Beast

Sounds to me more like desolid, but with limitations. The entangle would stay for other characters, but the Druid would pass through. 

Limited Tunnelling?
very limited Desolid?

Black Bolt's wife from the Inhumans
 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medusa_(comics)

More info
 
 

I have 2 copies of the 4th ed hero system book along with Hero Creator and all of the ultimate books
I have not played 4th ed in over 20 yrs
I'd love to play in a game
what points and stats are you looking at?
 

Using tunneling from the outside is only at the GM’s option.  This is clearly stated on page 310 of volume 1.  When you are entangled, you cannot use any form of movement except teleportation.  One justification would be that in order to tunnel you have to be able to move at least a small amount.  When you are outside the entangle your movement is not restricted so you can at least push against the entangle, but if you are inside, it you cannot. 
 

When Karl Rigney was running his epic PBM, most turns were written out, but any combat was organized to occur at conventions.  The combats were fairly epic.  One time,  what was supposed to be a big combat, instead turned into a philosophical discussion in the dark between two stealthed characters.  
 
But running a combat in PBM doesn’t work all that well. You kind of need some sort of real time solution, due to the complexity of Champions combat. Even if it’s just Discord.  

Fie upon it and you and any that look like you
 

ask Janice Rand

There is a new edition of GAC, but my favorite is still the old 3rd edition original.

You say you dont need a VTT but there is no reason you could not use a VTT to accomplish this.
 
With the work that has been done to make HERO playable on Roll20, the base level membership of Roll20 should allow you to discuss, share maps, roll dice and play asynchronously.  It actually means that Roll20's biggest weakness - its audio and video - vanishes.  While it would allow real-time play, there is no need to use it that way and I think it could provide a decent platform for play by post...
 
I would even use the bulletin board attached to the game to do a lot of the discussions - no need to even fire up the game to do those discussions and you get decent threaded conversations.
 
Doc
 

Hello everyone! Hero Games publisher Jason Walters here with an update. But before I being telling you what we are up to at Hero Games this quarter, I thought I would take a moment to share my thoughts on where we are, what we are doing, and where we may go in the future. And, of course, to hear your thoughts as well. Because an RPG publishing company is at its core its fans. With them, it can accomplish a great many things. Without them, it can’t accomplish anything at all.
 
As many of you know Hero Games is owned by a parent company called DOJ Inc, which also owns the small press RPG distributor and promoter Indie Press Revolution (or IPR). While serving as general manager of IPR takes up most of my work time each day, it has also given me a lot of new ways to think about RPG publishing. Among these is the conviction that in the world of RPGs the line between fan, creator, and publisher should remain as blurry as possible. We are all fans and, in playing these games with one another, also creators. And that is really only a few short steps away from becoming designers and publishers as well.
 
If you’re like me, you’ve probably spent a measurable amount of your life using the Hero System to create just the sort of characters you’ve imagined, then shared them with your friends. I remember doing that a lot in my youth and, looking back on it, wasn’t that basically a kind of publishing? (Though admittedly, one with an extremely select audience!) Then years later in the late 90’s I discovered that there was an online community of people doing exactly the same thing, which renewed my interest in locating people to play Champions with once again. This in turn led to an odd and extremely unlikely series of events that involved befriending a nearly seven-foot-tall bouncer at a seedy San Francisco bar, making an entirely new circle of interesting friends, and eventually attending a business meeting with one of the suspects in actual case behind Tom Hank’s 1982 made-for-television film Mazes and Monsters that, eventually, ended in my writing the words you are reading today.
 
So that’s who I am, and probably who you are too: a fan. And it was in that spirit that I launched our DriveThruRPG community content program Hall of Champions a year or two back, which hummed along nicely for a while for a while before quieting down. Now I have a new idea in the same vein. I’m planning on launching a Hero Games Patreon (https://www.patreon.com) account that will serve a platform for new manuscripts to be seen and reviewed by serious fans before moving on to physical and electronic publication and distribution, with the goal moving forward to release a new book or project each quarter. You’ll be able to see and comment upon raw, unedited work before it travels the road to publication, and get an early peek into upcoming products while also contributing to their development. And you’ll get credit in the pages of that work for doing so.
 
My plan is for there to be a single level at $5.00 per month. We’ll release individual 3 to 5 page sections of manuscripts sequentially each week, possibly several manuscripts at a time, entering patron’s suggestions and edits into a spreadsheet for that manuscript as we go. Then, after those patrons have had a good hard look at the content, we’ll integrate the input into the product during the later stages of production.
 
Right now I’ve got several complete or almost complete manuscripts ready to go plus the beginnings of several others. The first is Gaslight by Christopher Hackler, author of Hero System Book of Templates 1 & 2. It’s a setting for competent normals set in London in the 1890’s. Think League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Call of Cthulhu, and Sherlock Holmes mashed together with all sorts of period characters like Spring-Heeled Jack, Dracula, and the Invisible Man.
 
The second is Imperial Throne, a Champions organization book about a deadly conspiracy whose goal is to transform the world into villainous parody of classical Chinese heaven. Our friend and fellow fan Michael Satran, author of such works as Imaginary Friends and Foxbat For President, was writing it when he was suddenly and tragically struck down by brain cancer in 2017. It’s 99% complete, and packed with hundreds of pages of characters, locations, and source material.
 
Though it isn’t a Hero Games product, I’m in possession of the final unreleased novel of our recently deceased friend and veteran Hero Games author Scott Bennie. Entitled The Last Orc, it's quite a lovely, classical sort of fantasy novel - the sort of thing we all grew up on, but one seldom sees these days. I’ve touched base with Scott’s family and they would like for it to be released, so we will use the upcoming Patreon account to do that, then most likely pass it on to my own High Rock Press imprint for actual publication.
 
Additionally, I have some projects of my own I would like to release using this method. I’ve begun getting chapters of my Star Hero supplement The Melancholy Seas of Space ready. It’s a sort of homage to Nishizaki’s Space Battleship Yamato, informed by simple setting creation elements I’ve taken from Powered By The Apocalypse games. Finally – and probably of the most interest to you – Hero Games legend Steve Long will be contributing material to this project as well, most likely beginning with chapters of The Martial World and Advanced Players Guide III. Though like the titans of old his ways are mysterious, and He Shall Create those books which He Shall Create.
 
If you have a manuscript of your own you would like to submit, contact me at jason@herogames.com and we can talk about it.
 
Now onto other Hero Games matters!
 
1) A lot of people have downloaded our free introductory product Champions Begins since we introduced it earlier this year and made it available on DriveThru, Indie Press Revolution, Itch.io, and our own website. Than you once again to the mysterious “Hero Fans” for their hard work.
 
2) We’ve been making various edits to Thomas Stadley’s IHA: Pride & Prejudice, and are basically ready to publish it. Steve wants to check over the manuscript and make sure the information in it lines up with the Champions Universe; then we’ll take it to press. We have an excellent cover and interior artwork all ready to go.
 
3) Veteran Hero System fan Carlos Castaneda has come to us with a proposal to create a Champions Complete package for Roll20. We’ve already signed a contract and he will be getting to work shortly with a proposed release date of October 2022. He’ll be keeping you updated about his progress here on the forums.
 
4) As many you already already know, Steve and I have already written six chapters of Champions International and he’s working on a seventh. So we should have that ready to go by Q3 2022 as promised. After that we’ll focus on running new material through Patreon before publication, with the exception of the Gemini System project, which is mostly complete down to a final layout.
 
 

Believe it or not, it was 20 years ago today that Darren Watts, Jason Walters, the Secret Masters, and myself bought the HERO System (and its related IPs)!
 
It's been a wonderful, amazing journey ever since -- one with its ups and downs, like any journey -- but still an awesome one. My deepest thanks to all the HERO fans out there who have made it possible!

Fellow Hero System Fans-


I’d like to take a moment to talk about our plans for Hero Games in 2022. I believe they’re both modest and realistic, in that they can be accomplished on time and using our limited resources. At the same time they are also ambitious, as I intend to release four projects in 2022; one each quarter of the year. They will be the following:


(Quarter One) HERO2023 Champions Begins Created by a group who wish only to be known as “Hero Fans.” This high-quality free electronic product provides everything you need to play your first game of Champions! It’s designed to teach people new to Champions how to play the game, but isn’t a complete presentation of the rules set; it provides you with just enough to play for the first time. The zip file contains a 52 page GM book, a 20 page Player book, a villain book, hero book, paper figurines, and Hero Designer files.


(Quarter Two) HERO2017 IHA: Pride & Prejudice Created by Thomas Stadley. To most people the Institute For Human Advancement is best known for its boring spokespeople who appear on talk shows that only their parents watch. But the Earth’s superheroes know better: the IHA is an insidious, genocidal threat to the planet’s mutants – and anyone else who gets in the way of their plans! Packed with agents, villains, weapons, and equipment, IHA: Pride & Prejudice contains everything you need to introduce the IHA into your campaign.


(Quarter Three) HERO2018 Champions International Created by Steve Long and Jason Walters. There are a variety of imaginary and unusual locations that have been mentioned in Champions Universe books over the years, but have never been fully explored or detailed. Champions International does exactly that, providing an in depth look at locations such as Awad, Lugendu, Larisagrad, and Costa Azul. It also includes some new locations like Transnistria and Prosperidad. Previously released individually in 2021 and 2022, these articles will be further edited and reworked to become chapters in the final version of the book.


(Quarter Four) HERO2024 The Chimera System Created by Philip J. Guinchard. The Chimera System is a hybrid of the Hero and OpenD6 systems in which elements from both have been combined together by the author to create a unique, new game system. Like the recently published Champions Now, it’s a joint undertaking by ourselves and a creator to publish a variation of the Hero System fans will find interesting and useful.


Additionally, if things go well with Champions International, Steve and I are considering creating a Patreon account to fund the creation of the HERO System Advanced Player’s Guide III, Champions Martial World, and other projects starting in 2023. But we’ll see how this year goes before we commit to a long-term project like that!


If you have a manuscript you would like to submit to Hero Games, contact me at jason@herogames.com with a one to three paragraph description of your work. If it sounds like something we would be interested in, you can then send me the full manuscript for review. And, of course, feel free to post any comments or questions on this thread.
 
- Jason Walters, Publisher
 

"Holy resurrection Bat Man!"
 
Yes, after 7+ years, we're about to resurrect this campaign world!
 
Making new characters tomorrow!

From the journal of Master Gunz – American Hero
 
The year is 2030 and Earth has changed, everything has changed.
 
On December 21st, 2012 – when the Mesoamerican’s long count calendar ended, the solar system that Earth is in, passed through an area of the Milkyway galaxy which the Mesoamericans called “The Void”; an area of the Milkyway galaxy which looks like a rift, as it is devoid of many stars.  A place very important in their mythology and a place located in the plane of the galaxy.  The Mesoamerican’s put much mythological/religious significance to this event.  We now know, that there was real, scientific significance as well.
 
It had personal significance for me too, cause that’s the day I joined the US Marine Corps; I had just graduated from Boot Camp.
 
There was a bunch of crazies back just prior to 2012 that made a bunch of money talking about how the world was going to end, cause the Long Count calendar ended on that day.  Bunch of idiots.  It didn’t of course; the calendar is based on a 25,695 year processional cycle of the equinoxes through the galaxy.  This procession is broken into segments of the processional cycle, lasting just over 5100 years.  We are now in the 1st segment after a full cycle of the 25,695 years.  This is why the long count ended, because we started over on 12/22/2012.
 
But, at the end of the day, none of that really matters; what matters is what it was tracking, which is where we sit in the Milkyway.  Why?  Well, because it turns out, our little corner (solar system) of the galaxy oscillates across the galactic plane.  So, why’s that so important, I hear you asking.  Well I’m here to tell ‘ya, it’s about the most important thing we’ve ever discovered.
 
So, turns out there is a radiation that exists on one side of the galactic plane, that isn’t present on the other side.  A simple fluke of galactic geography and some event which took place in our galactic past?  Could be.  It’s been around 17 years since we crossed over and were exposed, so our scientist are still trying to figure it all out; in between figuring out what the Hell happened to those of us susceptible to this radiation, and dealing with the arrival of the aliens…  So cut ‘em a little slack, I suppose.
 
So, this radiation has many uses.  Most people are not affected by it directly.  Only like .0001% of the earth’s population is susceptible to the effects of this radiation on their genes.  So, in 2012, when we crossed the galactic plane, that was about 700,000 people on the planet earth.
 
Today we call it Sudden Unexplained Radioactive Genetic Expression, or SURGE.  .0001% of the human population of Earth have a gene, which when exposed to this radiation, expresses some sort of random mutation.  Many people have small effects, some don’t ever even notice; lucky bastards.
 
Some of us, well, some of our “random mutations” can cause Hell on Earth.
 
So think about that.  700,000 random people; in every clime and place, every culture, every socio-economic level, suddenly had powers that our ancestors called Gods.
 
Oh, did I forget to mention that?  Yeah, this happened before.  As I said, we oscillate across this plane, so using our current calendar, between 8239 and 3114 BCE we were on this side of the plane, and they had .0001% (of a much lower) population express these SURGE powers.  Turns out that’s where much of our mythology, folklore, stories and many of our religious beliefs came from…  But today, we don’t have those same quaint ideas; instead, we have Superheroes.  Of course, if you have Superheroes, it stands to reason that you also have Supervillains…
 
So, think about it again, back in 2012; .0001% of the two-bit punks, street thugs, gangbangers, organized criminals, serial killers, white-collar criminals, corporate criminals, and international criminals got juiced.  But that wasn’t the worst of it.  That was reserved for the crazy extremist of all stripes.  From Jihadist Terrorists to White-power Aryan Nation wackos, to the anti-governmental nutbirds.
 
What about that Head Hunter from Papua New Guinea, or that newly found Amazonian tribe?  Doesn't matter to you much when they stayed where they were; but, what if the Head Hunter can fly over here to hunt now?  What if the Amazonian tribesmen wasn't very well liked, and mistreated by his people, and now can run 4000 mph?
 
But, there were some of us on the other side of those tracks; local cops, Feds, and us in the military; well, .0001% of us changed too.
 
There have been a bunch who just decided not to get involved, I’d say the majority.  Might have been a good idea, if you could do it.  Cause some nations hunt us SURGE’ers down and burn us at the stake.  Other’s, they want to use us, however they can.  And many of them, want us in a lab.
 
So, from early 2013 through 2015, the human race had to recalibrate.  It wasn’t easy.  There were about 20 SURGE’ers in the US Marine Corps with me, we’ve lost almost half.  But midway through 2015, everything changed again.  Cause that’s when the alien residents of HAT-P-11B decided to open a Lorentzian Stable Transversable (LST) or Morris-Thorne Wormhole (MTW) using powerful engines that use this new (to us) radiation as the Exotic Matter to hold the wormhole open and stable.
 
Suddenly, right in the middle of all our chaos about SURGE, we found out we weren’t alone in the galaxy.  And the neighbors had stopped by for coffee and cake.  Since then, we’ve had another neighbor stop by too.  Lucky for us, both neighbors have been fairly friendly.  Cause at that time, we’d have had some major issues dealing with them if they weren’t.
 
So, after 15 years of getting used to the new neighborhood, things were going much better.  We’d all settled down about SURGE, and our visitors.  Our science and technology sectors have been going nuts figuring out what it all means; from the new radiation (known as “Z-rad” by the media), to the MTW’s the aliens use to move about our galaxy, and what the extent of us SURGE’ers abilities might be.
 
Now it’s 2030, and you had to know it; at some point the bad neighbors would show up, and the neighborhood would go to Hell.  This year, we finally noticed that some of the changes we’ve been experiencing for the last several years, on Earth and our friendly neighborhood alien’s planets too, aren’t due to Z-rad or anything random, they were early deployment of resources to help soften us up, cause this year, the Empress showed up…  And all bets are off now.

The most Golden of Girls has passed. Only weeks away from her 100th birthday. 
 
Damn you, 2021. 
 
RIP
 

Dude, HERO did that when they split "Maneuvers" and "Martial Maneuvers" back in the very first edition.   It got _worse_ when the co-opted and officialized Alston's martial arts schtick.  Throw in things like "Weapons Elements" and the "Weapons Master" and "familiarity versus skill," and....
 
well, it's just not more than a drop in the bucket at this point.  And I am not suggesting any intermingling between the actual maneuver charts and the weapon-specific maneuvers.  I am simply suggesting 
 
I am simply suggesting the idea that weapons-specific maneuver charts are worth investigating, given that I believe they could be used to create the granularity and differentiation you say that you are seeking.
 
 

First and foremost:
 
Thanks, Beast! 
 
 
 
 
That's sort of the key how you would do it:
Swords getting a +1 OCV....  when?   All the time?   Or with certain maneuvers?
 
Make a maneuver chart that includes the standard maneuvers and then sword-specific maneuvers.  In other words, rather than try to refigure all the damages and DEX modifiers and all that per weapon, create a weapon-specific maneuver chart.  I could be way, _way_ off base, but I think it would allow you to specifically demonstrate more difference between one sort of sword and another, if that's what you're going for.
 
Even from weapon to weapon:  Swords get a "Stab" or "thrust" maneuver, and axes do not-- or they are very, very bad at it, given that all their weight is as far from the wielder as it can get.  Spears do not get "slash" or "chop" maneuvers-- or these maneuvers are defaulted to "subdual damage only" or something like that, and possibly even take damage from being used this way.
 
 
In this way, rather than "swords get a +1 OCV, period," one class of swords gets +1 OCV with these things; -1 OCV with these things, +1 DCV with these things-- etc, etc, etc.  Plus you can have damage mods based on the maneuver: Thrust may take a CV penalty, or even require an extra Phase, but my have a BODY damage bonus all it's own, or perhaps even grant "armor piercing" or some such to at least some part of its damage.
 
Like I said, I really didn't put thought into this; I was at work, so I was only able jot down the quick glimpse I took around the the room when the light flicked on.  Lots of work?  Definitely.  Worth it?  No idea.  However, the work, like almost everything else in HERO, is front-loaded.  Once it's done, then it's done.  When Koloth the Virile buys his axe, it comes with this handy maneuver chart he can tape to the edge of his character sheet.
 
Sure: "Weapon's Element" and all that--
 
but here's another angle.
 
Remember that the current beloved and "core essential" martial arts rules were originally not that at all, but a particularly creative GM playing around with Skill Levels to custom tailor some ideas for a very specific campaign.  The idea caught a lot of fancies, and >BOOM< -- essential rules; inviolable part of the HERO System; Duke has to hear about it forever no matter how silly he finds it to be.
 
Such hyper-specialized "this is how fantasy weapons work" rules might be next; who knows?
 
 
 
 
 
if this is accurate-- and I assume it is-- then we were kicked out for sparring with $1.29 Shinai.  about 40 inches long, make a great slapping noise when hit and sting....  well, more than a bit, but what do you expect for a buck-and-a-half?     A strip of masking tape down the length makes a handy edge. 
 
And yes; seriously.  We were kicked out of the SCA for sparring with whiffle bats.  Apparently, in spite of it being whiffle bats-- the very thing with which siblings and stooge beaten their other siblings for a couple of generations-- because we were not wearing armor while doing it. 
 
I haven't told that story in years.  In fact, the last time I told it, I told it here.   Right after the myth of the North American Whiffle Bat, actually.  We had a couple of Australians from Perth who did not understand how a Whiffle bat could terrorize one roommate but not the other, so I sent them one.     
 
 
 

This guy
 
 
 

Sure no problem
a stophit is where both fencers are at the ready
Fencer A quickly moves 1 foot forward and is leaning forward(knee is over the foot)and extending their main gauche(a dagger with a hand guard that is more than just a cross piece)
Fencer B extends his rapier into his lunging foe(a rapier is 3 times longer than a dagger or main gauche)and allows fencer A to impale himself on his blade
Fencer B uses is main gauche to engage and deflect fencer A's rapier
so in this the longer weapon wins
 
there are other maneuvers that also allow long weapons to shorten up to defend or attack up closer than normal(Hafting is 1 term)
there may be need to a new range(in close,melee,inside your foes normal weapon range.....)

the attack range of a dagger is at best 12" from the wielder's furthest reach
the attack range of a rapier is 36" from the wielder's furthest reach
range is also a big factor
 
Wiffle bats??????????????
we spared with shinais and fencing masks and maybe gloves and that was light weapons in the SCA group I hung out with
and we made Naginatas out of closet poles and broken shinais(using the unbroken bamboo staves)

a shinai is bamboo sword( no edge the string is that)made from a length of bamboo about 44" long split longways and then held together with leather for a handle,end cap and a mid piece
they make a great slapping noise and sting a bit when you get hit but nothing major
a naginata is a sword blade on the end of a haft 30" of blade 5' of pole
I could take on 3 people with shinais and win 50% of the time 90% vs 1 or 2

So to summarize:
 
1. Self Preservation. Swords are better than powered ranged weapons in instances where they will damage surroundings (starship, dome, orbital station, sensitive equipment, flammables or explosives nearby).
2. Culture. Swords may be traditional or killing at range may only be acceptable during war, etc. A variety of cultures elevate swords or other hand to hand weapons to an art form.
3. Stealth. Blades (and to a lesser extent some blunt weapons) excel at removing a target in silence. They are often easier to conceal from modern electronics as well, since blades can easily be made of materials that don't set off detection devices (whether they detect energy signatures or explosive content).
4. Access / Cost. It is generally much easier and/or cheaper to obtain a blade of some kind than a powered ranged weapon.
5. Laws. Restrictions can range from only certain weapons to requiring permits to restrictions on travel with certain weapons, etc. 
6. No ammunition / charges. You don't have to worry about running out of charges or ammunition. 
7. Cool / Intimidating. Blades are often seen as more intimidating because they provide the opportunity to cause pain for longer. It is hard to control how much damage you do when you shoot someone (especially with energy weapons) but not hard with a blade.
8. Effectiveness. Tech may have made certain ranged weapons obsolete in some cases. Reflective armor defeats lasers, force fields stop energy beams, etc.
 
Feel free to add if you think of something else.
 
- E

battle ranges the to be expanded
normal in Hero is 2m
for me that is sword(rapier)range
next is 1m dagger(mostly stabby weapons, some slash)Swords lose +1 OCV, too close to swing a 2handed axe, etc....
grapple(closer would be having sex)stabby weapons can only apply 1/2 of normal strength(not 15 down to 10 but 15 down to 8
 

I understand why there are lightsabers in Star Wars; the Jedi Order is (or was) a part of the setting. But there are other examples of swords in scifi. Klingons have the bat'leth. The Narn and Centauri have their own blades. Traveller, Warhammer 40000, and Halo all include swords in their arsenals.
 
But why? Swords aren't used in combat nowadays, and they aren't about to make a comeback in the battlefield anytime soon. Why would they make a comeback in the far future?
 
The Traveller rpg has some explanation: Swords are used instead of guns to prevent damaging internal systems when fighting on board a starship. They are a feature on sword & planet stories, so those get a pass. Otherwise, they don't seem to fit in the genre. Maybe there is some technology in the game/fiction that is preventing firearms or lasers from functioning.
 
Any ideas on this, besides the "swords are cool" trope?

A lot of interesting discussion here.  Much of it deeper into the numbers than I usually go.
 
I don't think you can "fix" a weapons table for any system by fixing the table itself.  The key is implied by those that have actual experience.  It isn't the weapon, it is the wielder.  Both physical and skill.
 
As mentioned a zweihander can be wielded both powerfully and quickly, but I guarantee if it was in my hands it would be neither
 
I know you want to avoid the complication of figuring per character, but I really believe that in the end, that is the only way to get to where you really want to be.