DentArthurDent

“Throwing her shield to smack a lot of foes” is a wonderful description!!

I would definitely make it Selective.

Things that novice role-players have an intuitive feel for, and expect to be in a game:

        And us old folks, too. Actually, we all do.

A) Damage to a living thing tends to be widely variable.

Damage to a non-living thing tends to be fairly consistent.

C) An Olympic fencer (or shooter) is going to kill me every time. Usually with one shot.

The same is true of a chess master or cybersecurity expert or …

D) The “one in a million” when the Olympic fencer trips on a wrinkle in the carpet should be just that: one in a million.

E) Experts are much, much more likely to achieve a “critical” success than an average person. And they are much less likely to “critically” fail.

F) Most of the time our results are pretty average for our skill level.

There are sooo many wonderful black and white photos showing us just what the world was like a hundred years ago.

But there is something special about seeing the world in color.
 

Portrait of Robert Brough by John Singer Sargent 

On 2/12/2022 at 6:57 PM, Duke Bushido said:

Well well well.....

 

We've done a lot of magazine and pulp adventure images, and suddenly I stumble across this thingy...

 

http://thrilling-tales.webomator.com/derange-o-lab/pulp-o-mizer/pulp-o-mizer.html

 

 

It's lots of fun!

The Pulp-O-Mizer is BRILLIANT!

Sadly, it looks like the site hasn’t been updated since April. Please tell me I’m wrong. 

The goblin encounter sounds like it was lifted directly from about a dozen different websites.

Hmmmm

“Espionage” was the original Hero Games spy concept.

“Top Secret / S.I.” from TSR was a boxed set.

“Mercenaries, Spies, and Private Eyes” was from Flying Buffalo games.

I played them all ‘back in the day.’ MSPE was my favorite to flip through for game ideas. TS had the best backgrounds for James Bond type missions. Espionage had the best set of rules. (Of course.) So, we ported everything over to Espionage and had a blast trying to figure out who was shooting at us this week.

GDShore,

I am extremely interested in your personal experience with armor. I’ve only fought a few times at SCA practices but it was a wonderful experience. Age and Time kept me from going to more events.

I am very interested in a maximum level of simulated realism. No, I wouldn’t run a game with these MaxReal rules but it would be nice to know what we should be aiming for. So, what would it take to simulate two opponents in chain mail, sword and board, fighting? Specifically, for this posting, how would the armor be simulated?

6e, p305-306 Transform.

I think this has what you want. A description of Spirit on p305. A description of using either BOD or PRE on p306.

However, there is no discussion of ‘normal’ healing for PRE. And I agree with the previous postings that you will want to define how the healing process works ahead of time. Even if it’s REC per month, like BOD.

These are great! You did an excellent job with their power levels. 

I know the idea of a Skills Table isn’t for everyone. But I really do appreciate all the input; the critiques and the what if’s and even the eye rolls. However, I’m determined to carry on and see how it turns out before I trash the whole thing. So, …

How similar are Combat Piloting and Combat Driving?

Maybe the dexterity, situational awareness, nerves, and skill with cars gives you a roll at -4 with boats and a -6 with planes?

So when Frank Martin (Driving 18-) jumps into an idling speed boat, he has a 14- to maneuver around the other docked boats, a 12- to handle the wake of a passing freighter, and a 10- to speed up the loading ramp and into a delivery truck.

Powering up a jet would probably be too much for him without at least one flying lesson. But what if he pushed the unconscious pilot out of the seat to avoid crashing into the looming mountain peaks at 10-. Of course landing would be a bigger challenge at 8-, but the plane doesn’t need to survive, just the passengers.

This suggests, to me at least, a Skill Roll of 14- in Transport. Then a specialization in Combat Driving with a +4.

So …

Characters have a base roll in each skill and may purchase extra levels (at a cost which seems too high to the players and a bit too low to the GM). Then they can purchase Specializations and levels.

Skills would be expensive and Specializations would be less so. (I haven’t done enough work with points to suggest specific numbers.)

This is not what I had in mind last week, but it seems fairly easy to implement. And it allows players and GM’s to choose their level of granularity.

8 hours ago, Duke Bushido said:

As most of this conversation demonstrates, you don't have problems until you start trying to add granularity.

I agreed completely.

On 12/16/2022 at 10:55 AM, Scott Ruggels said:

Mechanically, I am gravitating towards how old Traveller, and Mongoose Traveller handle things where skills are a stat roll modifier to a stat roll depending on the situation.

Very Interesting
 

4 hours ago, LoneWolf said:

I guess what it really comes down to is what type of character you are running and how detailed you want to get on his background

Well said.

I haven’t found a way to replicate the effects of meeting Cthulhu-esque creatures using the Hero system. The closest we came was using disadvantages. Our GM at the time did a masterful job of building and paying off and acquiring disadvantages during our game. But it’s not something I could even explain, much less implement myself. 
 

However, as I get older (much, much older) I don’t think ‘sanity’ is the right term to use. Even though I love the feel and atmosphere of Call of Cthulhu, it completely misses the mark on mental illness. I think ‘hope’ and ‘hopelessness’ are a bit better at describing the changes in a character’s behavior. Along with changes in what a character can see or hear, whether real or not.

I’m glad I asked for the community’s input before posting anything else. You had lots of great ideas that helped me define what I would like to see in a Skills Table. I’d like to start with two of these ideas: Granularity (an awesome descriptor that I will be using often) and General Skills with Specializations

The Hero system already has Skill Types: Agility, Background, Combat, Intellectual, and Interaction. So, I took this as a starting point.

My minimal skills list: 🥁🥁🥁

Athletics

Background

Combat

Crafting

Deduction

Humanities

Interaction

Science

Stealth

Transport

These 10 Skills Types cover everything I want to do in a game. And they emphasize the activities that tend to occur most often: finding things, talking to people, running around, and breaking stuff. These are very, very generalized skills with very low granularity.

This does not imply there is no overlapping of Skills. The Language Table does a wonderful job showing that no knowledge stands on its own. Maybe this would affect point costs. Or maybe it would grant Familiarity. Or … I don’t know yet.

Adding granularity would be a next step. So would a description of which Skill determines success for a specific action. Then there are point costs and die rolls.

This seems like a good time to ask the community for input.

On 12/13/2022 at 6:45 PM, Duke Bushido said:

 

Nonsense!  Norwegians are never boring!

I really enjoyed your descriptions. And the points you are making.

Are you, by any chance, Norwegian?

So, how do you handle using Security Systems for tripwires and retinal scanners?

We tended to use a character’s background to determine their specialties.

I’ve always loved the Language Table, ever since Champions 1st edition. And the expanded version in “The Ultimate Skill” is even more candy for the soul.

The same concept was beautifully illustrated here: https://sssscomic.com/comic.php?page=196

I love the way it shows connections between seemingly disparate languages and cultures. And how knowing a little of one thing can open doors to others.

However …

… can the idea of overlapping and complimentary knowledge be used with Skills?

The Sciences Table in “The Ultimate Skills” does something similar but less elegantly. The Hero system groups skills into broad categories: Agility, Combat, Intellect, etc. And Skill Enhancers offer small bonuses to a few broad areas.

It seems like an opportunity has been missed by creating dozens of individual skills, many of which are very similar. (I’m looking at you Charm and Persuasion.)

What if …

… there was a Skills Table that quantified the similarity between Security Systems and Electronics? Or the penalties for using Persuasion and a Ben Franklin instead of Bribery?

Before I submit my proposal, are there suggestions or ideas out there in the Hero-verse?

There’s a lot of great information. But it’s not easy to sift through.

Thank you for sharing with us, the kindness your brother shared with you.

On 7/17/2021 at 7:12 AM, HeroGM said:

This is artwork from the board game “Scareface 1920.”

There are several more really nice paintings for it also.

Wow!

and beautiful artwork!

My gaming group converted everything into the Hero system.

We would play the original rules for two or three sessions, get frustrated at the lack of rules, and convert it.

We played spies, cowboys, pulp, Cthulhu, pirates, Klingons, Star Trek, Star Wars, Middle Earth, Twilight 2000, … using Hero rules.

Seconds for Bushido and MERPs.

Adding Twilight2000, Wild West, and Star Trek:Klingons as timeless gems.

I’ve never heard of Bureau 13. But I’m about to go look it up.

I’m doing research for a Monster Hunter-type campaign set in Eastern Europe in 1922. For NPCs I usually prefer artwork or even period portraits, but there’s something about photographs from the very early 1900s. The Brownie camera had sold over 200,000 units by 1910. Millions of photographs had been taken. Most of what you find online are people posing with their best clothes and serious faces. But some times they are more relaxed. People at play, at work, or just going about their lives. The eyes of someone who is not accustomed to posing for pictures can be revealing. Even haunting.

l’ve started pairing NPC photographs with short descriptions. It has made a huge impact on the motivations and mannerisms I assign to NPCs.