m.mavnn

The animation was based on a discussion that basically said there's no point putting Vadar up against a normal space marine as they can't do much against the force powers, what would happen if he fought one of the space marine librarians (psychic/wizard, there isn't much difference in 40k).
 
Which made a cool animation, but also rendered the question a bit pointless - psychics in 40k range from 'it would hardly make a difference versus Vadar' to ridiculously over powered army killers who would squish him like a bug. So you basically get to just choose which side wins at that point. 

As someone currently recovering from a bout of stress exacerbated post viral fatigue... look after yourself, and don't let your frustration push you into making the situation worse. I'm sure this isn't news, but I know I need people to remind me that it's okay to do that (without telling me that the situation is okay, because sometimes it's actually not). 
 
I, of course, always follow my own advice on this 🙈

In my Pirates of Drinax campaign, some of the characters are fighter pilots, so I came up with some ranged martial arts maneuvers they could use.
 
Fighter Pilot Skills
3  Defensive Shot:  1/2 Phase, -1 OCV, +2 DCV, Range +0, Weapon  Strike
5  Dodge/Jink:  1/2 Phase, -- OCV, +4 DCV, Dodge All Attacks, Abort; FMove
4  Trained Shot:  1/2 Phase, +2 OCV, +0 DCV, Range +0, Weapon  Strike
0  Weapon Element:  Vehicle Weapons
 
What might be some other maneuvers a skilled fighter pilot would have, like Maverick from the Top Gun movies?

As the guy who wrote the update I encourage you to pick up both of these.  🙂

When I run Monumental Battle (all the giant statues in the world beating each other up, from Lady Liberty to Colossus of Rhodes), I just treat them all as "normal size." The standard everyman just becomes 50x taller than usual. Hexes grow to an equivalent size.

I'm sort of the Robot Warriors expert.  🙂
 
Robot Warriors used two concepts: Size Class, which wasn't quite the same as a vehicle's Size stat, and Ground Scale.  Ground Scale was used for setting the size of one hex on the map, and the Ground Scale of a map was suggested to be set to be equal to the Size Class of the majority of the combatants. 
 
For reference, a standard human is considered to be Size Class 1, and Ground Scale 1 uses 2 meter hexes.  Every three doublings of mass (or three levels of vehicle Size) is +1 Size Class, while every +1 Ground Scale doubles the size of one hex. 
 
To use it in play, set the initial Range Modifier increment in meters based on the target's Size Class, and convert it to hexes at the Ground Scale you're using.  If you're in the same hex (regardless of Ground Scale) as your target, you're at -0 to RMod regardless of size difference. 
 
As an example, if you're using "standard" Robot Warriors mecha (25 to 199.9 ton), Size Class would be 4, with a first range increment of 64 meters.  At Ground Scale 4 hexes (16 meters), the initial range increment becomes 4 hexes.  If the mecha is shooting at a human (Size Class 1, initial range increment 8m) on the Ground Scale 4 battlefield, the mecha has to be in the same 16m hex in order to not be at a range penalty at all.  If the human is shooting back at the mecha (Size Class 4, initial range increment 64m), they're shooting with a -0 RMod out to four Ground Scale 4 16m hexes. 
 
I hope my explanation makes sense.  Here is a document I've written setting out all of the above with nicely formatted tables.  I hope it's helpful!

It’s been a while and I only played it a couple of times so did not pick up the book.  From  what I remember they had a scale of sizes and if two different sizes where used you took the one with most of the robots and adjusted the DCV of the others up or down deepening on if they were larger or smaller. So, two robots of the same size used the normal rules.  Anything larger or smaller where then adjusted.     

Diving back into the "old times" of the board, but this collection of maneuver descriptions inspired by the Wheel of Time show how much flavour you can pack into a "standard" martial art and some skill levels:
 
Going back to the original question, even a very small (10-15 point) multipower can make a huge difference to the "feel" of a character in play. Switch between "Eagle Observes the Flow: +1 OCV/DCV, cost END" and "Planted Oak Stance: +5 Resistant PD/ED, costs END, must be standing on a solid surface which takes the damage instead" and both your descriptions and tactical options will shift dramatically.

Diving back into the "old times" of the board, but this collection of maneuver descriptions inspired by the Wheel of Time show how much flavour you can pack into a "standard" martial art and some skill levels:
 
Going back to the original question, even a very small (10-15 point) multipower can make a huge difference to the "feel" of a character in play. Switch between "Eagle Observes the Flow: +1 OCV/DCV, cost END" and "Planted Oak Stance: +5 Resistant PD/ED, costs END, must be standing on a solid surface which takes the damage instead" and both your descriptions and tactical options will shift dramatically.

Diving back into the "old times" of the board, but this collection of maneuver descriptions inspired by the Wheel of Time show how much flavour you can pack into a "standard" martial art and some skill levels:
 
Going back to the original question, even a very small (10-15 point) multipower can make a huge difference to the "feel" of a character in play. Switch between "Eagle Observes the Flow: +1 OCV/DCV, cost END" and "Planted Oak Stance: +5 Resistant PD/ED, costs END, must be standing on a solid surface which takes the damage instead" and both your descriptions and tactical options will shift dramatically.

Second RPG I ever played was a game of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay set in the 40k universe (the fantasy roleplay and 40k Rogue Trader stats were compatible enough you could basically just do that).
 
I didn't have a PC, and the group wanted to get to know me a bit before offering me a place. That was fair enough; I was 14 and the rest of the group were in their 30s-40s and it wasn't clear that we were going to be a good match. And it would have been awkward to bring in a new character anyway, as the party were in the process of trying to reclaim their ship from space pirates and they'd left off half way through the pitched boarding battle (having used their extensive knowledge of their own ship to get back on board).
 
So the GM gave me an NPC crew member to play - and not just any old mook, but the heavy weapons specialist. So we clear out a few rooms, plant sapping charges on the bridge door, blow it off its hinges, and we all burst in! The GM loving describes the senior pirates, including the pirate captain in his shiney chaos marine power armour. Who promptly shoots and nearly kills my character, who's rolled the highest initiative in the party.
 
"That sounds bad," says I, "and very tough. I'm going to switch to full auto on the plasma cannon and empty the clip."
 
The DM considers. Rolls some dice. Looks up some armour ratings.
 
"Well, there's good news and bad news. Good news is, there's nothing left of the pirate captain except a smoking pair of boots magnetically held to the floor.
 
The bad news is, you and the rest of the party are being sucked out of the gaping hole in the front of the bridge out you just opened into deep space.
 
Worst news is, your character just got several holes blown in his space suit and it's no longer air tight."
 
Long story short: they should have given me a power sword...

Here are two I am lifting from Mr. Shrike for a Knowledge Domain.
 
First---Deep Thoughts
Deep Contemplation: +38 INT (38 Active Points); Extra Time (1 Minute, Character May Take No Other Actions, -1 3/4), , Concentration 0 DCV (Character is totally unaware of nearby events; -3/4), Incantations (-1/4), Gestures (-1/4) (Real Cost: 😎
Eidetic Memory, 1 Continuing Charge lasting 1 Century (+0), Inherent (+1/2) (7 Active Points); Extra Time (1 Hour, Character May Take No Other Actions, -3 1/4), Only to Remember Things Learned With Deep Contemplation (-1), Concentration 0 DCV (Character is totally unaware of nearby events; -3/4), Incantations (-1/4), Gestures (-1/4) (Real Cost: 1)
 
 
Next and Simpler
Mystic Knowledge
Detect General Information And Facts 11- (Mental Group), Discriminatory (15 Active Points); Only While In Good Standing With Faith (Cannot be removed; -1/4), Concentration (1/2 DCV; -1/4)

There should be a "fall down the rabbit hole" side effect.

I think I have seen it presented as follows in previous attempts. 
 
 
KS: Everything 30- (cost endurance -1/2, gestures -1/4, incantations -1/4 Active points 31, real cost 15)
 
 

I just uploaded two character files (pdf and hdc) for Brian "Coffin" Kirk and his ever-present sidekick, Tank. Arch Whitehouse wrote these aviation pulp characters for Flying Aces magazine. Seven stories were eventually published, which you can read on the Age of Aces website:
"Vulture's Vortex" from Flying Aces, v27 #3, October 1937 "Skyguns of Singapore" from Flying Aces v29 #3, June 1938 "Scourge of the Steel Eagles" from Flying Aces v30 #3, October 1938 "Clue of the Breda Brood" from Flying Aces v32 #1, April 1939 “Hawks From the Smoke” from Flying Aces  v33 #1, August 1939 "Balloons For a Breda" from Flying Aces v36 #1, August 1940 “Fate Flies the Breda” from Flying Aces  v38 #3, June 1941  
I haven't done up any of "Coffin" Kirk's planes, because he usually crashes them. In five out of seven stories, he crashes the plane he got last adventure at the beginning and steals a different one from the bad guys by the end. I will admit, I didn't think I'd enjoy the stories, but I wanted to see what the aviation pulps were about; I usually prefer weird pulp heroes with quirks. Well, this guy's got them in spades! Two pages into the first story and I knew I was going to have to read the rest of them! It's not much of an investment anyway, they're pretty short and there's only a few of them!
 

If you have a little computer savvy, you can use this:
 
https://www.nomic.net/~uckelman/mkhexgrid/
 
There is also this from Dr. Phillippe Marquis:
https://graph-paper-printer.en.softonic.com/
https://m.majorgeeks.com/files/details/graph_paper_printer.html
 
I use Dr. Marquis' program for a lot of things, though I got it as a direct download from his site a long time ago.  The mkhexgrid program I have been using lately to create poster sized prints and print them out at Kinkos.  A bit expensive but kind of cool.

#1 I have no issue with any of the solutions presented thus far and I think everything is well discussed.  I have nothing against creating two new stats or not creating two new stats.  The specific GM knows how much those stats will be applicable and used.  I am only suggesting an alternate solution.
 
#2 If the you want to reduce the stat's effect on perception (since by design you can't generally lower the perception below 9+ unless you allow negative stat effects), you could always use a physical limitation.  I would guess at least a -2 PER per 5 point limitation. To be honest, I would make it -2 @ 5pts, -5 @ 10pts, and -8 @ 15 pts.  Similarly, you could use buy it as a limitation on special senses too: -2 @ 1/4, -5 @ 1/2, and -8 @ -1.  Note different GMs would weigh these differently, but I would not go below -2 per 5 pts of physical disadvantage as it becomes less disadvantage and more of a cheap way to buy INT.

My paladin stabbed Tiamat in the face on Saturday.  Once.

Really sorry to hear that @Simon. Hope you recover rapidly and safely.

Really sorry to hear that @Simon. Hope you recover rapidly and safely.

There's also a matter of signaling, of communication. House rules can be a way of telling the players what matters in this campaign, how its focus is different from the 'default'. 
 
If you turn, say, High Society into a skill with subcategories (like survival) per noble house, you're giving a clue. If you turn it into a full blown social combat system, you're setting the campaign focus before the first character is started. 
 
Could you build characters with limited skill levels and PRE? Yes, but it would be a lot more hassle and a lot harder to communicate that this is an area that is a) important to the campaign and b) it's expected that characters will have varying levels of ability across these things. 

Second RPG I ever played was a game of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay set in the 40k universe (the fantasy roleplay and 40k Rogue Trader stats were compatible enough you could basically just do that).
 
I didn't have a PC, and the group wanted to get to know me a bit before offering me a place. That was fair enough; I was 14 and the rest of the group were in their 30s-40s and it wasn't clear that we were going to be a good match. And it would have been awkward to bring in a new character anyway, as the party were in the process of trying to reclaim their ship from space pirates and they'd left off half way through the pitched boarding battle (having used their extensive knowledge of their own ship to get back on board).
 
So the GM gave me an NPC crew member to play - and not just any old mook, but the heavy weapons specialist. So we clear out a few rooms, plant sapping charges on the bridge door, blow it off its hinges, and we all burst in! The GM loving describes the senior pirates, including the pirate captain in his shiney chaos marine power armour. Who promptly shoots and nearly kills my character, who's rolled the highest initiative in the party.
 
"That sounds bad," says I, "and very tough. I'm going to switch to full auto on the plasma cannon and empty the clip."
 
The DM considers. Rolls some dice. Looks up some armour ratings.
 
"Well, there's good news and bad news. Good news is, there's nothing left of the pirate captain except a smoking pair of boots magnetically held to the floor.
 
The bad news is, you and the rest of the party are being sucked out of the gaping hole in the front of the bridge out you just opened into deep space.
 
Worst news is, your character just got several holes blown in his space suit and it's no longer air tight."
 
Long story short: they should have given me a power sword...

Second RPG I ever played was a game of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay set in the 40k universe (the fantasy roleplay and 40k Rogue Trader stats were compatible enough you could basically just do that).
 
I didn't have a PC, and the group wanted to get to know me a bit before offering me a place. That was fair enough; I was 14 and the rest of the group were in their 30s-40s and it wasn't clear that we were going to be a good match. And it would have been awkward to bring in a new character anyway, as the party were in the process of trying to reclaim their ship from space pirates and they'd left off half way through the pitched boarding battle (having used their extensive knowledge of their own ship to get back on board).
 
So the GM gave me an NPC crew member to play - and not just any old mook, but the heavy weapons specialist. So we clear out a few rooms, plant sapping charges on the bridge door, blow it off its hinges, and we all burst in! The GM loving describes the senior pirates, including the pirate captain in his shiney chaos marine power armour. Who promptly shoots and nearly kills my character, who's rolled the highest initiative in the party.
 
"That sounds bad," says I, "and very tough. I'm going to switch to full auto on the plasma cannon and empty the clip."
 
The DM considers. Rolls some dice. Looks up some armour ratings.
 
"Well, there's good news and bad news. Good news is, there's nothing left of the pirate captain except a smoking pair of boots magnetically held to the floor.
 
The bad news is, you and the rest of the party are being sucked out of the gaping hole in the front of the bridge out you just opened into deep space.
 
Worst news is, your character just got several holes blown in his space suit and it's no longer air tight."
 
Long story short: they should have given me a power sword...

The animation was based on a discussion that basically said there's no point putting Vadar up against a normal space marine as they can't do much against the force powers, what would happen if he fought one of the space marine librarians (psychic/wizard, there isn't much difference in 40k).
 
Which made a cool animation, but also rendered the question a bit pointless - psychics in 40k range from 'it would hardly make a difference versus Vadar' to ridiculously over powered army killers who would squish him like a bug. So you basically get to just choose which side wins at that point. 

Believe it or not, it was 20 years ago today that Darren Watts, Jason Walters, the Secret Masters, and myself bought the HERO System (and its related IPs)!
 
It's been a wonderful, amazing journey ever since -- one with its ups and downs, like any journey -- but still an awesome one. My deepest thanks to all the HERO fans out there who have made it possible!