Herolover

Re: Graininess At least for STR I second the use of the Ultimate Brick. The UB also goes into damage from STR and gives each +1 STR an effect on damage. That said, I agree that there is a certain graininess to HERO. However, many games have this same graininess and many times things are overlooked in HERO. Take D&D for example 3-18 right. Not really because you only get modifiers to go up on the even digit so what you really have is 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18. 9 numbers. Now as you said with HERO you get 0, 3, 5, 8, 10, 13, 15, 18, 20 9 numbers. Also, the effect of a +1 STR can effect PD and REC. A +1 DEX can effect when you go into combat and I have started using the rule that when characters are tied in DEX they use INT so that +1 in INT can have an effect.+1 in EGO and or PRE can have a huge effect on what kind mental abilities effect you. I have had players buy an 11 EGO just for this reason. Now I want to bring one thing up. Normal Character Maxima. NCM. 20 is not the max human score. Some humans go above 20. 20 is the point at which you start paying double and in many heroic level campaigs that double can be sooooo worth it. Take your STR for instance. If I pay doule and get that 25 STR. That means I am doing 1d6 more damage than anyone else. I have often thought of paying the 20 extra points for the Speed of 5. Yes, it is a lot, but wow. It means I am going one time more than anyone else. Yes, there is graininess. Not so much more than any other game and when you really look into the details you can find that a lot of that graininess goes away.

Re: Herogames: The Sportscar Product I too think that HERO Games would be well advised to publish a "complete" setting + rules book. As stated this would be a single book that would be rules and setting. I love the advice to just stick to the rules that are needed. If they want to change the rules, or want to do other things, they can pick up FRED. I also like the statement that this book would NOT be meant for anyone reading this thread. It would be meant for everyone else that isn't already here. Now, as I see it, there are a couple of major hurdles to get over. 1) Money. Simple HERO Games, I don't think, can really afford at the moment, in fact might never be able to afford, to produce a major book that is flop. This would be a sort of flagship product so, if HERO is going to do it they need something they are pretty sure of. 2) What setting? or Pretty sure of things are hard to come by. What setting? This, as I have stated before, is the real humdinger of a question. This cannot be a niche product. In many ways HERO is already producing niche products so who need to take the risk of producing a niche product that doesn't sale? Fantasy--will appeal to a many gamers, but will run head to head vs the monolithic D20 Science fiction--What sci-fi games that are licensed material are really popular? There aren't many. Horror-- This has a good possibility here, just need the right setting and that is the problem. Horror is a very broad term and it would all be in the details of the setting. If the right setting could be done there is always room in the market for a good horror game. Cyberpunk--Personally, I don't think there are presently enough fans to do this. Maybe in the late 80s and early 90s, there were, but not now. Pulp.--Actually this is my favorite idea, but not because I am a pulp fan. I can take Pulp or leave it. However, with the Pulp movies and Pulp games on the rise there is a strong possibility that there would be enough interest that a good Pulp game could really make some waves. Anime—This would be okay, but once again I think you are hitting a niche crowd. Generic Anime doesn’t sell. Super—I know this is going to be very unpopular, but Supers is a niche crowd. I personally feel it is about as high, in popularity, right now as I is going to get. Also, many of the RPG players that would want to do supers are already doing HERO, because they know it is the best system for it. So, you see there aren’t many things that HERO can really do. They need that all mythical book that every RPG company is looking for. The one book that goes out grabs fans and brings them in. It is possible and I feel with the current environment there best bet is with the Pulp setting. The only other way I see it ever happening is if HERO were to get a license of some kind. This way they would have the built in fans of the license. Yes, I realize this is never going to happen.

Re: Character Questionaire I have a file in Word format that is a questionaire I got off the internet somewhere. It has well over 100 questions on a character's background. It is way to big to be used, but could be cut down to become usable. Either PM me your email address or you could search the internet for it because I am sure you could find it.

Re: Eosin's Stab at the Force Hey Eosin. I appreciate you posting this. I really like to see how people do things.

Re: Off beat question from one of my players about how Hero would handle something. You will find that there are only a couple of things HERO can't do and that is because they are "hard-coded" into the rules. These things can be summed up by saying "There are no absolutes." No attack that always hits or always destroys the target. No ultimate speed, no ultimate defense. In fact, more often than not the problem isn't so much can HERO do it, but "How do I want to do this, because there are two or three ways of doing it." This can make HERO hard especially for new people. Just remember these three rules. 1) Just because you can make it up or do it doesn't mean you should. I could create a power that would allow me to sit at home and turn everyone in the world into a frog. Doesn't mean I should make that power up. 2) Reason back from effect. What is happening to the target. Figure that out and then you can find the HERO power that fits it. 3) According to the rules if there are two equivalent ways of creating the same thing you use the most expensive way. PS Once your players get more experienced watch out for players trying to create HERO power X by using powers A & B because they are cheaper than X. (sorry can't think of any examples)

Re: Points or $ Well under the new Fantasy Hero magic users can be given a cost multiplier on their spells that basically mean they are paying 1/3 of the cost of a spell. That is a good trade off and works fine. Now to your real question. You seem to have decided that you are going to make players spend points on equipment for a fantasy campaign. That's cool. The question you have is how to basicly do it. 1) Take the character that is going to have the most equipment and figure out how many points they need. This way you know how many points to give out initially. 2) The way I explain it in champions is that the equipment a character purchases with points is "their standard equipment that they can pretty much alway count on having." It does not mean that they can't pick up the big bad ogre's sword and use it. It doe however, mean that after the adventure the big bad orgre's sword is given away, sold, etc unless the player wants to spend points to buy it. You might want to look at how the RPGA does their living campaigns. It them you get equipment you buy and can use anything found in the game during the adventure, but after the adventure you go back to the equipment you have bought on your character sheet. They explain that you always dont' get equipment because it is broke, used to pay expenses, etc. Good luck

Re: Powers requiring prereq's... I do want to make a point that although I feel prerequisites are not worth any limitations I do like them for certain campaigns. They are are worthy item to be included in some campaigns and give a certain feel to campaign. If done right they can really add something to a campaign. That said they still aren't worth any limitations. I look at limitations like I look at character disadvantages. When I look at a disadvantage I ask "how is this going to be a disadvantage during play." I do the same for limitations, "how is this going to be a disadvantage to that power during play." That is why I say no to limitation on Prerequisites. I just don't see how it will be a disadvantage during play.

Re: Character growth potential and speed questions First, welcome to the crowd. Now to you questions. HERO, IMO, is a good game to show character advancement. If you, for example, run two adventures and give out 2 XP each time that means your players have in effect earned a +1 to two different skills. In a heroic level game a spell can normally be easily purchased with 4 points. So yes, I feel that you can model very easy characters going up. Of course you can always increase the points given or decrease the points given as XP to suit your own purposes. As far as balance goes it is like any other game. If you just give and give yes, the players are gonna get more powerful. The great thing about that is you get to make them go up against more powerful stuff. Look at D20. A 15th level thief can pick a lot of locks. Well, a character in HERO with a lockpicking of 22 or less can pick a lot of locks. However, when the 15th level thief comes into contact with the nasty magical lock he has problem. Same thing in HERO. The great thing about HERO though is you can always limit the thief to only buying his lockpicking skill up to an 18 or less. That means you don’t have to come up with the magical lock to give him trouble. HERO is just as good, and just as bad in a lot of ways, as other games. The thing HERO allows is it allows you to set the pace and style of your game.

Re: Turakian Age Freebies! Umm....where are these at?

Re: Got the Metal in the Meat If this is a Convention game then I go with points that way you know for sure the cyberware characters are balanced with everyone else. Also, if it is a convention game the question between money and points really does't matter since during the game they probably aren't going to be able to spend money to improve themselves. If on the other hand this is a campaign then it goes greatly into the feel you want for the game. A "points" only game always to me feels far more cinematic. Money won't mean as much to them because, well they can't do anything really with it. However, if you are wanting a more gritty feel then money is the way to go. I recommend Surbrook's Kazei 5 which can be got for $10 as a PDF in the store. It has a lot of cyberware made up and is a really great book. With money the players can just pick and choose what they want and you, as the GM, can control what they get by availablity. What are you doing with other equipment? Guns and armor etc. I consider cyberware just another form of Guns and armoer. How they go is how cyberware shoud go.

Re: Powers requiring prereq's... IMO if Power A requires Power B then the only way Power A gets a limitiation is if Power B must be active in which case you should use some form of linked. Take for example Martial Arts. Martial arts rules require that a minimum 10 points are bought. This rule is a "Campaign Limit." All Martial arts are not bought with the limitation "requires 10 points worth of Martial Arts." I can't see how I would allow this limitation on Power A if it was a campaign rule. Any player that gave me Power A with the limitation that "must have Power B" I would look at like he gave me Running +5" must have legs. The only way it is a limitation is if in someway during the campaign the player could loose the abiltiy Power B. Once again linked should be used.

Re: Meta-game activities 1) Usually, when the campaign starts you have to let the player get away with this. However, as the campaign goes on the GM should get a sense of the "character's voice." If it could have been in character I make the player make an EGO roll. If he fails his character said it. Nips it in the bud. 2) If you think the player is using OOC knowledge ask him how his character knows what is going of. If it is possible or questionable have him make a perception roll. 3) This is just the way it is. Gamer's talk and joke. We get together only one time a week so have to get caught up. It is the nature of the beast to talk and joke more than playing. Never seen a group where it doesn't happen to one degree or another. 4) Yep, call the player on it. How does he know? Many players will use the excuse, "Well, I always do XXXX?" In your case carry around major weapons. Here is how I nip it in the bud quickly: a) Have them go loaded for bear and when they get there the brother wants help putting some shingles on his roof. The would look really stupid walking up armed to the bear. They are pulled over by the Police. (They got a tip the cars was smuggling drugs {some kids made a joke call}) Exactly why do they have all these weapons in the car? Umm...the police take a dim view of this kind of thing.

Re: The Ultimate Mystic: Good, Bad, or what? I bought the Ultimate Super Mage. The Ultimate Mystic is on the order of another level. I would say if you like the other Ultimate books you will like this one.

Re: Which are the optional bits? I understand what your getting at. Yes, Adjustment powers are one of those things that can get to be a real headache. Rules on the fly...well...how exact do you want to be? I find that many HERO players, even me sometimes, get caught up way to much in the crunchyness of the game. When I GM I usually try to make a quick ruling that gets the point across and them move on with the game. Later, after the game, will look up in the rules to see how close I got to being right. Lets take your adjustment power question as an example. Normally I know next to nothing about adjustment powers. Then a player makes a character with a Drain attack. Then I go read the section on generic Adjustments, read the Drain rules, and then if I feel like it I read the FAQ on Drain and Adjustments. I usually take some quick and dirty notes. Now, at least I have an idea on what is going on. When I make an adventure I keep in mind that the player has a drain attack and usually have some info ready. However, lets just say that I am caught completely off guard. I just look at the ability that was drained an portion the loss out. For example of someone drains a 16d6 AP, AE EB. Well that is 200 active ponts. 200/16 = 12.5 points per d6 (round in favor of the PC). So, if my PC drains 35 points from this power I know that he drained around 3d6. Once you play and now the powers a lot of this just becomes second nature. It isn't nearly as hard as it sounds.

Re: Eosin's Stab at the Force I am glad everyone likes what I did. I will not be taking it off the net. I gave it to John Desmarais to put up on the net and it will be there as long as he wants it to. (Probably long after I am gone.) I would like to think one day I will get my own site up and running and get it going, but...to much other stuff to do. Hey, I mean I still have it in MS Word format if anyone needed it. However, with some of the changes in 5th edition it has, IMO, become a lot easier to recreate the Force. The system I used was good for the time. I do even plan on going back and getting a good Star Wars campaign going but right now I have way to much on my plate and won’t be able to get to it till the middle of April. When I do start to work on my new Star Wars campaign I am going to take a long look at my old write up. I figure the stuff on Droids and the Racial Package deals can be used on the whole with just some re-adjustments here and there. However, I am going to change how I deal with the Force. My old system stretched the HERO system to much for my liking. Also, when I used my system I always felt like it was to mechanical and not enough cinematic. That said, my 4th edition conversion is probably going to be truer as a conversion than what I am planning on doing. I have looked at Nevenall’s write ups and I think they have some great potential. When I do get time to work on my new Star Wars I am going to use his “system†as a basis and make changes to make it more cinematic and more generalized for any time period and any style of Star Wars play. (I have even already emailed him once with a few changes I am planning on making) When I do get started on it (remember it probably won’t be for another month) I will post here or somewhere for all to see. As for cribbing my stuff. Hey, take all that you can use. I will be very interested in seeing what you do. Who knows maybe you can convince me to go with your stuff.

Re: Which are the optional bits? Sorry I haven't had a chance to reply. I think you are getting to worried about all the rules. HERO is a tool kit and therefore has a LOT of rules. However, most of them you never ever need to worry about unless they just happen to come up in play. Take your question on Adjustment powers for example. Do any of your characters have any Adjustment powers? If not why are you worried about them? A lot of the powers, and really some of the other sections of the books, have a lot of rules that only come into effect in certain times. Here is what you really need to know" 1) How to make a character. Not necessarily what all the powers do in detail, but get a feel for them. Energy Blast does normal damage. Entangle traps someone, Summon well...summons something. When you players have one of these powers or you need to use it, then is the time to read the details of the power. 2) Basic Power rules. Realize this again has a lot of things that only come up in certain situations, but is still a decent overview. 3) Combat. Especially the sections on actions, aborting, and Multiple Power Attacks. Once again realize that many of these sections have rules that only come into play in certain situation. For example I have been playing HERO for 20+ years and have really been heavy into it for the last 10. I am GMing a Fantasy campaign and one of my players had a spell that used Multiform. It has the limitation Personality Loss. I had no idea what it was till I went and read. There are a great many things like that in HERO and it can be daunting. Just don't worry about it. Run the game and pick it up as you go.

Re: Eosin's Stab at the Force I originally created a document for the Force that was a lot like this. (See the Bobby Farris stuff for 4th edition @ http://www.sysabend.org/champions/campaigns/StarHeroWars/index.html) Yep, that's me. I did this way back then and was pretty happy with it. However, with 5th edition I have changed my toon. If/when I do my Star Wars campaign I plan on cribbing notes from Nevenall's stuff. I really like what and how he did it. However, his stuff needs to be renamed and fleshed out for other era's and make it more generic.

Re: Down with active points Last bit I heard the "official" rule on MPA with STR was that STR counted for the ALL. That said, I use Active Points as an indication. A pointer if you will. I don't use it exclusively and it is not the end all be all, but I use it more as a guidelines. Mostly I set my campaign limits that I want and then use my eyeball and common sense when I see a player with something out of the wild. I find that active points limits can be easily broken on good powers that really don't do a whole lot. An example of this is the Force Field that also cause the temperature to change around the character and gives him very limited life support and a couple of other minor effects. This could break the AP limit in a low power game, but I may let it go through because the extra effects are so little. I find that the easiest way to see how "overpower" a power can be is to ask two questions. "What powers defend against this." "How does it effect the "average" character." If I answer little to the first and/or a lot to the second I know I have something I need to watch or as my players say I pull out the red pen.

Re: Which are the optional bits? I understand what your are saying, but this is something you will have to just play around with and learn what you are comfortable with. I leave most, if not all, character construction as is and just play around with the combat mechanics. As for turn mode...yeah I know there is a rule for it, but unless it is really important I just ignore it.

Re: The Award for Collest Magic System and Inovations with Hero goes to.... Do it. You won't regret it. Wow.

Re: The Award for Collest Magic System and Inovations with Hero goes to.... Like some HERO system books that I don't use right away I put Valdorian age on the shelf and figured I would read it when I got the chance. However, when I saw this thread I just had to go read up on the sorcery sections. All I got to say is WOW. That is awesome. It should be a must read for any HERO fan. I mean, did I say wow? I don't know when I will get to use this, but you better believe Iam going to use it. And to Allen Thomas all I have to say is

In another forum someone mentioned what game they would want to “re-boot†and re-imagine much in the same way they have re-imagined Battlestar Galactica. Someone mentioned that they would like to re-do Star Wars and make the Jedi more like Kirosouwa (sp?) samurai. So, my question is, if you had the opportunity to “re-do†Star Wars what would you do with the Jedi and the Force?

Re: Flying through an asteroid belt. Oooppps!!! Your right. I checked my notes and not the book. Ummm, then I may play around with using it. For something I was wanting to be pretty simple this is starting to get really complicated. I hope to playtest this tomorrow with a group and if I do, then I will post what I did and how it went.

Re: Flying through an asteroid belt. Once again Shem I really like your idea. I like the idea of a "speed mod" to the maneuvers. I too, have been concerned that if I get into a situation where the groups rolls begin to suck I could put them in real danger. However, as a long time GM I always make sure to have some outs. Mine, in this situation, are: 1) They will not know the exact distance to get out of the belt. If things go bad...wham they are out of the belt. 2) I played with the idea that the sensor ops roll also determined the number of targets that could hit the ship. I decided not to do this so if things get to hairy."..look no asteroids are headed your way". Who knows maybe they hit a void area in the belt. 3) How much damage does an asteroid hitting the ship do anyway

Re: Flying through an asteroid belt. I looked at the DCV velocity chart and it isn't worth it. Velo Base DCV 1-32 1 32+ 3 Admitedly this is based upon the ship I am using. It will an added amount of complexity for very little gain. Basically the ship, if I was going to use it, would have an extra -2 DCV only when going full speed.