Doc Democracy

Re: Sharing END

Re: [Would-Be Hero-GM]Lethality Reading through all of teh replies I noticed that no-one mentioned using normal damage instead of killing damage as an option to make the system less deadly. If you make all killing attacks into normal attacks then the system immediately becomes more likely to knock you out than kill you. The 2D6+1K Battle Axe is a 7D6 normal attack - likely to do 7 BODY but your own PD defends against that - less simulationist? yes - less deadly - yes. I think the beauty of the toolbox is that you can tweak your game to make it what you want it to be. You could say that half, or a third of normal PD is resistant - that would be another way to make the game less deadly - possibly better than using normal damage... Doc

Re: Sharing END

Re: Sharing END All good points. I think that the powers _do_ become more effective as they can be used more flexibly. If you increase the flexibility then the costs have to increase somewhere. You can do that by increasing the cost of the END or by increasing the cost of the power using the END. If your GM is willing you could cost it as 0 points - which is probably the next best option in my view - adds to the mystique and background of the twindom but perhaps doesn't give quite enough bang to justify the extra costs imposed by +1/4 on the powers. Or perhaps a straight 5 point Talent that allows the twins to tap into each other END. That fulfils my desire to see the increased flexibility cost somewhere on the character accounting but it doesn't increase the costs proportionately with the number of powers so 'flexified' (my word - I just invented it). Doc

Re: Sharing END This is an interesting concept. My initial sympathies are with Dust Raven. If a power can use END from multiple sources then it is better than a power that cannot - thus it should be advantaged. It is not the END that is better it is the power. Hugh had a problem in that the points spent on improving the powers could be spent upgrading the amount of END or REC available. That is true but each twin will benefit from every point of END and REC bought for each of them - END and REC, through this power become cheaper and so the powers should be more expensive to compensate. The twins spend more on their powers because they are more flexible END wise. If one of them has a suppressed REC then he still gets to use and recover END as his twin is un-suppressed. If one is subject to an END drain then he can use his twin's END without suffering from 1D6 Stun per 2 END below zero. Doc

Re: Yet Another "Name This Character" thread. Spectrolite is a blue crystalline feldspar mineral. I like Spectrolite as a name, though I think Cobalt is better.... Doc

Re: Help with a gun build please. Canon/cannon. One of those times where the mis-spelling is almost appropriate! I had a look at this early on and thought it was OK - looking again I would question the value of the extra-time. Extra-time is costed when it takes extra time to use the power but, as you point out, if the mode isn't changed then there is no limitation on the power. Not sure whether it is worth +1/2 in that event. The limitation should be on the reserve as it takes extra time to activate and deactivate the whisperlock. The advantage of non whisper mode is that the pistol can then use the rapid fire combat manouevre. What the limitation should be is another question indeed. Is it worth +1/4 on the reserve as Dust Raven says? Doc

Re: How would you define a firewall?

Re: How would you define a firewall? Trying to think of this in purely game terms. If someone is trying to access a computer system then they would use the Security Systems skill to hack in. If there was a firewall then that task would be proportionately more difficult to do. Thus the firewall makes the task more difficult - like negative levels against security systems. As you can buy +1 in security systems for 2 points, I'd make firewall a defence at 1pt per point that makes the difficulty of security systems that much more difficult. Doc

Re: How Long to Learn Hero System? I started playing this game nigh on 20 years ago (possibly more than that - I'm scared to count properly). I learned by making characters and fighting them against each other - I copied comic book characters at first and tried to recreate them in Hero and fought them. The I ran a game which was a disaster but had enough flashes of what was good about the system for me and my friends to have a Champions campaign for the next four or five years. We all honed our design skills and even now are still finding new and better ways to do things. One of the best things about the system is that there is usually more than one way to do something and the best way is the one that plays best and most effectively recreates the desired effect. Have fun learning the mysteries. Doc

Re: Ideas for a Hero Games Legendary Product I think MitchellS has something here. A legendary adventure where the PCs are taken through the major DoJ setings and characters. A taster of everything that could tempt people to buy into more of the genres but not require anything more than the main rulebook to play. I have an idea of reincarnated souls fighting the same battle through different bodies across millennia. Done properly it _would_ be legendary. It could showcase the system and make people take a look. My biggest concern would be how to retain some measure of continuity between genres and eras - if you decide to play Gurt Gormless, Barbarian in the first part of the scenario what effect does that have on the reincarnation in the time of superheroes? I'd want heavy ties on personalities but probably free reign on skills and powers apart from some kind of signature e.g. Gurt's penchant for a warhammer becoming a Hammer Corp. Battlesuit in the superheroes and a hotshot pilot flying a Hamm'r Starfighter later on. Doc

Re: Ideas for a Hero Games Legendary Product I think that the legendary product was Justice Inc. It was different, well produced and really felt right for the genre. If the system details could have been 'hidden' as an option it would have been a fantastic tie in for anyone keen to do League of ExtraOrdinary Gentlemen style games.

Re: A Tale of two disads Something that hasn't been mentioned with a VULN to affect desolid that could be used to help balance the disad is the common attack effect that circumvents desolid. I realise that in this case (the character doesn't have desolid and so no common attack form stated) this couldn't apply, but if the character takes double when his desolid doesn't work then it is a short step to giving 2xSTUN or even 1.5xSTUN when it is circumvented by the common attack effect. Doc

Re: Legendary thread Silence is just an audio invisibility. You would contest your silence power against someone else's Percieve. If the Percieve wins then they hear you otherwise they don't. If you purchase the super adder then normal Percieve has no chance of hearing you. I haven't got a contest system in front of me but presume we're using the basic Hero contest mechanic (success is a roll less than 11+OCV-DCV). I'm looking at a successful perception roll being less than 11+Percieve-Modifiers. Modifiers could be environmental such as being close to a revving engine or could be due to a power such as Silence. Silence could be bougjt on its own and I suppose that you would extend the applicability with adders to the main power. So Silence could have sub powers of invisibility and other perception beating powers. I would move away from having a recognised structure to buying the powers. you might start with Invisibility or you might start with Silence and then you would be able to broaden the powers if you can justify them within the same power construct. If you couldn't justify the effects within the same power construct then you would buy Silence seperately from Invisibility. I think that would work the same way frameworks do now.

Re: Question on character "value" (point totals) Now there's an optimist! Do you also think we'll get the Olympics? Doc

Re: Legendary thread

Re: Legendary thread

Re: Legendary thread When you make your millions you can buy into DoJ and change things!

Re: Legendary thread

Re: Question on character "value" (point totals) I guess that'll teach me for trying to be reasonable on a rules thread... IMO - If anyone tells him that there is a good way to judge balance other than experience and a good eye for constructs then they would also be doing him a disservice. BNakagawa, you also seem to want to insist on talking about immediate combat balance rather than campaign balance. As I said - I didn't disagree about immediate combat effect. tesuji, if you want to be really helpful then you'd encourage the newcomer to talk in terms of points + disads, just as you did in your last mail. A 350 point character is very different from a 200+150 character. If we got everyone to talk in those terms then things would always be clearer for everyone. So, Roch, if you're still reading - the characters are different. One is a 100 point character and the other is a 100+50 character. That way you can tell that one has 100 points of abilities with no campaign disadvantages to leaven those points whereas the other has 150 points of abilities but may be prone to certain disadvantages (50 points worth no less). Doc

Re: Question on character "value" (point totals) See. I don't think that people 'really' disagree about this. The basis of the game is that a point is a point is a point. That would mean that a 100 point character with no disads is the same as a 150 point character with 50 points of disads. Everyone that plays the game knows that certain point spends are better than others depending on the game the GM plays. In a combat heavy game then combat stats will be at a premium whereas in a skill heavy game players are more likely to invest in skill enhancers etc. I think when someone asks a generic question though you have to answer in accordance with the base design of the game. A point is a point and a disad is equivalent to a negative point. All redesigns of the game are aimed at making point spending as even as it can and that must apply just as much to disads as to powers. If I thought that the disads were not worth the points they give then I should give fewer points for those disads - that is also, or should be, a game metarule - if a limitation does not limit it is worth no points - if a disad does not disadvantage it should be worth no points. I prefer to encourage disads for character colour and the best way is to provide points for those disads that allow more power purchasing. I also want disadvantages to disadvantage and want some system where I can allocate points fairly... Doc Doc

Re: Question on character "value" (point totals) The rationale of the game system would suggest otherwise. As has been pointed out points debited from one side of the equation are credited to the other side point for point. The disadvantages provide points for the player to spend on powers in exchange for providing weaknesses that the player expects the GM (and PC opponents) to exploit. It should be expected that the game system, over the long term, would equate a 20 point disad with the 20 points it provides in powers and skills. Doc

Re: Question on character "value" (point totals) As you'll find with even the simplest question, you're likely to get two answers that contradict. As far as I'm concerned, the fundamentals of the game design is that, yes, for campaign purposes the characters are equal. One has 100 points and no campaign disads to trip him up, the other has more powers available to him but those disadvantages can be used to his detriment. Obviously in one-off conflicts the man with 150 points worth of powers should have a significant advantage unless the 100 point man can exploit a disadvantage but that's how lesser villains fight Superman for example. Doc

Re: Powers of a Roman Catholic priest?

Re: Powers of a Roman Catholic priest? I have come to this late but was surprised that there was a central omission in the powers of a Catholic priest. Most of the other powers are probably equally true of most Christian denominations. The only one that is truly Catholic has been mentioned in a negative light as confess, the power being to find out people's secrets. Personally I'd like to see a more positive power - possibly something like Absolution that would remove bad things from disads like casual killer etc. It would have a side effect of learning secrets but he would be incapable of sharing that knowledge - there would be an OAF - confessional stole. Not sure how much game effect this has but it more readily fits the umbrella of catholic rather than christian. As for the name, surely you want to use something Jesuit related - their founder St Ignatius or the nickname as God's Stormtroopers. Doc Doc