Brainstorming a M:tG themed campaign...

[zepherusbane]

I was wondering if you had any ideas as to other possible familiars besides BoP?
...
I think Red & White will be the tough ones, though I have found the Forge Devil and Goldenglow Moth.

Ok, if I assume to keep familiars can only have one mana as their casting cost which I think you suggested earlier in the thread, here are a couple suggestions for red and white. Also assuming non-people only for familiars.

For red: Kird Apes or Goblin Balloon Brigade

For White: Savannah Lions

I'm sure there are many other options, I was just doing a quick look at revised edition to get these examples, I presume that most sets have at least one or two options in each color for each set that fall under the assumptions I mentioned above.

One way you might limit it in your game would be to specify which sets people can choose familiars from, or you could go the other direction and allow multiple familiars from any set based on some limiting criteria (such as one mana casting cost and creatures only).

You could do the limits in some other method too, like saying only creatures that provide mana boosts or whatever other criteria you think is best.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Kird Apes & Savannah Lions- classic!

Visually, they may seem a bit large for a familiar, though...and stating out adult apes & lions in HERO may be a bit expensive for that role- unlike in M:tG, not all animals will be 1/1, if you catch my drift.

However, the suggestion remains solid, and I could have them be juveniles.

You do raise an interesting point, I think, about multiple familiars. The question being whether I should put a cap on the number of familiars while making the familiars special exemplars of their kind.

As I was saying about rat spells, perhaps the big power of a rat familiar is that it lets you cast rat spells, something a regular rat- found, bought, or captured- would not let you do.

In the case of something like a Kird Ape or Savannah lion, perhaps it will be that they grow up...

 

[Loonook]

Kird Apes & Savannah Lions- classic!

Visually, they may seem a bit large for a familiar, though...and stating out adult apes & lions in HERO may be a bit expensive for that role- unlike in M:tG, not all animals will be 1/1, if you catch my drift.

However, the suggestion remains solid, and I could have them be juveniles.

You do raise an interesting point, I think, about multiple familiars. The question being whether I should put a cap on the number of familiars while making the familiars special exemplars of their kind.

As I was saying about rat spells, perhaps the big power of a rat familiar is that it lets you cast rat spells, something a regular rat- found, bought, or captured- would not let you do.

In the case of something like a Kird Ape or Savannah lion, perhaps it will be that they grow up...

As a player over the last 18 years of both RPGs and Magic:

Blue: Crows/Magpies, Homunculi, Faeries, Gremlins.
White: Spirits, Lantern Archons (more motes of light).
Red: Sparks (Lightning Elemental anyone?), Gremlins, birds of prey
Black: Skeletal familiars, rats, imps.
Green: Songbirds (Whipporwill, Birds of Paradise).


Will make up more when I get back from work

Slainte,

-Loonook

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

hmm
your making me want to stat out a hero character.
I used to make them for fun. I just didn't like the way the game played.
anyway with HERO rules your better off starting high powered, its not really a zero to hero kind of system. I would be inclined to build a deck first, then base a character on it.
15 land (ignored)
15 creatures (4 types, 2-3 common)
15 spells/artifacts (4 types, 2-3 common)
- the problem is that heroes normally have 1-3 attacks and 1 sets of constant defenses.

Do you have a rule of thumb on how to represent a summoned creature as a power?

What about a multi-power framework...
Active cost 50
Shivan Dragon: 10d6 or +16 PD/ED resistant

Sorry it took me so long to respond.

I wouldn't be surprised to find at least one player basing a PC off of a deck design.

1) Land- your mana source- will be represented by Endurance Batteries with types attached to them. To cast a spell, you'll have to use mana of the appropriate type. This means that PCs who want to cast only Green spells and use Artifacts would only need a Green End Btty, while one who wanted to go Blue/Red would need at least 2...or a way to convert mana to other types.

2) Summoned creatures will be like all other spells. FantHERO (6th) already has an exemplar of the spell built with the Summon power that lets you summon 4 100pt animals for a 13pt cost. And they will be subject to special campaign limitation that simulate summoning sickness, making them cheaper. Creatures with Haste will not be subject to that limitation, so will cost more.

3) I expect most casters will be using Multipowers, but "Blue" casters may find additional simulation in Variable Power Pools.

4) I might want PCs who are more gear-centric to use a VPP as well, representing a cache of items they can equip- essentially like a gadgeteer. That will also make it easier to pick up Artifacts and make them a permanent part of their PC's inventory.

 

[Loonook]

Sorry it took me so long to respond.

I wouldn't be surprised to find at least one player basing a PC off of a deck design.

1) Land- your mana source- will be represented by Endurance Batteries with types attached to them. To cast a spell, you'll have to use mana of the appropriate type. This means that PCs who want to cast only Green spells and use Artifacts would only need a Green End Btty, while one who wanted to go Blue/Red would need at least 2...or a way to convert mana to other types.

2) Summoned creatures will be like all other spells. FantHERO (6th) already has an exemplar of the spell built with the Summon power that lets you summon 4 100pt animals for a 13pt cost. And they will be subject to special campaign limitation that simulate summoning sickness, making them cheaper. Creatures with Haste will not be subject to that limitation, so will cost more.

3) I expect most casters will be using Multipowers, but "Blue" casters may find additional simulation in Variable Power Pools.

4) I might want PCs who are more gear-centric to use a VPP as well, representing a cache of items they can equip- essentially like a gadgeteer. That will also make it easier to pick up Artifacts and make them a permanent part of their PC's inventory.

The question is: Will Control-based players grind the game to a halt? .

Other creatures as promised Daniel:

Green: Anurids (frog creatures), SPIDERS!!! Monkeys, Moa, Spikes. I believe that Red and Green should not have giant familiars per se but that is what Giant Growth is made for .

Red: Kavu (Think draconic pets).

Blue: Fish, Flying Rays, Beebles!

Also Slivers...


White:

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Thanks for doing some of the heavy lifting!

I'll have to see which of those actually have 1 casting cost types (maybe 2 would be better?) that I can use with little difficulty.

BTW...OOZES!

The question is: Will Control-based players grind the game to a halt? .

You mean like the ones that counterspell, tap/steal mana & such? Well, given that FantHERO is a classless game, I expect to see few PCs that are pure casters. Also, just by the nature of HERO, some things like Artifacts won't have Mana as part of their activation cost, and as carried objects, will not be able to be countered- though full activation may be thwarted (a magic sword rendered temporarily mundane is still a sword). This means that Controllers will be able to gum up a lot of things, but they won't be able to shut things down completely,

So things like the assorted Counterspells, Winter's Orb, Cyclopean Tomb, Mana Drain and so forth will not be trivial, but also not almighty, either.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Given how HERO handles objects, I'm going to have to seriously consider the power of Disenchant. Heck, I'll have to consider how to model it in the first place.

Which- in part- inspires this question: should I impose a simulation of M:tG's "4 identical spells per deck" for casters?

 

[Lwaxy]

We did that to keep the flavor. Someone wrote up an in game explanation for it but I can't remember right now.

 

[Zelda Themelin]

I'd love to see MtG as roleplaying game. I like their idea(s). Not everything naturally, but I like it.

I would like to play someone who becomes during the game planeswalker, otherwise how different it would be of other one world games. Many cards have quite inspiring stuff.

But since I am only one who is into MtG universe or knows much about it, it's likely I will run it some day whatever I find anything from internet. i have little time for such things now.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

OK- so magic in this game should follow The Law of Four.* Now I have to account for the M:tG cards that let you bend that rule.

Black cards usually let you do it to creatures- mostly via some kind of sacrifice- and Blue cards usually limit it to Instants, Interrupts or Sorceries. Those seem like good limitations to keep.

There are certain cards that let you reshuffle your graveyard back into your deck...those would be problematic. I might include those as long, drawn out rituals based on the Change Environment power, which means they're more likely to be used by BBEGs than PCs.











* details of how this rule works to be decided later.