Spence

And finally:
 
It would be more appropriately named "Vampire: the Marketing."
 
Remember when it came out?  Pop culture was nuts for all things Vampire. Anne Rice was Still a hot seller, the hipsters were still pretending Buffy was a niche, and there was a brief revisit to goth style in the youth.  As Spence noted, it wasn't marketed to typical RPG players; it was marketed to fang bangers and daydreamers who were spending those vampire bucks.
 
And when the winds shifted, WW sailed beautifully, socializing and generally de-monsterizng werewolves in the same way when Shark boy started taking off his shirt regularly.  I don't remember just which way (I had lost interest in Vampire for the exact dame reasons Spence pointed out: the people playing were... Well, the polite southernism is "touched a bit."), but WW made a pretty deft shift to ride the tide of Blair Witch, and that was every bit as in-and-out as it should have been.
 
For those who stuck with it, they kept grinding out supplemental material, all of which amounted to more versions of the same thing that sold, and the fans kept buying.
 
It makes all the WOD stuff less an exercise in how to make a game that appeals to RPG fans and more of a treatise on "how to cash in on a trend at just the right time."
 
I know there have been hundreds of discussions here on how HERO should have capitalized on the Marvel movies, but there is just no way that would have worked: you want instant recognizability and a rules set that can be picked up, learned, and played by any group of never-played-an-RPG-before types in a weekend, a week at most.  White Wolf did that very thing.
 
The "HERO System" just won't work that way, and each new revision moves it further from having any hope of ever working that way.
 
A superhero game powered by HERO?  That might have worked, but only had HERO had a chance in Hell of licensing known characters.  Nobody saw Golden Heroes or Prowlers and Paragons making any new splash via the popularity of the Marvel Movies, right?  Supers is a super-crowded market; fantasy is a super-crowded market; steampunk has played out; the last good pulp was Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends (don't question it!  Just watch it again, with more seasoned eyes!) or possibly Sid and Marty Croft's Land of the Lost, though Brendan Fraser's Mummy movies were awesome; sci-fi that says Star Trek squeaks by; sci-fi that says Star Wars does extremely well, but only Disney makes money on anything Disney owns.
 
Ultimately, its like any other 'going viral' event: we can sit here and armchair just what needs to happen when and why, but its a matter of a perfect storm of random factors-
 
Remember the one true 5e powered-by-HERO game?  MHI?  Well-loved franchise; an author who is almost his own caricature; books still selling great guns?
 
After the deal is made, the author pulls a stunt that tanks his popularity, and the game went nowhere.
 
There is no magic balloon to carry HERO onward and upward; there is just a lot of hot air about what the ideal solution is.

Hey......
 
I think I may resemble that remark

Also Vampire didn't introduce all of those at once. A book here and a book there detailing things.

Well, those I know who are kaiju/Godzilla fans are far more excited by the prospect that we might see Mechagodzilla in this movie because K vs G has to be a swerve of some kind.  The one person I know who is a 'King Kong' fan is more a fan of the movie King Kong because it's a great and tragic story about man exploiting, then destroying nature.  King Kong is not a kaiju creature and doesn't belong in a kaiju movie in my opinion.  I feel like the fans who are excited just because "Cool, KK is fighting Godzilla!" are similar to those fans who were excited about Batman vs. Superman just because "Cool, Batman is fighting Superman!"  I mean, no offense to those folks, but we just have different tastes.  YMMV. 
 
PS:  If there is some added excitement, I'm not seeing it.  Perhaps its just because it got a Super Bowl bump.  I mean, there seems to be a new Fast and Furious movie out also, and I do hear that people are pretty excited about that.  I haven't seen the last 5 or 6? of those though.  I had trouble with these 'street level, gritty drag racing characters' - which I kind of liked - undergoing this massive and wonky transformation into what seems to be The Avengers With Cars.

Instant sensation is not really true. 
In has accrued a following over the near 30 years it has been out.  But I can clearly remember it as the only RPG that would get itself banned from gamestores and cons, not because of the game itself, but because the players.  One, they didn't seem to realize that the backstabbing and infighting was a game and not real life.  And two, the 100+ average summer temperatures in the area I was living in the early 90s wasn't really conducive to wearing heavy black long coats 24/7.  I actually first became aware of the game when the store pulled it from the shelf when the players belligerence was spilling into the store and the owners had had enough. Not mention it wa the first time I had ever seen a "no shower, no service" sign at a gaming shop.
At the time I thought it was a one off, but over the next few years I found it was a semi-common occurrence. 
 
These days it appears the fan base has fixed itself and you don't see idiots knocking things over and actual fights breaking out over a brouhahahaha blood fued.  But I do know a few small groups that still play.  They all are 100 positive that the game is not player versus player backstabby.  And yet every single session I sat in on included a players PC being killed, cursed, destroyed or in some way eliminated by another player.  The entire sessions consisted of players maneuvering to take out other players.
 
Over the last 20 years this has repeated at games across the US as well as overseas. 
 
If you like it, good on you.
But I was always drawn to the cooperative nature of RPGs.  I am repelled by RPGs based on PvP.
 

Instant sensation is not really true. 
In has accrued a following over the near 30 years it has been out.  But I can clearly remember it as the only RPG that would get itself banned from gamestores and cons, not because of the game itself, but because the players.  One, they didn't seem to realize that the backstabbing and infighting was a game and not real life.  And two, the 100+ average summer temperatures in the area I was living in the early 90s wasn't really conducive to wearing heavy black long coats 24/7.  I actually first became aware of the game when the store pulled it from the shelf when the players belligerence was spilling into the store and the owners had had enough. Not mention it wa the first time I had ever seen a "no shower, no service" sign at a gaming shop.
At the time I thought it was a one off, but over the next few years I found it was a semi-common occurrence. 
 
These days it appears the fan base has fixed itself and you don't see idiots knocking things over and actual fights breaking out over a brouhahahaha blood fued.  But I do know a few small groups that still play.  They all are 100 positive that the game is not player versus player backstabby.  And yet every single session I sat in on included a players PC being killed, cursed, destroyed or in some way eliminated by another player.  The entire sessions consisted of players maneuvering to take out other players.
 
Over the last 20 years this has repeated at games across the US as well as overseas. 
 
If you like it, good on you.
But I was always drawn to the cooperative nature of RPGs.  I am repelled by RPGs based on PvP.
 

Instant sensation is not really true. 
In has accrued a following over the near 30 years it has been out.  But I can clearly remember it as the only RPG that would get itself banned from gamestores and cons, not because of the game itself, but because the players.  One, they didn't seem to realize that the backstabbing and infighting was a game and not real life.  And two, the 100+ average summer temperatures in the area I was living in the early 90s wasn't really conducive to wearing heavy black long coats 24/7.  I actually first became aware of the game when the store pulled it from the shelf when the players belligerence was spilling into the store and the owners had had enough. Not mention it wa the first time I had ever seen a "no shower, no service" sign at a gaming shop.
At the time I thought it was a one off, but over the next few years I found it was a semi-common occurrence. 
 
These days it appears the fan base has fixed itself and you don't see idiots knocking things over and actual fights breaking out over a brouhahahaha blood fued.  But I do know a few small groups that still play.  They all are 100 positive that the game is not player versus player backstabby.  And yet every single session I sat in on included a players PC being killed, cursed, destroyed or in some way eliminated by another player.  The entire sessions consisted of players maneuvering to take out other players.
 
Over the last 20 years this has repeated at games across the US as well as overseas. 
 
If you like it, good on you.
But I was always drawn to the cooperative nature of RPGs.  I am repelled by RPGs based on PvP.
 

I'm with Starlord.
People talked about the Godzilla movies, but never really mentioned KK.
 
For this movie it is more "Yay Godzilla!....King Kong? WTF?"
 
 
 
 

For my own experience, I never hear anyone being excited about King Kong.  At all.  

Very glad to hear things turned out and that she is was not seriously hurt.
 
I can say that modern cars are very well designed to protect the occupants.  I rolled my car on the interstate doing 70 driving cross country back in 2000 and walked out of the hospital 5 hours later with nothing more serious than full body bruising.  I am a HUGE proponent of wearing seat belts, they really do mean the difference between walking away and not.

Keep it coming
 
My experience has been a lot like Duke Bushido's. 
 
While I have never seen anything like Grailknight or unclevlad described.
Or any issues problems with the balance derived from more END or raising REC, but I have noticed a very big difference in play. 
Combats in supers or fantasy always seemed to drag on forever with 1/10, but had a built in sense of urgency and a faster pace at 1/5.
 
I'm not saying anyone is wrong. 
I am liking the inputs on peoples thoughts.

I agree that Hero needs adventures and even campaigns, but they are a different subject from Hero Powered games. 
At least I think they are. 
 
I have several adventures I'd love to put in the Hall of Champions if I could.  But all the ones I have (superheroic type) made use of many existing Champions villains.  My initial plans was to use stripped villain sheets that just have the needed stats with zero build information and very abbreviated backgrounds with a referral to the source book, in this case Conquerors, Killers, And Crooks.  But in order to bring them now I have to completely redesign the villains and perform full playtests.  It is hard enough to create viable pre-gens.  Redesign the villains and you have to redesign the pre-gens too. 
 
I have a fantasy project in the works with two possible directions.  Once I get far enough along for it to be viable I will need to run it by the powers that be to see which direction is best. 

I hear what you are saying, but 10 races/cultures, 12 vocations and 15 backgrounds is far too many for an entry to to a setting.
Initially you only really need  a few.  For example 4 vocations (Fighter Type, Rogue Type, Mage Type, Healer/Support Type), 4 races/cultures (human, elf, dwarf and other but something known and common), 4 basic backgrounds (maybe city, wilderness, frontier and sea/coastal). 
 
Remember that if you have a Mage you must then include complete and rounded spell lists through at least the 4th Level**. 
All the rest of the "classes" have to have complete playable everything lists up through 4th level.
 
D&D 5ed only has Fighter/Wizard/Rogue/Cleric and Human/Elf/Halfling/Dwarf for the basic rules.  Not the PHB, but the basic rules.  
This allows an entry point for brand new players to the game to actually get to play without getting shellshocked or option-frozen.
Those players that get the basic game then move on to the full game via the PHB, DMG and MM.  Experienced players just go straight to the PHB etc. 
 
The point is that new to the hobby players have a smaller bite sized entry point instead of choking on the full 15 course meal. 
 
And this only touches on an actual playable Hero powered game without the needed appendices showing the full build details and referring them to the Hero books so they can customize. 
 
**I know that Hero does not use "levels" but I am going to use the term to help describe what I mean.
 

Using 5R rules but 1/5 END will be fine as far as play goes but may cause some Character Creation trends.
 
Slightly lower DC's at 0 END will become more common and you will probably see more Multipowers constructed thusly:
 
Multipower : (62 point reserve)
6u- 12d6 Blast
6u- 10d6 Blast, 1/2 Reduced END
6u- 8d6 Blast, 0 END
 
Expect to see very few END Reserves and lots of Charges(with clips where appropriate).
 
Cost END to Activate will be very popular on non-Attack Powers.

Sure, but to match the efficiency of RE on a Multipower you also have to buy up REC too.

I didn't find either to be easier to teach, use or keep track of. However, 1 END per 5 CP tends to make characters more expensive, as Reduced Endurance becomes more essential.

As I tend to backport everything new into 2e, I, like Spence, am still doing 1/5 for END.
 
Making it more challenging is that I still do Red END the old way: keep halfing it until you get to .5 for 0 END.
 
I like it better.  For one, it controls power leveks and power creep far, far better than any suggested campaign cap or guidelone ive seen; it keeps battles fairly brief, and not always decisive, and brings its own special sort of tactics.
 
But then again, I dont know much about comics, save that I have a preference for the Spiderman / Doc Savage end of the scale to the "why are they not demanding worship and tribute?" end of the scale.
 
I dont need universe-destroying villain power levels to keep the thrill and sense of danger real to the players, and the built-in limits of expensive END and expensive END reduction keeps the PCs themselves from being absolute threats to the nation.
 
I know there has for many years been discussion of Registration acts, etc (I dont use them, as I prefer a more idealized setting of a free nation with responsible citizens), but in my mind, a super with the power to level buildings with ease or do millions of dollars in collateral damage four battles a day isnt going to be forced onto a registration list: hes going to be incarcerated "for the public good" at _best_, and quietly exterminated if containment should prove impossible--  in a "we faer them, so we register them" type setting, that is.
 
Anyway, pros and cons for our own games, I find the 1/5 just yields a better experience for me.

Well there are a few in depth campaign settings.   But they are too in-depth for easy entry.
 
From a players perspective on character generation, if an item is included as a selection then it is significant.
 
If a game includes 8 "races", 8 "cultures", 4 "archetypes", 10 "vocations" and 32 "backgrounds", then they will all need to be read and understood before a player can start to build a character.
 
If you use "cool names" for things instead of just calling a dwarf a dwarf if increases the difficulty and time required. 
 
Narosia is a cool setting, but it didn't double down on cryptic, it bazillioned down.  Every reference to "race" uses the new name rather than the common name plus new.  Making it difficult for anyone to identify the race with out STUDY.  And STUDY is the enemy of a game.  In Narosia a dwarf is a Tsverg, but the game does not actually say that.  I think they believe that using anything that even looks like a traditional RPG convention is evil so they deliberately obfuscated things.  So instead of making the entry Dwarf [Tsverg] or Tsverg [Dwarf] so the reader could easily understand and locate what they wanted.  We have 62 build elements (templates), with 16 of them deliberately obfuscated, that the players have to understand before they can begin building a PC. 
 
The initial book of a settings character design part, or initial part if you can break the book into Basic and Advanced sections, has to present an very short list of character options (race/class/archetype/etc) that will allow new players to read and make informed choices during ONE session. 
 
I have over 40 RPG books similar to Narosia in my collection.  Beautiful, well thought out and highly detailed games that you never see anyone actually play because in the time needed to actually learn all the options and then teach them to the players in order to reach the point where you can start, you could have bought, learned and completed a campaign in one of the dozens of other games. 
 
D&D and other similar games learned this years ago.  They start with a short list of options in the first book.  And then add more in later OPTIONAL books. 
 
While I am a big fan of Hero books, I love the Pulp Hero book, Hero and people that write material for Hero tend to go too far overboard in to the realm of unplayable due to far too much information.  And games powered by Hero tend to spend so much energy trying to make their settings not include anything that might be recognizable that they make the entire game unplayable. 

Yes Yes Yes
 
What he said!
 

As the title indicates, I am a 5th Edition Revised player.
 
When I started playing Hero back in the Champions 1st ed era, End cost was 1 End per 5 points.  This was later changed to 1 End per 10 points. 
 
For me I always go back to the 1 to 5 ratio for my games.  I  personally find it easier to use and easier to teach the game.  I don't know if there is any actual difference in the end, but it seems so to me.
 
Anyone else with similar experiences?
 

Very glad to hear things turned out and that she is was not seriously hurt.
 
I can say that modern cars are very well designed to protect the occupants.  I rolled my car on the interstate doing 70 driving cross country back in 2000 and walked out of the hospital 5 hours later with nothing more serious than full body bruising.  I am a HUGE proponent of wearing seat belts, they really do mean the difference between walking away and not.

Very glad to hear things turned out and that she is was not seriously hurt.
 
I can say that modern cars are very well designed to protect the occupants.  I rolled my car on the interstate doing 70 driving cross country back in 2000 and walked out of the hospital 5 hours later with nothing more serious than full body bruising.  I am a HUGE proponent of wearing seat belts, they really do mean the difference between walking away and not.

I wanna say it’s in Fantasy Hero Companion 2 for 4th ed. If my memory is right.

The pistol overall has 3 Charges. Each slot has three or less charges. If you insist on them being predefined but changeable, this would be a VPP rather than a multipower. I personally would handwave it and just do a multipower with each slot having three or less charges, and 3 Charges on the framework.

It seems that every movie studio has to learn the same lesson--sometimes over and over again--for themselves. They all seem to think that making movies which "appeal to kids" is equivalent to making movies "just for kids", thereby turning off the rest of the potential audience. "All ages" does not mean "little kids only", but few movie executives/producers seem to grok that.