torchwolf

Re: VPPs and Variable SFX Proportionally Linked can be used instead of Unified Power to simulate* a one-way Unified Power build... but it still runs into the issue of being at the same (-1/4) Limitation value, even though Proportionally Linked is less restrictive. *simulate, rather than having the exact same game effect, since the Linked Power is not actually reduced, just the Active Points that are available for use.

Re: MYTHIC HERO Kickstarter At the last minute - finally got my economy sorted out and pledged as much as I'm able. Also trying to spread the word. *crosses paws*

Re: New players welcome Damn that Rob Rodney - initials are D.C., not D.D. Or... what did he mean exactly... D.D.? Grrrr.

Re: From 4E D&D to 6E Heroes: The Intimidation Factor There is no _official_ combat management software for the HERO System... but there IS software. Hero Designer lets you do several things that can speed up preparations immensely - it allows you to quickly design characters in 6th Edition (and 5th if you prefer), and you _can_ set up standard sets of abilities (as a character template, package deal or prefab) that you just add to a character or use as a basic character starting point - then tweak it to your heart's content. If preparation speed is a primary concern, there are a lot of prebuilt monsters and spells, as well as package deals, prefabs and characters available as HD Packs (though these are stats-only - you'll need the books/pdfs for detailed explanations). HD also lets you create combat charts for reference. To manage combat in the HERO System, there are at least two programs that I know of that can be used - both are free: Hero Combat Simulator (created by pruttm, a member of these boards) supposedly lets you run 5th Edition HERO System combat with all the bells and whistles. NOTE: Personally I've never been able to get it working on my system for some reason but I've heard good things about it. The MapTools program from RPTools is used a lot for virtual gaming, and there is a HERO System 6th Edition framework (by Nolgroth, another member of these boards) you can load into it. NOTE: I have played online using this, which really speeds things up and lets you use almost all the options in the HERO System - I've used Martial Arts Maneuvers extensively, with very cool results. This latter option might also be interesting to you if you'd like to do virtual desktop sessions with others. As for the HERO System itself, it can be as complex or simple (well, as simple as high or low d6 rolls anyway) as you like depending on the options you decide to use. It _does_ provide you with a lot of tactical options.

Re: Artifact: The Coin Of Shifting Fortunes (5th Ed) The cards are rolled into a tube. In the optional rules, you also blow in the tube.

Re: Making a Summoned Being a Follower You could always give the Summoners a Variable Power Pool, Only For Summoning, and allow them to buy a Follower through the Pool to represent a bound summoned being. That way, keeping a summoned being bound reduces the magician's ability to Summon until he releases the bound being. However, since both Summon and Follower uses Total Points of being / 5, keeping as powerful as possible a summoned being bound will make it impossible to use Summon while it is bound, and that might not be what you want. It does partly bypass the "specific being" issue though - it only becomes specific when bound as a Follower... but if you want to Summon it again, it gets at least twice as hard.

Re: The Sanity Stat Link to a previous discussion of using SAN under 6E: http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php/75387-Sanity As Lord Liaden pointed out there, 6E2 page 262 suggests a method of handling "Hero SAN" in Horror Hero (similarly to the Call of Cthulhu SAN).

Re: Where does it show the price list for Hero system equipment guide. Paint me intrigued.

Re: 6ed Transfer: Is It Just More Than An Aid Linked To Drain? This is the published 6E version of "Transfer". However, as Balabanto points out, it doesn't behave exactly like previous versions: To make 6E "Transfer" behave that way, add the "Aid Rolled Limited To Points Affected By Drain (-1/4)", so you can't Aid more than Drain, especially if Power Defense reduces the Drain affecting the target.* This is a specific case though - it only makes sense if the sfx of the compound power specifically requires it to work that way. You'll also get differing effects if the Drain targets a "defensive" Power or Characteristic and the Aid does not, or vice versa (since Adjustment effects are halved against "defensive" Powers or Characteristics). In any case, it's neither an Advantage nor a Limitation if you choose to roll die once for both, or separately. It's just quicker to roll once (and you'll avoid having to keep track of possibly different durations of the Drain and the Aid). *This has been discussed on a previous thread, and I think everyone agreed on the above Limitation and the value of it, if not the exact phrasing.

Re: Why is Speed so unpopular?

Re: campaign start off adventure

Re: Newbie to HERO needing advice about world building Hi and welcome! First question has already been answered pretty extensively. Just want to add that if you are interested in rich detail, you should take a look at Hero System Skills, available in pdf, which gives you more detail on what you can do with Skills than any other game supplement I've ever seen (and I've been into RPGs since 1979). I'll also mention that if you wonder about editions, the 6th Edition rulebooks contain conversion advice for those specific cases where things have changed or been renamed. In answer to your second question - how GURPS, Savage Worlds and the Hero System compare (WARNING: Wall of Text ahead!): Hero is a toolkit as well as a game system, which lets to pick elements and ideas from other games and game systems or your own ideas, and build them with the rules While you can do that in other systems, Hero reasons from effect, which means you can easily balance new abilities against existing ones or against each other. GURPS has a similar idea but doesn't allow you to build things from the foundation, since that system relies on pre-built ability packages; in Hero, you can build an ability package from scratch. This allows you to, for instance, adapt packages from game resources like d20 and build them in Hero. Also, it allows us here on the Hero discussion boards to come up with home-brew ideas and discuss them in relation to the rules, where in most systems you'd have to guesstimate such comparisons. That's an additional Hero System resource - you can find adaptations of most game systems used for fantasy games adapted for use with the Hero System here, on the Fantasy Hero forum (as well as tips, hints and build advice). (I'll leave it up to Susano, KillerShrike, and others, to offer links to their own gaming resources. ) In gameplay, Hero is easy. It uses only d6, low roll for success, high roll for effect. 3d6 Rolls against your Skill plays out similarly to GURPS, though Hero gives you many more possible tactical options in combat, and the SPD characteristic lets you handle fast-reacting vs slow-reacting opponents against each other. You can also build totally new maneuvers using the rules, build ordinary or magical weapons, use Hit Location rules and Impairing/Disabling Wound rules, Encumbrance, or in general use the parts of the rules you want in a modular fashion. Complex or simple - depends on how many optional rules you want to use to reflect the style you want. My personal opinion of GURPS vs Savage Worlds vs Hero System: I've read the GURPS rules and played it, and while I've heard comments that it's more realistic than Hero, I disagree. GURPS just states absolutes, and you can do that in Hero as well, but you retain the options to do things differently than the authors reasoned things should work. Using Hero with the more lethal and/or realistic options lets you play in a swashbuckling fantasy saga, low-fantasy gritty realistic style, or fantastic high fantasy epic, as you prefer, much more easily than you can alter the GURPS rules to fit your personal GMing preferences. Savage Worlds, I have not played, but I've read through the rules and compared it to Hero and other systems. It is definitely more rules-light than Hero, which will also allow you to play to your personal preferences as GM, but it will also require you to painstakingly do your own analysis of how game elements compare to each other, for which the rules will not offer you help. Also, the different dice used also mean the game system produces fairly random and probably inconsistent results. So in conclusion, it depends on your GMing style: Hero may require more preparatory work (for which the resource books mentioned are immensely useful), but it gives you the most freedom to design the way you want your world to work. I suspect this is what you want to do, since you're leaning towards those systems rather than d20 (where you can surely add elements, but there is no given internal logic except by personally comparing a lot of possible effects of everything you add to the rules).

Re: Hardened and Resistant - Why so strange? I've interpreted that to mean the following: You cannot buy 20 PD (unhardened), and apply Hardened for just 12 of that 20 PD. You can buy 8 PD (unhardened), and +12 PD, Hardened. Since they are purchased separately they are in fact two defense powers (though not two defense Powers). I assumed this was done to avoid confusion when a partially advantaged defense gets hit by certain Advantaged attacks and/or Adjustment attacks. I may be wrong on this though.

Re: Needing a Name for a Density Increase Super Heroine and

Re: Needing a Name for a Density Increase Super Heroine Only to find?

Re: Slayer I agree, using axes instead of scalpels is a dead giveaway they flunked that class in med school.

Re: Aiding Hero: FH adventure book freebie This all sound like a well thought out idea, especially about using the Basic Rulebook, and what to include vs what will need official approval if it's to be used. I'm certainly willing to work up some stuff - NPC ideas, character writeups, little thingies, mini-plot hooks and options for locations or NPCs, hints & tips, etc.

Re: Grimm / Shadowrun / Urban Arcana Worlds - Hero Supplements or How To Urban Fantasy Hero also has four sample magic systems, one each for the three mini-settings and the adventure. If you're thinking about using DC in conjunction with this, you might be interested to know that UFH brings this up; one of the minisettings and the adventure makes use of Hudson City. From what it sounds like, UFH might be exactly what you're looking for.

Re: Vanished Villains

Re: Possible HERO System Supplement Kickstarters From Steve -- What Interests You? After seeing how Kickstarter seems to work, and thinking a bit more about what I do know of these projects, I've reconsidered a bit: Mythic Hero: I'd pledge $200 or more to make MH happen - and would love to see Mythic Hero as a full-color hardback. I'm also hoping if that goes well, Legendary Hero might become feasible. STORMlords: $100-200, possibly more with more information. It does sound like a full color book but at this point I'm not certain it could work as a hardcover book. Dark Champions 6E: After thinking about what could be done with this, looking more closely at the 6E vs 5E versions of equipment, and getting ideas for possible cool new solutions 6E and APG1+2 might offer, I'm upping this to $100+ without even seeing the DC6 trailer - more, if the result is a thicker book than the 5E version. I think this would work best as a softcover book; artwork may not be so critical for this kind of book. Apart from my own reasons, I think it's sad that it's not easy to find DC 5E in print, which is another strong reason I want to back it. Cyber Hero: I will initially say I'd invest $50-100 and maybe more given more information. This will hold true unless a multitude of Kickstarter projects occur simultaneously. (somewhat related: I'd like to see Hero System Skills [6E] in print at some time, but I'm not sure whether that's a Steve Long or a Hero Games project?) It seems that projects made possible through Kickstarter _will_ be slightly more expensive than we're used to (and I'm saying this as an international customer as well) but I think it's perfectly reasonable to pay more for better products, and the Hero System books have a very high standard and value. So my personal conclusion is this: I'll currently be prioritizing spending less on other RPG materials, and more on Hero projects and books (where I include Steve Long, Darren Watts, Mike Surbrook and others), to ensure high quality of my RPG material consumption in the future, and I hope others will too.

Re: What Can We Do To Serve HERO? For purposes of reference when posting things intended specifically for BR or 6E1+6E2, these are the differences I could find:

Re: Bronze Age Champions Mortality and vulnerability in general were issues in the Bronze Age, on several levels - physical, psychological, social, sometimes even spiritual*. Heroes also got wounded** and/or suffered long-term effects more often than during any other age. There were attempts at consistency guidelines from an editorial*** level, for better or for worse. In several ways, these were excellent premises for an RPG reflecting the genre as represented at the time. *religious-minded heroes suffering crisis of faith and redemption **as opposed to killing - the Iron Age brought lots of blood, but mostly for graphic effect - people were either dead or not dead, but rarely affected by wounds ***also resulting in the original Official Handbooks of the Marvel Universe and the later Who's Who in the DC Universe

Re: Hero System Sixth Edition Concise The following is just an idea based on recurring requests for a condensed "intermediate" rules version. I think there may be a way to produce a condensed rules set containing all the rules and some options for using it with specific genres while avoiding the problems with issuing yet another rules set version. Hero System Basic Rulebook Companion (BRC). This would contain condensed descriptions of what's in 6E1 and 6E2 but didn't fit into BR (such as some Power Modifiers, full rules for Frameworks, and Equipment rules), plus possibly snippets (most likely "how-to-build" sections or templates) from the rest of the Core library (Bestiary, Equipment Guide, Grimoire, Martial Arts). That would give buyers of BR access to all options of the Core Rules and provide a full condensed version of the rules but still not be extensive enough to replace the "full toolkit" that 6E1+6E2 and the rest of the Core library is. I imagine this could be squeezed into 64 or possibly 128 pages (or 136 as the BR). Perhaps most importantly, BRC would not replace any book already in print, but would only give BR+BRC buyers access to all aspects of the Genre Books and the APGs. Possible negative impact: this book could potentially damage sales of 6E1 and 6E2. (originally posted this in the fairly inappropriate "Changes At Hero" thread in an exceptional case of bad timing in the wrong forum)

Re: Hero In Two Pages - Complete itsy bitsy bump

Re: Bronze Age Champions The World's Finest game is amazing, hope it will continue for a long long time. Well, actually... http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix2/gilgamesh.htm