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The "Beautiful Madness" of Hero System


fdw3773

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I recently ran the rules-light superhero RPG ICONS at a local game convention and it worked out beautifully, especially since out of the two groups of players that participated in the sessions I ran, only one had actually played role-playing games before. For the others, it was their first time ever and it was easy to explain the game mechanics and character sheet layout to them as well. Looking ahead to the next game event, though, I was thinking about running Champions and Fantasy Hero, which both have a special place in my gaming heart since I have been playing them since high school and college, respectively. I've owned and played other games (e.g. Robotech, Pendragon, DC Heroes, Villains & Vigilantes) before them, but in the end, my preference is still Hero System.

 

Why, beyond sentimental memories of rolling lots of d6s over pizza in the college dorm? It finally hit me when I purchased Fantasy AGE and its Bestiary over the weekend, a worthy fantasy game system in its own right. The products are first rate and the rules are to easy to pick up, but then it hit me: how do I establish game balance between the players and their opponents? How do I design my own monsters? That's when I realized the "beautiful madness" of Hero System. The beauty of Hero's point system has always been, and remains, a great way to determine the relative power level of a character, whatever the genre, as outlined in their respective game and source books. The madness, of course, is all of the nuances and related rules that can affect point totals, and the rules heavy nature of the Hero System that often turned new players away or frustrated them. The source books themselves remain amazing academic references that as educators, my wife and I loved...but was that really the writers' intent? 🤔

 

So, I challenged myself with this question: how can I make Hero System "Easy to Follow" for brand new players? Here's what I've done to create what I call, "Easy to Follow Fifth Edition" for the character sheet layout:

1) All of the statistics are written out; virtually no acronyms are used. (The Hero Designer file exists, but players aren't interested in that raw data.)

2) After the statistics are listed, the next two major entries are "Offense" and "Defense" that list combat values, main attacks, and defenses.

3) Everything else is listed under Skills and Abilities, followed by Disadvantages.

4) Perks & Talents are minimized. The skills and powers are only the main ones that people readily know and pick up. Not every minute detail is listed, especially when it can get tedious.

 

My friend, who's only played ICONS so far and head was spinning when I first introduced Hero System to her a while back, is coming over to look at what I created with a fresh set of eyes. Here is what I've created so far for Champions and Fantasy Hero as samples. Constructive feedback is welcome to see if it answers the question, "Does this make Hero System easier to understand?"

 

Thanks!

image.thumb.png.cbe4260b5b4bc4991ea773feefdd0b0d.png

 

 

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The beauty of Hero's point system has always been, and remains, a great way to determine the relative power level of a character, whatever the genre, as outlined in their respective game and source books.

 

It goes beyond that.  In every other game system, if you have a magical sword, its value and relative power level is just an estimate, its arbitrarily assigned, like AD&D's xp value of treasures.  Monsters are given a power level based on what the creator guesses they are.

 

In Hero you get a mathematical answer, an exact number.  Its not 100% reliable, but its very close to that, and makes it easier for GMs to assign enemies and loot.

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4 hours ago, Scott Ruggels said:

That is a nice sheet, but the text is a bit small. I still like the old 4th edition 3 column sheet, but this isn't bad, especially for a single sided sheet.

Thanks. The font is 10 point Arial and 11 point Minion Pro, which is a standard size. It's hard to determine what they were when I posted the images since they were screenshots of the character sheet. When printed out, the character is easy to read.

 

Also, yesterday (8/2) my friend reviewed and quickly understood the character layout and was open to playing Hero System down the road since it didn't seem confusing like the previous material presented in the rule book (e.g. all of the confusing acronyms). 😀

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On 8/2/2022 at 8:03 AM, fdw3773 said:

 

image.thumb.png.cbe4260b5b4bc4991ea773feefdd0b0d.png

 

 

 

Proof that format matters. Nice job, @fdw3773

 

3 hours ago, fdw3773 said:

Also, yesterday (8/2) my friend reviewed and quickly understood the character layout and was open to playing Hero System down the road since it didn't seem confusing like the previous material presented in the rule book (e.g. all of the confusing acronyms). 😀

 

Excellent news. I hope your friend enjoys their new voyage into Hero. :)

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It's definitely nice to have that type of versatility. That said, I found the KISS principle to work best with new players. Adding too many things all at once only confuses people new to the game.

 

The biggest problem I've encountered is that many people equate the HERO System with Champions. If you're going to run a superhero game, it's not an issue. But if you're running a different genre, some players won't be very happy.

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  • 2 weeks later...

After reviewing the character sheet with friend, she gave me some great feedback. Notably, being able to read the headings and having the character portrait on the right instead of left. I think the final product came out well...hopefully it will attract new players to Hero System.

image.thumb.png.ff5926d3772173b1def4a5e3ba51239d.png

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23 hours ago, Christopher R Taylor said:

Yeah I think one of the oddities of Hero in the past is the burning need to show all point values and math.  We don't need to know that DEX costs 2 character points per DEX on the character sheet.  We don't need to know that Stealth cost 7 points, on the character sheet.

 

Yeah, this is very much a holdover from when the character sheet was also a worksheet. There's not much need to show points when everything is being done in Hero Designer.

 

OTOH, it might be useful to have at least one sheet with points as an example, to show how things fit together. (And not everyone has Hero Designer.)

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