What fundamental things did they really get "right"?

[Lord Mhoram]

Re: What fundamental things did they really get "right"?

 

Along the lines of Publication DOJ has done a phenomenal job making sure that supplements are just that - supplements and that all you REALLY need is the core book.

 

Everything else is icing on the cake.

 

Yeah, and as someone who has used HERO for many genres, it is really nice to see support for things other than Champions.

[Rkane_1]

Re: What fundamental things did they really get "right"?

 

Yeah' date=' and as someone who has used HERO for many genres, it is really nice to see support for things other than Champions. [/quote']

 

AMEN!

 

JALEPENO'!

 

PRAISE THE GOURD!

 

 

Preach on, Brother Mhoram!

 

Another thing Hero got right, is generating the loyalty it has amongst its fans. The system is fun to tinker with and encourages those with curiousity to make different "models" for powers. You can make dern near anything if you have the points.

[Lucius]

Re: What fundamental things did they really get "right"?

 

I've got something to add to my previous statements about what the Hero System got fundimentally right.

 

Publication.

 

This game died in the 90s. Capital D, big I and another huge D. Died. No writers, no printers, no publishers. Nothing. It bounced around a few companies, but that was just circling the drain. The whole time the fans cried out for their favorite game. Some of us pretended it had never gone away and just kept on truckin' like it was still out there avaiable in the stores and a new suppliments could expected next week. We talked and debated issues concerning the rules like they were new, like they were something that might someday get revised or corrected despite the fact there was no chance in hell of seing anything new in point.

 

Then some players decided to pretend for real, bought the rights and made the rest of our delusional wishes become a reality.

 

In short, the most fundamental thing the Hero System got right is that it never gave up. This isn't just a game about heroes, this is a heroic game.

 

Can I quote you on that?

 

Oh, I just did!

 

I'd rep you, but I can't.

 

The fact is, Hero got SO MUCH stuff SO RIGHT that it generated so much loyalty in the fans that it just couldn't be kept down.

 

There will always be a Hero!

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary adds: And He has a thousand faces.

[Roy_The_Ruthles]

Re: What fundamental things did they really get "right"?

 

when i first saw this thread my head shouted STUN!!

 

this was the first system i played after DnD, and a non-lethal system was awesome.

 

also i like speed, and how armor subtracts damage

[input.jack]

Re: What fundamental things did they really get "right"?

 

There ALOT that Hero got right. Many have already been mentioned, but heres my opinion.

 

* Point based character generation. Revolutionary when it first came out, and now an "industry standard" for most games not based on d20. Point based generation lets the -Player- decide where to fall short of the original character concept, rather than leaving it to random chance. And you get the kind of character you want. This is, IMHO, one of the most important things about HERO.

 

* Special effects are seperated from Powers. Tying into the point-based generation system above, this is crucial to HERO's success. By deciding that your "Ice Weilder" and your "Flame Weilder" can both buy their Powers however they want, instead of having a seperate "Ice Power" and "Flame Power" set, and that a 10d6 Energy Blast can be fire (energy), ice (physical), radiation, hot soup, a big glowing fist, or whatever your Player wants it to be (so long as the GM OK's it) was likewise a revolutionary step forward in RPG design.

 

* Seperating Body and Stun damage, and the mechanics for Killing and Normal attacks to affect both, but in different ways. This also includes how PD and ED work as well as Resistant and Non-Resistant Defense. These mechanisms allow for incredible realism and yet are very playable. A strong Normal attack (like a bigh guy hitting a normal person with a baseball bat) can -still- do lethal (Body) damage. You can be shot with a gun and not fall down, or you can be beaten to death by someone who is using their bare hands.

 

* BODY is a matter of size + willpower. This means that smaller characters can be very hardy, and larger characters who are otherwise unremarkable can be fairly flimsy. Again, it simulates heroic cinematic reality. (And historical people like Cole Younger).

 

* Skills are bought on the same point template for all characters; a Player buys the skills the Player thinks are important to the character. While "Character Classes" are a great way for enforcing genre tropes, they are also extremely limiting in many ways. d20's new system that allows freer multi-classing makes characters like Conan (Fighter Rogue) alot easier to write up, but HERO is still hands-down the better system for crafting unique characters.

 

* Speed chart. Brilliant!

 

* 3d6, roll low, for Skills and attacks. This allows a bell-shaped probability curve (I can expect my competent character to -be- competent), and also allows a Player to train the three six-siders that are used for combat and skill resolution to roll low. (Almost every gamer is superstitious about dice. Almost every Hero gamer I know has three six-siders that are a different color from the rest that they use for attacks and skill rolls). The importance of this cannot be over-stressed

 

Overall, Hero is the best game system out there. 5th Edition got a little too caught up in arcane mechanics, IMHO, but the core of the system is solid and well thought out.