phookz

Re: Fantasy game props

These are all papercraft, so once you have the files you can make as many copies as you like for relatively cheap. Some of the photos I've seen of this are pretty amazing. Note: some of these are sci-fi, not fantasy, but I've included them for completeness.

http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php/80874-Cardstock-Papercraft-Scenery-and-Miniatures?highlight=papercraft

http://www.worldworksgames.com/store/index.php <-- Impressive stuff!

http://www.heroscapers.com/community/showthread.php?t=22469 <-- There are some links in this forum

http://www.icebergbouwplaten.nl/links5.html

http://www.microtactix.com/

Re: Space fightercraft in RPGs.

If the habitat can't dodge' date=' you can just accelerate them to near light speed from very far away. If the hab. isn't using laser-based point defense it will need to hit a .99c object with a much slower one. Not only that, but the drones are much cheaper than the habitat. Planets are of course, death traps (unless they can move).[/quote']

 

That type of acceleration is going to take a while, assuming a hard sci-fi setting. In that case it's just a matter of detecting the launch, even from very far away, and launching your point defense counter measures. I'm not saying it's impossible, I'm just saying that is where the tactics come in play. Every offense will have a suitable defense.

 

Now if we're talking Space Opera, then all bets are off and bases are as defensible as the plot needs them to be. Typically this means ignoring physics and stating that FTL ships have missiles and lasers that are decidedly slower than real-life munitions today. Fighter craft are necessary to get beyond a bases defenses, etc. I'm not saying this is a bad thing - I love the genre, but it's very different from what is likely to happen in a hard sci-fi setting.

Re: Space fightercraft in RPGs.

I agree. The real trick is getting the 3,000 super-fast homing nuclear drones within range before the base's point defense can destroy them.

Re: Is there a semi-plausible way for battlesuits/powered armor to do HVAC?

I did a little research at one time into spacesuits' date=' which turned into this post here. Part of it is a Liquid Cooling and Ventilation Garment (LCVG), necessary because (as folks have said) there's no medium to conduct heat away from the body in space. You'd think it would be cold, but assuming you had some sort of air supply to survive and adequate sustenance, you'd feel just the opposite -- your core temperature would rise until you perished from fever.

 

In the old Battletech game, which I never played, I seem to remember that the mechs had immense heat exchangers and many a battle was lost when one's mech overheated and shut down.

Heat management was an extremely interesting facet of that game. It was the primary resource management problem with the mechs.

Re: Historical Late Medieval Period RPG

Not a published setting, but good info to be found here:

• http://e23.sjgames.com/item.html?id=XRPFREE1 (free)
  
• http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/fief.htm
  
• Free Ars Magica 4th edition http://e23.sjgames.com/item.html?id=AG0204
  
• Harn has to be mentioned: http://www.columbiagames.com/cgi-bin/query/cfg/allharnitems.cfg
  

Edit: Just noticed you were looking for historical. The links above are not historical, but the second one looks very promising for source material that could easily fit into historical.

Re: Shadow World setting

Here's some links it seems it was actually called the Loremaster Series the first book was The Iron Wind. If I remember correctly it was somewhat dark and gritty without sinking to the Warhammer level.

http://www.icewebring.com/ice-products/loremaster/

http://www.icewebring.com/ICE_Products/SW/SW_5020_Iron_Wind_1.php

http://www.icewebring.com/ICE_Products/SW/SW_5020_Iron_Wind_2.php

Am I the only one who gets nostalgic over the crappy art in old fantasy rpg supplements? Not so much ShadowWorld - some of that was actually pretty good, but like the first the Iron Wind link above, and the first edition D&D stuff. Seriously, I never thought it was good art, even back in 1980, but something about it now resonates with me. I guess it's just bringing up fond memories of discovering a whole new world of "play".

I guess you can't go back, regardless of what some hobbit said.

Re: Superhero Images

I thought Crusader was gold and brown as well. But then, that was Foxbat's colors as well, so maybe it's a case of file corruption in the ol' noggin.

Re: I hope we have cooler looking cars than this in the future.

So what car is that? She really is a beauty. I agree that it would work for DC as well, but for any other genre, I rather like the whitewalls - harkens back to a different time.

Re: Re-Jiggering the Throwing Table

The 6E Basic rules lists STR 100 at 80m for a Standing throw. 5ER shows 40" for a Standing, 80" for a Running throw. Were you looking at Standing throw in 5ER?

Re: Open ended damage

I played in a home-brew system years ago that used a damage multiplier lookup for rolling damage. Weapon damage was defined as a number that was then multiplied by a value determined by rolling 3d10 and looking up on a table for the results. The higher the roll, the better the results. If you rolled 3 10's, it was instant death regardless of the weapon used. We used to describe it to newcomers to the system that it was possible to kill someone with a wooden spoon.

Rolling max on 3d10 should only happen 1 in 1000 rolls or so, but I can tell you that I personally had a character die at least TWICE due to this roll, and it sucks to be brought down by a random roll. It's very un-heroic and doesn't really model fiction well. Perhaps it is more realistic, but it sucks to be in the middle of a fight with a mook and have the mook get a lucky roll off and kill your character.

I would suggest avoiding open ended damage systems for this reason. I do agree that the "slitting the throat" case needs some way to post a threat at the heroic level, but I wouldn't implement it as part of the random roll to hit or damage. For slitting the throat and whatnot you could double (or triple, or whatever feels appropriate) the body damage and/or assume the attack does maximum damage. You want to be careful with this though, and make sure you don't create an easy way for PCs/NPCs to get around the challenges in combat. I would use it for dramatic effect but make sure the PCs know the risks.

I'd probably rule that a coup de grace attack is a full phase action, and can only be taken against an opponent that is either unconcious or otherwise incapacitated. Alternately, if you character has taken the time to get the character grapped and held, with the weapon to the ready against the throat or otherwise vulnerable area, then they could use the coup de grace in that case as well.

Coup de grace could double the normal damage of the attack, and automatically does maximum damage. It still requires an attack roll, but I'd give some big bonuses to this, especially if the defender is incapacitated. This represents that you can still make mistakes. If the defender is being held, they can still attempt to wriggle free. You could fudge the numbers around a bit to get the right mix - you should playtest whatever you come up with rigorously. Perhaps there is a bonus to hit and if you make the hit by 3 or more you automatically do maximum damage?

Assuming the attack roll hits, the damage is doubled beyond what the hit location rules state. So a knife to the neck ends up at x4 (consider the neck the same as the head) at maximum damage will do 12 BODY, more if the attacker has STR beyond the minimum to apply. That's enough to kill most normals and impair all but the toughest opponents (6E2111), and should mean death to unimportant thugs and NPCs. You could also apply bleeding rules in case someone does survive the attack.

Pretty cool stuff:

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/01/university-researchers-create-networked-flying-robots-build-complex-structures/

Autonomous helicopters building complex structures. Perhaps the precursor to our future robot overlords protectors.

Re: Is there a semi-plausible way for battlesuits/powered armor to do HVAC?

A few seconds with google and I answer my own question. Excess heat is radiated through heat exchangers. This article discusses the balance between too hot and too cold for the ISS: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2001/ast21mar_1/. Interesting to see that the insulation is basically layers of space blankets.

Re: Is there a semi-plausible way for battlesuits/powered armor to do HVAC?

I was thinking about the problem with radiating heat as well. It makes me wonder - what does the ISS do? Or satellites for that matter - what keeps their electronic components from overheating? Does anyone here know?

Re: Space fightercraft in RPGs.

In most fiction the human's don't seem to mind it as much as the AI

Re: Space fightercraft in RPGs.

Why not both? How about semi-autonomous drones that have AI and advanced flocking algorithms - they are assigned a meatbag operated fighter to act as wingmen and support. The pilot can assign targets for the drones and/or keep them as his personal wingmen. I could imagine scenarios where pilots had several drones that normally flocked on him as lead unless assigned specific tasks. I would think they would work as both offense and defense for the pilot.

I like the idea. I think in the real world that long before we're that advanced AI will be to the point that drones would out-fly any human. I'm not sure that's what I'd want in my fiction or games, however.

Re: Space fightercraft in RPGs.

ok' date=' then the tactic becomes to put enough laser reflective crap between the carrier and my ships that the remote control becomes erratic. Depending on range that can be easy or hard[/quote']

 

That's an interesting idea, a form of chaff-like countermeasure. This of course has the downside that space is big, so getting enough out there to provide an effective block is going to be difficult. But assuming that there were a way to provide some blocking, at least for a limited area, this could be used tactically.

 

One way to get around this chaff would be to have relay nodes for the laser comms. I like the idea of this - cruisers dropping relay drones who's primary purpose is to provide a relay network to get indirect LOS with fighter drones. This becomes another tactical element of a larger deployment strategy. For well entrenched areas, like occupied systems and whatnot there would already be a mesh of relay drones in place just in case. This provides an advantage to the home team.

Re: I hope we have cooler looking cars than this in the future.

That's pretty cool. Is that carbon fiber on the doors, hood and ground effects?

Re: I hope we have cooler looking cars than this in the future.

Maybe they can make a wireless, semi-autonomous cargo car that follows you. You bring it along when you need groceries and whatnot, leave it at home when you don't. That way you only use up the extra space when you need it.

The red one wasn't so bad. The blue one... I think they could make it uglier, but it would take a lot of effort.

Re: Space fightercraft in RPGs.

Nyrath gave up on these forums almost a year ago. This was his last post: http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php/77648-Solar-Systems-Like-Ours-in-the-Minority?p=1972811#post1972811.

It's a shame, he had a lot of good stuff to offer.

Re: A Culture Hero Myth

It's very cool Susano. You have lucky players.

Re: A DC Animated-style HeroMachine

Regarding Rollergirl - it's amazing how close that app is capable of matching your original vision. If there were rollerskates it would be spot on.

Re: A DC Animated-style HeroMachine

Golden Girl absorbs energy from the Sun making her super-humanly strong, and invulnerable to almost anything. However, she has a serious sense of entitlement. Naturally she's the leader of the Bad Girlz.

 

SoulForge is a spirit projector. However, she's not the nice type. In fact SoulForge has something of a cruel streak in her. Oddly enough, SoulForge and Golden Girl are best of friends.

 

Migraine is a mentalist who projects painful thoughts into others. Migraine is the least understood of the Bad Girlz, and that's the way she likes it. Almost none of the other members of the Bad Girlz knows much about her.

 

Eve is always accompanied by her two other faces. One face is Rage which projects bursts of concussive energy, while the other is Chaos which projects burst of chaotic energy. Usually the other faces are invisible, unless Eve wants them to be seen. Her faces have minds of their own and they talk to Eve all the time. Naturally Eve is a little on the insane side.

 

Risk is a metamorph able to stretch and rearrange parts of her body at will. Because of her elastic body, physical attacks have little effect on her. Risk is a thrillseeker, and by being a member of the Bad Girlz allows her to get away with stuff she'd normally wouldn't do.

 

Adrestia is a demigoddess, the child of a mortal and the Greek God Ares. As a demigoddess she's superhumanly strong, but not as strong as Golden Girl, but shares a similar invulnerablity. Adrestia is skilled in pankration and carries a shield that she uses as weapon. She has a violent temper.

You're like a machine, Arc. You just keep turning them out, and they're good. Must spread rep...

Re: Where can I find these posts?

I see four threads when searching for "Yankee Daring". Include quotes in the search to make sure the threads have both terms in order. Not sure if this has what you're looking for or not. Also try googling the same term - looks like the character was originally from City of Heroes boards - maybe what you're looking for was posted there?

Re: clarification on what is more appropriate for "spells" and "weapon" powers?

Sounds like you're on the right track. I would just do it as a bonus HKA - the aid just gets messy.

As far as requiring a weapon, it's generally accepted to do that as an OIF: Weapon of Opportunity - it's obvious and can be taken away, but you can replace it easily, so it's essentially inaccessible.

Re: Traveling in your typical modern day sewer: what rolls for illness?

I would agree that just being down there should incur no roll at all. If you get doused with it, maybe a CON at +2 to keep from getting something, but I wouldn't require a roll unless you got a lot of it on you, or you went swimming in it for a while. If you ingest some of it, or get it on an open wound, I would probably require a CON roll, but not at the severe minuses suggested earlier. I would impose the minuses based on how long it was exposed. For example, get some splashed on an open wound, that would be a CON check. If the open wound were exposed for a minute to it, CON -1, then -1 for every step down the time chart.

As the title asks' date=' what kind of rolls (and at what bonus/penalty) for illness via (bacteria, fungi, virii, pests etc) would you make the players roll for their characters while traveling in a modern day sewer?[/quote']

 

You also mentioned pests - that's a different issue. There are certainly numerous pests that could be in a sewer. Rats, raccoons, alligators, cockroaches, spiders, snakes, pretty much any creepy crawly (yeah, I know, alligators aren't usually categorized as creepy crawly) could show up. You could probably go with a Survival or KS roll to avoid the worst of the bad-nasties.