Eldos

Re: Anyone working on a Fallout 3 conversion? Mudpyr8, I really love what you've done for equipment. Have you tried stating out any of the creatures like supermutants, radscorpions, etc.? My plan is to create and then run a Fallout 3 style campaign set in Melbourne Australia. I'll share here if/when I get going.

Re: Anyone working on a Fallout 3 conversion? Dude!! I thought that I just had this thought now and am sure glad that I decided to check first. You've just saved me a heck of a lot of work. Pops to you man! Although, I hope you don't mind me borrowing your stuff.

Re: Real Costs for spells and how you handle them? The big problem I have with spells in a fantasy campaign is that spells cost while swords don't. In a standard heroic game - which I'm guessing most fantasy campaigns would be - you don't pay for gear. So even by limiting a 2d6 ranged killing attack spell up that wazoo it will still cost, buying a crossbow costs NO points. So the fighter can spend those points on something else.

Re: Build a Pleasure Planet I think what Ragitsu is looking for here is what he can put on a pleasure planet he is designing for a game. Thus, my suggestions are as follows:- 1) Several accommodation complexes near the starport catering from budget to extravagant. This should probably be set up in something like an idyllic beach area where people are comfortable in shirt sleeves ect. 2) A casino – what better way to separate the tourists from their money than games of chance. 3) Beaches – Holiday goers love quiet beaches and this doesn’t cost the management anything. 4) Sporting events – A few stadiums with major sporting events (or even minor ones that the guests can participate in) could be a drawcard and could create plot devises for you to use later on. 5) Historical sites – Another thing to bring tourists to your planet is if there are some sites of historical interest. Old battlefields, ruins, etc all bring academics to come and look at them. 6) Adventure – There could be other areas on the planet where adventure tourism could take place. Hiking, skydiving, white-water rafting, skiing, etc. Could take place. There are other ideas for food tourism, eco-tourism, etc. But these would probably not be on a specific ‘pleasure planet’. Hope this is helpful.

Re: Star Hero campaigns? If I could make a suggestion it would be Traveller. One of the first settings, the scope of the known universe is truly vast and only in a small section of the galaxy. It's in Hero form (granted 5th Ed if you can find the books) and there are numerous adventure books you can poach ideas off of.

Re: Secret Wars Campaign Log My next chapter for my D&D is at http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5989105/3/Tobarra

Re: Secret Wars Campaign Log Taking a leaf from Manic's book I've started writing my own game log. However, as it's D&D couldn't pollute the Hero forums with it so if you are interesting in reading it, you can find it here http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5989105/1/Tobarra

Re: Secret Wars Campaign Log So is there anything going on with this? I just started reading and was enthralled. The best campaign log I've read in a long time and reminiscent of Eosin's 'Weekend Warriors'. It's great, I'd love to hear more.

Re: Announcing Kazei 5, Second Edition Hi all Sadly it doesn't look like I'm going to get my K5 game going. My gaming group has shrunk quite a bit recently and *sigh* the thing they really wanted to do was play some D&D. Yes, I know, it is the cross I carry. Anyway, my idea for an adventure, since I probably won't have time to develop it went something like this. · PCs take on the role of private investigators in Melbourne (this could be any city though). It works on the premise that the Federal police don’t really have the rescources to do much. Fast response mercenary units are employed to keep the peace on the streets and private investigation companies provide justice by finding guilty parties. · They receive a call from a private hospital that has noticed that it has had some data thefts recently and would like to hire them to find out what is behind it. · While the PCs are meeting with the hospital director, the hospital is attacked - the aggressors are using bean-bag shotguns so as not to kill anyone. They manage to kidnap one of the hospital’s leading surgeons (specializing in cybernetic replacements) and his portable computer files, but leave one or two of their people behind (either killed by the PCs or an NPC security guard). · PCs must then find clues which will point them in one of two directions. This will mostly consist of work with PCs skills, contacts, etc., as well as rewarding clever ideas from PCs. The idea for this was to reward the PCs for thinking and investigating. o Through investigating the body and equipment they discover that the raiders are most likely a mercenary group in Sydney and they will have to go there to find more answers. o If they manage to track the kidnapped surgeon (there are a couple of ways such as CCTV cameras for traffic, the rented vehicles the raiders used, etc). They find that he is being held in a warehouse in Canberra. · Whichever place they go to, they must get in somehow (stealth, direct gun play, bluff, etc). If they successfully do this they will learn that a politician is behind the kidnapping and is forcing him to work for them. They must confront this politician to find out why. · His plan is to create a new cyborg body for himself, the same as the body made for the CEO of a large bank (I was going to use the ANZ). Then, the politician would disable the real CEO’s body and assume his identity for a massive heist. The PCs must get past bank security (or clever ones will just know that they just have to trip it at the right time) to confront the corrupt politician wearing the CEO’s cyborg body. That’s basically it. If anyone wants to use it, they can feel free.

Re: Announcing Kazei 5, Second Edition My suggestion would be to give a bonus for a skill. At the moment it just seems to be power of device A Vs power of device B with no player interaction. The rules could also be improved by some curcumstance bonus' such as access to a secure terminal, access codes, etc. Finally, I'd also suggest a good list of what someone gets for various levels of success ie. power +2 allows you to see file titles, +5 lets you open but not edit, +10 gives you full access. These are just suggestions mind you.

Re: Announcing Kazei 5, Second Edition I haven't seen one . . . so I wrote one. It's at RPG now under the game but here is the text here. I recently purchased Kazei 5 for a couple of reasons. I’m a hero system player and aspiring GM but don’t really have the skill in the system to work out the true crunch of the system – so I need a framework to hang things off of. Secondly, with the new Hero 6th edition I don’t want to go through and try to convert things from 5th ed. Finally, I’m a little tired of the generic fantasy settings and wanted something more modern. Kazei 5 works on all of these and does so very well. Considering that the book has been created more by fans and freelancers as opposed to a company of paid staff, the professionalism of the book is even more impressive. I have the bookmarked PDF version through choice – I live in an isolated area and prefer to receive things quickly rather than waiting a week. I also like the ability to search for text. But a hardcopy version is available for those that prefer. After the introduction, which explains a few of the setting assumptions and concepts, the book goes into specifics concerning many of the powers and abilities that will effect characters; namely Cyberware, Cyborgs, Cyberspace, Espers and Mecha. While I consider cyberware and cyborgs merely an extension of the same thing, this is probably going to be a major part of the game so extra coverage is justified. The cyberspace rules could use a little work in my opinion but are innovative in approaching what could be a problematic rules area. The book also explains that you can remove any or all of these concepts and the system still works. In my campaign, since I’m not a big fan of Mecha, my plan is to change (nerf) it to more powered armor rather than giant robots. The real meat of the book comes next where it talks about character options, how skills can be customised, etc. It then goes into specialist equipment characters (and NPCs) can have. It uses the system described in the Hero book Dark Champions and it is very useful to have access to that as the list provided in Kazei 5 is not comprehensive and even suggests that Dark Champions supplement this. However, the equipment that is included is definitely well thought out. The next section, also very meaty, contains details of the future timeline for Kazei 5 as well as details of what has happened on each continent. It does include a great deal of detail on what has happened in the US and South East Asia – Japan and China specifically but there is plenty of scope for a GM to set campaigns elsewhere. Indeed, I plan on setting my own game in Melbourne, Australia. This is my favourite section of the book and I can’t help thinking perhaps it should have been earlier in the book which would have helped me make sense of some of the things that came before. Still, this is a minor quibble and doesn’t really detract from the book itself. Finally there are some NPCs which help expand the US and SEA sections of the world as well as providing me the vital templates I’ll need to fashion my own NPCs. As well there is a GM only section which reveals many of the secrets of the campaign as well as a ‘future timeline’, a feature I haven’t seen before but I find very useful and intriguing. All and all, Kazei 5 is an excellent book for anyone who wants to start or play in a cyberpunk, anime or even a futuristic Dark Champions setting. The permutations are somewhat endless – the concepts of zero zones could be expanded into a post apocalyptic campaign. For myself, I’m not terribly keen on the anime elements like ‘cat girls’, but they are easily edited out without getting rid of other game elements. It’s given me pretty much everything I want.

Re: Announcing Kazei 5, Second Edition Okay, only one of the guys showed up last night but that's okay, I was only expecting to have two PCs at most anyway - I pitched the game to him and he's specking up a character. We'll probably be starting up in about two or three weeks - I'll post up how the game went afterwards and after the complete adventure I'll put up the adventure notes that I have so if anyone wants to crib from me, they can.

Re: Announcing Kazei 5, Second Edition Alright, I'm going to pitch my game to my players tonight. Even if they aren't interested, I'll probably create a couple of adventures and post them up here. The following is my intro to Kazei 5 in Australia Australia in Kazei 5 The Australia of 2030 has faired far better than the US. There has been no civil war and the bird flu which killed millions in Asia has left Australia virtually untouched. There are now 30 million people in Australia, however, nearly 4 million of those are 'Genies' employed almost exclusively in far flung rural areas working on farms and in mines. There have been many changes and much upheaval though. The Federal government has less power than many of the mega-corporations that exist in the country, often being forced to agree to terms it normally wouldn't consider. The state governments no longer exist (along with the state borders) but local councils have more power and are usually either bloated with corporate donations or impoverished because of the lack thereof. Crime is rife! Although the Australian Federal Police swelled their numbers when the state governments disappeared, they had no way to cope with the influx of crime syndicates fleeing the hard hit regions for the relatively lush pickings of the Australian environment. This has led to the hiring of large numbers of private security contractors, known colloquially as 'peace keepers' (as well as many other, less flattering names) they act as a deterrent against street crime but are really little more than mercenaries and engage in little or no investigation. There are also large numbers of private security firms willing to protect those that can pay. Private investigation companies are also popular and range from large scale investigation companies that promise to track anyone or anything to smaller companies geared toward servicing the standard Salaryman. These often work closely with the overworked Federal Police presenting them with evidence of crimes committed. When this occurs, prosecution usually occurs quite swiftly and has even caught out several high ranking executives who’s corporations almost always just as quickly disown them and leave them to their fate. Punishments for crimes have also changed. The death penalty for almost all major crimes has been reinstated, a new form of electrocution is used, dubbed the 'Electric Bed' but is considered far more humane than the old fashioned electric chair. A more common and popular form of punishment though is 'Indenture'. Termed 'limited slavery' by civil rights groups, the convicted party loses most of their rights under the law for a specified period and is forced to work for a group appointed by the court. There are several corporations that exclusively use labour from such sources; one such corporation, 'Unitex Industries', is known for extremely harsh conditions and will even, for a fee, send footage of a convict suffering to interested parties. The major cities have grown larger and are sprawling urban jungles dotted with large Archologies. Some suburbs will be neat and prosperous where corporate interests ensure that the council has a budget to work with. Others are run down ghettoes, largely lawless where even large groups of heavily armed peacekeepers look nervously over their shoulders. In rural areas company farms with Genie workers labour to pull resources from the land. It is this work that has kept Australia prosperous. Square kilometers of crops and solar array's provide food and power for the rest of the country and sell their excess to the world. Most of these farms are tightly controlled, the term 'Open Archology' has been coined as they have their own security, communications and their isolation means that their is little outside influence on them. While this might seem quite authoritarian, the vast majority of the Genies that work on these farms report that they are happy with their lot. Although some say that with nothing to compare their lives to they quite literally don't know what they are missing. Under Australian law though, all of the Genies are regarded as human, with all the rights and responsibilities. Most of them are even Australian citizens as caps were imposed by the government of how many non-Australian labourers resource companies were allowed to employ within Australian borders. While it might be suspected that these farms and mines rape the land for resources, they mostly practice quite renewable or at least, low environmental impact methods. The Global environmental change has led even the greediest corporate executive to realize that harsh, quick harvesting leads to diminished profits in the future. Investors have certainly learned this. While the farms and mines are well regulated, outside their carefully monitored borders true anarchy reigns. Bands of outlaws, often heavily armed, raid where they can for resources. Alongside cracked and pitted old roads one will often find craters, spent cartridge cases and burnt out, rust covered vehicles. These bands are usually people who have fled from the urban areas before they were forced to accept whatever justice people felt they deserved. They are known to possess the ruthlessness of people with nothing to lose and a massive desperation for resources. Along the coast and up to the mountains exist the domains of the privileged. When many of the coastal towns were flooded by the rising ocean, the wealthy acquired property on higher ground and built modern day palaces. Spectacular views are the order of the day with every convenience and luxury at the touch of a control, or often just a thought into an electronic synapse. Many dream their whole lives to live in such a place and some that finally achieve that goal, never venture back to the city that allowed them to live this dream. Character Creation 250 points Max Stat: 50 Max Spd: 6 Max CV: 10 Max DC: 10 Max Active pt: 70 Skills: 90-150pts Max Def: 15/15r Perk Private Investigator License – 2 points Registers the identity of the holder of the license with the Australian Federal Police as someone entitled to investigate crimes it also allows them to carry a concealed weapon. It also allows a PC access to purchasing the Military Gear Perk (5 points). The Street Level Gear (3 points) is open to all PCs. Resource Points 60 equipment and 10 contact. These points can be pooled between party members. Equipment points will change with successful/unsuccessful professional skill rolls so PCs may not wish to allocate all of their points as they will have to remove some equipment. Equipment from Kazei or Dark Champions can be used. PCs will also start the game with a vehicle (Honda Plex) and a base (office and accommodation in Ormond, Melbourne). Background PCs will be old friends who have finally scraped enough together to start their own business as Private Investigators. They have recently opened their office in Ormond, Melbourne. Ormond is a poor suburb with aging but still functional infrastructure usually inhabited by older corporate workers and younger factory workers.

Re: Announcing Kazei 5, Second Edition I bought my pdf the other day and am pretty happy with it. Layout is good, the contents is logically set out and the setting seems pretty good. Although I’m not really an Anime fan this really filled a niche as I was looking for a 6th ed campaign setting that I could do something with without having to work up a whole bunch of rules for the setting. My (exceedingly small) group meets in a couple of days and I’m going to see if I can generate interest, I’m hopeful. If all goes well, in a couple of weeks I’ll set up another forum here with a game log and adventure guidelines. All in all, well done and wish me luck.

Re: Star Trek HERO Sounds like a cool game Shaft - I hope it all goes well for you. My only suggestions go to what your players are like. Hard core Trek fans, Hero fans, just friendly gamers? If found, much to my chargrin at times, that knowing your players is primary to pretty much everything.

Re: Stargate Refuge The reason for this is that no one chose the perk of higher rank. I gave all of the military personelle the range between Sergeant (in case they didn't want to be an officer) to 1st Lieutenant. I would have liked someone to buy extra rank since there are some 'always follows orders' disadvantages in there which could have made things interesting; but you can only go with what the players give you to work with. Similar answer to the above - the player didn't give me too much to go on other than he wanted to be an Australian soldier and bought up a bunch of military skills. As for not knowing who they were - I was more trying to suggest that Kawalski didn't know what their goal was. I have heard that Australia and the US are very independent of each other and I'm guessing that one clandestine operation could easily get in the way of another with two different administations running them. Thanks for the input though and I'll probably edit to amend some of this.

Re: Stargate Refuge The second session of this game was held the other night. Things didn’t look good for a little while, two players didn’t show for the session on the Friday and it is only the second session of the game! However, we did get together and decide that Tuesday night is better. Hopefully we should be getting regular sessions going now. The other change was that John Smith’s player didn’t show but we got a replacement in Bruce Scott – yes, I agree it still doesn’t look good, but what can you do? So, with a wave of my mighty GM hand, I ruled that Smith only quasi exists (when his player returns I’ll bring him back) and that Scott was there the whole time. Lt Bruce Scott – Scott comes from a long line of Australian Soldiers. His grandfather was one of the ‘Rats of Tobruk’ in World War II, his father fought in both Korea and Veitnam. Bruce, joined the Australian Army on the day he turned 18 and trained as a heavy weapon specialist – seeing man-portable heavy weapons as the new revolution in war. As he rose in the ranks, he joined a commando unit and was sent on various small field operations, many of which are still classified. It was on the Iran/Iraq border that his unit encountered a US force on a similar mission. This force was led by a Major Kawalski who, not trusting that the Australian’s were who they said they were, took them prisoner. However, the Australian’s greatly assisted the US commandos with Scott’s assistance being exemplary. After the action, Scott and Kawalski became great friends and it was this friendship that caused Kawalski to recommend that Scott be included in the Stargate Program. It took some time to clear Scott, an Australian soldier, for the program – some time after Kawalski’s death in fact, but he has finally been cleared, briefed and was added at the last minute to the SG-11 team. Session 2 The team hid the dead and unconscious Jaffa in some bushes and continued along the path toward where they had heard that the mining was taking place. As they drew closer, Lt Taima decided to scout up front and told the others to remain behind. This order was ignored by Mishka who felt that it insulted his Viking beliefs. Tramping bravely through the almost park-like forest, he immediately came to the attention of two Jaffa who came up over a rise a little to his left. The immediately opened fire, one bolt from a staff weapon hitting him on the chest – his flack jacket took most of it but it still hurt. Both Debrovski and Scott heard the staff weapon and began moving up. Taima had seen what happened and was amazed that Mishka was still standing. He tried to get to the large warrior but, perhaps predictably, the Viking charged the two Jaffa howling a Norse oath as he did. The next plasma bolts missed, as the Jaffa hadn’t expected anyone to run toward them! As the Viking closed wielding his axe, one of the Jaffa caught Lt. Taima’s movement out of the corner of his eye. As his companion caught Mishka in a leg sweep, he moved to investigate. The Jaffa held his staff weapon in an aggressive posture and demanded Mishka’s surrender with the single, all purpose word of “Kree!” But Mishka’s pride would never let him surrender and as he reached for his P-90, the Jaffa brought the butt of his staff weapon down in a vicious strike into his forehead, fracturing his skull and rendering him unconscious. The second Jaffa had moved toward Taima but, uncertain that anyone had even been there and distracted by some more movement further down slope (Debrovski and Scott), he didn’t see Taima until it was too late. Taima’s combat knife flashed as the Jaffa reflexively blocked with his arm taking only a small wound. The other Jaffa, having dealt with Miska moved to assist his companion. Even worse, a third Jaffa, attracted by the noise of combat came to investigate. For several seconds, Taima managed to hold off both opponents although he nearly fell to a leg sweep similar to the one that hit Mishka. The two Jaffa flanked Taima, forcing him to divide his attention, then one felled him with a mighty blow across his back. The Jaffa was about to finish him off when sudden gunfire struck him from behind! A burst from Debrovski’s P-90 caught him in the back, penetrating his armour and dropping him right next to Taima. The second Jaffa fighting Taima saw this and after a hurried return shot, took cover behind a tree. Scott engaged the latest Jaffa to enter the battlefield. While Scott didn’t know much about the Jaffa, he had met a great deal of the briefing material with a fair amount of scepticism, he did know that they were the enemy though. That was enough for him. His weapon for this type of encounter was a Daewoo USAS-12 Auto Shotgun and he fired shot after shot keeping this new opponent behind cover and out of the fight. Lt. Scott then saw an opening, the Jaffa behind the tree fired a blast at Debrovski while maintaining a minimum profile for the Russian to shoot back at. However, the Australian had a clear shot. He didn’t hesitate and fired two shots in rapid succession with dozens of high velocity pellets striking the Jaffa in the leg, throwing him back and taking his leg out from under him so that he nearly landed on his head. Scott’s own opponent though used the opportunity to rush closer. His direct opponent down, Debrovski rushed forward to check on the downed Lt. Taima – only to see the Lieutenant jump to his feet. Unable to assist in the fire fight without his P-90, Taima had lay there waiting for something to develop. He now rushed off to help Scott who’s Jaffa was using some of the underbrush to move closer to the Australian officer. Debrovski was about to join the other two when he saw the Jaffa that had been hit by the shotgun blasts, suddenly rise. Bringing up his P-90 he fired a burst but the Jaffa kept coming, he fired again as the Jaffa charged, soon the Jaffa was right at him and raising his staff weapon. Debrovski kept firing but the Jaffa seemed to somehow be ignoring the high velocity rounds ripping into him, he was about to strike which finally the accumulation of fire from the weapon overwhelmed even the Goa’uld inspired fortitude and he fell back to the ground. Meanwhile, Taima had jumped the Jaffa sneaking forward toward Scott, at first stabbing the enemy and when that didn’t work, he pulled out his Colt pistol and fired. The Jaffa would have fought back but was being harassed by Lt. Scott who pumped shot after shot into him from his shotgun as he advanced on the enemy. The last Jaffa fell just as Taima’s pistol jammed. “Damn!” the Navajo cried, “why do I always get this junk?” He threw the pistol away and picked up one of the staff weapons while ordering Scott to check Mishka. “He’s still breathin’ sir.” The Australian said and began picking up the large Viking. “Okay,” Taima said assisting him with the large man,” let’s head back to the gate, there’s little more we can do here.” His decision proved to be a good one as before they had gone 200 meters more Jaffa appeared and began quickly checking their comrades before starting a pursuit. SG-11 arrived at the gate with the Jaffa closing behind them. “Dial home,” Taima said to Debrovski as he struggled with Scott carrying the heavy Cimmerian. But before he could touch the DHD it suddenly glowed to life, every panel lighting up and the symbols began to spin. It was strange, the spin was faster and the chevrons seemed to flash in and out several times on the wheel without stopping. While the team didn’t have a gate specialist, it was clear that something was wrong. “I didn’t touch it!” Taima complained as a wormhole formed. “Is it safe?” Debrovski asked, “I don’t know if we can go through, it may be incoming or outgoing, I just don’t know?” “Well, we can . . .” Whatever Taima was going to say was cut off as the blast of a staff weapon impacted on the ground about 3 meters from them. “Okay, we go.” He said shouldering the still unconscious Mishka and rushing through. The other two SG members rapidly followed. Again their limited knowledge of the gate couldn’t tell them what to expect but something was clearly wrong. The disorienting experience was far worse and seemed to go on much longer than it should. While he couldn’t swear to it afterwards, through the screeching sound the reverberated around them, Scott thought that he heard a voice speaking. He couldn’t make out much other than the words “save them.” Eventually, after what seemed an uncomfortably long time, the SG team emerged. Was in fact, thrown out of the gate to tumble to the ground. Through their dizziness, they looked around to see where they were. It was clearly a high technology structure of some kind, well lit and seemingly clean. The floor was covered with a thick layer of some fine, white, powder. The gate they had come through was at once familiar and very different. It was smaller than the gates they had seen without symbols or chevrons but instead with six, lit panels. The event horizon was the same shimmering blue that dissipated in the same way they had seen with other gates. A nearby ramp led to a gantry where a dark skinned apparently Human man had the panel of a small, square device; somewhat reminiscent of a DHD; open and had been working on it before the team tumbled through. He now stared at them somewhat slack jawed. At the far end of the room was another person, this one wearing a similar uniform to the first, though this one was clearly armoured. Along his right arm, he wore an unusual tube device that could be a weapon and his face was hidden behind an opaque visor of a large helmet. This obvious guard recovered first and, pointing the tube like device at the group began yelling in a language that no one from Earth had ever heard.

Stargate Refuge Two things prompted me to start running this Stargate Hero campaign. One is that I have been watching a fair amount of Stargate Atlantis recently and was somewhat inspired. The second is that one of our games recently ended so my gaming group had a night free. Now I’m not a terribly experienced Hero System GM. I try but I was raised with other gaming systems (I’m sure you know the ones) so Hero doesn’t come naturally to me as I’d like – especially considering that my players are all past masters of the game. Still, one has to start somewhere. My other caveat is that I didn’t have a great deal of time to prep for this campaign; less than a week in fact, but we’ve got through character creation and the first part of the first mission okay and it should only get better from here. I’ve set the first game during season 4 (October, 2000), shortly after Samantha Carter was possessed by energy beings that had hidden within a MALP (episode – Entity). The characters – SG 11 Lt. Frederick Taima – Frederick is the leader of the team. A Navajo Indian and enthusiastic outdoorsman he unfortunately is terrible with anything involving technology and has a low tolerance for any of the ‘eggheads’ that do. He was accepted into the SGC solely because of his leadership qualities, combat abilities and his ability to survive with minimal means. M’Ishka of Cimmeria - M’Ishka, a large man comes from a Cimmerian village some distance from the Stargate. While young, he was raised on tales of the brave warriors of old – Vikings. More than anything else, M’Ishka wanted to be a Viking, but as the gods, in particular Thor, protected the people, Viking was not a profession that was needed. When Thor’s Hammer was destroyed though, M’Ishka spoke with those that came through the Rainbow Bridge (Stargate) and was eventually sent as an envoy to these people. Speaking with their War Leader, a man known as Hammond, M’Ishka was overjoyed when he completed enough training to be accepted into SG 11, what he considers to be true Viking work. Lt. John Smith – Smith joined the CIA out of college and was inbedded with the Green Berets during the first Desert Storm campaign. In Iraq, he came into possession of some information and artefacts of unusual origin. Due to this he was contacted by the NID and eventually received briefing materials on the Stargate Program by Colonel Maybourne. Given the rank of Lieutenant from his military experience, Smith was inserted, against Hammond’s wishes into the SGC. Forced to include him, Hammond chose to place him in the reformation of SG 11. Specialist Yakov Debrovski – Debrovski is a Russian from Nayanova University in city of Samara on the Volga River. For many years he as been an ardent supporter for Dr Daniel Jackson’s work, something which has led several scientific rivals to ridicule him and gain advantage. From a long line of Russian scientists, Yakov mourns the old days of communism where scientists were given great resources and access, a pittance compared to modern times. The SGC was forced to reveal some of its activities to Russia when replicators took over a Russian submarine. Yakov was summoned to the Politburo and it was insisted that he be sent to Cheyenne Mountain to study under Dr Jackson. Realising that he could serve a greater role, he was included in the reformation of SG 11. Briefing – General Hammond summons the team to the briefing room and explains that they are to reform SG-11 which has been somewhat ill fated. They are to be a reconnaissance team and their first mission is on PX9757. This is the world where the Goa’uld were building a new ship before enhanced members of SG-1 destroyed it. Hammond explains that SG-3, on a recent mission returned via PX9757 in order to not reveal Earth’s address. They noticed signs that someone might be nearby but didn’t investigate further. Unfortunately, SGC cannot send a MALP due to so many of them recently being destroyed and potentially compromised. Mission - The group kits up (P 90s are standard gear) and heads through the gate. Taima actually runs through and immediately past the gate comes immediately under fire from two Jaffa. Both attacks hit but just graze him in the leg and arm respectively (very low damage roll). The rest immediately start shooting back, some moving to cover while others move forward. M’Ishka gets a critical with a 5 round burst and kills one of the Jaffa outright. The other, taking several wounds from the concentrated fire from the others, attempts to flee but is eventually downed and forced to surrender. During this time though, Taima’s P 90 suffers a catastrophic failure and his pistol jams twice (he really doesn’t do well with anything technical). Taima scouts the local area while the others begin interrogating the Jaffa. While this isn’t completely effective, Debrovski and M’Ishka speak Goa’uld but Smith is the one who knows how to interrogate; they do learn that the Jaffa are in the service of Heru’ur but that he is not present on the planet. They are mining Naquadah and the two were watching the stargate in case anyone came through. After proclaiming the area clear, Taima ordered that they knock the remaining Jaffa unconscious and drag them away. They will then go and look at the mining operation. That was the end of the session.

Re: Post Apocalypse Game Game Session 2 22 December 2008 Three more PCs joined the game for this session, although Crazy Jones’ player was away for reasons unknown. These new characters are:- Doc – Played by a first timer he is, as one might guess, a man of medicine. Of African/American descent he is also quite handy with a rifle. Nigel – A very politically incorrect Australian Aboriginal who is also quite good at surviving in the wilderness. He prefers to use spears to guns but is willing to when necessary. Robbo – Not much is known at this stage except that he took reputation (11 or less) of ‘Good Bloke’. Yes, it looks like the comedy relief characters are in. The PCs are heading out to find the old car manufacturing plant that the merchants of St Pauls told them about so that Bren can get parts to build a car. Along the way, the PCs find Doc and Nigel walking in the other direction. They tell that they tried to get into a place that sounds very much like the car plant and lost one of their friends inside (Robbo’s player couldn’t make it until later). They embellish that they killed dozens of people holding their friend captive but to no avail so they decided to look for help. Champie doesn’t feel good about a fight against such strong odds in a fortified position but Bren is still keen, stating that at least they now have a little information about the car plant. Around it is a maze created from junked cars, within are hidden many traps. When the now enlarged group of PCs arrive at the car plant, they can see that this isn’t going to be easy. The top floors of the plant are visible some sixty meters passed a six meter wall of wrecked cars. There is one entrance to a veritable maze of cars which presumably leads to the entrance. Bren goes first and tries the peaceful route. He hands his shotgun (the same one captured from last game) and hold his hands up shouting, “I just want to talk! I fix cars and I can probably help you!” Most of us are not sanguine about his chances and stay back a little way from him in case something really unpleasant happens. Nigel, begins to climb the wall of cars with some success. Inspired, Doc tries the same thing – with no success at all. Bren quickly notices a tripwire across his path attached to a grenade of some kind. He points this out before stepping over it and moving on – still yelling and still with his hands up. Doc and Champie enter the maze but decide to take a different path. A shot rings out and a bullet hits a wreck near Bren – who, to his credit, holds firm and keeps moving, yelling that he just wants to help (you have to give the guy credit for trying – if not for good thinking). When the second shot comes out for him, he jumps for cover in a wrecked vehicle (Bren has bought combat movement inside vehicles as well as contortionist – thus the GM has ruled that he can get in and out of some of the wrecked cars that make up the walls of the maze). Meanwhile, Champie and Doc have found that there is a glass throwing trap devise up a side corridor from them. Champie readies his shield and both dive across – shards of thick glass fly at them but bounce harmlessly off of Champie’s riot shield. Unfortunately, Champie moves a little too far and trips another tripwire and the grenade goes off, seriously impairing his right foot. With some luck though, Doc managed to dive clear and then quickly returns to treat his wounded teammate. Nigel has reached the top of the car wall now and is moving fairly directly toward the building in a stealthy fashion. Bren, who has given up the peaceful approach has managed to move ‘though’ a car wall and sees a rifle lying at the base of a nearby wall. Untrusting, he moves passed it and around – then noticing that a car is suspended above the rifle and rigged to come down if the rifle is picked up. The shooter has finally found Nigel on the wall and begins firing at him, but the Aboriginal, using a woomera, can throw a spear well over sixty meters and forces the man to diver for cover. Meanwhile, Doc has finished treating Champies leg wound and moves closer up now that the glass thrower has run out of ammunition. He notices the sunroof of an SUV on top of a nearby wall pop open and another enemy with a rifle shoot at Nigel. The Doc preps his own rifle and shoots the new assailant in the head, killing him instantly. Nigel has moved closer to the building and shoots the sniper that had dived for cover as he got up for another shot at him. From his vantage, he sees that he can move up right next to the building and climb through the broken windows. He does this and notices a cable that seems to run from this floor to the traps outside. Taking his machete, Nigel cuts the cable (suffering a few points stun from electric shock) and thus disables the traps. While Doc tries (once again in vain) to climb the wall of cars, Champie examines what looks like the only entrance into the courtyard around the main building. It is a large entranceway in the middle with a car body, suspended by a crane above it. Obviously the car is rigged to fall on anyone passing under it but Champie also notices a great deal of disturbed dirt in this gap. Taking care, both Champie and Doc move close to the wall avoiding any dirt that seems disturbed (we learned later that this also contains 5 landmines). Just as the rest of the group get across, Nigel kills the last opponent with his machete – this was the one who was remotely triggering the traps. In the aftermath, Bren is overjoyed and begins immediately finding parts and trying to assemble a car. It is clear that the group will be here for several days at least while Champie’s foot heals. Robbo is found locked in one of the basement rooms (the player finally arrived) and there is a store of food and water which allow the players to stay there for a while. After a week, Bren has managed to build his car. It is somewhat basic with almost no exterior panels and few comforts, but it does run . . . for about 30 meters (the player rolled a 17 on his construction roll). The engine is broken and Bren is pretty distraught but wants to try again. Champie has other ideas though. He wants to maintain his trade run and once his foot is healed he heads back – with a bunch of tools, unnecessary weapons and other things salvaged from the car plant to trade. Bren forsees trading in a car, maybe with a trailer behind but Champie is pretty much against it. He does help Bren organize a deal with another merchant who uses a vehicle for trading. Chen, an Asian merchant has a 4 wheel drive and a seemingly unlimited supply of fuel. He knows little of vehicles though so he organizes a deal where Bren will maintain his vehicle in exchange for some fuel. Bren then starts looking through the massive maze of wrecks for an engine that he can use.

Re: Post Apocalypse Game Game Session 1 15 November 2008 The trio of characters are all traveling together into Sydney from the south. They have been moving through ruined suburbs for some time, sometimes inhabited, sometimes not. Outback Champie and Crazy Jones have traveled together before but Bren is a first timer with them and hasn’t even been to Sydney previously. The group are headed for an inner city community called St Pauls, when a man brandishing a pistol comes out from one of the ruins nearby. He demands some of the supplies that Champie has on his camel. Champie responds that they were shaken down recently by another group of bandits. He then implied that this other group of bandits then sent them in here to distract this group for an attack. This had the desired effect (with a good persuasion roll) and the bandit ran off to round up his friends to defend their camp from fictitious raiders. The group reached St. Pauls and Bren is about to leave to start looking for parts to build his car when Champie stops him and invites him along to talk to some of the traders there. Champie has figured (correctly) that the bandits to the south that they came across are impinging on trade here and hopes that he can earn a reward by getting rid of them. In order to persuade Bren to join him and Crazy Jones, Champie organizes that as a reward, the merchants of St. Pauls will tell the group of a place where Bren can find the parts he needs to build a car. It’s agreed on and Champie begins on a plan to defeat the bandits. Discovering that neither of his companions have any stealth skills, Champie decides that he will sneak in and lead the bandits into an ambush. Bren sets up in an abandoned car while Crazy Jones climbs onto the roof of a mostly intact house. Deciding that just after dark is the best time to move, Champie sneaks in and finds that there are four bandits who are sitting down for a meal in the ruins of a house. He throws a rock and hits one – then runs. As expected, the bandits give chase and a few fire and miss (due largely to range mods and the darkness. As Champie manages to get behind the cover of a partially remaining wall of a house, Crazy Jones takes a truly excellent shot with his rifle and hits one of the bandits, the only one armed with a rifle, in the knee. The remaining bandits take cover and start to use the cover around to move up. The one hit in the knee though is still active and returns fire toward Jones but is largely ineffective due to range, darkness and that Crazy Jones is under some cover. Two of the other bandits, armed with pistols, have moved into a position across the street from Bren when he starts shooting at them. Jones changes targets but as both groups have cover only a few minor wounds are sustained. Meanwhile, Champie notices that the last bandit is attempting to flank the group from the side. He also notices that the man has a shotgun and, using himself as bait, draws the man out. Champie only manages not to be shot at by a successful stealth check. Jones changes target again and knocks the man over – at this point Champie comes into his own and beats the man savagely (in the groin of all places) with his hockey stick. The standoff is still going on with the two shooters across the street, so Champie tries another bluff. He takes out his replica pistol and throws it toward the pair across the street yelling, “grenade!” The bluff works for one who dives for cover but the other doesn’t fall for it (made a good perception check) and fires back. Committed, Champie runs across the street with only his old riot shield for defense. This works against the pistol wielding bandit but the rifleman manages to hit him in the hand for a minor wound just before Jones manages to take him out for good with a well placed shot. Once in melee range, Champie quickly disarms one of the pistol wielders while the other charges at Bren, who shoots him and knocks him down. The one Champie is fighting pulls out a knife and fights back but isn’t terribly skilled. In the end, Champie takes a step back and Jones shoots the guy. In the aftermath, only one of the bandits survived. He was brought back to the camp and told that if he tells the group where everything is, he will be let go with his life. He does try to hold back a bit but it is decided that he poses little threat on his own so he is let go. Champie gets his camel to pick up the bandit’s goods and someone from St. Pauls to witness the event so that the group can claim their reward.

Re: Post Apocalypse Game Recently I’ve discovered Edsel’s Weekend Warriors campaign log and have decided to create my own. I can’t expect it to be as good as one of Edsel’s, but hopefully it will still be somewhat entertaining. I also agree with several of those that have posted there that a campaign log is a good idea for a game. As mentioned above, this game was somewhat inspired by most of us playing Fallout 3 and wanting to continue something of the experience on the gaming table. The GM provided the following background and rules. Background 2010 The Red Army mobilizes, taking advantage of the weakened military and economy of the United States. They launch a surprise attack with the intention of reducing the nuclear capabilities of the USA through covert ops and invasion of while simultaneously nuking major resistance points, army bases, major cities, etc. The USA retaliates with their remaining nukes trying to force China out by crippling morale, they target civilian populations in China. China is joined in war by most Muslim nations who want revenge against the United States, as well as the few other communist countries like Cuba and Korea. The Democratic nations including Australia, join with the US in their fight. The resulting war is long and bloody conflict. Nearly all nations are drawn in and the population of the world drops by 90%. Australia didn’t suffer as much nuclear attacks as other places, only Sydney and Melbourne were nuked and with only fairly small bombs both over the industrial districts. But an invasion force did come in and conventional bombing still destroyed nearl all urban areas and even some smaller towns. Smaller radioactive weapons and biological weapons were also used, however and compounded with the drought seemingly without end, Australia is as much a wasteland as anywhere else. Little is known about the exact timeline of events for Australia but it is something like this. 2010 – War is declared 2012 – Australian north coast invaded 2015 – The war is engulfing large portions of Australia, it is estimated the war could go on for decades. Many people migrate to self sufficient bunkers to wait it out. 2020 – The last newspaper is printed. The front page reads “Is Civilization Doomed?” 2050 – This is estimated when the war ‘ends’. Nations stop fighting each other but many troops are cut off in foreign countries with no way of returning home and most governments are gone – those that remain have been subject to many coups. 2075 – Most enemy forces have been flushed out or integrated into the population. 2150 – This is guessed to be the approximate date. Factions Remanent Parliament – The remanent of the Australian Parliament, a small group which supposedly communicates with Canberra. They are despotic but are making small contributions to restoring order. There is an armed force under their command called ANZACS who shoot who they deem troublemakers and take their supplies for themselves and the ‘citizens’ of Sydney. Of course, they decide who qualifies as a citizen. Diggers – The Diggers oppose the remanent parliament claiming that no government was left at the end of the war. They claim to be left overs of militia and drove the few remaining invaders out. They don’t have the luxury of being underground through the worst of the war and they trained their children and grandchildren in traditions they learned to survive. Bandits and Gangs – These are small, organised groups that live by taking from others. They don’t hesitate to kill and they will take anything they need to survive by force. One such gang has called themselves ‘The Kelly Gang’ and has modelled themselves on the legends from history. Mercenaries – It’s a dangerous world and people need protection and are willing to give up their supplies to stay out of harms way. So mercenary groups are common, taking supplies in exchange for what assistance they can offer. Merchants – Travelling merchants try to scrape out a better living by facilitating trade between towns. It’s a risky business so they often hire on mercenaries to protect them. Towns and Outposts – There are many towns and outposts, each is a congregation of people trying to survive and there is strength in numbers. The towns are usually named for the suburbs they used to inhabit. PCs The first game commenced with three PCs. Crazy Jones – An old, survivalist type character dressed in a mish-mash of armor and rags. While he’s quite skilled in the wilderness he isn’t the sharpest of people and has a pathological fear of mutant Koalas who (he claims) are venomous. Brendon “Bren” ?? – He represents the repressed petrol head who dreams of rolling down the broken highways in a working car. He claims to have had a car before but it was stolen. He is now heading to Sydney so that he can build a new one. Jim “Outback Champie” Champion – A traveling camel merchant from Wagga Wagga who trades agricultural goods for city salvage. He is glib tongued and only carries a replica pistol, preferring to not to expend rare and valuable ammunition – he is quite good at fighting with his hockey stick as a club.

Re: Post Apocalypse Game Don't worry D Gus, I'm starting to use this thread as a campaign log and it will certainly answer your question.

Hi all Just wondering, if I have a martial artist character can he use his martial arts defense (ie. block) against a ranged attack IF he is in an adjacent hex? The rules seem a little obscure on the subject. It says a HTH attack is made when people are in adjacent hexes USUALLY with fists and melee weapons but it also says that you can't use HTH defences against ranged attacks.

Hi all Just thought I would share some news from here down under. We've all been playing a bit of Fallout 3 and decided to start a post apocalypse game set here in Australia. Personally, that's one of the great things about the Hero System is that it is very easily customizable for whatever genre one wants to play. Anyway, the first session went well. Our three PCs formed a small trade caravan coming into Sydney - which had been partially nuked about 100 years ago. A raider attempted to rob us but we managed to talk him around with a threat of an imminent from others. We then went into the nearby town and told them that for a small reward, we would clear out these deperados - which we then did. I greatly enjoyed the game and look forward to the next one. Just thought I'd post some good news.

Hi all I've admited that I'm fairly new here but all of you seem freindly. I was just wondering how your games are designed. Does the GM just work up a couple of supers, have them rob a bank and call the PCs in? Or is it more investigative? Do you use villian organisations like VIPER or DEMON? Are their arcs and/or sub-plots? I ask because the guys I game with are more the first type I mentioned. The GM works out some villians and basically starts a fight. Perhaps I was just looking for a bit more. I tend to like a plot to my games, a story and to try to have it make sense or at least give me the oportunity to do something clever rather than just hope that I roll well.