Steve Long

Steve 
 
As a devout Catholic I'd have no problem with the inclusion of Angels and Devils in the book.  There already is in theatre, film and TV a great number of fantasy shows dedicated to this topic such as Lucifer (TV show), Supernatural (TV Show), Midnight (TV show), The Fallen (movie) Ghost (movie), various works of Esther Friesner (books) and those are just the ones I can come up with off the top of my head in five seconds.  There are latterly 100's more.  Somehow Tinseltown, the Networks, Netflix and the publishing houses manage to make a pretty good living selling people stories on just this subject.  There are even some stories that are based on Jewish mythology and not Christian out there.  I don't see why people who make their own story in a gaming system have to be somehow treated differently other than Gaming companies don't have as much money for lawyers as Networks do I guess.  I'd actually love to see rules and discussion on this genre whether it is in the mythology book or not.
 
I have watched and read a lot of these stories and it seems that the good ones follow a certain theme.
 
1) God is absentee from the story line.
 
Why) First off being omnipotent and omniscient there would be no conflict.  God can you fix this, finger snap, Yes I can!  Second and more important having God say stuff is very close to giving lectures on what God thinks which could influence the viewer and or offend if they believe God would do something else.  So God is this mystery being no one sees in the story who leaves Easter eggs for the character to find and figure out on their own as the only communication form Him or Her depending on how Woke you are these days.
 
2) Religion, faction or creed are usually never mentioned or shown except in the case of films like the exorcist where the Catholics are the only religion that still has people that do that thing.  To the extent it is, there is never attempts in the story at proselytizing.

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Why) Kind of obvious.  The more elusive what religion or religious system is in play the more it will tend to include anyone who is a believer even non Christians.
 
3)  The "Angels" or their other religious counterparts such as Buddhist Bodhisattva are always troubled and don't quite know what it is they should do and many times are the de facto Villains of the story. 
 
Why) It helps if those on the side of Good have to struggle to know what is right.  IF the Angels all know the right solution to every conflict they can just tell the mortals what to do and be done with it and that does not make for a good story.
 
4)  There is usually always one demon that attempts to reform himself or herself even if it is too late.
 
Why) It makes for better story if the not all the bad guys are thoroughly evil.  This creates complex problems the good guys have to solve.
 
5)  The macguffin in plots related to sin are always things not in dispute such as murder and do not touch on political topics such as the abortion debate for instance.  No attempt is made to speak on these subjects one way or another.  Sin is never something shown in a way that is judgmental of religious beliefs.
 
Why)  Obvious I think but important to remember because you have to make sure others cannot view things in that regard.  Things judged as Sin have to be things that people universally see as wrong.  For instance manbuns. 
 
I think that any book on this subject would probably have to have those rules in mind and directions on how to implement them in order to avoid people seeing it as  trying to offend.  To those that will be offended because D&D is evil well, they aren't your target audience anyways.
 
Still I understand your reluctance.
Cheers
Indy
 

Welcome back to HERO! I hope the campaign's going well and everyone's having fun.
 
First, remember that a character who can't use his Targeting Senses (typically Sight) can make a PER Roll with a Nontargeting Sense (such as Hearing or Touch) so that he can attack at 1/2 OCV, -1 DCV -- see 6E2 7 for the full rules. So your wife's character doesn't have to just sit there doing nothing, she can try to overcome the handicap she's currently suffering from and fight back as best she can.
 
Second, your idea of using Mental Illusions to compensate for her lost Senses is a creative one, and certainly within the realm of possibility for things that Mental Illusions can do. Your character would have to use a Phase to "attack" her to set up the Illusion, of course. If I were your GM, I would rule that your character has to keep paying END to maintain the Mental Illusion (6E1 150) so that you can "feed" it information about how the combat's progressing. Other GMs might not require that, or might require you to spend a Half Phase Action each Phase to keep the illusion accurate, or whatever else they consider appropriate.
 
Herodom Assembled --- what do you think? How would you handle this as a GM? What other ideas do you have for monsewer to help his wife out of this situation?

Welcome back to HERO! I hope the campaign's going well and everyone's having fun.
 
First, remember that a character who can't use his Targeting Senses (typically Sight) can make a PER Roll with a Nontargeting Sense (such as Hearing or Touch) so that he can attack at 1/2 OCV, -1 DCV -- see 6E2 7 for the full rules. So your wife's character doesn't have to just sit there doing nothing, she can try to overcome the handicap she's currently suffering from and fight back as best she can.
 
Second, your idea of using Mental Illusions to compensate for her lost Senses is a creative one, and certainly within the realm of possibility for things that Mental Illusions can do. Your character would have to use a Phase to "attack" her to set up the Illusion, of course. If I were your GM, I would rule that your character has to keep paying END to maintain the Mental Illusion (6E1 150) so that you can "feed" it information about how the combat's progressing. Other GMs might not require that, or might require you to spend a Half Phase Action each Phase to keep the illusion accurate, or whatever else they consider appropriate.
 
Herodom Assembled --- what do you think? How would you handle this as a GM? What other ideas do you have for monsewer to help his wife out of this situation?

There is a Limitation for doing this. It's called Delayed Use, and you can find the rules for it on page 162 of Fantasy Hero.

That's why I post these updates -- to prove that, despite the book's quasi-mythical status, progress is being made.... 

No problem. Here's how Telescopic works. As you probably know from running combats, the HERO System rules have a Range Modifier (6E2 38) that makes it harder to hit a target that's far away from a character. The Range Modifier also applies to attempts to perceive things at Range (6E2 11). So, for example, a character trying to see something that's 17-32 meters away from him suffers a -4 penalty to his Sight PER Roll. If he has the Telescopic Sense Modifier, either for his Normal Sight specifically or all Sight Group Senses in general, the Telescopic reduces or eliminates the penalty imposed by the Range Modifier. So yes, Telescopic makes it easier to perceive things at Range.
 
So let's suppose that your PC, Eagle-Eye, has spent 6 Character Points to buy Telescopic for his Sight Group Senses, thus providing himself with a +4 Sight Group PER Roll bonus to offset the Range Modifier. His teammate, the Scarlet Swashbuckler, hasn't bought any Telescopic for his Sight. They arrive at a bank robbery as the robbers are speeding away in their car -- they're currently 25m away. Neither character has enough movement to catch up to the car, so they both try to see and memorize the license plate number so they can track it down later. Each of them has INT 15, so they both have a Sight PER Roll of 12-. The Swashbuckler suffers the -4 Range Modifier, reducing his PER Roll to 8- (a mere 26% chance to succeed). But Eagle-Eye's Telescopic (+4) cancels out the Range Modifier (-4), so his PER Roll remains a 12- (a 74% chance of success). Predictably, the Swashbuckler fails his roll -- but Eagle-Eye does not, and saves the day!

As a Constant Power, Absorption turns off at the end of the Segment in which the character is Knocked Out (6E2 106). It does not stop working immediately. Thus, assuming the character were attacked again in that Segment after being Knocked Out, but before the end of the Segment, it would be possible for him to Absorb enough Character Points to “heal himself awake.” If that happens, since he’s no longer Knocked Out neither his Absorption nor any other non-Persistent powers would stop working at the end of the Segment.

1. As stated on 6E1 165, “If a character has two forms of Absorption that apply to a particular attack, he must choose one. He cannot Absorb points from a single effect with two different Absorption powers simultaneously.” So in this case, Brawny has to pick one power or the other.
 
2. I’m not sure I understand this question. If a character uses Absorption, he gets the Absorbed Character Points immediately — there’s no delay between when the character is hit with an attack that does BODY and when he gets the Character Points from Absorption. He uses Absorption, gets some extra STUN as a result, and if he’s then attacked he loses the “added” STUN first as explained on 6E1 166. If a character has Limited his Absorption in a way that delays the adding of the received Character Points, his GM should answer any related rules questions.
 
If I’ve missed something in your question, please PM me or post a follow-up.
 
3. See APG2 18, which discusses the standard rule (the recovery is not halved) and the option for changing that rule.
 

See 6E1 153.

That's why I post these updates -- to prove that, despite the book's quasi-mythical status, progress is being made.... 

Thanx, folx! Have no fear, I am doing what I can.

Heh, "quasi-mythical" Mythic Hero being a unicorn. That's a good one.

I suspect for Steve it's less Unicorn and more Questing Beast, the amount of time he's spent chasing it...

Progress! It's taken me months longer than it should have due to my ongoing health problems, but I've finally finished the Incan and South American Mythology chapter of MYTHIC HERO. Woot!
 
Now to move on to the last major world mythology left to me (though by no means the last one I have to research and write about): Celtic! First task: update my bibliography. That should take me the rest of the day, at least.

Yes! As eager as we are to hear about progress being made on the project, your well-being has to come first Steve!

Congratulations! But please take care of any health issues first and foremost. I want you around and writing for a long time. (The tragic loss of Balabanto has left me feeling rather protective of Hero writers.)

Progress! It's taken me months longer than it should have due to my ongoing health problems, but I've finally finished the Incan and South American Mythology chapter of MYTHIC HERO. Woot!
 
Now to move on to the last major world mythology left to me (though by no means the last one I have to research and write about): Celtic! First task: update my bibliography. That should take me the rest of the day, at least.

Progress! It's taken me months longer than it should have due to my ongoing health problems, but I've finally finished the Incan and South American Mythology chapter of MYTHIC HERO. Woot!
 
Now to move on to the last major world mythology left to me (though by no means the last one I have to research and write about): Celtic! First task: update my bibliography. That should take me the rest of the day, at least.

Progress! It's taken me months longer than it should have due to my ongoing health problems, but I've finally finished the Incan and South American Mythology chapter of MYTHIC HERO. Woot!
 
Now to move on to the last major world mythology left to me (though by no means the last one I have to research and write about): Celtic! First task: update my bibliography. That should take me the rest of the day, at least.

Progress! It's taken me months longer than it should have due to my ongoing health problems, but I've finally finished the Incan and South American Mythology chapter of MYTHIC HERO. Woot!
 
Now to move on to the last major world mythology left to me (though by no means the last one I have to research and write about): Celtic! First task: update my bibliography. That should take me the rest of the day, at least.

Progress! It's taken me months longer than it should have due to my ongoing health problems, but I've finally finished the Incan and South American Mythology chapter of MYTHIC HERO. Woot!
 
Now to move on to the last major world mythology left to me (though by no means the last one I have to research and write about): Celtic! First task: update my bibliography. That should take me the rest of the day, at least.

The honest answer is that I can't give you any real information, because I haven't calculated the costs yet. When I write a HERO System book, the adding up of the character sheets is the very last step. That way if I make any changes or discover any omissions, I don't have to go to the extra work of changing costs already calculated. I developed this method in self defense, and it has worked superbly.
 
However, for purposes of satisfying your curiosity, I can quickly run through and add up a few sheets as they now stand. These are not final numbers, mind you, but they should give you some ballpark ideas.
 
Zeus:  2,654
Loki:  1,286
Kali:  2,759
Huitzilopochtli:  1,742
Perun:  2,459
Olorun:  1,647
 
Note that one of the factors affecting a god's or hero's cost is how well he's described in the sources available to me. Any god who gets a full character sheet is important enough and detailed enough to merit that treatment, but some are much better described than others. That means more stuff on their sheets.
 
Also worth noting:  gods rarely have Multipowers. I might use one for a multi-purpose weapon or the like, but usually not for specific divine abilities. I buy those separately so the god can use his Divine Power Pool to augment the power when necessary and desired.
 
The gods listed here provide some examples. Zeus is well-described and has lots of powers; so is Kali (in fact, the Hindu gods and heroes in general are expensive, because they're loaded down with powers, magical weapons, and whatnot). Perun isn't well described (no Slavic god is), but has lots of powers. Huitzilopochtli is generally powerful and well-described, but unlike Zeus his weapon is bought as an OAF, which really saves him some points. Olorun is neither well-described nor has lots of powers. Loki I'm surprised to see come in so low, but he's not that complex a god for HERO System purposes, and in any event there may be more to add to him.
 
I hope that offers a little insight into the process.

I was just heading here yesterday with a status update when an Internet outage derailed me. Now my Internet is back, so here I are.
 
The status is:  I have just finished the chapter on Hittite Mythology, and have begun the chapter on Incan Mythology! There's still a long way to go -- a year or years of dedicated work, at least -- but I am making as steady progress as I can.

All I can say at this point is that I have given this issue considerable thought. My intention is to get absolutely the best art I can without spending myself into the poorhouse. I will lose money on the book if I have to, but it is going to be illustrated beautifully.
 
When I have some actual information, I'll definitely pass it along.

All I can say at this point is that I have given this issue considerable thought. My intention is to get absolutely the best art I can without spending myself into the poorhouse. I will lose money on the book if I have to, but it is going to be illustrated beautifully.
 
When I have some actual information, I'll definitely pass it along.