Manic Typist

Yeah Gnome, I think you should spend a bit more time explaining exactly what it is you want to see here, nobody but you seems to understand it.

I've been running a game for awhile now and needed a break.  Convinced one of my long-time D&D DM friends to take the reigns for a few weeks.
 
He was sweating bullets, but by the end of the session he was getting the hang of it.
 
Resistance is futile.  They will be (Fantasy HERO) assimilated. 

One older (pre-Fourth Edition) book was very useful to me in providing specific examples of tactics superheroes might use: Strike Force by the late great Aaron Allston, detailing his extensive personal campaign. They were inspiration for developing special maneuvers and code words for teams in my own campaigns. The team would practice strategies and maneuvers for particular situations or to maximize their collective strengths. Let me just transcribe the examples Allston gave in his book (occasionally paraphrased for clarity):
 
Air-Lift: Emergency evacuation. Fliers, teleporters, speedsters, grab everyone you can and get out of here!
Blind Swing: A brick not engaged with a villain begins a Pushed Haymaker. A teleporter sneaks up on the villain and teleports him right into the path of the swinging fist at the precise moment the Haymaker is supposed to land.
Blue Dot: Warning you're about to use a Flash attack.
Delta Vee: A teleporter or flier with Martial Arts waits until a fast-moving villain is passing near a hard surface. The hero moves into his path and Martial Throws him into the surface.
Express Train: For exceptionally tough non-flying villains. A teleporter and a flier grab an enemy. The teleporter 'ports as high up as possible. The flyer then dives straight down at maximum velocity with the other two. Just before impact the teleporter 'ports himself and the flyer back up where the flyer will have space to decelerate.
High Guard: Take an aerial position for reconnaissance or sniping.
Jackhammer: At a signal from the team leader, everyone (who can afford to) ignores his current opponent and uses a ranged attack on the opponent selected by the leader.
Mustard: Warning you're about to use a gas attack, or gas is being used against us.
Napalm: Use an explosive attack.
Nuke Him: The kid gloves are off -- use your nastiest attack.
Peeping Tom: Scan the target with all your sensors.
Pigeon: The opponent is a weakling -- restrain yourself.
Pop-Tart: Evacuate civilians from the area.
Ripoff: Steal Accessible Foci.
Sandwich: Two bricks with fast movement converge on the same target from opposite sides to perform a Move-Through.
Shield: Someone with high Defenses, stand in front of the designated person.
Tangler: Used on high-DCV targets. At a signal, everyone who can Holds their Action. A hero with an Area Of Effect Entangle throws it on a target, who is momentarily at 0 DCV even if he could normally shrug out of the Entangle. The other heroes then blast the target.
 
Some other tactical examples appear in other Champions books, which I'll post here as I have time.

TA is my go-to fantasy game setting: Recognizably "generic" yet with a number of distinctive elements; broad and detailed but with plenty of room to elaborate; almost every location having plot seeds ripe for development. Admittedly, I've made a large number of modifications to the history and geopolitics of Ambrethel to suit my own priorities and preferences, but I couldn't and wouldn't have done so without having been given such a solid frame to hang them on.
 
Previously I posted to the forums what I would suggest if I were a GM (or writer) looking to further develop a place in the Turakian Age world as home base for my campaigns. I would look for a spot with plenty of story hooks built in, but also lots of unspecified room to expand upon. I'd want the home base to be large enough to be interesting, but small enough to be manageable. I would prefer it to be able to support a variety of adventure styles without going very far afield: wilderness exploration, city skulking, dungeon crawling, monster fights, political intrigue, military conflicts, etc. But I'd also like there to be ready potential for PCs to travel to other interesting places, as their abilities and ambitions grow.
 
On the largest continent of Arduna there are two enormous bodies of water which are the centers of vast geographic regions, with multiple kingdoms on their shores engaging in trade and political interactions: the inland Sea of Mhorec, and Lake Beralka. These two bodies are linked by the long Shaanda River, navigable along its entire length, making it one of the most heavily trafficked trade routes in the world, potentially bringing people from almost anywhere. There is no single state dominating the Shaanda; pairs of rival kingdoms are at each end, but the central stretch contains several independent small cities and large towns. The largest of these cities, Ishthac, is smack-dab at the middle of the river (according to the included map).
 
One would expect the larger kingdoms at the ends of the Shaanda to vie for control over the strategic central river. One of those kingdoms, Valicia, is ruled by a powerful wizard with ambitions of conquering the whole region (and who makes for a fine "big bad" for a campaign). But the cities of the Shaanda are described as too independent and clever to be ruled. To me this implies that they probably cooperate to defend themselves and play the kingdoms against each other; but that doesn't preclude rivalry among the cities themselves. Otherwise the Shaanda cities are given little further definition -- nothing about city layout, population, society, government, or the like.
 
Ishthac lies at the south-western edge of the huge, rugged Valician Hills region, said to be populated by "monsters" which sometimes raid the river settlements; as well as independent-minded "hill folk" with only a few other clues as to their nature. The Valician Hills also rest above one of the largest regions of the "Sunless Realms" (TA's analogue to D&D's Underdark). Somewhere within the hills is a hidden coven of powerful witches whose agenda is unknown. Chonath, a large ancient ruined city once the home of mighty magicians, and now monster-infested, is perhaps a hundred and fifty miles west of Ishthac.
 
Traveling a couple hundred miles along the Shaanda River in either direction from Ishthac will take you into the territory of the larger kingdoms, and the dangers and intrigues they feature. From there it's a relatively short trip to the Sea of Mhorec or Lake Beralka, and ready transport to half the continent.
 
I also previously posted a set of plot seeds set in one area of Ambrethel which IMO is particularly well suited to a campaign inspired by A Song of Fire and Ice/ Game of Thrones, emphasizing politics and diplomacy more than fighting and looting: Besruhan Intrigues.

A new campaign I'm about to start has the evil nation next door relying heavily on skeleton labour, both as menial labour and cannon fodder for the armies of darkness.


 
I haven't really fleshed out the economics. (There's a skeleton/zombie gag in there somewhere.) So I thought I might do so here and get any feedback
and suggestions people might have.
 
Kemet (The Black Land)

 
Why yes, I have decided to make the necromantic kingdom fantasy Egypt. Think a wide, terrible desert
with one life-giving river flowing through it.
 
There's still plenty of live subjects in the kingdom. They still carry out some of the menial work. But I see most of  them as doing more complex work, including overseeing gangs of skellies as they work the fields, dig the mines, and drag huge blocks of sandstone to build pyramids, etc. Any sort of skilled labour still requires living people.

 
I figure there's plenty of people who, wanting to advance themselves in society, study necromancy. I envisage whole schools set up for the study of it. Many of the graduates will never amount to much more than middle management roles, overseeing work gangs, and helping make wands of skeleton control. There's also embalmers and doctors for the undead. The large number of low level necromancers allows for economy of scale when it comes to these minor, yet crucial, necromantic industries. So (living) people make a vital contribution to the economy this way.

 
Another crucial thing the living contribute to the realm is death. After all, the best source of dead people is live people. All citizens can look forward to being rewarded with some form of extended life after they die. Those who just did their job but no more can expect a few centuries as skeletons before shuffling off to their afterlives. Better service in life leads to better rewards in undeath.

 
Up to a point Kemet is a meritocracy. There is still a royal family. One cannot become a member of the royal family unless one is born into it or marries into it. But any office lower than that is open to anyone qualified. The very best necromancers will go on to rise into the ranks of the nobility. Naturally the nobility are all necromancers and/or undead.

 
As for the royal family, all members can expect to be mummified and get to live eternally within the many palaces (necropalaces?) that dot the hills overlooking the river valley. Obviously there's been attrition over the centuries but there's still thousands of undead making up this family. The royal family is headed by the Eternal Pharaoh, the many times ancestor to the current, living generation. He or she (no-one is sure any more) rules over the kingdom from deep within their Great Pyramid, handing out decrees that are enforced by the bureaucracy of liches, vampires, and mummies.

Any suggestions or just random musings welcome. (I've cross-posted this from the GitP world building forums)

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.

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'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 believe you are overthinking this.  You're adding in an Advantage where there doesn't need to be one.
 
Invisibility
Zero End (+1/2), Persistent (+1/4)
11- Activation roll (-1)
Limited Power: roll for each target individually each phase (-0)
 
Done.  The limited power is a -0 because it's not particularly advantageous, nor really extra limiting.  A basic 11- would mean that some phases, nobody can see you, while other times everyone can see you.  Rolling individually means that it'll never be as good as when you're invisible to everyone, but it'll never be as bad as when you're invisible to no one.

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.

Yeah. I've read and own the MHI books, along with other urban fantasy and urban fantasy rpgs in a similar vein. The Here There Be Monsters setting is my own thing, developed collaboratively, starting back in the late 90's for Hero System 4e. When a long time player of mine got into MHI and wanted to play something like that, I resuscitated the setting and worked with a bunch of people on these forums to develop it for Hero System 6e; this was well before the MHI licenced products for the Hero System was a thing.  
 
Unfortunately, the original very long thread on these boards where the collaborative work was done has recently been eaten by the archive purge, but the finished material is all preserved on my site. Here's the main link for the setting; there is a ton of material, adventures, and characters linked to from it:
 
http://www.killershrike.com/HereThereBeMonsters/Concept.aspx
 
Here's a summary of the history of the setting:
 
History Here There Be Monsters is an offshoot of Demon Hunter: FBI, whose original form appeared in print as a Haymaker! APAzine submission many years ago (Issue 21), and later cleaned up a bit and re-printed in EZ HERO (Issue 10). Inspired by diverse sources ranging from Beyond the Supernatural, movies like The First Power, and the X-Files, Demon Hunter: FBI was focused on super gritty street level crime and violence with a supernatural twist.
 
The original content was developed over a weekend by Killer Shrike and T-Rossi and then fleshed out over the course of a campaign run by T-Rossi. The two original characters were Special Agent in Charge Jeff Chen played by Killer Shrike, and the Suppressor Special Agent Jared Kole played by Shad aka Shazoey.
 
The campaign and setting flourished and was further detailed over a couple of long adventure arcs, but then stopped as we turned our attention to other games.
 
Some others used the material for their own spin off games, most notably a version Dave Mattingly published as an EZ HERO article, re-interpreting Demon Hunter: FBI into the form of a TV show pilot with characters as portrayed by real actors. A more comic turn, this approach still captured the essense of the material and was at the very least a creative and amusing riff.
 
Fast forward a number of years, Urban Fantasy is quite popular in media. After reading the Monster Hunter books WilyQ expressed interest in playing a campaign either based on or inspired by the books. Killer Shrike decided to take a broader approach and revive the Demon Hunter: FBI material but with a focus on the larger setting and on freelance Hunters rather than on FBI Agents.
 
Rather than do all the work himself, Killer Shrike instead turned to the HERO System Forums and invited interested parties to collaborate on the project. Many participated in the ongoing discussion and gave feedback, but a few stepped up with significant contributions that shaped the growth and improved the quality of the Here There Be Monsters content.
 
Both Manic Typist and The Rose contributed iconics, as well as insights into cool concepts and the early growth of the setting. 5lippers contributed the core of The Trouble With Banshees vignette.
 
Panpiper contributed a large fraction of the available iconics, somewhere around 1/3, the entirety of the Zombie Apocalypse vignette, and a tremendous amount of design feedback, error checking, errata, and critique across all the Here There Be Monsters content.  
 

I actually ran a Die Hard themed session, in Shadowrun, but with a twist.
 
The PC's were hired by a Mr. Johnson type to take control of a competing megacorps HQ during a New Years Eve party, control the civilians, coerce the CEO into opening a vault containing some McGuffin. Midway thru, an unexpected guest not on the attendees list who turned out to be a bad ass runner who was visiting his estranged wife at the party starts causing problems. Then a security team showed up outside and started working with that guy to cause further problems.
 
This was just a few years after the movie came out, but it took my players a surprisingly long time before one of them realized "hey, this is kinda like Die Hard".
 
 

This is where you were mistaken a bit.
 
1. No one gets to go more than once before everyone gets at least one action...
2. ... and unless you are playing demi-god level speedsters, even the chance for second actions is uncertain (you'd have to have a 10 SPD to always guarantee a second action)
3... and the order of actions changes, so there are possibilities of "slower" characters going before "faster" characters at times. (which is typical of initiative systems)
 
This moves away from the set pace of the SPD chart where every round, every time, everyone acts in the same order, and players can calculate optimized "game actions" rather than respond to the immediacies of combat that shift in the moment. The ultimate benefit I've found is that in game play, the higher SPD characters just don't dominate play time as much (or at all) which happened all the time with the SPD chart.

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 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 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 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).

Usually, if I was looking to start a group from scratch, I would either join an existing group playing a more mainstream game or start such a campaign myself. While playing that game over the course of some number of sessions, I would also slowly introduce the Hero System but not directly or overtly. If the game was happening at my house, the book case behind my GM'ing stuff groaning under the weight of Hero books was a useful icebreaker. I'd also work on Hero System characters or page thru a Hero book before a game or during a break. 
 
Eventually one or more people would express interest. "Oh, that? The Hero System? No, you wouldn't be interested in that. It's too hardcore for you; its a serious game system. Deep waters, not for the casual gamer. Yeah, it's my favorite game system, but I really don't think you'd get into it."
 
More determined folks who objected to being classified as "casual" would persist, or might browse the books themselves. Rather than trying to push it on them, they would first have to generate interest themselves and want to find out more.
 
But I still don't strike yet. Let it simmer a bit.
 
After the idea had crept into the zeitgeist of the group, I'd eventually mention I was interested in running some campaign, which I'd pitch and have some pre-production hooks for. I never talk system at this point, just big ideas. I'm pretty good at hooking a room, or at least enough to carry the motion. I get them to start throwing around character ideas. I want the players who get into it and feel the groove. If at least three players seem ready to go, set a date and commit; "Yeah, these are cool ideas; I'm definitely going to include them. I think I'll be ready to start running this next week if anyone wants to play". People usually do; my campaigns tend to be memorable, and I tend to be a polarizing figure...people who are not put off by my shtick like to hang around and be entertained. 
 
I don't commit to the game system at this stage; "Maybe [some other system], the Hero System, or [some other system].".
 
Choice of game system is a divisive factor. People have preconceived notions and they get in the way of having fun.  As soon as you lock in a game system verbally, you've lost at least one player who actually probably would have had fun if they had overcome their resistance to trying something new to them and given it a try. 
 
I collect emails of the interested parties and strike up email conversations with each re: character. I get them to flesh out in general terms what kind of character each wants to play. I make Hero System characters for each based upon what they've said is important to them; I focus on fundamentals rather than technical virtuosity. I don't share the characters yet.
 
Those who want to participate in the campaign self select. This is the important bit. 
___
 
First session each player's seat at the table has 3D6, a printed out version of their initial character sheet, a sheet with bullet points from each player's emails and a blurb noting things on their character sheet that address each bullet point, and a copy of Hero System #500 or Sidekick or Basic depending on the era.
 
I have a intro session already set up and ready to go on the table as well. 
 
Ok, go. I like to start in medias res. There's a situation, and the PC's need to deal with it. I help the players figure out what they want to do and how to do it. 
 
That's the first 2/3rds of the first session. After its over, it is possible that the players did not enjoy it, but usually most or all do. Then I go around the table and tell each player my favorite part of what their character did during the session and elicit them to tell me what they thought was cool and what irritated them or talk about any shortcomings of their characters they want to address. After that, I commit to the next session, which will be the first real session, and then say that if people want to tweak their character (or make a different one) they can either hang around after the session or we can do it via email as they prefer.
 
The #500 / Sidekick / Basic book is theirs to take home if they want it to check it out. 
 
That last part is the clincher; if someone doesn't want to take the book they probably won't return for the second session. If they take it, there's better than average odds they'll come back. 
___
 
I did some variation of this 4 times in the 4e era, 2 times in the 5e era, and 1 times in the 6e era, going from 1 or 0 players to a full group each time. Though some individual players weren't hooked, it never failed entirely. It also spawned several other new Hero GM's who went on to run at least one campaign of their own using the system.
 
At other times I had a group, and was just looking for one or two players. Those would usually come in either via "LFG" posts at game stores or by word of mouth via the existing players' social networks. In those cases, I'd just have a prospective player that did not know the system come in and I'd have them sit next to me at the GM side of the table, and give them a character to play, maybe an NPC, maybe a pregen, whatever. If they got stuck, I'd just suggest a couple of options and help them get unstuck. 
 
The important bit was to not bog them down with rules and just get them engaged with the game and feeling welcome. If they want to come back, we then talk about what kind of character they might like to play, which I always start at the bullet point level and always write down. "Should be good at X" or "Like [character from fiction] but with [some variation]" or whatever the player says. Never bog down their creative process by dragging mechanics into it. After they've got enough concept down to make a character around, ask if they want to make the character with you and tell them "it could take an hour or so" or however long you think it will take...don't claim it will take 15 minutes if it wont...OR you can just do a rough draft for them and then tweak it with them before the next session, their choice. 
 
One final note is, it is also important to manage your own expectations as the GM trawling for players. Not every potential player is interested, and you have to be ok with that; don't push. And not every player who wants to play is right for your group; just having a pulse is not enough; sometimes you run into lumps who can't seem to come up with a character or don't seem to know what they want or have any personal spark...you probably don't want those players (I certainly don't). When fishing, sometimes you catch nothing, and sometimes you have to toss a few fish back. Getting frustrated or giving up in the face of lackluster initial interest wont help.
 

There were a few links in the early posts but The Great System Purge has cleaned those. My sheets are all a bit customised and focussed on the groups I was running things for. Will see if I can dig up an example or two.

But let's look at this from a different perspective.  Let's take away extreme rolls and think about how this might have happened otherwise.  I haven't seen the reenactment, but let's set it aside.  The video would have been made decades after the fact, based on old war stories and shown in a cinematic way.  All we really need to have is one soldier taking out six Germans.
 
So you've got Bertolo, and he's hunkered down somewhere.  And along come Hans, Fritz, Karl, Otto, Klaus, and Gunter.  They think everybody in the squad is dead, and so they let their guard down.  Bertolo has total cover, there is no line of sight between him and the Germans.  But he obviously knows what is going on, and he's working up the courage to attack the enemy and avenge his buddies (Ego roll).  He creeps forward and peeks over whatever object he's hiding behind.  This is what he sees:
 
Hans is the nearest to him, about 20 feet away, right in front of him.  He is looking down at the ground, kicking a body to make sure the guy is dead.
Fritz is 5 feet away from Hans, holding his weapon at the ready but his body is turned to the side and he is looking off into the distance.
Karl is off to Bertolo's right, maybe 40 feet away.  He is crouched down, his weapon on the ground, while he pokes at one of the bodies, looking for cigarettes or something.
Otto is next, with his back completely to Bertolo.  He is yelling something and waving his arm.
Klaus and Gunter are out of sight, having walked behind a small building.
 
Bertolo makes his Ego roll and combat begins. 
--Phase 12, the Germans are completely surprised.  They don't get to act.  Bertolo stands up and fires twice, once at Hans and once at Fritz.  Dex 11, his OCV is 4.  We'll say the Garand gives him a +1 OCV.  Both targets are within the first 4 hexes and so receive no range penalty.  Rapid firing, so he takes a -2 OCV penalty.  Both targets are at 1/2 DCV.  Betrolo needs a 12- on each one.
Bam!  11.  Hit
Bam!  9.  Hit.
 
The Germans hear gunshots and start to look around.  The GM lets them make Perception rolls to figure out where the shots came from and what is happening.  Because this is the "realistic war" genre, the fog of war is a real thing, and they don't get Perception bonuses (they hear the gunshots, but they don't know where they're coming from).
Klaus and Gunter make their rolls.  They know gunshots are coming from the area where their squad is.
Otto rolls a 12.  He hears shots, and he knows they're close by, but he has no idea where they came from.
Karl rolls a 13.  He is startled by the shots.  He swings his head around looking for something, but he's too surprised to process anything.
 
--Phase 4.  Bertolo is surprised to see the Germans haven't really reacted.  The two guys he can see are looking around, but haven't spotted him.
Bertolo aims at the guy holding the gun.  Otto is at 1/2 DCV, so a 2.  Bertolo has a 4 OCV + 1 for the weapon.  He needs a 14-.  Rolls a 12.  Hit.
Klaus and Gunter (on the other side of the building) take a half-phase to look at each other and make a decision, then they start moving towards the sound of the gunfire.  Half-move.
Karl tries to make another Perception check, this time with a bonus.  Rolls a 15.  This would fail, leaving him still clueless, but the GM rules that Karl can spend this entire phase figuring out what is happening.  Karl suddenly realizes he's in a lot of trouble.
 
-Phase 8.  Karl and Bertolo see each other and make Dex roll-offs to see who goes first.  The GM assigns Carl a -2 penalty because he's not actually holding his weapon right now.  Bertolo says he wants to make a Presense attack, and the GM rules that he can do that first since it is a zero phase action.  2D6 base Presence, -1D6 for being in combat, +1D6 for being at a combat advantage, +1D6 for displaying a power (pointing a gun), +3D6 for the incredibly violent action of killing 3 guys already.  Bertolo rolls 6D6 and gets 21 points, 11 points past Karl's 10 Presence.
Karl is already at 1/2 DCV because he was kneeling on the ground.  The GM rules he's basically at zero DCV right now due to the Presence attack, and Bertolo can act first.
Bertolo needs a 16- to shoot Karl.  He makes an easy shot and Karl goes down.
Klaus and Gunter come running around the corner of the building (half move).  Klaus fails his Perception roll to assess the situation.  He sees his dead friends but he doesn't see the American soldier.
Gunter makes his Perception check.  The first thing he sees is the Amerikaner standing there having just blown away Karl.  He raises his rifle and fires.  Bertolo makes his Perception roll and has his full DCV (of 4).  Klaus has a base 4 OCV, no bonus for the German gun.  He's in the -2 range penalty bracket, needing a 9 or less.  Gunter rolls a 10, and a bullet goes whizzing by Bertolo's ear.
 
-Phase 12.  Bertolo makes a Dex roll off with the Germans and wins.  He aims at Gunter and fires.  5 OCV vs 4 DCV, -2 range penalty.  The American needs a 10 and he makes it.  Bam!  Gunter goes down.
Klaus is now the last one left.  Klaus makes his Perception roll and finally sees the American just as the back of his buddy's head explodes.  Klaus has to make an Ego roll.  He rolls a 13, and decides that discretion is the better part of valor.  If the movie Rambo had been made yet, that's who Klaus would think he was facing.  He panics, turns and tries to make a full noncombat move away.
 
Phase 4.  Bertolo takes a full phase to aim and fire, getting a +1 OCV bonus.  OCV 6 vs fleeing German's 1/2 DCV of 2.  -4 range penalty at this point means it's an 11 or less.  Bertolo's good luck continues and he blasts Klaus in the back.  Fight over.
 
 
And there you go.  In real life, ambushes are extremely lethal, in part because the people being attacked don't know what's happening immediately.  Our hero here gets several surprise shots, and a scattered enemy enters the combat at different points.  Guys are having to run in and assess the situation immediately, and some of them just happen to be facing the wrong direction.  Bertolo meanwhile knows exactly where they are, and when new people enter they happen to be directly in his line of sight.  No amazing rolls required.

It's not as impossible as you seem to think. Notable, of course, but not unicorn shitting rainbows impossible. On the KD (known distance) rifle qualification course, we had up to 60 seconds to put 10 rounds into the black on a "dog target" (head and shoulders) at 200 yards sitting and at 300 yards prone. It wasn't difficult; I did 10 out of 10 at both distances and with time left over every time I qual'd, and I was only a marksman level shooter.

Firing at a full-sized person from closer range would be faster. We did something similar on close quarters shooting drills. This video is from the current era, but it's similar enough to how we did it 20 years ago to demonstrate the point.
 
 
 
Practically speaking, there is also the fact that pistols are less accurate than rifles. It's pretty normal for pistol battles to have many more misses than hits. A rifleman with even basic marksmanship ability and fire discipline is very dangerous.
 
 
 
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Games are not like real life (obviously). Real life is not perfectly predictable per a SPD chart going in DEX order. There is a lot more chaos and friction than most game systems "simulate". But letting that pass you're making some assumptions...that people are interchangeable.
 
"So you have a grunt with a rifle, probably speed 3 or so, against grunts with pistols who were probably at minimum equivalent to him in training -- speed, OCV, DCV, etc."
 
The likelihood of 7 soldiers all being equivalent is spurious; there would be variation. Perhaps our hero was exceptionally fast (or hyped up on adrenaline and fear) and was operating at a faster reaction time than normal thanks to the heightened situation; and perhaps at least some of the antagonists he got the drop on were slow, or caught off guard, or sleep deprived, or malnourished...were they all aware of the protagonist and had their weapons drawn and pointed at him and were they in an optimal spread such that they all had clear line of sight to the protagonist without risk of friendly fire? Or were some of the baddies looking elsewhere, didn't have their weapon drawn, didn't have a round chambered, didn't have their weapon's safety disengaged, couldn't fire without hitting a friendly fighter, etc? Did any of them freeze up or go into fight / flight mode? And so on. 
 
 
 

It works for both 5th and 6th editions.  There's an option in the settings to turn on 5th edition rules but the app defaults to 6th.
 

It's in 6e2 p. 107: Breaking Limbs, which also mentions severing them (damage equal to or greater than 1/3 the character's total BODY).  It's an optional rule to use instead of Impairing (damage >= 1/2 the character's total BODY) or Disabling (damage >= 1x the character's total BODY).  

I doubt it's applicable here, but just wanted to point out that if he runs the Shape Shift off an Endurance Reserve, it doesn't need to be Zero END to remain up if he gets knocked unconscious - it will remain active until he runs out of END in the Reserve.