Duke Bushido

It kind of hit me today how I can best express this: If you liked the vehicle rules and the base rules, then you will like having this book in your collection, as it is essentially more of the same, only for something else. Does that help?

See? That is _precisely_ one of the things we need to overcome: The myth that character creation is complicated-- or, more specifically, the myth that character creation _must_ be complicated. And you are correct, of course: the samples given in CC aren't too bad (though some of the skills get extremely specific for superheroes, in my unprofessional opinion). I should have been more clear: I was referring to pulling villains and NPCs from the existing books of villains and NPCs: make absolutely certain that there are some examples of just what you can do: advantages, limitations-- stuff like that. But if it any one build has more than two modifiers, that's kind of playing directly into the crowd that talks about how complicated the process is. I further suggested at least one power (or Talent, I suppose) with _no_ modifiers, just to show that this is completely valid. As long-time fans, even if we aren't aware of it, we take a perverse pleasure in our mastery of the system, and knowingly or not, we do a lot of showboating with builds that throw in even the kitchen sink, just because we can make it work, and because it fits exactly into how we see Build X working. First, it's not always necessary, even when it fits. Secondly, it's just additional layers of "What the Hell is _that_?!" for a new player or GM. I am not saying "skip it;" I am saying simplify it just a bit: keep it short and sweet: two modifiers, and no more. Obviously, in the exit boilerplate, the works from which the cities and the NPCs are drawn can and _should_ be mentioned; I thought that went without saying, but just in case it didn't: that is the reason I suggested slimmed-down versions of official settings and official characters. If newbies like this stuff, or feel they want more, they know just what to look for--- not that "Check out the store at HEROgamesdotcom" stuff, either. Sure: we want that. But instead try "the full Bay City sourcebook can be purchased directly from the store at HEROGamesdotcom," as well as can be "Crap Load of SuperVillains," from which the opponents in this adventure were pulled." I think that's enough, rather than hitting them with "fall in love and buy it, and make sure you check out the entire store because you will absolutely love everything else, too!" Or waxing overly fondly of these larger works: if the reader likes what he sees, he knows where to go. If he doesn't, there is nothing pressuring him or telling him he is wrong for not going and buying the larger works. We don't have to push him to go to the entire store, either: when was the last time any of us browsed an online store of any stripe and didn't look around at least a little? But yes: simplify (but not necessarily make simple) the builds of existing characters from larger works. Use a slimmed down version of an existing setting. I mean, there is no reason _not_ to make this tied directly into items already available that offer richer, fuller material, right? Who knows? You might get lucky and sell one of the in-depth books, too. And the first edition, the entire rules book was under sixty pages. The second edition was eighty-two pages, and that included, again, _all_ the rules _and_ eight character sheets. The rules have gotten optionally more complex, and we can't stop pushing that complexity as a great thing. Again, I put it down to a long history of showboating, which lead to a culture of expectation, and here we are: using two powers to create Transfer, sort of, and insisting that the Martial Arts supplements are core rules. Want to attract new players? We have to break that habit. They will be making their first characters. Remember your first characters? That's what we're shooting for-- or at least, that's what I am recommending. No; the complexity we put into character building isn't all that much, at least not if you're used to it, but let's remember the years of addition, multiplication, and "Johnny has seven watermelons; Sara has nine oranges" we went through before we got to calculus. Same sort of thing: make it inviting; make it look _interesting_, but not overwhelming. Well of course they did! Who _doesn't_ want to be like the HERO System?! Yes; sorry. I jumped that gun on that. Oops. This is not the first time I've heard this idea floated, and I have to be completely honest when I say (and bear with me here; I'll get there in a second) that I just don't see the appeal or the need. _However_ (see, if you were bearing with me, this is the payoff), I also admit that I have been playing the game since the beginning, and I know what everything on that sheet means, and I also admit that a new player isn't going to have that luxury. Were I a new player staring at the typical builds of today's characters, I would probably just duck the duck off and end up rolling a d20, as even the character sheets look like textbooks anymore. I am going to go one step further and openly admit to all you new people (the long-time guys will remember that I confess this every ten years or so), that I absolutely cannot read a character that isn't on a 2e sheet. Seriously: there is so much abbreviation and summation and everything is just all crammed together and then glancing around to see what ties to what--- yuck! I'm getting the hang of it, but even now: if I see a villain that really strikes my fancy, I have to grab a sheet of paper and re-write everything in the familiar layout to really appreciate (or realize that I don't appreciate) it. And now to tie it all together: If the goal is to attract and retain new players, we need those filled-in sheets. We need those numbers and those power descriptions. The players will all need examples just in case the day comes that they are ready to roll their own. Further, with those numbers exposed, available to look at during play, it's a sort of visual aid for just what exactly all this does mean and how it interacts with everything else. This is _exactly_ the reason I called for simplifying the builds, as well: give them something that they can see and understand immediately (ooh! Two Advantages! So his power is better because of" or "an Advantage and a Limitation. How is that going to work in play?"), yet not be so complex or hyper-abbreviated or tightly packed as make someone look at it and wonder "do I install this as a PDF or a calc file?" Yes: Hero Character sheets can get really crowded, and they can take up a lot of space. Or they can be simplified just a bit and get the entire character on a half sheet (remember the old Enemies books?). I submit that you can probably get three on a page if you opt for a group photo with the individuals named, and forgo the full-body shot, but I can also understand _not_ wanting to do that: lots of art is better, I think. There is no reason not to have the game effects and the build listed on the same sheet, if you keep the builds simple and don't try to fit it into a 4e or later two-inch "Powers" entry. Brother, I got no idea. But I think some of the things that have been hammered out in the last couple of relevant threads are great ideas, and worth trying. All we need are talented people, who have lots of time, backed by fortunate people, who have lots of disposable income, and skilled people who love to do marketing. other than that, we're golden! HA! Again, they weren't my words, but I don't think it's too terribly unfair. Now before we start oiling the whips: I, too, like the HERO combat system, but I also have to admit the comparison is not unfair, as HERO really does have the slowest (real time) combats of any game that I am aware of that is still being published. I get _why_ it's slow, but it is the things that make it slow that actually appeal to me: Range modifiers, motion modifiers, attack option modifiers, skill enhancements, reaction speeds, defenses that reduce damage, shock damage versus serious injury damage, and doing things is exhausting. I love everything about it, but it _is_ a lot to keep up with, and doing so takes time. Like all the other long-time GMs, I have policies and house rules in place to minimize lag, but it's not going to go away without fundamental changes, and frankly, I don't want those changes. More than points buy, more than fictional equalities, more than any other part of the system, I love the combat system. However, I cannot, if I am being completely honest, deny that it is about the slowest system still on the market. You have to give a little to get a little, and I'm cool with that. There are, and by God, we absolutely, positively should _not_ include them! Not because of any idea that "they have to earn this," but because lists of options upon options is precisely what killed HERO to begin with: this is what turned _away_ from being a game, and toward "here's a toolkit you can use to make a game! All you need is time, patience, and a deep understanding of these fourteen-hundred pages. Good luck!" Dude, I could populate another ten-page thread with nothing but rants about that single thing; I really could.

Are you asking if it's extremely useful-- well, that depends on you. If you have the 5e books, well.... it's pretty much more of the same. I mean, it's mostly the same, but a bit more of the same. If you are looking for examples of how to build your own gadgets, it's useful for that, but again-- if you have the older book.... If you want a list of pre-made equipment that you can kind of pull "standard adventuring gear" from, it's good for that, too, but again-- if you have one already, then you have what you need for that list. So reasons to buy: You don't already have something just like it. You want all of the blue books (seriously: that's the only reason I bought it) You want to toss a bit of money to HERO Games (assuming this is where you buy it)

OOh! And with a much better view of the Angry Dome! Thanks!

Lots of good points (as usual), all of which are well-thought out. No one is wrong, but none of us-- even together-- can solve the puzzle of "what will people want to buy when all this is done?", I'm afraid. This _is_ a big decision, and Z has some good input, too: It's no secret that I completely agree with Z: superheroes need the absolute least amount of setting. That's part of why I think it will be the easiest genre in which to implement the following suggestions. At this point, HERO has several, especially if you consider the various editions (am I the only one who read the Miriquous (sp?) Falls stuff? That was pretty good!) In this case, I think we need to keep in mind what is currently selling: people want a background, if only a loose one, to add flavor and-- most importantly-- to provide something against which they can gauge their own builds, when they are ready. However, there needs to be enough substance to keep them going if they decided-- for whatever reason-- that they are not going to do a roll-your-own anything. We also know that pre-package adventures-- even entire campaigns, if the genre is right-- are more desirable than they ever were before. We know that the ever-increasing complexity of HERO-- the thing I refer to as the love of the math over the actual playing-- is off-putting to a lot of players: it is the single most-common criticism of the system heard from non-HERO players. It really only stings from V&V players, with the infinite charts.... Combining these things-- and again: I am _not_ a sales analyst (I _am_ a commodities market analyst, but that's not in any way related to what we're trying to do here, except possibly for the part where we are both half anal. ) Anyway, combining these things-- and the fact that we want to leave the door open to try the product line at large, I suggest using an existing setting. I don't know how you would pick one, except to perhaps look and see what is the most popular in the comics and movies: the world of Tomorrow presented by Millennium City? The depressingly-real hyper-dark Hudson City (one vote against, right here!) ? I have always found Bay City from New Millennium to be the most well-rounded and exactly not-too-much for a setting book; the 5e version of that isn't too bad, either, but there is a bit of bloat. Mark Rand's 4e setting-- San Angelo-- was pretty sweet, but I'd like to stick with a wholly-owned-by-HERO property, if possible. At any rate, I would like to suggest a _stripped down_ version of an existing location. Some background, but less. Some of the current situations, but less. Some of the background characters, but less. Some of the plot hooks, but fewer currently-happening plots-- something like the 4e books were (except Hudson City ). As Z said-- and I agree-- superheroes need the least amount of setting. That's part of what puzzles me so much about the size of the Champions genre book (yes: I understand the required fan service to cover all the editions and follow the characters, etc, etc, bust _still_! ). Get that "Setting" down to somewhere between 100 and 150 pages, period. Then start a campaign book-- right in the same volume. Narrow down on a specific few locations in the city, and a specific few characters who are going to be involved and a small handful more that are _likely_ to become involved, and that's it! No more. More than enough for your adventure, but we don't need a full write-up of the mayor or her chauffeur's girlfriend or whatever). Technically, there are only two abilities: "Affect universe" and "Resist universe." That was my go-to comment during the lead-up to 5e when everyone was presenting the case that certain powers should be folded together because they _could_ be folded together (no matter how awkward it was. Instant Change as "Transformation?" Yeah; it can be forced to work, ignoring the "can't transform yourself" rule, but is it at all better (since you now have to ignore a rule to make it work) or remotely necessary? And I think we've already had out annual "just import Transfer forward from an older edition and call it good" thread.... ). Reduce everything enough, and you end up with two abilities. Reduce them partway, and you end up with the kludgiest possible version of Transfer ever. If the goal is to attract new people, then I feel it is absolutely imperative that we do not "sixth edition" or even "fifth edition" those write-ups. By _all means_ use existing characters: use villains from existing enemies books; use random NPCs from whatever random NPC books might be out there, but _simplify_ the build. If your power has more than two modifiers, re-write it until it doesn't. If you don't have at least one power without any sort of modifier, re-imagine the character. This is entirely legal in 6e, but a newbie wouldn't know it by checking out the published material. All Skills must be _broad_ Skills. If your character is a Doctor in his secret ID, then he doesn't need skills in pathology, diagnostics, biology, microbiology, virology, pharmacology, business management, etc, etc-- he's a doctor; he knows "doctor stuff." Don't get stupid with Perks. Your doctor doesn't need "can write prescriptions" and "doesn't need to make reservations at a nice restaurant and "Authority figure." He doesn't even _need_ "Medical License," but let it slip in because part of this project is teaching not just the use of the system, but that it can be a hell of a lot more simple than the last two rules sets would lead you to believe it is. Ultimately, I'd shoot for a book of between 250-300 pages, 350 _tops_-- to give both an useable setting, some character write-ups, an over-arcing campaign plot, and three or four smaller adventures within that arc-- enough for four to six sessions, perhaps?-- to create a book with both a setting and a useable mini-campaign. Then follow that thing up! Follow it up with electronic adventures, if necessary, or do something akin to the Journal of the Travellers Aid Society-- and yes, I point to that publication instead of our beloved Adventurers Club because it was more than just a "here are some interesting articles and thoughts about the game and a couple of adventures," but because everything in it was canon, period. Rules addendums, errata, adventures-- entire supplements!-- were printed in that magazine, and they were all canon. As Traveller expanded and grew and republished, all of that was folded into the core materials. (Granted: that would eventually become as problematic for Traveller as it did for HERO, but the point is that there was constant inexpensive support for the players even between "big" releases). Perhaps build the mini-magazine around a new scenario or adventure within the arc of the campaign, and put some interesting filler in the rest of it. It doesn't have to be much more than the adventure, really. Perhaps the adventure, maybe a couple of simplified additional NPCs, a "villain of the month" drawn from one of the enemies books-- whatever. The adventure and ten pages of fluff; keep it all digital to keep expenses down; subscribe to have it e-mailed to you. When the last adventure-- the one that concludes the campaign-- is published, gear up to publish a paper copy of the entire campaign for either collectors of those who didn't get on the list or whatever. Heck, publish the book halfway through the run of the magazine-- whatever works. The launch directly into the next campaign-- either with a published book (in lieu of publishing the entire first adventure) or perhaps an over-sized e-mag that lays out the basis of the new campaign and includes enough for two or three sessions of the new story arc. Publish-- in paper-- a 36 or 48-page saddle stitched (for those who don't know, this is the correct name for "stapled in the middle;" it hearkens back to when such small publications were actually sewn together using-- you guessed it: a saddle stitch. ) mini-campaign (like in the setting / adventure book) that can be extended via regular adventures published in the e-mag. When that's all done, repeat again. Realistically, given the state of the American worker right now, I would think a quarterly publication with enough "adventure" to fill eight hours or so of table time would be more than enough. Most of my groups can really only get together for two or three hours every couple of months these days; I don't know about you guys, of course. You may be far luckier than us blue-collar types. Yes: that is kind of the thing I am talking about (though I don't know much about Savage Worlds beyond the rules of an edition or two back and the cover of a sci-fi supplement that I really liked the look of): an over-arcing story with adventures that advance the characters along that arc. And yes! I would _love_ to see a project just like this for a Sci-Fi setting / campaign book-- it's the genre I prefer anyway-- done this very same way: a stripped down setting with enough to give the "feel" of a setting without having to immediately learn all the minutiae (that can be doled out through the adventures, and probably should be, to enhance the world and give the sense of learning "the lore" of the setting). I suggest Sci-Fi or cyberpunk or pretty much _anything_ over superheroes or even fantasy: Fantasy today suffers from the same problem that superheroes have: enough people have had enough exposure that they don't need a deeply detailed setting to have a game: just a taste of "what's allowed; what isn't," enough material to benchmark themselves, a bit of history they can hang their backstories on, a list of races, some magic spells, and done. Fantasy has become so mainstream that I think you'd need more background to run something set in the cold war era at this point. Sci-Fi and the others, though: those are still pretty wide open, given the relative lack of commonality between the various fictional settings. Sure, every genre has its outliers (lookin' at you, Harry Potter), but there is a large enough body of knowledge in the typical gamer or game-curious that fantasy doesn't require what it once did. Still, it would be nice to have a slimmed-down handbook of setting, races, spells, and just how magic works in this one world from which to build. I will be the first to admit that superheroes is _not_ my favorite thing. However, it is the _only_ genre that has survived as long as it has being presented, in its original form, in precisely that way: from one issue to the next to the next, waiting thirty days or so between, and typically cutting the adventure in half (or thirds or fourths). An argument could be made along the lines of "but the legacy! It started as superhero game--!" However, I am not going to make that argument. I am simply going to point out that HERO _is_ a superhero game, no matter what else can be done with it. It models superheroes and incredible power far better than it models bar fights, and it's the most "granular" at a point well beyond the reach of mortal men. It is for several reasons-- to include that one-- that I would think the superhero genre would be an ideal place to start: D and D is still riding the Pathfinder high, making offering a competing fantasy product ill-advised, at least without a different product line that is catching attention and sales. I have recently discovered that Traveller is having a bit of a resurgence as well, making a science fiction book without a different product line bringing in money risky as well. Not as risky as targeting D and D, surely, but riskier than it has to be. (And this is kind of a shame, because I kind of enjoyed the Terrain Empire book). Superheroes doesn't need as much background, etc, making it a reasonable place to at least test the do-ability of this sort of product. Pulp and its variants are dead. They are going to die with us, the longest of tooth still in the RPG hobby. Like post-apocalyptic fiction, fueled by living with a fear that the younger folks never experienced, pulp will die as a product of our parent's generation that we still have some fond childhood memories of. Social Media has all but killed CyberPunk. All one has to do is to browse Facebook or Twitter or Imgur or pretty much any "post semi-anonymously " website or any website that allows commentary without community to make the immediate (and wise) decision of "Dude! I am _not_ putting that crap directly into my brain! No way; no how!" Well, that, and I don't think Elon's monkeys did anything to further positive sentiment on the ideas, either. And now that we can see that cyborg implants will most likely be simply prosthesis with skin-contact sensors to trigger motion, -- well, the idea of the robo-jacked mecha-limbed street samurai seems almost silly today, in spite of how cool it was way back then. Again-- not to you and me: we're old enough to remember when it was _cool_. But today's audience is filtering what they see through a different set of experiences and observations. If you presented them with a street samurai, the first thing the savvy twenty-something of today would do is either drill a hole in it, knowing that it's held to the stump with suction, or find a way to heat it up to the point that the wearer would remove it on his own. He would also likely demand an explanation of just how something so heavy was staying in place anyway, given that even the modern plastic "bionic" limbs don't always stay put. A steel one with guns built into it? Forget it! I agree with you. Even today, I agree with you. I feel like that about _every_ genre. i will also say that it took a lot of time and some painful observations to see that I was wrong. I didn't used to be wrong, but today's GMs-- DMs, whatever-- want exactly a prepackaged adventure with lore and colorful pictures and settings and probably maps; I don't know. I used to love maps for battle areas and such, but I never got off on the "map of the city" or "the entire continent" or anything like that. However, the new players _do_ get off on all that, and if there is any single marketing rule that I _do_ know, it's that it's really hard to sell a product that isn't something that your customer wants. I believe that they _should_ be (see above), but I also believe they should be re-presented as somewhat more simplified than they are in the Enemies books. Better than that: if the idea is to tie this hypothetical new material into the existing material, I suggest working villains' Disadplications and perhaps even their origins into the plots. Nothing makes a player feel like he knows a villain more than having been on hand for his very creation. Right. And that's another complaint heard against it: you can see its wargame roots so clearly. Now for me, that's not a problem, but in the words of a review someone posted a link to here a few days ago, Champions features a combat system that runs "like a very meticulous tax audit." I know: every criticism of HERO's combat time dilation is met with "but it doesn't take that long!" or "not for me!" and so on, but facts is facts: I can run through an entire meet, threaten, defend, return fire, defeat / retreat in Traveller in literally 1/6 of the time it takes to do that same situation in HERO. part of it is the wargame roots, and part of it actually the part that allows HERO to do what other systems can't: simulate characters who are genuinely faster to react, faster to formulate actions and plans- than are other characters. No other game I have ever played does this as well as Champions, and more than anything else-- more than points, or the fictional equality, or the 'get what you pay for,' the combat system is above all else the reason that I still stay. But it _is_ slower than any other system I have ever played (excepting possibly Aftermath, and with the admission that I have never played Living Steel or Phoenix Command or anything else with that much-maligned system at the heart of it). We've all got ways to speed it up, but ultimately there are just more steps than there are with any other game I can think of at the moment. I won't pretend I have a perfect solution for this, either, but ideally a way must be found to either accelerate combat or to really sell the positive side of the combat system. Currently, it's the one part of the system that really does make the game feel old. I totally get what you're saying, but let's look at your list: Champions Complete, Champions Universe, a folio of fake nations, The HERO rules 1, the HERO rules 2, Champions, Teen Champions, Dark Champions. Which books on that list are actual complete and playable games? Now personally, I think Champions Complete is-- and I have been proven to be in the minority there, but that is because it is as complete as was the very first Champions: no settings, no adventures, no nothing but rules. It's all I need, but as has been pointed out, today's gamers seem to prefer having at least a framework of a setting and some sort of solid, ready-to-go adventure right off the bat. Now you could by your entire list-- CC, CU, Folio, HSR1, HSR2, Champions, Teen Champions, and Dark Champions and still absolutely not have that. If I wasn't collecting-- if I was buying because I really wanted to take a shot at playing this game-- I would be beyond livid to have shelled out the money that collection represents and discover that I still hadn't actually bought a game! While this is all armchair quarterbacking, the goal is to create an actual single book with a game that is complete and ready by the standards of the modern gamer.

I think you've got it all nailed down, save for the funds to advertise it, distribute it, and get it in people's hands. NOTICE: There is no disrespect intended here: I am not here to chop away at a prodigy, but I think concise and under-complicated, without an exhaustive list of optional-optional-options is key. To that end, I -- very respectfully-- request that someone other than Steve write it. If the funds can be found to let Steve write it, then I -- again, with utmost respect-- suggest no less than three editors in charge of paring everything down to the basics, leaving enough flavor to make it a pleasant read, of course.

Red Cobra?

I have no idea how I missed the existence of this for so very long, but....

I learned something today. (I also notice that they angrydome is closed.

It's more telling that that, Sir: We look at "life gives you lemons" as a really bad thing. Turns out life didn't give us lemons. We did it to ourselves, and then we invented some trite phrase to suggest that getting lemons is perfectly normal, and we should be grateful because we can do something good with them. I find this to be a _ridiculously accurate_ summation of the entire condition of the only race of animals on this planet that has created a system whereby we have to pay money to each other to continue being allowed to live here. >:-{

Z, you are absolutely not wrong: I prefer home brew myself, but I also know _why_ I prefer it. Scott's question is a good one, though I would push that date back even further. Up-thread we had a discussion of just how not having a published setting was not only common, once upon a time, it was the absolute _norm_! I can't think of a single 70s- era game that had a setting outside of Baker's earliest attempts to do something with Tekumel (no idea why Tekumel has never really hit it big; it very really had an entire lifetime of development behind it). The bulk of the well-known Traveller setting wasn't even done by Marc Miller-- the most popular stuff was done by a volunteer group (who lost their shirts, very nearly, with over a decade of money-losing investment in publishing)-- was it DGP? Is that right? Eh-- to many years.... The practice was so common in the building of the "official Traveller setting" that people used to petition for land grants in a fiction universe! (No; I am not making that up). Miller had actual documents drawn up and would award various people (after sampling their writing) worlds, systems, sectors, etc-- signing them as Strephon or various other dignitaries (I would love to have one-- not for anything I did, but just as a wall hanging for the game room ). I have read quotes attributed to Miller (no; I have no way to verify them, though having watched him Referee a Traveller game once, I can completely believe that he would have said it) that there were large parts of the by-then-official setting that he himself didn't even like. The Fantasy Trip was literally two map battle games shoved into a box with some exposition about adventuring and advancement. That was it. No setting; no plot lines-- just "see what you can do with this" and have fun. And that's a _lot_ to do with why I prefer homebrew: in the early days, it was all we had! Homebrew or, if everyone was together and you hadn't had time to really throw something together, either break out the board games or grab a handful of NPCs and run an out-of--story skirmish session or other "practice," because there wasn't really anything you could just fall back on. The gaming magazines became something of a Godsend in those moments-- you had probably read one or two adventures published within on and could tweak it in a hurry. More often than not, though, you didn't have the time to do that our, being young and haughty, you just refused. I know I did, and at this point in my life, I can accept that it was just a stupid way to feel about it: I let some nonsensical notion that doing such was beneath me deprive us of a gaming an instead we'd spend the next few hours figuring out rules for four-player chess. (fun fact: It does not rock. It works, but it does not rock. What does rock is having a roll-off when capturing pieces in 2-player chess: 2d6, with modifiers based on piece type and number of pieces being used to threaten. Beat target number and take the opponent. Fail and he takes you.) Compounding the problem was that when published settings became available-- as they crept and trickled onto the market, and in some cases-- like Traveller and non-Greyhawk D and D-- as they were compiled and canonized and beaten into a single extensive backgrounds, it either had no bearing on your existing campaign or actively contradicted what you had already established, making it easier (and less expensive) to just keep not using it. In the worst-case scenarios (like, say, a group that new next to nothing about comic books being presented with a comics-modeled setting), everything would have to be reset- in some cases, even favorite characters and NPCs and location, entire campaigns would have to be scrapped, and everything started all over. Not only is this unattractive, but even players balk at it when it means at best having to rework beloved characters of retcon cherished adventure moments. I have, since about 2005 or so, come to have a few Traveller games that feature at least the outlying areas of the Third Imperium (avoiding the introduction of aliens, _period_. My play started with 1e: there was no setting; there were no aliens unless the GM made them, and frankly, at the time I rather liked the idea that humans were alone in space. We set the adventures "way off in the future," giving us hundreds of terraformed worlds, and trillions upon trillions of humans scattered amongst the stars, and we liked it. My Traveller HERO/Champions game-- running since the late 80s, is a bit different, because it was a different group, and my not-at-all-Traveller Space Opera HERO/Champions game was meant to model Space Opera, but.... well, you might notice there hasn't been a lot published for that in recent decades. Crud-- way, way off course here.. Sorry for that. Anyway, We talked a lot about the importance / unimportance of store-bought settings up-thread, and while no one is suggesting that we force everyone to use a particular setting, the trend in gaming overall, particularly with new gamers, which not just HERO Games, but the entire hobby has need of, prefer-- for whatever reason-- to be able to buy a book, open it, and shake an entire world loose and pour it onto the table. For what it's worth, I found the last iteration of the Champions setting to actually be too stinking _big_ to do that, at least all at once, which actually kind of paves the way for smaller setting books, at least for those gamers wanting to be I have asked before for definitions of the "ages" of comics and the results have been.... inconsistent, at best. So I still don't know what it means, except that apparently the industry or the fandom (or both) are in the habit of pretending that certain stylistic changes occurred on very specific dates. It doesn't matter, though, because at this age, I'm probably not going to start reading them anyway. True story: Based on the fandom on this board, and based on comments elsewhere, when my kids were much younger, I wanted to "pave the way" for gaming by introducing them to sci-fi and comic books, etc. I can't possibly have biased them, because I know diddly-over-squat about comics, right? I took them to comic stores and let them pick what they wanted. They hated them. I tried again, with less investment, using an online method for buying comics (Play Books, actually, because it was the default for my phone and their tablets). Anything from the 70s and 80s, they absolutely loved. Stuff from further back is hit-and-miss, though the Flash was a consistent hit. Anything after the 80s, the very early nineties, they have absolute zero interest in, going so far as to call it "just stupid crap and whining" and "it's like reading those TV shows Nana likes" (Nana is into those angst-riddled soap operas that come on in the upper cable channels or late at night). And if anyone is interested, Firestorm is hit-and-miss, and Spider Girl, the Blue Devil, and the original Captain Marvel ("Shazam!") are their personal favorites, even as they move through their early teens. I have no idea who comic books are marketed toward today, but apparently it's house-bound angst-junkies in their mid-eighties. Not the prime audience for an RPG, but who knows, right?)

Brother Scott, I don't even know who the _Defenders'_ Defenders are, and until I drifted back to this board, I thought the Fantastic Four was Roger Corman's attempt to break into modern sarcasm-based comedy via superhero deconstruction. The only thing I know about the Avengers is that it was a series of three superhero movies that didn't really trip any switches for me outside of "ooh--! Pretty special effects!" (Seriously: the CGI effects were amazing), and they served to reinforce something I have said for years that no one really wants to hear: The only way to make martial artists and "skilled normals" a relevant part of a genuine super-powered team is to make sure that the party is split pretty much all the time, which is the antithesis of a good RPG session, at least when it becomes a habit. I have always felt that meta plot lines were more the domain of scenarios, adventures, and the campaigns that contain them, and should not be hardwired into the setting--- However--- I also think this is a completely different conversation, so I won't muddy things up with more exposition on that. Agreed. That's a huge loss, not just to gaming, but to style in general. I had no idea. There's that Ruggels guy; his stuff has come a _long_ way since doing that illustration for --- was the the Black Queen? The Queen of Hearts? The character's name escapes me at the moment, but the picture is fresh in my head: the Harley Quinn before there was a Harley Quinn-- the one who tried to infiltrate the Card Shark's organization and went full-on nuts. Oh-- and those asteroid pictures in... Was it Space Gamer? JTAS? It was Traveller-related; I recall that. Anyway, his stuff is pretty damned good, I think.

We have two sides, and they have different metrics. One wants more dollars per household, and the other wants more bullets per school child, and we are all supposed to sit here and oretend that "well really, they are so similar....

Well crap. We're stuck with it.

Wow. The world's oldest Shredded Wheat.....

Here's an ugly thought--- though before I go any further, for the purposes of full disclosure: I really, really, _really_ don't like the published setting. So there; that's out there. Now moving beyond that: Howzabout building a setting that is different from the one that HERO doesn't actually own anymore? Something that can be entirely theirs, or at least available not at the whim of a videogame company?

Yes, indeed you are! Ever since the Canadian Equality Act of 1913, US citizens have been required to accept that Canadians- and humans in at least four other countries- are, in fact, people. seriously though: you are the best kind of people, Sir: you have read and thoroughly digested the material at hand. I dont think I have ever seen "Uruk-Hai" so thoroughly over-spelled. For what it is worth, the setting is bland; there was no exaggeration there. However, whether or not that is a good thing or a bad thing is entirely up to your preferences. I rather preferred settings this way, leaving the "stories" of the cities and the legends of the outlying lands up to the GM, to suit his need, but I also recognize that this is not the most common preference, and that none of us have all the tine we would like to devote to background details. Strangely, that is why I prefer to have little complexity or detail: I am free to wing it in the moment and not interfer with something already in place or contradict something an author thought was more critical than do I. LL, as usual, is quite correct: the material inside is as bland and short on detail or excitement as is the cover art and pallet. However, just like that art, it provides a crisp, clear delineation of the place itself, with just enough details to give you a direction in which to start. To be clear: if I were reading this for entertainment, I would want _so much more_ than what is given, but in terms of what I personally like in a setting book- a place,a few people, and little else, this book kind of nailed it. The exception, foe whatever reason- at least to me- was Tuala Morn. That is hands-down my favorite HERO setting book, but I went into that one reading it for entertainment, and I have to acknowledge that. I liked VA, in spite of carrying a very, very old personal bias against the author (which I also have to acknowledge to myself in order to ensure I am being unbiased. ) As the differing opinions show, like anything else, your take away is going to depend on what you really like.

Happy Birthday! Don't sweat 47. From the vantage of 61, 47 seems just incredible... Here's a thing my sister L does to "preserve her youth." Like many women tend to do (I am told), she lies about her age. The thing is, she lies the other way. She's -- I'd have to stop and think.... Let's say 54. If someone happens to ask "and how old did you say you were, Ma'am?" Without hesitation, she replies "64." She seems to really enjoy the "Wow! You look _amazing_!" comments that follow that.

That is not a to-hit die. That is a damage die.

I have found the only difference beyween prep and low prep is if I take lots of notes before the game or during it. Though if you read the list, it is not a list of prep: it is a list of responsibilities: keep players engaged, make encounters enjoyable, create and manage NPCs, and listen to pages and pages of PC background /development. Your responsibilities don't change regardkess of how you prepare for a game.

Wow. She is _tough_. Really, frighteningly tough....

I am left with the feeling that I am the only person here who has had to crank a Caterpillar 3208- powered skidder in sub-zero temperatures....