The Main Man

I have not quit Hero as a player because most of my group still primarily runs it. If they're comfortable building everything while I just need to make the one character, I'm still game. However, there are a few reasons I've become jaded with GMing it as I approach a crusty 28 years old in December. 1) Character Creation. Powers are the main reason it takes so long. If you go the Equipment route, you still must build it all, putting more front load work on the GM's shoulders. Hero does provide lots of pre-built Equipment, but something about picking Equipment from lists seems to run counter to all that Toolkit talk in the core rules. Convenient, yes, but D&D gives me Equipment lists and skips the Toolkit stuff. What's the point of driving home the Toolkit stuff when it's more convenient to just use pregen equipment and get on with the game? Then there's a sort of conundrum I have with Hero Designer. Sure, you don't technically need it, but it organizes character creation so well that it's hard to not use it. It speeds things up too much. That said, and this isn't HD's fault - personal problem - is that my fellow players frequently forget that Hero Designer is not the Hero System. For that matter, I've seen many character builds over the years that wouldn't have been made if it took more than some keystrokes and clicks. What's more, it's hard to put that lightning back in the bottle. 2) All the Rules. At its core, Hero is solid and rather simple. Unfortunately, that core is buried under oodles of rules and garnished by oodles more errata. More rules means either asking for more investment from your players or else more hand-holding. Hero needs to give up a lot of its crystal clarity in favor of letting groups house rule the system to what they like. For that matter, I find that most of the time, rules clarifications mostly boil down to telling you no before you ask. 3) So much emphasis on combat. Almost every CHAR is primarily intended for combat. Most Powers are combat oriented or described in combat terms. There's a whole second volume of the core rules for combat. I find it hard to build a non-combatant in good faith in such a combat-oriented set of rules. Combat in Hero has a fundamental logic to it that is internally consistent and nuanced to be sure but I think some of it could sink into the background more like all the CVs and Speed. Let's face it: making Speed, a stat that dictates how many actions your character gets in a Turn, into something you can buy ensures that you get to play the game more than other players because of how you spent your points. I've been a fan of combat being more integrated with Skills for years, but it mostly isn't in Hero. I think it would have a more modern approach if it treated combat as another Skill. Otherwise it's like an intricate miniatures game. Good rules for a miniatures game, but a miniatures game isn't the kind of RPG I'm looking for. I think there's more, but those are the main reasons I'm jaded with Hero, more as a GM than as a player. I think Hero needs to soul-search in these times and reinvent itself. I haven't read Champions Complete, but judging from the page count it at least sounds like a step in a direction I'd like.

Re: Converting M&M 3e Advantages to HERO Talents/Perks Yeah, a master list of M&M Advantages and D&D Feats would be great for Fantasy games (more than that, really).

Re: Modern-day Pulp? Thanks for the rep, tkdguy. The idea of inserting pulp into other campaigns first occurred to me as I watched the Doctor Who serial "The Talons of Weng-Chiang." I realized that the Doctor could be made with the Scientist and Detective package deals from Pulp HERO (and maybe even Explorer). His companion, Leela, easily could be made with the "Wild (Wo)Man" package deal. Then I thought of Sarah Jane, the previous companion - Reporter package deal. Ian and Barbara - from the very beginning - both Professors. And Adric, sweet Adric, could use the Goblin package deal from Fantasy HERO. From there, I took a new look at a lot of superheroes. Superman - Reporter, Scientist, and Two-Fisted Hero; Batman - Dilettante, Detective, Masked Crimefighter; Iron Man - Gadgeteer and Scientist; Spider-Man - Amateur Scientist, Masked Crimefighter, and Amateur Reporter (as Photographer); Wolverine - Explorer, Soldier, Veteran. It all suddenly made so much sense to me. In a similar vein though, the same goes for Fantasy HERO templates. Returning to the Doctor for a moment, one could easily also assign him the Divine or Demigod (just change the name) and Contemplative Culture templates. Wolverine could easily be a Barbarian. Batman could also use the Martial Artist Template. Fantasy and Pulp - much broader usage than meets eye. In fact, the ultimate infusion of the two in my opinion is Conan the Barbarian himself - a Two-Fisted Barbarian if I ever saw one (maybe with more sword than fist, but still.).

Re: Modern-day Pulp?

I'm a casual fan of at least the idea behind artistic minimalism, but can there be such a thing as a minimized HERO system? I suspect that it would have multiple facets from minimalist character creation to minimalist skills to minimalist powers to minimalist combat. What say you?

Re: Sci-Fi Melee Weapons: Bat'leth, Lirpas, Lightsabres, Rykk Blades, Koltari, Denn'B *Looks down at signature...*

Re: Modern-day Pulp? This reminds me of how one day I gave up trying to run a Pulp campaign when I can just overlap Pulp style over any campaign instead. It's surprising how applicable the Pulp HERO templates are to campaigns (Fantasy HERO too). Gave me an even greater appreciation for the style really.

Re: Looking For Input On Potential New Fantasy Product Right now I have one of those ideas that is wishful thinking: My first taste of RPGs came in the form of these single player Star Wars adventure books from Scholastic Books. They were basically the same idea as Lone Wolf or Fighting Fantasy but for kids (and Star Wars). When I first really got into RPGs, I believe it was AEG (maybe others) who published adventures in pamphlet form. When I buy groceries, I spot Archie comics in digest size to my side all the time. Archie comics do good business to this day as an impulse buy to my knowledge. So, the idea: A series of cheap, digest-sized, single player adventures for kids sold as impulse buys. Character information is contained on M:TG-sized cards and every book comes with a pack of new cards with different abilities for different characters. On the back of the book, kids (and their parents) are told that all they need to play are 3 6-sided dice, a pencil, some scratch paper, and the book. It's "Champions Adventures!" or "Fantasy Hero Adventures!" or the like. Not Champions Complete, but you're darn tooting it's advertised at the end of every book. Like I said, wishful thinking...

Re: Campaign Damage Caps, Code vs. Killing & Pulling a Punch Hell, for anyone who watched Superman: TAS, it was an even bigger character moment. I'm not sure if it's often cited because it's thought of as license to use full power so much as it was pitch perfect writing, animation, and voice acting. I do now think that it could make an excellent example of what it means to defy a Total PsychComp. I'd put Batman using a gun on Darkseid and The Doctor grabbing a gun to face the Time Lords in that same class. There's doubtlessly more.

Re: Looking For Input On Potential New Fantasy Product Discussions like this make me wish I was even modestly skilled and disciplined enough to write settings and adventures for free. Sometimes I wonder if the RPG industry could use a NaNoWriMo/Script Frenzy style challenge for writing modules in a month.

Re: Looking For Input On Potential New Fantasy Product - Use those "Equal Damage" rules from FH 6e. Seriously cuts down on space for weapons. Do still use the Slashing, Bashing, and Piercing rules though. Also, the idea of 5 or so pages for Weapons, Armor, and Shields sounds very "pick up and play" to me. Now is not the time to split hairs. Just tell the reader that there's a much more detailed Equipment Book available for purchase. - Why not settle for 300 pages? FH 5e and 6e seem to indicate that there is more to Fantasy than Superheroes and I don't think readers will be particularly intimidated by a book that size. - I still like the idea of mini-settings a la PA HERO and UF HERO. Sell them on PDF only. Could start with condensed versions of Turakian Age, Valdorian Age, Atlantean Age, and Tuala Morn. - I like Templates, but I also liked the Superhero Gallery from Champions 6e. Again, that approach makes the game much more "pick up and play" to me.

Re: Alternative Necromancy This thread gave me this thought: Clerics - It's not necromancy when we do it.

For some time I've pondered how my fellow HEROphiles regulate OCV, DCV, OMCV, and DMCV as well as how you reconcile them with Combat Skill Levels, Penalty Skill Levels, and Martial Maneuvers. Usually I can only seem to declare a maximum value for them, but that always seems overly simplistic. Like if I have DCV to max, should I count Dodge? It's free, so perhaps not. Then what about Martial Dodge? From there, what about other Martial Maneuvers? How does everyone else manage them in a fair manner?

Re: Campaign Damage Caps, Code vs. Killing & Pulling a Punch I like this perspective. It gives me something to think about to be sure. It also gives me the idea of placing a standard damage class cap, but for every 5 points in "Code versus Killing" a player takes, they may have +1 Damage Class, but they also must use Pull Punch our else use fewer Active Points unless they succeed with an Ego roll.

Re: What "Pulp" have you read lately ? I can tell you all what my next literary conquest is at the very least: The Shadow in... The Devil Monsters.