New to the Hero System

[confused_one]

Can anyone tell me in idiot terms what the first chapter of the book is saying? I can't understand it and I have been RPing for 10 years now.

[Steve Long]

Since this isn't a rules question, I've moved it to the "Discussion" board.

[Monolith]

Well, let's see...

 

The first chapter tells you that the HERO System has 14 characteristics, and that characters are built using character points (with differing initial point values depending on the genre or style of game you are playing).

 

The first chapter lists all the Skills a character can buy with his points available.

 

The first chapter lists all the Talents a character can buy with his points available.

 

The first chapter lists all the Perks a character can buy with his points available.

 

And finally the first chapter lists all the Powers a character can buy with his points avialable.

 

So, if you want your character to be strong you use some of your Character Points to buy additional Strength beyond the starting value of 10.

 

If you want your character to know how to program computers you buy the Computer Programming skill from the Skills Section.

 

If you want your character to be nearly impossible to be surprised while sleeping you buy the Talent Light Sleep from the Talents list.

 

If you want your character to have a friend in the police department you buy the Perk Contact from the Perks list.

 

If you want your character to be able to shoot orange beams from his eyes you buy the power Energy Blast from the powers list.

 

As you buy all these things for your character you subtract the costs from you Character Points available. When you have no more Character Points to spend, the character is done until you earn more Character Points as Experience.

 

Those are the basics of how the HERO System works.

[Steve Long]

c_o, perhaps it would help a little if you explained more clearly what it is you're reading and what parts of it are puzzling you.

 

By "first chapter," do you mean the entirety of Chapter One (pages 11-222)? Or are you referring to the basic Introduction (pages 1-10)? The first ten pages summarize the basics of the system pretty well.

 

Is it the HERO System core concept of spending Character Points to create a character (instead of random rolling and choosing abilities from "laundry lists") that confuses you? Or some particular aspect(s) of the system?

 

We've got a document on the "Free Stuff" page, The HERO System Genre By Genre, that discusses how to use the rules to simulate various genres; it includes several sample characters. You might want to download it and see if it helps you.

[confused_one]

Thanks

 

I guess all the math in there kind of confused me.

[Pteryx]

Chapter One, broken down

 

Because part of doing one's homework is writing stuff to prove you get it.

 

The Basics of Character Creation: You buy various stuff with points which will be detailed later. There are two basic modes of play, Heroic (which skews the rules in favor of simulating "ordinary" movie/TV physics) and Superheroic (which skews the rules in favor of simulating the superheroic genre and anything related). One of the differences is that superheroes need to buy practically everything that'll be useful in the game with points while normal heroes can buy equipment with cash instead.

 

Character Conception: How many points one has to spend and the kinds of things they can be spent on depends on the campaign and the character. Powerful superheroes are built with more points than ordinary cops. Some of these points are free while others are only made available through Disadvantages, discussed later. The GM may also provide sets of abilities he prefers or requires all characters of a given type to buy, called "Package Deals", which can simulate classes, races, and the like if you're into that sort of thing.

 

Characteristics: There are eight Base Characteristics, priced more or less by usefulness, which have a base value of 10 (vaguely above average) which can be bought up with points or sold back to get more points. There may be a cap of a value of 20 after which these Characteristics cost double; most often you'll see this in Heroic campaigns.

Furthermore, there are six Figured Characteristics. You use the formulae given to find out their base value (these are calculated from your Base Characteristics), rounding halves up except for Speed, where any decimal is rounded down. Afterwards, you may buy up or sell back these Figured Characteristics like you did before; these, however, each have different Maxima.

 

Skills: Here's a bunch of ordinary stuff you can do. Having an 8- (8 or less on 3d6) roll in a skill costs 1 point, having your skill be based on the appropriate Characteristic roll (for a 10 stat, 11-) costs 3 points, and improving a skill by 1 from there costs 1 point. There are no unskilled checks, though a GM may provide a standard bunch of free 8- skills to all characters for this purpose (Everyman Skills).

 

Perquisites (Perks): This is how you can buy NPC friends who primarily help you, unusual licences, cool cars, and the like.

 

Talents: These are some small, standardized bonuses and semi-ordinary abilities your GM may allow even when he doesn't allow Powers. He may also build a few of his own using Powers and/or Skills.

 

Powers: This is probably where you got confused.

There are two difficult things about Powers. One, the name of the Power does not necessarily reflect what it's going to be bought to simulate. For example, the Images power can be bought such that it makes sounds instead of images. "Functions" might be a more decriptive, but more cumbersome name. Two, the Powers in the book can be altered as they're purchased by what are called Power Modifiers, discussed later, to make them behave more like you envisioned. Figuring out the cost of the modified power involves math.

Got that? Then here are two easier things to chew on. First is the concept of "special effects". You don't buy fire abilities; you buy generic Powers, call them fire-based upon purchase (this can't be changed later), and they interact with other stuff that's bought to react differently to fire (this demon has 50% Energy Damage Resistance, only vs. fire, but the evil Icecube has the Disadvantage "Vulnerability, x1 1/2 BODY Damage from Fire Attacks"). It's the same thing seen in most other RPGs, only with the curtain pulled back.

The second simple thing to get is that Powers are generally bought in increments. If you can float around a bit, that might be 3" (6 meters per Phase, Phases being a character's times to act during a Turn of 12 seconds/Segments) of Flight. Flight costs 2 character points per inch. Thus, you spend 6 Character Points on Flight.

Adjustment Powers: These are basically "meta-Powers" -- they're Powers for changing Characteristics (both types) and other Powers. The number rolled on the dice generally equal the Character Points worth of effect -- it's easier to Aid Comeliness than Dexterity, because Dexterity is much more powerful.

Attack Powers: These are powers for hurting or hindering foes and are pretty strightforward. Note how you count Normal Damage: the total rolled is the STUN inflicted, the number of dice plus sixes rolled minus ones rolled is the BODY inflicted.

Body-Affecting Powers: These are powers that change your body. (Oh, and ignore the book -- Shape Shift is Sense-Affecting, not Body-Affecting. Trust me on this one.)

Defense Powers: These are powers that primarily protect you. If they protect from damage, they may protect just from Normal Damage (Normal) or from both Normal and Killing Damage (Resistant). They can be bought to only help versus certain special effects (a Force Field can represent an anti-ice spell).

Mental Powers: These powers deal with the mind directly, work on a Line of Sight basis (being far away doesn't make someone's mind harder to read), are bought to affect certain classes of minds (you may be able to read the minds of animals, or of AIs, or of certain classes of aliens), require a dice roll to find out how effectively you did it (it's easier to read someone's name than to drudge up memories of abuse), and have complex rules for interaction with each other.

Movement Powers: These powers help you get from place to place. As mentioned, 1" in HERO parlance means 2 meters for the characters; this is so miniatures can be used if desired. Furthermore, by default the number of inches bought are the amount you can move while still dodging and weaving. If you have to just get somewhere fast, you can by default move twice as far, but you're easier to hit that way.

Sense-Affecting Powers: These mess with people's ability to perceive things. They're bought to affect specific senses or Sense Groups. How much they cost depends on whether the senses affected are normally Targeting or Nontargeting. Usually that translates to "Sight vs. everything else", but in a game where everyone plays, say, furries, Smell might typically be Targeting, and thus Sense-Affecting Powers that affect Smell would cost more.

Sensory Powers: These let you perceive more things.

Size Powers: Growth and Shrinking. 'Nuff said.

Special Powers: GMs should think twice before letting these into Power Frameworks, a group of cost-saving mechanisms discussed later.

Standard Powers: Doesn't seem to mean much.

From here through almost another quarter of the book, the rules for Powers and any Modifiers that only make sense in the context of those particular Powers are given.

 

Power Modifiers: These are your means by which to make the generic Powers less generic. They change how they work and what they cost to buy. They cannot be changed at will (unless you're talking about Variable Advantages, Variable Special Effects, or Variable Limitations, which are specifically listed). Powers don't have to be bought with Modifiers, but it helps.

First, you pick out any appropriate Advantages, which make a Power stronger or more versatile. You add up the value of all of these plus 1, then multiply the base cost by this number to find out the Active Point cost of a power, which determines how costly it is to use and how likely it is that the GM will allow it. (The "plus 1" is because any number multiplied by 1 is the same number.) Note that 1/4 = .25, so any cheap calculator will do.

Next, pick out Limitations for a power, which make a power weaker or less versatile. Add up the values (they are positive; the minus sign is to make them easy to recognize as Limitations) plus 1 and divide the Active Points you calculated earlier by this total. This is what you actually pay in Character Points for the power, its Real Cost.

About another tenth of the book is Advantages and Limitations.

 

Power Frameworks: These are means by which to make powers that fit together cheaper, but limits them in some way. Elemental Controls are for variations on a single power which you want to be able to use together without restriction, Multipowers are a means of buying a lot of powers cheap but not being able to use them all at once at full power (frequently, only one at a time), and Variable Power Pools are for, well, any powers too variable to predefine (transforming into any animal, copying other people's attacks, The Right Gadget For The Job, etc.). If these confuse you, they're entirely skippable.

 

Disadvantages: You've probably seen these in other points-based RPGs. You take them, and they hinder you periodically, but you get Character Points back as part of the deal -- up to a certain limit.

 

Does this help? -- Pteryx

[Hugh Neilson]

Re: Chapter One, broken down

 

Originally posted by Pteryx

Does this help? -- Pteryx

 

I'd say something more, but I honestly can't think of any way to improve on what's been said. Nice job Pteryx!

 

[steve, is there room for this on the board somewhere? It makes a pretty fair intro to "How the system works"]

[Bartman]

Originally posted by Steve Long

We've got a document on the "Free Stuff" page, The HERO System Genre By Genre, that discusses how to use the rules to simulate various genres; it includes several sample characters. You might want to download it and see if it helps you.

 

Here's a link to the file Steve was talking about.

 

If you run across anything in particular you are having trouble with, go ahead a post it. You've already gotten responses from the author (Steve Long) and several people who have decades of experience with the system. We would be happy to explain any particular point of confusion.

[Lord Liaden]

You also might get some benefit from this link to FAQs about some of the basic concepts of the HERO System, and how to translate various ideas into system mechanics:

 

http://www.herogames.com/SupportFAQs/workingherosystem.htm

[Farkling]

Whoever told me I scared the new guy with my "Little Bunny Frou Frou attack" was apparently right. My apologies.

This is not as intimidating as it looks. My niece understands it...well...she understands the important parts anyway...

[Fuzzy Gnome]

Your niece can probably program a VCR, too...