So why do you play Hero?

[AliceTheOwl]

Re: So why do you play Hero?

 

I got into it, at first, because it's what my friends were playing, and if I wanted to roleplay, I had to.

 

I stuck around because I found that, no matter the character concept, I could build it, the only restrictions being those I placed, myself. I love that I can think of a concept first, then start building and writing, and the number crunching comes last. And as that concept gets more fleshed out, I can continue to add to that character and increase her power gradually.

 

So in a nutshell, it's the freedom.

[MitchellS]

Re: So why do you play Hero?

 

"I play Hero 'cause da books are big and heavy and dat makes me strong, and muscles attract da babes," he said in his best Bulldozer voice.

[Hawksmoor]

Re: So why do you play Hero?

 

I play because it is a mature system. Has been since BBB days. Lots of granularity in skills, the major flaw in my other favorite Mayfairs MEGS system (DC Heroes). And I have played it since I was a teen. My first attempt was bad, I needed MSH to fall back on because of the complexity, but in time that complexity was found to be a good thing.*

 

I was like 9 or so when I got the Champs I book. Way over my head.

 

Hawksmoor

[Barton]

Re: So why do you play Hero?

 

I like Hero System for its flexability. It can do fantasy, sci-fi, pulp, dark, superheroes.

I just played GRUPS Supers at a convention. GRUPS is very much like Champions, but Champions is IMO more "done" or "crunicher".

I like that a small book like Sidekick can be used by a begginner or a player. A player does not have to know a lot about mechanics, it can be taught quickly. I am a Legion of Heroes member and I have taught many to play.

[TheQuestionMan]

Re: So why do you play Hero?

 

It suits me.

[Silbeg]

Re: So why do you play Hero?

 

A positive thread to hopefully off set some of the negativity I have had a place in spawning. Why do you play Hero System? What do you like about it. There's plenty of other systems out there to try' date=' so what draws you to Hero in particular? [/quote']

 

Oh, where do I start? Note that I still play D&D 3.5, and enjoy the game, even though I personally believe that HERO is a better system.

 

1) The HERO system really is the only system that I feel does a good balancing job for Superheroic games. I started playing Champions back in '81, and nothing else has quite matched it.

 

2) Even for non-super games, I prefer the system where experience gained increases capabilities arithmetically, in a player-defined manner. Unless you are expecting a game where neophytes can become world-shakers in a matter of game-months, I don't prefer level/class based systems.

 

3) Versatility... 'nuff said!

[arcady]

Re: So why do you play Hero?

 

While it doesn't handle supers all that well, it handles a variety of other genres with a decent speed of play and a fairly good ability to shape itself to whatever needs may occur.

 

I chose Hero for my fantasy game precisely because it was one of the only options I could find in which I could recreate magic the way it works in my fiction.

[zornwil]

Re: So why do you play Hero?

 

Arcady, re "...it doesn't handle supers all that well..." that's blasphemy! Burn you, you witch!

 

Seriously, anyway, for me I did get into it for supers as Dust Raven said, I stayed for the flexibility. I always enjoyed that it was an easy system to customize, I have always messed with it, heavily by some's standards. Yet I can gladly still play in a vanilla game. I've become more interested in the implicit underlying rules upon which HERO is built, to the degree those presumably exist.

[Guest Black Lotus]

Re: So why do you play Hero?

 

It's quite simple, really: I love HERO because it gives me an extensive, solid, and flexible rules system to build a world around. I'm excellent at creating locations, plotlines, storylines, NPCs, interesting and unusual equipment... and I need a system that lets me do what I want, without having to create my own rules system. (I tried that once... yeah, it sucked. I'm happy to fork over money to game designers who can create something of the breadth and caliber of HERO).

 

Also, HERO combined with Star HERO is the best sci-fi roleplaying engine ever created. I love that book almost as much as I love my own mother, and possibly more than I love my father.

[The Maxx]

Re: So why do you play Hero?

 

To paraphrase, "It Can Handle Ultimate, Raw Cosmic POWER!! and still handle itsy, bitsy, living space :D"

 

 

No other system handles it so well

[Questioner]

Re: So why do you play Hero?

 

I was introduced to Champions in the beginning of '82 and it rocked. It was great for us comic book fans and allowed us to simulate the characters we liked.

 

I have continued the system and was thriilled when Hero Games started because now I could make detailed characters in other genres and finally run a Doctor Who style time travelling - space game. As well as supply the habit of super heroics who enjoyed my style of story telling.

 

The disadvantages and special effects available allow most super concepts to be easily created. Though it has math, it is relatively painless and can be explained to those players who are not fond of tapping on a calculator or filling reams of scrap paper with calculations. Much more fun than GURPS IMO though GURPS does have nice detailed Disadvantages that I have dropped into my Disadvantage list.

 

I also like it as the core mechanics do allow users to tweak it as they see ift based on their opinions and beliefs on rationality of situations. Some of the changes done in 5th edition and FRED I don't agree with on a personal level but I can alter those in my own running.

 

It is unfortunate that the general public is more inundated with D20 than Hero System but hopefully that will change in the coming years as more Champions/Hero Systems games start happening.

[Guest bblackmoor]

Re: So why do you play Hero?

 

It is unfortunate that the general public is more inundatd with D20 than Hero System but hopefully that will change in the comin years as more Champions/Hero Systems games start happening.

 

I think that's unlikely. I think people like us are equivalent to the people who played Star Fleet Battles fifteen years ago. The game system that's already complex gets more and more optional rules (and arguments about which, more and more, become the focus of the community), the community shrinks until only the die-hards are still playing, and eventually it'll become a stagnant niche, which will finally vanish when the current players all die.

 

That's what I think, anyway.

[Roy_The_Ruthles]

Re: So why do you play Hero?

 

I like hero system, because it's not to hard to pick up to play (character creation is harder), you can do anything you want to do with it, play Sci-fi, high fantasy, and top it off with Cyber Punk, and spend hours making a character, fleshing them out, giving them just the right power etc.

[John Desmarais]

Re: So why do you play Hero?

 

A positive thread to hopefully off set some of the negativity I have had a place in spawning. Why do you play Hero System? What do you like about it. There's plenty of other systems out there to try, so what draws you to Hero in particular?

 

Please, I ask that we try to keep this postive. There's plenty of threads for backhanded compliments and bickering. Also if you have chosen to play another system primarely, that's fine. This thread isn't to belittle you or your gaming desicions.

 

I'm basically lazy and don't like having to learn multiple system to run different types of games.

[MitchellS]

Re: So why do you play Hero?

 

I'm basically lazy and don't like having to learn multiple system to run different types of games.

Bingo! Give the man a Cee-Gar.

[John T]

Re: So why do you play Hero?

 

I'm sitting in the movie theater watching [____________] and as the characters on the screen are performing amazing feats, in the back of my mind I can rattle off things like,

 

"hmmm, he grabbed that guy and held him in the air with one hand, easily a 23 strength."

 

"oooh 4 thugs a the same time? sweep maneuver has modifiers, he must have at least a 20 dex, probably 3 combat levels too"

 

"that sword sure is sharp, must have done 20 body to that poor sod"

 

"hmmm the train has at least 5 cars and is full of people, plus it s moving like 60 mph, if the entangles are 5d6, and he's obviously pushing, he needs to have a 45 strength to stop the train if 4 webs broke"

Or, when watching The Incredibles with someone who hadn't seen it before:

 

Friend: "What is that?"

 

Me: "Probably an Autofire, Area Effect, Non-selective Entangle, possibly with Sticky."

 

I like having a system that allows me to simulate virtually anything accurately... might not be CHEAP, but it'll be accurate.

 

John T

[BlackSword]

Re: So why do you play Hero?

 

I like it for Supers, and it is customizable enough to play other genres. The two groups I play in tend to prefer point-buy systems as opposed to class base systems. (We did play Spycraft for a while and enjoyed it, but did discuss the constraints of a class based game).

[atlascott]

Re: So why do you play Hero?

 

"Unless you are expecting a game where neophytes can become world-shakers in a matter of game-months, I don't prefer level/class based systems."

 

Boy, that really hits home! 3.0 and 3.5 d20 REALLY create quantum leaps in character power that make game continuity tough. WIth HERO, you can pace it as you wish.

[Hawksmoor]

Re: So why do you play Hero?

 

One of the best all around systems for Superheroes. Not perfect, Mayfair's DCH game came close but the skill system and the extremely cheap (read as game breaking gadgets/artifacts rules) stopped it from stealing the title.

 

HERO would be perfect if the modes of movement were upped so that PCs could out run vehicles and XP awards were increased by 1.5 to 3x the standard amount. That is if you like to play the game the way Steve Long envisions paying points for power tricks and loads and loads of skills.

 

Hawksmoor

[Guest bblackmoor]

Re: So why do you play Hero?

 

I'm basically lazy and don't like having to learn multiple system to run different types of games.

 

Succinct.

[MisterBaldy]

Re: So why do you play Hero?

 

A positive thread to hopefully off set some of the negativity I have had a place in spawning. Why do you play Hero System? What do you like about it. There's plenty of other systems out there to try, so what draws you to Hero in particular?

 

Please, I ask that we try to keep this postive. There's plenty of threads for backhanded compliments and bickering. Also if you have chosen to play another system primarely, that's fine. This thread isn't to belittle you or your gaming desicions.

Well nexus...you asked, so I shall answer.

 

I left the HERO System behind about 10 years ago, and it was not due to the lack of wanting to play. I had a very bad experience, and I pretty much swore off RPGs for quite a few years. This was mostly attributed to trusting people that I thought were my friends...and was severely burned by them. I was gaming with TheImperialKhan as well, and he was the one true friend that stuck by me, and my decision to leave RPGs behind.

 

Here I am, 10 years later. I am back looking at RPGs in a whole new light. I am also exploring the HERO System (more to the point Champions) once again...and doing so with a gusto and heartness unlike before.

 

My friend TheImperialKhan stuck by me...and he's been a true friend.

 

So, you ask the question, "Why again the HERO System?"

 

Well, mostly it's flexibility. It's ability to plug into any genre, and do it well is it's stongest "selling point". It's what got me to play Champions in 1984, and it's what's got me going back to it now. The game mechanics make sense. Unlike games like D&D 3.0-3.5, d20 System, et.al., the mechanics are fluid, and do not seem contrived. They also do not change from one genre to another. They are consistant.

 

So, it's consistancy and flexibility have got me going back to the HERO System...and I am not looking back.

[Guest Black Lotus]

Re: So why do you play Hero?

 

Well' date=' mostly it's flexibility. It's ability to plug into any genre, and do it well is it's stongest "selling point". It's what got me to play [i']Champions[/i] in 1984, and it's what's got me going back to it now. The game mechanics make sense. Unlike games like D&D 3.0-3.5, d20 System, et.al., the mechanics are fluid, and do not seem contrived. They also do not change from one genre to another. They are consistant.

 

So, it's consistancy and flexibility have got me going back to the HERO System...and I am not looking back.

 

Hear, hear!

 

[Dr. Anomaly]

Re: So why do you play Hero?

 

As many others have said, flexibility is one of the key features for me. I suck at dice rolling (especially during character creation) and having a point-based system where I can build exactly what I want and not have to worry about bad die rolls during character creation are huge selling points to me.

 

I'm also a programmer and mathematician, as well as a tinkerer. The "do-it-yourself" / "toolkit" approach appeals to me more than I can properly express. I loved (and still love) Legos, and HERO the the gamer's version of the ultimate Lego set!

 

I became a fan of HERO with 4th Edition (my first encounter with it) and I, along with so many of you, waited the long, dry time until the emergance of DOJ and FREd. Since then, I have been consistantly amazed and delighted by the shear quality of the works published for HERO. That quality, coupled with the immediate and helpful response/support from the HERO staffers, could only further cement my reasons for loving it and playing it.

 

Last, but far from least, the on-line community here. Though we have our share of troubles, sniping, and flamefests, it's still far superior to most other on-line "game communities" in my experience. The advice is freely offered, the suggestions insightful and stimulating, and most of the members of this community genuinely do their best to help each other out. I can't begin to tell you how many absolutely stunning ideas, brilliant "I never would have thought of that!" suggestions, mouth-watering new applications for powers, and just general all-around helpful notions I've seen posted to these forums. Go team!

[Captain Obvious]

Re: So why do you play Hero?

 

Last' date=' but far from least, the on-line community here. Though we have our share of troubles, sniping, and flamefests, it's still far superior to most other on-line "game communities" in my experience. The advice is freely offered, the suggestions insightful and stimulating, and most of the members of this community genuinely do their best to help each other out. I can't begin to tell you how many absolutely stunning ideas, brilliant "I [i']never[/i] would have thought of that!" suggestions, mouth-watering new applications for powers, and just general all-around helpful notions I've seen posted to these forums. Go team!

 

*Pours a cooler of Gatorade over the Doc*

 

The forums are a major plus for Hero. Lots of creativity here, and little in the way of nastiness.

[Cancer]

Re: So why do you play Hero?

 

I will repeat the flexibility theme ... anything that motivates me enough to start assembling the power/character/whatever, I can build it in Hero.

 

Also, I GREATLY prefer peaked probability distributions. D20, with its flat p.d.f., drives me absolutely batty. I can live with critical failures, but not every f---ing time I turn around. Gimme nd6 any day.