If YOU have been playing Hero since the 80's why do you still keep coming back?

[CorpCommander]

I first played Champions in 1986 or 1987 - not sure exactly but right around there. That puts me in at least the 19 year club. I had heard about the game in 1985 but didn't play it then but it sounded interesting.

 

What makes me return to the game are the following factors:

1.) smooth system - after all this time anything I'd consider a wart has been reduced. There are things to nit-pick about but nothing that really bothers me anymore.

2.) I really CAN play the character I want.

3.) It REALLY IS useful for multiple genres

4.) It can be used in a realistic way or in a total fantasy way and both ways are fun.

5.) It has very good support. I have dozens of new Hero books that I've bought since 2003. I love them, they are well written, they flow and they give me a lot of ideas. There is enough ready made stuff in them to keep me going.

 

Those are the main reasons I keep coming back to Hero. I've tried other very popular games and just can't stand them.

 

So what has made you loyal to Hero?

[Lord Mhoram]

Re: If YOU have been playing Hero since the 80's why do you still keep coming back?

 

I started playing in Sept of 85. So I have been at it for over 20 years.

 

"It's the best dang game system out there" pertty much sums it up. But for details-

 

I have yet to find a character creation system that does what I like as well as HERO (a few come close, M&M and Gurps).

 

I love the way combat runs - and the games where the Chargen is almost as good as HERO, the combat systems are very different than what I like. - I dislike Gurps "active defences" and I really hate the Damage save from M&M.

 

I like the skill system - I know it is silly to say I like a particular dice mechanic, but I prefer roll under than target number systems.

 

I have yet to run any game or genre that HERO didn't do what I want. But I am not a genre purist.

 

In a similar vein - I run a lot of Crossgenre / Multigenre / Worldhopping games. The easy of cross genre stuff with HERO is a great attraction to me.

 

After 20 years playing the game, I have the rules etched in the pathways of my brain. I almost never have to look a rule up, or reference that kind of thing in play, it is all in the wetware (so to speak) - so when I game, I never have to think about rules, it's instinct.. Right now when I game and GM I think about plot, story, characters, challenges, I don't think about rules. I cannot think of a game that could be good enough to make me want to switch, with that in place.

[OddHat]

Re: If YOU have been playing Hero since the 80's why do you still keep coming back?

 

I think I first got a copy of Champions in 1982. Had to be around there, as I hadn’t started High School. My friend and I had been paying V&V, and he wanted to try something new. So, we went with Champions.

 

I’ve been RPGing since.

 

The systems I’ve spent the most time with are D&D, AD&D, V&V, Champions/Hero, GURPS, Shadowrun, Vampire/White Wolf, Aberrant, and Night Life/Stellar Games. I’ve always come back to Hero System and GURPS. I’ve looked at many more.

 

Both systems allow me to simulate almost any genre with a little fine tuning and a few optional rules. Both systems allow for detailed or free form combat, depending on how you use them. Both systems allow me to create almost any character from almost any genre.

 

In the end, Champions/Hero’s biggest selling point for me was always the Enemies books. I enjoyed jut reading the characters, seeing how they were built. An adventure could be thrown together in a few minutes. Enemy X is after (Fill in object here), you must stop him / get it back. Lifting plots from my favorite comics was almost as easy. The enemies served as useful templates as well; shift a costume and some SFX, add or drop a power, and you had a new enemy, or a new hero.

 

My wife and I were playing GURPS when Hero came back from the dead. I was nostalgic, so I looked into it. CKC brought us back to the game. Champions was always easier to use than GURPS for cinematic Super-heroic role-playing (though GURPS can do it), and Hero’s mechanics allowed for a simpler process of tweaking the game to get just what I wanted from a given character’s power set (though, again, GURPS can handle that).

 

These days I stay with Hero because of the community, and because I can use it to simulate almost anything with minimal house rules. I hear good things about other systems, and I’ll pick up a good world or genre book from another game company to see what’s what, but I’m comfortable porting anything I like back to Hero.

[Troll]

Re: If YOU have been playing Hero since the 80's why do you still keep coming back?

 

I've been playing since Champions came out in 1981. What do I like about the system?

 

1. It let's me design and play the character I want to play.

2. No levels

3. No classes

4. Universial system can play fantasy/scifi/horror/supers/etc.

 

Those are the biggest reasons I continue to play Hero.

[Trained Chicken]

Re: If YOU have been playing Hero since the 80's why do you still keep coming back?

 

1988 for me.

 

1.) smooth system - after all this time anything I'd consider a wart has been reduced. There are things to nit-pick about but nothing that really bothers me anymore.

2.) I really CAN play the character I want.

3.) It REALLY IS useful for multiple genres

4.) It can be used in a realistic way or in a total fantasy way and both ways are fun.

5.) It has very good support. I have dozens of new Hero books that I've bought since 2003. I love them, they are well written, they flow and they give me a lot of ideas. There is enough ready made stuff in them to keep me going.

 

Ditto. Repped.

[kave99]

Re: If YOU have been playing Hero since the 80's why do you still keep coming back?

 

at 20+ [i do not want to say 25:hush: ] years with Hero. I keep coming back to it for all those reasons. but at hart i am a games mechanic and the ability to build the character as i see him ,her or it keeps me coming back the only other systems that have endured in my hart and mind are 1Ed Boot Hill {as simple and elegant a RPG that ever there was} ,Call of Cthulhu{meanwhile on the death hike} D&D {we all owe at least a passing nod to it} . over the years I have played or read the rules of countless games most of which are now just dim memory's in heads of gray beards like me:( three of this games are classics and will endure for 25+ more years in some form but hero is the only one ware a 1ed character could be played against H5R character based on the same points and not be totally out classed . I would love to hear George Mac Donald and Steve Peterson take on how things have changed. It is a testament to there work that so Little has changed and thy both deserve a Oscar for best game design of the 20th century!!!

[kave99]

Re: If YOU have been playing Hero since the 80's why do you still keep coming back?

 

originally posted by OddHat

I’ve always come back to Hero System and GURPS. I’ve looked at many more.

 

Both systems allow me to simulate almost any genre with a little fine tuning and a few optional rules. Both systems allow for detailed or free form combat, depending on how you use them. Both systems allow me to create almost any character from almost any genre.

 

GURPS has always struck me as a big rip off of hero by a bigger and more stable game company Car Wars gave S.J.G. the bank roll that hero never had.

[OddHat]

Re: If YOU have been playing Hero since the 80's why do you still keep coming back?

 

GURPS has always struck me as a big rip off of hero by a bigger and more stable game company Car Wars gave S.J.G. the bank roll that hero never had.

 

GURPS and Champions came from the same roots at around the same time. GURPS came out around 1986 (iirc). Champions became a Superhero game that soon embraced other genres, while GURPS stayed away from Superheroes until something like 1989. Even then, GURPS placed most of its energies in other genres, and it was never good at maintaining a four color flavor without significant tweaking.

 

That said, both Champions/Hero and GURPS have been very influential in the development of newer game systems.

[archermoo]

Re: If YOU have been playing Hero since the 80's why do you still keep coming back?

 

Started with Champions in '81. Hands down the biggest draw for me to the system was the ability to play the character I wanted to play, rather than the one that random die rolls wanted me to.

 

I keep using it because I can use it to do genre or combination of genra I want, and in general do it well. And it is an easy system to learn and use.

[Mentor]

Re: If YOU have been playing Hero since the 80's why do you still keep coming back?

 

To agree with some of the previous posts, although not exhaustive;

 

1. The ability to play any genre and power level.

 

2. No alignments!!!!

 

3. No levels.

 

4. Combat is as specific as you wish.

 

5. Hitting and damage is defended against by properly separate criteria.

[Killer Shrike]

Re: If YOU have been playing Hero since the 80's why do you still keep coming back?

 

It was Oct 1990 for me and I havent looked back.

 

I keep returning to HERO because when I play other games I always think "this would be so much easier/better/cleaner in the HERO System". It's the system against which I compare everything else....my gold standard so to speak.

[Markdoc]

Re: If YOU have been playing Hero since the 80's why do you still keep coming back?

 

What hasn't been mentioned so far is the negative. I keep coming back to Hero system bcuase so many of the other systems we've played have things in the rules that make me go - and that's just annoying. Tinkering with a system can be fun, but it irritates me when I have to fiddle with something out of the box just to stop it doing stupid things ("So you mean I can't gain access to these healing powers because I'm not an expert horseman?")

 

Hero system - it doesn't suck.

 

cheers, Mark

[JohnTaber]

Re: If YOU have been playing Hero since the 80's why do you still keep coming back?

 

I started in 81. My reasons for coming back to Hero are simple...most folks have already mentioned most of these...

 

1) The system lets me build the character I want to play.

2) The system is intuitive to me. I won't go into the many reasons why I think it is intuitive...that's another thread.

3) The concept of the special effect is so simple yet so powerful.

4) The system handles many genres well (i.e. there is no reason to try something different).

 

...and probably the most important reason...

 

5) I have been using it for so long that me and most of my players know it intimately. It allows us to have fun with the system but not allow it to get in the way of the story.

 

Enjoy!

[archermoo]

Re: If YOU have been playing Hero since the 80's why do you still keep coming back?

 

5) I have been using it for so long that me and most of my players know it intimately. It allows us to have fun with the system but not allow it to get in the way of the story.

 

Enjoy!

 

Though that one can bite us old timers in the butt sometimes. Like when rules change. It was 5th edition before I realized the "-1 for a 1/2" move got taken out of the rules. I kept using it after someone pointed out to me it wasn't in the rules anymore, but I never noticed the change...

 

Though I certainly agree that the rules are intuitive for me. And not just because I've been using them so long. That's been the case since I started playing.

[Labrat]

Re: If YOU have been playing Hero since the 80's why do you still keep coming back?

 

It's the free food and hot women... and the fat checks they send every time I get into 'game mode'.

 

Oh wait, I'm thinking of Long's reasons.

 

Mine is simple... best danged gaming package ever. Works on all levels, ok, well only after 4th Edition came out. Before that transitioning to a heroic level was a friggin nightmare.

 

Long live Hero!

[Ghost Archer]

Re: If YOU have been playing Hero since the 80's why do you still keep coming back?

 

1982 for me and I never left so I can't 'come back'. I am a detail freak so the character generation has always been the primary draw of Hero. Couple that with the versatility of genre, why go anywhere else?

[kave99]

Re: If YOU have been playing Hero since the 80's why do you still keep coming back?

 

not quibble but GURPS dos not appear before 1986 a full 2 years after the seminal work of Justice Inc.that with Champions showed us the fundamentals of the system we have today . Gurps remains derivative in my mind

 

edit I suspect that Espionage may trump Justice Inc.

[Markdoc]

Re: If YOU have been playing Hero since the 80's why do you still keep coming back?

 

not quibble but GURPS dos not appear before 1986 a full 2 years after the seminal work of Justice Inc.that with Champions showed us the fundamentals of the system we have today . Gurps remains derivative in my mind

 

Well to be fair to SJG, they admitted up front that hero system was a big influence on GURPS.

 

cheers, Mark

[Lord Mhoram]

Re: If YOU have been playing Hero since the 80's why do you still keep coming back?

 

Though that one can bite us old timers in the butt sometimes. Like when rules change. It was 5th edition before I realized the "-1 for a 1/2" move got taken out of the rules. I kept using it after someone pointed out to me it wasn't in the rules anymore, but I never noticed the change...

 

Yeah. Things like that have happened here to. Refering to the old Champions Minus article we call that a "trans-editional" problem.

[Ternaugh]

Re: If YOU have been playing Hero since the 80's why do you still keep coming back?

 

I was introduced to Champions in '82, and started playing in '83. It was a fun system that allowed us to create the characters the way we wanted. At the time, AD&D, Boot Hill, Gamma World, Traveller, V&V and Top Secret were all big in my various gaming groups. Of these, only Traveller and Champions were systems that I enjoyed enough to GM.

 

The release of Fantasy Hero fundamentally changed the dynamics by producing a flexible fantasy system. While a lot of time was spent converting 1st and 2nd ED AD@D concepts and spells over, we soon learned that the system was robust enough to support just about anything that we wanted to do. My time as a player shrunk, as I would end up as the GM more and more. With the release of Hero 4th, my GMing went exclusively Hero.

 

I weathered the storm as Hero de-ICEd itself, went through its Cybergames Fuzion illness, and ultimately was reborn under DOJ. During the lean times, I invested heavily in GURPS material. Much of it makes great source material for inclusion in a Hero-driven game, and some of it is just a really cool read. It cushioned the blow of my two favorite games (Traveller and Hero) both going through hard times.

 

Forgive the rambling, here are the points that I like the most about Hero:

 

1. It is an easily-customized system.

2. It is, at runtime, a simple system. No saving throws, no active defense rolls, no looking through several rulebooks to find out if a Feat applies or not (it's right there on your sheet, or the GM decides), ranges work the same way for weapons (unless you bought it differently, then you can figure it out). For the most part, you don't have to refer to the rulebook at all for most combats or character interactions, especially if you have a few common charts handy.

3. It allows for extensive solo play (with creation of characters, items, etc--another reason that I was first attracted to Traveller).

4. Character creation, while time-consuming, is actually easier than many other RPGs on the market (a current character in D&D 3.5 required me to flip pages constantly, often to find a line or two hidden on a different page that could have easily been included in the section), and offers more control for the end result. While the size of the rules is daunting, the vast majority of characters in a Heroic situation won't have to deal with most of it. It is like a cookbook: you only need to read the sections that apply to the current "recipe", not the entire book. And, like a good recipe, it's easy to season to taste.

5. It uses 6-sided dice. Very important for an excuse to collect as many different kinds as I can find--which, in Las Vegas is quite a lot. That Classic Traveller also used 6-siders is an added benefit.

 

JoeG

[Derek Hiemforth]

Re: If YOU have been playing Hero since the 80's why do you still keep coming back?

 

I started playing Hero in 1987, and haven't left since. Originally, I only played the HERO System for supers, and continued playing AD&D for fantasy and a smattering of others here and there. But by about 1992, I had converted over to HERO System for games in all genres. I still enjoy reading other games, and I've played in other games since then, but everything I've GMed has been Hero for many years.

 

As far as reasons... mainly, I continue to find it more flexible and more logical than other systems. There are some other very good systems out there, that I'd happily play and run if I couldn't use Hero any more for some reason. There are also games out there that handle particular concepts more elegantly than Hero does. But as a total package, I still find Hero to be the best.

[archermoo]

Re: If YOU have been playing Hero since the 80's why do you still keep coming back?

 

I started playing Hero in 1987' date=' and haven't left since. Originally, I only played the HERO System for supers, and continued playing AD&D for fantasy and a smattering of others here and there. But by about 1992, I had converted over to HERO System for games in all genres. I still enjoy [i']reading[/i] other games, and I've played in other games since then, but everything I've GMed has been Hero for many years.

 

As far as reasons... mainly, I continue to find it more flexible and more logical than other systems. There are some other very good systems out there, that I'd happily play and run if I couldn't use Hero any more for some reason. There are also games out there that handle particular concepts more elegantly than Hero does. But as a total package, I still find Hero to be the best.

 

As an interesting note, in the last 10 years I'm pretty sure the only systems I've run have been HERO and Rolemaster. For systems played, add in GURPS. And to be fair I haven't started a Rolemaster campaign since 5th came out. I keep meaning to go through and convert the Rolemaster critical charts to HERO and work them into a Fantasy game, but I keep not getting around to it...

[TheRavenIs]

Re: If YOU have been playing Hero since the 80's why do you still keep coming back?

 

I've been playing since Champions came out in 1981. What do I like about the system?

 

1. It let's me design and play the character I want to play.

2. No levels

3. No classes

4. Universial system can play fantasy/scifi/horror/supers/etc.

 

Those are the biggest reasons I continue to play Hero.

 

Like troll I started when it was the little Blue book. Hero is by far the one game system that is truely universal. You can DO ANYTHING with the system. I have run alot of games over the years, but the easiest one to run has always been Hero.

[PhantomNarrator]

Re: If YOU have been playing Hero since the 80's why do you still keep coming back?

 

1988 for me.

 

 

 

Ditto. Repped.

 

Since about 1985. I'll Ditto TC's Ditto, and Rep him as well for that truly inspired avatar. Full damage indeed.

[Peregrine]

Re: If YOU have been playing Hero since the 80's why do you still keep coming back?

 

Since 1982, and I never really left. Echoing sentiments above, when I look at any other game system and my reflexive response is inevitably "how would this work in HERO?", well, that says it all.