Bolon

Re: Touch of Knowledge... With the Universal Translator, limit it with last person you touched. Is this going to be a skill transfer or a knowledge transfer/ cloning? Just for your info, I have a friend who lost her personal knowledge of her life but retained all her skills like language, music, typing and others. As a GM, you can rule that it doesn't give knowledge but only skills. This would keep from ruining any mysteries.

Re: Possible HERO System Supplement Kickstarters From Steve -- What Interests You? I would get a Stormlords book if it was also an update of the Urban Fantasy Hero supplement. I would be more than willing to pledge 50 for that combination. I also think that Urban Fantasy Hero is ripe for the market with Grimm and all the supernatural type shows on TV now. If it was done as a kickstarter, I would think 50 would be good for the book and PDF. For those who don't use PDF's, they are great for anyone who uses computers with Itouch or Ipads or even projector monitor systems. Don't knock it until you try it.

Re: Hitting 'Til It Hurts The rules handle it very well. You take the attack. Treat it like a move-through and if no knockback. Look at the amount of body and half that for the attacker. Can his PD for normal or rPD for killing stop the damage or not? There was the list on the def and body of common objects and we used that when people tried foolish things like this. We also had a house rule to let them know their character would know the chance of damage for hitting metal objects. You would need training and would know that some things would require weapons and such. Some did it and others would decide differently depending on their characters for good role-playing over good roll-playing.

I am curious on whether a supplement has been made to create the world where werewolves, vampires, elves, dwarves and other creatures of myth and fantasy are in a modern world. This would be 2 different worlds since you would have a secretive world where John Q. Public doesn't know and a world where they are known. I have been watching the series Grimm and see it would be a great Dark Champions character or part of any Dark Champions campaign to cover the strange and unusual. It can be done at a high level with multiple realms or dimensions as a possible world. Currently I am thinking that I would just use all the DC material, adding the templates of the creatures I want to use to current NPCs and villains to make it a bit more interesting. Add it as a skill set or background of one of the character in my party at creation and run some of these scenarios. I am asking for ideas on what supplements or things I should be looking at and any advice from anyone who did this. If there is a lot of interest, this might also be a good supplement in the future either by Hero or someone under a Hero license.

Re: Star Wars Hero: Why should I? (or not) I just saw this thread and wanted to comment on the fact that a lightsaber has no stun setting. If hit by a lightsaber, you kill or cut off things. The usage of items as weapons by TKing them at an opponent is actually more light side than dark due to the kill aspect of a lightsaber. Secondly, I was in a SW campaign of the Knights of Old Republic. The GM made up all Jedi powers in a multipower as slots and we bought the slots and slot categories as we gained Exp Points. This gave him a lot of control and us a lot of control. Our disadvantages included a code of Jedi which was what was required to control the dark side aspects. If you started to act evil, you had to atone or turn over your character to be an NPC. Simple. Lastly, Lucas created this world and all should "bow" down to his greatness but he really was not a great storywriter. He relied on some very stupid plot tricks to increase suspense including Anakin losing his lightsaber all the time, made the Jedi superpowerful but careless, and retrowrote the explanation of the force. All this was just done to move his story along since it was weak at times and needed to fit his story arc. The Jedi could feel the pain of a planet dying or Anakin killing sand people from across the universe but not the evil ideas of some weak-minded clones before they killed them. Only a few were able to pick this up when they were hardened veterans of the Clone Wars. Yoda knew instantly and killed them superfast without hestitation to survive. Why didn't all the rest? "Plot Point" Lucas was the best engineer in that moment to create a story as he wanted rather than a natural flow. Watch all the amazing stuff that the individual Jedi do in the Clone Wars and you will wonder why they all dropped their guard and were killed so easily. "Plot Point" It had to go that way for his story to work out even though he filmed it very badly.

Re: Only Breathe's Through Skin On a bio mechanical sense, the lungs are required to support a brain large enough for higher functions. As ants who live in a contained environment underground, the air might be different enough or enriched enough to support this larger brain. What kind of issues are you looking at for this? Is it a creature or a humanoid?

Re: Inexperienced GM introducing group to Hero and having writer’s block… Personally, Hero works well for Champions with maybe lower level super-heroes as more creative but since you don't want to bog them down, you can do almost anything that would work. If you don't like the A-Team situation, try Burn Notice. A friend actually created a Star Wars with Hero because it was easier to handle all the different Jedi powers in the game. He used a template with all powers on it via Hero Creator and then just added the skills desired and removed what they didn't have.

Re: Character Creation Session report I previously ran a "Data" character using Hero System rules in a Rifts world scenario. The passage through the Rift caused much of my abilities to be temporarily be shut off or unable to access or having to be bought with experience. We substituted the medical skills for mechanical and I was able to self repair most systems, fix injuries. I was also using complications and disadvantages of this secret and how I would be considered an evil machine by parts of society. How you explain this technology is important for role playing and backstory? It can also create some interesting plot elements for you as the GM. Remember, you are not really creating this for real but for the co-operative storyline of your game. Work with the players to give you better storylines, plots and character hooks rather than trying to get too technical. Point balance is important as if you ignore it, you are ignoring the fun of other players for your "star". The group needs to feel like a group in order to co-operate or you might end up with a player versus player game with betrayal and backstabbing. It is fantasy hero so anytime you run into a problem with the "tech", it becomes powerful magic of some sort, demonic, death, ancient or godly. The enjoyment of ALL players is most important over storyline or things. The stories retold should be of what happened rather than what things they have.

Re: Sherpas or other high-altitude normals? If you are looking at this, you should see the "Deadliest Warrior" with the Gurkas. I might think that it would all be handled by an increased REC or END due to how they were not affected by the stress of battle as easily. Hero doesn't have anything that works as a pure fatigue aspect in game play for length of combat or play. Another way of handling this would be an endurance return or bonus recovery occurring after a number of rounds. Their training would allow them to work at high levels for longer in normal conditions. In real life that would translate to longer accurate firing, longer active periods before conserving and longer peak strength usage. It also translated to shorter and stocker builds plus massive leg strength due to mountain hiking. Rule rapists might just take the increased REC and END. Properly, it would included OCV and DCV bonus that activate with time, endurance bonus that activate with time in combat and distinct feature of stout bodies. Life Support : Expanded Breathing would be nice but it only negates penalties in those conditions without bonus in better conditons.

Re: The cost of Internet Before you jump into cutting down the speed and all so you can have this great wealth of knowledge and mess up the GM's plans, remember the internet and searching it has flaws. 1. Porn - Every porn site has downloaded the entire dictionary into its description and are design to get themselves included in any search. 2. Wikipedia - This site can have inaccurate data in it since it is corrected and changed by users including supervillains. LOL 3. Cyber Overwatch - Once this is used a few times, a great hacker can be hired to mess up your AI. If the info stream is not locked down, the AI is at the mercy of the cyber villains. If AI is locked down, do you have a team of experts adding up-to-date info into the system. 4. GM's whim - If the GM just asks you to give the search elements or criteria, then takes it absolutely literal, imagine the possibilities. WEG ie. I had a cowboy superhero character and we fought someone with mind control. The command of killing the cowboy was given with the mind control but we were also fighting that cowboy villain who is dead from 5th ed. My mind controlled ally turned this undead cowboy into pulp because he was the first one he found. Imagine how easily this great power can be messed with. It is an AI therefore is only as good as the original programming skill. I would love you to run such in my campaign. I am just laughing at all the wonderful ways I could mess things up. "There is a Major Riot at the city hall." "Who has Major Riot as a hunted?" LOL

Re: Character Creation Session report The problem with the 3' tall automaton is historically they can do the equivalent of one short computer program before they need to be reset with a new sequence of events. What will you be using or how is the player justifying more than that? Automaton are not player characters in my view but I would be interested in how you plan to incorporate them. Are you thinking of androids like Star Wars or an android like Data? Anything would be likely to be considered a product of a demon and be destroyed in the world I have used. Is this a follower or object of a party member?

Re: Potential issues with a Matrix like campaign premise I have been in a number of "Matrix" type games due to the concept of cyberspace. As a plot device, it has become like time travel and creates very poor storylines. The concept of most games involves the concept of balance within the game. The GM has no constraint and has no need to make sense within the environment. We have had people now just disconnect or even killed themselves out of a scenario based on how ridiculous it becomes once the rules are removed. The shared reality of the game is now so badly out of balance since there are no rules at all. The gaming becomes "Monty Hall"ish to remove all sense of accomplishment and enjoyment from solving the challenges. It might be great for the creativity but is letting the genie out of the bottle. Personally, I had too many and find all these games to be a nice idea but impossible to maintain due to the lack of constraints. The players who are highlighted or spotlighted will like the attention but you will drive off the others. It is a great way to break up your gaming group or at least make them very suspicious and unable to trust you again. You need to define the world as the GM and be very strict or you are just pleasing and ruin your credibility. Sorry but I advise you keep all in control and tightly or else you will create something very ugly.

Re: 11 Victoria's Secret models hit the catwalk as superheroines Just 3 comments - We probably all looked at the Marvel Swimsuit Issue too. Just mainstream hooking up with the geek market. This is the reason there are thousands of young men around the world looking at anima and animated pin-ups in their parents' basement and not going out to be with real women with real bodies. They better all have the adamantium skeletons since they are so thin they would break under almost any pressure or stress. I like women who look like women versus tall thin boys with long hair. Can someone feed these girls? No hips, no breasts, NOT real women. This is why there are so many eating disorders in young boys and girls. Nice lines but not sexy in any way.

Re: Eccentric but plausible ways a character could be rich? How about just having a public identity and working for a few large corporations under sponsorship? Your costume is covered in advertisements like a nascar driver. You would also have the need to make appearances for the companies and a code of conduct watched by your sponsors. Right now they have a tv show where the guy become rich from security software and uses the backdoor to get information so he can fight crime. How about create a computer AI who is used for national security but on the side, still contacts the hero and helps the hero with diverted funds.

Re: MYTHIC HERO: What Do *You* Want To See? "Will there be an explanation on why puny humans or even very powerful superhumans can't just go around killing gods? Absolutely not, because in some settings and stories they can kill them. There'll certainly be some discussion of mortals fighting gods generally, with options and suggestions, but there aren't going to be any hard-and-fast rules that say what you can or can't do. That I'll leave up to the GM. " Well, a caution on how to run gods and how allowing them to be killed for the GM and stating what complications could occur if such happened. IMHO, turning the PC into an NPC who must take the place of the god forever is a nice consequence so the world will maintain balance.

Re: MYTHIC HERO: What Do *You* Want To See? As a feature of each pantheon you plan to have a section on, could we see an organization or alliance chart to understand who would team with whom versus who would fight whom? When we cross-pantheon-play, the gods would distrust or hate gods like their adversaries but trust gods like their allies. It would also be a handy reference for the players to know whom to pray to when Loki messes them over. Which gods would be willing to help or interfere with humans? Which god would likely jump in against what other god? If primary aspects was included also we can sort out who to cross-pray to. Will there be an explanation on why puny humans or even very powerful superhumans can't just go around killing gods? Gods die and are just banished to their homeplane or the entire pantheons will gang up on you. The rule that a pantheons may fight among themselves but are very co-operative and have teamwork specially for the few times they all see a common threat. I remember my youth and a "Monty Hall" who had us encounter Zeus since he enjoyed hunting and killing gods. What a nightmare!!!!!

I am just curious of the various story threads that were linked to the character disadvantages other than the obvious ones. These would be ones that would end in unravelling a mystery or story to discover the reason or clear the disadvantage or complication. In Dark Champs, a former police officer had an enraged against 1920's gangster/ mafia dress and behaviour. This was linked to the gang that severely injured him, leaving him for dead, the event that made him go vigilante. The trauma of the event erased his precise memory and left him with this effect. It was that Pokerface of the Card Sharks was the one who shot him and would be someone the would later encounter to clear this. Any other inventive disadvantages or complications?

Re: Staff of the Druid The "passes through trees" is actually a teleport. The D&D druid uses this to travel from one tree to another tree within a 900" distance as a means of travel. I would use a teleport with limited range and requiring 1" of movement to use, the step in and then step out on the other end. It would be the closest tree to desired destination in the direction up to 900" for simplicity. Place it on a focus for reduced cost and done. If I remember correctly, this was debated in an article and would still be useable when there are no trees in that desired direction. The druid would actually just go to the nearest tree to the original even if in wrong direction. It would give weird results in a desert or plains. Blasting the tree just prevents the druid from returning via that specific tree.

Re: Tactics How about the mentalist, wizard or techie taking point or getting too close? Never enter the effective range of the enemy if you can fight from outside of it. ie Don't go hand to hand when you have range weapons and they don't. Focus fire to drop target quickly rather than all taking different targets. The enemy shots back 5 times, next round 4, next round 3 as the heroes continue to be full. Have the high defense guys keep the enemy separated so they can't concentrate fire on individual heroes. Take the fight to the enemy so they need to go defensive and you have all your combatants on top of them dealing damage as they wait for reinforcements or help to arrive. Take out enemy in order of area attackers, multiple fire attackers, range attackers and hand 2 hand last. If they can't get to you to do effective damage, they are doing you a favour. Take care of the real threats first. A single dodging target can keep a hand 2 hand combatant busy and away as the team deals with all others.

Re: Effects of "Heightened Libido"? I think that the angle of the heightened libido is going the wrong way. Her frustrations would be increased when dating anytime she feels insecure or unsure of the relationship. She would have a fear of intimacy, afraid she could hurt someone other than a super. It might manifest itself in false pinning her hopes on other supers that smile at her or seem nice. She might have difficulty understanding or learning those clues that would be given and misinterpret those clues. It could result in minor berserks or enraged when her dating life is in turmoil. I am a large man who worked with a woman who was larger. She saw me as a very viable target for a possible mate and date as in the same profession. This illusion got to the point where she ignored the fact I had a fiance living with me and believed I would come to her, realizing I was in love. She ignored the truth and all facts that were very evident. Her heighten libido could result in her giving the wrong signal and having a stalker or becoming such. The increase in libido at this time of 20 years old and a virgin could push her even harder than a normal woman. There are many ways you can take this. I can even see villains using this to taunt her. I could see an enraged and a few social limitations that could translate to negative modifiers based on her social life.

Re: Zeppelins There are those who are looking at airships, zeppelins or other blimp ships as a way to handle shipping to Far North communities in Canada. They can carry a lot for a low price, travel slowly but have low fuel costs.

Re: How (un)realistic are Street Samurai? If you look at the scientific data generated by the "Deadliest Warrior" program when they compare weapons, you will see a number a very effective real weapons but anime stays to the katana, direklaves and occasionally will do historically classic weapons of other cultures. The biggest issue of most modern games is how poorly they deal with hand2hand or melee weapons since the genre is focused on firearms or range weapons. Fact is that the development of gunpowder and ranged accurate weapons has equalized combat that any fool can kill another. The Street Samurai is a wish to return to the time of the actual samurai before they were replaced by modern weapons. Those who make a living by killing or being a soldier for hire claim a special connection to these ancient warriors but it is all different and the rules have changed. In our literature, we are looking at the romance of the sword and ways of the warrior. This is passed onto the co-operative storytelling we call role playing games. They are not tactical simulations or even sociological simulations as it comes from the mind of the players and gamemaster. It is their bias, therefore can be flawed. Most highly realistic games are too realistic for gamers to actually enjoy. Modern warfare is too deadly and can too easily kill your prized character even if you do everything right. High realism games don't sell well since they don't do well for epic adventure and just pure enjoyment.

Re: How (un)realistic are Street Samurai? The Street Samurai can evolve out of the gangs that are currently used for enforcers and soldiers for crime now. In most tarnished tomorrow worlds, they are just the street soldier who have evolved to better skills through training or sheer experience. There would be no standard for them and most would be total individuals as they evolved. I personally think the katana is just a standard of anime and other swords or long knives would be used depending of availability and training. The blade is good in close combat, silent and deadly. Why not get a weighted blade or a smaller fast blade? Each would have their own theories just as each would chose different handguns. It would be their choice to decide based on draw speed, damage, durability and effectiveness. The corps would only be paying for results and not style.

Re: Tactics Never attack where the enemy figures you would. Hit hard and fast with all you got. Flash/bangs and bullets are useless when still in the gun or your webbing. Once you are detected, you are a target. Move and make it harder on them. Sound suppressors and flash suppressors suppress and don't eliminate. Silenced weapons need subsonic ammo. If everyone else is dressed to go to the moon, your badge will not protect you. You can't just reset the game if you are shot.

Re: Aliens in Dark Champions If it becomes too overt, it changes to "V" or that other series, Earth Final Conflict. The DC can be power level and tone more than Star Hero. It depends on your viewpoint.