Grizzly

Re: Traveller Hero Missed the first go-round due to poor timing. Thanks for the chance at the second, much appreciated. My compliments on the conversion. I prefer Hero as my gaming system of choice, but have been playing Traveller since 1979, this sourcebook is invaluable. If we ever meet, I owe you a glass of Eiswein.

Re: Traveller Hero is ready for Download I'd like to supply some positive feedback of a very basic sort: WONDERFUL. Most impressive. My humble thanks. I'd like to put you all in for Medals of Conspicuous Gallantry... ...and some leave to go with it!

Re: There's No "REAL HORROR" in a Horror RPG setting...is there? It's rare, but doable. I've had it done to me once as a player, and done it once as a GM to a group. (And I've been gaming for a quarter-century). Both times, a lot of work went into the session by the GM, and substantial atmospheric work was done...right music, right gaming night (wind howling, winter, trees beating at the windows, etc.) Perhaps most importantly: both of them were horror adventures that were run in campaigns (one espionage, one science fiction) where this was not the "normal" genre for the campaign, so surprise on the players was a factor. The same GM that successfully pulled this on the group never achieved the same effects with CoC and other horror genres. This frustrated him greatly; he was a good GM. Our conclusion was: the players, in expecting and wanting this, destroyed their own sense of suspense. If you want thrills and chills in horror--my take is that they are very difficult to achieve on a regular basis; running them out-of-genre (even a one-shot, given a false premise of a fantasy rescue of a damsel in distress) will give you a much better chance of leaving your players twitching (and talking) for a long time to come.

Re: A more realistic feel for SH Let me say first that I have enjoyed playing and running lower-point characters, both in SH, FH and the former Danger International. My take, though, from historical trends from my groups, is that you don't need to modify the NCM by rules change. One of the common disads players took in this style of campaign was the age limitations (in both 40+ and 60+ flavors), since they weren't going to have high characteristic values anyway. Let the "player's market" determine characteristic maxima instead. (And I'm not being age-ist, here, I'm now in the 40+ group myself). But yes, pretty much had a new characteristic base of about 8 in 25+25 campaigns. Thanks for the post. Enjoyed many of the lower-point campaigns of the past. My newest campaign that I'm starting out I'd intended to start at 75+75, but the group absolutely rebelled, saying they couldn't make effective characters at that point level, and no amount of discussion could change their minds. So I'm trying to keep my players happy. Still trying to figure that one out, without much success. Maybe part of it is that the gaming group has reduced in size over the years, due to all the usual factors, and folks feel the need for more points so that the group can do absolutely everything. But there's substantial ability overlap between characters, and I remember being very happy (as a player) when my character was the only one that had a necessary skill for an adventure. As a player AND a GM, having NPCs who appeared who had a desperately-needed skill that the PCs didn't have offered a lot of roleplaying opportunities. As a GM...it was easier to stat out lower-point villains. And combat actually seemed to run faster with most of the folks being SPD 2 or 3. 4 doesn't seem to make things any more difficult, but adding SPD 5+ sure seems to comparatively slow things down. Wish you luck, and have fun!

Re: Grizzly Bear

Re: How would you "Gath" Earth? David R. Palmer. Emergence, originally published as a short story, was amazing. The novel was still good, but perhaps a little padded...it didn't have the impact the shorter form had, IMHO. But still good and apropos to the topic at hand, if you can find a copy. Threshold--was completely different. I didn't like it as much, and I suspect most people didn't either. The author subsequently disappeared off the face of the earth as far as I can tell. Wish I knew whether he ran out of stories, was disappointed, couldn't land another contract due to market conditions, or what, because Emergence was extraordinarly tasty, and I'd like to read more from the mind that came up with it.

Re: TOS Star Trek and The Warp Drive (No series source, canonical or otherwise). Appeared to me from watching "The Ultimate Computer" that the Excalibur itself was mostly intact, unfortunately the crew itself was gone. Point for debate, really, where the damage was and whatnot, but a Constitution-class starship represents a very substantial economic investment, and it'd be far more efficient to tow her to a starbase (which was pretty close, as the wargames area was sited near one) for repair and refit (and, uh, a new crew). Started out a classic Trek campaign with a revamped Excalibur and had some success with it.

Re: Trek Hero PDF available Please leave as-is. Decipher's stuff is fine, but FASA Trek should remain FASA-sourced. And I think that will be easier for you, too...gasp!