Legendsmiths

Re: Tank chargen: low-strength, high-soak 16 EGO may not be all that efficient. Consider 14 or 13, depending on your target ECV. Take the 23 points from STUN and put then into STR. At least then you'll be able to do something. Half of those points come straight back to STUN anyway, and 1/5 of them will increase your PD. The net result is you'll have around 80 STUN and the same PD, but you'll have to scrounge up 5-6 points. I think you are too BODY heavy. If you drop to 20 BODY you've got 40 pts to play with. Buy some damage reduction. However, unless you buy STR or some other power you won't have much in the way of offense. 50% rDR Phys & Energy (60 Active Points); vs. BODY only -1/2; 40 Real Points. Just some thoughts. Doesn't seem like a fun character to play.

Re: Removing the Speed Chart Zorn: I'll show you mine if you show me yours

Re: Removing the Speed Chart I like the speed chart. A lot. I think it handles high action characters very nicely. That said, I use tools to help me track things. The most useful of which is a spreadsheet with a macro. Type in everyone with their SPD, DEX.INT, and click a button. It generates a turn order for me. If someone ups their SPD or someone else gets introduced, add them to the list and recalculate. In play, I simply tell people when its their turn. People hold their actions a lot, but that's okay, and better as far as I'm concerned. HERO allows you to mix up the order with the Hurry maneuver. Take a -2 and get +1d6 DEX. Want it more cinematic? Just have someone take a -2 and automatically go first... unless the other person Hurries as well, and then DEX off. This allows you to focus on exceptions to the norm, and makes people more edgey about such actions. They can disrupt the order, but at a price. Any random system will normalize over time to be basically the same thing as the speed chart. On a turn by turn basis it will feel different, but in the end it is still very much the same. As a GM I just say "Phase 4, Character Y - on deck, Characcter X - GO!". It creates a solid rythm and keeps things moving. There are other programs that can help as well, like Hero Helper and HeroCombat Simulator. I also think the card system could work as well. A variant would be to give each person a single suit from A-Q. This will shake up the order while ensuring that noone gets duplicate phases. It also allows people to keep track of aborts, holds, and used actions very easily. This system also breaks very little of the speed chart... it just makes the placement of the phases random.

Re: Why I love HERO How do I love HERO? Let me count the ways... Wun. Rewards tactical play as well as great roleplaying (e.g. PRE attacks) TooHOO. Allows you to adapt the game to your setting, not the other way around. THREE. Crunch (Good solid numbers)! Three. How many licks does it take YOU to get to the center.... The world may never know.

Re: Why are there never any Fantasy Hero games at the Cons? Well, Legendsmiths is doing their part. For the past 2-3 years we have been running at least 2 FH games at Origins, GenCon, U*Con, and Penguicon. Unfortunately, I cannot get to many more cons than that in a year. Combat speed is largely about organization and pacing. The events we run play out with 2-3 combats, plus roleplaying, plus 1/2 hour intro to Hero and our setting in a 4 hour slot. That's also playing with our target audience of players that have never played Hero before. I wish I could make it to Dundracon, Kublacon, and others. I would certainly run. But the events are happening, just not necessarily in your neck of the woods. We also use 2 GMs. This helps with fatigue, or inversely to keep the energy level up, and allows the floater GM to help answer questions that might keep play from moving. If you want to see us running, we posted our GenCon pics: http://www.narosia.com/gallery/GenCon2004/GenCon2004.html Combat length is often about measuring the challenge relative to the players. Since you are creating a 1-shot to run at a con, you should be able to fully control the challenge and pacing of any combat. Nothing should take much longer than you plan. Things happen, but good planning can make a lot of difference.

Re: Affliction Power in HERO I don't think it leads to the same trap as with transforms. GURPS 4e does an excellent job of defining the game effects of each affliction. I think stating out the effect and then summarizing it is the way to go, and I think having a base power like this could be very useful for simulating a lot of effects.

Re: Affliction Power in HERO The problem with using transform is that there is no specific game effect and fundamentally you can transform someone into anything. It is entirely subjective. Is retching a minor or major transform. Additionally, transform is too expensive to be practical. Stunning someone, or putting them in agony is not practical for transform's cost.

GURPS 4e introduced an interesting power that I think would work very well in HERO. While many of the enhancements for this power, and the core power itself, can be built flat out as powers I think there is value in distilling it and creating a base power for these types of effects. So, here it is. AFFLICTION Range: Standard Standard Power (Attack Power) Costs END Base Cost: 20 pts/level. Base Effect: Target must make a CON roll at +1, -1 per level of Affliction, +1 per 2 rPD or rED (defined at power creation). Failure results in the target being Stunned until he can succeed at a CON roll (unmodified) to recover. Advantages: NND +1: rDEF does not modify the CON roll. Heart Attack +3: heart stops and target begins to suffocate, requiring a Paramedics roll to restart it. If saved, the target suffers 1d6K damage NND to represent the damage suffered in the process. Sleep +2: target falls into a natural sleep. Retching +1/2: target is retching for 1 minute. Target may roll CON each phase, on a success he may perform a half-phases, non-attack action. On a failure he is stunned. There are many others (I don't have my books with me). This was pulled out of GURPS 4e and converting the enhancements is pretty easy (+100% = +1 advantage). I think I got the base power cost about right, using a 4d6 EB, NND resisted by CON +1, rDEF improves chance of success -1/2, Only to determine if target is Stunned -1/2. There is some hand waving here, but I think as a basic power it works pretty well. Heart Attack may seem extreme, but that is 80 active points per -1 to the CONr and armor does help. Combining the powers necessary to simulate the physical damage (1d6K NND Does Body, END Drain (gradual effect)) and so on, I think this is a very close approximation to the effect. Does this work?

Re: p.s.l. for hit location Just limit it to 4 levels. That means when the target is surprised/stunned/entangled the headshot is no penalty, otherwise it's still -4. Possibly only limit it to 2 levels. They can still by other CSLs. This is really more for flavor than anything. If you allow the 8 levels I think it would be too unbalancing.

Re: Deadly Blow... I'm not a fan of deadly blow unless the costs are brought into line with MA DCs at 4/DC. I run that in my games and it works fine. I enjoy the flavor of having a "Demon Slayer" or an "Assassin". Other alternatives: I agree. I think PSLs or Find Weakness are a much better way to go. FW, Only Usable From Surprise -1? Might also be a really good way to handle backstabbing. The backstabber sits and watches his target, rolling his FW until he fails, at which point he might be at 1/4 or 1/8 DEF. Markdoc: I agree with you on EB, but what about Hand Attack bought with Objects of Opportunity? I also think my split HKA is also a valid construct. The Hand Attack would add to damage if the character had an appropriate weapon in his hand, especially since that's how HA works. I don't see how HKA is all that different. HA has no maximum damage limitation. So, by your logic, I could create a 15 STR character that buys +6d6N, which stacks with Martial Arts (say +2d6N), and stacks with a club (3d6N, 10 STR), effectively doing prodigious amounts of damage (12d6N). However, while that gets me 12 DC I couldn't do that with a hand killing attack, which doesn't seem to jive. Time to eschew the sword in favor of the club. Normal damage wins again. Extending some of this logic, what may be a more balanced construct is to build Deadly Blow with HA, and then apply the standard maneuver rules (even though HA is not a manuever) that +2d6N = +1 DC Killing. This would effectively double the cost of Deadly Blow. I still prefer my method of 2/4/6 pts/DC since that remains balanced with Martial Arts, although now that I think about it I should halve the effect when applied to killing damage. Now that I think about it, I should just double the cost of Deadly Blow (9/15/20) and then it works. At that point I think PSLs, FW, and CSLs would be the way to go. Hey, if you applied a limitation, Only to Increase Damage, to CSLs that would be about a -1 limitation, meaning that for the cost of a CSL you could increase the damage with all associated restrictions. 2pts would be +1 DC to a single weapon, 3pts to a group, 5pts to HtH or Ranged, and 8pts to all combat. Another alternative would be AID 1 1/2d6 (15 pts) to HKA, 0 END +1/2 (22.5 Active), OIF -1/2, Self Only -1/2, Instant -1/2; Total: 9. Using standard effect this would add +1 DC to any HKA and since it is instant that's all you would get. If you paid END [1] for it it would cost 6, and if you paid x2 END [2], it would cost 5. Add the lims for a 7pt Deadly Blow and it costs, uncannily, 7.5. Add the lims for a 4pt Deadly Blow and it costs 5, per DC. HA could be used for normal damage attacks, and would be a lot cheaper, and this construct could be used for killing attacks. Looking at the Aid construct and the HA based Deadly Blow, for flavor I am inclined to go with the HA based Deadly Blow, turn it into a Talent, and say that Deadly Blow costs 3/5/7 pts/DC, x2 DC if the attack is normal. This allows a Sneak Attack to add +1 KDC for 5 pts to a knife and +2 NDC to a blackjack. Good conversation, all.

Re: So I'm thinking of running a Western HERO scenario... I was actually thinking of the other problem, keeping people alive. I definitely suggest having a peon/thug/scabs rule to declare them dead. If you use hit location, impairing/disabling, and bleeding people will die just fine, especially against gunfire. You could also create the following: JUST A FLESH WOUND Healing bought with extra time (1 day), 1/2 DCV throughout that represents "holing up" before the character comes back to exact his vengence. You could even have a limitation that for purposes of wound penalties, the wound heals normally, just that the damage is healed (i.e. if you have lost more than 2/3 body you are at -4 to everything). Also, instead of "Dead at 0" use a GURPS-esque rule that says "Dying at 0". Make a CON roll every phase you do more than a 1/2 PHA non-combat action. If you fail, you aggrevate your wound so much you pass out and lose 2 BODY/turn until you are dead or stabalized.

Re: Help me build my Gameday event! We've been running a campaign (http://www.universe-m.com/id41.html) called Motor City Knights. It is a 150pt "anything goes" game and it is a lot of fun. I would avoid ECs and VPPs. Maybe 1 multipower if it makes sense, although the character descriptions you gave don't really support it. If you keep things under 45 active points I think you will still get cool supers flavor without being too out there. Keep the characters iconic and schticky.

Re: Deadly Blow... I don't think it is an invalid construct at all. The following is valid (leaving out all the melee weapon limitations): 1d6 HKA OAF "Sword" -1, 7 points +1d6 HKA OAF "Sword" -1, Limited "Only Once Sword Has Touched Blood" -1/2, 6 points So, I do 1d6K when I use the sword but once I do damage it does 2d6K. If I have a 20 STR, I can only add 1d6 to the base attack until it touches blood afterwhich I can add 1d6+1. Deadly Blow is exactly the same except the first 1d6K is paid for by the "world" and is essentially free as long as you can find a sword. In a supers setting you would build it as I have. Essentially it is no different than building a 2d6K attack. It's just you define 1d6 as only occuring under a set circumstance. There are numerous examples of powers like this in Hero, not to mention an entire article in DH about powers that cycle with the sun/moon/tides etc. So backing off of the 2d6K example, I think it is perfectly fine to have such a power. What is it that you see that doesn't work about it? Buying +2d6 EB is legal, with the right limitations. OIF: Objects of Opportunity is perfect for this, and essentially what it represents.

Re: Deadly Blow... How can it be illegal if Steve built it that way, and the FAQ expressly says to just add it and ignore advantages. So a +1d6 Deadly blow added to a 1d6+1 AP stilleto (max damage w/ STR) would still do 2d6+1 according to the rules. I agree that it isn't balanced, and don't use it, but I think calling the power illegal might be a bit harsh all things considered.

Re: Deadly Blow... For low-power games (sub 150) I think Deadly Blow is too cheap and breaks Martial Arts DCs. A martial DC is 4 points, and restricted to a single art, which is roughly the equivalent of a 7 pt Deadly Blow. However, that Deadly Blow adds a full 3 DC killing. I agree with Markdoc, while it is built according to the rules it isn't very appropriate for a Heroic game. However, the basic idea is a good one so here's what we do: Deadly Attack: 2/4/6 pts 2pts/DC = same restrictions as a 4pt Deadly Blow 4pts/DC = 7pt Deadly Blow 6pts/DC = 10pt Deadly Blow I know 6pts is greater than 5 pts of STR BUT it adds to base damage so it is more valuable, especially considering characteristic maxima, and doubly so if you charge double for STR. From another thread I got the idea that you could use the same progression, but call it Critical Attack, costing 1/2/3 pts per DC. These only get added during a critical hit. Since crits do max damage, I would make the characters still roll their Critical Attack damage separately from their max damage. So, a 1d6+1K crit hit with 3 DCs of Critical attack would do 7 BODY + 1d6 (Critical Attack). It is still one sum for applying vs. armor, stunning, etc., it is simply a mechanic to add excitement to the critical hit. If you don't like it, there's no reason not to allow a calculated maximum on the total (in this case 13 BODY).

Re: Package Disads House Rules? Disads should count towards the campaign limit for balance issues (as mentioned above). I would think most players would be open to having some of their 75 pts of disads chewed up by racial norms. That said, I ask you to consider how many of the disads are truely racial vs. cultural. If they are cultural, then humans should have them with the same frequency. If all dwarves are misers as a result of their culture, why don't humans have some similar disad. Perhaps the barbarians have a barbaric reputation, and the "romans" are nationalistic. I can't think of many races that have racial disads. Physical Limitations come to mind, but most "disads" could be built as negative powers (reduced running, leaping, taboo skills, negative skill levels) which means they aren't disads. My thought is if no amount of conditioning or exposure could eliminate the "disadvantage", then it probably should be considered part of the race's cost and not a separate disadvantage. I realize that is a somewhat subjective suggestion, but I think it works best. If a race has "no fine manipulators" (e.g. most animals) that should probably be part of their cost and not a disad. If the race is Greedy, that should be counted towards their disads. Separating the physicality of the race from the sociality of the race really helps to define them, as well as your world. If a dwarf were raised in the shire, using ME as an example, would the dwarf be grumpy and fixated on societies lost? Most likely not. He may long to understand his true heritage, but he is probably more concerned about the harvest than kicking the orcs out of Moria.

Re: Paying Points for Equipment... DC is a really good way to handle this. Everyone gets a 60 pt equipment pool and a 90 pt armory. The armory after the start of the game can grow to whatever you want. The equipment pool has no activepoint cap, just real points. So, you can only carry 60 pts of gear around with you, changing it out only when you are where your armory is (generally a fixed location). As you find loot, add it to the armory, but increases in your equipment pool (1 pt = 5 pts) do not change it. Seems pretty good to me. Read the section in DC on resource points. It covers followers, contacts, and vehicles, so it would work for horses, ships, contacts, squires, and EQ. If someone hands you an axe, big deal, it gets added to your armory.

Re: Hitting Versus Damage Unless you are using a house rule, only STUN is x2 during surprise, not bod. So, 11 bod, 110 stun is the result of a surprise critical. Still a lot of stun, but not 220. Body would be doubled due to head shot, separate from STUNx, and only after armor. Assuming a massive helm of 11 DEF, the target would take 0 Body but still take 99 STUN, minus his personal PD. You were effectively applying a x4 STUNx for surprise. Too much.

Re: Hitting Versus Damage How did you get to 26 BODY? That seems gratuitous.Penalty skill levels to offset hit location are a good idea, but I don't allow more than 4 PSLs for anything.

Re: Hitting Versus Damage In our setting, we do not recommend that scrubs (simple common regular ugly badguy) get critical hits. We don't even allow them to make hit location rolls. Unless a called/placed shot is made, it is always a chest shot. This allows players to "game" the armor system, and just wear heavy armor on their chest. It also makes combat move extremely fast. SCRUBs Do not recover Do not get crits (as an optional rule on a crit they get to roll location and normal damage but no max damage) Do not roll hit location Do not have hit location rolled against them So, the Orc Chieftan and Shaman would be Villains, but the orc guards would be SCRUBs. I do like Deadly Blow with the only on crits limitation. Although I think Deadly Blow is too cheap relative to martial arts DCs. In our campaign we recommend a cost of 2/4/6 per DC (with martial arts DCs being 4) for the same levels (4/7/10) of Deadly Blow. It keeps things a little more manageable, since for 14 points someone can be +2d6K with a weapon type or circumstance (e.g. backstab) which seems too cheap for that much damage. Only on a crit would essentially halve the cost of Deadly Blow, making it 1/2/3 per DC.

Re: Hitting Versus Damage Use critical hits. If you make your roll by less than half (i.e. a 13- = 6 for a crit), you do max damage. If you needed a 5 to hit the target, then possibly rolling a 1 on damage seems an acceptable outcome. You could also use a min damage threshold. Each 2 pts of success steps it up 25%: 13- to hit, roll a 11 = 25% min, 9 50% min, 7 75% min. You still roll, but unless you get greater than the minimum you do the minimum. On a 2d6K attack, 25% would be 3, 50% 6, 75% 9. Combine the 2 and you got it made. Also, I allow STR or Skill to modify beyond double DC, but the damage max doesn't change. A STR 20 character with 2 CSLs put to damage using a knife (STR min 5 and 1/2d6K) would do 2d6K damage, but with a max of 7 (1d6+1 is the max for a knife). This makes sense to me that the man logically is so strong that he rarely if ever does not apply the knife in the most effective manner possible. You could also allow this for bowman, even though STR does not normally increase bow damage. So a STR 20 bowman using a STR 10 bow (at 1d6+1) would roll 2d6 damage with a max of 7. You could also allow the purchase of STR, only for increasing damage probability -2, does not affect figured characterisitcs -1/2, reduced END 0 END +1/2 = 2 pts for +5 STR. To keep things simple then for 2 pts you can add +1 DC only for purposes of increasing damage probability, but not actual damage or damage max regardless of things like AP, PEN, or any other advantages. As for the backstab issue: a stilletto does 1d6+1K with Skill/STR/Haymaker (it only takes 2 bonuses in DC to make this happen). Attacking from surprise out of combat puts the target at 1/2 DCV and 1/2 Hit Location. They also take x2 STUN. If they are unarmored, they are pretty much toast. Targeting the head or vitals is then only -4 and they are at 1/2 DCV which means the backstabber will most likely succeed. Assuming a hit, the target will be taking 10x STUN, averaging at 45 pts (1d6+1) and 2x BODY, averaging at 9. That will take a normal man and effectively kill him on an AVERAGE roll. Add Deadly Blow for 7 points (backstab), now he is doing an extra 1d6K, or +2 DC if AP. With the attack above now he is doing 2d6K AP (stilletto), averaging 70 STUN and 14 BODY. If the target has 6 PD and 6 DEF, he stops 3 (AP), taking 7 - 3 = 4 *2 = 8 BODY and stops 6 STUN (AP), taking 70 - 6 = 64 STUN. Even a tough guy with 40 STUN is no recovering on a minute by minute basis only, but taking 2d6 bleeding every TURN. I'm not sure what your definition of dead is, but that armored high STUN fighter just got taken out of the fight, and the normal man is 2 BODY away from death, suffering 3d6 Bleeding per turn and in a coma. Should they be dead outright? On average no. Maxing out without Deadly Blow gets the same result as an average Deadly Blow; maxing out with Deadly Blow will kill just about anything, doing 120 STUN and 24 BODY. That works for me.

Re: Sell me on Hero! I don't think HERO is more complicated than GURPS, in fact I think it is just the opposite. Think of HERO as LEGOs and GURPS as specifically shaped specialty blocks. You can build anything with LEGOs, and it will look great. Assembling the blocks is easy, as is making them fit together, but every now and then things look a little blocky. You accept that because they're LEGOs, and move on - a space ship is a space ship after all. Specialty blocks on the other hand look perfect, but if you are missing a piece, or trying to make it fit into a larger object, they may not quite fit, and something that would be a breeze with LEGOs becomes impossible or odd with specialty blocks. That said, what you build with your LEGOs can be quite complex, but LEGOs themselves are just blocks. I don't think you will be in over your head at all. In reading GURPS 4e I certainly had to step back and think, "wow, they seem to have thought of everything." But that can be a bad thing too, because you have to be sure to find just the right rule for what you are trying to handle. HERO however has an internal consistency that seems elusive at first, but once you find it few tasks are difficult to handle. The basic 5pts/1d6 effect method, whether totalling the dice or counting BODY is simple and easy once you know it. Then questions like what happens when an elephant is hit by a yugo become trivial, and entertaining instead of grim (ala GURPS). Fear not, I think you will "get" HERO and Sidekick does a great job of presenting the rules.

Re: Sell me on Hero! I think I agree with what most have said. Certainly for Supers there are few games that compare with the flexibility and cinematic action of HERO. You are correct that Steve Kenson (Mutants and Masterminds) and Sean Punch are writing GURPS Powers, slated for next summer I believe. It will extend the system that exists in GURPS 4e for advantages... which is basically HERO. I think Steve could help ensure cinematics are a part of the powers system, but we'll see. I've been reading through it and if they can solve the whole "flying through walls and come out fists a-flailin'" issue in GURPS, or lack thereof, I think they will have a solid winner on their hand and HERO will have its first true competition in the powers creation area for a long time. The GURPS 4e stuff looks very nice and has a lot of depth to it, and in some ways handles sticky situations that HERO struggles with very well, by virtue soley of prescription. Example: AFFLICTION 10pts/level in GURPS 4e. Basically and affliction attack forces a target to make a HT+1 roll -1/level of affliction. Any amount of DR (HERO DEF) stops the power. If he fails he is stunned until he rolls HT to recover. Cool, a nice stunning, no damage attack. To this you can add enhancements (HERO advantages) that redefine what happens when the HT roll is failed, or even a secondary effect (half the enhancement value) that occurs only if the HT roll is failed by 5 or more. Enhancement examples: Sleep +150%, Heart Attack +300%. Turning this into a Maladiction is a +100% enhancement and means that it effectively ignores DR, but range is then -1 per yd (it can be improved but I forget the enh. value). Area Effect 4 yds +100%. So, to create a Somnadoom power that puts everyone to sleep within a 4 yd radius, possibly causing a Heart attack, and ignoring armor would cost 10 + 150% + 300%/2 + 100% + 100% = 10 + 500% = 10 + 50 = 60/level. So, for 120 points everyone has to make a HT-1 roll or fall asleep, suffering a heart attack if the roll is HT+5. Is that balanced? When extra damage for hand to hand is 5 pts/+1 ST 60/level seems fair, I guess. What I can say is this - that building an equivalent power in HERO can certainly be done but is subject to interpretation. In GURPS 4e, that isn't the case. This is just one example, but they have done a great job of defining nearly every type of effect imaginable, attempting to balance it point wise, but certainly making it easy to build. The fact that after reading the affliction power last night I can quote you that stuff says something (I'm not sure what tho). To turn this into a touch attack, apply the no range limitation. To make it unrealiable, add accessibility, to make it cost fatigue, add the appropriate limitations, all which reduce the cost of the power. Add requires skill roll. The powers system is basically exactly like HERO's now, but with much more fine print. Is the fine print a good thing? Well, yes and no. On one hand you know how to build a sleep effect. On the other hand there is only one way to build a sleep effect and the special effect of sleep type powers has little impact on power design. Even considering that, GURPS 4e still seems locked into a realistic damage system and I don't know how supers will play out. In talking with Sean Punch at GenCon, they know the perception that supers had in GURPS and seem committed to making 4 color work. We'll see. I'm not quite convinced that you could easily handle Godzilla vs. Mecha Godzilla vs. (Insert Superteam Here) like you could in HERO. I just don't see it, nor do I see Godzilla tail bashing a brick-super and knocking him through a skyscraper in GURPS. In HERO I can already see the dust settling and can easily tell you how many walls he flew through and how much damage the knockback caused. Sidekick is definitely worth your time. Pick up Sidekick and Champions. Champions details all of the standard supers archetypes, but for fast play has a bunch of power sets all prebuilt for them. Pick and choose, build a team, and slug it out. See how it feels. I think the way powers interact, how characters are built, and the speed and scale of combat will help you realize your supers game.

Re: hero vs rolemaster I played a lot of WHFRP and have all of the stuff with optional rules and what not. It is a very fun game that captures a very specific feel. Combat is a lot of fun, but largely spectator in nature as well. Open-ended damage is a lot of fun, but every combat is a crap shoot modified by your skill. It plays very fast and has a lot of flavor. However, if someone were seriously jonesin' to play it, I'd suggest running the setting in Savage Worlds. Savage Worlds is a great game. It offers an amazing amount of character depth and development for such a rules light system. It offers more control in combat than many more complex games do not, while remaining as their tagline says "fast, furious, and fun". Their supers setting comes out in a couple weeks (straight from Shane Hensley at GenCon) and I played in their supers demo. It isn't Champs by any stretch, but for the crowd that enjoys HeroClix and is looking for a LOT more depth and a much more satisfying RP experience, it is a great solution. Will it replace my regular game? No, but I would rather play it than most other RPGs. I will second the assessment of RuneQuest. RQ uses the basic roleplay system of Chaosium. This system is fine for non-combat situations, and handles some skill things very well. However, combat is repetitive, not all that exciting, and somewhat dull if not deadly. I think that is one of the reasons the old RQ is gone and Heroquest, a much more storytelling style game. For me, Hero, GURPS, and SavageWorlds handle all the different styles of play I enjoy. Hero for epic, cinematic action, GURPS for extreme realism with the option for elements of the cinematic (which isn't to say the fantastic is not well supported by the system - Magic works wonderfully), and SW for fast, easy, rules-light play (perfect for Cthulhian horror where everyone can die in no time). That said, I play more Hero than anything because I enjoy depth of rules, controllability of action, and the epic survivability the system affords, not to mention the level of consistency and flexibility within the system to handle nearly any situation.

Re: hero vs rolemaster I played champs and RM through the eighties until GURPS came out. I then played that for many years until the crafting of our worldbook began. When all the dust settled, here we are nearly complete with a Fantasy Hero setting. I mention this because realism vs. cinematic systems played an important part in our selection of Hero System to host our setting. I don't think RM combat is realistic in its implementation, only, possibly, in its results. RM combat can be a lot of fun, but by and large it is a spectator sport with the player only marginally in control of the situation. GURPS is far more realistic and perhaps the best balance of realism and playability I have ever experienced. 4th edition (just released) fixes a lot of issues that existed, making it an even better game. Additionally, they added cinematic options to enhance that level of play. d20, for me, is the least enjoyable combat-wise. I very much like the game, and how it works, and there are options in UA that can enhance combat. But, by and large combat is a specatator sport, not unlike RM, although with a bit more control. Unfortunately, the gritty/tastey outcome of combat you have in RM ala crits doesn't exist in d20. Our last playtest game for our setting in d20 was a 4 hour combat involving 6 players, 1 bad guy (powerful), and a handful of troll minions. The trolls were largely irrelevant and we spent the entire time slugging it out back and forth. Finally he fell. We all looked at each other and said,"You know, if we're going to spend 4 hours in combat I'd like to at least enjoy the combat beyond the simple win at the end." Which brings me to Hero. Hero does a great job of creating an impression of reality, enhanced action movie-style. You have enough control of your character's actions that you feel a part of the situation, not a spectator. At the same time the system is generous enough to not turn your character into guacomole because it realistically makes sense. Take a fight with a dragon, something I have run/played in all 4 systems. RM: Combat is crazy tense. You know you are 1 crit away from maiming. At the same time you threaten the dragon with just as much pain. If not, you shouldn't be fighting him. Aside from the spectator aspect, few systems can compare with Spell Law for magic, and the detail of combat RESULTS. d20: Pretty much a hit point fest unless you have 5th level spells, which then devolve into check spell resistance to see if the spell affects the dragon and then forcing a save or die/paralyze/incap. result. GURPS: You better kill the dragon in the first few seconds of combat or people will get broken. Tail bashes, broken shields/arms, vicera, it's all pretty gruesome. Incredibly fun, but gruesome. I have never, and I mean that, never played a GURPS combat that wasn't entirely exciting, fun, and rich. Ever. However, I have accidentally killed a character involved with a grapple, seen characters milk a grenade only to blow their arms off, people run over by vehicles, brave paladins with shattered shields->arms->knockback against a wall->broken leg, severed limbs a-plenty, broken weapons, yada, yada, yada. All good stuff, but hardly heroic. Hero: The dragon is grim. You can get dead pretty quick. However, most will get taken out because of stun. The flow of the combat will be exciting, for sure, with tail bashes, wing buffets, breath attacks, swords, spells, running, screaming, everything. Characters leaping onto the back of the dragon, brutes grabbing the oncoming smashing foot of a dragon and wrestling with it (probably losing, but still). I just had a fight: 5 115pt characters vs. 1 700pt demon. Two party members died, because of the Hellfire aura (2d6 NND - Heat Damage). That constant ticking of the STUN finally dropped them. However, the demon was so beat up he ate two of them and then ran as others started to come to. In another fight a 30 STR Orog (one of our iconic characters) wields a 9d6N club enchanted to do knockback. While charging up to the evil villain, he bashes a mook, sending him flying. The villain suddenly became worried, so he held his action. The orog came in for the big swing, and the villain springs into action, forcing a contest of DEX, and wins. He then does a grab for the club, succeeding, attempting to wrest it from the Orog's hands. While he was strong enough to grab the weapon (25 STR), he couldn't seem to get it out of the Orog's hands, especially since it was being wielded 2H. They stood there for a phase or two attempting to figure out what to do when the Orog decides to just grab him and throw him into the inferno they were fighting in front of. Good stuff. We have had so many epic fights in Hero it has been great. Subtle things too, like getting stunned sets up a nice coup de grace, forcing other players to Dive for Cover to take the hit for you. Very cool stuff. Stuff that no other system has, although with 4th edition GURPS has taken on many things Hero has had. Still far more deadly than Hero, though. I like that I can throw some serious badness at my players, have a great fight, and not have people walk away with missing limbs (if they can of course). As for lots of dice. In champions maybe, but not so much at the FH level. Most weapons/attacks in FH are killing damage so 2-4 dice is about the norm. We don't do random location (chest shots) against/by mooks, which helps speed play. Placed/Called shots are still allowed, and heroes/villains still roll random against each other, but there generally isn't more than one of those in a single combat. One final thing. Of those 4 systems how many of them allow you to resolve a combat without landing a single blow? GURPS maybe, although in all my experience nothing quite has the fluidity and ease of play as a PRESENCE attack. Even players new to Hero picking up a game at a convention (this just happened at GenCon) can resolve a "fight" by the appropriate application of moxy. So, my opinion? If I'm going to play crunchy realism, like a janitor trapped in a mall full of zombies, and one misstep can kill me (or break my ankle), GURPS is for me. Something realistic/cinematic (ala Robin Hood - stories or movie) could take me either way. Epic fantasy however calls for Hero in a very big way, as do modern/sci-fi action movies. If you want to check out the characters we use in our games, take a look at our site, specifically here. Good luck.