bluesguy

I havent publihed anywhere near everything I have done that could be useful... but I am a terrible writer when it comes to rules and manuscrpts, give me a framework to work in/with and I can do wonders
 

IMHO 90% would be a rehash of 5th with the changes for 6th, maybe some updates to new tech. I'd rather see something like Long has done for Dark Champions packages/templates and Gun Fu, just the facts and no filler
 
I would support Kickstarter's for Hero books, provided budget concerns, even if they were just at a PDF level.
 
 
As long as it doesn't end up like Fuzion. Great effort by all concerned, just...fizzled and misunderstood.

Believe it or not, it was 20 years ago today that Darren Watts, Jason Walters, the Secret Masters, and myself bought the HERO System (and its related IPs)!
 
It's been a wonderful, amazing journey ever since -- one with its ups and downs, like any journey -- but still an awesome one. My deepest thanks to all the HERO fans out there who have made it possible!

Real human beings hate and fear people for the color of their skin, or the religion they practice, or the language they speak, or where they or their ancestors came from, or how much money they make, or who they vote for. As a species we never run out of lame-ass distinctions to create someone to look down on.

I can't smack a player upside the head with the Handbook right then and there when they make poop jokes.

On the other hand, the Beta of the Hero mod for Tabletop Simulator works really well, specifically for Hero.  It uses Hero Designer files to input characters into the game. There are several sets of miniatures and props and location useable for a Cham[ions game (Far more for generic Western European Fantasy, though), and there are a couple of games going on as testing continues.  The downside is that you need a good internet connection, and a good game rig P.C. to run it, otherwise it will freeze the P.C. and crash to desktop.  I've liked the combats I have played on that system, as it automatically does the Pythagorean calculations between characters at different altitudes, and also automatically calculated range mods and adjusted die rolls.  It's a very good mod, specifically for Hero, but it's not yet ready for the public use apparently. Questions about it should be directed to the Hero Discord.
 

In my game I will usually lower the STR minimum by 5 for magic weapons.  For armor I usually lower any weight/mass by 1/2.

We were gaming online prior to Covid-19 and we used free audio/video services.  Once Covid-19 hit and it became clear that the church I belonged to needed a way to communicate plus communicate with family I purchased a Zoom license. 
 
My biggest issue is how poorly some members of the group handle the technology. 

We were gaming online prior to Covid-19 and we used free audio/video services.  Once Covid-19 hit and it became clear that the church I belonged to needed a way to communicate plus communicate with family I purchased a Zoom license. 
 
My biggest issue is how poorly some members of the group handle the technology. 

I don't know if this is useful to you or not, but as I tend to play much lower magic levels than most when I run fantasy, the single most common characteristic / enchantment for a magical weapon in my games is that they _don't_ have a STR Min even when similar non-magical weapons do.
 
 

Yeah that's why I built the Hero Combat Survival Guide, so players could have it around to look at.  I stole the idea from Savage Worlds, they had something like that and it was really useful for me as a new player.

Just a few points.  Not everyone here agrees with my take on things, but some have found it helpful when building a game/campaign using HERO.
 
First my premise.
All role playing games share certain common parts that most people will recognize.
1 - Character generation guidelines
2 - Gameplay rules
3 - Threat/Creature/Bestiary collections
4 - Setting Information
 
There is one other part of all role playing games.  What I call the Meta-Rules but also referred to as design notes or core documents.  These are the “rules” that the creator uses to write the “rules”.  
The D&D 5th Players Handbook contains the games Character Generation Guidelines and the Gameplay Rules.  The PHB contains lists and items, but does not tell you why.  You have spell lists but no actual details on why one is 1st or 2nd level.  You can select different traits embodied by “race” or “class” but they do not specify why or how each of the encompassed abilities were built or “balanced”.   In other words they do not reveal the “Met-Rules” used to build and balance everything else.
 
This brings us to HERO.
 
HERO simply gives you the Meta-Rules and says GO!  They also do not give you 1, 2, 3 or 4.
 
But wait you say.  They obviously give you character generation guidelines.
 
Nope.
 
They give you the Meta-Rules that allow you to build/design ANYTHING.  But not any actual character generation guidelines, gameplay rules, threat/creature/bestiary collections or even real playable settings.  They do have many useful books that give you general information and builds such as the Bestiary.  The Bestiary give you one take on a Dragon, but is will it fit in your world?  The Hero source books give you information nbut nothing “tailored” to a specific “game” such as D&D 5th.
 
Handing the players a copy of the Meta-Rules and then assuming everyone will be on the same page never ends well.
The various Fantasy Hero products do NOT contain a “playable” set of fantasy rules for a game.  The majority of the Fantasy Hero versions are well written primers/guides on how to design a set of fantasy “rules”.  The product Fantasy Hero Complete combines the Meta-Rules and fantasy primer/guide in one book.
 
To run a fantasy game using the Hero System you will have to write the character generation guidelines which includes how magic will work.  
You will also need to write the game play rules.  For example the Hero “rulebook” contains MANY options for combat.  Which ones are active and used directly and heavily influences how characters are designed.
 
I would also initially predesign a fixed magic system.  And by fixed I mean a few pre-built options that can simply be selected much like spells.
With your personally designed “Players Guide” then go and design a few demo pregenerated PC’s for the players to test drive.
 
Then let them make their own PC’s using your Players Guide.   
 
Then after they are comfortable with actually playing Hero, introduce them to Hero 5th, or Hero 6th or Fantasy Hero Complete and show them how you did what did.  
At that point they will have enough information to get creative and build cool stuff within you game world.
 
But most RPG players are used to having setting specific Player Guides for everything and just dumping the Hero Meta-Rules on them will create option overload.  
 
And least in my experience it does.
 
But then YMMV as they say.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Opening a can of worms? is it time to start fishing?

I am planning on making a Fantasy Hero Begins book for my campaign, a starter scenario to teach the system, but that will wait until I get the Player's book done so probably not much good for you.
 
I am hoping at some point that we return to sanity for most people and start up real face to face gaming without people cringing in terror.

Thanks!  I actually ordered the bestiary, equipment guide, grimoire, as well as the main book 1, 2, and fantasy hero.  lol  I might have an issue with buying too many gaming books. >.<
 

/self plug on
 
I am publishing a fantasy setting one book and several adventures at a time, a complete one that gives you everything you need to run a fantasy campaign straight out of the box.  You can see the links for that in my signature.
 
The Jolrhos Fantasy Hero setting is incomplete at this point but its for 6th edition.
 
/self plug off

First off, welcome to the Hero System. If you're interested in running a fantasy-style game using Hero, I would recommend a copy of Fantasy Hero Complete (link below). It's an all-in-one kind of book that uses the latest edition of the Hero System rules. 
 
 

There is a story in the Bible, 1 Kings 18, about Elijah challenging the priests of Baal (call on your god to light the wood on fire with your sacrifice and I will do the same).  At 1 Kings 18:27 Elijah starts to taunt the priest of Baal.  In some translations (or maybe it is in the Hebrew) Elijah tells them to yell louder because maybe Baal is in the bathroom.

I allowed ancient and modern styles and modified the details to suit my setting.

When I ran a Valdorian Age campaign it kind of organically grew into a campaign where the PCs had to organize and plan the defense of the free city of Elweir.  At the end of the campaign we played out a pseudo war-game to represent the battle between the two forces and then a separate session to handle the individual PC battles that took place.  I tried to set up the final battle so it was like the movie LOTR battles where you see the masses of combatants and then 'zoom' into individual battles as well.
 
The PCs started out just dealing with their individual issues that were tangentially related.  They had to create alliances between different political groups, local military and bandits, and religious leaders.  In the beginning no one believed them about what was coming.  VA doesn't have a lot of 'big flashy' magic and there are a bunch of monsters running around.  Also no one in the group had read any of the GoT books or see the TV shows at this point in time.  The bad guy's army was almost entirely made up of undead.  The PCs were able to capture a few and show them to the populace at the 'arena'.  That was when things changed.  It took both game years and calendar years to bring about.  We played 2 or 3 Sundays a month.

There is a story in the Bible, 1 Kings 18, about Elijah challenging the priests of Baal (call on your god to light the wood on fire with your sacrifice and I will do the same).  At 1 Kings 18:27 Elijah starts to taunt the priest of Baal.  In some translations (or maybe it is in the Hebrew) Elijah tells them to yell louder because maybe Baal is in the bathroom.

Oh the "SOB MUST PAY" motivation has worked for my group many a time. They tend more towards the heroic, but man can they carry grudges in game

Actually, that's correct.  The typo is that his Kick/Rear attack is supposed to be HA +334,043d6.  Them Centaurs are scrappy!    

In my current campaign the players are on an epic quest.  They know that they have to stop a plot which will open the world of Nyonia to the plan of one of the gods who wants nothing more that war (and all the ugliness that goes with it).  I laid out the overarching quest into three parts, each part had a starting and ending point.  What happened in-between was driven by the players.  I always knew what the opposition was doing along the way.  Sometimes the players interrupted the opposition's plans.  Sometimes the opposition interrupted the players' plans.  In game time the quest has been going ~7 years.  In calendar time I think it has been going on (off and on so other GMs can run) for 4 years.  We are at the end chapter, which I expect will take a while to play thru but will be a very short period of game time.
 
I asked the players before the campaign started if they wanted to play in an epic campaign, they said yes.  They know that success is possible (so is failure).
 
What makes this more fun is they are playing at a critical historical moment in the overall timeline.  I say that because a previous campaign I ran in Nyonia takes place 1000 years later and they are in the middle of something that changes everything on Nyonia.

In my games there are priests, shamans, and warrior priests.  Each of those types of 'clerics' is associated with specific god.  There are two gods that the are most associated war and battles, so they have the warrior priests.  The shamans are associated with a few different gods and also with a couple of 'spirit worship'.  The other gods mostly have priests or in one case there are no priests but rather mages tend to be associated with that this one off god (knowledge and hidden things).
 
I think the important thing is to make sure any gods you have are unique enough to have spheres of influence and that their priests reflect those spheres of influence.