ScottishFox

Had someone I know pop positive for Coronavirus today.
 
I was already headed into the Dr. Office for a persistent cough and shortness of breath.  Went through all of the usual and they decided to test me for Strep, Flu and Coronavirus.
 
Whoever invented the Coronavirus test deserves to be shot.  Rather, cut repeatedly, basted in honey and laid on the bank of a river where salmon are being hunted by grizzly bears.
The Q-tip like end was so swollen I was dubious about getting it into my TMA/MMA mangled nose in the first place.  The right nostril was a complete no-go.  I couldn't even get it to the bridge of my nose.  I can barely breathe out of that nostril as it is mostly scar tissue and my septum is deviated.  Other nostril I got further in and the nurse - between laughing fits - suggested I should aim for behind my eye.  I had blood on the f'ing Q-tip before I could get the last inch in.
This thing is designed for brain trauma.
 
Luckily the Flu test swap is thin enough you can actually slide it up your nostrils and into your sinus cavity.  Success.
 
The last one - a vomit-inducing tickler that you have to rub "over your tonsils".  I have no idea where that is I haven't had tonsils for 44 years.  I swabbed over my uvula and various parts of my throat will gagging repeatedly.
 
I do not enjoy the self-testing lane of the Dr's Office.  I would prefer the nurse or doctor wield the instruments of torture so I have a small chance of getting a valid test result.
 
They of course did not call me back as promised nor update my online records.  I did get an antibiotic so I **suspect** that only the strep test came back positive.
 
We'll see how it goes.

Trump was a catalyst, but the recipe for this condition had been simmering in American politics, and society, for a long time. I believe Trump, or someone like Trump, was needed at this time to make it boil over, so everyone could see it and feel it. Like the civil rights movement, the Great Depression, the Civil War, sometimes it takes frightful events to force a nation to course-correct. I'm hoping it doesn't get as bad as those, but the precedents are frightening. Yet they're also hopeful, because after each crisis America has emerged better.

I've played in a few campaigns over the decades where the DM made every session a nail-biting near-death experience.  Over time the players can become fatigued and demoralized as their cherished characters nearly die again and again.
Nihilism can set in or sometimes players will skip a week purely to catch a breather from the action.
 
It's important to let the characters (and their players) catch their breath, feel heroic or simply experience how powerful they've become over the course of a campaign.  It's like a palate cleanser.  It resets the taste buds for the next delicious adventure.
 
When I was taking my Saturday table through War for the Crown I started to sense the players getting a little haggard from having to hide from and escape the city guard again and again.  So when one character went to meet his contact at midnight on a re-supply errand I gave him a little booster.
 
Darran Redbeard - Dwarven explosives expert and military veteran with over a 100 years of experience under his belt - blows his Streetwise roll - badly.
 
A handful of street toughs with rusty gear and patched, misfit armor approach him.
 
Thug 1:  Hey, there, little fella.  That's a nice axe.
Darran:  Yeah?
Thug 1:  Hand it over - along with your coin purse and those metal egg things you got (grenades) and we won't have to cut you.
Darran:  I see...
<More thugs step out of the shadows - It's at least 4 to 1 now>
<Player 2 - Oh, Jesus... ~begins laughing~  They don't know they're trying to mug The Punisher.>
Darran:  Here, take the money.  <holds out his coin purse>
 
First thug eats a round from Darran's exploding punch gauntlet (Think 8 gauge shotgun round expended each time a punch lands).  His bowels perfume the sidewalk - dead instantly.
Next goon runs up and shanks Darran.  Right into his enchanted chain shirt.  Zero damage.
Darran ignores this guy and throws his highest damage explosive into the two guys hanging back and preparing to shoot him with with short bows.
A thunderous retort shakes the alley as they are blown to chunks.
 
Darran:  This is the part where you run.
Shanky runs for his life.  He doesn't make it.
 
And when it was over the player who was concerned his explosives expert wasn't quite as powerful as the other characters on the team was grinning ear to ear.  The stress of hiding from the guards and shadowy assassins was forgotten.
He was John F'ing Wick.  He was Baba Yaga.
 
 

I've played in a few campaigns over the decades where the DM made every session a nail-biting near-death experience.  Over time the players can become fatigued and demoralized as their cherished characters nearly die again and again.
Nihilism can set in or sometimes players will skip a week purely to catch a breather from the action.
 
It's important to let the characters (and their players) catch their breath, feel heroic or simply experience how powerful they've become over the course of a campaign.  It's like a palate cleanser.  It resets the taste buds for the next delicious adventure.
 
When I was taking my Saturday table through War for the Crown I started to sense the players getting a little haggard from having to hide from and escape the city guard again and again.  So when one character went to meet his contact at midnight on a re-supply errand I gave him a little booster.
 
Darran Redbeard - Dwarven explosives expert and military veteran with over a 100 years of experience under his belt - blows his Streetwise roll - badly.
 
A handful of street toughs with rusty gear and patched, misfit armor approach him.
 
Thug 1:  Hey, there, little fella.  That's a nice axe.
Darran:  Yeah?
Thug 1:  Hand it over - along with your coin purse and those metal egg things you got (grenades) and we won't have to cut you.
Darran:  I see...
<More thugs step out of the shadows - It's at least 4 to 1 now>
<Player 2 - Oh, Jesus... ~begins laughing~  They don't know they're trying to mug The Punisher.>
Darran:  Here, take the money.  <holds out his coin purse>
 
First thug eats a round from Darran's exploding punch gauntlet (Think 8 gauge shotgun round expended each time a punch lands).  His bowels perfume the sidewalk - dead instantly.
Next goon runs up and shanks Darran.  Right into his enchanted chain shirt.  Zero damage.
Darran ignores this guy and throws his highest damage explosive into the two guys hanging back and preparing to shoot him with with short bows.
A thunderous retort shakes the alley as they are blown to chunks.
 
Darran:  This is the part where you run.
Shanky runs for his life.  He doesn't make it.
 
And when it was over the player who was concerned his explosives expert wasn't quite as powerful as the other characters on the team was grinning ear to ear.  The stress of hiding from the guards and shadowy assassins was forgotten.
He was John F'ing Wick.  He was Baba Yaga.
 
 

I've played in a few campaigns over the decades where the DM made every session a nail-biting near-death experience.  Over time the players can become fatigued and demoralized as their cherished characters nearly die again and again.
Nihilism can set in or sometimes players will skip a week purely to catch a breather from the action.
 
It's important to let the characters (and their players) catch their breath, feel heroic or simply experience how powerful they've become over the course of a campaign.  It's like a palate cleanser.  It resets the taste buds for the next delicious adventure.
 
When I was taking my Saturday table through War for the Crown I started to sense the players getting a little haggard from having to hide from and escape the city guard again and again.  So when one character went to meet his contact at midnight on a re-supply errand I gave him a little booster.
 
Darran Redbeard - Dwarven explosives expert and military veteran with over a 100 years of experience under his belt - blows his Streetwise roll - badly.
 
A handful of street toughs with rusty gear and patched, misfit armor approach him.
 
Thug 1:  Hey, there, little fella.  That's a nice axe.
Darran:  Yeah?
Thug 1:  Hand it over - along with your coin purse and those metal egg things you got (grenades) and we won't have to cut you.
Darran:  I see...
<More thugs step out of the shadows - It's at least 4 to 1 now>
<Player 2 - Oh, Jesus... ~begins laughing~  They don't know they're trying to mug The Punisher.>
Darran:  Here, take the money.  <holds out his coin purse>
 
First thug eats a round from Darran's exploding punch gauntlet (Think 8 gauge shotgun round expended each time a punch lands).  His bowels perfume the sidewalk - dead instantly.
Next goon runs up and shanks Darran.  Right into his enchanted chain shirt.  Zero damage.
Darran ignores this guy and throws his highest damage explosive into the two guys hanging back and preparing to shoot him with with short bows.
A thunderous retort shakes the alley as they are blown to chunks.
 
Darran:  This is the part where you run.
Shanky runs for his life.  He doesn't make it.
 
And when it was over the player who was concerned his explosives expert wasn't quite as powerful as the other characters on the team was grinning ear to ear.  The stress of hiding from the guards and shadowy assassins was forgotten.
He was John F'ing Wick.  He was Baba Yaga.
 
 

I agree with this 100%.

I've played in a few campaigns over the decades where the DM made every session a nail-biting near-death experience.  Over time the players can become fatigued and demoralized as their cherished characters nearly die again and again.
Nihilism can set in or sometimes players will skip a week purely to catch a breather from the action.
 
It's important to let the characters (and their players) catch their breath, feel heroic or simply experience how powerful they've become over the course of a campaign.  It's like a palate cleanser.  It resets the taste buds for the next delicious adventure.
 
When I was taking my Saturday table through War for the Crown I started to sense the players getting a little haggard from having to hide from and escape the city guard again and again.  So when one character went to meet his contact at midnight on a re-supply errand I gave him a little booster.
 
Darran Redbeard - Dwarven explosives expert and military veteran with over a 100 years of experience under his belt - blows his Streetwise roll - badly.
 
A handful of street toughs with rusty gear and patched, misfit armor approach him.
 
Thug 1:  Hey, there, little fella.  That's a nice axe.
Darran:  Yeah?
Thug 1:  Hand it over - along with your coin purse and those metal egg things you got (grenades) and we won't have to cut you.
Darran:  I see...
<More thugs step out of the shadows - It's at least 4 to 1 now>
<Player 2 - Oh, Jesus... ~begins laughing~  They don't know they're trying to mug The Punisher.>
Darran:  Here, take the money.  <holds out his coin purse>
 
First thug eats a round from Darran's exploding punch gauntlet (Think 8 gauge shotgun round expended each time a punch lands).  His bowels perfume the sidewalk - dead instantly.
Next goon runs up and shanks Darran.  Right into his enchanted chain shirt.  Zero damage.
Darran ignores this guy and throws his highest damage explosive into the two guys hanging back and preparing to shoot him with with short bows.
A thunderous retort shakes the alley as they are blown to chunks.
 
Darran:  This is the part where you run.
Shanky runs for his life.  He doesn't make it.
 
And when it was over the player who was concerned his explosives expert wasn't quite as powerful as the other characters on the team was grinning ear to ear.  The stress of hiding from the guards and shadowy assassins was forgotten.
He was John F'ing Wick.  He was Baba Yaga.
 
 

I've played in a few campaigns over the decades where the DM made every session a nail-biting near-death experience.  Over time the players can become fatigued and demoralized as their cherished characters nearly die again and again.
Nihilism can set in or sometimes players will skip a week purely to catch a breather from the action.
 
It's important to let the characters (and their players) catch their breath, feel heroic or simply experience how powerful they've become over the course of a campaign.  It's like a palate cleanser.  It resets the taste buds for the next delicious adventure.
 
When I was taking my Saturday table through War for the Crown I started to sense the players getting a little haggard from having to hide from and escape the city guard again and again.  So when one character went to meet his contact at midnight on a re-supply errand I gave him a little booster.
 
Darran Redbeard - Dwarven explosives expert and military veteran with over a 100 years of experience under his belt - blows his Streetwise roll - badly.
 
A handful of street toughs with rusty gear and patched, misfit armor approach him.
 
Thug 1:  Hey, there, little fella.  That's a nice axe.
Darran:  Yeah?
Thug 1:  Hand it over - along with your coin purse and those metal egg things you got (grenades) and we won't have to cut you.
Darran:  I see...
<More thugs step out of the shadows - It's at least 4 to 1 now>
<Player 2 - Oh, Jesus... ~begins laughing~  They don't know they're trying to mug The Punisher.>
Darran:  Here, take the money.  <holds out his coin purse>
 
First thug eats a round from Darran's exploding punch gauntlet (Think 8 gauge shotgun round expended each time a punch lands).  His bowels perfume the sidewalk - dead instantly.
Next goon runs up and shanks Darran.  Right into his enchanted chain shirt.  Zero damage.
Darran ignores this guy and throws his highest damage explosive into the two guys hanging back and preparing to shoot him with with short bows.
A thunderous retort shakes the alley as they are blown to chunks.
 
Darran:  This is the part where you run.
Shanky runs for his life.  He doesn't make it.
 
And when it was over the player who was concerned his explosives expert wasn't quite as powerful as the other characters on the team was grinning ear to ear.  The stress of hiding from the guards and shadowy assassins was forgotten.
He was John F'ing Wick.  He was Baba Yaga.
 
 

My wife was on Rituxan for a couple of years for her ultra-rare ear condition.  This year she reacted to the medicine, developed acute onset CVID and her body decided to eat a couple of pints of blood.
 
She developed none of the symptoms classically associated with low oxygen (blue lips, pale, etc.) and instead seemed to get weak, sluggish and act kind of drunk.  After I carried her to bed she kind of crawled in place unable to move herself to her usual sleeping spot.  I called 911.  Her resting heart rate was up to 145 and her blood oxygen was in the toilet.  Paramedics said she'd have been dead by morning.  They ended up giving her 3-4 units of blood at the hospital.
 
I'd be shocked if Trumps numbers were that bad based on how my wife looked with similar numbers (she was a little lower - right at 80 - but dropping).
 
On the plus side - We're about a month post cochlear implant and she's doing WAY better off all the crazy immuno-suppressants and she's finally off the immuno-globulin infusions and blood thinners she had to take while her immune system built back up.

One option is very high damage weapons (mounted knight charging with a lance) and just battering the dragon unconscious inside its ultra-hard body.
 
20 points of rPD/rED is going to put the dragon out of reach anything that isn't highly amped up.
Great Axe plus Haymaker gets you into the 3d6+1 to 3.5d6 Range.  A few levels on damage could get you to 4d6 HKA which means you're still doing 0 damage on anything short of a critical hit.
 
One classic way I've seen of handling this is the dragon has reduced (or zero) armor for area 13.  A weak spot to exploit.

That's how I've done it in the past, and how I would do it in future, if my players wanted Critical Hits.

The problem with critical hits is that they can be used against PCs too...
 
A couple of house rules we have used are if you roll a natural 3 on 3d6 you do maximum damage.  Doesn't happen often, but when it does it is usually a one-shot takedown.  The other is if you roll 1/2 or less of what you needed to hit, you get to roll damage dice twice and then pick the better of the two rolls.  That mostly grew out of player being frustrated when they would roll a 6 to hit and then roll a bunch of 1s for damage which seemed counter-intuitive for such a good to-hit roll.

A weapon with an expanded crit range in D&D usually just has +1 OCV in Hero System. Which logically helps against hit locations.
If you wanted to translate a 5e barbarian's brutal critical, try Deadly Blow (blows to neck).  A fighter (champion)'s Improved Critical is probably just two CSLs.
Honestly there aren't a lot of D&D weapons that don't already have Hero stats somewhere. Is there something you're struggling with?

Given the very limited amount of BOD/STUN characters typically have and how fast that damage leads to being stunned, KO'd or killed a critical hit system has to be changed substantially.
 
What we ended up using is in Fantasy HERO a critical hit just guarantees a maximum damage hit.  Players have been pretty happy with it and a max damage hit that lands on 3-5, 12 or 13 generally stuns or KOs an opponent - especially when 2-handed weapons are in play.
 
When we were playing champions guaranteed maximum damage was just too much.  12d6 blast going directly to 24 BOD/72 STUN was one-shotting folks.
For champions we set the crit effect to roll 1/2 of the dice on the attack.  The rest of the dice are 6s.
 
 

Personally, I favor Hit Locations. The Hero System Bestiary has a suggested "Draconic Hit Location" table, with x2 Body for a head shot, and x3 for "Vital Spot" (traditionally the underbelly). While those locations carry major "To Hit" penalties, the DCV penalty for the frequently great size of dragons substantially offsets that. And of course, if you can manage to Stun or Knock Out the dragon, those spots become much easier to hit.

Non standard dragon from Firt Edition Fantasy Hero. 

My dad never developed this symptom, and he was hospitalized for pneumonia a month before he died and had a drainage tube surgically inserted into his lung to draw off pint after pint of bloody fluid from infection. If memory serves, his blood oxygen bottomed out in the mid 80s while he was in the ICU, which had him wheezing and the nurses quite concerned. I'm frankly amazed that Trump is on his feet if his oxygen/lung function has dropped lower than that. Those must be some GOOD drugs they have him on.

Grabbed three new converts by eliminating some of the world building overhead by keeping ALL of the 5e character creation and class rules and simply using HERO to play the game.
 
Kicked off the new Dark Hold campaign where all of the known world was conquered by an invading horde of life eating horrors from the shadow realms.  All that remains of humanity is the Dark Hold.  A circle of onyx mountains closing off the last villages and cities of mankind.
 
Even there, when the light of day fails, night terrors stalk the lands for human souls.  Only the presence of the Shepherds keeps them at bay (think dark elf + slender man).
 
Our band of intrepid heroes start off as a group of problem solvers working under the guidance of Shepherd Flynn.
 
Things are going well until the day of the eclipse when strange things begin to change for the heroes - and others throughout the land...
 
30+ Years of Fantasy HERO and I still love it.  Best system ever.

Unless you already have all the old stuff.
 
But thank you very much for all your efforts to bring that material to the masses, Your Grace.

For those who don't subscribe, the BOH went up today with the Adventurers Club and a lot of other material! 
 
I don't know what it looks like yet: I only did the scanning; clean-up was left to other volunteers.  Still, it's the cheapest way there is to read the old stuff! 
 
 

Grabbed three new converts by eliminating some of the world building overhead by keeping ALL of the 5e character creation and class rules and simply using HERO to play the game.
 
Kicked off the new Dark Hold campaign where all of the known world was conquered by an invading horde of life eating horrors from the shadow realms.  All that remains of humanity is the Dark Hold.  A circle of onyx mountains closing off the last villages and cities of mankind.
 
Even there, when the light of day fails, night terrors stalk the lands for human souls.  Only the presence of the Shepherds keeps them at bay (think dark elf + slender man).
 
Our band of intrepid heroes start off as a group of problem solvers working under the guidance of Shepherd Flynn.
 
Things are going well until the day of the eclipse when strange things begin to change for the heroes - and others throughout the land...
 
30+ Years of Fantasy HERO and I still love it.  Best system ever.

In my campaigns I have generally required a pyramid scheme of skill levels.
 
After you have two 3pt levels you cannot get another until you have a 5pt level.
After you have two 5pt levels you cannot get another until you have an 8pt levels.
and so on.
 
Still, you have to cap overall skill levels or CVs or players will go nuts.

Several people have mentioned the race to the cap for CV, damage, skill levels, etc.
 
One thing I've done to slow that to a certain extent is to tell players in my games in advance that I'll, fairly often, spend their experience for them in realistic ways which fit what's going on in the campaign.
 
If they've been flying spaceships and running arounds in zero-G in spacesuits, they might get spaceship transport familiarity, zero-g environment familiarity, etc.
 
If they've been visiting Atlantis, they might have learned to swim faster. Or get AK: Atlantis. Or KS: Atlantis. Or whatever else based on what they've been spending their time doing.
 
If they've been running around a new city for a couple of weeks, I guarantee they'll pick up AK: new city or KS: new city or Favor from new city's mayor if I need them to burn off a couple of points.
 
Of course when I do that, I have to make sure they get a chance to use whatever the points have been spent on (a small price to pay).
 
It does help the player feel a sense of nostalgia when they can look at their character sheet and remember their adventures by seeing the Contacts, Favors, and skills they've picked up along the way. In the long run, the player is going to get more out of the experience of knowing Bruce "The Nose" Yarnell than he would from having a 2 point skill level in whatever.
 
(Sorry, I'm very "rambling man" today.)