Doc Democracy

Re: The Problem with Even Characteristic Costs Yeah, my 1/2 orcs got 3 STR for 2 points - I wasn't so stupid to reduce the cost to 0! I also tried to find funky stuff to put in the package deals, it's amazing what players will do when they get odd knowledge skills and disadvantages through a package deal. One 1/2 Orc got Reputation: Attends Drum Parties - that gave him the fantasy reputation of being a raver and implied drug use and knowledge while his KS: Tattoo recognition was used extensively in game. Players are most creative when you least expect it! Doc

Re: The Problem with Even Characteristic Costs I never tried to 'balance' it. Obviously it would be balanced if the character bought the same amount of DEX and CON but you find that characters that want high DEX and low CON tend to buy a elven package deal and then load up on DEX and avoid the CON. End result? Elves with high DEX and very little CON. Because that comes with the package deal the elves then have all of the other stuff elves should have - the cheap DEX drives the deal. All you have to do is ensure that the good part of the deal comes with all of the colour that you want your race to have. Doc

Re: The Problem with Even Characteristic Costs When I wanted to do racial package deals I have changed the cost of characteristics rather than changing the starting point. So where I wanted to encourage high DEX low CON elves the package deal allowed the character to buy DEX for 2pts per point and CON for 3pts per point. This has a lasting effect on how the characters develop - obviously when they hit the NCM level the effects are even more pronounced. Doc

Re: The purpose of a system - academic and geeky... Hmm. This has been an interesting threadbut I haven't been tempted to respond to it. However I am currently trying to sort myself out with a set of rules that I want to use to play in the Glorantha setting. Runequest was too limited and HeroQuest (though I love the system) too narrative for my Glorantha. I have decided to use Hero but in a way that probably makes it look less like any Hero game that I have ever run. It has been an interesting task (despite the fact that work and fatherly duties continually interrupt) and I'm coming to see that while certain things in the Hero system can easily be dropped or replaced (SPD and the SPD chart for example) other things need too many consequential changes to be easily dropped (basing combat soley on DEX). I think when I am finished I might have a better perception of what is actually core Hero System and what are flavour bits that provide the gameplay the designers want to promote. Doc

Re: Bye all It's a good job U wrote that rather than I...

Re: Help converting a couple of GURPS abilities to Hero My thoughts exactly. I was thinking of a limited invisibility. Obviously the sanitised metabolism will ensure that the character is effectively invisible to certain senses (bloodhounds will be baffled) and forensic techniques. Possibly worth 10 points or so but I haven't properly costed it out... Doc

Re: One Wizard tower is another's shop Ah, the first defence is misdirection. My home would exist simultaneously with a false home. I would have a home in a city - why should I have to forego the benefits of living in a civilised area with all the facilities I need close to hand. However, when I walk into my tower I translate to a different dimension that is in the exact same place as my apparent home. My place is taken by a homonculus that potters about doing day to day things so that any spies would 'see' me living in the false home. Obviously all of the tomes and items in the false home would be trapped, cursed and a focus for my own scrying abilities (I _will_ find you and kill you!) That would be my first line of defence... Doc

Re: Black box recorder Hmm. I would be in favour of independent because the power should be available possibly after the character is dead - something that would require the particular effects that independent provides. The power I was thinking of however was not eiditic memory which seems a bit too personal to the character possessing it but instead retrocognition, only through the senses of wearer of the armour (-1), only retrocognition (-1), only back to last time box was reset (-3/4) IIF (-1/4), independent (-2). That seems more fitting in powers to me, even if it does cost 7 points for a base PER roll. Doc

Re: Avlse But surely that's why my standard defence package now contains a 10 point variable sfx force field.... You might want to change the costs of that in a campaign where people have AVLSE Doc

Re: Avlse Another good topic Sean - I've stopped repping you - I don't get around to repping enough other people to keep up with the number of times I want to rep you... Anyway, I enjoyed reading the thread but I have one question that may reduce the utility of the advantage or may not. If you have a EB AVLSE (Heat) and your target has a Flame Force Field and Lavaskin Armour would the defences add for the purposes of defence against the EB? Doc

Re: Bye all

Re: Pulp Hero, after looking it over I guess that means those of us that want a hardcover - if we don't get one of the 12 coming to the online store - will have to make our desires loud and clear too.

Re: Pulp Hero, after looking it over So Steve, What's gthe score with hardcover Pulp Hero then? I wouldn't want to delay buying a softcover just because I was waiting for something that wouldn't happen. I can afford to wait as I will not be playing any pulp games any time soon - but I do want to have the book on my shelves (or in boxes waiting to move house). Will you be doing a hardcover run? Would you take pre-orders to determine whether there was a market (and accept a softcover with miscellaneous stuff to make up any price differential). Doc

Re: OCV Penalty on Powers When I've done this in the past I have used negative skill levels - which avoids doing strange things to the powers points. What I've had to be careful with is that not too many powers are getting negative levels! It is too easy to make a few points by 'buying' -2 levels with three or more powers rather than purchasing a 5 or 8 point power to cover all those necessary.

Re: Curious of Other Opins What is the rationale behind the power? Doc

Re: A new look at shields What I am going to suggest decreases the utility of shields compared to nromal play but provides some of the 'gets in the way' feel without another roll. You could simply attest that the DCV provided was an indicator that the weapon hit the shield rather than simply missing - thus you get three combat results: hit, miss and shield hit. A shield hit would be like a normal hit except that the shield DEF removes dice from the attack (like a force wall). When more BODY is done than the shield can withstand it becomes 1 DEF less effective against future attacks. A bit more working but no more rolling and some additional flavour for those one-on-one duels.... Doc

Re: Mass Area Effect Hmm. The big problem that hit me looking at the effect was that it needed some variable cost depending on the spells known by the wearer. What about it simply being a transform attack that changed every spell known by the caster into one with variable advantage (though it would be a limited advantage in that he could vary between area effect and reduced/increased END). You could even mitigate added END costs by having the amulet come with an END Reserve that could cover the first few uses of the area effect at added END cost. Doc

Re: Troop morale Looking at the system as written you have a lot of events that require tracking and noting (it could get ugly if there are more than one or two opponents on each side). I would have more definitive events that happen less often or only have a check for every phase the henchmen operate (only one check per phase is easier operationally). Doc

Re: Duplicating alot The last duplication character that I had used the infinite duplicates as SFX for other powers. What does the player want the duplicates to do? My game was rather iron age and the SFX of his force field was multiples of duplicates getting killed as more poured forward to continue whatever was going on. Clairsentience as duplicates moving elsewhere etc etc. It only takes a bit of thought to see what might be possible - build in some time delays for bringing the duplicates forth and those infinite duplicates are all just SFX... Doc

Re: How can you feed this many people? Interesting thread. Keyes Bill had said that there was magic about and there has been some attentiont paid to that but I had my head around the elfin style stuff and the thoughts that a forest was no good as a food source. Obviously a mundane forest is no good as a food source and a mundane forester would have no way to know how depleted the animals in there were. In a magical world both of those statements are no longer true. I see foresters going to trees on a rotational basis and coaxing a harvest out of them. Thus you can predict how much the trees will yield and you rotate so that you do not exhaust them. You can also draw animals to you. With magic you can ensure that you are taking surplus population and possibly those that are detrimental to the normal population in the forest. Thus the forest would be a good place to draw your sustenance from without recourse to intensive agiculture or even the possibly magical monocultures suggested. Instead you look for a magically enhanced and magically managed resource. Doc

Re: A Percentile Analysis of Relative OCV I always thought that 11 was a strange number to set the standard in HERO because of that 62.5% chance - it would be far better for it to be 10 - a straight 50-50 chance. Its always good to see it written down - makes you appreciate that the 8- is a 1 in 4 chance and the 14 or less that you get a -1/2 limitation on a power still allows it to work more than 90% of the time... Doc

Re: Walking On The Sun I think I'd like this as well. I see it as being a book that discusses the various options for those things that the core rules do not really touch on - and those issues that people use to beat on the system. I would have discussions of absolutes (including invulnerability), of possession and of SFX based adjustment powers. I guess it would be the Ultimate Heroglyphs where Steve could wander about discussing a variety of options on how to model various effects using the system. Doc

Re: Announcing — DIME HERO ADVENTURES! I liked it when Pinnacle did it for deadlands - I'll like them for Pulp Hero or any other genre. Its good business to have a product that people can buy without any reference to budgets etc.

Re: Just Plain Unnerving Just wondering whether it might be worth attacking this from the other side. What about the fact that she has an area effect PRE drain? It should be something that has a low effect and builds through constant exposure. This would simulate that people next to her are more susceptible to any PRE attack due to their discomfort - not just from her. I was going to suggest that there was also a PRE defence drain but possibly PRE defence should counteract the weirding out ability and a limitation might be that PRE defence would add to POW defence against the drain. Doc

Re: Walking On The Sun