Stacie.Winters

The only limitations we face in life are the ones we put in them. Being practical just limits us. In a world of Kickstarter now, where Monte Cook got over a half million dollars for Numenera funded by many of us people, where there is an actual real medium of getting the funds to get new games produced and all that... to live like it's back pre-millennium thinking that herogames would have to get all the money up front to do a 7th Edition even though they have already used Kickstarter for a few products... the entire thinking that it's too practical and difficult to pull off getting a new edition with a new facelift someday is just ridiculously limiting to me. In the end it would be up to herogames to want it, and if they are happy with how their game is perceived and written the way it is now than that's just how it will be. I'll enjoy it no matter what because I like it, but I know that it could be way better than it is now.

Look has a huge bearing on how people react to something. Changing the presentation will have an impact for a lot of people if it can inspire people to actually want to play the game and right now this game does the exact opposite. You can have the same identical rules in a new edition but if that new edition had better layout, better art, and was molded into a really cool campaign world that ISN'T Champions because that world is just not exciting anymore (It's a Marvel clone, everybody knows it and why play in Champions when people would rather play in Marvel?) and that would at least garner a few people out there who would take another look at the game. The rules first, rules only, toolkit style of writing for this game is what does this game in on the whole. Changing this impression, with GOOD art, full color campaign setting worlds that shows off how cool this game really is... getting a well established game writer/designer involved on this would also help, someone with some recognition for being known to create cool game settings. That would help also. Keeping it how it is now will always relegate this game to the bottom of the list and frankly it's sad that there are some fans of this game that would rather keep it at the bottom instead of wanting to see it become better and more used.

I think that Herogames own settings/worlds are very bland and lack inspiration and flavor. All of them feel like carbon copies of other more popular settings and they changed just enough to put their own name on it. They all lack flavor and that's entirely due to a lot of factors: layout, writing, lack of fluff and story, and a focus on technical game mechanisms (which is how Hero System is always presented to me). That's why I have suggested that if they ever did do a 7th Edition, they also need to have a new slew of campaign settings that can show off the game while also giving players something really cool, exciting and inspirational to get into. By inspirational I mean the writing, the look, layout and art style should cause the player to flip through the book and the players reaction should be "I so want to play that," or "omg this world is so cool, I can see playing all kinds of different characters."

I haven't seen all that much fluff at all in Hero game books which to me is both a good and bad thing.

Maybe another confusion that some people probably have when they look at those powers listed above is the use of Real Points and Active Points and how each of them are both interrelated yet also different. This I know would come with just learning the game, but for new people it takes a while to learn. Also I wanted to thank everybody for sharing these power examples.

To make it easier because right now I don't understand the current 'tools' to make such a power and anything that makes it easier for people new to this game makes the game better as a whole. The less complex the better in all honesty. People always state that Hero System can make anything, that anything is possible and that it has the most robust customization of about any toolkit game and yet it's nearly impossible to make certain kinds of character's due to how the game is: A- Perceived to be really complex, and B- The fact that making character's like Superman and Rogue is nearly impossible unless a person has an allotment of points way above everybody else and these two factors alone should inspire people to want to change how the system is now. Sure it's worked, and it's also scared off a lot of potential gamers to this game because of how it's worked in the past. The fact that these certain types of characters are so difficult to make shows how not versatile the game actually is in its current form/paradigm. Why make people go through so much hassle to make a character they might want to make when creating a new Power aimed specifically at that would make the game so much easier for them to make the character's with? Why do we have such specific powers like Tunneling and Swinging when those could be consolidated into a power called Unique Movement, yet there is a single power that has encapsulated nearly all Environmental changing powers into a single power when logically it would actually make sense for each of them to probably be different powers? Why do we have 8 to 10 different powers for special unique defensive power assumptions yet there is a single power for Enhanced Senses that would also probably fit better to be separate powers probably broken up by sense types to make it easier to see the different point costs plus how it combines Active/Detecting Senses as well as Passive Senses? Then there is Darkness and Flash, which have some differences yet thematically they both do basically the same thing, which is shut down a target's "sense" but one seems to be more of an area effect type power and another is targeted against a specific target yet if someone were to build a Flash power with the Area of Effect modifier than it's pretty much the Darkness power itself only it seems like one uses an attack roll and the other doesn't... yet there's a power modifier that can take care of that also and yet thematically both Darkness and Flash are similar to Change Environment, which in and of itself is a fairly confusing power to understand. This is probably where much of the initial complexity is for new players... there are a lot of powers that seem to be a combination of a lot of similarly thematic elements like Enhanced Senses which could easily be split up into their own individual powers yet then this game has individual powers that could easily be combined into a single power that encompasses them into a more united and easier to understand whole. So why are people resistant to seeing a power that could make it easier to build certain types of characters that could make the game easier for new people?

Well she only really permanently copied one person's powers that I know of, but I am not the biggest expert on the actual comic book history of its many characters. I guess I don't understand why a power like this has to be so difficult... and I think that for me if a 7th Edition were to ever be made than it should definitely have a specific power that is basically Power Leaching/Mimic and like Shapeshifting and Transformation it probably would be a power that has different point cost scales per die cost but the basics of it could simply be like... basic concept of a Mimic Power power: ~ Mimic (Power): 3 (or 5, or 10) points per 1d6 and these dice represent a pool of points that, when rolled, allow a person to Mimic the Powers of another person. These rolled points can only mimic actual Powers of the touched person, not natural human characteristic traits and skills. In order for this to work you must be able to touch the target and this could require a attack roll if the target is actively avoiding being touched. When this power is rolled after a successful touch the total points rolled is the amount of Real Points (maybe Active Points would be better... I have no idea) of the touched target's powers are mimicked. You gain the use of those powers for a certain amount of time (insert an average time duration similar to other powers where you have access/use of those powers for like a full combat turn or two and the total rolled determines how long you have these powers before they go away) and when the time is over the powers simply vanish. Now within this power there can be guidelines for using specific Power Advantages and Disadvantages on how to customize it further, like using it at a Range or using it for copying skills and/or actual Characteristics and basically give it the fine details that all the other powers have. One key Power Advantage that would have to be touched on is Leaching Powers and the fine art of using this power for stealing powers temporarily instead of just mimicking them. As for this kind of power this is where my thoughts are right now. Just brainstorming possibilities. I think it would also be something to consider for any future edition is combining some powers together that really fit thematically together, like Damage Negation and Damage Reduction. Both of these pretty much read the same and could also be combined with the Resistance Powers in the game. Just some thoughts. Why do we have to have so many specific different uses of what appears to be so similar conceptually? (please note I ask these questions without having played the game much and consider this a Hero System noob question who wants to understand why this game is the way it is as it is now).

Me, not right now... but if there are powers called Transform or Shapeshift or Multi-Form than it should be possible to create a power called Power Mimic or Power Leach or something like that that sort of functions in a similar vein to these other already established powers I'd think.

Well one other thing I'd love to see somehow worked into any possible 7th edition is making it so making certain types of characters like Rogue of the X-Men or Batman's Utility Belt would be a lot easier than the apparent near impossibility that it is right now.

I am rediscovering Hero System again... just got my 6E Core books in the mail and I have been mulling over wanting to create some things for this game but it will be a while... and as I am just getting back into this game after a Long break... I am approaching this as if I am a new GM to this game so while I am reading the books and getting to know the system yet I am hoping that I will get some advice and suggestions about the Power Creation system for this game and one big way to learn about a game I think it to learn from the experts what kinds of character's are difficult to make so without further ado... What kinds of characters are most difficult to build? This question leads to a second question meaning... what should a new GM using this game for a Supers campaign look out for with regards to how powers can be made and are there some types of powers/characters that would just be a really bad idea to allow into the game? The last time I played any Hero was when 5th edition came out.

Cool, thanks for sharing with us.

I didn't see them... but that doesn't mean I am arguing with you either because it is pretty easy to miss things like this at times. I never go to rpggeek, just boardgamegeek. On the topic of the idea of posting on a website an "unofficial 7th edition" variant in a non-profit way... I don't know if that would be cool to do. Perhaps if the entire website was written as a blog, and each blog entry focused on different elements of the game as it is and then what optional house rules there are, things like that... than perhaps over time there could be enough material to solidify it all as a Hero System variant book but definitely couldn't sell it.

Agreed. The man is really missing out on a lot of golden opportunities that would really help is company out if we were to license his worlds out so other people/companies could write rpg materials for them. I mean, how freaking cool would it be to have a real Rifts HERO game? I think that'd be really awesome, and because it'd be licensed than he'd be making money off the sells too.

All so true... brings much sadness. Regarding the IP... this is why I am always going to be now suggesting that they stop focusing on the Champions license and replace it with a new campaign setting to represent it's Core game. I nearly missed the Fantasy Hero Complete kickstarter. I never saw an advertisement about it... never saw it mentioned on any other rpg website... until it was practically over and this is a combination of both herogames not getting the word out and the fans of the game not spreading the word about it. Heck, I posted the link to the kickstarter on it's last two days on rpg.net just letting people know that this game existed on kickstarter. If they would have somebody post on all the different rpg websites like enworld.org and rpg.net when their games hit kickstarter that'd be a big help but this never did happen. Now I don't even know if I will be able to get a copy of the game book because the company might only print enough copies of the book for those who backed it. I don't know though.

Play a different game first that has it's game mechanisms specifically designed for a different game style of play, like a Fate Core of Cortex Plus game or perhaps Burning Wheel. Because these games are designed around a vastly different paradigm than D&D/Pathfinder style games, where proactive character design and the overall goal is a more story focused, narrative driven game system these games could show players like you are describing a different way of how to play role playing games. Even using Supers Revised Edition could be a good change of pace, and it has a superb random character generation... I know it works because I bought the pdf, flipped to the random character generation chapter, and made a complete character using the charts and never read the book. Right now they are so used to number crunching-min/maxing rpg systems that they will only take what they know and apply it to whatever game they go into. Games like Fate Core change that paradigm because it's truly different enough in it's focus and scope that one of two things will happen... either these players will become aware that there are actually different styles of playing these games that can lead to newer and fresher experiences, or these new games will be so different to them that their minds will explode and they won't be able to handle it, and either way you learn how versatile your players are.