BigJackBrass

It's in Dragon number 100, August 1985, in an article called CHAMPIONS™  Plus! New powers for CHAMPIONS™  heroes by Steven Maurer:
 

No.
 
People don't want to change, even if there is something icky involved.
 
Discussion amongst the local DnD groups with whom I am at least passingly familiar swung from "I can't believe they would attempt to fool us with that laundry list of lies!" to "well, they _did_ apologize" and then to "so the game is back on?  Sunday?  Two-thirty?"
 
In almost the length of time it takes to smoke a cigarette.
 
Consider the cost of investing in End-- in _any_ modern game!  Crap!  The Blue Books ran what-  half a grand or so?  There is at least that much investment in most DM"s go-to favorite references, and often quite a bit more.  At 30 to fifty bucks a pop, a lot of us have over a grand in hero 5e, even though it seems,that 6e was being written even as we were spending.
 
Then there are the players-  finding them, their own investments, matching schedules and playstyles, history of fun together, adventures already built and in progress--
 
There are times when the Sunk Cost Fallacy is used as a _comfort_ to those who ultimately don't see how they were personally affected, and dont want to change anyway.
 
This will ultimately be one of those times, when it is all said and done.  Worst part is wizards will assume the relarively quick return to status quo was because of their brilliantly deceptive apology rather than a general lack of empathy for those who are going to get really, really screwed.
 
Ultimately, people play DnD because they want to play DnD.   Wether it is becauae they have heard of it, or their driends play it, or because some celebrity plays it- whatever.  We have held and heard countless conversations about what is wrong with it, about how almost (_almost_) any other game,is better, etc, etc, till we are so tired of it we sont want to hear it any more than they do.
 
But look at me: I play 2e.  Released in- what was it?  82?  There have been how many revisions, updates, and,new editions in the forty-one years since?  I play it because I dont see any actual improvement in the new stuff.  I can read; I can hear.  I am familiar with all the various "this is better because-" arguments.  I respectfully (and sometimes disrespectfully, if pushed too hard) disagree.  They are _changes_; yes.  For some,subset of the people, they might be easier or fall more in line with some personal conceit about 'should be,' but to date, I personally dont think any of them have made the game _better_.  Frankly, I think some of them have some have done the exact opposite.
 
At the end of the day, I play 2e because that is what I want to play.
 
 
Most of the fan base is going to keep playing DnD, no matter what, because that is the game they want to play, period.  This might get a gew xelebritiws off of for a while bevause of potential negative fallout, but ultimately, no permanent changes.
 
 

Apparently RPG designer Ken Hite has been shot in the leg:

 
EDIT: This was posted on Twitter and linked on the ENWorld forum where I saw it. I don't have any other information.

These boards were my first really internet community in the late 90s and early 00s. My old handle was was just Rick, or maybe mudorian it's been some time. I've been running Hero 5th edition since the original book was released and I bought FRed (was active on the thread that name was coined in too). I played 4th edition through most of the 90s before that 
 
Last year I FINALLY dragged my ass over to 6th Edition (purchasing the core books). Besides changing from inches to meters (easy fix on my own) and some weird naming changes, I LOVE It!
 
Supporting this company has become important to me, again, so I just joined the patreon and bought the champions bundle on Roll20, even though I'm moving more and more to Talespire. 
 
I'm gonna try to be here a few times a week too cause I miss having a community like this and hopefully the OGL implosion over at Hasbro will attract us some new peers.
 
Just wanted to say hi. See you around friends.
 
Rick

One peculiarity of GA heroes is that most will fall unconscious if you hit them over the back of head even if they are otherwise invulnerable to physical attacks.

It seems the intention is to release the remaining recordings (I don't know how many) and then end the show. Hopefully that doesn't mean taking down the existing library.

You might find Darren Watts' Explain This, Comics Guys!! podcast useful, especially the episode on the different ages of superheroes from last autumn.

Yes; Sir!
 
Thank you, Sir!
 
May I have another, Sir?
 
 

 
 

The first time I met Darren Watts, I was in the middle of a game at Gen Con. He gave me his DOJ business card and wanted to talk to me after. He respected my work on fanzines such as Haymaker, Rogues Gallery, and The Clobberin' Times. He and Steven S. Long later offered me a job writing and editing at Hero Games. The timing wasn't right for me, sadly, but I did get to manage/edit the in-house magazine Digital Hero for its full run. 
 
We always had a blast together, hanging out at the booth, running or playing games together, or otherwise just shooting the breeze. I usually acted as the GM Assistant in Darren's "Build & Brawl" Champions games, in which players started with a blank character sheet and dozens of books spread around the table, with Darren and I as rules experts to help players get going. I was surprised at how many first-timers we'd get, and they'd always come up with great ideas:
a first-time player made a superhero who would push her opponents into a different dimension with no way back the planet Earth, who apparently had a secret ID, and would occasionally fight other superbeings a brain in a jar who wore a domino mask to protect his secret identity as another brain in a different jar  
I helped run the special Champions 30th anniversary game along with Rod Currie, in which Foxbat had somehow changed the timeline and made himself an honest-to-gosh superhero, admired by millions (Foxbat and His Amazing Friends). Darren, Steven, and Jason Walters were the VIP players, along with several lucky other gamers, who went back in time to prevent him from kidnapping Steve Peterson, George MacDonald, Raymond Greer, and Bruce Harlick and forcing them to change his character origin in the original source material.
 
For the past three years, I've loved listening to his Explain This, Comics Guys podcast, where he'd take us all on a behind-the-scenes tour of the early days of the comic book industry. Every episode I'd learn a dozen things that I didn't know, despite being a lifelong nerd myself. 
 
Darren's passing will leave a hole in the industry and in my circle of friends. Darren was a hero.
 

Refloating this topic because I published the adventure in the Downloads sections, 5th edition documents.
 
 

I am about to play a Lucha Libre adventure, as Master, and when we finish it I would like to make it available for everyone to play. So, the question is, may I post a link to the document in this forum?
(It will be written in Spanish and translated to English in the same doc, with 4 Player Characters write-ups ready to start)

Incidentally, the download of the Jolrhos Codex has been repaired in the store, it has the HDC download and the proper cover image now.  There is a hardbound version on the way, I promise, hopefully within a week.

A friend of mine was discussing a scenario he's working on which would include ninja (probably in a semi-comic way, but I'm not certain). Something be mentioned was the cliché of one ninja being almost unstoppable while a horde of them are  individually rather hopeless weaklings, leading another friend in the discussion to point to The Conservation of Ninjutsu trope. And at that point the chat moved on to which system would handle it best and how.
 
I suggested Hero, thinking offhand that a communal VPP might be possible: all the ninja can access it, but can only use points not currently being used by someone else, so more ninja means fewer points available to each one. It would need to cover combat skills and martial arts though, which I recall has been discussed before here as definite house rule territory.
 
Then I wondered if the horde would effectively act as hit points for a single character sheet, with martial skill falling as the numbers rose. 
 
And then I wondered if this had already been covered either here or in an existing book, which should probably have been my first thought but there we are.
 
Any thoughts on this, either pointing me towards an existing option or suggesting something else? Thanks.
 
Clarification: What my friend is thinking of is sort of effectiveness of ninja equal to X, where their individual effectiveness is affected by how many of them join the fight. Effectiveness equals X divided by number of ninja, if you like.

My own interactions with Darren were infrequent, but always a pleasure. Many years ago I engaged in a defense of Hero System on the then-hostile RPGnet forums, by posting links to many of the diverse fan-created Hero websites, showing what Hero was capable of and what its players had done with it. Darren mailed me a coffee mug with Hero stats on it, as a thank-you.
 
Darren was younger than me, and should have had decades more to enjoy and to contribute to all of our enjoyment. But this game is one monument to his life, and we honor him every time we play it.
 
EDIT: BTW I posted news of Darren's passing on the forums for Champions Online. I thought they should know about one of the major creators of the world they play in.

Hey- son't let go of somerhinf that brings you happiness. I'm even if it is just fond memories. 
 
https://i.imgur.com/jVbkgyZ.jpg
 
I don't. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The most successful all-monster party I ran a game for consisted of a Lamia, a Dark Elf, a Goblin and a Shoggoth called Benny. I'd say just go with what sounds fun, the players will make it work.

Every forum I use has seen a drop in activity (hopefully not because I’m a member…), there are simply too many alternatives. Despite Discord’s chatroom style steam being singularly unsuitable as a forum substitute it does appear to suit what a lot of people like, so it draws folks away. Same with Reddit and the rest.

The most successful all-monster party I ran a game for consisted of a Lamia, a Dark Elf, a Goblin and a Shoggoth called Benny. I'd say just go with what sounds fun, the players will make it work.

No, it was straight Traveller. His campaign predated me meeting him, and he ran it while we both attended SAN Jose State University. 
 
If you want a bit of flavor of those D. I. campaigns he ran, Doug wrote a book. 
 
https://www.amazon.com/Remember-Them-Trade-Book-ebook/dp/B07ZPXZH6S/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=2SMTSGQQPOYUK&keywords=Remember+Them+book&qid=1672287934&sprefix=remember+the+book%2Caps%2C161&sr=8-1
 
It takes place in the 80s, and is decidedly not James Bond. It has very much the flavor of his D. I. games. 

One of the mistakes made with  GURPS as it developed was the continual adoption of skills and subskills. Overwhelming, in the end. Hero benefits from a smaller, broader selection, I feel.

Just posting so it's known:

That's awful news. Aside from his RPG work I very much enjoy Darren's Explain This, Comics Guys! podcast, which really showcases his knowledge and love of comicbooks. Hopefully he'll make a full and swift recovery.

I found some info on Wayne's Books...
 
Under the normal entry (near the bottom of the page), it mentions:
 
 
I'm guessing the poster was a copy of the cover.
I wonder what the map was.
 

How Tony Stark Spends his experience points seems to mirror how veteran Champions characters spend theirs.