What's a good way to learn the game?

[Lucius]

Re: What's a good way to learn the game?

 

"How I Learned Hero System

 

by Max Mini

 

The basics were easy to learn. I had already played Melee and Wizard,

and then Superworld, so a lot of the concepts were not new. But I really

began to feel like I knew the system after attending the Goodman School

of Cost Effectiveness.

 

Some of those lessons have stayed with me ever since. After "The Joy of

DEX" it was a long time before I considered building a superhero with

less than 23 DEX. "CON Builds Strong Bodies Five Ways" was a real

eye-opener too. Both of course built on the mandatory freshman class on

using breakpoints, "Don't Get Even, Get Odd." I learned that 13 is

really a very lucky number. It still is, even now that they've taken

much of the joy out of DEX and severely amended the CONstitution. Some

of what I learned is obsolete - I no longer consider 17" Flight the

ideal movement power - but some things will probably always be valid,

like getting odd numbered Movement to catch a break on the Half Move.

 

My education took a new turn due to a special project I did for

an advanced class. I built a spaceship as a Base, and then (because a

Base couldn't have a Movement) spent Base points on a Vehicle to be the

starship's engine (I hoped the Vehicle had enough STR; there were no

formal rules for calculating the weight of a Base, but I never intended

this ship to go into a gravity well either) and then spent Vehicle

points for an AI to pilot and otherwise control it. I even bought

Grounds with Costs END, to put a kind of force shield around the whole

thing. The instructor inspected the whole facility, questioned the

computer, and looked over the blue prints, and then said "You have a

Computer nested in the Vehicle, nested in the Base. That means 1

Character Point invested buys 125 points of Computer. I'm not sure which

would make you more dangerous - if you knew what you were doing or if

you didn't."

 

That's how I got transferred - and a scholarship! - to the Badman School

of Minimaxing, part of the Munchkin Institute of Emerald City. Just

passing the entrance exam weeds out a lot of people; "Destroy the World

on 75 Character Points or Less." I built a missile capable of cracking

an Earth sized planet that only cost 5 pts. Try doing THAT under Fifth

Edition or later! The good old days are gone; but truly, "There were

munchkins in the Earth in those days....the same became mighty

characters which were of old, heroes of renown."

 

The Goodman School was a lot of fun, but the Badman School was really

wild. Whether you had Gambling or not, everyone played the STUN Lottery;

except in places where it was regulated or forbidden, you could see it

all over the campus and around town too. And everybody won, too, because

the only real way to lose the STUN Lotto was not to play. That part of

campus life changed radically in the last year, and the debate goes on

as to whether it's still worth playing the STUN Lottery or not.

 

Martial Arts tournaments are still popular, in categories ranging from

75+75 on up. The basic Martial Arts course offered is "Fighting with

Style." Everyone wants Martial Arts because they're so efficient, and

because the Style Disadvantage is widely viewed as free points. I mean,

seriously, when have you ever known anyone to actually be disadvantaged

by it?

 

Even more popular was Normal Characteristic Maxima. Some people made it

a point of pride to take that WITHOUT the Defender Exploit, because

either way it was a munchkin's favorite thing - more free points. If a

character didn't have Normal Characteristics, people thought there was

something abnormal about it. That's one more thing that's changing;

places like FREDerick Hall still have Normal Characteristics and the

STUN Lottery, but sooner or later most of the rest of campus is going

with the New Regime.

 

When I joined the faculty, FREd WAS the New Regime. The biggest addition

to the curriculum then was the class "Forewarned is Four Armed" and

that's why the Badman School is full of mutants and aliens with

prehensile tails, martial artists with Contortionist who can use their

feet like hands, and any other excuse for Extra Limbs you can think of.

It's been several years but I'm still astonished that the Rules as

Written let you put "Not with Extra Limbs" or "Only with Extra Limbs" as

a Limitation on STR and DEX. It would be so easy to have changed the

rule to say that the Limitation must be put on the Extra Limbs Power -

why hasn't that been done? I don't know. Maybe the Powers that Be really

love Munchkins after all and take care to leave loopholes for us like

that. What other explanation is there?

 

Sometimes I wonder if, someday, all these loopholes will be closed up;

it wouldn't be that hard. There'll probably always be a Badman School,

but we would be reduced to researching dodgy applications for rules like

the 5 pts doubling rule or Advantages like Inherent and Megascale,

things that have a legitimate use but have to be watched carefully.

 

And we know about careful watching. I do sometimes have to expell a

student for cheating. We are vigilant and ruthless in protecting the

good name of Badman's. A house rule is fine (and we have many fine

houses, used to call them Fraternities but they're all co-ed now so we

call them Geek Houses) and a bent rule okay if it bends back, but broken

rules are not acceptable. The "convenient" math error, the deliberate

misinterpretation, the outright lie, are not welcome. After all, they

shouldn't be necessary when the Rules as Written have loopholes I can

pilot a flying four armed giant robot through.

 

So until the loopholes are no longer tolerated, there's room for me

here. And every day I meditate upon the motto inscribed in Munchkin blue

over the emerald gates: "What is given away freely, cannot be stolen."

 

How true that is.

 

 

Lucius Alexander

 

Copyright Palindromedary Enterprises

[JavalTigar]

Re: What's a good way to learn the game?

 

Lucius, your write ups are awesome. Keep them comming!!

 

I was thinking about the original question, and came to realize that trial by fire is the best way to learn to play. Just grab some charaters from a manual and slug it out.

 

Learning to build takes a little longer but helps a lot if:

a) if the GM knows the system, so he can teach the others [ kinda like a pyramid scheme]

if the players have played other systems first. [so you can say things like your "Partial change claws for aggrevated damage" yeah that's just a "HKA with Penetrating"]

 

The more I think about it, I would think it is impossible to start with HERO, but it IS the last system you will ever need.

[Narf the Mouse]

Re: What's a good way to learn the game?

 

Lucius, your write ups are awesome. Keep them comming!!

 

I was thinking about the original question, and came to realize that trial by fire is the best way to learn to play. Just grab some charaters from a manual and slug it out.

 

Learning to build takes a little longer but helps a lot if:

a) if the GM knows the system, so he can teach the others [ kinda like a pyramid scheme]

if the players have played other systems first. [so you can say things like your "Partial change claws for aggrevated damage" yeah that's just a "HKA with Penetrating"]

 

The more I think about it, I would think it is impossible to start with HERO, but it IS the last system you will ever need.

Yep.

So I've heard.

Probably.

Or Armour Piercing or Damage over Time or...

Hero System and Risus.

[RexMundi]

Re: What's a good way to learn the game?

 

Hero System Uber Alles!

 

~Rex

[prestidigitator]

Re: What's a good way to learn the game?

 

Good idea skipping the individual skill and power descriptions. That'll cut out a lot of your initial reading material right there. I suggest when you DO go back and read them, just read the first few lines or first paragraph of each, to give yourself a basic idea of what it is supposed to do. As you get naturally interested in a particular element, you'll be inspired to go back and read the whole thing and figure out exactly how to use it and how it interacts with other powers and such.

[Lucius]

Re: What's a good way to learn the game?

 

If I ever post these again, I'm changing the order.

 

Everyone reputizes the Wannabe Ninja, and I don't know if that's just because it's first or if it's really the only one people like.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary thinks I should write up the Wannabe Ninja as a character

[Susano]

Re: What's a good way to learn the game?

 

I always felt the best way to learn the system was to sleep with the book under your pillow and pick it up via osmosis.

 

However, I highly recommend you don't do this with COC sourcebooks.

[Lucius]

Re: What's a good way to learn the game?

 

I always felt the best way to learn the system was to sleep with the book under your pillow and pick it up via osmosis.

 

However, I highly recommend you don't do this with COC sourcebook.

 

Oh, it's perfectly safe - with the proper precautions...

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary looks up "apotropaic"