So, it seems like Hero System is a powerful, elegant, generic role playing game. I've been intrigued by it for a few years, actually, and it's Steve Long's fault. He had posted on a Decipher trek forum saying that he was leaving to pursue a dream of his. He was getting to purchase and develop Hero System, which he, gushing, described as the "greatest RPG of all time". That struck me, because it was almost an off hand post in a forum for a completely different RPG line, and definitely not part of an organized marketing campaign. It seemed like a genuine opinion, from a developer I respected. So, I researched Hero, largely because of that. I was already familiar with Fuzion, which I liked, so I was halfway there anyway, and did purchase the big green text book. Unfortunately, as with many people, the text book was intimidating enough that we were never able to get anything off the ground (I didn't manage to learn the game, and no one in the group was willing to try).
I, unfortunately, wound up selling Hero 5th at some point, didn't think about it much for a few years. Well, now I'm interested in Hero again, again partly due to trek. Been exited and hyped about the Star Trek Online game coming out, so I tried CoH to see if Cryptic could make a good game (they can). This was enough to get me interested in Champions Online, leading me right back to being intrigued about Hero System.
I didn't want to buy the rule book again, with 6th coming out so soon, but I did purchase a pdf of Sidekick so I could read over and familiarize myself with the rules. But it looks like there's a pretty good sale of 5th edition books right now, and Hero is pretty backwards compatible. Seems like a good time to get a basic collection going, so I'm asking for a recommendation of books to pick up, either because they're unlikely to be adapted to 6th for a while, or because they're essential and part of a basic Hero System collection, or just worth getting.
My second question, though, is what the subject line is about. One thing bugs me about Hero System. I know it's great at supers. I know it's great at fantasy, or anything where people have powers. What about settings where people don't have super powers, or it's not a major focus? Why would I want to use Hero System for these settings? Is Hero System any good for, say doing a WWII game about the French Resistance? I'm sure the answer is yes, and I know there's genre books for some of these settings, but I want to know how the answer is yes. Why Hero is still great, even if you don't use the powers rules?
D J Sutton
