Digest Archives Vol 1 Issue 38
Desmarais, John
From: owner-champ-l-digest@sysabend.org
Sent: Friday, November 13, 1998 2:58 AM
To: champ-l-digest@sysabend.org
Subject: champ-l-digest V1 #38
champ-l-digest Friday, November 13 1998 Volume 01 : Number 038
In this issue:
Re: New PBEM Starting
Re: mob attacks - 'More brains!'
Re: mob attacks - 'More brains!'
Team fighting (was Re: mob attacs - "More brains!")
Re: mob attacks - 'More brains!'
Re: Funky AID stuff
RE: mob attacks - 'More brains!'
Re: New PBEM Starting
Re: Character Advancement
Re: mob attacks - 'More brains!'
Re: Funky AID stuff
Re: Anglo-HERO (Re: San Angelo Opinions)
Re: Funky AID stuff
RE: Character Advancement
Re: mob attacks - 'More brains!'
Re: Funky AID stuff
Re: mob attacks - 'More brains!'
Creation Workshop/Hero Creator Question
Re: mob attacks - 'More brains!'
Re: Negative Sight
Re: Favorite NPC's
Re: Creation Workshop/Hero Creator Question
Re: Creation Workshop/Hero Creator Question
FH Anyone?
Help! <Disembodied Brains are People Too>
Feedback Sought
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1998 17:05:11 +1100
From: Mad Hamish <h_laws@postoffice.utas.edu.au>
Subject: Re: New PBEM Starting
At 08:49 AM 11/11/98 -0500, Lisa Hartjes wrote:
>Hi!
>
>I'm looking for three players for a new pbem game I'm starting.
>"Applications" will be accepted until Saturday.
>
>It will be a Swashbuckler Hero game, set in in the world of Kolrath. For
>information about the world, and how to get involved in the game, please go
>to http://roswell.fortunecity.com/danken/79/kolrath.htm and read the
>information there.
>
>NOTE: The game will have DAILY moves, so make sure you'll be able to keep up
>with the pace before you submit a character concept.
>
>Lisa Hartjes
>
>beren@unforgettable.com
>http://roswell.fortunecity.com/daniken/79
I've tried both urls in the above message and get a sorry, page no longer
exists on this server message.
****************************************************************************
The Politician's Slogan
'You can fool all of the people some of the time and some of the people all
of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time.
Fortunately only a simple majority is required.'
****************************************************************************
Mad Hamish
Hamish Laws
h_laws@postoffice.utas.edu.au
h_laws@tassie.net.au
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1998 17:18:07 +1100
From: Mad Hamish <h_laws@postoffice.utas.edu.au>
Subject: Re: mob attacks - 'More brains!'
At 04:00 PM 11/11/98 -0500, Brian Wawrow wrote:
>Hi,
>
>This may be covered in existing material but I wanted to get the list's
>opinion.
>
>So I'd like to sick a horde of shambling zombies on my FH party. Given
>that the PC's are all very fast and have DCV's that a lowly zombie could
>never touch in one on one combat, how do I simulate a dog-pile tactic. I
>want to pack the zombies in so tight that the PC's can't dodge
>effectively and have to cut their way through the undead and wind up
>knee-deep in gore. Nice, eh? It's kind of a 'Night of the Living Dead'
>thing. I'm not trying to totally outgun them, just knock them around a
>little and make them panic.
>
>See, I went to the Rob Zombie show last week and I've got to work these
>necromantic urges out of my system.
I don't know if this is going to be dumped on as out of court but
The Complete Martial Artist suggests DEX Aid for highly trained coordinated
attackers
suggested - maximum 6D6 points aid
- invisible power effect
- only for increasing OCV & DCV -1/4 (-1/2 for OCV only maybe here?)
useable only within 5" of specific other persons -1/2 in this case for
group of zombies
My suggestion would be have maybe 1D6 aid/5 zombies or something similar.
****************************************************************************
The Politician's Slogan
'You can fool all of the people some of the time and some of the people all
of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time.
Fortunately only a simple majority is required.'
****************************************************************************
Mad Hamish
Hamish Laws
h_laws@postoffice.utas.edu.au
h_laws@tassie.net.au
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1998 01:00:33 -0600
From: "Michael" <mlnunn@blue.net>
Subject: Re: mob attacks - 'More brains!'
>>This may be covered in existing material but I wanted to get the list's
>>opinion.
>>
>>So I'd like to sick a horde of shambling zombies on my FH party. Given
>>that the PC's are all very fast and have DCV's that a lowly zombie could
>>never touch in one on one combat, how do I simulate a dog-pile tactic. I
>>want to pack the zombies in so tight that the PC's can't dodge
>>effectively and have to cut their way through the undead and wind up
>>knee-deep in gore. Nice, eh? It's kind of a 'Night of the Living Dead'
>>thing. I'm not trying to totally outgun them, just knock them around a
>>little and make them panic.
>>
>>See, I went to the Rob Zombie show last week and I've got to work these
>>necromantic urges out of my system.
Not having my books handy here at work I am going from memory, but isn't
there a bonus for multiple attackers in one of the versions of the rules?
Michael
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1998 03:13:33 -0500 (EST)
From: Daniel Pawtowski <dpawtows@access.digex.net>
Subject: Team fighting (was Re: mob attacs - "More brains!")
>
> The Complete Martial Artist suggests DEX Aid for highly trained coordinated
> attackers
Ah, yes, I remember that now. I recall I found it a bit on the
kludgy side, buying Levels with "Only useable while fighting in groups"
worked better. To get a 'layered' effect, you buy, say, one level with
"Only useable with one or more partners", another level with "Only
useable with two or more partners", etc. Get ten of these guys working
together, their CV's become frightening. It also dosen't play havoc
with your Dex&SPD charts the way the aid-based version does.
Daniel Pawtowski
dpawtows@access.digex.net
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1998 02:59:32 -0500 (EST)
From: Daniel Pawtowski <dpawtows@access.digex.net>
Subject: Re: mob attacks - 'More brains!'
> never touch in one on one combat, how do I simulate a dog-pile tactic. I
> want to pack the zombies in so tight that the PC's can't dodge
> effectively and have to cut their way through the undead and wind up
> knee-deep in gore. Nice, eh? It's kind of a 'Night of the Living Dead'
I've built martial-artist "array figting" as HtH levels with a
Limitation to reflect that they only work in groups. I suppose the
same thing could be used for a zombie swarm. Another idea might be
to get "Area Effect, Requires more than X Zombies", and fill in X and
adjust the Limitation to suit the effect you want. If the PC's manage
to kill enough zombies to deplete their numbers below X, then they've
earned a little "breathing room" until the other five hundred can move
closer.
Or just work with the previously mentioned Multiple Attackers Bonus.
Daniel Pawtowski
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1998 09:48:24 EST
From: llwatts@juno.com (Leah L Watts)
Subject: Re: Funky AID stuff
>OK. Here's a power I'd like to detail. The SFX are by and large
>unimportant: what I want the power to do is twofold:
>
>1) Make a particular power (or group of powers) more powerful.
>2) Make those same powers harder to control.
There's been some good suggestions already, but something I would suggest
is giving the boosted part of the power the Beam Attack limitation (or
something roughly equivalent). That would give the "oops, I used too
much power" result.
Leah
___________________________________________________________________
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Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com/getjuno.html
or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1998 09:44:50 -0500
From: Brian Wawrow <bwawrow@fmco.com>
Subject: RE: mob attacks - 'More brains!'
> I like that idea :) hmmm how to simulate that... well, there is the
> OCV
> modifier that crowds of people get (+1 for each past the first that is
> attacking simulntaneously)... that will make the Zomibies hit more
> reliably, although the extraordinarily low speed will mean not often.
> Zombies are awfully tough, since they dont get knocked out, just put
> 2-3
> times as many as the number of the party and that should make them
> retreat
> at least
>
[Brian Wawrow] Okay, so if I say a character could get attacked
by one zombie for every adjacent hex facing, that's six zombies all with
+5OCV? That's pretty harsh. I like it. That's bad news if they're laying
STR25 grabs on the poor palladin. I think that's going to be a lot
easier to deal with than AIDs to DEX and so on. It becomes quickly
appearent why the party would all want to fight with their backs
together.
Yea, the other thing I plan to do to make the zombies nasty is
give them all the automaton stuff and physical damage reduction. Yes,
they'll be slow but they'll be a real pain in the ass. This is going to
create some really intimidating tactical situations I think.
Thanks
BRI
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1998 10:12:13 -0500
From: "Lisa Hartjes" <beren@unforgettable.com>
Subject: Re: New PBEM Starting
<<I've tried both urls in the above message and get a sorry, page no longer
exists on this server message. >>
Whoops. There was a typo. It's
http://roswell.fortunecity.com/daniken/79/kolrath.htm . I really ought to
proofread my mail more carefully. :)
Lisa
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1998 08:49:29 -0800
From: Bob Greenwade <bob.greenwade@klock.com>
Subject: Re: Character Advancement
At 09:01 PM 11/10/98 -0800, Jay P Hailey wrote:
>A> If I limit what a player can spend his points on, then I might as well
>go whole hawg and assign points myself. I.E. "Bohb, your character shot
>at a lot of people recently. So your character has gotten to the point
>where he now has +1 OCV w/ pistols." No "point" awards but occasional
>upgrades to the characters.
Actually, I've done something like this in the past -- not doing away
with experience points altogether, or even assigning all experience points,
but merely making recommendations about where points should be spent based
on what the character's gone through recently:
"Your character's been using that gun a lot on moving targets. It seems
to me that another Combat Skill Level would make sense."
"He's taken BODY damage quite a bit recently. Let's spend some points
to increase his BODY, his PD, or -- better yet -- both."
I've never had an argument.
- ---
Bob's Original Hero Stuff Page! [Circle of HEROS member]
http://www.klock.com/public/users/bob.greenwade/original.htm
Merry-Go-Round Webring -- wanna join?
http://www.klock.com/public/users/bob.greenwade/merrhome.htm
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1998 09:05:42 -0800
From: Bob Greenwade <bob.greenwade@klock.com>
Subject: Re: mob attacks - 'More brains!'
At 04:00 PM 11/11/98 -0500, Brian Wawrow wrote:
>Hi,
>
>This may be covered in existing material but I wanted to get the list's
>opinion.
>
>So I'd like to sick a horde of shambling zombies on my FH party. Given
>that the PC's are all very fast and have DCV's that a lowly zombie could
>never touch in one on one combat, how do I simulate a dog-pile tactic. I
>want to pack the zombies in so tight that the PC's can't dodge
>effectively and have to cut their way through the undead and wind up
>knee-deep in gore. Nice, eh? It's kind of a 'Night of the Living Dead'
>thing. I'm not trying to totally outgun them, just knock them around a
>little and make them panic.
I think Steven Mitchell's take is the way to go, or at least darn close.
Use the +1 Multiple Attackers bonus, have some of them Grab the heroes,
and even if the zombies have relatively low DEX and SPD the heroes should
have trouble. In particular, you can give them Skill Levels with Grab just
to make things hard, at least to begin with.
- ---
Bob's Original Hero Stuff Page! [Circle of HEROS member]
http://www.klock.com/public/users/bob.greenwade/original.htm
Merry-Go-Round Webring -- wanna join?
http://www.klock.com/public/users/bob.greenwade/merrhome.htm
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1998 08:54:20 -0800
From: Bob Greenwade <bob.greenwade@klock.com>
Subject: Re: Funky AID stuff
At 01:14 PM 11/11/98 -0600, Dr. Nuncheon wrote:
>
>OK. Here's a power I'd like to detail. The SFX are by and large
>unimportant: what I want the power to do is twofold:
>
>1) Make a particular power (or group of powers) more powerful.
>2) Make those same powers harder to control.
>
>An example would be a psi-enhancing drug that increased someones (say)
>Pyrokinesis levels, but the person would have trouble setting a small
>fire, tending instead to produce massive conflagrations.
>
>'More powerful' is easily enough defined - I want the powers affected to
>have higher active point totals - this suggests Aid as a base.
>
>'Harder to control' is a bit tougher. The common element I seems to be
>thinking of is some sort of will/skill roll to be able to control the use
>of the extra power. Also, the tendency for the power to manifest itself
>even when the victim isn't actively trying to use it (like, say, when
>they're upset or otherwise in a highly emotional state).
>
>So, for the base power described above, what do you suggest?
I don't think that there's a by-the-book way of doing this (though
admittedly I say this before reading the dozen or so other responses I
downloaded in this packet).
What I'd suggest would be to apply Requires Skill Roll (or some other
appropriate Limitation) to the Aid, defining that Limitation as applying to
the Power being Aided rather than to the Aid itself.
>What if I wanted the aid to be able to add advantages - say, it would turn
>Inferno's flame blast into an AE attack, or an AP attack? Would I add
>'Variable SFX' to the Aid, or is there somethign better? What if the user
>couldn't choose which advantage was added? (i.e. he knows that using his
>power on Inferno will do /something/, but he doesn't know if the firebolt
>will be generally nastier (more AP), bigger (AE), more focused (AP), etc).
Again, I don't think that there's a "by-the-book" way of doing this, and
in this case I frankly can't think of a "smooth" way of doing it either. I
think one could rework Aid so that it adds Advantages (for instance, it can
make an Energy Blast into an Armor Piercing Energy Blast, if it generates
enough points of Aid), but to vary this would probably need something akin
to Any One Power, or perhaps a +1/2 Variable Result Advantage.
- ---
Bob's Original Hero Stuff Page! [Circle of HEROS member]
http://www.klock.com/public/users/bob.greenwade/original.htm
Merry-Go-Round Webring -- wanna join?
http://www.klock.com/public/users/bob.greenwade/merrhome.htm
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1998 10:59:56 -0800 (PST)
From: Ell Egyptoid <egyptoid@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Anglo-HERO (Re: San Angelo Opinions)
> I'm going to have to draw day-in and day-out, you're damn skippy
it's going
> to be good-looking -- since I have to look at it every day, I'm
drawing
> something I WANT to look at.
What about Gregory and Herman the Vermin?
oh wait, they didn't have super-powers...
Well what about Eric Cartman?
He could crank fire out his backside for a while...
==
Elliott aka Egyptoid
_________________________________________________________
DO YOU YAHOO!?
Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1998 15:00:54 -0500
From: geoff heald <gheald@worldnet.att.net>
Subject: Re: Funky AID stuff
At 01:14 PM 11/11/98 -0600, you wrote:
>
>OK. Here's a power I'd like to detail. The SFX are by and large
>unimportant: what I want the power to do is twofold:
>
>1) Make a particular power (or group of powers) more powerful.
>2) Make those same powers harder to control.
>
>An example would be a psi-enhancing drug that increased someones (say)
>Pyrokinesis levels, but the person would have trouble setting a small
>fire, tending instead to produce massive conflagrations.
>
A very comic book question. Many boosts in power have a "breaking in"
period. I remember Colossus going to dial a pay phone (just after a big
strength boost) and putting the "5" button clear through the phone.
I have a similar question, but I'm not done thinking on it yet.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 98 20:38:08
From: "qts" <qts@nildram.co.uk>
Subject: RE: Character Advancement
On Wed, 11 Nov 1998 16:24:04 -0500, Brian Wawrow wrote:
>> I've scant experience with SHRPG, but the Radiation Accident is always
>> a good one, as is adding a Power with NCC and gradually buying off the
>> NCC to represent the character acquiring the skill to manipulate the
>> power.
>>
> [Brian Wawrow] you guys ever read any X-Men? There's nothing
>that a high powered telepath and a Danger Room can't teach you about
>your powers. If it's skills your after find a teacher, read a book or
>take a correspondance course.
>
> You should allow any PC to learn anything by using all or some
>of the following: training, introspection, experimentation and practice,
>practice, practice.
Isn't that exactly the same as my second example, except from a
non-mechanic POV?
qts
Home: qts@nildram.co.uk.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 98 20:48:24
From: "qts" <qts@nildram.co.uk>
Subject: Re: mob attacks - 'More brains!'
On Wed, 11 Nov 1998 16:00:55 -0500, Brian Wawrow wrote:
>This may be covered in existing material but I wanted to get the list's
>opinion.
>
>So I'd like to sick a horde of shambling zombies on my FH party. Given
>that the PC's are all very fast and have DCV's that a lowly zombie could
>never touch in one on one combat, how do I simulate a dog-pile tactic. I
>want to pack the zombies in so tight that the PC's can't dodge
>effectively and have to cut their way through the undead and wind up
>knee-deep in gore. Nice, eh? It's kind of a 'Night of the Living Dead'
>thing. I'm not trying to totally outgun them, just knock them around a
>little and make them panic.
If the zombies are crowding them, then they don't get their full DCV.
If their movement is severely restricted, then they're DCV 0.
qts
Home: qts@nildram.co.uk.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 98 21:34:00
From: "qts" <qts@nildram.co.uk>
Subject: Re: Funky AID stuff
On Wed, 11 Nov 1998 15:06:29 -0600 (CST), Dr. Nuncheon wrote:
>On Wed, 11 Nov 1998, qts wrote:
>> On Wed, 11 Nov 1998 13:14:33 -0600 (CST), Dr. Nuncheon wrote:
>>
>> >
>> >OK. Here's a power I'd like to detail. The SFX are by and large
>> >unimportant: what I want the power to do is twofold:
>> >
>> >1) Make a particular power (or group of powers) more powerful.
>> >2) Make those same powers harder to control.
>>
>> Aid and RSR!
>
>Um, maybe I wasn't clear...
>
>Bob Booster wants to use this power on his pal Inferno. Putting RSR on
>the Aid will only make the Aid require a skill roll. I don't know of any
>mechanism that lets you add limitations to other peoples powers...
It only adds the Lim to the Aided bit.
>(besides maybe Transform, which would be nasty and kludgy).
Right, your concept is substantially different, but easy to model. If
they already have RSR, have a Side effect of Drain vs Stat for SR; if
not, put in a Lim of Activation Roll =15-(AP/10) with Side Effect of
100d6 Dispel vs Power.
qts
Home: qts@nildram.co.uk.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1998 15:46:08 -0600
From: "Guy Hoyle" <ghoyle1@airmail.net>
Subject: Re: mob attacks - 'More brains!'
Pack the zombies into a ceiling compartment and drop them on the PCs.
Alternately, put them in an underground chamber and drop the PCs into their
midst.
Disguise the zombies as something innocuous so that the PCs don't realize
that they're being surrounded by zombies.
Let the individual pieces of zombies continue to fight on, even after
they've been dismembered.
Zombie goo. Pop 'em op[en and their entrails slither about underfoot.
- ----------
> From: qts <qts@nildram.co.uk>
> To: Brian Wawrow <bwawrow@fmco.com&> champs list <champ-l@sysabend.org>
> Subject: Re: mob attacks - 'More brains!'
> Date: Thursday, November 12, 1998 2:48 PM
>
> On Wed, 11 Nov 1998 16:00:55 -0500, Brian Wawrow wrote:
>
> >This may be covered in existing material but I wanted to get the list's
> >opinion.
> >
> >So I'd like to sick a horde of shambling zombies on my FH party. Given
> >that the PC's are all very fast and have DCV's that a lowly zombie could
> >never touch in one on one combat, how do I simulate a dog-pile tactic. I
> >want to pack the zombies in so tight that the PC's can't dodge
> >effectively and have to cut their way through the undead and wind up
> >knee-deep in gore. Nice, eh? It's kind of a 'Night of the Living Dead'
> >thing. I'm not trying to totally outgun them, just knock them around a
> >little and make them panic.
>
> If the zombies are crowding them, then they don't get their full DCV.
> If their movement is severely restricted, then they're DCV 0.
> qts
>
> Home: qts@nildram.co.uk.
>
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1998 17:06:28 -0500
From: Scott Nolan <nolan@erols.com>
Subject: Creation Workshop/Hero Creator Question
I've just bought Creation Workshop, thinking it was a Windows 95 version of
Heromaker. Oops.
So now it appears that I need Hero Creator, too? What else do I need to make
this
thing work?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For in far foreign fields, from Dunkirk to Belgrade,
Lie the soldiers and chiefs of the Irish Brigade.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Scott C. Nolan
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1998 14:37:51 -0800 (PST)
From: "Steven J. Owens" <puff@netcom.com>
Subject: Re: mob attacks - 'More brains!'
Brian Wawrow writes:
> So I'd like to sick a horde of shambling zombies on my FH party. Given
> that the PC's are all very fast and have DCV's that a lowly zombie could
> never touch in one on one combat, how do I simulate a dog-pile tactic.
I go with qts's suggestion; if you want to make it hard for the
PCs to dodge the zombies because it's so crowded, just throw an
environmental modifier into to mix. Make sure you tell the PCs as
soon as it goes into effect, or if it's appropriate, as soon as they
can see it will be an issue ("The room beyond the door is packed with
zombies; you can tell you'll have a hard time dodging attacks in there
just from how crowded it is") so they don't feel like you're shafting
them.
On the other hand, this may not be the best way, in terms of
storytelling strategy, to handle the zombies. It depends on the
effect you're going for, but typically zombies are threatening simply
because they don't stop and they're nearly impossible to destroy - and
one good scratch is all it takes.
Simulating the hard-to-kill aspect can be done with armor or with
damage reduction, or simply by giving them lots of extra body, and
defining the SFX as simply that the body part, or whatever, has to be
actually destroyed to damage it, not simply injured.
Hm... come to think of it, if you have an endless supply of
zombies slowly-but-relentlessly closing in on the PCs and crowding
them, that would generate the feeling of fear. But again, I'd suggest
that you tell the players right away when it starts happening. Then
let them spend the rest of the time trying to fight the zombies without
staying in one spot long enough for the zombies to gang up on them!
> I want to pack the zombies in so tight that the PC's can't dodge
> effectively and have to cut their way through the undead and wind up
> knee-deep in gore. Nice, eh? It's kind of a 'Night of the Living Dead'
Sounds a bit more like a 'Dead Alive' thing :-). (Peter Jackson
movie... you'd have to see it to believe it, but a lot of it can be
summed up in the sentence "A room full of zombies and a lawnmower".)
Steven J. Owens
puff@netcom.com
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1998 15:11:47 -0800 (PST)
From: Ell Egyptoid <egyptoid@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Negative Sight
>Hence, in his universe, darkness acts like light - it behaves the way
you
>would expect light to behave in a certain circumstance.
>Nothing gets weird until you introduce someone from the other
>universe. What he wants is for his character to perceive darkness as
>light, and vice versa. A flashlight would produce a spot of darkness
on
>the ground to his perceptions. Turning on a lamp when you enter a room
>would make everything dimmer to him.
>Does that make things a little more clear?
unless I missed something, just give the person:
Phys-Lim: Color Vision is inverted.
Phys-Lim: Color-Blind.
==
Elliott aka Egyptoid
_________________________________________________________
DO YOU YAHOO!?
Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1998 14:37:44 -0800 (PST)
From: Ell Egyptoid <egyptoid@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Favorite NPC's
ah yes, Thag the Minotaur. still talked about 7 years later:
In a fantasy game the PC's were deep inna dungeon, a vicious one,
acid pits, hordes of lizard men, evil overlord chasing them down.
The PC's ain't gonna make it, it's getting tough, outlook grim.
So they're behind the main throne room of ye evil overlord,
and they find out that his bodyguard squad is a bunch of huge
hulking minotaurs. bad news. but...
the good news was that they had arrived during the guards lunch break.
all the minotaurs were away feasting except Thag, the stupid one, and
he'd been left alone. So the PC bard sidles up to Thag, and says Hey!
what's a nice minotaur like you doing in a sicko dungeon like this?
He sets Thag at ease and they have a nice talk. Thag seems like a nice
guy, etc. Bard slowly talks Thag out of wanting to kill and eat the
PC's.
Bard asks Thag: "You don't eat people, do you?"
Thag's answer: "Does dwarf-babies count?" This gets a chuckle.
Q: You don't like what the evil Lord Krattam does, do ya Thag?
A: Me not know, Thag only pawn in game of life.
So the Bard turns Thag all around, gets him mad at the bigger minotaurs
what always picked on him, didn't give him his fair share, made him eat
lunch late, etc. So when the other minotaur guards come back, Thag
joins in with the PC's and they win the fight. They invite Thag along,
and he adventured with them for a long while.
He was invaluable, but still a chaotic bloodthirsty beast.
But the Bard worked on this, and essentially Transformed Thag
into a good guy. He and the mage "erased" all of Thag's bad psych
disads (I had to make a character sheet for him) and replaced
them with good ones. Soon Thag fit right in, still dumb, but not
a loose cannon anymore.
Later, the party was in the wilderness, and I maxed out the encounter
roll. They got stampeded by an entire herd of wild boars. Like 40 of
them, or whatever max was on the charts. Boars aren't dragons, but they
aren't pushovers either, and 40 is a lot. In its way, this was the most
vicious fight they ever fought and that I ever GMed. Every player and
NPC had like 5 boars on them at once. The mage went down, and Thag went
totally berzerk. But pushing his STR, Thag's axe cleaved a path to
safety.
Thag and the biggest male boars were obscured in a huge cloud of dust.
When the fight was over, the PC's were amazed to hear singing coming
over
the next hill. Here's come Thag, his axe slung over his back, it and he
totally slathered with blood, and he's got 2 big boars under each arm,
and he's belting out a joyous tune: (i made it up on the spot)
BEAT A LOTTA PIGGIES, HAD A BIG FIGHT,
MINOTAUR IS HAPPY, EVERYTHING'S ALRIGHT,
CAUSE THERE'S SAUSAGE IN THE KINGDOM TONIGHT!
and indeed, the PC's had bacon & sausage rations for about 10 weeks.
Later, PC's began donating points to Thag so he could keep up. Thag got
more and more rude combat-wise, and even he had a follower. Eventually,
Thag reached god-head and now wanders the Astral Plane with his pet
tiger,
kind of an elemental force, a sort of demi-god of good, cause he just
hacks the crap out of anything evil he chances across.
sigh.
==
Elliott aka Egyptoid
_________________________________________________________
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Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1998 16:28:28 -0800
From: Bob Greenwade <bob.greenwade@klock.com>
Subject: Re: Creation Workshop/Hero Creator Question
At 05:06 PM 11/12/98 -0500, Scott Nolan wrote:
>
>I've just bought Creation Workshop, thinking it was a Windows 95 version of
>Heromaker. Oops.
>
>So now it appears that I need Hero Creator, too? What else do I need to make
>this
>thing work?
That about sums it up -- except that you only need the Hero Template
($10), not the full-blown Hero Creator (which is more).
- ---
Bob's Original Hero Stuff Page! [Circle of HEROS member]
http://www.klock.com/public/users/bob.greenwade/original.htm
Merry-Go-Round Webring -- wanna join?
http://www.klock.com/public/users/bob.greenwade/merrhome.htm
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1998 20:17:32 EST
From: HeroGames@aol.com
Subject: Re: Creation Workshop/Hero Creator Question
In a message dated 11/12/98 2:30:24 PM, nolan@erols.com writes:
>I've just bought Creation Workshop, thinking it was a Windows 95 version
>of
>Heromaker. Oops.
>
>So now it appears that I need Hero Creator, too? What else do I need to
>make
>this
>thing work?
>
All you need is the Hero System template, which is $15. With the Hero System
template and Creation Workshop you get additional capabilities over HERO
Creator: the name finder and dice roller utilities, complete customization
capability (change any cost or formula), ability to create your own print
templates, and ability to create or use conversion scripts between game
systems.
If you don't feel you need the added capabilities, though, feel free to return
the Creation Workshop and we'll send you a HERO Creator instead, along with a
refund for the difference. BTW, you can always upgrade from HERO Creator to
Creation Workshop for $20 at any time.
— Steve Peterson, Hero Games
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1998 23:01:09 +0000
From: "J. W. Eiler" <jw_eiler@bellsouth.net>
Subject: FH Anyone?
OK, here's my situation.
I've played (and GM'ed) several gaming systems, and like the
Champions/Hero system the best. However, I'm a die-hard fantasy RPG player
- -- superhero, modern military, and sci-fi genres just don't interest me
much, nor the other players in our group.
The problem is this -- Hero has a great product, but any actual
adventuring we do has to come from other company's materials -- we usually
end up loosely translating old Dungeon (TM -- yadda yadda) magazine
adventures, or try (with mixed success) to write our own.
There are Hero Systems people on this list, and (I assume) people who have
the talent to write good adventures -- both short scenarios and campaigns.
My questions are as follows:
1: Is Hero Games planing on putting out more for their FH line?
2: Does anyone have advice on translating other company's NPC's,
"monsters," and scenarios? I've done it by hand for several -- and let me
tell you, there's got to be an easier way!
3: Does anyone have any settings -- I've got some fairly basic plot ideas,
but I can't seem to come up with the background "color."
Any help is appreciated, but especially either points 2 or 3 -- I've got
gamers who are threatening to acquaint me intimately with a sword if I
don't get some gaming ready for them! <g>
J. W. Eiler
But I cut upon every timber,
And I carved into every stone:
After me cometh a builder.
Tell him -- I, too, have known.
Rudyard Kipling -- When I was a King and a Mason
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1998 20:03:30 -0800 (PST)
From: Ell Egyptoid <egyptoid@yahoo.com>
Subject: Help! <Disembodied Brains are People Too>
Where on the net is posted a list
of every single Hero product ever published?
I used to know, but now I can't find it!
you'd think that'd be on the rec.games.supers faq?
==
Elliott aka Egyptoid
_________________________________________________________
DO YOU YAHOO!?
Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1998 02:40:00 EST
From: Pat10355@aol.com
Subject: Feedback Sought
Hi,
We are preparing Denizens of San Angelo (working title), a sourcebook
providing "normal" NPCs for the San Angelo: City of Heroes setting, and a
format question has arisen. We are seeking your feedback before making a final
decision.
Essentially, we have two choices:
1) Provide a mix of condensed write-ups (stats in three lines, skills, powers
and disads in paragraph form, and abbreviated text descriptions) and full
write-ups (the format used in past Enemies books).
The condensed write-ups will likely not include costs and point totals, but
otherwise the two formats contain the same Hero System info.
This has the advantage of allowing us to "spotlight" key NPCs and provide
additional detail on their backgrounds, personalities, and so on. It has the
drawback of reducing the number of NPCs that can be included in the book since
longer write-ups take up more space.
2) Provide only condensed write-ups. This has the drawback of not allowing us
to "spotlight" NPCs, but will allow us to fit far more NPCs into the same
space.
Unfortunately, simply expanding the size of the book isn't an option. We are
going to make the book as big as we think feasible from a financial and
marketing standpoint. Beyond that point, the book would cost more than people
are probably willing to pay for a sourcebook of normals.
We are interested in hearing what you, our readers and customers, would prefer
for the book. Thanks for any feedback you can provide.
Patrick Sweeney
Continuity Editor
------------------------------
End of champ-l-digest V1 #38
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Date: Wednesday, December 30, 1998 02:58 PM