Steve Long

Re: Can Objects be Knocked Back? I’m surprised this question has never come up before. Unfortunately it’s a complex enough issue that I don’t have time to deal with it right now. It’ll have to wait for a time when I have the leisure to delve into rules issues in detail. In the meantime I’d suggest just ignoring the issue of whether objects take Knockback, and if so how. That seems to be what everyone’s been doing for the past 30-plus years, so it should work OK for awhile longer.

Re: VVP Mastermind Pools Well, the only person who's going to be creating such characters is the GM. The GM can do whatever he wants. Precise point totals and calculations are really only necessary for Player Characters; you can give your villains whatever goodies you want.

Re: New Fantasy Hero Stuff From Steve: ACID MAGIC and LIGHTNING MAGIC A "Free" spell doesn't have any sort of Focus.

Re: Does leaping have a turn mode? As stated on 6E2 28, it's impossible for characters to turn while Leaping. It's certainly possible for a character to make a Half Move with Leaping, change direction, and make another Half Move leap in the new direction, but once a character's in mid-air during a leap he can't turn. However, you could use the optional Bouncing rules on p. 38 of The Ultimate Speedster to grant leapers a little more flexibility with their movement.

Re: Growth Math I'm sorry, but I don't answer game design/philosophy questions.

Re: Narosia: The Sea Of Tears Kickstarter is Live! Best of luck! I has already pledged my support.

Re: Pushing Adders As a default rule, no. As noted on 6E2 133, a character can’t Push to obtain extra Noncombat Movement or to apply an Adder to a power. Extending that logic further, a character can’t Push an Adder a power already has. But of course, what any given GM wants to allow — and is willing to deal with the consequences of — is up to him.

Re: New Fantasy Hero Stuff From Steve: ACID MAGIC and LIGHTNING MAGIC Thanx, blues! And more will soon be available.

Re: Acquitaine [PDF] now available. If you're willing to go to the work, you can track down the text of all the Averoigne stories online and print them out (that's what I did, just to make sure I had a complete collection). But assuming the Grant Books collection is still in the works that's probably not necessary, provided you're willing to wait.

Re: New Fantasy Hero Stuff From Steve: ACID MAGIC and LIGHTNING MAGIC Hmmm... since I put an "Oriental Sorcery" chapter in HSG, I'm not sure I have anything more to write about that subject. At least not until I uncover more interesting research material. Maybe I'll get some ideas if I ever get to write the Chinese or Japanese chapters of Mythic Hero.

Re: New Fantasy Hero Stuff From Steve: ACID MAGIC and LIGHTNING MAGIC And I should note that one of those products, Pestilence Magic, is the result of a fan expressing an idea to me about something he'd like to see written up. So if any of you have an idea for a short collection of spells you'd like to see me write up, feel free to say so.

Re: New Fantasy Hero Stuff From Steve: ACID MAGIC and LIGHTNING MAGIC And I should note that one of those products, Pestilence Magic, is the result of a fan expressing an idea to me about something he'd like to see written up. So if any of you have an idea for a short collection of spells you'd like to see me write up, feel free to say so.

Elvensong Street Press (my own li'l d/b/a ) has just put two new PDF products up in the Hero Games Online Store: Acid Magic: eight spells involving acid. Just the thing to use the next time you encounter some pesky orcs or a rampaging robot! Lightning Magic: ten spells involving lightning; perfect for weather wizards, mad scientists of a mystic bent, and characters who'd like to add a little spark to their spellbooks. Each of these PDFs is just $1! That's right, for less than the price of a cup of coffee at Starbucks, you, too, can have these spells in your own personal grimoire. And coming soon: Lava Magic: new spells involving lava, perfect for evil Earth cultists, wizards who live in your Fantasy world's equivalent of the Ring of Fire, or witchdoctors your PCs encounter during their Pulp adventures in the South Seas. Ranger Magic: spells to make life easier for your favorite wilderness warrior. Desert Magic: just the thing when your Fantasy characters find themselves crossing the Great Dune Sea, or when your Pulp mystic's car breaks down while he's driving across the Sahara. Pestilence Magic: the ideal mystic way to make your enemies regret fighting you. Plagues, poxes, aches, and pains to afflict the mightiest hero or most fiendish villain! Expanded Warrior-Magery: more spells for mystic warriors everywhere! The Books Of The Undead series: pre-generated character sheets for dozens of undead, organized by type -- the perfect adversaries for any group of HERO System PCs! Planned "chapters" include: Skeletons! Zombies! Ghouls! Ghosts! Wights! ...and many more!

Elvensong Street Press (my own li'l d/b/a ) has just put two new PDF products up in the Hero Games Online Store: Acid Magic: eight spells involving acid. Just the thing to use the next time you encounter some pesky orcs or a rampaging robot! Lightning Magic: ten spells involving lightning; perfect for weather wizards, mad scientists of a mystic bent, and characters who'd like to add a little spark to their spellbooks. Each of these PDFs is just $1! That's right, for less than the price of a cup of coffee at Starbucks, you, too, can have these spells in your own personal grimoire. And coming soon: Lava Magic: new spells involving lava, perfect for evil Earth cultists, wizards who live in your Fantasy world's equivalent of the Ring of Fire, or witchdoctors your PCs encounter during their Pulp adventures in the South Seas. Ranger Magic: spells to make life easier for your favorite wilderness warrior. Desert Magic: just the thing when your Fantasy characters find themselves crossing the Great Dune Sea, or when your Pulp mystic's car breaks down while he's driving across the Sahara. Pestilence Magic: the ideal mystic way to make your enemies regret fighting you. Plagues, poxes, aches, and pains to afflict the mightiest hero or most fiendish villain! Expanded Warrior-Magery: more spells for mystic warriors everywhere! The Books Of The Undead series: pre-generated character sheets for dozens of undead, organized by type -- the perfect adversaries for any group of HERO System PCs! Planned "chapters" include: Skeletons! Zombies! Ghouls! Ghosts! Wights! ...and many more!

Re: Acquitaine [PDF] now available. Ryhope, here's a publisher planning a complete collection of Averoigne tales, though there's been no news about it for some time: https://secure.grantbooks.com/z-titles-Averoigne-Chronicles.html

Re: Duplication Further Followup Sorry, didn't mean to overlook the real question. In this case the answer is, "see 6E1 202."

Re: Growth and Def No. Defenses that aren't part of Growth do not increase when a character Grows (absent a Linked defense power, which is a different thing than what you're talking about).

Re: Automatons, END, and Maneuvers Let’s apply some common gaming sense here and not worry about it. Technically speaking they should buy all that stuff down to 0 END if they have no END, but that would clutter the character sheet to no good purpose. Just ignore the technical implications and move along.

Re: How different are the rules for star hero planet generation from 5th edition to 6 I asked Jim Cambias to go back through 'em and update 'em to take the last decade's worth of astronomy discoveries into account, but I haven't personally gone through them and done a point-by-point comparison, so I'm not sure how much he tweaked.

Re: Whose Velocity in Martial Throw? The velocity in question is typically that of the target, though in some cases a Martial Maneuver with the V/10 or V/6 elements is specifically defined as using the attacker’s velocity (e.g., Flying Tackle, Passing Strike). As noted on 6E2 71, the rules on relative velocity apply to Martial Throws and the like. See also HSMA 101.

Re: Duplication follow up Just to rephrase so everyone (including me!) is clear about the question: Q: If Duplication or Summon are Drained to zero points, do they have to recover to their full value before they can be used (like Desolidification, as described on 6E1 138-39), or can they recover “incrementally,” allowing for the creation of Duplicates or the Summoning of beings built on less than the full Total Points the power normally allows for? A: As a default answer for simplicity’s sake, treat Duplication and Summon like Desolidification for the purposes of Drain — they have to recover in full before being used. If the GM wants to allow incremental recovery, he certainly can, but it’s up to him to recalculate the value of character sheets and what have you as necessary.

Re: Battle of Detroit That's an incredibly cool piece of work!

Re: Query: Duplication & Summon 1. No. 2. The duplicate simply vanishes; it does not recombine with the base character. 3. The Summoned being remains in existence — Summon is an Instant Power, whereas Duplication is Persistent. 4. That’s up to the GM, but as a default rule once a Summoned being performs its required number of tasks, it’s free (which usually means it departs, though it might attack the character who Summoned it or do something else). If the character wants more tasks, it should use Summon again to Summon another such being.

Re: Template sheets for download? We have a few sheets available for calculating things in the HERO System Resource Kit. Additionally there may be some things like what you're referring to in the "Free Stuff" section here on the website.

Re: Just to clarify "Requires a roll" limitation... Yes, assuming of course that the power is some sort of attack.