Chat about the game...

The difference in the damage came because the resisting value is reduced when you use that maneuver. It's like reducing the targets armor. Instead of saying 'lowers the targets RV' you could almost say that it increases your damage by that amount, they equal the same thing now.

also, by the way Paul. You have a message in your Inbox.

Yup, just as Ryan says. To break it down...

To hit (to use a D&D term) roll 2D10 (plus bonus dice from Hero Points and skills) plus your Acting Value (which is usually Dex or a Power of some kind)

The Target number is 11 + the Opposing Value (Dex usually for physical attacks) + any other modifiers

If you equal or exceed the target number, you see how much damage you inflict, or at least how successful (or not!) you were.

You compare the EFFECT value of your attack (Strength, Your power, A weapon, Skill in some cases etc) against the RESISTANCE value of the target (a characters Body score, power, brick wall etc).

If EFFECT is greater than RESISTANCE, you inflict damage. The damage is the difference between the two. So say you roll well and get your effect boosted to 10 against a Resistance of 6, you inflict 10-6 damage, so 4 points.

Now, with critical blow you are making it harder to hit your opponent, but if you do, you are striking at a vulnerable point - the eyes, throat, groin etc, so their resistance is lowered. In game terms you add +4 Opposing value (making it harder to hit) but REDUCE resistance value by -6.

So let's say you attacked as before, save that you didn't roll well, barely just scraping a hit because you went for a critical blow. Your Effect value say is 6, against a resistance value of 6. Normally no damage, but as you went for a critical blow (and found it harder to hit) the resistance value of the target dropped from 6 to 0, so you do 6 points of damage with your blow (assuming you hit the target number dead on).

Critical blows (and devastating attacks) are a trade off, allowing you to sacrifice accuracy to strike at a vital less armoured point on your opponent. Someone like Lionheart with Dex 22 when he uses all his bells and whistles should make it routine to strike slower opponents with critical and devastating blows. If he attacked someone with 9 Dex the target number would be 11+9 = 20. With 22 Dex he would hit automatically so long as he didn't roll double 1. Worth it then to go for a critical blow or devastating attack. Let's say our Dex 9 guys has 18 Resistance (he's a tough guy). Lionheart has Effect value 8 (Strength) which wouldn't normally cause a dent in the other guy, but going for a devastating blow (+8 to hit -12 resistance) means that the target number to hit would now be 28, so he still only needs a roll of 6 or over, and the targets resistance value is reduced from 18 to 6, so as a minimum Lionheart causes 2 damage with his rapid fire punching, and chances are a higher roll will boost that up.

Note that regardless of how devastating a blow you land, you can't reduce the resistance value to lower than zero, so it's best to consider the trade off between accuracy and damage. No good doing loads of damage if you never actually hit...

By the way I plan a rejig of Lionheart. In the old rules he had the whole 22 acting 22 damage thing going on a lot of the time. In the new martial artist has changed dramatically meaning it doesn't go up with his Dex score so he needs to inflict damage another way. in keeping with his mental powers thing I will offer you a choice of stuff for you to pick from, and break it down so that it becomes an easy (ish) choice. For instance he may have higher strength, or maybe lesser strength but uses telekinesis to lift stuff, and he uses a mental blast with a range of touch to inflict damage as if his strength were boosted telekinetically.

There is also the Accuracy skill, which can be applied to one single power at a Factor Cost of 1. What this means is that it can be made very cheap to attack with one specific power, so he could ditch martial artists of have it much lower aps, rely on his speed and his accuracy with his power can be boosted higher to give the same power levels as before for about the same or less cost. Options, you don't need to know the ins/outs of the mechanics, save to know that I will at the least try to make the character as effective as before.

Anyway, bed time. Another day with little one off school means another looooooonnnnnnnngggggggg day mopping up snot and nosebleeds. Joys of fatherhood...

Ah I did wonder if the reduction to resistance (or bonus) was a set figure dependent on the type of attack. In any case this makes it a whole lot easier to understand. As regards to Lionheart, well I'll wait and see what you come up with. For me, Lionheart has first and foremost been a concept character (Psi Cop) and everything is built around that. So whatever you think works best.

Anyway hope you got some good sleep, colds and home time comes to an end. Now my son is nearly 20 and living & working away and I've not seen him in over a year, so believe me the alternative is not always what it might be cracked up to be. Don't wish away the years.

Sj

Not sure how this will turn out on screen. Basically its the tables from the Rules proposal document all into one. Hopefully the colour coding/borders make it clear. Any suggestions on how things should be organised if it needs made clearer etc welcomed...



From left to right:

1) Action Result Table and modifier to effect value (RED)
2) Hero Point Bonus Dice and cost (YELLOW)
3) Last Ditch Defence and costs (BLUE)
4) Skill Bonus Dice and description (GREEN)

Criticism welcomed!

And here is a thumbnail. Hopefully when click on it will blow up in size...

Edit: poop. No it doesn't.



Ahhh. Right, bit of fiddling with BBcode and ... well, click the second. I will stick that in my signature. Aside from adding colour to every post I make ( ) it puts the tables instantly available to hand for everyone...

Admin wrote:Ahhh. Right, bit of fiddling with BBcode and ... well, click the second. I will stick that in my signature. Aside from adding colour to every post I make ( ) it puts the tables instantly available to hand for everyone...

Neatarooney.

Sj

Once I've sorted out the character sheets I'll give you all links to post in your profile/signature so that it's always there to hand. One of those things I should've gotten round to but never learned how to do. A few seconds search on the internet, some image hosting, and hey presto. Only problem is that image hosted links only seem to last a while. Our earliest posts have 404 squares where pictures used to be

I wouldn't mind taking a look at Lionheart again with the changes to the skills.. somehow I think he's still pretty viable even without the 'special link' effect tying it to his Dex. I wont know for sure until I get under the hood as it were.

Well, I wanted to change Martial Artists as its such a common skill (especially for non powered types) so have to be careful not to 'nerf' it.

In a nutshell, proposed changes to Martial Artist:

1) As with all skills you can use Bonus dice from Skill APs OR
2) Substitute APs for Acting value OR
3) Look in the bonus dice of the skill column, then use that number as APs to spread about (add to) your Opposing/Effect/Resistance values as you see fit in a round OR
4) use APs as effect value in killing combat
5) whatever you choose, add that bonus dice number in the skill column to initiative in a round

Plenty you can do with it and tried not to remove any functionality from the skill. Indeed, it's probably gained some.

Example:
Batman (Martial Artist 9), can, in a round, choose whether to:

1) Roll four bonus D10 when attacking in hand to hand combat OR
2) Use Martial Artist 9 as Acting Value (waste of time with Dex 9) OR
3) Distribute +4 APs to Opposing/Effect/Resistance values as he sees fit OR
4) Use 9APs as Effect value in killing combat or vs walls etc
5) gets to add +4 to initiative (as opposed to standard +2 I think it was that all MA get, so the better you are, the faster you are)

Martial Artist CANNOT be used unskilled. That is the flipside in the new version.

This is proposed, all comments welcome.

As for Lionheart, by all means take another shot at recosting once have outlined the skills. I was thinking Adrenaline Surge to boost superspeed as I was always a bit twitchy about powers adding to stats unless they are in the rules as doing so (Growth and Density Increase etc). That would require an extra roll in a round (to see how much he has available) and I don't know whether Power Reserve would stay in the version I rewrote or not, but it does fit in with the character concept. Anyway, duty (work) calls, more later...

The trouble with Adrenalin Surge is that it's really swingy. A bad roll and he's throwing kiddie punches as far as supers go, an amazing roll and he's punching way over even his weight. Power Reserve is pretty effective for it.. I'll try and dig up his sheet over the weekend or something like that.

Also, interesting twist there with the jet. Funny thing is I was going to gas the interior. Not such a great idea now... what to do.. what to do...

Hey Paul, since I don't know the area personally.. what is under the plane right now? Populated areas or am I lucky enough to be say.. out over the ocean as it circles around?

The city of London is below, large residential area, streets etc...

Typical I suppose.. Alright then.. more brainstorming! Night boss! Time to get to bed before it's tomorrow. If I fall asleep in 10 minutes I'll just make it (11:50 local time)

Catcha later

I plan to have a thorough review of the skills section of the blood of heroes book and a new section to write up in the rules change pdf. Might take a day or two. Assuming everyone keeps the same skills when i recost the characters there may be refunds coming for Haunt, Lionheart and Frostbite. Will keep you posted.

If anyone has any trouble figuring out what i've written, please holler - though i've written loads of games over the decades i'm happy to admit i'm no game designer/editor!

Have to look at all these messages later. Been a bit hectic healthwise. Going in for neck surgery next month and try not to spend too much time on the computer as it aggravates the neck pain. So I will be intermittent until after New Years, probably.

Ah right, hope it goes well! Will be here when you get back, take it easy mate

Have made a conscious effort to up my posting rate this week (probably 10x the usual amount thus far!) and have to say the amended rules are really whizzing stuff along for me to resolve actions, especially the ditching of the table. It's not perfect - the equations don't work out exactly the same as the table but it's not so far out as to cause problems.

Over the weekend, kids/real life permitting, I plan to:

1) Alter the skill descriptions of the game, with changed costs and mechanics
2) start on the re-jigged characters. Haunt is easy, Frostbite shouldn't be too bad, but Lionheart probably warrants a ground up rebuild as his Martial Artist was something he always relied on (in the old game system and this one). I think Ryan (Dunecat) wanted to take a look too so am always open to input. Your character Dave so you get the final say. Will offer you options which you can select from.

Of course, that's all subject to real life pressures blah blah...

Admin wrote:Have made a conscious effort to up my posting rate this week (probably 10x the usual amount thus far!) and have to say the amended rules are really whizzing stuff along for me to resolve actions, especially the ditching of the table. It's not perfect - the equations don't work out exactly the same as the table but it's not so far out as to cause problems.

Over the weekend, kids/real life permitting, I plan to:

1) Alter the skill descriptions of the game, with changed costs and mechanics
2) start on the re-jigged characters. Haunt is easy, Frostbite shouldn't be too bad, but Lionheart probably warrants a ground up rebuild as his Martial Artist was something he always relied on (in the old game system and this one). I think Ryan (Dunecat) wanted to take a look too so am always open to input. Your character Dave so you get the final say. Will offer you options which you can select from.

Of course, that's all subject to real life pressures blah blah...

Its been very noticeable and appreciated as well Paul. You've continued to keep the pace right on the mark, so much so I've had to stop for a bit and think about what I do. Not used to that

Anyway, I totally agree the rules, much easier. As for Lionheart I'll put up a copy of his character sheet as I have it Lionheart Character sheet

Sj

It's not often where I check in and waiting for you Dave... We've been playing together, what, 6 years on this game? Probably a bit longer (we were, what, a year on the other forum before we finally got fed up of the owner faffing about and taking it up/down and found our own place?). How long were we at the Exec game, you, me and David? Amazed we've all stuck at it. I had some epic campaigns through my teens (mostly BECMI D&D and some 1e AD&D/DC heroes/Marvel/Star Wars/MERP/Warhammer plus others that were shorter lived) but I'm proud that we've managed to keep this game going. It's nothing without the players, and I plan to keep going so long as we have people to play

Right, enough reminiscing, got some more skill descriptions to write up and have Star Trek: Search for Spock playing in the background on Dave

Skill Document Proposed v1

More bedtime reading. A no prize to guess which fonts I tried to use and which game book I tried to layout in the style of. Well, sort of. Anyway, take a look, all comments and suggested changes welcomed.

Admin wrote:Skill Document Proposed v1

More bedtime reading. A no prize to guess which fonts I tried to use and which game book I tried to layout in the style of. Well, sort of. Anyway, take a look, all comments and suggested changes welcomed.

Will take a look at it when I get a mo, probably later now. Thanks mate, appreciate the upping posting rate - you'd think you'd been drinking from the same tap as Lionheart the way things are going. Although it's appreciated, don't burn yourself out.

Sj

Yeah, all too aware of the need to pace myself!

Right, next up took a look at Haunt. Now as these characters are 'Class 3' superhumans I have applied a rough guide to power as 500HP per class, give or take -250/+250 roughly. Costs are all run through the character creation software so don't blame me if they don't add up!

This means that Haunt, Frostbite and Lionheart need recosting in line with this. Silas was built with 1500 so he's fine.



The changes are:

• Higher Intelligence and Influence (and therefore higher initiative)
• Higher Strength and Will (and therefore higher Omni arm and Regeneration)
• Higher Body, Mind and Spirit
• Thief drops to 7 (4 bonus dice), all skills now unlinked. Gains Weaponry 13/Melee weapons which means he gets five (5) Bonus dice when making an attack with Dex 9 OR uses Weaponry 13 with his Omni Arm, which is like Green Arrows level of skill with a bow to put into context

Therefore tougher, better at fighting, uses less hero points with skills, regenerates faster and generally more kick ass. Class 3 is supposed to be low-average Avenger/Justice League type level, and includes street heroes like Spiderman, Luke Cage and characters of that calibre, though with the acting/effect of the team at the moment they are knocking on the door of mid-higher level Avengers/Justice League.

Anyway, Frostbite up next.

Just to clarify.. did Silas take both wings off the plane or just one?

Also, just a reminder for Haunt.. his self manipulation power can duplicate any physical power. So if people are shooting flame throwers at him he can slap on an extra 9 aps of flame immunity with that power.

Both wings, and Self Manipulation has the usual Force/Matter Creation type caveats, so it would need a physical manifestation of rht power, so Haunt would be dressed in a white fireproof suit like Firemen wear etc.

Also, applying the RVs don't stack rule. Can't remember where I read it but the game designer (Ray Winninger?) brought it up which makes sense.

So Skin Armour 5 and Force Field 11 and Flame Immunity 8 vs a flame thrower attack adds up to Force Field 12 + 1 vs the flame thrower, rather than Force Field 11 + Flame Immunity 8. basically take the highest value and add +1, because APs don't add, only values do...

Just a heads up as I was looking at recosting Frostbite (with 1500HP) and picking just one power to resist vs cold rather than several. The power Frostbite seems apt and topical (seeing as its his name) and I was thinking Fluid Form instead of dispersal so he can turn himself into a snowman/slush. It's not the same but Dispersal at high APs is darned expensive.