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Banakles

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About Banakles

  • Birthday 06/03/1965

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  1. So tempted just to play MERP or RM in Middle Earth and work on the Hero System version in my spare time.
  2. Had a character drop two arrows, break a bow string, then in frustration draw his sword and leap through the window to attack, only to get stuck in the window and have his right hand hacked off, while trying to extricate himself. Promptly surrendered after that. The bandit leader let him live, and walked away laughing his head off. The character spent the rest of his days as a left handed swordsman, who constantly hunted the wilds for that particular bandit. Never did find him. Generally played MERP over RM, we always loved the system, but as a standby or "let's have a break" system. The players in my group seemed to get attached to their characters, and didn't like seeing them die or be maimed in battle. So we used systems that favoured character survival, mainly AD&D, Palladium Fantasy, and Chivalry and Sorcery. The players for some reason treat their characters the same way they do their online characters; as an investment in time. They seem very disappointed when all the effort and time they put into building the character and earning experience etc. is ended by the character's death. I'm not sure why this is so, but it is true for most of my gaming group. I digress, MERP and RM criticals and fumbles were and still are AWESOME!!!!
  3. Well ... I was saying something like that. Given that they did not have immunity to all poisons, I was going to work with the theory that they were immune to some and arrive at a the number of those by dividing their MERP resistance bonus by 5 to determine that number, however I was going to allow the player to choose which poisons his charactzer was immune to. "Was" is the operative word because it was only a thought and I hadn't got much further with it than what you see typed here. Urlord's suggestion made far more sense to me, I just couldn't see it because of my unfamiliarity with Hero System. I hadn't actually read anything in the rules that dealt speciifically with how poisons affect a character.
  4. "Psions are the power of the individual formed into usable effects. This is in no way similar to Mentalism. Mentalism uses the Primal Essence within a person, while Psions uses the will of the person alone." --- Spell User's Companion p.8 Mental Defense would work against Psions and possibly some specific spell effects in the three realms of magic. From what I was reading, the racial bonuses for Essence, Channelling and Mentalism resistance apply to all magic effects from the particular realm of magic. Most races have some sort of resistance or vulnerability in this regard. While I can't actually find a way to create this type of blanket resistance to a realm of magic, I expect it would be rather costly in CP's. Now my understanding of these resistances in MERP/RM and the intention behind them is that they were meant to represent such things as Frodo struggling to stay alive and resist the morgul blade that had wounded him, his further struggle against the allure of the One Ring, Arwen's and Meriadoc's struggle against the Black Breath after they slew the Witchking, the hobbits under the Barrowwight's power in the Barrow Downs. These are the sorts of things I envision the MERP/RM resistances applying to. The physical side of magic such as dodging a fireball, or avoiding a rain of icicles, etc. are in the physical realm and would best be avoided using physical means rather than metaphysical means. Therefore I think the Power Defense option fits this scenario better. It is not too costly in CP, it is flexible enough to represent different racial levels of resistance, is limited enough to not upset the game balance and can be readily adapted to any new realm of magic should they be introduced.
  5. I got the Life Support Immunity to All Terrestrial Diseases wrong it is 5 points. Ok.. sorry I thought I mentioned that I am starting a Fantasy Hero game set in Middle Earth and I'm trying to figure out how to give the races the abilities they supposedly have in Middle Earth (according to MERP/RM). MERP lists two realms of magic: Essence and Channelling. Rolemaster introduced Mentalism as a third, and some MERP modules included it in creature and NPC descriptions afterwards. Quoted from the books: "THE REALM OF ESSENCE: The Essence is that which is common to all things, living and dead, organic and inorganic. It has been characterized by many names—the Tao, Magic, the Unified Field, etc. It represents a force and order that defines the ways of the world. Changes in the patterns of the Essence dictate the flow of events, and the course of life itself. It is a power beyond the grasp of any being. Nonetheless, some who become one with the Essence find ways of manipulating its patterns on a temporary basis. This fleeting strength allows them to redefine the reality around them, molding elements and wielding very real power. Thus, the spells of those who are of the realm of Essence can be both beautiful and lethal, affecting one or many. In the end, however, the normal patterns will always prevail, and only the effects will remain to tell the tale." -- Spell Law of Essence p.3 "THE REALM OF CHANNELING: Channeling is the power of the deities of a given world as channeled through their followers or other spell users. It is religious in nature and independent of the Essence. A spell user of Channeling draws directly on the power of his deity, even though this “usually” does not require the conscious cooperation of the deity. Thus spells of this realm do not necessarily reflect the nature of the deity as long as the spell user is using relatively subtle spells (i.e., healing, detection, etc.). More powerful and significant spells such as death spells and the revival of the dead might require the active consent of a deity, depending upon the world system being used by the Gamemaster." -- Spell Law of Channelling p.3 "THE REALM OF MENTALISM: The mind is an amazing tool—yet, no one uses it to its full capacity. Mentalism spell users strive to use their minds in ways few even contemplate. By using the very personal power locked within themselves, Mentalism users are able to channel the power of the Essence through their own mental corridors; thus, manipulating and bending the reality that surrounds them. In a sense, they act as very minute imitations of the deities above, giving power not to clerics, but retaining it and directing its manipulation. Mentalism users are masters of the Essence within themselves. Because Mentalism users are not deities, however, they work within the limitations of their worldly bodies, their own senses, and perceptions. Rarely are they able to direct their spells beyond themselves or one target. Nonetheless, the power of the Mentalism user can reach great heights. They are masters of thought, gatherers of presence and inner strength. Even though their focus is generally limited to singular targets, their abilities regarding personal confrontations are considerable indeed ... for, it is the Mentaism user who seeks to fulfill the destiny of his own mind." -- Spell Law of Mentalism p.3 There were apparently a number of other realms which were introduced into RM over the years, one was called Psions, there was also Elementalism, Arcane, I'll see if I can find any definitions for the them.
  6. What do you guys think of Power Defense used as such: 4 Magic Resistance: Power Defense (8 points) (8 Active Points); Only Works Against Essence Magic Rare attack (-1) 4 Magic Resistance: Power Defense (8 points) (8 Active Points); Only Works Against Channelling Magic Rare attack (-1) 4 Magic Resistance: Power Defense (8 points) (8 Active Points); Only Works Against Mentalism Magic Rare attack (-1) I've gone with rare attack on the limitation because, overt use of magic is/was rare in Middle Earth except in cases of dire need, uncommon has the same cost, common caost 5 CP's and Very Common 6 CP's. It limits magic resistance to Drains, Transfers, Transforms and related attacks, to my mind this represents magic resistance quite well. The resistance to physical types of magic, i.e. Magic Missile, Fireball, Lightning bolt should be handled as mundane attacks (albeit with a magical origin). Having each realm, Essence, Channelling and Mentalism require it's own resistance power, allows the GM to introduce new realms of magic later in the game, without significant changes to the mechanic. Thoughts and Suggestions, Please?
  7. Yeah that's what I ended up doing, the divide by 3 came from one of the RM books, can't remember which, the stat bonuses just seemed a bit high. Anyway I did up spreadsheet using the divide by 5 rule and others I found online or within the books themselves. And have generally got the racial stat mods worked out. I did a quick comparison with the converted stat modifiers and the stat mods given in RM4, and to convert RM4 to Hero (stat mods) simply divide by 2. For racial resistances to cold and heat, I chose to go with Life Support: Safe Environment, this way they are largely immune to the effects of intense heat and/or cold, depending on race, but can still take damage from a fire or ice attack. The elves got Life Support: Immunity to all Terrestrial Diseases But I'm not sure how to do Essence, Channelling, Mentalism, Poison and Disease Resistance. I was actually considering ignoring Essence, Channelling and Mentalism Resistance. Damage Negation or Damage Reduction seems a bit expensive for Poison and Disease Resistance, particularly when the elves get Disease Immunity for 2 points. I just had the thought that I could take the MERP/RM bonuse divide it by 5 and use the result as the number of specific poisons or diseases the character is immune to. The cost is relatively low compared to Damage Negation/Reduction. The character has some hope that any poison or disease he/she is exposed to is one that he/she is immune to. Perhaps I could do something similar with Essence, Channelling and Mentalism.
  8. I like this setting. probably missed it, but have you given much thought to the Evil Overlords efforts to ensure control of his empire? Real world examples are readily available. Currency: Mint new coinage (the Overlord Gold Coin), pass laws banning the use of other forms of currency, including barter. Offer an amnesty period where old coins can be exchanged for new. Economy: Encourage the expansion of industries, particularly those producing war materials, at the expense of others, award Overlord contracts to particular businesses, encourage competition amongst bidders for these contracts. Land Onwership: Encourage or oversee the wholesale purchase of large tracts of farm or grazing land by the wealthy, (encourage the use of slave labour to run these large plantations etc.), disenfranchising the small farmholder (who is pretty much independent). This creates a large body of dispossessed persons who need a means to feed themselves and their families. Offer them, work on plantations or in factories at really shiity rates, to be paid in Overlord Gold Coins. Religion: you cannot eradicate a religion, but you can subvert it, insist upon all religious positions being approved by the Evil Overlord. Gradually control of the church will shift o the Overlord as sycophants gain higher and higher church postions. Language: Pass a law making one language the offical language of the empire, and conduct all business and have all documentation use this language and no other. Literature: Pass a law prohibiting the publishing of any material unless The Evil Overlord has approved of it, the processing of the approval request and the issuing of an approval notice incur fees, (Overlord Gold only, no foreign coins). Learning: "If you want to change (destroy) a culture in one generation, how would you do it?" "Change the way they educate their children." Introduce compulsory mass education, teaching only the offical language, the Overlords version of history, ensure that geographic knowledge is limited, mathematics and literacy should also be limited. Encourage rote learning, with correct and incorrect answers only. Communications: Establish the Overlords Empire wide Postal Service, charging reasonable fees and ensuring timely delivery. In short order the Overlord will control all the majority, if not all communications and be able to limit the proliferation of ideas. Consolidate: gradually introduce laws to reinforce or support the above, incidentally making counter or revolutionary activities illegal. Education is the key, though. Conquerors who have sued some or all of these ideas successfully include: Alexander the Great, he took greek philosphy with him Rome, with the policy "all roads lead to Rome" The romans actively exported their culture, making everywhere they conquered "Rome". The colonial powers used a combination of economic incentive backed up with military might followed by enforced education to destabilise the local culture then rebuild it as a satellite culture of the homeland. and it continues to this day. Make the Evil Overlord the consumate manipulator with a cadre of elite bureacrats under him Then again this would be too hard to fight and your heroes would have to be teachers as well as warriors.
  9. I am starting a Middle Earth Campaign for my group. We're all new to Hero System, and apparently they found the combination of a modern Dark Champions setting and a new rules system too complicated. So we've agreed to continue to learn HS but with a familiar setting, Middle Earth. I have gone through my Rolemaster and MERP books and worked up racial templates. There seems to be two rates of conversion for the stats and stat bonuses, divide by 3 and divide by 5, I opted for the latter. I took the Racial Quickness Bonus from RM and the average height for a race in MERP and applied them respectively to the Base Movement Rate table and the Stride Modification table (Campaign Law p.14) to get an average racial mod for running. The resulting average racial running speeds were: Race Running Dwarf 6m Harfoot Hobbit 7m Fallohide Hobbit 8m Stoor Hobbit 6m Umli 7m Half-Elf 12m Sylvan Elf 11m Sindar Elf 13m Noldor Elf 13m Most Men 10m Haradan (northern) 11m Haradan (southern) 12m Lossoth 9m Half-Orc 9m Half-Troll 12m Forest and Stone Trolls 14m Hill Trolls 17m Snow Trolls 18m Cave Trolls 20m Mountain Trolls 25m Trolls amy be slow but they take really big steps, so run little hobbit run. PS: my spelling and grammar may be a tad off today, as I am currently high as a kite on endone, (sneezed and threw my back out)
  10. The game has been paused, for now. I noticed the players were not responding to messages in our DC FB group. So I asked if they were losing interest for some reason. Apparently they were having difficulties learning the Hero System Rules and with the setting. To them a modern setting is far too complicated to deal with when they have to learn a new set of rules. My suggestion was to switch to a familiar setting and keep using the Hero System, once the players are familiar with them we can revisit the DC campaign again. So the setting chosen was Middle Earth, so I'll be starting a new thread in the Fantasy Hero forum.
  11. My son was a bouncer for several years in Brisbane and Ipswich, and according to him there were negotiations taking place with the Queensland Police Service and a particular security company (can't remember which), in regard to having security officers patrol the Brisbane CBD as first responders to nightclub incidents. Apparently the plan was for the security company to provide foot patrols equipped with pretty much the same gear a police officer was equipped with (excepting firearms and taser), they were to patrol the CBD and respond when a Nightclub called for assistance (a unified comm system was to be implemented). They would then assist the inhouse security deal with the problem until police arrived on scene. Whether this plan was put into place or not I cannot say, but it could be used as an early step towards corporate law enforcement, a precursor to actively backing up the police.
  12. Maybe the TPP will change that. In the Kazei 5 timeline 2019 is the year Australia passes laws stating that "replicants are to be accorded all the same rights and privileges as natural born humans" p.310 Therefore they must have a work visa, be paid a fair wage and pay taxes. This was in an effort to stem the tide of replicants imported to work in the country. If the warnings about the TPP are true, then the corporation(s) importing replicants would be able sue the Australian Government for passing laws that interfere with corporate profit generation. Apparently one reason Australia did this (in the setting) is because it was suffering financially, in the timeline these laws apparently helped to stabilise the Australian Economy. But under a TPP being sued at this critical period would ruin the economy and probably cause political chaos as well, the corporations might be able to step in and act as saviours to the Australian people, or could instigate a hostile takeover on a national level. How Australian citizens would react to either event is difficult to determine, but I could see some sort of resistance to either option being mounted. We are notoriously laid back and far from patriotic, however that has been changing over the last few decades with each new generation being more highly strung and recently with the anti-terror campaign in the media, patriots seem to be crawling out of the woodwork. Even so most of this is usually expressed on social media, where the individual can be anonymous and safe, so perhaps we would sit by and meekly accept a corporate takeover of govenrment and infrastructure, (including law enforcement).
  13. Good advice Nolgroth, I'll ask them, I think they'll be happy for a bit of chaos. Cool, now all I have to do is a gazillion similar little packages for the other training programs out there (or maybe I'll wait on that).
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