phookz

Re: Electricity and DCs Watts = Volts x Amps You would need to know what the amperage is, without that there is no way to derive the wattage. I agree that you should look at the effect, calculate the DC based on that, and run with it. If you're dead-set on using the 40,000 volts, then you can always use the charts linked earlier for the wattage, based on the DC you set the power at, the 40 kv, and then calculate the amperage.

Re: Arabian Hero Tarek beat me to the punch, but Paizo does in fact sell a large assortment of pre-WOTC stuff - the link below is directly to the Al-Qadim stuff. At $4.00 a pop, you almost can't beat the price. I've never looked at any of the Al-Qadim stuff, so I can't speak to it's usability or ability to capture the genre. http://paizo.com/store/downloads/wizardsOfTheCoast/aDAndD2/alQadim

Re: NPC Creation Jeez, how do you *not* rep someone for a post like this (The introduction of Rorsch above)? Great mood setting piece; plenty of horror elements, and the way you build up the character description is just plain creepy; Good Job! I feel sorry for your player's sanity, and envious of them at the same time

Re: New Campaign The maps are great - is that watercolor with pen & ink? The content looks good as well, though I have only given it a cursory glance. I do really like the character sheets - well laid out.

Re: Why does the USS Iowa only have a 10 Defense? ROFLMAO!!! Or, to put it another way

Re: How do you track END? I playtested a game at DundraCon called Theatrix about 15 years ago that did this (actually it was Jelly Bellies, but the same idea) with their point system. I think it was called action points or something to that effect. Diceless system - lots of fast and furious fun - more like cooperative storytelling. Haven't actually played HERO in many years, but I usually use either a scratch pad or vis-a-vis pens on a transparency overlay. These days I would probably use dry erase if I wasn't happy with scratch paper.

Re: Anyone done a Riftwars Hero I wondered about that when I read them. They seemed to be based off of a campaign... just had that feel to it. I'm curious, where did you hear they were based on a campaign?

Re: Caleon Casting Styles Wow. This is a great example of using the HERO system to create an effect. I love what the two of you (JKeown and KS) have come up with. Well done.

Re: Sword of Omens come to (cough, cough) sorry hairball Nice. Your players are very lucky.

Re: Campaign Brainstorming: "The New Abbey" I'm wondering what effect the church has on law within the galaxy (is there more than one galaxy that is colonized?) It might be interesting to have the church have powerful influence (maybe even limited or not-so-limited control) over the judicial arm of the government. The ideas of the church controlling technologies got me thinking, what if the church owned the jump drive (or whatever suitable name you have for it)? Obviously, they would guard its secrets closely, but the truth of how it works is bound to get out. So maybe they have laws created that give the control of this drive to the church. The rationale could be that the jump drive uses technology that is 'divine' - this could be technology directly related to the Divinity Proof. Because of it's divine nature, the church has control over how that technology is used. This could of course extend to other technologies that are based on this proff. In practical terms, this is a minor issue with the common freighter captain - he simply needs the appropriate papers for his jump drive. However, larger ships (commercial transports, military vessels) might be required to have a member of the clergy onboard whenever the drive is in use - to ensure that it is used in an 'appropriate' way. This could have interesting implications for politics. Anyways, it's just a thought. I really like the ideas you've got so far, I'm anxious to see where they go.

Re: Campaign Brainstorming: "The New Abbey"

Re: Campaign Brainstorming: "The New Abbey" Very cool.

Re: Campaign Brainstorming: "The New Abbey" I really like this idea for a campaign. Here's a thought I had while thinking about this: Scientists discover that Newton's Law of Conservation of Energy is incorrect. This is part of the basis of the proof, mix in other ideas and you have something workable. At any rate, part of this proof leads to technology that allows faster than light travel. The kicker is, this is all research that is discovered after the church contracts scientists to research the nature of the proof. This puts the control of FTL technology in the hands of the church. Over the years (centuries, millenia, whatever makes the most sense) the church morphs from how we see it today. With the existence of God as a Proof (perhaps the proof is so potent some sects see the proof as god?), science can no longer be denied. The church becomes the primary source of scientific advancement. Priests fill a dual role, as both the evangelical arm, but also as scientists, furthering discovery. This change is almost accidental, but in order to understand the proof, quite a bit of scientific study is necessary. Because of this the education for priests becomes much more science oriented - the fact that the church holds the primary access to technology is a side effect. This puts the church very much so in the position it had in the middle ages. They have the knowledge, the access to god, and the access to technology. They can hold this back for two primary reasons: one, people aren't ready for all of it, two, it keeps them in power (never hurts to have the political edge). This also gives some backstory to the sect that doesn't like technology. They consider it blasphemous that God is reduced to mathematical formulae; it goes against the very nature of faith itself to have actual proof that he exists. They could also have 'issue' with the way the church uses technology as a tool for manipulating the masses (especially with concerns to how it is held and controlled). For these reasons they shun it; but you could change the levels of what they shun. Perhaps space travel is okay, but advanced quantum energy manipulation is bad (whatever-the-hell that means I was wondering: what tech levels will you have? Will there be alien races?

Re: Creation Myth Thanks again! As far as the game system goes, I agree. While I greatly prefer HERO, D&D has come a long way, and in the end they both provide the mechanics, not the story. What's difficult is that our group isn't too much into the roleplaying. That's what keeps the story out, they are more interested in the mechanics and treasure. Still fun, but not as fun as it could be.

Re: Creation Myth Thanks for the compliment! Through the course of the campaign, Tirian came to realize that Nigira was doing what she did because her soul was captured by the evil emperor (the Karatchi). After a long period of time, Tirian realized that he loved Nigira but she was tragically trapped, so he set about a plan to free her from the Kiratchi. The plan was quite involved, and a little on the strange side. Tirian contacted the temple to the local love/sex goddess and made a deal with them (I can't rembember the specifics of the deal). He had himself turned into a woman and trained in the arts of being a concubine. Then arranged to have himself sold to the Kiratchi. He was able to become one of the Kiratchi's concubines, and through the course of his investigation into how to free Nigira found that her soul was trapped within an amulet that the Kiratchi never took off. Here's the real kicker... the Kiratchi, once you got to know him, wasn't such a bad guy either. Sure, misguided and all, and still evil, but when you're having a one on one conversation with him he was an okay guy. Tirian never had to, ahem, do the dead, because the Kiratchi found it refreshing that a concubine wanted to engage in intelligent conversation with him. So, in the end, what actually happened was the Kiratchi fell in love with Tirian (in woman form). Tirian realized, in a twisted way, he too cared about the Kiratchi as a person, and was quite torn about what to do. On the one hand, he seemed like a nice guy, but on the other he was the evil emperor. In the end, the Kiratchi realized what was happening, and felt quite betrayed when the truth came out. He was so devestated he didn't even resist when Tirian killed him and took the amulet. Tirian was actually pretty broken up by it... He knew it was for the greater good, but it felt an aweful lot like murder and didn't seem that heroic. He freed Nigira and they married, but this began a slow descent into some of the darker arts for Tirian. Specifically, he became obsessed with soul energy, and began working on ways to harness it and steal just a fraction from multiple people... That was the end of the campaign, as the GM moved away, but it was probably one of the best roleplaying campaigns I've ever played in. [sigh] Unfortunately, these days I'm stuck with DND3E (I know, I know, but it's what the people I know want to play). To top it off, they aren't that big into the roleplaying aspect either, so it's mostly dungeon crawling. Don't get me wrong, I like a good dungeon crawl (now and then), but I do miss good character and story development. The kind of game that feels more like you're participating in a good novel or movie. Your creation myth, and the story about your giant player - those are the stories I'm lacking these days.

Re: Creation Myth Wow again. Great story line. I envy your players... It's been a long time since I've been able to play in a game with a good story and real character development. I once played in a campaign where there was a war against your typical evil empire. The general leading the opposing forces was a woman, and my character (a wizard elf) dropped unconcious during one of the battles and ended up stranded behind enemy lines. When he came to he was able to hastily don the uniform of one of the dead enemy soldiers he was lying near; which kept him from being taken prisoner when more enemy soldiers came to look for wounded. At any rate, Tirian (my character) was able to infiltrate the enemy camp over the next few days and actually get to know Nigira (the enemy general). During the course of the roleplaying they hit it off quite well. It was odd, you're supposed to hate the enemy, but when talking to her, she wasn't really a bad person. Anyways, long story short, they began a love affair, which was very interesting because they still met on the battlefield on opposite sides. It was a lot of fun.

Re: Creation Myth Wow! Great job. Definitely like the narrative style. I agree with mayapuppies about the ending. But overall, this is very well done. Far more in depth than the creation myth that I once created... if I ever decide to revive my world I will definitely use this as a baseline reference (not to steal/borrow, but to compare my own work against).

I've been lurking here for a while, and I haven't seen this posted yet, but this site was on slashdot earlier this month, and it's very cool as a resource for starships. http://personal.nbnet.nb.ca/merzo/ It has starships from almost anything you can think of, in scale. The images could be useful for counters if you like. Very cool for research - check the links page as well.