Doc Democracy

Re: New option: Absolute Abilties, help please Sindyr It is difficult to suggest radical changes to the basis of the game when you have a reputation here, it is almost impossible to have such a radical change considered when you are new and you don't reference the current accepted way of achieving in-game absolute abilities if not in-system absolutes. You have had a pretty rough first few posts but the people you are talking to have had this argument quite a few times and the temptation is to jump immediately to the position you have developed over the past arguments. Have you looked round the boards for previous examples? If nothing else it would have prepared you for the very arguments you are getting now. The accepted way to have absolutes in HERO is for the referee to indicate the top level attack or defence that he will allow in the game and then cost what an appropriate counter to that would cost. THAT is the cost of your absolute power - it is absolute (in that game, at that power level) for an appropriate cost to the game. It is as simple as you can get and remains true to the system. If you, as GM agree to competing absolutes then you can decide what happens. Personally I would not allow more than one person at a time to have any absolute or its counter and heroes compete over them... Doc

Re: Combining Genres This is a fun idea but it requires a decent amount of work from the GM early on to make sure that each genre has its schtick that makes it fun over the other genres. This can mean imposing limits on what those playing each genre can accomplish - like what TORG did for the characters. In TORG a character that came from a fantasy background had more difficulty using technological stuff beyond the level of its own genre background. Have you given thought to what genre's you will use and why the players might want to play each each genre over the others?? Doc

Re: Adjusting adjustment

Re: Learning from the mistakes of others Always the problem when something changes - will it be more or less fit for the current environment and will it survive long enough to engender new progeny. Difficult to predict. Doc

Re: Adjusting adjustment Well, you devalue power defence this way and put an even greater premium on PD and ED. Why should PD or ED have impact on adjustment powers? I'm open to be convinced but this is a question I would need answered first...

Re: Learning from the mistakes of others I would just like to start out by saying I'm pretty much agreed with you on the basics... I have played it once and I think it is an excellent tactical combat game. It comes into its own when you get to combat but it supports the roleplay aspects that take you from combat to combat. Evolution is always a dangerous word. Evolution supports success. If D&D manages to hold onto a market where other games chase an aging population and survives when 'true' roleplaying games fall by the wayside as their players die off then D&D is the evolutionary next stage. What I think is that it is a potential evolutionary step. The roleplayer coming into the game looks at it and makes decisions early on about the long term broad development of the character and then roleplays that development. It is a different approach, the development options are limited but those limitations are chosen early on. Does development limitation oppose roleplay? I'd say no but it is a different contract between the game and the player as to what might be accomplished later on. There are games I would rule out of being an RPG despite the way the players might use them. D&D 4th edition is not one of them, though it is a very different approach. And it does focus on the gamist focus rather than simulation or narrativist foci. Definitely for me. Doc

Re: Anti-electrical power, a thread for munchkins, rules lawyers, and rules abusers By f/x then you have to be looking at entangle or force wall... ...makes it expensive. Doc

Re: Anti-electrical power, a thread for munchkins, rules lawyers, and rules abusers Just coz the powder is stick doesn't mean the power is... Is the thought that physical contact between the person hit and someone else would mean that person gets afeected too? Doc

Re: Anti-electrical power, a thread for munchkins, rules lawyers, and rules abusers Why is sticky in there? Doc

Re: How should I do this power? Hmmm. Looking at this I think that I would buy the charcatersitics as powers with Usable By Others powered through an END Battery that gets recharged through whatever you were transferring from previously. When you have END you can either run the increased stats yourself or on other people.... Doc

Re: Training away DCV Penalties from Armor This depends entirely on the kind of game you want to play. If you want one that people walk about in armour and almost need armour to be competitive then you might allow buying off the whole penalty. If you want one where people choose to wear armour for certain activities but choose small sections or armour or none at all for other activities then you might not even allow any penalty to be bought off. You might give certain types of armour the levels built in - so it is easier to wear - very light even mail that provides all the protection of chainmail but feels like just leather. You might allow people who are trained by a particular guild to buy talents only available to initiates of the guild. A reason for players to affiliate themselves and tie themselves into the politics of the game. Comes down in the end what you want to allow in the game and the tone and tenor of the game you are running. Doc

Re: Consolidating Skill and Combat

Re: Ability Check Variant: Count the Body What effect would skill levels have on this - +1 BODY per level? +2?? Doc

Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Just finished Ilario by Mary Gentle. I am vaguely dissatisfied - less because it was badly written as to the fact that I dont think it lived up to Ash despite being set in the same world. I think I liked Ash due to its alternative history clash with the current modern day world with two perspectives on the story. A much more complex read than Ilario. Doc

Re: New Rule: SFX Control

Re: New Rule: SFX Control It's amazing how Chris turns things into a formal presentation. I dont think people appreciate the service sometimes - e should get repped more often simply for the service he provides (and the aggravation he receives) doing this. If I had had the discipline to present this when I mused about it in the 6th edition threads then I think I might have written: Definition: The character may apply any advantage to any power at double the cost of the advantage, but the modified power may not exceed the unmodified power's Active Points. Furthermore, the character may only apply a single advantage at any one time. In addition, the character will pay full END cost for the active points regardless of advantages on the original power to the contrary (though the GM may, instead, require other limitations, such as reduced accuracy and/or DCV depending on SFX involved). My thoughts were that powers that were not at competitive values were often discounted in game and that we could afford to give these away to improve the flexibility of power use in-game. My idea was based on the fact that we give away combat manuoevre benefits if the player accepts CV and effect penalties - we could do the same with powers. Doc

Re: Logical Consequences vs. Conscientious Point Allocation My thought would be to use recoverable charges which is only as wooly as any other kind of recoverable charge might be... After all - recover per encounter is entirely within the control of the GM. Doc

Re: Logical Consequences vs. Conscientious Point Allocation

Re: Logical Consequences vs. Conscientious Point Allocation

Re: Cotu!

Re: Logical Consequences vs. Conscientious Point Allocation To me, that's what points are all about - the ability to skew the story in the favour of the player character. If you spend points on something then it is yours to use (unless you limit that use). If you indicate that you want to grab opponents and smash them into the ground then you might try that using STR and opposing etc. You might also buy it as a large hand attack to represent that extra damage that comes from driving people into the ground.... You take control of the narrative agenda by having spent points on something....so if the points are spent to represent opportune cars then that is what you get. Doc

Re: Logical Consequences vs. Conscientious Point Allocation Good point. Another reason way for the GM to limit the seemingly endless benefits of simply buying STR over other powers. Doc

Re: Logical Consequences vs. Conscientious Point Allocation

Re: Learning from the mistakes of others Just in case it wasn't obvious from the COTU title on the thread - Sean was as good as his word and went away and did exactly what he was speaking about here. Worth going to look and see what can be done, even by Sean, in just three days. Thread is here. Doc

Re: Cotu! That's a very quick effort. I would get my friend to have a look he's got a really good eye for design and the page would look fantastic. I'm amazed that companies do not put more effort into their character sheets - they are the interface through which every player accesses the game. As such they can invoke so much genre feel that I think it is criminal when they become nothing more than a collection of numbers on a page.... Doc