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Anyone Have PA Hero yet?

Zindil

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Susano Grand Master

Susano

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Re: Anyone Have PA Hero yet?

 

I have a copy. I've only flipped through it, but I like what I'm seeing. One nice flavor bit is Steve's used quotes from books and films to spice up the text. So it's kind of fun to get the bit about gang leaders and read "Greetings from the Humongus!!!" :)

 

The art is mixed, some good, some not so good, but I really like the cover.

 

Now that PA Hero is out, I think it is time I got off my butt and double checked my Max Rockatansky character sheet, and see about doing ones for Goose, Humongus, Wez, and the Gyro Captain. Oh, and the Six-String Samurai as well.

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Jkeown Mentor

Jkeown

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Re: Anyone Have PA Hero yet?

 

I like it. I think I'm going to just lay back and rip off Gamma World or S.T.A.L.K.E.R. wholesale. Both are very possible with this book.

 

My only complaint, and I'm really being silly complaining at all, is the amount of space used for settings. I'm pretty sure most folks are going Twilight:2000, Gamma World or Road Warrior, and the settings just take up too much space for my taste.

 

That said... I do love this book.

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Guest Major Tom

Guest Major Tom

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Re: Anyone Have PA Hero yet?

 

I'm hoping to have my own copy of PA HERO before too much longer;

the guys from the local FLGS who were supposed to pick up a copy

of it for me forgot to. Oh, well...

 

 

Major Tom :rolleyes:

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Susano Grand Master

Susano

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Re: Anyone Have PA Hero yet?

 

Glad to hear folx are enjoying the book! Hopefully some more detailed reviews will be forthcoming soon as the book slowly works its way out to the greater mass of gamerdom.

 

I've only fipped through it so far (Nestor brought me Gestalt, UEP, and PAH from Gencon, and I've been reading Gestalt). I liked the use of quotes to start sections, but feel I was a little remiss in not sending you a letter describing some of the anime/manga PA settings out there. I think a few might have been worth mentioning if only because The Road Warrior had a huge influence on Jpaan (much like Blade Runner. They also would have allowed mention of Ninja Hero, since Fists of the Northstar combines a hero who intially dressed like Mad Max with some utterly over the top martial arts action. And then there's Battle Angel, with it's mix of The Road Warrior, cyberpunk, Ninja Hero, and Star Hero.

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Barton Proficient

Barton

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Re: Anyone Have PA Hero yet?

 

I love the CRUNCH in it!!! My formal education is in toxicology and radiation biology. The sections on radiation, post PA effects on the world were GREAT!!! Lots of good hard science, in easy to understand english. Good ideas/guidelines on how to PA your "world". Wonderful. Worth the price of the book just for that.

A+ on that.

 

The art is okay; but I do not care about eye-candy.

 

The writing is good (sorry in advance to Steve Long) but not as good IMHO as was in Pulp Hero. PLEASE understand this is strictly my opinion, others will differ.

B-.

 

Layout/length - layout of book was well above average but TOO few pages. I love huge books so anything below 250 pages is too short.

B-.

 

The sample settings - Good example settings (the 1001AD setting was unique to say the least). I did not like any of them a lot except the North Carolina setting. I liked that one a lot. I think that the settings were to get the GM's creativity flowing, and for that they work great.

B.

 

OVERALL A- BUY THE BOOK.

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ghost-angel Grand Master

ghost-angel

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Re: Anyone Have PA Hero yet?

 

Glad to hear folx are enjoying the book! Hopefully some more detailed reviews will be forthcoming soon as the book slowly works its way out to the greater mass of gamerdom.

 

Just as soon as you guys get it, and then I get a copy I'll have a full sized review on it.

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Zane_Marlowe Community Regular

Zane_Marlowe

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Re: Anyone Have PA Hero yet?

 

I picked it up at GenCon and have read through it. Some initial thoughts.

 

1. Production Values: I liked the numerous quotes and references to particular sources in the genre that were woven into the descriptions of the themes and genre elements. I'll agree with others who said that the art was 50/50, and partially disagree with those who suggest that art doesn't make that much difference. Especially in this genre where images can help description a lot, I think that some of the art might have been better chosen. Overall, this is a quibble more than a complaint (it's more of a complaint in the Enchanted Items book that I also bought; yeah, I know art's pricey, but at least the unique items might have had better coverage). The book is well laid-out and has the usual genre/character/GM sections that the genre books do.

 

2. Written quality. The book's high points are its discussions of thematic elements (in plotting, villains, character types, etc.). I won't get into the details of those treatments, but suffice it to say it's usual Hero System Standard Goodness.

 

3. Settings. There are several good settings, and each is very different from the others. There are settings with High Apocalypse Mutants, far future fantasy settings, a zombie world, and a very interesting religious apocalypse setting. I was disappointed that there was not a military post-apocalyptic setting ala Twilight 2000. However, the ingredients are present if one incorporates Dark Champions and the vehicle sourcebooks, and I think such a setting could be managed anyway. I was also interested to see that while they included the notion of mutated animals in one of the settings, there was no discussion of how one might setup mutant animal (N)PC's in conjunction with the Hero System Bestiary, which seemed like an obvious choice.

 

All that said, it's a worthy buy. Plenty of good stuff on scavenging, social breakdown, various ways to end the world, and themes to include in story elements. The things I'd like to see I think could be included in a Hero Plus supplement, and especially for settings (which seem the most likely to proliferate from this genre) this might be the best way to approach them given the wide range of the genre.

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Legendsmiths Mentor

Legendsmiths

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Re: Anyone Have PA Hero yet?

 

Being a PA fan, and running 3 events of it at GenCon, I very much like it. I appreciated most the rules on starvation and dehydration, the expanded life support considering how important Radiation is in the setting (I actually like that breakdown for all types of effects and think it should apply to poisons and diseases as well). The active points to rads conversion was also useful for creating rad generating baddies.

 

I ran STALKER and Endgame: Apocalypse (Gamma World-ish) at GenCon, both based on home campaigns, and both were well received and hopefully generated some PA sales.

 

I wish there had been a T2K type setting, but also agree that can be easily drawn from DC. STALKER is kind of T2K in some respects (lots of military scenarios, equipment, and such), and has just enough of the wierd to suit me.

 

I think my favorite setting from the book is Thundarr, er, I mean, Moonshattered Earth, and I really like the approach to magic there. After the Blast is sweet as a Gamma World setting, and the creatures are very useful along those lines. The coup de grace there though is the random mutation tables. Roll 3-4 mutations, add 50 points for the rest of your character, and you have classic Gamma World goodness.

 

I bought 2 it was so good. Well, one was a gift, but I, uh, still BOUGHT 2!

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Guest Admiral C

Guest Admiral C

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Re: Anyone Have PA Hero yet?

 

I have a question, since PA HERO is a whole new genre for HERO System does that mean it will get it's own forum like Pulp HERO did?

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Guest Admiral C

Guest Admiral C

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Re: Anyone Have PA Hero yet?

 

I don't want to trump anyone from HERO' date=' but the answer is almost certainly "no." [i']Ninja Hero[/i] doesn't have its own forum either, and I'd daresay that's a larger genre than PA HERO.

 

I just remembered about Ninja HERO after I posted that. But then again I didn't think Pulp HERO would get it's own forum. Ah well. The book sounds like it's great though and I can wait to pick up a copy.

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Gadodel Proficient

Gadodel

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Re: Anyone Have PA Hero yet?

 

I don't want to trump anyone from HERO' date=' but the answer is almost certainly "no." [i']Ninja Hero[/i] doesn't have its own forum either, and I'd daresay that's a larger genre than PA HERO.

 

I think that they are just trying to avoid giving the Pirates their own forum as well...:D

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