Star Hero
Science Fiction Roleplaying in the worlds of the future!
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I've been wanting to run a game again recently but I'm stuck with the total lack of desire to build anything. In ages past, I would build everything myself because I wanted to make sure that I understood where the balance was at within the context of the setting. So my question is, barring conversion to 6E, is Terran Empire something I can just pick up and run with? Are there holes that I will need to fill in? Does it meet the "sniff" test in terms of completeness? I noted some things the first time that seemed odd. Things like the powered armor being as powerful as some spacecraft. Maybe that was just an impression, but man did they have some stats to them! If you've…
Last reply by Xavier Onassiss, -
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So between the Worthless Humans, Danger Humans, and look of your campain threads I have a question. No doubt it's been asked. but I'm doing it again anyway. n your campaign what is the state of aliens. Is it all pretty much standard human, Altered humans to adapt to various planets. Rubber headed aliens, or truly alien sorts of aliens?
Last reply by NuSoardGraphite, -
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ok this is the new thread for this, what we need is just a guide/Treatise etc on converting 5E to 6E, my problem is I am quite entrenched in 5E, and I honestly dont know 6E well enough to do this properly. we have everything ready to go except the conversion guide. anybody who wants to help on this would be welcome. as a teaser I have examples of the art for the new CD in hand... and have been given permission by Marc Miller to post them 13-281 CDROM-TH HERO Traveller.pdf TheroCDCover.pdf
Last reply by shadowcat1313, -
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The recent discussion on whether and why to settle planets reminded me of some of the worlds I designed for an old SF setting that were not naturally habitable. Basically, they were settled because they were otherwise valuable -- or so worthless that they were free for whoever wanted them. Here's a sample. Enjoy. HIPPARCHOS (Epsilon Eridani 2) Distance: 10.5 LY Primary: K2 (mass 0.85 sols) Luminosity: 0.31 sols (bolometric 0.38 sols) Orbit Radius: 118.9 x 106 km Illumination: 0.49 sols (bolometric 0.59 sols) Revolution: 281.4 standard days 122.6 local days Eccentricity: 0.8% Rotation: 55.1…
Last reply by DShomshak, -
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Free online course from FutureLearn https://www.mooc-list.com/course/moons-futurelearn
Last reply by tkdguy, -
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Things Starship Captains Should Do Before Allowing Shore Leave On Alien Worlds... 1) Make sure the locals, and their government(s) in particular, are strong believers in concepts such as rule of law, innocent until proven guilty, trial by jury, and do not have such crazy laws on their books that a member of your crew might end up on death row just for picking his nose in public or jaywalking. 2) For the love of the Q Continuum, make sure your first officer will be responsible and not bring back some exotic form of VD...AGAIN!
Last reply by freakboy6117, -
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I'd like to kick off this thread by raising the topic of colonization of extrasolar planets. Let's assume that Humanity has discovered a relatively cheap and relatively fast FTL (say, at one light-year per day) and has scouted out some life-bearing worlds within reach. Why colonize? With that level of tech, I'd say it's more efficient to go all macro-life -- establish space stations in other star systems, rather than the hassle of trying to survive on a planet with -- in all likelihood -- a biology vastly different from ours. This all assumes a campaign on the high side of the Mohs Scale Of Sci-Fi Hardness, of course. And who knows -- with advances in science, terrafo…
Last reply by Zeropoint, -
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We frequently see stories where humans are if not in a superior position to the aliens, at least they are at the same level that they are. This is not just in terms of tech level but also in the areas physical and mental abilities. As a result, at the very least in most stories humans would make a fair to good fight for any alien that decides to give us trouble. Even in the exceptions there will generally be some form of weakness that we are able to exploit. A good example (and well known) is the alien invasion in the movie Independence Day and how we were able to defeat them by introducing computer virus. In reality their operating system would be so different that …
Last reply by Ninja-Bear, -
The Expanse 1 2
by Ranxerox- 2 followers
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I'm loving this show. No doubt there are mistakes in its science but they are getting so many things right. The moment a ship stops accelerating the crew start floating up and have to activate their mag boots to stay on the deck. When detective Miller pours himself a drink the booze doesn't go straight down because of the Coriolis effect from the the stations spin. He tries to pour water in a part of the station where the rich people live and he misses the glass because the Coriolis effect is less pronounced in that part of the station. People who grew up in the asteroid belt are tall, thin and can't handle gravity well (no pun intended). Consequently using a g…
Last reply by Ranxerox, -
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Attached are my notes for the Star Hero game that starts this Saturday. The Player Characters are the Crew of a Pioneer (the Far Star II) vessel going off to search for habitable worlds, while having a secret mission of finding previous surveys that did not return. Think of it as a bit of Traveller, with a heaping helping of Star Trek with a pinch of Saturday Morning cartoons sprinkled on top. There will be one episode a week for a long time. I'm only up to Season 2, Episode 14, and I'm certain I've got more ideas, but I thought I'd let you guys see it and find out if I'm missing a trope or two somewhere. Note the general lack of detail. This is purposeful, as…
Last reply by Jkeown, -
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This February, the Wachowskis are poised to set trends once again with their first Space Opera epic; Jupiter Ascending. It looks fantastic. 3 trailers have been released so far. Check them out. It releases February 6th. I plan to catch this one at the theaters. I saw trailer #3 in front of The Battle of Five Armies and it was the most impressive thing I've seen on the big screen in a long time. (visually) On a side note: The Wachowskis are delving into subjects that drive conspiracy nuts crazy. With The Matrix it was about the nature of reality and humanities place in it. With Cloud Atlas it was reincarnation and the role of past lives and the trans…
Last reply by NuSoardGraphite, -
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Inspired by the thread, "Something All Sci-Fi Gamers Should Have," in which a D20 product involving over one thousand science fiction weapons was brought up and discussed. In response, it was suggested that we meet that challenge by building 1000+ Sci-Fi weapons with HERO as a free resource for all HERO players. It looks like it's up to me to start this thread, so here goes. This thread is for posting the builds. Use the above link to discuss the building of the weapons in the original thread. Follow the format I lay out, but don't be afraid to suggest a possibly superior format. Also, don't be afraid to take what one person builds and modify it into something else -…
Last reply by NuSoardGraphite, -
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Years ago, I did some work on a homebrew Star Hero setting. Most of it never got used or developed in detail because my players wanted Planetary Romance instead of Space Opera. Discussion of Sy/fy's new series The Expanse reminded me of it because the "Star Horizon" setting included Belters -- including a treatment of Ceres, which is one of the important locations on the show. So, what the heck, here's my version of /Ceres. Maybe someone will find it amusing. You might try seeing how much of the wider setting you can extrapolate from this one location. CERES (Sol 4½ #1) Distance: 0 LY Primary: G2 Luminosity: 1 sol Orbit Radius: 413.9 x 106 km Illumination: 0.1…
Last reply by DShomshak, -
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A short while back, I believe Steve Long himself posted links to his work on Spacedock & Star Trek ship recognition manuals. I downloaded a copy, but it turns out that the file srmv1.zip was corrupt. Does anyone know or have a non-corrupt copy I can get? Chris.
Last reply by Christougher, -
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So far we have been doing these discussions in the NGD Forum, but I think it is now taking enough shape that it is worth considering for a future Star Hero Scenario. The whole thing started when Disney bought Lucas Arts: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/disney-buying-lucasfilm-will-release-new-star-wars-movie-2015-f1C6761343 Then we got JJ "Lens Flare" Adams confirmed as the director: http://www.mtv.com/news/1718092/jj-abrams-star-wars-episode-vii-infinitely-better/ Now the cast is out. And yes, Luke, Leia and Han are back again (along with 3 other "original Trillogy" actors whose name do not say me anything of the bat): http://starwars.com/new…
Last reply by Christopher, -
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Saw this posted on Facebook and thought I'd pass it along--Timothy Zahn and what is perhaps his greatest contribution to the Star Wars Expanded Universe. The guy nails Grand Admiral Thrawn, in my opinion--
Last reply by CaptnStrawberry, -
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Hey, so this is better suited here I think because of the technical fluffiness of it. I have a regular hero who can create "Future-Tech" weapons of his own through some sort of means (unrelated to this). I had an idea for a Blaster Pistol that shot physical projectiles for say (3D6 PD Dmg) I was wondering how loadable powers would work. I want to give him a secondary invention of "Nanite-Taser Bolts" that would (2D6 ED Dmg). How they work would be, if stuck in target and activated, the activation shocks them for said DMG and then 'come to life' with spider-like legs and crawl back to the Hero to be reused... Thoughts? Would I simply use a naked advantage for this, as …
Last reply by Pyronide, -
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Mark your calendars to welcome Marty McFly to the future on 10/21/15!
Last reply by massey, -
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http://www.businessinsider.com/superintelligent-humans-with-iq-of-1000-2014-10 in more depth: http://arxiv.org/abs/1408.3421 I'm a bit skeptical about the challenge level in "tweaking" 10,000 genes simultaneously, but if one were to try to create superintelligence, it would make a heck of a lot more sense to start with upgrading the high-end organic computing machine we have now, than trying to bring the silicon stuff up to and beyond our level.
Last reply by The Weapon, -
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I'm working on my Master of Orion game. It features multiple alien races and lots and lots of different weapons and technologies. I want each race to have a mostly unique theory of combat, one that plays to their strengths, but doesn't rely on any specific weapons or technologies. Those who know the source material can reference it, but I'm also not trying to do anything /too/ specific. Theory 1: Use cannons/physical weapons against shields, then energy weapons against armor. [in game, these are more effective than the reverse. Theory 2: Aircraft carrier style, lots of fighters that can't be shot down easily. Theory 3: Close fast, grapple and board, over…
Last reply by Cancer, -
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I tried to figure this out on my own, but the problem is that living tissue isn't made of a single compound or element, like water or carbon. My offhand guess would be that to "disintegrate" or "vaporize" a living being or object(zombies are dead organic tissue, yes?), you have to convert the solid to a gas--i.e., heat of enthalpy/vaporization. This is usually expressed in kilojoules/mole, which isn't terribly useful to me. More useful is kJ/kg. Any ideas?
Last reply by NuSoardGraphite, -
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Does anyone have any writeups of Star Trek ships? I'm starting a Trek HERO one of these days, and I'd rather not have to start off totally from scratch. I've got the Trek HERO pdfs, but they don't have much in the way of ships.
Last reply by dmjalund, -
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At the moment, we're reviewing books and page counts, and I'm pulling together notes on all the materials for errata and editing. A lot of it is small stuff like correcting "vac suit" to "vacc suit". So I've now done a review of the two Traveller HERO core books, and I'm wondering how many referees ran HERO campaigns using the books, and what supplemental material you might have had to put together (builds, etc). Because if I'm going to work on HERO books for Marc Miller, my wife will NOT let me get away without running a Campaign. Heck, to get up to speed with H6/CC I had to start a new supers campaign (set in New Orleans). But now I'm not sure there's enough mat…
Last reply by NuSoardGraphite, -
- 5 replies
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There is a possibility that I will run a HALO Hero game in the near future. I recall that several years ago our own Thia did a fair bit of prep work and posted it on the Old Boards. I've reached out to him, and he couldn't find it right away but said he would check his other storage locations. In the meantime, I wanted to reach out to the community to see if anyone else had saved those resources, off or online, or was aware of a location where they might be found. I reviewed the threads to the best of my ability but it seems a good chunk of what he did is missing. Thanks.
Last reply by Manic Typist, -
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This is how I feel our soceity develops. I know computers are not magic. I understand them too well to ever have magic vision of them. But since I am active on a programmer forum I have a lot of contact with new programmers. And it appears certain fundamental knowledge is starting to disapear. The following things do Computer and CS have in common with magic: 1. They are incomprehensible for those outside of the knowing circle How the programmer sees it: How the user sees it: And the difference between easy and virtually impossible: xkcd.com/1425/ 2. They both have tradeoffs PS238 brought me to that. Within a week of having read "magic has tradeof…
Last reply by freakboy6117,
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