bigbywolfe

Re: Normal Smell/Taste one sense? That's actually a misnomer. Losing one sense has never magically caused other senses to improve in accuracy or level of discernment. Humans are visual-centric and do not general use their other senses, even hearing, to their full potential, unless trained to do so. People who lose their sight do not receive improved hearing, anymore than people who become deaf suddenly gain the ability to see sound waves, we’re not Daredevil. People who lose their sight often times seem to have better hearing because they are forced to rely on it, but the average person could become just as perceptive with hearing as a person who has been blind for years; all it would take is a little training. And it usually takes a lot of time for people who lose a sense to learn to compensate with the use of others. Many people who lose sight or hearing at an advanced age never learn to compensate and never receive the “improved” senses we perceive people who have lived their entire lives without those senses seem to have.

First Victorian Adventure, Solo, What do you think? Well, it looks like this Sunday I’m going to be running a solo campaign with the player who helped conceptualize the setting, and despite having said I wanted to steer away from Old West Hero, this one, and only this one, is going to be taking place in the Western Territories. The PC, by the way, is a US Federal Marshall that was originally raised by Indians, a fact that will probably be a disadvantage for most of the adventures other than this one. Anyway, here’s what I have planned: The PC Federal Marshall (let’s call him Tim) is sent to investigate cattle disappearing near a small settlement. There are four major ranches and a town of no more than 40 to 60 people. Also, there is an Army Fort manned by US Cavalry nearby and two different Indian tribes close by (one of which is the same tribe Tim was raised by, but not the same clan/group). Two of the ranches are blaming one of the others since they haven’t had any cattle stolen yet and the 4th ranch thinks its Indians raiding. The fort is run by a very racist Lieutenant Colonel (which is also Tim’s rival) who blames the natives but cannot act without proof or he’ll be risking an Indian uprising. Here’s where it get’s strange. The only people to have witnessed the cattle rustling have all claimed to have been blinded by a green fog thick as smoke, and almost all of the people who have tried to track the thieves have turned up dead. The few that did return claimed that the trail led to a dead end in a box canyon. On top of this the town drunk from the settlement has been swearing for weeks that he saw a monster or creature in town the night the first cattle went missing. To further complicate things, the shaman of the tribe Tim’s not from is claiming that the strange events and loss of cattle is the work of a spirit punishing the white men and is trying to incite a move to drive the settlers away, an act which would doubtlessly get the military involved and end in a lot of bloodshed on both sides. The twist? This is one of the cases when what’s happening actually is not super natural. The box canyon has a concealed entrance to a network of caves that connect to some abandoned mines in the foothills of the mountains. The villains are neither Indian raiders, nor angry spirits, but a clever cattle rustler, his slow but massive sidekick who used to be a minor, three common outlaws, and a Chinese chemist that specializes in fireworks/Asian explosives who was press ganged into the outlaws’ service. The choking green fog is simply a serious of colored smoke bombs with a fairly wide area of effect that the chemist was forced to construct. The monster the town drunk saw? Just a red herring. The trick will be if Tim (remember Tim? The PC,) will be able to deal with not only the cattle rustlers but with stopping hostilities between the Cavalry and the unsettled tribe, keeping the peace long enough to solve the mystery before the towns people panic, and before the feuding ranches become openly hostile to each other. So, suggestion, question, input? I’m open here. Tell me what you think.

Re: Normal Smell/Taste one sense? Well said.

Re: Questions on HTH enviorment modifiers I believe someone in a different thread mentioned that the Fantasy Hero book had some extra detail on sword fighting. I think it was in the thread about forcing opponents to take a step back or to move making HtH less static. You may want to ask around as to whether or not that might be where Hyper-Man saw the uneven ground issue discussed (the book, not the thread, I mean).

Re: Victorian Era, Mystery Driven, Paranormal Campaign… Help? Wow, lot's of great resources, thanks guys. I probably won't be taking time to read any full novels (at least not as research) but one of my plot ideas was inspired by Carr's The Alienist. One of the earlier adventures is going to be a "werewolf killer" story, where the killer ends up being, not a creature, but a psychopath. It, along with many of the stories for this campaign, are going to be set in a southern port city loosely based on New Orleans, (extremely loosely based, I'm going for tone, not "Historical Fiction Hero"). With a large black population, many with Haitian roots, I can introduce voodoo as a constant issue, both as a supernatural story hook, and as a religious issue. That combined with the racial issues of the time period, the distinct social class issues, and the fact that none of the PCs are from that area should lend itself to plenty of opportunity for social interaction/blunders as well.

Re: Victorian Era, Mystery Driven, Paranormal Campaign… Help? Cool, thanks for the imput. The point value is so high because I haven't run much Hero stuff before, and by the time I realised that 100+100 might be overdoing it we had already had two PCs created. I'm compensating by strongly encouraging the use of many skills.

So, I’m setting up a campaign to take place in the 1880’s or 90’s with a heavy emphasis on mystery and which will have a lot of supernatural/horrific elements. It’s going to be set the U.S. and I don’t want to fall into the Classic English Victorian or Wild West themes that could easily sneak into a campaign set in that era. I’m wondering if A) does anyone have any resources for weapons, prices, etcetera from that time period, and if I post some of the individual adventure ideas if you guys would mind giving me some feedback? Note, this is a heroic campaign (100, +100). It will be largely focused on the mystery aspect, yet combat will abound at some point every adventure. The mysteries will range from strange, unexplainable phenomenon being investigated, to grizzly, somewhat disturbing murders. The catch? This isn’t call of Cthulu, not every horrific death, or even every seemingly supernatural occurrence will have a paranormal/supernatural solution. At the same time, it’s not ScoobieDoo either, and every ghost, witch, vampire, poltergeist, etcetera, won’t end up being the butler. Part of my goal is to keep the players guessing at what is and what isn’t supernatural, which will hopefully curb the “shoot first, ask questions later” mentality and help keep the focus on the mystery aspect. I’ll post some of the ideas I have for adventures in this setting later to try to better convey the feel I’m looking for, but until then, does anyone have experience playing this sort of scenario, either time period wise, or supernatural-yet-noy-quite-horror-mystery wise?

Re: Disadvantages...lists anyone? That list is freaking amazing!

Re: Animal facilitated clairsentience and more… So, maybe this is a little better for the clairsentience, (note, I’m not at home so I don’t have HD to check my math, but here it goes): Eyes of the Beasts: Clairsentience (Sight Group and Normal Hearing), Mobile Perception Point (6” or speed of creature sensed through), 4xRange, Reduced Endurance (0END; + ½) (55 Active Points); OAF Fragile Expendable (Extremely Hard to Obtain New Focus; -2 ¼) Arrangement -¼, Only through sense of others (Undomesticated Felines, Canines, Ursine, and Raptors; - ½, Incantations (Throughout) - ½ (10 Real Point Cost). The 4xRange allows him to use any animal within 900” which would give the power a 3.6kl diameter, 1.8kl radius in any direction. While this setup does not allow the entranced character to control the movement of the animal he is using as a focal point, which was originally intended, in hindsight I think its better that way, as the ability is supposed to mimic a “vision-quest” type experience. It also allows the Mobile Perception Point to move faster than 6” if attached to an animal going faster than that (say, an Eagle in flight) but also limits it to less than that for an animal not on the move (say, a tired bear moseying around). In 5ER “Arrangement” is an option for Focus, not sure why Hero Designer lists it separately in the longhand write-up. I’m less concerned about fixing the healing since it’s for an NPC and will more likely be used as a saving element if the PC’s screw up to badly in an early campaign, he won’t pop up very often. I might still write it up just to see if it sounds more balanced later.

Re: Normal Smell/Taste one sense? Would this measure also make all other senses non-Discriminatory? That's the only porblem I have with the idea...

Re: Normal Smell/Taste one sense? I posted this in my very first post on this thread: "The Discriminatory effect provided by the Sight Group is not the full Discriminatory obtained by buying that Sense Modifier, but rather an effect of somewhat cruder degree. For example, a character can tell two people apart based on their visual appearance, but cannot always determine a person's ethnicity or religion through sight. Characters can make Normal Sight (or the entire Sight Sense Group) fully Discriminatory by paying the usual cost." - 5er pg. 161 The book says virtually the same thing for hearing. My comment had absolutely nothing to do with SteveZilla’s post about taste/smell, and even though I understand you don’t have 5er the post with direct quote was there. The book, however, does also say that human smell/taste is discriminatory in the same limited way that sight and hearing is. I can smell the difference between black pepper and cinnamon can’t you? We can taste salty/sweet/bitter/sour. It’s the difference between discriminatory modeled after actual human senses, and Discriminatory, the almost supernatural sense modifier. Ghostangel, I agree with you for the most part, but I think simply having a better definition of discriminatory of a “cruder degree” and Discriminatory you buy would be better than making sight fully Discriminatory and scrapping discriminatory in every other sense…just my opinion. I think the problem is definition, not the ability itself.

Re: Sell my friends on DCV I think rreay pretty much hit the nail on the head, you're not dodging bullets, you're dodging someone shooting at you. If either of your friends hunt, ask them which is easier to shoot, a still or moving target. Hell, even if they just play First Person Shooters, no matter how good you are it's easier to hit the noob sitting in the corner than the experienced guy crouching, weaving, jumping, etc. You may not convince them, and that's fine if the rest of the group agrees and they go along with it, but if they keep bringing up, especially in-game, and it's killing the mood or starting arguments mid-battle, then maybe they just aren't right for your gaming group.

Re: Disadvantages...lists anyone? Are you wanting more types of disadvantages not listed in the book, or are you looking for a list of physical dis ads, psychological disads, etcetera, with there values?

Re: Normal Smell/Taste one sense? I think what ghost-angel said in essence what I was attempting do describe with rather poor examples. I'm pretty much in agreement with his definition as I think it most accurately portrays the ability as described in the rules. Once again, the rules in 5er very clearly state that the discriminatory hearing we all share as human beings is limited and of a "much cruder nature" than that granted by the ability modifier "Discriminatory" which is why I capitalized it, referring to the bought ability not the natural ability which is somewhat self evident. P.S. I meant that the natural limited discriminatory hearing was self evident, not my intention when capitalizing the words...

Re: Normal Smell/Taste one sense? The physical appearance of an object? Visible spectrum light reflecting off of things? Amounts of light, shadow, and contrast? How specific/abstract are we talking here?

Re: Normal Smell/Taste one sense? You're saying that if you had no musical knowledge and had never heard a flute before, then one day you hear a wooden flute, then the next week you hear a metal flute, you would instantly know that it was a different instrument, even though you only heard each once and with a deal of time inbetween? I find that hard to believe. Maybe I have really bad hearing, or maybe you actually have Discrimanatory Hearing Sense. As for the religious example in the book, I thought of a couple possibilities. In the midwest US some people mix up Amish and Menonite (Sp?). Both cultural/religious groups have men with beards, women with covered hair, very simple clothing, etc. Now if you know nothing about either group, yet you have Discriminatory you would probably notice that one group never wears any colors, while the other only wears single solid color garments, or that one group doesn't wear buttons. Yes, anyone who repeatedly runs into these groups would eventually pick up these details, but (the way I read it) someone with Discriminatory Sight would know on first sight that individuals from each group are from different religions/cultures, even if he doesn't have the knowledge of those cultures to apply that information to anything. Maybe I'm way off base, or using the definition in 5er to literally. What does everyone else think? P.S. I misread, I thought you said it was the same definition in both books. Didn't realize you were asking if it was. Sorry if I came across as snooty

Re: Normal Smell/Taste one sense?

Re: The Sacketts Forgive my ignorance, what series is this from?

Re: Tips for Evil Cult Members Wow, glad I work alone at night so no one was around to hear me crack up laughing...

Re: Animal facilitated clairsentience and more… Cool, thanks for the imput. If I don't use charges how would you suggest limiting the use of the healing ability? I mean, it's really hard to find the supplies needed, but how do I stop someone from, say, stockpiling the stuff? Or being stuck with only being able to use it once and then having to take a month to go find supplies? I think I'll take your advice about changing the clairsentience, that sounds little better.

Re: Darth Vader vs. The Hulk

Re: Darth Vader vs. The Hulk If I remember correctly the black hole acted as a portal or wormhole and spit him out somewhere else (a common scifi contrivance) and the miraculous part was that traveling through it hadn't killed him. As for being poorly written, both Superman and Hulk started out much weaker than their current incarnations. You can't blame Stan Lee, or what's-his-name who created Superman. It's decades of writers, all with different views and ideas about the characters, combined with ageless characters that never really age, that screwed up. It's the biggest flaw of the comic book superhero genre...

Re: Dropping defences Wasn't sure if I had misunderstood or what. I still think that having the defense be just that, defense, makes sense and maybe having a limitation if it affects helpful effects, but that's just my opinion and I have much less experience with Hero so I'll probably just go with whatever the consensus is...if one is reached.

Re: Dropping defences

Re: Solo Campaign...suggestions Another option for fleshing out a character in a solo campaign is if he has any limitations, particularly psychological ones, he wants to buy off with experience points (if you allow PCs in your campaign to buy off Dis). Rather than just randomly buying off or lessoning a disadvantage when he earns enough points, work the disadvantage into the scenario. Maybe his fear of heights allows a villain to escape or his enrage/berserk endangers an innocent bystander or DNPC. In a solo campaign the PC can take time to research phobias and reduce his psych lim: fear of heights, total, to fear of heights greatly impairing or minor impairing, so he has a chance of over coming it with an ego role. Maybe he can come to terms with the cause of his anger and reduce his chance of becoming enraged or increase his chance of coming back to normal after he has gone enraged. This suggestion might be worthless if he has no limits he wants to get rid of, or if you don’t allow disadvantages to be bought off in your campaigns, but if he does and you do it fills the character out more showing how he dealt with his issues rather than just randomly not being afraid of heights one day because he saved up enough points. These are very generic examples, but I hope you get what I mean.