BobGreenwade

Ahem...

 

You didn't list a Size characteristic for any of these.

 

On the plus side, using Duplication for certain subordinate Vehicles is a clever idea. I wish I'd thought of it, for such things as escape pods and shuttles. Maybe if there's a second edition in the future, it can be included.

Originally posted by steriaca

Life Suport for a vehical is difrent than Life Suport for a human. The Life Suport repersents what enviroment a vehical can work in without major problems. Think about it this way...a can needs to eat (fule...gasolien), needs air (exhast), and needs water (radiator, to cool the engin). This, a car is like a person...well, almost like one.

This is assuming that one is using the optional rules in DH#7. The only rules called upon were those in TUV (well, and FREd), from which those rules were cut. Thus, Life Support on a Vehicle affects the occupants, but any restrictions on where a Vehicle can go is either a Power Limitation, Physical Limitation, Susceptibility, or Special Effect.

 

And it's spelled "Vehicle," not "Vehical."

Originally posted by Koshka

Depends on whether the engine was running (never seen Heavy Metal). If the driver didn't start it up until after landing, then no need for LS.

Irrelavent. Starting the engine has nothing to do with whether the driver can breathe.

Very carefullly.

 

Okay, for real. For game purposes, I don't think anything more than a parachute attached to the car (TUV page 71, sidebar) would be needed. A detail-minded GM might ask for an advanced suspension (extra DEF on the undercarriage, only for rough landings (-1), and/or some Flight or Gliding for the same purpose), but overall I think the parachute should be sufficient.

 

Well, that and maybe some Life Support for the high altitude...

Originally posted by Steve Long

...or they're magic books!

I thought that wasn't until September...

Making room for 5th Ed stuff

 

Originally posted by Thag13

That reminds me, gotta buy new book case for all of the books that are coming out the next couple of years..!!

I have a nicer solution... I'm just about to put most of my 3rd and 4th Edition stuff in storage.

 

And I'm definitely buying TE. Even if I wasn't trying to buy every Hero product, I'd buy it. I'm hooked on Mon'dabi...

Zeppelins

 

Originally posted by pinecone

I really like it and I am ever so grateful for the zeplin write up...you just can't play golden age/pulp without a zeplin!

I would've included a map, but I didn't have enough Graf paper...

Originally posted by Steve Long

Let me suggest that we put a stop to this "who wrote what" discussion right here and now. It's pretty much pointless.

Well, I'm pretty much a "give credit where credit is due" kinda guy... but okay, if you say so.

"Be a..."

 

Originally posted by Steve Long

Sorry to hear you missed out on getting Aaron's autograph.

 

At GenCon, when asked to sign copies of Champions, I usually signed with my "Be a Hero!" message. He would then come along behind and sign "Be a Villain!".

This so makes me want to start signing books with, "Be a Bloomin' Nuisance!"

Originally posted by AlHazred

It definitely fits in superbly with everything published so far, displaying a unity and cohesion to the Hero System rules that has been sorely lacking. I am gratified to finally see some of the stuff I remember you talking about years ago (like the stuff about towed vehicles and the detailed Sailing rules) and am glad examples are given that illustrate very well the proper usage of the rules.

 

Give yourself a pat on the back between floggings...

Well, I just may do that... though I will admit that only about a quarter of the published text on sailing is my own. Steve did most of the work there.

 

OTOH I will say that most of the text on Characteristics (other than the "How Much CHA Should A Vehicle Have?" sections) is my own, as is nearly all of the stuff on mecha (the examples are 100% Steve's work). So is nearly all of the combat chapter, though Steve rearranged it rather more nicely than I had it.

Originally posted by AlHazred

In fact, it's an excellent supplement, well worth the wait. So, Bob, did the delay in the product release give you a chance to refine it to its high standard, or did you hit gold from the start? [/b]

Actually, if anything, the delay worked against me. It was originally to be formatted in roughly the same way that the three Fourth Edition Ultimate Books (TUMA, TUM, TUSM) were formatted, written initially as The Ultimate Giant Robot but later expanding to The Ultimate Super Vehicle. Then Steve Peterson asked that it be made into The Ultimate Vehicle, to take away the appearance that it would apply just to superheroes, and asked that I include more stuff for low-end vehicles. Then there was a year or so of delay, and finally Bruce said it would become the first supplement for 5th Edition Hero but I needed to rewrite it in accordance with the rules Steve had rewritten and also include stuff for Fuzion. Then there was another long delay, Hero changed hands to Cybergames and then to DOJ, and around it came again -- I needed to rewrite it to fit the new Fifth Edition rules (not just Steve's review manuscript), take out the Fuzion stuff... and rearrange everything to the outline in the book as you now have it.

 

By this time, the only Fifth Edition book I had was the rulebook, and I'd only briefly gotten to glance inside the Champions genre book, so I was a bit confused as to how exactly to proceed. I did what I could, but Steve still had to cut a lot of what I wrote (only a little of that got into DH#7), add more material of his own writing, rearrange a lot of the text I'd written into the correct order (nearly all of the vehicle construction rules in Chapters Two through Seven are either moved from my Chapter One or written by Steve), add more sample Vehicles, and fix a whole lot of other stuff. In retrospect, if I were starting the manuscript today and had the other Hero books now in my possession (which is everything published so far except NH and TE), I would've come up on my own with something much closer to what Steve ended up with than what I actually turned in.

 

So, while I'll gladly take credit for 55% of the text in the book (which is about the percentage I got paid for, and rightly so) I have to give Steve at least 75% of the credit for how great the book is. Hopefully I'll be able to redeem myself with a better job performance with a future supplement. (There are a couple of "unassigned" books on the 2005 schedule that I'd drool over, but Steve won't let me start on them. )

With the author's signature, even I would have to go with Champions!

Originally posted by JmOz

My FLGS does not have it yet, did it include the rules from the manuscript on integrating a computer into the vehicle?

Most of them. It does include INT and EGO as optional Characteristics (as well as PRE and COM), and a good deal of stuff scattered throughout the book on computerized abilities. The deleted computer-oriented material was, I think, mostly minor stuff that could more readily go in The Ultimate Computer or some such.

Originally posted by Chaosliege

Does TUV give any rules for buying Power Armor as a vehicle?(other than Mecha, I dont want a 200' tall Power Armor guy)

Not extensively of course, but yes -- in fact, one of the sample Vehicles is a military Powered Armor Suit (page 83).

Re: Re: Re: Driving at a distance

 

Originally posted by BasilDrag

Is that one of the free downloads from Digital Hero? (I hope, I hope, I hope)

Not at present, but there's plenty of time for it to be done before the next issue comes out. It might even be tomorrow. (OTOH It might not be done at all... I'm not in charge of that.)

Originally posted by Nelijal

Does TUV cover animals as vehicles?

Yes, though not in depth. The strongest discussion on the matter is just one paragraph (albeit a rather long one) on page 7; the general concept is touched on, often invisibly, throughout the book.

Re: Driving at a distance

 

Originally posted by SirViss

Just to know, does the book conver remote-control?

Not really, though the text on remote control from the final-draft manuscript I sent to Steve can be found in Digital Hero #7.

Originally posted by Nato

I'm glad you like the cover Bob! Since it's mainly your baby, that means a lot. I haven't been able to read much of it yet, but I enjoyed your intro so far. Good writing style. What did you think of how the book came out?

Mostly great. There were a couple of things that Steve changed or cut from my material for reasons that escape me entirely (I would've included them in DH7, but when I sent the article in to Dave I figured Steve would change them). Chief among this is the mention of volantors, which have a mention in FREd (see the Transport Familiarity table) but not in TUV. They'll probably show up in a near-future DH.

 

That aside, I think this will be a great resource for gamers of any system. I'm giving one of my author's copies to my sister-in-law, a D20 diehard, and I'll just see if she comes up with a way to use it in her games.

BTW, I hear the book sold quite well at the DDC this weekend. I'm not sure how many copies were sold, but there was definite interest in the book!

I heard that as well. I do know that TUV was one of the most-anticipated all-new books of the Hero line, so it doesn't much surprise me. How well it's written will be reflected in how quickly it sells out.

Re: The Ultimate Vehicle...

 

Originally posted by Game Show Man

(Oh, yes...GREAT book.)

So much for discussing the cover (which is as nice as advertised, by the way)... are there any further comments than this about the interior? Or has anyone gotten that far yet?