Hero System Guru in 20 days or less.

[ParitySoul]

Howdy folks. I'm honestly trying my hardest to get local HERO play up reguardless of a strong resistance. Problem is I have a 'working' knowledge of Hero and need a stronger understanding of the system if I'm going to WOW people with what it can do.

So my question to the experts is: How would you learn(relearn) the HERO system in the fastest ammount of time to truely undertand it.

I know that play/GMing is the best, but imagine your trying to put together a 12 step program for a HERO newbie. Some form of training program to indoctrinate players to indepth HERO playing? How would you make it easier on the struggling GM?

Thanks.

[Dust Raven]

Um.... hardcore nonstop playing/GMing?

Actually, the only way I can see anyone coming to a true understand of the rules without thorough playing is to psudo-play. Just sit there and write up characters for a while. Write them up as fast as you can, for whatever genre you intend on running. Hack out the details of how their powers/skills work. Figure out how each character's skills and powers interact with each other though personal, solo playtesting. Create character A and equip him (if appliciable) and them make character B (and equip him to) and then playtest a combat between the two of them. Replay each Phase with a different maneuver and see what happens. Don't roll dice for some of the results, just assume a success or failure and see what would be the result for each.

Also learn the statistics for the dice. There are websites out there (and players on these boards) that have worked out the chances of rolling any particular result on whatever dice. Get familiar with the 3d6 roll at least and understand the trends of other amounts of dice. This is one of the key elements of understanding what is "good" and "not good" when your players want to buy a skill that gives them an particular default roll and they want to know if it's good or not.

[Steve Long]

An interesting question!

Since the "best" way of learning tends to vary from person to person, I'm not sure that there's any one right answer. Hopefully this thread will get you a lot of options to choose from so you can learn in the easiest and most efficient way for you.

My suggestion, since it's the method that I used, is this: create a lot of stuff and compare it to what's out there. First, pick a genre that most interests you -- let's say Champions or Fantasy Hero. Then think up some powers or spells, and create them as best you can. Then compare what you did to published versions in books like the USPD or FHG. Try to figure out what the differences (if any) are, and decide which version works best for what you have in mind. Don't necessarily take what's in the books as being "the right way," since there often isn't any such thing -- but do take them as solid examples from an experienced hand at the system, and therefore (hopefully) something worth studying.

After you do that for a while, start on creating characters. Keep them fairly simple at first, then increase in confidence as your fluency with the system grows. Try to vary among the type of characters you create. For example, in Champions create a brick, an energy projector, a martial artist, a gadgeteer, a speedster; in FH create a warrior, a wizard, a priest, a thief. Then look at published versions, see how things match up, decide what you like better. Keep working at new concepts and ideas to expand the scope of what you're taking in.

Throughout all of this, don't hesitate to ask questions! The people on these boards, for example, are a fantastic resource, full of ideas, useful suggestions, and polite observations about your work.

Sooner or later you'll get enough HERO in your head that everything will "click." I vividly remember when I was learning the game and was trying to create characters. One, that I played for many years, was sort of my take on a Green Goblin clone (but as a hero, naturally). I asked the guy who'd introduced me to the game how I could create an incendiary grenade. He said, "Well, that'd really hurt or kill someone, or really damage things, so it's a Killing Attack." I looked at my sheet and said, "But I've already got one of those" (having built a "pumpkin bomb" already). He said, in effect, "Sure, but so what? -- this one's different, it affects things in a different way even if the game mechanic is the same." *DING* Somehow that simple explanation just opened my eyes to the possibilities, and I haven't looked back since.

[prestidigitator]

Dang! Not only a response from Steve Long, but a verbose one! Lucky!

Throughout all of this, don't hesitate to ask questions! The people on these boards, for example, are a fantastic resource, full of ideas, useful suggestions, and polite observations about your work.

Heh. Ah, maybe you don't read many of our threads. Full of ideas? Yes, but what kind? Polite? Ehhhh...yeah, maybe to newcommers.

[ghost-angel]

Take what Steve said about comparison .. grab a genre book and then write smoe stuff up and then compare to what the book shows to what you think is right for your game... adjust until you're happy.

Take what Dust Raven said ... get one other person to help you out as two brains will eventually tear apart just about any concept.

And then play, a lot.

And read the boards if you want. And ask us questions .. we answer just about everything. Sometimes to the point of ludicrous over annilization. And sometimes we argue just to argue.

[Darkness]

Create two characters in the system you're trying to learn and let them beat each other up.

Just expand on this basic principle and it'll take you anywhere. Well, anywhere that's combat-related, anyway.

[tgrandjean]

Somehow this reminds me of a swordfighting koan.... but I don't think that having GMs hiding in the bushes and leaping out and whacking you in the head should you fail to understand the rules is going to work.
I have just the same advise as everyone else.
Do writeups, compare to published ones. Run mock fights. Get your friends together and run arena style combats (ie no context). Sticky tab the most commonly referenced sections of your rules sets. Know where to find the rules you need quickly should you have to look them up.
Here's another one, do writeups and post them on the boards. The gurus here will quickly dissect them should anything be wrong or lacking.
Ask questions.
Heck, even should you have adventure ideas and if your players don't hit the boards, post those ideas.
Ask even more questions.
Enjoy.

[stu2000]

If you're resolved to play a lot, set up adventures or story arcs that focus on different chunks of the rules. Start with a fighty chunk. Then do something with some limited powers. Then vehicles and martial arts. Then magic and psionics. Then cosmic powers. Like that.

I started with my present group by letting them know specifically that I was going to be doing this. They started as a family of southern cockfighters, no powers at all, but belligerent and prone to violence. We folded in vehicle details, since they love their truck. We're presently folding in some limited magic, as one of their competitors is dabbling in gamecock-boosting voodoo. We've gently folded in powers as they've come across super-soldiers and mutant boars and soon a cousin of theirs, degenerated into a bayou bog monster.

It's all a little goofy, but the background and story are fun and chaotic enough that the rules are prioritized a little less, giving me the freedom to make a few mistakes as I'm learning, and the gradual incorporation of new elements lets me look at the new chunks for a couple weeks and do a little testing before I bring them to the table and embarass myself.

[OddHat]

Run fights. Lots of them. Two characters you create versus one villain from CKC. Teams of four versus four. Six against one. Try out all the combat maneuvers, just to see how they change the flow of the game. Decide what you want to keep and what you want to ignore.

Character creation practice is great as well.

[Lord Liaden]

All of the above is excellent advice and I heartily endorse it. I would add one other suggestion, though: If you find yourself in a situation where play action is moving briskly,and everyone is having a good time, but then an issue arises where you don't know the precise rule... don't be afraid to wing it and use your own judgement. That's often better than letting play bog down while you search the book for some elusive ruling. You can always check after the game is over, and if the official rule is different from what you did just explain the situation to your players. Rules should never get in the way of a good time.

Now, you might also get some helpful tips from this previous discussion-board thread started by another GM in a similar predicament to yours:
http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9188

[Silbeg]

All good comments, but I would like to add just a couple of more points. Invest in some good post-it book marks, and use them!

When you have to look up a rule, mark it. You are pretty well guaranteed to have to look it up again. Come to think of it, I need to start doing this again.

Play. Play. Play.
All the reading and testing in the world won't really help you as much as actually playing. Get a small group together, say 2-3 players, plus a GM, and have some fun. When you find something you don't fully understand, the GM should make an "off-the-cuff" ruling, and note down what your question was, and how you ruled it. Then, in your "down time" (that time that exists between gaming sessions), look up the rule, bookmark it, and reference the actual rule in your notebook.

Keep these references and tools, so that you can quickly find the rules in the future.

Don't be afraid to experiment!

[ParitySoul]

First: Thanks so far for the great advice. Good info and a lot of things I added to my little note book.

Second: Doh! I totaly forgot my earlier days of system testing. I called it Superman vs Batman! We could build a brick and a streetfighter and pummel each other to death over and over again.

The arena game idea sounds great. I might be able to sell that to players.

[prestidigitator]

The arena game idea sounds great. I might be able to sell that to players.

Arg! I would just be careful to insist that it is playtesting and nothing else. Please see Trebuchet's Ten Commandments of Game Mastering thread.