Zelski

Re: Looking For Input On Potential New Fantasy Product I am late to this thread and not a common poster (my account is many years old, but my first true post was earlier today) but I thought I would weigh in a bit here. To Jason's first (?) question: given the options you seem to have offered, I prefer the standalone book. The reason is that if you went with a non-standalone, and the book pointed back at another book for rules, why would it be Champions Complete? If you are pointing back, point to 6th edition core books, reprinting them if necessary. That was the whole point of having core books in the first place. To his next question (3 things): clearly all of HERO has customization/flexibility, so that goes without saying even though I just did... Balance - In D&D low levels, mages had little to contribute while fighters could wade into combat. At high levels, mages were like nukes and fighters didn't matter. In HERO things are balanced and scalable. Even if power-gamers try to crush the system, point maxima, suggested optimization, and the like can more easily stop them, too. Non-combat Characterizations - HERO has important facets like skills and disadvantages that often have no combat use. While other systems have non-combat stuff, I never see them actually used in game very much, but in HERO, I do. Fantasy Combat Options - I see a few things about HERO combat that make it "better" than most systems: hit location, ablative armor, END/STUN/BODY, and probably a lot more that I am not thinking of right now. This means combat makes a kind of sense that others don't. Many friends ran away from D&D in the early 80s because of warts such as an 8th level fighter versus 20 farmers with pitchforks. Buying a helmet (or caring about helmets in the first place) is pointless without called shots/hit location. Killing Attacks (more common in fantasy) mean actually getting hurt. As for the distribution question, do what ever gets more new people in. I know few people playing any RPG, but of those who do, it is hard to convince them to leave D&D. Right now, the second most common system that folks I know are playing is Fiasco, and well, I'm not sure that's really a HERO competitor right now, as it is more like collaborative writing.

I was contemplating a purchase of some books just before Christmas, but I had a few problems with my login. Those are fixed now and I am again thinking about buying some books. Two books I am potentially interested in are 6th ed Star Hero and 6th ed Fantasy Hero. I already own 5th ed for both books. I'm sure these questions have been asked a bunch of times, but can anyone tell me about the differences? Are there different characters, villains, magic items, spaceship builds, etc., between the two editions? Are the mechanical updates revelatory (in a genre sense) so that I would gain a bunch by buying the 6th ed to learn, for example, space combat? I have heard that Fantasy Hero has sold out of the online store, but I saw a copy in my local gaming store last Wednesday, so I should be able to get it. Star Hero is still available in the online store. Also, are there other genre books that would benefit in this question? There was/is a Champions 5th & 6th (and also a Champions Complete). But is there a 6th ed Dark Champions/Horror Hero/Western Hero/etc. that I didn't think of here? Thanks