Khymeria

The problem I’ve ran into with this in the past is the PCs working to out “evil” each other and cold, calculated, and a bit cruel quickly devolves into barbarism. debauchery, and maybe cannibalism.

I would ask the GM for suggestions since you stated they are quite knowledgeable of the setting. They might have someone in mind they are excited to have in or around the campaign.

In my campaign world, the elves are tribal more than mystical. Living in specific environments and adapted off a base elf template. All are known for vehicles/mounts specific to their environment. I would say the elves are more wild beings living in the environment than magic glowing pixies.

The trick is really good faith. I’ve played with some players that had masters the Hero System and used it responsibly. In game I’ve sometimes let their characters have abilities and powers I would frown upon for less responsible players (many mental powers, VPPs, and powers that build up “offscreen” land here). I’ve had other players that were actually good roleplayers but couldn’t stop trying to suppress the spirit of the game for their characters personal build power and after a couple tries to see eye to eye with this sort of thing, I try to part amicably. Just different gaming styles.

@Hugh Neilson I think many people are upset because the rules have been changed on what other people had believed, largely from the designers of the OGL that this wasn’t a possibility. WotC is free to act in their own interests, but they also get to deal with the public and more importantly fan perception of their actions. The leaked OGL was gross, then apology, then slightly less gross on the surface releases OGL draft. Morality clauses that exist outside the game and WotC is the sole discretionary to arbitrate, denial of class action or any group litigation, the ability to take your work and use it, profit, and if you can sue them, only in King County, Washington, there can be no injunction just monetary compensation is all gross. They are free to act how they want, that just get to deal with how those actions are perceived. I think more attention to other games is good for the industry as a whole and we will see where it all lands, but not since the Satanic Panic has gaming been this interesting for many.

Monte Cook being involved is a big deal. Makes sense for Roll20 to throw full support since there going to take a massive hit from the VTT part.

Unless they change 1.0a to simply read irrevocable the conversation with serious 3rd party creators is over. Unless they change the language so they can’t take your work (and somehow say they never thought of that) that conversation is over. Unless they remove language that they can change new OGL at any time with 30 days notice the conversation is over.

Right now I am playtesting some Fantasy Hero to scale more toward high fantasy and capture a more “fantastic” feel while keeping the lethality and variation of combat. I’m running my 3rd adventure now, and it seems to work well. I took the concepts I presented in Gaslight: Horror and Heroics in The Victorian Era for spicing up a Competent Normals game and cranked the juice. I have a few hundred pages of settings designed for it as well. I love Pathfinder though, it does what it does well, I’ve played and ran it a bunch, no hate.

Hero is my go to when I run something, especially supers. My GM style is to teach, that’s why I wrote Book of Templates I and II. I’m a firm believer once you unlock the Hero System with a bit of guidance and intellectual investment into character generation, playing the game is no harder than a d20 system. It is actually easier in some aspects. Every spell uses a formula in Hero System and not a different set of text with varied interpretations. Playing a cleric in D&D for example is daunting for a new player, here learn every spell, all work different. The bias against complexity is a little disingenuous. When I play, I play the system is excited for.

Nailed it. The comparison between survival horror and YA is brilliant mate.

For Vats I would probably use some combination of Penalty Skill Levels to buy off Hit Location Penalties and/or Autofire or Multiple Attack penalties, since that seems to be how it functions primarily. For the mapping, some sort of Clairsentience maybe with a "Physical Manifestation" of some sort maybe that requires some Concentration or something like that.

This is a heavy loss of a talented man. My condolences to family and friends.

Some form of intelligent undead is a logical choice. An ancient mummy with an illusory image to conceal actual look. Vampire is in the same realm, and a ghost could be interesting.

Discord does grant an immediate type of satisfaction but really isn’t much for just scrolling through topics.

Advss as aced Player’s Guide I has some Intercept Combat, Dogfight, and non-mapped vehicle combat rules and/or guidelines.

It fits hand in hand with Western Hero, so it’s possible if well received some elements could be added to a follow-up. I had to drop some other “world” ideas that I had considered to keep the page count reasonable and this volume focused. Lupin was one that I set aside for the moment.

Hey, glad you were thinking about Gaslight: Horror and Heroics in the Victorian Era. Holmes, Watson, Thomas Carnacki, Sping-Heeled Jack, Count Dracula, Renfield, Van Helsing, Dorian Gray, Victor Frankenstein, Frankenstein’s monster, Invisible Man, Captain Nemo & the Nautilus, Nemo, Tarzan, The Time Traveller, Jekyll and Hyde (a literary version and a Hollywoodized version), Dr. Moreau, Morlocks, Beast Men, afanc, banshees, mummies, vampires, seances, gadgetry, rules for Madness & an Alienist talent to correct it. Most of the write-ups follow their literary performances in exacting detail up to the point that was available for use, crafted page by page. There is a lot more in the book, some history and important figures and how your characters may interact with that. London is described as a campaign setting with some spookier places detailed. I’m the author, feel free to ask away.

I have a home in Forestville, spend s lot of time between the two. Hit me with a DM sometime.

From the perspective of somebody who has worked on both WotC products for 5E and Hero System 6E, I think I have a pretty unique perspective on this. Obviously Hero System has a bit more upfront intellectual investment on character creation but once you learn it, that part is over. D&D constantly has some new mechanic that is independent in function from the system, all spells are different with interpretable text for example. So complexity is a bit more with Hero but levels out on a timeline. Players don’t get to that part has been the feedback I’ve received because often Hero players seem to be viewed as not very nice, not warm, not friendly, not inviting, and sometimes just flat out argumentative. I personally have pointed this out when someone asks a question on a Facebook page and the response is “the book is your friend” and I point out the book is hundreds and hundreds of pages and if they helped the player might have more interest in the system, gatekeeping like Gollum with a ring is s bad look. I wrote Hero System Book of Templates I and II so a player would have an easier time learning the creation process by reverse engineering the template they were familiar with, since help had seem hard to find.

Northern California? San Francisco here.

So am I with a Book of Lairs inspired night of long encounter style but I hate maps. I just hate them to pieces! I am having a lot of fun having my playtesters outthink me instead of hacking and slashing. That is a lot different feel than when working on a WotC backed adventure. Much more enjoyable to write the story.