Talon

Re: My Players (BTW, do your players read these threads? What level of spoiler-ness should we provide when talking about this stuff?) So, um, if you are playing in this game, skip this post please! I like the initial outline, looks like a good storyline to ease the players into the game. As I'm currently ending a high-level D&D game, the low quantity of combat is refreshing too. I did notice one error though: it's "berm".

Re: Elder Races... I pretty much treat them in the same way that I treat the difference between a "normal" PC and a barbarian...more advanced culture, etc.

What would happen to a ship inside a real nebula (let's use the Crab Nebula as an example, as it has a nice pulsar in the middle)?

Re: Returning weapons? I've used Inaccessible Focus for this -- assuming that the weapon will return in combat, but if removed from the character in other contexts, will not do so. (For example, D&D "returning" weapons, which come back to you during a fight; if you take the weapon after the fight, it becomes "yours" and now returns to you.)

Re: What fundamental things did they really get "right"? The Time Chart and all its varied uses.

Re: Igard Confederacy Well I had a slow day at work and I haven't been doing much Hero System stuff of late...so I wondered what kind of PC I might make for this game. Here's what I got. === Javin was an "investigator" (in modern terms, a detective; in medieval terms a mercenary/PI who managed to establish connections with nobility with the need to get certain questions answered). He established quite a reputation for himself amongst certain circles for his ability to follow the twists and turns of the criminal mind. He also learned that the nobles he worked for were often as crooked as the common folk he helped bring to justice, but he set that knowledge aside...for a while. Eventually the hypocrisy of helping rich crooks punish poor ones grew too great, and he left his old life behind, travelling the wilds of Igard and pondering the nature of the world. For three years he lived the life of a hermit. At long last he felt ready to return to the world of men, but his disdain for authority remained. In addition, he bore a vow of his own making, to "carry no weapon" and rely instead on his own hands (and the knowledge of fighting he had gained over the years) in times of need. (Lady Merlinda is a young noblewoman, who fell in love with Javin during his time as an investigator. She desperately wishes to marry him, despite his status as a commoner (and the wishes of her father), and will go to great lengths to persuade him of her love.) Javin is a short and unassuming man in his early thirties. Although he makes a point of treating friend and foe alike with fairness, he masks this "code" behind a cynical, pessimistic worldview. He dresses in the simple clothes of a commoner, disdaining armor unless he knows the situation will merit its use. [b]Javin - [/b] [b][u]VAL[/u] [u]CHA[/u] [u]Cost[/u] [u]Total[/u] [u]Roll[/u] [u]Notes[/u][/b] 10 STR 0 10 11- HTH Damage 2d6 END [2] 13 DEX 9 13 12- OCV 4 DCV 4 11 CON 2 11 11- 11 BODY 2 11 11- 10 INT 0 10 11- PER Roll 11- 13 EGO 6 13 12- ECV: 4 13 PRE 3 13/20 12- / 13- PRE Attack: 2 1/2d6 / 4d6 10 COM 0 10 11- 4 PD 2 4 4 PD (0 rPD) 3 ED 1 3 3 ED (0 rED) 3 SPD 7 3 Phases: 4, 8, 12 4 REC 0 4 22 END 0 22 22 STUN 0 22 7 RUN 2 7" END [1] 4 SWIM 2 4" END [1] 3 LEAP 1 3" 3" forward, 1 1/2" upward [b]CHA Cost: 37[/b] [b][u]Cost[/u] [u]POWERS[/u][/b] 5 [b][i]Unbending Will[/i][/b]: +7 PRE (7 Active Points); Only to resist PRE attacks and PRE-based Skills (-1/2) - END= [b]POWERS Cost: 5[/b] [b][u]Cost[/u] [u]MARTIAL ARTS[/u][/b] Martial Arts: Standing Oak 3 Defensive Throw: 1/2 Phase, +1 OCV, +1 DCV, Block, Target Falls 5 Disarming Throw: 1/2 Phase, +0 OCV, +0 DCV, Grab Weapon, 15 STR to take weapon away; Target Falls 4 Fast Strike: 1/2 Phase, +2 OCV, +0 DCV, 4d6 Strike 5 Grappling Block: 1/2 Phase, +1 OCV, +1 DCV, Grab One Limb, Block [b]MARTIAL ARTS Cost: 17[/b] [b][u]Cost[/u] [u]SKILLS[/u][/b] 3 Analyze: Style 11- 3 Breakfall 12- 6 +2 with Martial Art 3 Concealment 11- 3 Criminology 11- 3 Cryptography 11- 3 Deduction 11- 10 Defense Maneuver I-IV 3 High Society 12- (13-) 2 KS: Criminal Techniques 11- 2 KS: Martial Arts 11- 2 AK: Igard Confederacy 11- 2 CuK: Criminal Underworld 11- 2 CuK: Legal World 11- 3 Lipreading 11- 3 Navigation (Land, Marine) 11- 3 Oratory 12- (13-) 3 Paramedics 11- 3 Persuasion 12- (13-) 3 PS: Investigator 12- 3 Security Systems 11- 3 Streetwise 12- (13-) 2 Survival (Temperate/Subtropical) 11- 3 Teamwork 12- 3 Tracking 11- 3 Trading 12- (13-) 5 TF: Riding Animals, Carts & Carriages, Large Wind-Powered Boats, Small Wind-Powered Boats 4 WF: Common Melee Weapons, Common Missile Weapons [b]SKILLS Cost: 91[/b] [b][u]Value[/u] [u]DISADVANTAGES[/u][/b] 15 Psychological Limitation: Vow: Carry no weapon (Common, Strong) 15 Psychological Limitation: Disregard for authority (Common, Strong) 10 Psychological Limitation: Code of "fair play" (Common, Moderate) 10 Psychological Limitation: Secretive about his past (Uncommon, Strong) 5 Reputation: Investigator, 8- 10 Hunted: Merlinda, noblewoman fiancée 8- (As Pow, NCI, Mildly Punish) [b]DISADVANTAGES Points: 65[/b] Base Pts: 75 Exp Required: 10 Total Exp Available: 0 Exp Unspent: 0 Total Character Cost: 150

Re: Igard Confederacy Interesting characters! Where does the "PreReq" Limitation come from? With a Psionics roll of 11-, Mani is going to need 9- rolls to use a lot of her powers! The "Only While Running" Limitation: Especially at -1, you should make it clear what qualifies as Running (I've had players who assumed that moving any distance at all, even 1" and then attacking, counted as 'Running').

Re: Speedster trick, would you allow this? I would probably limit the STR to doubling the character's existing STR (representing the fact that their speed makes the Disarm more effective but not devastatingly so).

Re: Sidekick (only) with Fantasy ? I'm sure it will work fine -- I ran a Fantasy game without Fantasy Hero (just the main rulebook), and if Sidekick existed at the time I could have used just that with no problem whatsoever.

Re: What fundamental thing would you change about the Hero system? There are a lot of things I would change. The most fundamental one: altering expectations for XP awards. IMO Hero is still a bit close to the D&D model of steadily increasing power. I prefer a game where the focus is on the story, and characters gain in power only slowly.

Re: How to build: instant learning Summon a Desolid, Invisible, "occupies same space as character" creature with the relevant Skill, Usable By Others... My concern about allowing a character like this is that they can instantly upstage any skill-based character. As described, they get the same Skill Roll, even if the original character has DEX 38 and they have DEX 10. But that's just an aside to the actual and more interesting rules question, of course.

Re: Ships of the Dark Ages and Medieval Period Sounds reminiscent of the pilot procedure used today -- a local pilot comes out and steers the ship into port (since local pilots will be much more familiar with the harbor than travellers, and a sunk/damaged ship hurts the port). I would say you have the main factors identified: assessment of cargo for taxation, assigning a location for docking, safely navigating the harbor. Come up with whatever procedure suits your fancy, and if the PCs complain that it wasn't done that way, remind them that this is a fantasy world not Earth.

Re: Speed and breaking a gravity well. Ships in Terran Empire don't make sense for many reasons, but that's not one of them.

Re: Help With a Campaign

Re: Build me a power - Paralyzing Touch Transform is based off BODY...why should a bigger guy have harder to hit pressure points? IMO one's ability to break out of something like that is more mental than physical.

Re: Build me a power - Paralyzing Touch This seems like a classic Mental Paralysis (Based on ECV Entangle, now) power. Someone with strong will can break out of it. Like other people have said, if no one can break out of it then it should cost a hideous amount of points -- I would just increase the DEF of the Entangle past any reasonable level.

Re: Igard Confederacy I would try to include: actual title of who rules the nation; are they kingdoms, oligarchies, etc. This is hard to capture in a few sentences, but what is day to day life like here? Is this a feudal society with mostly peasant villages, a richer society with thriving guilds and craftsmen, a war-torn region trafficked by mercenaries and sellswords, a theocracy where the populace withers under the close gaze of the priest-rulers, etc. In short, something to give players a hook as to how their characters might fit into the society.

Re: Teleport with trigger question. Extra DCV doesn't help against AOE attacks. I had a character once who used a similar construct -- multiple floating locations combined with levels in Dive For Cover, so he could easily Abort to a Teleport to a safe location. The character was balanced, since each time he did this meant a lost Phase. I could see an auto-resetting Trigger version being a bit over the top (depending on the specifics).

Re: Simulating decreasing damage due to exhaustion: I used an Exhaustion rule in a Fantasy Hero game that was very successful (as in, the players praised it even though it often hosed them). I don't have the full rule handy, but it went like this: 1) You get penalties (OCV, DCV, Skill/Characteristic Rolls) for being below 3/4, 1/2, and 1/4 END (-1, -2, -4 respectively). 2) You can ignore the penalties by spending more END (2x END to ignore one level, 3x END for two, etc.) 3) Maintaining full DCV costs 1 END (which counts as using STR, so if you make a STR-based attack this is a wash) 4) No Recovery after the initial Segment 12 of a fight. The results felt very realistic: people would get tired, "fresh" reinforcements entering a fight had a big advantage, and PCs would often use less than full STR in order to conserve END.

Re: A question of seasons I imagine you'd have some impact on animal life cycles as well...maybe two breeding seasons, more animals adapted to the warmth (since it lasts relatively longer), more hoarding of food for the winter, etc. I guess in theory you'd have a much happier peasantry, as they could grow more food to last each winter. (Or, of course, the nobles would confiscate the extra and you'd just have very happy and fat nobles.)

Re: Igard Confederacy Looks good...at that scale you should find it quite manageable!

Re: Help Request with a magic item Sounds like you should put the character through a few dream-scenarios where the enemies of this weapon are presented as the bad guys, doing all sorts of harm to whatever the character most holds dear. If they buy into the hype then their transformation happens all the faster; if they resist, it slows down. For game mechanics, I agree that Transform is the best candidate. I might also give the weapon Mind Control for a short-term "burst" of possession (for example, enemies of the weapon show up and the character goes on a killing spree, even if they aren't completely taken over yet).

Re: Help With a Campaign Hm...it sounds like there might be a disconnect between the level of inter-connectedness you are providing and the level your players are expecting. Especially at the start of a game, they might want to just explore their characters, doing some relatively innocuous stuff just to get a feel for the world and the other PCs. My suggestion: let the main plot fade to the background for a little while -- not out of the picture, but don't go out of your way to make it the focus. Let the mage work with his orphans (after all, working with the downtrodden is heroic), let the players have their fun. Maybe a drunk starts causing trouble at the inn, or an obnoxious bard takes up residence, or something totally unrelated to the inn happens. Whatever. During this time, drop a few hints about the main plotline, but nothing super-urgent. Then, after the players have had some time, give the bad guys a minor victory. ASSUME that this will happen, so it doesn't end the campaign or throw things out of whack. Let this victory serve as a message to the PCs that Things Are Afoot, and they might want to investigate. If they don't...well...then you get my campaign. (I spent about two years dropping hints about the Bad Guys -- prophecies, strange spies with odd maps -- but the players didn't put two and two together. After the Bad Guys assassinated the leaders of all local kingdoms, allied with the evil dragon, and invaded the entire campaign area, the players realized they might need to do something. )

Re: Sea, Bay or Straight? I keep thinking about CC but the proprietary format always keeps me away...I have a hard enough time keeping my maps machine-readable as it is.

Re: skills question This is definitely a (small) hole in the rules...what I do is allow a check based on the relevant stat, with a -4 or so penalty (so that a standard person is starting with a roll around 8-). Then, I make it clear that the penalties for failure will be more severe. For example, someone who tries to walk on a rope and misses the roll is going to fall, whereas someone with Acrobatics might get a chance to catch themselves.