Sam On Maui

The idea was for a supers game. Conceptually, the idea that the shield represents his chi that's internalized (and thus protecting him), but in order to have a viable offense he has to use that chi to fuel special techniques. As such he has to maintain some sort of balance between the two. Too high a defense and he's not good in a fight. Too much offense and he becomes a glass cannon. I've got a high defense character, and frankly? He's so damn powerful it sometimes makes him boring. He has one of the most powerful attacks in our group (22d6 electric punch), and 40 PD/34ED. On top of that, I was able to design/negotiate an energy absorption power that fed right into ED. As a result, he's very good in a fight, and I pretty much use his XP for non combat stuff. This seems more risk reward, and I like that.

Oh, I wish I had taken notes. There were one liners, jokes, horrible realizations, and so much more... The thing that got me is that none of the players thought to shoot through the metal door/window shutters. I would've had that work (along with vandalism charges against them), but the only player who thought of it? He figured because they were in Green section, it as all Green-level stuff, so their Red-level weapons wouldn't do anything! Well, sorry you treasonous pig, but your commie-mutant traitor illegal knowledge of game rules WORKED AGAINST YOU! HAH! One player was by the deep friers when a concussion grenade went off, rupturing them, and got deep fried (the damage was hideous). Two players went down the drain grate to the sewe... er... maintenance shaft. Which closed off because of the fire alarm. And was filling up with halon, so they died of asphyxiation. The player who triggered the fire alarm by reporting it also reported the giant mutant cockroaches. Which, of course, set off a decontamination protocol with flame-throwers dropping out of the ceiling. I gave the entire party three whole rounds to figure a way out (the aforementioned vandalizing Alpha Complex property), but they didn't. They kept attacking the roaches. Which were pretty much immune to their weapons. I mean, the guy who got deep fried shot one of the baby roaches (the size of an adult human) in the back, and it just started crying. Daddy roach took 4 shots from a 5AF 3d6 RKA laser rifle and just got mad. ...I'm really surprised none of them took the hint... Anyhow, those three players got incinerated along with all the infrareds who were looting the restaurant for fast food...

Ran the game, had a great time. 4d6, drop the lowest. Total stats and subtract from 100 for skill points. One poor guy got 106 (great rolls or cheated ), so no skills for him! Ah well, its not like competence is necessary for Troubleshooters... I used a point system for equipment - everyone got 40 points to buy stuff from a list, and all the items used the real-point values found in the book. Their first assignment as troubleshooters was to keep the peace at McKelp's, as it was the first day the McRib-like Sandwich was being served (man, everyone loves the McRib-like Sandwich! With Slurm and imitation french fries? Dee-lish!). Things turned into a frenzy, with the trouble shooters calming people down with laser fire and "persuasion sticks" (nightclubs). One player fired a smoke grenade into the kitchen, trying to get everyone to think the place was on fire... that only caused them to stampede into the restaurant to try and rescue the McRib-like Sandwiches... Fire doors and windows shut, halon starting to pour into the restaurant to put out the fire. Then the family of giant mutant cockroaches came up from the drain grate, wanting to buy dinner. They even had coupons! Long story short, everything went downhill from there. Needless to say, it was a team wipe and everyone is on clone #2. But all six players had a great time, we all laughed, made jokes, and just generally enjoyed the absurdity of the game. They also got used to figuring OCV/DCV target numbers, counting BODY/STUN with normal attacks, check STUN versus CON, skill rolls, Killing versus Normal damage, etc. Next game will be the Secret Society Membership Drive/Job Fair, and their mutant powers will come online (late bloomers the lot of them...). We'll be introducing END and some more stuff at that time. Thank you everyone

Well, Paranoia could use Rifts rules, just give everyone MD weapons and SDC armor

Lets try this... Say my starting END is 60. So, my current PD/ED is 60. I shoot something, and it costs 10 END, so my END is 50, and my PD/ED is 50. I shoot again, and now my END is 40. My PD/ED is 40. I recover 5 END. My END is now 45, while my PD/ED is 45. I get drained for 20 END. My PD/ED is now 25, and my END is 25. Does this make sense?

I was walking the dog, and had an odd idea. Imagine a super-hero who has an innate force field. It protects him, which is great. But he can also use that force field energy to make attacks with (like ranged physical blast type thing). So, that'll cost END, obviously. But what if, to reflect him using that energy in offense instead of defense, his force field's PD/ED went down? In other words, its equal to his END, and fluctuates as it does. I went through my book and I'm not entirely sure if that's possible without using Limited Power and figuring out how much of a disadvantage it really is. Any ideas, suggestions?

I was considering that, actually. So, in theory, those with lower attributes have more skills to work with, more perks, whatever, balancing things out. It should be a fun game!

Meh, don't worry about it. I thought you were joking/being sarcastic. Sarcasm is like oxygen

Quick, easy, and no agonizing over point buy in a system they don't know. I'm *almost* tempted to run in 5e because of derived stats, but I feel that's too much reliance on chance. CV, PD/ED, SPD, etc., will all be standardized, so I'm at least assured of a certain level of capability.

Thanks for the input everyone! Pondering, pondering,pondering...

I'll be running Paranoia in a system I like Mutant powers will be prefabs from the Champions Power book. End only for powers. No STUN? That sounds kinda interesting, actually.

Hey folks! I've got a group that I'm starting to teach HERO to. However, the books are a bit thick and dense for them, so I'm starting simple and easing them in. I've already run a very simple combat for them to introduce them to some of the bare basics for that: OCV, DCV, movement, actions and half-actions, range mods, etc. Didn't even do a speed chart - just went around the table. This next go round I'd like to have them make their characters, but the full blown point buy will be a bit too much, I think. So, since they're D&D players, I was considering having them roll 4d6, dropping the lowest number. The rest can go into skills. Not messing with their CVs, Speed, PD/ED, etc. The plan is for them to have a solid grasp of stuff before I let them go whole hog. That said, any other options that might work? How do you ease in newbie players? They're all smart, so I'm not worried about them not understanding the system so much as, well... how do you eat an elephant? A bite at a time, right? Certainly, I'm not sure what the next logical step would be...

I feel stupid - was looking in the wrong place, it seems >_< Thanks

Worked out nicely! I used 150 and 200 point 6e enemies. While the brick was grossly underchallenged (she's a monster), it was a good fight overall. It would've gone on for quite a while except I threw a cut scene in phase 12 to end it. 8 players vs 8 150's, 8 200's, and 16 normals (0 points). Biggest compliment? I forced them to work/think tactically. Should've asked for elaboration, but maybe next time. The normals and 150s were all on the map at once, whereas the 200's came in a bit later from the side, usually attacking in groups of 2 or 3. I will say that I don't like the output from Hero Designer. Not putting the bonuses for martial manuevers was a little pain. The best thing about 6e is I could design as I wanted faster because I didn't have to try gaming the system or remembering how to raise X without affecting Y. Much more direct. I'll definitely use it in the future. Now I am wondering how a 1,000 point enemy would work...

Just converted two NPCs to 6e, and I definitely liked it. Removing the derived nature of characteristics was actually rather nice. Less pressure to make things a certain way, and I could put some more "personality" into the characters by deciding how high/low their various CVs would be, among other things. I'm quite pleased

On the other hand, it seems to be a tradition with some games. On RPGnet there's been at least one (tongue in cheek) discussion about D&D 6th edition

Steve kindly moved it

I'll repeat my thought which is to make HERO Basic *truly* HERO Basic. The bare minimum needed to run the game in terms of rules and systems. I like how D&D 5e Basic came out. Just a few good options, all the basics, and if you want more? They'll have the "advanced" books. The bare basics are pretty much stats, skills, and combat. I'd argue that the creation rules for equipment, power, etc , aren't basic. They can be replaced with pre-made stuff. I'd keep HAPS in just to make sure people get the idea, "hey, this doesn't have to be strictly simulationist!" And, where possible, I'd reword how things are done to be easier to understand. Like how to figure out what you need to roll to hit someone. I really dislike the official wording. My group just says, "roll X or less," with x being 11+(total OCC-total DCV). Mentally, it seems easier to mem

Okay, posted this in another forum, and realized only Steve Long cab reply! Whoops! Anyhow... I've got Champions Complete on order from my adopted online FLGS. My group is on 5e. I'd like to use 6e to make NPCs and will likely adopt Hero Action Points as well (they're actually like our luck houserule). Why? As an attempt to "Trojan Horse" 6e via the GMs. Is this feasible? There's a lot to like, especially if characters are more concept orientated. I want to ease this in, then start showing more in my games. The biggest things I like are no more derived stats, HAPs, no more Comeliness (or whatever its called - that stat that's always at 10 except when it isn't ), etc.

I've got Champions Complete on order from my adopted online FLGS. My group is on 5e. I'd like to use 6e to make NPCs and will likely adopt Hero Action Points as well (they're actually like our luck houserule). Why? As an attempt to "Trojan Horse" 6e via the GMs. Is this feasible? There's a lot to like, especially if characters are more concept orientated. I want to ease this in, then start showing more in my games.

I'd like HERO Basic to have everything that HERO has except for the massive power creation rules. Include pre-made items, weapons, armor, vehicles, etc, but leave the full creation rules for the full/advanced game. So, HERO can sell the advance rules, or supplements with more pre-fan stuff like super powers, magic, critters, etc. I mean, really, th basic rules are pretty easy. Its the creation stuff that adds to the bulk of the game and scares people off, IMO. And they're not strictly necessary for many genres!

What does the Champions book offer? Is it just a setting book? I would be interested in pre-fan powers, though!

I just noticed that I flubbed writing out what I was planning: I'd like to do a super-hero game. While I am running Marvel Heroic for them right now (a fun/silly "Tailspin meets military comedy/adventure"), its character generation is too free form for my likings. I've got an older HERO maker, but i don't run it anymore since I got rid of Java from my computer. Its yeeears old at this point. I also don't want to handle their accounting/book-keeping, a mistake I made with Hero Lab and Pathfinder. Thanks for th feedback so far! Edit: And I don't plan to bring mu laptop to the game. I just got a Microsoft Surface RT, and love it. No Java on there, but that's a feature for me, not a bug. I half wonder if HERO Games should try to make their own version of DDI...? I always heard that was *amazing*

I've got HERO Basic, and will be getting Champions complete soon. Anyhow, I wan to introduce my friends to HERO, but none of them have played anything similar except for one guy with a bad experience. I'm afraid to overwhelm them, so I think, at least the first time out, using pre-tabbed stuff might help for powers and the like. What are the quintessential HERO/Champions books for beginners/new players? I'm going to start them off with Basic, and after maybe a campaign see if they can handle full-on HERO/Champs. One, two books at most. PDF please. Mods - if this is in the wrong or less than ideal forum, could you move it? Sorry >_<

Thanks Hyperman! Also? *RPGnet high-five*