torchwolf

Re: VPPs and Variable SFX

The only way to do this would be to allow a finer grain of limitations (-1/8). I think Christopher's on the right track. The way I look at Unified is to ask if a character's power set could be affected as a whole by a 'drain-mimic' character like DC's Parasite or Marvel's Rogue. Using Unfified not only saves the original character points but makes creating an effective drain-mimic on near PC points.

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

Lux (Roxanne D.D. Murdoch) - Cosmic Brawler

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)

How do you roll them?

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.

What I have been doing my Valdorian Age campaign is collecting lists of items from various sources and then putting them into a spreadsheet. Within the spreadsheet there is the base cost and then formulas for low, slightly above average and expensive for each item. The Expensive includes a random factor to make it more interesting. As there are no magic items for sale that eliminates that problem. I have included such things as rent and services as well.

 

If there is an interest in the spreadsheet I can post it here.

Paint me intrigued.

Re: 6ed Transfer: Is It Just More Than An Aid Linked To Drain?

"STUN Transfer":

 

Drain STUN w/ Unified Power (-¼).

 

[plus]

 

Aid STUN w/ Trigger (+1)... Linked (-½), Unified Power (-¼), Aid Self Only (-1).

This is the published 6E version of "Transfer".

However, as Balabanto points out, it doesn't behave exactly like previous versions:

I can drain ZERO from my opponent and still gain the benefits of the Aid

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?

Well, no, obviously small children have an INT higher than 5.

 

My slightly fuzzy point is that the characters we play in games will tend toward the exceptional, and I would rather have space above the 'normal mark' than below it. STR 5 means that a character can lift 110 lbs. That is quite a lot, depending on how you lift it. A character with an INT of 5 spots things 50% of the time. That is really quite a lot. A 1d6 bullet can kill a person with Body 5 even if they are not shot in the head!

 

Forget what we have always thought to be true and look at what the numbers actually mean.

 

STR matters in 2 or 3 point jumps. Every point of DEX, PRE and EGO and CON count in some way and INT only matters in 5 point increments. Skills are a bit blocky too, with current normals having a 62.5% success rate for most skills they possess. Which is pretty worryingly impressive.

"Average: [...] The normal people characters interact with during the game tend to have Characteristics of about 5-8; heroes start with 10s because they're exceptional persons' date=' destined for greatness."[/quote']

The chart on page 48 gives "Average" Primary Characteristics of 6-10; CVs (all) 2-3; SPD 1-2; PD/ED 3-4; REC 2-4; END 11-20; BODY 6-10; STUN 12-20; Running 7-12; Leaping 3-4; Swimming 3-4 (it says 30m in my book but I kind of suspect a typo).

 

The "Average" category (and to a lesser extent the Skilled and Competent categories) of these benchmarks is fairly broad. I think this is the greatest source of Characteristics inflation and non-granularity in at least Heroic genre games - most players will want their character to end up at least one or two categories above "average" in several (or most) respects.

So, to increase granularity without having numbers shooting through the roof, I agree with Sean* - redefining "Average" is the way to go. A Skill Roll of 10-** seem perfectly reasonable for an average person.

For my own purposes, I added more categories and put my "Average" as being at the lower half of the official "Average" (Char 5-6), and the upper half as "Above Average" (Char 7-8), with some other Characteristics (mainly the combat-related) in even higher Categories.

I'd say most average healthy children would have Characteristics of 3-4, not 3-5 as the Comparison Table claims. It may seem nitpicky but I want Characteristics of 8 to be "healthy, strong, able" individuals rather than having those value at 10 or higher.

 

*assuming of course that I understood Sean correctly

**Skills and Skill Rolls - oh boy, that would fill a thread in itself

Re: campaign start off adventure

Avengers Coast to Coast for the old Marvel Super Heroes (FASERIP version). It assumes the characters are going to be part of a new Avengers franchise (West Coast Avengers' date=' Great Lakes Avengers, etc). You could easily file the serial numbers off and make it your own established, deep-pockets super group looking for a new branch office.[/quote']

 

The above works well, you don't really need to convert much (unless you use Marvel characters) and if you replace the behind-the-scenes villain with Interface you have an almost seamless lead-in to the adventures in Champions Battlegrounds (half price in the Hero Online Store).

For short adventure hooks and a plot generator, take a look at Villainy Amok (also half price in the Hero Online Store).

Re: Newbie to HERO needing advice about world building

So here are two simple questions! What books do I need to build a High Fantasy world with HERO? And how do these three systems compare? I've played some GURPs, a little Savage World, but I know nothing about HERO. Every review I've read about HERO has been favorable, and it seems very flexible so I can get the world exactly as I wish it. But still, my knowledge is very limited. So advice and tips are most appreciated!

 

Thanks everyone!

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'm more worried about why you still have to buy a whole defence hardened and are not allowed to have just a bit of it hardened: makes no sense now that it does not affect penetrating attacks.

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

When?

 

Lucius Alexander

 

Sweet dreams are made of palindromedaries

and

Some of them want to abuse me.

Re: Needing a Name for a Density Increase Super Heroine

Seemed like the real thing?

Only to find?

Re: Slayer

 

Four headed, surely? And no, they do not look like they know forensic medicine.

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.

d) Equipment list: what's available for sale in which shops. (Yes' date=' I am planning on having magic potions for sale, and the weaponsmith might be able to create fine weapons.)[/quote']

This is one thing I think should be optional - all GMs or campaigns might not want magical items for sale so there should be ways to adjust things for lack of magical items and special upgrades.

Then again too many options might be cumbersome, so YMMV.

 

Of course, if other people care to help, life will be much easier (hey, and I get some prep assistance for my campaign), and I haven't worked a collaborative gaming project for several years. Characters, adventure site ideas, write-ups, advice for noobs...

 

What about it folks? Does it sound like the kind of thing you'd be up for assisting with?

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

Dragonfly became a rite-of-passage in my group. Whenever he appeared the agreement was for everyone else to hold back or engage other opponents and have "the new guy" (newest character and/or player) target him. If you one-punched him' date=' you were One Of The Team.[/quote']

This particular niche, for some reason, became occupied by Mentalax in my old Champions campaign.

 

In my world Panda and Raccoon became eco-terrorist for a while' date=' but now are engaging in lower profile crime to finance some covert cloning labs. They have been known to break into zoos or labs where a rare species is located, take a swab or leaf cutting, and leave. PC's in my campaign largely ignored them.[/quote']

I went a bit weird with Racoon: gave him the additional name Rocky, and had him go on adventures in space with a skunk. This of course made Mandy Panda jealous.

 

Enemies III also had Dark Angel' date=' Red Rapier, Stronghammer The Dwarf and The Amazing Darkon--to name a few more "one-hit wonders."[/quote']

I've always thought the Amazing Darkon has a vague resemblance to this guy.

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:

Some subtle differences arising from the simplified versions of some rules have caused some discussion here recently.

 

As I have both the full set, the APG and the BR, I can see it can cause some misunderstandings between GMs with the full 6E rules and players with the BR, I thought it might be useful to post these differences.

As this is just a list, and no additional info on the rules, I hope posting this will just make it easier for GMs and players, and not doing anything contrary to the interests of Hero Games or DOJ.

 

 

For starters, BR lists only Standard Heroic and Standard Superheroic Guidelines.

 

BR lists what it does not contain, as follows:

 

Skills: Analyze, Autofire, Cramming, Defense Maneuver, Penalty Skill Levels, Rapid Attack, Teamwork, Two-Weapon Fighting. [bR 24 sidebar]

 

Perks: Access, Anonymity, Computer Link, Deep Cover, Favor, Positive Reputation, Vehicles & Bases. [bR 32 sidebar]

 

Talents: Absolute Range Sense, Animal Friendship, Combat Luck, Deadly Blow, Lightning Reflexes, Off-Hand Defense, Simulate Death, Weaponmaster. [bR 32 sidebar]

 

Powers: Absorption, Damage Negation, Damage Reduction, Deflection, Duplication, Endurance Reserve, Reflection, Shape Shift, Summon; all Automaton Powers. [bR 40 sidebar]

Healing uses Simplified Healing rules only.

 

Advantages: Cumulative, Damage Over Time, Delayed Effect, Difficult To Dispel, Does BODY, Does Knockback, Double Knockback, Hole In The Middle, Invisible Power Effects, MegaScale, Penetrating, Sticky, Time Limit, Transdimensional, Trigger, Usable On Others, Variable Advantage, Variable Special Effects. [bR 63 sidebar]

 

Limitations: Inaccurate, Lockout, No Conscious Control, Physical Manifestation, Reduced Penetration, Requires Multiple Users, Restrainable, Variable Limitations. [bR 68 sidebar]

 

Standard Combat Maneuvers: Grab By, Multiple Attack, Shove, Throw, Trip. [bR 98 sidebar]

 

Optional Combat Maneuvers: Club Weapon, Choke, Cover, Dive For Cover, Hipshot, Pulling A Punch, Roll With A Punch, Snap Shot, Strafe, Suppression Fire. [bR 98 sidebar]

 

Equipment: Automatons, Computers, Bases. [bR 116 sidebar]

 

 

In the BR, Variable Power Pools are excluded, and Flexible Slots in a Multipower have a Stop Sign.

 

All Complications are present in the BR.

 

Of the sample Characters, Defender is built differently in BR than he is in Champions 6E.

 

 

These are the major differences I can find, going by what is listed, but there are slight differences throughout (like the MP rule on Variable slots).

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

I'm still up for "All-Winners," but some of the players don't seem that interested anymore. I'm hoping it's just due to the holidays. If "All-Winners" dies, I'd welcome you into a Bronze Age campaign to replace it.

 

"World's Finest" seems to be alive and kicking. All our heroes are finally back in Central Park together and there are at least 2 new plots that have already been put in motion by events that have occurred so far, so the game could easily go on for some time.

 

I also have a plot idea that should draw Clockwork Girl into action to endeavor to save a friend/associate.

 

--Kap

The World's Finest game is amazing, hope it will continue for a long long time.

the only Bronze Age Champions I can think of are

Gilgamesh - 2/3 god!

 

(oh - not that kind of bronze age - never mind)

Well, actually...

http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix2/gilgamesh.htm