firedrake

Not mutually exclusive These are some great ideas. I forgot to mention it upfront, but the group I would be running are predominately DnD fans, although there is a rumor that at least one other person has played Champions at some point in the past. I have already experienced the joys of having a GM that has the numbers in a quick reference form, who has thought out general strategy ahead of time and who doesn't tolorate loud side conversations. I am thinking of implementing cue cards as a phase 2 for further enjoyment, as our first few sessions will be brain-dead combat as the players learn the game session. Back to the comments directly related to the ideas I started with, I take it that no one has tried replicating the DnD "round with multiple attacks" by having players make their action decisions at the top of the turn. Once Fantasy Hero comes out in July, I'll let you know how it works out. In the meantime, does anyone foresee any problems with such a houserule? The "Low Dex declares first, High Dex Acts first" issue is well spoken. What about having low int declare first, or roll some perception/tactics/int based initiative at the start of combat, worst roll declares first. (If you haven't noticed, I want to give smarter characters some kind of combat advantage from being smart. Must be the "Revenge of the Nerds" in me). I guess this would be the "Low int declares first, high spd acts first" idea. Of course, to really emulate DnD, I could have action declaration occur every 6 phases (i.e., 6 seconds or so), but would I really be playing hero then ;-?

I've been toying in my brain with some ideas for house rules to achieve the following ends: - have combat go faster - simulate the common movie idea that the smart hero can defeat the evil power-daddy Before I proceed, let me say I've played Hero 2nd through 4th, but not 5th ed. In the first category, I've been thinking about having action decisions made at the top of the turn. Players declare their desired actions for the next 12 seconds, and then we roll dice and resolve those actions. Changing your mind would result in some penalty, and only minor changes could be made. For the second, I've been thinking about having a "tactics" role at the begin of the turn, and as a result of that, the player would have some number of temporary levels to apply to combat during the next round. The player would then need to come up with a short dramatic explaination of what character is doing when they use these levels. I'm thinking along the lines of a barfight, and player would use the levels to represent the character positioning herself near support posts and then quick ducking behind it or being near a bottle of liquor doing something creative with it. I curious if anyone has tried these kind of ideas before and how it turned out or if anyone sees any major unbalancing effects.