Spence

oh, I guess I'll never see it. Tried a HBO Max sub last year. The cost versus the pathetic content was made me end it after a month. Maybe I'll see it when it streams somewhere.

? Is it a stream?

Yep. If you ask a specific how would you build X here or in Hero General Rules forum you will not lack with responses. But I would make a recommendation in order to make the responses more relevant. The more detail of what you are trying to do as well as what you are trying to avoid will really help.

Watched The Burning Sea, a Norwegian disaster movie. It was pretty good, though its pacing seemed off and the feel of the plot had a odd nuance. Kind of like K-Dramas felt to me when I first starting watching. It will take a few movies to be able to sense the way they tell a story. But one thing I LOVED about it was the absence of the over used beaten to paste dead horse we just can't not use in a movie out of Hollywood or Canada. No heavy two by four to the forehead "Dat EVIL corporation!!!" being Screamed at you every 30 seconds. I won't spoil anything, but good movie. I just got a copy of the new Spiderman movie so my weekend plans are made.

All too fidgety for me. The damage STR can add to an object is limited by the def/bdy of the object. Grond may have the potential for 6d6, but the hat pin will snap long before.

Yep. If you read the original book it has zero to do with the unholy trinity fascism-communism-socialism. I know I know, fascism was rebranded right about 25 years ago ( or more) when they went from representing the political spectrum as a line from zero personal freedom/ total government to anarchy/ total personal freedom to the current mess where socialism has been transformed from mass murder to ultimate cool system if government. But if you want to actually read the boo, get a version printed before 85.

Completely depends on the version. The original version and what is sold now are changed and have entirely different meanings. They should be course material for how a editor can subtlety change a work to be completely different. But then the new version is in direct support or the current agenda, so no one will want to teach that.

oh oh.... oh....... Curse you L. Marcus! I had finally forgotten that steaming pile and now you have restored every painful moment to my memory The only movie worse than Starship Troopers on earth....

IMO opinion HC is the best RPG modern city ever written including the city map you can get separately at the Hero shop. A gritty street level supers campaign set in HC or a non-gritty street level supers campaign set in HC would be great. ?

1) A base can be many things and have points with value. A lab can give everyone on the team a "science". Stark had an AI which could do things without a PC being active on the project and his "base" was obviously just his lab and apartment vice a hidden fortress. Some "bases" are just locations for labs and workshops that are simply not obvious rather than concealed or hidden, though the could be. TV Arrows base was this way. Some bases can be fortified such as Sanctum in some comics or the Fantastic Fours base which got attacked regularly back in the day. Haven't read comics much since the early 90's so I can't say about now. 2) Some source material may. But I can remember plenty of "bases" that were never discovered or attacked. A base CAN be a source of plot to include an attack or simply the kidnapping of a DNPC or a burglery/data theft. Slightly off topic, but I can recall threads where people were adamant that the capture of any player character was the height of bad role-play to the point they enforced the banning of GM's if they had it in their game. And yet the imprisonment of the Hero or someone close to the Hero is a staple of 90% of adventure novels from swashbuckling to spies to westerns to superheroes to sword swinging knights. A captured PC opens a huge number of dramatic paths to plot. Why are they against it? Probably they had a bad experience and therefore all games are evil if it happens. If all the GM can come up with for a plot when the PC's have a base is regular attacks, then the GM really needs a remedial class in how to create adventures that take all of the Disadvantages/Complications that the PC have into account. When I ran a full time Champs game the issue was never finding a plot that was triggered by a Disad/Comp. The issues was too many possibilities to use them all. I have my doubts about sarcasm too. I made a funny

I keep hearing that and have no reason to doubt it, but...... ....damn if archer isn't right on this one....

And old one but a good one. I've played in a few one shots as well as a campaign that kicked off when the existing super team "went missing". Another idea is to amplify an existing item into a full fledged campaign. My favorite Hero published adventure is Shades of Black. It is also one that I have never been able to play or run. The problem is that the characters and content are tied to much to the PC's being familiar with previous events and simply "investigating" them doesn't feel right. In other words Shade of Black is a fantastic climax or a Chapter Four (or Five) of a campaign. I'd love to see someone give SoB the full campaign treatment. D&D5th's Ghosts of Saltmarsh is an example of the type of product. They took several existing adventures, added as needed to get a 1st level thru 11th. Added some campaign content and made it a campaign. The events leading up to SoB could make a great campaign with SoB being the grand finale. The "setting" part could flesh out the locations and towns in the campaign as well as add guidance on playing detectives and performing investigations. A real Campaign.

Well the end reality is a yes/no choice. As they are, the Hero books that contain setting or NPC/Creature information are just disjointed blocks of data or, as in the case of the "universe" books, extremely high level overviews. None are "playable". Now I 100% agree that other games also have identical product. The major difference is that other systems actually have playable campaigns and allow you to use material from their core books, but not all of it. D&D allows creative commons to use monster stat blocks from the monster manual but not the full descriptive text. The limited material hasn't stopped people buying the MM because the use of stat blocks does not give all the information, it simply makes it convenient when running the scenario. To really make people want to buy the various Hero books (villains, bestiary, city books, etc) they need a reason to need them. With no Champions Superhero Campaign to run, why do I need Champions'verse villains? That is why my project is a self-contained Fantasy Hero starter campaign that is a small slice of the world that, hopefully, will be easy to slide into other campaigns. Or be a starting point that can be easily moves away from as the players and GM discover their own style. The point of the starter campaign to either be just a starting place to learn the game and be forgotten or as a launch point to expand from if they like the setting concept. The negative side is that it won't "plug into" any of the existing company books.

Well, in the end I like bases and do not consider then a waste of points. Both as a players and as a GM for my villains. Every true villain worth their salt has a secret base......

I on the other hand believe that one of the key reasons Hero is dying on the vine is NOT having pre-built PC's designed to compliment a pre-built adventure. The end design is for everyone to understand the game enough to play it. Heroes actual play rules are simple (to hit, to succeed, to damage, to change, etc.) Heroes point build system is simple (it's just basic math) Heroes design philosophy is so different and arcane to the average person it is extremely difficult to grok by players of other TTRPGs and virtually impossible to grok by Video RPG gamers. Even here we constantly see players, even some veterans, asking how to build something and they start off by naming a listed "power" that sounds close as the base. Instead of explaining in plain language (no Hero build speak) what they want to achieve. Yes, in the end every player will want to make completely custom PC's. But before they can do that they need to have some idea of just what a STR of X means in the context of the setting they are playing. Of just what 6d6 damage means in the context of the setting they are playing. And that context changes GM to GM. If we set the standards as a beginning game for 400 point Heroes and I built a campaign/setting and you built a campaign/setting for the same. I might have high powered version where 8d6 is average for damage, while you might go a path where 6d6 is average. Or 10d6. The point is that "acceptable" and "average" in the Hero System are ever sliding goalposts. You can't actually learn a game if the parameters keep changing. Hero needs a fixed reference basic setting. It should have a intro mini-campaign using pre-generated PC's so that the new player and GM can gain an initial understanding of the game while standing on firm ground, before they get kicked into the quicksand. Just from the beginning the rule book requires the new player to make decisions they have no understanding of. Normals Standard Skilled Competent Herioc Standard Powerful Very Powerful Superheroic Low-Powered Standard High-Powered Very High-Powered Cosmically Powerful Yes, they all have point values, but what do those values actually mean? In the gut? In actual play? If the campaign makes a decision and picks one. And then builds everything to that decision including pre-generated Heroes, the new players and GM will have a defined starting point to learn the system. And once they complete to intro campaign they now have a reference point for later use when they go their own way. Don't get me wrong, the books do a great job in trying to explain things, but like most it doesn't sink in until you actually do it. I teach technicians and engineers about on-aircraft systems all the time, both upgrades to existing systems and newly deployed systems. We build in "classroom" time where we go over things in detail. But for the vast majority of people the lights really don't come on completely until we go to an aircraft and fire up the system and they see things real time. Suddenly it becomes easy. The Hero System (any edition) is an open ended one that sits on a fluid foundation. Unfortunately you can't play open ended on fluid. Decisions have to add limits and set a solid foundation.

Quick question. You are looking for a map that shows the interior layout correct. I just assumed that and then I saw dmjalund's post.

Nothing to apologize for. Those are issues with Talents. I personally don't find them insurmountable, but then I am not trying to put out a product to the great wilds of RPG'dom It is much easier when you are only pleasing your personal game.

I thought there was a write up/reference somewhere that detailed how they made the talents. Or am I misremembering?

I agree with the point but not the statement. We do not need an agreed upon anything. The actual person that decides to actually write something needs to pick a power level/standard and write to it. One of Hero's biggest issues, if not the biggest, is that it doesn't define anything. It vomits an infinite variable range at new players and say "have fun". New players then look at it get crossed eyes and move to a different game. M&M include the same broad possible ranges that Hero does. But they pick a standard power level for everyone to use and then mention you can deviate. They follow up by building everything scaled to the default level. Hero actually does that to a degree also. But they never actually say it or define it. I think you are on to something, but I don't think it has to be Champions Complete and the Campaign Book. We are in the ebook age. Write the Campaign using just names and titles. Have an appendix that has all the character sheets for the major NPCs, minor ones, creatures, equipment etc. Put each Major or significant NPC on their own page. None of this multiple characters/minions/creatures on the same page. None of the hated half on the page and running over to another. If it is Fantasy Hero and your Goblins always appear in groups of 5 to 10, then their entry in the appendix will be a minion control sheet with stat blocks and a BDY/STN/END list for 10. The GM can flip to the page and see EVERYTHING they need on ONE page. You can have two appendices split into two parts. The first for play with just ability names and must have information. The second for full detailed build sheets. Appendix A for 6th Ed/CC Appendix B for 5thR The campaign will play out regardless of the version of appendix used and addressing both will make the campaign appeal regardless of preferred edition.

Not as much hate them as dislike that weedy taste. Though a little dressing helps....

Oh, I have a copy and have read through it. It just never grabbed me. There was a time I spent a lot energy reading Greek and Roman myths and stories. But they never grabbed me the way the Norse, Celtic and more northern European mythology did. I am looking to have a Heroic campaign in a faux-Medieval European setting. Just a small one. One where only a part of the land that the adventure is actually taking place on is made. The rest of the world is a big blank, nothing here, there be dragons, not developed, nor even sketched out. If a low tech, non-starship using fantasy game has a map of their entire world in the book, it has already failed as a fantasy RPG setting.

I don't really think this is a factor, just as all the US original movies and series remade by other countries. But I will say this thread invokes too much garbage to be able to list them all out, especially the lion share of everything out of Hollywood in the 2000's. Things have gotten so bad that the vast majority of what I watch now is K-Drama and Anime. I will occasionally watch a US release movie if people I actually know rave about it, but I haven't gone to the theater in a while, even pre-C19. Just not worth it.

I guess the first question out of the gate should have been what are you reading when you are finding the references? Hero 6th rulebooks vol 1 & 2, have a fantastic index covering both volumes in both books. Hero 5thR rulebook also has a great index. One thing about the books that were put out when Steve Long was there, they have one heck of comprehensive index's.

?

I don't see it exactly that way. I haven't seen a game set in a semi-medieval setting in decades. D&D may have kept a thin veneer, but it abandoned most of the trappings years ago. Other games as well. Greyhawk? Absolutely, I have the original book buried in my collection somewhere. Tuala Morn is also one of my favorite Hero Books. But it was still too lengthy to be useful in the real world. It could have benefited from a smaller book focusing on just a slice like D&D5th did by just putting out the Swordcoast. I am actually slowly designing a small numbers high fantasy with cinematic powerful magic and combat. Mostly because the rule-sets that claim they are "high fantasy" simply do not measure up. I have always preferred lower level D&D games because characters and creatures above 8th to 9th level just seem lacking and the encounters have a big meh to them. There doesn't seem to be that feel of dynamic power that should be there. Hero based high fantasy always felt meh as well, mostly because the makers were simply porting the same things over that made D&D meh. When I think High Fantasy I am envisioning things like Goblin Slayer, Record of Lodoss War or The Tower of Druaga: The Sword of Uruk, where battles include unique spells combined with skillful weapons use and the PC's can and will get knocked through a wall with actual knockback. Actual cinematic high action fantasy adventure. So much fun when you are lucky enough to stumble into a game. Cepheus Engine? Never heard of it. Another item on my ever expanding list OK I have to object here. You are being to pro-elf in these posts. They are Dandelion Eaters. Dandelion Eaters expressed with a disdain suitable to their ilk......... Just saying.... And yet another item on the list We do seem to share a lot of ideas on what a game should be... Ah...Chart-Master. I can well remember the days. I could spend hours just reading the critical charts. Virtually unplayable, but a real hoot to read. I actually have my copy of the 2nd Edition rulebook where they combined the GM, Player and Tech books into one. I still use the star system and planet generation rules if i need to create one quickly. I've even used it for the new Star Trek Adventures game from Modiphius. Space Opera! We played the heck out of SO in the day. I still have the rulebooks up on my shelf.