Check out Dyson Logos. The maps are beautiful and he has a lot for FREE! The maps also usually have a small paragraph explaining them. Naturally you can not use it.
Don't forget the power source, which needs replacing when it adds tension, but not before. And the difficulty of locating a power source! They run on pure plotonium.
I'm working up a Star Wars Hero game with my regular group. I'm going to charge 1/5 the normal point cost for Vehicles (including ships), Followers (including droids) and special gear (including lightsabers for Jedi, other special gear like Mando's beskar armor and jet pack). Normal weapons, armor, medical equipment, tools, etc., are at no point cost.
How dimensions, and Extradimensional Movement, work are up to the GM. I haven't played in a game since the 80's that made use of characters being able to travel extradimensionally, at all; it's definitely not common generally, though I can't speak for all tables.
The 5th edition supplements The Ultimate Mystic and The Mystic World go into more detail about how dimensions can work, and one particular setup for dimensions. I recommend those for ideas.
I myself started with 3rd edition,. though a lot of people started with 4th. It's really more a matter of familiarity.
I'd recommend starting with Champions Complete. It includes the full HERO System rules in a cut-down version with a lot less verbiage; lots of us (including me) use the full 6th edition core books in PDF for reference. And while Champions Complete is complete, it's worth it in my opinion to add the Champions genre book, or Star Hero or Fantasy Hero if you're interested in sci-fi or fantasy gaming.
Not at all! We love answering questions around here, and many people have told us that we're one of the friendliest gaming forums on the web. 😁 And to be fair, the HERO System is like a big room full of LEGO bricks: there's a lot of pieces that can fit together in a lot of ways. Don't be afraid to ask for help!
Edit to add: I also recommend Hero Designer, the character creation software. It runs on Java, so any modern PC can run it. Output formats are created by the community, and they are plentiful!
How dimensions, and Extradimensional Movement, work are up to the GM. I haven't played in a game since the 80's that made use of characters being able to travel extradimensionally, at all; it's definitely not common generally, though I can't speak for all tables.
The 5th edition supplements The Ultimate Mystic and The Mystic World go into more detail about how dimensions can work, and one particular setup for dimensions. I recommend those for ideas.
If you have decided that 6e is going to be your bag, this is the best place to start: much easier to use as a reference, a lot less redundancy, etc.
Be aware that its concise nature makes it very information dense, though. That is my personal preference, but a lot of people don't enjoy that kind of reading (hence the up-front warning label). For the first few years of 6e, all I had was CC and HERO System Basic. I cant say objectively, already having been a long-time user, but I am pretty certain that the entire 6e experience can be distilled from just those two books. If you have some Champions experience, you could likely get by with just Basic. If you need the "how to play" and the adventuring rules, etc, then CC is, in my opinion, the best book out of the entire lineup for a brand-new player (second choice is Fantasy HERO Complete, but there is a specific focus there that might influence your interpretations of what you are reading. Put HSB with either of those and you are golden for prerty much anything 6e can throw at you.)
Still, if you already have the big Books 1 and 2, I can understand not wanting to buy another book that is essentially a condensing of those books. If this is the case, then work out what you can as best you can, and feel free to post a hundred questions here. The status of HERO (and pretty much any non-DnD game being what they are these days, we see few enough new players or GMs that I can all but promise two hundred answers.
I myself started with 3rd edition,. though a lot of people started with 4th. It's really more a matter of familiarity.
I'd recommend starting with Champions Complete. It includes the full HERO System rules in a cut-down version with a lot less verbiage; lots of us (including me) use the full 6th edition core books in PDF for reference. And while Champions Complete is complete, it's worth it in my opinion to add the Champions genre book, or Star Hero or Fantasy Hero if you're interested in sci-fi or fantasy gaming.
Not at all! We love answering questions around here, and many people have told us that we're one of the friendliest gaming forums on the web. 😁 And to be fair, the HERO System is like a big room full of LEGO bricks: there's a lot of pieces that can fit together in a lot of ways. Don't be afraid to ask for help!
Edit to add: I also recommend Hero Designer, the character creation software. It runs on Java, so any modern PC can run it. Output formats are created by the community, and they are plentiful!
Technically, any change is disadvantageous to _someone_, even if that person isn't here.
I think I am going to continue to allow Jetstream to use his wind control powers in such a way that is advantageous to the team's glider.
This is such a normal comic book thing that making the rules declare it illegal was a laughably bad decision. I mean, the fastball special is based off of symbiosis between power sets, is it not?
First, let me,say that Chris Goodwin was absolutely correct: the answers to all your questions is indeed "Yes!"
Be on the lookout for the "but" below.
There are no such limits. Even your imagination is not a limit, because you can ask someone else for inspirational help.
There is still a "but" coming up, though.
As Chris pointed out: yes. This is entirely within the scope of EDM, because you are making a whole new dimension.
Or maybe you are not; maybe you are using a dimension with which we are quite familiar. I had a player in the 90s buy EDM as a movement power: he would send a letter, then move himself to "the second dimenension," manifesting as a drawing in the letter. He would move back to the third dimension when the letter arrived at his destination. He would hitch a ride with a teleporter by moving to the second dimension and manifesting as the photo on the teleporter's driving license.
Yes: I know that the rules say you need to use some other power or adder or advantage or what-have-you if you want to reapper in the "the normal world" at a place other than where you left it.
Let me tell you why (beyond the sheer novelty of it) I ignored that completely (and quite often still do).
Because Hugh Neilson (sorry if I misspelled that, Hugh- my son is Neil, so that's what sticks) is also completely correct: EDM is best handled as a completely narrative thing as opposed to a structured (and kinda pricey, since you get nothing out of it except paying to meet the needs of the story:
"Well, I have this great adventure planned where you guys are going plane-hopping. One of you will need to buy EDM."
Excuse me? Just set it here; we can grab a bus and go county-hopping.
"No; this needs to,have that dimension-hopping feeling to it. So; who is going to pony up? Ooh! You could all pitch in for a dimension-travelling bus! That's only one point for five, and you can share the cost! Pretty cheap if you ask me... ")
Now here is the wierd thing:
In the Long Editions- and possibly even back to 4e; I can't say because we always used "dimensional movement" not as a special power, but as a special effect. I do know that examples from the Long Editions are pretty clear that it is acceptable to know that you have to fight Galactus and his ridiculous hat, and spend some points to travel to the dimension where I won the fight with Galactus (and his hat), then live out the rest of the campaign there as if this had been my life all along.
Now let me explain why Hugh is also correct, and Dimension hopping is something that should be handled narratively. I am going to start with your passage of time question: can this dimension have experienced a much longer time than the one in which the campaign is set?
Yes (as Chris said), _so long as there is absolutely no benefit to you_ from that difference.
For example: you are in battle in Campaign Dimension, and you are doing quite poorly. You leap over to Quick dimension for some medical attention and two weeks bed rest (and all those lovely recoveries) and leap back to Campaign Dimension a mere half-phase after you leaped out, fresh as a daisy! You even mended your costume.
No. You can't do that. (Unless the GM says 'well, it's the only way he is going to beat Galactus; he nearly died just trying to dent that hat.) You can _simulate_ that, though: Regeneration, Healing, Aid- whatever it takes to get yourself,back to fighting trim, and declare that the special effects are "I nipped off to the Quick Dimension for a month of surgeries, six weeks of rehab, and a lovely weekend at the beach, then popped back here a mere microsecond after I left."
That is legitimate. That is legal. That is also technically not EDM; its SFX are EDM, but mechanically, the are not the same.
This is doubly frustrating since, for the exact same points (and often considerably less points), you could have bought EDM directly to the dimension where Galactus had a glass jaw and you felled him with a Presence Attack, then live out the rest of the campaign as the Galactus Slayer, because this universe was identical in every other way except that it was trivial for you to take out Galactus.
That _is_ legit, but getting a bit of freebie healing and going back? Not so much.
All in all, it is a but maddening, and casts a lot of shade on making "the dimenion where I cannot be defeated" a book-legal thing.
Again: yes, you can!
but only so long as it brings you no benefit in Campaign Dimension. I can't think of any right now (because I am exhausted and a bit malnourished), but immediately coming to mind is, again, taking a breather while your opponent doesnt have the ability to fight you, then hoping back to finish him off. Yes; it is the same example, but it is valid. I have no doubt that fresher minds could think of other reasons:
hey! Let's go sneak into his house and look for clues! Even if this dimension's version of him finds out, he can't exact any vengeance! Then we will be a leg-up when we get back!
I am afraid not. Buy Clairsentience or PS: detective' 28 or less- something to pay for the benefit you expect to receive.
Cyber HERO (4th edition product. It always felt unfinished (turns out it was. The author was killed in an auto accident right after announcing his intention to do a follow-up book) specifically suggests EDM to model Cyberspace). I do not remember for certain, but I think Kazei 5 dis as well. I will have to re-read that.
But Again, even that takes a bit of GM fiat if you are doing things like "I hack his brain and render him a drooling zombie!" Why? Because by the strictest dedinition of EDM, you did that to an alternate dimension's version of him, and not Campaign Universe him. True: for cyberpunk games, that GM fiat is almost always in play, but strictly by the rules, you'd have to EGO Attack Campaign Dimension him to render Campaign Dimension him into a drooling zombie. The special effects, though, would be "I hopped my cyberdeck,and hacked his brain." Either way, by the definitions of HERO, it is something that you would have to buy that is _not_ EDM to get the effect you want. (Barring, of course, GM fiat, which- again- is likely already in play for such a game. Just be aware that the rules _must_ be bent to make this work.)
This, so far as I know, is the single best (read: nastiest) use of EDM; EDM:UAA; banish them to dimension of complete vacuum.
And accordingly, almost every GM I know either disallows it out or hand, or requires that there be a time-limit or other means for the banished character to return to Campaign Dimension. (Note that this is also a bending of the rules- unless the Long Esitions have codified it as a mandate- but as it is a bend to the rules to prevent an outright rape of the spirit of the rules, I am one-hundred percent okay with it).
Now I do know one GM who required that the character using EDM as an attack continue to pay END to keep the target banished, but I spent some EPs on Reduced EN- okay; Okay. It was me. Davien had it coming. He had wrecked like six attempted campaigns already, and _something_ had to be done. Jim was just too easy-going to tell him "be a team player or GTFO."
Anyway, he came around to the "no; you can't do that" side of things pretty quickly.
other fun things (not just from mt characters):
Desolidification UAA
x10 END Cost on X points of (villain's most annoying power) UAA, Ranged
and on and on
Realistically, like everything else with this game, do not start with how the thing happened. That will almost always be SFX. Start with what you want the end result to be and figure out how to build that. In my experience, the ultimate goal is rarely "I want to go to another dimension and look around, maybe get some cheaper groceries....), but instead something tangible:
I want to travel to the X-plane and seek the counsel of the wizened masters
I want to pop-off for some healing and pop right back into battle
I want to pop into the quick dimension, catch a bus, and pop back out in Wisconsin almost instantly.
I wish to do battle with eldritch threats that endanger our universe
Okay, that last one was a trick. That last one _was_ EDM; the others are best handled by other power constructs, claiming EDM _as the special effect_.
That last one, however, could be better handled narratively:
Okay, you spent a lot of points on the ability to bring the whole team to this dimension and provide whatever life-support, footing, and sanity-defenses they will need to battle this monster. Shame you didn't have any points left for powers to battle this monster, but let's hope the team is up to it without you...
Narratively:
Your sources were sketchy; some od the details conflicted from account to account, and not everyone involved in bringing you the few manuscripts remaining was reputable, but after what seems like endless hours of study and cross-checking rhe various journals and accounts of half-remembered conversations from long ago, you _think_ you know how to open rhe gate. Wordlessly, rhe team assembles behind you as you take your feet. The amulet is the key. You concentrate on the signature hatred of your target, and your will to end his millenium of terror. You press the amulet to your forehead, and with your sleep-deprived giddiness, you wonder if it is waterproof against nervous sweat....
You press it to your heart and recite your vow to stop this foe, then cast the ruby-and-gold amulet into the fireplace. It rises from the flames. "Are we agreed?" You bellow, never taking your eyes from the amulet floating in the fireplace.
"We are one mind. One promise. One vow" you hear them chant solemnly behind you. A small crescent of pure black spirals from rhe fireplace. It gows larger, blacker, and somehow closer. You extend youe hands, and feel firm, resolved grips in return. The crescent is a spiral now; you can see stars! It continues to grow, faster and faster, and before it can swallow you, as one, the team steps through--!
And enters a world gone mad....
See? Naratively handled. Why? Because ir was essential to the story of the planned campaign. It has been a rare game where I allowed someone to pay for EDM- mostly fantasy games where there really and was something to be gained for the points: communing with knowledgeable dead people, speaking to the Gods in person, hiding your candy bars, etc- where ir was somerhinf that you acrually used a,lot, and got good vakue doe rhe points spent.
Before the inevitable "well Blast is essential; should the GM just give out guns if no one buys blast?!"
That is silly. Blast has immediate and obvious benefits both through the use of violence (superheroes are poor role models for conflict resolution, Kids!) and through the threat of violence. There is immediate and obvious utility to the ability to to damage to one's environment and subdue one's foes.
EDM, on the other hand, provides- realistically provides- damned little in terms of value. While corner cases can always be found (I even gave an example of one myself, from one of my own games- but even then, the entire universe had been built _specifically_ to give EDM practical utility), but by and large, what most people want to do with EDM is better modeled with other powers using dimension-hopping as a special effect.
EDM is like FTL in Traveller: it is an enabling device. It is like long-distance travel in almost any game or story: the author has set some of the action in Location X. Because he has done that, he is responsible to make certain that his characters have some sort of access to location X. If no one on the team has enough movement / recovery to get there, he is going to either have to rewrite a major portion of the story, or have the characters discover a great group rate discount on a Carnival Cruise. Either one works.
Forcing the characters to buy swimming: 50", x16 NCM _is_ viable, but if you are only going to go to Atlantis just the one time before proceeding to the next eight sessions in Des Moines, culminating with a big boss fight in the Mojave....
Well, it'a a jerk thing to so. Maybe the governmenr will ask them to test out the new experimental submarine instead.
Again: it is more of,an enabling device than it is a useful power in most games. Make sure that EDM for its own sake is exactly the right thing before buying it or requiring Your players to buy it.
If you don't want a ship's mortgage in Traveller, you can still fly coach to get where the GM has set the next leg of the adventure.
You are absolutely correct. In fact, for most uses of EDM, a group will have to decide on how they want it to work, simply because typically, EDM doesnt provide it by itself-teleport, healing, knowledge drops, etc: these all have extant powers that will have to be bought _unless the entire group decided they are okay with EDM allowing rhese rhings to happen (like the healing scenario) jusr because. If they agree, then so be it: that is how it works, at leasr doe this campaign. Remember that if a power has some serious "freebies," there are likely to be a few villains with that same power, enjoying those same freebies.
How dimensions, and Extradimensional Movement, work are up to the GM. I haven't played in a game since the 80's that made use of characters being able to travel extradimensionally, at all; it's definitely not common generally, though I can't speak for all tables.
The 5th edition supplements The Ultimate Mystic and The Mystic World go into more detail about how dimensions can work, and one particular setup for dimensions. I recommend those for ideas.
So, if I understand right, there aren't any set answers to these questions and a given table can decide on what they want? It was a very open-ended question so that makes sense. Thanks Chris, and I'll see at taking a look at those books.
How dimensions, and Extradimensional Movement, work are up to the GM. I haven't played in a game since the 80's that made use of characters being able to travel extradimensionally, at all; it's definitely not common generally, though I can't speak for all tables.
The 5th edition supplements The Ultimate Mystic and The Mystic World go into more detail about how dimensions can work, and one particular setup for dimensions. I recommend those for ideas.
For the character acting as the power source, the 0 END Cost Naked Advantage should work. If you want the END to come from the character, give it Costs END in the amount of 1 END per END the device costs.
If you want the character to be the conduit, then the 0 END Cost Naked Advantage, with a Limitation that the character has to be connected to a power source to act as the conduit.
I'm slowly working on creating some html templates using paged.js as a parser. Will allow for easier PDF creation with actual page breaks, page numbers, headers etc. I'm going to try and comment the files well enough as well so they of anyone wants to do any changes, or uses it as a based for other sheets may as well and not get lost.
Attached is a few pages I did, all html. Yeah I know it needs work but wanted to make sure the script worked in Firefox, Edge and Chrome.
I'm working up a Star Wars Hero game with my regular group. I'm going to charge 1/5 the normal point cost for Vehicles (including ships), Followers (including droids) and special gear (including lightsabers for Jedi, other special gear like Mando's beskar armor and jet pack). Normal weapons, armor, medical equipment, tools, etc., are at no point cost.
I'm working up a Star Wars Hero game with my regular group. I'm going to charge 1/5 the normal point cost for Vehicles (including ships), Followers (including droids) and special gear (including lightsabers for Jedi, other special gear like Mando's beskar armor and jet pack). Normal weapons, armor, medical equipment, tools, etc., are at no point cost.
Chris Goodwin reacted to Lord Liaden in Depluralize a Movie
Chris Goodwin got a reaction from Duke Bushido in Depluralize a Movie
Chris Goodwin got a reaction from Logan D. Hurricanes in Depluralize a Movie
Chris Goodwin got a reaction from MrAgdesh in How Do You Handle Gear & Equipment in Heroic Games?
Chris Goodwin got a reaction from Black Rose in Powering Devices Personally
Chris Goodwin got a reaction from Cloppy Clip in Extra-Dimensional Movement Examples
Chris Goodwin got a reaction from Lord Liaden in Extra-Dimensional Movement Examples
Chris Goodwin got a reaction from Christopher R Taylor in Extra-Dimensional Movement Examples
Chris Goodwin got a reaction from Brian Stanfield in How Do You Handle Gear & Equipment in Heroic Games?
Chris Goodwin got a reaction from Simon in Multipower and multiple items
