phookz

Re: Herbalism Illustrated Guide to Herbs for RPGS - 5th Edition: http://www.republicofnewhome.org/lair/games/herb5/herb5illo.html Medicinal Herbs Guide (looks like real world): http://www.herbsguide.net/

Re: REH Out of Copyright and Online Cool! Rep'ed.

Re: Building a smoke blade The problem with using Darkness is that without Combat Sense, or some other sense, the character simply won't be able to see through it either. Darkness doesn't provide modifiers to PER or CVs - it simply blocks the sense it is applied to. That's why I recommended the Change Environment approach. Based on the description you provided, I think the modifiers to PER and OCV (maybe DCV too) is appropriate. Flash would be simpler, but since it is instant it really isn't designed for what you're trying to accomplish. Having said that, you're certainly free to do it however you like - that is the beauty of the HERO system. I recommended the CE because I think it models the effect that I think you're trying to get to. You can certainly adjust the modifiers to it as appropriate. I would be careful about an Uncontrolled Darkness that the character can see through - this could quickly become a balance issue, and while it might be appropriate for Supers or high powered High Fantasy, it may be a balance issue for the typical HERO game. If you do go with that option, you might want to consider using charges or something else to limit how often it can be used.

Re: Building a smoke blade I wouldn't do a Flash, because the flash will only affect the people in the radius that were there when the Flash went off (instant power). It sounds like a change environment to me. I don't have my book in front of me, but I believe the effects of CE will hang around for a short time anyway, if not you can buy it Uncontrolled with wind, rain and time getting rid of it. This one is built with -2 to PER and OCV - season to taste: 12 Smoke Blade: Change Environment 1" radius, -2 to Normal Sight PER Rolls, -2 OCV, Multiple Combat Effects, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2) (33 Active Points); OAF (-1), No Range (-1/2), Gestures (Sword Flourish; -1/4)

Re: Converting Players to HERO I had never really considered this, but now that you bring it up, I completely agree. The barrier to entry is pretty high - somebody who has never played HERO is definitely facing an uphill battle when compared to other game systems. It would be great to have a couple of tutorials for building characters. Complete start to finish examples, from concept to character sheets, that shows how it all works. The other stuff working against HERO is the flexibility of it. Because it is so flexible, it makes it that much more difficult to do this type of tutorial. Sure, you could run through the creation of a warrior or mage in Fantasy Hero, but Fantasy Hero itself is such a broad genre that what you come up with may not be apropos. Perhaps a tutorial in each of the setting books would be better. Of course, I'm not a publisher, so I can easily offer up suggestions of a few extra pages because specific page counts are not something that I have to worry about. Until Spence's post, I had not heard of the Character Creation Handbook.

Re: HERO System GOOGLE Co-op Hrm, I have to spread rep as well... Here are some links from my bookmarks that I didn't find when searching: Fitz's Hero System Stuff: http://www.jsr.com/~fitz/roleplay/herosystem.html Markdoc's Fantasy Hero Character Generator: http://www.geocities.com/markdoc.geo/Gaming_stuff/lifepath/character_generator1.htm Fantasy Hero Treasure Trove (I think this is mostly for pre 5E, but still some useful stuff): http://hiddenway.tripod.com/hero/

Re: A few questions

Re: Random Character Creation

Re: Random Character Creation Nice! Repped

Re: Random Character Creation I've thought about doing that - even started once or twice, but the sheer volume of data entry brought out my lazy side...

Re: Random Character Creation I always liked Central Casting - cool stuf. I noticed Random Two's background says "She has a natural ability to make others trust her blindly", but I don't see this reflected in the Characteristics or Powers. Would you do this as extra PRE, or some low grade Mind Control?

Re: Challenge Lists Loss of innocence Sacrifice Salt Water Loyalty Stone Edited to say "Oops, I hope I'm not too late!"

Re: Changing Magic

Re: This is why I play Fantasy Hero I second that. What a great story cleverly told with humor and simplistic, but fitting, art - and Miko is one heck of a character.

Re: Valdorian Age world map (dear Mr Curtis...) I recently (this week) picked up TA, and the maps are fantastic. Mr. Curtis makes some of the best looking maps I have ever seen. I downloaded the 1600x1200 map of Ambrethel and printed it out - looks great. I would love to be able to print out the other maps in the book, but they are not available. What's the possibility of this being done? I would pay money for a PDF download that included all of the maps, especially if it were possible to get a higher resolution version of the Ambrethel map if that's possible.

Re: wheel of time That's sad. I checked out his blog, and it looks like he's gotten some good test results recently, but I don't know the particulars of his illness, nor do I know if the prognosis is any better. I'm not a fan of his writing - I read the first book, but just couldn't continue after that. He has some great ideas, but something in his writing style just rubbed me the wrong way. It also reminded me of the Belgariad in many ways, which has a lot of similarities to other books/movies as well (orphan farm boy does good etc. etc.) I should put it on the list to go back and try, but the list keeps getting longer...

Re: Divide by Three I thought I'd chime in with my 2 cents. I don't like /3 either. It's very arbitrary, and completely unfair to apply it to one SFX. What if a character wanted to build a ninja like character, with lots of ninja powers - should we divide their costs by 3 as well? Why do magic using characters get a break? How about building a barbarian character with a rage ability that aids STR, CON, STUN and END - shouldn't they get the same price break? Let's throw in some other abilities under their barbarian training and get them at /3 while we're at it. It should be fair - the only difference is the SFX, right? This has been said by others, probably more eloquently, but the point is where does it stop? The /3 mechanic is an arbitrary cost reduction for one class of character (class being characters that use the magic SFX, not class like those other games). Someone else (OldMan I think) has already pointed this out and feels that the costs of powers in general are not appropriate for FH. I'm not sure I agree with that assessment, but that seems to be what the /3 mechanic is trying to address.

Re: Taxonomy and modular design I agree... you're fanatical Seriously though, this is an interesting concept. It does sound like you're asking for a lot of up-front work though. And heaven forbid you make changes to some of the upper layers after you've started using them - updating spells, characters, and critters based on them could be a daunting task.

Re: Threefold Vengance Wow. Before the description this thread was just a cryptic writeup of a power that had no context. But the description - very cool. Is this original? What a great curse.

Re: You practice what-o-mancy? Mancymancy - magic based on... um... divination?

Re: Imperium Romanum - A fantasy campaign

Re: The price of power... Another option would be an END reserve with limitations on the REC that require a sacrifice. The sacrifice could be implemented as a Drain. I would look at some way to have the reserve lose END over time even if it is not used - not sure how you do it, there might even be something in place for this, but I don't have my books in front of me. With this mechanic perhaps it is possible to drain BOD from someone without killing them. This allows for the chilling prospect of people being kept alive and used as batteries. For more powerful spells, I would require a full sacrifice where the sacrificial person must die, not just lose some BOD.

Re: Imperium Romanum - A fantasy campaign I haven't gamed in over a year. I haven't played HERO in over a decade. I still come to these boards - mostly I lurk and read. What keeps me coming back is stuff like this. One thing I've noticed about the HERO boards is the high level of creative effort and collective good-will about creating new content - game worlds, ideas, mechanics, characters. It's inspiring. It's what keeps me coming back, even though I don't have an opportunity to play. I've been to other message boards - there's good info on the WOTC boards. That is, there is good info if you're looking for the best way to min-max your D&D character. That's not to say that there isn't some well written, well thought out concepts and guidelines for creating your own characters, but the majority of the content is for min-maxing. That's something I don't see here. What is it about HERO that makes it different? There's clearly something different about the community here - this is a community of folks genuinely interested in creating good stories through gaming. I rarely, if ever, see posts here about creating the 'best build' for a character. I think it has something to do with the HERO system itself, but I'm not sure. Certainly it is true that if you wanted to min-max HERO is the system to do it with. But this is a known, published factor. It's why the GM is encouraged and expected to be involved in character creation - to ensure the character is in line with the campaign. Is this why there is little or no min-maxing going on here? I'm rambling, I know, but I just had to say it. This thread is great, and it's not alone - there are lots of great threads here. I am very interested to see where OddHat's campaign idea goes. Very well thought out and intriguing - I can't wait to read more.

Re: Imperium Romanum - A fantasy campaign Repp'ed. I love this. Very intrigued to see where this goes.

Re: Soulwind Channels Very cool. I'd rep you, but since I lurk here much more than I post, I need to spread rep around first. Great post - very creative.