Brian Stanfield

The stolen booze is still on the truck, locked in a garage on __th street.
 
The garage is attached to an abandoned house, where six squatters are living.
They’re being paid to watch for strangers and wait for orders from the nervous German businessman living next door.
 
The businessman’s basement is being used by the sisters Lady Viespa and Madame Verde to make an electro-bomb. The booze is the final ingredient; to be poured into tall glass tubes topped with radio-receiver vacuum tubes connected to a large, pyramidal antenna of mahogany and brass. They are welding the pieces of the antenna together, having to wear hoods and masks to protect against the zinc vapors.
 
The electrobomb will be driven to ______ Park and detonated by a radio transmitter across town. The resulting explosion will be the perfect diversion as the sisters rob the ______ and make their escape in a nearby dirigible.

Update for Week #5 
 
Hello everyone, 
 
Just another quick update on the work done since the last update. We've gone back and did a final editing and proofread of the adventure, so the text copy for the adventure and the characters (including tokens) is done. The only thing left to complete this part of the project is to complete the maps.
 
As you may have seen, we posted a sample of the map for the Lake Forest Cemetery, and we've continued to work on the other maps of the adventure. To be honest, the delay in producing the maps is due to experimenting with Blender (a 3D modeling software) to see how we could use it to create the maps, and are looking toward using that software to create the maps for Roll20 using it.  The rationale for using Blender is that we can produce a 2D image file that we can upload to Roll20, but also use the same map for 3D tabletops such as Tabletop Simulator. There are also a lot of assets, many of them available for free, to use when doing 3D scenes, and so far we are making good progress in doing the maps. The delay came from the learning curve to learn to use it. 
 
As far as schedule, we are a couple of weeks over the original estimate, but getting a Publisher account with Roll20 to start creating the Compendium has taken longer than expected. Hero Games signed the contract two weeks ago after waiting for a month to get a reply to their application. We still haven't gotten the Publisher account access, so even if we'd been done with the adventure on schedule, we would still be in the same place. The result is that we've gotten a little more time to explore options for the mapping, and to do a more complete edit and proofreading of the adventure.
 
You won't get another update for the following two weeks, as I will be taking an early Summer Vacation and will be out of the country without my laptop (my wife would kill me if I took it and worked while on vacation). 

So many things I want to say, and only the accursed medium of miniature touchscreen with which to say them....     :😢
 
I have only the past couple of nights begun to read Mongoose Traveller, and my findings thus far are akin to Scott's.  However, I more firmly disagreed with Mongoose's 'negligible mass" computers.  I had always assumed that a lot of the mass of the computer in Classic Traveller was the miles of wiring  and thousands of sensors and whatever electronics made things work via the computer, such as opening the airlock from the bridge, detecting a pressure change on deck 6, etc.
 
It wasn't until so many third party materials included deckplans that there would be a  large chunk of area marked 'computer' that I spent even a moment thinking otherwise, and decided "well, that's not going to fly" and ignored it, instead declaring that box to be the main computer station, etc.
 
When regarding computers the way I did,  the Mongoose change is little more than saying "that tonnage is now considered to be part of the Hull /infrastructure, so it is not _that_ big a deal, and computer money now refers to the cost od computer-specific bits like processors, etc.  The part I don't care for about the Mongoose change is that it makes the computer nearly invulnerable to minor damage, but still allows it to be completely destroyed: you miss some interesting opportunities to introduce malfunctioning grav plates, no-longer-automated doors, and life-support issues as obstacles for players fighting a running battle.
 
Miller is ambivalent about the setting because he didn't write it.  Most of it was Joe Fugate and his playgroup who became DGP who became the driving force of additional supplements and background material for Traveller.  Miller himself doesn't use it any more than I do... Well, probably even less than I do, honestly.
 
I had similar problems,with the hyper-developed universe that Scott did: it's like when people say "we are going to take a vacation and go 'explore' Manhattan."  I have bad news.  Someone already did that.  You are welcome to fight the throngs of people on the roads or the sidewalks if you like, and see if any of the streetsigns have interesting names....
 
It got so bad that Miller had to decree that one particular small area was off-limits, and was for the players to build out as they wanted.  I mean, what was the point if having build rules for sectors ans systems and worlds if someone else had gone ahead and filled all that out for even the stars _beyond_ the heavens?!
 
Hard to make that cartography cash (or even be a Scout!) When every gas station in the Imperium has a map?  What trade routes can you open when there are already megacorps bleeding the system dry?
 
Worse yet, a lot of what came along eventually made the early published adventures impossible to place anywhere in the universe except that off-limits area reserved for your own special creations.
 
It was nuts.
 
Truth be told, I think that is why the entire focus of MegaTraveller was "Rebellion!  Tear down the Imperium!"  Notice That it was followed by New Era, the focus of which was explore, make contact, open trade routes, etc?  It was almost like trying to recapture the appeal of the early days of Classic Traveller.
 
It failed, because you were rediscovering populated worlds, many of which had formed little empires with a few neighbors, and of course: somebody already lives here; we know about the imperium; we have the same tech you do-  well honestly, you couldn't just bomb everyone back to the stone age.  You weren't discovering new things; you were just finding out if the old maps were still good.
 
They tried to resolve that by adding Virus, which was to have eaten all the data of the Encyclopedia Galactica, but seriously-   from _everywhere_?  From worlds and systems that Virus never reached?   
 
It was fun(ish), but it did not recapture that original feel _at all_..
 
 How have I been successful with playing Traveller on HERO rules?
 
I took a page from Miller' book: if your background suggests that you _should_ know a little bit about something (an Army colonel _should_ know something about beureaucratics), you take the higher of a characteristic roll or 11 or less.
 
If your background suggests that you wouldn't know about it, then you take the lower of a characteristic roll or 8 or less.
 
Characters are created literally as traveller characters: roll up characteristics. Either as traveller stats and convert, or- if you are feeling a bit more generous or are in a hurry- Primary Characteristica (remember I play 2e) are 2d6 plus 5.  If you are feeling more genrous than that, roll 3d6.
 
Figured characteristics are... Well, _figured_.
 
Pick a career and get cracking.  Mods to characteristics are applied directly.  Winning a skill grants that skill at 11-.  (Skills are broad in this game).  Win it again, add 1.  Originally I added 2, but HERO character progression is much more generous, allowing characters to simply buy up their skill levels with experience.
 
Aging Crises are applied directly as well.
 
Most importantly for character creation- and I cannot stress this enough in terms of making it feel like Traveller-  F\%#: "points balance" for character creation, at least at this point.  Keep track of your actual cost, of course, because someone there will likely have played HERO, and will scream like they are being tortured if the points don't match. (if there are other game groups in the area, encourage him to find one).
 
Cascade skills: character selects a skill or small skill group (handguns or energy rifles, for example) which he will now have at his base OCV, (or appropriate characteristic roll, or 11-, depending on what skill or group we are discussing) and he will select one particular firearm (or subskill) with which he will gain a skill level.  Each time he rolls the same result, he can up that skill level, or pick a different weapon / subskill to get a plus one skill level.
 
If he happens, somehow, to get ten points worth of plus one skill levels, he can opt to swap the various levels for a 10-pt plus one with the group.  With skills, this is what most players do.  With weapons skills, it is almost _never_ done.  Once they have a plus 3 in something, they don't want to get a plus one in ten other weapons at the cost of dropping those extra bonuses with that one weapon.
 
 
Seriously though, when each character is done with his career and his mustering out and getting his skills, etc, get their points total and deduct it from the campaign limit for building the characters.
 
That is what they have left to spend or bank at their pleasure.
 
Social standing is a specific new Primary Characteristic.  If you are a noble (SS 15 or higher), it is initially treated as a Perk, and as it increases, the Perk becomes more expensive, and things such as "influence," "wealth," various noble powers, land grants, etc are added, and certain social skills are awarded.  All nobles will receive "conversation' and "high society" skills. High society skill is now based on the Social Standing Charactetistic.
 
During gernation, _no_ characteristic may be increased more than 2 points or over 15 using the "balance" points. Social Standing may not be increased at all with balance points.
 
Other than that, use them as you woukd to make a champions character- flesh out your Character with skills, equipment, perks, skill levels,etc.
 
Because it is fun to play a scoundrel or a bastard child. The Noble perk may be purchased by characters who have lower social standings than 15, just be able to explain your disgrace.  Ha!
 
No, I absolutely do _not_ use HERO rules for space combat.  I just don't hate myself that much.   We used to use rhe original traveller rules, but as time went on, the players gravitated toward the simplified rules as presented in both Traveller Basic and The Traveller Book; these systems use range bands akin to personal combat and feature simplified movement.  Not mt favorite, but it is not the HERO rules, so,,,..
 
 
I have always wanted to use the Starfleet Battles game for ship combat, but I am the only one at the table  familiar with it (I was once well-known for the Klingon Butthook maneuver).
 
 
There is so much more, but I have had all of this accursed touchscreen I can handle.

My schedule is filled with games this year, for anyone who feels like tracking me down:
W 7p Dune, Desertfall, B 232
T 8a Traveller, Checkpoint, Union D
T 1p Star Wars d6, RED ALERT!, Hall A Table 26
T 7p M&M, The Mummy, Champaign Room
F 8a Shadowrun, Power Over Life, Union A-C Table 8
F 12n Spirit of 77, Great (Elder) Race, Morrow Room
F 7p Traveller, Arcturus Station, B 232
S 10a D&D, Aetaltis, Knox Room
S 1p MRPG, Marvel SuperHero Spectacular, Morrow Room
S 7p CHEW, FDA Case File, Morrow Room
U 9a Christian Worship Service, A 210
U 10a ICONS, Teen Titans Babysitting, Knox Room
 

Lurking Fears is a gaming group that specializes in Cthulhu, horror, and grimdark games.
I'm definitely the outlier.
I believe we're in the second floor B wing.

And, to the surprise of no one, registering for events at Origins was the usual fuster[BLEEP].

I love this sort of inside-out storytelling approach. It’s like Tucker and Dale Vs. Evil. If you haven’t seen that, then boy do I have a nice surprise for you . . . .

I actually liked the TS/SI mechanics. You had percentile skills. You listed your base skill, then the 1/2 and 1/4 value of it (not sure if it went down to 1/8 or not) on your character sheet. So, no need for task modifier charts, just roll the half or quarter roll if the Admin called for it. The single roll to hit and damage worked well with the hit location chart. The combat in the games I was in seemed to be pretty high lethality. The modules were great, and I think the emphasis was more on RP. I think the bones of it could be adapted to a lot of different settings, since the rules mostly stayed out of the way. It and Marvel FASERIP were rules light before it was trendy.

I loved Top Secret SI, and my group played the hell out of it. 
Sure, looking back on it, the rules were stunningly basic, but we managed to make it fun. What was also great about it was the amount of sourcebooks and adventures put out for it. There were rules for more special forces type missions (Commando), source books on realistic espionage, high tech gadgets and gear books, a box set with a whole setting and advanced rules on gambling and car racing/chases, a source book of what the bad guys master plans were (The Web) and their secret bases and operations around the world, plus some tie-in fiction novels, a couple of which were actually pretty good. 
 
And then there was the spin-off games, Agent-13 (pulp era adventuring like with special abilities and mystical stuff. so you could do stuff like Indian Jones or The Shadow and other cool pulp adventuring (plus one of the fiction novels for this was really good)) and then there was also FREELancers (set in the near future (now past) of the 2000's, where technology and mutations and the collapse of American government all came together. It was basically Shadowrun (minus the magic) before Shadowrun came out with a bit of Twilight 2000 thrown in. Super fun.)
 
My main group back then (mid 80's to late 90's) basically went from D&D, to Marvel/FASERIP, to Top Secret/SI, to Call of Cthulhu, to Shadowrun to WoD (Vampire mainly) then to Hero System, to Delta Green, with a few other games/systems thrown in there that never lasted for very long (Rifts, Robotech, Middle Earth, and many more I'm sure I'm forgetting) before everyone eventually ended up moving to different parts of the globe and the group broke up. 

If I were ever to write a campaign setting for the Hero System, I'd use the Plot Point Campaign structure. I think this structure can be adopted for any system, and I'd like to see it become the preferred approach for all future Hero System campaign settings, regardless of who authors them.

1st edition Fantasy Hero did the best at making the rules feel fantastic and magical then had a very down to earth barely-fantasy setting and scenario in it.
 
 
They also put out Fantasy Hero Battlegrounds which was a book of several short unconnected scenarios, and they were pretty solid.

First: 
Spence isn't wrong here, per se, but I admit I never realized it until it was pointed out to me on the boards, some years ago.
 
HERO-- well, Champions, anyway, back when we first tried using the rules for something other than superheroes-- _does_ give the "normal person" stats-- or at least, prior to 6th, it did, right on the character sheet as well as in the text of the rules.  Sixth probably does, too, but it's been some time since I read 6e, and I likely won't ever read it again, so I will leave it to someone more familiar with it to correct me if the "normal person" stats aren't given-- probably under NCM or something like that--
 
 
At any rate, we just assumed "well, if this is a normal person, it makes no sense that we should be ten times as Strong, Fast, or whatever.  No; as Spence points out, there were no rules saying that we could or could not.  We just never noticed that because over the years, our groups have always, within themselves, had fairly consistent ideas about what appropriate in-genre limits would be.  We got lucky there. 
 
Still, there's nothing to stop you from using that same extrapolation (in fact, you kind of have to    ) as the only real "guideline" given.
 
 
 
 
Correct again, but most of the points people are making about what's missing from Fantasy HERO (and yes: the 4e book was overall a high watermark for HERO Games publications) I will counter by suggesting moving to a more complete version of Fantasy HERO:
 

 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
Don't forget the Broken Kingdoms supplement.  That was pretty sweet, though it was a "Hero Plus" product, meaning it never saw print outside of those folks who actually printed their own.  (For the record, Storn no longer has the original artwork (I asked), so the odds of printing up your own with a high-quality cover featuring the original image is right out.      ).
 
 
 
 
The great thing about HERO (thus far) is that all you really need to play are the final numbers: in _any_ edition, STR: 15 is STR: 15; OCV: 3 is OCV: 3.  4d6 RKA is 4d6 RKA.  Very little work is required to grandfather or grandson something from one edition to another; the bulk of the "work" is tweaking values for advantages and limitations on power builds, none of which is one-hundred percent necessary if the GM decides the final numbers don't break his game.
 
And for what it's worth, a 4e Fantasy HERO _can_ be picked up for as little as 8 bucks, if you're patient and don't care about the condition.  They don't come along often, but "reader copy" and "play copy" conditions do show up on the market semi-regularly.
 
 

Just a few points.  Not everyone here agrees with my take on things, but some have found it helpful when building a game/campaign using HERO.
 
First my premise.
All role playing games share certain common parts that most people will recognize.
1 - Character generation guidelines
2 - Gameplay rules
3 - Threat/Creature/Bestiary collections
4 - Setting Information
 
There is one other part of all role playing games.  What I call the Meta-Rules but also referred to as design notes or core documents.  These are the “rules” that the creator uses to write the “rules”.  
The D&D 5th Players Handbook contains the games Character Generation Guidelines and the Gameplay Rules.  The PHB contains lists and items, but does not tell you why.  You have spell lists but no actual details on why one is 1st or 2nd level.  You can select different traits embodied by “race” or “class” but they do not specify why or how each of the encompassed abilities were built or “balanced”.   In other words they do not reveal the “Met-Rules” used to build and balance everything else.
 
This brings us to HERO.
 
HERO simply gives you the Meta-Rules and says GO!  They also do not give you 1, 2, 3 or 4.
 
But wait you say.  They obviously give you character generation guidelines.
 
Nope.
 
They give you the Meta-Rules that allow you to build/design ANYTHING.  But not any actual character generation guidelines, gameplay rules, threat/creature/bestiary collections or even real playable settings.  They do have many useful books that give you general information and builds such as the Bestiary.  The Bestiary give you one take on a Dragon, but is will it fit in your world?  The Hero source books give you information nbut nothing “tailored” to a specific “game” such as D&D 5th.
 
Handing the players a copy of the Meta-Rules and then assuming everyone will be on the same page never ends well.
The various Fantasy Hero products do NOT contain a “playable” set of fantasy rules for a game.  The majority of the Fantasy Hero versions are well written primers/guides on how to design a set of fantasy “rules”.  The product Fantasy Hero Complete combines the Meta-Rules and fantasy primer/guide in one book.
 
To run a fantasy game using the Hero System you will have to write the character generation guidelines which includes how magic will work.  
You will also need to write the game play rules.  For example the Hero “rulebook” contains MANY options for combat.  Which ones are active and used directly and heavily influences how characters are designed.
 
I would also initially predesign a fixed magic system.  And by fixed I mean a few pre-built options that can simply be selected much like spells.
With your personally designed “Players Guide” then go and design a few demo pregenerated PC’s for the players to test drive.
 
Then let them make their own PC’s using your Players Guide.   
 
Then after they are comfortable with actually playing Hero, introduce them to Hero 5th, or Hero 6th or Fantasy Hero Complete and show them how you did what did.  
At that point they will have enough information to get creative and build cool stuff within you game world.
 
But most RPG players are used to having setting specific Player Guides for everything and just dumping the Hero Meta-Rules on them will create option overload.  
 
And least in my experience it does.
 
But then YMMV as they say.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Spence is completelt correct.
 
Except he misspelled 2nd edition, somehow....
 

 
 

I'm going to potentially open up a can of worms here, but I'm going to suggest that you go ahead and learn the rules yourself and then port your players' characters into your setting so they don't have to learn all the character creation stuff. It's potentially overwhelming (many threads, some of them started by me, cover this subject ad nauseum). If you give them their characters with whom they are already familiar and then teach them how the combat and skill resolution works it will make the transition much easier. In the end it all comes down to 3d6, roll under, which is so utterly simple they won't believe it. This way you avoid the wall of text/barrier to entry/information overload problems that people always complain about.
 
Once they learn that they can create their own magic, etc. etc., they'll dig into the creation rules on their own and at their own pace. And THEN you have 'em hooked. . . 

I'm going to potentially open up a can of worms here, but I'm going to suggest that you go ahead and learn the rules yourself and then port your players' characters into your setting so they don't have to learn all the character creation stuff. It's potentially overwhelming (many threads, some of them started by me, cover this subject ad nauseum). If you give them their characters with whom they are already familiar and then teach them how the combat and skill resolution works it will make the transition much easier. In the end it all comes down to 3d6, roll under, which is so utterly simple they won't believe it. This way you avoid the wall of text/barrier to entry/information overload problems that people always complain about.
 
Once they learn that they can create their own magic, etc. etc., they'll dig into the creation rules on their own and at their own pace. And THEN you have 'em hooked. . . 

I'm going to potentially open up a can of worms here, but I'm going to suggest that you go ahead and learn the rules yourself and then port your players' characters into your setting so they don't have to learn all the character creation stuff. It's potentially overwhelming (many threads, some of them started by me, cover this subject ad nauseum). If you give them their characters with whom they are already familiar and then teach them how the combat and skill resolution works it will make the transition much easier. In the end it all comes down to 3d6, roll under, which is so utterly simple they won't believe it. This way you avoid the wall of text/barrier to entry/information overload problems that people always complain about.
 
Once they learn that they can create their own magic, etc. etc., they'll dig into the creation rules on their own and at their own pace. And THEN you have 'em hooked. . . 

I'm going to potentially open up a can of worms here, but I'm going to suggest that you go ahead and learn the rules yourself and then port your players' characters into your setting so they don't have to learn all the character creation stuff. It's potentially overwhelming (many threads, some of them started by me, cover this subject ad nauseum). If you give them their characters with whom they are already familiar and then teach them how the combat and skill resolution works it will make the transition much easier. In the end it all comes down to 3d6, roll under, which is so utterly simple they won't believe it. This way you avoid the wall of text/barrier to entry/information overload problems that people always complain about.
 
Once they learn that they can create their own magic, etc. etc., they'll dig into the creation rules on their own and at their own pace. And THEN you have 'em hooked. . . 

I have to admit, where I doing something pulpish, and in possession of a time machine, I think I'd spend every nickel I had on Walter Malino.....
Sorry for the delay; I was googling up some examples of his work.  Found a nice selection here:
 
 
https://designyoutrust.com/2018/05/the-supercharged-art-of-walter-molino/
 
Such an incredible amount of energy in everything he did.....

Forget it kid, you'll shoot your eye out.
 

.50 caliber air rifle
 
Makes the cooling issue for a space infantry armament (see discussion bakc in Oct 2016 of this thread somewhere) much less of a problem.

I know that roll20 does

If I roll a 5- or a 16+, I have a pretty good idea about my odds of success.  I like the idea of the player rolling in a manner that they cannot see the results rather than the GM rolling, though.
 
I wonder whether any of the online gaming apps have a function where the player directs the roll so only the GM can see it.

hmmm...and for an added premium, you can "suggest" the answer of your choice 😈

Good call-out! The technical term for this, which I suspect Carlyle uses at some point(s), is euhemerization -- derived from the ancient Greek mythographer Euhemerus, who first developed the theory that gods must have started out as ancient kings and heroes who gradually got turned into divine figures over time.