Steve Long

Re: BOOK OF THE EMPRESS Kickstarter I just added an update to the Kickstarter with some another piece of interior art from the book. Go check it out if you get the chance, and please join us as a backer if you haven't already! And in other news, I've already gotten feedback from three of the $150+ donors and have written up two of the characters (I'm doing one per day). So far I've been really impressed with the creativity of the ideas, and better yet none of the characters that have been suggested are anything like stuff that's already in the book. This PDF is definitely going to add something awesome to the book!

Re: BOOK OF THE EMPRESS Kickstarter And in other news, I've already gotten feedback from three of the $150+ donors and have written up two of the characters (I'm doing one per day). So far I've been really impressed with the creativity of the ideas, and better yet none of the characters that have been suggested are anything like stuff that's already in the book. This PDF is definitely going to add something awesome to the book!

Re: BOOK OF THE EMPRESS Kickstarter I just added an update to the Kickstarter with some another piece of interior art from the book. Go check it out if you get the chance, and please join us as a backer if you haven't already!

Re: BOOK OF THE EMPRESS Kickstarter No. You provide the basic ideas -- a power set, a background, maybe a name -- but the rest of the work is done by me.

Re: Strength Minimum sort of This strikes me as more of a conversation topic than a rules question, so I've moved it to the Discussion board, where I'll answer further. So, further answer: there's nothing inherently wrong with such an idea; in fact, it's been used before in print (the Azgandian Magic system in FH, which has INT Minima for spells). I'd suggest looking at the STR Minimum Limitation values and then comparing their assumptions to your campaign's assumptions about the average levels that characters will buy the Characteristic in question at, its cost as compared to STR, and other factors. That will allow you to assign the Limitation an appropriate value.

Re: Change Environment For how to model radiation with CE, see 6E2 154. The Gaming Police won't come after you if you want to do it a different way, but some GMs might want to approve that. Similarly, you'd need a GM to approve your other possible uses. None of them are necessarily "inappropriate," but that doesn't mean a GM would allow 'em or agree with the costs you've assigned. In the meantime I'll put this in my "APG3" notes folder for future consideration.

Re: Possible HERO System Supplement Kickstarters From Steve -- What Interests You? It wouldn't be -- that would make the entire book waaaaaay too big. It would certainly include a lot of Urban Fantasy-style character creation elements (such as Templates) for 6E, and some of those would undoubtedly be "duplicates" or rough "updates" of existing ones covered in UFH, but STORMlords is a setting book not a subgenre book. Heck, the four main power sets -- Gun Fu, Magic, Martial Arts, and Psionics --- which I've already written up, are 75,000 words long -- 58% the word count of all of UFH. So as you can see the setting book as a whole is likely to be a pretty hefty beastie.

Re: Aiding Hero: FH adventure book freebie Andy, I'd suggest dropping a line to mudpyr8, who's working on a similar sort of idea -- in fact, the draft he showed me was pretty close to finished. No sense duplicating effort; maybe your work can dovetail with his own somehow.

Re: Getting my head around the state of Hero Games. #1 is basically correct. #3 is basically correct. It's not precisely true that Hero is "looking for" third parties to publish content. It's simply making it easier for interested third parties to do so. #2 is more or less correct, though of course it's possible that Jason might do some writing (in his copious free time, of course ). I suspect that if there are such projects, the "freelancer" in question is most likely to be me, but that depends in part on what else is going on.

Re: BOOK OF THE EMPRESS Kickstarter The "estimated delivery" date listed for the PDF reward level of the Kickstarter is "February 2012." The main X factor as to exactly when in February it will be is the new $150 reward tier and the potential $14,000 new goal level reward. Hero Games may want to wait and send the PDF(s) for those rewards at the same time as the PDF of the book, to cut down on administrative effort and expense. OTOH they may decide to go ahead and send the PDF of the book itself out pretty quickly. The information on where to send the PDFs is taken directly from Kickstarter, I believe, so the PDFs will go to whatever e-mail address you specified during that process. If for some reason that doesn't work for you, Hero will find a way to get you your PDF. Y'all have supported Hero, so Hero's darn sure gonna do its best to reward that support.

Re: BOOK OF THE EMPRESS Kickstarter Sorry to hear you're having trouble re: an international bank account. Since the project has succeeded, the PDF will certainly be made available for sale at some point after the Kickstarter concludes. (The same applies to hardcopy book sales if the company is able to print more copies of BotE than are needed for the KS, but I can't speak to their plans on that point). However, keep in mind that backing the Kickstarter tends to be a more cost-effective way of getting stuff. I can't speak to the question of "just the PDF" specifically because I don't know what Hero Games intends to charge for the PDF, but the $50 reward level is clearly a deal compared to buying the book, PDF, and Character Pack separately. Obviously that may not matter if issues pertaining to international banking affect you, or if you only want the PDF, but I wanted to mention it just so everyone's clear.

Re: Grimm / Shadowrun / Urban Arcana Worlds - Hero Supplements or How To Urban Fantasy Hero is definitely the book you want.

Re: BOOK OF THE EMPRESS Kickstarter Not stupid at all, that's a perfectly reasonable inquiry. Once the Kickstarter closes I'll contact all the $150+-level backers individually and start discussing their character with each of them. I figure it's best to wait until the whole thing wraps in case two or more people want to pledge the level and "combine" their input to make twin heroes or something. However, I expect to have a little time next week, so I may go ahead and start contacting people. If someone already knows what they want I can save some time by getting it done in advance. That way we can get the PDF of all the characters out to backers quicker.

Re: Damage Shield and Autofire APG 133 has rules for Autofire Damage Shields, including how to determine how many shots hit. This is an exception to the standard rule about "one hit per Attack Roll."

Re: BOOK OF THE EMPRESS Kickstarter My plan is to launch the MH Kickstarter after the BotE one ends, probably to run something like Feb. 1 to March 4. But we'll see how long it takes me to get my ducks in a row. (I only have PS: Duck Herding 8-, after all.) Anything's possible. But I'll leave that, as they say, as an exercise for the student; I don't at present intend to discuss "deifying existing characters" in MH. I've got enough to cover as it is.

Re: Hunteds for Foci Since this is a "how to," I've moved it to the Discussion board, and will answer further there. So, here I am answering. I have several thoughts: 1. This strikes me as a plain old plot device/background element that shouldn't be written up in rules terms, if you're the GM. 2. If you're not the GM, and you absolutely have to write it up mechanically rather than just assuming it as a background element, make it an automatic Side Effect (character acquires Hunted by X as long as he possesses amulet). Typically I'd guess the base value of the Side Effect is -1/4, for a final value of -1/2 because it always occurs, but the GM might increase that depending on how powerful, persistent, frequently appearing, and/or troublesome the Hunter is.

Re: Cramming and Weapon Familarity First, with all due respect, I don’t care whether you’re irritated — or happy, or envious, or going berserk. If you want to ask a question, please just ask a question. Your attitude or emotional state aren’t relevant or helpful. Second, a 1-point WF can be Crammed, as indicated on 6E1 73. The first sentence is a general description, not a rule; it doesn’t use “Combat Skill” as a term of art. However, other Combat Skills cannot, if for no other reason than almost none of them have any 1-point level of functionality.

Re: BOOK OF THE EMPRESS Kickstarter Well, actually, I have some good news on that front, Ndreare. The main benefit of the new reward -- helping to create a character -- will be extended for free to all backers who pledge at the $1,000 or $2,000 level. Backers who've already pledged at the $200 level and would like to add "create a character" from the $150 tier to their reward can do so for an additional pledge of $50. Characters created by backers from above the $150 tier will be in addition to the 10 allocated for that tier -- so this means more cool characters for all backers to enjoy! Woot!

Re: BOOK OF THE EMPRESS Kickstarter We've got some news on the new $150 tier and its reward. The main benefit of the new reward -- helping to create a character -- will be extended for free to all backers who pledge at the $1,000 or $2,000 level. Backers who've already pledged at the $200 level and would like to add "create a character" from the $150 tier to their reward can do so for an additional pledge of $50. Characters created by backers from above the $150 tier will be in addition to the 10 allocated for that tier -- so this means more cool characters for all backers to enjoy! Woot!

Re: Physical Powers Going On DEX, Mental Powers Going On EGO I don't recall ever writing any such rule. And a special rule's probably not necessary. If EGO is lower than DEX, you'd take some sort of automatic Side Effect on the power that "DEX is always X for purposes of initiative" (X being the value of EGO). If EGO is higher than DEX, buy Lightning Reflexes for that one power to make DEX equal EGO. "Reverse" for the opposite situation.

Re: Possible HERO System Supplement Kickstarters From Steve -- What Interests You? That may be, but with any business, particularly a small one, every variation on customer desire can't be catered to. I can't speak for Hero Games officially on this point, but at least as far as my Kickstarters are concerned, if someone's not going to pledge simply because they don't want a PDF, so be it.

Re: Possible HERO System Supplement Kickstarters From Steve -- What Interests You? Oh sure, for MH or any other Kickstarter that I did, I'd have to make my own decisions on what the rewards would be and how I valued 'em. I was just using the BotE Kickstarter as an example of a situation where backing the project is advantageous, cost-wise, to just waiting and buying the book later. However, I should point out that there are practical limits on how varied a project launcher can make the reward levels. Too many reward levels can lead to choice paralysis (Kickstarter's own research on this is that 5-7 levels is optimum). Too many options within any given reward level can do the same, and can cause all sorts of administrative headaches. So I almost certainly wouldn't have a reward where "For $X you can pick Y of these Z things." Keeping the reward structure pretty simple tends to work best for everyone in the long run. Though I will say I think I have some pretty awesome rewards in mind for the MH Kickstarter.

Re: BOOK OF THE EMPRESS Kickstarter We'll figure something out, have no fear!

Re: Why I prefer HERO System over Pathfinder/OGL/D&D for fantasy To expand on a point some others have made, one reason I prefer the HERO System for Fantasy gaming is that it lets me tailor the magic system and spells to the campaign setting better than any other RPG I know. If you're going to play D&D (or Pathfinder), you have to play with the D&D magic system. Attempts to do "D&D versions" of other types of settings (Newhon, Hyboria) have IMO all been failures because the magic in those settings doesn't work like D&D magic... and if you take the magic out of D&D, you're essentially not playing D&D. Obviously there are some ways to make D&D magic a little more flexible (see, e.g., what Charles Ryan and I did with it for the Wheel Of Time RPG). But by and large you're stuck with what they give you -- and usually that's not what I want. I want to create a magic system that works for my world, and that means I need the customizability of Hero.

Re: BOOK OF THE EMPRESS Kickstarter It does for all tiers but the "Imperial Hero" one we just added. We couldn't give that to existing pledgers automatically without screwing up our desired limit of ten $150 pledge levels. But as I mentioned above, we're working on a way to satisfy all parties involved. And as always... thanx for y'all's support!