ioticus Posted May 23, 2004 Report Share Posted May 23, 2004 Anyone have experience playing online using Hero Central? Does it work well? I can't find players in my area so I'd like to know if this is a worthwhile way to play. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keithcurtis Posted May 23, 2004 Report Share Posted May 23, 2004 Re: Hero Central opinions wanted Anyone have experience playing online using Hero Central? Does it work well? I can't find players in my area so I'd like to know if this is a worthwhile way to play. HeroCentral works very well. It has a number of Hero-Friendly features, including a dice roller that returns stun/body style results. There are also limited-visibility threads so the GM can handle actions/thoughts/exposition that isn't necessarily visible to all players. Dan has recently made HeroDesigner more integral to the site. While not striclty necessary to play, it is the only method of posting characters, other than just pasting them into a message. Keith "Tales of the Savage Earth GM" Curtis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spence Posted May 23, 2004 Report Share Posted May 23, 2004 Re: Hero Central opinions wanted I have heard about it but never had time. Looking forward to reading the responses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fireg0lem Posted May 24, 2004 Report Share Posted May 24, 2004 Re: Hero Central opinions wanted The other side of the coin is the Global Guardians (http://www.globalguardians.com). The site's owner, Jack Butler, posts as Worldmaker on these boards. There's quite a bit of a rivalry going...my take on it is that Hero Central is more freeform and less controlled, but as a consequence there's a problem with apathy, especially among players - I joined one game there, but only two of the four other players actually did anything besides submit characters. The GG has a central, tight control, and requires a lot more work to get into and to fit in. However, the positive side is support - if one of your players just submits a character and doesn't follow up, you can get a replacement easily. I play in the GG now. The downside, of course, is that you have to fit your characters or games into the GG, not the other way around. I suggest you "shop around" - there are certainly other PBEMs, too, although from what I hear these are the biggest ones. If you're willing to put several hours of work into a character, follow the rules, and post consistently, I'd recommend the GG. If you want to do things your own way, I'd recommend HC. Obviously, others will have their own opinions...now let the flame war begin! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keithcurtis Posted May 24, 2004 Report Share Posted May 24, 2004 Re: Hero Central opinions wanted You definitely have to shop around, even within HeroCentral.I have been lucky enough to keep a party of nine players posting more-or-less consistently for over a year and a half now. I have lost one of the nine, but due to a mutal decision to drop the character, not from a "no-show". Other campaigns have not been nearly so lucky. My wife and I have played in three. Two collapsed shortly after the loss of their respective GMs. The third is currently experiencing a lull. Is Global Guardians one world in the Superhero genre? Or can you create your own campaigns? What tools does it offer for gameplay. Maybe I'll go have a look-see. And I hardly think this warrants a flame war. If people didn't have preferences, we wouldn't need more than one flavor of ice cream. Keith "Peanut Butter/Chocolate, of course" Curtis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vorsch Posted May 24, 2004 Report Share Posted May 24, 2004 Re: Hero Central opinions wanted For the GG i would recomend surveying the games characters and house rules to show the level of detail and acceptable character builds. EC in particular can be quite accomodating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Posted May 24, 2004 Report Share Posted May 24, 2004 Re: Hero Central opinions wanted I've only glanced through Global Guardians once or twice, certainly not enough to make a comparison, but I've been playing on Hero Central for about two years now. I've certainly been having fun, but being as open as it is, it means you will find GMs and games you don't care for -- just like FtF. However there are a number of games going in a variety of genres and starting your own game is fairly simple. Take the time to lurk through a couple of the games, and the layout of the Players' Page makes it fairly simple to get an idea of the post rates. Pop into the chat -- by and large we're a fairly friendly bunch and we're more than willing to inflict our ideas and opinions on anyone brave enough to ask ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zornwil Posted May 24, 2004 Report Share Posted May 24, 2004 Re: Hero Central opinions wanted The other side of the coin is the Global Guardians (http://www.globalguardians.com). The site's owner, Jack Butler, posts as Worldmaker on these boards. There's quite a bit of a rivalry going...my take on it is that Hero Central is more freeform and less controlled, but as a consequence there's a problem with apathy, especially among players - I joined one game there, but only two of the four other players actually did anything besides submit characters. The GG has a central, tight control, and requires a lot more work to get into and to fit in. However, the positive side is support - if one of your players just submits a character and doesn't follow up, you can get a replacement easily. I play in the GG now. The downside, of course, is that you have to fit your characters or games into the GG, not the other way around. I suggest you "shop around" - there are certainly other PBEMs, too, although from what I hear these are the biggest ones. If you're willing to put several hours of work into a character, follow the rules, and post consistently, I'd recommend the GG. If you want to do things your own way, I'd recommend HC. Obviously, others will have their own opinions...now let the flame war begin! I didn't know there was a "rivalry", they seem like wholly different things. Well, I just signed up on HeroCentral for a game Super Squirrel is running and I have a shot at getting into a GG game, so if anyone thinks to ask later or if I happen to remember I'll be glad to share experiences. Both are new to me as I've avoided online and PBEMing until now (not for the sake of avoiding it, just priorities and such), so my opinion shouldn't be too colored towards either, at least not in terms of being accustomed to any one that is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemming Posted May 24, 2004 Report Share Posted May 24, 2004 Re: Hero Central opinions wanted I didn't know there was a "rivalry"' date=' they seem like wholly different things.[/quote'] I don't know of any real rivalry. I'm sure there are people on either that think their method is better and others that use both. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fireg0lem Posted May 24, 2004 Report Share Posted May 24, 2004 Re: Hero Central opinions wanted "Rivalry" may be overstating it, but there's been a few flame wars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zornwil Posted May 24, 2004 Report Share Posted May 24, 2004 Re: Hero Central opinions wanted "Rivalry" may be overstating it' date=' but there's been a few flame wars.[/quote'] Flame wars? Shocking! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Worldmaker Posted June 1, 2004 Report Share Posted June 1, 2004 Re: Hero Central opinions wanted Flame wars? Shocking! Heh. I don't think it was a flame war, precisely. A long time ago, when Hero Central was just starting out, someone asked (on one of the boards... I don't remember which) for advice about how to run a really good unified, multicampaign gameworld. Being... well... sort of an expert on the subject, I posted that the primary thing to make sure you do when running a bunch of campaigns in the same gameworld is make sure there is a central vision guiding everything. If you don't have that central vision, and if you don't tailor *everything* to fit that central vision, then you have chaos rather than a unified campaign world. Turns out that the person who asked the question didn't want to hear from me. See, she (it was a she... I remember it was a she...) had taken a look at the GGU, lurked in some of the games, and come away with the idea that I was some sort of Neo-facist Hitler who wanted to enforce my vision of game play on everyone, and thus dictated the smallest details to the GMs, who were little more than robots to my will. She also told me I had too many house rules, too many "needless restrictions" (Remember that central vision thing? She dismissed my insistence that the original restrictions on the GGU were in support of that vision and concentrated on the fact that she couldn't play an elf if she wanted...) Anyway, she bragged about her and a bunch of friends would start up their own operation using Hero Central and it would bury the GGU and my tyrannical ass would be forgotten and blah blah blah blah... And I wished her luck and told her that I was willing to put money down on whether or not their "unified campaign world" would still be around in six months. (It wasn't, for the record.) It was probably a stupid thing to say, as I am sure that it didn't garner me or my operation any fans amongst the Hero Central enthusiasts. But that was the "flame war" people keep talking about, as far as I know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zornwil Posted June 1, 2004 Report Share Posted June 1, 2004 Re: Hero Central opinions wanted Ah, I see, thanks WM, so it was more of a "someone on Hero Central" rather than Hero Central as represented by, well, someone official. Of couse I'm sure someone will eagerly post to correct details... Anyway, what interests/amuses me is that I've seen a ton of house rules put up and while, let's face it, you can be - ah - "excitable" - many of the criticisms levied against your house rules I don't see against others' whose house rules are absolutely as "arbitrary", "restrictive", or "petty" - heck, mine could fall into any of those categories. Then again, I suppose, you put your rules out there for feedback on a shared universe that many people want to play in as opposed to our disconnected house games, so I think people treat them as passionately as HERO rules for that reason and feel free to treat them as if they were from a "faceless entity" so to speak - and along with that take out an aggression or two. Oh well... probably more than I should say, but if it helps... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Posted June 1, 2004 Report Share Posted June 1, 2004 Re: Hero Central opinions wanted I've got to agree with WM....there's never been a flame war or even really a rivalry that I'm aware of between HC and GG. In its origins, HC was just a site that I had developed to run a PBEM that I had started with a bunch of friends. As the feature list kept growing, I decided to open it up to multiple campaigns and let others enjoy....and it's just sort of grown from there (new features being added in as the number of players on the site continued to grow). I think that HC and GG are really only similar in their basic concepts (PBEM) and the fact that they both tend to follow the Hero System. I've never played on GG, so please forgive me if I mistate anything here.....WM is (obviously) the one to ask about anything GG-specific: HC is entirely open. Any type of campaign can be started, in any genre, with any number of players. If GMs want to coordinate and run "shared world" campaigns (it's been done before and, I believe, a couple of the campaigns on HC are doing it now), then they are more than welcome to do that, but the coordination of this effort is up to them. GG is one, big, shared-world. This requires fairly strong oversight by the site admins/GMs. Characters need to fit into the world concept, etc. It's a very different idea from HC. I see absolutely nothing wrong with this way of doing things (and quite a bit right about it). It's just not the way HC was developed. Again, I have no problems whatsoever with GG....and I'm unaware of any rivalry between the two sites. I don't get anything out of people playing on HC (there's no advertising system or subscription fee or anything like that).....I just have it out there so that people can take advantage of it if they want to. If they find GG more to their liking, then they should (obviously) play on GG. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Worldmaker Posted June 2, 2004 Report Share Posted June 2, 2004 Re: Hero Central opinions wanted Ah' date=' I see, thanks WM, so it was more of a "someone on Hero Central" rather than Hero Central as represented by, well, someone official. Of couse I'm sure someone will eagerly post to correct details... [/quote'] That's precisely correct. It wasn't Simon or any of his crew. I went looking for the thread in which this hullabaloo occurred so I could let you see the details first-hand and couldn't find it. Oh well... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Worldmaker Posted June 2, 2004 Report Share Posted June 2, 2004 Re: Hero Central opinions wanted I've got to agree with WM....there's never been a flame war or even really a rivalry that I'm aware of between HC and GG. I have a policy of allowing people who play in the GGU to advertise their own "outside" PBEMs on my general chat list, and a couple of them have been on Hero Central. Way I see it, the more we promote the Hero System, the better. The closest the GGU has ever come to a rivalry with another multi-PBEM operation was with the now-defunct Valor and Pride group, started up by Dan Harkavy, Jody Harkavy, and Thomas Kulesa. All three of them had just been booted from the GGU for getting nasty with people and decided to start up their own multi-campaign PBEM operation. They advertised themselves as "more open than the GGU, and without some asshole dictating to you what you can and cannot do". I think it came as a great surprise that I put a link to their site on my own and actually promoted them as an alternative to the GGU. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magmarock Posted June 2, 2004 Report Share Posted June 2, 2004 Re: Hero Central opinions wanted I see HC as a good way to play out and resolve combat, then the highlights could be rewritten into a PBeM or PBP after the fact. It would certainly shorten the length of time in RL... although it would still be a lot slower than FtF. Mags Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zornwil Posted June 2, 2004 Report Share Posted June 2, 2004 Re: Hero Central opinions wanted That's precisely correct. It wasn't Simon or any of his crew. I went looking for the thread in which this hullabaloo occurred so I could let you see the details first-hand and couldn't find it. Oh well... Oh, believe me, not that important, and I hope no one thinks I'm rumor-mongering. Thanks (to both you and Dan). FWIW, other than having heard a stray comment, I never perceived the two as in any sort of rivalry or conflict. They seem quite apparently, as you and Dan mention, to be two different things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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