Joe Walsh

I never said otherwise. I never said otherwise. Really?

Right. And that gets to why the question this thread poses is moot outside of these hallowed halls. The market for games with chargen as complex as HERO System is tiny. Infinitesimally small. But the market for games with the rest of HERO System's mechanics? That's bigger. It's a fine system that works well for a wide range of genres. Making the chargen even more finely grained doesn't help interest people in using the system. It needs to be much less finely grained for people to use it, at least on their first encounter. Templates are great for that. Prebuilt powers are fine as well. Either way, explain the abilities in plain language. Give potential new players and GMs a chance to learn the system without earning a PhD in character generation the HERO way. They can look into the atom-by-atom power building system later on if they want to. Or they can buy more books with premade stuff if they want(!). A book with templates, the game system, a world for the characters to exist in, and some introductory adventures would be great.

Just curious what the folks around here are currently playing/running.

We finished S2 of The Punisher last night. While there were missteps and silliness, overall it was one of the better season 2's of the Netflix Marvel shows. Possibly the best of the lot, really.

For me and how I run the game, the changes introduced in 6e are fine: they're neither good nor bad on the whole. I just find that, as I get older, new editions need to offer me something compelling before I'll adopt them. 6e didn't do that for me. For those whose way of running the game meant they needed the changes, I understand why they prefer that edition. That's just not the case for me. But for GMs interested in trying out HERO System? I always recommend Champions Complete. It's the solid 6e ruleset, but in a more reasonable package.

Champions Complete has virtually the same mechanical rules, but is much less likely to cause hernias.

Derry Girls. Hilarious sitcom from Northern Ireland, set in the early 90s during the Troubles. Grand Tour, S2. Still a fun, funny show. Punisher, S2. Two episodes in, and it seems just as good as S1 so far. Which is to say, not spectacular, but well done and very much worth watching.

That's true, DC does bear some of the blame, given their impatience.

DC's biggest problem may be that it's difficult to make good movies -- even popcorn movies. Lots of movies fail every year, including big budget ones. Maybe DC's experience is what one should expect. I wonder how many people are capable of overseeing a cinematic universe, and ensuring its success.

Truly one of the greats. I wish him all the best.

Homeland, S7. It was an OK season, but there was a lot of stupid characters doing stupid things, too. Overall, it seemed like the writers were trying to recapture the glory of S1 but didn't know how. It was worth watching, but I'm not sure I'll watch S8.

Well, I GM a lot and my first name is Joe. Plus, back in the early 70s, I loved playing with my GI Joes -- especially the one with Kung Fu grip and the one with the grappling hook! I GM'd before I played. The first tabletop RPG I played was AD&D 1e. But, really, we were playing RPGs without knowing it back when we would play with Micronaughts, Star Wars figures, etc. Before that, we were RPGing with Hot Wheels. My friends and I would build elaborate cities for them out back during summer, giving the cars' occupants personalities and acting out stories. In the winter, we'd use Lego to build the cities indoors. B/X D&D (the Moldvay/Cook Basic and Expert sets). I'm GMing a street-level supers campaign using HERO System 4e. I picked up Champions 2e at my FLGS in 1983, brought it home, read it, and it blew my mind. I began running it the next weekend. HERO has been my favorite game system ever since.

If you're more interested in a hassle-free sale than in getting the best price, you could always get in touch with Noble Knight (nobleknight.com) and see what they'll offer you for the books. Just make sure you describe them as well as you can, and include good photos if possible.

Yup, anyone who has no core beliefs in anything is totally immune.

Yeah, it's pretty much a human thing, as recent studies have shown. We really, really don't like having our core beliefs challenged, and will pretty much do whatever it takes to keep them intact in most circumstances, including lying to ourselves about things we've seen right in front of us with our own eyes. It's pretty scary.

Good point; there are some journalists and editors doing good work out there! And you're right, news reports fail to point out the subtleties of the D's position vis a vis walls. That's why I end up being treated to rants from coworkers about how evil the D's are for shutting down the government instead of negotiating with Trump.

We finished S3 of Travelers. It was a good season (minus one poorly written episode), and I'm interested to see where things head from here. I just hope they leave David and Marcy alone for a season, dag nabbit.

The "serious and long illness" being that he embarrassed Putin by botching the poisoning, I'm sure.

No, you really can't expect faithful adaptions. My mistake was expecting something other than a story that's so drawn out that you can see through it.

I wish every article on the shutdown would mention that it started when Republicans controlled both the House and the Senate, rather than trying to "show balance." Journalists should point out that the Republican Senate passed a spending bill and then the Republican House rejected it. Now the Democratic House has passed that same bill, and the Republican Senate refuses to consider it. Back in December, Trump said he'd sign that same bill, then decided he'd rather please Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter. It's very clearly not Democrats who made this problem. But now they're being told they need to be the ones to solve it -- by supporting something their base hates. Both-sides-ism rules the American media, as always.

I'm a fan of PKD and have read and enjoyed all of his books and short stories, and I was looking forward (with some trepidation) to seeing Amazon's adaptation of Man in the High Castle, back before S1 launched. My wife, who has read most of PKD's works, was guardedly looking forward to it as well. Then S1 dropped, and we watched it with a growing sense that, as you say, the story was being dragged out way too long. We lost interest, and never bothered with S2. Such a waste!

Yeah the HERO Bestiary is a true gem.

While Putin laughs.

Yes, Mitch, it would be pointless to see whether enough Senators will vote for even a single one of these bills to pass it, and then later to find out if enough will vote to override any veto Trump may make. Voting is pointless.

It was originally produced for my second-favorite superhero RPG, Supers!, but now a new edition of this campaign sourcebook is being produced that will support HERO System as well as other supers RPGs.