etherio

Re: Superhero Images Amber...clone sister to Turquoise and Azure...telekinetically loops electromagnetic waves into quasi-solid shapes that she can wield or throw...projects a luminous glow in the process...

Re: Superhero Images Wildcard...psionic with the ability to telekinetically "destabilize" objects at the molecular level (yes, he throws exploding cards)...lucky as hell...

Re: Superhero Images Sentry...team leader...super-soldier who's practically invulnerable (but not super-strong)...master crime scene analyst...

Re: Superhero Images Azure...her clone "twin" brother...manipulates a powerful personal TK force field for protection, flight, and grabbin' stuff...

Re: Superhero Images Turquoise...psionic clone with the power to telekinetically manipulate the weather...

Re: Superhero Images Arcanna...half-demon scorceress with the power to summon hellfire from the 5th circle...psychiatrist by day...

Re: Superhero Images Mudd...tragically mutated former Mafia strongman with powers like Clayface

Re: Superhero Images Ok...think I'll post each character individually at better resolution. Vindicator...super-soldier martial artist with super-reflexes and a gadget multipower full of the paraphernalia of fallen enemies and allies...

Re: Superhero Images Thanks plenty much, Hawksmoor... Vindicator's the old-timer in the campaign...been a PC since 'bout '90, I think. I'll post 'em tonight somewhere. Maybe post each guy here individually. By the way, how do I make a freakin thumbnail?

Re: Superhero Images Here's a group pic for the game I've been GMing for several years. I can't draw, so forgive the fact that the heroes are Frankensteined together from other sources and recolored...but I think they're pretty cool anyhoo. Lotta love went into the pics and the campaign.

Re: House Rules for Hit Location First, thanks for the positive feedback, m'man. And I have a response to this statement:

Re: House Rules for Hit Location The extra rules are meant to reflect the fact that people pretty much always aim at a part of the body when they're swingin' or shootin' at somebody. Plus, aiming at locations is just plain fun, and it's too hard to be worth trying unless one's CSLs are through the roof. Imagine this typical scenario: Baddie of the moment is wearing bulletproof armor covering most locations. Unless you're a super-shot, good luck trying to aim for his unprotected upper arms and hit. Even if you squeeze off enough and succeed, the official rules will play out a bunch of total misses until voila! Got him right in the soft spot. That just doesn't jibe. Cinematic "realism" calls for some bullets to bounce off his other locations as you zero in. My system does this a little better. Having modified rolls that go off the chart count as misses serves two purposes: 1) It reflects the fact that you miss by degrees relative to where you were aiming (a little high when you're aiming at the stomach still hits something...not so when you aim at the face) 2) It's a check on abuse...the bell curve centers on the location you chose, remember.

Re: Telepathy and TK The usefulness of TK to grab and immobilize characters without superhuman strength was what I was really getting at. You neutralize someone, and they're left high-and-dry, because only their strength is useable against ya. You grab a guy with your hands, he can "pop his claws," stomp on your foot, martial reverse, fire off his EB, etc.

Just sharing... We've developed a set of house rules for hit locations that works well. It's best for those who like things a bit more lethal in their games, but it's not really unbalancing. A Word file of our character sheet is attached, so you can check out our hit location chart (you'll need to, in order to follow this). Here's how it works: Same as normal, except that every time a character attempts a targetable attack, he chooses a specific hit location from the chart. (If he fails to choose, the default is location 11.) If he succeeds by the "Auto Hit" number for that location (the "to hit" mod for targeting that location in the normal rules), then he hits the location he chose. If he succeeds, but not by that number, then he rolls for hit location. His roll is modified by the "Mod" number for the location he targeted, and the result is the actual location hit. What the "Mod" does is center the bell curve on the targeted location. A modified number that is off the chart (less than 3 or greater than 18 for most attacks) is a miss. You aimed too high or low, basically. There are no "high shot" or "low shot" maneuvers in this system. For attacks that are inherently high or low (such as a punch or a non-martial kick), use the appropriate column. For punches and the like, roll 2d6 with the "Mod" number; for kicks and such, roll 2d6/2 with the "Mod" (no, not 1d6, we need a distribution curve). This might seem weird at first, but it's easy and fun. Try this alternative next time you play a scenario that uses hit locations. I bet you'll like it. Ciao. Editing: I removed the attachments from this post. Zornwil has graceously hosted the info on his house rules page at http://www.realschluss.org/disavowed/house_rules/

Just curious... I've been GMing HERO for quite a while, and there are two powers that (to my players' frustration) I've never really allowed in my games without heavy limitations: that is, Telepathy and TK. They're both staples of almost every kind of sci-fi and fantasy fiction, especially comic books, but both just rub me the wrong way. Telepathy's such a spoiler as far as storyline goes, and TK at any decent level seems a bit too powerful in and out of combat. Lemme know how you feel about these, or if there are other Effects you treat similarly.

Hey Everybody... I've been playing HERO games for about 20 years now, but I'm new to the BB, so please bear with me if this has come up before... I get the impression, from both the rulebooks and from people's comments here, that most of you operate something like this in regards to introducing PCs: --Player makes character at home and brings it on game night. GM scans character for any glaring abuses of the rules. Game commences.-- In our group, there's pretty much no such animal. All characters are built in a sort of cooperative negotiation with the campaign's GM, from start to finish. The finished product is the child of both player and GM. One reason is that we've developed a scale that suits our group, for everything from damage classes, to combat skill levels, to statistics, etc. In addition, each campaign's GM has finely tuned ideas about what should be available to PCs, and the birth of each new PC invariably further defines that world. We've had a few players who've seemed put-off by our reluctance to allow characters that were built otherwise, or were brought in unmodified from their old campaigns, and I wonder how most HERO gamers feel about this. Gimme your input...

Many suggestions that I see here are uncomfortably close to asking Mr. Long to convert D&D or some other system or setting into HERO for them. From the perspective of someone comfortable enough to design a campaign world of his own, please concentrate on aiding the GM and players in getting the flair of fantasy into their games. For example: 5th Ed. is awesome, but it could use a little extra fantasy-tailored spice. If what HERO is supposed to do is capture the heroic-cinematic aspect of the genre, please enrich the combat maneuvers table so that players have more options and can really get that feeling of melee that a good action flick has. Also, some rules or suggestions on when it is and isn't convenient, appropriate, practical, or comfortable to wear different types of armor. Cross-country riding in mail? Leather jerkin in the desert? Some guidelines concerning the effectiveness of different types of weapons on inanimate objects. Should my knight with a 2d6 sword be able to chop his way through iron bars or a stone wall, even if the stats say so? Obviously not, but where is the line drawn? This kind of thing comes up more often than I'd like. Let's see some real numbers for siege weapons and methods. How about wear and tear for weapons and armor? A thousand pardons if any or all of these were mentioned already.