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Fantasy Hero Primer


jfg17

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I’m just speaking for myself in view of my own learning style. I’m trying to get back into the game, and this primer is one of the most newcomer-friendly documents I’ve found. I also have the Champions Complete book, and it’s a struggle for me to stay motivated to move on after page 12. Anyway, just wanted to say Well Done.

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1 hour ago, jfg17 said:

I’m just speaking for myself in view of my own learning style. I’m trying to get back into the game, and this primer is one of the most newcomer-friendly documents I’ve found. I also have the Champions Complete book, and it’s a struggle for me to stay motivated to move on after page 12. Anyway, just wanted to say Well Done.

 

I was the same way when I came back to HERO System after 25 years. I jumped from 3e to 6e and my mind was blown. I've found that the 6e HERO System Basic Rulebook is a really good, concise introduction to the rules. It's also what the Complete books are based on, but I use the Basic Rulebook for my new players because it is genre-neutral and doesn't get hung up on setting or genre specific rulings. And it's much less intimidating at 130 pages.

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18 minutes ago, Brian Stanfield said:

 

I was the same way when I came back to HERO System after 25 years. I jumped from 3e to 6e and my mind was blown. I've found that the 6e HERO System Basic Rulebook is a really good, concise introduction to the rules. It's also what the Complete books are based on, but I use the Basic Rulebook for my new players because it is genre-neutral and doesn't get hung up on setting or genre specific rulings. And it's much less intimidating at 130 pages.

 

By the way, this fits just as well in your other discussion about basic combat rules. I used the same approach as most everyone described, using the Basic Rulebook in order to minimize the technical shit-ton of information a new person has to sift through. This is truly a problem I deal with regularly as I'm teaching complete newbies to the HERO System, as well as some who are completely new to roleplaying in general.

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I know it's for the last edition, and so the characteristics aren't separated and a couple of other minor differences, but frankly, this is one of the best intro-to word-light _complete_ rules sets and how-to-plays, and as far as I care, it has _never_ been recommended enough:

 

 

 

It's probably the only rule set that I have nearly as many of as I have 2e rules sets.

 

If you're curious about it, you can find a low-brow review on youtube; it starts about halfway through here:

 

 

 

has some technical issues here:

 

 

 

And concludes here:

 

 

 

 

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3 hours ago, Duke Bushido said:

I know it's for the last edition, and so the characteristics aren't separated and a couple of other minor differences, but frankly, this is one of the best intro-to word-light _complete_ rules sets and how-to-plays, and as far as I care, it has _never_ been recommended enough:

 

 

 

It's probably the only rule set that I have nearly as many of as I have 2e rules sets.

 

If you're curious about it, you can find a low-brow review on youtube; it starts about halfway through here:

 

 

 

has some technical issues here:

 

 

 

And concludes here:

 

 

 

 

Sorry Duke but that ain’t a rule set. If you don’t know what Penetrating does or Armored Piercing this doesn’t explain it. It’s very useful once you know the rules.

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3 minutes ago, Spence said:

I always found the Resource Kit booklet to be worth it's weight in gold. 

I actually bought multiple copies of the Resource Kit just so I could have at least one for each player at the table. 

At $5 a pop and it comes with a maps and standees. It’s a steal but it isn’t a rule set per se.

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5 hours ago, Brian Stanfield said:

 

By the way, this fits just as well in your other discussion about basic combat rules. I used the same approach as most everyone described, using the Basic Rulebook in order to minimize the technical shit-ton of information a new person has to sift through. This is truly a problem I deal with regularly as I'm teaching complete newbies to the HERO System, as well as some who are completely new to roleplaying in general.

Yes 6th has a lot of wiggly parts so you can fine tune the game you want. What I’m amazed is though that I’ve suggested many a times that for new players, go with a few things/easy builds and then work from there. The backlash from some of the boards members is what amazes me. The logic is “6th is too complex to learn however if you suggest on simplifying it by restricting options then you ain’t learning the game and heresy!”

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21 minutes ago, Ninja-Bear said:

Sorry Duke but that ain’t a rule set. If you don’t know what Penetrating does or Armored Piercing this doesn’t explain it. It’s very useful once you know the rules.

 

 

By the same token, Basic isn't a rules set, because it doesn't have Damage Negation.  If I remember, there was alleged to be something missing from Champions Complete, too (though I really don't remember what it was supposed to be  :(    )

 

The Resource Kit doesn't consistently offer costs and values, either, but I stand by the statement regardless.  You can read the resource kit and when you are done, you more or less know the game.

 

The primers don't give you close to that level of depth.

 

HERO in Two Pages does absolutely nothing.

 

 

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22 minutes ago, Ninja-Bear said:

 What I’m amazed is though that I’ve suggested many a times that for new players, go with a few things/easy builds and then work from there. The backlash from some of the boards members is what amazes me.

 

Preach!

 

Making it more confounding, at least to me, is that it so often comes from the same folks who put considerable amount of effort into the idea that you actually have to build your own game before you can play spun as a _good_ thing:  "Look at all the dials and switches!  You can pick and choose rules; you can decide to use or not to use any piece or part as you wish!  Completely customizable, moreso than anything else out there!  Yay, HERO System!"

 

But then suggest teaching it by dropping half the attachments, and you're a frakin' monster that should burn in Hell.  I don't get it either.  :(

 

 

 

22 minutes ago, Ninja-Bear said:

The logic is “6th is too complex to learn however if you suggest on simplifying it by restricting options then you ain’t learning the game and heresy!”

 

That's not actually logic.  That's what "Dumb as Hell" looks like in action, and one of the reasons I've gotten real pick-and-choosy about what threads I'm going to read until I'm done with the HERO store and can make a clean break for a year or two.

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Thanks, all. I bought the 6e Basic Rules. Going to try reading them as my next step. I’m envisioning starting off with simple characters and character sheets, simplified combat,  getting practice, and growing into the rules from there. :)

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51 minutes ago, Ninja-Bear said:

At $5 a pop and it comes with a maps and standees. It’s a steal but it isn’t a rule set per se.

 

Absolutely not a ruleset. 

 

But it is a condensed representation of point costs as well as a condensed combat summary with the screen completing rounding out the info.

I found it extremely helpful as a fast reference during play and used to use it during character or equipment creation, only going back to the full book if I was trying something "new". 

 

I had always hoped 6th Edition would come out with a Resource Kit.

 

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54 minutes ago, Ninja-Bear said:

The backlash from some of the boards members is what amazes me. The logic is “6th is too complex to learn however if you suggest on simplifying it by restricting options then you ain’t learning the game and heresy!”

 

This has been an issue with Hero'dom for decades.  They can get even worse when the idea of pre-gen adventures is raised. 

 

To be honest though, the current board is the most accepting to new ideas it has been in a while.   A few years back I actually stopped coming to the board for over a year because it had gotten pretty caustic.  I was actually given a "warning" by one of the moderators at the time and when I ask what I was being warned about he threatened a ban.  I still don't know what I had supposedly done, but I lot of the "old guard" types are no longer on the board.  I have to wonder if things were cleaned up while I was gone. 

 

But the current forum is pretty relaxed and easy going with no one spazzing out (as far as I know).  Not mention  the ignore feature which allow me to avoid the people that just go out of their way to misunderstand what someone says and then just don't let it go.  It is amazing how ignoring eight users can transform a forum.

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On 6/5/2020 at 2:06 AM, Xotl said:

Thanks, Brian.

 

Yes, I wrote it.  Did you have a question about it?

Xotl

    Thank you so much for this!  I really appreciate it and super helpful.  Very easy to read and it steps you right through everything.  One question I had was the mention of an Armor roll for protection.  Where is that in the rules, did that come from Fantasy Hero Complete?

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2 hours ago, Gandalf970 said:

Xotl

    Thank you so much for this!  I really appreciate it and super helpful.  Very easy to read and it steps you right through everything.  One question I had was the mention of an Armor roll for protection.  Where is that in the rules, did that come from Fantasy Hero Complete?

 

Without going through the entire document again, I'm guessing it may be an Activation Roll for armor, which is a pretty common strategy for creating sectional armor that may sometimes "fail" to cover an attack. 

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On 6/6/2020 at 4:57 PM, jfg17 said:

Thanks, all. I bought the 6e Basic Rules. Going to try reading them as my next step. I’m envisioning starting off with simple characters and character sheets, simplified combat,  getting practice, and growing into the rules from there. :)

 

I forgot to mention this before: pages 6-12 of the HERO System Basic Rulebook are an excellent introduction to the HERO System. Those 7 pages are a lot more useful than the "HERO in 2 Pages" document. It explains all the basic concepts, but also includes a guided tour through the character sheet, which I always find immensely useful for new players so they can become familiar with what they're looking at. 

 

As @Duke Bushido said, the Resource Kit is perhaps the best summary/introductory document HERO ever did, but it's for 5e. Most of the material is the same, but if you're committed to 6e (as I am), then there is some potential confusion that might result from using it (such as the figured characteristics, etc.). What I did was basically create my own mini-version of it with my own "starter kit" for my new players, many of whom have never done RPGs before. I used my PDF of the Basic Rulebook and ripped pages 6-12 out and created a "HERO in 7 pages" document that is the backbone for my "starter kit." I give each player a folder with some character sheets, campaign-specific info, etc., and these 7 pages to orient them to the basics.

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13 minutes ago, Brian Stanfield said:

I used my PDF of the Basic Rulebook and ripped pages 6-12 out and created a "HERO in 7 pages" document that is the backbone for my "starter kit." I give each player a folder with some character sheets, campaign-specific info, etc., and these 7 pages to orient them to the basics.

 

Super-helpful to know about this example as I refine my plan. I bet that in doing this advance work, I'll learn most of what I need to run an initial game as well!

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2 minutes ago, jfg17 said:

 

Super-helpful to know about this example as I refine my plan. I bet that in doing this advance work, I'll learn most of what I need to run an initial game as well!

That's kinda why I do it as well. I'm a first-time GM for HERO, and need to reinforce everything I can going into each session!

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10 hours ago, Gandalf970 said:

Xotl

    Thank you so much for this!  I really appreciate it and super helpful.  Very easy to read and it steps you right through everything.  One question I had was the mention of an Armor roll for protection.  Where is that in the rules, did that come from Fantasy Hero Complete?

Armor roll I’m guessing is just a renamed Activation Roll. And that is in FHC. It’s a nice way to have sectional defenses when you don’t want to use hit locations. One problem I had with it was my my brother couldn’t make an activation roll to (literally) save his life. I would consider at least giving everyone 1 DEF that always works. It doesn’t add to armor but works if the roll fails-unless the poor fool rolls an 18.

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