Review of 5e up on RPG.net

[Almafeta]

http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/10/10053.phtml

You may not agree with what I had to say, but that's what I thought of it.

[Killer Shrike]

Wow. Did you actually read the rulebook? I can't recall the last time I read a review that was so misinformed and factually inaccurate. Almost every sentence contains an inaccuracy or outright falsehood.

But thanks for sharing!

[keithcurtis]

You're certainly entitled to an opinion. I just wish you had been more fact-based. There are many inaccurcies and misrepresentations in your review, mostly on points of creation rules or combat. It felt more like an essay about "Why I don't like the Hero System".
I don't want to refute your claims point-by-point. It would take too much time and do no good. Anyone who plays Hero knows where you have misrepresented them, and anyone who is not familiar with the system would find the terminology obscure.
You don't like Hero? Fine. More power to you and I hope you enjoy the games you do play. But this was not a review. It was an attack, designed to provoke. You may see your actions differently, but that's how they appear to observers.

Keith "My opinion" Curtis

[BoneDaddy]

Points off for absent reading comprehension. Points off for bias. Points to Steve for leaving the dissenting moron's post.

[Hugh Neilson]

From the review, out oif context, and with my comments following:

Caveat #1: Succor was added so that characters from Hero 4 with Aid could be easily 'grandfathered in' (5 points, costs END, both of which were changed in Hero 5). As well has having a stupid name, doesn't that defeat the entire purpose of fixing Aid?

MY COMMENT: Actually, Succor costs END every phase the enhancement remained. Aid cost END only once, when adding stats, in 4e. So no, it does not defeat the entire purpose, it provides an added option. I seem to recall a version of Succor somewhere in 4e rules, but the exact location escapes me.

Caveat #2: For being an effect-based system, not every power is based on an effect. For example, to build a portable hole, you have to buy Extra-Dimensional Movement... which is also the power you buy to travel through time.

MY COMMENT: This is a subjective determination. Time is a dimension. The extradimensional space (from the writeups of the item) accessed by a portable hole is in a different dimension.

Caveat #3: Yes, you still need to know precalculus to do the math in this section. Why not switch to a simpler algebra equation, I don't know; not to mention the fact that a system based on multiples of 5 is virtually screaming for a simple percentile system.

MY COMMENT: I've never seen anyone bright enough to read the book who wasn't capable of working the math after someone sat down with him for a few minutes to provide some example computations.

Caveat #4: It costs more to make a power AVLD (reducing a normal defense) than to make it NND (unable to be defended against). WTY?

MY COMMENT: Because it should cost less for an attack which is porevented absiolutely by having any level of (say) Power Defense than having one whose damage is simply reduced by the amount of that same Power Defense?

Caveat #5: A ranged Killing attack costs as much as a melee Killing attack; there is no difference other than one reaches 75 tiles away per level.

MY COMMENT: Actually, the Hand to Hand killing attack is increased by the user's strength, where the ranged killing attack is not. This is, to me, a pretty significant advantage. I suppose we could fold "Killing Attack" into one power that has no range, does not increase for strength, costs 10 points per die and can have those advantages added later. But why?

Caveat #6: The system only works well for 'flashy', innate powers; it gets less and less usable the further from four-color you get. For example, an effect like 'warm up this room' cannot be built in Hero, because there is no point cost for 70 degrees Farenheit -- you'd have to make it a special effect of a 'real' power, i.e., one that has some kind of combat effect. Good luck writing your own rules if you want Hero to do something that is not an 'innate' feature (such as a divine blessing or D&D-style magic).

MY COMMENT: Actually, the bility you describe would be a Change Environment with no combat penalties, which is contrary to your assessment of Change Environment. As for applying it to the fantasy genre, well, you may want to look at the Fantasy Hero line.

For example, a dagger costs 10 character points; you could buy a Masters in english for fewer points. It is suggested in a few places that there is an option for 'heroic' campaigns to not have to pay points for gear; however, how gear exactly is purchased if not with character points is not explained. As this has not been fixed, a point was taken off of Substance

MY COMMENT: Actually, it's explained as requiring money (much like in D&D, one pays for equipment). Which equipment is available and how much it costs depends on the genre, however, making it impossible to cover in a rules book rather than a genre book. [And before we get on "how many books does it take to get the game rules down", you need at least three to play D&D, and many more to get all the options]

Combat is still based on tactical superhero combat; real-world measurements are eschewed in Hero, replaced by wholly abstract units of measurement.

MY COMMENT: A Turn is defined as 12 seconds, a segment as 1 second, and 1" as 2 meters. What definitions were you looking for?

If these questions were answered in the book, I couldn't find it.

MY COMMENT: Yes, I'd noticed you seem to have some problems in that regard. In fairness, it is a very big book and, as a rules book only, doesn't have a lot of fluff which can safely be skipped over.

Many times, you are told to "Roll Xd6 and figure the 'body'". This refers to an obscure section of the combat chapter. Please name this mechanic, if you are going to use it so often!

MY COMMENT: It is called "figuring the Body". Like many game mechanics, it's one that seems complex on paper and rapidly becomes second nature in play.

"Although some good documents for Hero have been put on online here (link would go to http://www.herogames.com/FreeStuff/f...BG%20Final.pdf but these forums don't allow for HTML code) that tells you how to use the system in different genres, they haven't put any of these in the core rulebook. Come on, Hero Games -- couldn't you have fit these in -somewhere-?"

MY COMMENT: And this gels with your comments about the length of the book how, precisely? D&D has a book for players' rules, one for DM's rules and one for creature stats since it provides no basis for designing balanced creatures on your own. Hero provides one book of rules, and publishes genre books for specific genres. I find it hard to view one as superior to the other.

MY FINAL COMMENT: I encurage Hero supporters to read some of the feedback to this "review". However poorly Almafeta reviewed Hero, it still scores way better (even on her scale) than her review scores with her peers!

[Don't bother reading the review though; Killer Shrike sums it up quite nicely]

[Victor]

*PLONK*

Whee, I have an ignore list (of one) now.

[misterdeath]

I read the first couple of sentances, where the Reviewer talked about being Flamed by the Current and Past ownership of the company.

Right there, that tells you This is NOT going to be objective by anybody's stretch of the imagination.

Second Paragraph, "settingless version of Champions, a superhero combat wargame"

Noooo. No bias here.

I started skimming from there.

It vaguely attempts to pretend to be a review, but it's obvious that the person disliked Hero, bought the book and "didn't see anything to change his mind". It's chock full of errors in what the rules actually say.

She obviously didn't read it. She obviously didn't play it. And she obviously just wanted to do a hack job.

Obviously, a fool with an axe to grind. Obviously not worth my time anymore.

D

[Derek Hiemforth]

[BlackSword]

Originally posted by misterdeath
I read the first couple of sentances, where the Reviewer talked about being Flamed by the Current and Past ownership of the company.

I read through the entire thing, then read the tagline from the main page and solidified the bias:

If you already own Hero 3/4, read this line and move on to the next review: Steve Long's houserules have become canon.

The epilogue of the review I don't understand (well, an additional part I don't understand):

This book was not written with people who dislike Hero in mind; many of the same problems are still extant.

This would be like complaining that Werewolf:tA Revised Edition is a failure because if you don't like Storyteller games, you won't like this book. Basically, people like different systems, if you like Hero, then buy Hero, if you don't like Hero, don't buy Hero. If there was one perfect system for role-playing, then there would be a single system.

[Trebuchet]

The delicious irony here is that Almafeta bought a copy of a $40 game system he knew he was going to hate before he bought it simply so he could write a hatchet job about it. Does that indicate he's stupid or just nuts?

And I'm really glad he dislikes HERO. That means I'll never be in danger of role-playing with him.

[SaintQuakko]

Is this the wrong time to mention that "Soul Cheese" is a pretty neat mental image?

[Lowly Uhlan]

What a hokey reveiw! I can't imagine why someone would waste enough time to post a review just so they could show their contempt for a game and it's designers. And he kind of makes up stuff as he goes along! Either that or he hadn't read the rules at all. This individual is getting slammed up and down the "Forums" section of the review. Rightly so.If I were to review D&D 3.0-3.5 or a WoD game (2 systems I don't like) I would make sure I had read everything and played a session before doing so,even mentioning the system's GOOD POINTS since every game has at least one.

[Lord Liaden]

The first time I saw Shanya Almafeta's name as a registered member here, I thought, "What is (s)he doing here? Shanya's dislike for HERO is obvious to anyone who frequents the RPGnet boards. Did she have a change of heart?"

I guess I should have seen this one coming.

[Lightray]

There's a long list of Almafeta's posts on RPG.net involving his/her nutty rants against Hero. No need to refute here -- some of the Heroboards folks have been fighting the good fight over there for over a year, now.

I was kind of hoping his/her Hero-trolling would stop after he/she decided to abandon the internet forever due to some misunderstanding about Linux. Or something like that. Alas, no.

[Lowly Uhlan]

I hear you, Lightray. Nutty rants like his/hers is what keeps me from posting with any regularity on those boards (and since I don't play Exalted half of the threads are useless to me anyway).Points off for mondo breasts? What game doesn't have artwork with well-endowed women? A sore spot for the transgendered, I guess.