6th Ed. Limbo

[kjoatmon]

I was wondering if there was any timeline for the remaining 5th edition things to get updates to 6th edition. For example, I am interested in the Vehicle Sourcebook and The Ultimate Mentalist, but I do not want to pay for 5th edition if the 6th are in the works.

 

Last time I played was Champions in the mid 80s. Like 2nd ed., I think. Now, I am looking at using it for updating Space Opera (Fantasy Games Unlimited) to remove the exceptionally math heavy nature of that game. Also, the fact there is a Roll20 engine for HG is a nice bonus since my old gaming group now lives in four different states.

 

Getting the new version, I went for 6th ed, but am now finding a few key bits never got updated. Since 6th is not exactly new, I wonder if I need to do my own updates or if there are still a few releases set for these holes.

[kjoatmon]

Looking at the TOC for The Ultimate Mentalist and both HERO System Advanced Player's Guides, I see a lot of overlap. It looks like 70%+ of Mentalist is split between APG1&2, with the powers in 1 and the combat in 2. Some of it seems to have been dropped.

 

Perhaps missing things could be bundled into an APG3 to help fill in things that were missed, like expanded vehicle combat, parts of missing psionics, and other things from 5th ed that are not yet transported to 6th. I do not have a full list, but I am certain it could be put together with info from the forum questions and comments.

[Duke Bushido]

Woo-hoo!

 

Another Space Opera player!

 

Howdy, Neighbor!

 

 

as for the questions regarding timeline:  sometime after Mythic HERO, I expect.

 

(for what it's worth, Mythic HERO is the local version of Duke Nukem Forever, save that when the fateful does come, and my grandson buys himself a copy to share with his kids, I expect it will actually be _good_  )

 

the following is not intended to be insulting or detrimental in any way:

 

HERO Games is all but functionally dead.  There was talk a few months back about using Kickstarter to get bigger projects sone every once in a while, but I don't know id the overall fanbase is much larger than the membership roster for these forums. 

 

the bulk of the meager output of late has been primarily fan-based works using HERO's version of OGL (which is not OGL, but allows you to write stuff for them, so long as you follow a not-too-terribly-long list of rules.

 

all that being said, I woyldnt expect to see any Ultimates books updated to 6e, at least not for a very long time.  Considerinf the only significant changes from 5 to 6 were the loss of "freebie" figured characteristics and splitting the hex down to 1m per, pretty much everything in the Ultimates books is still perfectly valid from one to the other (movement might be a bit wonky in Ultimate Vehicle, but that is just a guess).  The ninja stuff will still be fine, as martial arts and there rules didn't change.

 

(having read the 5e Ultimate Skill in 5e ans HERO System Skills in 6e, I am one-hundred percent they are the exact same book)

 

 

[kjoatmon]

Yah, I was just wondering with what looked like a 10 year release schedule if there was any good news people had heard. IMHO, getting it onto Roll20 was very good news, so I am happy with the few recent things I have seen.

 

As for Space Opera, it was certainly a mix between fun and painful. GTA, MechA, and ElecA for example. Hero is not stats lite by any standard, but Space Opera just had so many and so much math that it could take days to make a character even if it was a basic one. We used to have home made software for making characters, powered armor, and ships. Sadly, it got lost ages ago. So taking the Space Opera points we liked and adding them to a 'simpler' and customizable system that actually has a lot of the work done? Not a hard choice. Especially when it looks like we could get it up on Roll20 without too many headaches.

 

I even found some free assets for DungeonDraft that look useful for reworking the original ship designs into usable maps.

 

[Duke Bushido]

Space Opera and Aftermath are the first things I think of when I hear complaint that refer to Champions as "recreational math."

 

 

Space Opera was a product of the moment, though- even TSR gor in on the "math means realism" wave with Star Frontiers- sure, it is the least complex of the math-heavy games, but for TSR, it was a departure from all that had gone before.

 

I am told that Pheonix Command was the high-water mark of over-math, but I never played it, so I can't say with certainty.  In my experience, BTRC's Armory books combined with Aftermath led to a series of calculations to determine damage based on projectile weight and shape and muzzle velocity, meaning that if you were ever mad at someone and wanted to bring the game to a screeching halt, all you had to do was grab a different gun....

 

 

Eventually, my players talked me into doing what you are talking about, though- moving the Space Opera campaign onto Champions running gear.

 

My Traveller players waffle between HERO and Traveller systems: the prefer the quickness of Traveller, but they also prefer the significantly reduced lethality of HERO.  It tends to vary depending on their desire to be violent.  Ha!

 

 

[kjoatmon]

My first Traveler 2000 character died during creation. That is a tad bit of lethality.