Next BLANK Hero RPG Book...

[Lord Liaden]

Ugh. I hope not. I understand that series has many fans, but I find those things so creepy and disgusting, I can't stomach watching it. 🤮

[xenoz]

A Kaiju Hero book could include:

- Kaiju, of course.

- Mecha kaiju, naturally.

- Heroes like Ultraman who grow to giant size and fight rampaging kaiju.

- Heroes like the Super Sentai/Power Rangers who pilot giant robots to fight kaiju.

- Benevolent kaiju like Gamera (as he eventually became) and sometimes Godzilla.

- Heroes (and villains) who can transform into kaiju (the recent Kaiju No. 8 manga, and even more recent anime, is an example of this).

- Maybe an alternate universe Japan setting where kaiju are very common and the country has adapted to life with kaiju. This could mean fortifying cities due to regular kaiju attacks, as well as accommodating friendly kaiju and people who can become kaiju as they coexist with the rest of the population.

Just some suggestions.

[Christopher R Taylor]

Me either, its just nasty.  But its a variant on the "get the bad guys who are 100 feet tall" genre

[Sketchpad]

I would gladly take a new Cyber Hero or Horror Hero. But I would love to see a new Danger International or an updated Post Apocalypse Hero.

[xenoz]

If all of my suggestions above were to be included in similar capacities, the book would pretty much become Tokusatsu Hero. Tokusatsu is the technique-cum-genre encompassing live action movies/series featuring kaiju, mecha and Japan's unique brand of superheroes. All three can overlap in a given tokusatsu show. Outside of Japan, tokusatsu's super robots (as opposed to real robots) and superheroes have much less prominence than kaiju, which have experienced a modest rise in popularity in recent years. There's probably a decent amount of interest in "realistic" mechs, too. Given that this is the case, I would suggest:

1) Writing a good deal of material for kaiju, a moderate amount for realistic mechs (since this could be a book of its own) and maybe throw in a small segment for super robots and tokusatsu superheroes.

2) Designing the setting for kaiju-centric campaigns while including suggestions for modifying this setting to accommodate the inclusion of the other stuff, to varying degrees and combinations.

Super robots and tokusatsu heroes could probably be excluded entirely without losing much, if any, potential interest. Most HS players would probably prefer to use Champions-style supers anyway and already have enough material to transplant. Still, there's the chance that a not-insignificant portion of HS players are fond of super robots like Voltron and Transformers and/or flashy heroes like the Power Rangers, so the inclusion of such material might get some appreciation. In a small capacity, it certainly wouldn't hurt either.

Edited April 21 by xenoz

[Stanley Teriaca]

I agree. Power Rangers and Transformers have there own RPGs (along with GI Joe and My Little Pony, all using the same system). It's already out there, and our game system is as good as Essence 20 is. Right guys? Right?

[Christopher R Taylor]

Well it comes down to how you write up the rules and the system.  Anything that covers giant monkeys would necessarily cover giant robots and just plain giant people.  The rules necessarily cross over to different concepts and platforms that are similar, and it would be simple to add those in, and silly not to.  What makes a game that runs Godzilla also runs Big O.  So you show how to do that in the same book, to make it as broad an appeal as possible and cover what else is reasonable.

[Stanley Teriaca]

1 hour ago, Christopher R Taylor said:

What makes a game that runs Godzilla also runs Big O.  So you show how to do that in the same book, to make it as broad an appeal as possible and cover what else is reasonable.

I'm shocked that someone remembers The Big O.

[Christopher R Taylor]

I liked that show, even though it had basically the same plot every time.  The mystery of what happened to the world was interesting to me and I was curious what his maid really was.

[Stanley Teriaca]

On 4/20/2024 at 5:43 PM, xenoz said:

A Kaiju Hero book could include:

- Kaiju, of course.

- Mecha kaiju, naturally.

- Heroes like Ultraman who grow to giant size and fight rampaging kaiju.

- Heroes like the Super Sentai/Power Rangers who pilot giant robots to fight kaiju.

- Benevolent kaiju like Gamera (as he eventually became) and sometimes Godzilla.

- Heroes (and villains) who can transform into kaiju (the recent Kaiju No. 8 manga, and even more recent anime, is an example of this).

- Maybe an alternate universe Japan setting where kaiju are very common and the country has adapted to life with kaiju. This could mean fortifying cities due to regular kaiju attacks, as well as accommodating friendly kaiju and people who can become kaiju as they coexist with the rest of the population.

Just some suggestions.

Sounds more like Tokosatsu Hero (Tokosatsu is the Japanese word for live action special effects, and is used to describe live action giant monsters, robots, and things like Ultraman, Super Sentai [known to us as Power Rangers] and other similar shows...heck even the live action Sailor Moon show falls under Tokosatsu and there is no giant robot or monster in sight).

 

And forgive me, I did misspell Tokosatsu.

[Lord Liaden]

8 hours ago, Stanley Teriaca said:

 

And forgive me, I did misspell Tokosatsu.

 

You wouldn't be your endearing self if you didn't.

[xenoz]

11 hours ago, Stanley Teriaca said:

Sounds more like Tokosatsu Hero (Tokosatsu is the Japanese word for live action special effects, and is used to describe live action giant monsters, robots, and things like Ultraman, Super Sentai [known to us as Power Rangers] and other similar shows...heck even the live action Sailor Moon show falls under Tokosatsu and there is no giant robot or monster in sight).

I know, you must not have seen this comment I posted afterwards.

 

On 4/21/2024 at 4:34 PM, xenoz said:

If all of my suggestions above were to be included in similar capacities, the book would pretty much become Tokusatsu Hero.

[Stanley Teriaca]

1 hour ago, xenoz said:

I know, you must not have seen this comment I posted afterwards.

 

I probably did miss it. 

[Christopher R Taylor]

I really wish I had the understanding and experience to do War Hero, I really want that book to be out but I have spent zero time in uniform and have never experienced combat, even personal combat.  I'm not qualified.  But its a source book I would love to see put out and run and play games in.  I got Recon by Palladium and it was great.

 

Surely someone with experience and understanding can get this done.

[Khymeria]

6 hours ago, Christopher R Taylor said:

I really wish I had the understanding and experience to do War Hero, I really want that book to be out but I have spent zero time in uniform and have never experienced combat, even personal combat.  I'm not qualified.  But its a source book I would love to see put out and run and play games in.  I got Recon by Palladium and it was great.

 

I am in the same boat, I never served but I my father was career so military stuff was always around. I loved Recon and Behind Enemy Lines and I played a special ops campaign in GURPS long ago where  we were all a different branch of special forces. It was like G.I. Joe without the oh so good cheesiness of the villains.