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Re: Fantasy Hero 6E - initial impressions After seeing the previews and reading the reviews here, I can not wait for Star Hero! It's a whole year away though...

Re: FANTASY HERO Sneak Peek #1: The Cover! Fantastic!!

Re: CHAMPIONS VILLAINS -- What Do *You* Want To See? Hi Steve, A quick question about these books. Will they all be coming out at once, or will they be released one at a time (say like one a month over three months)?

Re: The Hero System is bland and over complicated The XP thing was a big deal for my group when I was trying to get them to make the switch to HERO. So I just made up my own system for it. I would give them big numbers of "meta xp" 500, 1000, 235 or whatever for beating certain villains, finishing missions, saving people, etc... per session. Every 1000 "Meta Xp" they earned translated in to 1 character point worth of XP to use to improve their character. It worked really well. It gave more granularity to the xp system, it gave bigger numbers which people like, it allowed for giving "Xp" on the fly (after a particular heroic act), but it also let me still retain the control of the characters growth. If a player had only earned 3451 XP during an adventure, but I wanted him to get 5 "real" xp points for the adventure then the completion bonus for the adventure would be "1600 XP" which gave them 5051 (meta)xp so 5 character points to spend. The players really got into it, and it allowed me to reward them for smaller actions that might not be worth a full character point, but still deserved some recognition. It definitely seemed to help encourage player buy in and involvement. They would start trying to do really heroic, daring and cool "stunts" during combat and adventuring so that they would get the "bonus" xp. It made the game a lot funner.

Re: STAR HERO Reading List You already mentioned "Ringworld" which is good, but personally I'd recommend Larry Niven's "Flatlander" and "Crashlander". Both are excellent. Some of the best Sci-Fi around in my opinion. I also love Harry Harrison's "The Stainless Steel Rat" and the first 4 books of that series (after that they get kind of repetitive). Also, not that I'd imagine that you have the time to read the whole thing, probably the greatest Sci-fi book/novel ever written is L. Ron Hubbard's "Mission Earth". Huge (10 large volumes make up the novel) and epic in scope. Super funny with lots of violence and action and cool sci-fi stuff going on it is an amazing read. I wish more people would give it a chance, but people hear "L. Ron Hubbard" and automatically think Scientology and such because they don't know that he was primarily a Sci-Fi writer before Scientology and in fact was one of the great writers from the golden age of Sci-Fi.

Re: HERO SYSTEM BESTIARY Sneak Peek: The Cover

Re: The Hero System is bland and over complicated Sure, most GM's adjust the setting to fit their own style, ideas, etc... BUT the rules/setting still give them and their players a base guideline and tone. I'm sure in all those previous games you still used the D&D classes (fighter, mages, etc...) and the base setting weapons, money system, etc... the monsters were still used, the level system and XP system were used, etc... Because the D&D rules were made for that setting that you wanted to play. It gave you a solid, specific, foundation to base your game on. Sure, in the GM's version of the setting Trolls might be good, and the King might be dead, and all Mage's are on the run, but you all had the same base setting and rules to work from to get to that point. You can't do that right "out of the box" with the hero system core rule books. It still takes tons of work to get the Hero System to that balanced "starting point" and that is where I have always found you lose the most players/GM's. Give players/gm a built system/setting and then let them adjust the fluff as they see fit and then (and this is the big thing that Hero Does well and would be a big selling point) they can adjust the crunch as well once they get familiar with everything. It's almost a "bait and switch" approach. draw them in with the complete rules/setting for a game then up-sell them further down the road into getting the core books so they can adjust their can adjust their campaign as they feel necessary.

Re: The Hero System is bland and over complicated Exactly! Something like that but bigger and more flushed out.

Re: The Hero System is bland and over complicated

Re: The Hero System is bland and over complicated This is the type of argument that has been going on for years and I would for it to be solved one day soon. I would, really, really, really love for Hero to release and official game/setting for each of it's major genres. Champions, Fantasy Hero & Star Hero. And I am not talking simply about the Terakian Age or Terran Empire (although I do like both of those settings) but a full on game. That has specific starting points, DC levels, Spell Lists, equipment lists, everything like that, PLUS take out the rules stuff that should not be in the game. The Hero System is a tool kit. But we only ever see the final product of using those tools from a fan made source. I'd love to see an official setting. A self contained book. That includes all the rules needed to play that specific game. Then if ambitious GM's would like to expand on the game in their own way they can use the tool kit to do so, since all of the rules will work together. For example, if the official Star Hero game/setting had cyberware but no bioware and didn't use hit locations, but a GM wanted to add both, he could buy the tool kit (main rules) and figure out how to add them to his game... But he wouldn't need to. If he liked the game/setting as is he could leave it alone. A couple of products like this would do wonders to end these types of arguments and the narrow mindedness of a lot of other RPG fans out there about the Hero System. Plus it would draw in new players and GM's who don't want to spend the time and effort to build a whole world for themselves and work out all of the balance issues. Then, once they learned the specific rules they needed to play that specific game they would have a basic understanding of the Hero System and could develop and grow from there by buying the core rule books. I know where I live at least it is damn hard to get people to play the hero game. First a lot of them don't want to buy and read the two massive core books just to learn the rules and second it is a lot harder to sell them on a game without some sort of official setting to draw them in. Sure I can tell them about my setting, and the base points, numbers, etc... but unless I write it all up and lay it out in pretty typeface it won't seem "real" to them, and there will be no pictures. It would be so easy though to tell them, "hey want to run a Terran empire game. Buy the book or PDF. learn the rules and setting and make up a character. we will be meeting up on..." Then everyone would be on the same page. They would all know the same info. Select from the same gear and ability lists, etc... and if someone wanted something special or different I could crack out the core books and build it for them. That is something I firmly believe would draw more fans into the game, generate more sales and end the endless arguments like this. Steve comes up with great settings (I feel) I'd love to see him make one using the Hero System rules as a fully self-contained game. One book, pick up and buy. Specific rules and setting all together. Maybe his Stormlords idea? Just fully flushed out and expanded. "Slavery is freedom" hard words, but fitting in this setting. Many players (and GMs) are scared of too many choices. It is too big. Too open. They freeze up. The best way to end it is by limiting their options. giving them specific powers, rules, etc... less is more in this case. Keep the core rules for the ambitious and certainly direct the players and GM's to them, but first give them a game they can play "right out of the box".

Re: HERO SYSTEM BESTIARY Sneak Peek: The Cover I like the cover. I also really like the color scheme for the core books. Quick question. I know you mentioned that most of the creatures for the 5th edition are included in this new book. Does that include the Xenovores from the Alien War setting?

Re: FANTASY HERO -- What Do *You* Want To See? One thing I would really like to see, and maybe this could be a "generic" section that could be reprinted in Star Hero next year and Dark Champions if and when it is ever updated for 6th edition, is a section of the book that deals with adapting the Hero System rules for Heroic level games. I know this is somewhat covered in the main rule books, and that pretty much all of the alternate rules and advice are in there somewhere, but I think a guide that brings them all together and gives advice, directions and pointers on adjusting the rules to a Heroic level game would be an amazing help for players and GM's new to Hero and for those switching from Super Hero level games to heroic Level games. I recently started up a Heroic level fantasy hero game and the biggest problem I had and the most work that went into setting it up was getting the Hero System Toolkit rules adjusted just right and balanced for that level of game. It took a lot of time and "testing" to establish the starting points, mins, maxes, Active points, cost of weapons, etc... before character generation, and even then I (we've) had to make some adjustments as we've gotten into the game. Big issues were, mixing Magical powers (and power levels) with characters using swords, daggers, arrows, and more mundane weapons. Powers and weapons can balance out well in a Super Hero game because players can "buy" laser guns, and super weapons as part of the super hero setting, but in fantasy players are generally stuck with swords and such and they are often "competing" against fireballs, and magical spells that rival super hero abilities. Plus, advice on characteristic maximums, what type of combat rules to use (hit locations can make for a very deadly game at Heroic levels. More deadly then Cinematic feel that our game was going for)) and many other small things. As I said, I know general advice is given in the main rule books, but I think more detailed advice, suggestions and maybe even a single (1 or 2 page?) example of a balanced generic "fantasy setting rules system/starting point" where you list out what rules are to be used in the example setting, what active point levels, Characteristic maximums, etc... and why you chose what you did would be fantastic and make getting into and starting a Fantasy Hero game much easier. This is especially true if there won't be an official Fantasy Hero settings for the 6th edition that potential GMs & Players could use as an example. A generic Heroic Level Guide would also be great in future Hero genre books that deal with characters that are primarily heroic in the genre (Like Star Heroes). Anyways, that is what I would like to see.

Re: FANTASY HERO -- What Do *You* Want To See? If violence doesn't get you what you want, then you are not being violent enough.

Re: Dragon-Trainers and Dragon-Riders

Re: Dragon-Trainers and Dragon-Riders I think it all depends on how powerful the enemies are. Sure a Dragon is super tough and one dragon could wipe out a village. A "wing" of Dragons could conquer a decent sized empire if they choose. But that depends on what and who they are up against. If the setting has powerful wizards, then maybe two or three wizards working together could defeat a dragon. Maybe only one "super" wizard would be needed to stop a dragon. In a typical Fantasy setting I'd wager there are a lot more wizards then there are Dragons and dragon riders. Or maybe instead of fighting the Dragon head on, a not as powerful wizard could summon up super strong winds and bad weather to stop the dragons flight or make it almost impossible for someone to ride the dragon through the storm. And then what about Clerics/priests? Strong divine spells could also work wonders against attacking dragons. And there would also be a lot more priests then there would be dragons. Together powerful wizards and priests could probably put up a good fight against an attacking group of dragons & riders. So if dragons & riders are rare enough and valuable enough, then no king would risk just sending out his dragons & riders against an enemy kingdom. No, he would use his regular troops to attack and occupy the kingdom, with the dragons and riders there to soften the enemy and to attack strategical positions and enemy strongholds. The Dragons & the riders would just be one weapon in the arsenal the King would have to use to take over an other kingdom. just like the USA can have stealth bombers, jet fighters, drones, and even nukes, but those 4 weapons alone wouldn't allow them to take over an other kingdom. You need ground troops, logistics, navy, supply drops, re-enforcements, tanks, jeeps, APC's, and all the rest. Dragons & riders still have to stop to eat and rest. They have to take time to heal from damage and injuries. They can't be up patrolling the skies 24/7. Heck, Iraq and Afghanistan are showing us that superior air power and air attacks can't win you the war. You need to be on the ground and in the mountains and valleys and house to house to win. And even then, having the most powerful military doesn't mean any war will be quick or easy.

Re: Zones of Control in Hero I think it is really a bases on how combat works in different systems. In D&D, at least from what I remember of AD&D, a round is considered to take a few seconds and an attack roll might symbolize a few different swings of a sword, etc... So they need a rule like "attack of opportunity" because combat is left a little vague and fluid. With the Hero System, with it's speed chart, combat is broken down to a pretty much per second event, heck even 1/2 second events with half-phases actions. So there really isn't as much of a need for an all encompassing rule like "attack of opportunity". Interposing is what held actions are for. For example Bodyguard holds his action. Would be assassin moves in close, Bodyguard takes his held action to tackle assassin. Also since the Hero System is made to be used in multiple genres, sometimes it makes sense for an assassin to be able to move in a kill the target with out the bodyguard being able to stop him. If a normal human bodyguard (Speed 2) is trying to stop a super fast, super human, assassin (speed 8) well he should fail.

Re: THE HERO SYSTEM BESTIARY: What Do *You* Want To See? Sweet. Can't wait!

Re: THE HERO SYSTEM BESTIARY: What Do *You* Want To See? Main Man, First of all, I did do my research, I've been playing RPG's for over 20 years now, so I think I know something of what I am talking about. If you look at the D&D Monster Manual (p.270) for cats, or that entire "normal" animal section of the book, you will also see that they manage to fit 4 or 5 animals on each page. Each write up is super brief and they pack them in. If the new HERO Bestiary does the same thing I'll be fine with it, like, if you had read my post, you would have understood. But if you look at Hero System bestiary (5th ed.) you will see that a domestic cat takes up a full page. So does the Antelope and the Dolphin and numerous other mundane animals. Most of them in fact. That's devoting a lot of space to animals that, lets be honest here, are almost never used. I'd rather the book focus on animals and monsters that the majority of players will not only encounter, but also fight or have to defeat in some drawn out situation or encounter. Of course not, but never in my years of role-playing have I ever, as judge or player, needed a full page write up of a kiwi, robin, parrot, crow, owl, ostrich, or penguin. And I'd bet real $$ that most RPG players out there have never needed it either. Sure, birds have been around in games, but as fluff or, it they were Familiars in a game then they would be built special anyways. I think the only time a penguin has ever had any importance as an "object" in a game was during a super hero showdown in Antarctica when a player used one like a football to knock a remote control from a villains hand. And only if the GM had been a real dick and wanted to slow down the game immensely, would the player have to "go in to combat" and attempt to grab the penguin using the penguin's DCV and such. When is the last time anyone ever needed the EGO or PRE of a damn Penguin? I'm pretty sure it doesn't happen enough to need to be included the Bestiary. Do you really think a Dark Champions or Pulp Hero player or GM would be turned off of the book if it didn't have 2 whales in it? If it didn't have a 1/2 page write up of a song bird? When exactly did the dark avenger character or the dashing scientist-adventurer character last need to go hand-to-hand with a song bird? Champions just came out. the next genre book is Fantasy Hero. After that it is Star Hero. This, and creatures that fit into those setting should be the main focus of the book. Pulp Hero isn't even going to be redone for 6th edition (from the last I've heard) and Dark Champions, if it is going to be done, is still 2 to 3 years away. So maybe you should do your research before bring them up in this discussion. This Bestiary is a 6th edition book and both of those games are a long way, if ever going to be made for 6th edition, and players of those games still have all the 5th edition creature books to use if they play those genres. Not including some of these animals, or only giving modified and very brief write-ups of them, would not be lazy. It would be very, very smart. it would allow for the inclusion of other, much more useful, monsters and critters that need full write-ups. Critters that might pose a threat to the PC's, critters that encounters can be based around. Now I'm not saying all of these long write ups of mundane animals are super bad, heck I am a Hero Gamer after all. I likey the attention to detail that the game can offer, I just think that there is a time and place for that sort of detail. And with this possibly being the only Monster book we will be getting for the 6th Edition I would much rather have as much and as many useful creatures written up and available for GM's and players to have access to. Any GM can quickly figure out what he wants the stats of a house cat to be based on what purpose the cat will serve in his game. It's a lot more work to quickly write up a Hydra or a Space Amoeba or a Inhuman serial killer or what not. so I'd much rather have the pages devoted to those types of creatures, then to song birds and house cats. Sorry if that seems "myopically solipsistic" to you, but I'd call it being practical.

Re: THE HERO SYSTEM BESTIARY: What Do *You* Want To See? I'm not saying get rid of all of the mundane animals, I'm just saying cut way back on them. A shark? Sure, of course you need a shark. And a Spider. A a dog. But just one dog is fine, let the GM add (or subtract) from that standard Dog as he/she see's fit. We don't need 5 different Dogs in the book. That's just a waste of space and time. Give us one bird, and a swarm of birds. there done. if GM's really need the stats for a song bird and a crow and a pigeon, and one standard bird write up doesn't do the job for them then (and I don't want to insult any one, but...) they are being either to lazy, to anal or to demanding. The focus of a cool enemy book or "monster manual" (for lack of a better name) should be to draw in players and GM's, to attract new players to the game and excite already playing fans. People don't open up the latest D&D monster book and go "Sweet!! They stated up the domestic house cat and we now have two different type of whales for my PC's to visit at the aquarium! I can't wait to buy this and throw that Antelope at my players next session!" Until they release "Sim Life Hero" I feel that Hero books should try and at least focus on the general marketplace. On what most people will want. Exciting creatures and monsters and beings. The main lines of the Hero System are Champions (99% of the time the only time you need a domestic house cat in a Champions game is when you hero rescues one from a tree), Fantasy Hero & Star Hero. The goal is for exciting, cinema-style adventure and fun. I would hope the Bestiary would reflect this. Once the Hero System is popular enough and sells enough of every book, then they can release "The Hero guide to Normal, Mundane Animals" for the fans that want it, maybe as a PDF, but I truly feel that for 93%+ of the role-playing fans out there in the world a bunch of small, mundane, animal write-ups is a major turn off in buying a "monster manual" not a selling point.

Re: THE HERO SYSTEM BESTIARY: What Do *You* Want To See? I hope there will be way more fantastic creatures then real ones. So far there have been no announcements or even hints of future Bestiary type books, weather Asian, Monster, or what not. So I would much rather have this book be a great collection of creatures that most gamers would encounter and fight with (Monsters) then a large hero write up of the entire animal kingdom. A platypus? Really? I would get rid of most of the Mundane creatures, or at least limit them to one of each type. Do we need 2 whale write ups? Or writes up for Songbirds & Crows & Pigeons plus Eagles, Hawks, Falcons, Owls, etc... Can't you just add an "small template" to a Hawk and boom, there is your crow? A swordfish? Come on, how many people actually play "Deep Sea Fishing Hero?" and if they do, catching a fish with a fishing rod, is different then needing all the full stats and power descriptions of one. The same could go for numerous real animals. Give us a Tiger write up, then add directions to add the "Small" (or whatever) template to make it a house cat. Most of these small animals or domestic pets have almost no BODY, and do almost no damage. Why do we need a full write up for them, or worse yet multiple write ups? PC's shoots a cat? It's dead. NPC shoots a cat? It's dead. No write up needed. Just give us some rules for the DCV of small critters and that more then enough. Everything else should be easily handled by role-playing and fluff. I love the Hero system and I really want it to become even more popular. I love the technical bits of it and the details, but there also has to be some restraint. Some cut off point. the level of detail given by adding the Martial Arts book to the rules is just about perfect. But I'm trying to get my friends (all of them avid role-players for years) to get fully into HERO, but it doesn't help when they flip through a book and start laughing because it takes a full page to write up/stat a domestic house cat. The HERO system already has a rep for being to complicated and detail orientated. Let's not give people more reason to not play by having the Bestiary become a collection of the details and minutia and long write ups of simple animals that almost never come into play in a game, or when they do you never need the all the stats and write ups for one of them. If some one is using a domestic cat as major animals in their game (say a a mage's familiar), then they are going to design their own one anyways and give it better stats and abilities, etc... So we don't need a big write up of a normal one. Heck, maybe give us a full write up of a cat as a mage's familiar but then just put a note saying takes off A, B, C and use that as the normal cat. At least that way the book looks more interesting to people flipping through it. It's not a write up for a Domestic Cat, it's a write up for a "Black Wizard's Cat Familiar" that can also be stripped down to become a regular cat. And it's probably more useful. I'm sure Cat Familiars show up more in role-playing games as something the party interacts with, then a regular domestic cat anyways. PS. I do love cats. This was just the best example.

Re: THE HERO SYSTEM BESTIARY: What Do *You* Want To See? Really? because once you know the standard power write up, there is really no need to keep reprinting the same thing over and over and over again. Also, simplifying and making the character sheets easier to read and use can only help in sales and interest in using the system. Here is an example of what I was thinking of... In the section describing Standard Creature Powers you would find write ups like this: Breath Weapon Many mystical creatures have a powerful magical attack that emanates from their mouths (Like Dragons). This attack can take many forms like Fire, Lightning, and so on... (The write up would then go on in more depth). The basic Breath attack shoots out in a 10m Cone and does 1d6 damage. Breath Weapon: Killing Attack - Ranged 1d6, Area Of Effect (10m Cone; +3/4) (22 Active Points); No Range (-1/2) (Real Cost: 15) (END: 2) Every extra d6 damage doubles the real cost and END cost. Then on the Creatures character sheet all you need to list is: Breath Weapon (Fire) 3d6KA END:6 or Breath Weapon (Lightning) 2d6KA (+5m Cone) END:4 ----------------- The person writing up the creature would of course still keep track of the costs and points, and those would show up in the final cost of the creature (so the GM can still have point totals to help figure out balance issues) but the extra stuff would be out of the way. This would keep all of the math and repetitive details out of the way and make for a cleaner, easier to read and use character sheet. Again, this is only for common or standard powers and abilities. Any unique powers would of course still be written up in full.

Re: THE HERO SYSTEM BESTIARY: What Do *You* Want To See? Oh and another thought. A lot of these monsters have the same type of attacks (fangs, claws, and so on...) maybe one section of the book should have a section on animal attacks or "weapons" that has the basic write up of all of these standard attacks. Then the actual character sheet of the creature can just say Sharp Claws 2d6 pg.XX and a page reference number. Much like is done with Mystical villains who's spells are just named with a page number reference for looking up the spell. This would save a ton of room in the book, and on the creature character sheets. Special attacks (for example Armor Piercing Claws) could be written up: Sharp Claws (+AP) 2d6 pg.XX And descriptions of attacks (when needed) could also be added in: Dragon Breath (Ice) 5d6(AE:Cone) pg.XX I think a write up style like this would make the book much more user friendly (and probably easier and quicker to write) then having to read/write a full power description every time or basically the same thing. Of course any unique attacks or powers would still be written up in full on the sheet, but so many of these monsters and creatures have the same base attacks and powers it make a lot more sense to have one section describing all of these in full, and just putting a quick reference on the sheet. At least in my opinion.

Re: THE HERO SYSTEM BESTIARY: What Do *You* Want To See? I know the book is the "Bestiary" , and mainly deals with monsters but if there are no plans for a book containing human foes in the near future, maybe adding a few normal bad guys would be cool. Like Mafia Goon or Enemy Spy for example. That kind of thing, just to round out the bad guys for the players to fight angle.

Re: Post Apoc. campaign started on Hero Central.

Re: Post Apoc. campaign started on Hero Central. Cool. Do all characters have to be from the military? Are all characters starting out just out of Cryo-freezing?