Fred Lang

Re: Steve's Chat Tonight (Thursday, Feb. 3) Those of us with Asian wives we want to keep happy will be eating with family for Chinese New Year tonight--or I'd be there in a flash! "Hear" you at the next one!

Re: Well, hello there, HERO System! (New Guy) Thanks! PM sent to Steve. Much appreciated, G-A!

Re: Well, hello there, HERO System! (New Guy) Argh. I'm getting incredibly long delays on responses I post here--everything I say has to be personally approved by a moderator is the message I get when I post. I am very interested in HERO, so don't mistake these delays for disinterest. It's frustrating to have the flow of the conversation interrupted like this...Grr. ;-)

Re: Well, hello there, HERO System! (New Guy) I've found two pieces of errata in my readings so far, and they aren't reflected in the official 6E errata section of the website, if this is where I'm supposed to look for that kind of thing: http://tinyurl.com/4wyt6q6 For some reason, the HERO site moves along at an excruciatingly slow pace--slow (or nonexistent) page loads, etc.--so I can't find a suitable place to post my finds. If some friendly HERO could link me there, I'd be happy to contribute!

Re: Well, hello there, HERO System! (New Guy) Argh! I'll be knee-deep in getting my porfolio ready for Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle this month, so I will miss DunDraCon. I have 7 comic cons on my 2011 schedule (tickets already bought for most) scattered all around the country, with gaps in between to tweak whatever the comics companies think needs tweaking so that I can get on with one of the larger companies. Once I get the nod and regular work somewhere, I'll be free to attend some cons for fun--for now, it's all cons for WORK. ;-)

Re: Strongbow's Art Thread!

Re: Well, hello there, HERO System! (New Guy) Thanks for the warm welcome, everyone! I'm still reading along, and I'm enjoying what I see. Still haven't figured out the reasons for some things (why the Strength table begins to jump increments as opposed to having a steady STR 1, 2, 3, 4, 5..., for instance), but I love the feel of the game rules so far. Though it may not matter to many, I am also really impressed with the look and feel of the HERO 6E rule books themselves. I love the blue covers, the solidity of the binding and overall construction of the books, the well-laid interiors, the highlighted subsections, and the visual breathing room inside the pages that make it less daunting than it could be with so many rules and items to follow. Add to that the thick pages that are easy to grasp and turn, a readable typeface and friendly tone to the prose, and I'm sold. (Yes, I admit that I am particular about some things, and printing is one of them. HERO 6E gets an A+ from picky Strongbow on this point.) Again, thank you. It's not often that the Big Shots will respond to a meager little "Howdy" thread like this, so that's another big selling point. Knowing that the folks in charge of the book still pay attention is something I haven't seen yet. I'm impressed. Onward!

***Posted this elsewhere, and it was immediately noted by a forumite that this post belongs here.*** I'm a comic book artist living in San Francisco, trying to hit the big time in 2011. Figured I'd introduce myself down here with an art thread. Here's my newest piece. "DOOM DEMANDS YOU CROSS SAFELY" is my entry into the SKETCH Magazine contest this month, which asks for art depicting a favorite villain doing something heroic or nice. So here's DOOM directing traffic as a crossing guard for kids. Of course, DOOM does not stoop to actually holding a sign (though he did agree to wear the dorky reflective vest--hmm...), so his DOOMbots flash the "STOP" sign for him, complete with flashing lights...and an explosive mine function if anyone disobeys him. This is my first-ever ink job with Manga Studio EX4. I can't describe to you the joy of using this program. Truly a comic book artist's dream.

I'm 40 pages into my first contact with the HERO System (6E), and I like what I see. I'm a sucker for giant rule books, and HERO does not disappoint! In that first 40 pages, I've already seen ~8 mentions of ways to avoid abusing the rules. I wonder if the HERO system, because of its open-endedness, is more prone to abuse than other RPGs? GURPS 4E, which I'm more familiar with, is another "Universal" RPG rule set, but there aren't nearly the same number of warnings about unbalanced characters and games in the rules for that system--and GURPS is as close as I can get to an "apples to apples" comparison, given my limited understanding of HERO 6E. I'm looking forward to exploring HERO 6E and delving through the forum here. Now I just need to find a game in San Francisco...