Doc

Re: Hypothetically and unofficially, what would you like to see in a Mecha Hero book? I think it has been said already, but there are indeed a lot of cross-genre campaigns that could be described in such a book (or chapter). What about steam-punk and mecha? Nerver read anything about this in a Hero book. Do mecha have particuliar rules or do they offer different gaming opportunities in a cyber-punk setting? And what about fantasy mecha? How are they affected by the magic system you chose to apply in your campaign? Etc. Etc. Etc.

Re: Hypothetically and unofficially, what would you like to see in a Mecha Hero book? That's it. And all those specificities come from the anthropomorphic design of such vehicules (I know there are other forms, but I wont consider them here). Humans usually build tools that are a specialization of one of their abilities (pliers are better hands, computers are better brains, cameras are better eyes, etc, etc, etc). An anthropomorphic mech, on the contrary, can basically do anything a person can physically do (more if it can fly), because it has legs and arms, generally with prehensible hands. Legged movement confers advantages and inconvenients compared to wheeled movement. Legged movement uses more energy and is far less stable, but an anthropomorphic mech can go where a tank cannot, like in mountains, jungles, urban rubbles, marshes or shallow waters. What appens to a mech wich has been damaged to a leg? Can it still move? Can it still stand? What are its options if it is immobilized? More importantly, a mech's arms are it's main specificity compared to a tank or a jet fighter. An anthropomorphic mech can grab objects, throw them. It can engage in hand-to-hand combat. It can change weapons easily, but also lose them more easily, if the hand or arm is damaged. When does a mech lose a weapon? When is its hand to damaged to carry one? We also often forget about the non military, or even non combat uses of mecha. In Mobile Police Patlabor, mecha are used as heavy machinery and emergency vehicules on ground, under water and in space. Police mecha are used for traffic and crowd control. Are there specific rules we have to think of in those situations for a mech, say, compared to a crane? All these can be simulated quite easily with the actual system, but I think a set of more specific, optional rules would enhance gameplay for us, mecha fans. If we can't get an Ultimate Mecha Book, I'd still hope the chapter on mecha in the new TUV would go beyond just the design of mecha and include such rules and gaming hints and ideas. After all, the mech concept goes through a lot of genres, and ideas about the gaming possibilities it opens would be welcomed, as in any other Hero book about any other subject. P.S.: Gosh! My english writing has rusted!Sorry guys, I don't come so much anymore, but that thread is really important to me! See you!

Re: how tall is life Happy it wasn't a trap, though...

Re: Another weird science post: Laser Recoil! No, not in his universe...

Re: Another weird science post: Laser Recoil! Try to play in a game where the GM has this attitude... When you'd try to explain to him that photons are actually light, it would always end like this: "Well, not in my universe!" *sigh*

Re: Cool Futuristic Projects I really like the Green Float. Mega-City Pyramid is a little scarry. Reminds me of some manga I can't identify precisely. Not a good ending one.

Re: Spell System

Re: Spell System Hey, that's really good! I think it's pretty completed; at least, I woundn't know what to add or change about it.

Re: If I had 500 slaves... Well, that's the most point efficient economical maximization I've seen on this site ever...

Re: Dark Sun profanating spell effect Simple and effective. Sold. Thanks!

Re: Dark Sun profanating spell effect

Re: Dark Sun profanating spell effect Humm... On second thought, I thnik I'll go with the D&D option for the pain effect. The reason is that defilers are more than often lone vilains; they usually don't have minions, unless they can create undead (wich is not necessarily the case). The D&D pain effect )penalty to OCV, DCV, OMCV, DMCV, Characteristic Rolls and Skill Rolls for one Phase, and I'll had the BDOY damage reduction too) grants them an advantage when fighting groups of opponents alone. I'm also considering imposing an small extra time limitation on preserver casting, even though that wasn't included in the original D&D rules. As I often stated here, preserving should be a hard path to go. What do you think about it, people?

Re: Dark Sun profanating spell effect It sure is interesting; thanks for the input. Wow! You came with it so easily! I'm definitely adopting this method. As for the choice between the D&D and Hero options of the pain effect, I'll go with the second, the Hero option. I'm trying to reproduce the Dark Sun campaign setting feeling but not the (horribly) flawed D&D rules...

Re: Dark Sun profanating spell effect Indeed, this was the way it was in AD&D 2nd ed, but things changed a lot in the 3.5 ed (you can find it there: http://www.athas.org ). In that version, as every classes had the same progression pace, defilers could for instance use their defiling as attacks against their opponents or enhance their spell capabilites by augmenting their defiling radius. I found that more interesting and I'd like to find a way to reproduce this in Hero.

Re: Dark Sun profanating spell effect Thanks for your input, Tasha, but, in addition to what Old Man already said, cannibilizing one's own life force to fuel spell has always been a defiler's trait in the original Dark Sun setting. Well, to me, this is sort of a limit...