eternal_sage

Re: A good low fantasy game i dunno about you guys, but in my low powered games speeds of 3 are really rare, and above that is nearly impossible, so 1 BODY/turn is still 1 BODY per two moves. and thats with enemies built with the same equipment as the PCs. and i've always said that negative BODY even with positive STUN, is pretty much helpless without external tending. if you are bleeding to death from severe trauma in reality, you are typically either unconscious (if you're lucky) or in shock. i think actually being conscious and aware at the moment of death is fairly rare, but i could be wrong, as thats just a gut feeling on my end.

Re: Order of the Stick we loose a Belkar, but by golly, we gain a V. lol. i think Elan and V have BOTH gained alot during this section, and i think Hailey has as well. now if only Durkon could get some spotlight time. and i would have guessed that Roy would have been back at least a 100 issues ago, actually.. this is crazy, and i'm starting to loose interest. while the characters are all very cool and the storytelling is top notch, i think that the main concept has left the building. which pretty much leaves any plot flat.

Re: A good low fantasy game pretty much, although i will add that in any low fantasy, heroic types games i tend to run (since i don't get to play them much, ) there isn't a whole lot of help you can give someone who is bleeding to death, since healing magic is MUCH less powerful. sure a timely Healing roll can stabilize the person, but if i'm remembering correctly, the downed character looses 1 BODY per Turn, which gives the lucky average guy around 10 turns, or just over a minute to be saved. thats not very long. and usually you get knocked into the 3-6 range pretty quick, and baddies who have the chance have been known to give the old coup de grace. they are baddies, after all, and it was standard procedure.

Re: A good low fantasy game even without the optional rules HERO is lethal at low levels. at least if you don't let your characters buy up defenses like in a supers game. i only use hit locations, and even on the occasions that i've forgotten about them i still have people one shotting their opponents, etc. when you have weapons that deal around 2d6 damage and armor that averages around 4 or 5, its only going to take a couple of lucky strikes to do them in. hit locations only makes this a bit more random, although my group seems to hit more legs and arms than would be expected by chance (not sure why) so i almost seems like hit locations help us make it a little less deadly sometimes. then my wife pulls off three decapitations in a row, and reality sinks back in.

Re: Where is Fantasy? i strongly suggest sidekick, if you are new to the game. that is more along the lines of the Players Handbook/Dungeon Masters Guide, but it is a little simpler than the Big Book. you will likely find that the Big Book is what you ultimately want, but i really do suggest Sidekick as a starter level (they really ought to package those things together, in my opinion, like a box set or something). if you are really stout hearted, however, the 5th edition book (the aforementioned Big Book) has all the rules needed. Fantasy HERO is more for if you want to build your own setting, or tweak one, and has alot of good advice for doing so. its more of an advanced product, if you will (and in that way, also shares some similarities to the Dungeon Masters Guide, albeit without the rules, which are all in the Sidekick, HERO System rulebook) and welcome to the club. you'll find that we are a mostly nice bunch, who have mostly had our shots. except for ghost-angel and beware of any bunnies stalking through the forums. they are the apex predators around here!

Re: A good low fantasy game i love low fantasy, and one of the biggest mechanical things that separates the low from the high is healing magic. if you got a lot of healing magic stuff going on, then it won't feel low. i tend to cut out resurrection completely, same with regeneration. loose an arm, and its gone. then i tend to build healing spells that are more like recovery buffs that have extra time, only heal body. this will cut down on time spent bed ridden after a battle, but still not be silly "ta-DA! i'm healed from a mortal wound in ten seconds!" keep your magic otherwise focused on small tricks like mind control or illusions, and have destructive magic be early non-existent. if you could just fireball the castle, why need seige engines? third, i tend to make magical items unique, nearly impossible to find and totally impossible to buy unless you are the ruler of a RICH kingdom. in my asian fantasy game this is in the form of cultivating the spirit of the item to take on aspects you want (bonzai for souls, basically) and this process takes years. those who have special religious training can do it over the course of a few months, but the item must be made by the enchanter's hands, and the enchanter literally is bound to one spot in meditation for a few months. this method is also seen as culturally unacceptable in some societies as it corrupts the spirit world. another thing i do in more western fantasy games is to go something in the vein of the Deverry novels by Katherine Kerr. basically magic is all done by imploring elemental spirits to do your bidding. thus its more of a social thing (as was sort of touched on before) where roleplaying out deals and such like are the fore-front of the action. keep armor values low, although the Fantasy HERO values are pretty good, maybe a bit high on the top end, but serviceable. a good hit should be catastrophic. and it should go both ways. fighting should be relegated to last resort situations in low fantasy. war is not pretty, and battle is a bloody horrible affair. travel time is important. play through travel, making note of how time is spent, and little inconveniences, such as a horse throwing a shoe, etc. i make up tables of such things to fill the times, and knowing the country side they are traveling through is a big deal. also, monitor encumbrance, and make heavy use out of carts and the like, which lead to other inconveniences. in a world where most people never leave their home village, travel is a big, bewildering deal. by treating it as such, you kind of get the players primed. its a difficult balance to find though, as to much gets boring. you've got to feel it out with your players. lastly, put emphasis on non-combat skills. having some training as a black smith or knowing the geography becomes very important, and the ability to get an advantage in combat is slightly less so. pushing battle to the background means using those "about town" skills more, and often times diplomacy and a keen eye will solve many more problems than a sword will. in a similar vein, the law is often not on the character's side, as adventurers are really just mercs and bandits in low fantasy. treat them as such. people are suspicious of new people in town, for the above mentioned reasons. play them up on occasion, to really get that feeling hitting home. hope that helps!

Re: Order of the Stick i think that i'm totally converting to Gigglesism now... because only Giggles can stand up to the holy fury of Banjo. and he carries a big stick, which Teddy Roosevelt said was an important trait.

Re: World's Largest City its ok, but not a must have. it is more dedicated to running adventures in a city than just hanging out in a city. in otherwords, every other alley has an encounter in it, etc. Cityscape by WoTC isn't to bad either. of course, it has a chapter on spells and feats, but otherwise its around 100 - 120 pages of pretty decent information.

Re: Sprit Whim Magic System i would also require extra time (since you have to call up and command the spirits to do your bidding). the system i use for our house oriental setting has alot of these ideas inherent as well. as for magic wielding fighters, you could do what i've done in the oriental setting and make the entire concept socially unacceptable in game. sure, there is no rule that says you can't do it, but the distrust of the npcs and other players will curb the concept pretty well (or at least does for my group ). i don't have alot more to add, though, so...keep up the good work! this kind of thing is really fun, if you get it working right

Re: Urban Fantasy Recommendations my wife is a big fan of Urban Fantasy so these are her favs...if these have been said, sorry: Urban Shaman Series by C.E. Murphey Moon Called (and sequels) by Patricia Briggs Blood Pact (etc) by Tanya Huff the first few Luarell K. Hamilton Annita Blake novels the first few Anne Rice Vampire Chronicles the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher

Re: Pulling Authority & Other Genres having skipped over the last 50 posts or so, if this has been said already, sorry, but i just gotta jump in for a second. firstly, yes, Superman was a much more violent character in his "youth" as it were, but as was stated before, past precedent should not dictate current reality. however, this cuts both ways, and just because Batman had a direct line to Com. Gordon doesn't mean he still should. superheroes doing superhero things ARE breaking the very laws they say they uphold. everytime Supes gives Lex a galactic wedgy, he is acting outside the bounds of law as a vigilante. he was never appointed any amount of power by Metropolis (that i am aware of, but i hate Supes, so i may have missed it). nor was he given special powers by the state or federal governments of the US, nor the UN or any other group that supposedly stands for the entirety of Earth. therefore, the world should not say "hark! yon spandex clad fellow is but a ray of sunshine on a dew-covered morn!" but rather "he's a criminal and obviously insane, and should be brought in in any way possible!" does that reduce his heroism? it didn't Zorro, or Robin Hood, so i'd say Supes is still amongst the moral and just here. the one thing (and one thing only) that i really think the Iron Age has done right is to say "look at these spandex wearing weirdos. what kind of psychological malfunctions must these guys have to think this is a good idea?" i don't think that might makes right, but i do believe that actions have consequences, and everytime Hulk or Supes takes out some building in a fight, i can't help myself but add another $100,000,000 (US) to their tabs. no i think that the people of the Watchmen and Incredibles, and J. Johna Jameson have the right idea. their reaction is psychologically believible and in line with the majority of what people would truly feel. it is simply human nature to distrust and fear what you do not know, after all. however, some will still think that Supes and Co. are the good guys they claim to be, but they should be few are far between, and governments etc should, as a whole, be out to get them. in that way, Civil War makes a lot of sense. did Milar write it well and did it make me happy, etc?? not really, no. but he asked the questions that should have been asked. in my opinion, the most interesting part of the superhero is the psychology behind it. much as that of the police or fire fighter, a superhero is already a psychological abnormality. most humans do not have the proper brain activity to do that job for any length of time. the superhero is just 20x more f'd up, because every day IS life or death, not just the possibility of it. not only that, but what toll does the loneliness and isolation of being so freakishly different from your fellow man inflict on their already abnormal psyches? this is what the Iron Age does right. however, while i love Punisher and the new Moon Knight (omg) and others, i do not see the need to senslessly kill all your opponents. Frank Castle has little recourse, since his only power is the the power to shoot guns, and the new Moon Knight is the tale of a terribly confused man who has the tools to do justice but whose mentality is slipping. however, the new X-Force sickens me, from many angles. first, Wolervine with boo..er..X-23 and creator can bite me. but beyond that, its sensless. its the claw patrol. everyone on the team has pointy objects, and they like sticking them into other people...alot. while i think it does a little to rejuvinate Wolverine's character, it really is otherwise total crap. the characters involved are mostly up against normies with guns (which can't hurt the majority because of healing factors, etc). its just blood bath after blood bath. ignorant, sets Warpath's character back 15 years (although even he mentions that at his worst, Cable was nothing compared to this crap). its just disgusting. and the killed my New X-Men, a book full of neat characters and interesting developments and replaced it with this....blech. and thats whats wrong with the Iron Age. me, i'll take the Bronze Age action and the Iron Age mentality and be happy.

Re: Order of the Stick the Warlords of the Accordlands is another setting where law and chaos are a bigger deal than good and evil. for instance, the Lawful Good Dwarves and the Lawful Evil Deverenians have made an alliegence (after some initial problems, of course) while the Lawful Evil Nothrog and the Chaotic Evil Elves normally can't stand each other. then again, no one likes the Elves, even the Nuetral Good humans (the only race to be neutral on the Law/Chaos axis). The Lawful Evil Black Sun Paladins and the Lawful Good Aroch Paladins have joined forces on occassion to eliminate threats that cross them both (because its honorable, and the only people they hold to be nearly as honoerable as their own numbers are those of the opposing group). pretty cool stuff.

Re: Order of the Stick nah, we're level 10 (started level 1) and have only had...maybe 3 or 4 combats. an intrigue game. pretty cool stuff actually, and in those combats she hasn't even joined battle, but instead used the distractions to do other, more roguey things....

Re: Order of the Stick omg! that was hilarious! we had a Belkar moment in out Scion:Hero game a few months back. our Aztec Scion (can't remember the god's name) had a mission to protect this mexican woman from the predations of this other Aztec Scion. (the two gods were big rivals in mythos). so she goes into the hotel lobby, sees a mexican guy, figures its him (its not, its the womans husband, who she is also supposed to protect) pulls out her pistols and shoots him dead, in broad daylight, i might add. her god was pissed, the woman she was supposed to protect was obviously tremendously upset (and was later comforted by the Scion he was to protect her from) and the police we after the character. we limped along with that campaign for a few more weeks before the Scion of Loki, Scion of Apollo, and Scion, and the Scion Hachiman just bashed her over the head and turned her in to the cops. that was okay, though, cause her god had stripped her of much of her powers. that session has gone down in our rp history as the "day Desta killed a Mexican"...to her defense, however, it was only her third session, before that she had played nothing but MMOs, so killing WAS the only solution to most of her problems. she's gotten much better since, and hasn't killed a single person in our current DnD game

Re: Order of the Stick to man that ultimately made this community possible by introducing the idea of "roll dice to hit". not only did he create DnD, he created the concept of PnP role playing games (or at least made the idea interesting enough to get widespread). even though i hated most of your stuff, you'll always have a fond place in my heart (thats kinda funny in its own way). wonder if they'll do the decent thing and make a new deity for 4th ed named Xagyg in honor. probably not, but a guy can hope.

Re: D&D Magic Items 3.5 to HERO you sir, are made of wootness. this saves me...god, i don't even know how much time this saves me on my own conversion! (already put you on my "reference page" to thank you! right under Thia even! )

Re: Order of the Stick Seriously....

Re: D&D Magic Items 3.5 to HERO thats cool then, just wondeirng

Re: D&D Magic Items 3.5 to HERO much ass do you kick, Jedi Master SKJAM!... are you doing these in HERO designer or by hand? if its in HERO designer, could you post the file please?? you have SO taken a burden off me for my current endevor of converting!

Re: Order of the Stick "Whiskers von Thor-Bugger" lmao!

Re: ShadowrunHero game? are you using 2 points or 3 as the base (i can't remember what SR4th says)? if your using 2, then your calcs are off, as that would be a 6. personally, i'd map then 4:1 (HERO:SR) so that 1 SR is 4 HERO, 2 SR (normal, as i recall) is 8, 3 SR is 12 HERO, etc, which gives you a 24 absolute maximum (without magic/cyberware). now, the reason i'd do this is two fold: a) i think normal, everyday people are 2 in SR, not 3, and because you want more room at the top than the bottom, because you want HEROes not the delivery guy. also, that 24 is a completly HARD CAP that cannot be transcended as a human, but it does not rule out a soft cap at, say, 16, or even 20. if i remember correctly the sixth point costs double during character generation (although i may be thinking nWoD, which i know to be true, if so, sorry ) however, i think you have totally the right idea (and i for one would be interested in what you come up with as an end product) that will simplify everything downstream.

Re: Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow

Re: What happens whena ctuloid monster swallows an elder star? agrees with Curufea a protective ward that prevents passage, etc, should basically be a globe of force. if the radius is small enough, it might even hover in the creatures mouth, or some other neat special effect, but basically the two should never meet.

Re: D&D Magic Items 3.5 to HERO nice! and just about as i was to start building this type of stuff for my conversion!

Re: Order of the Stick well, there are high level spells that can bring you back without need for the body at all. all is good, if they can just get their acts together (literally and figuratively)