sporeworld Posted June 22, 2012 Report Share Posted June 22, 2012 Hiya! I'm back to Champions after an absence of... ummm... 29 years!?! Something like that. Anyhoo - I'm trying to get some friends of mine to try it (for their first time), and I fear they'll find the rules, and even character sheets a little intimidating (they have NO attention span). I'm sure y'all have already covered this somewhere (just not sure what key words to check), but I want to break it down a bit more. Our first day will be very, very basic. Kind of a Henchmen's Bootcamp. Just hand to hand physical combat. No mental, flying, ranged, killing - nothing fancy at all. Swing, burn END, and (hopefully) deliver damage. I'm thinking that I'll give them pre-made characters on laminated sheets with the MINIMAL info on them. I'm wondering if anyone has done this before? Plus handouts of combat moves (like on the Character Sheets) and a few other items. I'm also considering using bowls single-colored M&M's for their STUN, END & BODY counts. I'll take as they consume them (pun intended) and give them more as they get their recoveries. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hyper-Man Posted June 22, 2012 Report Share Posted June 22, 2012 Re: Champions Cheat Sheets for Rookies http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php/77944-Hero-In-Two-Pages-Complete?highlight=hero+in+two+pages Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sporeworld Posted June 22, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 22, 2012 Re: Champions Cheat Sheets for Rookies K-kow! Thanks! Any other useful threads for introducing newbies...? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Democracy Posted June 22, 2012 Report Share Posted June 22, 2012 Re: Champions Cheat Sheets for Rookies Yeah. Have a look at the discussion on character sheets. New players can be intimidated/distracted by all the numbers. There are a few ideas in there about sheets for building and sheets for playing - two different things with very different requirements. I like the idea of M&M STUN, though I do think it may provide bad incentives if they can eat the STUN they lose. Doc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sporeworld Posted June 22, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 22, 2012 Re: Champions Cheat Sheets for Rookies hahah! Yeah - END hogs = stomach ache! :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted June 22, 2012 Report Share Posted June 22, 2012 Re: Champions Cheat Sheets for Rookies K-kow! Thanks! Any other useful threads for introducing newbies...? Couple of classic threads here -- old but still full of valuable advice: http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php/9188-Newbie-DM-Newbie-Players-Where-in-the-heck-to-start http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php/3304-Tips-for-New-GMs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheQuestionMan Posted June 22, 2012 Report Share Posted June 22, 2012 Re: Champions Cheat Sheets for Rookies Killershrike.com - HERO System http://www.killershrike.com/GeneralHERO/HEROSystem.aspx Cheers QM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sporeworld Posted June 23, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 23, 2012 Re: Champions Cheat Sheets for Rookies I'm also moving more and more towards teaching them the game dojo style. Very basic scrappers in 2 or 3 punch fights (Mortal Combat Style). Each victory gives them access to a set of "cards" with new powers on them (ie: Lighting Blast, Lightning Punch, Lightning Shield). Each player's fight will be watched by the others as they try not to make the same mistakes. Once they get well rounded and all the elements of game play have been introduced, I'll raise the complexity by allowing them to duo - two on one more massive guy (probably). Hopefully, by the end of the night, they'll each have very different characters. I have a twist for the story that will make that all fit, but they won't know it. Kind of a cliff-hanger to get them interested in the first "official" night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sporeworld Posted June 23, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 23, 2012 Re: Champions Cheat Sheets for Rookies Whops - this should have been the first post. Didn't go for some reason: Thanks for all the input - I spent the last several hours pouring through threads. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sporeworld Posted June 30, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 30, 2012 Re: Champions Cheat Sheets for Rookies Update: First night went great! We used a projector (and screen) with a CorelDraw Hexgrid on it. Character Icons (color coded and names) were used, and players indicated their moves with Green pen lasers! I had photos lined up for quick-click popups to illustrate people and things. Everyone had pre-made characters, and their origins were fed via text message in pieces leading up to the adventure. Characters that wanted private conversations did so via text message. We used HERO ROLLER app on all our phones, plus mine (GM) were done on the Ipad, mirrored to a monitor via AppleTV (very cool). Cut a LOT of time out. We used laminated Character sheets, and tracked stun, end and body (none done) with Wet Erase markers (Visa vis). They had intentionally low point characters, but got to add 20 more points each round. They ended up naturally as essentially archetypes - a Brick, and Heavy Hitters and a generalist. It was great to see them organically ask for things that the game provided - haymakers, knockback, pushing, running on stun... right on track. And they DID all that - ran on stun to the point of exhaustion, had to take a knee mid-combat, realized that a 4 REC is bad, but better than nothing! And so on. Plenty of regrets, but a really good start. Thanks for the advice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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