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Is Vol. I of 6E Hero Really Necessary?


CaptnStrawberry

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Following up somewhat on another thread where we find the oop Vol. I of 6th edition going online for thousands of dollars (at the very least hundreds).  As a latecomer to this edition, I have:

 

Hardcopies: 6E vol. 2, Champions Powers, Champions Complete (plus the villain books)

PDFs: Basic Rulebook (print copy on the way), Champions Universe & Champions genre book

 

Is there a rational reason that I need vol I, or do I basically have all the content already?  Like many gamers, I'm a bit of a completist, and the spot where it should be on my shelf bugs me. 

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6e1 is still available as a PDF

It can effectively be thought of as an Advanced GM's Guide version of the rules (complementary to the Advanced Players Guides 1&2)

Think of it as the rules from Champions Complete plus ALL the FAQ entries and examples

 

The FULL generic rules spectrum now includes:

HERO System Basic

Champions Complete (and soon to be in general release Fantasy Hero Complete)

6e1 & 6e2

APG1 & APG2

Hero System Martial Arts, Equipment Guide & Bestiary

 

Champions Powers and the Hero System Grimoire are borderline generic/genre specific (supers & fantasy)

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From what I can tell, Hero Games considers 6E1/6E2 obsolete and no longer representative of the current state of the Hero System rules. I'm not really sure why they make the PDFs of them available but not POD softcovers, but in any case only CC and the books based on the changes in CC are considered "current".

 

For the record, the old 6e Hero System Core Library was: 6E1/6E2, APG1, APG2, Bestiary, Equipment Guide, Grimoire, Martial Arts, and Skills. Hero System Vehicles was originally intended to be the final volume in the core library, but never made it to publication before the product line was abandoned.

 

If one's goal is to have the latest version of the rules for use in play, then CC is all you need. If one's goal is to complete a collection of previous edition materials, then acquiring 6E1 is pretty much a must, don't you think?

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From what I can tell, Hero Games considers 6E1/6E2 obsolete and no longer representative of the current state of the Hero System rules. I'm not really sure why they make the PDFs of them available but not POD softcovers, but in any case only CC and the books based on the changes in CC are considered "current".

Jason stated that CC replaced 6E1/6E2 in a post some time ago.

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I suppose I'm an unnuanced layperson, but to me the 6E material and CC are the same edition; no major (and apparently only a few minor) changes to the rules  were made, they were simply repackaged. D&D 4.0 and D&D Essentials would be the closest analogy off the top of my head.

 

Doubt I would bother with the APGs and other supplements, I'm thinking with Hero Designer and my collection of 5e stuff I would get by!

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I haven't seen FC yet, so I'm curious how much it has in common with CC in terms of the writeup for the core rules (not the genre-specific stuff). Do they have an identical set of opening chapters? If not, then there truly is no such thing as a single "core system rules" text anymore.

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I haven't seen FC yet, so I'm curious how much it has in common with CC in terms of the writeup for the core rules (not the genre-specific stuff). Do they have an identical set of opening chapters? If not, then there truly is no such thing as a single "core system rules" text anymore.

 

 

It seems like Hero is moving away from the idea of the single core rules for now.  If that works best for sales and survival of the company, I'm fine with that.

Jason stated in his post that there will be multiple versions of the rules (i.e., CC, FHC, MHI, and even Luche Libre).

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So I can stop worrying about having to buy 6 different books, and just get CC to play?

Short answer: Yes.

 

Other books may be helpful, but you can build everything you need with just CC. Plus, there's a lot of material here on the boards and on some of the members' web sites that you can easily use as well.

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I would advise new players to stick with CC and just pretend that 6E1/6E2 doesn't exist. Those older books may be more exhaustive (making the Champions Complete name rather ironic), but they are exhaustive with regard to a body of rules that are no longer totally correct. Navigating the discrepencies is not something a new player should have to be faced with.

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I think that's somewhat problematic. Players by nature like to know that they are playing according to the "official" rules, even/especially when they base their house rules upon them. Giving official answers out of an obsolete set of rules is bound to lead to needless confusion.

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I think of it this way- 6e 1 and 2 are a reference document.  They do no make up a game as much as a system from which you can construct the game you want to play.  That could be Champions, Fantasy, MHI, or a totally homebrew game on whatever subject you care.

 

The "complete" line of books does the hard work of taking that reference source and boiling it down to a set of rules for a particular genre or setting.  Champions Complete is what you need to pay Champions.  Champions is a subset of the hero system.  

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