Khymeria

This is just about the breakdown I would have thought as least as most spoken to least spoken. I wouldn't have known the numbers but common and uncommon is pretty easy to imagine if you have been around the country a little.

I think it isn't only power level that needs to be considered with Flash on a team, for example, versus Flash in a solo book, but also the Complications. Batman is a great example of different character sheets, the solo one has a focus on vehicles, bases, and gear with Alfred and Gordon and whichever Robin showing up more. In the JLA character sheet, Batman is a more ferocious combatant with gear and the vehicle and bases take a backseat. The Alfred, Gordon, Robin stuff is reduced and you shift those Complications into Doesn't Fully Trust Anyone and some dark secret about having files on the rest of the league and ways to deal with them. Batman has to share the spotlight so you can't have the full supporting cast and have to focus both in and out of combat on other things so other characters get their chance to share the comic.

1 hour ago, Cancer said:

 

 

 

I think not.  The token human should be either Gonzo or Animal.

You could consider switching over to having EGO function as BODY for this sequence. OMCV and DMCV could replace OCV and DCV or alternately replace PD and ED for basic defense since it is all in the mind. It also gives a boost to these characteristics which are often under utilized in many campaigns. Just off the top of my head, but I am going to ponder it further.

5 hours ago, Gauntlet said:

I have played the new D&D and the reason they need to have 50,000 different character types is that each character is pretty much the same. And to actually look at it, in many ways D&D is more confusing than Hero, with each character type being completely different and nearly impossible to tell which would be more powerful as there are plenty of character types that are almost completely useless. But I have found a good note. That players as they get older do find the repressiveness of some of those simple game to no longer be fun and go to more interesting games, such as Hero, where you can actually make the character you want, not just something listed in a book the same as every other one.

I was one of the contributors and playtesters for 5E D&D for WotC from the beginning and the first half of the edition cycle, and what you have said about D&D being more confusing than Hero System is spot on. Hero System, learn the rules and put some effort into really learning character creation and your done. In D&D, everything works differently, every class ability, spell, racial ability, magic item, and monster. Each has statistics, just like Hero System, but each also has the dreaded text to be interpreted, misinterpreted, misconstrued, and the second paragraph, the one that has the negative, always gets forgotten by the player and you have to go and look it up, and interpret it, misinterpret it, etc. D&D/Pathfinder appear to have a million options, but if you have to take them to keep up with the neverending encounter scale and the rest of the party, are the really options? If 80% of the advanced paths and feats for martial characters require either Power Attack or Weapon Focus, then is it really an option. If there are a million different choices that will never get chosen, then they are just noise. I will take the system that lets me and my players build exactly what we want, learn one system for everything, and the system is a formula that is consistent in nearly everything in the game. 

1 hour ago, GhostDancer said:

Chuck Norris doesn't wear Sunblock - the Sun wears Chuckblock.

1 hour ago, Hugh Neilson said:

 

Back in the day, I had the series tracked, complete with occasional Annuals.

Me too. I use Obsidian Portal for this. It works well and is easy for new players to catch up. 

If you have six players let them each roll one ability and the combined abilities are the abilities, put them where you like is a pretty decent method to get everybody involved if you are compelled to roll dice for primary statistics. Other than that though, rolling pretty much sucks because somebody is always sad. 

First I call each session an “issue” and not “episode.” Anyway, I get inspiration from comics, often team books because I have a group of players. The Defenders, Avengers, Justice League (to a lesser extent because of the high power level) in a standard game, but that would change based on the campaign. Outcasts or teen games would be different. 
 

I like to watch old crime shows from the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s because it’s pretty easy to change victim and location and boom, now you have a whodunit that was pretty easy. 
 

A supers game can pull from anywhere because of the range of abilities and power level. Supers can handle a Cthulhu so bust out your Lovecraft. Digitize the heroes and put them in a video game, Tron style. Perhaps they need a Fantastic Voyage and will figure out unexpected and unintended ways to use their abilities. 

Hero System has an intellectual buy-in to open the locks, but once you pick the lock you’re done. Many other systems (looking hard at you d20) have different rules for everything and everything has a description that is open to interpretation. You can’t just read the formula and you need to constantly memorize what you saw and where. 

D20, when you absolutely, positively want to look unskilled at your specialty, accept no substitute. 

4 hours ago, jaseoffire said:

@Khymeria Actually, it would be nice to know how exactly your blind player handles Hero system.

Well I will put up a link to this thread for him so if he wants to answer that question, he can. We play online and he has a really good grasp of the rules and tactics and is an excellent listener who usually understands what the positions are for the characters. I like that as a GM, he forces me to up my description game. For my other players I can show a token or piece of art and that is that, but for him I need to describe things. Usually my home games have written out descriptions just like any published adventure you would buy, and I am a fair to decent writer so that works well. We put all documents in text format for him usually and just throw up the hdc files for the other players and he posts his stuff in text. Honestly, he is one of the best players I have ever had the pleasure to share a "table" with and we would all be lucky to have a roleplayer with the attention and engagement that he has.

22 hours ago, Gauntlet said:

 

You could just allow the only real light be on what you are reading. It would allow you to see what you are reading and the light would put that strange creepy shadow on your face.

Good idea, if I am trying to create an atmosphere of fear, my face will get the job done. It's why I use a screen usually. 

On 9/25/2023 at 3:05 PM, Gauntlet said:

Whan any of you do run a fear based game, do any of you try to setup the gaming area for it? Such as diming the lights, not allowing laptops, strange music, etc..

I did this a lot more when I was younger. I do have a Pandora channel crafted for horror mood music and another one for fantasy. Now when I dim the lights I can't read the adventure. 

16 minutes ago, Gauntlet said:

 

I definitely don't disagree with you. Many times in those type of situations the players need to think their way through, not just attack and assume they are powerful enough to win. I have found that many times players will say something is impossible because they do assume that a direct conflict is the only way to go. Part of the GMs job in this case is give them a good chance to understand that there are other ways to win then just direct combat.

Sometimes I will dig deep and come up with some strange ways that to defeat the threat that the characters can discover through investigation. This is where skills like Journalism, Research, Antiquities, and such can really start coming in handy. Like the characters finding out the key to stopping Dorian Gray from terrorizing one of their DNPCs is to find his portrait and destroy it. That sort of thing can be a lot of fun for the right group of players.

On 9/14/2023 at 3:57 PM, jaseoffire said:

Now, I doubt this will be a question easily answered, but I shall ask anyways. You see, I'm blind and use a screen reader to access stuff. How screen reader friendly is the hero designer? Considering it's Java, I'm guessing that I'd be buying a digital paperweight, but maybe not.

I have a player in my online game that is blind and we can't send him hdc files but instead convert everything to documents for him. I am not fully aware of all the particulars but as I understand it, he cannot use Hero Designer and has a whole different set up for character creation. Hope this helps and if you have more specific questions just message me and I can ask him or try to put you in touch. 

On 9/16/2023 at 6:18 PM, shaggy290 said:

I am looking for players.  I do have someone who is interested in hosting in Pacifica.  Interested in talking further?

Wow, this is an old post and I found an online group but always happy to get an in person group and meet some new local gamers. I am in San Francisco by Ocean Beach, couple miles to Pacifica. 

1 hour ago, Steve said:Sitting around a table in a brightly lit room makes it hard to generate fear, but my players do roleplay their characters being afraid.

There is definitely a level of player buy-in that needs to exist that no amount of challenge, setting, or ambience is going to overcome if it isn’t there. Excellent point! 

You might get some inspiration and a kick out of “Batman Ninja”. Not the best of the DC cartoons, but it’s got a similar vibe for samurai and mech. 

9 hours ago, Gauntlet said:

But what would a GM do to make his gave actually fearful. Is it in the way he/she describes things, the players themselves, or what?

This is going to differ for each group. If you are trying to strike fear in players, it helps to set a mood. Cultivate a Pandora channel or set up a playlist of appropriate mood music. Lighting is good in person (fear is super challenging to cultivate through mood online in my opinion). Description is next, the more the better, the more shocking, disturbing, and chilling the better. Imminent danger to characters works well if the players have investment in the characters. But mileage may vary based on players. 

The upcoming Victorian Hero has a lot of horror, both fictional and reality, meshed altogether if that’s what you like. The Anopheles: Atrocities From Beyond mentioned by @Lord Liadenand a couple other adventures in that style, is what led to the invention of a Madness mechanic. One way to create fear is to have characters lose pieces of their mind bit by bit. It’s that whole Lovecraft vibe, only you are involved through your character and not just reading it. Some wounds take longer to heal than others. 

23 minutes ago, Lord Liaden said:

 

Sounds reminiscent of Pharaohnic Egypt. The bandage trap you describe seems tailor-made to run an analogue to Brendan Fraser's movie, "The Mummy."

Funny you should mention that. I was thinking of relying on PC natural greed, curiosity, and player gullibility to get them to inadvertently release the big bad and escape the wacky tomb. 

On 8/31/2023 at 9:27 AM, Gauntlet said:

Do you still have openings, I definitely would be interested. I am from the Sacramento Area in California, so I have no problem with PST.

My "table" is full, but if I have a player drop, which life happens and there are six players, so the chance is good. I will also keep you in mind if I decide to run another game. It is easier to deal with the same time zone. If I do run another game i will post it.

In my fantasy world, there is one culture that is pretty much centered around death, but in a way of respecting the process and inevitably. They have a massive cemetery, revere a death deity (not evil), and do have to look out for cults of the undead or necromancers. They believe that burning will stop corporeal undead but the incorporeal undead are still possible with strong souls or personalities. With those individuals, the remains are wrapped in consecrated bandages that don't allow the corpse to be animated or the spirit to leave the corpse, essentially trapping you soul in your lifeless body for all eternity. This practice is typically reserved for wicked individuals that pose a threat even in the afterlife. 

4 hours ago, Christopher R Taylor said:

I think war settings are an interesting if largely forgotten genre.  So many stories that can be told of a small squad of PCs.  You usually have one higher ranking guy -- usually a non-com, but that can just be an experienced, respected player's characters.  All higher ranks should be NPCs.

I played in a Special Ops game where all the PCs were from different branches of the military with elite training, Delta Force, Navy Seal, Force Recon, Parajumper, etc. We were not all the same rank, but we had chain of command and a mission and that was usually enough to keep things in check. I did kill another PC for endangering the mission from my sniper position on the order of my commanding officer once though come to think of it.