Lord Liaden

Re: Anyone got a Superman Write-up? There are actually a lot of Superman HERO writeups out on the Internet, based on different sources (Golden or Silver Age, comics or animated, etc.) and individual interpretations. They vary quite a bit in details and power level. Here's a selection of some of the most accessible writeups. Note that several of these are for Fourth Edition HERO, but the differences are pretty minor: http://surbrook.devermore.net/adaptionscomic/aju/Superman.HTML http://surbrook.devermore.net/adaptionscomic/superman.html http://www.sysabend.org/champions/gnborh/text/Superman1950-mi.txt http://www.sysabend.org/champions/gnborh/text/Superman-mi.txt http://www.sysabend.org/champions/gnborh/text/SupermanGA1-sb.txt http://www.sysabend.org/champions/gnborh/text/SupermanGA2-sb.txt http://www.sysabend.org/champions/gnborh/text/Superman-sb.txt http://www.sysabend.org/champions/gnborh/text/Superman-mm.txt http://www.sysabend.org/champions/gnborh/text/Superman-el.txt http://www.sysabend.org/champions/gnborh/text/Superman-ms.txt http://www.sysabend.org/champions/gnborh/html/Superman-wj.html

Re: 6th Edition thoughts

Re: 6th Edition thoughts To be honest, I believe that with Fifth Edition, Revised the core HERO System has evolved about as far as it can in its current form. In that book we have all the core rules and many of the optional ones; tons of examples of superpowers, magic spells, tech, weapons of all periods, vehicles, computers and Lord-all; chargen tutorial, combat example, and genre-emulating advice; and sample characters from most genres. Everything is organized, categorized, indexed, and clarified to within an inch of its life. Most of the changes that have been proposed - redefining the cost of certain Characteristics, eliminating the Figured element of Characteristics, changing how Killing Attacks work, etc. - are IMHO in the grand scheme of things just fiddly tweaks which don't fundamentally alter the game. I doubt that all of them taken together would really justify putting out an all-new Sixth Edition, especially since there's no concensus among HEROdom as to what should be changed. Any such modifications would largely be the personal preferences of whoever at Hero Games was put in charge of the project. And let's face it, we all make such modifications to our individual games already. If there was ever to be a Sixth Edition, I for one would only support it if it were a radical departure from what's gone before. I would say, leave the Fifth Edition for those of us who like detailed, layered rules. For Sixth Edition, go for simplified, stripped-down core mechanics, with options to modify them to the complexity that individual gamers want. There have been proposals for such things here on the boards before: eliminate Energy Blast, Killing Attack, Strength damage, and replace them with a generic Attack Power; chuck Force Field, Armor, Normal and Resistant Physical and Energy Defense, in favor of generic Defense; then use Modifiers to customize them to work as desired. Keep a few primary Characteristics, but with the cost for them based on campaign parameters, and any Figured Characteristics based on what would be used in the campaign (e.g. all BODY Damage with no STUN, Endurance or not, Sanity or Mana stats in game genres that would use them). I'm not saying that those specific changes should necessarily be made, but that's the direction I would go. Define the core elements and basic mechanics of HERO, and then provide the tools for gamers to infinitely customize them. Use those tools to create settings and prebuilds as examples of how that could be done, each one tailored to the basic assumptions of that setting within that genre. That, to me, would justify a Sixth Edition. (Just so you know where I'm coming from, I'm actually happy with HERO the way it is, and would like to keep Fifth Edition material around for others like myself even if something like what I describe came about - kind of a "New and Classic Coke" arrangement.)

Re: Accidental Hero ID Nothing at all. Your question simply sparked a tangential debate about the system rules and how to use them. Quite a common thread mutation around here, and not your fault - we're just a creative and opinionated bunch. However, when you brought up "citations" it sounded like you were looking for official examples in published Hero Games books that you possessed, especially since everyone tellling you that it was legal, and mentioning books in which it's used, didn't appear to satisfy you. All of Killer Shrike's examples from above are of course unpublished fan creations; but if we'd realized that you simply wanted writeups using that construct to look at, we could have directed you to such examples from the start and saved all of us a little angst. Just a bit of miscommunication.

Re: Moden Ruins These would be so inspirational for horror games, or post-apoc. Some of those photos give me the willies!

Re: Anyone combine Champs with Call of Cuthulu? I would not want to find my starship caught in Quemetiel's gravity well!!

Re: potion

Re: Homebrew Organizations Well, a lot of super-technology is not in the public domain; it's secret and unpatented like Iron Man's armor, or perhaps stolen from another source like a supervillain or other criminal organization. Therefore it's not protected by law. If the Guild of Swords steals that character's technology it may be impossible for the hero to file charges against them without making his tech public, or revealing his secret ID, or bringing the original inventors of it down on his head. To openly oppose the heroes, the Guild need only field operatives who are not known to be connected to the Guild, at least in any way that can be proven in court. Right now I'm thinking of supertech-equipped agents codenamed after various types of swords, perhaps related to their unique styles, or even region of origin: "Rapier," "Scimitar," "Katana" etc. Of course if the Guild members have wealth and influence, they can always attack the heroes through more circumspect but completely legal channels: harrassing lawsuits, negative publicity, hostile takeovers of the heroes' financial assets, and the like.

Re: If YOU have been playing Hero since the 80's why do you still keep coming back?

Re: potion One published method for potion making that's been around for a while, is to have an alchemist or similar potion-brewer buy each potion that he can make as a Power that requires an Expendable Focus (ingredients), with a Trigger (drinking it, splashing it on yourself, etc.), and Usable On Others. The character buys the potion Power once, then can store any number of potions for later use, and give (or sell) them to other people to use. This makes the potion-maker simply another type of spellcaster, balanced with other spell casters in your campaign.

Re: CU question: See through super material? proditor, I was looking through Hidden Lands when a thought struck me. There is a super-strong transparent material in the current CU: crystallos, created by the Lemurians. Now, crystallos is the product of secret Lemurian alchemical processes, which may not work for your purposes; except that the Lemurians used it to create exactly the kind of underwater domes it sounds like you're looking for. As the Lemurian population diminished over time, many of their domed outposts were abandoned. According to HL, one could discover one of these outpost domes anywhere around the Indian Ocean. Someone using one of these domes to establish a new underwater base might at any time accidentally uncover an ancient Lemurian technomagic device, abandoned golem, or even a long-lost colony of Mole Men. Could make things interesting.

Re: Space Wizards (info, advice, & suggestions sought) Well, I am curious as what your position might be on alien gods/spiritual entities. The official CU sourcebooks seem to follow the usual mainstream comic tack, in that Earth is unusual in having real mythological gods who walk the contemporary world; but in an era of high magic it doesn't necessarily have to be unique in that regard. In fact Desert Dragon, of the Sword of Ackal in Galactic Champions, was apparently granted her powers by one such Ackalian spirit. I was thinking that certain alien religions might lend themselves to beings with "divine" origins, such as the Avatars of the Velarian Scomaru Shaan.

Re: Anyone combine Champs with Call of Cuthulu? In Champions In 3-D the adventure was called "Horror World," but Allen prefers the title "ANOPHELES: Atrocities From Beyond." IMHO this is the most successful merger of horror and supers that I've seen, and explicitly stated as inspired by Lovecraft. Mr. Varney has kindly put the entire text of the adventure up on his personal website (with Hero Games's kind permission): http://www.allenvarney.com/anopheles.html . I was also partial to the Champs adventure Demons Rule by Charles Brown. That one actually set part of the action in rural New England, with the writings of pulp horror author "Howard Pickman" playing a pivotal role in the action. BTW Mr. Brown has errata to DR, and a couple of characters cut from the final published version of the adventure, on his website devoted to the pre-5E incarnation of DEMON: http://members.aol.com/DEMONTh254/Driver.html . (Click on the link in the lefthand menu entitled "The Black Files.) If you did want to combine Champions with Call of Cthulhu, I'd suggest following the link in my signature, then scrolling down to the CoC listing. Lots of material from that game, and the Mythos in general, converted to HERO.

Re: Darkseid? But the HERO System is a really big box and one heck of a shoehorn.

Re: Space Wizards (character info) I know you'd prefer suggestions on how to mingle non-mystic characters into your Space Wizards setting; but it occurred to me that while Takofanes crumbled to dust went the magic went away, his Dragon Crown and Scepter of the Undying King probably didn't. They could make for a good villain origin, or MacGuffins in an adventure.

Re: A possibly dumb question I agree with Zeropoint; the changes between 4E and 5E are mostly small, and the ones that aren't are usually easy enough to figure out in context. For pre-4E Champions, though, the changes are more substantial. If you follow the link in my signature, below, and scroll down to the listing for "HERO SYSTEM (Pre-Fifth Edition)," you'll be able to find summaries of the differences between the current edition of the rules and earlier ones. You can also view fan-created updates of some of the older published material.

Re: Working on New Constantinople Perhaps the Asian percentage of the population, and therefrom the Other Religions, should be higher. For more than the past ten years, by far the highest percentage of immigration to West Coast port cities has been from Asian countries. Do you have a name for the river that runs through the city? I was thinking the Cox River, as the basis for the previously- and unfortunately-named "Cox Falls."

Re: Darkseid? John Desmarais's version of Darkseid and the Omega Effect from The Great Net Book Of Real Heroes is closer to what Steriaca and ChaosDrgn are talking about. It is for 4E HERO, but not much would change for it under 5E: http://www.sysabend.org/champions/gnborh/text/Darkseid-jd.txt

Re: Space Wizards (character info) Plainly the palindromedary is not a poet. Just in case that was genuine incomprehension, you can check the second definition in these dictionary entries for each of those words: http://www.bartleby.com/61/91/A0239100.html http://www.bartleby.com/61/92/A0239200.html It's extrapolated from the fact that the flowers of the amaranth last an unusually long time before fading after being cut. Poets imagined an idealized version, as poets are wont to do. BTW did Lucius enjoy the flowers of the pigweed's cousin, the Love-Lies-Bleeding?

Re: Working on New Constantinople Why do you think I don't use my real name online?!

Re: Working on New Constantinople I think the sports teams are nicely thought out, especially the varying fortunes of New Con's franchises, and the personal stories around them. (I've been chuckling over "Achilles' heel" all day.) Thanks also for the hockey support - although I'm apparently one of the few Canadians who doesn't like hockey.

Re: Space Wizards (character info)

Re: Space Wizards (character info) So, I guess Arvad the Betrayer will be stuck on Earth too, unless he chose to give up rule of Lemuria before the barrier came down. I'm not sure I follow the rationale for cutting off these planets from the rest of the galaxy. It seems to limit the potential elements that GMs could bring into the setting, as well as familiar Earthly elements of the CU that folks could relate to. But I would be prepared to be schooled.

Re: Space Wizards (character info) Very interesting notion, but you'd have to come up with a good rationale as to why a particular hero was transported, probably having to do with his powers and/or origin. Dr. Destroyer's death ray wasn't really a time-travel device. And we wouldn't want to cheapen the Battle of Detroit by sparing too many of the heroes who supposedly died there.

Re: Patriotic Heroes Enola Gay! (Okay, maybe not.)