torchwolf

Re: Seeing in the dark

Re: APG Cover Preview Conceptually cool.

Re: Star HERO with... not magic, really, but... Mine too... my old Traveller games were kinda Niven-esque. Some nice details about the Ringworld RPG was the inclusion of Dolphin and Orca characters with special environmental suits, and some setting-specific psi as the Kzinti telepathic drug and Plateau Eyes.

Re: Sanity Oh yeah, Allen Varney posted his Horror World online: http://www.allenvarney.com/anopheles.html This worked very well, IME.

Re: Seeing in the dark None of the Sight senses would work in enclosed spaces where no light source exists, since they are fundamentally passive. As are all normal human senses. If you have an active Sight sense, it should work perfectly well under those circumstances. As noted under Enhanced Senses, active or passive can be defined as such at no extra cost.

Re: Thats one nimble little bull I knew a girl who was a great dancer (classical ballet and modern dance), but a total klutz offstage. In the Hero System I would give her a DEX of 13, PS: Dancer at +1, Breakfall at 12- and an extra pt of PD (for surviving the modern dancing), and a Physical Complication: Klutz (Poor Precision Coordination) giving her a -2 for precision work. It may sound un-Hero, but I will list some optional Talents and Ineptitudes (+ or - for specific applications of Characteristics) for my next campaign as suggestions for the players, which would effectively allow for subdividing the Characteristics. I'll use Talent builds and it's reverse. It's not necessary as such, but since it's possible, why not. Devil's in the details.

Re: Star HERO with... not magic, really, but... The old Ringworld RPG had some limited Psionics incorporated, as well as the idea that Hyperspace Pilot was a psionic skill; i.e., they sat mentally interfaced to the hyperdrive anomaly detector through the trip just to avoid anomalies in realspace that had repercussions in hyperspace geometry. Dull, but necessary. I'm not sure if the hyperdrive itself was inoperable without a psionic pilot, but it was so insanely dangerous to try it that nobody did. An astral hyperspace generating living entities/embodying psionic energy in the form of entities and psychic phenomena is intriguing, if only to keep players guessing when ghosts, vampires, and/or mythological entities appear. To keep it suspenseful, there should probably also be some twists to it - Star Vampires, Colors Out of Space and Byakhee, instead of vampires, ghosts and demons? You could mine Cthulhu Rising (http://www.cthulhurising.co.uk/) for ideas. Personally, I think I'm going to hunt down Dark Space.

Re: Need to ID a Hero Villain Do you mean the sample character Maelstrom? (6E2, p226)

Re: Post "gotchas" here Under the Average characteristic range: "The normal people characters interact with during the game tend to have Characteristics of about 5-8" [6E1, p49] Steve Long confirmed that this is not a typo, but a slight change from 5ER, where normal people had 6-8.

Re: Thats one nimble little bull The paradigm shift – rather, in this context, interpretation shift – of Characteristics Ranges occurred between 4th and 5th Edition: “Primary Characteristics for the general population average around 8. This takes into account men and women from adolescence to middle age. An active, healthy adult between 16 and 32 years old has Primary Characteristics of 10.” [FH-4e] “...the range of Characteristics for the typical people encountered during the game, from active children to healthy senior citizens. 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, destined for greatness.” [6E1] (a slight change from 5ER, where normal people had 6-8) The comparison below would indicate that the generally assumed ranges of Characteristics have in fact been lowered by 2 points between Editions 4 and 5. Even so, it is noted in italics in both 5ER and 6E that the values given are suggested guidelines for these numbers. “It all depends on GM and player preference, the nature of the campaign, and other such factors.” Characteristics Ranges, as of 5ER/6E: Weak, Challenged, Average, Skilled, Competent, Legendary, Superhuman. Characteristics Ranges, as of FH-4e: Deficient, Poor, Average, Notable, Remarkable, Incredible. Weak (1-2) [5ER/6E] vs Deficient (1-4) [FH-4e] Challenged (3-5) [5ER/6E] vs Poor (5-7) [FH-4e] Average (6-10) [5ER/6E] vs Average (8-12) [FH-4e] Skilled (11-13) [5ER/6E] vs Notable (13-15) [FH-4e] Competent (14-20) [5ER/6E] vs Remarkable (16-20; “one in a thousand”) [FH-4e] Legendary (21-30/21-50) [5ER/6E] vs Incredible (21+; “one in a million”) [FH-4e] Superhuman (31+/51+) [5ER/6E] vs no equivalent (21+ listed as “superhuman”) [FH-4e] Establishing a “one in x people” should probably only be done by the GM who is aware of the ramifications (“What? Yet another ninja assassin with DEX 15? You said there were only one in 1000 who had that! This campaign is unrealistic!” ”Well, many of those 1000 became ninjas...”), so it was a Good Thing that was dropped. I can see at least one reason for Steve Long's choice of using 5ER conversions as samples in 6E; demonstrating the feasibility of using earlier edition characters with 6E. Regarding the CU, the proper place to explore and highlight the new options introduced with OCV/DCV/OMCV/DMCV would be the upcoming APG and the Genre Books (Champions 6E, FH 6E, etc.) which I assume will also be done. 6E1 and 6E2 is after all only the ground foundation which the rest of the Hero System rules shopping mall will build on, so it would probably have been counterproductive to elaborate too much on the difference between 5ER and 6E in 6E1 & 6E2. Since many of the sample characters also had an increased OMCV and DMCV, it will be interesting to see what use this could possibly have for non-Mentalists in a Heroic setting, possibly expanded upon in the APG (which seems to be containing at least some expansion in the Mental Powers and Enhanced Senses). As Olympic-level prowess is listed as being in the Competent range, our nimble little bull Taurus obviously gained improved DEX in addition to his superpowers. That would be my personal interpretation. Still, there is absolutely no reason that any Olympic-level athlete would necessarily have any Characteristics in the 14-20 range. It depends on context, and Skill Levels could well substitute for Characteristics up to a certain degree. In my current Champions campaign, the highest DEX of 26 belongs to a Capoeirista PC, and he has SPD 6 (DEX of 31+ or SPD 8+ is exceedingly rare in this particular campaign – around the max I would introduce. In a cosmic-level subcampaign I might go higher, and in a Horror subcampaign I run, DEX 21+ and SPD 5+ is rare among PCs). A purely Heroic campaign is likely to set these guidelines at different levels than a purely Superheroic campaign, regardless of genre, but a Heroic campaign featuring characters with superpowers, spells or cybernetics, might as well be termed a “Paraheroic” campaign, to avoid confusion.

Re: Sanity I have contemplated it as well, but still not decided if I'm going to just use EGO for that purpose; plus, I'm waiting for the APG. As Sean Waters notes, Transform is good. It was used in 4th Ed Horror Hero - each 1 pt of Cumulative Transform (which was usually 1d3) counted as that many points of an appropriate Psych Lim. A more 6E way would be to use a Mental Transform vs EGO using the rules for adding/altering Psychological Complications. If you combine that method with PRE Attacks, the effects on EGO Rolls are nicely included. I would do something similar for the purposes of shock and fear. The expanded PRE Attack provides some of the effects... though I think PRE (or SAN if you will) itself could function as a defense here; subtract say all or part of PRE as defense from the "Body" as well; alternatively roll PRE/5 d6, count Body on dice, subtract from Body of PRE Attack. Sanity might be used as it is used in Call of Cthulhu (using about 1/5 or 1/2 of the San Loss guidelines), which would represent all aspects of mental health and psychological stability. Here, SAN could be used in 6E. For recovering SAN, I think Ghost Angel's ideas are excellent. Sanity might also be used more like it is in Trail of Cthulhu, where Sanity represents unawareness of the hopelessness of being human; i.e. the effects of learning dirty cosmic secrets and losing your connection to being human. This might not be a bad idea, since cult leaders and sociopaths have similar distinguishing traits and possibly psychology. For purposes of insanity in 6E, this might be best represented by Transform - similar to a Mental Transform, with gradual effects (Murderously Uncaring & Unempathic, Fanatic Worshipper of Kings of Edom; Very Common, Total; at EGO+25). Stability in Trail of Cthulhu would represent a more "normal" mental instability, and might be better represented with a PRE Attack mechanic, possibly expanded as you suggested. Of course, never forget to increase each consecutive PRE Attack slightly throughout any horror scenario climax to represent everyone getting stressed out - that's what makes the PCs really annoyed at that pet running around and leaping out of closets near the climax.

Re: Haymaker a PRE attack?

Re: Opposed Presence Attacks I may be missing something here, but isn't the ability to give your allies defense against Presence Attacks already part of both 5ER and 6E rules? 5ER and 6E rules state that: Presence Attacks results of more than target's PRE or PRE+10, gets “+5 PRE only for purposes of resisting contrary Presence Attacks”. Presence Attacks results of more than target's PRE+20, gets “+10 PRE only for purposes of resisting contrary Presence Attacks”. I can see that you might want have the ability to neutralize enemy Presence Attacks, but this is already possible even if it depends on your tactics. Generally, a leader should probably get the best effects from his leadership-type Presence Attack if he performs it at the start of the fight: If he makes it at some later point, when his allies have already been intimidated or demoralized, the “rallying” Presence Attack would probably need to be combined with something violent (as well as very inspirational words and/or actions). Possibly, the GM might allow an extra +1d6 modifier if the leadership is acknowledged (the allies are already predisposed, and/or trained, to obey the leader); even though the GM might withhold such a bonus against rebellious character, and not count that d6 towards that particular character. Examples (none of these factor in the modifiers – this would probably give even better results, for +3.5 to +10.5; even though results will usually be worse if it is used after allies have already been Presence Attacked): In a superheroic genre, Captain America could have, let's say: PRE 25; 2 levels of Striking Appearance: “Trustworthy and Dependable”; 2 levels of Reputation: “Trustworthy and Dependable” (Large Group), 14-; Oratory 14- (“Assemble!”); Persuasion 14- (“This is the Right Way.”). This will usually allow him to get a result of 10d6 Presence Attack; an average of 35 (PRE 5d6, +2d6 SA, +2d6 Rep, +1d6 from Oratory) on a normally successful roll. Often, this would get him a PRE+20 result, giving his allies an extra +10 PRE to defend with. It would also last for 5 minutes, almost certainly enough to finish any superheroic fight. In a more Heroic genre, Gunnery Sergeant Tom Highway (Clint Eastwood's character in Heartbreak Ridge) could have (OK, it's a pretty conservative estimate, that's intentional for this analysis): PRE 15; 1 level of Striking Appearance: “Tough as Nails”; 1 level of Reputation: “Gets the Job Done” (Small Group, subordinates), 11-; Oratory 12- (“Fall In, Men!”); Persuasion 12- (“I'm so Right and You're so Wrong.”); probably also Combat-Hardened Veteran: +10 PRE (Only to defend against Presence Attacks). This would allow Highway to get an average result of a 6d6 Presence Attack to rally his men; an average of 21 (PRE 3d6, +1d6 SA, +1d6 Rep, +1d6 from Oratory). Frequently, this would allow him to achieve a PRE+10 result, allowing his men an extra +5 PRE for defense, and it would last for a minute or so. That is: Striking Appearance is already defined as being Presence usable in a specific situation. The ability to rally troops would qualify. That's my 0.2d6 Presence Attack.

Re: Omcv 1? I agree with the Mental Blast, but bear with me - EGO as STR and Mental Powers would be used differently, and at different ranges, but could be used together. Lets call the ranges MTM and LOS, since that what matters. Example of how I envisioned it: three characters (two of them Mentalists, the third a non-Mentalist) in MTM range meet (in a Mental Illusion-like mindscape environment, but nothing is there but the characters). Mentat, who has Mental Awareness, Mental Defense, and Mental Blast, can use his Attack Powers and his Mental Defense in MTM or at LOS. He can substitute his EGO for STR at MTM range. Sneaker, who has neither Mental Powers nor Mental Awareness, has difficulty even perceiving what happens to him until it happens. He would be wise to attempt to go for a Mental Dodge, but he still attempts a Mental Block, in the futile hope he will go first next and wallop Mentat with his EGO substituting for STR. Menton is observing all of this, having successfully used Mental Illusions on both Mentat and Sneaker to prevent them from noticing him (Minor Changes to Environment). He plans to take the opportunity to brainwash (Psionic Surgery) Sneaker into fulfilling a secret plan or somesuch; if Sneaker breaks the brainwashing, he assumes Mentat will get the blame. Mentat and Menton can choose to return to their own minds at any time they wish to leave MTM. Any special effects of their Mental Powers are up to the Mentalists. For instance, Mentat could manifest his Mental Defense as some kind of armor, and his Mental Blast as a distance-usable weapon. Sneaker isn't able to manifest anything but his self-image, and would be limited to MTM range for anything he does (there would be nothing for him to throw at Mentat unless Menton gave him something through his Mental Illusion; in that case Menton would have to make new attack rolls against them both). In any event, the Mentalists could return to their own minds at any time, and not risk (though not very risky in this particular case) getting hurt in MTM combat. IE this version of MTM combat and Maneuvers could be used if for some reason a Mentalist wanted to pummel a poor non-Mentalist more personally, in case of a showdown between Mentalists, etc. The special Maneuvers in UM could be used _in addition_ to the normal ones. Whatcha say?

Re: Omcv 1? Very good point, do you mind if I steal that? OK, the idea wasn't that wild, really, but I think I've run into this situation only a few times over the years, but noone ever tried to Block a Mental Power, since it only occurred once or twice, when a PC Mentalist hit someone out of combat - and then it was by partial or complete Surprise. Usually, the non-Mentalists would trust the PC Mentalist to take care of the enemy Mentalists and ignore that aspect of the combat. There were never many PC Mentalists in my games. GA was right, the issue of the OMCV got me thinking more deeply on this issue than I might have done otherwise. On a related topic (I reasoned this as similar to HTH Combat rather than Ranged Combat for a reason): imagine the two combatants in the example slugging it out mentally, using their EGO as STR (much the same as you can use EGO to break out of a Mental Entangle) and playing it out just like a normal combat but in a classically featureless/ominous/psychedelic mindscape; for these purposes, there are only two ranges: HTH (intimate combat using HTH Maneuvers) and Ranged (normal LOS range for Mental Powers). Any character possessing Mental Awareness would perceive normally, others would have to make non-Targeting Perception Rolls. Sneaker the non-Mentalist (EGO 13 for 2.5d6) would be at an extreme disadvantage since he has no Mental Defense (which would take the place of PD); he just takes all damage that Mentat (EGO 25 for 5d6) manages to hit him with, while Mentat uses his 15 Mental Defense to completely negate the maximum Sneaker can roll. At any time, Mentat could choose to "refocus" (go from HTH range to LOS Range) to his own mind and use his Mental Powers normally. Note: this is just a brief optional idea - the rules in UM would probably work better for any extensive use.

Re: Total Amnesia Hmm. True, but I would think that the PC would get a sense of some Char as soon as he looked in a mirror (many normally visible Distinctive Features, possibly Striking Appearance), started interacting with others (a sense of if INT and PRE was higher or lower than that of those he met, what Language the PC reads and speaks and how well if not native, maybe an Interaction Skill if not the exact Roll); motor skills would probably be remembered as soon a relevant situation occured; possibly habitual behavior like a former convict shielding his food when he eats - all of which may be clues and not necessarily obvious to either the PC or the player, but may be picked up by others and commented upon, which would be hints to the player... darn, I'd like to play an amnesiac right now. I like mysteries.

Re: Total Amnesia A variant also works: a partly filled-out character sheet that represents to the player "this is what you know about yourself and your abilities up to this points", giving some Char (or an estimated range; "you have a Competent INT") and filling it out as the player discovers his abilities (and especially Complications: "you felt kinda angry when Joe criticized German foreign policies, so you may have some personal opinion on that subject"). Amnesiacs with sudden flashbacks are wonderful for plot hooks.

Re: Omcv 1? Yes, exactly. In the post I was referring to 6E1 p151: "A mentalist can also prevent a target from knowing he’s been attacked with a Mental Power by achieving a +20 effect on his Effect Roll." I will add that.

Re: Omcv 1? My bad, thanks for pointing it out.

Re: Presence and Classes of Mind Thank you so much for posting that - made my day.

Re: House Rule: Social Combat I see what you mean, but a case could also be made for treating social interaction as something else than mental, since PRE is involved in most social interactions. I can see from your other thread that you consider PRE to be a purely mental characteristic, though I would disagree slightly. There have been some use of Martial Arts Maneuvers to represent verbal combat, though I'm not certain any of those were serious. I think PRE is extremely similar to STR; you roll dice for a PRE Attack based on the Char Value, and you can even use Haymaker with it. If anything, I would equate PRE to social STR. Now that we're talking 6E, I would suggest adding OSCV and DSCV (Social Combat Value) with a base of 3 each. PRE as STR: For instance, mechanics for a “staredown” are resolved in Ninja Hero as PRE vs PRE Rolls, but I think it might also work like PRE dice vs PRE dice, count BODY. Loser gets temporary -1 CV (from loss of face/confidence). This would be “flexing social muscles”. As for MIND and COOL, I've been working on something along those lines in another thread: Variant types of damage. I think I will fiddle some more with that... STUN has always been used to represent other things than pure pain as well; sleep, shock, etc. It really doesn't matter if the source is physical, mental, spiritual, or whatsit – it measures “points-until-unconsciousness”; not necessarily damage. BODY represents “points-until-death” which is rather more absolute, but consider this: can a mind die while in its body, without its body dying as well? Under Transform, EGO can be used to represent the Mind, and PRE is suggested to represent the Spirit (6E1 p305-306), though in damage tracking, STUN suffices. SAN is suggested as a possible Char for mental (or rather, psychological) stability, but there are as yet no guidelines as how to inflict SAN loss – possibly you can just use a “Sanity Blast” type attack to do this using AVAD and ACV, or something similar. I've thought of this variant: the new PRE guidelines are more extensive, and gives suggestions for time to recover. The effects model, in a way, temporary psychological damage. You could count the “BODY” on the PRE dice used in a large PRE Attack and inflict it as SAN to represent more lasting effects – voila: a minimum of new mechanics (SAN Char, counting “BODY”) and very little extra bookkeeping. You can add Presence Defense there and have it act normally (including vs the “BODY”). I would suggest you would Recover SAN equal to EGO per month, possibly faster under psychotherapy. As for the Spirit Rules, they were in Horror Hero (4th Ed) along with Shock and Stress Rules. The Spirit Rules were reprinted in Hero Almanac #1, I think. Judging from Showcase #8, there will be some 6E Spirit Rules in the APG (I can't wait for that!). Those are my thoughts on the subject – as for the Social Combat System, I'm sure there are analogs to the physical combat system, though I suggest you do a search for the various social systems already posted here by Sean Waters among others. They're full of interesting ideas.

Re: Omcv 1?

Re: Seemingly Silly Things to Model The power can occasionally be useful: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0779982/

Re: Interlingua I really do not know why I did this, but anyway: Esperanto (1887-), its later variant Ido (1900s), and Interlingua (1937-): All of these three are intended as International Auxiliary Languages (IAL). They are similar enough for the purposes of the Language Table that they could probably be purchased together as IAL, but (especially when spoken) treating them as dialects of Latin, much as Gaelic doesn't distinguish between variants. While not exactly correct from a linguistic viewpoint, that should suffice for game use; if you want some deeper detail, you could for example rule that Esperanto, Ido and Interlingua have only 4 points of similarity, since they are indeed discrete (though largely mutually intelligible) languages. All are based on words from the Romance language family. Esperanto and Ido are designed to be learned easily and are partly constructed from Slavic grammar. Interlingua is intentionally built from Latin. As for native speakers: (from wikipedia): “Native Esperanto speakers (in Esperanto denaskuloj) are born into families in which Esperanto (and usually other languages) is spoken. This usually occurs when the parents meet each other at an Esperanto gathering but do not know each other’s native language. Often one or both parents choose to use Esperanto as the main language in communicating with the children, who thus acquire the language in the way that other children acquire their native languages; those children then become natively multilingual. It also happens that the parents use Esperanto between themselves, but use another language when speaking with the children. Then the children, who wish to understand what the parents are saying between themselves, learn (or at least comprehend) spoken Esperanto.” Personally, I suspect that the IAL languages have no 5-pt fluency level, since they are relatively recently constructed and have nowhere near the vocabulary of naturally evolved languages (Esperanto-English dictionary is 55,000 words). OK, hope someone finds this useful.

Re: It's the Little Things.... Faerie Heritage power: Glamour [instant Change, +10 COM (Linked)]. Back under 4th Ed, a long-running campaign had me incorporate this, inspired by the idea (from Sandman I think) that Elves etc. were not really that pretty - it was just a little magic trick. Under 6E, I could do it just with Shape Shift vs Sight and the Instant Change adder. That's cool.