Spence

I think the capacity is there for most people, especially those interested in gaming. It just needs to be teased out and brought to the front.  And I think most people enjoy it, once they give it a try.  I mean, depending on our mood, we all need to let out our internal berserker, and damn the consequences.  A RP session is the perfect place to let that out safely and in a controlled setting.

My opinion for years is that computer/console RPGs are not actually RPG's.  They are closed event games with lots o pretty eye candy.  You can do nothing in a "CRPG" that hasn't already been thought of and specifically programmed in.  Even the "open world sand box" CRPG's are limited. 
 
An RPG needs a human to be actively running the game and human players to be actively playing the PC's. 
 
I do find it amusing that they are calling it an Arena Game because it is long on combat and short on non-combat Role Playing because that is exactly what Hero is.  
Lots of guidance on combat and power usage in combat.  Very little to nothing on out of combat role play.  There some great guidance on building campaigns, but not much on non-combat run of play. 

My opinion for years is that computer/console RPGs are not actually RPG's.  They are closed event games with lots o pretty eye candy.  You can do nothing in a "CRPG" that hasn't already been thought of and specifically programmed in.  Even the "open world sand box" CRPG's are limited. 
 
An RPG needs a human to be actively running the game and human players to be actively playing the PC's. 
 
I do find it amusing that they are calling it an Arena Game because it is long on combat and short on non-combat Role Playing because that is exactly what Hero is.  
Lots of guidance on combat and power usage in combat.  Very little to nothing on out of combat role play.  There some great guidance on building campaigns, but not much on non-combat run of play. 

No, they are absolutely not.  Some of them can simulate one in some ways but they ultimately are not.  The problem is, as Tjack says, most potential players now are not aware of this, do not understand proper RPGs, and are unprepared for the GM sitting and looking over their screen saying "what do you do?"  Where's the diamond over the guys head to lead me by the nose?  Where's the storyline to follow?
 
There are two ways to approach this problem: either to be a raging grognard and bash them over the head with your dice bag, or to try to find ways that look and feel familiar to them to tempt them into the wider, more awesome, and fuller world of their own imagination and creativity.  Granted, unlike older folks they will have to start nearly from scratch, since their imagination and creativity has been choked off at birth by a screen stuffed into their hands to shut them up, but its still possible to bring it to life.
 
 
I agree, and while that's fine (old time role players didn't need tips on how to role play, just rules to build it around), I want to add in more player tips on rping and how to build a campaign around more than a dungeon crawl and monster killing in my FH stuff.  The original Western Hero had some ideas along those lines and I tried to expand on them as well as build a fuller background for players to use and understand.

Unfortunately for us, the World & creativity in general, that seems to be what this era of potential players wants.  It’s easier to stare at a screen than it is to read and easier to consume than to create. How to use one’s imagination is a skill and it’s no longer being taught or learned.  New thoughts and ideas stimulate the brain into creating new neural pathways.  The act of thinking pumps blood and oxygen to the brain making it a more efficient thinking machine.  The mind is a muscle and theirs are not being exercised.
   How much of what sells in Hollywood is either adapted from other media, a continuation of an ongoing franchise or an remake of something that’s been seen before.  This regurgitation of the familiar is easier for minds uncomplicated with individual thoughts to assimilate.

My opinion for years is that computer/console RPGs are not actually RPG's.  They are closed event games with lots o pretty eye candy.  You can do nothing in a "CRPG" that hasn't already been thought of and specifically programmed in.  Even the "open world sand box" CRPG's are limited. 
 
An RPG needs a human to be actively running the game and human players to be actively playing the PC's. 
 
I do find it amusing that they are calling it an Arena Game because it is long on combat and short on non-combat Role Playing because that is exactly what Hero is.  
Lots of guidance on combat and power usage in combat.  Very little to nothing on out of combat role play.  There some great guidance on building campaigns, but not much on non-combat run of play. 

My opinion for years is that computer/console RPGs are not actually RPG's.  They are closed event games with lots o pretty eye candy.  You can do nothing in a "CRPG" that hasn't already been thought of and specifically programmed in.  Even the "open world sand box" CRPG's are limited. 
 
An RPG needs a human to be actively running the game and human players to be actively playing the PC's. 
 
I do find it amusing that they are calling it an Arena Game because it is long on combat and short on non-combat Role Playing because that is exactly what Hero is.  
Lots of guidance on combat and power usage in combat.  Very little to nothing on out of combat role play.  There some great guidance on building campaigns, but not much on non-combat run of play. 

My opinion for years is that computer/console RPGs are not actually RPG's.  They are closed event games with lots o pretty eye candy.  You can do nothing in a "CRPG" that hasn't already been thought of and specifically programmed in.  Even the "open world sand box" CRPG's are limited. 
 
An RPG needs a human to be actively running the game and human players to be actively playing the PC's. 
 
I do find it amusing that they are calling it an Arena Game because it is long on combat and short on non-combat Role Playing because that is exactly what Hero is.  
Lots of guidance on combat and power usage in combat.  Very little to nothing on out of combat role play.  There some great guidance on building campaigns, but not much on non-combat run of play. 

This is more about them out there than us in here.  “Is calling it an Arena Game really a bad thing for them?”
  For a very long time I’ve been noticing/complaining to friends about/ranting about the glacier slow change from games that were about interacting with friends around a table pizza & beer style with a game that had human (Elf, Orc, Dragon, Alien, etc.) emotional responses built into it.
   From the first time someone tried to get me interested in World of Warcraft, I looked at it and said “I go gaming to be with people.” Talking through a headset to strangers and thinking it’s a relationship is like calling the people on FaceBook your friends. I had seen Magic:The Gathering start to come up but everyone still had to sit around the same table for it back then.  All I see now are new ways to keep yourself amused while you’re alone at home. Even what’s called RPG’s now like Arkham Asylum contain no actual roleplay. Only chasing around on a preplanned story you can only win or lose at.   Try having your Batman call a temporary truce with Penguin and Two-Face so the three of you can go after the Joker. It can’t be done. The human element has been eliminated.
   Marvel’s new game could do very well with players who only want to match up stats and not have to/get to portray the characters they are representing.
    I feel like a dinosaur looking up at the pretty comet about to hit and wondering how much time there is left.

I am knee deep in preparing my Dragonflight one-shots for August.  Since I always vapor lock when trying to decide what to run I ask my local game group to vote on a few possible.  This year it will be:
 
A Klingon Star Trek Adventures game
 
A 1950s aliens game using a blend of NBA and Delta Green (GUMSHOE)
 
A 1935 Pulp spy actioner using A!C.
 
And the reason for this post. A cinematic Hero Fantasy (5thR) delve. 
 
The Hero game is taking 80% of my time.  Trying to make each PC have a unique feel while being balancing/complimenting the other PCs is a bear.  Not a D&D/PF style clone.  More of an anime/manga influnced western fantasy feel.
 

Call of Cthulhu
Trail of Cthulhu
Nights Black Agents
Fear Itself
and as Cygnia notes, Achtung! Cthulhu
 
I use CoC 7th edition and ToC, NBA and FI are all GUMSHOE games.  For A!C I am getting used to the 2d20 version which I think works pretty well for action pulp. 

A!C is "Achtung! Cthulhu"

It would be nice.  But for me most of my games are pre-90s making the book contemporary or even "future tech"

Guys:
 
Spence sent me,a debound 4e,for making high-res scans akin to what I did for 4e Western HERO.  I had intended,to get them scanned over the Christmas break and soend the next couple,of monrhs cleaning then up.
 
Unfortunately, I am married, meaning I havent had a day off in twenty-odd years.  Off from work?  Yes.  A day of my,very own?  No; not really.    western HERO got done when she was working nights.  She dowsnt work nighta anymore. 
 
still, it will get done; just bear with me.
 
 

I would find it hard to believe that you two aren’t on a few lists somewhere.

I have all these books...Hubby side-eyes them all the time.

Another really great series is the Howdunit series of writers guides.
They are basically writers guides in multiple disciplines. 
 
Here are the titles I have.
Malicious Intent : A Writer's Guide to How Murderers, Robbers, Rapists and Other Criminals Think (The Howdunit) Mactire, Sean P.
Police Procedural: A Writer's Guide to the Police and How They Work (Howdunit) Bintliff, Russell
Armed and Dangerous: A Writer's Guide to Weapons (Howdunit Series) Newton, Michael
Body Trauma: A Writer's Guide to Wounds and Injuries (Howdunit Series) Page, David W.
Scene of the Crime: A Writer's Guide to Crime Scene Investigation (Howdunit Series) Wingate, Anne
Police Procedure & Investigation: A Guide for Writers (Howdunit) Lofland, Lee
Cause of Death : A Writer's Guide to Death, Murder and Forensic Medicine (Howdunit Series) Wilson, Keith D.
Deadly Doses: A Writer's Guide to Poisons (Howdunit Series) Stevens, Serita Deborah
Howdunit Forensics, Lyle, D P
Book of Poisons: A Guide for Writers (Howdunit Series) Stevens, Serita and Bannon, Anne
 
I mostly run investigative style games so these were fantastic resources to give things a gloss of believablity. 
 
 
 

Excuse me.  This is the internet.  We don't do that!

There are a lot of smaller stories you can tell with superheroes that still have spectacle, its just a matter of telling them well.

And Thor is from Asgard which is a warrior culture. Dealing with this kind of thing would likely be part of it. 

...which I'm saying is bad writing based on all logic and reason and the history of Thor.  Arguing "well it can't be bad writing because that's the way they wrote it" is ... bizarre.  Its hack writing because they cannot imagine writing a strong male character who isn't broken by difficulties, who must be angsty and psychologically shattered and "find himself". Over and over and over.

Other than having lived for thousands of years dealing with mortals and having his life around him.  I mean... what possible reason could anyone presume he experienced NOTHING until the movies occur.

I think another interpretation would be this: Thor, having lived 2000 years of war, struggles, broken hearts, loss of friends and family, treachery, and all the other things that someone in power or just living life normally would, in 20 life times worth.  He's been there, and done that, and seen it all, as one would expect.  He watched the black plague obliterate a third of his worshipers, then a new religion completely replace their faith.  He's seen everything, this is nothing new.  However, over the last 500+ years, live has been extremely easy; there are no responsibilities, no worshipers needing help, really nothing to do and he's gotten lazy and easy going, not worrying about anything. 
 
His recent experiences would not be new to him in any way, but they would serve to wake him up to his responsibilities, and remind him of lessons learned long ago.  An awakening took place in the first couple films, not some horrific unexpected trauma he has never considered before.

That is actually a great idea and one that would be useful, not only for experienced players but new ones as well.
 
While they achieved their objective in sanitizing everything down to the lowest possible building block, such as Secret ID being a social complication.  They forget that it is easier for players to just call it Secret ID. 
 
Not precisely the same thing as your thought, but close enough for this thread.
 
A book of "Talent" builds would be extremely useful for people who just want to play today and get into esoteric build theory later.