Duke Bushido

Okay, 
 
your promised disambiguation:
 
 
The book listed in the store as the Sourcebook is what "Book 1" should have been-- and honestly, probably was.
 
If you have the CD collection from FFE, then you have _almost_ all of it.  While the paper copies (Thanks again, Shadowcat! ) are amazing, I was always bugged by the lack of certain "core Traveller" bits: the career path skill-building (yeah; harder to do with HERO fans, but not impossible), world generation, starship generation, and psionics.  In the final cut, psionics was touched on oh-so-lightly, but the rest just kind of "fell out of the book."
 
If you have the FFE CD collection, then you have no doubt been just as befuddled as I have been by those three mysterious "chunks of books" that don't match any of the other PDFs (or the paper copies, if you're also lucky enough to have those-- and again:  Bless you, Shadowcat!  I will _never_ forget the guy who got me the paper books that combine my two favorite RPGs!     ).    They are finished pages, numbered even, but higher than the 163 page count of either Book 1 or Book 2.
 
 
The Sourcebook available in the HERO store is the book those excerpts came from:  It is Book 1, complete with Shipbuilding, psionics, and world building (which-- I can't remember if that's included int he FFE collection or not, but I'm not recalling it off the top of my head.
 
And no; it's not a 6e book.  6e does not own the word "templates;" it simply uses it so excessively as dilute the meaning.  The "templates" are essentially packages or pre-encouraged build types.  "Six e did away with Packages!  We use templates now, which is a totally new, revolutionary, unlike-packages kind of thing that provides chunks of good and bad things together....."   Eliminating a bonus doesn't really mean it's not a package, no matter which hot and trendy buzzword you want to stick on it.
 
 
At any rate, if you're _serious_ about Traveller, then this is really a must-have book.  It was the first book I really wanted to pony up for to have printed, as it really is a "more complete" version of one of the books I already own in print.
 
 
Why was all this great material cut?
 
I don't know.  Shadowcat _might_ know, but doesn't visit regularly.  I've quit the bulk of the board (and once I'm done with the store, will quit the rest of it, at least for what I hope is an extended period), and I'm here more regularly than Shadowcat.       If I were to take a SWAG at it, I'd go back to a comment Shadwocat made a very long time back, that the licensing agreement meant you couldn't include lore / world building stuff in your conversion product, making it necessary to buy at least one "true traveller" sourcebook to get the actual setting.  This stuff may have been cut for fear of getting too close to some perceived line.  Again, I _don't_ know; I'm just WAGging.
 
Still, there is stuff in there that relates to all kind of of pieces of the Traveller universe, and it is nice to see this stuff in HERO form.  _However_, as I said, there isn't much in _any_ of this stuff that will allow a new Traveller player to really glean the published universe of any era: you _will_ need some actual Traveller material for that if you don't actually know it already; totally unnecessary if you're just completely uninterested in someone else's sandbox, of course.
 
Your mileage and opinions may vary or differ, but to me, even if you have the FFE collection, it's totally worth having if you're serious about doing Traveller HERO-style.  It's worth it even if you have the FFE collection (which is great, but also a disjointed mess of things you really don't need or want, but still....), since there is at least one section (I think it was world building, but I don't recall specifically) that wasn't in that collection either.  
 
Please note that in Traveller terms, "world building" isn't a campaign-related or setting-related term; it's the systems with which you create new planets, ecosystems, star systems, etc-- actually populating the stars with places to find or to adventure.
 
 
The one thing that never did come to pass-- probably because of the almost-total incompatibility between the two systems-- that I would _love_ to have seen was a HERO-ized version of FFS (even though that was for TNE).
 
But to get back to the original question:
 
Sourcebook is a meatier, more in-depth and feature-filled version of Book 1; it is the Book 1 that Book 1 should have been.  If you have to choose between the two versions, Sourcebook is the Book 1 that you will kick yourself for not getting.  If you're like me, you'll get them both, just because-- because _Traveller HERO_, Dude!  I _can't_ not support that!  
 
 
 
Duke
 

Woo-hoo!
 
Another Space Opera player!
 
Howdy, Neighbor!
 

 
as for the questions regarding timeline:  sometime after Mythic HERO, I expect.
 
(for what it's worth, Mythic HERO is the local version of Duke Nukem Forever, save that when the fateful does come, and my grandson buys himself a copy to share with his kids, I expect it will actually be _good_  )
 
the following is not intended to be insulting or detrimental in any way:
 
HERO Games is all but functionally dead.  There was talk a few months back about using Kickstarter to get bigger projects sone every once in a while, but I don't know id the overall fanbase is much larger than the membership roster for these forums. 
 
the bulk of the meager output of late has been primarily fan-based works using HERO's version of OGL (which is not OGL, but allows you to write stuff for them, so long as you follow a not-too-terribly-long list of rules.
 
all that being said, I woyldnt expect to see any Ultimates books updated to 6e, at least not for a very long time.  Considerinf the only significant changes from 5 to 6 were the loss of "freebie" figured characteristics and splitting the hex down to 1m per, pretty much everything in the Ultimates books is still perfectly valid from one to the other (movement might be a bit wonky in Ultimate Vehicle, but that is just a guess).  The ninja stuff will still be fine, as martial arts and there rules didn't change.
 
(having read the 5e Ultimate Skill in 5e ans HERO System Skills in 6e, I am one-hundred percent they are the exact same book)
 
 

Yea, I just got the "Reacting Well" badge, I'm here like what just happened? What is this?  

Two guy- check you PM box.
 
 

Rhw youth group game had another session after a "it is too srinking cols to ait our here at a picnic table!" hiatus.
 
A couple of rhe toughest players,have forgotten a couple of the basics, so as a quick refresher, Red Cloak and Feral j(who have the most complicated builds od the group) ust happen to have been ambushed while doing some,after-hours research at the library archives undner the museum.
 
"...and the last of the villainous agents drop, victim of your sleep spell.  That was an attack action, C, so we have to end Red Cloak's Phase without any movement."
 
"It's cool. I look for the leader- the super-powered guy.   I want to bind him up with my restraining spell until Feral gets back to help me move him."
 
"You will need to re-allocate your points in your Multipower; remember?"
 
"Oh yeah!  Okay, I guess I can turn off the Flight; it can't really use it in here, anyway-"
 
"Still, being in the air did reduce the amount of damage you sufferered when that sexons goon ahot you the teaser,he took from the guard..."
 
"Yeah, but these guys are out cold now. Oh, I guess I should turn off my force field, too-"
 
"Remember parr of the dun is sticking to the themes of your character and his world."
 
"Hunh?"
 
"Do you have a force field, or do you-"
 
"Oh, right!  I make the handsign at the warrior spirit protecting me, and thank him, and tell him he is dismissed."
 
"His ghostly form turns to you,standing tall and proud, bashes his sword against his shield, holds his sword up in front of his face in salute, bows, and disappears."
 
"That would be _so cool_ if it was real-"
 
"In the game, it is real; enjoy it.  If you change your mind, you make it something else."
 
"Nah.  I think a pet warrior ghost is pretty cool."
 
"Sure, but he isnt a pet.  You summon him,to protect you; there is a contract to fulfill."
 
"Right, but we have a job, too.  I need to get information from the metal guy."
 
"You look around the room, and even with the rows of library stacks and the computer equipment, it seems kind of empty with the sounds of battle absent,  seven thugs lie strewn around the forefront of the room, victims to poor judgement and your ancient magic--."
 
"Yeah, I don't think these guys are gonna be making any more rabbit-out-of-a-hat jokes again!"
 
"-but none of these faces are familar you."
 
"What do you mean?"
 
"You don't see Big Iron, the street name,for the thug that can turn into metal."
 
"Ah, Man!  He got away-!  I guess I better go see if Feral is back yet-"
 
"You turn to leave the room and almost bump your face into a statue.  No, wait; statues don't move-"
 
"Move?"
 
"You glance up just in time to see the ceooked and cruel wry grin of Big Iron, his fist drawing back over his head, muscles tight,as bow strings.  "Suprise, Houdini!" he snarls-"
 
"Ah, crap!   Okay, so how do I Push my PD...?"
 
 

 
 

It's Geddy Lee, bassist and vocalist for Rush.
 

Oh, I have.

 

If they're also Desolidified you can affect them.  However, you'd need to either buy Affects Physical World on the Desolidification to make a solid person desolid while you're using it, or deactivate your Desolidification before reactivating it to affect yourself and the target simultaneously.

"But _you're a doctor!'
"I am a _physicist!"
"He has a physical injury!"
 
Same campaign:
 
"Aren't you a scientist?  Good with numbers?"
"I am a physicist!  I create lab accidents and super Powers!"
 
From the youth group:
 
Kinetica: "he'll never make in time!"
 
GM: well he has already turned to race down the hallway toward the window...
 
"I will have to go full sonic-"
 
"He"s kind of filling the hallway-"
 
"I go Desolid and blast through him!"
 
Magnus (upon seeing Kinetica's ephemeral desolid form burst from his chest, leaps forward grabbing): "crap! My soul!"
 
 

"But _you're a doctor!'
"I am a _physicist!"
"He has a physical injury!"
 
Same campaign:
 
"Aren't you a scientist?  Good with numbers?"
"I am a physicist!  I create lab accidents and super Powers!"
 
From the youth group:
 
Kinetica: "he'll never make in time!"
 
GM: well he has already turned to race down the hallway toward the window...
 
"I will have to go full sonic-"
 
"He"s kind of filling the hallway-"
 
"I go Desolid and blast through him!"
 
Magnus (upon seeing Kinetica's ephemeral desolid form burst from his chest, leaps forward grabbing): "crap! My soul!"
 
 

This particular ambiguity has been around since First Edition. I doubt that anything "official" is forthcoming.

I have to agree with Lone Wolf.
 
All of our campaigns-  all of them--  start out at low level.
 
As far as the need for backup and support--
 
Well, _that_ is why you form a team. 
 
(And yes; that is one of many reasons I prefer to start out with 200-250pt Pcs)
 
 

Not ashamed of my vote:  I have never liked using photos of real people.  I am imagining a world that looks a certain way- let's say comic books, with latern-jawed heroes with their mighty seven-heads proportions-!
 
I do _not_ want to pop open Iron Man's helmet and go "Holy Hell!  That's Dennis Franz!"
 
More subtley:  I find the use of photos of real people and places (with the wxceprion of fantastic landscapes) to be extremely off-putting and it does hard damage to my suspension of disbelief-- and I am typically the GM!  It is like the _one_ thing that I just can't roll with.  I also accept that I am probably the only person on the planet for whom this is as big a deal as it is, and it stem,from the fact that I am an old fossil who has been gaming since before we could screenshot someone from the internet so art feels more "right" in the context.  Alternatively, it could be that I do not want that exact and detailed a face or body type; I have no idea.
 
If you can't draw- I know I can't- and dont know anyone who will whip something up for you-  screenshot a drawing off the 'net and show that to me.  Give me a stick figure done in crayon.  _Describe_ the character to me and I will block in a 2e character mannequin (badly) for you!
 
Just do not give me an actual photo of an actual person or an actual animal,or an actual car.....
 
Etc.
 

Only in Robot Warriors, I'm afraid. 
 
I _wanted_ Battletech, but as the only person I knew who was interested, I couldnt really justify the expenditure back then; Robot Warriors I could justify, having accidentally bought Robot Gladiators first.  At that point,I obviously _had_ to have the game, or the supplement was wasted money, right?
 
I liked Robot Warriors well enough, but the overall genericness of it (game-build and mech-wise) was always just a bit disappointing. 
 
it's like you really wanted to see the Jovian Chronicles anime but your parents bought you Robot Jox instead:  you liked it, but it didn't quite scratch that itch.....
 
 
 
 

If you were to combine my "How to Play HERO System" with it...
 
Except "How to Play" is for 6e.  Knowing that they're the peanut butter and chocolate of a HERO System near-free game has me feeling a little uncomfortable about saying that.  Because for $5 you'd have the game.  Which is good if you're buying, but not so much if you're Hero Games.

Interesting timing....
 
I have just recently rerurned to playing with hex flowers.  This dovetails nicely.
 
 

Just the Pocket Boxes, Sir:
 
Car Wars, Truck Stop; Sunday Drivers.
 
All others are apocryphal cash grabs.  
 
 
 
Never!
 
I own it.
 
I understand its historical significance.
 
I love most of Allston's stuff for any game and from any magazine.
 
And it is my belief that Autoduel Champions was one of the worst things to ever come from the hobby.
 
(Yeah; I understand what opinion means and fully expect that no one should heed the unsolicited opinion of another, and likely two-thirds of the solicicted opiniona, either.  I also believe it was a solid execution of an absolutely _horrible_ idea.)
 
 
 
 
As players aged and moved on, and younger and younger people replaced them. I found less and less people who played SFB.  Hell, my local game store stopped carrying it completely about the time Champions entered the ICE Age.  When I asked Fred (the owner) about it, he said he hadn't sold a copy in three or four years, so he cut a deal on his remaining inventory to some guy who was still buying things (mostly minis), and never looked back.
 
Over the years, four moves, and one house fire since then, I dont even have my meager collection of SFB stuff, either.  (Though I always preferred replaceable-via-Xerox pasteboard counters to actual minis)
 
 
 
 
 
I only ever played Starfire solo, and mostly because I enjoyed the "mapping a universe" expansion stuff for it.
 
It did not survive the immediately post-wedding move; haven't seen it in almost thirty years.
 
 
Until I met our friend Chris Goodwin, I was the only person I knew into mechs.  (Do remember I live in rural Georgia).  Thus, while I enjoyed reading articles related to it on the various gaming magazines, I never owned or even played it.  If I had the slightest ability to paint beyond spray cans, I might have collected the minis, but with no such talent, I couldn't even justify the cost of just that. 
 
 
No.  Just no.
 
I am not into historical recreation nor do I enjoy that level of meticulous planning.  SFB was great (and Car Wars still is) because these are more-or-less "you are in the captain's chair, making snap seat-of-the-pants decisions based on a very small handful of options" and usually play out in an hour or so.  That has always been my sweet spot for tactical games.
 
Besides, from what I recall of wargamming conventions. I don't own enough horizontal surfaces to get get into anything from Avalon Hill-- I might not even own enough floor!
 
 
 
The fact that I cannot think of a single tactical game from SPI tells me pretty much what I need to know:  if it didn't catch my interest in the shops (when there still shops), I doubt I would be more interested now.
 
 
 
 
I own Imperium and ... Was it Belt Strike?  Strikers?  Both?  Anyway, I own three GDW Traveller-esque games that saw so much use they exist now as manilla folders of Xeroxes of the original pages; some pages as Xeroxes of earlier Xeroxes.  That is how much use those games saw- we litterally _wore the booklets out_ (and the maps, and the counters, and even the dice look kind of sketchy).
 
And I haven't found another soul in the last twenty years who was interested in taking a stab at them.  For what it's worth, they just don't have an enjoyable solataire aspect the was Starfire did. 
 
 
 
Played them all.  Didn't really enjoy them save for one particular group that made Ogre more fun than it was with other groups, but even then, they eventually scattered to the winds.  Still, though, they weren't really "my thing."
 
The thing is people who don't enjoy tactical games in general tend to think all tactical games are kind of the same.  The reality is that this is like saying all superhero RPGs or sci-fi RPGs are equally interchangeable when they really aren't.  Anyone who has played both Universe and Space Opera or Star Frontiers and Traveller can vouch for that.
 
I have a very limited enjoyment of tactical games myself, but I do have a sweet spot:  simple rules, quick decisions, limited options, playtime of not more (and preferably less) than two hours, and little to no "historical recreation."
 
There just isnt much of that out there anymore, and no reasonably local people who play.
 
 

Interesting timing....
 
I have just recently rerurned to playing with hex flowers.  This dovetails nicely.
 
 

Our _country_, Sir.  Our entire country.
 

We are taking that as the given by which "challenge" is to be judged (or so I assumed; this one could be entirely on me).
 
Given a teen with super-strength, super agility, damger sense, ranged restraints,  etc--
 
I find it difficult to accept that a 40-year-old normal human who fights bare-handed in a rejected disco costume presents a serious challenge to said bug-eyed teen.
 
 
 
 

Ditto.
 
And to assuage your incredulity earlier:  The production principles were sound, and the demos of the POC batch showed them to be at least as durable as modern "high impact" resin dice, if not moreso.
 
The problem appears to be the outsourcing.  They had a process that worked extremely well, but was insanely expensive.  They outsourced to China (like the rest of the entire earth, apparently-- everyone bags on the amount of pollution coming out of China.  Fact is, it's _our_ garbage.     ).  Since then, apparently no one has been able to deliver on the promise of replicating the process at an affordable price.
 
 

These ARE the droids I’m looking for!!