Best of

[braincraft]

I just dropped thirty bucks on a subscription. Since I only get ten issues, does anyone have any recommendations? What can't I miss?

[Lord Liaden]

Congratulations! You won't be disappointed. :)

What sort of material are you interested in? Which genre appeals to you most: supers, fantasy, sci-fi? Are you looking for character ideas and writeups? Adventures? System rules options? HERO GMing advice? There's a great deal of all of those to choose from, but some issues are more focussed on certain areas.

For my part, I thought that DH #44 was stellar, but I might be a tad biased. ;)

[JmOz]

there is this great article about mopoving in combat, but it is a freebie...

Seriously, I would go through the tables of contents and see what interests you. Also check out the freebies

For my money the Mequerre (sp) Falls setting rocks

[Hermit]

It really depends on which genre you play most I think. As the others say, what you are looking for affects a lot of which ones would be best for you.

[braincraft]

I mostly use HERO to play supers, and I like tinkering with game mechanics. I particularly like characters with interesting power builds.

[Lord Liaden]

I mostly use HERO to play supers, and I like tinkering with game mechanics. I particularly like characters with interesting power builds.

Well, for supers stuff, my personal favorite remains DH #13, featuring the Millennium City 8. If you happened to miss it, those characters were winners of the "Name The Hero" contest to create names, concepts and full writeups for the heroes fighting Mechanon alongside the Champions on the cover of Champions Universe.

Many fans submitted entries, and the winners are all fresh and intriguing concepts with well thought-out writeups using innovative approaches to the system. The're written to the 350 pt. Standard Superhero parameters. Although the MC8 can be used as solo NPCs or even PCs, IMO they work very well as a team.

DH 13 also saw the start of Darren Watts's fine "Hero Universe" column series on the beginnings of one of the Champions Universe's premiere superhero teams, the Sentinels. He details the events that brought the team's founders together in the early 1960's, and provides full character sheets for three of those heroes.

[Susano]

Anything with my name in it.














What?

[BoloOfEarth]

I'll have to flip through my issues of DH at home to make specific recommendations (though I second LL's recommendation of the MC8, some of which have interesting builds). I can also recommend DH #44 for the re-imaging of Profesor Muerte (whose new minions have some interesting builds). If you send a private message to Lord Liaden, I'll bet he'll even send you an update on the characters, based on feedback he's received from people on these boards.

I also suggest you look through the DH Adventures thread, where JmOz has listed all adventures that appeared in Digital Hero, broken down by genre. In particular, I enjoyed running the Unearthed Mechana adventure (not sure which DH issue it was in, though the DH Adventures thread will say).

If you have a question about a specific issue, do a search for the word "review" in this forum. I, as well as other people on these boards, have done reviews of many issues, so there's a better than even chance that any given DH issue has been reviewed somewhere along the way, and give you more info on articles within that issue.

That said, I'll try and post more tonight after I get home. (I have all the issues of Digital Hero to date printed, so if you have more specific things you're looking for, let me know, and I'll keep an eye out for them when I flip through.)

[BoloOfEarth]

Anything with my name in it.

What?

That only includes, what, 75% of the issues? You're like the Steven King of HERO Games. The only people with more stuff in DH are Steve Long and Jason Walters... and they own the dang company.

Seriously, though, Braincraft, if you're interested in martial arts goodness - whether a martial arts style, mythical creatures, or sample martial artist characters - Mike Surbrook (aka Susano) has provided oodles of stuff in numerous issues of Digital Hero. I'm sure he can recommend an article or three of his to suit your interests.

[Susano]

That only includes, what, 75% of the issues? You're like the Steven King of HERO Games. The only people with more stuff in DH are Steve Long and Jason Walters... and they own the dang company.

Seriously, though, Braincraft, if you're interested in martial arts goodness - whether a martial arts style, mythical creatures, or sample martial artist characters - Mike Surbrook (aka Susano) has provided oodles of stuff in numerous issues of Digital Hero. I'm sure he can recommend an article or three of his to suit your interests.

I've done more than that -- there was that whole run of issues with ghosts and vampires and such in it, Jack the Ripper and Springheeled Jack, Haunted Houses, FPS Hero....

[Lord Liaden]

Yeah, yeah, Susano is the Man, boon to HERO gamers everywhere, yadda yadda :hail: ...

So why are you wasting time yacking here instead of writing more great DH? ;)

[Susano]

Yeah, yeah, Susano is the Man, boon to HERO gamers everywhere, yadda yadda :hail: ...

So why are you wasting time yacking here instead of writing more great DH? ;)

Well, Monday nights is normally my time to write DH articles. But I spent yesterday watching Heroes.

[BoloOfEarth]

I've done more than that -- there was that whole run of issues with ghosts and vampires and such in it, Jack the Ripper and Springheeled Jack, Haunted Houses, FPS Hero....

The horror... the horror... ;)

Sorry, Mike, I'm at work and don't have my DH issues to consult, and I couldn't recall all you've written. There has been a fair amount from you, and a comprehensive list would be difficult.

Brainchild, since you mentioned tinkering with game mechanics, pay attention to the various HEROGlyphs when you look through the tables of contents. In a good number of them, Steve Long discusses various optional rules or rule changes (such as breaking down DEX, or modeling Sanity rules, or Entangle variations, etc.), while others show how to build things (like Time Stop) using existing powers.

Other authors have also contributed some game mechanics articles. I'll try to put together a list of issues and types.

[teh bunneh]

I particularly like characters with interesting power builds.

May I humbly recommend issue #26 (which features the Crusaders, a "non-team" team of disfunctional supers) and issue #31 (which features Euroguard -- a powerful team that defends the shores of Europe from superhuman terrorist threats). :thumbup:

[BobGreenwade]

And let's not neglect Diceless Hero from DH#1... and I forget which issue it was where Dave Mattingly had fun with Area Of Effect variations.

[braincraft]

I just checked out some issues; I liked Euroguard (my favorite character is Watchmen) and the Millennium City 8.

Oh, and Forces of Nature was also great.

[BoloOfEarth]

Okay, I've flipped through my issues of DH, and here's a few recommendations:

Overall recommendations (multiple reasons):

DH #10, due to: writeup of a nuclear weapon effects; $50 Million Dollar Man; Variations on Areas of Effect.

DH #12, due to: Alternatives to Speed Chart; Leo’s Bar; Bayside Blimp; Unearthed Mechana adventure

DH #23, due to: More Fu Shticks (over 30 powers as martial arts techniques); Knacks (over 50 1-point Talents and Perks); Temporal Champions

DH #34, due to: Fistful of Fu (9 more powers as MA techniques); Leftover Hero (shapeshifters cut from Ultimate Metamorph); Deconstructing DEX

DH #37 – Return to Monster Island (giant monsters); Response Force One (PRIMUS hero team)

Issues with some interesting game mechanics, optional rules, etc.

DH #5 – Entangle variations; Danger Sense variations

DH #7 – Object Creation; Secret disadvantage; Special Effects

DH #14 – Refiguring STUN Multipliers; four ways to build a flying carpet; animal totems

Issues with some interesting characters:

DH #4 – Reverie (memory alteration powers and instinctual appearance)

DH #9 – Infectious Enthusiasm (adventure with 10 characters)

DH #19 – Gadgeteers on Parade

DH #22 – Whisper and Deceiver

DH #24 – The Choir (excellent supervillain group)

DH #31 – Euroguard

DH #34 – Leftover Hero (shapeshifters cut from Ultimate Metamorph)

[Hermit]

I just checked out some issues; I liked Euroguard (my favorite character is Watchman) and the Millennium City 8.



I like this guy already...

:D

[Lord Liaden]

As I'm sure that the (hopefully temporary) disappearance of Digital Hero will spark renewed interest in purchasing it, a thread of recommendations seems like an appropriate topic to revive. :)

I'd like to add one for "War of the Worlds: Champions" from #39. This provides a great campaign rationale for creating Victorian Era supers and pitting them against the invading Martians of H.G. Wells's original story. Imperial British superheroes, steampunk gadgets, Martian war machines... it's the full monty. :cool:

[proditor]

As I'm sure that the (hopefully temporary) disappearance of Digital Hero will spark renewed interest in purchasing it, a thread of recommendations seems like an appropriate topic to revive. :)

I'd like to add one for "War of the Worlds: Champions." This provides a great campaign rationale for creating Victorian Era supers and pitting them against the invading Martians of H.G. Wells's original story. Imperial British superheroes, steampunk gadgets, Martian war machines... it's the full monty. :cool:

Thankyew. :D I know Mike is "King of Conversions", I was angling to nab "Earl of Homages" myself. ;)

Issues that made me want to write (or keep writing) for DH:
DH 10 for the 50 Million Dollar Man
DH 13 for the Millenium Eight
DH 24 for the Choir
DH 31 for Eurogaurd
DH 44 for Professor Muerte (I actually keep a printout next to my nightstand.)

Anything with "You gotta have character" or Darren's CU History.

I never regretted a purchase, and I'm really saddened that DH is even temporarily gone.

[Lord Liaden]

DH 44 for Professor Muerte (I actually keep a printout next to my nightstand.)

I feel honored. :o

(BTW I continued to compile updates, corrections, clarifications and options for that article into a DOC file based on feedback I've received from readers. Any interested parties can send me an e-mail address and I'll be glad to pipe it to you.) :)