BoloOfEarth

Greetings, Herophiles! I am the new coordinator of Haymaker!, an Amateur Press Association magazine (APAzine) supporting the Hero System, and we're looking for a few good writers to join us. Haymaker! has been around since 1992 and is published as a PDF on a quarterly basis. As an APAzine, it is distributed only among contributors (who currently number around 20, though the number that contribute to any given issue is often less than that). Our contributors include Dave Mattingly, Mike Surbrook, and Bob Greenwade, all of whom I'm sure you know from Digital Hero and other Hero Games publications. Haymaker! is not available by subscription or sale to the general public, so you don’t get paid to contribute. However, authors in Haymaker! retain full rights to their own work (at least, until they later decide to sell their work). For contributors, this APAzine can be both a wealth of gaming material and an excellent source of feedback from other writers. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. Or, you can check out our website* (http://www.haymaker.org), look at our Contributor's Guidelines, or even email me directly (RayL@haymaker.org). *We are in the midst of a major update to the website, so please excuse the parts still under construction. PS: Thank you to Darren for allowing me to post this on the Hero boards. PPS: There is a matching thread on the Digital Hero forum. I will be checking both threads, so post to either one.

Re: Double The Hero Excitement! Hmmm... major announcement... The letter "H"... Today Hero Games announces "Hillary/Huckabee Hero". That's right, the 2008 presidential election will be run as a Rage-in-the-Cage superpowered grudge match, with the last candidate standing going on to the White House. Hero shows us how to turn politicos into powerhouses... Nah. I got nothin'.

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat (This one's just for the Tribble...) Gillian Anderson's home. Well, at least as close as you can get without violating the restraining order. NT: Explain again what you did that made that celebrity get a restraining order against you...

Re: Thou Shalt Not Speak Its Name I only really used them in one campaign (except as background), and that seemed to go okay. This was way, waaaaaay back, but lets see what I recall... In one adventure, the heroes learned that CLOWN was doing a scavenger hunt to determine their new leader... and one of the items on the list was a "superhero in a pink tutu". Of course, each of them pretty much was dead set on NOT being the super-ballerina. One of the heroes had electrical powers, and he had a sidekick (Electro Lad) who eventually ended up in the tutu. So, no real embarassment for the PCs. The players loved tagging off in combat to send poor Tag careening across the battlefield after his next target. A gadgeteer PC ended up taking Merry Andrew as a contact and helped plan a gag or two, IIRC. I think the PC heroes even sicced CLOWN on the other hero team in town once. One of the female PCs ended up dating Trump Knight for a time. (Come to think of it, that particular female PC dated a number of male supervillains... Trump Knight, Firewing, heck, even Shamrock got lucky with her.) So CLOWN can be run without making the heroes feel bullied.

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat Dug too deep, and I hit water. Oh, not *that* kind of well... NT: Worst job given to Evil Overlord's Minion #1427-J.

Re: Thou Shalt Not Speak Its Name In my game, I revamped Dot and added him to the Foxbat Five. His powers are now intrinsic. Basically, I kept the look but ditched the powersuit. My Dot is an homage to the Spot from Spiderman comics. Unlike Spot, though, Dot's multicolored "dots" access multiple dimensions, not just one. Most of these dimensions are too dangerous to enter directly, though opening a portal to those dimensions is a good way to generate attacks on opponents. His multi-dimensional portal powers include Stretching (does not cross intervening space), Teleport, Clairsentience, Flash, EBs (physical - water cannon; energy - heat), STUN Drain (radiation), and Entangle (expanding a portal to trap an opponent).

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat Trying to get his name legally changed. I mean, if you had a name like "Puxatawney Phil", wouldn't you?

Re: Answers & Questions Q: What would you call it if women went topless in below-zero temperatures? A: He washed it down with a gallon of napalm.

Re: Answers & Questions Q: That apartment building used to be six stories tall, but now it's seven stories tall! What happened? A: I don't know, I'm not an epidemiologist!

Re: What's the story about the Haymaker! zine? I'm strongly considering offering to coordinate. I haven't cleared it with the boss (aka my wife) yet, but I doubt she'll say no. I have the full Adobe Creative Suite, but haven't fully learned how to use it yet, so the first issue or two will be a learning experience and take a bit longer to put together. But with a quarterly publishing schedule, I think I can do that. So I believe I can handle the nuts-n-bolts of putting each issue together. My big worries are: (1) the website -- that'll need a lot of work, and graphic design and website maintenance aren't my strong suits. While it doesn't need to be done overnight, the sooner the website is working to full effect, the more people we can attract as contributors. (2) cover art -- I've never worked with artists before, except for Bill Jackson, so I don't know how hard it will be to line this up regularly. I'd REALLY like to restart the Cover Art Caption Contest, which would require the website to be functioning better. I should probably take this, plus some other thoughts, to the Haymaker! discussion list and find out what the current contributors think.

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat A Few Good Men: "You can't HANDLE the TRUTH... JUSTICE... or the AMERICAN WAY!"

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat I don't know about the 84 ways, but he brags that there's 50 ways to love your lever.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... Yeah, but imagine if a necromancer raised all the dead in Nebraska. Even the "living-but-think-they're-dead" will be under his sway. Hey, wait, my family is from Nebraska...

Re: What's the story about the Haymaker! zine? Yes, it was a lot of fun, though I only got in on the tail end of the APAzine's publication. With Digital Hero on temporary hiatus (yes, Dave, I'm still in denial), I've wondered this past week if there might be interest in winding up for another Haymaker!

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat From Star Trek: First Contact, I present... the Borg Tribble. "Purrrrrrr... Purrrrrr... You will be assimilated... Purrrrrrrr... Resistance is futile... Purrrrr..." NT: Boy, was Death Tribble mad when I accidentally used him as a _____________!

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat Smashing OTHER things...

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... From last night's Champions game... Serendipity is questioning a captured VIPER agent about the latest Chicago Nest Leader, Magnetite. The heroes had fought him once, captured him temporarily, and Synergy had spent some time studying Magnetite's armored battlesuit. In fairness to Serendipity, that battle was over four months ago in the real world. Serendipity: So, are Magnetite's powers natural or technological? VIPER Agent: (Thinking about Magnetite's large and rather obvious battlesuit) Um, you *did* fight him before, didn't you? Or was that a different Serendipity? - - - - - - - - The heroes learn that a criminal organization known as the Thuggery is recruiting some muscle to work with the Ultimates. Squeeze: "The Thuggery"?!?! Why not just call it "Thugs R Us"? - - - - - - - - When the heroes of S-Squad were battling the Ultimates at Fermilab: Sentinel: I use my x-ray vision to look through the walls and see where each of the Ultimates are inside. GM: (begins placing character figures on the map) Okay, Binder's here... Slick's here... Thunderbolt's in the control room... Cyclone's flying up here... you don't see Blackstar... and Radium is right here. (rolls dice) At first, Radium was facing away from you, but he turns and looks RIGHT AT YOU. Sentinel: Oh, crap! He has radiation powers too! (turns to teammates) Um, guys? They know we're here... - - - - - - - - Best taken out of context: Synergy (male superhero): Did Blackstar knock me up? ... and later on... Synergy: Well, Blackstar was running at me with that long pipe, and my back was to him, so I was kinda worried... - - - - - - - - Cyclone did a double-knockback full-speed move-through on Squeeze, sending him into a wall and knocking him out. Squeeze: (shrugs) Well, I've still got Slick grabbed, so if I'm going into the wall, so is he. - - - - - - - - Synergy calls PRIMUS tech guru Carter, aka "the Professor". Synergy: Hey Professor, could you do me a favor? Carter: What is it? Synergy: I need you to hack into the Fermilab phone system and transfer all calls made from any phone to a specific speakerphone here. Carter: Why? Synergy: Thunderbolt may try to escape via the phone lines, and I don't want him getting away. Carter: heh, heh, heh. No, I've got a better idea... (begins routing all Fermilab outside lines directly to the PRIMUS base's holding cellblock) This'll be a first -- we'll phone in our captures...

Re: Characters favorite manuever Since I mostly GM, the "signature maneuvers" belong to various past and present player characters in my games. Hybrid, a high-STR brick, liked to pick up Chevy vans and use them to smash opponents. Yes, just Chevy vans. If he was standing next to a Toyota or GM van, and a Chevy van was all the way across the battlefield, Hybrid would jump across to get it. Kirin, a martial artist, loved to jump into a group of agents and perform Sweep attacks to wipe out entire squads. That, and his Dragon Noogie (a nasty Strike attack that had to follow a Grab). Pack Rat, a gadgeteer, liked using his electrified rubber dart. What made it a "signature" move was that he would typically "lick" the end of the dart, like one might do with an actual rubber dart to help it stick to something.

Re: I could use a little help I made my most recent game 200+100, since I wanted to start them a little lower than 350. Generally speaking, my players did the following: 45-50 points in Psych Lims 15 points in Social Lim: Secret Identity 15-20 points in Hunted(s) 15-20 points in other disads (DNPC, Distinctive Features, Reputation, etc.) But in specific cases: one PC has no Hunteds, and another PC doesn't have Secret Identity. For some reason, my players don't often pick Vulnerabilities or Susceptabilities, unless they need 150 points in Disads. My first Champions character was in a "no point limit" game. The character could be as many points as you were willing to take in Disads (with 100 base.) This was in 1st edition rules, where your first two Disads of a given type (like Hunted) were full points, the next two were half points, the next two at 1/4 points, etc. IIRC, we were in the 450-500 point range (so 350-400 in disads.

Re: Why should I care? "I'm just roleplaying them ignoring you."

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat

Re: I could use a little help Now, on to Powers. The Arc has a pretty good idea with the writeup from Zap, with the caveat that you might want to make the Stretching an OIF, since he could pick up a length of wire for the same effect, though he wouldn't then have the additional Hand-to-Hand damage. In fact, if I were him I'd carry a bunch of 2 meter-long coils of wire, just in case someone takes away his chain. Here's a few of my ideas. In the below, the number at the start is the final cost in points. Since Power Line can throw energy (just not accurately) I'd add a slot in the Elemental Control: c-17 Ball Lightning: 12d6 Energy Blast (6 END), Reduced by Range (-1/4), Hard to Aim (attacks at 1/2 OCV, -1/2). Alternately, instead of 12d6 EB, it could be 4d6 RKA (though that would be very lethal), or 6d6 NND, or 8d6 Armor Piercing. But you'd need to pick one of those. And he needs defenses, so perhaps: 13 Energy Shield: Force Field (10 PD, 10 ED), Activation (14-; -1/2) or you could put it in the Elemental Control: d-20 Force Field (15PD, 15 ED, 10 Power Defense), Hardened, Half Endurance, still with Activation roll as above. Other possible powers: 5 Clinging (normal STR), only to ferrous metals (-1) 3 Swinging, 5", OIF (Chain or other metallic line) in the EC: e-15 6" radius Darkness vs. Radio group, Half Endurance (+1/4), Invisible to Sight and Hearing (+3/4), No Range (-1/2), Concentrate: Half DCV throughout (-1/2). He generates electromagnetic waves that disrupt radio communication. With experience (and 5 points) he can buy off the Concentrate.

Re: I could use a little help Okay, I'll add some potential disads, though others have covered this already. (And I agree with Hugh Neilson, that if you write up a background and personality, you'll generally find Disads leaping out at you from there.) I don't agree with costumes as Dist Features, and it appears his glowing eyes are only in Hero ID, so I'd avoid those. Also, since the character runs his own electrician shop, I wouldn't use the Physical Limitation that BNakagawa proposed (though I do like it a lot). Well, maybe it only happens in his Hero ID. Something to consider. Here's some ideas to pull from: Dependent Non-Player Character (Normal, 8-, 15 points) Ted Corwin, a childhood friend from the orphanage. While Sparks has made good for himself, his friend Ted hasn't fared as well. Ted isn't bad, but he's a bit lazy and often falls in with bad people, so Sparks has to bail him out of trouble -- hopefully without letting Ted know about his powers. (Ted would probably come up with a get-rich-quick scheme that capitalizes on Jaccob's powers, and like most things Ted tries it would blow up in their faces.) Distinctive Features: Distinct personal magnetic field, even in secret ID (Recognizable, Not Concealable, Detect with simple tests, 10 points). Susceptability (1d6/phase from strong magnetic fields, Uncommon, 15 points) Any field strong enough to disrupt his own magnetic field is quite painful. Reputation (8-, Extreme, 10 points) for electrocuting a bunch of kids in a pool. He never did, it's just one of those urban legend things that some people have heard and he has to keep disproving; apparently some guy named Thia keeps spreading the rumor... Psychological Limitation (Common, Strong, 15 points). I think each character should have some distinct personality trait, but the specific PsychLim itself depends on what kind of personality you see the character having. Is he really insecure from his days as an orphan, or due to his lack of control of his powers? Or maybe he compensated by being a class clown, and doesn't take anything all that seriously. Or perhaps he's a grandstanding showoff. Or he's really afraid of electrocuting somebody (aka Code Against Killing). You might want to consider more Psych Lims, too, though I wouldn't go too hog-wild on them. Hunted by local crimelord (8-, Less Powerful, has Non-Combat Influence, 10 points). Power Line interfered with one of his plans, and he's sworn to get revenge. That's 75 points right there, hope it helps.

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat President George W. Bush. 'nuff said.

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat "Eenie, meanie, mynie, mo, pick a president by the toe..."