Doc Democracy

I think my reading has always been that the rules are reasonably explicit about the fragility of normals. The rules are there to describe the PCs and their antagonists, others don't benefit from this stuff. I remember that uneven ground etc converts normal to killing damage, and that large amounts of body delivered in one go can be considered fatal. It is not, however, Twilight 2000 where we might have to consider all the variety of complications that might occur with such a fall. I would also dispute that referencing survivability odds from the rules is indeed metagaming. It is not observing a pattern, it is making decisions based on odds, making decisions based on numbers rather than morality and treating people (as that is what they are in the game) as counters in a game rather than independent sentient entities.

You might want to take a look at Car Wars, a great skirmish game that has a Champions supplement....

The big difference here is that the GM has the ability to rein in any use of wealth by quoting the availability of materials, weaponsmiths or just permission to make such things and equip them to malcontents. ? A magical ability has no such limitations and should therefore be more costly. Doc

Just for maintaining accuracy, the UK had a King during the war but the princesses (one of whom would become the Queen) would be of huge significance to the morale of the country and foiling a kidnapping would be huge... I think that the superheroes in the country might, initially be enlisted into a special forces section of the Home Guard (after Dunkirk). Good thinking on the draft it will be a decent secret ID session for those heroes for whom it is an issue. Doc

Always be aware that Ireland was neutral in the war and so the divide between the Republic and the six counties (Northern Ireland) is an important one. There will be heroes from the six counties that count themselves as British, some that count themselves as Irish and may be considered villains by the British while those in the Republic are officially neutral. The Republic fought and won a war of independence from Britain less than twenty years before and immediately fought a civil war that leaves it a bit battered and bruised and trying to find its own identity. Lots of potential for fights between those considered heroes...though this would not deliver the Golden Age feel that I want in my campaign. Doc

Dekrass, I think you have the answer you need but we do speak HERO rather carelessly. We understand each other but it is useful to check whether you understand what you have been told. HERO has a very clear divide about the effects you have in game terms (the actual mechanics) and how that looks (special effects). In most games you would give people swords by giving people swords. In HERO, you are looking to give people the ability to deal damage. Therefore you buy the game effect, Killing attack, usable by others, and describe the special effect (swords appear that folk can use to attack). There is a lot of guidance on how to use Usable by others to get exactly what you want. Doc

I actually have no preference on either unless you are writing the whole thing out on the character sheet, THEN my preference is for the simple version...

I think, once you have seen the game effect of working it, I would have ruled that the player can decide to (1) simply take extra time on the TP to shed the velocity (that is in effect what you are doing but in shorthand) (2) TP in real time and shed the velocity as heat (1d6 NND, area effect for every x" of velocity shed) Those provide opportunity for roleplay and heroism without too much in the way of disrupting the flow of the game... Doc

I ought to read the pages closely instead of listening to folk talking about them on forums! ? In my games they will be advisory by the GM...and I may insist on a number to enforce an element of consistency...

My favourite one-shot was an Ambush Bug scenario for DC Heroes. As you might expect, it was anarchic and not serious, playing with comic book concepts.

I think disadvantages were a cool concept way back when. They incentivised players to build flaws into their characters that would not otherwise exist in a point buy system. Why would you nerf your own character (I hear my 15 year old self asking). I do think that the current system of requiring a set umber of points (that do not add to your total character point pool) is better than players scraping round the bottom of the barrel to find enough points to make their PD resistant. ? I say I play 6th edition because I do utilise stuff throughout the editions. Indeed, we played a quick 4th edition game last year and I found building characters using figured characteristics constraining in a way I never did prior to 6th edition. There was an element of nostalgia to the exercise but only in character building, once the game started, I barely noticed the difference. Keep building the characters Pariah, even if just for the nostalgia!

Black Nova is going to require careful play. If she has the force field up and using NND each phase, she uses 30 END a turn and recovers only 12. If your game features combats that go longer than two turns she is going to run into issues. Faster if she has to turn to the regular EB.

I found that the big problem with tissues is that they are designed to fall apart and it is the stray fibres that dry out and irritate the skin. I instead use the paper towels that you use for the kitchen. You might think these are rougher but they irritate less because they do not fall apart and leave fibres on your skin. They work a LOT better for long term nose wiping than tissues... Doc

The problem with two body heroes is what happens in a fight. If the character is basically a normal person then what happens during a fight. If there is a group (normal for a game) how does the innocent bystander associate with them? If someone f8nds out that Captain Invincible is simply asummoning of weedy Wendy, then why not take out Wendy in the first round of combat? Those are the practicalities of the game. Now, say you bought a 30PD, 30ED forcefield. That protects you from damage. What if the SFX of that is Captain Invincible appearing and leaping in front of the attack? A 12D6 physical blast power. The SFX is Slab the Mighty, jumping from nowhere and slamming the person you want attacked. The conceit is that the villains never work out where these powers come from and who they need to attack. It works narratively in a story but a game has a different dynamic. The villains will know or they will find out. It will quickly be obvious who the source of power is. Work to that, play with the SFX. I might have a suite of fantasy heroes that come in different contexts. I would even, as GM, allow the details of the SFX to change. In a forest, it might be a bear that comes to attack, a tree that falls over to take the hit, in a Hollow World adventure, it might be dinosaurs of one form or another. It could be a lot of fun without trying to stretch the rules, or the patience of the GM. Doc

It is a really cool idea for a comic book, one I might pick up but one of those ideas that rarely translate too effectively into a decent game character. with the right GM and player it is possible. Are the powers always the same? I would be inclined to buy this as invisibly indirect effects with foci of opportunity (a random NPC)....

I like that idea, the problem is not meta-humans that are taught to kill in war, it is what happens to them in peacetime. The ones that came home having slaughtered hundreds of people, sometimes with their bare hands...

I now have the last bid for a character. My next job will be to work on character sheets, build their backgrounds and begin working towards our game, possibly before Easter when our current game (Mutant Year Zero) finishes. Roddy Reyburn Towards the end of WW1, desperate in the face of defeat, a group of German occultists attempted to draw on the power of the vast number of souls dying on the battlefield to summon and bind the god Set from the underworld. This did not go to plan (they only knew part of the ritual, a shell landed near their position etc) and they ended up trapping the god’s power in a ruby embedded in an ankh hanging on a chain round Roddy’s neck – left to him by his father a noted Egyptologist – who was leading his men in a desperate charge but a 100 yards away. Burning with power the ruby ankh fused itself into Roddy’s chest. Powers Turn into a large crocodile/ or humanoid crocodile hybrid? – swim/breath underwater, bite/grab attack Harness the (cough, unholy) power of Set: (possibly a multipower – so only one at a time?) either use to fly (the living earth rejects the aura of Set and pushes him away); or hurl bolts of dark power; or command the unliving (or crocodiles). Blessed by the divine: strong/tough plus heightened senses and persuasiveness and/or intimidation?

yeah, the comics needed to not step on the real life heroes. I guess a game is not limited in that way. I think the need to keep the home country safe drives the military, too far away and the opportunity for metahumans to be overpowered increases and weakens potential defence against Nazi meta attacks. I might make use of an oracle for this, influencing both Berlin and London.

I have another two characters. I asked the players to come up with the group they normally work with when not coming together as the country's premier supergroup, one of these has that information, the other is from a player more at home with FATE than HERO. COLONEL MUSTARD Dashing aristocratic speedster with an array of grenades and explosives. He is not the leader of his other group – in fact, he is loosely associated with several groups and seems to turn up when something looks fun. Primarily associated with ‘The Convocation’: UK Based around the estate of rich and eccentric Lord Lyon. The Gryphon (HtH Damage Dealer) – Daughter to Lord Lyon. Leader of the group. Flying, Speed defence. High damage. Lord Lyon (Mad Scientist) – Not wholly with it, but creates an array of fantastical devices. Father to the Gryphon. Occultish visions that help guide the team. Doesn’t really have an alter-ego. Very reclusive though so not really needed. Rarely leaves his grounds. The Missionary (Tank) – Clergyman tough nut. Defensive tank with some mystical powers. Some other notable affiliates of the Convocation: Groundsman - Can dig really fast – was obviously created for a one shot comic but has kind of hung around Vizier - Teleporter, Telekinisis, Shapeshifter – after last bodily transformation she is stuck in the form of a goat. Krakenaut - Gills, Regeneration. Rival to the Colonel within the group – doesn’t think the Colonel takes things seriously enough. NAME TBC British chaplain , survivor of the trenches. Came out scarred by his experiences and determined to give his all to make a difference going forward, to work tirelessly (RELENTLESS FOCUS) to bring an end to such mindless suffering (LEAVE NO ONE BEHIND). Left behind in the trenches, presumed dead. Dragged himself back to safety (REMARKABLE ENDURANCE), becoming a different man in the process (BORN AGAIN). Crisis of faith has resulted not in his abandoning his faith (PREACHER MAN) but recognises that his faith requires him to do more (ACTION SPEAKS LOUDER THAN WORDS) Brought together other like minded people to form an underground movement infiltrating every aspect of British life (WEB OF INVISIBLE CONTACTS), designed to steer the country & through them the world towards peace (PEACEMAKER). Recognizes that sometimes achieving peace requires the use of force to resist (FISTICUFFS) or overcome evil - believes in evil, has looked it in the eye (POWER OF PRAYER). To cope with this lives by a very strict personal code based on the concept of just war (JUSTIFIED FORCE ONLY).

Christopher, if we were playing online I would invite you today but it will be exclusively face to face. I will however put as much on here as I can get around to....

Depends on how much you want the mechanic to impact the narrative. If if you just add to DCV then you are simply replicating a shield spell for everything but SFX. In play, blink was often the random element we used, it was frustrating for both attacker and defender. It doesn’t matter unless someone hits. If the spell user hits they blink and miss on an 8- roll, if the opponent hits they miss on a 10- roll.

That's great, I need to really sit down and do the numbers but I think this should almost be the reverse of LTE, nothing comes back for an extended period and then it begins to trickle then flow then flood until it is full. my more immediate question is whether we think this is (to borrow from D&D 4th), an encounter power, a daily power, or something else.

I did, but I think it needs to refresh more rapidly...

Yeah well, Black Watch is a trigger phrase for a West of Scotland Catholic boy....

Not quite decided on a base, the heroes are going to be a supergroup. They will each be the strongest members of teams from around the UK/Empire, who come together to deal with national level threats. They will be the premier superhero group in the UK, no one to turn to for higher powered help. They will be experienced and powerful. I am also planning to rehabilitate Chamberlain a bit. He does appease the Nazis but has the motive of preventing a Second World War, avoiding millions of deaths across the globe. While being a bit supine politically, he will be bringing these super humans together to undermine Nazi policy. The players will have a few victories that prevent Britain being knocked out of the war, or subverted into a fascist society, Edward Moseley will be their biggest meta-opponent early on in the campaign. Britain will not fall under a fascist spell and vote in a fascist government. I am going to make Chamberlain a psychic who is taking the least worst option at all times, even at the expense of his own reputation. I am still working out why the war is not simply a fight between superheroes. In DC, retro-explaining, Superman was kept out of the fighting due to the use of the Spear of Destiny by the Nazis. It’s magic subverted those under its influence and Superman is famously vulnerable to magic. I don’t want to use that particular trope. Doc