Welcome and who are you?

[specks]

I noticed we've been getting a lot of new people trickling in to Hero System. I thought it would be nice to introduce each other and I have put together a list of questions I thought would help. Some questions are hero related but others just general questions I could think of. Enjoy 🙂

 

Why your username?
-We are nothing but specks in time and space

 

Why your avatar or if no avatar why not
-I am Marvin the Martian fan

 

What area do you live in?
-I moved from Detroit to Tampa recently

 

What's your profession?
-I'm in IT/Cybersecurity (I think most of us are IT geeks here :))

 

Are you Windows, MAC or Linux?
-Windows and Linux, a little MAC

 

Are there TV shows and/or movies you like to binge watch?
-I like MASH, Hogans Heroes, NCIS, Turner Classic Movies and those B- Scifi films

 

What drew you to the Hero System?
-I like superheroes and I like point building systems

 

Which edition did you start with?
I started with 1st edition and still going

 

What have you used the game for?
-Our group has used it for supers and pulp hero setting

 

What point system have you ran or played in?
-400 mostly but we have played in 150 or 225

 

Do you still play or GM the Hero System
-Not lately, I moved and I may have to find a new group or teleconference

 

Our there other games you play
-I have played Pathfinder, Seven Seas, GURPS, D&D (1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc....), Star Trek

 

On an A to F scale how do you rate the system overall
-I give it an A it has it's flaws but it still is one of the best systems to build and run

 

Followup question: If you rate the system below B- why are are still playing or using it?

 

What are some house-rules, if any, you use in the past?
-I think the only one we used was to eliminate the stun lotto and started using that in the 5th edition

 

If you could put together a 7th edition what are some things you add, omit and/or change?
-I don't want a 7th edition, I am happy with the 6th edition
(If you get too long winded, put it in a PDF) I think some of you are frustrated writers !!!

 

 

[Tjack]

    HI SPECKS!!!!!!!!   
  I’m Tjack, and if nobody else said it, welcome to the show!   A lot of the info you’re asking about is on the profiles for each member.  I started playing in the early ‘80’s and played continuously for about twenty years. Health issues put me into retirement from gaming but I like hanging out here for the people and to maybe help some new gamers along the way.

   My Avatar is the statue of an Orangutan some friends took a picture of and sent me.  Many long decades ago I was at an all summer night game session at a college we used to play at, when I came back into the room after a 3:00 am junk food run to the machines, plopped down at the table dull-eyed, very full beard in disarray, head in hands.

  One of my best friends looked at me and said “Do me a favor, say “Ape Shall Not Kill Ape”.   I lifted my shaggy head and proceeded with the Paul Williams as an orangutan scientist monologue about time travel.  And such was a legend born!  For many years after I got Dr. Zaius toys, coffee mugs and such for every birthday & Christmas. 
   The answers to your other questions will probably just as long and only undertaken by specific request.  If you want to get to know about me or any of us your best bet is just go to the profiles of somebody whose response to a thread you like and read some of their old stuff.

     Happy Hunting.

[Jhamin]

As has been said a lot of this is in user profiles, but it's fun so here we go:

 

Why your username?
-It was my attempt to be cool the first time I logged into a dial-up BBS & I've kept it ever since.

 

Why your avatar or if no avatar why not
- It's the Logo for UNTIL, the SHIELD of the Champions universe.  I like being hero themed on the Hero boards.  "Until peace prevails!"

 

What area do you live in?
-The northern Suburbs of Minneapolis

 

What's your profession?
-I'm in IT on the Server and Cloud side

 

Are you Windows, MAC or Linux?
-Windows mostly.  (Cue Roy from the IT Crowd exclaiming he is NOT a window washer)

 

Are there TV shows and/or movies you like to binge watch?
- I go through phases but have a soft spot for the classic Space Operas, Original & Next Gen Trek, Babylon 5, Blakes 7.

 

What drew you to the Hero System?
-I like superheroes and I like point building systems

 

Which edition did you start with?

- I came in with 4th edition.

 

What have you used the game for?
-I've played a *lot* of supers & had fairly successful Pulp and Luce Libre games.

 

What point system have you ran or played in?
-I played some GURPS back in the day but Hero is my bag.

 

Do you still play or GM the Hero System
-I GM weekly

 

Our there other games you play
-I actively GM Hero and Pathfinder 2e, although I never go more than a few years without running Changeling.

 

On an A to F scale how do you rate the system overall
- It is a B for me but mostly because I've been doing it for more than 25 years.  If I had to start now I'm afraid I'd bounce off of it.

 

Followup question: If you rate the system below B- why are are still playing or using it?

- As I was close to the line on this: I think the "universal" nature of the game works, but requires a good set of examples and we do NOT have enough.  I want to see 3-4 really solid genres that have actual Sample Characters, Settings, and Lists of Enemies.  Way too many of Hero's "Genre Books" are a mile wide and an inch deep, forcing you to do all the work.  I had a great time running Pulp because I had several books supporting it.  My Players loved Luce Libre but it ran out of gas too quickly and I didn't have time to become an expert in the genre myself.

 

What are some house-rules, if any, you use in the past?
-I have two carryovers from older editions.  1) I limit how much Str can add to killing damage.  Best you can do is double the dice you bought and 2) Damage Shield is a straight Advantage instead of requiring a bunch of other stuff first as is currently the rule.

 

If you could put together a 7th edition what are some things you add, omit and/or change?
-I wouldn't want a 7th edition unless there was likely to be a lot of support for it.  Given Hero's current output I'd prefer to get content for 6th.

[Joe Walsh]

Sounds fun! I'll play.

 

Why your username?
-I've usually been the GM in every group I've been with over the last 40 years.

 

Why your avatar or if no avatar why not
-It's-a me, Joe!

 

What area do you live in?
-Chicagoland

 

What's your profession?
-I'm in IT/Cybersecurity

 

Are you a Windows, Mac or Linux user?
-Linux personally. I was a Mac user for about 10 years beginning with OS X 10.1, and FreeBSD before that (and Windows 9x before that, and Apple // before that, and Atari 400/800 before that, with a smattering of others from time to time).

 

Are there TV shows and/or movies you like to binge watch?
-Firefly, Farscape, Buffy...more recently, Doom Patrol on HBO Max and the newer Marvel series on Disney+.

 

What drew you to the Hero System?
-Initially, it was just one of the very few supers systems out there. But once I opened that oversized box and started reading the saddle-stitched book, my mind was blown.

 

Which edition did you start with?

2nd Edition gave me my start with HERO System.

 

What have you used the game for?
-Supers, fantasy, cyberpunk, western...just about all the usual genres except space sci-fi and toons.

 

What point system have you ran or played in?
-? Not sure what's being asked.

 

Do you still play or GM the Hero System
-My most recent stint GMing Hero was a couple years ago.

 

Our there other games you play
-Over the last five years, in addition to HERO I've GMed or played B/X D&D, BRP, Classic Traveller, Supers! Revised Edition, Tunnels & Trolls, Savage Worlds, Fate...probably a few more I'm forgetting.

 

On an A to F scale how do you rate the system overall
-It's a solid A. Could it be better? Yes. But as it is, it's very, very good.

 

Followup question: If you rate the system below B- why are are still playing or using it?

 

What are some house-rules, if any, you use in the past?
-1/2d6 Stun multiplier, of course. We futzed around with a lot of stuff in the early years, but in the end most was either fixed or explained more clearly in a later edition. These days, it's so easy to take any edition and add things from other editions until you get what you want. Not a lot of need to homebrew any more, IME. That said, I do prepare standards documents for every campaign to give players a good idea of where (and whether) their character concept will fit into the campaign world.

 

If you could put together a 7th edition what are some things you add, omit and/or change?
-All versions have been very good, but I'm not a fan of huge tomes. So if I were being realistic, I'd start with Champions Complete, fix all errors, then lay it out with more whitespace like the 4e BBB. I would also try to make it clearer to those new to the game what the various levels of characteristics and skills mean (could be just adding a few columns and rows to the Average Individuals table and putting the table up front, but ideally there would be a chapter on the subject), and add some extended character building and campaign building examples...including campaigns where character designs are fairly simple and straight-forward, like early 4e and prior.

[Sketchpad]

Seems like fun, though I added a few questions. 

 

Why your username?
I needed a name when I started working in the Wizards Community and, as an artist, I gravitated towards Sketch. More and more people called me it, so I expanded it  to Sketchpad as my online screen name.

 

Why your avatar or if no avatar why not?
It's me. The photo was taken by my wife and we refer to it as my "Dust Jacket" picture.

 

What area do you live in?
The frozen north of New York where the winds of limbo roar.

 

What's your profession?
I'm a graphic designer and PR guy by day, and a small RPG publisher by night along with the missus. She edits and writes, I write, draw, and design our products.

 

Are you Windows, MAC or Linux?
Windows and Mac. Depends on where I am and what I'm doing.

 

Are there TV shows and/or movies you like to binge watch?
Sure. I'm a sci-fi and horror junkie, but a good sitcom is something that will keep my attention.

 

What drew you to the Hero System?
An old friend of mine back in the '80s. Champions became one of our go-to superhero games at the time, and when he left, I took the game over.

 

Which edition did you start with?
It was either Champions II or Champions III. We often used rules from both.

 

Which edition is your favorite?

Though I have fond memories of 1-3, 4th was my favorite. That Big Blue Book was magical!

 

What have you used the game for?
Mainly superheroes, but I'd love to run something a bit different sometime.

 

What point system have you ran or played in?
250-700 starting points.

 

What was your first Hero character?

I played a superhero who wore a cybersuit he built from stolen Viper and UNTIL parts.

 

What was your favorite Hero character?

I really enjoyed my Batman-like character that took darkness powers and a slew of Hunteds. Unfortunately, they all found him in a pretty hectic session. 

 

Do you still play or GM the Hero System
I haven't in a long time, but always threatened to come back to it. Might be time soon.

 

Are there other games you play?
Yup. Mutants & Masterminds, Alien, D&D, Call of Cthulhu/Delta Green, Star Trek Adventures, Traveller, Star Wars, Cypher/Numenera, Rifts, etc.

 

On an A to F scale how do you rate the system overall?
As a system, I'd give 6th edition a solid B. As nostalgia from playing it in the past, an A.

 

What are some house-rules, if any, you use in the past?
I've played with different Wealth systems, a Hero Die mechanic, Mastermind Talent, and Custom Templates to name a few.

 

If you could put together a 7th edition what are some things you add, omit and/or change?
I would streamline the game a bit and bring in some modern game sensibilities. I'd also love to reboot the Champions Universe.
 

[DreadDomain]

Following Sketchpad footsteps

 

Why your username?
True story.  HERO System Almanach I. Super-Team name generator page 91. Two rolls. Dread. Domain. It stuck.

 

Why your avatar or if no avatar why not?
Never took the time to set one up

 

What area do you live in?
I am from Montréal Canada but I currently live in Brisbane, Australia

 

What's your profession?
Engineer but now in project management

 

Are you Windows, MAC or Linux?
Windows and Android

 

Are there TV shows and/or movies you like to binge watch?

Many!

 

What drew you to the Hero System

The George Perez cover drew me in. The system kept me going

 

Which edition did you start with?

4

 

Which edition is your favorite?

If I have to choose one, 6e. In reality, a mix of 4, 5 and 6.

 

What have you used the game for?
Mainly superheroes, but also Fantasy and Pulp.

 

What point system have you ran or played?.

My other love is GURPS

 

What was your first Hero character?

Hardstone, a street level bad ass. Or was it Holocaust, a super brick bad ass...

 

What was your favorite Hero character?

Either J.W Steel a golden age brick dilettante playboy or Masque X, a Spider-Man/Daredevil mash-up. 

 

Do you still play or GM the Hero System
I haven't in the last 3 years. Would like to.

 

Are there other games you play?
GURPS, Call of Cthulhu, Dungeon Fantasy

 

On an A to F scale how do you rate the system overall?
As a system, I'd give 6th edition an A. 

 

What are some house-rules, if any, you use in the past?
We usually played it as is.

 

If you could put together a 7th edition what are some things you add, omit and/or change?
I would start from Champions Complete, bring back Gliding, Transfer, Instant Change, introduce adders to run on water and vertical surfaces, drop megascale and reprice non combat movement at 2 points for ×2, use Complications to generate Hero Points instead of giving more points during character creation, review the cost of characteristics and skill levels. Make the book glossy full colour and include the Super Hero Gallery. It would NOT really be a 7th edition but more a reskinning of the currently rules with a focus on streamlining and removing the need for "clever" build. Also, I would review the layout of the character write-ups.
 

[Ninja-Bear]

@DreadDomain, I too love the idea of Adders to Running! I wonder why that haven’t in all these years.

[DreadDomain]

12 hours ago, Ninja-Bear said:

@DreadDomain, I too love the idea of Adders to Running! I wonder why that haven’t in all these years.

I don't think HERO needs a 7th edition as much as it needs a facelift to look a bit less cryptic. My next Champions core book would NOT really be a 7th edition but more a reskinning of the current rules with a focus on streamlining and removing the need for "clever" builds (like super running being built with Flight by removing the ability to fly or with Teleport by removing the ability to teleport). Also, I would review the layout of the character write-ups so they look a bit more functional and less blocky.

 

HERO, in my opinion, doesn't have a "rule" problem,  it has a "presentation" problem.

[Duke Bushido]

Haven't done one of these in a while, so why not? 

 

 

Why your username?
-I wasn't clever enough to use a character name when I joined up, and to this day am sort of jealous of those who did.  Thinking about it, though, I realize that there aren't as many people doing that now as there once where.  There aren't as many people as there once where!  Anyway, it's my name-- the Duke part, anyway.  The rest comes from a quick riff made by a friend several decades ago, and it ended up becoming an actual nickname.  So yeah...  I'm Duke Bushido in 3D, too, at least in certain locations along the coast.

 

 

Why your avatar or if no avatar why not?
- The image has degraded some, but originally it was something of a joke.  It's a mon, sort of, created by a young lady I was dating even back before there were AOL disks in your mailbox twice a week.  She had some interesting items in her home, some with her family's kamon on them (she was a native of Japan).  I asked about it, and learned... well, a lot more than I really needed to know, and certainly more than I remember.  At any rate, one day, on a lark, she decided to create one for me (she was pretty skilled with watercolors), based on her impression of me and the things that I enjoyed (she embellished a bit    ).  The background is a stylized high desert plain at sunset; the sunset is a stylized Japanese flag (I am no less curious about other people and places than anyone else, but I'm not exactly a Japanophile, either: she had to point the flag reference out to me.  In this case, it was intended to represent her and her family-- I was definitely interested in her, and her folks were amazing) settling into America-- the desert in the picture).  near the horizon is one of the motorcycles I had while we were dating-- wait.  I still have that one.  At any rate, it's a motorcycle.  On the other side, more in the foreground, is, according to her, "an American cowboy," though that looks a lot more like Native American buckskins to me (I also don't think she had a really good grasp of cowboys, considering that her only experience with that was what she might have gleaned from television, most of which was in Japan in the 70s), with what she claimed was a "cowboy sword," which, after much question and answering and referencing the covers of some of my library and some VHS footage we finally figured out was a cavalry saber, which to her eyes (and presumably low-budget entertainment exposure) looks a like a katana to me.    

 

No; I am not really into swords, at least not since, regardless of fringe instances and corner cases, overall, Gun is Paper to Sword's Rock.    .  For those wanting to disagree that this is not typically the case, I would like to take just a moment to point out the ratio of gun-related deaths on the battle field to knife-related deaths (any size knife, really) and gently rest my case.  But in her understanding, they were Cowboy Swords, so that's what it is.     Evidently, any American that rode a horse outside the city limits during the Western Expansion was, by her exposure, a Cowboy.     I'm sort of cool with that. 

 

 

What area do you live in?
- Toombs County, Georgia.  I'd be more specific, but anything more than that requires a pronunciation guide that I no longer enjoy typing.    I am almost exactly seven-and-one-half miles from the dead center of absolutely nowhere.

 

 

What's your profession?
- With the exception (on this board) of Chris Goodwin, who knows it to be the truth, very few people believe that my job title really _is_ Professional @$$hole.

 

No; I am not making that up.

 

I am a commodities buyer who is also tasked with inventory tracking and identifying and preparing for production trends and demands, including catching a trend as it happens and being prepared for it within three weeks in spite of shipping times that can take three months.  Somehow, I manage to pull it off.  I won't bother with the myriad of things I've done before, because at my age and in my health, I expect my current job is the last job I will ever have.  Oh-- I also have the second job, from which I was hired for the current main job: I assistant manage a building materials supply house (the one that I ran for a decade or so).  Again, similar tasks, but this time to include personnel managing, too.  Not as self-inflation, but to highlight that I am pretty good at the commodities thing:  I do that same job for the supply house and only work there twelve days a month. 

 

(I think most of us are IT geeks here :))

- I enjoy being the blatant exception to the rest of you.      (Though I have suspected for years that Hugh is actually some sort of accountant.   ) 

 

 

Are you Windows, MAC or Linux?
-No.

 

Not even a little bit.

 

I think my favorite environment / OS was Sega Genesis, though Turbografx 16  was pretty sweet before that.

 

When it comes to computers, if it's something that I am expected to patch, or write any bit of code, or "examine the syntax" or any form of "parse"-- No.  Not only can I not do it (unless it's for the C64 or the Timex Sinclair, mind you, but I suspect it isn't), I have no interest in doing it.  If I buy a car, I expect it to be complete, able to do what I bought it for.  If I buy a piece of software, I expect the same.  "Glitches," "bugs," "interface issues" and things like that-- not cool.  The past twenty-five years or so, we've been giving these problems some sort of "pass," as if it's okay for software to not do what it was written to do "because we can do a patch" or whatever.  That lead to some sort of creep-in of "put some of this on the user" and that tendency pretty much means my only interest in a computer is for work or for the internet.  I don't have to know how to design and build the car to make it run; I don't know why I should need to know how to design and modify software to get it to do what it claimed it could do on the back of the box.

 

My Sega?  Every time.  It does every single thing it claims to, every single time!  Even all these decades later, I have never had to modify a table or write a code or turn in a service ticket.  Just awesome.  In terms of "got what I paid for," the Sega flat out murders every PC I've ever bought after Windows 3.

 

 

 

Are there TV shows and/or movies you like to binge watch?
-Not really.  There are shows I have liked over the years, but-- and it might just be a memory thing, but once I've watched it, I remember it.  Watching it again later just annoys me for the lost time.

 

What drew you to the Hero System?
-Somebody else was running!  My Traveller GM was PCS'ing in a couple of months, and I had just about given up finding a new group (I could have found thirty, back in those days, if I liked D&D, but I don't, so....  Hmmm... perhaps that's because I'm not an IT guy?    )   I stayed because after going through the character generation process and the SFX / mechanics separation, I immediately recognized the universality of it.  I liked the combat modeling and the speed chart and the lack of "roll for initiative."  Skill Levels and-- well, there was just a boatload of things I liked about it; I can't really go into it all and expect anyone to read it-- or to even want to scroll around it!   

 

 

 

Which edition did you start with?
- Man, I can't really answer that one.  Having already given a multi-paragraph response, and having been kind of drifting off the board a bit more of late, I am almost loathe to hit you with another one, but here goes:

 

Bear with me, because I have been insulted for making this claim before; I never reali-- 

 

just bear with me, okay?

 

I started playing Champions in 1980.  Once upon a time, I joined this board.  my signature line used to say "HERO Fan since my mimeograph of the first edition!"   I had no idea, until Scott Ruggles helped me figure out how this was possible-- thanks again, Scott, if you're lurking around this thread.

 

My first GM was a guy named Jim.  He had moved to Hinesville (Where I lived at the time) from California.  We stay deeply in touch: one of us calls the other once every five years or so.  Man, that's _tight_, right there.   One of his players got word I was looking for a game that wasn't D&D.  He invited me to try "this superhero game my friend runs thrice a week" (yeah...  those were the days, weren't they?  The Golden Age of RPGs....) and I thought well....  I'm not the biggest fan of superheroes, either, but good God!  It's _not_ D&D!  ( I really wanted another Traveller game, but that didn't happen until I bought the books and started running it myself, I'm afraid)

 

So Jim had the superhero game.  It was mostly typed up mimies-- which, for those of you old enough to remember that era, was pretty stinkin' _normal_.   At least, it was normal where I lived:  the closest game store was a nine-hour ride.  Eventually we got a local one that was really just a small handful of small-press games, a few things for D&D, some locally-produced modules, dice, and a precious handful of minis (for fantasy).  A few years later, we got a game store only two hours away!  Woo-Hoo! Anyway, mimieographed, typed, even hand-copied rules were the norm for most groups.  Everyone _wanted_ to by the rules, and most of us _did_, on that rare occasion that we found ourselves in the presence of real books for sale (I lived 90 minutes from the nearest bookstore, let alone game store!).  I never batted an eye that Jim was running from a manila folder filled with mimies, typed sheets, handwritten sheets, and notes scribbled everywhere.  That was _normal_ in Liberty County, Georgia back then.  The only reason we had any games at _all_ was soldiers on the army base who had moved to the area from exotic places with game stores and paved roads and stuff.....

 

So we played "the superhero game."  I don't think anyone-- even Jim-- called it anything but that.  I asked about it three or four times, as I wanted it!  Not because of the superheroes, but because of the universality of the system, and the way the system worked from top to bottom.  I loved it!  Jim said he got it from a friend in California who got it from his buddy  Glenn; his buddy dragged him to his GM's house and his GM shoved the rules at him and begged him for his opinion and he took it home to read it but but lost it before he finished it and found it again when he was moving-- such things as that.  

 

Then one day Jim had to go back to California for a couple of weeks.  When he came back, he had two copies of Champions 1e; one of which was autographed (I still have that one; he gave it to me when he packed up and moved right after 4e came out: "Reckon I'm gonna go to 'Vegas and marry my pen pal."  Which he did.  And no one batted an eye because we had always been taught that people from California were "kinda weird...." )  His little brother (who off-and-on gamed with us) was given the manila folder right after Jim got Champions.  Anyway, as we read the book, we realized that Jim had found the game we had been playing while he was away on vacation!  (it really didn't click that he had gone to a gaming convention: we didn't have a strong grasp of gaming _stores_, let alone massive get-togethers of vendors and players!

 

Skip forward many, many years.  I have posted that story four, maybe five times (longer and shorter versions of it) here and elsewhere when asked "How were you playing this game in 1980 when it wasn't published until 1981?!" (honestly, I never actually realized that until the first time I was questioned about it, then I had to go look!  Now I had my own boxed set then (2e), and I had never actually opened the 1e book Jim gave me, so I never knew it wasn't something from 1975 that Jim had mimeographed and then bought himself the actual book in 1981.  The last time I told this story, I got _insulted_ for telling it.  That was right here on this very board, actually, by someone who I don't think appreciates that I have told exactly _one_ intentional lie in my life( very long story), and no random stranger on the internet is _ever_ going to be important enough for me to lie to him or her.  Either way, I haven't told the story since.

 

But in recent years, Scott Ruggles has become active on the board, and was active at the time that happened, and once I put two and two together, I realized that this was the Scott Ruggles from the old days, and he was kind enough to shed a lot of light on what most likely happened, based on what I knew and what he knew:

 

Jim was either a player or a friend of a player in a playtest group.  According to Scott, several of the early playtesters ran groups of their own and tested the game with their own players as well as the game in which they were players.  One particular tester, Glenn I-am-already-afraid-I-have-misspelled-Scott's-last-name-so-I-am-not-going-to-try-Glenn's T-something was notoriously bad about letting copies "get away from him."  There is a very good chance that the edition I started with was a copy-of-a-copy-of-a-copy of some version of the playtest rules, and in Scott's words, "there were a _lot_ of Jims in and out back then."

 

I don't know it to be true; I can't ever know it to be true; I will never claim it to be true.  However, it fits everything I know, everything Scott knows, and is the only explanation for how we could have been playing it in 1980.  While I will not ever proclaim it to be verified fact, I admit that it's really fun to give into the idea every now and again.   

 

 

What have you used the game for?
- Everything.  Seriously.  One playtest campaign (and I confess, I begged for it until Jim capitulated) of "everything goes!  Any character!  Any genre!  Any adventure!  Go!" because I wanted to prove to them that Champions was absolutely generic owing to the separation of SFX.   After the success of that, we used it for pretty much everything (except Traveller.  I have done lots of sci-fi with it, but Traveller has a special place in my heart).  The next not-superheroes game was a science fiction game I ran myself (my first GM-ing!) based on John DeChancie's Starrigger series.  We would pick up cheap small-press stuff as the years went by (Expendibles, the original Starships and Spacemen, Star Frontiers, and a whole host of others).  If we liked it enough to play more than just three or four times, we ended up putting it on Champions running gear.

 

What point system have you ran or played in?
- It's been so many years since we've done anything _off_ of Champions, I don't remember which ones were point-based and which ones were not (except GURPS.  I thought that was a straight-up Champions rip-off on my first read through.  It took a while before I noticed that GURPS handles the bottom end the way HERO handles the top end:  that's really what it was made for.  I suppose technically Car wars is a points system we just call them dollars instead of points.  I have never put Car Wars on Champions running gear.....   (No.  I am not going to do that.))

 

 

Do you still play or GM the Hero System?
- Both, though since the other two games are _still_ on Corona hiatus, I've only been GM-ing of late.

 

Our there other games you play?
- I have gone on long enough already that I won't bore you further with a list of everything I remember playing.  Suffice it to say that the only games that see play in recent years are Champions (HERO System, but after all these years, I _still_ just call it Champions), Traveller, and once in a blue moon we'll all be a little irritated with each other and a game of 1e VTM breaks out for a session or two.

 

On an A to F scale how do you rate the system overall
- Which version?  I find 2e to have been my personal sweet spot, and become less and less in love with each subsequent edition.

 

Followup question: If you rate the system below B- why are are still playing or using it?

= Because I still play a version that I find to be an A.

 

What are some house-rules, if any, you use in the past?
-I won't bore you with those, either.  I don't have a lot of over-all house rules, but like anyone else, I have campaign-to-campaign rules.   Well, I tell you what:  I will share _one_ house rule, just because I've posted it here often enough that I don't expect anyone to be shocked:  I allow modifiers at 1/8.  That is, I have allowed an Advantage priced at +1/8; I have allowed Limitations priced at +1/8.

 

If you could put together a 7th edition what are some things you add, omit and/or change?
It would be six or seven hundred pages shorter.  I would eliminate every single "here's a list of several variants of the same rule," as I have a nasty habit of assuming that people are intelligent enough to make variants when they feel the need, and that they would likely come up with something far better-suited to them than any "official variant" I could ever prescribe for them.  I have always felt that the "GMs and Players are encouraged to change any rule that isn't working for them or to ignore any rule that they don't care to use" is more than sufficient in that regard.

 

 

 

[Chris Goodwin]

Since Duke answered, and mentioned my name, I guess I'll answer as well.   

 

Why your username?
It's my name.  I was going to say something about "My parents gave it to me," but they didn't actually give me my username.  

 

Why your avatar or if no avatar why not?

It's me, from a picture of me taken at my son's kindergarten graduation, which was in 2008.  I look pretty much the same now, except the hair is a bit more grey.  

 

What area do you live in?
Hillsboro, Oregon, in the western suburbs of Portland.  

 

What's your profession?
I'm an IT geek...  

 

Are you Windows, MAC or Linux?
Windows and Linux.  I got started in Linux by forcing myself to have it single-boot on my computer, so I wouldn't be tempted to boot into Windows just to do something I could do on Linux.  About six years ago or so, I finally relented and added a Windows partition.  Over the past four or five years or so, my son made use of my computer as well, so was booting into Windows more frequently, and I've been using it more and more on my own computer.  My preferred Linux distribution is Debian.  

 

Are there TV shows and/or movies you like to binge watch?
Sci-fi, fantasy, and superhero.  

 

What drew you to the Hero System?
A friend back in the 80's was a Champions player, and he would talk about it every so often but otherwise didn't try to advocate for it or anything.  I'd picked up Autoduel Champions mainly for the helicopter rules for Car Wars, but I did keep looking at the superheroes in Car Wars and the autoduelling in Champions parts.  Finally I started getting burned out on D&D, and finally said to my friend, I'm going to buy Champions, can I pick your brain when I need help?  He said absolutely, and now here we are. 

 

Which edition did you start with?
Third edition, though it was in the period where most of the people I was playing with had either first or second, and we weren't nitpicking edition differences anyway, so it was pretty much the first-gen mix.  The group I was playing with got rapidly into the other Hero games; we probably played more Fantasy Hero, Robot Warriors, and Danger International than Champions.  

 

Which edition is your favorite?

I have to say, 6th edition has been growing on me a lot.  I've been playing a lot of 6th edition lately.  Before that it was 3rd.  

 

What have you used the game for?
Oh boy.  Let's see: superheroes at various power levels and tones; lots of different fantasy, including a Fantasy Hero game based on the Bushido RPG, and one based on the Myth Adventures series by Robert Asprin; quite a lot of different Danger International games, a lot of which were modern military-based in some way, though there were also a number of sci-fi games using it; Robot Warriors; Battletech Hero using DI and RW; a Western Hero game before Western Hero existed, using DI and Justice Inc. along with various other western RPGs; and there are probably a lot of others I'm just plain forgetting. 

 

What point system have you ran or played in?
Everything from 10 points (PvP games we called "Death Wish") to 700+ point monsters.  

 

What was your first Hero character?

The first two I made were a mutated cat that stood on two legs, and a guy who fell off an ocean liner and was raised by dolphins.  The first one I played was an heat-ray energy projector named Infrared.  

 

What was your favorite Hero character?

Different ones at different times.  Shifter was the 700+ point monster, played in a solo game with the friend who got me into the game.  Chameleon was a permanently invisible brick.  Subbei was a "budoka" (a ninja, really) in the Bushido game.  A ki-rin in a high powered "yourselves in a fantasy world" game back in the 80's.  A stretchy character in 2019.  Current character in Champions, who is a TV actor who all of a sudden discovered he could switch forms into the alien character he played on TV, with the character's personality and memories (mentalist and pocket brick).  

 

Do you still play or GM the Hero System
Still play.  Recently GM'd a short Robot Warriors campaign using 6th edition characters and original RW mech build rules.

 

Are there other games you play?
A number of indie RPGs, off and on.  D&D.  Traveller.  Nothing much beyond those, recently.  

 

On an A to F scale how do you rate the system overall?
A!

 

What are some house-rules, if any, you use in the past?
Most of the recent games I've played in have used a "hero point" mechanic.  

 

If you could put together a 7th edition what are some things you add, omit and/or change?
I've been keeping a file full of changes I'd make, but none of them are all that radical or even particularly new-edition worthy.  Oh, I'd have a secret infinite multiversal cataclysm that would separate all of the Fantasy Hero settings into their own universes rather than being part of the Champions Universe.  I'd formalize Differing Modifiers to be based on any set of Advantages that make sense, with GM permission; I'd tweak Healing some; I'd tweak Standard Effect some; I'd probably add back in some of the powers that went away over the years, like Instant Change and Suppress.  I'd revamp Adjustment Powers with a bit more differentiation between those you'd primarily use on Characteristics and those you'd primarily use on Powers.  I'd add some notes on generalized power systems (in other words, "magic systems" for other types of powers).  And I'd add an appendix on "Editionless Hero" wherein a GM could bring back any rules from previous editions they wanted, with notes on how to get them to work with the current systems.  

 

I'd also release a Hero SRD under the Open Game License.   

[Derek Hiemforth]

Why your username?
It's the name my mama gave me.

 

Why your avatar or if no avatar why not
"Rhino" was a nickname in college days, so a cartoon rhino running through a hex seems apt for an avatar on the HERO System forums.

 

What area do you live in?
The San Francisco Bay Area in California. I live in the East Bay region, about 35 miles northeast of Oakland.

 

What's your profession?
I'm a professional writer. Very occasionally, that means I'm a freelance writer in the RPG world. Usually, it means I'm a technical writer in the energy industry. However, the career of my 20s and 30s was I.T., so I still feel at home here.   

 

Are you Windows, MAC or Linux?
Mac and Windows. Mac preferred for most things, but fine using Windows when it's a better fit for a given activity. I've run Linux before, but I haven't had a Linux build on one of my machines for a while now. 

 

Are there TV shows and/or movies you like to binge watch?
Way more of them (mainly TV series) than I have time for, especially with all of the other distractions available. I don't even know how many complete series I own on disc, much less everything available on streaming. At least 50-60 complete series on disc, of various genres.

 

What drew you to the Hero System?
One of my best friends went to SJSU the year we graduated from high school. When I went to SJSU the next year (after a year at the local JC), I picked the same dorm as her (so I would know someone). Her boyfriend at college was a gamer, and I fell in with his gaming group. They were playing Champions at the time.  I still play with that group today (albeit remotely now, and with some membership changes).  

 

However, what kept me with the HERO System was its creative freedom, the concept of "reasoning from effect," the concept of Speed, and the separation of damage into STUN and BODY.  Since almost all of my previous gaming had been AD&D, these were pretty revolutionary concepts to me, and I've never tired of them.

 

Which edition did you start with?
Third Edition Champions (the Mike Witherby cover)

 

What have you used the game for?

No way I could remember them all.  A partial list includes:

• Champions: Modern era (eleven campaigns), golden-age (two campaigns), pulp-era (mystery men, but with actual low-level superpowers), anti-heroes (a la Suicide Squad), sci-fi-flavored (two campaigns), and fantasy-flavored (PCs as demigods protecting their tribes or peoples, facing evil demigods, all with fantasy trappings in the supporting roles, such as knights and necromancers instead of UNTIL and VIPER agents, etc.  It was not like Fantasy Hero; it was like Champions, just with fantasy trappings instead of modern trappings)
• Dark Champions: Two solo campaigns (one GM, one player)
• Fantasy Hero: A game set in The Turakian Age, a game set in Steven Brust's Dragaera, and four games set in various home-brewed fantasy worlds.
• Urban Fantasy/Modern Weirdness: The Darkwalkers (think Men in Black, but vs. magic and monsters instead of aliens, and sponsored by a secret society instead of a government agency), The Warehouse (think of the Warehouse 13 TV show or the GURPS Warehouse 23 RPG book).
• Worlds Crossing:  One campaign based on Monte Cook's The Strange (but in HERO), and one based on GURPS Infinite Worlds (but in HERO).
• Assorted Convention Games: Challenge of the Super-Friends.  TV Detective All-Stars.  Scooby-Doo.

 

What point system have you ran or played in?
Truly all over the map. Games in which I played or game mastered have featured starting PCs with as few as 50 CP, and as many as unlimited CP.

 

Do you still play or GM the Hero System
Yes. I'm currently a player in two groups that both play HERO at least part of the time. I'm also ramping up to GM a new Pulp Hero campaign (my first) that will hopefully kick off sometime soonish, after COVID settles down.

 

Our there other games you play
I've played a bunch of games a handful of times or less, but the only ones I've played extensively are HERO System and the D&D/AD&D/Pathfinder lot.  Currently, I'm playing HERO and Pathfinder. However, I haven't run a game in any rules system other than HERO in... I don't even know how long.  A long time. There are other systems I would be willing to run if I had to. But I don't have to, so I run HERO.  

 

On an A to F scale how do you rate the system overall
For the type of game it seeks to be, it definitely gets an A.  I think it's the best game of its kind.

 

Now, that kind of game is not really the sort of game that's currently in vogue in the RPG world, so despite my love for it and my high regard of how well it succeeds at its goals, I wouldn't necessarily recommend it to everyone. It very much depends on what one's expectations are. For example, if you want a game where the rules of the game reinforce the feel of the story and the world, then HERO would probably be, at best, a C for you. If you want a game where the GM and the players trade off story control and your narrative choices affect the game on a meta level, etc. then HERO would probably get a D or an F.  Different strokes for different folks, etc.

 

Fortunately, I like the kind of game system HERO is, so I'm a happy camper.   

 

What are some house-rules, if any, you use in the past?
Oh geez... many have come and gone over the years, though I will say that as the rules have improved with each edition, and as I've gotten older and more tired, the appeal of house rules fades more and more.   

 

One I've used pretty consistently is a tie-breaker system for combat order, rather than rolling dice to break ties. For years, I used the Hit Location chart for rolling STUNx on killing attacks (not necessarily the other HLC effects; just the STUNx, to flatten the curve), but with 6E, the need for that one has gone away.  I'll often ignore END in games where it seems like an unnecessary complication. 

 

If you could put together a 7th edition what are some things you add, omit and/or change?
I'm not sure I would change too much, to be honest; I think 6E is pretty solid.  I might look at unifying the Skill system a little more (so that all Skills are built the same way and cost the same amount) and I might try to simplify the rules for adding damage.

 

I'd probably also expand the concept of Dormant game elements, and better define what that means. For example, the current Characteristic descriptions talk about what happens at 0 value; I'd expand that to talk about what happens if a character lacks that characteristic entirely. This might have a lot in common with @GamePhil's "Incomplete Characters" rules.

 

Otherwise, just minor tweaks and presentational changes, I think.   

[Spence]

Why your username?

Shortened version of my name.

 

Why your avatar or if no avatar why not

For years I was not a sports ball fan.  I got hooked on soccer while deployed during World Cup and when my local city got its team I started watching the league.  It’s a lot of fun and I make as many games as I can. 

 

What area do you live in?

About 50 miles north of Seattle

 

What's your profession?

Field Engineer for Avionics.

 

Are you Windows, MAC or Linux?

I use a computer and a lot of software in my hobby, since I’m not an IT, that makes it Windows. 

 

Are there TV shows and/or movies you like to binge watch?

A lot of old shows from The Maltese Falcon to the Untouchables to Kolchak the Night Stalker.  Some new stuff like Deep Space 9 and Babylon 5.     

 

What drew you to the Hero System?

Being able to build a character the way I wanted to and well…Superheroes!

There were also several things that Champions did that none of the other, at that time RPG’s did.  A Hero PC could get tired.  They didn’t fight at 100% and then suddenly died like D&D at that time. And so on.

 

Which edition did you start with?

1st

 

What have you used the game for?

Supers, Pulp, Westerns, Spy action and even some WW2 stuff.

 

What point system have you ran or played in?

Well Hero of course, but the GUMSHOE games are fun as well. 

 

Do you still play or GM the Hero System

It has been far and between these days.  I mostly run one-shots and Hero of any flavor gets time intensive fast when you are trying to create easy to play pre-gens.

 

Are there other games you play

I run a lot of GUMSHOE (Fear Itself, Nights Black Agents, Trail of Cthulhu, Fall of Delta Green), and some 2D20 (Star Trek Adventures and Conan)

 

On an A to F scale how do you rate the system overall

4th Edition B

5th Edition C

6th Edition D

 

Follow-up question: If you rate the system below B- why are still playing or using it?

Hero is just a great system, but is paralyzed by not having any “playable settings”.  I define playable as allowing a GM to be able to read, preside over PC build and run a game withing one day of receiving the rule book.  Hero require the GM to create the entire setting, define all the restrictions, then make sure the PC and NPC fit those restrictions, then create the adventures and then play.  Which takes weeks.  Yes, a home built D&D Campaign can take weeks to months to build.  But you can by the starter box and be playing the game on the same day and then follow up with a fully fleshed campaign that the GM can prep for each session by reading the chapter just before play. 

 

What are some house-rules, if any, you use in the past?

Not exactly house rules, but misinterpretations that we just kept, I’ll mention a couple.

 

The first one that caught my attention as well as a good chunk of the gaming group I was with was the stun lotto.  There were a 30 of us that played wargames and RPGs on the weekends while we were in A School.  Most of us had completed out various damage control of combat aid trainings and the idea of checking each other for wounds and personal damage because being badly hurt but not realizing it is a real thing.  Just as receiving a lesser hit can actually knock you out.  We were getting ready to start D&D when the other table was in the middle of a supers fight.  I don’t remember all the details except (here come misinterpretation #1) the hero got hit with a mean killing attack and rolled a 1 for the stun lotto.  Which was being read as 1d6-1 not 1d6-1 to a minimum of 1.  So the Hero took a nasty cut and zero stun.  Yep, hopped up on adrenaline and just didn’t notice the hit.  After everything being ambiguous Hti Points this was a massive hook.

 

The second is sell back.  One of the major arguments is that 5th and earlier prevented you from building what you wanted because of one line that says you can only sell back one figured stat.  Initially we completely missed that on and later thought it was stupid and ignored it. 

 

If you could put together a 7th edition what are some things you add, omit and/or change?

Go back to 4th or 5th, admit there is no such thing as a fully “balanced” RPG and just dump the problematic dumb “rules”. 

[assault]

15 minutes ago, Spence said:

The second is sell back.  One of the major arguments is that 5th and earlier prevented you from building what you wanted because of one line that says you can only sell back one figured stat.  Initially we completely missed that on and later thought it was stupid and ignored it. 

 

That restriction was introduced in 2e Champions. It blocked one of the major bugs in 1e - the perpetual motion machine you could create by buying, say, 10 000 Con, and selling back almost all of the resulting figured characteristics. Or you could buy 20 000, 100 000, a million... You could do the same thing with Str.

Of course there were other ways to block it. Capping the value of Str or Con you could buy would do the trick (well enough). You might also need to make sure any limitations the character had on their Str and Con were strictly enforced.

 

Obviously this is just sensible GM vetting of characters - but having such a bug in the rules as written is a blatant invitation for players to try it on - and not all GMs would spot the issue or deal with it well.

[Spence]

43 minutes ago, assault said:

Obviously this is just sensible GM vetting of characters - but having such a bug in the rules as written is a blatant invitation for players to try it on - and not all GMs would spot the issue or deal with it well.

 

I'm not going to try an revisit the discussions of the past, but it was just one of many "fix a bug" by creating "more bugs".  In the end the GM is tied around the axial anyway.   We ignored it and never had that issue.  Doesn't mean it wasn't an issue somewhere, but it never seemed to rear its head no matter where I played, even between states.  So, meh. 

In the end they made the changes they wanted and the players ignored what they wanted to. 

[schir1964]

Why your username?
Just an anagram of my name.

 

Why your avatar or if no avatar why not
Electrode, one of my characters I created for the Hero System.

 

What area do you live in?
New Carlisle, Ohio, USA

 

What's your profession?
Software Engineer

 

Are you Windows, MAC or Linux?
Windows.

 

Are there TV shows and/or movies you like to binge watch?
Science Fiction, Super Hero

 

What drew you to the Hero System?
Super Hero Genre and the way that system allows you create just about anything.

 

Which edition did you start with?
4th Edition (Big Blue Book)

 

What have you used the game for?
Super Hero genre.

 

What point system have you ran or played in?
Standard Super Hero (400 Points).

 

Do you still play or GM the Hero System
Haven't for over 10 Years but my kids are now old enough I want to introduce them to it.

 

Our there other games you play?

Classic Traveler and some DND for a few years.

 

On an A to F scale how do you rate the system overall
A+

 

What are some house-rules, if any, you use in the past?
Various house rules for 5th Edition (Big Black Book). Minor things to ensure gameplay wasn't adversely affected.

 

If you could put together a 7th edition what are some things you add, omit and/or change?

Not going to open that can of worms (8^D).

Haven't used 6th but looked at the changes it was making and was pleased as to the direction it was going (although others were not).

Would be interested in a 7th Edition just to see where that might lead.

 

- Christopher Mullins
 

 

[Nekkidcarpenter]

Why your username?
I had a public access TV show that I called 'The Naked Carpenter' and nekkidcarpenter sounds hilarious.

 

Why your avatar or if no avatar why not?
It was going to be a company logo.

 

What area do you live in?
South Florida

 

What's your profession?
Spy.  Oh, sorry.  Unemployed spy.

 

Are you Windows, MAC or Linux?
Windows?  

 

Are there TV shows and/or movies you like to binge watch?
I am not a binger.

 

What drew you to the Hero System?
My brother was playing at MIT with some guys when I went to visit him in Boston, and I brought it back to our gaming group.

 

Which edition did you start with?
 Champions II

 

Which edition is your favorite?

6

 

What have you used the game for?
Mainly superheroes, lots of short lived pulp and fantasy games.

 

What point system have you ran or played in?
250-500 starting points.

 

What was your first Hero character?

Due to my brother having an edge by playing with some true point hackers, I took his advice and played a martial artist with high speed and Find Weakness.

 

What was your favorite Hero character?

Bluff Tungsteen, a 'what if Robotman had become the Ghost Rider?' concept

 

Do you still play or GM the Hero System
Yes, but not enough

 

Are there other games you play?
nah

 

On an A to F scale how do you rate the system overall?
A-

 

What are some house-rules, if any, you use in the past?
I have quite a few as GM, haven't played in many restricted games.

 

If you could put together a 7th edition what are some things you add, omit and/or change?
The Champions Universe needs an enema.  More information about and examples of Hero's true innovation; the Presence Attack.  It's free!  It's fun!  Try it, try it, you will see!

 

[Tjack]

14 minutes ago, Nekkidcarpenter said:

Why your username?
I had a public access TV show that I called 'The Naked Carpenter' and nekkidcarpenter sounds hilarious.

 

Why your avatar or if no avatar why not?
It was going to be a company logo.

 

What area do you live in?
South Florida

 

What's your profession?
Spy.  Oh, sorry.  Unemployed spy.

 

Are you Windows, MAC or Linux?
Windows?  

 

Are there TV shows and/or movies you like to binge watch?
I am not a binger.

 

What drew you to the Hero System?
My brother was playing at MIT with some guys when I went to visit him in Boston, and I brought it back to our gaming group.

 

Which edition did you start with?
 Champions II

 

Which edition is your favorite?

6

 

What have you used the game for?
Mainly superheroes, lots of short lived pulp and fantasy games.

 

What point system have you ran or played in?
250-500 starting points.

 

What was your first Hero character?

Due to my brother having an edge by playing with some true point hackers, I took his advice and played a martial artist with high speed and Find Weakness.

 

What was your favorite Hero character?

Bluff Tungsteen, a 'what if Robotman had become the Ghost Rider?' concept

 

Do you still play or GM the Hero System
Yes, but not enough

 

Are there other games you play?
nah

 

On an A to F scale how do you rate the system overall?
A-

 

What are some house-rules, if any, you use in the past?
I have quite a few as GM, haven't played in many restricted games.

 

If you could put together a 7th edition what are some things you add, omit and/or change?
The Champions Universe needs an enema.  More information about and examples of Hero's true innovation; the Presence Attack.  It's free!  It's fun!  Try it, try it, you will see!

 

      I used to play at M.I.T. and so did another person on here, M.I.T. Sasquatch.  What years did he play and what’s his nickname or what games/what characters did he play?