carmachu

On 5/1/2021 at 8:52 AM, tiger said:

Cool, thank you. Still hoping to have Vol III out by the end of the year.

 Just let us know when it's ready to order

Ordered a print version. Thanks

On 12/29/2020 at 1:35 PM, tiger said:

Have the final cost all figured out now. IT will be $22.99 for the 356pg PDF, with HD files and cardboard miniatures. For the printed book will be $32.99 and for +$5.00 you can add the HD files & Cardboard Miniatures.

That's far more reasonable for pod then I expected. I would have guessed 40 to 45 range for print

Ordered a pod version, can't wait for it to arrive

On 7/26/2020 at 6:46 PM, Jhamin said:

 

- I'm also using Generation Viper as an idea but I've recast most of them with homebrews.

 

 

What exactly is generation viper?

Taurus and the zodiacs. Love that group.

You let off Rise of the Machines......

https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/products/the-end-of-the-world/products/revolt-machines/

Is there a rough timetable of when a physical copy will be available for purchase for the general public?

Settling for the crumbs spilling off of D&D's table seems an odd way to approach marketing, but perhaps the payoff for an entry-level product is too small and risky for the capital available to a smaller publisher.

Entry level gets people involved. Then they stick around for the long haul(hopefully). The beginner boxes for the 3 I named get you in and let you expand on yoru own afterward- 5th edition box is great for beginners or experts. I've seen conversion that take them in various directions.

"Ready to Run" products in the Hero line would be adventure modules. Modules, which historically, don't sell very well.

 

The biggest stumbling block with Hero seems to be that most people don't want to sit and read the book. This is why D&D is, and always will be, the path of least resistance. They may change some things, but at the heart the system is the same.

Spoken like someone thats been in the game far too long. I played for almost 10 years before RL got in the way and now am trying to come back. But even with some old characters laying around as templates and many books from past and present, its STILL a difficult time. And frankly as much as I love the absolute flexibility Hero offers, I still see it as a barrier to entry of getting BACK in, much less for the first time.

Saying folks dont want to read the books isnt the problem. Simple examples and ease of getting started would be really helpful.

First off I have been playing Champs/Hero since 1982 and I consider it both the hands down best RPG ever designed and the only RPG that has successfully prevented itself from becoming popular. 

 

What do I mean by that?

It is not playable “Out of the Box” and there is a conscious effort to not comprehend it.

 

Take the upcoming Fantasy Complete (assumptions based on CC and what information has been released via the Kickstarter and these forums)  .

 

D&D, Pathfinder and the several other “mainstream” fantasy setting are pretty much the same setting with superficial name changes.  They all have the same core races (Human, Halfling, Elf, Dwarf) with a few extras thrown in so they can claim to be different.   They also have the same core “classes/archetypes” (Fighter, Rogue, Wizard, Cleric), also with some superficial name changes and extra unique classes/archetypes to promote the claim of being different. 

 

What they all have in common is a simple prebuilt set of defined class/archetype abilities/spells/gear that can be used immediately to play within 2-3 hours of picking up the book from the store. 

 

Yes, within 2-3 hours.  And the book contains an adventure allowing a group to immediately PLAY. 

 

The ability to immediately play a session is what sells a game. 

 

Now take CC or FH. 

1. They have all the rules.
2. They have all the advice and guidance to create a campaign world.
3. End. 

 

I cannot pick them up and PLAY.  I can only pick them up and then invest the days/weeks needed to create a campaign world and then hope that I can find players willing to invest the time to create PC’s and hope they understood the ramifications of the bazillion options available.  

 

I’ve argued the point of creating a complete generic setting, akin to D&D and Pathfinder, that can be played immediately and allow the players and GM to wrap their minds around the system.   Once the Hero System clicks in play, the customizability and overall flexibility of it will just explode to both players and GM’s.

 

Its major problem is that a person really cannot understand the system without at least a little time playing the game, but there is no published product that allows someone to get that experience.  Most (not all) of Hero players were introduced by another Hero player. 

 

Pulp Hero is one of the best source books I have ever seen (I own multiple copies), but it falls short of actually establishing a campaign.  It leaves ALL of the option decisions to the GM and the Players instead of establishing self-contained playable out of the box campaign.

 

The big resounding battle cry from the  established old-guard is that people do not want published campaigns.  That GM’s prefer to create their own unique worlds.

 

Absolutely true!  But the part they all ignore is that they all build their unique worlds AFTER they learned the game using the published campaign worlds. 

 

I don’t post here that much anymore because it is painful to watch my favorite system strangle itself to death.   I live in the hope that I can hand my copy of Fantasy Hero to one of the gamers in my circle and just say “here is a character sheet, turn to page XXX, pick an archetype (Fighter, Rogue, Wizard etc) and make a character.”  And they will be able to just by following the pre-designed options. 

 

 

This. A thousand times this. I know this thread is a couple months old, but it pretty much sums up HERO. I'm returning after 15 year time of not playing and its almost painful to figure out the rules again, unlike back in the day where I had someone walk me through them.

Plus, I've picked up the setting books around and they are interesting.....but not what I want. None of them feel what I want and I already have an idea on what teh world will be. However, again, dreading teaching people how to create characters....which is why I'll have(eventually) a dozen already made up and they will get characters for the first set of characters......

5th edition D&D has the right idea. Pathfinder as well. Shadowrun.....beginners boxes to get you going them transition outward.

Agreed; I'm looking for help with a concept I'll explain more below.

 

 

I've done that, it's posted somewhere else on here.

 

 

This is exactly my problem.  I was obviously not clear enough in my initial post, sorry about that.

 

My issue is that for other games, Fantasy and Cyberpunk being my usual mainstays, I have elaborate, intricate storylines which span the entire campaign.  There are times when a game here or there doesn't follow the main theme, or there's a bit of a respite from the hardcore storyline, but in the end, the campaign is drawnout, and eventually, when it comes to it's climatic end, everyone knows it's the end cause some momentous event has culminated in the closing of the storyline.

 

In Superhero games, I have not yet figured out how to have something of that scale.  My games too are lighter, with small storyarchs which have some villains in common, and end when they're foiled in whatever fashion, but then it's off to the next miniseries after perhaps a filler or two.

 

I would like to prepare a full campaign for my players; frankly it's what they expect from me.  We are all adults, who have played many games, for many years.  A couple of my players have played with me for 20+ years.  Whenever we've had something light on the campaign-long story, the games have kinda petered out eventually, and just ended.

 

So, what I'm looking for, is anyone who has had a 10-20 game full-on campaign in Champions.  Something where a central theme has been in the background for the entire story, and when the heroes eventually concluded the story, everyone knew it was the end, because the subject of the story was closed or completed.

 

That's what I'm trying to understand.  How do you do that in a superhero game?

Take a concept and run with it. 

Currently for example, I'm in the process of prepping up for a game I want to run. I was digging through storage and I ran into all my old games, one of my favorites from the 90's being Torg. In case you dont know what that was, the basic premise is other cosms invade earth, transforming areas into what their worlds were like in order to suck out the possbility energy- one being fantasy, one horror realm, pulp realm....and so on.

Instead of storm knights fighting back, it struck me why not have earth fight back by creating superheros from the possibility energy? Go from normal now earth to an eventual supers campaign, with all sorts of fun stuff inbetween traveling to fantasy lands fighting ogres and orcs to weird machines in the desert or mummies....Given one of the old world laws was the Law of Hope from core earth, what better what to produce hope then a super?

Ok so for us newer folks(or folks coming back) what IS the current rule set books? i picked up champions complete but its not the current ruleset?

What about if the character is patrolling looking for criminal activity?  That probably would be consider vigilante behavior.

Prove it. Burden of proof is on the law side. Just because one is walking down the street or flying overhead doesnt mean its patrolling. You get a much better view above, but on the other hand there is no traffic.....

First appearance as I recall is Deathstroke.

The next was Super Agents.

Thank you. Next question is where is the information on primus. I assume primus and demon has some, but is there another book for them?

SAT could still exist and be running as the US Military's answer to PRIMUS/UNTIL. And operate 'off the books'. And being military, care not of civilians. Think G.I.Joe, but more like 'special forces/seal team six'.

Where is the information for SAT located? Which product(s)? Thanks

How then does one explain the apparent success and longevity of the Call of Cthulhu RPG? If played correctly, player characters don't last very long, and players must learn to extract satisfaction from something other than long-term character progression (it is perhaps a good thing that the Chaosium BRP system doesn't have levels for characters to become fixated upon). One would think that fans of horror, understanding and enjoying the genre as they do, would join a horror campaign with appropriate expectations.

because you go into the game knowing that you are the weakling vs the all powerful beings from beyond. No matter what you become, they are beyond you. its about surviving, not winning.

I will in the near future, use hero to run Torg the possibility wars. Various invading cosms and hero can do it all from fantasy, to pulp to tech to all sorts of fun. Core earth with choose its champions and make them superpowered to fight back.

Tough call. Grew up on the campy batman with allen west and the old superman cartoons, but collected alot of old X-men comics back when I was into comics(I prefer the graphic novels now).

I'd have to say marvel right now.

I would like any of the following- campaign style adventure path ala paizo. Or loosely tied together adventures. Or Just a couple of drop and play adventures.

How does one appeal exactly to new players? That requires going out to more then just this forum or facebook. I don't see that really happening. There is an old saying of "Don't trample old friends in your rush to make new ones." One could look to fuzion system back at the end of 3rd and move to 4th and see how that happened(or perceived to have happened).

How would you appeal to new players? Rules alone don't bring new players.

Thanks. most likely 20 years of memory foggy. But that works just as well.

As a newbie coming back almost 20 years, I haven't played since 4th. I have a couple of questions:

has OCV/DVC changed much since then? I swear we were trying to roll high hitting and the base OCV's seem lower then I recall.

Also, maybe its just memory or the group I use to play in.....are defenses lower then back then? I remember 20/25 standard PD/ED back then for 250pt characters. But maybe that's just the group.

thanks

Wouldn't that make it easier for a nation opposed to the villains to declare war on them, though?  That's what I'd do if I were President and Mr. Villain raised up his own Mr. Villain Island--inform Congress of the impending threat and send in the Marines and everything else.

Would you if Russia or china threatened retaliation? I made a post but guess it didn't go through. Look at modern UN and who and what folks get to do or not. Russia backs Syria or China's backing of North Korea or US backing South Korea.....if the villain had support of other nations for a variety of reasons left to your devices, you might not send in the marines if Russia sends in theirs.

You could go the old GI Joe comic plot- complicated plot that raised an island off in the ocean far enough away to be declared its own  country and/or citystate.......