Magical Girl/ Lords & Ladies Setting- Hero System?

[Songtress]

So I've started working on a setting[ url= https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kdxN5XeeXPG7lsvxfTFgQ98WIfFx1Dq7t3oqf7wP_tg/edit?usp=sharing] Unified: A Setting of Ladies & Lords [/url].

 

And I am still trying to parse  HERO System.

 

What do you all think?

 

Mostly because I am hunting fo a system that can candle what I've created, but  is something I can understand. It's probably more Sci-fi  & Fantasy (maybe more Sci-Fantasy.

 

As I work on it, I wanted to drive and draw things together. Artifacts, Legacys, and Contracts should mean something. Not just be tropes.

 

Summons/ Companions- are basically characters in their own right in some respects.

 

So what do you all think could it work? Or am I better off using another system? Or should I pick up a copy of Champions?

[Lucius]

So I've started working on a setting[ url= https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kdxN5XeeXPG7lsvxfTFgQ98WIfFx1Dq7t3oqf7wP_tg/edit?usp=sharing] Unified: A Setting of Ladies & Lords[/url].

 

And I am still trying to parse  HERO System.

Welcome. We're glad to see you here.

 

The first thing to understand in parsing Hero is, Hero System is not a game. It's a build-your-own-game-kit, which makes it suitable for the kind of grand ground up world building you seem to be doing.

 

The second thing to understand is that it is a point buy system and "you get what you pay for" and "you pay for what you get."

 

So for example, you can't say "I'm a ninja! And therefore I can move silently, climb sheer walls, and do these umpteen super cool things that ninja do." Instead, you say "I want to be a ninja. A ninja should be able to do these umpteen super cool things, so I have to define those super cool things in game mechanics terms and pay points for them and THEN I can call myself a ninja."

 

Another phrase you'll find a lot here is "reason from effect." For example, you might want some magical girl to have "weather control." An experienced Hero player would then ask, okay, what exactly do you want to DO with "weather control?" If you want to batter someone with hail or hit them with lightning bolts, that could be the Power called Blast, which damages people and things. If you want to call up concealing fog, that would be the Power of Darkness. If you just want to rain on their parade and make them soggy, that could be Change Environment. You may have to buy multiple Powers to get the effects you want for something like "weather control."

 

There ARE ways to build in flexibility if you don't think you can think of every possible application of an ability beforehand. For example, the Power Skill can be used to temporarily change how a Power works.

 

 

What do you all think?

 

Mostly because I am hunting fo a system that can candle what I've created, but  is something I can understand. It's probably more Sci-fi  & Fantasy (maybe more Sci-Fantasy.

 

As I work on it, I wanted to drive and draw things together. Artifacts,

You are obviously going to have to use the Powers section of Hero a lot.

 

Let's say an Artifact is an amulet that protects the magical girl from harm. Look at "Defense Powers" and pick one that matches the protection you want (or several if you need different kinds of protection.) Let's say, Mental Defense to make her mind harder to read or control or influence. Figure out how much you want. Say, 10 pts of it, to reduce the effect of anyone targeting this mind by 10 pts.

 

You have the option put an "Advantage" on the Power to make it even better in some way. That makes the ability more expensive. You also have the option to put a "Limitation" on the Power to make it in some way less effective or less reliable. That makes the ability less expensive.

 

An "Artifact" may be something that uses the "Focus" Limitation. A Focus, by definition, can be taken away (although you can have a Focus that no one else can USE, it's still possible to deprive you of it.)

 

If you don't like the idea of someone taking your Artifact, you can use a different Limitation such as OIAID (Only In Alternate Identity) - the amulet isn't there when the magical girl is in secret identity, but appears as part of making the switch to heroic identity.

 

Or you can use no Limitation at all, say the Power comes from an amulet, but for whatever reason the character always has the amulet and no one can take it away.

 

Legacys, and Contracts should mean something. Not just be tropes.

Does "Contract" mean "the character has certain Powers, but only as long as they're used for certain predefined purposes?"

 

There may be a number of ways to do this in Hero. For example, a Limitation on a Power that means that if the character breaks the promise that empowers them, the Power stops working.

 

Or you could use a Complication. Where Characteristics, Skills, Talents, and Powers, maybe be thought of as a character's assets, Complications are the character's liabilities. Complications have always been part of the Hero system, but they used to be called "Disadvantages." The way they're presented in the rules for this edition (including Champions Complete) makes it harder to understand how they work, but it's not really that (pardon the expression) complicated.

 

Where the rules say, for example, that a character gets "400 pts with 75 pts of matching Complications" what that really means is, you get 325 points "for free" and you have free and clear to buy assets for the character - the Characteristics, the Skills, the Talents, the Powers, as many of each as you want up to that 325 limit. Then you can get more assets (and most players will want this extra) up to a limit of 75 pts worth, but each point over the 325 limit has to have at least 1 pt of Complication, thus, "matching." So if you want 400 pts in assets, you need 75 pts in Complications. If you want 350 pts in assets, you need 25 pts of Complications.

 

Secret ID is a Complication (considered a Social Complication.) For a "Contract" you might have a Psychological Limitation, meaning that to violate the contract, the character has to make a roll against the Characteristic called EGO (to represent an internal struggle - the character is committed to that agreement and will find it hard to break it for any reason.) Or if the contract is enforced by higher powers, you can take the Complication called "Hunted" (Hunted can be defined as 'watching' meaning they're not out trying to track you down to do something terrible, just keeping an eye on you and they'll let you know if you do something they don't like.)

 

 

Summons/ Companions- are basically characters in their own right in some respects.

You will find Hero has rules for Followers, and there is also a Power called Summon. Probably one or the other will work for different characters depending on how their companions work.

 

If a companion is more trouble than they are worth, there is also a Complication called DNPC (Dependent Non Player Character) - a DNPC can be useful, but because it's a Complication, that will be more than balanced out by them being taken hostage, stumbling into a conflict and needing rescue, saying the wrong thing to the wrong person, etc.

 

So what do you all think could it work? Or am I better off using another system? Or should I pick up a copy of Champions?

Others before you have used Hero for anime and for magical girls. I'm sure people will be along soon to post links and examples.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

Say hello to my palindromedary

[Songtress]

Thanks. I am struggling to make good on the idea.

 

By Parsing I just mean trying to get my mind how to lay out and build, stats, powers ect. I've read the book and fractions scare me.  especially in gaming, mostly because then you really need to make sure your math is right.

 

For me its just making sure I an understand how the system works ( since I don't have a lot of knowledge on taking apart a system or understand it ( and yes withh that knowledge I went to HERO System because my ideas are overly complicated and sometimes don't fit into other system boxes.

[Scott Baker]

Hero Designer is great for helping with the math.

 

http://www.herogames.com/forums/store/product/1-hero-designer/

[Songtress]

I guess I am just not sure about the whole ' spend the money to make the math a little easier. ( Just yet.)

 

Though on the Setting route: I know my Companions ( which are can be encapsulated by Followers & Summons), most would probably be followers.

[Greywind]

It does a lot more than just "make the math a little easier". Carrying your Rogues Gallery on a flash drive is a lot easier than hauling notebooks around.

[Songtress]

That is a good point I suppose

[Lucius]

Some things to keep in mind:

 

 

Having Powers does not (necessarily) make a character extraordinary.

Everyone gets Running by default for example, and Running is a Power.

 

 

A few words on SPeeD and Movement are in order, because lots of people trip up on this. If one character has Running 12 and the other has Running 8, you might think the first can easily outpace the second, who can't keep up. But if the first character has a SPD of 2 they move 12 meters TWICE in a Turn, for a total of 24. If the second has a SPD of 3 they move 8 meters THRICE in a turn, for a total of, guess what, 24.

 

Also on the topic of SPD, because it governs how many actions you get, having more of it can be very advantageous; also, having player characters with very different SPD scores can play out at the table as boring or annoying to the low SPD players who sit back and watch the high SPD guy do stuff, and may not even be as much fun for the high SPD guy who is always on the spot and doesn't have as much time to think about their next move while someone else goes. And keep in mind that if all your bad guys have SPD 6, the heroes will need to buy up to SPD 6 just to "keep up." This sort of effect is sometimes called a "Character Tax"- "you have to spend X amount of point on this thing just to be in this game."

 

 

I'll have more later, but that's a start.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

I'll have a palindromedary later, and I had one earlier too

[Lucius]

 

A good resource is Surbrook's Stuff

http://surbrook.devermore.net/index/

 

He has a whole section of anime and manga characters written up for hero: Sailor Moon, Dragonball Z, etc.

http://surbrook.devermore.net/adaptationsanime/animechar.html

 

A lot of his stuff is for 5th edition, but it's not really that different.

 

You can also try doing a search her on the Hero forums for things like "magical girls." I'm sure I've seen threads about them before.

 

 

More things to keep in mind when you start adapting the characters for your own game, or writing up characters for yourself and your players.

 

 

Because of the way defenses work in Hero, a small attack on a well defended target is likely to do no damage at all. Beware of either putting too much defense on a bad guy so the heroes can't hurt them at all, or allowing a hero to have such high defenses that the bad guy can't hurt them.

 

 

Hero uses 3d6 for task resolution, that is, for Skill rolls and attack rolls. Rolls tend to cluster around the average and the extreme highs and lows are rare. If you roll a d20, you have the same chance of rolling a 10 as a 1 or a 20. Rolling 3d6, you have a MUCH higher chance to roll a 10 or 11, and a very very tiny chance to roll a 3 or 18. Why does this matter? Here's why.

 

For one thing, it means an 8 or less is not as good as you think it is. If you were rolling a d20, you have a 40% chance to roll 8 or less, but on 3d6 I believe it is closer to 25%. Conversely, if you have a 14 or less chance, you are very likely to succeed.

 

For another thing, a small bonus or difference in Combat Value can make a big difference. If one character has OCV (Offensive Combat Value)and DCV (Defensive Combat Value) of 7, and another character has both at 5, then the first character hits the second on 13 or less, and the second hits the first on 9 or less. Just as you want to watch out for characters getting out of hand with SPD or the players having very different SPD scores, keep an eye on OCV and DCV too - and remember that things like Martial Arts, Skill Levels, and ordinary maneuvers like Dodge, can modify those.

 

 

Lucius Alexander

 

I have a palindromedary now