Nolgroth

A setting developed with full support like Forgotten Realms or Golaron. Not just the monolithic setting product, but Gazetteers, Grimoires, Bestaries, Treasures, NPCs and, most of all, prefabricated adventures to tie it all together. If I am dreaming big, I want poster maps, high production quality and extras like miniatures and reusable map assets. Take a look at Paizo. Now rip out Pathfinder and stick Hero in there. Not necessarily the same setting, but certainly the same benchmark.

I actually have contact with a couple of mini sculptors and if I can manage to sell enough books, I want to put out some of the unique critters in my world as miniatures.  Even if its just a Velkonn or Attercop figure in a box set or something, it would be super nice to have.  I am busting my chops to put out that game world by my lonesome.
 
What I'd like to see is a champions campaign like the FH one people are talking about here; a fully fleshed out world with lots of adventures and storylines etc.  We kinda have one with the Champions Universe and city settings but they're really not tied together like a campaign and there needs to be campaign "paths" available, premade campaigns and lots more adventures.
 
Otherwise, I want to see Champions Down Under, updated Champions of the North and Kingdom of Champions, and a lot more electronic support for the game: die rollers, apps, etc.
 
 
Its less expensive than you'd think.  Yes, licensing Game of Thrones will cost you but other settings like Codex Aleria or Mistborn?  Not so much.  Urban Fantasy Hero with Dresden Chronicles as a setting probably is doable.  Remember, its not just a valuable product for Hero, its advertising and revenue for the owners of these properties, they're willing to work with you.  Just ask Steve Jackson.

Not just Paizo.  D&D's Forgotten Realms has survived several rule sets and is rolling out again. 
 
Both Paizo and WotC are putting out not just Campaign Settings, but actual Campaigns you can actually run set in those Settings. 

A setting developed with full support like Forgotten Realms or Golaron. Not just the monolithic setting product, but Gazetteers, Grimoires, Bestaries, Treasures, NPCs and, most of all, prefabricated adventures to tie it all together. If I am dreaming big, I want poster maps, high production quality and extras like miniatures and reusable map assets. Take a look at Paizo. Now rip out Pathfinder and stick Hero in there. Not necessarily the same setting, but certainly the same benchmark.

Couldn't agree more, Nolgroth. I think Paizo has really raised the bar on what a campaign setting and support should look like. 

A setting developed with full support like Forgotten Realms or Golaron. Not just the monolithic setting product, but Gazetteers, Grimoires, Bestaries, Treasures, NPCs and, most of all, prefabricated adventures to tie it all together. If I am dreaming big, I want poster maps, high production quality and extras like miniatures and reusable map assets. Take a look at Paizo. Now rip out Pathfinder and stick Hero in there. Not necessarily the same setting, but certainly the same benchmark.

We are getting into ideology a bit, but I have to disagree (or at least comment) on a few points. First, I agree with you that the Republican party is not the same as it used to be but then neither is the Democrat party. You see the Democrats as having moved Right, I see both parties as moving further into the direction that they are both known for (R-Right, D-Left). There always was a rift between policy makers from opposite sides of the aisle, but now that rift has become a seemingly unsurpassable gulf. It really isn't, but both sides have convinced themselves that the other is the "enemy." So the war of words, governed by poisoned ideology, continues on. Where both sides should be meeting to figure out what is truly best for the nation and its people and business, both sides believe that they alone have the magic formula for success. It is that institutional arrogance that is bringing us to the brink of disaster.
 
As to the power of the education loonies, that is power. They have the power to shape hearts and minds. Instead of using that power responsibly to teach, they have fostered a culture of hatred that is worse than just about anything I have ever seen before outside of totalitarian regimes. That hatred and contempt for opposing ideas and ideals will not magically disappear when those students graduate and move on. It is irresponsible to the point where I personally consider it a broken system. I totally admit that I, personally, have thought our education system broken from K-Graduate School for a very long time. In this day and age of growing tuition costs, book fees, and a self-protectionism among education staff, coupled with the fact that a college degree promises nothing and leaves the student to bear crushing debt for a mere "roll of the dice" chance at success, I am a proponent for gutting everything and starting over. I know that's not a popular opinion, but something, somewhere needs to be changed.
 
Too much hatred governs our nation and its competing ideologies. Somewhere, someway, we need to find common ground. It doesn't have to be sunshine and rainbows but it does have to be something more than the sepia toned crapfest that we find ourselves in now.

Good luck gewing, I've operated alongside commission-driven sales before, it's high risk but it can also be high reward.
 
 
 
I sympathize.  Three times in my life I've had to lay off great workers through no fault of their own.  I have no problem firing people who suck or cause trouble, but I'm at the point where I'd rather just take the bullet myself rather than commit another layoff.

Wind blowing through leaves. It's kinda magical.

Oh, I can fix that.
 
1. There is virtually no chance that Trump gets impeached.  It's clear that the only calculation running through the minds of GOP congresspeople is "Am I more likely to get reelected by leaving Trump in office or by actively impeaching him?"  Trump's base is their base, and they are still very clearly pro-Trump.
 
2. There is virtually no chance that the Democrats will take back the House or Senate in 2018.  The House is gerrymandered to hell and most of the Senate seats up for election are Democratic ones. 
 
But most importantly:
 

Careful Old Man, you're almost sounding idealistic there. Your reputation as a cynic is in danger.

Some monster decides to kill another man over comic books. I wish that I could say I'm surprised, but I am not. I am incredibly sad about it. Perhaps because the victim was, in some way, part of my extended tribe. Perhaps because I visited his shop a time or two when I was stationed at Fort Leavenworth and KC was only a 45 minute drive away. It's not like I knew him or cared for him personally, but there it is. 

bdh, I think your K's need to be M's and your M's need to be B's.

In terms of films, it's the model they frickin' invented, which has made them boatloads of cash, and which everyone else is now desperate to emulate. So there's that.
 
Also remember that Bond only puts out one movie every 2-3 years, not every 6 months. And most of them have grossed around $400-$700M (in today's dollars), roughly on par with Ant-Man & Thor Dark World. The studio has openly talked about trying to make Bond more like Bourne - which notably had a meta-story across multiple films.
 
And as much as I loved the first Die Hard, you can't even compare that "franchise" to the MCU: Die Hard has made 5 films over 30 years, which collectively have made $1.4B, about the same as Age of Ultron alone.
 
I'm not unsympathetic to those of you who prefer more episodic storytelling, because that's clearly not the dominant trend now. But as someone who has always preferred more serial, ongoing storytelling and who spent decades stuck in episodic mediocrity* I say Huzzah!
 
* ST-TNG: don't even get me started...

Well, there's always fire.  You can cleanse anything with enough fire.

I think the more long-form storytelling structure that overlays the MCU "phases" is one of the ways in which the movies get to feel a little bit like the comics. Sure, each issue (movie) is a standalone tale that is fun to experience on its own. But if you get onto the ride and stay on, you get further rewarded with a richer experience after seeing multiple threads woven together into a larger tapestry. The mere fact that Marvel has been able to pull that off successfully to the extent that they have is nothing short of astonishing. Nobody outside of Marvel thought it was remotely feasible given the conventional wisdom espoused by the traditional Hollywood braintrust. I see the MCU as a cinematic triumph, warts and all, especially given just how much worse it could have been (*cough* DCEU *cough*). I for one am not tired of any of it (yet). I still want more.

If Oregon's carry laws are anything like Ohio's, I wouldn't.
 
The legal twistings involved on 'when' it's legal to use lethal force in self-defense can be almost more paralyzing that actual fear.
 
More practically, from what I'm reading into the situation, a solid background in unarmed self-defense would probably been more useful.  A knife in close quarters is an ugly scenario.  In a moving, small, crowded space, random bullets flying about are real low on my desired additions to the situation.
 
(disclosures: I have a concealed carry permit, though I rarely carry outside of work related situations.  Also, despite being grossly out of practice in the fancier techniques, I spent enough years practicing martial arts to be fairly confident in my grasp of the basics in an immediate stress situation)

If by "ever" you mean "every" as in morning, yup. 

If by "ever" you mean "every" as in morning, yup. 

Well to be fair, this would only happen to a Young Dragon or Wyrmling.  Adult and older usually have Legendary Resistance which means they upon failing a saving throw they can choose to make it instead.   That plus their not so insignificant capabilities including Legendary Actions, Lair Actions and Regional Actions make them a handful.  They are not creatures, they are highly intelligent beings.   Not to mention they are rarely without servants, minions and agents. 
 
You don't attack a Dragon. You attack an organization. 
 
I am not a big D&D fan these days.  Play a setting/game type 30+ years and it gets pretty old especially when it really doesn't change.  But a D&D Dragon is not the lone beasty by itself in the hills.  It is an old cunning genius residing in a fortress lair with a powerful array of minions and leveled agents. 
 
Now you could be talking about Young Dragons or Wyrmlings.  But they are dumb, dime a dozen and most are due to die off anyway.  Except for XP they will never really have much worth taking in the over-reaching campaign sense. 

My D&D favourite character of recent times was a half-orc monk. I think the addition of other races provides for an injection of mysticism etc.
 
As it happens the order he belonged to was an obscure sect of Gruumsh, a lawful good one, that promulgated an alternate history of the races. In olden times, according to this sect, there were no humans and the elves and orcs were equally civilised. Corellion and Gruumsh decided to end the constant warfare between their children by merging them into one race (humans). Corellion cheated though and only merged half of his elves and then persuaded the humans that orcs were evil. Gruumsh was devastated and plucked out an eye, the one that did not see the trick.
 
Over centuries the orcs and their god were brutalised and came to reflect the propaganda. This sect keeps the story alive, seeking ways to redeem their race and bring them back to civilised ways. There is a schism as to whether the elves should be forgiven or punished for millennia of hurt.
 
Their biggest piece of evidence is the existence of both half elves and half orcs. How could that be unless humans were not already half and half....
 
:-)
 
This sect were mystics, forswore metal weapons and communed with an ancient version of their god, the current version being too far removed from their iconography....
 
Doc

One reason the monk class works in DnD is that no-one really expects a carefully crafted, coherent world that closely reflects this one. It's very much: everything and the kitchen sink in design philosophy.
 
As several other people have said: there's no reason that the monk concept, that of a monastic type who is learned in some very specific fighting styles, has to be in a pseudo-Asian setting. Or even monastic.  I'm currently playing a monk in a Pathfinder game who is a bare knuckle brawler called Pancho (Punch -o) who's never seen the inside of a monastery. His true vocation is drinking and his equivalent of a monastery is a brewery.
 
For myself I'd say the main appeal in DnD (and it's variations) is that monks can do things most other classes can't. Mostly things to do with wushu crazy jumping and such forth. Obviously Hero system allows for this to be done differently depending on how you design your "classes."

The first time I saw the Monk class  was in the Blackmoor book back in the old days.  For some reason we always envisioned them as the Friar Tuck type. 
 
It wasn't until years later that we made the Far East connection. 
 
Weird right?

I'm not sure why my brain works this way but reading your post immediately made me imagine The Green Hornet as a half-orc and Kato as an elf.

Never played much DnD though I know of the monk class. Yeah I thought it odd as presented its very Eastern in design and out of place for a Western game. Iirc Oriental DnD says that the monk class could be used with no changes