RPMiller

Very well written and thought out, KS. Thanks!

Hero does have a bias towards the defender, but there are a lot of ways to adjust the system to any desired level of danger. I've mentioned it before on these forums, but I wrote up some coverage of what I called "Lethality Options" a long time ago and they are still relevant.
 
http://www.killershrike.com/FantasyHERO/HighFantasyHERO/shrikeLethalityOptions.aspx

My son is starting a D&D 5e group and we've been discussing GMing in general, as well as playing, and just roleplaying in general. We started sharing various YouTube videos with each other and using those as springboards for more discussion. He sent me the following video, and as I watched it, it really hit home how the Hero System really does some things really right. There's mention of how HPs don't seem to really represent damage well. How there's no easy way to determine lethality. And the importance of discussing the campaign setting with the players. These of course are all things that I, and I assume many of you take for granted as non-problems when it comes to Hero. We've got BODY vs STUN and we've got campaign planning sheets that the group can use to define the campaign as a whole including lethality, and then we can easily exercise that via the types and amounts of damage. Sure there's always bad dice rolls that can happen and terrible player decisions, but as a whole I think Hero really handles the questions of lethality better. What do you all think?
 

My son is starting a D&D 5e group and we've been discussing GMing in general, as well as playing, and just roleplaying in general. We started sharing various YouTube videos with each other and using those as springboards for more discussion. He sent me the following video, and as I watched it, it really hit home how the Hero System really does some things really right. There's mention of how HPs don't seem to really represent damage well. How there's no easy way to determine lethality. And the importance of discussing the campaign setting with the players. These of course are all things that I, and I assume many of you take for granted as non-problems when it comes to Hero. We've got BODY vs STUN and we've got campaign planning sheets that the group can use to define the campaign as a whole including lethality, and then we can easily exercise that via the types and amounts of damage. Sure there's always bad dice rolls that can happen and terrible player decisions, but as a whole I think Hero really handles the questions of lethality better. What do you all think?
 

The Hero System definitely offers more options than most game systems for dialing things up or down to suit a desired outcome, and in the hands of a skilled GM who knows what they want for the campaign they are running that level of control can afford a "better" result than if using a system that does not offer such tunability.
 
However, while I've had a lot of success over the years using the Hero System for a wide variety of genres at a similarly wide variety of power levels and grittiness, I'm also not blind to the cost of the game in my time as the GM or the learning curve for the average player. 
 
The question often isn't "does the Hero System do this better?"...to which the answer often is "yes" or at least "maybe". Instead the question more typically is "does this other system do it well enough and are there people who will agree to play it with me?". 
 
If time and players were abundant, I would likely still be using the Hero System for everything. But as they aren't, often times I'm looking for the game system I can wring the most amount of fun out of with the least amount of effort. Sad but true. 
 
 

Up until a few years ago, the Hero Games website hosted a wide variety of book excerpts, supplements, and game aids for free download. However, with the most recent website upgrade, most of those items were considered not resource cost-effective to maintain, and were discarded. As a result most new Hero gamers are unaware they ever existed; and even some of the veterans may have missed the treasures they contained, or have since lost something from the collection they once had.
 
However, thanks to the magnificent Internet Archive Wayback Machine, virtually all those items are still obtainable if one knows where to look and what to look for. But since many people don't know, I thought it would be helpful to provide links to representative archived pages.
 
These downloads cover many areas: maps (from published books or supplementary), book excerpts and introductions (including supplementary info about the published official settings), wallpapers, color covers to PDF books, character sheets and hex maps, items cut from books for space (including supplementary forms mentioned in various books), adventure modules, character outlines for illustrations (under "Character Sheets and Hex Maps" for some reason), illos for cardboard mini figures, apps and utilities, graphics and sounds, and more. Many of these were generously created by Hero fans.
 
Because the website has gone through several revisions over the years since DOJ bought the Champions IP, and each version has made changes to the downloads it hosted, I'm including links to Free Stuff pages from different years to cover as many of the varied offerings as possible.
 
https://web.archive.org/web/20061201152750/http://www.herogames.com:80/FreeStuff/freestuffherogames.htm
 
https://web.archive.org/web/20071013030046/http://herogames.com:80/freeStuff.htm
 
https://web.archive.org/web/20110516165152/http://www.herogames.com/freeStuff.htm
 
NOTE: Sometimes a file linked to on one of those pages would not actually have been saved on the particular day that page was crawled by Internet Archive. At the top of each page you'll see a graphic representing how many times the page was crawled on various dates. Clicking on that to get to another date will bring up another page, on which the item you want may have been saved.
 
I recommend exploring. There's much there to enjoy.

This has been a consistent trend ever since the early 2000s, possibly earlier. Ever since the comics started going "darker" with every character and group, society as a whole continues to relish in the "fallen hero" or anti-hero. Look at how incredible Deadpool did at the box office. Look at the difference between the Dark Knight films' successes versus the other DC movies... oh wait, that's an entirely different problem. Anyway you get the drift. Society has become so incredibly jaded by the constant stream of "bad news" that they've lost their hopes and dreams that the early comics gave us and promoted. Sure Marvel characters were always flawed in some way, but that made them humans with powers, rather than powers parodying humans. But I think that "flawed essence" grew out of control. That's what I liked so much about Cap America: First Avenger, it actually showed what a real hero is: the willingness to personally lose everything to save others. Now we just have jokes quipping from the lips of characters and that makes them "fun" and "good" because they make us laugh. Laughter dies, hope can last for an eternity if we don't let it go.

This has been a consistent trend ever since the early 2000s, possibly earlier. Ever since the comics started going "darker" with every character and group, society as a whole continues to relish in the "fallen hero" or anti-hero. Look at how incredible Deadpool did at the box office. Look at the difference between the Dark Knight films' successes versus the other DC movies... oh wait, that's an entirely different problem. Anyway you get the drift. Society has become so incredibly jaded by the constant stream of "bad news" that they've lost their hopes and dreams that the early comics gave us and promoted. Sure Marvel characters were always flawed in some way, but that made them humans with powers, rather than powers parodying humans. But I think that "flawed essence" grew out of control. That's what I liked so much about Cap America: First Avenger, it actually showed what a real hero is: the willingness to personally lose everything to save others. Now we just have jokes quipping from the lips of characters and that makes them "fun" and "good" because they make us laugh. Laughter dies, hope can last for an eternity if we don't let it go.

I think it wasn't a turn towards "realism" that turned many fans away from the Iron/Dark Age of Comics, it was the turn towards cynicism.  The government is always portrayed as alternatively corrupt or indifferent or oppressive.  The heroes are self-serving, have terrible personal flaws and morals barely better than the villains they fight. 
That said, it's pretty easy to turn Superman's origin story into a horror story.  Aliens sent one of their own here to infiltrate and destroy us.  Of course, Species already did this story.  

This has been a consistent trend ever since the early 2000s, possibly earlier. Ever since the comics started going "darker" with every character and group, society as a whole continues to relish in the "fallen hero" or anti-hero. Look at how incredible Deadpool did at the box office. Look at the difference between the Dark Knight films' successes versus the other DC movies... oh wait, that's an entirely different problem. Anyway you get the drift. Society has become so incredibly jaded by the constant stream of "bad news" that they've lost their hopes and dreams that the early comics gave us and promoted. Sure Marvel characters were always flawed in some way, but that made them humans with powers, rather than powers parodying humans. But I think that "flawed essence" grew out of control. That's what I liked so much about Cap America: First Avenger, it actually showed what a real hero is: the willingness to personally lose everything to save others. Now we just have jokes quipping from the lips of characters and that makes them "fun" and "good" because they make us laugh. Laughter dies, hope can last for an eternity if we don't let it go.

This has been a consistent trend ever since the early 2000s, possibly earlier. Ever since the comics started going "darker" with every character and group, society as a whole continues to relish in the "fallen hero" or anti-hero. Look at how incredible Deadpool did at the box office. Look at the difference between the Dark Knight films' successes versus the other DC movies... oh wait, that's an entirely different problem. Anyway you get the drift. Society has become so incredibly jaded by the constant stream of "bad news" that they've lost their hopes and dreams that the early comics gave us and promoted. Sure Marvel characters were always flawed in some way, but that made them humans with powers, rather than powers parodying humans. But I think that "flawed essence" grew out of control. That's what I liked so much about Cap America: First Avenger, it actually showed what a real hero is: the willingness to personally lose everything to save others. Now we just have jokes quipping from the lips of characters and that makes them "fun" and "good" because they make us laugh. Laughter dies, hope can last for an eternity if we don't let it go.

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER
 
In an attempt to get us ramped up for the coming holiday...

MAYONNAISE
 
Most people don't know that back in 1912, Hellmann's mayonnaise was manufactured in England.
 
In fact, the Titanic was carrying 12,000 jars of the condiment scheduled for delivery in Vera Cruz, Mexico, which was to be the next port of call for the great ship after its stop in New York.
 
This would have been the largest single shipment of mayonnaise ever delivered to Mexico. But as we know, the great ship did not make it to New York. The ship hit an iceberg and sank, and the cargo was forever lost.
 
The people of Mexico, who were crazy about mayonnaise, and were eagerly awaiting its delivery, were disconsolate at the loss. Their anguish was so great, that they declared a National Day of Mourning, which they still observe to this day.
 
The National Day of Mourning occurs each year on May 5th and is known, of course, as "Sinko de Mayo."

Re: Storn's Art & Characters thread.
 
The arrow is actually fired from the 'outside' of the bow. It is a common mistake many first timers make, and caused primarily by the movies and "cheap" bows I think.
Think about it this way. If you were to hold the bow parallel to the ground, how would you hold it, and where would the arrow need to be to stay on the bow?
 
The top of your hand would be on top and the bow underneath, and therefore the arrow would need to be "on top" of the bow.
 
Here are a few places to look at proper use of a bow and closeups:
http://www.frankpearson.com/
http://www.centenaryarchers.gil.com.au/the10.htm
http://hunter-ed.com/mi/course/ch5_nocking_an_arrow.htm
 
Also just as an aside, the handedness of the person doesn't dictate which hand is used to fire if they really know what they are doing. It is dictated by eye dominance. For most it is what you would expect, but for some it is not. For instance, I am right handed, but I fire all weapons left handed because my left eye is dominate and therefore my shots are more accurate.

Re: Storn's Art & Characters thread.
 

 
 
Y'know folks, I don't mind a critique. I think RP's critique was dead on. I was confused about what I was looking at... compound bows are confusing visually, I looked at a lot of pics... and I don't know what all those doo-hickeys do... or that the shaft is on the outside of the bow when pulled... what the hand position is.
 
So I don't mind being taught. Illustration is so much about giving the impression of being "real"... maybe real in a superheroic context... but its own reality. The more an artist knows, the more they can bring to bear on creating that coherent, inclusive reality in the pic.
 
So. It is totally cool with me if folks try to help me do that.

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER
 
Some people just suck...

Re: Superhero Images
 
I did this as the cover-page for my campaign notebook. The two characters are (top) American Eagle; a sort of Superman-type character, and (bottom) Revenant, a Batman-type character.
 
Both have differences from their "archetypes"; American Eagle got his powers in the explosion of a Nazi cosmic-energy machine in WWII (that also gave the same powers to his arch-nemesis, Baron Zerstorung). Revenant is...well...a revenant! His entire family, himself included, was killed on Halloween by pirates in 1654. He came back.
 
Comments welcome

Re: Storn's Art & Characters thread.
 

Hah, I've created her perfect mate!
 
(Well, at least he's another urban canyon flyer)

Re: "Neat" Pictures
 

This is really crude as I'm swamped at work right now. This is a 15 minute photomanip so don't be too harsh on it.
 
EDIT: I just noticed I left some of the ramp showing... Like I said it isn't perfect. I think the hug in the center of the picture would be a "good bye hug".

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER
 
I just finished a logo for the organization my characters have found themselves in.

Re: "Neat" Pictures
 
P51

Re: "Neat" Pictures
 
Some guy who likes planes posted some cool pics from a recent airshow:
http://rpmiller.livejournal.com/27353.html#cutid1

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER
 

Just saw your post. I should be able to whip up something shortly. BTW, the sorting is your responsibility from within HD.

Re: "Neat" Pictures
 
As the linked page says, some images of the Saturn system are surreal.

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER
 

I posted a super-short fantasy story once. I wonder how many read it . . . ?
 
Edit: Hah! Found it! Between Day And Night! Sixty-three views, no replies . . .

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER
 
KoK Fantasy Hero:
http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=42885
 
Fourth Age Fantasy Hero:
http://www.herogames.com/forums/showpost.php?p=852106&postcount=154
 
Star Hero: Depths of Space: Crashlanding!
http://www.herogames.com/forums/showpost.php?p=862736&postcount=65
 
Star hero: Depths of Space: Revolution!
http://www.herogames.com/forums/showpost.php?p=855454&postcount=60
 
Dark Champions: High End DCtAS:
http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24102&page=2&highlight=DC%3AtAS
 
The last one is where the writing starts and goes across a few posts. I'd also comment that it isn't ALL my writing, but stuff from a pbem/post game. Read it at your own leisure. Feel free to comment to any of them.