Announcing — HERO PLUS ADVENTURES!

[Steve Long]

We’ve got something cooking for the Pulp Hero line that I hope y’all will enjoy.

While I was writing PH, I had some ideas for scenarios that I want to write up. For the next several months my workload basically involves editing and rewriting, and I can only do that for so many hours a day before my brain begins to hurt. So, during the little bit of “free time” I try to allow myself each evening when I’m not laboring under a tight deadline, I prefer to work on a short writing project — it exercises different creative “muscles,” and keeps me fresh and focused on each day’s editing work.

To fit that particular bill, we’re launching a new type of Hero Plus product called Dime Hero Adventures. DHAs are short, simple, no-frills PDF scenarios that will sell for $3-5. By “no frills,” I mean they’re not going to have any fancy layout tricks (I’ll do the layout using Andy’s standard templates), illustrations, or other artistic touches. If maps or the like are required, I’ll create them using Campaign Cartographer — they won’t be particularly slick or pretty, but they’ll get the job done. ;) There may be some new characters, but DHAs will mostly refer to published villains and such when possible. The whole point is to keep the adventures short (suitable for one game session’s quickly-prepared play, typically), easy to create, easy to use, and fun. That’s why we can afford to sell them for three to five bucks. They won’t make enough for us to retire or anything, but it will be a cool way for me to keep my Pulp creative juices flowing.

I’ve been working on a couple DHAs already, and I hope we’ll have the first one available for sale in another day or two — pre-release of the genre book, oddly enough, but why should we deny you, our faithful fans, such rollickingly fun adventures? :) Here’s what I’ve been creating:

DHA #1: SPEARS OF THE TISANGANI: When they learn that the lost half of an antique map has been discovered, Our Heroes must journey into the heart of darkest Africa in search of the long-lost city of Tisangani! But they’d best beware, for one of their enemies seeks to thwart their efforts to find the fabled city. And if they do reach it, they’ll find themselves plunged into a political battle between the king and his warlord, with the fate of all of Africa perhaps hanging in the balance....

Spears Of The Tisangani is a Pulp Hero adventure designed for characters built on a total of 150 Character Points or less each. The optimal number of PCs is four to six, but you can scale it up or down based on the number of opponents you pit against the heroes in various encounters. The adventure includes one full-page map and one NPC.

As some of you may recall from playing in it or hearing me talk about it, this is the adventure I ran at Origins this year.


DHA #2: SOLAR SMITH AND THE SKY-PIRATES OF ARCTURUS!: Imagine, if you will, a world where Hugo Gernsback and Robert Goddard team up to make space travel to distant planets possible, and bold adventurers journey forth to find new worlds and encounter aliens. That’s the Aetherial Earth of Solar Smith, a Pulp SF setting inspired by the likes of John Carter of Mars, Buck Rogers, and Flash Gordon. You can join the brave men and women of the American Space Travel and Reconnaissance Agency (ASTRA) as you investigate strange alien planets, keeps the spacelanes safe from pirates, ride zarks across the swampy terrain of Venus, fight zeppelin battles in the Jovian skies, oppose the might of the alien Dracon Empire and its wily ruler Krogan III, and struggle to contain the forces of Nazism and Bolshevism.

Solar Smith And The Sky-Pirates Of Arcturus! details the Pulp Hero and Star Hero mini-setting of Aetherial Earth and its universe (in other words, it’s not a scenario per se, unlike your typical Dime Hero Adventure). It’s not described in as much detail as, say, Terran Empire or Chapter Three of Pulp Hero, but there’s enough information for a GM to get a fun campaign up and running. So check your electric pistols and get ready to blast off to adventure!

Solar Smith features:

—a history of Aetherial Earth’s pulp era
—descriptions of the major planets in and outside the Solar System that PCs might visit (including details on the natives and their cultures)
—information about Aetherial rocketships and technology (including five example ships and several gadgets)
—scenario ideas and a GM’s Vault of secret, GM’s eyes-only information
—six NPC heroes (Solar Smith and his crew), and five villains (including Krogan III and his daughter, the beautiful Princess Aluria)
—two simple illustrations by Maestro Steve himself! ;)


Beyond that, I have lots of ideas, but none of them have specifically grabbed hold of my imagination yet. I might expand on the example randomly-rolled adventure in PH, or on the four scenarios I had published in Adventurer’s Club #21. I have the barest scrap of an idea for a sort of Horror/Weird Menace scenario, and one for a Crimebusting sort of adventure that’ll have to waiting until after Masterminds And Madmen is out so I can use the insidious Lord Fang in it. At present I’m focusing on Pulp Hero adventures, but it’s possible that in time we may expand out to other genres with the DHA concept if it works well. If y’all have any ideas about short adventures you’d like to see, please let me know!

We now return you to your regularly scheduled broadcast. :hex:

[AlHazred]

I'll buy 'em. Don't know when I'll use 'em, but I'll get 'em anyway.

[Jhamin]

Oh!

I'm in. I hope this can expand into other genres as well. (I'd love some martial arts tomfoolery or space opera, nevermind more Champions stuff!)

[teh bunneh]

Ah hell yizzy! About time! :bounce:

MitchellS is right; I'd love to see a few of these for Champs, FH, and SH too.

Bill.
(Shouldn't be hard to convince the wife to let me spend $3 for an adventure...) :thumbup:

[Blue]

Solar Smith sounds like fun. I'll take 'em.

(Is there more info on the Smith setting in PH?)

[the Evil DM]

To fit that particular bill, we’re launching a new type of Hero Plus product called Dime Hero Adventures. DHAs are short, simple, no-frills PDF scenarios that will sell for $3-5. :hex:


But DEEP7 games already has a Product out there called Dime Heroes (http://www.pigames.net/store/product_info.php?products_id=129)that offers "short, simple, no-frills PDF scenarios that will sell for $3-5."
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v149/boojiesdad/dheroes.jpg

[Lord Mhoram]

Cool Concept.

I really hope this takes off. I'd love to see the same kind of thing for other genres.

I know I'll be buying them all (then likely printing them and binding them but hey).

:thumbup:

[Blue]

Well, that could be a problem!

Dime Novels were also called "Penny Dreadfuls", but I doubt you want to hang the word Dreadful on your product ;)

[Derek Hiemforth]

Excellent! These sound mas cool. In fact, if it should happen that other "mini-campaign-settings" like Aetherial Earth are done for DHA over time, maybe they could eventually be collected, gussied up, and published as a "Worlds of Pulp Hero" kind of multi-sub-genre campaign setting book. :)

[Beetle]

This is a really great idea! :thumbup:

The only drawback for me is that I have to go to a friend's house to download stuff and burn it on a cd (no home internet). So I may wait until a few have been released and buy them in bunches.

[Doc Democracy]

I liked it when Pinnacle did it for deadlands - I'll like them for Pulp Hero or any other genre.

Its good business to have a product that people can buy without any reference to budgets etc.

[Sketchpad]

That sounds really cool Steve :) Will there be packages as well for the Solar Smith DHA? How about submitting DHAs? ;)

[BigJackBrass]

To my mind this is precisely the right thing to be doing. Low cost, relatively short add-ons are perfect for PDF (I've seen 400 page rulebooks in that format and can only wonder who can afford to print them out, or why) and a growing fund of material for Pulp HERO is exactly what the game needs. I hope it's successful enough to spread over to other lines as well.

[Herolover]

#1 I can't wait...in fact, I wish they were up right now. I will buy them all.

#2 Great idea and I hope that this isn't just for PULP Heroes. I hope this extends to all genres.

#3 I hope you don't do all the writing yourself. I would like to see this opened to other hero authors and maybe even (with carefull editing) allow submissions from the public.

What about calling Digital Adventures? We have Digitial Hero....now we need Digital Adventures.

[mallet]

You said you were looking for ideas?

Well, nothing screams PULP more then an Evil Mad Scientist with some sort of Fin on his head, a Secret Moon Base and a Giant Laser Gun pointed at the Earth.

Now that's good times.

[Steve Long]

Will there be packages as well for the Solar Smith DHA?

By "packages" do you mean Package Deals? There are some really short-and-simple Package Deals for a few of the alien races, but none for positions in ASTRA or anything like that. If the setting sells well, maybe I'll have the chance to expand on it more and provide info like that.

How about submitting DHAs?

At this point I'd rather not. That would require editing, and one of the points of this project right now is to give me something to do other than edit. ;) It might be possible at some point in the future, though we prefer that writers we haven't worked with establish a track record in Digital Hero before we give them other paying work.

[JmOz]

SOUNDS GREAT

I would use some recycled art (That you own outright and don't have to pay royalties on) just to break up the page a little, but otherwise it sound GREAT (Can we have a couple Champions ones soon...Maybe of a Golden age variety :))

[Mister E]

"Aetherial Earth" sounds pretty cool. :)

Is space actually Aether, in this alternate Universe?

[Teflon Billy]

I'm in!

More money from me will be coming your way as soon as this is made available for purchase.

TB

[Agent X]

As long as the price is reasonable, I will very enthusiastically purchase these adventures. :)

[gojira]

Aetherial Earth sounds fantastic! I think I'd have to buy that no matter what. The concept is otherwise cool, it'll depend on exact subject matter and how well previous editons turned out. Some artwork, even recycled from previous products or drawn by YT would be great.

[Super Squirrel]

NEED BRAINS - ERRRR PLAYERS!

I like the idea. It sounds great. :)

[JmOz]

There is an idea, a pulp zombie fest, with options for champions (tougher & more zombies), fantacy (make it a village) and Star Hero (make it a starship)

[Mister E]

There is an idea, a pulp zombie fest, with options for champions (tougher & more zombies), fantacy (make it a village) and Star Hero (make it a starship)Totally. The zombie game would be a big winner.

[Steve Long]

Is space actually Aether, in this alternate Universe?

Ain't tellin'. You'll just have to wait and see. ;)

[Steve Long]

A further update:

We've had such an enthusiastic response to the "cheap, no-frills scenarios" concept that I think I can expand it beyond Pulp Hero. I've already had a couple of good non-Pulp ideas, including one for a favorite old Dark Champions scenario I wrote up for an APA years ago. That being the case, I need a more "generic" name -- "Dime Hero Adventures" is just too Pulp-y.

So, we're going to call them "Hero Plus Adventures" instead. Hopefully we'll have the first one on sale later today. :hex:

[Steve Long]

It's mostly a question of my getting ideas that work as short, easily-written scenarios. I'm used to thinking in book-length terms, so I have to avoid major concepts. Sort of like planning a game session, I s'pose. I have had a couple of ideas for HPAs that would involve a little research (into, e.g., what espionage agencies of the Thirties were like), but I think I'll do some of the less work-intensive ideas first. ;)

[SAVeira]

It's mostly a question of my getting ideas that work as short, easily-written scenarios. I'm used to thinking in book-length terms, so I have to avoid major concepts. Sort of like planning a game session, I s'pose. I have had a couple of ideas for HPAs that would involve a little research (into, e.g., what espionage agencies of the Thirties were like), but I think I'll do some of the less work-intensive ideas first. ;)
That is pretty easy for the US is not. If I recall correctly, there was no espionage agency for the United States during that time. The OSS, forebear of the CIA, did not come into being till 1941.


Before World War II, our intelligence organization was quite primitive. "The U.S. government traditionally left intelligence to the principal executors of American foreign policy, the Department of State and the armed services. Attaches and diplomats collected the bulk of America's foreign intelligence, mostly in the course of official business but occasionally in clandestine meetings with secret contacts" (Warner 2). The Office of Naval Intelligence or O.N.I., the army's Intelligence Division or M.I.D., and the Military Intelligence Service or M.I.S. were the main foreign intelligence gatherers for the armed services. These agencies, however, were usually small and poorly funded. The biggest problem though was the lack of coordination between the different departments. Information that was collected was rarely shared with other departments and there was no central point for intelligence analysis. This decentralization was not seen as a big problem until America found itself on the verge of entering the war.

See http://history.acusd.edu/gen/WW2Timeline/oss3.html


As for the other agencies, though it is from a much early time, Reilly, Ace of Spies is recommend. Shows a really how the modern spy business began.


At the turn of the 20th century, one remarkable man single-handedly tried to alter the course of history. Cold, ruthless, enigmatic, this Russian-born British agent radically transformed modern espionage techniques and set the mold for a new kind of secret agent-the super spy. REILLY: ACE OF SPIES is the thrilling, suspenseful dramatization of the real-life adventures of Agent ST-1, aka Sidney Reilly, the inspiration behind Ian Fleming's James Bond. Shot in glorious period detail, one heart-pulsing mission after another captures the arc of Reilly's brilliant career. From stealing top-secret Russian oil information to a near overthrow of the Bolshevik Revolution to his final capture by Stalin's forces in 1918, Reilly's exploits are at times so daring and reckless it's hard to believe it's history and not fiction.

See http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000742FZW/104-1357313-1369539?v=glance

[Steve Long]

Just a quick update to let y'all know that Hero Plus Adventure #1, Spears Of The Tisangani for Pulp Hero, is now available!


https://secure.compnetco.com/herogames/browse.jsp?categoryID=4

[Curufea]

I dunno - it's probably just me, but all these "plus" things for various ads and services. It really makes me think 1984 Newspeak. Doubleplusungood and all that :)

[Steve Long]

part 2... The Son of the Spear of Tisangani

Hmmmm....

[Steve Long]

Doubleplusungood and all that

That's doubleplusgood to you, pal. ;)

[Blue]

Just a quick update to let y'all know that Hero Plus Adventure #1, Spears Of The Tisangani for Pulp Hero, is now available!


https://secure.compnetco.com/herogames/browse.jsp?categoryID=4
Woot! I'm on it...

[Alric]

If maps or the like are required, I’ll create them using Campaign Cartographer — they won’t be particularly slick or pretty, but they’ll get the job done. ;)

I use Campaign Cartographer to make scale battle maps for my games. Would it be possible to get the CC2 files with the adventures?

[mallet]

The Son of the Spear of Tisangani. :)

You can't have "Son of the Spear of Tisangani" until after "Bride of the Spear of Tisangani" is released.

[Curufea]

Wait until "Attack of the Georges" comes out :)

[Jhamin]

I use Campaign Cartographer to make scale battle maps for my games. Would it be possible to get the CC2 files with the adventures?

Seconded!

[Teflon Billy]

Could it be possible to add a few more categories to the Online store, it's starting to get a little crowded as it stands nw.

Maybe split the Published Book PDFs, the old 4th ED stuff, and the new E-Published material into their own categories?

It just would make it easier for some of us who are looking for something specific.

TB

[Steve Long]

I hadn't thought about including my CC2 files with an adventure. I'll consider it.

[Sketchpad]

I know that when the paycheck comes in next week, I'll be ordering myself a copy :D

[Herolover]

I have now bought and briefly looked at the new "Hero Plus Adventure #1."

I like it. I like it a lot. This is exactly the kind of thing that can go over very well. enough info to get something started, but not so much that you have to charge an arm and a leg and turn people off. OUTSTANDING

[Super Squirrel]

When you consider it takes little time or effort for Steve to write, costs the company absolutely nothing to make, and you get exactly what you pay for, I think this is a great thing for Hero Games.

[Steve Long]

It's even better when I can raid my hard drive for old stuff that's never been published and spiff it up into usable form, as with HPA #3, The Alchemy Of Love, which I just sent to Andy to check over. :eg:

[Steve Long]

Having gotten HPA #3 out of the way quick and easy (wish I had more virtually-complete nuggets like that one on my hard drive ;)), I've returned to the Pulp fold and started on HPA #4, tentatively titled The Dordogne Zodiac. It's a horror/occult adventure sort of thing that draws on influences such as the stories of H.P. Lovecraft[1] and the adventures of characters like John Thunstone and Jules de Grandin. More as things develop. ;)






[1]: That's Hero Plus Lovecraft, of course, the famed 1920s/30s adventure scenario writer. :eek:

[Super Squirrel]

Okay, so Steve Long is writing about 1 HPA a day. They sell at $3.00 a pop. Assuming that each HPA sells four copies on the first day and a 10% chance per day there after of selling another. Let me see... carry the one, subtract the seven, cross the t, dot the i. That's a LOT of money. :shock:

[Michael Hopcroft]

Are you going to be doing this with any of the other HERO genres? I think this would be a great idea for Champions, Fantasy HERO ("Tales fo the Turakian Age", "Tales of the Valdorian Age"), Star HERO ("Fall of the Terran Empire"), Dark Champions ("The Blue Moon Killer Strikes Again!").... well, you get the idea.

[Blue]

Doesn't take precognition to see where my cash is going.

First one's great, btw. But I'm really interested in the second one. Hope I get it in time to read on the plane and formulate a campaign for my players.

[Super Squirrel]

I miss writing short, one-shot Fantasy Adventures. Magus' Legacy was single handedly the best (and most lethal) fantasy adventure I ever wrote.

[Steve Long]

Are you going to be doing this with any of the other HERO genres?

When inspiration strikes, as discussed previously in this thread.

[Steve Long]

Okay, so Steve Long is writing about 1 HPA a day.

Oh, I wish. ;) It's more a matter of waiting to announce the line until I had two that were nearly completed. The Alchemy Of Love happened to be in far more complete fashion than most of the adventures I write up for myself because I published it in a couple of APAs years ago, so it just needed spiffing up.

I miss writing short, one-shot Fantasy Adventures.

So far I haven't had any good ideas for FH HPAs. When I think of Fantasy adventures I tend to think in a more epic scope, or at least of adventures that have lots of maps. But I'm sure inspiration will strike eventually. ;)

[Shadow Warrior]

Just a quick point of order. The description in the on-line store doesn't tell you anything about the adventure at all - even a one line plot summary would be a great addition. I know someone interested can find that in this thread if they want to, but you don't want to risk putting anyone off who's having a fit of laziness!

Also second whoever above said that the store needs rationalising. The new adventure is buried right in the middle of a load of old stuff (some of it very, very old 4th edition stuff).

Great idea though - I'm purchasing as soon as I've posted this.

[ghoyle1]

Has Solar Smith And The Sky-Pirates Of Arcturus! been held up? I notice that HPA 1 and HPA 3 have both been released, but not HPA 2.

[Steve Long]

As I mentioned on one of the threads pertaining to HPA #3, SOLAR SMITH is longer than ALCHEMY OF LOVE and has illustrations, so it takes more time to put the finishing touches on the layout. We'll probably have it available later today or on Monday.

[ghoyle1]

Ah, I missed the announcement. Thanks for the heads-up!

Guy

[Steve Long]

NP. We'll get it out to you (and whoever else would like to buy a copy) as soon as we can -- after all, mankind needs all the help it can get to stave off the schemes of the Dracon Empire! :hex: