What is Hero Combat Manager?

[Megastranger]

Hi all, I am rather new to 6th Edition Champions and I am curious of what Combat manager is used for.  Does it keep track of phases? Can you add and remove buffs/debuffs on characters?  I read the product info on the store page but I am not fully sure on what all it does.  Is it worth getting for a inspiring Hero campaign GM? 

 

Thanks!

[bluesguy]

Hi,

 

I am the developer of Hero Combat Manager.  The purpose of the program is to help a GM manage combat.  Here are the specific things you can do with it:

 

• Using Hero Designer (HD) - you can export characters you have created using HD into a format that Hero Combat Manager (HCM) can use
• HCM will track when each character can act depending on their Speed and Dex
• With HCM the GM can:
  • Handle all dice rolling and damage management for NPCs.  This includes Normal, Killing, Mental, Presence, Flash, Entangle, etc. and apply the damage to the player character information.  You will always know how injured your player's characters .  The players still have to keep track of the damage which the GM will provide
  • Handle all damage that the NPCs receive when the player character's hit an NPC
  • Handle held actions
  • Buff/Debuff per Aid/Drain or the GM can adjust.  Be prepared this part of the application has always been a bit flaky (sorry)
• What can't be done with HCM:
  • You can't create a character on the fly in HCM.  You have to use HD and then export the character
  • It doesn't interface with the Hero System Mobile (we have talked about it but I am too busy and technically not savvy enough to figure it out how to do that - yet)
• Quirks and issues
  • When I was a full time paid developer I worked on embedded software systems.  A UI was the raw data being dumped out an RS-232 port to a dumb terminal.  We didn't need no stickin' UI.  So that means HCM's UI is primitive
  • I haven't done an update in a while.  Too busy.  I will answer questions and I am going to set aside time in 2020 to do some major bug fixing.

This project grew out of my need for a tool to help me track combat.  I have done it with pencil and paper and real dice in the past.  That worked but in a big fight someone would get missed.  I tried doing this with a spreadsheet and a fancy VB macro but that failed pretty quickly.  The program grew out of my own needs.