bluesguy

I know it's sort of genre for the rest of the characters to just stand around doing nothing while the main character is doing something.
 
But in this particular instance, I found it hysterical that the rest of the characters seemed to be standing around transfixed with horror at what was going on and not knowing how to react.

Not for the first time do I think to myself, "Japan is weird."

The problem with critical hits is that they can be used against PCs too...
 
A couple of house rules we have used are if you roll a natural 3 on 3d6 you do maximum damage.  Doesn't happen often, but when it does it is usually a one-shot takedown.  The other is if you roll 1/2 or less of what you needed to hit, you get to roll damage dice twice and then pick the better of the two rolls.  That mostly grew out of player being frustrated when they would roll a 6 to hit and then roll a bunch of 1s for damage which seemed counter-intuitive for such a good to-hit roll.

I've played in a few campaigns over the decades where the DM made every session a nail-biting near-death experience.  Over time the players can become fatigued and demoralized as their cherished characters nearly die again and again.
Nihilism can set in or sometimes players will skip a week purely to catch a breather from the action.
 
It's important to let the characters (and their players) catch their breath, feel heroic or simply experience how powerful they've become over the course of a campaign.  It's like a palate cleanser.  It resets the taste buds for the next delicious adventure.
 
When I was taking my Saturday table through War for the Crown I started to sense the players getting a little haggard from having to hide from and escape the city guard again and again.  So when one character went to meet his contact at midnight on a re-supply errand I gave him a little booster.
 
Darran Redbeard - Dwarven explosives expert and military veteran with over a 100 years of experience under his belt - blows his Streetwise roll - badly.
 
A handful of street toughs with rusty gear and patched, misfit armor approach him.
 
Thug 1:  Hey, there, little fella.  That's a nice axe.
Darran:  Yeah?
Thug 1:  Hand it over - along with your coin purse and those metal egg things you got (grenades) and we won't have to cut you.
Darran:  I see...
<More thugs step out of the shadows - It's at least 4 to 1 now>
<Player 2 - Oh, Jesus... ~begins laughing~  They don't know they're trying to mug The Punisher.>
Darran:  Here, take the money.  <holds out his coin purse>
 
First thug eats a round from Darran's exploding punch gauntlet (Think 8 gauge shotgun round expended each time a punch lands).  His bowels perfume the sidewalk - dead instantly.
Next goon runs up and shanks Darran.  Right into his enchanted chain shirt.  Zero damage.
Darran ignores this guy and throws his highest damage explosive into the two guys hanging back and preparing to shoot him with with short bows.
A thunderous retort shakes the alley as they are blown to chunks.
 
Darran:  This is the part where you run.
Shanky runs for his life.  He doesn't make it.
 
And when it was over the player who was concerned his explosives expert wasn't quite as powerful as the other characters on the team was grinning ear to ear.  The stress of hiding from the guards and shadowy assassins was forgotten.
He was John F'ing Wick.  He was Baba Yaga.
 
 

All of this is based on my opinion/experience building characters for a long time, not on the books
Hunting - Depends on if you mean someone who makes their living hunting or what the nobles called hunting.  If it is the 1st then it is a set of skills - tracking, stealth, survival (appropriate environments), knowledge skill about plants and fauna, appropriate skills with hunting weapons (bow, spear, etc) and maybe a professional skill hunter 2nd type is maybe survival and appropriate skills with hunting weapons (bow, spear, etc) Tourney/Compose/Dancing - knowledge skills maybe based on a characteristic Falconry - Animal husbandry Flirting - Charm Heraldry - High Society Read - literacy for the appropriate language Play Musical Instrument - there is a specific skill for that with a list of instruments.  It is like weapons familiarity Battle - No idea what this is

All of this is based on my opinion/experience building characters for a long time, not on the books
Hunting - Depends on if you mean someone who makes their living hunting or what the nobles called hunting.  If it is the 1st then it is a set of skills - tracking, stealth, survival (appropriate environments), knowledge skill about plants and fauna, appropriate skills with hunting weapons (bow, spear, etc) and maybe a professional skill hunter 2nd type is maybe survival and appropriate skills with hunting weapons (bow, spear, etc) Tourney/Compose/Dancing - knowledge skills maybe based on a characteristic Falconry - Animal husbandry Flirting - Charm Heraldry - High Society Read - literacy for the appropriate language Play Musical Instrument - there is a specific skill for that with a list of instruments.  It is like weapons familiarity Battle - No idea what this is

All of this is based on my opinion/experience building characters for a long time, not on the books
Hunting - Depends on if you mean someone who makes their living hunting or what the nobles called hunting.  If it is the 1st then it is a set of skills - tracking, stealth, survival (appropriate environments), knowledge skill about plants and fauna, appropriate skills with hunting weapons (bow, spear, etc) and maybe a professional skill hunter 2nd type is maybe survival and appropriate skills with hunting weapons (bow, spear, etc) Tourney/Compose/Dancing - knowledge skills maybe based on a characteristic Falconry - Animal husbandry Flirting - Charm Heraldry - High Society Read - literacy for the appropriate language Play Musical Instrument - there is a specific skill for that with a list of instruments.  It is like weapons familiarity Battle - No idea what this is

It is absolutely necessary to set combat limits.  Here is what I have done in my campaign.
 
High level explanation
Brink/Tank type fighters Characteristics:  High strength, constitution, Body, Stun & PD/ED Martial Arts:  Maybe CSL : No more than 4.  Can buy up to 4 overall combat levels PSL:  No more than 3 PSL Nimble type fighters (including archers) Characteristics:  Lower strength, constitution, Body, Stun & PD/ED Martial Arts:  Almost certainly CSL : No more than 6.  Can only buy CSL for a specific weapon or type (sword). PSL:  No more than 3 PSL; but can have +3 vs. Range and +3 vs Hit Locations

It is absolutely necessary to set combat limits.  Here is what I have done in my campaign.
 
High level explanation
Brink/Tank type fighters Characteristics:  High strength, constitution, Body, Stun & PD/ED Martial Arts:  Maybe CSL : No more than 4.  Can buy up to 4 overall combat levels PSL:  No more than 3 PSL Nimble type fighters (including archers) Characteristics:  Lower strength, constitution, Body, Stun & PD/ED Martial Arts:  Almost certainly CSL : No more than 6.  Can only buy CSL for a specific weapon or type (sword). PSL:  No more than 3 PSL; but can have +3 vs. Range and +3 vs Hit Locations

It is absolutely necessary to set combat limits.  Here is what I have done in my campaign.
 
High level explanation
Brink/Tank type fighters Characteristics:  High strength, constitution, Body, Stun & PD/ED Martial Arts:  Maybe CSL : No more than 4.  Can buy up to 4 overall combat levels PSL:  No more than 3 PSL Nimble type fighters (including archers) Characteristics:  Lower strength, constitution, Body, Stun & PD/ED Martial Arts:  Almost certainly CSL : No more than 6.  Can only buy CSL for a specific weapon or type (sword). PSL:  No more than 3 PSL; but can have +3 vs. Range and +3 vs Hit Locations

And also out of a concern about @Steve Longhealth & well being.

And also out of a concern about @Steve Longhealth & well being.

And also out of a concern about @Steve Longhealth & well being.

I would definitely upgrade to the current version of Hero Designer.  But that wasn't the issue.  I am 99% sure you picked the HeroCombatManager-6e-XML.hcr file instead of the HeroCombatManager-6e-XML.hcr .  I was able to reproduce your error by using the HDC file you provided, my current version of HD and use the 6e export file.

PaladinAG, you might take a look at Hero's The Valdorian Age, which was designed to evoke the kind of fantasy written by the likes of Robert E. Howard, Michael Moorcock, and Fritz Leiber. Several elements from it, particularly its unique magic system, seem applicable to the kind of setting you sound like you want.
 
Our long-absent forum colleague James Gillen wrote a pretty cogent review of the book: https://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/11/11199.phtml

Greetings all.
 
I’ve been playing RPGs since 1982. Boot Hill 2e to be exact
 
I’ve played everything from Rifts, Aftermath!, Boot Hill, Top Secret, Traveller, Rolemaster and a bunch of others back in the day, but have stuck with Hero since the 4e Big Blue Book
 
I’m a big fan of Champions Complete, which I think is the best Supers game available today (Thanks Derek Heimforth!)
 
Play more, do more. Love Hero Games!

Ptolus is a huge city built upon many cities that were destroyed in the past.  Thus it has dungeons if that is what the players want and huge underground network.  The City is hugely detailed with districts, organizations, history and religion.  Of course you don't have to use any of this, but having it when you need it helps.  They also have a lifestyle to the districts on what the people eat, entertainment and such.  There are at least a 1000 businesses detailed with personality for the NPC's as well.  When it came out in 2006 it was so big they had to load much of it on CD-ROM!  It is over 700 pages with the maps and two extra adventures from the PDF!
 
It was a setting for all the game designers to play in and does have a high fantasy feel, but it is easy to push that aside if that isn't your speed.  I would recommend anyone buy the pdf just for reference.  The city is really cosmopolitan in that they like adventurers and actually have a Delver's Guild that explores the ruins below the city.  There are orcs, bugbears, ogres and even demons that walk amongst others in the city.  The people are not so freaked out by the occasional magic casting, but one still needs to be careful.    
 
More on my campaign, the players have purchased a mortuary so the Necromancer has easy access to bodies.  Also this is in the Warrens and slum-like area where there hasn't been anyone to get rid of bodies for a while.  The city has negotiated a contract to take bodies so they are using bureaucratics a lot and negotiations.  Now they are planning on becoming a gang in the Warrens as there are twelve other small disorganized gangs they need to quell or be run over.  Soon the Necromancer will be able to create a Vampire so that will add another element to the game.

Hi,
 
You can find free stuff for HD here, in the Downloads area.  30 Templates & 62 Prefabs.

Dogs have owners.  Cats have staff.

My advice .. Watch some of the videos for TTS ... it is not about being at an immersive table, it is about a speeding up play while keeping all the detail.  A good group with hero system knowledge can play around 30-40% faster combat encounters when used to TTS hero mod, in a 3d environment which can give a first person view of the action which lends a unique perspective.
 
If you want more detail join the hero system discord channel and talk to some of the playtest teams using it.
 
 
 

Zoom works very well.  We tried Discord and had problems (at least one person could never get audio to work).  We also used Google Hangouts.  I ended paying for a one year Zoom license and that has worked out perfectly.
 
Simple & inexpensive setup:
$50 for the GM to pay for a GM license.  Players just use the free client. You can use jpg or png for maps and tokens.  Not sure about PDF as a map background. Supports Hex & Squares Easy to setup very simple Hero dice rolling that you can save.  For instance a generic skill roll that can be used for any skill or roll to hit.  And you can save your favorite damage rolls and get it to total up all the dice rolled.  However it can't handle counting body for you so you will have to do that yourself. We used it for years with practically no issues Downside: Windows only One man shop doing the support/development Very small community Not as simple & slightly more expensive
TTS is a much more immersive experience.  It feels more like sitting at a gaming table, especially if your players like using miniatures and terrain For the last couple of months I have 'fiddled' with the TTS Hero Mod so I could prepare for the group moving from Epic Table to TTS. @Brennall has done a really good job building the TTS mod and enlisting help with testing and other tasks. My group has been using it for about a month now and it has made running & playing the game go much smoother.. On our table every has their PDF character sheet at their seat. Huge community of people who model terrain, miniatures, buildings, etc. for TTS.  Generally it is all for free. You can find 'whole scenes' and just put them on the table Creating your own scenes from your own maps isn't hard Downsides: Everyone has to buy their own license.  Sometimes they have sales on 4 packs of licenses - which you can gift to people. Steep learning curve for the GM Steeper learning curve for the players (compared to Epic Table) to learn how to navigate around the table using their mouse and keyboard.  The more familiar you are with modern computer games the easier this is Can easily become a rabbit hole to look for just the right scene for an adventure/encounter Technologically challenged people may just give up.  We just had this happen.

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.

Shameless plug:  Hero Combat Manager which I wrote and you can purchase here.
 
I think there is a export (on the site) that lets you use a Hero Designer export to create a simple spreadsheet.

Using guitar playing as an analogy:
 
Horse with no name is a very simple song to learn how to play.  It is two chords that are in the same position on the neck and are easy to switch between.  The strumming pattern isn't hard to learn.  I think it took me about a day or so to learn it.  See this Youtube lesson I found https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2OCGN6AspY
 
And then you have Flamenco guitar playing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cv2Fyjk0GGM which takes years of constant practice to learn how to do.
 

Hero System has been my favorite pastime for several decades, just to put the following into context. That said, I consider Hero Designer to be the best $25. I have ever spent in my life. No exageration.