Hugh Neilson

Can you play D&D or Pathfinder with an intro set in just a few minutes?  Sure.
 
But you will be playing a pre-fab character.  You will not roll or point-buy your stats, chose a race and a class, select from an array of archetypes within that class, choose variant racial abilities, pick traits and feats, assign skill points and favoured class bonuses, buy gear, select spells, etc. etc. etc.  And that's all for a first-level character.
 
You will select from 6 or 8 pre-fab characters and start the game.
 
Then you will stop to figure out how AC and to hit rolls work.  And how that spell functions.  And what this skill does, and what you need to roll.  You won't likely be using combat maneuvers and, of course, you will have no high level options.
 
And you will make mistakes along the way - just like we all did when we learned to play.  Sometimes, those mistakes were handed down the play group.
 
What Hero needs, first, is Games Powered by Hero.  Pull the curtain over the mechanics.  A Game Powered by Hero could easily have an introductory pack with half a dozen pre-fab characters (a sample of the choices in the game, and a tiny fraction of what you could make with the full system) and a short adventure to introduce this Game Powered by Hero.  They don't even need to know a Dwarven Wizard is possible in your fantasy Game Powered by Hero when all they do is start with the StarterPack.  They certainly don't need to know Hero would let them design other races, abilities, spells and monsters, much less that they could use it to build a sci-fi, post-apocalypse, spies, supers or pulp game.

Can you play D&D or Pathfinder with an intro set in just a few minutes?  Sure.
 
But you will be playing a pre-fab character.  You will not roll or point-buy your stats, chose a race and a class, select from an array of archetypes within that class, choose variant racial abilities, pick traits and feats, assign skill points and favoured class bonuses, buy gear, select spells, etc. etc. etc.  And that's all for a first-level character.
 
You will select from 6 or 8 pre-fab characters and start the game.
 
Then you will stop to figure out how AC and to hit rolls work.  And how that spell functions.  And what this skill does, and what you need to roll.  You won't likely be using combat maneuvers and, of course, you will have no high level options.
 
And you will make mistakes along the way - just like we all did when we learned to play.  Sometimes, those mistakes were handed down the play group.
 
What Hero needs, first, is Games Powered by Hero.  Pull the curtain over the mechanics.  A Game Powered by Hero could easily have an introductory pack with half a dozen pre-fab characters (a sample of the choices in the game, and a tiny fraction of what you could make with the full system) and a short adventure to introduce this Game Powered by Hero.  They don't even need to know a Dwarven Wizard is possible in your fantasy Game Powered by Hero when all they do is start with the StarterPack.  They certainly don't need to know Hero would let them design other races, abilities, spells and monsters, much less that they could use it to build a sci-fi, post-apocalypse, spies, supers or pulp game.

Just to note.
 
My stand has zero to do with one player who already knows Hero teaching others.  I have never found that to be any harder than any other RPG.
 
I am trying to come up with what I think we need.   A way to allow a group where no one knows anything about Hero can be introduced to it. 
 
 
 
 
 

Our prayers are with you.

Our prayers are with you.

Our prayers are with you.

Ten minutes ago, my wife tested positive.  She has a patient who has been off of isolation precautions for a week and a half who apparently was positive when he transferred in.  There is no chance that we haven't all been exposed.  Wife got tested because she developed symptoms yesterday.   I called work: I'm in quarantine, too, apparently.  Waiting till morning to contact the school to find out about the kids.
 
 

Ugh.
 
I find I never use powers that have limited uses because "there might be a greater need for them later and I don't want them to be all gone". 
 
And if playing a fantasy character, my character will still be carrying any non-healing potion at the end of the campaign that he started the campaign with.
 
I might as well take the Physical Complication: Tightwad for all my characters because if it's a tangible object, I don't want to use it up.

One in what, three decades?  I'm not sure anyone can match your knowledge or track record.  I know I can't.
 
I was only confident because I argued for the change in 6e due to the 5e FAQs.
 
The problem with Transfer was, once again, that it was a Drain (which should keep working as an attack) and an Aid (which has a cap). 
 
Once the call was made that Transfer stops Draining if the points have nowhere to go, the AoE became a problem.  Remove that call, and it's clear that Transfer is just a Drain with a Linked Aid, so why not get rid of all the problems with "Transfer as one Power" by making it the construct KS cited above?
 
I am pretty sure changes to Hand Attack over the years all arose from its effectiveness in prior games being problematic.  Aid acting as Healing - same issue.  Rules often change to address problems encountered in play.

From the 5e FAQ (which I think ended up in the 5er rules):
 
 
That FAQ also noted that you had to buy delayed fade rate twice, once for the Drain and again for the Aid, and do the same for Variable Effect.
 
BTW, Killer Shrike, Transfer was in 5e.  It was revised to a Linked Aid and Drain in 6e.

May I suggest Quatrefoil. A young British girl who controls the Ancient Elements earth, wind, fire, and water.
 
R for Renard. A French amphibian with shark-like abilities.

I agree with the reply above - this is  not renaming the Powers.  The Powers are the mechanic we use to build a specific ability.  Just calling that ability a magical spell, a talent or a superpower is transitioning the system mechanics into an actual game, adding flavour to the mechanics.  Naming the specific superpower, spell or talent is further adding flavour to the underlying mechanic. 
 
In my view, from Hero v1.0 to Hero v3.0, Hero published games which were constructed using the Hero System Mechanics, but that actual System was left in the background.  Starting with Hero 4.0, the System came to the forefront and was published first, then used to build games.  Except very few games were actually built by Hero.  At that time in the overall evolution of RPGs, publishers were discovering that adventures were poor sellers compared to splatbooks.  In Hero, we had the build tools, so splatbooks were simply application of the system to create specific abilities.
 
As we moved into 5e and 6e, we got even further away from ever using Hero to actually build and publish a game.  Nothing prevents it in principal.  As a familiar genre, let's pick Fantasy. 
 
Present the combat rules - only the dials, tweaks and optional rules to be used in this specific game.  Now we need Character Building Rules.
 
Characteristics don't change much from game to game, but caps might.  Perhaps every character gets "x" CP to spend on characteristics, and only on characteristics.  Maybe this is even maintained as they gain xp - you can only use a portion of xp, maybe at defined points in character advancement, to increase your characteristics.
 
Now, what other abilities do our characters have?  Well, one of the often-identified issues with Hero is analysis paralysis - the huge array of choices is tough for that newbie.  So let's narrow this based on the type of characters we want in our specific game.  The type of character you choose brings certain abilities.  We'll call those Templates for lack of a better term.  Let's have two types, a Background template (my character might be an Elf, a Dwarf, or come from various regions with, say, Egyptian, Celtic, Greco-Roman, Norse, whatever flavour).  Maybe they even get some different characteristics or other abilities direct from that background.  Our second Template will be Occupation - your training and role in the campaign.
 
Next we turn to Skills.  Again, maybe only a certain portion of your CP (at creation and as you gain xp) can be directed to skills.  Maybe this even depends on the type of character you have chosen, and perhaps the skills you can choose even depend on which character type you choose.  Let's call these character types Templates, for lack of a better word.   Or maybe each type has defined "skill sets" and gets an automatic skill level or two that applies specifically to those skills - Mage Skills, for example, or Priest Skills, Warrior Skills, etc.  Maybe we'll include some Perks in there.
 
Next, we turn to Powers (including frameworks as that's just a mechanic for buying powers).  We know that Powers can reach out and bring in Characteristics, Skills and even Perks.  As the broadest build mechanics, they have the broadest use.  Maybe they create Warrior Tricks (and/or we use Martial Arts for this purpose).  Perhaps we create Spells (both Arcane and Divine), and mechanics for purchasing them, separate for each Template (although multiple Templates might use the same mechanics, perhaps with different spells available).  Some SuperSkills for roguish characters, perhaps, or maybe special abilities for specific Templates, like Dwarven racial abilities, or  special abilities for the Psychic Template, the Touched by the Divine template or the Alchemist template.  But we don't give them unlimited choices - we design the spells and abilities available and, at various points in the character's xp climb, they get to pick new abilities, older ones get upgraded, etc.  Some might use a VPP which allows them to learn new abilities to choose from, and their development grows the number and power of those abilities they can have in use at any one time.
 
Complications might be divided up so that some come with certain Template choices (all Dwarfs are Avaricious, for example, and all Alchemists are Watched by their Guild), while others are free selection for all characters.
 
OK, what have we designed here?
 
Rename Templates "Race" and "Class", and I think you can see my background design model.  But we don't publish the system mechanics.  They know that a Lightning Bolt does as much as 10d6 Normal Damage in a Line beginning at the spellcaster.  They don't know it's a Xd6 Blast, Line Area, No Range.  Maybe it does an extra 50% damage against targets in metal armor.  They don't need to know that's an extra 5d6 Line Area, no Range, only vs targets in metal armor.  Maybe we make that data available somewhere (an appendix; an online document; whatever - depends how much we want the game to sell the system).
 
But we can make a game using Hero without explaining the design mechanics behind it.  We have just chosen not to do so, at least  not very often, since 3e.
 
 
It made the pricing consistent with the underlying system.  To the extent we agree with the choices made, like the pricing of Powers, Advantages and Limitations.  We have plenty of discussion on what a given limitation is actually worth.  And other games, with any system in the background and not published, have huge online discussions about "broken" and "useless" options.  Did it make Talents unnecessary?  As a separate mechanic, yes.  As a component of a Pulp game?  Not so much.
 
 
Here I am going to disagree 100%.  Talents were created for Justice Inc. They were not special cases which couldn't be appropriately constructed with the Powers rules.  Justice Inc. did not have powers.  They were unusual abilities that the Pulp characters in this specific game could possess.  They were, I expect, designed at least in part based on existing mechanics in the Champions games, but not as obviously or explicitly as Spells in the early Fantasy Hero games.  They were a named use of a system mechanic.  Were there any "OHR" (original Hero rules; 1st to 3rd Ed when Hero published games, not game systems) games which had both the Powers rules and Talents?
 
Instant Change from Transform?  Sure.  Transform Clothes.  They Heal Back either from a specific condition ("the user of the power withdraws it and they change back") or they Heal naturally (but clothes have  no REC score, so that will literally take forever), or they change back in 10 years' time automatically (but they probably get Instant Changed back before then or get damaged or destroyed).
 
EDIT:  Or we just accept that whether clothes heal or not is pretty much irrelevant to the game, and should have no cost.  It is therefore, for this specific power, handwaved a +0 Advantage or -0 Limitation.  Oh look - we have a mechanic for that too!
 
 
Sure.  How many shelves will it take to run a D&D/Pathfinder campaign?  Let's see, at a minimum, I need the core rules (1-2 volumes; Player's Handbook and DMs Guide for D&D) and a Monster Book.   But if I want more character races and classes and options, I need more books.  And if I want more monsters, I need more books.  If I want to flesh out that very bare-bones setting, I need more books.  And then we need Adventure Modules and Adventure Paths if I want to have someone else do that heavy lifting for me.  The only reason Pathfinder exists is that WotC figured out that adventures don't sell, so they stopped publishing them.  Enter Paizo, who thinks they can package adventures that sell.  And they did.  But then WotC decided they wanted that market back, so let's move D&D up an Edition, and Paizo developed Pathfinder to keep selling adventures.
 
If my Fantasy game above doesn't have the system behind it, then I can sell new spellbooks, Character Template books and Monster books.  Adventures were always an option - we just had to choose to make them.  But by the time Paizo proved adventures were a viable market (and I think the market grew as gamers aged and didn't have the time to devote to creating their own any more), Hero lacked the resources to engage in that kind of publishing effort - and the Hero market was a lot smaller than the d20 market.
 
 
And we come full circle.  There is no reason we can't have both - the games designed using Hero system, but presented without it, and the full-blown system in the background.  d20 has a greater system in the background.  First level damaging spells generally do 1d4 per level or two levels, and cap at 5d4.  Third level spells do 1d6 per level and cap out at 10d6.  And so on.  But they don't harp on it.  And they have specific SFX built into the milieu, so they know how much "only vs fire" is worth.  But we don't get to buy the design manual, just get an occasional peek behind the curtain, or intuit bits of it.
 
Web of Living Stone works great.  It's an Earth Magic spell for Entangle with whatever modifiers you want to slap on it.  And our Fantasy Game can certainly have Web of Living Stone, 3d6 Entangle, 6 Defense, which allows the caster to cause the earth to rise up and encase any or all selected targets within 10 meters of the caster.  The player does not need to know how that was constructed, or what changes you would make for it to be 6d6, 3 Defense, affect one target, automatically hit everyone in the radius, cover an area further away from the caster, etc.  Or that The Grove will Restrain You is not exactly the same construct other than using "only in treed areas" instead of "only on natural ground".
 
The issue is that, in 4e to 6e, the full mechanics have always been presented to everyone, and players have had unlimited choice in what abilities they will select, unless fettered by the GM.   But if Hero went back to publishing actual games, not presenting the full system design mechanics, that could easily be changed.  We could easily have a little "Powered by HERO" logo on the back cover, just like those "d20 System" logos and no one would have to know.
 

I think part of it, as I wrote earlier, is that they were treating the whole thing like a game, not seriously thinking about being killed. They were also caught up in the passion of the moment. Now they've cooled off, and reality is knocking very hard at their door. They were also part of a pack, and probably felt safety in their numbers. But each of them is facing these charges alone.

Multiform assumes nothing. The players and GM make the assumptions.

Beast Boy/Changeling is the poster child of Multiform. Every form he takes has the same personality; Gar Logan's.

That actually is kind of my plan for the Player's Guide.  The spells will have their stats (Mana cost, roll modifier, range, basic effect, description) but none of the crunch or details.  I'll save that for the Codex, which I might even put off publishing for a while since all anyone really needs is the Hero Designer files if they are desperate for the math and exact construction.  After all does anyone really need to know that this spell has this modifier, or do they just need to know the description and specific game effects (you have to gesture and concentrate)?

I wonder if, some day in the distant future, someone will post a picture of some product or business established in 2020/21 and comment on priorities during a pandemic.
 
 

Okay, and a few quick things I wanted to touch on (if no one objects) that I didn't even want to try to do on a phone on break at work. 
 
 
That's helpful, sure.  But that's not all that happened when the existing Talents were broken down that way.   First, the flavor of "Talents" was removed-- more on that later.
 
Second, --well, obviously the pricing was changed to match the various powers, etc, and just because I hadn't planned on bringing that up, and there is no need to detail that one, let me also lump into Second the valid complaint made by someone else (I couldn't find it again, or I'd have quoted it for proper attribution; I apologize) that it made Talents....  completely unnecessary.  
 
Third: It stopped them from being actual Talents.  Christopher- -and think one other person, but again: I couldn't find it-- mentioned in regard to problematic Power builds that didn't really replicate the Talent that you could "just handwave" the differences.
 
That's what Talents _were_.  They were special cases-- often cases of a single unique ability that _didn't_ quite fit into Power or Skill mechanics, and just as often things that were binary as opposed to graduated:  there weren't a lot of talents that you could by additional damage classes for, or extra effect for.  And now there aren't.  I can build Instant Change as T-form, blah-blah-blah.  But T-form let's me by additional dice.  There's also the "heal back" mechanic.  So now we just handwave that I won't heal back-- eliminate a mechanic from a unique power in spite of having worked some serious contortions to make it fit a power mechanic, then ultimately just gave up, beat it with a hammer until we got it lodged in the hole it doesn't quite pass through, and called it good enough.  So...  we gave up a unique mechanic:  I changed instantly-- and swapped it for the "more precise" build that requires handwaving.  Oh-- my Power Defense should require that I buy additional dice of Instant Change, shouldn't it?  Nah; handwave it.  Much better.
 
The accolades for these changes-- well, there are always going to be folks who like a change and folks who don't, so there's no point in arguing that.     However, the accolades that come specifically from those who have always proclaimed that precise mechanics are the heart and soul of the System...  those are a bit confusing with regard to some of the Talents build from Powers.
 
All that said, you are quite right:  Seeing them built that way?  It can help a new GM when trying to determine what a Talent might be worth or where he thinks it should be costed.  However, it overlooks both utility of the final build and the fact that Talents existed to _solve_ the Handwaving "problem."  There are many here who have voiced a serious disdain for handwaving, after all, yet the system was changed to create...  more of it?   
 
In the past, the general rule of thumb (at least for myself and the very few other GMs I know personally; I have never discussed this beyond that circle because-- well, because I had no intention of doing it that way anyhow, so it didn't matter at all to me) was to first try to find a power build.  If a precise power build couldn't be determined-- say there was some handwaving required-- Boom.  It was a Talent, and the mechanic for that Talent was "it makes X happen."  So you don't have "T-form, self-only, only to change Y (costume, form, shape-- whatever).   Other players start thinking "Hey, I've got T-form!  I should be able to do that, too!"   Well, there's a bit of handwaving that makes that happen--  "well why can't we wave that hand for me, too?!  I've got like nine dice of T-form! I paid way, way more!  I should be able to do it, too!"
 
Before:  "Well, I've got Instant Change, so poof; I'm a waswolf."  Man, I wish _I_ had instant Change.  Maybe I should have bought so much T-form....
 
(Yes; I know: Instant Change is a Power or something and not a Talent, but that just hit me, and I've done too much typing to redo it all.     Insert whatever "it was a Talent and now it's a power but requires some unique leeway to make it work right" build here, okay?   )
 
Showing one or two, an perhaps even "building" those examples from the ground up, noting things like "well, in the end, there's really not a lot of utility to Bump of Direction: just because you know which way is North doesn't mean that you know which corridor will get you there", etc-- let's just say its three points.  That sort of thing.  I think that would have been far more helpful, help control the Points Creep that each edition seems to add, _and_ preserved the idea _and the feel_ that Talents are truly unique things, and not just re-labeled Powers.  I mean, a lot of us already relabel powers anyway:  who has more than four characters whose sheets actually say "Energy Blast: ED" or "Blast: PD"?   Now who has character sheets that say things like "Voltaic Shock" or "Gout of Flames" or "Acid Blast" or "Big Ol' Gun"?  Congratulations.  By the new standards, those are now Talents, every single one of them.  Or there are no such things as Talents.  Take your pick.
 
On the plus side, it has legitimized a _lot_ of handwaving that some of us have been doing over the years for certain Power Builds simply by being a long, long list of Power Builds with handwaving.  So....  break even?  if "feel" isn't at all important to you, I mean?
 
 
 
No arguments here.  In fact, I think you'll find that there are lot of us here who have been saying the same thing.
 
 
 
And that hits the nail on the head, right there:  Very limited utility; how often does it come up?  Certainly not enough to by Detect plus Images: Audio  Hey, if you need frikkin' _Images_ to make light, then you should need _Images_ to make sound, right?  Of course, sound carries in a wide cone-- well, a radius, really, so buy a _lot_ of AoE for that...  So...  fifty points?  Fifty four?  Who cares?!  It's damned near a plot point instead of a build anyway, so _really_, what's it actually _worth_?
 
The other side of the coin is "if the player bought it, the GM is obliged to give him his value for it."  Well, since that schtick will get old in roughly two consecutive adventures or less, I'm wiling to be it's one of those things eventually just gets pushed off the table (making it another part of the system that you don't actually use).  As a point or two for a Talent, I can work it into an adventure a couple of times; sure.  As a Power build?  To get utility for points spent?  Nah.  Not going to build every third session around your singing voice, but thanks for asking.
 
 
 
Man, I don't even want to get started on the Grimoires.  We've got spells and variant spells and cantrips and such we've been using for years-- Crap!  I need to get back on that!  Sorry, Chris--!  Things got busy and it dropped off my radar....
 
Anyway:  Yes.  I like that, at least as of 5e Fantasy HERO, there were guidelines of "here is how a spell is built; have fun with it"  (I have yet to read FH 6e cover-to-cover.  I've skimmed it a few times, but Dude, that's a serious block of time when you're busy adulting....)   The official Grimoires are clearly written for people who are extremely experienced with the system, and an absolute hot mess for beginners wanting to learn.  And because of the layout, they are also a bit difficult to use a reference material.  Rather than special effect, grouping by -- what do we call it?  "Base Power?"  That would have been _much_ more helpful as a reference.  I am putting a lot of hope into Greg's Grimoire, and hope to get the POD soon.  As soon as I can figure out where I need to buy it and how I need to buy it to get the paper dolls, anyway.
 
 
 
 
Well, it does have Normal Characteristic Maxima-- I'm _not_ saying "that's a guideline," mind you: it's the closest thing we have to a guideline regarding Heroic Level _anything_, and we have to extrapolate from that:  if a really good sword roll can one-shot kill a guy, and his normal PD is-- wait!  A normal guy doesn't have rPD, so I have to do 21 Body to straight up murder him-- no; wait-- bleeding rules!  Most one-hit kills in adventure literature are mortal wounds so they can gasp or say something then die a phase or two later....  so...  11 Body...   an HKA is going to average 3.5 per die, so 3.5 or 4dice-- no!  Str Bonus, dammit! I forgot that!  It can only double, though....   how often does a normal strength character get a one-hit kill on an opponent...?  Okay, so 10 STR would add...   half a die?  Okay, so we're at 3 dice for the sword....
 
You see where I'm going, of course.  And you have to do that with _everything_ if you're using the System!  It's maddening!  Well, I suppose you don't.  You could by the system, the genre book, the weapons book (a large bulk of which features not-fantasy weapons, so that's fun if you're looking just to play fantasy).  You'll need to pick up at least one of the setting books, too....    Even then, you're not really going to have a guideline as such for character building.  You may (or may not) get some prebuilt weapons or spell ideas, though.  
 
You can see the problem:  if you want an off-the-shelf fantasy game, you're going to need an entire shelf to store it on.  Oh, crap!  Adventures!  Campaigns!   There are "seeds" through most of the modern stuff, but let's face it:  "Seeds" boil down to "put in that same level of work, add some basic cartography, and point your efforts in this general direction," and as such, for the new-to-HERO GM, are nowhere near as helpful as we try to convince ourselves they are.  I believe there are a few PDF adventures (haven't looked in a long, long time) and some of the HoC stuff may include adventures; I don't know.  As it is, you can't use the seeds unless you are already very experienced _or_ have some guidelines, and are willing to put in the work to build the world (or buy the world) in which the adventure (that you will also have to build and populate) takes place.
 
 
 
 
 
 
You have clearly not been playing UNO with the right people.  It's an absolute tactical assault when we get together, with loads of political intrigue as alliances are forged and dropped repeatedly-- and in some cases, outright purchased with bribes and promises...  There's really nothing like leaving a guy or two with twenty cards in his hand when you slap that last card on the table.... 
 
 
 
This was you, right?
 
Tireless: Reduced Endurance 1⁄2 on Strength, Leaping, and Running
10 Planted: Knockback Resistance 10m
38 Tough: Resistant Protection 15 PD, 10 ED 10 Tough: Power Defense 10
8 Tough: Life Support Extended Breathing (1 END/5min)
 
 
That's from you (truly excellent) 6e revamp of the Island of Doctor Destroyer.
 
Those are renamed powers.
 
 
Renaming the powers though, that's a relative term.  I mentioned that I know two people who started with Fantasy HERO (original edition).  For them, the HERO System is "renamed Spell Components." 
 
It's all about perspective.  It's also the drawback to "accessing the code" for the program you're running.    Either it's hidden, or it isn't.  If you prefer it hidden, you either need to not be a GM or stay away from the HERO System, because the GM is all up in it.  
 
However, the powers alone are not the only place from which the "magical feel" is drawn:  There is the magic system you will build as well.  Most of us, I think, put a lot of work into making sure it's not just "I use a power and mark off the Endurance," but something that feels as though the character is drawing from some external well of energy or truly manipulating the very fabric of reality.  You have to rename _everything_: the Powers, the Advantages, the Adders, the Limitations-- not just rename them, but how do they _look_?  How do they _feel_?  I mentioned just a couple of days ago that rather than "Extra Time," I use things like "Ritual" or "Complex Arrangements" or "Righteous Prayer" or whatever.  It's _all_ Extra Time, ultimately, but _not to the players_.     Knowing that it's Extra Time-- well, that's the GM's curse, and the price you pay to run a HERO-driven game.
 
At least, it is _now_.  Now that it's a generic system with genre books and a have-at-it attitude.  I _wish_ I could tell you that it doesn't _really_ sap some of the feel-- some of the fun-- from the GM, but I can't.  However, Powers or Spells, I will always prefer "Web of Living Stone" to "Entangle."
 
Still, that doesn't mean it has to affect the players the same way.  Honestly, I think this is why so many of us make the use of magic skill-based: just to move that little bit away from "I attack him with my Energy Blast!"  It doesn't necessarily mean that as the GMs we don't know that Brushain the Sorcerer isn't just attacking him with his Energy Blast, but it still makes it easier for us to sell it to the players.  No reason _they_ can't have fun, right?   
 
 
 
 
 

Yeah but I wasn't being clear.  FH 1st edition had different names for the base powers.  Force Field was called Ward, for example.  Life Support was called Adapt, Flash was called Dazzle. They had magical sounding names instead of Superhero sounding names.  It was a great feeling idea, but... it leads to needless confusion and duplication, and doesn't really enhance anything except my sense of satisfaction.
 
Giving a name to someone's built power is different than renaming the base powers that people build with.

As I read that "mob justice", I see a certain irony.  Agreed that "You should get what you were trying to give" is vengeance, not justice.

Henry was doing math homework, saying to himself...
"2+5, the son of a bitch is 7"
"3+6, the son of a bitch is 9"
His mother heard this & asked, " Henry ! What is this nonsense you are doing?"
"Oh Mom. Don't worry. I am just doing my math homework."
Mom: "Is this how your teacher taught you?"
"Yes, mom."
Infuriated mother picked up her cell phone and called the teacher:
"Are you teaching math to children by saying... "2+2, the son of a bitch is 4?"
There was silence for a moment then the teacher started laughing :
"What I taught them was... "2+2 THE SUM OF WHICH IS 4."

The challenge here is addressing the misperception that "socialism" (or even communism) is incompatible with "democracy".  Perhaps it is time to rename the terms.  Socialism is tainted.  So find a new name for policies like universal health care and affordable education.
 
We live in a buzzword-based society.  The term "socialism" has been buzzworded away from what it actually means.  So create a new term.  Reframe the debate.  "Universalism" - everybody should be equal and have access to health care and affordable education.  "Elitism" - only the Wealthy 1% are entitled to health care and education - the rest should just toil away in illness and ignorance to enrich them.  Wow, who can argue in favour of elitism?

The challenge here is addressing the misperception that "socialism" (or even communism) is incompatible with "democracy".  Perhaps it is time to rename the terms.  Socialism is tainted.  So find a new name for policies like universal health care and affordable education.
 
We live in a buzzword-based society.  The term "socialism" has been buzzworded away from what it actually means.  So create a new term.  Reframe the debate.  "Universalism" - everybody should be equal and have access to health care and affordable education.  "Elitism" - only the Wealthy 1% are entitled to health care and education - the rest should just toil away in illness and ignorance to enrich them.  Wow, who can argue in favour of elitism?

Q: What's the difference between Mordor and the United States Capitol building?
 
 

I'd like to attach a rider to that Bill!  This approach can also really help out the good player.  The one who might be thinking "it feels like I have been pretty lucky so far, and my character is pretty cautious - maybe he should stop and check around.  Or am I only thinking that because I rolled that 15 - my character does not know he rolled a 15."  Since the player does not know he rolled a 15, he is not forced to second-guess whether he really is playing the character, or is being influenced by metagame considerations and player knowledge.

Unpopular thought that needs to be said:
 
We are seeing the end results of thirty years worth of the politics of disenfranchisement.  We sowed these seeds when we started laughing as politicians belittled "the other guys" and accepted comments like "they cant help it" and "they will never learn" and "you cant teach them" and "they have to stay in the back seat."
 
For thirty years, we have laughed at the defeat of our opponents, and joined in dehumanizing them.
 
This is what we built; this is what we deserve.
 
I sont know if he actually said it, but often-attributed to Franklin:  "a Republic.... If you can keep it."
 
When the going was tough, we pulled together.  When things fot comfortable, we attacked each other.