Erkenfresh

Re: On Fantasy [G.R.R.M.] I said earlier that Brienne had some good chapters in this book. As for Arya, if she truly goes through with what she's doing, she'd have to renounce all her past. And these people KNOW if she has renounced it or not. But, we shall see.

Re: On Fantasy [G.R.R.M.] I thought Arya was a bit lackluster in FFC. Her story was entirely uninteresting (not as boring as Samwell's though).

Re: Brain Hemorages If the defense against it is to be brainless or bloodless then it's not something you can apply later. If you've got a brain, you've got a brain and you can't be brainless. Is that still OK? You might also want some Drain INT in there for good measure.

Re: Don't want to be out classed Buy lots of lightning reflexes so you'll always go first.

Re: On Fantasy [G.R.R.M.] Jon is the hero of the story. You're correct. I have to agree, I got tired of Sansa but she's not too bad in Feast for Crows.

Re: Learning Curve? I honestly have no idea. How would I find out?

Re: Resurrection The way I'm gonna do it in my campaign is it will take the Ritual disadvantage and require four people for an hour to cast it and cost some expensive expendable focus. So, it'll be fairly rare.

Re: On Fantasy [G.R.R.M.] I don't think that's true at all. Jon's still alive. Jaime's still alive. I like those characters. They aren't dead. You can still put some emotional investment into it. The fact that they CAN die makes it that much more "sad" when they do. Besides, if none of the Starks had ever died, would you still be rooting for them to make a comeback? Would there be any comeback to make?

Re: On Fantasy [G.R.R.M.]

Re: On Fantasy [G.R.R.M.] Not true. I mean, Tyrion is still alive (probably) and he's seen the most action and political intrigue of any of the characters. I just wonder what happened to Rickon, he sorta disappeared with that wildling chick.

Re: Infiltrate the facility OK, so I've run the first session of this. I decided to take Outsider's suggestion for the most part. Security in the building has had it's budget cut again for the last five consecutive quarters. The chief of security has a friend take a trip to Drago's Retreat to hire a crew to steal the laser, giving them a false location in the building to find it. What he doesn't know is that two of his lieutenants (one day shift ex-criminal, one night shift destitue bum) are going to take the advantage to steal the laser themselves using their own hired crew while the first team is trying to steal the laser. The first session was a lot of fun with the players trying to figure out how to get inside. In order to get a look at the entrance, one posed as a magazine salesman during the guards' shift change. He was doing well until the chief asked for some samples and he didn't have any. They also managed to hack into a database to find a fake ID with which to rent a truck to haul the laser. Finally, to get inside, they decided to pose as a senator and his bodyguards showing up for a surprise inspection. Of course, the chief, knowing that these were the fallguys, "believed" their story and is about to escort them to the laser to inspect it. The trap is laid, they just have to walk in. Your suggestions have turned what could have been a boring straightforward mission into something much more colorful. Thanks!

Re: On Fantasy [G.R.R.M.] It is precisely the fact that he kills off characters that I keep reading his books. I read a book called The Briar King (forgot the author) which develops a few heroes. After the first few chapters, I was certain none of these heroes would ever die. The mortality of the characters makes it seem much more real. Feast of Crows is so-so. It's only half of a book Martin admits. The other half may come out this year if we're lucky. The only characters I cared about reading in this one were Jaime and Brienne. The rest were a bit boring.

Re: Which one is it? I think this is the best idea yet!

Re: Infiltrate the facility No, that's really good too. How do you guys come up with this stuff? Years of practice I imagine...

Re: Which one is it? The flaw here is that if you have the defense against an NND, it does NO damage. However, I can see you have the tabard not covering the whole body so maybe it makes sense if you want Thundai knights swinging only at each other's heads. Another alternative might be to put something like Armor Piercing x4 on the sword and then Hardened x4 on the tabard, but specify that the Hardening only works against Thundai swords. That way the sword will cut through most armor like butter and the tabard only protects well against the sword.

Re: Infiltrate the facility Thanks, more great ideas. I'm not trying to force them to be sneaky so much as just looking for things to make it more interesting. I think I've got what I need.

Re: WF for Weapons on Vehicles v Vehicle Weapons How hard can it be? Just point in the general direction til a solid beep then fire away! BOOOOMMMM! Won't know what hit 'em.

Re: Infiltrate the facility That's a cool idea too. But, the party may have a hard time believing that a legit company would hire a bunch of criminals to perform a security test. Perhaps if they were someone else, it'd be more plausible.

Re: Learning Curve? I'm glad I could make you weep with joy. The only problem I have now is finding another person to GM so I actually get to, ya know, be a player.

Re: Infiltrate the facility I think I intend the weapon to be just a simple laser cannon that's slightly better than the Mark XX laser with some prototypy limitations, most notably a 8- Burnout roll. That way if they decide to keep it, they might only get one or two shots per adventure before having to pay through the nose or spend time to figure out how to fix it. Gerotech Prototype Laser: Multipower, 454-point reserve, (454 Active Points); all slots Activation Roll 8-, Burnout (-1 1/2), OIF Bulky (-1), Real Weapon (-1/4), Extra Time (Delayed Phase, -1/4)6u 1) Near-Target Beam Mode: Killing Attack - Ranged 11d6, Armor Piercing x1 (+1/2) (247 Active Points)25 etc. etc. I really like your idea of a rival band of pirates trying to take it. It's a good way to force the players to decide what side they are on. They've already antagonized an organization of bounty hunters, so they could play the "bad guys".

Hey guys. I've got a neat little adventure planned for my players starting this week in the Terran Empires setting. The players are pirates, but not totally bad people, just a little trigger happy that's all. The players will be hired by Draconis Defenseworks to steal a weapon prototype from a rival company. I think the reward will be tempting enough for them to accept but if they don't I'll just have to save this one for another time, no biggie. The prototype is being created in a secure facility on some planet I haven't picked out yet. This could draw out to a simple blast all the security guards and get the prototype out but I'd prefer a more subtle approach. I'm thinking of fleshing out more on who works there and their motives, maybe some who are disgruntled with their employment. Anyway, if you're bored and think you might have some neat ideas I could use, post a reply. I'll be thinking about this a lot more today.

Re: Learning Curve? Am I the only one here who never heard of the game until I saw the book in the store? My friends mentioned trying out a new game from D&D 3rd edition so I browsed the local store. HERO caught my eye because it was soooo thick! I read the intro and I was hooked immediately. I read FRED and Star Hero during an overseas business trip, so I learned all the rules from scratch. It was certainly a lot to take in but I think I retained a lot of it. Anyway, the rules make good sense to me and I've run a pretty good Star Hero campaign so far for about 12 game sessions. My players still struggle with some of the rules from time to time. One guy wrote 9+(DEX/5) in the roll column for all his DEX skills and he has to calculate the value to roll under every time. I patiently tell him to write the number in there every time. It's become a bit of a joke now, I think he does it on purpose LOL. They also make fun of the sheer numebr of dice they have to roll. "Alright so I'm shooting my plasma rifle on non-lethal setting, 10d6! Geez that's a lot of counting!" I guess they never played Warhammer.

Re: Entanglements Well if you had a buttbeam, it wouldn't help you if your chest is glued to a wall. If you had elbowbeams, probably the same situation depending on which side of the elbow the beam comes out. For someone who has handbeams, he might have trouble in grappling situations or up close whereas someone with eyebeams can more than likely at least get his opponent in his field of view to fire. I think you're splitting hairs here. I wouldn't worry about advantages/disadvantages of a SFX too much. If it gets overwhelming, you might make the player buy a Powers skill to compensate.

Re: Entanglements The way I see it, is you take a spell that mimics D&D's "Hold Person" using Entangle. In HERO, the ability to break free is a physical thing. You are pitting your stength versus the strength of the spell. If you're going the mental route, there's a full section on changing it to be based on the target's EGO as well. As for poor Eyebeam Boy, I think he should be unable to use his eyebeam. He'll have to rely on good ol' muscles or someone to help him out. Of course, that's not going to prevent him from shooting at any opponents in front of the wall.

Re: How do I introduce HERO to a potential new player? Do what I did, let them make a character and then start playing. It took a few hours to get started but it was OK.