thewomble

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

Alfred Hitchcock's Frenzy (1972). Rather grubby film, but entertaining nonetheless.

Re: MYTHIC HERO Kickstarter

I've got to say, regardless of what is the appropriate level of compensation for such a project in an ideal world, that the target for this Kickstarter is very ambitious compared to similar projects in today's market place. SL's talents may make him worthy of being put on a substantial salary to write the good stuff, but unfortunately that might not be realistic. Fingers crossed...

I am aware of the broad differences between 5th and 6th. This isn't a request to list them in the thread. What I'm wondering is if there is an official, semi-official or at least comprehensive list of all the differences somewhere around.

Re: New Hero System Players And Game Masters

Hi, hi. Younger than 25 y/o player here and just thought I'd give my input.

 

PDFs are the future. I'm saying it blatantly because, well, that is the truth :/

Good to see a younger player around here. Heck, I'm not ancient in my 30s, but I've been playing Hero since the 1980s so that puts me in the older majority.

Just wondering, how did you get into Hero system?

Re: New Hero System Players And Game Masters

Firstly, invite your non-gaming friends to take part in a game. Every year you can introduce several people to the hobby and to our favourite game. If we all did this, Hero would be in great shape.

Secondly, run an event at a con.

Thirdly, keep buying Hero products, support Kickstarters etc so that the game is still in print and getting support for decades to come.

Fourthly, spread the word online by participating in forums, blogging, mentioning Hero on Facebook or whatever. But don't kid yourself, doing the first one I mentioned will be way more effective at helping the game.

Re: New Hero System Players And Game Masters

If we could figure out how to make the game appealing to young Japanese girls* we could start a new golden age of role playing.

 

*one of the most influential trendsetting groups in the world.

They are??? Too bad RPGs definitely fall into the "ick, otaku" category for the more fashionable young women...

Yes, I know it can stop a bullet. I've never actually beheld a copy of 5e, but I have 6e and I find that while the pages are good thick stock, the covers actually crumple and ding easily. Are the covers of 5e made to the same specifications as 6e?

Sorry, I'm borderline OCD about books and this is an important purchase factor!

Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it...

I've been re-reading a bit of Jack Vance recently - a couple of obscure early novellas, namely the Houses of Iszm and Son of the Tree. Good nostalgic fun and inventive stories in their own right.

In this article, Fred Hicks describes the initiative system in the new MHR game. Essentially, each successive player nominates who goes next. The article goes into some of the nuances and it sounds like a neat approach to me. Would you use it in Champions?

Re: Hero System Sixth Edition Concise

Here's another idea: make a Hero Lite series, with a Fantasy, Pulp, SF and Champions book. Each book consists of the BR with a few tweaks for each genre (e.g. include the Summoning power for the fantasy version) plus 60 pages of genre-specific rules taken from the full genre book. All you need to play each genre in one book. The Champions one would be like having the Big Blue Book again, but smaller and with the superior 6e rules. Sure you could just publish the genre rules and ask people to use it with the BR, but lots of folks like to have a single complete book. And with POD/PDF, there's no need to make a big print run, so it's feasible to make these kind of tailored products.

Re: Hero System 5E vs HS 5E revised

I agree. The improvements are worth the extra up front cost. It's just unfortunate that the hard copies are currently out of print.

The Basic Rules may be enough for your needs. If not, 6e Vol 1 is still available from the Hero Store as a damaged item for a bargain price (and vol 2 is widely available). So it's not difficult or expensive to get into 6e.

Re: Why I prefer HERO System over Pathfinder/OGL/D&D for fantasy

• Lists of archetypes, similar to those in the back of Champions. Pick your archetype, a set of stats from table A, skills from table B, tricks or spells from table C, complications from table D, and 90% of the work is done.
  

Good idea. I'd like to see a pdf supplement like that to quickly create Fantasy Hero characters.

 

• Lists of magic items.
  

There was the 5e book.

 

• Examples of magic system creation.
  

FH has about 14 magic system examples. With that and the Grimoire, there's plenty of worked examples to get your motor running.

Re: Why I prefer HERO System over Pathfinder/OGL/D&D for fantasy

I struggled for a long time trying to implement my fantasy setting in various games - mainly Rolemaster and BRP variants. All of a sudden, with Hero I've found it just works, and the system doesn't impose itself on the setting. The overhead of writing up the magic systems is actually less than trying to tweak magic in other games, and gives better results.

Re: Hitting 'Til It Hurts

I read the title as "hitting it 'til it hurts"

Sorry, maybe it's just me....

Re: Your "2012" Pet Gaming Projects

I want to fully write up my Fantasy Hero setting and get a campaign going.

In the back of my mind is a Star Hero game set in Jack Vance's Gaean Reach, focused on investigation.

Re: Possible HERO System Supplement Kickstarters From Steve -- What Interests You?

Steve, what are your thoughts on a Kickstarter for a "6e Concise Rulebook" as discussed on this board?

Since 6e1 is OOP, and the new book would only be an editing rather than new writing job (although a substantial one) I feel it should be a high priority.

Re: Hero System Sixth Edition Concise

Problem is that it's hard to put the genie back in the bottle. If you put out a new rulebook leaving out some of the current 6e content, and say that this is Hero 6e then people are just going to refer back to their old books anyway.

Hence my suggestion of simply reformatting the 2 volume core into 2 volumes, the first of which is the full rules required to play, and the second of which is for the hardcore. In reality, that second book could be produced as a lower priced B&W softcover and delayed somewhat. Let the BR fade away and leave the APGs be, I don't think they are a problem as they are clearly optional.

Re: Hero System Sixth Edition Concise

I think weapons and equipment are good examples of what should be in a Quick Start book. The rules for creating equipment' date=' plus maybe 6 or so examples from common genres (some basic fantasy weapons/armor, common firearms, and some sci-fi weapons and armor) would be sufficient for the concise rules, but even the BR has too much EQ as far as I'm concerned.[/quote']

 

I disagree. I think that lists of weapons and equipment is one thing that many people like to see in a core rulebook, and indeed flip through in the store to have a look at. I would be satisfied if the Concise Rules kept what was in the BR (or augmented the lists somewhat), but to actually cut down from what is already in the BR would be counterproductive.

 

The thing is, a few pages of equipment lists does not add to the intimidation or confusion factor like pages of text for a single power does. Including them shouldn't give anyone heartburn and will be very useful.

Re: Hero System Sixth Edition Concise

One suggestion is to have two clear levels of information on each page: firstly the basic information, then additional information in a clearly differentiated graphic format. A sidebar is one traditional way of doing this, and you could still have them, but you could insert "advanced information" in a 3D raised box or something like that. This would make it easy to ignore all of the advanced info unless necessary. I would imagine having 10-20% of page text in these "ignore until needed" boxes.

This would definitely help with a text like the current 6e core, and could still be valid for a concise rulebook.

As far as criteria for selecting which text fall into which category, I'm not qualified to comment at this point...

Re: Hero System Sixth Edition Concise

250 page max maybe 300 ,but I think it can be done in 250 if HSB/sidekick is used as the template

400 pages is way too much it

prefer soft cover to keep the price down(I'd get a copy if it came out in a hardback or soft)

keep 6th ed vol 1 & 2 inprint for those that want all the verbage and examples

 

I feel just 1 new book would do it

It's possible that it could be as low as 250 pages, I can't really say for sure. The important thing is that it be a complete game, with engaging presentation.

Initially, put out one book. Then as resources allow, add in the Companion book so that players who bought the new Core only need to buy one more book rather than both 6e1 and 6e2 to get the fuller game.

Something needs to be done now - already you can't buy 6e1.

Re: Starting a Hero System Podcast .... who is interested?

I wish you well! Recently I was searching for Hero podcasts, and came up with a couple of interviews with Steve Long, which was cool, but nothing by way of regular fan podcasts. So consider me subscribed.

Re: Hero System Sixth Edition Concise

I completely agree with the ideas in this thread.

*introduce quickstarts, free in pdf form;

*have one volume of <400 pages as the Core Rules, presented like 6e FH or Champions (i.e. with lighter paper than the current core, and engaging cover art). Even better, have it available as both a color hardcover (retail ~$45) and a B&W softcover (retail ~$30).

*supplement the Core with a Companion volume adding in the edge cases and fuller explanations that have been left out of the new Core.

*de-emphasise or phase out the Basic Rules

Hero Games has limited resources. I think they should prioritize production of the Quickstarts, and consider crowdsourcing them i.e. asking for volunteers. Also, I think they should make Narf's 2 page primer into an official product as a free download and promote it.

6e1 is out of print. Now is a great time to make these changes and start working on the new Core Rules. I'd certainly contribute to a Kickstarter.

Lastly, I think Hero should emphasize that this is in no way a 7e or even a 6.5e. The new core would have corrected errata, but that's all. No need to even think about a new edition until around 2020 :-)

Re: BOOK OF THE EMPRESS Kickstarter

The Kickstarter page states for $50 and $80 pledge levels "for shipping to Canada or Mexico add $30; for shipping to Europe add $50". These shipping costs seem very high. Hero Games can usually ship a book to me in Japan for $10.

Re: Are Overall Skill Levels overpowered?

Yes, the consensus seems to be that they are actually not so overpowered and the more I think about it, I agree.

By the way, I'm going off the 6e Basic and Vol I books. In Basic, it says "see text for more explanation" but nothing is said in the text. That text is instead found in the full rules. However, the Vol I rules do not make it clear that Overall Levels apply only to skills the character already possesses, something which is mentioned in the Basic Rules. In addition, the table in the Basic rules has incorrect costs, so you need to consult the online errata.

So for a new player to work out the rules, you need both books, access to the errata, and a dose of good luck.

Say in a Heroic campaign, shouldn't every character just buy a dozen skills for 30-40 points, then 3-4 Overall Skill Levels for +3 to +4 in everything?