Ron

Another point against the current characteristics system is that it is inelegant. A major issue in a such beautifully designed game.

Gary, I agree with you that HERO's characteristics rules, although not broken, could benefit from a revision. As a matter of fact, this is one of the few points (perhaps the only one) in which I would prefer to see a major revision of the rules. Dr. Savant argues that this is only a problem with munchkin players. I disagree. HERO's character generation is point based and thus there is no good reason why a player would expend points in something which would give him no return. There is not a problem of maturity, but rather of the existence of useless characteristics value steps.

I don't have it with me anymore, but Megatraveller referee's companion includes the best technological advancement tables I've seen. There are several tables, including several related to transport that are, after a while, fused in a single one after the development of gravitational control.

Although I am no fan of TNE -- GDW changed both the setting and the system -- truth is that it never failed, being a good seller at its time. GDW itself closed the doors ending TNE development. I understand that they closed operations as it wasn't financially a sound business anymore to the partners, they weren't drowing in debts or anything similar.

Re: If they use the same crew for SpiderMan The problem is that Iron Man's armors may not look good or realistic in the screen. I expect that they will have to work it a lot to make acceptable. A main problem is the articulations, which were treated somewhat lousily in the comics. Still, I imagine that they will design a new armor that will be evocative of the classic/current model. I, as a Iron Man fan, woudl be satisfied with that.

I have some concerns about your proposal regarding magic. Although it is pretty obvious that HERO can handle several different magical frameworks and I would like to see them ranging from high to low powered systems and from freeform to Vancian system, this may create difficulties to play the game. I am kind of short of time and it may be a little hard to have to generate all the spells. Most of the people I play with need my assistance to generate their characters. I remmember that although I found that Fantasy Hero (Hero 4th version) was an exciting book, some players complained that there were very few ready to use spells. I know that a Grimoire is forthcomming, but I would appreciate if you could include more examples in Fantasy Hero to help novice players. Other than that, I hope that your equipment list will cover the Renaiscence, including early gunpower weapons and rapiers, as I have a fantasy campaign in this technological advancement level.