tkdguy

"One does not simply walk out of the Sammath Naur ... well, after the recent renovations, maybe one does."

Världens vackraste tunnelbana!

From the Outer Rim comes a dangerous creature. Born eons ago to a three-horned father he inherited the natural strength and aggressive nature of a true warrior.

Here's an Atlantean character with a bit of a twist -- Lady Mokarra, Atlantis' official ambassador to the surface world...
who also has the misfortune to have a lycanthropic alter-ego:
 

 
In her normal form, Mokarra looks like your average (drop-dead gorgeous) Atlantean female; it's when "the Beast" is upon
her that she looks like the shark-woman to the left of the pic -- taller, heavier, and much stronger (not to mention extremely
fast and vicious in the water...).
 
 
Major Tom 2009 
Oh, when the shark bites...

Yikes!
 
Good luck, TKD.

My friend called me and said he has dyscalculia. I said “What’s that?” He said “It’s like being dyslexic but mathematically.” I said “Sorry to hear that, mate. But if you think I can help, you’ve got the wrong number.”

Nice to see Ashleigh Barty doing well. She deserves the number one ranking. Maybe now when I hear "Barty" I'll think of her instead of Billy Barty.

A great day or Australian Women's sport
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-48740575

Sorry, here's the actual Character Creation video Part 2:
 
 

I found a couple of YouTube videos and a podcast about Champions. The videos focus on character creation for 6th Edition, while the podcast is about the original game. They are a bit long, but they're interesting.
 
Champions Complete (6th Edition) Character Generation
Part 1
 
 
Part 2 Hero System discussion, including combat
 
 
 
Podcast about Champions 1st Edition
http://saveforhalf.com/2019/04/23/episode-17-champions-1st-edition/

"...Kevin..."

Found it!
 

The Hipgnosis Album Cover Gallery
 
These two:
 
 

1. One of the freaks: Rumpelstiltskin, the Beast, Tom Thumb.
 
2. Kids.  Resourceful peasants.  Cursed/blessed people.
 
3. The best way I can think of is to make it a relative low point total campaign so that even non-combat normals can compete using skills, talents, a freakishly high characteristic, a magic item, or even a power.  Examples of the latter might be prehensile hair or multiform.
 
Tropes that distinguish fairy tales from heroic fantasy:
 
- Curses.
- Talking animals.
- Noncombat protagonists. 
- An emphasis on wit and moral character rather than combat proficiency.
- Weak magic (as wielded by protagonists).
- Antagonists with strong magic and a specific weakness.
- Magic items and magic terrain features.
 
Magic deserves particular attention.  Fairy tale magic can be powerful but is rarely spectacular or direct.  I'd seriously consider banning direct attacks like RKAs and Blast.  Fairy tale spellcasters are far more likely to use subtler effects like Transform, Aid, Mind Control, or Shapeshift.  In direct combat you might see Flash, Entangle, or TK*.  What you won't see is fireball and lightning bolt.  Plot-driving curses and geases might not even need statting out.
 
* There's a fairy tale specific version of TK called "animate", which turns inanimate objects into automatons.  IIRC it was a +1/2 advantage in the 1st ed. FH Spell Book supplement, which also had guidance for statting out various objects based on shape, size, and articulation.  Now that I think about it, though, Summon might be more appropriate...
 

As you noted, this has been discussed many times before in many different ways. I certainly have strong opinions on this. There are certain old school RPG expectations built into HERO that do not work with most modern gaming expectations.  That said, keeping this to strictly "Actual play" examples:
 
Got rid of the Speed Chart and went to an initiative system... works amazingly well and I'd never go back. It removes a lot of the 'turn based war gaming' aspect, removes a level of high SPD character abuse, and generally works to keep all players "leaning in" to the game instead of tuning out when it isn't their phase. Got rid of END. Flat out, just ignored it and removed the old school, resource management through bookkeeping nightmare. It wasn't missed at all, until we wanted to play around with pushing rules and found a new use for it, but this was an advanced modification, and not something needed for basic play. Implemented a bennie system, called "Luck Chits" that changed Luck as written to be a "director stance resource" that players bought on the characters that would provide narrative control and ability to re-roll, take defensive actions, do power stunts, etc. in the hands of players. Fundamentally transformed the game and probably the most important development in making "actual play' more dramatic, fun, thematically consistent, narratively whole and just avoid the 'ugh' moments that random dice can generate. Implemented structured play group dynamics around character creation. No more individual players bringing their pet creation and trying to shoe-horn it into a game, let alone then trying to make any kind of team out of those characters. Now, every character from concept through build is vetted by the play group, and built with a shared history... often using a shared story telling session to build that shared history... before the actual play begins, or as part of the very first actual play session. I'd say those four are the big ones in terms of changes, though there are a lot of details in the subsequent downstream effects of these.

Also, these changes were made in the context of actually keeping the core HERO functionality... using Stats and Powers and Costs as listed... just sometimes re-interpreting them. 
 
Core things that I feel really do define HERO in actual play...
Paying attention to Active Points being used in any particular action, in increments of 5 for 1d6. So many quick rulings can be made if you just keep this in mind. The 3d6 Bell Curve for task resolution (simply the best mechanic ever) and the "rolling under" for success. This provides such a stable and flexible way to resolve just about anything, and to reflect levels of expertise a PC may have. OCV vs. DCV and all the combat maneuvers that drive the most unique, visceral, fun and interesting combats. Killing vs. Normal damage and resistant vs. normal defenses. (EDIT: Oh... and Stun vs. Body of course) Combat can become very nuanced with slight shifts on these axis.  What I do realize, and this frustrates me, is that #3 and 4 are both crunchy, and counter to my general desire to simplify character build and speed up play. I was joking with my old friends at Origins that I'm 75% in the camp of "give me Nar mechanics that just help guide shared story telling!" but this conflicts with the 25% of me that wants the complex interplay of a great HERO martial arts fight that no other game can do.
 
This conflict drives me!

 

Ok, all aboard the hype train. From this original teaser published January 10, 2013.
 
 
 
To this year's undisputed "best shocking reveal" at E3:
 
If it was anyone but CD Projekt Red, I'd absolutely be bracing myself for disappointment. But wow. I cannot wait until April of 2020.

Since Sunday was Father's Day, and Monday was my birthday, we pretty much celebrated both at once (on Saturday, because that''s when both kids were available).  Had a nice dinner at Red Lobster, ice cream afterward, and played a game of Discworld (a board / card game I picked up at GenCon) that I won.  (I don't think they just let me win, but maybe they were being very subtle.) 
 
On Monday I got Into the Spiderverse as a gift from my youngest, which we watched Tuesday night.  Lots of fun.

Godzilla,the King of the monsters and I?