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The Hero System is bland and over complicated


RPMiller

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Re: The Hero System is bland and over complicated

 

I agree that he mentions its length, but that is in addition to it being "bland," "complicated," and "unplayable." To me that sounds like a lot more than just verbosity.

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Re: The Hero System is bland and over complicated

 

To be fair, I can see his point about the system being bland: a beginner reading through (especially one used to systems with a setting/campaign world built in) will see a whole lot of rules and not much else.

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Re: The Hero System is bland and over complicated

 

Thus, as someone who obviously never played, he probably should refrain from commenting on the system until he had actually played. In support of this, I refrained from saying anything negative about D&D 4ed until I had actually played a session. I would never critique a system until I had a chance to play it especially in such a public forum and as someone who obviously comments on a lot of systems.

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Re: The Hero System is bland and over complicated

 

Yup. Really pretty common, and to be expected. Of course, after the play they'll still have to deal with the cognitive dissonance of discovering that they were actually wrong with their assumptions.

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Re: The Hero System is bland and over complicated

 

Wow.

 

Apparently a generic system that can be tailored to any setting is 'bland' in this guy's mind. I suppose if you don't have any imagination whatsoever, that's fair. If you need to have an entire setting spoon-fed to you along with every gaming system you buy, that's true. If you can't take a neutral set of RPG rules and adapt them to an colorful, interesting, flavorful campaign by yourself, then yes the result will inevitably be something 'bland.'

 

I"ll take "Missing the Entire Purpose of The Whole Darn Thing" for $2000, Alex.

 

What a putz. attachment.php?attachmentid=35761&thumb=1&d=1272506138

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Re: The Hero System is bland and over complicated

 

The Hero System is incredibly bland. It is after all just a collection of rules, completely divorced from setting/genre. If you bought an RPG that was just the D20 rules divorced from any sort of setting or genre, they would also seem extremely bland and uninteresting. Any RPG rules system would. The problem with this is that the vast majority of gamers evaluate their games based on the setting first. Those individuals who are inclined to evaluate a games systems first and foremost are the type that are likely to find their way to HERO or GURPS eventually.

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Re: The Hero System is bland and over complicated

 

Excuse me? Is there a problem with systems that have an included campaign setting?

 

There is if you don't use the setting and it takes too much work to port the system to a different setting.

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Re: The Hero System is bland and over complicated

 

Wow.

 

Apparently a generic system that can be tailored to any setting is 'bland' in this guy's mind. I suppose if you don't have any imagination whatsoever, that's fair. If you need to have an entire setting spoon-fed to you along with every gaming system you buy, that's true. If you can't take a neutral set of RPG rules and adapt them to an colorful, interesting, flavorful campaign by yourself, then yes the result will inevitably be something 'bland.'

 

I"ll take "Missing the Entire Purpose of The Whole Darn Thing" for $2000, Alex.

 

What a putz. attachment.php?attachmentid=35761&thumb=1&d=1272506138

 

Pretty much exactly what I was going to say.

 

It seems the guy in this video has misunderstood the idea of what the Hero System is - and it's not "A game" in the sense you can open the book, make a character, and start playing. . . Oh well.

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Re: The Hero System is bland and over complicated

 

Here's how I understand the differences between HERO and other systems: Many game systems are sort of like a car you can just jump in and start driving. The HERO system is a toolkit that allows you to build a custom-built specialized car once you know what sort of color and handling you want. HERO is less concerned with upholstery and paint schemes and more focused on what goes on behind those things is what you really want.

 

In my opinion, HERO and D&D are not even in the same family of RPGs. Certainly not close enough to warrant the system war that has an annoying tendency to pop up from time to time on these boards. There are good things about both systems. I am currently playing both HERO and Pathfinder. Neither system is less valid than the other, because each speaks to a different taste. Calm down, people.

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Re: The Hero System is bland and over complicated

 

It's understandable why he'd think the system is bland. The books don't do much for setting design, although they do a lot for specific examples. There is a thread currently active that takes the guidelines for DCs and damage as dogma. The text in the books don't distinguish enough the guidelines part or how to make your own. Hero seems to be written more for it's fans rather than attracting new ones.

 

It's no wonder he doesn't understand HERO he uses his razor on the wrong end of his head:sneaky:

Alright... that was funny!

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Re: The Hero System is bland and over complicated

 

Here's how I understand the differences between HERO and other systems: Many game systems are sort of like a car you can just jump in and start driving. The HERO system is a toolkit that allows you to build a custom-built specialized car once you know what sort of color and handling you want. HERO is less concerned with upholstery and paint schemes and more focused on what goes on behind those things is what you really want.

 

In my opinion, HERO and D&D are not even in the same family of RPGs. Certainly not close enough to warrant the system war that has an annoying tendency to pop up from time to time on these boards. There are good things about both systems. I am currently playing both HERO and Pathfinder. Neither system is less valid than the other, because each speaks to a different taste. Calm down, people.

 

Well said. We need more open-minded folk such as yourself, in the hobby.

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Re: The Hero System is bland and over complicated

 

Excuse me? Is there a problem with systems that have an included campaign setting?

 

Hey, it looks like I found the Daily Double!

 

No, Ragitsu, that's not what I said. What I said was that there ISN'T a problem with systems that don't include a campaign setting.

 

Sheesh. Is 'missing the point' contagious or something?

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Re: The Hero System is bland and over complicated

 

Hmm. I think he might have read a different gaming book from the one I read. Nothing at all like reading a, "chemistry textbook." Of course, his ecstatic joy over only having to read a half-column of text at a time in that supplement may indicate the kind of attention span we're talking about, and help illustrate why he can't handle (reading through) the Hero System ("Yes folks! The Hero System is only for people who are literate, and have an attention span long enough to get through a few pages at a time!").

 

As for Hero being, "theoretical," I think he's saying the same kind of thing other people have been on this thread: you need to put some work into actually creating a playable game; the system isn't designed so you can simply open up the book and play. It looks like the supplement he's talking about has taken quite a bit straight out of Hero and converted it into a point-based d20 system of some sort. Interesting, but a bit scary and stomach-turning IMO. I'd much rather see the opposite happen. I hope they at least gave some good credit to Hero Games (without the back-handed ridicule this guy added in).

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Re: The Hero System is bland and over complicated

 

It's understandable why he'd think the system is bland. The books don't do much for setting design, although they do a lot for specific examples. There is a thread currently active that takes the guidelines for DCs and damage as dogma. The text in the books don't distinguish enough the guidelines part or how to make your own. Hero seems to be written more for it's fans rather than attracting new ones.

 

Not to mention starting point totals as equal dogma.

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