Questions about Hero E-Books

[Count Zero]

I was looking at the on-line store and wanted to see what people had to say about some of the e-books.

 

I have only gotten into Hero System with the 5th edition. Awsome system and I am looking for more info.

 

The question is how are the following e-books and how which ones are from 4th edition and what are the high points and low points of each book. Finally, do any of you know if these books are going to be printed. Also, how do these books compare the traditional print value when it comes to quality?

 

The following books are:

 

Kazei 5

Shades of Black

The Kandris Seal

PRIMUS

Ultimate Super Mage

 

Thanks

[Nightfly]

Re: Questions about Hero E-Books

 

Originally posted by Count Zero

I was looking at the on-line store and wanted to see what people had to say about some of the e-books.

 

I have only gotten into Hero System with the 5th edition. Awsome system and I am looking for more info.

 

The question is how are the following e-books and how which ones are from 4th edition and what are the high points and low points of each book. Finally, do any of you know if these books are going to be printed. Also, how do these books compare the traditional print value when it comes to quality?

 

The following books are:

 

Kazei 5

Shades of Black

The Kandris Seal

PRIMUS

Ultimate Super Mage

 

Thanks

 

I too am in my first year of HERO.  I've only been onboard since 5th Edition.

Although I believe all but Shades of Black were written duing 4E, the changes (I hear) weren't that drastic.

I may be wrong about their editions, but I've bought all but The Kandris Seal and have been able to effortlessly apply most aspects to 5E.

The quality of the ebooks IMO are completely on par with the printed books (particularly SoB), in fact some posters here apparently do use Kinkos (or the like) to print some of the HERO ebooks.

[Legendsmiths]

Shades of Black is a 5E adventure. I thought Kandris Seal was as well when I saw it at GenCon.

 

The other material is fairly easily used with 5E. I believe the main rulebook discusses the transition from 4E to 5E fairly well (although my memory could be off).

[Lord Liaden]

The Kandris Seal is fully 5E compatible. It's a fascinating sourcebook for super-magic campaigns, readily adaptable to fantasy or pulp settings as well. Many interesting and useful NPCs of all stripes and power levels, an intriguing magic system, and entertaining writing and artwork. You can find out more about it, and download free samples, on the website for Hartfelt Productions:

 

http://www.hartfeltproductions.com/tks.php

 

Kazei 5 is IMHO the best sourcebook yet published for HERO cyberpunk gaming, superior to the old Cyber HERO book. Great setting and characters, and although it explicitly has a strong manga/anime flavor there's a great deal that's appropriate to any cyberpunk genre game. Again, you can sample it on the appropriate section of author Michael Surbrook's website:

 

http://www.devermore.net/surbrook/kazei5/kazei5.html

 

Shelley Crystal Mactyre's PRIMUS book added a lot to earlier incarnations of America's foremost paranormal response agency: updating its history, creating lots of interesting NPCs and equipment, detailing the operations and politics of PRIMUS, and adding a few optional rules. It's well-written and a steal at the price. Shelley's website has a whole section devoted to PRIMUS which should give you an idea of what you'll find in the book:

 

http://www.mactyre.net/scm/primus/index.html

 

The Ultimate Super Mage is a favorite of my collection: if you're a fan of super-magic this is a must buy. Dean Shomshak builds on the earlier Mystic Masters book to give you an overview of "real world" magic and how to adapt it to a super-magic game, a host of sample magic systems, many NPCs from petty nuisances to cosmic entities, a rich and detailed cosmology, notes on historical mages and legendary mystic artifacts, and on an on. Dean's writing can sometimes become a bit pedantic, and there may be more information here than many people will need; but there's a great deal of stuff useful to anyone interested in playing or running a super-mage game.

 

For Shades of Black I refer you to Hermit's fine review:

 

http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=10022&highlight=shades+of+black

[Vanderbilt_Grad]

Originally posted by Lord Liaden

The Ultimate Super Mage is a favorite of my collection: if you're a fan of super-magic this is a must buy. Dean Shomshak builds on the earlier Mystic Masters book to give you an overview of "real world" magic and how to adapt it to a super-magic game, a host of sample magic systems, many NPCs from petty nuisances to cosmic entities, a rich and detailed cosmology, notes on historical mages and legendary mystic artifacts, and on an on. Dean's writing can sometimes become a bit pedantic, and there may be more information here than many people will need; but there's a great deal of stuff useful to anyone interested in playing or running a super-mage game.

 

I have to agree! The Ultimate Super Mage is one of the very few e-books I've ever bought and by far the best. It is however 4th ed and it sounds like at least two 5th ed books will eventually be published that will take its place.

 

If magic is your thing or you want to GM a world with magic then get it! Otherwise you might want to wait for the new stuff.

[Steve Long]

If you think USM is good, wait until you see The Mystic World and The Ultimate Mystic, both by Dean and both on next year's schedule. They take the relevant USM material, organize it properly, rework and supplement it to make it better, and just generally ratchet the coolness factor up a notch or five.

[JmOz]

The thing I love about USM was that it showed me how to truley use Variable Limitations. The idea of using the lim to represent a amulet that reduces the end cost of a tiring spell (OIF or x2 END) is great (Even though by 5th edition standards it is no longer a legal example)

[Herolover]

My $0.02

 

***** Get it immediately. Great and important book.

**** This is a buy you should make.

*** If your interested sure pick it up, you probably should anyway.

** You should probably pick this book up, but it won't kill you not to.

* If you have extra money why not? However, if money is a problem or you have another book choice skip it.

 

Kazei 5 *****

This is an oustanding book and even more so if you are into "anime" in any way. It has some great resources on cybernetics, power armor, and giant mecha.

Most of the book would not need to be changed to update it to fourth edition, but for the giant mecha you might be better off using the new Ultimate Vehicle Book.

 

Shades of Black****

This is a Champions adventure designed to be ran in a Superhero campaign. It is a great adventure and is easily changed for the GM's needs.

 

The Kandris Seal***

This is an independent item not produced by the HERO people, but it still isn't that bad. The basic (very very rough) idea is that powerful demons are trying to come to our dimension and it is up to the heros to prevent it. It seems to be written for a Supers campaign, but I had not problem toning it down and inserting some horror mechanics and using it in a PULP HERO horror campaign.

 

PRIMUS*

This is a very interesting item, but it was written under 4th edition and I feel needs to be updated for the current Champions universe. Everything you could possibly want to know about PRIMUS. I am sure you have seen the VIPER book, well this is the good guys version. I feel this one needs to be redone and updated.

 

Ultimate Super Mage*

This one was also done under 4th and needs to be updated. It has a lot of rule information in creating Mages for a Superhero campaign and has a lot of spells pre-created. Between needing to be updated for 5th, the USPD, and the Fantasy Grimior, this book is kinda obsolete.

 

 

Hope any of this helped. And yes, I do own them all.