Doc Democracy

I have always wanted the plot (and complications) to be something players brought into the game. I propose having a dice pool in the middle of the table made up of black and white dice. I will add one white die to the pool for every complication I have included in the session, and will add another each time a player chooses to introduce their complication. I will also allow such things to remove black dice from the pool. I will add a black dice each time a player asks for some narrative boon. Want to just find the clue, know of a useful person? Sure! Add one (or more) dice to the black pool. The mechanics? Well, players can use the white dice. They add the dice to an attack (or damage) roll by either the hero or the GM and it can replace a dice to change either the to hit or damage roll to the benefit of the player. Black dice work in favour of the GM. In general, only one die (either white or black ) can be used in a single roll. To add a second die, you need to add a die of the alternate colour to the pool. To add a third die you need to add two additional dice of the alternate colour to the pool. So for a player to add two dice to a hit roll, trying to guarantee a good result, they will need to add three black dice to the central pool. I think there needs to be a limit though. I am inclined to say the dice pool cannot exceed the number of players time three. So when it is maxed with black dice the players cannot access it until those dice are used by the GM. I think this might encourage a bit of narrative meta-play with the players incentivised to bring in their complications and seek to highlight the complexities of their characters (and reward players that do). Thoughts? Doc

For people looking for a useful way to present the data, this graph of UK deaths shows the impact of coronavirus quite clearly.

If they want access to all their STR before they grab the person (who knows how much they weigh), they pay the full END.

I have no idea if this is RAW (because I am lazily not opening the books almost 8 feet away from my desk) but I would expect the player to tell me how much STR they are using in the grab before they see whether or not they are successful. If the grab is successful, they can exert that much STR. It would be like the player telling me they are going to punch someone and then waiting to see if they are successful before telling me how much STR (and so how much damage) they intend to apply. 🙂 Doc

This is my favourite solution to death and sticks to comic book tradition. It may even require a "radiation accident" with a significant shift in the characters powers.

Yeah but ScottishFox was using STUN multiples there... 😄

I have decided that Massey's schema is the one that suits the game I am building. I will exclude both killing attacks and resistant defence from the game. Done.

I got my hardcopy yesterday too (in London no less). I have not actually looked at the PDF at all. Too busy with other things. The paper copy demands attention in a very different manner. Doc

Magnify my embarrassment why dont you... 🤕

I think the danger is that the numbers have not dropped to close to zero. You see how quickly it went from one death to LOTS. if the virus is still in circulation then the infection rate could spike VERY quickly once distancing measures have gone into abeyance. We really do need some kind of prophylactic measures and treatments before we can go back to normal... Doc

Ha! You are right. I know my numbers, it is embarrassing to get that wrong...

1D6 BODY * 1D3 = 5.25 STUN on average.

I think you can get a free OneDrive account? Teams would also allow notes, pictures etc to be shared and organised via Teams. Would definitely not be a terrible solution.

where does the 2.7 deaths per 100, 000 come from? That is probably 100 times lower than the low end mainstream estimate. I do not think that it will be 1% mortality, I think it may be substantively less. However, people are calculating in a number of different ways. Go look for David Speigelhaulter talking the statistics. He is very understandable. What is true is that in America on 6 May 2019 - 2500 people died of COVID-19. That, since the first death, an average of 912 people have died EVERY day. The September 11 attacks killed 3000 people on US soil which triggered the biggest change of western society in my lifetime - the security lockdown, the checks at airports etc the infringement of freedoms, data and movement were immense and we went to war several times over it. The US is seeing a casualty rate equivalent to the September 11 attacks every day right now. And you think that having an impact on food availability is too much to consider? Doc

One of the big issues with virtual tabletops is that folk get carried away with what is possible and the bells and whistles without considering whether that enhances the gameplay. If you are/were a group that heavily invested in maps and models then you have a reason to consider investing that time in the electronic versions. If you were more narrative and sketched maps etc out on dry-clean boards or on scrap paper then you can do a bit better than that on the free to use Roll20 with very little prep time. What is important in cooperative story-telling is being able to communicate and to add in that game element you need to have a decent way to share your dice rolls etc. You could achieve this in Roll20 without access to the paid storage, the icons etc and the fancy integrated character sheets. I was an early adopter of Roll20 and have become increasingly dissatisfied with the way (not the fact) that they monetise the platform. It remains however a decent platform to access voice, video and a shared gaming environment. Doc

Yup - there is an incentive to use a deadly weapon. I want it to be dangerous and so the math, for that purpose, does work. My only issue is the similar (and in places) better STUN damage. A 15 point PRE attack is not massive but will come into play enough to be interesting but not sure it is worth the STUN damage being better. Back to the drawing board. 😞

I am beyond wiggy. I am putting a wrapper round the mechanics and leaving the players a limited amount of choice to facilitate them getting from picking up the book to playing the game. Everything will be properly costed but as far as the players will be concerned it will all be black box stuff. Now this is a departure from rules as written but I think it will make for a lower barrier to playing the game. If people liked the game they would eb able to homebrew it by buying the main ruleset and going to town... As such, your suggestions are too detailed for the game (they offer too much detailed choice)... 🙂

An intersting alternative but I have not yet decided if I am using armour piercing - but if I do it might indeed be the option to think about.

So wrapped up in figuring numbers that I have obviously missed stuff off here. It is truly four colour. Any weapon with real weapon limitation will do half damage after defences. The heroes are going to be running at 10D6 attacks and 21 defences on average. Resistant defences will be 5 on average and few characters will have more than 10. It is Golden Age, with all that entails. Doc

We have had MANY discussions on these forums about killing damage and normal damage and what is right or wrong. I am currently engaged in writing a game based on HERO as a lockdown project. I have had to face the issue of normal versus killing damage. Now, 15 points of normal damage, averages 10.5 STUN and 3 BODY. 15 points of killing damage averages 3.5 BODY and just under 5 STUN. So we accept that the 15 points in killing damage is worth an extra 0.5 BODY and gets less STUN but acts against a more limited type of defence. I am inclined to simply allow players to declare their attack as normal or killing. Killing attacks work against resistant defences but STUN damage after defences is halved. I am inclined to treat all STUN inflicted as a free PRE attack. I intend for the game to be more four colour and for killing attacks to be rare and notable. My intention is to eliminate a different way of generating damage and replace it with a different way of applying that damage. See any problems?? Doc

Pretty stark reading about racial differences in survival here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-52574931

To me it is the ultimate expression of "we" are only "we" when it doesn't cost me anything. It plays to an isolationist trend in citizens of the USA, self-sufficiency etc. This episode is the opposite of a natural disaster like wildfire or a hurricane. In a natural disaster, the community at large rallies round and supports the tiny community in need. In this there is a need for every tiny community to rally round and support the community at large. The problem is that they do NOT know where the virus is or where it is moving. It would be impossible to have a balkanised country where the rules are different every time you cross a county or state line. It would quickly collapse to a lowest common denominator, the worst possible outcome in facing a pandemic. I would bet these scarce population counties are net beneficiaries of the state tax programme, such places usually cost more in infrastructure than they contribute in taxes. I have no sympathy. Doc

I think you have to think of the downside just as much as the utility. If you detach your hand, you lose the use of that hand, even if it does add utility. How would you implement the limitation? A custom limitation "physically impedes the user"?? How much would it be worth for losing a hand? An eye?? A leg?? If there is no limitation then we assume the character is able to function normally despite having sent half his limbs off on reconnaissance?? 🙂 Doc

*Speechless*

My biggest problem is that the US has had very little socialism in relation to this crisis. I am sure the curfew and suspended privileges would be less intrusive if they came with job security and universal basic income. As far as food limits go, I think that was more of an example of untrammeled capitalism, folk buying what they wanted rather than needed. The only place place socialism has raised its head in the US has been for those poor suffering corporations and billionaire class. 😞 Doc