bluesguy

I am rolling out the 1.2.10 beta4 build as I type this.  This is a big build in terms of features and bug fixes.  I added in a number of large-ish missing features and fixed a couple of gnarley bugs that was causing the app to straight up crash.  
 
What's new and been fixed in this build:
Added support for built-in templates other than Superheroic Added support for user created custom templates Added the equipment tab Added support for Multipower slot types (Fixed and Variable) Enhanced Perception is now aware of the show secondary characteristics flag Fixed a couple of bugs with Compound Power The Language skill now calculates its cost correctly Fixed a bug with loading multiple characters one after each other Keep checking the post at https://www.herogames.com/forums/topic/98754-hero-system-mobile-20/?do=findComment&comment=2740009 to see the status of the rollouts.

Hi,
 
I am the developer of Hero Combat Manager.  The purpose of the program is to help a GM manage combat.  Here are the specific things you can do with it:
 
Using Hero Designer (HD) - you can export characters you have created using HD into a format that Hero Combat Manager (HCM) can use HCM will track when each character can act depending on their Speed and Dex With HCM the GM can: Handle all dice rolling and damage management for NPCs.  This includes Normal, Killing, Mental, Presence, Flash, Entangle, etc. and apply the damage to the player character information.  You will always know how injured your player's characters .  The players still have to keep track of the damage which the GM will provide Handle all damage that the NPCs receive when the player character's hit an NPC Handle held actions Buff/Debuff per Aid/Drain or the GM can adjust.  Be prepared this part of the application has always been a bit flaky (sorry) What can't be done with HCM: You can't create a character on the fly in HCM.  You have to use HD and then export the character It doesn't interface with the Hero System Mobile (we have talked about it but I am too busy and technically not savvy enough to figure it out how to do that - yet) Quirks and issues When I was a full time paid developer I worked on embedded software systems.  A UI was the raw data being dumped out an RS-232 port to a dumb terminal.  We didn't need no stickin' UI.  So that means HCM's UI is primitive I haven't done an update in a while.  Too busy.  I will answer questions and I am going to set aside time in 2020 to do some major bug fixing. This project grew out of my need for a tool to help me track combat.  I have done it with pencil and paper and real dice in the past.  That worked but in a big fight someone would get missed.  I tried doing this with a spreadsheet and a fancy VB macro but that failed pretty quickly.  The program grew out of my own needs.

I don't know how many people here are prone to order custom miniatures online, but the design software for Hero Forge fanally offers a set of mechanical wings. Not the style I would have chosen for a first offering but acceptable. 
 
 

Given the work today .. I suspect we are getting very close.  I would say just around Christmas with worst case early Jan.
 
Load time is down to 1.4 seconds per Controller (from around 3 seconds).   Interface has changed slightly, but refactoring the code has tightened performance significantly.
 

 
With another 3-4 days work I could lower it down into around 1 - 1.1 seconds per controller I think.
The combat record now "detaches" from the controller when in use (which increases ongoing performance by reducing "onscreen" items. It can also be attached again (both options via the green top left button)
So time estimates currently running around 36 seconds to load 26 controllers. Compared to 90 or so seconds before.
This is all dependant on the computer being used and to some degree network/internet speed, which is why I am focusing on reducing it as much as is possible.
 

 
PM me @ScottishFox if you are interested in giving it a trial?
 
 

Not sure about form you can fill out but if you have Hero Designer there is an export for minions
 

Do you have a rough estimate until this is published on Steam?
 
I am eager to throw money at you.

In my current campaign the PCs combat skills improved a bit.  I have imposed specific maximums and I don't let the PC go past those.  Typically they would:
Melee types would improve their characteristics to reach a max campaign level Ranged attackers would buy penalty skill levels vs. range mod. Everyone would buy +3 PSL vs hit locations for they most favored attack/weapon of choice (speeds up combat because they always aim at the chest 😉) Spell casters would improve INT, EGO, REC, and END Either get martial arts or add additional maneuvers to existing martial arts If appropriate turn specific combat skill levels into more general ones (i.e. +2 with swords to +2 with hand to hand) The other area PCs change is skills.  They tend to get more of them.  Maybe get skill levels with groups/classes of skills.  Possibly buy contacts or a follower.
 
Magic items in my world tend to lean away from special weapons and armor.  A more common type of 'magic weapon' is a finely crafted steel sword that has +1 or +2 DC increase and maybe adds an addition +1 or +2 to OCV.  Also on rare occasions armor piercing or penetrating as modifiers are added.  Armor is kind of the same thing - an additional +1 to +3 PD/ED over normal armor.  Might have hardening.  Definitely lower mass.  More likely they will find potions, magic items that help with shelter, food, and light.

Well worth it!!!
 

Sorry for disappearing there for awhile. Just had a bunch of stuff going on that got in the way of other stuff. Hopefully it shan't happen again.

I would recommend that you and your friends play a little card game called Illuminati - the game of conspiracy.  This game is specifically designed to let you (actually encourage you) to cheat and back stab other players to win.  A supervillain game would have to turn into a game in which no one trusts anyone else.  I played in a game where the GM let us play evil characters.  It lasted 4 sessions.  One player ended up backstabbing and killing about 1/2 the party before we realized what was going on.  By that point it became every player for themselves.
 
Allowing people to play evil characters (supervillains are evil) only allows them to exercise the worst parts of themselves (murder, robbery, rape and pillage will follow).

Looks like it is all working .. multiple controllers .. with Multiple NPC's .. all working through the turn controller .. with floating combat record windows open and ready to roll dice on the dice roller (bottom right)
 

Hi
 
I watched the video and I am very very impressed.  I really think that @Jason S.Walters should reach out to you and see what you are doing.  I think what you have done should get a big official stamp of approval.  Tabletop Simulator and your tool suite will allow people to play Hero very effectively across many geographic locations.

Always great advice on these boards.  And the best answers come with someone new to Hero asks a great question.
 
In my own case when I run Champions I treat it like episodic TV shows.  Think of it as bad-guy episode #52 "Mole men attack the university" and next week "Mind controlled senior citizens robbing grocery stores and banks."  The campaign always takes place in the city I live in and I insist that all the characters be themed around something connected with the current location. This gives the characters a nice common theme and background.  Usually they have a few adventures before the local or national authorities show up and let them know they need to either get registered or be prepared to pay for property damage.
 
I run my Champions games as something in between my Fantasy campaign sessions when we know someone isn't going to be available for a session or two.

Hi,
 
I am the developer of Hero Combat Manager.  The purpose of the program is to help a GM manage combat.  Here are the specific things you can do with it:
 
Using Hero Designer (HD) - you can export characters you have created using HD into a format that Hero Combat Manager (HCM) can use HCM will track when each character can act depending on their Speed and Dex With HCM the GM can: Handle all dice rolling and damage management for NPCs.  This includes Normal, Killing, Mental, Presence, Flash, Entangle, etc. and apply the damage to the player character information.  You will always know how injured your player's characters .  The players still have to keep track of the damage which the GM will provide Handle all damage that the NPCs receive when the player character's hit an NPC Handle held actions Buff/Debuff per Aid/Drain or the GM can adjust.  Be prepared this part of the application has always been a bit flaky (sorry) What can't be done with HCM: You can't create a character on the fly in HCM.  You have to use HD and then export the character It doesn't interface with the Hero System Mobile (we have talked about it but I am too busy and technically not savvy enough to figure it out how to do that - yet) Quirks and issues When I was a full time paid developer I worked on embedded software systems.  A UI was the raw data being dumped out an RS-232 port to a dumb terminal.  We didn't need no stickin' UI.  So that means HCM's UI is primitive I haven't done an update in a while.  Too busy.  I will answer questions and I am going to set aside time in 2020 to do some major bug fixing. This project grew out of my need for a tool to help me track combat.  I have done it with pencil and paper and real dice in the past.  That worked but in a big fight someone would get missed.  I tried doing this with a spreadsheet and a fancy VB macro but that failed pretty quickly.  The program grew out of my own needs.

Getting money from the Government to Clean it up.

Something I did for a game day event at a local gaming store was to create a hero 'team' (they meet as part of the game) that fit our location (Minnesota).  We had a Paul Bunyan avatar (his truck was nicknamed Blue). A union guy who fell into a vat of iron ore dust, which happened to be full of an 'experimental chemical' that turned him into living steel.  A DJ who is a mutant that can mind control and ego blast people thru sound, and she only plays Prince music and all her powers are named after Prince's songs.  And a highly skilled bio-mechanical engineer who created a power suit and can shrink down to the size of a mosquito.  I made the powers as simple as I could.  I didn't worry about the points balancing.
 
I had the player characters in Northern MN near a casino at night when an alien space ship crash lands near by.  One of the small surviving ships from attack on NYC at the end of the Avengers 1 movie.

Something I did for a game day event at a local gaming store was to create a hero 'team' (they meet as part of the game) that fit our location (Minnesota).  We had a Paul Bunyan avatar (his truck was nicknamed Blue). A union guy who fell into a vat of iron ore dust, which happened to be full of an 'experimental chemical' that turned him into living steel.  A DJ who is a mutant that can mind control and ego blast people thru sound, and she only plays Prince music and all her powers are named after Prince's songs.  And a highly skilled bio-mechanical engineer who created a power suit and can shrink down to the size of a mosquito.  I made the powers as simple as I could.  I didn't worry about the points balancing.
 
I had the player characters in Northern MN near a casino at night when an alien space ship crash lands near by.  One of the small surviving ships from attack on NYC at the end of the Avengers 1 movie.

Always great advice on these boards.  And the best answers come with someone new to Hero asks a great question.
 
In my own case when I run Champions I treat it like episodic TV shows.  Think of it as bad-guy episode #52 "Mole men attack the university" and next week "Mind controlled senior citizens robbing grocery stores and banks."  The campaign always takes place in the city I live in and I insist that all the characters be themed around something connected with the current location. This gives the characters a nice common theme and background.  Usually they have a few adventures before the local or national authorities show up and let them know they need to either get registered or be prepared to pay for property damage.
 
I run my Champions games as something in between my Fantasy campaign sessions when we know someone isn't going to be available for a session or two.

Well some significant changes this release.
 

 
The player combat records are now detachable, multiple are visible on screen at the same time and remotely trigger the dice roller. So you do not need to leave the action at any time. You can use the bars above your characters head to adjust Body, Stun and Endurance live on the model also. If needed you can add other bars as you want for charges etc.
 
Whilst talking about the combat records, all players can have them active on the screen, but not see each others. The GM in theory can have a significant number and that leads to the next change I am working on, which will be the ability to shrink them to just the "Title Bar" until clicked on. 
 
There are some minor visual bugs (spacing etc) that need fixing too.
 
Overall it will not be long till a beta release on the steam marketplace.
 
 

You may also look into the X-Men books of the same era.  Claremont, Byrne & Austin were an amazing combination of storytelling strengths bolstering weaknesses each would show when they each left the book a decade later.
 

If there are lots of goons encourage your players to use a good PRE attack to scare the goons into surrendering/retreating.  My players love making a big attack/show of their abilities and then give a command to the remaining goons that it is a good time to leave the field or surrender.  A good PRE roll is sometimes way more effective than an attack/damage roll.

Thank you that was helpful.  Sorry you invested so much time.   I really like the whole Nine Clans story and impact on its culture. 
 
As for the last statement, there are things IMRL that I don't want intruding on my gaming life, so I totally understand "reality of a world full of cowards" is something I get.

One thing you might do, if villains are slowing the fight down too much (particularly agents) is to have people who are unengaged run away.  10 goons versus 4 PCs?  If the heroes are slowly slogging through the bad guys, and it's clear that they'll win even if it will take a while, some of those villains may decide to hightail it.  Bad Guy Agent #6 is behind everybody, and no one is actively looking at him?  Well he just saw Captain Fireball blast one of his buddies.  Maybe it's time for him to run out that door that you "forgot" to draw on the map right next to him.  Just quietly pull the figure and don't say anything.  10 goons can rapidly become 4 or 5 once the bad guys decide it's time to run.  I've had a GM pull that on me before.  I'm looking down at my dice, counting up numbers, and when I look up, half the board is clear.  The PCs were too busy fighting whoever they were facing to notice that his friends have split.

That alone deserves kudos.  All these years, I have never considered designing to make my life as GM easier...🤢

Yeah I just never bother with END on NPCs, they don't last long enough for it to be an issue in most fights anyway.