Best HERO system product [Archive] - HERO Games Discussion Boards

Checkmate

Oct 18th, '07, 10:33 AM

When you add "any edition" it makes things tough. If we narrowed it to only 5th ed. I'd say Terrian Empire followed closely by Star Hero.

EDIT: Just noticed you said "Product" not book. That makes it extremely easy: Hero Designer bar none.

archermoo

Oct 18th, '07, 10:46 AM

5ER core rules book. Followed closely by Hero Designer.

John Desmarais

Oct 18th, '07, 11:15 AM

What do people think are the best HERO system products from any edition?
I personally liked Justice, Inc.

Justice, Inc. is great, although for pure usefulness the 5th Edition (revised) rulebook is hard to beat. My personal favorite Hero System book though has to be the old Justice, Inc. supplement Lands of Mystery.

(Also in the running, the 5th edition Fantasy Hero and Star Hero books - both of which provide a nearly exhaustive break down of their respective genres; and the 3rd edition Champions supplement Strike Force - which taught me more about how to run a Champions campaign than any other book I've ever read.)

pinecone

Oct 18th, '07, 11:19 AM

I think my most warm regards would go to Strikeforce.....I also gots the hots for Uma...Um the game supliment too...Ummm....

Killer Shrike

Oct 18th, '07, 11:48 AM

For me, the "product" is a combination of H5ER + HERO DESIGNER. They are one product in my mind -- each is incomplete without the other.

For all time ENJOYMENT though, I'll have to go with HERO SYSTEM #500 -- the old slim blue rulebook. That was the vehicle for my prime years of play with the HERO System. The glory days if you will.

CTaylor

Oct 18th, '07, 12:03 PM

I haven't seen a lot of the newest work, but the best book I think they put out was Strike Force. It's hard to tell that now but it was ground breaking, had terrific ideas and rules, and was a great example of a successful campaign.

Justice Inc was a great product, though, wonderful source material. Golden Age of Heroes is the same way, both versions.

Susano

Oct 18th, '07, 12:55 PM

Hero Designer!

bwdemon

Oct 18th, '07, 01:52 PM

Original "Enemies" book

Susano

Oct 18th, '07, 02:02 PM

Anything with my name on the cover.

...

...

What?

ghost-angel

Oct 18th, '07, 06:07 PM

Fifth Edition Rules. (like KS I believe it + Hero Designer are essentially one product).

I'm also a big fan of Core Rules SKU#500. It was the only 4E book I owned for many many years.

Talon

Oct 18th, '07, 07:02 PM

Allowing core books, 4th edition (lots of changes, made it a lot more universal than it had been before). Supplements only, Strike Force (for reasons cited above). Hero Designer, Star Hero, and Fantasy Hero 5th Ed. are all close contenders.

Lysando

Oct 18th, '07, 07:05 PM

One of these:

Pulp Hero
Post-Apocalypse Hero
Tuala Morn

Tuala Morn is the one I've enjoyed reading the most. Pulp Hero is the one that I think will be most useful to my gaming goals. PAH is just cool.

Basil

Oct 18th, '07, 07:10 PM

Normals Unbound
Pulp Hero

BobGreenwade

Oct 19th, '07, 05:30 AM

As tempting as it would be to say The Ultimate Vehicle, many other products have been released by Hero that surpass even what I was trying to achieve with that book.

So I'd put 5ER at the top of the heap, followed by The Turakian Age. This book surpasses Terran Empire by virtue of the more thorough geographical coverage, and the sidebar NPCs and other "extra goodies."

Dead guy on tab

Oct 19th, '07, 06:05 AM

It's interesting that people mention the Hero System Rulebook - 4th Edition. I owned both the Hero System Rulebook and the Big Blue Book (Champions 4th Edition), and I seem to prefer the BBB.
Once I finish reading them I think I will add The Ultimate Skill and Pulp Hero.
I do like Hero Designer and agree it is a big improvement over Hero Maker.
I really liked Golden Age of Champions (both versions - although the 4th ed was superior) even if I have yet to run a World War II campaign.
What products do people think would be necessary to have a complete Hero collection (besides "all of them") for people like me considering picking up old source material?

Susano

Oct 19th, '07, 06:37 AM

What products do people think would be necessary to have a complete Hero collection (besides "all of them") for people like me considering picking up old source material?

4th Edition Normals Unbound

ghost-angel

Oct 19th, '07, 06:41 AM

It's interesting that people mention the Hero System Rulebook - 4th Edition. I owned both the Hero System Rulebook and the Big Blue Book (Champions 4th Edition), and I seem to prefer the BBB.

I like the Rulesbook over the BBB for the simple fact that the majority of my gaming in 4E wasn't Champions and the extra pages were dead weight to me.

Lord Mhoram

Oct 19th, '07, 11:59 AM

4th Edition Normals Unbound

Yeah - that was one kick butt book. I've used almost a third of those characters in my games.

The best Product... Toughie - Lands of Mystery, Strike Force, Hero Designer, Villiany Amok, and Fantasy Hero (5th) are what are in the running for me.

Fantasy Hero is the one that gets the most use, aside from HD.

casualplayer

Oct 19th, '07, 01:06 PM

Indisputably Champions: The New Millenium. Mmmm, mmmm, love me some Fuzion. ;)

From early editions, Champions II. Just about everything in that book was a welcome innovation. Completely reinvigorated my campaign. And, of course, Strikeforce. I strip-mined that book repeatedly for ideas and characters, and continue to do so today.

From 4th, well, I've worn out 3 copies of the BBB but with the infamous binding problems that wasn't all that hard! :D A close second was Ninja Hero (wait for it, you will see a theme emerge.)

For 5th, Champions was all that and a bag of chips. Gee, Mr. Allston, kin' I have yer autygraph? :D Very closely followed by Millenium City and Ninja HERO. You try following in a Champions guru's shoes!

Nolgroth

Oct 19th, '07, 02:45 PM

Okay, 5th Edition and Hero Designer are the defaults. Can't really play Hero without 'em (unless you go earlier versions :) ). So not counting those, Star HERO has been my favorite supplement. That whole situation I find funny, since up until HERO 5th and the Star HERO that goes with it, I was more partial to fantasy.

And Champions the New Millenium? Why bother with that when you can get the core rules free. The setting was over Image-d and that made turned off a lot of people. I did like that they included both Fuzion and 5th Edtion stats in a couple of books though. An interesting aside but not 5th Edition HERO. Too bad the Fuzion system died a crib death.

ghost-angel

Oct 19th, '07, 04:00 PM

I suppose if I were to pick a supplement that was my favorite ... Ultimate Skill hands down absolute best thing printed for the game.

Basil

Oct 19th, '07, 08:07 PM

What products do people think would be necessary to have a complete Hero collection (besides "all of them") for people like me considering picking up old source material?

Normals Unbound has already been mentioned, so I'll add the 4th Ed. Dark Champions, C.L.O.W.N., all the Adventurers Club magazines you can find, and both the Hero System Almanacs.

4th ed. Dark Champions covers various subjects regarding law and the justice [sic] system, which 5th ed DC pretty much skipped. I also found the coverage of forensics in An Eye for an Eye much better arranged, and easier to follow, than the same subject in 5th ed. DC

Lord Mhoram

Oct 19th, '07, 08:09 PM

I suppose if I were to pick a supplement that was my favorite ... Ultimate Skill hands down absolute best thing printed for the game.

:) For you. :D

It will be my least used Ultimate book in the game. It's one of the few 5th books I feel I didn't get my money's worth.

Different strokes and all.

ghost-angel

Oct 19th, '07, 08:12 PM

:) For you. :D

It will be my least used Ultimate book in the game. It's one of the few 5th books I feel I didn't get my money's worth.

Different strokes and all.

Oh yeah, useful is always subjective. Like UMA for instance is my least used Ultimate book. In fact, I hadn't even seen most of the pages until I did a review of it.

BobGreenwade

Oct 20th, '07, 07:34 AM

Susano

Oct 20th, '07, 07:40 AM

I don't know why I didn't think of this one before....

Watchers of the Dragon. It's an NPCs book, "Martial Arts World" book, adventure book, and much more all rolled into one volume. Probably the most mileage per page of anything ever published under the HERO Games banner. Even for someone not running a game with Martial Arts Superheroes, it does show how to build a "community" within a setting (much more than The Mystic World even tries to), regardless of the genre of the setting or the nature of the community.

DOH! Can't believe I forgot that one. Yes, it is an excellent sourcebook. Other books I liked were Allies, Fantasy Hero Companion 1, and The Armory Volume 1 (to go really old school). By the same token, I recall Golden Age of Champions 1st edition being really, really popular when it came out.

Hyper-Man

Oct 20th, '07, 07:44 AM

The Armory Volume 1 (to go really old school).

Yep, one of my favorites.

Sean Waters

Oct 20th, '07, 07:48 AM

5ER is indispensible, but may not be the 'best' Hero product.

I'd have to say Hero Designer. I love it, I do. It makes getting those ideas down so much easier, and tweaking a character, or increasing their XP, a doddle. I know it does not bring anything 'new' to the table but the sheer freedom to get on with it is as breathtaking as a freshly shorn scrotum.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Evil (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Evil)

Lord Mhoram

Oct 20th, '07, 07:58 AM

Oh yeah, useful is always subjective. Like UMA for instance is my least used Ultimate book. In fact, I hadn't even seen most of the pages until I did a review of it.

:D

Whereas my copy of UMA almost has the cover falling off due to use (thankfully I got two copies of it when it came out - I knew I would use it that much).

Susano

Oct 20th, '07, 08:03 AM

Probably my most used book is the Hero System Bestiary -- if only because I'm always referencing it when building adaptations.

ghost-angel

Oct 20th, '07, 08:05 AM

For the first two years of 5E I only owned the Rules and Bestiary. It is a truly nifty book.

Psybolt

Oct 20th, '07, 10:46 AM

I'm a fan of Dark Champions, for the wide variety of options it allows.

Also Loved Pulp Hero for the amount of use and different potential options.

So far, everything I've picked up from the 5th Edition has been very enjoyable and pleasing to me. I've been very pleased.

GestaltBennie

Oct 20th, '07, 10:42 PM

Let's see.

Sentimental attachment: Anything with my name on it. My wee baby bairns. ::sniff::

Barring those, and the core rules, Hero Designer, and Digital Hero/Adventurer's Club (all highly recommeded)

Best utility player: Ultimate Martial Artist. I use this book more than any other.
Best Genre Book: Pulp Hero. Lots of good ones to select, but this is my favorite, both in terms of preferred genre and execution.
Best Setting: Hudson City, Strike Force (3e), Lands of Mystery (3e) (tie). Alll incredible stuff.
Best Monster/NPCs book: Lots of good ones to choose from. I'm going with my sentimental choice and say the original Enemies, even if it's clearly dated. CKC is probably the real winner here.
Best Adventure: Shades of Black. Dammit, I miss Allen's work.