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SCUBA Hero

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Everything posted by SCUBA Hero

  1. We are now on Episode 44 of the current Golden Age campaign. I went back to Ep 1 and looked at the quotes: Tarraingteacht [OOC]: Why is my character a Missouri Prisoner of War? [confused looks from the rest of the table] Double-Time [leaning over and looking at her character sheet]: "MoPow" is an abbreviation for More Powerful…
  2. Looks like setting to me! 👍
  3. The one that makes me want to :headdesk: every time I read it is this part of Ironclad's sword writeup - "HKA 2d6 (4d6 w/STR)" No, no, no, NO!! HKA 2d6 (6d6 w/STR). There's no cap on 2 * base DCs damage. 6e2 p99 mentions it in Toolkitting: Adding Damage, even though it's not the base rule. But there's no mention of it in Adding Damage in CC. (Whew! Thanks for letting me vent; I feel better now. I like CC, it's a great book. It's just that stuff like that triggers one of my Psych Lims... must remember to buy that on off with XP [if the GM will let me].)
  4. Power levels / attacks / defenses. Discussion of combat, including some (light) analysis of attack dice vs. defenses (i.e., 7 defense will stop 2d6 half the time). Discussion on how to play, GM tips, player tips. All the stuff that isn't actually setting, example characters, and the adventure / campaign.
  5. I've been trying to figure out how much a Kickstarter would need to raise to fund this. Previous successful Kickstarters (total / goal): HERO Games Champions Now $24,610 / $20,000 FHC $20,125 / $15,000 MHI $80,681 / $45,000 CV3 $16,331 / $14,000 Book of the Empress $15,660 / $10,000 High Rock Press Strike Force $40,601 / $20,000 Character Creation Cards $5,380 / $2,500 Golden Age Champions $23,091 / $20,000 So maybe $15,000?
  6. Found it! Under Reloading on p. 75, "Once your shootin’ iron has gone through all its bullets, its time to reload or run. Although certain types of Western Hero Campaigns might not pay so close attention to this fact." So perhaps I overstated it as being an explicit campaign toggle. But it is in there.
  7. Mark Rand is doing the setting, but not the non-setting stuff. Any takers (or potential suggestions) for the non-setting writing?
  8. New idea: The scenario and campaign hook should have to do with either why the previous super-team is no longer around (fallout from whatever incident caused that), or a new threat (or possibly a threat that's been around for a while, but is only now being discovered). Gets the players into the setting and campaign, hopefully keeps them interested. "Old Hero Team met their untimely demise at the hands of ###insert threat###. It's up to us to pick up their mantle." "The ###insert threat### is a menace to Campaign City. It's up to us to stop it."
  9. I'd like to see WHC, but Christopher covers most of the above in WH. Cinematic Ammo (no Charges) - although I can't locate exactly where that is right now in a quick search, it's mentioned as a toggle for a Romantic campaign. Talents - I'm always up for more Talents! 😁 Rastling and Knifefighting - either use existing MA styles from other products, or reprint them (perhaps slightly modified) Railroad Worker (including explosives expert variant) - Cowboy (ordinary cowpoke) with different Skills. Rancher - okay, I'd like to see that one. Although using Cowboy (rannie) with more Skills would probably work fine. Riverboat Sailor - Cowboy (ordinary cowpoke) with different Skills. Traveling Entertainer and Sallon Girl/Soiled Dove - Non-combat NPCs; all you need are a few Stats, a few Skills, and a name. Have I mentioned that I'm really impressed with the job Christopher did with WH?
  10. Exactly! Either the PCs are the city's first hero team, or the previous team nobly sacrificed themselves stopping some horrible threat, or were disgraced and disbanded and left, or had some internal disagreement and disbanded or left. Ready to use heroes will be a good draw (I think) as well as giving concrete power level examples.
  11. Makes sense. Worn armor only counts as x% of its real weight. I've seen STR, Only To Offset Armor Encumbrance used as well.
  12. Updating the previous rough proposal... Product: Coastal City Champions (working title). Purpose: Bring new players into Champions. Hopefully get them interested in broader Hero System products. Method: A single book that provides a ready-to-play campaign with all the toolkit settings specified (a 'campaign+game' not a 'toolkit') plus tips on how to play, power levels, attacks and defenses, a sample hero team and villains, including an organization (Viper?) and master villain (Dr. Destroyer? Mechanon? New?), and a city setting developed enough to start a campaign (Mark Rand is considering the Pittsburgh area, transplanted to the West Coast) with a ready-to-run scenario that launches the players and GM into that city. Brief info on the larger world. In D&D terms - Champions Complete is the DMG and PH, Coastal City Champions is the setting (i.e., Greyhawk) and MM. Power Level: Keep attacks at the standard 60AP/12d6 and defenses at the standard 20-25 to maintain parity with previously published material. BUT: simplify. Maybe 350CP and 60 Complications?? The beginning superhero has (at a baseline) a single attack rather than a Multipower or a Unified Power. Simpler builds; keep Advantages and Limitations to a reasonable minimum. Let the characters (and players) grow into 450CP supers with Multipowers, etc. - *and* a better idea of adn appreciation for how to play and use those additional abilities. Funding: Kickstarter. Start with a nice color cover and minimal B&W interior artwork; stretch goals would add more artwork and then upgrade it to color. Mention (and have) plans for future supplements: more linked adventures, a city development book; also to use Kickstarter. Maybe have a second adventure, linked to the first, at a high enough stretch goal to fund it. Staff: Writer (Mark Rand for the setting, either Mark or someone else for the non-setting content). Editor. Proof-reader. Artist(s). Project coordinator. There are several pro-level, accomplished Hero authors. I am neither a writer nor an editor, but I can proof-read and coordinate.
  13. No offense taken. 🙂 You and me, we don't have a problem. 👍
  14. I started down that road: a one-book-complete-to-play idea, but now I'm thinking Champions Complete plus a new campaign book would draw more new people.
  15. *Have to* have? No. Why are they often used? Familiar tropes. Orcs - primitive, brutish, violent. Dwarves - underground, mining, obsessed with material things. Just like human tropes - Vikings, Romans, Horse Nomads. You have a good idea of where they fit in to the world with little explanation needed.
  16. I'm not extremely opposed to the idea, but the more I ponder it the more I think it won't bring in new players (which is the goal). You can explain it in D&D terms - "Champions Complete is the PHB and DMG, ###Insert Cool Title Here### is the campaign setting (i.e., Greyhawk) combined with the MM. I mean, how much different would printing the ruleset in a one-book-is-all-you-need-to-play be from what Champions Complete already is? I have one caveat to that, however. Champions Complete *must* be available in print, or at least print-on-demand. (Or am I just an old grognard out of touch with today's younger gamers - do they want print books now, or is pdf okay? I will say this; I can go to my FLGS and find a shelf of D&D books... but no HERO System books.) In SJG's Report to the Stakeholders for 2021, it mentions GURPS On Demand - over 100 titles available as print-on-demand softcover books, using Amazon's print-on-demand tools. That looks like an avenue to consider.
  17. As far as Walkabout, do we have any Australian Herophiles? They could probably come up with good write-ups and backstories. Paraphrased from seanbaby.com re: Apache Chief of the Superfriends: Now that I mention it, I don't think he was Apache or a chief. His name doesn't make any sense. That's like putting a Caucasian on a team of Native Americans and naming him 'Minnesota President'. 'Hey, I'm not from Minnesota, guys. I'm a plumber from Texas. I'm not President, either.' 'Shut up, you're Minnesota President!'
  18. After further consideration, I'm not sure that a new version of Champions Complete is a good idea... the store shows 29 physical copies left in stock (is this something that can feasibly be re-printed?) I'm going back and re-reading it; if a new, edited version were made, what would be the major differences? As for the rest of it; yes, I'm thinking a new city (possibly the one Mark Rand is considering) with explanation of where all the levers are set (a playable game, rather than a toolkit) and ready-to-play scenario or two, with enough to transition into a longer-term campaign. Then thin adventure books.
  19. Thought for the day: With END now costing 1 CP per 5 END, an END Drain much more powerful. Consider a typical 60-point Active Point limit in a superhero game. That gives you 6d6 END Drain, averaging 21 CPs, then halved because END is considered defensive in nature, so 11 CPs = 55 END! That's enough to put all of the 400 CP Champions into burning STUN for END immediately, and leaves both Ironclad and Sapphire at 5 END. The classic 'enervator gun' got a buff in 6E!
  20. May I suggest Harn from Columbia Games and Kelestia? It is very detailed and there's a lot of history and some unique words (a strike against it from a pick-it-up-and-play immediately perspective), but it's enough like 1200's England that most of its elements are easily understandable (Oh, Orbaal are Vikings, several feudal kingdoms, Tharda is Romans). You can pick up the 58-page HarnWorld module, that gives you the overview, then maybe the Kingdom module for your starting location, maybe a city or castle if you want. Edit: Columbia Games has a 'Beginner's Guide' to get you hooked - HarnWorld, HarnDex, Cities and Towns, and the full-color map - for $1! 😵 That is a bargain!! I ran a Harn campaign for my group some years ago using their system (HarnMaster). We liked it. If I run another Harn campaign, it will probably be using HERO System rules.
  21. Could well be. I read it maybe 40 years ago; don't remember the author.
  22. I like the 3E Encumbrance rules - you wear heavy armor, you're easier to hit and fatigue faster. Keep in mind that I started role-playing with The Fantasy Trip rather than D&D. TFT has a 'heavier armor absorbs more damage but makes you easier to hit (and harder to hit someone else as well). Casual STR has always bugged me. It should be a straight -x to your full STR. STR 10 normal human goes from 100 kg to 50 kg, while STR 60 brick goes from 100 *tons* to 1,600 kg! Wha? 🤔 Especially since if characters combine their STRs you add their individual lifting capacities and then determine the combined STR by the sum of those capacities.
  23. Is anyone here still playing this? Or to folx who used to play... Is this worth my time to play free? Or to pay for the upgrades?
  24. Like the Dread Pirates Roberts. I don't remember which book it was in - Conan was owed 100 gold pieces (don't remember the details), had a woman count it out for him, and when she was complete said (paraphrasing) 'Very good. You hid it so well that almost no one could tell that you counted five of them twice. Five gold is a heavy price for a woman, but I'll pay it.' And he raped her.
  25. I *think* I have Atlas Unleashed. (Working [physically] away from home and my game bookshelf at the moment.) I'll check it out next time I'm home. Thanks!
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