azato

Re: Scion Hero of sorts Yeah, I don't have Scion Hero yet but plan do by the PDF tomorrow or sometime in the near future. On WW's website they stated their game was inspired largely by "American Gods". I am under no time pressure to get this thing launched and plan to do a fair amount of conversion in the mean time. I think reading those books will help me. I also look forward to watching Percy Jackson for some inspiration.

Re: Scion Hero of sorts Some stories have a neutral, and more powerful part to ensure that "balance" is kept. Maybe having them really in charge isn't a bad idea. Perhaps even the various Pantheons being in charge to some degree in various nations...Hmmmm Must contemplate.

Re: Scion Hero of sorts One possibility is that the different realms have differing effects on people...normal denizens. Perhaps orcs and trolls coming to our realm, if they are here long enough, become more 'civilized' and take office jobs, are cabbies and build up their 401K. I thought about giving the more 'normal' monsters some sort of illusion that they would appear to humans as humans but would still have some of their physical traits. And maybe that illusion only works with humans but not human scions.

Sometime in the future I am thinking of doing something along the lines of White Wolf's Scion Hero. I have read a previous thread on this board regarding this and would like to get some people's thoughts as I try to get clarification in my mind. I am thinking of making the players, as well as a host of NPCs children (or perhaps "children") or some inheritors of those known as the deities of the various past human pantheons. The pantheons will not be actual gods for a number of reasons, but suffice to day the discrpencies in history and world view makes it too confusing. More likely they will have been people with miraculous powers who "ascended" in power and over time they grew to the point to perhaps leave for other realms...or perhaps their "age" was ended. But now for whatever reason the "children" now roam the earth, perhaps discovering their identity for the first time (maybe it has been shrouded). I am not sure if I want to have political arrangements according to pantheons but rather this will be a time for forming new pantheons of sorts. I would also like to add the magical stuff to this day and age. With maybe magic hiding creatures who interact with us without us knowing....and if there is, and with their eyes now open the protagonists may have a sudden discovery (a la "THEY LIVE"). In some ways I would like to have tropes and items from mythology and sometimes with perhaps with a new twist. I am also thinking of making some areas multi dimensional...for example, maybe Union Station is actually an access point to multiple realms. I would like to combine the feel of the Thor comic book (the Walt Simonson run), Mage the comic book (http://www.mattwagnercomics.com/comics_mage.html) with some intensity and weirdness. But before I can do this...I need to work out some logical issues in my head....Like * If people had such powers, what keeps them from making themselves rulers of the world? * If magical creatures exist in magical time whey don't they rule the world? * If realms can be crossed what keeps others from crossing over and ruling the world? * If there are some crossroads/nexus points.....what just keeps people from other realms from walking over? Any thoughts?

I was listening to an interview on a podcast (non-Hero related) where a person did not like the fact that with bigger weapons (or the use of more dice) created a bell shaped curve (or more of one) than smaller weapons. Thus the chances of hitting min/max/average changed. He created a game where the the damage for each weapon was charted out..probably not too much unlike Rolemaster, except armor did not reduce damage. I think or fantasy hero or heroic level damages...I am mostly good with this. I don't care about changes or the creation of a curve when comparing 1d6 with 2d6. But with Champions....the difference can be huge ESPECIALLY when doling out normal damage. Here is what I was wondering... Suppose a person purchases a 10d6 energy Blast. We know that the max body is 20 and maximum stun is 60. What if when it comes to roll damage instead the player rolls 3d6 and uses the % ranking for that roll to as a multiplier to the maximum damage for determine actual delivered damage (i.e. in this case a roll of a 12 would give a .74 multiplier)? The could be used damage of any size and all attacks would deliver on the same bell-shaped curve? I am not sure if I am making sense since it is late and I am trying to wrap this up. Perhaps this has been tried before. I suspect it would make Supers games very deadly.

Re: Speed and a Deck of Playing Cards @prestidigitator - The cards is handy for a couple reasons...one, I don't have to write anything down. two, it keeps things a bit more "secretive". Three, there may be the tactile element that also may appeal. Yeah, the main thing is that the number of cards does roughly correspond. @Doc - Thanks for the ideas there. I may later try that as a variant. @Lord Laiden - I may try this out at a later date. Funnily enough, the group I am playing with does not have previous HERO experience. One fellow loves the SPD chart and hence I do not want to ditch it quite yet. But I do like the concept. T

One of the "problems" with the speed chart is that it can so predictable that characters act knowing the order of combat..i.e. "I can blow an action here because I know I go again before he does". I am sure my thought is NOT original and that I picked it up from somebody, somewhere (though I may be adding a new twist). Here is what I propose. At the end of a turn the DM shuffles a deck of cards and hands deals out 1 playing card to each player for every point of speed the character has. There will only be one deck from which cards will be dealt not one deck per character. Whatever the value of the card is, that is the segment the character goes on. Aces are "1"s If the character gets two cards of the same value, he turns one of those cards in for a different card. Jacks = 11's Queens = 12's Kings = Players choice - has to be decided before the turn begins Jokers = Players choice they decide at any time during the play turn BUT must be stated before the segment, which they want to play on, begins. At the end of the turn the cards are turned back in and reshuffled into the deck. Any thoughts? Any experience with this? Any concerns?

Re: Circle of Protection Is it a spell or is it something anybody can do? If second then just give the baddies a physical limitation - "cannot cross or attack across a _______ barrier". Or perhaps wrap a whole bunch of things into one general disadvantage.

Looking for thoughts and Ideas...Feel free to throw in your 2 cents worth. Here is what I am thinking for a future campaign...take 20 random people from our time/plane whatever and teleport them to a fantasy setting. Funnily enough, all the sentients from that world are gone..poof. The twenty random people have no idea what happened, just that they suddenly appear, somewhat together, in a strange land. They will eventually find remnants of civilization. But all the original inhabitants will be gone. In fact...they disappeared the same time the "protagonists" appear. To add a twist to the whole thing....other sentient creatures will likewise find themselves in a new home. Let the survival issues marinade with contact with strange creatures marinade for a bit and then...later...perhaps months later....contact with some other humans who may not be at all peaceful. Some thoughts on where to go with this. Some of the Greyhawk deities try to recruit members. Their base is completely gone. Different deities may contact different people. If players do take alliances with a deity they may be put at odds with the party, or members of the party. Allying with a deity grants automatic skills and perhaps powers. Perhaps all items carried "over" possess some marvelous ability. Maybe the cloths never rot, maybe the laptop never needs power....perhaps everything becomes and artifact of sorts a la THE LOST ROOM Maybe some items carried over becomes items of substantial power a la THOMAS COVENANT. Factions will form as a result of the diverse group. For a "random" group I asked people who are part of my MEETUP who had NO idea what i needed this list for...to come up with age, sex, name, profession and hobby for 20 people. This is what I got. Paul Davis 58 years old Clinical Psychiatrist Male Listening to classical music. Tara Parks 8 years old Student - good at math Female Normal girly things. Shawn Bradford 26 Garbage hauler (ironically he is an OCD neat freak as well) Male Works on classic cars Chet Goldblum 39 Tax Accountant Male Numismatist James McCann Male 40 Residential Electrician Glider enthusiast Samantha Bannon 25 years old ER Nurse Female Hiking/Climbing Carlos Rodriguez 10 years old Student Male Rock Collecting Roger Bradley 43 years old Dentist Male Golf, Extramarital Affairs Dennis Fitzpatrick 38 Accountant Male Lion Tamer Helan Lebowitz 18 High Schooler Female Crack Deborah Mckinnon Female 51 US Army Lt. Col N. Korean spy Chris Patrick 25 Transgender Social worker Golf Raj Avinashika Male Age 52 Physicist World of Warcraft Guild Leader Ingvar Kamprad Male 70 Bookstore owner Student of occult lore Bella Sills Female 8 Student Child beauty pageant fanatic Javier Barros-Ramirez Male 17 Local level drug dealer Xbox live Sarah Brown Female 56 Women's Studies Professor Gardening Tom Brown Male 57 Math Professor Collecting Vinyl LPs Bernard Stinson Male 32 Lawyer Picking up women

Re: Not D&D You may want to frame all of these in a more positive way. I think you are coming across a little too strong. Instead of stating what the game isn't tell people what the game IS.

Re: Not D&D That is cool. I just know of people who don't make a clear decisions because they keep going in circles. "I would fear that if I focus a game on my personal beliefs; not only would I not get any players to play, but also end up in conflict with the players I do get. I don't mind the idea of battling orcs, ogres, and dragons. I just don't like the idea of making a hack and slash and greed the primary goal of the game. " I think the game can focus on your personal beliefs, but it must be done in an engaging way and not in a preachy way. Obviously people don't want to hear a sermon, or to be taken through a bible story, but there are plenty of scenarios, themes and situations that can be presented. What about taking a group of persecuted people to another land? What about allowing a character to sacrifice his life for a greater good? What about sitting up situations where the players can act in a way that is larger than life to benefit the community and, maybe, the world. What would Lewis do? How about Tolkien? What about G.K. Chesterton? To me, one of the most moving "moral" movies in the recent past was Spider Man 2. He had the powers. Using the powers made his life miserable. His powers helped other people. He realized he had a choice...he could be Spider Man or he could walk away. He chose to take the path of suffering. ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE. Obviously not a theme that only comes from Christianity, but is is a theme of the Christian faith. The Now for my soap box.... Yeah, as I mentioned I am running a sword and sorcery campaign. I am wanting to deemphasize humanoids, undead and general craziness. I have been looking through many, many published modules from various companies and it is almost impossible to find any adventures that do not make the main antagonist or his minions a undead or humanoids. I don't feel that these types are morally wrong to place in a game...but I feel that they are work against any sort of deep role playing since the logical answer to any humanoid or undead it to kill it . In fact, one does it without any remorse. See an orc standing by a tree? Kill it. The alignment system also works along the same path. Is something "EviL" (lawful, neutral, or better yet Chaotic) kill it without remorse since it is evil.

Re: Not D&D Dude, since you seem so hesitant don't bother with it. You have been given plenty of options to not even have deities, or even magic, in your campaign. I get the feeling that you feel that it is a requriement of some sort (perhaps unspoken) that you have magic and deities.....but you don't. Players don't really care about those details, they just want to have fun playing. You are wasting a whole lot of emotional energy on this. Do or don't do, but don't put yourself in some weird mental box you cannot escape.

Re: Not D&D This has been and issue I have wrangled with..and here are some random thoughts...no particular order and to no grand end... 1.) None of this is real. An author writing about a man having an affair...no sin has actually been committed. 2.) You could do something along the lines of what Lewis did with Narnia and play out the story of redemption in another way. Let us suppose there are other time/universes/races/ whatever...would redemption occur again and would it be different? We will never no, but it is quite possible to speculate on that. 3. As mentioned before, one could say that Jehovah is above all the other beings who appear to be gods. This would NOT be that much different than Justin Martyr's treatise that when Paul talked about the doctrines of demons of afore...that actually pagan pantheons and even some heroes of the past were actually demons who possessed powers and thus deceived the masses. 4.) I decided to go with a sword and sorcery....but the deities do exist the are just more distant. 5.) I think there are actually more problems inserting GOD into a role-playing game than leaving him out or introducing a pantheon. I would have more problems with God putting someone on a quest than having Odin doing the same. 6.) Nobody believes in the made up deites anyway. Nobody is actually giving the service nor worship. 7.) I think having flawed deities or at least with intense human foibles may actually demonstrate the inadequacies of any god but GOD.

Re: Tooling around in a ship This is just for flavor. Also I have a hard time just taking their ship away from them. There is risk in being naval merchant and it needs to be taken into account somehow. Now the dice can do the hard part. Plus it could make for a quick random change of pace (you are lost or are wrecked on a island.

Re: Tooling around in a ship The rolls are not hard unchangable. I was looking for something that would be simple and pehaps add some flavor to a otherwise boring...you arrive. I also thought about exploding dice for prolonged...perhaps if a 6 is rolled you add another dice...and if is 6 is rolled add yet another dice.

Re: If I had 500 slaves... Thanks guys....it will be underground mines with harsh conditions. Here is a quick narrative I made up about the spot (it was written in one swoop with no checking): Hokar is a more "recent" addition to the hold of the Sea Princes. This region was originally populated by gnomes who had a few modest sized "villages". While the region and a good deal of mineral wealth, and they did a fair amount of mining, they did not heavily mine the area. They did not trade much and while they used the mineral wealth for decoration that was about the limit. When those of the Sea Princes first made contact, they quickly realized the amount of wealth these gnomes had. They set up trade, but the gnomes were not very eager to purchase items since they had little use (or desire) to have goods that were not gathered regionally. The humans built a small settlement. It seemed innocent enough at first. The humans did provide more protection against the humanoids in the area and some of the goods they offered were welcome. Over a period of a few years, the gnomes trusted the humans almost as much as other gnomes. They saw several times where the humans turned back some serious attacks. The gnomes even started a festival celebrating one of the most heroic nights. Thee would gather for a common celebration with the humans. The humans provided protection and the gnomes willingly helped fund the building of fortifications and such. The happy bond changed when one night, during the celebration, the humans captured a number of leaders and children and, holding them hostage, forced them to aggressively mine. Heretofore the gnomes had mined the easiest veins. The humans wanted the wealth drawn from the ground as quickly as possible. The harsh conditions, the cruelty they suffered, the despair they felt, the gnomes started dying off. Realizing the need for more laborers, the city of Hokar started needing more slaves. Much of them supplied by natives of the Amedio Jungle. The most sought after slaves are Dwarfs. Based on comments above I am thinking about making the few surviving gnomes as DRIVERS. Very, very very bitter and cruel. They cannot strike back at their masters BUT they can at least strike back at humans in this position.

Re: A version of LOST but twisted a bit Yeah, the characters are not based on the actual players. The internet thing made me think of making this person some sort of diviner/oracle. While he would not have information on the future....there is a lot of information that would be accessible as well as music, culture etc. I have not read any of Rick Cooks stuff, but based on your link his works do look interesting. I am also think of this: Having the normal slots for the traditional fantasy races....but randomly select other creatures (as far a looks and perhaps behavior) to fill those slots. For instance maybe some alien race from Alternity would take the place of elves (as far as nature, nature magic, etc). Perhaps these races would be redo just like the humans. Maybe the world WAS dominated by humans, elves, dwarves, orcs, etc but now (other than the humans) new races are repopulated in this world. It would be a tabula rosa and would set the pattern for future race, interspeices and national relations and bias.

how many guards would I need? They will be doing some heavy mining and I will not only need people to watch them 24/7 but also to hunt them down if they escape. Of course this is theoretical as i don't actually have 500 slaves. And for soldiers in general. What is a good ratio for the military like...for every 10 privates there is 1 sergeant, for every 5 sergeant their is a lieutenant?

For our upcoming game I came up with this randomy thing....what are your thoughts? I am thinking that after they roll 3d6 they follow up with a 1/2d6 to determine how many days that roll is good for. Random Maritime Weather 3 - Pelor smiles upon you - Perfect weather complete - trip (in one direction) is completed in 80% of the normal amount of time. No further rolls needed. 4 - Favorable Winds - Ship moves 50% faster 5 - Favorable winds - Ship moves 25% faster (50% if make piloting) 6 - Rain with favorable winds 7 - Normal 8 - Normal 9 - Normal 10 - Normal 11 - Normal 12 - Normal 13 - No Wind - no movement for sailing ships 14 - Storm - Roll pilot -2 to keep from either (being blown horribly off course or ran aground). Can be mitigated with anchor 15 - Storm - Roll pilot -2 to keep from either (being blown horribly off course or ran aground) 16 - Bad storm - Roll pilot skill to keep ship from being sunk. If successful roll pilot -2 to keep from either (being blown horribly off course or ran aground) 17 - Terrible Storm - Roll pilot skill at -2 to keep ship from being sunk. If successful roll pilot -4 to keep from either (being blown horribly off course or ran aground) 18 - Hurricane or Cyclone - Catastrophic loss. The ship is destroyed. Each member of the crew makes a roll vs Dex to survive the storm.

I am thinking about doing something a bit different and am looking for some ideas on direction. On our local gaming Meetup board I asked people give normal character concepts of "name, sex, occupation and hobby". I am looking for twenty total. Nobody knows what I have planned. I have not announced a game and this is off in the future.... I am planning to take these 20 people and do like a weird version of LOST (even though I have not seen the series). They will just end up on a fantasy world. The fantasy world will have been populated by humans....but the same time the characters arrive all the humans are gone (and maybe the demi humans as well). It may be a bit of time before the characters even wind up in a city. But here are some general thoughts: * players pick a different character at the start of the session. It could be different every time. * characters will have different motivations and may not be happy with going along with "the group" * On occasion they will find small pockets of people who will be from this world but could be from another country. This is where I have some divergent paths---- 1.) I could do a thing where their items...the ones that don't exist on the fantasy world may have special powers (a la thomas covenant) 2). They have items that become very special artifacts related to what they are. (perhaps one person has a laptop that doesn't lose power and can tap into the internet as if he were still "home".) 3.) Perhaps the people, the first people, will continue to grow in power (or even die) until they become a pantheon. 4.) The gods are lacking in power because the people are gone and are desperate to make alliances with the humans. Perhaps to the point of creating divisions in the party. Any thoughts?

Re: Saltmarsh Continued The PCs have decided to keep the ship and practice some trading. Actually, they liberated a merchant and one of the smugglers from the adventure actually joined the party (he gave up in a fight with the PCs and helped the PCs get onto the ship). They figured the merchant character can do the trading and they can adventure while commerce takes place (it make take a couple weeks at port to sell and to purchase). They also hired some soldiers they knew (the party just mustered out of the local army) for protection and to keep the crew loyal. While the party has members who can run a ship, nobody really has merchant nor strong maritime style skills. Here are two of the PCs. As you can see, the merchant is much more than what they bargained for. NPC’s and Motivations BeBe (aka Bloody Bejorn) has spent his life as a sailor and the last few years as a smuggler. Having sailed for years under Captain XX he became dissatisfied with his lot. Because of his experience and his skills, he spearheaded the land based portion of the smuggling operation. His love was for the sea, not to be cooped up in a cave supervising lackeys (he was a smuggler in the Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh who surrendered early and helped the players get aboard the SEA GHOST). His desire is for the sea , the excitement of new ports and for money. While he never gives any he loyalty to any one person, he is not one willing to betray his employer unless circumstances warrant. Even if “satisfied” he constantly seeks to raise his wages/cut. He always looking to get the best deal possible and is willing to haggle for hours over sometimes meaningless items/services. Rhy-mun – as far as anybody knows he is a merchant from the land of Idee. The adventures found him captive in the hold of the ship chained to the wall. He tells them the story that his ship was captured by pirates and the present vessel was merely used to transport him and that they had not part of his captures. He also states they were planning to either sell him into slavery. The truth of the matter is that he is a captured spy, currently using the identity of Rhy-mun (one of several). He does indeed have merchant skills and is quite adept in negotiations, bribery, bureaucracy and trade. He is a spy/provocateur for the Scarlet Brotherhood and his real name is Bri-Lee. The merchant identity allows him a good background to explain his travelling, his money and his conducting of “business”. He was indeed captured and was bound for the Sea Princes because he was found out, not because of piracy. There is some debate in my mind whether he was captured willingly or unwillingly. He is very much wanted by them for his crimes. Since given a great deal of authority and responsibility given to him by the PCs, he is going to take full advantage of them since he has no oversight. He will ensure that they make money, but he will siphon off funds and deposit them to different accounts in different port cities. There is no telling where this will wind up but his purpose is not merely to make money…it is to fund his destabilization of governments. He is very calm and never appears flustered. He is a phenomenal martial artist but he hides he abilities. His is very skinny any usually downplays and physical prowess he has. Some thoughts on him: * He starts a local rebellions while in port. * He changes identities – killing someone and thus framing his own murder and stealing their identities. * He frames the adventures killing the victim in their sight and then shouting for the police. * He kills all the people on board the Sea Ghost that were present during his initial capture. All those people are working for other companies/ships now. But if he sees them he will arrange their death. This will manifest by an occasional murder in various ports and the players will recognize the bodies. This will be on an infrequent basis and will be a kind of mysterious thing. * He sets up a weapons run into the Middego jungle. The purpose is to arm the natives against the Sea Princes. The ship may be stopped at sea OR in port. He will invoke a mysterious charter and the captain/official after speaking privately will take a bribe and allow the ship to continue on.

Re: Some basics of trade and the town/city of Saltmarsh OK...It looks like this may turn into a commercial style adventure. I think the information I received in this thread, plus the information in other threads, plus another resource, plus my own input can make this work (and I will post this when done)....that being said... I see that by the logic given by MARKDOC that this can be a very lucrative business. What I need to know is what expenses would a ship normally need to pay? TAXES: PORT FEES: Perhaps Guild fees (and what would be the benefits): Typical Graft: Ship Upkeep:

Re: Saltmarsh Continued It could go that way.....good point.

Re: Saltmarsh Continued So far the NPCs do not have a defined background and thus could have all sorts of hidden motives and agendas. It does appear that they will likely continue with the group for one reason or another. I have switched the sea elf in the module for a mysterious man. i am thinking about making him a Suel spy posing as a trader who was captured by the Sea Princes and was being moved. Of course the players would not know that.... I think I will try to sway them to be more in the business of transporting goods rather than as merchants per se. I don't beleive any of the characters have trading, bureacratics or even navigation. The will need to hire some people and perhaps work into the business. I plan to go trough old Traveller journals to get ideas as well as some issues of Challange magazine. The question is how to mix one part economics and 1 part intrigue with one part action.

The heroes are finally nearing the end of the first module ( I have no plans to do the rest) and they wound up with the following 1. A ship 2. A fair amount of trade goods 3. A smuggler (npc) who sort of "helped" them. May be a good opportunity for a new player to join into the group. 4. A wild mystic (sort of a voodoo guy with no powers). 5. A mysterious man found captive on the smuggler ship. May be a good opportunity for a new player to join the group. They are wanting to keep the ship (rather than sell it) and plan to embark on some sort of trade. (maybe not real serious). I am running a low magic campaign...actually a sword and sorcery one. I am looking for some ideas and plot hooks....any thoughts? I will post some possible stuff with the NPCs later.