Steve Long

Sure, I'd be glad to take a look at it.

I don't normally like to do this (in fact I am actively against it), but since this issue may come up for many MHI RPG fans I figured it would be helpful to post the basic info from the HSEG about how to create guns in the HERO System. This is the raw text that appears on HSEG 68-69. It just covers the basics; it doesn't delve into historical firearms, shotguns, or other unusual cases, which are covered on other pages of the HSEG. Furthermore, this is written up for the full HERO System rules, and therefore may reference some rules and rules concepts that the MHI RPG doesn't cover. Firearms Basics In the HERO System, most firearms are built with the following Limitations: —Focus: Firearms are OAFs. They’re Universal Foci (anyone can use them) unless they have personalization features (page yyy). —STR Minimum: Guns have STR Minima, though since they’re built as RKAs, characters cannot use extra STR to increase the damage they do — the STR Minimum indicates the STR needed to hold, properly aim, and fire the weapon. —Beam: Bullets can’t be Spread, and only make relatively small “punctures” in barriers such as walls and doors. —Real Weapon: See below for more information. —Charges: Guns fire bullets, which you represent with Charges. Characters don’t necessarily have to wait a day to get back the Charges for (i.e., reload) a firearm — they can reload if they have access to more ammunition (such as by going to their heaquarters or the local gun store and picking up another box of bullets). ADDITIONAL MODIFIERS Long arms such as rifles and shotguns have the Two-Handed (-½) Limitation. If the campaign uses the Knockback rules, guns should also have the No Knockback (-¼) Limitation. Weapons capable of automatic fire, such as submachine guns and assault rifles, have the Autofire Advantage. Usually they take it at the +½ level, meaning they can fire up to five shots with a single squeeze of the trigger. See Shotgun Ammunition, page ???, for more information about shotguns and how they’re built in HERO System terms. REAL WEAPON As noted on 6E2 200-01, the Real Weapon Limitation signifies that a gun functions “realistically” — if it’s not cleaned or maintained, it won’t work properly. In game terms, this usually means the weapon becomes subject to the Optional Firearms Malfunction rules on 6E2 207. Some possible occurrences that may cause the GM to invoke the Malfunction rules include: —the gun becomes wet (if it’s not designed to resist this; see Watertight, page yyy) —the gun becomes dirty (e.g., the character drops it in mud or sand) —the character uses the gun for a day without cleaning it If one of these circumstances occurs, the GM imposes a temporary Activation Roll on the gun. Typically the Activation Roll starts at 15-, but the GM can set it lower if he feels that’s appropriate to represent the circumstances. Whenever the character fires the gun after that, the GM rolls the Activation Roll. If the roll ever fails, the gun experiences a Malfunction. For every day that passes without the character taking the time to thoroughly clean his gun (which requires proper equipment and at least 20 Minutes, if not longer), the GM lowers the Activation Roll by 1. The GM can also lower the roll for any other appropriate reason (such as if the character drops his gun in the mud multiple times, or gets it dirty after having not cleaned it for a while). At the GM’s option, a character can increase the value of the Real Weapon Limitation if a gun has a lower starting Activation Roll. For each step up the Activation Roll Table (14-, 12-, 11-, and so on), increase the value of Real Weapon by an additional ¼ Limitation. Of course, the GM should only allow this if there’s a significant chance that it actually restricts the use of the gun. For example, gun- toting urban vigilantes typically have lots of opportunities to clean their guns, so the GM might not allow them to take this expanded Limitation. On the other hand, soldiers who spend weeks in the field might have trouble keeping their firearms clean, and therefore get to take it. MODIFIERS TO OCV AND THE RANGE MODIFIER Some firearms have bonuses to the user’s OCV, either overall or just to counteract the Range Modifier. This represents guns that are inherently more accurate or easy to aim than average, which are designed for long-distance shooting, or the like. On the other hand, some guns suffer an OCV penalty or an increased Range Modifier; these firearms are not as well made, have features that make them difficult to use, and so forth. An OCV bonus for a firearm is bought as a 2-point Combat Skill Level with the Limitations OAF, Required Hands, and Real Weapon. Thus, each +1 OCV adds 2 Active Points, 1 Real Point to the cost of a firearm. A Range Modifier (RMod) bonus for a firearm is bought as 1-point Penalty Skill Levels versus the Range Group with the Focus, Required Hands, and Real Weapon Limitations. Thus, each +1 RMod adds 1 Active Point, 1 Real Point to the cost of a firearm. An RMod bonus never raises a character’s base OCV, it can only offset Range Modifier penalties. An OCV and/or RMod penalty for a firearm is bought as a minor Side Effect (automatically occurs; -½) for the weapon. (This same value applies until the total penalties on a weapon reach the 30 Active Point level — something that’s highly unlikely to ever occur.) If a gun has both OCV and RMod penalties, it only gets a single Side Effect Limitation. In most cases, OCV and RMod modifiers for a modern gun shouldn’t exceed +/-2 in either category (and in fact most guns don’t have more than +/-1, though as noted earlier in this chapter historical firearms often have much higher penalties). The GM has the final say on what combat modifiers are appropriate for a gun.

In most cases we don't include the weapons in weapon lists, etc. in Character Packs -- that's a bit more work than we're willing to ask our minions to do. The Minions' Union might picket us if we did. The HERO System Equipment Guide is an exception, simply because that book is all equipment. It has plenty of information on how to build guns using the HERO System, etc. (Both for the sake of simplicity and because of space reasons, I left that information out of the MHI RPG. For that matter, I didn't even include the Character Point costs of guns in the tables.) If you want to look at the HSEG and try to re-create guns, there are a couple of things to keep in mind: 1. The STR Minima on the guns in the MHI RPG differ from those in the HSEG and other HERO System products. Because the MHI setting gives me very, very specific benchmarks for characters' STRs, I couldn't use the standard STR Minima (which are set for "typical" campaigns, where the average character STR is higher than it is in the MHI RPG). So I just lowered 'em across the board. 2. The guns in the HSEG are a bit more "cinematic" than in the MHI RPG. Following the advice of Larry and my other advisors I tweaked the firearms information for the MHI RPG to make it more "realistic" and up to date. (If I ever do another version of the HSEG, some of that information will be incorporated into the new book, some won't.) MHI fans tend to like "realism" in their guns (as paradoxical as that sometimes is), so I wrote the MHI RPG with that in mind. But the HERO System in general is somewhat more "cinematic" and less concerned with precise rules about how guns "really" work.

Yes, that's correct, Mickael. The MHI RPG includes some "spoilers" for MHL (though it certainly doesn't reveal everything that occurs in that novel), so if you haven't read MHL yet you may want to hold off until you have.

As noted on 6E1 447, Weaponmaster is built using Combat Skill Levels. If the GM wants, he can apply those CSLs using the standard Adding Damage rules, thus reducing their effectiveness when applied to attacks with certain Advantages. OTOH, if he prefers he can keep things simple and just add the Weaponmaster damage directly to the attack regardless of the Advantages.

1-2, and I think also 5. As shown on 6E1 443, the Area Of Effect derived from large size/Growth is purchased only for STR. It’s not bought for Martial Arts or anything else. Therefore, while a large/Grown character can use Martial Arts, they don’t apply to an Area (unless the GM rules otherwise, or better yet the character buys the same Area for his Martial attacks using the rules in HSMA). 3. I’d swear this is answered in print somewhere, but I can’t find it and I’m sick of looking. So I’m answering here, but reserve the right to change my answer if necessary. The answer is he still only Grabs the number of limbs defined by the Maneuver; adding Area Of Effect to a Grab doesn’t let him Grab more limbs than normal. 4. That’s up to the GM.

That specific Limitation is different from Linked, so the rules for Linked (including the one you cite) don't necessarily apply to it.

Quick update: Yoruban Mythology chapter done! Came in at about 8,700 words. Now about to start on Japanese Mythology.

See 6E1 310.

This is really a "how to" rather than a rules question, so I've moved it to the Discussion board where anyone can offer an opinion or suggestion.

Yes, you do -- as noted on p. 51, Basic Military Training is a prerequisite for taking any of the other Military Package Deals.

I can't speak for the company, but I expect that's unlikely. Hardcover color books of that size are so enormously expensive to reprint that it would take years to earn back the money. However, there are still some hard copies of both 6E1 and 6E2 available directly from Hero Games in the Online Store, I believe.

MHI RPG characters are Heroic Characters built on 200 Total Points, including 50 points' worth of Matching Complications. The official MHI Template (which is very different from the fan-created one posted above) spends some of those points automatically, and also provides (IIRC) 35 points' worth of the Complications. There are also Racial Templates for campaigns where the GM allows players to play orcs, gnomes, or the like.

No, you don't need to buy them. The MHI RPG contains the complete "Basic" version of the HERO System rules, with expansions/additions to cover important aspects of the MHI setting (like gun combat). If at some point you want to expand your knowledge of the HERO System and do more with it, then you can buy the full rulebook. But for the time being you can hold off.

It is available on Kindle and Nook. AFAIK it's not available in any other formats.

See 6E2 181, lower right.

1A. Yes, that's correct. 1B. I'm sorry, I don't answer game design/philosophy questions. 2. That's partly correct. As noted on 6E1 392, the "Activation Roll" form of the Requires A Roll Limitation typically requires the character to roll each time he wants to use the power. The classic example is a suit of armor that only partly covers his body, with the Activation Roll representing "did the attack hit an armored part of my body?". In that case the character has to roll every time he's attacked, regardless of whether it's his Phase, he succeeded on his last roll, or what have you. However, there certainly could be powers/situations where the GM would rule that a single Activation Roll allowed the effect in question to last until the character's next Phase (or for some other length of time). That's uncommon at best, but it's not beyond the realm of possibility.

As a default rule, an Advantage applied to a Characteristic whose cost to the character has been affected by the Characteristic Maxima “doubling” rule for the campaign should only be applied to the value of the Characteristic. For example, in a campaign where a character has to pay double for STR about 20, he would pay a total of 20 Character Points to have STR 25. If he wants to apply Reduced Endurance (0 END; +½) to his STR 25, he would pay only 12 Character Points: (25 x 1½) - 25 (the same as he would if there were no Characteristic Maxima in the campaign). However, since Characteristic Maxima are set by and governed by the GM, he can certainly make the character pay for the Advantage on the full Character Point cost of the Characteristic if he prefers. In the example above, that would mean the character pays ((20 + 10) x 1½) - (20 + 10) = 15 Character Points.

Thanx! Glad you enjoyed it. I'm working my way through it and haven't come to the story you mentioned, but I'll keep an eye out for it.

Good luck with the game!

See 6E1 217-18, which have entries addressing this subject. In terms of being Entangled while Shrunk and then becoming larger, use the rules for Growth, with the GM figuring out how much "STR" is involved (since Shrunk characters don't ordinarily lose STR).

Just a quick update for those interested in such things: I have declared the Egyptian Mythology chapter more or less "finished." It ended up being about 26,000 words long, making it the fourth or fifth longest chapter so far. The book as a whole is approaching 250,000 words and is nowhere near being finished. O.o Next up: Yoruban Mythology! On deck: Japanese Mythology, because a friend's daughter put in a special request. My current list of mythoi I expect to cover includes: African (covering all tribes and parts of the continent not covered in other chapters) Ainu ✔American Indian (split into six sub-chapters covering major cultural groups) ✔Armenian ✔Assyro-Babylonian Australian Aborigine ✔Aztec Canaanite* Celtic Chinese Demonology (medieval Christian demons; may also include some angels) ✔Egyptian Estonian* Etruscan* Filipino* ✔Finnish ✔Greek and Roman Hawaiian Hindu Hittite* Hungarian* Inca ✔Japanese Lithuanian* Maori* Masai* ✔Mayan Mongolian/Turkic* ✔Norse Oceanic Persian Scythian* Slavic/Russian South American* (possibly combined with Inca) ✔Sumerian Ugric Voodoo ✔Yoruban Miscellaneous (✔ = has been written; * = subject to being combined with other chapters, or moved to Miscellaneous if there's not enough material to support a whole chapter)

Under the rules as written, yes (though of course it requires actions on their part to activate that power initially). What any given GM will allow is a separate question.

If he wants to have the Desolidification active while he attacks people, absolutely he needs that Advantage on any attack he wants to use. The special effects are irrelevant; he doesn't get a free pass on needing APW on his attacks just because he's not "really intangible." (Or you could put it this way: the special effect of his Desolidification mandates that he buy APW for his attacks.) Furthermore, keep in mind that generally it's not legal to activate and deactivate a Power in the same Phase (6E1 131), so if he activates the power and moves, he can't then turn it off to attack in the same Phase.

Since this is a how-to rather than a rules question, I've moved it to the Discussion board where anyone can offer a suggestion or opinion.