Duke Bushido

Thank you for thinking of me, but I'd actually have to look that up myself-- I don't know, either.  I don't know that Running ever had a Turn mode, to be honest; at least, we've never played it that way.  I mentioned Freight Train's Turn Mode problems because he has "requires a turn mode" as a limitation after the bottom quarter of his movement, and it doubles after the bottom 3/4 of his movement.  In cleaner terms: the faster he goes, the harder it is for him to turn (his SFX being that he is a magnet for kinetic energy, and the more he draws in, the more difficult it is for him to control.

I understand what you're saying, but that complexity is already there:
 
The advantage "Reduced Endurance Cost" ups the AP but does not increase the Endurance.

@Duke Bushido, Rick Chase I was trying for some sort of pun. I saw vulnerable to Flashes somewhere to represent that with Faster than normal reading, you could be more vulnerable to a flash. I have seen it also a justification for Flash Def. You recover quicker than normal. The +3 Non combat skill is did get from CC though it’s listed as +9 skill levels. I am looking to build beginning Super though.
Now that I think of it, Gavin Chase would be more punnish!

Okay here is Zenith, working Prototype of Speedster
 
Zenith
STR 15 DEX 24 CON 20 INT 10 EGO 10 PRE 10
OCV 9 DCV 8 OMCV 3 DMCV 3 SPD 6
PD 10 ED 8 REC 10 END 40 STUN 30
 
Super Speed
30m Run
+5 HA; must run
Instant Change
Res Protection 10 PD/ 10 ED; Must Run
+3 All Non combat skills: Counteract Time Penalties, Costs END
+2 w/Move Bys
 
Complications
Secret ID: Rick Chase
Psy Comp: Impulsive
Rivalry: Other Speedsters
Vuln: 11/2 Flashes
 

You'd think so, and from outside, it's a great and obvious suggestion.  Unfortunately, there really isn't as much as you would think.  (As luck would have it, I was just re-reading it yesterday).  To be honest, the whole book felt a bit rushed an unfinished, as if there was a ton of content that was dropped or skipped over for various reasons (I always assumed page count limitations, but I wasn't there, so what do I know?).  There were rumors of an expansion supplement being planned even before release, but the unfortunate death of Mr. Scott stopped that from ever happening.  Don't get me wrong, there is ton of stuff...  "about computers...?" in the book, but mostly it's about SFX, cyber running in the net, presentation and construction of the net (which, as presented, might be confusing to someone with _no idea_ how computerized telecommunication worked to begin with), etc-- stuff very genre-specific and how to emulate what the authors saw as the most desirable parts of the genre.   As far as Computer Programming (the Skill) goes, it says "this is the skill that Netrunners will use to whip up new programs on the fly while in the Net" or words to that effect, without actually even going into much detail as to how that would work.   There are some interesting, Traveller-esque notions of computer storage, program size, etc, but for GTO's needs, there not much in there that's going to be particularly helpful.
 
I was really looking forward to that particular book way back when, but when I finally got a copy, I was disappointed.  Now don't get me wrong:  I would have _had_ to be disappointed; nothing could have matched what I had hoped would be in that book, what I really wanted to be in that book.  I could have had _volumes_ of HERO Does CyberPunk and been disappointed, so don't think the book is not worth a read!  Making matters worse, I had already purchased (and devoured) Western HERO by the time I snagged a copy of CyberHERO, and--- well, Western HERO was the best genre book HERO ever put out.  Let's face it: there's a reason that shows don't open with their best act.   
 
Still, for a book featuring input from George MacDonald, Terry Amthor, and Monte "Holy crap!  That's Monte Cook!" Cook, even objectively, I would have expected more. 
 
 
As to the problem GTO seems to be wrestling with: What are some ideas on simulating combat on a Netrun, well yes: there is information in there, but it's more of a "start here" kind of think without, in my own opinion, enough exposition.   Weirdly, it never touched on my least favorite method of doing this (which happened to be the most popular method under 4e rules for groups playing Cyberpunk games without the book): Extra Dimensional Movement.
 
It's my least favorite, but it _is_ workable, and if you don't want to buy the old 4e book, it's certainly a consideration: jack into your deck and "go to the dimension of cyberspace."
 
The gist of what Cyber HERO offered can be summed up as "treat it like mental combat" with the optional "treat it like real combat, and handle the return of a wounded online avatar to the netrunner as the merger of a wounded duplicate."
 
Not entirely accurate, but close enough, and without the risk of accidental piracy from the source material.
 
 
Good luck!
 
 

 
 

You'd think so, and from outside, it's a great and obvious suggestion.  Unfortunately, there really isn't as much as you would think.  (As luck would have it, I was just re-reading it yesterday).  To be honest, the whole book felt a bit rushed an unfinished, as if there was a ton of content that was dropped or skipped over for various reasons (I always assumed page count limitations, but I wasn't there, so what do I know?).  There were rumors of an expansion supplement being planned even before release, but the unfortunate death of Mr. Scott stopped that from ever happening.  Don't get me wrong, there is ton of stuff...  "about computers...?" in the book, but mostly it's about SFX, cyber running in the net, presentation and construction of the net (which, as presented, might be confusing to someone with _no idea_ how computerized telecommunication worked to begin with), etc-- stuff very genre-specific and how to emulate what the authors saw as the most desirable parts of the genre.   As far as Computer Programming (the Skill) goes, it says "this is the skill that Netrunners will use to whip up new programs on the fly while in the Net" or words to that effect, without actually even going into much detail as to how that would work.   There are some interesting, Traveller-esque notions of computer storage, program size, etc, but for GTO's needs, there not much in there that's going to be particularly helpful.
 
I was really looking forward to that particular book way back when, but when I finally got a copy, I was disappointed.  Now don't get me wrong:  I would have _had_ to be disappointed; nothing could have matched what I had hoped would be in that book, what I really wanted to be in that book.  I could have had _volumes_ of HERO Does CyberPunk and been disappointed, so don't think the book is not worth a read!  Making matters worse, I had already purchased (and devoured) Western HERO by the time I snagged a copy of CyberHERO, and--- well, Western HERO was the best genre book HERO ever put out.  Let's face it: there's a reason that shows don't open with their best act.   
 
Still, for a book featuring input from George MacDonald, Terry Amthor, and Monte "Holy crap!  That's Monte Cook!" Cook, even objectively, I would have expected more. 
 
 
As to the problem GTO seems to be wrestling with: What are some ideas on simulating combat on a Netrun, well yes: there is information in there, but it's more of a "start here" kind of think without, in my own opinion, enough exposition.   Weirdly, it never touched on my least favorite method of doing this (which happened to be the most popular method under 4e rules for groups playing Cyberpunk games without the book): Extra Dimensional Movement.
 
It's my least favorite, but it _is_ workable, and if you don't want to buy the old 4e book, it's certainly a consideration: jack into your deck and "go to the dimension of cyberspace."
 
The gist of what Cyber HERO offered can be summed up as "treat it like mental combat" with the optional "treat it like real combat, and handle the return of a wounded online avatar to the netrunner as the merger of a wounded duplicate."
 
Not entirely accurate, but close enough, and without the risk of accidental piracy from the source material.
 
 
Good luck!
 
 

 
 

I don't use it too much.  Honestly, the only time I've ever used it is because I screwed up and balanced things too far against the players and had to make adjustments on the fly.  Rather than doing a "gimme," which I don't like to do, as it can become habit-forming (for the players, I mean), I might check a die roll and come out with "well, you didn't hit him quite square, but the flat of your sword struck the side of his helm, forcing him to step back and jerk at his visor," or Crap.  He totally blew that roll, and they kinda _need_ to find that key.  Frankly, I didn't think they come in and shove the dresser up against the door, closing the half-open drawer that was meant to tempt them to look inside.  What's wrong with these guys?  Surely they aren't _that_ concerned about _one_ C'Thuloid......   Wait-- he's searching for the hidden panel with the exit.  Wow! Spectacular success, too!  "okay, you find that one panel behind the dresser does seem to wiggle a bit when pressed.  As you're working it, trying to figure out the latching mechanism, you see the corner of a piece of paper sticking out from behind the top of the panel.  Fishing it out, you see that it's a hand-written note; it must have fallen from the dresser when you jerked it towards the door.  It reads "I could wait no longer.  I have taken a coach to meet with the others.  Take this key; you will need it to access the crypt.  Look for the corner stone whose grain runs foul to its borders."
 
 
That sort of thing.   Short version:
 
It's a tool for me to unscrew the party when I did it myself, and not something I use publicly.  I have found that "every roll means _something_ good, and bad isn't always bad" tends to result in players giving the game their half.
 
 

I can relate, Spence. I've been working on-and-off on a CU setting expansion that's turning out to be pretty substantial; but for that reason I want to get it to a state that folks would actually consider worth paying to read and use, and that calls for an investment in time and energy that's tough for me to make these days.

Don’t forget that you can also add your shields DCV bonus to your OCV when blocking.  While many players may not do this the rules are there.  This is more of a problem with the players than the rules.  There is a whole thread about why players don’t block.
 
I think that a lot of problems result because people picking up the hero system for the first time don’t have experienced players to demonstrate what can be done with the system.  A lot of the other game systems have more exposure and support from their company than hero does. This leads to more mixing of new and older players.  Piazo has a whole organized play organization for Pathfinder and let’s face it when most people think of gaming they think of D&D.  
 

I guess it depends on how realistically you want shields to be portrayed in the game. As an abstraction, adding OCV/DCV and/or PD/ED works reasonably well. But in reality, a shield acts like a separate target that gets in between the attacker and the defender. It's like, "Here, hit this DCV 2 object instead of me!" That's how shields work, though really small shields (like a buckler) might just provide a bonus to the Block maneuver and little else.

I was pondering last night whether shields work properly in the Hero system as written or if they should be changed.  Just giving someone bonus DCV is a quick and easy method, but does it truly represent how shields work, especially in a game like Hero?  It feels more like a D&D throwback where shields just add Armor Class: they missed because you have a shield!
 
If they added as portable armor it would seem to fit the system better, but how would you represent that in game terms?  If you require a block to use a shield, then that requires taking a half phase, rolling to block, etc which seems like it should be a part of the possible use of a shield (with the OCV bonus) but not its exclusive use.

I think GMs have to use active point limits as a guide rather than a hard and fast rule.  You look at the overall effect in the game and what it does more than just the math; some advantages probably ought not raise the active point list (remember back in editions I-III when they had the just plain "modifier" category which changed the real cost but not the active cost?) because they don't actually make something more deadly, just more flexible and useful.

Back in college, when I played the most, we had a four-color supers campaign in which the GM had strict active point limits. This ended up being necessary because prior to those limits being instituted, we had at least one player who would put the majority of their points points into defenses, and the GM would then have to create a villain with an attack big enough to penetrate those defenses. But of course, that villain ended up squaring off with others PCs, and that attack wiped them out in one or two shots. Similarly, at least one player would have a mega attack that would take out half the villains before being taken down. This led to everybody trying to bump up their defenses to survive against the villain(s) made for Mr. Mega Defenses, and the villains being given upgraded defenses that no one else could penetrate just to give Mr. Meta Attack a challenge. This active point "arms race" kinda ruined the campaign until formal limits were put into place.

There’s a Cyberhero for 4th ed that might have some of that. Don’t know off the top of my head though.

Well this is all sounding very familiar....
 
 

 
 

 
 
Not an insult, folks; not a disparagement.  
 
I promise.   
 
 
It's what I've advocated for years, and usually get told I'm doing it wrong.   It's the Batman martial art:  I am a master of fifteen martial arts styles, and am proficient in eight more.
 
Assign your skill levels and yell "Hi-ya!"
 
 
Martial Arts.
 
 

As you note, the few heroes that are written up are scattered about various books.  Write-ups for Heroes have always been a bit short, from the earliest days of this game.
 
There are / were (were, I think being more appropriate in terms of "what has been" and "what is known to be coming") a few books: Champions of the North for 4e and one of the new editions.  Allies for 4e.  Books like that.  Actually, there were a lot more published adventures, etc, that included heroes in 4e than in any other edition.  The various organizations books contain a lot of agent info...
 
No; heroes don't get written up a lot.  Now I absolutely do _not_ know why, but I have long suspected it was because people will buy villain books to help populate their worlds, but they want to play their very own creations as heroes, suggesting that hero books might not sell well enough to pump them out regularly.  I disagree with that personally, because people will always want both examples of "how to" and benchmarks for what works well in the published setting and against the published villains.
 
As for why we haven't seen any new books?
 
Bluntly, unpleasantly, and with no joy do I say this:
 
HERO is dead.  It's pretty much just-- well, I don't really know how many people, but the two doing the most of the work are Dan Simon, who does the Hero Designer software and the tech support for it, and Jason Waters, who does, as best I can tell, everything else.  The vast bulk of the content released of late has been-- I hate to use this term, because all the 50 Shades fandom has made it a far dirtier thing in common parlance than I intend it to be here-- "fan-created" stuff.  Again: this is _not_ a slight to any of it!  it's on-topic, and everything I have sampled of it thus far has been well-worth a read.  In fact, Christopher's revamp of the Island of Doctor Destroyer should have been a company-published, printed-on-paper, honest-to-goodness HERO Games product.  Lord Liaden did "The Valley of the Night" years and years ago and tossed it onto the internet _for anyone_ , _for free_, and it, too, was wonderful.
 
Anyway:
 
Whether the problem is money, staffing, time, or interest, I cannot say, but the bulk of the problem is that HERO is, again, functionally dead, and has been for a while now.
 
Don't let that get you down, though:  companies-- small publishing companies in particular-- are a bit unusual when it comes to being dead.  Often, they can squeak out enough interest with a hibernation-level presence:  a small PDF here and there, a tie-in somewhere else....
 
And they don't stay dead, typically.  They might be dead for years, but there's always that chance that they will rouse again, if only for a little while, and shine for a while longer.  Hell, I'm sixty.  That's really all I need to last the rest of _my_ life anyway!   
 
And of course, someone else might come along with the right offer and the right backing, and the whole thing starts anew.  
 
ultimately, though: it's like any other game.  It's as alive as the fans, and we are still using it, so.....

I forgot to mention that in Champions 3e the characters had both a Hero and Villain write up. The backgrounds were really the same. What it came down to was how the character dealt with the defining circumstance of gaining powers. Did they use their powers for Good or Evil?

@Duke Bushido, no originally I didn’t have a specific rule set in mind. (When HB first came out I had aspirations of creating sample characters for new people to use).  The thing is if I said Brick, I know start at High (genre appropriate) STR is good. Everything else is more or less just extra on the Brick. Martial Artist? Buy martial arts and everything else is extra. Speedster seems to be that archetype (to me) is harder to nail down so to speak. I’m just looking at creating a basic, no-frills, clearly identifiable Speedster. (Low point at this point). 

For me, the point is to have most powers within "bounded accuracy" or a Rule of X, with a few that can hit really hard but might be usable two or three times, and one mega blast that you're really saving for finishing the fight.  
 
Plus, I generally hate Active Point limits anyway.  I'd rather see characters made a little more organically than have everyone with 12d6, 24 PD/ED, and 40 meters of 8x NCM movement with a "fill in the blank" special effect. 
 

Personal experience here, and a great deal of it:
 
This idea of Chris's isn't too terribly far from how we play.  Summed up, we play "screw active points."  We have a total cost limit (250, using the 2e 100 + Disadvantages model).  Spend as many or as few as you want, anywhere you want.As I mentioned to Chris in a discussion some time back, I suspect that this is because way back when we were learning to play 1e, we had too many people who just couldn't get wrapped around the division of costs, so we let it slide "until we get more familiar with the rules," but we just never went back.  We use AP today for building and costing and that's about it.  Campaign limits, etc, are all built on real points, period. 
 
Yes:  Everyone has done four or five characters over the years with a MegaBuster (I also really enjoyed the Guyver, way back when, even though the later parts of the series didn't hold up well).  They get bored very quickly.   You will have a mix of cardboard cannons and paintball Tanks for a bit, but after three, sometimes four sessions of firing off  The Big Gun and then spending the rest of the battle recovering or actively running away, seeking cover, etc, and watching everyone else do stuff and roll dice, the players start to fume about not having fun doing anything, and their fellow players start to grumble and complain _loudly_ about how quickly the team's firepower is dwindling.  The Paintball Tanks, effectively invulnerable but unable to really make a dent in the opposition, wander around sheltering the Cardboard Cannons until they themselves are restrained, out of END, or the bad guys merrily skip away, singing cheerful taunts the whole time.   The Cardboard Cannons are usually the first to Abort to Recrimination; that's always fun to listen to.
 
 
Short version:
 
This is one of those problems that everyone gags on when they read it, but actually _doing_ it proves that the problem--- I won't lie: it _does_ exist, in as much as players _will_ try it-- is one-hundred-percent self-solving:  Everyone tries it, realizes just how much actual "Game" they have cheated themselves out of, then begs to make new characters.  These new characters are typically much more suited to the game at hand.  Like a lot of the grumbling during discussion about the evils of this idea or the abuse of that idea, or the remake of Poltergeist,  the Hype of Horror is far, far greater than what you actually end up seeing.
 
 
Now I will one-hundred percent say that groups who prefer the tactics / wargaming approach like our friend Scott will likely get much, _much_ more use out of this, because they will most likely be far more able to keep their personalities in check long enough to cooperate and launch a coordinated attack, cannons behind tanks, firing and recovering in turn, etc., with an eye more toward _the team_ achieving a goal.   Most of the people I've ever played with enjoy the map; they enjoy the scenario, but they also enjoy the "this is what _my guy_ would do" and running with it.  It works beautifully with a balanced team of balanced characters, but it _sucks_ for unbalanced characters that need to use more militaristic unit tactics.   
 
 
 
 
 
You are making the assumption that the game will start with X points.  The problem of 'still having lots of powers left' can be solved simply by lowering the starting points.  Depending on the group, this may affect the entire build, as players wanting characters with numerous powers will be less inclined to dump two hundred points into MegaBuster.
 
As noted above, in my own experience, firing off the Big Guns early results in not being able to fire them off for very long, and missing becomes a serious problem with regard to END costs, collateral damage, and not having that shot later (Charges, for example), and the player boredom / frustration that results from sitting around "taking a few recoveries" while everyone else moves tokens and rolls dice.  The knee jerk reaction is to "save it for the best use," which actually has far more tactical effects: if they've used it before, the bad guys know it's still out there, and tend to act accordingly.   Though your high-tech bad guy Doctor Clockwork can send an army of cheap wind-up decoys to goad the characters into using it to exhaustion, as can your mentalist Doctor Illusion.
 
Either way, it's going to depend far, _far_ more on your group (as I mentioned: I'm pretty sure Scott's friends would clobber my friends in a friendly match, simply because the idea of specialized high-powered one-trick ponies works best for players who prefer methodical tactics, and sucks for drama majors) and how many points you actually let them use.
 
 

Had numerous phone calls today (we didn't go anywhere, and all my friends and family out of town were made well aware eight weeks ago that traveling in from somewhere and coming up to my door was a great way to get hit with a brick and sent packing: my wife and daughter are both high-risk (asthma), and my age and heart problems aren't helping me too much these days, particularly with the drop in fitness by eight months of "go nowhere; do nothing." 
 
Anyway, during the phone calls from old friends, many memories and much celebration came out, including a bit of "group lingo" referring to things from games gone past.  One of those terms led me to this:
 
 
Martial Sneer:  3 pts --------+1/+2-----------Must Follow Presence Attack; Target falls.
 
I didn't really want to add the OCV, but there's a minimum cost of 3, so why not?   Turn an entire team of opponents into Fainting Goats.   
 
 
The term goes way back to a game just about the time 3e was being distributed: Jim had picked up both the boxed set and the perfect bound single-volume printings  (he was like that).  I hadn't picked them up yet (and, it turns out, wouldn't for roughy thirty years).  Anyway, we had a new guy who was what we used to call a Some Timer (not to be confused with a part timer, who was someone who, while not always available, could be counted on to show up when he said he would).  I honestly don't recall his name, but something in the back of my mind says it was Keith, and since it doesn't matter, that's what we're going to call him. 
 
Keith was excited for the game, for the social activity, and for the hoots and hollers of well-played sessions, but Keith was suffered from a chronic crippling shyness that we had spent several sessions working on (mostly me yelling at everyone else before Keith arrived, telling them "Look; he's got comfort problems being around us; we're relative strangers.  Whatever he does, you _love_ it, period.  Talk to him in character, out of character, whatever it takes."-- that sort of thing.
 
Because of his shyness, Keith wasn't really good at the descriptive part of the game, or the interactive part of the game, but he really did try, at least as best he was able.  The bad guy is before the team, Keith's Batman Clone is in the rafters, observing closely while the team moves in.  The boss smiles, laughs, and haughtily announces "you people have the worst timing.  Any other night, I wouldn't have been here, and you would have lived...."  looks back at his business and jerks an extended index finger toward the group, a signal that sends a dozen armed minions out of the shadows toward the team.
 
Keith:  Okay, uhm...  I wanna- can I jump down?  I wanna jump down.
 
Sure.  It's only eighteen feet or so, and you've got Superleap (2e, remember?), so sure; you won't have any problem with that.
 
Okay, I jump down-- ooh!  Can I jump like on one of the bad guys?
 
You can, but remember two things: you can totally kill a guy like that if you break his neck, or paralyze him if you damage his spine.  If you still want to try, I will let you, of course, but remember you're one of the good guys.  Also remember that such a move would technically be a move-through, and you'll take half the damage.
 
Okay....  uhm....   Can I....  Can I jump down, like right in front of one of the guys?
 
Sure.
 
Okay, I hit him!
 
You can't.  You're still in the rafters.
 
Wha--  oh, yeah, okay.  I jump down in front of a guy and hit him.  Like, really hard.
 
Which guy? I nod toward the impromptu map.
 
Okay, the so the big red round dice there...  that's the boss, right?
 
RIght.
 
And this pencil eraser here, that's a bad guy?
 
No; that's a pencil eraser.  Sorry about that.  Brent, pick that up and keep it out of the map!
 
Okay, these two dice on top of each other...?
 
That's a bad guy.  He's standing in front of the boss as a sort of ersatz bodyguard until the team is taken care of.  He's not likely to move from that position unless things go really, really badly for his guys.
 
Okay, that's the guy I want to drop in front of, and as soon as I land, I want to ...   I guess just hit him?
 
Sure.  How?  You've got weapons and your punches and kicks.  Which are you going to use?
 
The club thing-- the baton.  Wait!  Does he look tough?
 
He looks big and tough, and just like the other guys, he seems to be wearing a motorcycle helmet of some sort with a flaming eyeball painted along the crest of it.
 
Okay, I...  I _jump_!  I jump down and I hit this guy, like with the stick, as hard as I can!
 
We roll, the body guard goes down even before he registers what happened.  The boss looks up, shocked by the instant appearance of a hero right in front of him and the crumpling of his henchman.
 
Okay, Keith; you have the higher SPD and the boss is clearly shocked.  What do you do?
 
Okay, I get my club--
 
Someone butted in with "Presence Attack, Keith!  Perfect opportunity for a presence attack!"
 
Okay, yeah-- I do one of those!  Wait-- that's when you scare them, right?  And I can get extra dice if he's already scared, right?
 
Yep.  You've got the appeared-from-nowhere thing going on, the extremely violent action going on, and you dispatched his most capable henchman as if he were a mannequin.  [I tossed him four extra dice].  Add those; you've got eight dice now.  What sort of Presence Attack are you making?
 
??
 
What do you do? What do you say?
 
Oh, I uh..    Okay, I stand there looking cool; I don't even check the guy I just knocked out to be sure.  I turn my head and ....   I look at the boss.
 
You look at him?
 
Yeah. Like _hard_, you know?  I look at him like, really _hard_.
 
 
"Ah, yes!"  Chimes in Jeff, who, while an extremely amusing dry-witted type, had a really hard time remembering the "don't shake his confidence" sessions.  "Nothing more intimidating than a good sneer, really.  It's all the rage in gunfights nowadays...."
 
We all pointedly ignore it; Keith rolls his dice.  easily _half_ of them were sixes.  There was one three and one four.  No ones; no twos.
 
Jeff's eyes bugged for a moment.  "Oh; my bad!  I didn't realize you were using your Martial Sneer......
 
Anyway, Keith managed to get the boss shook up long enough to wrangle him with bolos and cuff him.
 
It was a hilarious moment for all of us, but a great one for Keith.  It also brought "Martial Sneer" into our lexicon.   
 
 
 
 

Well this is all sounding very familiar....
 
 

 
 

 
 
Not an insult, folks; not a disparagement.  
 
I promise.   
 
 
It's what I've advocated for years, and usually get told I'm doing it wrong.   It's the Batman martial art:  I am a master of fifteen martial arts styles, and am proficient in eight more.
 
Assign your skill levels and yell "Hi-ya!"
 
 
Martial Arts.
 
 

Thanks for the bump, Spence. 
 
I had been interested to know that, too. 
 
Finally did get the porcelain dice a few weeks ago.  They're gorgeous!  The feel great, too.  Alas, they have the same flaw as the Champions and Monster Hunter dice: they are casino - sized, making a handful of them impossible, especially for the women they were bought for. 
 
I'll do a video on them when I get a minute. 

You know that some of the really early CU villains are actually bigger Heroes than many of what passes for Heroes today. 
 
Just saying

Personally I love the detail of the setting, because I love immersing myself in a world. I always treated it as elaboration on a subject if I wanted to know about that subject. If I didn't I don't have to use it. If I want to play in Champions New York City I can learn enough about it in twenty minutes to use it from the Champions Universe setting book (assuming I already know something about real NYC, which today is very easy to find). If and when I want to bring in more elements they're there.
 
But from a marketing perspective I can appreciate the point Spence is making.
 
 
Or, even easier: read up on the heroes described but not statted in CU, find a villain character sheet that's close to their description, make a few tweaks, and you've got your NPC heroes.