Certified

Re: Starfall - A Gamma HERO campaign

Looking at the characters that have been proposed I had a few questions. Do you think we need a Pure character also, someone with bartering, merchant skills seems like it would be important.

Re: Manhunt: The Greatest Game On Earth

While it may seem to be a safe way to stay alive Stalkers who hunt Badlanders who pose no threat to the City-States are regarded with a particular distaste. Those who gain the rather dubious distinction are called: Bottom Feeders, Bungs, Peelers Scabs or Scabbers, Yellow Jockey or Woundless. Most of these names target the Stalkers lack of skill or inability to get to the real problems in the Badlands.

Re: Manhunt: The Greatest Game On Earth

You're probably right. What I was trying to establish in the post though was more a matter of what players can expect. To try and balance out what one might see in a stalker. This way there can be a more even mix of Stalker personalities and not just a collection of sadists.

Re: How can you make the stone age cool?

Nice post Lucius

Come on and join in start a rep train....

Re: Demo version of Champions Online available

This seems to fall in line with other things they are doing. They did free trials early on and this seems to be a clean way of preventing that from being exploited. Also, throwing out two rather detailed events for Halloween and Christmas I hope this is a sign of things to come with regular events to spark people's interest. That said I also hope that these events do not take the place of actual content being added.

Re: Anyone ever run a campaign with *really* young kids?

You may consider going with 5th Ed Rev. Although, they are working on getting out supplemental materials quickly for now there is still a larger body of work for 5th. Plus the character creation has more varied math, normally I use Hero Designer for my characters but since this is for a 7 and 8 year old no reason why they can get a lesson out of it.

Re: Hero System Good Idea/Bad Idea...

I suppose they could' date=' but would they both be good ideas (I'm talkiing about roleplaying here)?[/quote']

 

Well not at the same time, one should prioritize things.

Re: Character Review - Venus

In this build the Thorns were removed and her strength increased to 25, the Clinging to costs end throughout and dropped the Extra End requirement. To try and balance out her defenses the Regen was dropped to a per hour rate and resistant defenses to 4 with 6 total PD & ED. The End cost was also lowed for Part of the Environment. Oddly the added Strength helps clean up some End issues by increasing her Recovery. The Cryptography was actually an error on my part. The skill has been removed and her Survival and languages have been expanded. Other changes include an increase in body from posts left over after dropping her defenses down. Lastly I went though and did a major overhaul on her Disadvantages adding in a Vulnerability to Fire a Susceptibility to Pesticides and a Hunted by the Darwinists as these all seemed to fit with the concept and it gives plenty of room for mad scientists.

For ease of reference I've included the character below instead of updating the previous post again.

Re: Starfall - A Gamma HERO campaign

I think a large branch or a rock wouldn't be out of the question a knife on the other hand would be.

Re: Hero System Good Idea/Bad Idea...

Somewhat NSFW, so I'll spoiler it:

 

 

Good Idea: The PCs want to get a golden idol.

 

Bad Idea: The PCs want to get a golden shower.

Can't they want both?

Re: Character Review - Venus

Okay, I've consulted with Zac, we've debated several things, and it's time to give a full review of Venus. However, I'm going to do this in stages, because the answers from the first part will affect other things on the character.

 

We like the concept, though (as expected) playing a Weed requires us to ask several questions about how the character functions. I'll start with the questions that arose from having a plant character in the game:

 

• Does Venus breathe, or have a breathing equivalent where she needs access to oxygen like a human? If not, Life Support of some sort will be required
  

One of the things I wanted to do with Venus is develop her plant like abilities over time. For now she has no advantage for breathing but as she matures I'd like to pick up an extended breathing or expanded breathing (Nitrogen) depending on what's appropriate for the game.

 

• What does she eat? My thought was that she takes in more water per day than a human needs, but garners remaining sustenance by drawing nutrients from fertile ground. Fortunately, Venus has the ability to make ground fertile - a beneficial mutation.
  
• Does Venus sleep? My thought is that since Venus is mobile unlike most plants, she needs periods of inactivity to recover from the exertion of movement. These inactive periods would be similar to a human's sleep cycle. If she doesn't have a sleep equivalent, she'll need Life Support for that.
  

Like Pures and other creatures she still has the basic needs. I pictured her needing good soil and water. A friend and I were actually taking about this and got a chuckle over the following possible conversation: (GM): So you'll all be heading into the desert. Anything you need before leaving?

(Venus): Twenty kilos of potting soil.

It was around this time I realized that the old phase you've made your bed now lie in had a rather special meaning for Venus. Taking the time to convert a patch of ground she cold sleep there and wake up refreshed. Then again at the same time spending a night in say an underground bunker where all the floors and walls are concrete would cause her to starve.

 

• Does Venus have the equivalent of sight, hearing, etc? This would include parts of her form where sensory growths are concentrated, so she could be blinded, deafened, etc. Is she missing any of the five senses that a human has?
  

Part of the Venus concept is that she is human-like so she has these basic senses and sensory organ equivalents. No special senses or defenses, yet...

 

• Venus appears to be a mold-based plant, but has thorns, which is a departure from theme. Are the thorns mainly so Venus has an attack, or is there a conceptual reason for them? As an alternative, you could buy up STR to 25, which would give you a respectible 5d6 N attack (enough to stun your standard wasteland ganger).
  

The idea of her having thorns as an attack was primarily to prevent her from needing technology to compensate, I didn't picture her using weapons. As for her Strength this was something I debated, I'd actually really like to take Venus's Strength and Body higher. For whatever reason even though her background she's fungal I picture her as being tougher, more like a tree in my head.

Overall, I think these notes actually give me ideas on how to advance the character as she gains experience, grow into her body so to speak. Right now, part of her is still trying to reconcile her human heritage so there may be things that she could do now if she realized it but her mind hasn't accepted it. Other things might be her body simply developing.

Re: Champions Sneak Peek #1: The Cover!

What's wrong with Seeker?

I'm not sure but one of my friends was rather amused by his lack of resistant defenses.

Re: Genre-crossover nightmares

Who would Johnny Depp play?

I don't know but Deep Roy would play all the non-speaking passengers.

Re: Champions Sneak Peek #1: The Cover!

Okay lets get back on topic here people: 5th Ed Defender who ears power armor or Champions Online Tron Spandex Defender. Let's keep the conversation clear here.

/e Dives for cover.

Re: Starfall - A Gamma HERO campaign

I've updated the Venus post.

I only have time for a quick read of Venus, but I did notice a few things.

 

Invisibility has the wrong limitation amount for Extra Time. As you have the power written up, it takes a turn to active, lasts a phase...and then you have to activate it again. It's only a -1/2 limitation (half of -1 1/4) to have the Extra Time only apply to the activation of a Constant power.' Clinging has the same problem, but you could add a limitation of "cannot move when power active" to compensate.

Went through and corrected the Extra Time. That was an idiot move on my part. To keep the costs relatively the same I've upped the End cost on these powers. Notes: Hero Designer put this at -3/4ths. Do you want me to change try and change it to -1/2 manually or is this okay?

The Regeneration is pretty strong - we're talking Wolverine-level regen. Then again, it appears to be the central theme of your character (renewal). I'll have to discuss this one with Zac.

 

Gift of the Land is another one I'll have to think about. One limiting factor is that just because you 'clean' the land, doesn't mean it'll stay that way. One Bad Water rain can undo what you have done, for example.

This sounds fair to me I wasn't looking to do long term world altering changes but I thought it made for a good story element.

If you plan to pick up weapons of one sort or another, the HKA is fine as a backup. If it's going to be your only attack for the majority of the campaign, you may want to buy it up to 1d6K (2d6K with STR).

I pictured her shunning most technology reliying on her natural abilities more. There is a disadvantage to go with hat as well. To compensate I bumped her Thorns to 2d6k.

The DR is fine...I'd actually suggest a higher PD, maybe with the limitation that it doesn't work against slashing attacks. Bullets and clubs don't do much against a plant. Maybe 2 or 3 points of PD Armor with the "not versus slashing attacks" limitation.

Venus is now at 7 PD/ED and rPD/rED.

For playability, you may want to tone down the Distinctive Feature to Major instead of Extreme. Unless someone looks closely, they may think you're just a mut with a rather strong mutation, which would mitigate their reaction towards you. I'd actually take two Distinctive Features:

 

• Distinctive Feature - Mutated Plant (5 points). This represents the difficulties you'll have with devices of the ancients. Interestingly, you'll have less of a problem with such devices than beasts.
  
• Distinctive Feature - Weed (15 or 20 points). This is the Distinctive Feature you already have.
  

 

I think Unique Biology is both advantage and disadvantage, and shouldn't be worth a disadvantage on its own. Some things that won't affect a Pure will hurt you, and vice-versa. However, I could see taking the disadvantage Plant Biology, as Paramedics skill is useless to help you.

 

I think your two Social Limitations are double-dipping, as the reason people may not trust you is because you're a Weed. I'd drop the 'Not Trusting'.

Removed the Not Trusted, lowered the Distinctive Features and added a second along with upping her Dreams from Moderate to Strong. For her physical limitation, I tried to take the idea of her biology as both a benefit and a flaw using Life Support and the Unique Biology Disadvantage. Does that make sense?

To bring her damage and defenses up to snuff I went ahead and dipped into the 10 points I had set aside. Let me know what you think. The changes so far were easy enough.

Re: Starfall - A Gamma HERO campaign

you use spoiler inside brackets above and below it with a slash on the later spoiler.

Re: Starfall - A Gamma HERO campaign

Here's an initial draft of Venus based on the guidelines. During the design process I knew she should be relatively strong and tough. With her skills I decided that she should have a rather natural affinity for plants and the wild. This meant she ended up with several science skills but I would like to think of them as more like intuitive knowledge than hard science or information she doesn't know why she knows. As a Weed, I tried to give her a kind of basic array of "plant" things although her ability to change the ground around her may be unsuitable for the game I thought of it may offer some interesting plots. Overall she runs fairly middle of the road for things. Part of the image I had for her is that she would be fairly self sustaining. To that effect I left 10 points open for other plant like weirdness she may possess.

Re: My Players looted the room

Security cameras and arrest warrens are your friends.

Re: Starfall - A Gamma HERO campaign

Venus was her name:

In the ruins of the Great Var are scattered the bodies of countless scavengers. Among those that died was the child Linda Moore, a young girl who had wandered too far from Fedrex and found her life snatched away by the ravages of the strange city. It was a year before she was to go on her first hunt for Cargo.

However, in the ruins of the Great Var nothing is wasted. As fungus overtook the rotting corpse of the girl the city began to work its magic. Burrowing into the remains of her brain the fungus began to mutate, to mingle and mix with the gray matter of the young Linda.

From her death something new was born. From Linda’s body Venus emerged, her fungal mass taking the shape of the girl a memory fragment shaping the new form. Unique and unsure Venus wandered the wastes searching for her place. As time passed she felt herself called farther and farther from the Great Var. Eventually something led her back to Fedrex.

The place felt alien, a perversion of nature and yet somehow familiar. Something about this place drew her in. When confronted by the towns guards she spoke for the first time in her new voice, Linda. Venus. Adult. Before then Venus had never even thought of her progenitor. Yet upon speaking the name she knew her purpose.

The people of Fedrex were leery to accept something so strange as Venus into their village, especially when she brought the name of a child who had gone missing a lifetime prior. It was her gifts though that finally turned them. The biomass that made up Venus’s body was able to change the fallow land to fertile soil. At first she came only sporadically altering the ground as she passed. As the time to forage for Cargo drew near she found herself returning more and more often and with a growing urgency to bring these people the substance they needed to survive.

Re: Hero System Good Idea/Bad Idea...

Dubious Idea: Swashbuckling whilst high.

Punny

Re: How can you make the stone age cool?

*Sigh.* Oh, well, I suppose I'd better go watch a few episodes now.

 

BTW, can anyone recommend some good fiction (fantasy or otherwise) set in the stone age?

Fist one to come to mind is the Earth's Children series starts with Clan of the Cave Bear.

Re: A Thread for Random Videos

Okay, we gots a video of an EVE player calling a special friend. Since the language is straight out for these forums I'm posting a link instead. Enjoy.

EVE Call

Re: Manhunt: The Greatest Game On Earth

Who to hunt a Stalker's Guide to Badland survival:The Badlands are home to villages who want noting more than to live outside the oppressive rule of the Colonies. Those people truly off the grid, those who have figured out how to survive without bothering anyone, they're just bad sport. Every Stalker thinks about it, pad your numbers with a few scavs maybe ride into town, gun down a host of innocents before the town can mount of defense. Sure they pad the numbers, but that's not where the action is at. A real Stalker wants the predators. The gangs and militants who raid the City-States or attack transports. The bastards who have for years kept the any real growth to a minimum. These are the real targets for Stalkers. You want to get famous you want the perks of the position then you have to go for the ratings.

Badland gangs are armed, sure, but not like a Stalker. They might know how to fight, but it's not like they have any real skill. The people want blood, but what they love to see is a fight. They want to see the normality play of good verses bad and they want their heroes to be the good guys. Does it matter if you sneak up on their camps and gut them in their sleep? Not really, especially if you can make it good for the camera. The more dangerous the prey the better. That doesn't mean a Stalker has to play fair though.

Re: Starfall - A Gamma HERO campaign

The Venus Mantrap in the Post-Apocalyptic book is a good starting point' date=' but I'll check a few other sources and work up some guidelines.[/quote']

 

Unfortunately I don't have the book.

 

The Great Var is an Ancient City decimated during the Final War. It is now overgrown with all manner of flora climbing though and amid the buildings. Very few people who trek into the Var looking for Cargo ever come out again. Those who survive tell tales of ground to hot to walk on, carnivorous flying plants and horrific wild beasts. Most believe these tales are just nonsense talk from people who have drank to much Bad Water and yet, no one you know has even entered into the Var and returned.

 

From a character creation point the Great Var is the closest place you would consider HOT from radiation. T

 

The Great Var sounds like where it's at for our young Venus.

 

Depending on you but if you wanted to tie in backgrounds' date=' possibly my ggaru had journed with her into the city. He was injuried early, see his background but she went on. It would depend on how much time pased between her death and current game date. With both their memory loss, they would not know each other but have some sort of sense of familiarity. Just a thought[/quote']

 

What I had originally pictured was 10+ years. This was to give her return a rather creepy vibe. The more I think about it tough the longer I think this should be, maybe 40 years or so, that way anyone who knew here wold be aged or dead.

Re: Starfall - A Gamma HERO campaign

Will this work for a character concept?

A girl goes out looking for Cargo hoping to prove herself dies in a radioactive forest. There a predictor fungus overtakes her body but somehow the thoughts and memories of the child linger changing the fungus. Overtime it grows large enough, building a body of plant mater in the likeness of the girl. She does not remember everything and no longer identifies as the original child but she knows that if she is ever going to find peace she must complete the girl's last trial. A decade or more later this new Weed-child wanders into Fedrex ready to seek Cargo for them.