Confession & Praise

[Kirowan]

About a year ago, I purchased a copy of FREd. In between work and classes I struggled my way through a third of it. Why the core of the system didn't seem that complex to me, the number of options was staggering. I eventually gave up and traded off my copy.

 

I always regretted that. I recognized the potential of Hero, I just couldn't get into it. I wished there was an easier way to grok the system and I couldn't find any local groups to teach me.

 

The other day I bought Sidekick. I'll tell you, this is exactly what Hero needed. Everything is so clear and concise. As I read through the book I find I'm spending more time thinking about all of the cool characters I could create and less time struggling with minor rules.

 

Great job Steve and crew. Thanks for designing an affordable and approachable version of the Hero system for those of us who have a hard time grokking the whole shebang at once.

 

Nick

[Derek Hiemforth]

Don't worry Nick... you'll be assimilated to the Dark Side soon enough! You're getting your taste of how flexible the HERO System is through the outstanding Sidekick book, and you won't be able to stop. Soon, you'll hear the lure of the full HERO System 5th Edition calling you... More options.. More goodies... Yessss... M'precious FRED!

 

MUUWAAWAHAHAHAHAHHA!!!

 

Err... ahem. Sorry about that.

[Sociotard]

So have you regained possesion of the big book? If I was a starting player now, I'd be asking myself whether or not to wait until the expanded and revised version came out next year. Would it be worth it? That's a call I'm glad I don't have to make.

[Kirowan]

No, I only have Sidekick right now. I going to put it through a few test runs before commiting to the big book. It will be a tough call, no doubt.

 

Nick

[badger3k]

Free Plug

 

Hero Designer v2 has a sidekick option, so that you can make characters and all that with just the rules found in that book. Then as you get the other books, you can activate those rules (already built in to the program). Then you can buy the packs for the books, and then more books, and then...well, then you have a Wall'O'Books.

 

Seriously, the program takes a lot of hassle out of making anything in the system - it can help you learn the creation angle, and keep track of all the options/etc that can cause confusion for new Herophiles. Plus the support is excellent (as is the general game support).

[Kirowan]

That sounds awesome Badger. I'll probably pick that up then. They thought of everything.

 

Btw, is the program designed by Steve and the gang or an outside agency?

 

Nick

[Steve Long]

HD was created by Dan Simon, a programmer hired by us. In creating it he followed instructions and information from me.

[KA.]

Originally posted by Kirowan

That sounds awesome Badger. I'll probably pick that up then. They thought of everything.

 

Btw, is the program designed by Steve and the gang or an outside agency?

 

Nick

 

Kirowan,

Just to elaborate a bit on what Steve said,

Hero Designer was designed from the ground up to be a Character Creation program for the Hero System.

 

It is not a "generic" program that can do Hero.

 

It also enforces the Hero System rules when you are creating characters.

 

There are options that allow you to make some changes based on your own campaign, but the default setup is just what the rules allow.

 

This makes it a tremendous resource for a new player.

 

It is one thing to make deliberate rule changes because you have a thorough understanding of the system, and want to alter things to fit your own concepts, but it is quite another to be doing something wrong just because you don't know any better.

 

Way back when, during the times that the Hero System had less support, was not very clearly defined in some areas, and had no program that enforced the Rules, there were some people who interpreted a rule "incorrectly" for years without knowing it.

 

(Not to say anything bad about Creator (the previous creation program that many people used). I used it for years and was very glad to have it, but it just did the math, it didn't guide you very well, and wasn't really designed to.)

 

I am not saying that people who still do things the way they want to are "wrong" but at least we now have a very clear idea of what is "official".

 

Hero Designer enforces the "official" rules of the Hero System. What that means is, if you attempt to do something "unofficial", it will either give a warning or just not let you do it.

 

Then, you can post a question or do some reading, and find out exactly why there is a problem with what you are doing.

 

Steve Long himself answers Rules questions on the "Hero System 5th Edition Rules Questions" board.

 

And, Dan Simon does a brilliant job of answering questions on the "Hero Designer" board. Dan can be a bit crusty at times, but since he wrote a program that enforces the rules, he knows them inside and out, as well as exactly how and why Hero Designer does what it does.

 

Between the two, you should have no problem learning the rules the "official" way.

 

It can also help you to learn by showing you things in black and white.

 

If you want to know the proper way to compute the cost of powers with Advantages and Limitations, just plug a simple example into Hero Designer.

You can do it one step at a time.

Add a Power. Add the Advantage. See the change in cost.

Add a Limitation. See the change in cost.

 

It is good for new players to do some of the math themselves so they can learn how the system works.

But Hero Designer can at least show you what the right way looks like.

And once you understand the system, it can make character creation much faster.

KA.