arcady

Re: Herophile Fantasy art

A witch I put together.

Re: Herophile Fantasy art

Not DnD Fantasy, but...

Re: Herophile Fantasy art

It only previews if you do one at a time...

Re: Herophile Fantasy art

My work can be found in my gallery:

http://arcady.deviantart.com/gallery/

I'll see if I can get a small set of thumbnails in here though.

Re: Turakian Populations

A lot more of them model their societies on America and Australia where you have thinly sparsed settlement conflicting with nomadic groups.

The thin settlements of the whites however were only possible due to industrial technology. Prior to these two examples agrarian (farming) civilizations were almost always very thickly settled - a village every mile and often people living in famring collectives.

Just look at the difference between New England and the Great Plains of the USA. As for farming collectives, that was the model of both feudalism and the American South.

Re: Turakian Populations

Well, if you don't understand demographics, and can't do the 20 minutes of reading to learn it, but want to set out differences, just use textual descriptions like "densely populated and overcrowded," or "sparse, with most of the residents being tumbleweeds."

That can work a lot better than saying:

Empire X is ancient with bizantine politics and crowded streets. It's 1000 by 1000 mile space of land has 1 million people.

Which, by the way, is 1 person per mile, so small that it couldn't support any kind of civilization. By Medieval standards, during the black plague, there should be about 70,000,000 people in that space of land.

Giving it to us in text makes it play out better.

A GM can work with 'crowded, overpopulated streets' and create a lot better ambiance in the game than if given '208 people per square mile' (which is still not crowded by modern standards).

Most of the elements that are brought up for populations in fantasy have real world paralels that can be used to make guesses.

Monsters? Lions and Tigers, and Bears, and Wolves... all of which presented a real and pressing danger to preindustrial societies.

Magical blight can be mapped to Europe's many diseases if the magic is going to be on a grand scale. On the small scale of most fantasy magic it maps to about the effect that Catapults had on reducing peasant populations - very little.

Magical boosts and aids map well to early medicine, literacy, and other factors such as trade.

Trade does more than lack of war to influence populations.

Some of the smallest societies on Earth have had little to no history of war. The Inuit have no concept of war for example. Many Amazonian groups only have small scale tribal conflicts. Many Polynesians only had their own internal byzantine affairs.

Isolation is what really keeps you down. War can be a population boon. It brings in trade goods, resources, and maybe even genetic mixing. If it doesn't wipe you out, it can be a boon that lasts for generations to come.

beyond isolation, the next major factor comes in food staples and beasts of burden. How much food surplus can you produce and how far can you ship it... How many people does it take to produce it, and how well can it support them. Do they need to be close knit to do so?

Consider rice - needs a lot of people working together in close knit cooperation. Thus pre industrial Asia still had the vast populations it has today.

Re: Turakian Populations

I'm glad they left numbers like that out.

Time and time again I have been severely disapointed by RPG companies that have a grossly inacurrate understanding of demographics.

If it is important to you, you can figure it out with very simple research. If it is not important to you, the numbers are just wasting page space.

It -IS- important to me, and getting it wrong is just a good way to get me pissed at you. After all, if you put the numbers in in the first place, you're putting them in only for those who care, so get it right for those people, or leave it out. Those of us who care about it find it vitally important to get it right, and the research on doing so is easier than doing a third grade history report on Lincoln's Gettysburg Address... So there's -ZERO EXCUSE- for getting as grossly wrong as so many other RPG publishers do...

If you want to find the most basic starting point for research, google up "Medieval Demographics Made Easy".

The concepts in there can hold for Turakian fairly well, though Turakian and Valdorian are -both- likely to be -HIGHER- than the medieval period's average of from 40-100 people per mile. The medieval number after all, dealt with issues of plague and warfare at those periods. Numbers like those found in American expansion are unique to the industrial technology and rapid spread, not something to base a fantasy setting off of as so many publishers have done...

Re: Hero System women are all insanely attractive

Good observation. Check the comic books... you'll be hard pressed to find ugly' date=' or even below average, women.[/quote']Yes, this is true.

 

BUT, in the comics its true of the men as well.

 

Wolverine, Captain America, Superman, Batman, Cyclops, even Reed Richards - they're all supposed to be dashing or otherwise handsome in some manner or another.

 

Yes, there are Swamp Things and Grue The Wanderer's out there, but most of them are meant to be good looking.

 

The game is emulating one half of the coinc, but not the other, and this is somewhat true across the hobby.

 

Male players almost always assign high attraction and charisma to female characters, but rarely to male characters. Female players, I don't know. Last female GM I had was in a Sailor Moon game and that genre assumes the 'beautiful people world' analogy to an extreme. I have seen women writers who make a point of making every important female character patently ugly or at best plain, and then paint every attractive woman as horrid, coniving, and or stupid - but I always figured they were writing out of self doubt from how over the top they did this (Barbara Hambley was the first author I noticed it in). Female players at the table seem from my experience to do the same thing as male players in reverse - ignore charisma and attractiveness in their female characters and make their male characters into handsome figures.

 

Usually when I see an exception to one of these trends that exception is a core part of the character and is pushed to the forefront of play - a woman will ham it up when playing a femme fatale, a man will over do it when playing a 'lady's man', and similar for the unattractive tropes that they might normally make as attractive.

Re: Fantasy Hero combat slower?

Speed score has -nothing- to do with speed of play in Hero.

Speed diversity however does. If every character had speed 12 game play would only differ from every character having speed 1 in terms of the post-12 recoveries.

However if you put 12 characters in a room with speed stats from 1 to 12 it will take you all night to get through the combat.

Fantasy Hero can be slower because post 12 comes around more often, but it can be faster because defense is lower compared to damage.

That can play out either way, though I've always seen it as faster due to the second factor being much more severe than the first.

Re: So why do you play Hero?

While it doesn't handle supers all that well, it handles a variety of other genres with a decent speed of play and a fairly good ability to shape itself to whatever needs may occur.

I chose Hero for my fantasy game precisely because it was one of the only options I could find in which I could recreate magic the way it works in my fiction.

Re: valdorian age

Which shouldn't have any implications on race, unless you approach it from a somewhat shallowly negatively biased perspective.

Of course, it's 40,000 years ago, so this all should be set in Afghanistan with all the PCs looking somewhat Afro-Asiatic. Roughly 40,000 mankind was almost entirely in central asia and about to undergo three major migrations at about the same time - one to Asia, one to Europe, and one to North America. Regions that all got settled at about the same point in time...

But, ignoring that and pushing this thing off of Earth, the people there have a shade to their tone, one that isn't even actually fitting for Asia, and that shouldn't say anything about who or what they are in culture, genotype, or even attempts to geneticly map them to some real world race or ethnicity.

Re: Reality check time: so what about the players' feelings?

We (ummmm, okay, I... ) bandy about a bunch of crazy notions here, sometimes, though, very seriously.

 

But what about how players actually FEEL about house rules and system changes? Many experiments I don't try because it's unfair to just muck about with a game people are playing in and thusly affecting them.

I was playing the mage. I'm playing an archer now.

Don't like house rules. I can accept limits on what options can or cannot be taken, or how abilities in a system like Hero have to be constructed (mages have to have gestures, or speedsters have to have to have berserk, or whatever) if it's given to me at least in general concept at the outset. Even if it's - this option you're taking now might need to get pulled from you later if it proves to be a problem, or we might change the advantages and limitations on it to better this concept if we have to.

But house rules? No.

I'll do anything I have to do to avoid them. I told the group my mage no longer existed, end of story. Next session I showed up with the archer, and it was up to them to figure out what happened to the mage. We had broken at the last round of a combat - hectic moment where I'd just rained stones down upon the enemy. You change the rules on me, it's not my responsibility to deal with the mess. And if that means I go, I go.

Re: Stat Inflation

I HATE arbitrary limits so I don't want to just say' date=' no you can't have a 20 STR. So what are some other ways to prevent this from happening in the future.[/quote']Beat the -BLEEP- out them with characters that are themed with skills and skill levels but moderate stats, then pass out the character sheets of your thugs.

 

In a DnD game we learned to fear goblins with a few rogue levels - you can pull that trick in Fantasy Hero with the 'sneak attack' talent - Can't recall it's actual name, but its there.

 

It's also a lot of fun to built someone who can do ultra sweep manuevers with a polearm.

 

Or a low strength skill-leveled out archer.

 

Or just -flash- them with a low key mage, and then run in with the sneak attack goblins...

 

STR is not the only path to obscene min-maxing in Hero, and if you want to break them out of it, just make a party of NPCs that uses multiple other methods, none of which are based on STR.

 

Of course, they'll still min-max, but at least they might start doing it with variety.

Re: valdorian age

They are described as having sallow skin, which doesn't really mean anything in particular.

If you've read the GM's only section, you know there is at least one person from this land hiding out in Elweir - not the one people think it is - and not visibly obviously from elsewhere.

Anyone interested in a shared world design project?

We've got one getting underway over at one of the world-design mailing lists:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/world-design/

Today marked the last game before Christmas, and the first game with the 5eR book at the table.

Unfortunately due to the weak paper I had to keep the copy from being passed around - leaving the old book for that.

It was confusing having so much of the game in different places, but this will be overcome with time and familiarity.

I very much liked the new alternative for attack rolls that resolve them as if they were skill checks. I find it easier to say how much one made a skill roll by than what OCV+11-3d6 is. The math is the same, but the first method is more intuitive to gaming. Using it with the new to Hero player helped a lot.

I liked the new section on Concealment. It seems to be new rules though, and not just a rewrite of something from the old book. At least I could not find an equivalent in the old book.

Likewise the section for Recoveries was handy, though I was not able to find it during play (it's in the index, but I missed it by looking under recovery - taking).

The organization makes me think several things will be easier to cross reference as I gain familiatiry with the new book, but I will first have to gain that familiarity.

Things I never did find include what happens when I determine a PC is surprised - what phase I should start combat on if another PC is not surprised. I assumed 12 out of remembering how I thought I used to do it.

I was also unable to determine what the facing chart on page 376 is for. It looks like a spread chart should be there given the nature of the section. I did not remember any facing rules in Hero beyond being attacked from behind.

The perception section was handy - when I threw them in darkness I needed to figure out how well they could target the opponant in their midst, and it was easier to get all the information than it used to be for me.

Overall, I suspect this book will be easier to use in the long run, although it does look more intimidating on the surface.

In play, its organization and index should help to speed things along.

Re: Fantasy Hero Grimoire review discussion

The problem I see with the Grimoires is that the spells are too powerful for Heroic level play.

However, I have no issues with the skill penalties.

I use a number of methods in Fahla to let casters temporarily boost skill. Chief among these is ritual magic where a group of mages use their pools of power to Aid a central caster's pool and skill.

http://home.pacbell.net/arcady0/fahla/Gaming/magic_Hero.html#ritual

Re: Love/Lust Potions

Sterility is a social disad most likely. It can be quite a severe thing in many primative societies and get you soundly outcast - especially for women, who often get their social status out of motherhood.

I would model a love potion as a triggered Mind Control. It seems a blatently straightforward application of the Mind Control power - putting a 'sleeper command' on a person that leaves the rest of their mind intact.

In a Champions combat a long time ago, I had my character controlled into 'feeling devoted to the master villain and thus needing to protect him.' I roleplayed this out by having a sudden epiphany and "realizing" that the man was my old high school boyfriend who'd "gone missing" with me never getting over him. Doing my best anime-character, I went all googly eyed and began making big speaches and pornouncements with pet names ending in 'poo' as I started crawling all over him and getting in the way of the battle...

Never give a player in a silly mood free license unless you intend comedy.

Re: Powers in Heroic Level Games

I have never played in a D&D game where the DM made spellcasters deal with spell components. If it was ever mentioned' date=' it was easily dismissed with water-tight scroll-cases or water-proof pouches.[/quote']In not doing so your GMs were missing an opportunity to complicate resource management. If you never tamper with the gear or make them track it, you might as well let them weld it onto the side of their characters for free.

 

As for water-proofing, without magic or modern technology any water proofing idea is going to rapidly fail in moving water or rough activity - one fight with a swamp snake and all those scrolls and spellbooks are gone...

 

The game world would be different, and I personally think it should be made to be so to take advantage of the roleplaying opportunities and show the inherrent flaws of 'external powers.'

 

Especially in Hero system where you don't pay points for equipment - that is in essense a very cost effective limitation to apply on all those "powers" and it should come into play.

Re: Powers in Heroic Level Games

Having the master villian capture everybody' date=' and take away all their equipment (while probably leaving them in a death trap), happens a lot in super-heroic settings, but I haven't had too much trouble with losing equipment in other settings. I'm not saying that it does not happen, but it does not seem all that common in from my perspective.[/quote']Wrong RPG system, but in a DnD game in 2002-2003 I played an archer and I was constantly having my bows get sundered. It got to the point where I got a bow caddy - a 9th level Bard brought in with the Leadership feat who'se primary purpose was carry a stack of extra bows for me.

 

Even when they started being +3 or more mighty magic bows, I was going through them often at a rate of a few per session when 'in the field.'

 

- Most of them made by the group's wizards or captured in battle.

 

An extreme case, brought about when the opposition realized I could deliver 44 points average damage per round with nearly no chance of missing - more than any mage or even high level monster the DM could field. Any faction who survived more than one encounter with us brought sundering specialists the second or further matches...

 

However, when you consider the nature of non super equipment, most of it is easy to destroy and much of what aventurers do -should- destroy their equipment with alarming regularity.

 

Consider that everytime you make a pack of DnD fantasy characters wade through a river, the wizard should lose all their spells... components spoiled and ink running in spellbooks or scrolls. Many guns in modern genres are very fragile - needing to be cleaned regularly in the field and quite susceptible to jamming if not. Clothing can get torn or moldy, food can spoil, armor can get dented, and so on.

 

Heck, in d20, a mid level character has a reasonable chance of grabbing away your armor in combat if you ignore logic and just use rules as written... Fantasy Hero has some excellent rules for locking weapons, disarming, breaking them, and so on.

 

Use them, and make your players learn the value of a good supply train.

Re: Powers in Heroic Level Games

Fantasy mages tend to know hundreds of spells, but pulp psychics tend to just have a few abilities.

Thus the difference makes some sense.

Leave costs undivided in Fantasy Hero and PCs and NPCs both will only end up with the powers they need to defeat each other in direct confrontations, leaving out all the magic that enhances the ambiance of the genre. Why spend 592 points to light a room when you need the ability to blast the grey knight into next wednesday?

Personally, in FH I prefer VPPs and divided costs, to allow for enough power in a mage and a spell list reflective of those parts of the genre I want to emulate.

I keep power in check by requiring many different skills to use the magic and capping how many points can be in the pool to some ratio of the character's total points.

I don't tend to mix genres so that is not really an issue for me. If I did, I would at first continue to use different costing schemes in the different genres, but alow different required limitations. A pulp psychic might only be able to afford a power or two, but she won't have to deal with magical backfire, bargains with demons and faerie, and the curses that the mages deal with.

Re: New GM Questions

It might be a more interesting world if it had paragraphs.

I haven't had my coffee yet today, and that's a bit hard to read right now.

Re: New GM Questions

This works as well as anywhere else for ideas.

The boards here lack a 'GM forum' if that's what you desire. There are plenty of those out there for DnD and you could use one of them while avoiding many game terms.

Re: If you could add one more...

Just one?

I would add "Advantaged" as an exact opposite of "Limited."

Re: Is Daredevil 'Phys Disad: Blind' or just 'blind'?

Complete aside, but funny how this sort of disadvantage seems to crop up far more in DC than Marvel. I know there are examples, but it obviously reflects either a different design philosophy, or the fact that DC tends to have uber-powered heroes that need an achilles heel.

DC may have the more powerful characters, but it also has the more human characters.

The cast of X-cashcows, love them though I do, are about as real as the cast of 'Real Life' on MTV crossed with Days our Lives. That's par for the course at Marvel.

DC by contrast often has a lot more issues based characters and human drama that has consequence - such as Mia on Green Arrow who has recently been shown to be HIV positive. She's part of a tradition at DC in the way they do characters.