rjcurrie

Re: Superheat metal

And the rules still call it a Damage Shield. It's just bought and costed as a subset of AoE: Surface.

Re: Character with two "bodies"

you could buy the second character as a follower of the first

Perhaps, but technically, Followers are run by the GM not the player.

Re: Absorbtion in 6th Ed

Actually it does have transform but you're right not the other stuff.

Yup. The sidebar on page 40 lists the Powers that are not included. I assume there are similar sidebars for Skills, Talents, etc.

Re: Superheroes Sponsored by Corporations (Such as the NFL)

Not the NFL but the NHL:

http://www.guardianproject30.com

Re: NND vs Barrier

Perhaps.

So, rule with common sense as a GM. That's the answer to most questions like this. It's simple enough to say that all NNDs are stopped by "walls" with a PD.

Re: NND vs Barrier

What stops it? The wall has no defense against the NND.

Re: GM chart / screen referance?

If you have an iPhone or iPad, there is the HeroRef app that is available for $0.99 from the App Store. See http://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/heroref/id349424057?mt=8 for more info.

Re: Unkindness on Atomic Array

Good interview. Thanks for the shout-out.

Re: How do Hero System players/GM view DnD?

Well' date=' I can tell you that my issue with DnD (3.5 and 4 anyway) has nothing to do with it being a "simple" game. I have the exact opposite problem. It's not a system, it's a laundry list of one off rules and exceptions. The Player's Guide of 4E even says so, straight up: "[i']Every class, race, feat, power, and monster in the D&D game lets you break the rules in some way.[/i]" As far as I'm concerned, that's not simple -- that's the tax code! I do get the impression that people whose first game was D&D and who have iterated up through the systems are enough used to the "stacking exceptions" style that it doesn't throw them.

 

So my main emotional reaction to D&D is frustration, since I can and have run campaigns using HERO in multiple genres, Call of Cthulhu, Ars Magica, Vampire/Werewolf/Mage/Hunter, and a handful of other systems. And then I find myself having trouble wrapping my mind around the game everyone else manages intuitively. I did have a series of modules I ran successfully at conventions by keeping to low level characters and emphasizing roleplay, using AD&D2 and DnD3.5, but after reading through the three core 4E books, I just gave up.

 

Past the idiosyncratic personal issue, though, my opinion is pretty straightforward: It's a perfectly good system that accomplishes what it sets out to do, but it's not the sort of game I, personally, like to play. For one, High Fantasy is not my favorite genre, and for another, it's much more focused on combat roles and miniatures-style strategy than I prefer. But for people who do like that genre and playstyle, it reads to me like it works well, and I hear from a lot of people who like it.

Minus the parts about running games in other systems (I've only really GMed Traveller and HERO), Karmakaze has pretty much summed up how I feel about D&D.

Re: Equipment Guide - Delayed Recovery

Ultimate Energy Projector Page 17 under Flash.

Dark Champions Page 94 under Flash.

Basically, instead of Segments, the lenght of Flash is measured in Turns. So, if you roll 2 BODY on a 2d6 Flash with this advantage, it lasts 2 Turns rather than 2 Segments.

Re: Two 'Gadget Archer' questions

I use "Range requires bow (-1/4)" for my archer Silver Bow's arrows. I think Derek Heimforth did the same thing for his Green Arrow write-up for his Justice League game at DunDraCon last year.

Re: Hero System Books Have Way to many Typos

Michael appears to be right. Looking at Ogre on page 211 of Champions 6E, the following two powers are listed:

13 Devolutionized Body: Hardened (+1/4) for 30 PD/24 ED

34 Devolutionized Body: Resistant (+1/2) for 30 PD/24 ED, Hardened (+1/4)

It does indeed appear that you need to buy Hardened for both your PD and ED and also on the Resistant Advantage if you want to apply to both your normal and Resistant defenses.

Re: Champions Universe

So, is this a campaign setting or more of a tool to assist in campaigns?

 

Thanks,

Kirk

It's the official superhero setting for the HERO System. Steve's first post in this thread (the back cover text) gives a good summary of what it includes.

Re: No more Figured Characteristics?!

A lot of the discussion took place in the special discussion forums for 6E which were around for about 18 months before 6E came out.

There was also a lot of discussion in this group in various thread discussing 6E changes.

You have to remember that 6E has been out for a year now so most discussions on the topic of changes are long over.

If you have things you want to discuss about the removal of Figured Characteristics, bring them up. If you just want to complain about them being gone, it's probably best to keep it to yourself -- we've been through that several times before.

Oh, and one more thing, the 6E Rules forum is for questions to Steve Long about how the rules work. Steve does not answer questions about design philosophy or about how to build something.

Re: Running Hero at Gaming Conventions

I've been running superheroic and heroic Hero System games at conventions for about a dozen years and playing in them for nearly twice as long. Here is my advice:

1. Have a well-prepared combat record chart that not only shows when various characters act but also shows various important characteristics and other factors about each character. You shouldn't need to go searching through your notes just to find out what Naughty Girl's PD and ED are. Decide ties between characters with the same DEX when you make up the sheet to avoid rolling for it during the game. Also, if a character is also likely to act on his EGO at times, put an entry for him at that point in the combat record chart as well (labelled, for example, as "Brainy Guy (EGO)".

2. Always use pre-generated characters for the players. With the time available at the convention, you don't want to waste it reading over and approving characters that the players bring. This also allows you to tie aspects of the adventure directly into specific characters and to design the villains appropriately.

3. Design your villains for the purpose they are to serve in the adventure. If it is supposed to be a tough fight that goes either way, design them at roughly the same level as the PCs. If the PCs are supposed to win, make the villains a fair bit weaker (lower defenses, for example, so they'll fall quickly). If the PCs are supposed to lose, make the villains a lot stronger -- perhaps, if the set-up for your adventure allows for it, they are equipped to take advantage of PC weaknesses. If you need the villains to beat the PCs early and then lose later, design them so that there is some way to weaken them -- perhaps they draw power from an artifact or perhaps you set things up so the players can encounter them in smaller groups.

4. When running combats, once the outcome of the combat has become obvious (particularly when the PCs are defeating the villailns), wrap it up and move on. For example, if the PCs are fighting six supervillains and they've knocked out 4 of them while only one of the PCs is down, you can probably just say that the PCs easily defeat the last two and get on with the story.

5. Here's what may be the most controversial suggestion. Design an adventure that is light on combat and has an emphasis on decision making. If the decisions are important enough and designed so that the PCs fall on different sides, it can, in my mind, be as enteraining as a good fight.

6. Watch the time in combats. If a fight is going on a little too long, you can always drop the villains at a few STUN less than actually needed -- that is, if a villain has been knocked to 2 or 3 STUN, have him fall unconscious rather than waiting. You can also have a villain make a tactical mistake that leaves him open.

7. Run investigations as follows. Decide ahead of time what clues should be made available to the players. When it comes time to investigate, ask each player what their character is doing to investigate (for example, examining the corpse, talking to street contacts, interviewing witnesses, searching the internet, creating a advanced mathematical simulation of events, etc.) and then decide what character learns what and play out their investigative scenes as they learn it. If there's a clue the PCs need, but it can't be delivered via the PC investigatin, have an NPC deliver it ot them. For example, maybe the Medical Examiner gives them a call and tells them about the mysterious chemical found in the victim's system.

8. Have optional scenes that you can cut if time is running short. Or simply be prepared to have something happen to move things forward quicker than originally planned.

Incidentally, many of the suggestions above (ignoring END, reducing clutter on the character sheet, etc.) are also things I do.

Re: The HERO Basic Game Box

Yes

The Hero System Resource Kit

and its review.

Just a note that the Resource Kit is for 5th Edition.

Re: Need helps coming up with "arm" powers

Forewarned is Forearmed: Precognition

I'd suggest callilng it "Four-armed is Forewarned".

Re: Will there be a feature added to CO to allow your toon to played in the tabletop

Champions Powers was originally going to contain a Chapter pre-building the Powers in the Game.

 

Beyond that - any software solution to export a CO Character to Tabeltop Write-Up was purely wishful thinking on someone's part.

Just to clarify. GA is saying that the plan was to include the CO pre-builds in Champions Powers. That plan was dropped. As far as I know, there are currently no plans to include pre-builds of CO powers in any Hero Games product.

Re: Looking at characters in Champions 6E

I suppose Steve could be looking at it from the point of view of "How strong offensively is their mind if they did have an OMCV-based power?" For example, if they found an "alien" artifact that uses OMCV, would the character be able to use it?

There are at least some characters where he has varied the OMCV and DMCV so I think he gave it a little thought.

Re: Interesting Announcement: HERO System Skills

I'd appreciate seeing a few tweaks here and there to the Skills writeups--I'd particularly appreciate grouping all the stuff on interaction skills into one section--including the modifiers and base times for common tasks for each PRE skill' date=' the levels of effect, etc. Actually, reordering the listings so that skills are grouped by type rather than alphabetically would help to put all the stuff about mods to DEX/INT/PRE/Combat/Background skills in their proper places(and all in one spot, at that), imo.[/quote']

 

Well, based on Steve's comments, that's not going to happen.

Re: Interesting Announcement: HERO System Skills

Personally, I think its perfectly logical. Leaving TUS to the end in the last production cycle, while driven by understandable development and marketing needs, and a learning curve for Steve and co., was backwards in terms of mapping information in a way that avoided unecessary duplication. In this cycle they are left with a choice: 1) reprint materials (undesirable), 2) reference a book that hasn't been published yet (off putting), or 3) publish the book to be referenced early in the new production cycle and move forward (best option, IMO). My only issue is the shifting product names. I understand the need to differentiate the 6E/5E lines. And from a contemporary zeitgeist perspective the new names are probably more fitting. But now I have to learn a new sea of acronyms to keep up with board-speak. Unhappy. I get it. I agree with it. I just don't like it.

 

This is totally off topic, but in terms of names, I'd like to see the 6E version of Ninja Hero, if there is to be one, named something else. I think the focus on ninjas is a bit narrow and overly focuses the book (and its perception) on a sub-genre. It might work better as "chanbara hero," which is broader, but even that is limited to Japan. Chanbara would probably only be one of several sections since the wuxia/chop-sockey/chinese genres would also need to be included. I guess I don't really know what it should be called. I just don't think Ninja Hero, which emerged from the 80's ninja-craze, is the best possible name.

As far as I know, there are no plans for Ninja Hero 6E. I believe Steve put the things he wanted to keep from NH 5E into HERO System Martial Arts.

Interesting announcement in Steve's weekly update:

I'm glad to see TUS getting a 6e update, but I must admit I'm a little bit unsure about the publishing approach. While I can understand HERO wanting to move their hard copies of TUS before printing HSS, I wonder if it might be a bit confusing.

Still, it will be good to have an updated version of TUS.

Re: CON Only to Resist Stunning

It's going to partly depend on whether things like "Based on CON" Mental Powers (or other "CON-Based" Powers) are in use.

Re: CON Only to Resist Stunning

In almost every game I'm in - read: any Genre but Champions - CON Rolls come up often enough and are important enough that they're worth a -1/4, but not more than that.

 

In a Champions Game it's a -0.

I still think it's a -1/4 in Champions but I can see an argument for -0.

Re: Only in Hero ID

However, if I understand correctly people think that, even though they are essentially the same as linked or OIAID, these would be viable limitations:

 

Adjusted as if linked to Resistant Protection

Cannot be used if Resistant Protection is not active

 

So would they be worth -1/4 each, or -1/4 as a single limitation?

The first Limitation is basically Unified Power from 6e and I see no reason why both Lims can't be used.