HERO Games

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Not as Dumb as He Looks

Submitted by Eric Hansen

Many years ago, while exploring in the land of Calador at the employ of King George, our party found itself in a forgotten underground facility. Under the lead of a young Amol Trifaf, would-be conjuror, we came upon a bizarre portal into a seemingly normal large parlor. The frame of the portal appeared of normal finish, but had a peculiar shimmering effect across the opening and quietly hummed. Weird.

On the other side of the entry was a strange device that was skimming across the floor in a totally random pattern, stopping occasionally over a blemish or small piece of debris. The machine paused, shivered slightly, let out a very audible 'Click,' and then moved on in it's random pattern, leaving the floor with no trace of the blemish or debris.

Our party came from such diversity, that we drew attention from all who saw us, as there was absolutely no way that we should be associated with one another as a group. There was TeriLynn (my character, a fighter/weapon smith), Amol Trifaf and his annoying Raven, a gargantuan Rhino-Man mutant named Roc (whose name we couldn't pronounce despite the attempts around the campfires - the mead had to be at least a +5 modifier against us), the Ninja known as Wong Hung Lo, the guy King George sent with us to make sure we finished our tasks and didn't run off with the booty, and the decreasing number of porters we were assigned to carry our various supplies and junk - no hold portals in Fantasy Hero.

Totally mystified by the shimmering, humming doorway, young Mr. Trifaf asked, "OK, what now?"

As the others looked at each other, TeriLynn moved to towards the door, pulled out a copper piece, and tossed it in. The field flashed as the coin pierced it's energy membrane and passed through. It landed on the floor in the other room with a loud 'Clink,' rolled around a bit and came to a stop - heads.

The little bizarre machine suddenly took notice and rapidly changed direction as if to try and intercept the coin before it came to a complete stop. Once over the coin, it paused, let out the 'Click,' and went on about it's business - the coin all but gone.

Stupified, Amol looks at the group and ponders the next move. Roc is noticeably agitated by the machine cruising around the room without direction. And TeriLynn makes the suggestion to the would-be conjuror, "Why don't you take out one of those bananas you carry with you, and put it to good use. Push it through the doorway and try to pull it back out - then we'll know if something organic can survive the passage."

Totally inspired, Amol grabs the fruit and does as suggested, wiht a flash, the banana is cut in half at the furthest point of progress as he pulls it back. The severed portion falls to the floor in front of the door on the other side of the field.

This gets the attention of the machine as it changes it's path and heads for the door. It stops over the banana, shivers and 'Click,' moves away with no sign of the coin's ever being there.

This is too much for Roc, as he pulls out his monstrous war hammer, and springs forward through the portal, and with a loud buzz and bright flash of light, passes through to the room. He leaps over the furniture and chases the machine to a corner, where he proceeds to pulverize it with his mighty hammer.

As the group decides it's probably safe and heads through the portal as Roc is taking inventory of the contents of the machine. He reports finding the severed piece of banana, a few strips of tattered paper, some dead insects, dust, and some crumbs.

TeriLynn asks Roc if he found her copper piece.

Now Roc isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, and the group has tried not to make note of it and has reasonable success, but he has his moments, and this is one of them, "I found My copper piece."

SIT!

Submitted by Tim W. Brown

"The Walls Drip Blood", a Hero System tournament module I created, cast the PCs as high-school kids trapped in a haunted mansion, where they were beset by various spooky things and monsters. A tongue-in-cheek B-grade horror spoof, points were awarded not for killing but for staging memorable scenes in the slasher-flick genre.

One group went into the basement for some reason and there encountered a Hell Hound, a large black dog with glowing red eyes and dripping fangs. As it stood between them and the only way out, it looked like certain death for them all. Suddenly the guy playing the president of the local Future Farmers of America group noticed, "Hey, I've got Animal Handling skill at 8 or less -- can I use it on this thing? It's an animal isn't it?" The GM smiled cruelly and nodded, "Yeah, sure -- but you have to roll a 3 (on 3d6)!" The player nodded, picked up the dice and bellowed "SIT!" and threw the dice. Three ones.

The whole table erupted in a loud cheer as the Hell Hound, with a puzzled expression on its demonic face, sat docilely. Other gaming groups all up and down the hall looked to see what the yell was about.

The monster watched three of the four characters walk delicately past it and out the door; the poor FFA president went last and accidentally stepped on its paw, so the dog ate him anyway. But the others got away (from that one at least).