naturaltwenty

Re: Guns In The MHI RPG With licensed properties there are always going to be differences when converting to any system, even one as flexible as HERO (or any other effects-based system). The guns in MHI represent more of a character signature than anything, i.e. Franks = Glock, Z = Abominator, etc. The designer, ALL PRAISE STEVE, ahem..., has to reach that happy balance between the game and the source. One of the big misconceptions is that playing an RPG is like "writing a novel as you go". They are close but in the book did it really matter if Z wasted someone with the 40mm grenade launcher or silver buckshot? Not really. It was how the weapon was used that made you go "yes - take that silver bayonet you black-hearted hellspawn":) I want a playable game, which I think I'll get, not gun porn.

Re: [Alera - Furies of Calderon] Advice on Summoning/Elemental Ally Races so far: Aleran - human (there are mutliple countries and governing factions) Marat - non-human, pseudo-native American Indian, barbarian - no fury crafting but able to bond with their totem animals including gargants (beast of burden - large), herdbanes (predatorial birds that remind of velociraptors or axe beaks from D&D), horse, fox, wolf and maybe more. Cane or Canim - think Wolfen from Confrontation. Later, Greg Volz Natural Twenty Gaming

Re: [Alera - Furies of Calderon] Advice on Summoning/Elemental Ally Some more ramblings - (noticing the similarities between Codex Alera and Avatar I've found out that the book series was published October 2004 and Avatar debuted Februrary 2005 - I have no clue if one influenced the other or not. Codex Alera has a much more Roman feel with Aleran's having Citizens, Legionnaires, regional lords, high lords, and also emulating a very Rome in decline type aspect). Some of the furies are generational and bound to city-dwellers. Those furies are less powerful but more controllable/respond better to direction. Countryside furies that are bound/summoned farther away from the structure of the city are more powerful but sometimes have a will of their own. Use of furycrafting is definitely strenuous, i.e. a windcrafter who flies (and alot of them do) can only fly for so long before tiring so most crafting abilities will cost endurance - although more experienced crafters can utilize their furies with more skill thereby reducing end cost. People can have more than one fury - i.e. Fidelias, an antagonist, has two furies - a wood and earth fury. Furies take on the shape of animals or humanoid forms when visible - which they are not always visible. Windcrafter abilities that have been represented in the book so far - -Flight -Supplying air during high flights and perhaps increasing time underwater -Increasing the speed of attacks thereby increasing damage with swords, thrown daggers -Calming winds -Creating winds - Windcrafter flight appears to be disruptable by "cutting off their air" more later, Greg Volz Natural Twenty Gaming

Greetings, I'm looking for some system advice on emulating the Codex Alera series by Jim Butcher - http://www.jim-butcher.com/books/alera/ . Most of the residents of Alera (I think that's the continent - I haven't done a thorough world guide yet) have the ability to summon and control one or more elemental allies and use the elemental's power to increase his/her physical attributes. Furycrafter's (watercrafter, firecrafter, woodcrafter, windcrafter, and metalcrafter - I think) should be relatively easy to emulate, it's the summoning of the ally that I'm unfamiliar with modelling. What power emulates this? Later, Greg Volz Natural Twenty Gaming

Re: Teen Champions Villians While it's for Mutants & Masterminds there's a plethora of ideas at http://www.mecha.com/~conkle/mm/index.html , which is Christian Conkle's Ultra Teens are Go! I've used the premise for a Sadie Hawkins dance one-shot that worked out very well. Later

Re: [FtF Game] Midkemia (looking for material) Nevermind - I spelled Midkemia incorrectly when I did a thread search.

Well, I've shown some of my normal d20 face-to-face group Tuala Morn and they were really pumped about it. I borrowed one of the players my Hero 5th (non-revised) book and he freaked. Not by the sheer size but he's been playing class/level games forever and has never played an effect-based game. I'm consuming Tuala Morn but don't want to introduce the players to that world just yet. While I'm intrigued by the TM stuff I want to make a go of it on my own. The stuff that I'm posting in the Tuala Morn discussion thread will be much more generic so I can use it for what I'm working on. Anyway - I've done a search and couldn't find any info on HERO Midkemia or Feist. Does anyone have anything pre-built for gaming in that world? Thanks, Greg V.

Re: Forsaken Ground If I was at work, or wasn't lazy and booted up my laptop I'd have a better example. In the picture below there are two, top-level pages. Each of those has a group of second level pages, and below that there are third level pages. The main thing to remember on a navigation bar is that I always want to be able to get to my main page for whatever tree I'm in. So if I'm at the lowest level I can get back to the start without having to click, back, back, back, etc. At a minimum you should have links to the main page and whatever pages are at the same level. On pages that you can go down into the tree you should have the home page, the pages on the same level and the pages to which you can navigate below. Think of it as a table of contents, which is what a site map truly is. Look at the HERO book for examples. Each chapter has sub-components that would be lower levels but there's a reason why the chapter is usually identified. You want to know where to go back to your main topic. It's somewhat hard to explain and easier to layout on a whiteboard.

Re: Forsaken Ground Lotsa work on the content (I have trouble keeping my mind focused on one game system long enough to generate system-based content). Looks like a solid background. One critique on the FrontPage navigation bars - instead of the hierachical layout use a more flat layout. Drilling down for info makes me dizzy. At a minimum use the Site Map tool and create one of those for each of the sub-areas of your site. It'll make navigation easier. Later

Re: Tuala Morn Discussion I missed that during the cut and paste from Hero Designer (I love that tool but I have to reference the books yet and look for examples first). Updated now.

Re: Tuala Morn Discussion Well, I'm trying to kick-start The Shadows Rise as an online campaign but response has been luke-warm. http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=54205 Be that as it may I'll start putting together some items, monsters, and an adventure seed or two. Here's a preview of the "cover" Here's a sample of the content. I'm still a HERO newb and have no idea if these are good - it's a low powered campaign so I'm avoiding alot of flash. Going for a Robin of Sherwood feel. The pdf download is here: http://www.naturaltwenty.com/downloads/three_items.pdf Later, Greg V.

Re: Pulpish tittle I went with Tales of Adventure. Standard but hey - it works for me:).

Re: Tuala Morn Discussion David Arkenstone has a CD called Celtic Book of Days which is pretty good. I'd also suggest Clannad's Legend which was created for the Robin Hood series on Showtime (originally broadcast in Europe) in the mid to late 80's. Later

Re: Tuala Morn Discussion - Coming Soon - More information to follow but the game will be held: - online so highspeed will be necessary - weekday evenings (-6 GMT or whatever it becomes after the whacky new DST) - Skype for voice so a microphone on your PC/laptop - an internet browser I'll start a proper thread of it's own over in the Player Finder Later

Re: Tuala Morn Discussion I'm awaiting the FedEx person with baited breath. While I wait does the bibliography include any of the Katherine Kerr novels (Daggerspell, Darkspell, etc.)? Later