BobGreenwade

Assuming, of course, that the Ambassador wants to take a trip out there (or maybe if you want to meet on the last stop in Imperial space before the Expanse). Now I just have to figure out who would be responsible for guarding the Ambassador. The ISP? The TSS? The TDC's own bodyguard corps? Private guards hired by the Ambassador himself? (The latter two would require a GM-built Package Deal for the PCs, and I'd rather not do that for this particular game.) Steve, James, somebody give me a clue!

My copy of Terran Empire finally arrived in the mail today! Now I can start making devious plans for my Embassy to Mon'da campaign (no doubt further complicated by the contents of The Spacer's Toolkit once I have a hard copy of that).

Oh, absolutely. It would have to be rewritten from the ground up to even come close to matching what's been done thus far with Champions, Ninja Hero, Star Hero, and soon Fantasy Hero. And with Dark Champions on the schedule for next year and Pulp Hero set out for 2005, it'll be at least 2006 (and probably longer) before we can expect to see anything along these lines. But hey, there's no rush. There are many, many books that DOJ could focus on, and there can be little doubt that they'll get around to them all eventually.

Re: DH? It probably could, but I'd prefer to write it as a future setting than a genre book. I'd certainly jump at the chance to write a 5th-ed redux of Robot Warriors (as a Star Hero subgenre book) -- especially since The Ultimate Vehicle actually started life as The Ultimate Giant Robot -- but given the choice I'd like to cover it as a Star Hero setting.

According to Steve (in another thread, which I don't recall... and I'm not even 100% sure it was Steve, not that I think on it), this was just how it happened to work out. Personally, I like it. I'm just waiting for the Champions supplement with a cover showing Nighthawk in serious trouble, and somewhere in the background is a Champions comic book with Seeker in the identical situation.

And big. You also write big. I think it was Chris Avellone who once quipped, "They don't call it a Long manuscript for nothing."

Galactus and Silver Surfer are indeed who I had in mind when I created the power.

Coolness! When do you expect to post the next installment of this tale? I want to be sure and have some popcorn ready....

These newest additions look really nifty.

These are among the abilities I'd started to write up and then abandoned, for this very reason. I would love it, though, if a separate book of "super-skill" abilities like these could find its way onto the 2005 schedule.

Remember, just because it's part of a superhero universe doesn't make it a superpower in the USPD sense. The characters you name as influences are all legitimate superhero universe examples, but a lot of the stuff they can do with their intellect is really super-skill stuff and thus part of a different aspect of the superhero universe than superpowers per se. I had a couple of abilities I'd thought to send in, but decided not to on this very basis. It's just a matter of what fits where.

Looks great! The database appears to be growing at a pretty decent rate. And the percentage of the powers I sent in that passed muster was much higher than I expected. I wouldn't want to see a book of less than 200 pages (assuming it's a paper book rather than a Hero Plus release), but at the rate we're all going that shouldn't be much of a problem -- especially if Dave Mattingly adds a few of his ideas. So go ahead and schedule it for a Spring 2005 release.

"Les Mis" is a nickname for the musical Les Miserables. And yes, Les Miserables is a novel. It was written by Victor Hugo, the same man who gave us The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

I've been hoping for an opportunity to do something like this for the new Hero Universe (as something in the mid-fourth millennium). Sadly, I don't think Steve would be willing to do, based on a comment he's made about Spacer's Toolkit having "the closest thing to a mech you'll ever see in the Hero Universe" (not necessarily an exact quote).

I'm actually looking forward to seeing what's happening in that era with Doctor Destroyer, Mechanon, and Takofanes....

And, I would assume, no giant yellow riding chickens. Or, for that matter, intelligent squirrels riding a herd of trained combat armadillos....

Do you have The Ultimate Vehicle? There are a few pretty decent ones in there.

Of course, I don't think anyone here (or at least not many) are saying that a new Allies book should be added to the 2005 schedule. There are a lot of other books screaming to be done before that. We'd just like to have it considered for the product line. If done well, it could even lead to heroes books in other genres.

The only thing that comes to mind is to put him into some condition that would instantly kill him every time he resurrects -- the heart of a volcano, deep (interstellar) space, the surface of the sun, or something like that.

I'm sorry to hear that Allies was such a poor seller. I have the book, and while it did have its weaknesses it also had some pretty cool ideas in it. Its main weakness, I think, was the lack of "flow" -- it didn't have a unified idea, from one mind making sure that all the needed parts were covered. It was less a book of allies than a book of heroic enemies -- the "let the PCs come into conflict with these heroes" part was overdone, to the detriment of all other possibilities. A book of heroes, I think, should include the following functions (in no particular order): 1) Heroic NPCs for the PCs to come into conflict with, for a variety of reasons. Zen Team, the Braverman Foundation, and particularly the Posse did this quite well. A different type of conflict was presented with the Flashmen, who were done quite brilliantly IMO. 2) Experts for the PCs to consult when they don't have any expertise in a particular area. There was some of this in Executive Sanction, the Cyberknights, and Mr Nobody, but it needed to be more prevalent and brought out a bit more when it's present. The possibility of learning stuff from them (that is, using NPC heroes as a source for learning new Skills) is also good. 3) "Instant PCs" for visiting gamers, first-timers, and last-minute drop-ins. These would almost have to be independent heroes, rather than team members. The only ones I'd consider even close to good for this would be Long Walker and maybe Interference -- though both are built on different point totals than a standard beginning PC. 4) Heroes to pull the PCs' fat out of the fire when they get in over their heads. It's been said many times that this should be minimized, though there are ways to soften the "blow" and make them not feel like screw-ups ("We've been trying for months to get this far. In a way, it's us who should be thanking you!"). And don't forget the reverse option, of NPC heroes who get in over their heads (as in V.O.I.C.E. of Doom or {To Serve And Protect) and need help from the PCs. 5) Plot seeds from individual NPC heroes, even those who are members of a team. The new version of the Champions handles this quite well. Let's see... what else?

Just to make sure I'm understanding... if the character has, say, 50 END, then when he's duplicated both duplicates have a common pool of 100 END from which to power everything they do. Is that right? If I'm understanding it right, then yes, I'd just call it a -0 Limitation, for the reasons already stated.

Good job! Nice bit of work there, Nate (et al)! Now we just need to start one of these for the Terran Empire....

This is especially true considering that what was in DH#7 was only a droplet out of what was cut from my original manuscript (meaning the big one I emailed to Bruce Harlick in '97 when TUV was planned as a Hero Plus publication). There were two different alien races with their ships (and, in one case, mecha), a couple of "organic" Vehicles (one literally, the other figuratively) built as regular characters, a half-dozen vehicular superheroes/villains, real-world spacecraft (such as the Saturn space rocket and the space shuttle), odd vehicles like the Skycar and the Segway, mass combat rules, a half-dozen sample campaigns centered on vehicles, a somewhat more extensive random roadway generator, air and space encounter tables, further abilities for vehicle operators (including several applications of Powers and Power Advantages)... and that just covers what I can remember without calling up the actual file. I literally could compile another entire Hero book -- or maybe even two -- out of what I cut plus what Steve cut, if he'd let me.

Okay, this is probably an erratum rather than a clarification, but here goes. In Star Hero, the Package Deals for large extraterrestrial species (pages 31-32) all charge the regular 1:1 point cost for all STR, though even the first one would send the average character above Normal Characteristic Maxima. I can come up with three possible explanations for this: 1) There was an error, and the double cost for Characteristic Maxima should have been figured in (+15 STR for 20 points, +30 STR for 50 points, and so forth); 2) Characteristic Maxima aren't supposed to apply to Characteristics bought as part of a Package Deal (though an answer in the FAQ would seem to contradict this); or 3) [which I think is most likely] the straight cost for these Characteristics was shown in the Package Deals because the exact value will vary from one individual to another, and the author and editor just neglected to put in a note to that effect.

My general impression is that they are sort of like the Warp and Impulse drives on Star Trek -- or more precisely, one for "helmsman, take us to our next destination," and the other for "get us the heck away from this supernova!" Each has its own abilities and limitations, and the captain must choose between the two based on what he's trying to do.