can't model. We could create characters who lack the Strength characteristic (because they have no body) by creating a new template based on the Automaton rules. Design a character normally but since these beings don't really have bodies, it automatically has a 0 Strength and is immune to all Powers that require the character to have Strength. These beings cannot make STR Rolls and do not have the ability to physically interact with anything... I'll not try to create the entire template right now (the above is just ideas off the top of my head), but I suppose this would satisfy my initial challenge. The Hero System can model someone with no body if you extrapolate from the rules for modeling someone with no mind.

Re: Finding something Hero System can't model... Effect: character cannot be affected by anything that requires target to have a body. The character cannot be held, pushed, touched, cut, sliced, roped, or made to wear a tie. (This list is not exhaustive, of course. You'll need to go on to include all other effects of simply not having a body.)

Re: Finding something Hero System can't model... Title of this thread: "Finding something Hero System can't model..."

Re: Finding something Hero System can't model... No. It means that it completely lacks a body. If it's alive it can die.

Re: Finding something Hero System can't model...

Re: Finding something Hero System can't model...

Re: Supers: How'd they get that way (and why do so many of them wear long johns?) Why the costumes -- especially the masks? You might be interested in this TED talk.

Re: Finding something Hero System can't model... I appreciate the response, but that's not what I meant. I'm curious if HERO can model a character that has no Strength stat at all. (For that matter, a character that is missing other stats -- aside from the Takes No Stun deal for automatons.)

Re: Finding something Hero System can't model... Is there any good way to model characters who do not have a physical body? They might be -- say -- living light. For fun, let's say they have no Strength stat because they cannot pick up anything.

Re: Finding something Hero System can't model... The old Marvel Superheroes game had a power called Energy Control which allowed the gathering up, manipulating, and redirecting of a given form of energy. HERO does that pretty well as sfx for other powers, but I feel it does a poor job with simply letting you pile up and shape energy the way you might snow.

Re: Who would be the Super Heroes of your region? Since I live in Hello Kitty Town (I am not kidding), I suppose that lovable feline or one of her many friends would be the local super. They have a base: the castle that is Sanrio Puroland. If I were to create a more standardly Championsy super, however, I'd probably look to riff off of the name of this area: Tama New Town. Shin-Tama (新多摩, perhaps) would be a young heroine with powers based around purity and water. She would be able to travel quickly around the Tama River and all the small rivers that empty into it. She would have the ability to leech toxins (up to and including negative feelings) from her targets. Normally quiet and content to move slowly through the region, she takes on a wilder, more dangerous character when it rains -- swelling with power and speed.

Re: Character Concepts and Appearance, what gets your juices flowing? Science trivia. Whenever I hear something that I find interesting, I wonder how far I could go with it. Whole characters can appear after I learn that... ...most animals sleep with one half of their brain at a time. The other half remains awake. ...there are people who experience time much, much faster than normal people do. ...sound is touch at a distance. ...there are little mites that lay eggs on ants. The eggs hatch, the young burrow inside the ant's head and proceed to eat the ant's brain. The ant continues to wander around without a brain for a couple of days. The young mites undergo a final transformation and burst out of the ant's head.

Re: GM help with The Guild of Swords Consider having the Guild use the heroes to remove some of their opposition. They can point the heroes at some bad guys -- maybe even try to hire the heroes outright! After several episodes in which our heroes heroically take down nasty elements in town, they might notice how the Guild is getting more and more powerful.

Re: Planning Villains for a group Don't worry about the points. Worry about making a challenge for your players. Here's a bunch of stream of consciousness mumbo-jumbo. I hope some of it is useful. What's the story? Before you build the villain, consider why he's there at all. What do the PCs gain by facing him? What do they learn? How do they change? What makes him a bad guy? The master villain should have a place in at least one of the PCs story arcs. Look to the PC Disadvantages for hints (DNPC, Susceptibility, Rivalry, Enraged, Accidental Change, Psych Lims . . . all can be the reason for a villain to exist in your game). Ultimately, the reason for introducing a master villain should be based both on character development and the need to advance the plot. Do you want the PCs to gain confidence (overconfidence?) by taking a real nasty piece of work down a peg or three? Do you want the PCs to question themselves? Do you want the PCs to triumph over adversity? Do you want the PCs to learn that they need each other? Once you know why you need a villain in the first place, you need to settle on some numbers. Defenses Make a list (in your mind or on a piece of paper) of all the most likely PC attacks and how much damage those attacks are likely to do. Look for ways for all the PCs to do some damage to the villain. Tweek his defenses to make that possible. (Vulnerability, defenses with Limitations, balancing PD-ED-rPD-rED-MD-PD . . . all these can help you here.) Keep in mind each character's schtick. If one of the PCs is supposed to land devastating blows, don't ignore that! The villain may be hard for that PC to hit, but the blows that do land should be devastating. If one of the PCs is supposed to be able to hit just about anything, don't ignore that! Let that PC hit the villain again and again, but make it clear that it will take a lot of pounding before the villain goes down. If you prefer for your players to think creatively, make your master villain more or less immune to your PCs usual powers but vulnerable to creative attacks. (Teamwork, lesser used Powers, surprise maneuvers, something in the environment . . . all these can help you here.) Remember that if your villain's REC is too high, the fight may never end. Remember that if your villain's CON is too low, the PCs may stun him right away and the villain will never get the chance to act. Attacks Make a list of all the standard PC defenses. Keeping in mind each character's schtick, decide about how many solid shots you want to be able to land on PC before that PC goes down. Most Bricks should be able to handle the master villain's standard attack, but are in danger if the master villain switches to something more powerful (Extra Time, Restrainable, Focus, Concentration . . . all these can help). Most Speedsters should be able to avoid the villain's standard attack -- and should have a reason to do so! Don't forget PC Vulnerabilities! Use Vulnerabilities to create attacks that most PCs shrug off, but are quite dangerous to one of the PCs. Movement Master villains tend toward one of two extremes: 1) They hardly move at all, 2) They're constantly in motion. You can certainly opt for something in the middle, but the extremes are interesting. Whatever form(s) of movement you settle on, make sure that most PCs have the opportunity to attack. Flight can ruin a fight for some heroes. Running the battle Don't lose track of the story! Don't forget why you built the villain in the first place. Don't try to control every little moment -- it's much more fun to be surprised by what your players and Lady Luck have in store for you -- but don't be afraid to put a thumb on the scales if the battle is turning into a pointless exercise. It's a simple matter to add or subtract a die or two from your attacks -- tell players how "surprised" you are that previous rolls were all so low (or high). If your players think of something clever, make sure that it works to some extent. Right at the beginning of the battle, cleverness might have little impact, but if the battle is going poorly for the PCs, cleverness should definitely turn the tide -- villain character sheet numbers be damned! It often helps to say, "That first idea you had was a good one. If only you could figure out some way to distract the bad guy and do it again..."

Re: Hawaii Hero

Re: Fog A couple more things you might want to consider about fog: If you spend a lot of time out in the fog, you get damp. You get chilled. These could be ignored, but they make for interesting "atmosphere" (pardon the pun) notes for your players and might actually have an impact on the game. An investigator might take note of how damp someone's clothing has become and deduce how long that person was out in the fog. Someone's health might be endangered by the chill. Water might bead up on surfaces and make them slippery. Fog can be depressing. Consider minuses to some rolls after spending too much time in the fog. Light can make fog even more confusing. Bright halos appear around light sources and make it even more difficult to make things out. Fog not only hides things from your characters, it hides your characters from other things. Clever investigators can take advantage of the fog (bonus to Concealment, Stealth, etc.) Investigators might also stumble upon things that would otherwise have run from the investigators (rats, cockroaches, dogs, etc.)

Re: Naming the baby Styx Player & Styx Master Esix (Essex) Sith Lord & Sith Apprentice

Re: Little "b" bleeding Lots of options depending on how realistic you want your game to be. INT Roll (at some minus or other) with something appropriate in the environment to use as makeshift bandages. Most any character with medical or EMP training should have a Skill that would help -- Paramedics is obvious, but others might substitute just fine. Most any character fascinated with medical dramas (like ER) might have done a little extra research and knows what to do -- check to see if they have an appropriate background Skill or go with the INT Roll. Clamping a hand (tail, flipper, tentacle) over the wound might be enough. Especially if the helping character's physiology is appropriate to the situation. "Don't you die on me!" Presence Attack and/or Mind Control. "You've never walked away from anything in your life -- now fight!" taking advantage of Overconfidence or similar Disadvantages. "Think of Linda and little Bobby!" taking advantage of In Love With and/or Protective Of and/or similar Disadvantages. Power Skill applied to Entangle, Force Wall, Telekinesis, etc.

Re: Character advancement Some games start with a master challenge far too difficult for the PCs to handle. PCs gain power in order to someday face and defeat that challenge.

Re: Hawaii Hero Brother Iz

Re: Hawaii Hero More random thoughts... Dark Champions types will do well in the area around Hotel Street. Lots of seedy places. Hawaii has a real problem with crystal meth (called "ice"). Prostitutes used to wander around Waikiki every night, but the streets have been cleaned up and you'll mostly find them just around Hotel Street. The small Chinatown is also adjacent to Hotel Street. Many homeless people end up living on the beaches. Active volcanoes! Cowboys (especially on the Big Island). Skiing at the top of some volcanoes. Hiking trails over old lava flows where the rock is so sharp it destroys your hiking boots in a couple of hours. Leis. Leis for men and women. For any (even vaguely) special occasion. Brother Iz! Business attire: a suit or an aloha shirt and decent pants. Everybody is late for pretty much everything. Nobody worries about it. Tourists use umbrellas. Locals get a little wet and don't worry about it. (OK, when it's raining hard all day, even locals will break down and use an umbrella.)