Brian Stanfield

This isn't so much a specific question as it is a request for feedback on how people have tried to introduce some granularity into armor and weapon selection. I know many of you have more experience with actual medieval weaponry and can offer some great insight.
 
Fantasy Hero 6e offers some ideas on how to offer variety to weapons in a fantasy setting. On p. 205 it says:
Bashing damage weapons: weapon automatically has +1 STUN Multiplier (or an additional +1) if the wielder succeeds with a STR (or DEX) Roll when he attacks; leather and plate armors only provide half PD against Bashing weapons Slashing damage weapons: weapon gains +1 DC (which counts as base damage) against targets with no Resistant Defense (or when it hits a Hit Location with no Resistant Defense) if the wielder succeeds with a STR (or DEX) Roll when he attacks; leather armors only provide half PD against Slashing weapons Piercing damage weapons: weapon is automatically Armor Piercing if the wielder succeeds with a STR (or DEX) Roll when he attacks (if weapon is already Armor Piercing, it becomes double AP); chainmail and like armors only provide half PD against Piercing weapons I like the ideas presented here, but I'm wondering how much variation is possible or even desirable when considering weapon types versus armor types. 
 
For example, I was always a "sword first" kind of fantasy player. This was D&D conditioning. Daggers and short swords were a stupid waste of time, and polearms were ridiculously awkward. What good was a mace, anyway? Long sword all the way, unless I was strong enough for a two-handed sword. And then all my weapon proficiencies went into that one single weapon. I went into this in a Weapon Speed discussion already. That was thoroughly beaten to death, but with lots of great insight. I'm hoping to get something like that here.
 
I'm looking at this now with the idea that all those different weapons have different purposes. A sword isn't always the right option. Is your foe covered head to toe in plate mail? Clanging away with a sword will only get the sword broken. This is where a mace comes in handy, for instance. Or perhaps an axe, which can focus more chopping power against armor. Or a dagger for getting into the little gaps. Or armor piercing crossbow bolts. There are countless examples, each showing how what I used to think of as "stupid" weapon choices may actually be more reasonable. 
 
I'd like to promote more creative weapon specialization in my players, without it simply being an aesthetic/fetishistic choice based on what looks cool. I'm cool with looking cool, but I'd also like to have some incentive for selection of different weapons. 
 
For example, the older I get the more handy I realize an axe can be. It's a great tool in a lot of ways, and a pretty darn effective weapon too. Now I'd be more liable to grab an axe than a sword, and I'm actually trained in sword IRL. I suppose a sword can be used to break down doors or fell trees, but the axe is designed to do exactly those things. So by extension, what is it most effective against as a weapon?
 
This then raises all kinds of new questions. Are there more than the 3 damage categories listed above that would be useful without overlapping too much? Is "chopping" different from "slashing"? Is there something a sword is better at than an axe? Is some armor more or less vulnerable to a mace? 
 
The converse question, then, is what armor types pair against what damage types? Which armors are more or less vulnerable to each type of damage? Is there really a difference between getting hit fully by an axe versus a sword (I mean really, not just in terms of dice rolled)?
 
Do any of you have some ideas about armor types versus weapon types that have worked, or have you found the 3 categories listed above from Fantasy Hero 6e to be sufficient? I'm curious of your experience and insight.

It was a time of great decline and despair. Mankind was scraping an illiterate, bestial existence out of the ruins of once-shining empires. Forgotten were the secrets of how to make the straight roads and the great structures that still dotted the landscape. The memory of these empires was so dim that some places attributed these ruins to giants, for mortal men could never have built such wonders. Libraries were few and those who could read them fewer still; what knowledge remained was carefully preserved by monks and guilds who barely understood it, let alone how we came by the knowledge to begin with. Indeed, in those times a stack of half a dozen books was regarded as a library. Order was maintained through force of arms, not law; the common people were stalked by banditry, plague, famine, and godless hordes out of the East. With each passing year, structures decayed, populations shrank, knowledge faded, and hope dimmed. The end times were nigh--that was plain as day to anyone.
 
I guess. I'm not familiar with the 1001 setting exactly, just the 1001 I lived through.

Working on laminated armor; yes, you can make effective, light armor out of linen. Its light and tough enough to protect from light archery and will protect well from weapons. Its also pretty cheap and easy to make compared to forged armor. A historical group at a university worked on recreating Greek armor and here's what they discovered.
 
Basically its layers of linen with a laminating material -- they used 'rabbit glue' but there are reports of using wax as well.  The material is very resilient and even softens slightly over time to fit to yoru body better.  This is armor you could make at home with available supplies and be ready for war.
 
So that's part of the mix for players to choose from.  Its light enough that it won't encumber much (good for casters) and actually protects better against arrows than a lot of much more resilient armor.

Oh, and here's a fun bit of Irish history I came across while researching the game:
 
In 980, Irish High King Máel Sechnaill defeated & killed the Viking King Olaf of Dublin, bringing the Viking towns under Gaelic control. Afterwards, he took Olaf’s widow Gormflaith* as his own wife. But in 997, he divorced Gormflaith and married...her daughter (by Olaf) Máel Muire, who was then 18. Yes, he literally dumped his wife of 17 years to marry his teenage step-daughter who had been living with him since she was an infant. Ick.
 
Gormflaith meanwhile fled back to Dublin, where her son Sigtrygg Silkbeard was now King. In 999 she convinced Sigtrygg to rebel against Irish rule, but that revolt was crushed by Brian Boru the King of Munster and High King Mael's chief rival. This victory solidified Brian's control of the southern half of Ireland. Afterwards Brian married his daughter Sláine off to Sigtrygg, while Brian married...Sigtrygg’s mother Gormflaith.
 
So Gormflaith is simultaneously…
The wife of Brian Boru, Over-King of the South. The ex-wife of High King Máel Sechnaill The widow of the late King Olaf of Dublin The mother of Sigtrygg Silkbeard, the current King of Dublin, And the mother of Queen Máel Muire, the High King’s current wife  
* apparently pronounced "Gorm-lee."

And from this week's Historical-Fantasy Hero game:
 
The PCs have journeyed to Ireland, to the Hill of Tara, seat of High King Mael Sechnaill mac Domnaill, who is currently losing a civil war against Brian Boru, the King of Munster...
 
Player 1: "How would you like to be known to history as the Cheese King? No wonder he wants to take over, he just wants a better title!"
 
 
The PCs figure out the High King is going blind, so the Holy Warrior and the Alchemist decide to try and cure him:
 
Warrior: "Herbalism by 2, Medic by 4."
GM: "OK, great." (to Alchemist) "Give me a SS: Medicine roll."
Alchemist: (rolls) "...Well...crap."
Priest: "Did we just poison the High King?"
Warrior: "We were planning on leaving town anyway..."
Alchemist: "Screw that; I'm going to blow a Hero Point to reroll."
GM: "But it's funnier this way! ...Okay, fine grumble grumble."
Alchemist: (rerolls - gets a natural 3!) "WOOT!"
Priest: "As uses of Hero Points go..."
GM: "Yeah, wow. OK, go ahead and give me an Alchemical Invention roll just for..."
Alchemist: (rolls a second natural 3!)
Everyone:
Warrior: "So not only is he no longer blind, now he has Super Vision!"
GM: (singing) "I can see for miles and miles..."
Priest: "Did you make enough for everyone?"

Last week's Star Wars game featured the Battle of Endor and destruction of the second Death Star.
 
Except in this game, instead of the Ewoks being annoying midgets in teddy bear costumes, the GM turned them into terrifying CGI killbeasts who see the world as divided into into "Food" and "Things We Can Use To Kill Food." And the former category very emphatically does NOT include exceptions for sentient species. We manage to convince them not to eat us in exchange for helping them kill "The Food That Comes In White Shells" aka Stormtroopers.
 
GM: "The Ewoks start singing a battle song..."
PCs (all singing) "Yub yub, Ewok yub yub..."
GM: "Actually their battle songs sound more like recipes." (singing in a low dirge voice) "Add 2 cups butter, parsley and simmer until tender."
PCs:
 
 
Another change in this game is that Luke died blowing up the 1st Death Star, so Leia (as an NPC) became a Jedi instead; while the PCs take out the shield generator planetside, she's the one who goes up to the Death Star to watch Vader and the Emperor kill each other. Afterwards, back on Endor she readies Dad's corpse for the big Viking funeral send-off.
 
PC1: (to Leia) "Do you want to keep Lord Vader's shuttle?"
Leia: "No, you guys can have it."
PC2: "But you should at least keep his helmet. As a memento"
Leia: "That helmet is a reminder of what my father turned into, a monster who killed millions. Why would I want to be reminded of that?"
PC1: "Oh, you may not want it now. But someday your kids might want something to connect them to the grandfather they never knew."
GM: "..."
PC2: "Something to brood and obsess over..."
GM: "STOP!"

The bulk of the Jolrhos Field Guide consists of ways to help GMs and players interact with the rest of the world easier and more engagingly like the down time between adventures, what you do while camping, how to repair your armor; stuff to do that isn't just questing, killing monsters, looting, etc.   Its an attempt to fill in the world with more things to do and interact with besides straight adventure stuff like fighting and traps etc.  Foods, odd animals, ores you can dig up, plants that are useful, etc.  In the process this gives the GM more treasures to give away than the usual list, and it gives players more things to look for and do if they choose to.  Yeah, that basilisk had some coins and jewelry that past victims left behind, but you can skin the thing for its scaly hide, and take the eyeballs back to an alchemist -- or use them yourself.
 
When this is done I hope to present a unique but familiar world to players and GMs both, a book that players will find useful as well as game masters, and something different than any other game supplement made.
 
I just wish I could work longer and write faster.

Only the most enlightened will transcend the implied conflict in this question. Meditate upon this wisdom.
 
 
BBQ Blockbuster:
 
Memphis or Kansas City?

My 6th ed. collection looks like everyone esle's.
 

 
As do my 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th ed. collections, pretty much.
 
But I also have a couple of books nobody esle in the world has.
 

How to pronounce Jolrhos is largely up to you but I pronounce it like this:
"Jall-hrosse"  (like the -ose in sugrose and jall like "ball").  The name came about by scrambling letters of me and my brother's first to names when we created our game worlds.  He got some of the letters, I got the rest, and we made them into words

Work is ongoing with this project, and I plan on posting some things here to help give a glimpse into what the project is.
 
Essentially, the Field Guide is a book of the other stuff in the world besides monsters and treasures and player characters.  It is about the animals, plants, minerals and such that player characters can interact with to their advantage or detriment.  This includes poisons, trades such as blacksmithing and leatherworking, herbs of fantastic enchanted quality, and much more.
 
For example, in the world of Jolrhos you will find this:
 
Pepper Moss This dappled green and white hanging moss is uncommon on trees.  It dangles like Spanish moss, especially in areas away from water sources.  Dust-like material grows on the moss containing spores, and a strong wind or being physically jostled can cause the dust to cascade around the moss.   Most creatures are not particularly bothered by Pepper Moss, but humans, ratmen, wolfen, and zhai (not elves or dwarves) react to the dust as if it is very finely concentrated pepper.  The moss causes stinging in the eyes and strong repeated sneezing.  This acts as a flash attack of d6 worth of d6 (1-6d6) in the target for each plant’s worth of dust.  Further, at the beginning of each phase while blinded, before moving,  the target must make a Constitution Roll at -1 for each additional segment of blindness they are suffering from (so if a character has 3 segments of blindness, they must make CON roll at -3).  Failing this CON roll means they are stunned and must recover as normal that phase, taking no other action.   These effects are only on creatures that are affected by the pepper effect.  Others only cough slightly in annoyance.  All normal animals and most monsters are affected, but nothing such as dragons, demons, or undead is bothered by Pepper Moss.  Naturally any creature that does not breathe is unaffected as well. Pepper Moss is found in forests, swamps, and jungles, in temperate to tropical regions.

I don't even know if that rule still stands in 6e to be honest.  I still kind of default to 4th.
 
One of the funny things about the movie was that Charlie (the cleaner) turned out to be played by David Patrick Kelly.  Didn't even recognize him.

Hello, i am playing HERO from 5th edition revised, i am trying to introduce HERO 6th edition to as many RPG players as i can and recently bought Champions and Fantasy complete for 2 of them, they really like the books but my personal opinion is that is very difficult to play/ understand the book without having the 6E1 and 6E2 books nearby.Things like computing damage classes for advantaged power(and why you do so), or adding damage or even minimum damage are so minimally worded and without examples in the complete books that if these are your first and only HERO 6th edition you have to resort to the forums to clarify them or have an INT score of 20+ to work them out on your own(DC,adding damage,missing DC table).its a pity for such a wonderful and loved system as HERO.I hope there will be an errata on them soon.
 
P.S. otherwise from minimun wording i like the books too and congratulate every HERO product available and the effort of the writers.