GreyGuardian

One of the few GURPS supplements I own is their Illuminati supplement. Great conspiracy ideas. real news you can use: http://www.washtimes.com/business/20030521-094809-8963r.htm and http://www.aclu.org/Privacy/Privacy.cfm?ID=12704&c=39 http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_794215.html http://www.delawareonline.com/newsjournal/business/2003/06/27airportxraysmay.html Anyway there are x-ray systems in use today to look through clothing, through cargo containers in shipyards, through cars and trucks etc. As well as isotope based systems. search a bit in the news and you can find a lot of strange stuff.

Those are WAY cool! I have recieved prods from the folks that have played in my dark champions campaign about one too many warehouse - You have freed me from the barren wasteland of warehouses! regarding the sliding around - ruber shelf paper and super glue or some other adhesive works wonderfully to keep terrain flat and from sliding. I used that for my mage-knight terrain. There is also the tape it to the darn battle mat theory as well.

RPGA (aka the fan stuff from WOTC) prohibts module authors from including stat blocks of monsters that appear in the monster manual - the only time folks can include the monsters etc is if they are a variant or levelled or changed in some way from the published material. With that said - if at all possible it would be good to reference at most one other book for characters. and with that said - I'll still be buying a copy and already have the other books.

I would bet most Hero games run at conventions HAVE to use pregenerated and provided characters Or will have announced the character generation rules well in advance. For a home game it is always up to the GM.

Yes dnd 2nd edition or maybe first had a lankmar boxed set.

I will contact the Dessert Lad post haste and get the places names. (A friend of mine at work got stuck with that name after eating a small amount of lunch and like 3 rounds or more of dessert at a buffet one day at lunch. He recently moved to so cal).

Perhaps maps in general would make a good e-product? Or have a free stuff section with cc maps etc? After all if they aren't profitable and people make them for their own use anyways, why not share?

Atlas put out a city based (d20 unfortunately) campaign which looked pretty decent. I think they also have a book out called 7 cities. I haven't picked up either yet but they generally put out good products.

Reading Howard's other fiction like Kull and Bran Mac Morn might give you some other good ideas to fit into the game. If you have a gaming group and are starting a new setting - ASK them if they are willing to try Low fantasy. Maybe hook them by writting up an intro scenario with start characters to give them a feel for it. Regarding HERO source books for these types of games check the 2004 schedule: The Turakian Age: The first setting book for Fantasy Hero, the Turakian Age sourcebook describes what Earth was like tens of thousands of years ago, when the shape of the land was different and magic ruled the world. Detailing dozens of kingdoms and lands (from the mighty Hargeshite Empire of Vashkhor, to the black and mysterious realm of Thfn, to the windswept Gorthundan Steppes), a complete magic system with dozens of new spells, an entire pantheon of exotic gods, and hundreds of opportunities for adventure, it’s an ideal setting for any Fantasy Hero campaign. Author: Steven S. Long Tentative Release Date: Early 2004 Tentative Size: 192 pages Tentative Price: $24.99 and The Valdorian Age: This setting book for Fantasy Hero details the epoch after the Turakian Age — a time of swords and sorcery, sword-wielding warrior-lords, beautiful princes, mysterious magic, and dark, ancient cults. The book includes information on the realms of the Valdorian world, a complete magic system with over a hundred pre-generated spells and detailed rules for priestly magic, and enough adventure ideas and possibilities to satisfy any GM. Author: Allen Thomas Tentative Release Date: Late 2004 Tentative Size: 192 pages Tentative Price: $24.99

Well there were quite a few Good Pie restraunts in that area when I was there for a work conference in the spring.

Assuming the Turakian age is something like the setting for Kull and Conan I expect it will be different enough from the high fantasy barely based on historical tech and culture mishmash that is dnd.

I've only had a little time to skim bits of Fantasy Hero. So far what I have seen I have liked. In particular the little fiddely bits I and other folks asked for on these boards are definetly in there. The weapons table (at a glance) is much closer to the one in the previous edition than the generic rules in FRED. The mass of things is there to be taken into account for encumbrance! Huzzah! There are discussions on tweaking leathality, armor encumbrance etc that are excellent. I didn't see much in there about mounted combat but the section referenced in FRED really is pretty good. The magic section is a great sampling. I can see where alternate flavored magic systems will be popping up in DH. which I eventually will subscribe to. The concentration on effects with a rules explanation makes the spells etc flow much better than in previous editions. (Probably why I liked the USPD (which I expected to think was useless). I am sure there is more you can find that made it into the book that was discussed on these boards. Anyway, Thanks for listening and working so hard (and so well) Steve. Really good work!

Converting Living-Greyhawk to Hero? Good gosh in general not worth it. If you want to play LG go and Play LG I especially recommend Sheldomar Valley Regional Mod: Shades of Gray... but I co-wrote it... it has gotten very good reviews - and I might someday for the heck of it convert it to a "classic version fantasy hero style" but don't hold your breath. My fantasy hero campaign that I hope to revive with the new edition is very much not DnD.

Copy of the tome acquired at Other Realms in Gaithersburg, Maryland. They came in yesterday apparently. Only had a chance to look at the table of contents but it looks good so far.

Graphic novel MUCH better than the movie. And don't be too sure Mina did not get some powers from her encounter with Dracula. Its very understated though.

Star hero is a great big crunchy book full of science fiction goodness. I am betting the new edition of fantasy hero will be as well. Therefore you probably will want to pick up 5th edition. In general most folks seem to like most of the changes. And 5th is generally clearer and more consistent throughout.

One very interesting thing in the bestiary was using physical disadvantages and susceptibilities to model undead. I think it gave undead an equivalent to presence or ego as a disad to allow for mindcontrol or "turning" effects even on mindless undead... after all necromancers always seem to be able to control the creatures they create... to a point.

Ok it's more kind of horror comedy than fantasy but Evil Dead 2 and of course the sequel Army of Darkness - its cheesy, it's bruce campbell, it's lots of skeletons and other horrid things and some great one liners. definetly NOT the dnd movie that came out a few years ago... some of the diseny movies, snow white, cinderrella kind of qualify. There really aren't too many good fantasy movies out there. I think this thread hit most of them.

I have to toss in a vote for the Lois Bujold series. Absolutely great space opera / military science fiction. Timothy Zahn has done quite a few military SF novels in his Cobra Series and some of his other novels. In general a good hard science - science fiction author. Also have to say that babylon 5 has some excellent military and diplomatic action that is relevant.

Probably not an elemental control unless it is something odd like sentient ice armor with cold powers. I would suggest you figure out what you want the armor to do and how it does those things and then buy the powers, advantages, and limitations to do that. Most likely you will want to limit it as an obvious inaccessible focus and might want to use a multipower for various attacks or movement capabilities. Armor would be the most likely power for adding defense. You might also ponder some sort of endurance reserve to power the armor unless it runs off the life force of the person wearing it or it has a built in unlimited power source in which case everything would be bought with 0 endurance cost etc. I thought there were some examples in star hero. I know defender of the champions is an example at the superhero level.

Adding my 2 cents in support of some of the other requests: Weapons - tables that include various weapons. There were reasons to use axes, vs spears, vs swords, etc. As much as possible the weapons table should reflect that. If two weapons have identical stats except one has a lower strength min then sensible people will always use the one with the lower strength min unless there is some non-stat based reason not to. (ie special material or workmanship and the cost in money associated). Archery - firing into a melee should cause problems (then again there might be rules on this in 5th that I forget). WEIGHT - since there are encumbrance rules there need to be weights for weapons, armor, and everyday things like clothes, bedrolls, etc. Take a look at the encumbrance rules vs the defense that can be carried. with a 20 strength you can wander around in very heavy armor with almost no ill effects. Perhaps something about heat and armor. A full helm is HOT. (and yes I saw Conquest on armor recently which got me thinking about this). Economic systems how to create them, possibly a sample of costs etc. Barter as well as monetary exchange needs to be considered. LIGHT - how far can you see in torch light, how far away can you see the torch if you don't have a light source, light spells - fixed area vs moving area... how do you do the gandalf light up the tip of the staff thing. TRAVEL - maintenance of riding animals, travel times, effects of magic on trade - ie if you can easily fly your freight it completely changes the nature of the economy. Tech levels of magic OR magic that changes the tech level - what spells are going to have major effects if they are common or easy. Hech different tech levels stone, bronze, iron, etc. Ars Magica - something that allows a magic system similar to ars would be very very spiffy. Spontaneos vs formulaic spells, magic duels (certamen), rituals vs other kinds of spells. Spell Resistances and Spell defences - how easy is it to affect people with no magic at all etc. The classic priest turns or banishes undead. How do you get rid of a summoned creature? dispell? surpress? presence attacks, mind control? Other physical lims on Undead, demons, extraplanar things, etc that allow the magic system to have specific effects on those critters. similar to the lycanthropy its sort of handled in the bestiary but... something more explicit would be nice. Item creation - ways to limit it. A system that requires rare resources (like in ars magica and raw vis as the rare commodity) might have a better flavor than points from character to item ... which would give fighters an inherent advantage over enchanters whose points would be bleeding off into items. Times it takes, skills needed. Subset of creation - Alchemy Legal systems and Governments! - feudal vs republic vs mad priest wizard dictator etc. More on Mounted combat (though the section in 5th edition is an improvement in clarity over earlier FH). Fortifications vs siege engines. Toughness of various fortifications. Educational systems and their impact (literacy etc). Cool stuff :-)