Vondy

Don't forget disturbingly pronounced scoliosis in women's spines.

For me, I have experience cutting audio, but no experience with video. And then, there's the cost of the camera, mic, lights, etc.

A lot of this depends on organization, planning, and the kind of character you are building. I don't know about 6e, but in 5e I could build a character with a new player in less than an hour. Some people are better at clear and concise presentation than others. Also, broken down into discreet parts, you could cover core hero concepts in 10-minute videos (I used to do radio and ten minutes is a lot of time).

Speaking of which, and this is not where my talents lay, but evangelists do push awareness. SW, for instance, has tons of fans posting "how to," "101," and review clips on YouTube. Those fans are doing it because they want to. I think Hero could very much benefit from a well-spoken fan with some video editing skills producing a series of "concept" and "how to" videos. Add in a few good interviews (steve, susano, storn!) and it would raise consciousness of Hero - and dispel myths. And, speaking of SW, while the system is much simpler than Hero, its organization is a mess. Those videos help clear up confusion that mess creates.

I'm not sure how a third-party product with profit sharing amounts to "donate." Jason hasn't asked anyone for donations of any kind. Some fans may choose to do that on their own, but Hero hasn't asked them to.

Civil war is always an option. Its how these villains get their footholds in the first place!

That is not what the books actually say.

I voted for Viper in Somalia. However, I could also see the Warlord acting as a defacto "kingpin" of warlords, there. An over-war-lord? Viper in Syria could also work quite nicely, especially if it involves moves by the Council of 30 and not just the local nest leaders. So, how about, the Warlord in Somalia and VIPER in Somalia? That would destabilize two countries in (geographical) positions to impact International trade and commerce. Personally, I think V'han establishing an embassy makes more sense than an invasion. She's not stupid and a soft power and a foothold (sweetened with trade) would allow her access. That would allow her to start recruiting agents who can orchestrate coups from within and destabilize the world order prior to invasion. A major developing nation like Brazil or China could see it as a road to power. So could a struggling first world nation, like Greece. Or... why not the United States itself? Go big or go home! Empress V'han goes to Washington...

Is this the one in crossroads?

What examples would you like to see? I am thinking about working up some newbie-support files. A little direction in that regard would be great.

Let's be frank, for all of our bitching, Hero is still here and we do have a slow stream of new products coming out. Printing and storing books is expensive. POD may be a solution. That is for Jason to decide. Think he should go that route? Politely and respectfully mail him about it instead of castigating him in what amounts to public. And let me remind you, when Hero really was dead before (and its not now), Jason was one of the people who resurrected it. Give the man his due. If you aren't contacting him with and idea and taking a risk, and even if you are, remember, what we do still have is here because he's carrying it. I have a different way of using Hero than Steve does (I'm less fiddly), but those differences are mostly nuance. The man put a ton of life and development into the game, and did the work of three men. And I like 80% of what he introduced, which is pretty fricken fantastic. He deserves respect for what he accomplished. Remember, Steve wrote most every damned thing we got (which other books from Darren and crew), and my favorite books have his (or Darren's) name on it. His 5e and 6e efforts were goddamned Homeric. Yes, I point out we didn't get adventures and campaign books, but that's because we got tons of "higher level" books. Steve wrote two rules-sets, a load of rules expansions and pregen books, a half dozen genre books, and how many settings books? What do people expect? Miracles? The economy in general (and market in specific) collapsed before any substantial campaign and adventure support came out. Steve has to eat. If he's not getting a paycheck here, he's got to go find one somewhere else. But, in the end, campaign and modules books are narrower in scope and can be more discreet in size. There is no reason, with a little direction from Hero, those can't be produced third party. But, for all the crap I've given Steve over the years over what are really stylistic and character design differences, the man is a writing machine and a Hero savant. He, Darren, Jason, and co. don't deserve to be castigated for the fans' personal frustrations - especially if some fans can help in at least one department!

First game: 1977. Mine can run for President!

I don't think so. But, there are a ton of available genre books out there already. Those are great (and available but PDF and could be POD with very little effort), but like the system books, they try to cover an entire genre and its sub-genres. You still have to distill them down to a setting, campaign, or adventure. We do have setting books from Hero, but those don't have much in the way of adventures and campaigns to use with them. The reasons for that have been discussed. A big piece of that is that Hero supports numerous genres, several of which have several settings. Champions, alone, has three sub-genre books, a sub-sub genre book, three cities, two agency / organization books, and villain books. Then you have at least two fantasy settings, a space setting, etc. But, if you look at UNTIL (or VIPER), they present source materials and a swath of "stubs" about different campaign styles you could theoretically run. They are trying to salable to a broad swath of do-it-yourself-ers who will use the books in numerous ways. They seek to be all things to all men (and the lady folk). Sometimes people just want to be told what to do, or given a clear, tested recipe. Genre books are great for experienced Hero GM, or even an experienced old-school GM, who is used to building their own games and worlds. Its not so great for newbies. For me, I'd like to produce a ready-to-run campaign book that says "use the following default settings, use the following design perimeters for characters (or the example pre-gens), these are the assumed mood and tone and tropes, now run the following 3-4 plots." A lot of the old D&D adventures, etc, sucked, but they gave fledgling GMs a floatation device until they learned to swim. I think Hero could benefit from that, too. Heck, want people to use the Tukarian Age? Write an awesome, high production Tukarian campaign!

What you are describing is a genre book as opposed to a setting / campaign book. I would rather work on an "Agents of UNTIL" campaign detailing a special project, or an UD unit in a major world city. Something that has a clear setting, context, and narrative thrust people can just run. An appendix for the super-agent genre might fit, but I don't want to work on a genre book. That is, from where I'm sitting, "more of the same."

In straight hand-to-hand, she's got him nailed. Her training is more intensely focused there, and she underwent performance enhancing treatments. However, Hawkeye is tactically adept and does outstrip her at range. Its really a question of: what are the terms and circumstances of the engagement. If its close quarters and hand to hand, the Widow should take it. If Hawkeye can disengage, use the terrain, and move and shoot? That's a whole different story.

Johnny mistook Falcon for Falco and ended up be-bopping to Der Kommissar.

Any interest in: Commando-hero level support for UNTIL or PRIMUS? Agent-level adventures, scenarios, etc? The (Silver) Avengers and a lot of CU supers are easy to "edit down" to be suitable for this kind of play. Its essentially a DC: TAS level of play, and overlaps with that genre pretty easily. It would also present lower-powered and simply built versions of supers. One easy set up would be: UNTIL: SPECIAL PROJECTS. Mythos Hero. I've had an ongoing campaign, "big damned heroes," which is about a reality show crew that focuses on investigators pursuing conspiracy theories, folklore, tabloid headlines, urban myths, UFOs, and the like... on camera and for the ratings! The Dragon and Nagas from the Mystic World book were involved. Its would be urban fantasy support (albeit a bit zanier), but with MHI out there I don't know if it wouldn't be too much thematic overlap. One thing I would do is present mystic rites, etc, as skills or talents with an appendix in the back with mechanical break-downs for those who wanted them.

Der Roter Baron is really La Baron Rouge, a mid-level bureaucrat of the now defunct Duxieme Bureau. His hessian boots, monocole, crop, and clipped accent are affectations he adopted when the French realized he would better serve their national interests actively and loyally working for the Nachrichtenbüro. He is, in a word, French.

I generally don't charge points for items both ubiquitous and mundane. At most: Perk: Smart Phone (1) But even that, in my opinion, would be overcharging.

What is your point? You've already said this, so I'm not sure why your still harping on it. You either 1) make a licensed product, 2) accept the status quo, or 3) move on. A fourth option is to bang on Jason's metaphorical door with a load of avuncular advice. I'm not sure, unless you have incredible skills, that is going to go down well. Bitching about people kibitzing is the one thing that is less productive than kibitzing.

Spot on!

I don't think its fair for people with a creative spark to expect others to possess their desires and gifts. Not everyone is built to create.

There's nothing like surfing the Chinese Internet. The party, er, government, will protect you.

I was assuming it wouldn't be too onerous. I'll find out when I mail Jason.

Pretty much this. I see anything I might produce as a "break-even leader." Making a few bucks would be great, but underwriting the art and seeing my ideas used would be the big reward.