sentry0

I have not used Sway before but am looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

I always liked the idea of OGLing the rules.  One could argue that the success of D&D is at least in part to the magnificent PR stunt that was OGL.  We need an online SRD to go along with it and a genuine effort on the part of DoJ to support fan made content as vigorously as Wizards do.  That means creating channels to distribute and possibly peer review fan made content.

I personally would love to have the ability to embed an SRD into the HERO System Mobile app without risking legal retribution.  It would open up a lot of possibilities for developers like me, granted this is a selfish request but I think it's worth risking looking selfish this time.

I feel like there needs to be zero or as low as possible barriers for entry for players, GMs and game designers to get into HERO.  Right now, the perceived barrier is high because if the 2 tomes and lack of a baseline setting in either.  It's intimidating, but at least the * Complete series of books makes it better.

On the topic of settings I also feel it's imperative to take an opinionated stance that this system is about supers at it's core.  Don't get me wrong, I love the systems ability to scale up or down and to suit the genre but this game was made for supers and does supers so well that it would foolish to not use this as the selling point.  To put it another way, make the Champions setting the default setting that ships with the rules.  

In summation: OGL the core rules (just enough to cover the basics) and publish them online for free, make an SRD, create and sell a Champions core book, create APG and the tomes and sell those marketing the APGs to players and the tomes to GMs. 

10 hours ago, JackFlash said:

Lightning Calculator, Eidetic Memory, Absolute Time Sense, High Range Radio Perception (Limited to Cellular or Wifi, Transmit), some kind of fuel thing to represent battery power, OAF? Maybe?

Images, 1m cone, only to generate light

Alpha test invites are going out!

The app is currently under review for iOS and will hopefully pass through review soon so I can get it out there to testers.  I'll be emailing testers as soon as I have a valid TestFlight link to share. 

The Android version of the test app has been approved and I've sent out the link to testers.

I wanted to publicly thank everyone who signed up for the test, I know people are busy and I really appreciate you giving some time to this project.

1 hour ago, Spence said:

 

Hey!  I have a copy of MS&PE in front of me now.  The hardback 'Combined' version of the game. 

 

As for Palladium....

We all make mistakes

I loved Rifts as a kid and even did my own OpenD6 conversion because I found the Savage Worlds adaptation not to my liking.  Don't get me wrong, the SW adaptation is really good, I just didn't like some of the things they did.

Palladium was not without its charms 😁

59 minutes ago, drunkonduty said:

The following is not really trauma worthy, but one of those things that gives me an eye twitch when I think about it.

 

I was starting up a new DnD3 campaign; I'd found players using Meetup. So a bunch of brand new people, basically all new to one another. I asked everyone to draw up their characters and, if they could, give me a little back story to play with as GM I'd appreciate it. "But keep in mind you're first level, so no dragon slaying. Hah hah."

 

Cue a couple of them writing essays on being the greatest thieves in the kingdom (the pair were a couple and the backstory read like bad slash fiction) and another guy being the most feared pirate captain in the world. None of this is that bad. I mean, I'd rather have that than no effort at backstory at all. But still I get the eye twitch when I think about it.

Ah yes, new players with grand ambitions that get crushed when they realize an average housecat in D&D has a decent chance of murdering them because they're level 1 and rolled crap for HP 🙄

Sounds like Davien and the player from my post would have gotten along nicely.  Let's call the guy from my post Wolf.

Wolf was a total rules lawyer and meta-gamer extraordinaire who was also a DM when he wasn't wrecking other people's campaigns.  Like Davien, Wolf had near encyclopedic knowledge of game systems and would find ways to circumvent them when it served him.  Unlike Davien (as described), Wolf was an egotistical jackass who thought he was smarter than everyone.  He was content to lie and manipulate people as his modus operandi and it was sickening to see him in motion.  I had to intervene one time because he bullied a player from the table by insulting him and deliberately pushing his buttons.

To be fair, Wolf was a bright guy.  Unfortunately, he was stuck being a part time janitor (Wolf was older than us by a good 5 years and out of highschool) and not the benevolent dictator he could have been.  All a little sad really, pitiable even.

Fun story, one time I was running this Darksun module for the guys that Wolf had lent me.  He assured me he had only skimmed it and didn't remember much, I didn't really believe that but I also didn't care because it was a one-shot.  Anyways, he split off from the party at one point to go investigate a path they chose not to follow.  It just so happened that there was a Thri-Kreen at the end of this path that he engaged.  He was close enough to see over my screen and saw me roll a critical hit that would have ended his shiznit but I instead chose to incapacitate him.

After the session Wolf wanted to know why I ignored the Crit and didn't do him in.  I told him it was because it was more important to me that people had fun and played together than blindly obeying the dice.  I'm a soft touch I guess but I just didn't want him all moody and down because his awesome new character that he spent more time making than actually playing would have got iced.

The thing about Wolf and people like him is they always get found out eventually and exposed for what they are, small and mean spirited.  It may take a long time but I firmly believe this.  Everyone knew Wolf was the way he was but no one could or would call him out on it because of some weird group politics that was a combination of apathy and fear.  Fear that this jackwagon would turn his attention to the and bully them away from the table next.  Apathy because we were all stupid teenagers in the 90s and that was just en vogue at the time 😂

Anyways, where Davien seemed harmless I can assure you Wolf was not.  He had a very real and very negative effect on the people around him, sometimes just because it amused him.

On 9/15/2019 at 12:07 AM, Aelaen said:

That brings up an interesting idea if going with the N-Ray vision version instead of the Clairsentience version.  Definite it as only partially penetrative instead of fully penetrative, where it only works through unsecured cameras.  Work with the GM to get an appropriate word for "unsecured" so that it's useful at times but the GM can shut down where it makes sense.

Idea is to make it useful, not to give the GM headaches.  Like if we're fighting in a mall the character could pull up cameras, or people's phones in a Starbucks, but not insta-hack the villains' secure lair.

 

You could put a limitation on either power that it "Requires a modified INT/Skill check vs target sensor" to simulate that it's harder for you to tap into a secured system.  An unsecured sensor grid may be at a +1-3 while a Dr. Destroyer base could be at a -10.

I can see this having some value for a convention style game where it's a bunch of strangers getting together for the first time.  I doubt a group of IRL friends would have a lot of use for it.

Remember this - https://www.belloflostsouls.net/2019/06/rpg-shocking-inappropriate-behavior-at-ukge-the-importance-of-consent-in-games.html?.  It could have potentially been avoided if something like this was in place.

9 hours ago, DMDiscretion said:

Are updates free? It's been awhile, my group is getting back to Champions and I'm running on a really old version atm

Updates are free and available under Store->Client Area->Purchases->HERO Designer

I'll start...

Back in the 90s in high school I was in a Vampire: The Masquerade game being run with a group of friends.  One of my friends, the GM, was a little older than us and needed to travel to Germany for school so he handed the reigns over to me.  We did a quick knowledge transfer session and went our separate ways.

When I started running the game I found out that one of the players had been amassing a small army of illegally created vamps.  Not only that but he had access to military grade equipment and had some personal body guards that were always hiding nearby that were serious badasses.  He started to launch his campaign to overthrow the local Prince shortly after we started playing.

I naively went along with all of this as this particular player assured me that the previous GM know all about this and had sanctioned it.

Fast forward a few terrible months and my friend returns from Germany.  We reconnect and talk about the game and much to my surprise I learn that this player had been lying to me the entire time.  I was furious at him for lying to me and ashamed of myself for being gullible enough to believe him.

So, I had a huge mess on my hands to clean up.

I think I was like 17 at the time so I didn't have a lot of coping skills so my solution was to have one titanic battle of a session that ran to 6am where I completely and utterly dismantled this player, his organization, and his lies.  

In retrospect, I should have just told him to make a new character or just threw him from the game but as I mentioned, I didn't have a good set of coping skills at the time.  I'd also be lying if I said 17 year old me didn't enjoy it.

Let's face it, we've all had experiences as players and GMs that have left us shocked, horrified, angry, and/or confused... maybe all those things at once.  I know that over the couple of decades of gaming I've done I have certain memories that still make me twitch when they come to mind.

I propose that this thread be used to share some of those memories so that we can get them off our chest and strategize with one another about dealing with these problems in case some else is experiencing them or something similar.  This thread may also be used by people currently experiencing difficult challenges from players or GMs to seek out advice on how to deal with the situation.

The Rules

• No real names
• Offer a possible solution to the problem or explain what you did to combat the problem
• Keep feedback constructive and positive

3 hours ago, Tech said:

I'd go with either suggestion but I think Docs might be cheaper, but no one's calculated the cost of potential said power.

 

For myself, if someone were to suggest this idea, I'd like to know the limits of the power. Can he perceive through any camera, mic, etc? What about supervillain base equipment? What about those bases that have security on them; how's that factor in? How close is 'nearby'?

The type of effect described by the OP would be pretty problematic in most campaigns, certain types of villains probably wouldn't have security equipment like your rampaging monster or mystic villain.  I would fully expect that any self respecting modern villain would have a security sensor or 2 to protect their diabolical base... the smart ones who knew who they were tangling with would have them removed I guess.

Neat power but it's the kind of power that would give me a headache as a GM, kind of like Telepathy or extreme enhanced senses do.  It makes certain scenarios very challenging to pull off or even outright impossible.

It is a Stop sign power for a reason I guess

1 hour ago, Aelaen said:

I'm joining a 6th ed Champions game and I'm at a loss how to build a particular Enhanced Sense.  The character is a technology controller, and I'd like for them to be able to use any existing camera, mic or other sensor (motion detector, etc.) nearby and on.  Just experience what it sees, not control it to pan or turn on or anything.  As a normal sense, not in a hacking skill sort of way.

Starting with a Detect of Large Class of things for 10, probably with a few extra classes of things (sound, etc.).   Or am I going to need to buy the power several times, once each for Signt, Hearing, and possibly Radio?

How do I handle things like nightvision cameras - do I need to buy a bunch of enhanced perception with a limitation "just to match hardware"?  Same for telescope and microscopic?

Now, I can't control where they are pointing, but I can get arcs that wouldn't otherwise be in my line of vision or line of sight.  Is the Increase Arc of Perception?  Do I need Penetrative if a camera I can see is looking down a hall that I can't see?

What type of limitation would you give in a modern / near future world for "only existing sensors"?  What other advantages or limitations would you suggest?

Thanks a lot!

 

I think you can simplify this a bit by starting with Clairsentience as your base power with a limitation that it only works through cameras/sensors.  I personally would give it 1/4 or maybe 1/2 limitation value if anything given the relative ubiquitous nature of sensors in our world today, let alone the near future.

Strictly speaking, Clairsentience doesn't provide you with telescopic or microscopic vision.  Perhaps a small VPP would make sense in this scenario.  One that only works with your Clairsentience and only to mimic the sensor you're looking through.

Like many systems, designing an encounter is part art and part science.  I've had my players tear through an encounter I thought was hard because of some lucky die rolls and other that were nailbiters when they really shouldn't have been.

Campaign baselines are critical to make this work.  You need to know what is considered average in order to make any of this work IMO.

Generally speaking your average mook encounter should have lower CV and lower damage than the player average while an even super encounter would have about equal.  Sometimes that means dialing up CVs and attacks , sometimes that means dialing them down.  It's something that comes with time and experience and is most hard at the start of a campaign when you don't know all the PCs as well as you will in a few sessions.  Some players may have a nasty power that slipped by you in character creation that trivializes content, someone may be underpowered...

It's challenging but my advice is:

• Make sure you understand what your characters can do
• Go slow, setup a few mook encounters and get a feel for what your players can do
• Don't be afraid about dialing up or down NPCs powers and stats to fit into your world
• Design a variety of encounter types, not every encounter needs to be against equally powered foes
• Use your campaign baselines as a guideline to figure out if someone is less or more powerful than the players

Hope that helps... I know it's not as black and white as in some systems but it can be done.

Looks amazing, great work

I just wanted to give a quick update about the last week of development... good news and bad news I guess.

The good news is that I have enough of a working application to start an alpha test.  A special thank you to all the people who signed up!  I'll have something available for Android and iOS within the next day or so.

The "bad" news is that World of Warcraft Classic has stolen my free time!  Nostalgia is a hell of a drug.

I'm working on balancing my free time between WoW and developing the app (and being a husband somewhere in there too )... I'm not going to lie, WoW killed my forward velocity on this project.  I am still committed to making this thing work though and will find the time to get it done.

More info to come once I get alpha test launched.

9 minutes ago, John Desmarais said:

I think I may have asked the before - but a quick scan of the last couple of pages of this thread did find it: Any chance of it becoming a true Universal App (unique support for both phone and tablet size screens)?  The character import/view ability would be awesome on a tablet

Yes, in fact I now have experience writing code that will scale properly based on device size from another app I wrote.

It's unlikely that I will be doing much more than scaling it, to start.  In the future, I may write screen size specific screens but that would be sometime off in the future, if ever.

OK, I just read the barrier cost rules and it looks like all defenses are totalled when calculating the cost of the defense of the barrier.  I'm pretty sure I was doing the calculations on a per defense basis which would be wrong in this case

I'll have to revisit my calculations for Barrier on Resistant Protection and make sure I'm totalling first. 

FYI - Resistant Protection has similar math issues with the Flash Defense adder.

I found what I think is a little math bug in Barrier.  It has to do with a Barrier with Flash Defense built in.  6 Points of Flash Defense costs 15 points according to the UI... the math adds up at that point:

Going to 7 points of Flash Defense cost +3 points according to the UI which brings the total cost of the adder to 18 points.  The Total cost of the power only goes up by 2 points though:

Minor inconsistency, but I thought I would bring it to your attention.

56 minutes ago, Ximenez said:

I don't think this is a rules question. What (if anything) does the power Drain Longevity do? I say "if anything" because "no, you can't buy that" seems like a reasonable response. But if you follow the logic, it's a really cheap way to eliminate (or perhaps incapacitate) that 600-point vampire lord.

The effect you're describing sounds more like a Transform which would not be a cheap way to off a 600 point Vampire Lord.

It's been awhile since I gave an update on the app so I figured I would stop by and give one.

I've been working diligently on reading in the HeroDesigner files and have made good progress so far.  Reading in the file is easy, what I'm finding is time consuming is writing code to calculate and display powers.  On an export template you simply get tags to do these things for you but when reading a template directly you have to perform the calculations yourself and handle the display of odd powers.  It's time consuming but I have a solid design pattern which I'm using to make my life easier (I'm using the decorator pattern for you nerds).

At any rate, I've knocked out Characteristics, Skills, Perks, Talents, Martial Arts, and Complications completely.  Powers have proven to be the most time consuming because unlike the other areas they tend to be unique and require the most custom coding.  I'm currently finished with the "F" powers and am working my way down the list.

I've baked in some goodies that I thought I would share...here's one:

Strength now shows you how much damage you can do, how much you can lift, and gives you an example of what you could lift.  Strength between 0-999 will tell you exactly how much you can lift and show you the closest example of what you could lift.  The example kind of falls apart the farther you get from 100 STR as that's the last entry in the table.

The other fun thing I worked in was your total km/h for movement abilities... have a look at the screenshot below:

The "Max Combat" and "Max Non-Combat" speeds are calculated based on your characters SPEED attribute and is an accurate number AFAIK.  If anyone wants to check my math it would be appreciated.  The formula I'm using is:

meters per phase * SPD * 5 * 60 / 1000

There is still a metric tonne of crap left to do but my plan is to try and knock out the powers and then get a test build up for all you folks who have signed up for testing.

I'm still looking for testers, if you're on the fence or maybe thought you missed the window... it's still open.  Let me know if you want in.

28 minutes ago, Gnome BODY (important!) said:

Sounds like a Partially-Limited Power to me.  See FRED 282 or 6E1 366.  

Nice, I need to read up on that one