Scott Ruggels

Well pretty much. Though they had to be land holding lords to support their upkeep with herds of cattle. They would take marginal grasslands, or conquered territories. Hire staff, and Factors that represented their interests in court ( unless they knew the shapeshifter spells). The banks ran efficiently, but any irregularities might result in being eaten, so the numbers are scrupulously kept.

Build the wolf as a template. STR for bite, half STR for lift/ drag, as wolves are not as beefy as great cats. Move characteristic maxima around to reflect “wolf” not “human”. So lower INT, fed into Higher CON? Etc.

Duke, No electricity since Late Saturday afternoon. Have to go to restaurants to eat and use WiFi. But other than cancelling contracts, I am fine. all it took really for my Fantasy to be different, was to advance society to the nation state phase, and combat to the pike and shot phase. Adventurers with gun powder got quite dramatic in the opening phase, and then the swords and axes were drawn. Add in hyper-capitalist, semi-civilized dragons that began the banking houses, but were also subject to military draft as tactical bombers, and it had a very different flavor than your standard D&D. This is why I had to come up with that Parlimentary vote generated system I detailed in a previous thread.

I would elaborate more. But I have done simple law for simple lands, and complex law for civilizations with deep bureaucracies. I even had a bit for the Jaggiri. But since we have no electricity, and may have to evacuate I cannot elaborate further. Typing this at a Denny’s.

Kind of the reason I didn’t go see it.

Haven’t seen it. Friend did, and he’s a horror movie aficionado. He thought it was “ interesting “, but was kind of a one note wonder.

Duke,I may have mentioned this movie before, but a fairly good recreation of the MCU look without being MCU, was the Russian film Gaurdians. Great Lighting, limited costumes, until the final fight, “realistic”, effects. It even has a dome. This and Antman are probably good examples, as well as theNetflix Marvel shows.

So he wears the Steve Jobs tech fashion of turtleneck, blazer, and slacks, all black?

The two things to get the MCU feel is to emulate tone in the writing and the artistic presentation. In the writing , the tone is serious, but breezy. Asides can be humorous, but never goofy. There are lots of named NPCs the heroes interact with. Their reactions are often the source of humor, but the mission and the situation is serious, and the stakes rise as the adventure progresses. The villains are rational (mostly), and pursue their goals in a direct manner, and will be smug (and verbally arrogant) in victory. This is not the place for spittle flecked screaming tirades, until the villain’s plans are collapsing, and the heroes are at his door. People will die in this adventure, but the attention will not linger on the results, and may be in the background for the mass casualty events when the dome sprouts. Buildings collapsing is often enough. Artistically, the project should not follow any comic book conventions. This is a PDF, and therefore all the artwork should be color, save diagrams, and abstract maps. Example character art should look like publicity head shots, or production stills. There are no existing Superheroes so there is no convention of stretchy spandex, and bright colors. If concealment of a character’s identity is important, masks will be purchased and improvised. Costumes I’d used may be tactically prudent, and comfortable. Clothing from sweats, to sports uniforms, to aSWAT fatigues and surplus store equipment. The heroes don’t get fancy costumes until the end, if any. The exception is gadgetry. The MCU loves their props, and they like them shiny and brightly lit. Any full body shot will be an action shot and showcase the gadget. The movies Display high quality, and very nicely lit effect shots. Speciall effects should be logical, but flashy. But mundane objects will behave as expected, with building collapsing if it’s supports are moved off vertical. Concrete shatters, exposing rusty rebar, and tossed cars crumple and spill fluids, some flammable. Collateral property damage is frequent , and it the way the MCU movies illustrates the power of the Heroes and villains abilities. Gang members will not wear face coverings. Need to see those actor’s faces. This is just a first pass on how to recreate that MCU feel. As much as Duke may dislike Ironman in the comics, I would strongly suggest that he watch the First MCU Ironman film. Hope this helps n

I wish I still had it. Photocopy of a photocopy, even when I joined and covered with phone numbers, and held together like a screen play with those brass brads. Haven’t seen it since, the first printed edition dropped into my hands.

Just to reiterate the projects goals. it is to produce an introductory adventure, as a companion piece to Champions Complete, aimed at new users. This adventure uses none of the existing Characters, locations and situations from the "Champions Universe" (CU). The purpose it so create a self contained adventure in three parts that introduces players to the basics of combat, skill rolls and investigation in the HERO framework. The product should be presented in as an adventures in an MCU context, rather than Comic Books, so as to give the players a common frame of reference. Situations and references should be contemporary, and most specifically not refer back to "Silver Age" tropes. This is a product for younger gamers, and not aimed at the Grognards, but they might have fun with this. ?Es Claro?

Zulu A 1964 British film about the action the day after their defeat at Isandlwana by the Zulus under King Cetwayo in 1879. A perennial attraction at Bay Area gaming cons for more than a decade, the film was a great illustration of a defensive action, against a larger, superior force. Great acting by a young Michael Caine, and a standout performance by Nigel Greene as Colour Sergeant Bourne.

I did mine with markers. Still have it.

It’s multiform.

Welcome Bryce!! Good to see you up, too!

Just hanging this out there. Artist for Hire. Have illustrated several 3rd, 4th, and 5th edition products. B/W or color. Ping me if interested please.

So folks, it looks like this may not be an idle intellectual excercise. but this could be the start of something for the new Hero Initiative. See the following:

This topic is pinned, right?

I have some old stuff i might be able to rework, but not sure i can make the deadline, but I will see what i can do. Reworked Jaggiri in 6e? Quite possible, with editing. Lots of other projects, later.

Favorite Edition? The playtest rules! Man, Magic was cheap. This was contemporaneous with Espionage, so people had huge numbers of combat levels. Mostly, it was the GM, L. Douglas Garrett.

Taking things a little broader. There was a discussion of "Hard, vs. Soft magic" This essay by Author, Brandon Sanderson describes it in detail here: https://brandonsanderson.com/sandersons-first-law/ In short Both hard and soft magic has rules, but Soft magic the rules are unknowable, except in vague outlines, as the universe is much larger than mere mortals, and hard Magic Systems are tools, with defined rules. The only way a Soft System would work in a Fantasy hero Game, would be if the P.C.s never were casters themselves, and might pick up a magic item here or there. Hero, though by it's nature lends itself to hard systems. but then this essay, gives you another axis to use, and that is Nebulous/ Rational. Author C.R. Rowenson ex plains the added axis here: https://crrowenson.com/magic/types-of-magic/types-of-magic/?doing_wp_cron=1571195180.8687610626220703125000 The Short explanation is a Rational System would allow a reader or observer to deduce that A + B = C. An Nebulous system would only be discernable if the reader or observer has C< and has seen A and B. Rowenson illustrates what each system best serves certain types of narratives and then graphs different systems from literature to find out where they are https://crrowenson.com/magic/types-of-magic/types-of-magic-part-2-7-popular-systems/?doing_wp_cron=1571199062.3508040904998779296875 What this leads me to believe is that because of what Hero is, or was originally, it favors hard systems, specifically because of the point builds, But on the rational/ nebulous scale that is dependent upon the setting and the GM< It seems. Oddly, to me I have always mentally separated D&D Characters, from Fantasy Characters conceptually, as i see D&D Characters as adventurers, but (for the most part) Fantasy Hero Characters as professionals. This analysis of magic systems seems to indicate a little bit why.

Exactly!

Only ran into her a couple of times, Barry and Lee were active in LASFS, and he seemed younger than she, but she was tiny. She must be in her late 60's now. But we are hijacking the thread.

I was there from 1985m until... i want to say 199-? It was only after I moved from Los Angles in April, and was unplackng all my stuff, including the A&E issues, that I had lived in the same zip coade as Lee Gold (who was just south of Venice Blvd, apparently).

I would have to dig out moldering piles of APAs, out of the shed, (Hey Alarums & Excursions, hey Wild Hunt!), to get the specifics, but I built magic systems "culturally" in that what was the role or art of magic for each culture? One culture, was a culture of direct speaking and of icy tempers. Tht culture's magic system had full END costs in general, most spells got the "Noisy" modifier, so that anyone near the magic going off would feel the hairs of the back of their neck rise, and people with a "magic skill roll" could detect a spell at long ranges. You didn't need a detect magic to tell that magic went off. Special effects were "Geometric looking" and a lot of effects were in beams, cones, or spheres. Magic for them started as a tool for war, and only extended slightly from those. Nearby, was a culture the first gruop beat up for their lunch money. THey started as squabbling and disunited petty kingdoms, but after being occupied, their magic, became a tool of resistnce.. Their magic did require a magic skill roll, but most spells were either invisible power effect, or "indirect", and rarely included gestures or incantations, and magic items from there, DID require a detect magic. Often their spells had a trigger or a time effect. The Jaggiri, I have discussed before, in a thread here, but The Mechanics weren't. Basically Jaggiri Magic required a magic skill, was cast in teams, and spell power was based on how many people contributed END for the spell, plus made their coordination roll (with time), so as to drop indirect area of effects with range doubling and AOE doubling. (This was before megascale), so that they could drop effects subtle or terrible, over large areas of terrain, miles away (Weather Control was a thing they did on occasion). In my thinking, is that Magic is a reflection of the culture that discovered, or created it, much like a religion, but with a more direct effect. on people, and as such the society will mold their mages to find a space, and fit a role in the society. The Magic Systems should have advantages and limitations that reflect the culture it came from. Once I had cultural frameworks in place, if player wanted a new spell, they would have to work within their cultural framework to build a spell that fit in properly, and I as the GM would deny, edit, ir approve.