A Few Questions From A First Time GM

[Fatebringer]

Hey,

 

I've been playing HERO System off and on again for the past four years or so. I just recently began looking into playing seriously after a string of fun games at a local con, (Shout out to my fellow DieCon '06 gamers) and I have decided I want to GM this time around.

 

So, question time,

 

1) I'm doing Fantasy HERO, and I have a race of people who have the ability to manipulate electricity. They can't create it, but they can control and store it, and project it also. I'm a little stuck on how to create this ability, but this is what I've got so far,

 

Electric Affinity: Absorption 2d6 (energy, Energy Blast), Ranged (+1/2), Delayed Return Rate (points return at the rate of 5 per Hour; +1) (25 Active Points); Limited: Only Electricity (-1/2), Electric Special Effect Only Common SFX (-1/2), Gestures (-1/4)

 

I think that it covers several bases, but I don't know what I do next. Do I also have to stat up EB, and Link it to this? (I made this in HERO Designer, btw) Should I give it more dice? 2d6 seems a little low, but I don't know what would be right, I picture them being able to absorb an amount equal to something. I was thinking either BODY or EGO, something to represent it.

 

I'll take any suggestions too, btw.

 

2) I don't know how I want to run my magic system. I already know that I want it to be based off a complex chart I made, but that's all fluff text right now. Game mechanic wise, I can't decide if I want to do Skill-Based, VPP Based, etc, etc...

 

I was thinking of mixing the rule sets for different types of magic users. People wielding innate forces of power would probably use different rules than people who study for it. I've got the sources of magic drawn up, but I don't know how, or what to apply where, and why.

 

Basically, there's

a) Magic you make yourself, (People who call on their soul, people for who magic comes naturally, Sorcerers in D&D)

Magic someone makes for you, (Gifts from the Gods, Spirit friends, etc) and,

c) Magic you take for yourself. (Primal essences of the cosmos, some elements of the Übermensch theory... that we can advance through our own will)

 

Any suggestions for which system to use where, or links to detailed magic systems I can read and learn from would be helpful. Maybe if I see what others have done, I can figure out how some things work better.

 

3) What are your ideas for Half-breeds? I was stating up Half-elves as Elves with half of their stats, and none of their special abilities (Other than extended life, which I shortened)

 

This works fine for me, but that is an elf and a human mating. What if we had a Half-elf/Half-ogre? What's a good way to decide which abilities the child gets from his/her parents?

 

 

That's all for now, but if I think of any more, I'll post them here.

 

Thanks in advance,

~Fatebringer

[Manic Typist]

Re: A Few Questions From A First Time GM

 

a) Magic you make yourself, (People who call on their soul, people for who magic comes naturally, Sorcerers in D&D)

Magic someone makes for you, (Gifts from the Gods, Spirit friends, etc) and,

c) Magic you take for yourself. (Primal essences of the cosmos, some elements of the Übermensch theory... that we can advance through our own will)

 

Any suggestions for which system to use where, or links to detailed magic systems I can read and learn from would be helpful. Maybe if I see what others have done, I can figure out how some things work better.

 

3) What are your ideas for Half-breeds? I was stating up Half-elves as Elves with half of their stats, and none of their special abilities (Other than extended life, which I shortened)

 

This works fine for me, but that is an elf and a human mating. What if we had a Half-elf/Half-ogre? What's a good way to decide which abilities the child gets from his/her parents?

 

 

That's all for now, but if I think of any more, I'll post them here.

 

Thanks in advance,

~Fatebringer

 

 

A) VPP

Some sort of limited skill roll system

C) Skill rolls

 

On the half-breeds: do some basic ones, and then leave exotics up to the characters. Afterall, it's not an exact science, especially when you are mixing magical creatures! There can be some healthy variation.

[Kortay Mirlor]

Re: A Few Questions From A First Time GM

 

Electric Affinity: Absorption 2d6 (energy, Energy Blast), Ranged (+1/2), Delayed Return Rate (points return at the rate of 5 per Hour; +1) (25 Active Points); Limited: Only Electricity (-1/2), Electric Special Effect Only Common SFX (-1/2), Gestures (-1/4)

"Only Electricity" AND "Electric Special Effect Only" Looks like double dipping!

 

Also you got to say where the points are going to.

 

What are your ideas for Half-breeds?

 

Blow 'em off. All sentient folks are different genuses, they don't interbreed. Save yourself hours of PITA.

[iNSOMN14]

Re: A Few Questions From A First Time GM

 

Blow 'em off. All sentient folks are different genuses' date=' they don't interbreed. Save yourself [b']hours[/b] of PITA.

 

But unfortunately for him, he can't do that. His game's a conversion of our Dungeons and Dragons game to HERO System. Disallowing half-bred characters would cause such a hubbub that I doubt it'd be worth it. Not from me (one of his players, playing a half-elf), of course.

[Fatebringer]

Re: A Few Questions From A First Time GM

 

But unfortunately for him' date=' he can't do that. His game's a conversion of our Dungeons and Dragons game to HERO System. Disallowing half-bred characters would cause such a hubbub that I doubt it'd be worth it. Not from me (one of his players, playing a half-elf), of course. [/quote']

 

You forgot to mention my OCD. Not statting up some sort of Half-breed template would seem incomplete in some way.

 

 

Also you got to say where the points are going to.

Which points?

[Hugh Neilson]

Re: A Few Questions From A First Time GM

 

"Only Electricity" AND "Electric Special Effect Only" Looks like double dipping!

 

It does look like double dipping. However, unless electricity is very common, I'd raise the limitation for "only electricity". This -1/2 for any given special effect thing never sat well with me. For the points saved, why bother restricting the SFX? Even if there are only four SFX for energy, restricting yourself to only one should carry a much greater limitation than -1/2.

 

Also you got to say where the points are going to.

 

Which points?

 

The character is struck with an electrical burst for 7 BOD. He absorbs this using his 2d6 Absorb. The 7 character points he absorbs must go somewhere. They could go to an energy blast, for example.

 

Another approach is to build the race with all the powers they can manipulate involving electricity. So perhaps they have an energy blast, a force field and a form of magnetism (TK). All act from an Endurance battery which has no REC. The Absorb would then feed the battery, providing the character with END to use his electrical abilities, rather than feeding the electrical abilities themselves. The 7 points absorbed above would add 14 END to the battery.

[CourtFool]

Re: A Few Questions From A First Time GM

 

But unfortunately for him' date=' he can't do that. Not from me (one of his players, playing a half-elf), of course. [/quote']

 

Not writing up a pre-made package is not the same as disallowing. I would say allow the players to pick which characteristics they wanted from their family tree. Quarter breeds are going to vary widely anyway. Who is to say which attributes are dominant or recessive.

 

I do not see how this matters much to a half-elf until he knocks up a half-orc and then fears what the child may come out to be. Of course, at that point it is a plot device and the GM can make the child whatever makes the story the most interesting.

[Lord Liaden]

Re: A Few Questions From A First Time GM

 

Welcome, Fatebringer! I hope you enjoy your visits to our little asylum. As you can see, posting your questions here is a profitable venture. We're a pretty friendly and helpful bunch overall.

 

I think your specific questions are being well dealt with, so let me just provide a bit more in the way of general resources. For example, on this thread you'll find lots of sound GMing tips from veterans. Although much of it is generally applicable to any game, a lot is specific to HERO, so I think this will be helpful for you.

 

On the magic-system front, I recommend checking out our boardmate Killer Shrike's High Fantasy HERO website. Creating diverse detailed magic systems is something he does often and well, and there are several detailed examples on his website, including conversions of D&D magic. (More on this below.)

 

 

But unfortunately for him' date=' he can't do that. His game's a conversion of our Dungeons and Dragons game to HERO System. Disallowing half-bred characters would cause such a hubbub that I doubt it'd be worth it. Not from me (one of his players, playing a half-elf), of course. [/quote']

 

In that case, I would recommend that Fatebringer click on the link in my signature, below, and scroll down to the DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS listing. There you'll find links to many conversions of stuff from the various D&D lines, including spells, classes, races, feats, monsters, world settings, and more.

[Killer Shrike]

Re: A Few Questions From A First Time GM

 

You may want to check out my High Fantasy HERO site:

 

http://www.killershrike.com/FantasyHERO/FantasyHERO.htm

 

It has many documents that cover various things you seem to be interested in.

 

There are also, depending on how you count (whether you include variants as sperate systems), between 9 and 27 different Magic Systems detailed with sample characters.

[Thia Halmades]

Re: A Few Questions From A First Time GM

 

Howdy. I am the Lord Captain Thia Halmades, and I did exactly what you're doing - a conversion from a d20 campaign into a full HERO campaign. I don't have oodles of time at the moment, so I'll come back to your other questions, but some basics I can knock out right here.

 

Primus, the easiest way to build racial packages (Lord Liaden can aim you to the thread where we just had this discussion) and to retain the 'd20 feel' that most people try to emulate early on, is to build each racial package so it balances to 0. In other words, an equal amount of abilities (Low-Light Vision, Longevity, Life Support: Diminished Sleep, WF: Bows, WF: Long Blades; Distinctive Features, (Pointed Ears, Almond Eyes), Reputation: Haughty and supercilious, Psych Lim: Inherently distrustful (Minor), Psych Lim: Superiority Complex (Minor).

 

You throw all that together (or a rough equivalent) and you'll come close to 0 points; you can add or deduct lims as you like. THEN, the kicker, is that you DO NOT CHARGE for the disads; you get the racial package, the stats, the whole bit - and you get the disads, but they don't count against your total points. This does a very good job of simulating the "0 CSL" level races in the PHB.

 

Second. Magic is a b---h. You do NOT WANT to model the d20 magic system (although you can, and I did! But I'd do it different were I to do it again). But basically its a VPP with a crapload of limitations on it (something like -5 1/4 when I was done). Either way, there's muchos handwaving that goes on in d20, and HERO eschews it because our first instinct is to build whatever accurately, and get away from handwavium.

 

Thirdly: Half breed packages run on the same principle as everything else, you just slap on some stats, give 'em some powers and disads (including: Distrusted by Metaparent Race, Uncommon, Strong). Just don't tie yourself too tightly to the box that is d20 and you'll do fine.

 

I have a game to run, so I must jet, but I'll bounce back in a bit.

[Thia Halmades]

Re: A Few Questions From A First Time GM

 

Oh yeah. Hi, how are you? That's nice, have some rep, play nice with the other kids, see Steve's thread for the stickies on board conduct, don't go into the NGD without kevlar, and don't hesitate to ask anything that doesn't involve deep, personal questions.

 

In other words: I'm one of the local experts on d20, videogames, bass guitar and banking. Lots of other people know LOTS of crazy stuff, and we're pretty handy on a calculator with build help. So yeah. Okay bye.

[gojira]

Re: A Few Questions From A First Time GM

 

Welcome Valkyrie...er, Fatebringer!

 

Just all my own opinions...

I think that it covers several bases' date=' but I don't know what I do next. Do I also have to stat up EB, and Link it to this? (I made this in HERO Designer, btw) Should I give it more dice? 2d6 seems a little low, but I don't know what would be right, I picture them being able to absorb an amount equal to something. I was thinking either BODY or EGO, something to represent it.[/quote']

 

What does absorbing electricty actually DO? I can't see how absorbing electricty would make one's BODY (gets bigger?) or EGO (gets smarter?) go up. I think an END RESERVE, which can then power an EB, would be more like it.

 

Note that absorbing electricity doesn't make one immune to body damage. For that buy a defensive power. For example, ARMOR, 10 Pts ED, Only Vs. Electricity (-1) or something like that.

 

 

2) I don't know how I want to run my magic system. ...

 

a) Magic you make yourself, (People who call on their soul, people for who magic comes naturally, Sorcerers in D&D)

 

A great place for Chi powered wuxia heroes. Make an END RESERVE, and give them powers that they can power from the END RESERVE. Sorcers specialize in projection (Fireball, Tekekinesis, etc.), martial artists specialize in body (punching, leaping, etc.).

 

Magic someone makes for you, (Gifts from the Gods, Spirit friends, etc) and,

 

Get the Valdorian age. Way good spirit magic system, great for amists.

 

This sounds like a great place to have all sorts of weird limitations, depending on the type of spirit or god. Whatever their personallity is, that's what their followers have to put up with. Incatations (proclaim the name of your god), gestures (dance for your god or spirit guide), one charge per day (services are limitted 'cause your spirit doesn't like to be bugged), etc.

 

c) Magic you take for yourself. (Primal essences of the cosmos, some elements of the Übermensch theory... that we can advance through our own will)

 

This sounds like elementalism and tranmutation to me. Early alchemist stuff.

 

Make material componets big here. The components are expended, so it's an IIF. They can be recovered so it's easy to charge up again, once you have time. This also sounds like a great VPP, with the proviso that the character has to chose his spells in advance by declaring which and how many of each component he brings.

 

The components should be sealed in a parchment envelope, which the character will have to make himself, and sealed tight with wax. Anything else invites a big chance of misfire if the wrong proportions are grabbed. Make sure the character labels them also, so he can tell what's in the evelopes later. This also allows an overcharge (bigger effects) by expending more than one charge at a time.

 

Any suggestions for which system to use where, or links to detailed magic systems I can read and learn from would be helpful. Maybe if I see what others have done, I can figure out how some things work better.

 

KS's web site has been mentioned, also the Valdorian Age book. Check out also Savage Earth. I haven't looked at it in detail, but there seems to be a lot of good ideas there.

http://savageearth.net/

 

 

I'm not trying here for a DnD clone, btw. If you want that, just give everyone a VPP with each power bought on charges (1 spell per day, etc), and you're done.

 

Halfbreeds already covered. Good luck. Ask more Q's when you get them.

[iNSOMN14]

Re: A Few Questions From A First Time GM

 

You may want to check out my High Fantasy HERO site:

 

http://www.killershrike.com/FantasyHERO/FantasyHERO.htm

 

It has many documents that cover various things you seem to be interested in.

 

There are also, depending on how you count (whether you include variants as sperate systems), between 9 and 27 different Magic Systems detailed with sample characters.

 

It's what I used for my character in his game. My character (Ash) uses the elven-blooded template and the magician templates to simulate his human-ish apparent (dispite being a half-blood) and his Truenaming magic (man, was the magician magic system helpful there). Sadly enough, Killer Strike's site really taught me HERO System power arrays.

 

Make material componets big here. The components are expended, so it's an IIF. They can be recovered so it's easy to charge up again, once you have time. This also sounds like a great VPP, with the proviso that the character has to chose his spells in advance by declaring which and how many of each component he brings.

 

The components should be sealed in a parchment envelope, which the character will have to make himself, and sealed tight with wax. Anything else invites a big chance of misfire if the wrong proportions are grabbed. Make sure the character labels them also, so he can tell what's in the evelopes later. This also allows an overcharge (bigger effects) by expending more than one charge at a time.

 

That is the most ingenius thing I've ever heard. I think I'm in love... ...with the idea, not the poster.

[Fatebringer]

Re: A Few Questions From A First Time GM

 

Howdy. I am the Lord Captain Thia Halmades' date=' and I did exactly what you're doing - a conversion from a d20 campaign into a full HERO campaign.[/quote']

 

Well, the topic may have been a little misleading. While I am converting D&D, I intend to leave several things in the d20 system to rot. I mainly converted all of the characters, and I want to start over with a clean slate, thus, my stating up the races of elves, dwarves, etc, etc…

 

Oh yeah. Hi, how are you? That's nice, have some rep, play nice with the other kids, see Steve's thread for the stickies on board conduct, don't go into the NGD without kevlar, and don't hesitate to ask anything that doesn't involve deep, personal questions.

 

In other words: I'm one of the local experts on d20, videogames, bass guitar and banking. Lots of other people know LOTS of crazy stuff, and we're pretty handy on a calculator with build help. So yeah. Okay bye.

 

That’s great to know. By the way, I love the Holy Ice Cream Cone Of Smiting.

 

What does absorbing electricty actually DO? I can't see how absorbing electricty would make one's BODY (gets bigger?) or EGO (gets smarter?) go up. I think an END RESERVE' date=' which can then power an EB, would be more like it.[/quote']

 

I misspoke a little here, I think.

 

I was toying the idea around of restricting the amount of points they could absorb at a time, capping it alongside either their BODY score (They can’t physically handle the voltage), or EGO (They can’t spiritually/mentally/whateverlly handle the voltage, or lack the will to retain it.).

 

Note that absorbing electricity doesn't make one immune to body damage. For that buy a defensive power. For example' date=' ARMOR, 10 Pts ED, Only Vs. Electricity (-1) or something like that. [/quote']

 

Well, yeah. I honestly don’t think they’re immune to it. (More like Damage Reduction) And, when they try to absorb it, anything they don’t absorb ends up coming through and whacking them.

[Hugh Neilson]

Re: A Few Questions From A First Time GM

 

Well' date=' yeah. I honestly don’t think they’re immune to it. (More like Damage Reduction) And, when they try to absorb it, anything they don’t absorb ends up coming through and whacking them.[/quote']

 

Limit the defenses to "no greater than points absorbed", value dependent on how often enough electrical power will hit them to get through their defenses. Maybe some electrical damage reduction (perhaps only to STUN) to go with it.

[Thia Halmades]

Re: A Few Questions From A First Time GM

 

I'll say this simply as it was said to me so lnog ago and many times.

 

Don't play d20 in HERO. Play HERO. Think on this wisdom.

 

Booth to the head.

 

And thank you, I'm rather fond of it myself.

[gojira]

Re: A Few Questions From A First Time GM

 

That is the most ingenius thing I've ever heard. I think I'm in love... ...with the idea' date=' not the poster.[/quote']

 

*whew!* I think I dodged a bullet there!

 

 

This is the sort of stuff that happens when you get rid of old creaky rules like D20 (sorry to all you D20 fans out there).

 

I was just making stuff up. I thought "How does one do a magical gadget pool?" which is basically what this is. He has to choose his gadgets (spells) before the adventure starts, and he can't recharge them until he has time to go back to the lab (workshop, library, etc.) and make up some more.

 

The general idea however I got from Inu Yasha (anime). Miroku's spells, his sutra, are just pieces of paper with writing on them. But if he runs out, he's done until he can sit down and make more. Note that paper, or parchment, isn't exactly cheap in the 15th century.

 

Substitute material components for Japanese calligraphy and parchment for rice paper, and add some sealing wax, and you're there!

[Killer Shrike]

Re: A Few Questions From A First Time GM

 

The Wizardry Magic system on my site works somewhat like that. Also the Runecrafting / Scribas / Glyphics magic systems are also somewhat like that as well but eshew the VPP model.

 

The Scribas variant of Runecrafting in particular is "Wu Jen" friendly:

 

http://www.killershrike.com/FantasyHERO/HighFantasyHERO/MagicSystems/runecraftingScribas.shtml

 

 

In the past (back in 4e days) I had a magic system called Artificing that was basically a VPP Gadget Pool and it was grossly overpowered and abusive. My original version of Runecrafting, which was called Runeforging, was a variant of that model, but due to the unbalanced nature of that model I have deliberately not gone that route in 5e.

[Basil]

Re: A Few Questions From A First Time GM

 

I do not see how this matters much to a half-elf until he knocks up a half-orc and then fears what the child may come out to be.

Ogrek the Undisciplined, of course.

 

[Thia Halmades]

Re: A Few Questions From A First Time GM

 

Why am I suddenly reminded of the Piers Anthony book, "Ogre, Ogre?"

[Kortay Mirlor]

Re: A Few Questions From A First Time GM

 

Ogrek the Undisciplined, of course.

 

 

I'd rep you for this if I could. :D:D