Mark Taylor

Re: Change of Speed

Just one more thing to add.

 

It appears (according to the FAQ) that if the character's SPD were aided by only 1 active point above a 5 SPD (1/10 of a point of SPD) he would still go back to 6 SPD immediately for the remainder of that Turn.

 

HM

Can you point out where the FAQ indicates that? Personally I can't see how you can interpret it that way.

Re: [Release Schedule] Dark Champions Battlegrounds?

I know FH Battlegrounds didn't sell well' date=' but I thought the Champions Battlegrounds did. Am I incorrect on the latter account?[/quote']

 

To quote Darren Watts from a different thread (actually the thread with the same title as this one in the Company Questions forum):

 

 

Champions Battlegrounds sold reasonably well out the door- preorders were strong' date=' and it reordered decently in it's first couple of months. Then the sales line fell off a table, and even our hoped-for minor bounces from our Origins nomination and ENnie win brought no additional sales whatsoever. Fantasy Battlegrounds, OTOH, was and remains the worst-selling title of the thirty-six total books we have released so far (and it's not really even close.) While I remain a fan of the concept and would very much like to figure out a format in which adventure modules sell, the fan base as a whole has spoken pretty clearly.[/quote']

Re: [Release Schedule] Dark Champions Battlegrounds?

I'm really surprised by the lack of sales of Ninja Hero' date=' While I would expect it to be your least popular genre book, considering how long it has been on the market I would expect it to be doing somewhat better (like maybe DC taking 3-4 more months to catch up )[/quote']

 

I'm not particularly surprised by it. There is a bit of a mini-revival of Martial Arts movies going on just now, sparked by Crouching Tiger, Hero, and other such major cinema releases, but I think it would have to get much bigger still to have a serious impact on the RPG market.

 

Having said that, I personally think Ninja HERO is great (I'm running a NH campaign myself right now). My only criticism is that there is so much overlap between the nature of the ground covered by chapters 2 and 3 of NH and UMA that from the perspective of a GM actually running a NH campaign like I am, they would have been several times easier to use if they had been all one book, twice the size of either (still would have been smaller than Fantasy HERO). I can see why the material was split the way it was though, since a lot of people will just want UMA to create martial artists in their Champions games or whatever.

 

Still, I can dream, and if in my personal fantasy world DOJ could release one book just to please me, it would probably be a NH / UMA combined volume with all the material from chapters 2 and 3 of both just mixed in together.

Re: Building a custom enhanced sense - What do I need to build this effect?

You don't need N-Ray to sense phenomena through physical barriers. In fact, whether or not a detect can sense through barriers or not is mainly a matter or special effects. This is covered in the rules FAQ under Enhanced Senses.

Q: How can you determine whether a Sense can perceive through physical objects, like walls?

 

A: This isn’t really a matter of establishing a hard-and-fast rule. It’s more an issue of considering what’s being detected, the nature of the Sense Group, and the special effects involved, and then applying your common and dramatic sense.

The full answer is much longer but that's enought to sum up the essence. The rest just gives guidelines about which factors you might want to consider when making the decision. You could go take a look at it yourself if you want more detail

Re: How to make a Taser

Of course for those who have Dark Champions, there's a Taser write-up on page 262.

Re: How to make a Taser

After you build it, dont' forget you need a six-year-old to test it on.

I ran a GURPS CthulhuPunk last year and it was pretty good. Now I'm thinking about doing something similar with HERO System but using a more generic type horror setting rather than the Cthulhu Mythos. The background would be along the lines of a near (but not too near) future setting (maybe 2066), in which traditional horror monsters like vampires, werewolves etc. exist, but many years (maybe decades or centuries) ago formed themselves into one or more secret societies and infiltrated many areas of government and corporate culture. A secrect society (or maybe more than one) dedicated to fighting the monsters also exists, and as the war escalated they began to gain the upper hand, so to redress the balance the monsters started to screw around with their own DNA, allowing them to eliminate some of their traditional weaknesses (garlic, sunlight, silver, etc) and become harder to beat. Now it's gotten to the stage where they're producing all kinds of weird genetically modified varieties of themselves so the Monster Hunters (the PCs among them) hardly know what to expect from one moment to the next and the monsters are regaining the upper hand. Both the monsters and the hunters use Cyberware, Bioware, Designer Combat Drugs... anything they can develop or get their hands on to try to tip the balance. A great big monstrous arms race.

That's all I've thought of so far really. Just casting around for ideas and suggestions.

Re: Hero Designer 2 Praise

HDv2 does indeed rock! I think it's the most useful HERO System product besides the rulebook itself.

Re: A Thread for Random Musings

Anybody else but me feel that people who know their behaviour is going to get a thread locked, but go ahead and do it anyway because they feel they have a right to vent their righteous anger are a touch selfish?

Re: Limit to Selling Strength? (or any attribute)

Wow! I didn't expect this kind of feedback. Excellent points too. I didn't consider the movement issue or mass issue either. My buddy's gonna be a might saddened when I let him know tonight .

 

He did buy flight for his spirit form though, so moving around shouldn't be an issue.

I'd read the whole of the section headed "Negative Strength" on page 22 if I were you. Mass makes a difference to the levels at which the effects of low strength occur, and there are also effects on DCV.

Re: Limit to Selling Strength? (or any attribute)

Thankee' date=' Book-Boy!! [/quote']

 

I'll take that as a compliment. I do have a good head for remembering the essence of rules, and where to find the specifics in the book.

Re: Limit to Selling Strength? (or any attribute)

Consider' date=' too. Just because someone is Desol does not mean they don't have mass or weight. Even if he sells his STR back to 0...I would have to look up the chart but it's possible he wouldn't be able to move.[/quote']

 

At STR below 1, his movement rate technically would be halved. It would be halved again for every -10 points of STR. 5E page 22.

Re: Feedback for power conceptual

 

Super-leap by folding 2 points closer, stepping across, then returning space back to normal.

He (assuming he is male) could use the same technique to grab other characters. Perhaps some kind of teleport, usable as attack, followed by a grab maneuver?

Or it might be simpler just to give him stretching, does not cross intervening space, allowing him to grab stuff generally...

Ideas' date=' suggestions, ect [/quote']

 

Other suggestions which occur are folding space around himself somehow to conceal himself (invisibility) and the ability to 'grip' the page to climb up objects (clinging).

Re: 5ER Out Soon!

I'm pretty hyped. I'm not nearly as hyped as I was before H5E came out... after all' date=' the coming of 5ER isn't like seeing a miracle happen. [/quote']

 

Ah well I didn't get to experience that because I only got into HERO System after 5E came out.

 

However since I've already introduced 11 new players, 3 of whom have voiced intentions to GM future campaigns of their own using HERO System, I think I'm doing my bit to spread the word fairly effectively.

Who else is hyped about 5ER coming out? Is it just me?

Of course I possibly have more reason to be hyped than most because it means that most of my players, who are all new to HERO system, will have their own copies of the rulebook for the first time. (I only started my campaigns around three months ago so the players have been waiting for the revised edition to come out before buying their own copies). That means they should start building their own abilities by themselves rather than having to ask me to do it for them every time.

Oops. Edited due to unnecessary duplication.

Re: Ranged OK for HKA, not for HA

ahem.

 

"A: No. Once he adds the Hand-To-Hand Attack Limitation, he’s signifying that the attack can’t be used at Range. Logically, the two Modifiers simply don’t mix."

 

neener-neener.

5E page 119, second column, second paragraph: "This Limitation signifies that the HA damage only works if it adds to a character's damage dice based on STR (in essence, HA is just a Limited form of STR). It cannot function on its own, nor does it add to a character's STR in any other way or provide any figured characteristics"

According to the rulebook, archer is essentially correct. According to the rules FAQ, you are essentially correct. Maybe you're both correct.

Re: TRU Challenge

Are we supposed to base our ideas on "real-life" T.R.U.s, or can we get as fanciful as we like?

Re: Fade Rate and attributes lower than normal

Can Healing effect other abilties than Stun and Body?

Yes, healing can affect any Characteristic or Power reduced by any cause as long as you define what it affects when the power is bought. The description makes that clear enough. 5E page 120.

Re: Paranoid HERO

I'd echo what etherio and Bozimus said, with an additional point. Paranoia uses a d20 for task resolution where HERO System uses 3d6. Under almost any other circumstances I'm with the 3d6 bell curve any time. It's more predictable, and in most circumstances more realistic and thus more believable than a d20 type linear probability. However, in Paranoia its predictability is only likely to detract from the wacky unpredictable anything-can-happen-at-any-time tone. The d20 means that even the most competent players will tend to fail on a regular basis, much more apt for Paranoia.

Having said that, if you decide to do it anyway I'd build PCs according to the guidelines for Incompetent Normals (i.e. -25 Base points + 25 Disads), or at best Standard Normals (0 Base points + 25 Disads) since that's pretty much what Paranoia PCs are (although the term Incompetent Abnormals might be more appropriate). From there, things should be pretty straightforward. The only powers PCs should have are their Mutant Powers, and those should come with mandatory Activation Rolls, and probably Side Effects.

Re: Just to be sure

Martial maneuvers are already priced at a framework-like discount because they provide a whole bunch of basically similar abilities. While I'm not sure if the rules state explicitly that it's illegal to place them in frameworks, they should do. It would make no sense whatsoever to allow it.

Re: Exotic Methods for Executions?

Another method I recall a paricular tyrant using in a campaign I ran a long time ago was to tell prisoners that they would be allowed to go free if they could find their own way to the exit from their dungeon and survive. Of course the exit was at the other end of a maze full of lethal traps and it was practically impossible (if not actually impossible) to get out alive.

Since I've run a few fantasy campaigns involving nasty to outright evil tyrants, I'm sure there are more. I'll post them as they spring to mind.

Re: Exotic Methods for Executions?

One of the problems with burning at the stake (from the POV of a person wanting to inflict a maximally painful death) is that the victim tends to pass out from smoke inhalation at a relatively early stage, thus missing out on most of the agony of actually burning to death. The solution: make them wear a gas mask, then burn them at the stake. Much nastier.

I once ran a fantasy campaign set on a flat world (not Discworld). One of the preferred punishments for criminals in certain communities living close to the edge was just to throw the criminal over the edge. It's not entirely clear what happened to them after that, but it's unlikely to have been pleasant.

This one is from Iain M Banks's SF novel Consider Phlebas. The Condemned man is placed in a small, sealed room in the very deepest dungeon of the castle. The waste outlets from all the castle's toilets and other waste disposal facilities empty into this room. The castle's occupants then proceed to have a great big party. The Condemned man is given the ironic title of "guest of honour".

Re: HERE THERE BE DRAGONS: A Medieval Bestiary

*shrug*

 

It's an old pre-DOJ project I did for HERO Games. Needed to do something constructive with it.

I'm a big fan of bestiaries. Therefore I think it's exceedingly cool.

Re: HERE THERE BE DRAGONS: A Medieval Bestiary

I can barely begin to express how exceedingly cool this is!

Re: Opinions requested on an application of Side Effects

OTOH, Special Effects and Common Sense say the attack should miss anyway. If an archer's attempt to apply the inderect advantage failed he'd be aiming in entirely the wrong direction to hit without it.