Heroman

Re: What kind of Star Hero 'teams' are you gaming? My current game, established at least a year or more before SH (and still running!) originally were 'cleanup agents' for a megacorp. Since then, they left with their main contact who branched out on their own, some freelance but mainly assignements for him. They consist of a 'drives/flies everything' pilot, a super intelligent and quite mad scientist who was thought to have blown up pluto (acquitted), a violent merc known as the 'Butcher of IO Station', a former diplomatic attache, a swift hand-to-hand expert who came from Year 2000 Chicago (more parallel universe than past), and a human-looking doctor who seems adept at killing. NPCs are the hand-to-hand expert's daughter (who no one knew about, not even him), and a spider like combat robot (GITS is a fun resource ). A lesser NPC is 'Don', a sphere about the size of a basketball which has abot 40 different brain segments all interconnected, created by an unknown alien. All I can say is that my group is wary about taking 'Reputation' now

Re: Two-headed Oge Here is a different possibility: Buy the 'ogre' body as an automaton. This would define alot of the physical capabilities (including if the 'body' is slower to respond than the head). Buy the INT down to 0. Each player then buys their own head as a computer. This would give their own DEX, EGO, and INT and stuff so they are actually intellectually different people. You could even give each powers I would guess which are either inherent to the head or maybe capabilities only they can use (even martial maneuvers, etc). With how they are linked, you could buy lims which do things like 'stun of the automoton stuns the computer', 'ego check to take control of an automoton action (so contest of will to make the body do something). The only thing missing from this method would be physical characteristics of the computer ('head') for individual BODY and STUN, but maybe the GM could just allow your computers to have those 2 charactistics. It may be easier to buy each head as a character selling back movement/etc with some interdependencies on the automoton. Including the ego check to take control of the body.

Re: Powers that turn off after a given time interval Sounds like you want the Uncontrolled Advantage. This allows you to pump END into the power on activation and it feeds on the power until it runs out. I believe the power you use this on already needs to be Consistent.

I was curious, has anyone make a Ghost In The Shell Hero yet?

I plan to opt out of the VPP sensor suite in favor of a MP sensor design. Basically I expect to be able to load it with specific modules for specific things being sensed. Does someone have ideas on they types of things which a sensor system would detect?

If it is simple enough, perhaps Wine can handle it for your needs under Linux...

H&E, a really great piece of software, is actually undergoing a code rewrite as Heaven And Earth II. While the key focus is Traveller, with it being in this early phase perhaps kind words may allow for some more flexibility to use the same application for us Heroes... Mailing List http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HEMailingList/ Generic-o website http://www.heavenandearth2.com/

Very true, plus you don't get the gloat value when you show up to the game with the latest supplement for the 5th. The gloat value is good until they break down and buy it... I myself have 2 5th books (only duplicates I own), but the first of the two is an upside down printing (apparently bound backwards/upside down) so it is nice and wrapped away... -Heroman

Actually, for the single shots I like the idea of a Naked Advantage (Trigger) the best, combined with Universal Foci (expendable). I don't know if you would need Charges (FRED p174 seems to indicate that being a focus may be enough to allow multiple casts). p190 seems to indicate multiple foci where any can be used is merely a degrading of accessibility (becomes Inaccessible). Tack on ET, RSR, and the like, and you could make several levels of this as pseudo-powers (for different AP caps). -Heroman

I would do it Briguy's way. The cost of components and time would probably be based on the Active and Real points in the power to provide. A 90 AP, 11 Real scroll will, and should, take quite a while to make and not be cheap.... -Heroman

Can you use PSLs vs Autofire OCV mods? If so, this could help reflect extremely accurate autofire weapons. -Heroman

Ah, I thought you were talking about the matrixing which actually had a visual effect (the agent super speed/visual split) scale avoidance. I would still agree that normally is it just really good levels of DCV (ya, at least several levels with RSR Acrobatics) ; heck at that range trained goons with AF are just as good as single shot goons... The really super speed avoidance would still prob be just skill levels/martial dodge too (maybe some Matrix KS instead of Acrobatics, though)

I don't think I would go with an Uncontrolled MD; from what I recall the person 'matrixing' took no other actions other than the dodging so I would guess it is an active action. I would go with a martial dodge maneuver with lotsa DCV levels. For the most part, you should be able to dodge anything shot at you if your focus is not being hit and you are not caught by surprise.

Yep. Now, the one thing to keep in mind is that this idea is about as bad as the paying of points for a cap increase you never use, but this time to the player's advantage. Now, a player will likely gain points for CHARs which will never be limited by the reduced caps. In example: Ogre. Let's say the Ogre racial packags consists of 2 stats (just because only 2 makes it simple ): Str + 5 (NCM: 25) Int - 5 (NCM: 15) If someone makes an ogre, lets his Int sit at 5 and spends points to cap his Str to 25, then he saves 5 points; the INT reduction when making a stupid ogre is not limiting. In its defense, though, this nicely enforces the purpose of racial packages in that it shows a 'standard' for the race. Point-wise, you save points by developing skills which fall within your NCMs. You should not see a ton of Ogre scholars and I think this method works rather well for that. Now, in the case of a person who works up an interesting, creative, and in depth background (not just overly complex or munchkiny), I would suggest this is just handled by awarding extra CPs based on the quality of their background (which could offset some of the racial caps to achieve the unusually high CHARs the PC possess). At worse, you will encourage quality backgrounds.... Oh, also, as far as CHARs bought as powers and the effect on NCM, I find this concept to be sheer crap and pointless, other than encouraging people to make up annoying & cheesy ideas. Suck down some math, and have em adhere to the NCM caps...

I agree with the misconception of NCM equating to "Normal Human Maximas". It has nothing to do with species, it have everything to do with a layer of limitations in a heroic level campaign. It is to keep your powers below a certain level to help with balancing. A troll who has a 30 Str should pay as much as a human who has a 30 Str from a point balancing standpoint. The racial package would give the troll more Str at the start, but at 20 he would pay double just like the human. You don't get anything for free, just because of your species. What you *could* do, is have CHAR caps imposed on races while retaining NCM to keep overall power levels low. For your campaign, maybe, you would say humans are capped at 23 Str and trolls at 35. That way both pay points for everything they purchase, but allow trolls to exceed human capabilities. This method would also make magical methods of enhancing CHARs sought after. Now, if you wanted to make it more of a racial characteristic maxima than a campaign limitation, I would suggest that your maxima simply be 10 above the CHAR the racial package would provide. This will, however, give 'free' points to certain racial packages. In example: If a troll package gives +5 STR, then I would make the STR NCM value for trolls to be 25. If the troll bought the STR up to 25, this would effectively give him 5 free points as compared to a human (who would pay double for 21-25). While this is nicer from a racial range perspective, it enforces the fact that not all species are created equal and some will effectively be more cost effective. Both methods are easy to do on a single sheet/half sheet of paper only needed in character creation.

I have always seen NCM not as a method of balancing PC against each each other, but one of several mechanisms to maintain capabilities below a certain level because of the expected power level of the game. In general, if I run a lower power game (like Heroic), I would like to make sure people have an incentive to work within the power levels I expect without strict cutoffs. In example, for a Heroic game, it is expected that characteristics would be between 10-20 (h5, p15). I find that NCM helps people keep in that area, but gives allowances (at a cost) if they want values higher. Heck, since NCM is normal for heroic level, I would dare guess that the values chosen for NCM are based on the character ability guideline table for heroic level; a restriction to help maintain the suggested values but provide allowances to exceed it. As far as ogres vs humans, I would never give a price break (since I find the NCM more of a campaign thing than a per character thing). If an ogre wants a 40 STR, he needs to pay for it. Not all racial packages are equal. If a player wants to play a racially stronger species, he will pay for it. If he wants to exceed the general guidelines for power level of a characteristic, he will pay for it regardless of race (hey, I must be an equal opportunity GM!) As far as characteristics bought as powers not counting vs NCM, I find that to be the biggest crock ever and a very stupid, stupid rule made to Make Math Easy. God forbid we make players count CPs....You basically get a free advantage (or maybe better described as a non-impeding -1 limitation) on Chars when you stick something stupid on a characteristic. I let it in my current games, but my house rule for the next campaign I run will nix this stupid allowance. 'Age', I find, to be a self-imposed further restricting element (of course, to get points). For anyone who would whine about 'but I can make a character who is not restricted by this, really' I would counter with the "Only Elemental Magic' and like restrictions people but on frameworks; I can easily make a character who is not limited, really, by this either. If I did not have NCM, I would probably make rules to help govern how powerful people should be for the different categories based on the campaign level to insure decent balance. I myself find that I do not need to reinvent wheels, though, and use the NCM as part of my balancing.

If you choose the Supress route, why don't you just buy smaller dice? Supress is cumulative; just buy it Continuous (so there is no subsequent attack rolls) plus all those other lims to reflect it taking a few moments to completly suppress the power... As far as 'act of will', maybe that is just the END cost of the suppress (oo 1 or 2 END)....

Lol, or as a DF "Say, that guy looks sooooo cool! He must be a Matrixer or agent!"

One thing, more supporting the Linked solution than others, is that the sword is a Physical killing attack, while fire is usually considered Energy (at least in the desc of 'ED'), so different defenses will probably be applied for each component of the flaming sword. Depending on how napalm-like the fire is, you can probably handle the spread of fire as a SFX if it just catches stuff which is normally flammable...

Actually, it only looked like skills (including MA) were the only things one could pick up from a download (tho I still have not seen the next movie ); the superleap and their fortitude seemd pretty static (though possible to grow in strength from training). I would set aside a VPP for skills for 'downloadables', but the size depends on how you look at learned skills. It seems ambiguous on how many skills one can learn, if you ever 'flush out' skills to make room for new ones, but from a game mechanics I would suggest this. Maybe have a 12-21 point VPP just for downloadable skills representing a PC's fluxuating skills, with the rest pretty much 'hard wired' into him. The initial download would simply be the expending of his initial CPs for character creation. For more static people, 3-4 Cramming would do, also, but mean his skillset is more locked down. All non-skill abilities should just be flat out purchased outside a VPP since they do not fluxuate other than improve with experience. This would definately have the Darm Champions feel and I agree with not purchasing equipment themselves; if eq costs CPs, then I would have them all chip into the base (location in a city or a ship) which provides the items. I do not know if cops would prove a contestable opponent; they seemed to be chewed thru easily. Agents are pretty indestructable, so there may need to be a new middle level opponent which could challenge the group and overcome. I would expect people have a ugly big PD, Stun, End but NO matrixed rPD/rED; a bullet hurts em. They take massive pummeling but conventional weapons seemed only to be stopped by equipment.

That, actually, is the single greatest reason why I did not like Punking or introduce cyberpunking into my SH campaign; it splits up the group and story or worse, makes 1 person the focus in punkland and pretty useless outside of it. Bleh. It would work well for a movie, but not a gaming group, IMHO. This is, however, where I could see Matrix Hero excel since *everyone* would be punking and pretty puny outside of it. Plus, with the worlds disjoint, there is no reason for some to punk and others to remain in the real world. (Note: I would NPC people like the guys who monitored people since that would be a rather boring job). If you were to run real world missions (maybe a roaming ship broke down, needs rescue before tentacled things show up, etc), everyone would pitch in. Missions in the Matrix would include all people, etc. Again, this could be really cool in a Internet based game environment....hrm....maybe I will have to finish up my OpenRPG mods and think about the format for this Plus, no where near 300 pts, at least not based on the chars in the movie (no, you are not Neo, heh).....

I recently alted how I handled the 'Money' perk. It does reflect a yearly income, true, but this is an income for someone doing a specific job for a year. My take is that it reflects a 'fallback occupation' where they can earn that money if they take a break from their adventuring; normal game play has it's own financial rewards. I also allow people to take it as a 1 shot 'financial boon'. They get twice the amount listed as cold, hard cash immediately but nothing after that. In Heroic, especially a Sci-Fi world, money *is* CPs. As far as equip mods, definately establish some natural quirks (lims) such as Activation (pretty high, though), Side Effects, etc, but make the total effects match how well the person made their roll. If someone spends 21 points in inventor skills and rolls well, their creations should be more reliable. Also, as it is used or the person has time to test, start reducing the quirks; Most stuff gets better as you field test.

Really, I think Hero is one of the better systems to run a Matrix style game in. The whole EDM and alternate Matrix world is not complex; heck the real world is where you probably have virtually (ha!) no work in creation since people are so isolated. As far as VPPs and scale, I do not see huge VPPs. One thing which has not been mentioned is 'how much can 1 person know at once anyways'? Yeah, they can learn MA, insta-pick up helicopter piloting, but how many skills can they concurrently know? I am guessing not alot and they have probably never pressed themselves too hard, being able to DL skills on the fly. Actually, this style of game would be perfect for 'over the net' gaming, using something like IRC, OpenRPG, or WebRPG. Maybe the team actually is not all on a 'ship', but scattered around different human cities. Makes it easier to 'logout' people who cannot attend sessions. I do also like the 'rejected' game idea; I think it could have good versitility. I would probably make some changes from the movie. It should not be as easy for agents to pick up on you (give the players a wee bit more flexibility) and maybe add in a middle level force; something between normal human and agent, for the players to womp on.

Horror, hehe. No, really, I think it depends on the players. For me, 'Sci Fi' is nothing more than a backdrop for the style of campaign I will run. My group likes mystery and horror and are a bit tired of the 'you are the center of the universe' where all too many games go. That is why my campaign is a commando mission + horror undertone in a realistic tone. The players know that admist all the sci fi gadgets there is unknown evil out there in space. Coupled with realizing that I will kill players not only removed the 'heroes of the universe' complex, but makes encounters exciting since they are not assured to come out on top. Overall, determine what they would *not* like; what have they over experienced in Sci Fi games or other games and use that to think about what would be new and appealing.

Overall, just go with what would be realistic (yeh, a very relative term) for the technology. You cannot readily make a 8d6 blaster into a 12d6 blaster; the technology in the weapon just won't support it: if it did, the manufactures (who have ALOT more research and time than the PCs) would have done so already. A few potential thoughts: 1. Consider what is the cap of the weapon class/equipment class given technology. Maybe you would allow adding 4d6 to 8d6 blasters, making a +3 scanner to a +5, etc, but there should be a notable cap without making the iten overly bulky and potentially damaging to the structural integrity. 2. When damaged, add an activation. Maybe 18- to start, going down as it is hit, representing the fact that it is not as perfectly field tested and durable as the original. I would say, though, that after considerable use and work, this should no be done anymore. 3. Keep skill roll modifiers hidden. There are many factors when someone invents/alters which are best shown as modifiers to whatever skill rolls you impose. Do not tell them what modifier you have assigned. They will 'get a feel' for how well they think they have done by knowing what they roll, but will not know how close they got given difficulties which could arise. 4. Money and time. Alterations are not done overnight, at least not ones with any great level of success. There is more to enhancing damage level of weapons than adding a few capacitors. For a realistic invention development cycle, perhaps the use of quality labs for design, creation, and testing is required. Time could be reflected, as a start, in the active points being introduced to the item. This could place a burden of finances and time, making each creation more of an accomplishment. All these things assume, of course, that players don't pay for equipment. Just a few thoughts...