Lord Liaden

It is in the FAQ: in "About Hero Games", under "Commonly-used abbreviations." There are a lot of links on this site, but they're all worth exploring. Never know when you'll find a golden nugget.

Derek Hiemforth has compiled a listing of virtually every book ever published with HERO System stats, including quite a few details about their appearance, how they were packaged, etc. on his website. You can find the list here: http://rhinobunny.com/derek/champions/herogameslist.html

Sorry, morgann, didn't realize what you were going for. I'm not that familiar with Fuzion, but if what I describe is too much HERO System, you should have no trouble converting given their similarities. Personally, I would simulate "Bullet Time" as Missile Deflection, with the special effect of dodging incoming projectiles. Here are a few other classic "super" martial arts abilities that have floated around Hero Games books for a while: Aid to Dexterity based on an Analyze Style skill roll, Self Only and Only vs one foe, reflecting your familiarity with your opponent's martial art style; Kiai or war-shout, Presence Aid; Combat Skill Levels which cost Endurance, for when a fighter really has to go "all out" to beat a foe; Offensive Powers with Damage Shield, to simulate "instant counterpunching"; Armor Piercing Advantage on Strength or an offensive Power, for very focussed blows; Autofire on Strength or an offensive Power, for multiple blows in a Phase against a single attacker or multiple nearby attackers. The latter can also be simulated with Selective Area of Effect; Invisible Power Effects for Strength or an offensive Power, representing blows so quick that an opponent can't see them to defend against; Indirect on Strength or an offensive Power, to strike an opponent on the other side of a barrier by transmitting force through it; Damage Reduction, Only vs an attack you're aware of, the classic "bracing for a blow"; Gliding, Only for not leaving tracks, the "hing kung" technique; DCV levels that Require an Acrobatics Skill Roll, for those defensive leaps and flips; "Array" fighting, Aid to DEX, Self Only and Only when within a few meters of other specified persons, reflecting having trained to fight as a team; Ranged Attack Powers bought through an OIF: Object of Opportunity, representing the character's ability to accurately throw any suitably hard and heavy object that he can lay hands on. Hope those help.

Personally I think you're overestimating the difficulties, particularly if you and your players are familiar with 4E, but fair enough. The advice still stands, though. Ninja HERO is loaded with gaming advice and genre conventions that could be used to enrich a martial arts game no matter what system you play in. And the differences between 4E and 5E are relatively minor and easy to work around, so that the sample powers and characters in NH would be very usable to you.

I concur with Tom. The guidelines, examples and characters in the new Ninja HERO would be invaluable for this type of campaign.

One of the staples of mainstream comic books is the "miracle material": a substance with extraordinary properties that allows for super-technology, unusual abilities for characters, plots involving acquiring or overcoming these materials, etc. Adamantium, vibranium, unstable molecules, and so on. The official Champions Universe has several "uncanny metals" and the superpower-inducing mineral kelvarite. I was wondering what miracle materials other Champions gamers have introduced into their campaigns? Some of the above-mentioned classics are to be expected, but I'd particularly like to hear about original substances that you've created to serve particular needs or purposes in your campaign - the exchange of ideas could be profitable. Some that I've used include: Ballisdex. The infamous "bulletproof spandex" that so many superhero armored costumes seem to be made of. Difficult and expensive to manufacture, the material has "chainlinked molecular bonds" (comic pseudoscience) which allows the energy of impacts to be dispersed throughout the material rather than staying at the point of impact; Catalyte. This rare element (probably of extraterrestrial origin) vastly increases the efficiency of nuclear reactions, so that they require much less energy to start. Makes compact fusion reactors practical, and even allows for "cold fusion" devices; Questonite (not "Questionite"!). I salvaged this material from the pre-Fifth Edition Champs Universe. It's not metal, but an ultra-strong plastic. It can be made transparent, suitable for windows in deep-sea submersibles, visors for armor, viewports in super-prison cell doors, and the like. Also a nasty suprise for all those magnetic-based supers with metal affecting powers. Anyone else?

Mental Combat uses a character's EGO rather than DEX to determine when he acts in a Phase. The Ultimate Mentalist recommended mentalists buy "lightning reflexes" for their EGO rather than their DEX: 1 Char. Pt. per +1 EGO only to go first with one action or Power, 3 pts. per +2 EGO with all mental Powers or actions, same as with normal Lightning Reflexes. Note that this would only apply to EGO-based abilities. If a character had a higher EGO than DEX he could act as ranked by his EGO score, but would forfeit actions governed by his DEX rank, like half-moves and physical attacks.

I will offer suggestions, but first... Yamo, the implications of this statement make me wonder whether your assumptions about spellcasting might be at the root of your problem. This is a very D&D approach to mages, turning them into mobile artillery at higher levels. Virtually nowhere in source literature or legend does a mortal wizard have the capacity to just wave his hands, say a few words and wipe out an army; at best that's a capability reserved for the gods. Spells of that magnitude are certainly available to wizards of epic high fantasy, but they normally have a lot of conditions that limit their use: require elaborate apparatus, special materials, great concentration and skill to cast, time-consuming ceremonies, only function at a certain time or in a certain place, etc. That actually works much better from a story point of view, since it allows heroes opportunities to disrupt a casting the completion of which would spell their doom - gives 'em a chance to be heroic. The D&D style "super mage" has always been considered to be the most unbalanced character class in the game, wimpy at low levels, overwhelming at high levels. D&D has tried to balance this by artificially weakening the mage's abilities in hand-to-hand combat and related areas, leaving magic as his main combat capability. HERO doesn't do that as a default; magicians can wear armor, use swords, have stealth-related skills, etc. They can be similar to other characters, except that they have other abilities that those characters don't have. Remember that all characters can get their weapons and armor for free in heroic-level games. From this point of view, HERO is supremely balanced for fantasy. It requires your spells to either cost a great deal if they're not heavily limited, so that your character's point cost reflects how much more powerful he is than non-spell casters; or else have enough Limitations on spells that their Real Cost is more in line with Skills and Talents available to non-magical characters. This was the model presented in the 4E version of Fantasy HERO, which I've followed for years and been quite satisfied with. Having said all that, I realize that you may still prefer to go with a super mage type, which is completely your choice. So, as promised, here are a few suggestions more in line with your original request: Go with the Multipower framework, but have separate Multipowers for different classes of spells: either a particular style or discipline (illusion, necromancy, divination, etc.) or spells with particular game effects (offensive, defensive, movement). People wanting spells in a certain category would have to buy a Multipower to at least the Active Points of the largest spell they want to use. Another way to balance the Multipower appoach is to limit the total number of spells a character can have access to, to the number of points of a Characteristic that he has (probably INT), so that the character has to buy up his INT to increase the number of spells in addition to adding a Multipower slot. Alternatively, the characters could have to buy a "Spell Research" skill which they must successfully use outside of game-session time in order to add a new spell to their repertoire. If the Research roll is modified by the Active Points in the spell being researched, the caster would have to invest more points in the Skill to successfully research powerful spells, and/ or take more time to research the spell which would slow the spellcaster's advancement. Good luck, and don't give up on HERO for fantasy.

One of the many cool GMing tips I picked up from Aaron Allston's Strike Force is that you don't always have to work out a detailed backstory for every character you introduce into a campaign. Sometimes it's better to let the campaign do that for you. With some characters and their plot elements (and I think the Monster is a prime candidate), as long as you as GM have a general idea of how you want to use him, you can leave the character's background mysterious until developments in the campaign create the perfect tie-in for him. Then you can tell your players that that's what you intended for the character all along, and look like a genius.

Then I'd say you're on the right track. The point at which the character "snaps" would be the point at which the Transform takes effect. The nice thing about making the attack a NND defended by an EGO roll is that the stronger-willed (higher EGO) individuals will withstand the effects longer. But each time they fail a roll the Transform accumulates, until they reach their limit. BTW, the "Horror World" section of C 3-D is an object lesson on how to introduce horror elements to a game featuring super heroes, who normally laugh at vampires and mad slashers. The menace of Horror World is something that simply can't be defeated by shear force. It's also the most brilliantly terrifying setting ever written for a supers game IMHO. Be warned that if you decide to run it, it could be quite disturbing to your players unless they're into this sort of thing.

Well, "Nato" is actually Nate Barnes, who has done artwork for HERO, so that just might be the connection he was hinting at.

Welcome to the HERO community, Glabutz! You're in for a lot of fun. Don't hesitate to ask questions here; we were all newbies once, and all of us are eager to help a new comrade (and show off how much we know). For example: If you click on the "Free Stuff" link at the top of this page, then click on "HERO System Documents", you'll find "The HERO System Genre by Genre". This is a free 41-page PDF file which you can download. It describes several different genres of games, their main conventions and how to do them in HERO terms, one or two sample characters for each genre, and sample powers/ spells/ equipment etc. There's a section on Cyberpunk gaming, with a sample character and some prebuilt cyberware. If you're familiar with the cyberpunk genre, this plus the Fifth Edition rulebook (FREd) should be enough to start your campaign, although you'll have to build your world yourself. There is more material available in Star HERO, plus the now out-of-print Cyber HERO genre book for the previous (4th) edition of the game system. If you have any interest in Japanese manga and anime, Michael Surbrook has written an excellent manga-style cyberpunk sourcebook for the HERO System, called Kazei 5, for sale as a downloadable electronic book in Hero Games's Online Store (the link for that is at the top of this page, too). There would probably be a lot of material there that you could use. Hope you find something useful in all of that.

There have been several methods of doing this defined in HERO. The free HERO System Genre by Genre pdf suggests in its Horror section assigning a figured Sanity (SAN) Characteristic depleted by exposure to truely horrific events - it goes into more detail. The old 4th Ed. supplement Horror Hero had much more elaborate rules on dealing with the long-term effects of stressful situations, both as big events like PRE attacks, and as being in a moderately stressful environment for a prolonged period. A couple of 4E books, notably Champions in 3-D ("Horror World") and Creatures of the Night, presented this effect as a Power which the appropriate horrors bought: essentially a Transform, AE, NND (EGO Roll), combined with other Powers such as EGO Drain and/or extra Presence only vs those who fail the EGO roll. Note that in each of these cases, the effect is gradual and cumulative, although most normal people (with Characteristics in the Average range) will succumb fairly quickly, while the stronger-willed hero types will resist longer.

Not true! Foxbat is actually quite capable as a combatant. In fact, he could probably succeed at whatever he wants to do. He just has no idea what that is.

My experience has been that the Hit Location rules often allow for that. Most people discussing Hit Locations emphasize how they can add to lethality in combat, which is certainly true, but the opposite can be true too. On a random HL roll you'll be hitting a limb or extremity almost half the time, which reduces the Body damage by half. Factor in a low damage roll and maybe a little resistant defense, and you often end up taking only 1 or 2 body even from a stroke from a large melee weapon.

Mythic Greece is a generally excellent campaign book for fantasy gaming in the Age of Heroes, and has writeups for almost all the mythic gods. It's written under first edition Fantasy HERO rules, which are substantially different from the current unified system, but Mr. Allston has posted updates to much of that material to 4th Ed. HERO System (which is pretty easy to update to 5E) on his website. You can find the site by clicking on "Hero Links" at the top of this page, then on "Other Links". Another of ICE's "Campaign Classics" series, Mythic Egypt, stats out much of the Egyptian pantheon in 4E terms. These gods are actually more suitable for fantasy campaigns with a strong flavor of the classic myths; although they have tremendous magic powers, most of them are not that much better in combat than the great legendary heroes. As you pointed out, Whiplash, gods in legend could be thwarted or even injured by mortals on occasion. This is where their interpretation differs from the comic-book style god, who are often designed to be a match for powerful superheroes in a stand-up fight. The different possible uses for gods in a fantasy campaign - omnipotent unseen manipulators or confrontable foes, omniscient or fallible, etc. - IMHO warrants a "god sourcebook" covering all elements of using gods in a campaign, maybe even all campaigns. After all, various interpretations of "gods" have appeared in comics and sci-fi as well: mutants, aliens, cosmic entities and the like.

There are now so many quality options available in HERO products, it really depends on where your interests lie. For broadening your mind system-wise, I'd recommend Star HERO because it contains so many interesting things useful in several different genres, and The Ultimate Vehicle because it shows some innovative ways to build various classic vehicle effects, as well as giving examples from chariots to starships. Beyond that, you might just as well go to the "Our Products" link and browse the book descriptions for something that grabs you. Whatever you pick, I doubt you'll be disappointed.

If it would make any difference to them, you can tell your friends that Champions Universe specifically mentions that Israel has a dozen superheroes working for the government, all quite popular with the Israeli people (CU p. 47). The book doesn't get around to naming them, though. IMHO the Liberator being named when the Israeli supers weren't is just a fluke, without any political intent behind it.

Not trying to be political either, but it helps to look at this from the perspective of the Palestinian people. Many of them do consider themselves to be oppressed by Israel; whether you agree with that perception or not doesn't change the fact that it exists. And many Palestinians consider fighting against that perceived oppression to be a noble, if not holy cause. From that perspective, it would be entirely appropriate for a Palestinian fighting the Israelis to call himself the Liberator, and for him to be considered a hero by many Palestinians. Indeed, in many of his attitudes he may actually conform to more common Western ideals of heroism, but believe himself to be fighting in a war of liberation.

Hey, I didn't mean to make you dump a name you like just for the sake of grammatical accuracy. It's easy to justify giving him the name Seraphim: perhaps he believes his powers are a gift from the Seraphim, or he likes to say "the blessing of the Seraphim be upon you", and his followers start using it to refer to him (and not necessarily to his face). There's really no issue of the order being named after him - "Seraph" and "Seraphim" are pre-existing designations. It's not like their leader is St. Francis and his followers are Franciscans. If the various Brothers and/or Sisters of the order refer to their group as "the Order of the Seraphim", that doesn't necessarily refer to their leader, even if he's called Seraphim. Gosh, now I'm afraid of being an inadvertant killjoy.

Sounds like a worthwhile "support group" for the PCs, especially if Seraphim's powers include healing abilities - as long as they're sufficiently limited, or Seraphim himself is sufficiently hard to reach, that the PCs won't come running to him every time they scrape their knuckles. One of the monks of the order would make a good Contact: they're bound to know a lot of what goes on on the street, and people would likely confide in them more than they would to the average snitch. If the monks do take it upon themselves to protect the poor from harm, and they are influenced by Eastern teachings, it might be appropriate for them to learn a "passive" Martial Art like Aikido. Something that doesn't do direct damage, but controls or redirects the force used by others: Martial Dodge, Block, Throw, Grab, Disarm, etc. Since Seraphim is essentially a religious figure dedicated to benevolent works, it would be appropriate for him to attract a particularly malevolent anti-religious Hunted. Black Paladin or Dark Seraph, for example, would probably seek him out to destroy or humiliate him, once Seraphim's existence began to be known. The PCs might be drawn into protecting Seraphim and his order from this menace. This last brings up one point worth clarifying: "Seraphim" is actually the name for a whole order of angels, the singular being "Seraph". Perhaps the latter could be the name for the super-powered founder of the order, which as a whole could be called "the Seraphim".

No Conscious Control at the -1 level is defined as "Powers which he can turn on and off at will, but whose effects he cannot control while the power is on." (FREd by 196) The examples you describe are for abilities which give random results, but since the concept defines circumstances under which the Power will activate, and those circumstances are presumably known to the character, he can cause them to happen when he deliberately fulfills the conditions, so -1 would be appropriate IMO. You might perhaps consider a further -1/4 Lim if what he does to activate the Power requires some perceivable action which an opponent can prevent him from taking, like having to take several steps. For unwilling use of the Power, I'd suggest giving the character a Physical Limitation: "Power X activates when Y happens", based on how frequently you see this happening.

I suppose it might still be an issue of reference availability: since the Marvel editorial offices have always been in New York, any detail of real continuity that you want to use, you can verify with little more than looking out the window. Admittedly, that's less of a factor nowadays with the Internet, but you'd still have to do more research. You can always set a book in another city if one of its principle creators is based in or intimately familiar with that city, but what happens when that creator leaves the book?

Sadly, Dungeon Hero seems to have disappeared - the existing link is dead. OTOH, Michael Surbrook (author of Ninja HERO) has converted a number of classic D&D monsters to HERO System. I believe they're still under 4E rules, but they're not hard to update. And his work is quality. You can find "Surbrook's Stuff" at http://www.devermore.net/surbrook/index/index.html . Click on "Character Archive", then on "Creatures from Myth and Legend". Then check out the rest of the site; it's a grab-bag of goodies.

This should be a great product for the fans of both companies: besides what sounds like a really fun adventure, players of either Champions or SAS will gain greatly facilitated access to the other game's cool characters. The conversion notes will raise the long-term utility of the product beyond that of a simple adventure. And the companies will likely gain access to each other's fans, which will surely help the ol' bottom line in future. One thing I am curious about, though; was this project being considered even before the Super Hero Showdown started, or was it the response to that event that sparked the idea? (I'm sure that the warm fan welcome was what closed the deal.) Any insider care to enlighten me?