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Joe Walsh

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Posts posted by Joe Walsh

  3. Pushing in Heroic Campaigns

    in HERO System Discussion

    Posted

    What's the correct interpretation of the pushing rules in the various editions of Hero System?

     

    I've always interpreted the rule to mean that the player can choose to push up to 5 CP with a successful EGO roll, getting an additional +1 CP per point by which the roll succeeds. But the way it's phrased in Champions Complete has me doubting myself.

     

    Here's the rule in 4e, which is where I got my idea of how pushing works in heroic campaigns, way back when:

     

    A character in a heroic campaign may push his STR up to 5 points with a successful EGO Roll. Also, the character may Push 1 point more than 5 for every 1 point the EGO roll is made by.

     

    Here's the rule in 5e. It's written differently, but it seems likely to mean the same thing as in 4e:

     

    A character in a Heroic campaign may push his STR or Powers up to 5 Character Points with a successful EGO Roll, +1 Character Point for every 1 point by which he makes the EGO Roll.

    "I'll give you 5 apples, plus one apple for each penny you give me" would never mean I'd get 2 apples for handing over 2 pennies; I'd get 7 apples. So it seems the same as the 4e rule, just reworded.

     

    The rule in 6e uses the phrasing from 5e:

     

    A character in a Heroic campaign may push his STR or abilities up to 5 Character Points with a successful EGO Roll, +1 Character Point for every 1 point by which he makes the EGO Roll.

     

    In Champions Complete, the language has changed again. We no longer have the initial 5 CPs. Now it seems to be saying that you get a 0 point push for an EGO roll that succeeds exactly, 1 CP for succeeding by 1, 2 CP for succeeding by 2, etc., up to a 5 CP push for succeeding by 5:

     

    Pushing in Heroic campaigns requires an EGO Roll (though the GM might forego this in particularly crucial situations, or grant a bonus to the roll). The character gains 1 CP to the ability per 1 point he makes the roll by, to a maximum of +5 CP.

     

    I prefer the 4e rule, so I'm wondering if the intent in 5e/6e was to change that rule, as well as what the intent in Champions Complete was.

  4. Pushing in Heroic Campaigns

    in HERO System 6th Edition Rules Questions

    Posted

    I'd always understood pushing in heroic campaigns to be as follows:

    With a successful EGO roll, a heroic character can push up to +5 CP, with an additional +1 per point the EGO roll succeeds by, to a maximum of +10.

     

    On page 20 of Champions Complete, however, it says:

     

    Pushing in Heroic campaigns requires an EGO Roll (though the GM might forego this in particularly crucial situations, or grant a bonus to the roll). The character gains 1 CP to the ability per 1 point he makes the roll by, to a maximum of +5 CP.

     

    This seems to indicate that a heroic character can only push to a maximum of +5 CP, and simply making the EGO roll gains him +0 CP. He must succeed by at least 1 point in order to get +1 CP for pushing.

     

    First, am I understanding the rule as it existed in the past and the rule in Champions Complete correctly?

     

    If so, is this a deliberate change, or an error in the text?

     

  6. Will Dark Champions and Pulp Hero be updated for 6e?

    in HERO Games Product Line

    Posted

    Actually, "Dark Champions: The Animated Series" is a genre book product for 5e:

     

    If you're eager for the thrills and adventure of crimefighting but don't like the guns and violence of regular Dark Champions campaigns, what you need is an "animated series" style campaign. Dark Champions: The Animated Series looks at the less grim side of vigilante crimebusting: caped crusaders with vigilante style but who refuse to kill; low-powered superheroes who fight street crime instead of world-threatening supervillains; "theme" villains with clever costumes and psychotic minds.

    Dark Champions: The Animated Series includes:

    • a discussion of the "animated series" subgenre in general, including advice about character creation, roleplaying, and gamemastering
    • the Hudson City Knights campaign, in which costumed (but not superpowered) crimefighters take on a host of twisted villains who plan their crimes around strange themes or obsessions: Penny Dreadful, Adonis, Anagram, the Missing Link, Raptor, and more
    • the Hudson City Powers campaign, which pits low-powered ("street-level") superheroes against similarly low-powered supervillains — costumed criminals like Carnivore, Guillotine, Rhapsody, Serpentine, and more

    Featuring 29 new villains and six new NPC heroes, Dark Champions: The Animated Series is just the thing to bring even more fun and excitement to your Dark Champions games!

     

    I think it deserves to exist, but I'm good with calling it something else. Perhaps "Champions: The Animated Series" would be more appropriate. Any ideas?

  12. How do you handle prices?

    in Fantasy Hero

    Posted

    Flip open the dnd book. The costs are right there. in my case, i use the costs in the shadow world book, since that is the campaign setting i run. No problemo.

     

    Yup. That's what I did sometimes, back in the day. Grab a book from another RPG that had the price of something and go from there. Or use some catalog's prices, adjusted by some factor based on a quick comparison of items that are in the catalog and in the game's price list.

  13. Hero System Basic vs. Champions Complete?

    in HERO Games Product Line

    Posted

    I agree, a ready-to-run product seems like it would be a sure-fire way to increase the customer base.  There was a recent and extensive discussion of the same idea over on the SJGames GURPS discussion board.  But it appears that those of us on the outside don't have the complete picture, because in both cases the companies who own the game don't see sufficient reason to create such a product.

     

    My conclusion is that, essentially, D&D is the "starter set" for the whole industry, just as it always has been. That's the entry point for most people.  And many of them will never go on to anything else. But those who do will be looking for a system that does what they want it to. I can imagine that many of them really will want to create their own settings, or import a setting from some other game. So they'll want to buy a set of rules and a genre book, and not much more.

     

    That's my assumption as to why the folks at Hero Games and Steve Jackson Games don't produce the starter product many fans think they should produce, anyway.

  17. A tiny review of Hero System Bestiary (6e)

    in HERO Games Product Line

    Posted

    All of Lucius' posts have a palindromedary tagline.  Don't worry, it confused me the first time I saw it too.

    It's a combination of palindrome and dromedary.  Looking at his profile picture should give you a clue. :)

     

    Ah! Thanks for the clue. I thought it was a postscript.  I was looking for a bestiary by Palindromedary, Inc. or that contained Palindromedaries. :)

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