Utech

Re: Create a Hero Theme Team!
 
We've all been there, right? You're young, ambitious, and fresh out of school. You don't just dream about making a difference, you're sure that you will. There's no chance you'll waste your life.
 
So you set your sights on the biggest, best organization you can find. You buy the suit. You get the haircut. You polish that resume and go through the interview process and wait for the call. And the call comes and you celebrate with your friends.
 
Your first day of work you arrive early. You meet your boss. And you're told that all the really exciting work is being handled by a bunch of old farts; not because they're smarter or better or more intelligent than you, but because of seniority. You bridle, but you set your shoulders and play the game. You tell yourself that if you take on some tough assignments and really shine, you'll rise all that much faster. You'll get to that position of real power before your youthful energy, vision, and integrity have been worn away. Oh yes. Yes, you will.
 
So you volunteer for the worst of the worst and they give it to you. And you set to.
 
That's what The Intern did for the Galactic Council of Civilizations. He took on the incredibly difficult assignment of hauling a bunch of backwater barbarians into the enlightened present. He came to Earth to improve it. The locals think of him as a hero and that's fine with The Intern. He wants them optimistic and inspired. The quicker they make changes for the better, the quicker he hauls ass off this rock and climbs the GCC ladder.
 
Six-limbed, orange-skinned, with a mouth set between his four eyes and nostrils atop his bald head, there's no way the Intern can pass for human. He uses advanced technologies to help him fight ignorance, barbarity, and villainy on Earth -- though not technology so advanced it could threaten the planet should it fall into the wrong hands. Nearly all of his equipment uses "stasis technology" to protect the Intern and stop opponents in their tracks.

Re: Advantagous sfx
 

oO(No. I'm not wrong. But that animated GIF... 
So compelling...
 
The waving fingers... The tongue...
 
Losing will... Unable to fight...
 
Curse you, Doc Democracy! Curse you! Curse...)
 
Yes. I understand. I am wrong. It is all so clear to me. Now.
 

Re: Advantagous sfx
 

oO(No. I'm not wrong. But that animated GIF... 
So compelling...
 
The waving fingers... The tongue...
 
Losing will... Unable to fight...
 
Curse you, Doc Democracy! Curse you! Curse...)
 
Yes. I understand. I am wrong. It is all so clear to me. Now.
 

Re: Advantagous sfx
 

 
Jane "Dragon" Collins, Mrs. Oddhat's fire breathing character, ended one of our current group's battles by using her fire breath in a drug lab. I had made a point of repeatedly mentioning that there was almost no ventilation, and that the air was filled with white powder. Those working with the drugs were wearing breathing masks. She used her fire breath anyway. Blew up the house, knocked herself and the entire rest of the group out, destroyed evidence, severely injured the lab employees and allowed the bad guy and his chief lieutenant to flee.
 
Even if that never happens again in the campaign, I think quite a lot of lighting candles and illuminating dark rooms can be balanced against it.

I know we talked about this recently but the thread has been dead a few days and was quite lengthy anyway - I didn't want to put people off, having to catch up.
 
So the question is: to what extent should sfx enhance the abilities of a character by giving bonuses to a character?
 
I would argue that, as a base, given that Hero is supposed to be a system of mechanics with sfx laid over the top and not being integral to the function of the mechanics, NOT AT ALL.
 
It has long been accepted in Hero though that sfx can have inor effects. Start of the rot, I'd say. A concession to sloppy character building.
 
Part of the proble, of course, is the lack of detail that limitations and advantages provide: on a 60 point power, a -1/4 to +1/4 spread is 48-75 points. That is a lot.
 
Thus we have the '+/- 0' advantage/limitation - something that doesn't justify saving 12 points or spending 15. this hole has been filled (to an extent) by the introduction of adders, but the +/- 0 is still with us and, barring a really major change in the system, always will be.
 
Fine. Why are you writing this, Sean?
 
I was looking at the mechanics for grab, and noticed, that 'depending on sfx you can use streching to escape a grab'.
 
What?
 
I mean it is one thing for a GM on an idividual basis to allow a character, possibly with a power skill roll, to escape a grab using, or aided by, stretching. No problemo.
 
What pushes by buttons is the system which professes to have used sfx for flavour, and nothing more (you may want to catch Darren Watts pod cast - there is a recent thread pointing at it) specifically approving using sfx as a justification for piling on the utility. Presuably Mr Fantastic's stretching let him escape but Machine Man's doesn't. Logical, fine, but also a voilation of the principles of the system.
 
Being able to escape a common combat manouvre like grab is far more than a +0 advantage, IMO. It is something that Mr Fantastic's player should have paid points for.
 
I like Hero above pretty much every other system simply because the ground rules are clear. What you do with them once you have them out of the box is up to you, but if you build a character and give it to 10 people, and they all get to fill in the background and sfx, but the powers, characteristics and skills remain the same, they should all do the same thing in game, as far as I am concerned.
 
If the sfx do not match the powers that is a failure of the player to think through their concept, or a good excuse to spend XP.
 
I do appreciate I am ranting but this is something I feel strongly about.
 
Do we want a system that is mechanics led? Or sfx led?
 
Or a little bit of both?...like every other system?