The Plunge

[egyptian]

The owner of Ye Local Game Shoppe has asked me if I would want to run a Champions game for their Saturday game night and I'm actually thinking of saying yes. Now since there's a fairly good chance we could get a decent group together at the shop I only have two issues left to resolve.

 

1-Chances are none of them have played HERO before

 

2-I've never played HERO before

 

I figure you have to start somewhere and it's not like I have any shortage of gaming experience (21 years and counting), so I'm not worried about the common GM's mistakes or anything like that. What sorts of pitfalls can I expect to fall into that might not be immediately obvious to someone who hasn't done this before? I plan to use pre-gen characters since I don't want to try to explain the system and make characters all in one night.

 

So how about it? Help me avoid disaster!

[Hyper-Man]

Re: The Plunge

 

The owner of Ye Local Game Shoppe has asked me if I would want to run a Champions game for their Saturday game night and I'm actually thinking of saying yes. Now since there's a fairly good chance we could get a decent group together at the shop I only have two issues left to resolve.

 

1-Chances are none of them have played HERO before

 

2-I've never played HERO before

 

I figure you have to start somewhere and it's not like I have any shortage of gaming experience (21 years and counting), so I'm not worried about the common GM's mistakes or anything like that. What sorts of pitfalls can I expect to fall into that might not be immediately obvious to someone who hasn't done this before? I plan to use pre-gen characters since I don't want to try to explain the system and make characters all in one night.

 

So how about it? Help me avoid disaster!

off the top of my head...

 

1. Encourage real world descriptions of actions as opposed to rules descriptions. I fire my Flamebolt at the bad guy is much better than I fire my 12d6 Energy Blast at the bad guy.
   
2. Write down a combat record sheet of ALL characters (players and NPC's) that might see combat that at a minimum includes everyone's SPD, DEX and STUN.
   
3. If you don't already have a GM screen for HERO go to: http://fitz.jsr.com/roleplay/herosystem.html to see a pretty good custom version.
   

I am sure others will chime in with other great advice as well.

 

good luck!

 

HM

[phydaux]

Re: The Plunge

 

1-Chances are none of them have played HERO before

 

2-I've never played HERO before

 

Damn. Nothing like jumping in with both feet, eh?

 

Do you at least own the books?

 

Well, the least I can do is try to be helpful...

 

1) Are you making the characters yourself? The book heroes (The Millennium City Champions) can be a tad complex. I'd say it's best to make the characters yourself. That way, at least you know the characters inside and out.

 

2) Keep the characters simple. I'd say 250 points, and limit the characters to ONE movement power and ONE attack power.

 

3) Use Hero Designer. It's worth it's weight in GOLD. It prints out nice, clean character sheets that are easy to read and have all the math done FOR you, like END costs and Skill & Characteristic rolls. Plus, you can download character sheets for all the published villains.

 

4) There's nothing like a simple, three act linear adventure. Here's a favorite of mine that I've used before:

 

It's best if the characters are all part of a long-established hero team. That way, when the "trouble alert" starts to beep, one of them can yell "Quick, to the Hoverjet!" It just speeds things along and streamlines things.

 

ACT ONE - Enter the Lizard

 

The heroes are relaxing in Hero House when they get a call from the Mayor - A Giant Lizard is tearing up the whole down town area!

 

"We've got to protect the innocents! Quick, to the Hoverjet!"

 

Off the heroes go to battle the giant monster. Don't make the monster too tough. He's just there to let the players get a feel for their characters, their powers and their place in the team. Try to keep this part to under an hour real time.

 

Once he monster is under control, the heros get a radio message from the Chief of Police - The monster was just a distraction, VIPER is raiding the city diamond exchange!

 

"We've got to stop VIPER! Quick, to the Hoverjet!"

 

ACT TWO - The Serpent’s Tooth

 

The heroes land near the diamond exchange and find 5-8 75-point standard agents along with 6-12 100-point Assault Agents in Battle Armor. The Battle Armor guys hit the heroes while the regular agents gather the diamonds. 100-point agents shouldn't give the heroes to much trouble. Again, this shouldn't take more than an hour real-time.

 

About the time the last guy in battle armor falls the regular agents will be lifting off in their helicopter and heading out of town with the diamonds.

 

"We've got to recover those diamonds! Quick, to the Hoverjet!"

 

ACT TWO - Snake in the Grass

 

The heroes follow the helicopter to an abandoned factory outside of the city. Here, they surprise the agents in the process of delivering the diamonds to BIG BAD GUY. BIG BAD GUY should be on par with the heroes, but with +75-100 points in defenses. It will offer either a REALLY tough stand-up fight for the final battle or an opportunity for the players to plan, use teamwork and pull off a wicked cool surprise attack. This part should run about two hours. Toss in a few agents if the PCs are having too easy of a time.

[CBikle]

Re: The Plunge

 

Have maps and characters prepared and you may want everyone to be the same speed. If agents are involved, they'd be SPD 3 probably. Have the Speed Chart ready with all the PCs and NPCs listed on it in order.

 

If you have time, run a mock-combat the night before, just so you can get used to the combat system. If you have 'em, bring miniatures/cardboard figures/HeroClix to use for the battlemap (since this event is taking place in a games shop, the owner should probably have both HeroClix and a big combat map for your use).

[JmOz]

Re: The Plunge

 

This might prove mildly helpful, especialy to get your feet wet type of game

 

http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=25311

[Kirby]

Re: The Plunge

 

3) Use Hero Designer. It's worth it's weight in GOLD.

Yes, Hero Designer would be the best, but I'm *guessing* you don't have this if you haven't played before (but get it if you can afford it). If you have/get it, print all the characters the same, because players will ask "where is that on my sheet?" and you'll need to tell them.

 

If you don't have this, you'll need to create the character sheets. Maybe copy them how they are in the books.

 

 

4) There's nothing like a simple, three act linear adventure. Here's a favorite of mine that I've used before:

ACT ONE - Enter the Lizard

 

ACT TWO - The Serpent’s Tooth

 

ACT TWO - Snake in the Grass

Also, make sure you label your acts correctly. You wouldn't want to do "Snake in the Grass" before "Serpent's Tooth" because both are labled "Act Two."

 

While there have been some good suggestions, I'd say use the KISS plan (Keep It Simple Stupid). Don't do any deep mysteries, nothing that can't be immediately solved with clues left (such as a torn VILLAIN insignia), or interrogating a prisoner.

 

My biggest concern would be that you haven't played HERO and are thus going to be going slow on running it. If you have a friend that could help, have him be play two PCs and you practice being the GM in your plot. If you can do this before "the big day," it'll help you be more accustomed to how the game runs.

 

If you're making the PCs up (which I think is a good idea), then I suggest giving them each one standard attack, and one special attack. Perhaps one person has an area of effect attack, while another has an autofire, while a third has an NND, and so on. Don't overlap the special attacks. Maybe only the brick has hardened defenses and one villain (or two, if they show up at different times) has armor piercing attacks. Also, try and let skills come into play and maybe one scene of either rescue or protect the normals.

[Barton]

Re: The Plunge

 

1) Pregen characters for the players. Have a mix of types for them to choose from. I used HeroClicks and made characters based off of them.

2) Download the two page combat system pdf file and make copies for all players.

3) Make sure you can have all characters "shine" at some point in the adventure.

4) Make sure you have read/reread/rereread the adventure.

5) SPEED CHART. Do as a spreadsheet. Include all NPC's. Add to the spreadsheet the body/stun/ecv/ocv/dcv. A HUGE HELP!

6) Relax. This is hard, but try.

7) Munchies and soda for you, it is a must to keep your energy up.

8) Good luck and have fun.

[paigeoliver]

Re: The Plunge

 

For your pregen characters make it real simple.

 

No advantages or disadvantages on powers, other than maybe zero END or focus. Actually, the more I think about it, buy everything to zero end. One less thing for you and the newbs to worry about.

No skill levels.

No adjustment powers.

No multipowers.

I would suggest making EVERYONE the same speed, or not varying the speed by more than a single point. Nothing turns off a new player more than getting the speed 3 or 4 brick and then watching the speed 6 character get twice as many actions.

 

The characters should pretty much have a fixed OCV (having no skill levels), so a little chart on their sheet showing what DCV each roll hits will go a long way.

 

When experienced players come in, (or as your players gain experience) then THEY can bring in their own more complicated characters once they know how to run them.