ned-kogar

Righty-ho, so given your previous answer, that 'A character who’s hit with a 10 BODY attack can Absorb 10 BODY from that attack regardless of whether it hits him in the Head, the Arm, or any other location', then: In a campaign using Hit Locations a character who has Absorption, 15 pts of energy body per segment, Usable As A Defence, gets hit in the head by a 10 Body laser, which happens?: a. the character takes no damage, because the Absorption negates the use of Hit Locations, so the damage is not multiplied (effectively conferring an energy-only version of the No Hit Locations power). b. the character takes 5 damage (10 Body, x2 due to Head Location, -15 pts of Absorption defence), but can only Absorb 10 of that Body. Further apologies if I've got something screwy here. Thanks for your patience! Ned

Ok, sorry to be unclear Steve. More simply, in a campaign which uses Hit Locations, a character who has energy Absorption is hit in the head by a 10 Body laser, which of these happens?: a. She gets to absorb 10 Body - because, as stated on APG 53, 'Adjustment Powers are not affected by Hit Locations'. b. She gets to absorb 20 Body - which would mean the rule on APG 53 only applied to 'outgoing' Adjustment Powers. Ned

Hello Steve. Given that APG I p53 states that Adjustment Powers are not affected by Hit Locations, where does that leave Absorption As A Defence? I guess it'd be odd if it conferred the No Hit Locations power for free, so I'm assuming that the rule refers to attacking Adjustment powers. A player has just got round to converting an old electrical character, and we were wondering about her powering up via the grabbing of high tension lines - whether she'd effectively draw less electricity/damage through her hands (x1/2 Body hit location) than if she, say, rested her head against it (x2 Body hit location). Any thoughts much appreciated. Cheers, Ned

Re: Weather Prediction Yep, Christopher, you may be right. I'll run everybody's ideas past the player this weekend and see what he thinks. Cheers all, Neil

Re: Weather Prediction Sorry Morpeous, cross-post: that looks worth bearing in mind, maybe swapping Extra Time for costs End to maintain... Thanks, Ned

Re: Weather Prediction Some good thoughts, thanks all. He'll need to roll to guess correctly... but - unless some last-minute unnatural (ie. superpowered) alteration occurs - he's likely to be right. I imagine his power will have the occasional light benefit, or perhaps be a hook into a scenario, but the campaign is not weather-heavy. He needs to step outside, smell the air and his gut instinct of incoming weather is spot on. It's not a rational process, and very slightly supernatural. I'm thinking that Detect: Incoming Weather, Discriminatory is about right. I'll adjust Per rolls depending on how far ahead he's trying to predict. How does that sound? Ned

Hello. How would I best build the ability to predict upcoming weather conditions? This is for a player's low-level back-up character. He just has a reliable knack for guessing what the weather's going to be like - in the region he's currently in - over the next 48 hours or so. Precognition, even with limitations, looks too pricey, but it seems cheeky to allow a Detect to predict, rather than simply sense. Weather's not a huge factor in the campaign, but the 'power' (more of a talent, really) might occasionally be useful. Any thoughts gratefully received. Cheers, Ned

Re: Growth UOO vs. inanimate others Thanks for your thoughts, but I disagree. The power intentionally lacks the utility of those powers, being much more limited in its use - both in terms of the in-game effect, consistency of effect and the extent to which it will see use - it really is just a small 'colour' power being bought with xp by a Growth-based Brick. A brick hefting a car into an alley to block it wouldn't require barrier (at least, not in our game) - the truck requires phases to get into position, lacks the solidity of a Barrier, might contain problematic passengers, is dependent on a truck being present, etc. This power is much more of that nature: she'll just occasionally make a few more big things to make use of - with the odd handy side effect, and odd complication. If this were the primary power of a character whose whole MO was littering the battlefield with obstacles, causing buildings to collapse through growing their support struts and entangling opponents in their own enlarged costumes, I reckon I'd be looking at your VPP, though, so thanks. Cheers, Ned

Re: Growth UOO vs. inanimate others Well, it's primarily increasing an object's size - rendering eg. a pistol too huge to be used, or upsizing a tyre so that it can block an alleyway... but the 'up to 6 total points of normal or resistant defence' of Minor Transform seem a good stat to base the more abstract qualities around. I'm using 6E. I guess I should have pluralized Def... Cheers, Ned

Re: Growth UOO vs. inanimate others Good thinking, all. Thanks. We'll go for a Minor Transform - this allows some additional Def to be added, improving an object's utility as both weapon and defensive cover, but not so much as if they were built as a Blast, HA or Barrier - they'll still fall within the rules for Breaking Things. She can only grow them as she grows, so I'll have the player look at the various linked options. Cheers, Ned

Hello. A growing character wants to use some xp to be able to extend her (free) ability to grow her costume to match her size to be able to grasp inanimate objects when she grows. The objects will maintain their new size even when released by her, but will return to normal size when she does. What level of UOO does she require? Should it be built as a seperate power, or as advantages on her standard growth? Any thoughts much appreciated. Ned

Re: HERO System Equipment Guide I've got it! It's great!

Are these two modifiers compatible, despite Beam requiring that a character "must use beam attacks at maximum damage; they cannot use them at reduced effect"? This could imply that the charges could only be used at the Boosted level... though I'd rather assume that 'maximum damage' refers to the underlying power, not the boosted part. I guess the former interpretation would also suggest that - if a campaign allowed Pushing - Beam weapons could only be used at Pushed level. Which seems counter to fun. Cheers, Ned

Re: Normals vs Zombies game - advice sought, please! Well, this session went pretty well! I had to slightly downgrade the zombie stats on the fly (just cos of the direction the story took), but the 'low-level characters improving under terrible circumstances' thing worked really nicely... the players (even the new to RPG one...) came up with some very nice things to spend points on (eg. close bond with NPC neighbours, +1 OCV, only vs. own children), we had people armed with walking sticks, hammers and high-heeled boots (this is the UK, so guns are thin on the ground) and statting out their pre-genned abilites of normals was good fun (eg. a disorganised teenage girl with Lives in chaos: +2 to spot useful things or her mum with Practical: +2 w/ Int Rolls to notice whether something important has been overlooked, takes full phase). Thanks for eveybody's input. Cheers, Ned

Re: Is 6th Edtion worth the money? Only a year out. Pretty good by conspiracy standards. Of course, it only makes it all the more sinister. Ned

Re: Normals vs Zombies game - advice sought, please! Some very helpful thinking here, thanks. Lord Liaden, that Twilight Dead of the Dead link is a great starting point - I'm very much going for the grittiness of Romero, rather than the more exotic twists. The main difference is that, as it happens just south of the river in London, I need the threat to escalate overnight while all but one of the characters are sleeping - a strange mist rolls in up the Thames, kills a lot of people who are outside when it happens and when it clears, they're reanimated as shuffling zombie cannibals. I'm also going to make the zombies a little stronger, with an increased grab strength, as - unless a character is prone or grabbed - I want their bite unlikely to connect. Palmate, I think those point levels are spot on. The talent list will be fun to do, though I'll be open to what the players want in-game too. At the moment, I plan to give each character some little talent-like quirk that gives the players a feel for what else might be possible later. Goal-wise, I need to have a good think - I think you're right, having a 'win' would be good. The government are going to seal London off (this won't stop those zombie crows getting out, mind) so, one goal would be to try to make it out prior to the barricading (the govt may just use the set a huge ring of fire on the M25). But your post has made me think - what if they just need to survive one night? That the risen dead fall inactive at sunrise, perhaps.. or retreat to the shadows... allowing people to be rescued. Hmmm. Not sure yet. megaplayboy - yes! good point - I really need to test their effectiveness as a mob, too. Playtesting should be a fun evening. Doc Democracy, the cards and handouts idea is quite appealing - it'll certainly give people a sense of progression: I could do weapons and clothing in the same way... Hmm... It's exactly the sort of thing I'd enjoy making. I'll need a few blanks to cover the unexpected. Ice9, I reckon you're right about SPD.. if the zombies have 2, I may allow normal humans to range from 2 to 5. Interesting what others are suggesting about not using the Speed Chart - there are some suggestions in the APG that I'll have a look at. I think the formality of the SPD chart might be useful, but with perhaps a little more variability. I'm also considering segmented movement, if only for the zombies. Tasha, sound advice, but one of the reasons I've decided to do this in Hero is to allow a lot of options for even low level combatants: the array of possible manoeuvres and the ability to make a spade a very different weapon from a pick axe or a shelf - if I wanted to go rules-lite I'd be using Mongoose's Traveller or - and this is still a possibility - Basic Role-Playing. This is why they'll lack any Weapon Familiarities to start, and I'll be having a different Weapon Fam for each type of object/weapon. I'll have a nice long list, but am fairly good on the fly and at making rules invisible for new players. I think similarly allowing standard clothing a little more utility (so that they'd rather face zombies while wearing jeans and a sweater rather than in their underwear - say +1 non-res PD) - with, as you suggest, bike leathers being about the best they'll come across - is a good thought. dsatow, I think you're right that I'll need some variation between zeds, but I think I'll do it based on the zeds size and prior life - some little variations of speed and resilience (and skill, possibly) will make a difference at this level. I will also be having undead animals - vertebrates only. I reckon zombie police horses are going to be pretty terrifying. Their first encounter will be with a fox. I've decided to have each player play a member of a family of four, with an additional character that joins them after they've got a handle on their first one. Although Hero's stat granularity is not high, this is very much a skill based game: if one chap with Str 10 wants to differentiate himself from another with Str 10, he'd be getting +1 w. Str rolls/skills, or buying +5 Str only for lifitng, rather than buying his Str up... which makes sense in a game where people are excelling their expectations of themselves in very specific taks. So, I have no granularity concerns - especially given my intended differentiation between objects as weapons, etc. Thanks very much for the thinks. Any more are very welcome. Cheers, Ned

Hello. For the Halloween weekend, I'm planning on running a one-off zombie game, set in an otherwise realistic London. Setting-wise I'm all fine, but I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on a few mechanical issues. There's a lot below, so thanks to anyone who reads it all! The players will be playing pre-genned characters (all from a central London housing estate - not soldiers, or scientists - shopkeepers, thugs, kids, middle management at the local supermarket, driving instructors) that I'll allow them to make some small adjustments to - name, hobby skills, small stat swaps - BUT I want them to develop fairly quickly once the zombie threat arises. After a month of survival, they'll have specialised and developed some impressive knacks for dealing with zeds. They'll have a reserve of X character points that they can spend in-game at a rate of Xcp per day (perhaps 5cp a day, from a reserve of 50cp). Say a nursery nurse picks up a shovel to attack a zombie who's after her kids: she can choose to spend 1 of her allotted cp to gain a Weapon Fam with shovels (see below), and 2cp to get +1 OCV with spade Strikes... or 3cp to get +1 with all spade-based manoeuvres. What would happen if the cp could be spent after a skill/attack roll is made? What should the cp cap be, for each in-game upgrade? I don't want to prohibit non-skill purchases (1/2 End on running, some extra leap, extra strangth for throwing things, the ability to tolerate holding very hot things for longer than most people..) but well within the realms of human ability: nobody mutates, or suddenly knows karate, but they find inner reserves that let them do extraordinary stuff in order to survive. They can only spend cp on what they're doing right at that point - so if they want to climb that scaffolding well, they'll get +1 to climb, not +1 to all Dex skills. Would it be a good idea to allow them to re-use that 2cp to buy a more general Skill Level later? Having spent 2cp on +1 Climb, and 2cp on +1 on Breakfall, should they - when trying to jump from a moving double decker bus - be able to spend another 2cp to convert these skills to a +1 to Agility skills? Should I make the cp dependent on role-playing? Anyone who plays a Complication well adds a cp point to their pool - or is able to spend a bit more in their next 'upgrade moment'. A Weapon Familiarity will be required for anything other than natural human weapons (the zombies are the slow, low DCV kind, so a 'missed blow' will actually suggest that they hit, but no damage has been done). I think it would be entertaining to have a very granular list of Weapon Familiarities, coupled with detailed - slightly exagerrated - weapon write-ups for common implements: investing 1cp in WF Spades will much improve your chances with a nice item with a built-in +1 to hit for its +2d6 HtH flatface, and a -1 to hit with its 1d6 KA edge, and perhaps a +1 to blocks. This should mean that players have an incentive to stick with that first thing they picked up during the attack - the shopkeeper has become a dab hand with his 1/2d6 KA Penetrating 2m stretch window pole, the checkout girl sticks with her inadequate +2d6 wrench, cos it's what she's used to - and she's now at +4 OCV, plus a wrench-specific Fast Draw. Which will be charming. I'm thinking of adding a stat for 'Neighbourliness' - which covers the quality of your interactions with the people in your area: how likely you are to be warned of danger, how well you know what other people have as resources. I can see it being great in the early part of the game, but am trying to think how it might be used later, as the characters (hopefully) escape the city. Maybe it should be a starting skill or Perk for a couple of characters instead. Any nice zombie builds/mechanics that you've used? Any thoughts on a mechanic to cover initial stupefied horror turning to grim determination? I think the zombies will have a built-in fear-inducing Pre attack, and characters can buy resistance to it. Any advice on how to handle 'back-up' characters? The game will require a high turnover of normals - in a group of four, I could start everyone with 2 characters... but there are some non-rpgers playing, so I'd rather start with one each and then have them be able to pick up others along the way. They'll also be able to play their zombified selves, should that occur while the pcs are still nearby. I've never run a non-supers game before (though my current supers game is very 'real world + super powers). Any tips on running combats where no one's likely to have a speed above 4? Thanks for your brainz, Ned

Re: Create a Villain Theme Team! Sandiya Kalpana is the forty year-old daughter of an Indian musical star of the 1960s. Beauty, wealth, and an inherited mutant ability to soothe and calm with her voice did nothing to make her a better person: she grew up bitter of her father's success, jealous of the easy happiness of her peers, and resentful of her business obligations. By 25, she'd joined DEMON, working as a destabilising influence within Indian high society and scouting for rare Sanskrit mystical texts. A competent sorceress and ruthless manipulator, she's well regarded by the organisation, becoming known by the codename Mahendri. Unfortunately, the DEMON agent behind The Infused project was, unknown to Sandiya, a North American rival who she'd clashed with during an unsuccessful mission in Nepal in 1998. Consequently she's been bonded with the hideous, lumpen, carnivorous and violent Kabandha. Her two forms allow a brutally effective tactic: her soft, enticing mutant voice drawing assailants close to her, before she unleashes her enormous, blue, many-armed, scythe-clawed demonic form in a burst of bloody wrath. She finds it difficult to return to her human form until the demon has sated its appetite for flesh.

Re: Boomerang Pistol Heck, we should write up all the powers this fella has in the video... How about that false arms trick?

Re: Transmit Smell I like these whacky combos for minor powers. Transmit Touch: I think I'd allow this for a character who wanted to send shivers down someone's spine... or spook someone with the sensation of breath on the back of their neck. As opposed to, say, TK with a 'can't exert STR' limitation, or Stretching with Indirect and Invisible Effects, or Touch group Images with a very restricted 'pallet'. Or would the latter be cheaper than Transmit Touch? Although I s'pose I could use Transmit Touch to broadcast braille to Daredevil's fingers. Heh. Can anyone think of a power-based rationale for that? Ned

Re: Gravity powers If you went for the ability to switch the 'pull' of gravity from up and down to, say left to right, you could do this: Ouch.

Re: A DC Animated-style HeroMachine

Re: Overall Penalty Skill Levels - Discuss Actually, one concept might be a super-adaptive character... one of those superheroes that 'evolves' to accommodate changes of circumstance (Meggan of Excalibur, or Darwin of X-Factor) or those shape-shifters who have loads of exotic forms (Chameleon Boy). This'd just be a little sideline power, of course... possibly with Costs End on it. I think the -1/4 limitation seems about right to me... although, given that Overall Skill Levels normally apply to a finite set of skills that the character must possess, yet the list of potential in-game Penalties is huge (depending on the variability of your campaign), I might consider a -0 limitation. Ned

Re: Where are the great shooters with lower dex? Nice. I don't have a full scale baddie 'agency of agents', though the heroes run up against the 'goodie' government agency often enough... the UK government is trying to control their superhumans by recruiting them. I've plans to bring in a fledgling US agency based on Project for the New American Century (we're playing in the 90s), fighting against the 'tyranny' of (non-US) superpowered individuals. On a sidenote, may I ask the power level of the PCs?

Re: Where are the great shooters with lower dex? Well, Enforcer was, I think, offering a good opportunity for convo there. Odd for you to respond so aggressively. Did you feel you were being corrected? Anyway. I think you're making an interesting point. I think a lot of published material works from the perspective of 'agents need to be a threat to heroes to X extent, villains to another', which makes sense to a balanced scenario in genre tradition - and there are simple, tested stats to achieve this effect. Not very inspired, perhaps, but the construction of combat NPCs is done to shape and balance the scenario, rather than avoid accusations of not being cost-effective (again, I think your language 'pencil pushers and nit pickers' reads a little aggressively - Hero can be a system of tinkering and arithmetic and it's fine that some like that possibility). The emphasis is on the usability of the scenario, rather than the individual humanity of the minor characters. You're right, it can lack the 'grit' of real life ability levels. I run a much more 'true-to-life' super campaign than most, and I like your take on agents: fit people, but certainly not Olympic standard, who have been well trained in their specialised line of work. Which is one of the reasons I don't have Viper, who're from a very traditional superhero world. Ned