Manic Typist

I agree 10000%. It also saves me as a GM that most precious thing: Time. There are 4-5 players - they need to make it easy for me to do these things, and they should do this basic math themselves. However, I do have one player who this still hasn't clicked for, so I'm willing to go a route where I announce it like D&D - "Give me DC 17 Strength check" etc. At that point, all they need is on their sheet. It takes me a bit more time but it's still faster than explaining both approaches every session.

This got my thinking (dangerous habit, that). I want to test out describing it for one player in more D&D terms, since they haven't really learned their sheet super well (which is fine). What if if I did "11-DCV = Armor Class/Difficulty Class, the number you have to beat by rolling UNDER. You increase that number via your OCV." So, attacking a DCV 5 opponent? "11-5 = DC 6." You have to roll a 6-, if you for some reason had zero OCV. Anyone try something like this?

Anyone else have instances of "Things I Messed up in the Moment?" I owe another installment on this - I think I'm going to start documenting the rulings/questions we resolve, because the same (or very similar issue) came up again with the PC w/Desolid and Disarm. Shouldn't surprise me - it's a smart move, to want to run around Disarming people and then turning incorporeal.

I'd add onto Massey to further save time: 11- is a 50% success rate. So, roll 11- ONCE, and then look at the variance from that average to determine how many people fall into which group. So instead of rolling 11- 7 times for 7 potential observers... roll it once. You roll an 8; that's above average success. So, 5-6 people of that 7 should be affected by the power. Assign them each a number, roll a d6 or a d10.... and the ones whose numbers (or less) come up are affected.

I really think you're overthinking it; a maneuver should only be built/paid for if a PC really wants to do it perfect EVERY single time. If there's going to be a roll requirement.... just use Breakfall, maybe with a negative modifier, and a Half Phase Action. Keep it simple. You can solve this situation without extra work.

Sounds like just a Half Move with a Breakfall roll, maybe with a -1 for picking up the weapon. If you fail, you move forward or end up prone but don't get to attack because you got tangled up grabbing the object... but you still have a Half Phase to get up from being prone, etc. Picking up a weapon is, IIRC, a Zero Phase action. If you succeed, +1 or more for a Surprise Move to your OCV. You could do a Full Move I would think, assuming you're willing to take the modifiers for a Move By in addition. Maybe a -2 to the Breakfall to represent it being a little harder to go at a higher speed.

Also.... check the Index in the back of the book. That lists the page numbers a subject shows up on, so you can quickly go and look to see if it's just a quick reference (move on) or the actual bolded entry that discusses it (start reading there).

So, to me, unless I'm missing something... the only major difference is that the order of who does what varies each "turn." Because for me a round and a Turn are really the same thing - it's a system for tracking "has everyone gone at least once?" Some people get to go more than once but in both HERO and D&D, in the "base unit" of "taking turns" a Round and a Turn fulfill the same purpose. HERO, and your adaptation of Rounds, allows some people to go more than once before everyone has gone at least once (and then yours shuffles the order before doing it all again). Have I misrepresented?

...but... isn't a Turn the same thing as a round, especially since as described your Initiative system allows for multiple actions each "round" for higher SPD characters?

I've been using this ever since I stole it from Killer Shrike... probably a decade ago. RULE OF THREE if a character (PC or NPC) rolls a natural three on a 3d6 roll under type of check then they have the option of either taking "max effect" or an "epiphany". MAX EFFECT If the three was made for an Attack Roll max effect is the maximum possible damage or effect with that attack (treat all effect dice as having rolled 6's). If the three was made for a non attack roll, not only does the character win any opposed roll (even if the opponent made their roll by more) or succeed at their task, but they do so in a stylish looked-cool-doing-it fashion which is also justification for gaining a "Display of Power" bonus to a Presence Attack made sometime within the next few actions against anyone that observed them. EPIPHANY The character has a flash of insight regarding the skill or ability that they rolled a three for and their competency with that ability is expanded. The character gain +2 character points to allocate towards a bonus with that skill or attack. For attacks this translates into a +1 OCV Combat Skill Level with that attack. If a skill this translates into either a +1 or +2 with that skill depending on whether the skill is on the 3/2 or 2/1 costing model. If the three was rolled for a familiarity, the familiarity becomes a full skill instead. This can not be used to upgrade existing levels; for example a character could not opt to bump an All Combat level to an Overall Level with the 2 free points gained in this fashion -- the 2 pts must be spent specifically for the task they were gained from. However, levels gained in this fashion can themselves be upgraded later with experience. For example a 2pt +1 OCV level with a specific kind of pistol could be upgraded to a 3pt "Pistols" tight group level later on.

I've been mulling over something similar to this with an idea that came out of considering the impacts of a foreign occupation of the PC's city. Specifically, I've been mulling over if it could be fun to design a sort of Track system for the Resistance/Occupation, and depending on where you are in the Track there are different modifiers to rolls for PCs (for Contacts, Persuasion, Stealth, etc.). The Tracks might be various centers of power (literal, figurative, embodied in persons etc.) that have specific effects. For instance, the Minister of the Census (i.e. foreign spymaster) might put out a bounty on the PC's heads. They will have negative modifiers to move around the city stealthily as they can't trust all the people around them to not turn them in, negatives to reach certain Contacts, etc. Should they take action to counter this stratagem - assassinate the minister of deal some sort of embarrassing defeat to the occupiers that would make it clear that the PCs will never be betrayed by the populace - the Track moves in favor of the PC's and that center of power is replaced by one for the PCs, giving them bonuses - "Defiant Propaganda" perhaps, where the populace has taken the wanted posters and turned them into bills that mock the power of the occupiers and calls for increased resistance. So, this is a way to put some of the power of the background plot into the PC's hands, but they don't HAVE to engage with it if they don't want to - they could just pursue a central plot that doesn't entail this and it could just be something that inconveniences them for the duration they are in the city. But they have the option, if they want to pursue it, that might make their main task easier in the end (rescuing someone from the dungeon in the Impossible Keep, for instance, would probably be easier if there's a full rebellion at your back).

.....so... a couple of people on the first page (bigdamnhero being one I believe) mentioned simplified character sheets for new players. Does anyone have examples of easy to read PC sheets that hide most of the mechanics? Will happily download from the store if you can name a version there that you liked. Personally, I JUST discovered that the only way to get the "classic" back of the book sheet is to... export it via the PDF option. It's not a template in the Export file types, which was completely counterintuitive to me. I didn't even know there was a PDF option! That's so far my personal favorite in terms of being concise and showing the most relevant things.

Just looked at it on the app store and it mentions 5E; do you know if it's compatible with 6E character sheets? Neat either way!

Aside: Does anyone remember if there are rules (outside of 6E Impairment/Disabling) about how if a limb takes 1/3 of total BODY damage, it's destroyed/you can only do up to 1/3 of total body to a character if it's a non-vital limb (i.e. not head/chest/stomach/vitals)? My first GM used this over a decade ago and I don't know if it was a house rule or a 5E rule.

Finally played again tonight. I think it went really well. One PC basically went toe-to-toe with 8 enemies and held them off/took them down one by one (his OCV gets crazy high for a 281 pt PC - he usually sits at something like OCV 9/DCV 11 when fighting, so plugging the gap against a bunch of unarmored opponents with OCV 5 works well for him). The only rule things I can remember now that I want to look up: 1) Movement penalties for taking damage to the legs. I said a CON roll to move at with -2M, or fail the roll and your movement is halved (as always, I made it clear that it was a me making a ruling in the moment situation) 2) Cover/angle penalties. One of the PCs made a game of teleporting around tossing enemies off a catwalk... but one of them he tossed happened to have a still loaded rifle. After the battle, the PCs didn't bother to check on the people they'd tossed earlier. Some of them had fled but one remained, lurking in the shadows, and lined up a shot while the PCs interrogated the people they'd captured. Mr. Sniper lined up for a head shot... and rolled a crit. Fortunately the PC had 18 BODY so after modifiers he was "only" at zero body but man did it scare them. I was worried about the reaction but took it in good stead and I think it underlined that this is dangerous for everyone, even if you are capable of amazing feats. But... perhaps there should have been some additional penalties based on the angle of shooting upward against someone on a catwalk, even if you had time to line up a shot. I'll review the rules for cover, etc.