Review of DH #9

**BoloOfEarth** · Apr 9th, '03, 10:02 PM

Well, real life got in the way of reviewing DH #8, but here's my take on DH #9:

When We Last Left Our Heroes: Very good to hear about the UNTIL Superpowers Database. As a GM, I’m sure it will provide some inspiration for my future characters.

HEROglyphs (Time Manipulation): While I find the Time Stop and Time Manipulation power writeups to be interesting intellectual exercises, there are some things that I think qualify as pure “plot devices.” I have to admit that, like Time Stop, this does raise some things that I didn’t consider (like the Flash Healing).

You Gotta Have Character (Lord Byron): Well done, though not my favorite YGHC. (That’s more a question of personal taste, not a fault of the article.) I did like the treatment and discussion of Byronic heroes. It made me think a little deeper about some characters (both in gaming and in fiction). I would recommend this article to a player who is creating that type of character.

Leftover Hero (Terran Empire): Since I don’t have Star Hero and have no plans on running such a campaign, I really only skimmed this. Lots of interesting info (well, duh, it is from Steve Long…) but I can’t really say how useful it will be.

Hero Universe (Fantast… oops, I mean Fabulous Five, Pt. 1): This promises to be an entertaining series of articles on the CU’s premier Silver Age team. I liked the homage paid to their obvious inspiration, without copying the originals (though to my mind, Diamond comes close). I’m looking forward to the next installment.

Your Horoscope For: Taurus: I like the thinking behind the labyrinth’s “powers.” It covered a problem with running such mazes nicely, IMO. I liked the reasoning behind the PRE as well. I would think the Lost Within the Maze should have a large AOE advantage, and the Only Works Once limitation seems to be contradicted in the text. (It is mentioned that an interruption forces the player to re-make the INT roll; this seems like the player is getting “attacked” again by the power).

On a side note, I have enjoyed the YHF series thus far, especially the fact that different articles cover different genres.

Infectious Enthusiasm: This looks interesting and might be fun to run as a pick-up game at a convention. The player characters are simple enough for rookie players, without being too simple. (While I think the text writeups are a bit sparse, that’s understandable considering the number of characters overall and the full adventure description. This was probably pushing the word limit already.) I hope it becomes one of the free articles, perhaps deserving a link on the HERO pages as a sample adventure for starting GMs.

There were some minor problems throughout, which detracted slightly from my enjoyment of IE. (For instance, I may be wrong but I don’t think Army soldiers get stationed at Air Force bases.) Also, the plot seemed rather simple, but it is designed for use as a one-shot convention adventure, so I guess that’s okay.

I’m assuming the two artists co-created the picture at the start of this article. (At least, it looks that way from the “BOB” and “MLS” in the picture.) Very nice!

Playing the Con Game: Having played members of Super Squad America in two GenCon games (I filled in as a former-cabbie wizard NPC in year four, part 2), I really enjoyed reading the thoughts behind team makeup and relations. At the time, I was impressed with the information provided to the players, especially impressions on each teammate. I also enjoyed the moral dilemma aspect of these games. This article is a very good look at what goes into a good convention game.

Side note: If you go to a convention and have a chance to play in a game run by a member of Infinite Imaginations, Inc., DO IT!!! My favorite Champions game ever was a Minuteman game run by III member Kerry Connell, and after playing ten or so III games had not had one that I didn’t enjoy immensely. And before you ask, I’m not a member of Infinite Imaginations. I could only dream of GM-ing that well.

**Starwolf** · Apr 10th, '03, 10:35 PM

Actually with the closing of so many bases after the cold war, most military installations have a cadre from each service now. So yes there are Army, National Guard, Navy, Marines, Coast Guard, and Air Guard on almost every base in the 21st century. Some services may only have a reserve training center, for instance if the Air Force base is land locked then the Navy would only have a reserve training facility on that base. Incidentally in the 21st century almost half of our armed forces are comprised of reserve personnel. Usually the service that established the base retains administrative control of the base (i.e. runs the housing, chow halls, rec centers, base security, and base exchanges) and hosts the other services satellite commands.

I garnered this knowledge the hard way...I spent 20 years in the Navy on active duty(10 of which were spent training reservists)

**allen** · Apr 11th, '03, 07:50 AM

Originally posted by BoloOfEarth
Well, real life got in the way of reviewing DH #8, but here's my take on DH #9:

Your Horoscope For: Taurus: I like the thinking behind the labyrinth’s “powers.” It covered a problem with running such mazes nicely, IMO. I liked the reasoning behind the PRE as well. I would think the Lost Within the Maze should have a large AOE advantage, and the Only Works Once limitation seems to be contradicted in the text. (It is mentioned that an interruption forces the player to re-make the INT roll; this seems like the player is getting “attacked” again by the power).

On a side note, I have enjoyed the YHF series thus far, especially the fact that different articles cover different genres.

To address the two points you bring up:

Lost Within The Maze isn't bought with an AOE, because (quoting p. 318 of FREd here) "since the base or vehicle is considered a single "character", you do not have to buy a Power which affects all of it... with the Area Of Effect Advantage..." Basically, no AOE for the same reason you don't apply Area Of Effect if you build a space station with Life Support.

Concerning the Only Works Once... Limitation... there's two things going on there (1) the Entangle which only works once, and (2) a Skill Versus Skill Contest to find one's way about the maze. A character can only attempt the Skill V. Skill Contest once he breaks free of the Entangle; however the Entangle does not "renew" itself at any point while the character is in the Labyrinth -- it only works once. The interruption in the character's concentration referred to in the text requires, at the GM's discretion, a new Skill V. Skill Contest so the character can regain his bearings and get back on the right track. But this is only after the Entangle has been broken.

Consider it this way... the Entangle is a supernatural/preternatural/magical effect which the character must break free of. But even afterwards, the Labyrinth is still a confusing and large maze requiring the character to use his intellect to find his way...

Thanks for the feedback and I'm glad you're enjoying the articles...

**JohnTaber** · Apr 11th, '03, 09:42 AM

Hi Bolo,

I appreciate the feedback! It is nice to get a bit more detail. Thanks!

As Tom mentioned in another post...yeah...there are some nit picky things wrong with the adventure and supplied characters. I spotted a couple in the final release but not in any of the review passes. Also...um...I b n engneer not a writer. I promise to try and get better...

FYI. This is only the second article I have published through Hero and only the first adventure. It is definitely geared for the starting Hero players. I ran it for some of my regular group who had not played Hero in the past. After I ran it my players suggested that I give it to the LOH folks as a convention game. Dave saw my comments and suggested DH. The rest is history...

Thanks again!

**rjcurrie** · Apr 13th, '03, 01:20 AM

Originally posted by BoloOfEarth
Playing the Con Game: Having played members of Super Squad America in two GenCon games (I filled in as a former-cabbie wizard NPC in year four, part 2), I really enjoyed reading the thoughts behind team makeup and relations. At the time, I was impressed with the information provided to the players, especially impressions on each teammate. I also enjoyed the moral dilemma aspect of these games. This article is a very good look at what goes into a good convention game.

Side note: If you go to a convention and have a chance to play in a game run by a member of Infinite Imaginations, Inc., DO IT!!! My favorite Champions game ever was a Minuteman game run by III member Kerry Connell, and after playing ten or so III games had not had one that I didn’t enjoy immensely. And before you ask, I’m not a member of Infinite Imaginations. I could only dream of GM-ing that well.

Aha! I can put a face to another board allias. I'm glad you enjoyed the article. It's always nice to get feedback on stuff like this.

Also, as a member of III, thanks for the glowing endorsement of our games.

Rod

**BoloOfEarth** · Apr 13th, '03, 09:50 PM

Thanks for the replies. It's nice to know my comments (such as they are) are appreciated.

Regarding the military -- I did say I may be wrong. Perhaps that should have read "I'm probably wrong, but...". My experience with the military is limited to two years AFROTC in the early 1980s. I knew joint training was done, but I didn't know members of one branch were regularly stationed at installations of another branch of the military.

On the Maze, I hadn't gone back to read the rules on Powers in a base, and misremembered "typically a Defense Power or Life Support") as applying *only* to Defense Powers or Life Support. I still think the "Only Works Once..." is a bit off; I can see requiring Skill vs. Skill rolls to keep on track after an interruption, but IMO that would mean the Limitation should be worth less that -1 1/2. But then again, that's just my opinion. As I said, all in all I thought that was a neat way to handle the whole Labyrinth situation.

Unfortunately, I can't attend GenCon this year. Some of the players I GM will be attending, and I'm pretty sure two of them will be signing up for the SuperSquad America game once registration opens. I just wish I could join in the fun...

**BoloOfEarth** · Apr 13th, '03, 09:59 PM

I forgot to mention to John: if you only have a few nitpicky things wrong, you're doing pretty well. My biggest "complaint" is that I wish there had been more on the characters and the adventure. (That's a good thing, BTW.)

And this being your second article, that puts you two up over me (though I have two things on contract and sent in to DH, just not published yet). I just post my comments on DH in the hopes that, if/when my stuff gets published, I'll get some constructive criticism to help me become a better writer.

Ray

**JohnTaber** · Apr 14th, '03, 09:40 AM

Hi Bolo (i.e. Ray),

Excellent feedback. You have a GREAT attitude my man!

**rjcurrie** · Apr 17th, '03, 03:37 PM

Surely, other people than just Bolo (Ray) have comments on the material in issue 9. From various remarks made by DH authors, I think it is safe to say that virtually all of us would like to see feedback, both positive and negative, on our articles.

Of course, by asking for other people to comment on the issue, I feel I have an obligation to provide comments myself on my fellow authors' works. However, at this point, I have only briefly glanced over the issue. I will try to read through it this weekend and post my comments afterward.

Rod

**Samurai007** · Apr 18th, '03, 08:40 AM

... and don't forget the artists' work too!

This was my first color art/cover for Hero...

**BoloOfEarth** · Apr 19th, '03, 06:18 AM

Good point about the artwork, Samurai. BTW, yours was the second cover I've printed in color. Very nice. Are they characters you played, or just off the top of your head? (My favorite is the tiger lady, of course, but the SFX on the other two are neat.)

The Fabulous Five character pics were very good. I really like Derrick Thomas' line art characters, and have since issue #1.

Though they don't qualify as artwork per se, the photos and historic illustrations that have been used in YGHC lately are a definite plus over the earlier hand-drawn pictures. No, Jason, this isn't a slam on your artistic skills (mine really suck). It's just a comment that I, for one, appreciate whatever hoops you have to go through to get approval to use that stuff.

I think I already complimented the artists on Infectious Enthusiasm, but if not, the pic of the superbattle is my favorite in this issue. I also like the fact that individual pictures are not just clipped from the first picture.

For some reason, the maps printed blacked-out (my printer's fault) and my laptop screen is futzing out so I can't see all deatils of the maps. However, what I can see looks good. I like maps with extraneous details (like stuff for characters to throw around / hide behind / destroy), and it looks like some are provided without cluttering the maps.

Lastly, I've liked Kerry Connell's artwork since playing in his Minuteman game at GenCon 2000. In fact, Rod gave me Super Squad America's full-team picture at GenCon 2001 (along with a copy of each character). Very cool.

Yes, Rod, I've been disappointed in lack of response lately to the DH issues. (I chalked it up to lingering fallout from the DOS attack on the HERO site but hoped things would have improved by now.) I, for one, have missed hearing comments from watson and Crimson Hawk. People don't have to review the entire issue. Some comments on a single favorite (or disliked) article would be useful, too.

One final note: a word of appreciation for Dave Mattingly's editing and layout, and the PDF bookmarks are excellent. (I mean, check out how the adventure is broken down, even down to each character's write-up, background, and picture!) Kudos for going above and beyond. In my opinion, the mark of a great editor is that you hardly notice his work, since everything reads and fits together so well.

***Steve Long*** · Apr 19th, '03, 06:19 AM

Seconded -- Dave does a great job!!!

**Killer Shrike** · Apr 20th, '03, 01:18 AM

Re: Military; Army on an Air Force base: There may be a contingent of reservists or reservist support personnel, a training center of some sort, or occasionally Liasons on a base of a different service, but in general not full blown units.

The Navy and the Marines are an exception to some extent (still the same Department afterall) but even then, generally only Marine contingents are on Naval bases. All the primary units are homebased on Camps Pendleton and Lejeune, scattered around Okinawa and to a much lesser extent Hawaii, or on one of the ancillary air bases like Miramar (two stones throw from my back door) or Cherry Point.

Joint commands are a different story of course, but even then you are talking about command units typically, not line units with maybe the exception of some sort of gaurd detail.

**Samurai007** · Apr 21st, '03, 07:46 PM

Thanks Bolo! The characters were just off the top of my head, though if someone wanted to write them up for a future issue of DH, they are free to do so... I agree that there was a lot of good art in the issue, especially the big fight scene and character illos.

**JohnTaber** · Apr 22nd, '03, 09:45 AM

Hi Samurai,

I liked the art for my article too. In fact when I first got samples from Dave I was bouncing around my cube so much at work several people asked me what had happened.

The cover was nice! Keep up the good work!