Scott Ruggels

That was the paper long ago that posited you could almost map continents by the period of rotation, plus when shows would "appear?" So you could get a rough map.

Oh the mentality is very different, because there is no "Zero to (Super)Hero" progression. Fantasy Hero characters, like Champions characters don't become more powerful over time, but become more versatile. I Always despair about people trying to emulate D&D mechanics, especially Vancian Magic in Fantasy Hero, when you really can match other literary or cultural magical traditions from other sources. Also without class distinctions, characters can differentiate on much finer degrees, not to mention making tuned custom racial packages. I never used NCM> It wasn't a thing when I started, but on the other hand I had 150 point max back then. But this was during the 2e and 3e days of FH. The Campaign lasted for about 20 years (until I screwed up).

Generally its the skills and backgrounds that differentiate the characters, Stats will be similar unless someone wants to be "the strong man" or the "Sharp shooter", or the "Martial Artist." But then you see in the old movies that all the heroes were about the same body type, and nearly interchangeable, except the protagonist had that one talent, or bucket of PRE that made him the leader.

Cranes on a lot of sailing ships were just the Mast, with the sails struck or furled, and an auxiliary Timber and a couple of bocks and snatchblocks added to maneuver the new "arm timber", and lift the freight. Quite do-able, storeable, it just takes time to make the mast clean enough to act as the center pole for the arm.

Hero is NOT a Modern, Minimalist, Fiction forward, system. It's a "Universal" system, and that sort of detail would be necessary, especially following the tool box template. Now rather than sneaky Spy stuff, I tended to run Espionage and D.I. as "modern Mercenary" where it was a Tactical Waregame in a central American Jungle, with Roleplay to give context to the upcoming fights. As a game, and run at conventions it worked quite well as a Schwazeneggar, or Stallone Movie simulator for entertainment and fun. You are correct about classic Traveller, and even Mongoose Traveller.3e fits that definition. If guns come out there, most people would put their hands up, as survival was questionable at best if the other guys started shooting. But is that the game you are aiming at?

Duke, and Joe, it’s not the variation of damage that identifies the weapon, but the variation of Range mod, stun mod, base accuracy, rate of fire, weight, and date of manufacture. Also in some cases an unsupported long gun with a long lock time, may trade an OCV bonus for an OCV penalty due to flinch or wobble if it does not go off faster than the operator expects.

Duke!! You forgot the stun mod adds to those large, Imperial of Colonial era projectiles, like the .45ACP, the Webley, the Rast & Gasser, the large Colt Walker and Dragoons, and the Mars Pistol. You know how much I love the stun lotto! One of the reasons I avoid 6e! I would even say that the amount of body done was higher (but with reduced penetration, though still with an added stun mod) for the black powder long guns like the Enfield Snider, the 1861 Springfield, or the 1851 Enfields. (Also the range mods are shorter than the smokeless cartridge rifles), so there is a bit more variation.

Another YouTube channel, C&Rsenal, has been doing a deep dive into firearms from the US Clvil War, through the end of WW1. In general, there are broad trends. Up to the beginning of The Civil War firearms were muzzle loading, cap lock single shots. Right at the dawn of the war cartridge breech loaders started to appear, but were eschewed by the army, as the necessity of war meant they had to issue the service weapon everywhere. It was bad enough, that the base rifle was used up to the Spanish American war in 1898. They were converted from muzzle loaders, with the Allyn conversion to the Trapdoor Springfield. After the civil war Cartridge firearms superseded cap locks, and to increase rates of fire, tubular magazines, first seen in Henry Rifles, in 1858 and carried up through to the French Lebel rifle in 1888, and we still see them in shotguns today. The lever action and tube magazine were superseded by the bolt action box magazine and packet (stripper) loading. The afore mentioned lebel was developed in 5 months, to take advantage of the new secret flat shooting smokeless powder. That secret lasted a year. This forced every other military to adopt new rifles. John Moses Browning became active around then and led the slow transition from revolvers to semi-automatic pistols, the rifles. Smokeless powder also made machine guns possible. Hiram maxim’s prototypeswere functioning by 1885, but only functional after 1889 when smokeless became common. This brings us to The First World War. A sampling:

The Biggest changes since the first release of Espionage, in firearms, is the adoption of Special Operators accessories to the Military as a whole. The Discussion of the transition from the M-16 A2, which was top of the line when Espionage came out, to the M-4 carbine, with optics in 2007 is illuminating. Since, the .45 disappeared, came back, then disappeared again. Optics have been added to pistols, and all firearms have had Picatinny rails, and accessories like tunable infrared lasers, likes, Magazine carriers, and two and three point slings. The Callibers are mostly the same, as old, but the delivery is faster, and more accurate than it was in the 80s. Looking at the Ukraine war, the modernization of the Kalashnikov platform has been uneven,with the AK-74, and AK-102 having just about the same performance, and anything later the power is degraded.

The Lightweight Taurus motorcycle:

Yeah that's weird.... So I tried it: https://imgur.com/gallery/4dt1vA8

All this talk of Assegais makes me really miss that golden age of California Gun Shows, where you would See Assegais and shields, next to Japanese Matchlocks, and boxes full of blades and bayonets. Accessible (if unaffordable) piece of history. Though this was back when I would buy any military surplus rifle if it was less than $150. We all saw Zulu, and the assegais looked very ....business like. It would not be bad as a shipboard weapon for Traveller, with bothy Piercing, and blunt trauma damage. Though in Zulu, you saw it used in conjuction with that tall , cowhide shield. FOr sip boarding you may want to pair it with a TAC Shield. (But I would still prefer the Sternmeyer Boarding Carbine in 10 Ga.)

Interesting, but that is WITHOUT Strength training. Soldiers go through Basic Training, and continue with morning Physical training. Peasants use scythes. Laborers lift bales of hay. About the only folks with less strength you would see, would be the clergy, and the Middle class in the mediaeval context. Even in the modern context, soldiers have to perform their evolutions with an extra 80lbs or so on their backs. M<y assumption for player characters is someone who is "dangerworthy", which usually meqans a fit character who has completed some training, therefore 10s across the board, RAW (3rd -4thedition). Do not apply to me with consumptive scholars who could be hors de combat by a house cat.

Who says characteristics are 8 across the board? I always assumed 10 aqcross the board since 1981, and I disregard 6e, because I don't use it. I do like Christopher R. Taylor's use of STR mins to be able to apply extra DC's with. That's a rather elegant solution. I have seen a lot of 6 foot _ spears being used with round shields, one handed (and thn two handed, as the fighting was quite dynamic).

I've always thought of Magic The Gathering as a cancer on the TTRPG Hobby since it's debut in 1993 Worldcon. It's a curse, that crippled the hobby for about a decade, until Paizon figured out a formula to avoid it, but that caused a bump in CCG's that just sucked money out of the hobby. MTG is Hasbro's flagship at the moment, as it's on of the few activities they still sell that makes money, and does not require a screen to play. For what had been a toy company, that produced GI-Joe, and then later Transformers, the loss of Toys-R-Us, as well as a general shift to screens for kids, meant that their options had changed and CCGs were it.

1.) define your goals. 2.) Select your preferred method of determining probabilities. 3.) Play test it. 4.) Return to Step one. 5.)When Play and goals closely match, Write things out, like you are explaining it to a five year old. 6.) Send it to a friend for proof reading, and ask them to create a character in the system. 7.) If your friends like it, time to ;ay out the book and hire artists, graphic artists, and pick fonts. 8,( Decide to Kickstart, or find a publisher to finance printing and distribution. That all being said You7 can put things together in CHampions, to see if things will work.

An article on the fate of the commercial Hakuto-R lunar lander. https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/04/a-japanese-company-is-about-to-attempt-a-moon-landing/

Because even the ancients realized the sun was the engine of growth and of time. Very powerful stuff. The ancients we’re grateful for the warmth, and the effects it had on the crops. The moon in contrast is just time, and often the unseen because the night is full of mystery and fear.

Oh, you mean like this? (Regular damned Disney Princess)

Oh gosh. I’d have to make something new, from scratch maybe Bob still has his Centurion figure. But I don’t have a lot of the art from those days, and what I do have, was used in the Champions Begins project last year.

Dennis did the cover to Aaron’s Lands of Mystery. So I can see where the confusion is. Brian K. HAMILTON’s painting is hanging safely in Steve Petersen’s living room.

What is this.... The 1920s again? Oh.... it's the 2020s. Fits.

I know Dennis a little. For the 40th Anniversary at Steve Petersen’s house, he brought photos and a portfolio of his work. All of the cardboard heroes were generated new because they needed front and back views. The colors were P. H. Martin’s vibrant watercolors. They were done 150% scale and reduced for printing. They were originally made for Steve Jackson’s The Fantasy Trip, but Aaron convinced Steve to make sets for Champions.