Spence

I picked "To Protect and Serve" because There are several I'd like to see get a re-write. I do want to point out that a reboot does not absolutely have to keep all of the original modules premises. I mean TPaS could be set in Hudson City solving the need for more detail in the city and a usable city map......

Reading this thread I realize that my entire take on Secret Identities seems to be radically different than most. To me when I create a supers Secret ID, I am not just creating an identity to conceal who the Super is. I am creating an identity that that allows a super to reasonably be in the area and allow the hero to quietly investigate without villains, law enforcement or bystanders being aware. In the 70's/80's a big city bicycle messenger is one. A private eye is another. It is also dependent on the time of the setting. Great concepts for 1970 are not so good in 2019. A while back I had a game set in the 70's and one player's Secret ID was "telephone/electrical repairman". He had Acting, Mimicry and Disguise and would show up wearing coveralls with toolbox and ladder and act like he was repairing something. No one ever questioned and he even convinced one of the police guarding the crime scene to hold his ladder. Great stuff.

I guess I came off as harsher than intended. I fully understand that HD and it's lingo are good for it, and I certainly didn't mean to imply that Dan did something wrong. I was referring to the understanding curve of us old fogies that have no modern programming skills. I currently can use the modern PC and am fairly good at networks. But the last time I was actively involved with the actual program, punch cards, mag tape and directly entering data and commands using 32 bit binary octal via a control panel where each data bit was displayed by a illuminated switch/indicator was normal. The actually think that the current programming types really don't fully grasp just how far they have come compared to the 80's. And how far they have left some of the older generations behind.

I can't directly speak for Duke B of course, but when I first bought HD I hit a point that I couldn't figure out how to print. Drove me crazy because they used technobabble instead of Print Format or Print Template. They said Export Format. I made the mistake of going to the HD forum and got thoroughly confused with a vast humongous helping of incomprehensible technobabble. Then someone said "oh, you need an export format". Once I could print it was off to the races. But be warned. If you are just a normal person that wants to use HD, avoid the HD forum like the plague.

Well I am a dinosaur too and these days I avoid the HD Sub-forum. I found that HD as delivered is very easy to use. The only issue I had was figuring out how to print out character sheets. I didn't know that print templates were called "export formats". I just don't have the skill set to create my own "export templates" but in addition to the ones that come with the software there are 50 free ones for download on the Hero site with new ones being added by Herodom. At $25 it is simply the best system specific chargen software out there. edited to include your other response 😁 HD required zero knowledge of anything programming'wise to use. All that JAVA stuff is just the tinkerers. It is like buying a car, I buy it and drive. I have no need to supercharge my turbo or whatever. I just drive

I guess it would also depend on the "when". I try to run all my supers games before 1985. After that tech gets too intrusive and makes it hard to maintain a secret ID. In that setting a messenger or private investigator would work well. Especially if they were independently wealthy and the job was just a cover.

Perfectly said. Creation'wise with any RPG, I have to go paper pencil and physical book in hand. For Hero for 5th ed HD allows me to quickly use things form the books from NPC's to gear. The combat sheet fast print out and the ability to quickly tweak NPC's and mooks is very handy. For characters and full build villains I normally don't need the math check, but when I am speeding through adjustments between sessions it can be a very valuable tool.

Traveller is the grand patriarch of the Scifi RPG IMO. But I'll be the first to say the primary reason I began to lose interest was the setting. I absolutely love the game when each GM used the rules to create/generate the universe as they went. But once they decided to establish an official setting their direction put me off and I lost interest. I have enjoyed a few good games since then, but the thing that had primarily attracted me which was the exploration of the unknown had been scuttled. My preferred game is one where humanity has the stars but travel times are long, reminiscent of the Age of Sail making planets/colonies distant and independent and starships operating alone and far from oversite. This setting leaves aliens and alien technology as something to be discovered. If I want to play something like Star Trek, Star Wars or Babylon 5. Well, I'll play those games. If you ever read David Weber's "Stars at War" series, it featured a warp point method instead of FTL. I adapted a version of this to a Traveller game once with the Jump drives being necessary to initiate the Warp Point. I had Warp Point classes defined by the class of drive needed with the easiest requiring Jump 1 and the most difficult Jump 6. With things like Blind Warp Points and Closed Warp Points adding spice to the mix. Of course at the beginning Jump 2 or 3 is that max available for anyone. It was fun, plus there was none of the meta-gaming that has been standard where the players buy and read everything before play. Part of the Murder Hobo syndrome.

I played Rolemaster and Spacemaster back in the 80's before we realized that Champions could be used to play non-supers. In some ways it is like Hero. Once the PC's and adventure (places, monsters, etc.) have been made it is pretty simple to play. But building anything can be overwhelming. For example each weapon and spell effect has its own combat chart that determines hit and damage and the skill/ability option lists were HUGE. But once you have built your PC, 90% of all that can be ignored. After that it was a pretty normal resolution system, roll, apply mods, check chart against armor/defense and apply result. Spacemaster was pretty much the same except lasers and starships. Now the Spacemaster book unsurpassed for building star systems and the local objects and they have a star-map of our local (Earth/Sol/Terra) stellar neighborhood which I have used for Traveller and Star Hero games. It is to space faring scifi what Hero's Pulp Hero is to that genre. Amusingly Spacemaster suffers from the same starship syndrome as Hero. Walls of useless ship stats with not a deckplan to be seen

Very true. I think I misunderstood and responded to that misunderstanding For some odd reason I read it as the 3rd ed rules were better because somehow they made the fluff less. Not that it was the writing style of the 3rd ed era you liked. Bizarre eh?

Well to be fair, that has nothing to do with the rules. That is all fluff and is akin to the player that writes a 5000 page background soap opera for their new PC and then gets upset when you decline to read most of it or rewrite you campaign to take everything into account.

Awesome comic, they did come out with a physical graphic novel. It would be hard to find players or GM's that could do the setting and characters justice.

I'd love to see a 5th or 4th version. I know it will not happen, but I can dream 😁

When I am creating it is paper, pencil and the physical book. That is for all RPG's. I really cannot play/run an RPG if it does not have a physical book. Without it I cannot seem to engage in planning or creating adventures. I will use software like Hero Designer later to help me manage things and be able to get a clean print (I also run games with physical materials). I have tried to play remotely via chat and the whole virtual thing, but I cannot seem to engage. Without being able to see the other players and their body language I have no way to adjust the scenes. But for the creating process, characters, adventures or campaigns, I am pencil, paper and physical book.

I wonder if Affinity Photo, Publisher or Designer can do it. I bought them on sale a little while ago when Adobe abandoned the private user. I have no idea how to use Publisher or Designer, but they were part of the package. I have managed to figure out enough of A-Photo to be able to clean up images for use in my lesson plans. And no problems. When you catch up, let me know if you are looking for any particular book. I am a RPG'aholic and I have multiple copies of many books. So you never know.