Cardboard Hero-type figures in adventure supplements?

[aylwin13]

I originally posted this in the Playtesting forum, and have already received one positive reply from Dave Mattingly, the DH editor himself. Here's the post:

I've been reading the Shades of Black playtest version, and had what might be an idea for an additional goodie in the package, as it were. Printing costs might preclude it from a printed book, but I think it would work in the e-books:

A PDF file with colored figures of the villians (and perhaps the main NPCs) incude with the manuscript ala the Wardroids in the FREE STUFF. These could be printed and pasted on cardboard and you'd have figures for all the characters in the book. I for one would love to have them. I have made these types of figures for all of my main PCs.

Well, what does everyone else think? :cool:

[Starwolf]

I hate me too posts, but ME TOO! I think this is a great idea.

[argent]

I love toys! This is a great idea!

On a related topic, does anyone know where I could find an online template for cardboard mini's? I'm looking for just the outline, so that I can put my own artwork (or Heromachine creations) into it and it will come out the proper scale (25mm, more or less) on my printer.

I would prefer the front and back style, per the 4th Ed. GM's screen, if possible. It's too hard to figure facing on the 3-sided ones, esp. w/the same image on all three sides.

[rjd59]

I also agreed this would be a plus! In the past,I've scanned many of the 4th edition books characters into my computer and colored them in a paint program. I made a template so I could make them just like the one's from the old GM screen,where I can fit 26 figures on a 8 1/2" by 11" sheet of cardstock. This allows me to make what I want or need such as multiples of agents,the complete villian team and so forth. I then made my own pdf's of them and printed them out. I also create most of the pc's in Poser 4 and make the standups for them the same way. At the present time I have so many standup figures that I'll probably never use them all,but I've had tons of fun making them. If they were included in the new books and/or e-books, it sure would save some time! But then what would I do with all that extra time on my hands!!!! :)

[Lord Liaden]

Say, rjd59: seeing as you have all that extra time, and templates made into .pdf files and all... have you ever considered scanning in some of the 5E characters, and maybe offering them to DOJ as a free download on the HERO website? I bet you'd make a lot of friends that way. ;)

[rjd59]

Unfortunately,I haven't been able to get any of the 5th ed books other than Fred. So at the moment , I don't have access to them. Hopefully though , I should be able to order Champions , CU , and CKC within the next couple of weeks. Once I get them I would glady begin doing that. I think it would be great if DOJ would post them as free downloads once I'm done or if anyone else does them first!! Cardboard standups are the least expensive way to go and easily replacible. They also go great with the produts that Microtactics makes. They make pdf's of cardstock cutout buildings! Every hero needs buildings to fight around! Really makes the combat portions more fun , at least for me anyway! In case you'd like to see what they have , here's their site http://www.microtactix.com/index.shtml

[aylwin13]

Originally posted by Lord Liaden
Say, rjd59: seeing as you have all that extra time, and templates made into .pdf files and all... have you ever considered scanning in some of the 5E characters, and maybe offering them to DOJ as a free download on the HERO website? I bet you'd make a lot of friends that way. ;)

I have to second the Lord's sentiment. If you still have all of those pdf's of your other characters, and want to share, the Free Stuff site would be a great place to put them. There are a lot of us GM's who don't have the free time to do them ourselves. Whattaya say? ;)

[rjd59]

Sure! Who do I contact in order to get the ok and what do I need to do in order to get them there?

What I have finished so far is all the characters from the following books...
The Big Blue Book
Classic Enemies
Enemies 1,2,and 3 (ones that weren't in CE)
Enemies International
Enemies: Villainy Unbound
Primus and Demon

Also have one with SAT agents from one of the early books (forgot which one)
And one with Viper figures that I created in Poser 4.

Among the others I've been working on I am also almost finished with a Police officers one. And almost finished with Deathstroke. Made the whole team from the original CU in Poser.

[Lord Liaden]

Originally posted by rjd59
Sure! Who do I contact in order to get the ok and what do I need to do in order to get them there?

My suggestion for first contact would be Ben Seeman, the HERO Webmaster. You can e-mail him by clicking on the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page.

I really appreciate your enthusiasm, but one word of caution: Some of the older material you mention as already being finished (which I personally would love to see) may include characters and artwork which DOJ no longer has the right to, so they may hesitate to put it up on their website. OTOH, they've made a point of owning all their current characters, so that should cause fewer problems.

[rjd59]

I didn't know that! I still have all the files that I used to make those pdf's so I could alter them however nessacary so unowned ones aren't in them. I will get ahold of Ben and talk this over with him to see what we can do.
Also got some great news today. The state of Massachusetts has graciously sent my state tax refund to me two weeks before I thought I'd get it! So that means I'll be ordering Champions, CU, CKC, and the Beastary<sp> much earlier than I had expected to. Once I get them into my grubby little hands and browse through them, I'll start working on the characters in them for standups.

[rjd59]

Ok,got some good news and some not so good news! First the really good news! Tonight I ordered Champions,Champions Universe,CKC,The Bestiary,and the Hero System: Resource Kit from FRP Games which you can find on the Hero Retailers page. They should arrive here within the next week!
Now for the not so good news...
I've sent an e-mail with some samples of what I've done to the powers that be and gotten a reply from Steve himself! In short form,he basically says due to many legal and logistical reasons,they do not wish to do anything like that with 4th edition characters. He also doesn't want me to give it to anyone else for the same reasons. I've replied to him that I completely understand and would comply. Sorry guys my hands are tied!

[Lord Liaden]

Congratulations on the books, rjd59! That's an impressive wad o' stuff; you're going to be immersed in very enjoyable reading for quite some time. :)

I can't say I'm surprised by Steve's position on the 4th Ed. stuff (nor that he would reply to your e-mail himself). Perchance did he say whether he'd be receptive to hosting any cutouts of the current characters that you might do in future?

[Steve Long]

I told him if they were good enough we'd certainly consider working out a deal with him to pay him and sell them for a reasonable price. We're not going to just give 'em away. ;)

[Grymlynn]

Sounds like a great idea! I would love to have all this work done for me, and of course, I'll pay for my lazyness. Get to work! :whipcrack!: :D

[rjd59]

Yes that is what Steve told me,I just didn't want to get any ones hopes up if things didn't work out with it by mentioning that here! But now that Steve has I will say that as soon as the books arrive,I'll begin working on the 5th edition stand-ups. Either way it works out,I have fun!
Guess I just was a little surprised that Steve himself replied to me. Sometimes I tend to forget that DOJ isn't like the company of old.

[Grymlynn]

Hero and Steve, et al... aren't like ANY company I've ever delt with, much less the company of old. I've NEVER encountered a business this responsive, and I think it's due to the specific business they're in, which rewards this much interaction, in addition to the fact the Steve, Darren, Ben, and Dan are just real good examples of decent human beings...

Tina too! Tina too! But she deserves special mention, um... 'cause... she deserves it! Yeah! Who's gonna argue with that?!

[Nato]

No one in their right mind better argue with that. Tina is like the glue man, the glue. Seriously, as the Hero admin assistant, and having been one myself in the past, she contributes so much. A great big round of appluase for Tina everyone!

[Mole]

Tina rocks the hiz-zouse! :D

[HeroTina]

Oh golly thanks,

They like me, they really like me

[Derek Hiemforth]

Originally posted by HeroTina
They like me, they really like me Yeah, well we won't like you for long if you insist on doing bad Sally Field impersonations. :D

[HeroTina]

Originally posted by Derek Hiemforth
Yeah, well we won't like you for long if you insist on doing bad Sally Field impersonations. :D

:D teehee :D

[AlbertDeschesne]

Originally posted by HeroTina
:D teehee :D
Don'tcha just love when she does that?!

[HeroTina]

Originally posted by AlbertDeschesne
Don'tcha just love when she does that?!

I think of you every time I teehee:D

[Ben Seeman]

Okay, this is getting off topic.

Quit screwin' around.

What were were talking about anyway?

[HeroTina]

Originally posted by Ben Seeman
Okay, this is getting off topic.

Quit screwin' around.

What were were talking about anyway?

We are talking about ME so shut up :)

[Grymlynn]

I need also mention Andy. I don't see him around too much here (unless I just don't know his handle), so I suppose he's gettin' the whip cracked to do all this layout... Especially the most excellent job he performed for (whatever book that was that Steve mentioned he was able to re-add stuff to whose name escapes me at the moment) that netted all of us more cool stuff!

Gotta keep the brown-nosing fair... ;)

[Grymlynn]

And we were initially talking about cardboard characters that rjd59 is gonna put together for Herodom assembled, and how cool that will be for all us lazy types who are looking to get everything done for us...

But, ya know, we can talk about Tina all day, too...

[rjd59]

My books should be arriving sometime early next week. Work will begin shortly after I've browsed through them all and stopped saying things like "Honey look at this page..." to the wife. So we have plenty of time to discuss how great Tina is!!! :D

[Grymlynn]

Glad to hear it. Hurry up, already!! :p