Oruncrest

Except every other primary stat loses some effect by doing this. And INT doesn't gain anything.
Every point of STR increases your lifting capability by 15% cumulative.
Every point of DEX improves your chances of going first. Indeed, this was determined to be so useful that the cost of DEX is 2CP per point.
Every point of CON decreases your chances of being stunned, which is determined per pip of STUN damage you take from attacks.
Every point of EGO decreases your chances of being affected by powers like Mental Illusions, Mind Control, and Telepathy, which is determined per pip of effect rolled by those powers.
Every point of PRE decreases your chances of being affected by Presence Attacks, which is determined per pip of effect rolled when a PRE Attack is made.
 
INT is the only primary stat that doesn't gain anything per point.
 
Removing the granularity from the other primary stats won't improve INT's game effects one bit, but every other stat would be screwed.

Except every other primary stat loses some effect by doing this. And INT doesn't gain anything.
Every point of STR increases your lifting capability by 15% cumulative.
Every point of DEX improves your chances of going first. Indeed, this was determined to be so useful that the cost of DEX is 2CP per point.
Every point of CON decreases your chances of being stunned, which is determined per pip of STUN damage you take from attacks.
Every point of EGO decreases your chances of being affected by powers like Mental Illusions, Mind Control, and Telepathy, which is determined per pip of effect rolled by those powers.
Every point of PRE decreases your chances of being affected by Presence Attacks, which is determined per pip of effect rolled when a PRE Attack is made.
 
INT is the only primary stat that doesn't gain anything per point.
 
Removing the granularity from the other primary stats won't improve INT's game effects one bit, but every other stat would be screwed.

Select a power in your MP. In that powers window, there should be a 'Fixed Slot' option next to the 'Display Active Points' option jut before you get to the Adders/ Modifiers sub-window. Select that.

Select a power in your MP. In that powers window, there should be a 'Fixed Slot' option next to the 'Display Active Points' option jut before you get to the Adders/ Modifiers sub-window. Select that.

Hell, let's start from the top  (but we're not doing all of them tonight   )
 
From the very first Enemies book, from the very first edition (there are not even text examples in the 1e rule book):
 
Racoon
Ankylosaur (Power armor stolen while on assignment for Viper.  Not sure if that counts for your purposes)
Sledge (duped into being experimented on; again: don't know if that counts)
 
 
Island of Dr. Destroyer (1e version) includes only DD and villains from Enemies; no reason to re-list them
 
 
Moving to Escape from Stronghold (1e version)
 
None.  (Surprise!  Ripper was a retcon: original origin had him surgerized by the Viet Cong.)
 
 
Now into 2e
 
Rules book (Strangely, there are more villains caused by UNTIL than by VIPER.  This may be why I don't use UNTIL even up to this very day: those guys are dangerous to have around!):
 
Pulsar
 
 
Viper's Nest:
 
Viper Agents (five kinds) and Nest Leader, which I suppose is no surprise.
 
Technically not Blue Jay.  She just worked for them (she's another UNTIL baby)
Brick. They didn't make him, but they found him in the woods, took him home, and taught him some tricks.
Cheshire Cat
 
Enemies II
 
Pile Driver (yup.  Just the one.  Like three or four with UNTIL origins, though.  I can't believe people fall for their crap!  "We're good guys!"  Yeah.  Right. )    
 
 
Champions Campaign Book (3e)
 
Viper Leader (again: no surprise.  Sort of a slightly upgraded Nest Leader.  Well, actually-- a slightly up-graded nest leader.  Only one kind of agent this time around, though)
 
Crusader (yes: there was a Villain option for Crusader.  Thanks for the trip down memory lane, because I had totally forgotten that)
 
Dragonfly (slight retcon to his origin now includes VIPER agents that caused the accident that changed his life)
 
 
I would like to point out that Enemies: the International File has _no_ villains created by Viper involvement.  It _does_ have villains created because of UNTIL involvement, however.  You will find this same thing in Enemies: Villainy Unbound.   I'm telling you, UNTIL has _no_ place in a decent civilized world, and I suddenly remember why so many of our early heroes were _hunted_ by UNTIL: it was clear they were devious, UN-funded criminals bent on world domination.
 
 
Enemies III
 
Power Crusher
 
Okay, it doesn't seem like it, as short as this list is, but I've just re-read through a _lot_ of books to get this far.  I'm going to bed.  More if I find time.  I would like to point out just how interesting it is that the original Champions villainous organization didn't see a lot of play at all in the early stuff.  I guess they just couldn't compete with UNTIL.  It really wasn't until the 4e sourcebook that they assumed their rightful place as UNTIL's equally-dangerous rivals.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

If you're trying to keep things simple, I'd suggest Physical Manifestation and Extra Time to reactivate if "destroyed".  Maybe also Unified Power Source if you're in a 6e game. 
Shouldn't strictly need any Advantages, though your GM might want you to buy a little Indirect. 
 
E: With regards to it having its own mind, a Physical Limitation stating "Source of powers has INT x, EGO y, PRE z, and the following skills only" should do it.  Or put limitations on some of your INT, EGO, PRE and skills. 

I don't suppose you could just use Missile Deflection, Area Effect with a Side Effect that says that the lightning always hits the character?
 
For FREd:
 
For 6th ED:
 

Actually, when applied to an instant power, Time Limit allows a character to use that power without having to allow for any limitations that might prevent that power from activating for the duration of the time limit. That's why Time Limit is an advantage for instant powers. After the first use, it allows you to ignore limitations like Gestures (do this to activate), Incantations (say this to activate), Focus (have this to activate)…
 
...and Charges (wait a period of time between activations).
 
Which is why I think Lucius' build works (especially now that I'm not confusing Reloading with Recovering).Each 'clip' has one Continuing (I could see an argument for not needing this modifier, but some GMs might want it as it shows that the charge is still ongoing even thou the Blast has already been fired) Charge that the Time Limit nullifies for five minutes, enabling the 'Khas Gun' to fire again and again until the times' up. Once the Time Limit's duration has ended the 'clip' modifier activates, and the 'khas Guns' cooldown period begins and can't be used again for an hour. Wash, rinse, repeat another 15 times.

There's a lot of argument here over what is basically just 6 points.  I don't see it as a problem because particularly for a superheroic character, it's just over 1% of your total character points.  It's basically a rounding error.  Somebody could slap a "not in intense magnetic fields" on a 30 point power and get the same effect.  It's a minor inconvenience.  Go ahead and let them sell it off, I don't care.
 
Personally, I think the game could use a few mental combat maneuvers.  If somebody shoots them with an Ego attack, and they can somehow detect it coming in, let them abort to try to make an OMCV vs OMCV roll to block it.  "Dr Mindhammer is glaring at me, and his face is scrunching up...  I can feel him inside my head!  Got... to... resist!"  Roll as if you're making a hand to hand block.  The guy who bought down his OMCV just doesn't quite get it.  He's even worse than a normal person.  I'm reminded of the scene from the Starship Troopers movie, where Doogie Howser is testing the hero guy for psychic powers.  "You know, statistically, you should have gotten at least one of these right by now."  The guy with a 1 OMCV is super duper not psychic.

Actually, no. Basic Invisibility has a 'fringe'  where the subject can be detected enough to attack if an observer makes a PER Roll. Define the character's 'fringe' as all-or-nothing so that if an observer makes the PER Roll, then the observer clearly sees the character. If the observer fails, then they can't see the character at all. Use the points you saved from not buying the Trigger advantage to buy a linked Change Environment to give observers minuses to their PER Roll.

Actually, no. Basic Invisibility has a 'fringe'  where the subject can be detected enough to attack if an observer makes a PER Roll. Define the character's 'fringe' as all-or-nothing so that if an observer makes the PER Roll, then the observer clearly sees the character. If the observer fails, then they can't see the character at all. Use the points you saved from not buying the Trigger advantage to buy a linked Change Environment to give observers minuses to their PER Roll.

Actually, no. Basic Invisibility has a 'fringe'  where the subject can be detected enough to attack if an observer makes a PER Roll. Define the character's 'fringe' as all-or-nothing so that if an observer makes the PER Roll, then the observer clearly sees the character. If the observer fails, then they can't see the character at all. Use the points you saved from not buying the Trigger advantage to buy a linked Change Environment to give observers minuses to their PER Roll.

I would guess it was a speedster with a yellow costume. But speedsters usually Zoom around too fast for me to even guess their identities.

Buy the Power Tricks skill. Flavor as needed.

--Group superhero stories in the comics virtually never involve mysteries.
--Mysteries can be really hard for a group to play.
--Mysteries are hard for a GM to run without becoming a plot on rails.
--Some players just don't like solving mysteries.  It isn't fun at all for them.
--Some players may like solving mysteries, but that doesn't mean their character has any skill or interest in it.  The Incredible Hulk is not known as a great detective.
 
I usually have a hard time playing mysteries because in my experience, GMs want to hand out little details slowly and awkwardly.  In fact I tend to get mad when I ask a few questions, try to make a few skill rolls, and the GM says something like "you don't find any clues."  Then they want me to keep jumping through hoops until I randomly stumble across their plot.  It's infuriating.  After reading the recap, my thought is "why didn't the DNPC just tell him what the hell is going on?"
 
You have to realize that the player can't actually see anything that is happening.  He is 100% dependent on you giving him information.  There is no burned down catering building for him to investigate -- it exists purely in the GM's mind.  If he goes to investigate it and you say "you don't find anything", then he doesn't know what to do next.  The player doesn't know if he's supposed to continue investigating there ("I dig through the ashes, hunting for a secret basement or something"), or if he's just supposed to move on and wait for something else to happen.  Maybe the GM isn't ready to reveal the plan yet.
 
Again, I wonder why the DNPC didn't tell him more on the phone.  I'm sure the player does too.  I think the "I go and get drunk tonight" was a direct message to the GM that the player is not having fun with this story, and is ready for you to get to the point.  In my experience, behavior like that is supposed to tell the GM "I don't understand what you're going for, this isn't working".

It strikes me that you may need to pay attention to the player's personal preference. You, as the GM, have absolute control over the story, except where public rolls cannot be denied (hence a GM screen).
 
If you have a series of players that do not like investigations, you need to adapt your game to those players. It looks to me your players are into the game as a way to splash stuff around with powers in combat. You have combat junkies. There's nothing wrong with that. Other players will be more skill oriented, and others will be more roleplay oriented.
 
There is no point in giving an action player a mystery to solve. They will look at it and walk away like a cat faced with distasteful food. Just bury it.

What do your players want? Give that to them. It will make them happy. Now, the question then remains, what do you, as a GM, want? Do you want to run combat scenarios all the time? Do you want to make things more clever or cerebral? It might help a bit to give the players an idea of what to expect in a scenario. Something along the lines of "Hey guys, these next three sessions are going to be about a mystery you have to solve. Put on your thinking caps." Unless they are unusually stubborn, or being passive-aggressive, they will at least know what is expected of them and they may pay attention to things they might not normally pay attention to.
 
As a last resort, you may just have to spoon feed them the information in a way that makes sense to them. You can present it as a the characters reaching the conclusions that the players then learn about through your exposition. After all, the characters are usually much better at what they do than the players. Sometimes the characters will have better investigation skills (and perhaps more common sense) than the players. ?
 
And that might just be the case: If the players are new to "investigations", they really may have no idea how to go about them. A few in-game examples of how to think through such a situation, and what to pay attention to, and the types of questions to ask, will give them an education on how to proceed in those types of scenarios. Again, unless your players are deliberately dragging their feet because all they really want to do is get into the next fight they will eventually pick up on these details.
 
This may be especially true if their only background to roleplay is fantasy-based, where the typical plot is "there's trouble in town (cave, dungeon, dimension, etc), go there, find the monsters, kill them". Not much of a thinking man's game. They may be stuck in that "we need someone to tell us where the monsters are so we can kill them" mindset. I know I was stuck there for a little while, until I learned more by watching more and more investigation games. I got better. ? 
 
Just my $0.02.

Throwing Pies would be Flash.
Seltzer Water would be Flash again, but this time with double knockback (+3/4 to base cost).
The Banana gag would of course be Change Environment with Luck & Unluck changing the odds.
The Mochi Mallet would be a straight Blast that does no BODY to living beings (-0).
Finally, the 'Off With His Head' routine is LOTS of Resistant Defense with the Limitation Susceptibility: Change Environment (Stunned for as many phases as the attack had D6 plus 1 (Hop can recover if an ally assists him for a phase).
 
Hope that helps

Fang you Berry Much: (Total: 169 Active Cost, 19 Real Cost) Thorns of Legendary Viciousness - Killing Attack - Hand-To-Hand 2d6, Area Of Effect (1m Radius; +1/4), Constant (+1/2), Uncontrolled (+1/2), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), +4 Increased STUN Multiplier (+1), Double Penetrating (x2; +1) (142 Active Points); Extra Time (1 Month, Growing time; -5), Limited Power Only attacks ONCE, when entering hex. (of course, attacks again if someone RE enters hex) (-1), IIF Expendable (Difficult to obtain new Focus; One seed, one bush; -1/2), Conditional Power Only grows in the growing season, and in appropriate climate and soil conditions (-1/2), No STR Bonus (-1/2), Reduced Penetration (-1/4) (Real Cost: 16) plus All but Impassible - Change Environment (-1 to either EGO or CON Roll to avoid backing out, -1 to STR Roll to push into hex, Long-Lasting Permanent), Area Of Effect (1m Radius; +1/4) (27 Active Points); Same seed, growing time, and growing conditions modifiers (-6), No Range (-1/2), Linked (Thorns of Legendary Viciousness; Greater Power is Constant or in use most or all of the time; -1/4) (Real Cost: 3)
 
 
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Upon entering the All but Impassable(tm) area an intruder must make a STR roll at -1 to even force a way in. In the process, they suffer two 1d6 Killing Attacks that are double Penetrating and with +4 STUN Multiplier from the Thorns of Legendary Viciousness(tm) and the STUN damage adds together to make this hedge a truly Stunning addition to any enchanted garden. To avoid backing out - possibly right into an already-passed bush if you have made the hedge several meters thick - the intruder must roll against EGO or CON, again at a -1. This process must be repeated for every hex entered, so a swiftly moving intruder is simply shredded that much faster if the thicket is thick enough. Intruders have been known to stop in terror and confusion, afraid to move until the proprietor or a security patrol arrives to deal with them!
 
 
Just look at these testimonials!
 
 
"Perfect for keeping animals and children out of my garden. Except as fertilizer of course." Baba Yaga
 
"Now THAT'S the shrubbery we're talking about!" Knights who Said 'Ni!'
 
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"It's like a nightmare!" Princess Beauty
 
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copyright Palindromedary Enterprises - we sell more than just palindromedaries!
 

Wow'zers....  I had never thought I'd see someone else on these forums have this epiphany. ?
 
That hits dead center on why Hero has become a dead game. My definition of a dead game is one that is not generally available for purchase via standard distribution.  And Hero is a game that can only be purchased in electronic form if you know it exists.  
 
But back to your post.  I'll complete your main theme:
"In order to get customers, you have to get them playing the game."
"To get them playing the game you have to have people running games."
"To get people running the game you have to provide adventures to start them off."
 
The problem with Champions Complete (CC) and Fantasy Hero Complete (FHC) is they are complete kits to build games.  They are not a Complete Games. 
 
Now I know the "let Hero die away quietly" crowd will immediately chime in with "Real gamers don't use pregenerated adventuress and campaigns!"  and then point to the existing products like The Turakian Age as proof.  But they refuse to realize that TA's layout was enough to send potential players running.  A new player (or GM) has to wade through 175 pages of in depth world descriptions before they hit the section of building a PC.  To build a Wizard TA tells you that it has a 100 extra spells in TA, but you need the Grimoire (another product).  FHC on the other hand just tells them a Mage gets 50 CP's of magic and spells, but doesn't contain any or give any usable advice on which ones to start with. 
 
D&D 5th may have the entire spell list in the PHB, but a new player only has to read and understand 1 or 2 out of a list of 10 or so in the beginning.   What FHC should have had was detailed templates for Human, Elf, Dwarf and Halfling Warriors, Wizards, Rogues and Priests.  These would be rounded out with prebuilt and short spell lists, abilities/powers, weapons and gear appropriate to beginning adventures in a very very reduced slice of TA.   A village on the frontier where the PC's stop goblin raiders.
 
My point is that CC or FHC is not ready to play.  And unless there is a ready to play version, people will not play it. 
 
Sure, like everyone in this forum, I refer my own homebrew campaigns and worlds.  But CC and FHC is exactly like all the other RPG's in that people need to play it and learn how it works in play before they can really begin creating their own stuff.  I am pretty sure that everyone that has played 1st thru 4th editions has played Vipers Nest.  We played it because it was a great way to try out Champs and see how things actually worked.  In hindsight I believe it would have been even better if they had included 5 or 6 pregenerated Heroes.  Not The Champions, but a few initial build PC's.  But that is just my opinion.
 
Take CC and FHC as written, reformat into a modern book.  The text can be reformatted to fit a modern layout with art.  But the actual rules do not, that is DO NOT need yet another rewrite.  But they do need a third section at the end.  Six pregenerated Heroes and a short three connected scenarios adventure. A mini-campaign with all the villains, monsters etc. ready to go.  They do not need to be elaborate and world shaking.  They can be just tough enough for initial builds.  They need to provide opportunities for combat and non-combat skill use. 
 
This would allow new to Hero players to actually experience the game in play and give them something to look at and say "I get it, that is what they meant".  
 
With Hero, once the system clicks you will never look back.  But it will never really have an opportunity to click if no one ever plays it. 
 
 

Agreed. There is still room for further refactoring, but given the givens I think it unlikely to happen officially. 
 
 
Personally I think grappling is a little clunky but works ok (using the extended Martial Arts rules for Grab and ?, etc).
 
I don't want to see a zone of control or attack of opportunity type of mechanism added to the system, I prefer utilizing held actions or custom abilities for that sort of thing.
 
 
Same. I don't like training wheels or arbitrary "just because" rules (such as why can't CE be used for positive effects; why not?)
 
 
I'm a big believer that the sales problems the Hero System has traditionally had stems largely from the fact that they tend to not make products for PLAYERS to buy...their product appeals almost overwhelmingly to a very specific kind of GM. They also tend to favor "perennials" such as core books and genre source books. I'm a hardcore fan but I'm only going to buy one copy of Fantasy Hero per edition and even then maybe just the pdf if the content is mostly a c&p plus edition tweakage. 
 
 
This is my opinion, but I think a lot of it comes down to posture.
 
Lets say you and I and a few other posters are DoJ, the era is 5er, and we've just gotten an influx of cash from a video game related windfall. We decide to use that money to publish a new edition of the system. Around this time, our primary competition for our main money making line of products is a d20 based supers game that puts out relatively slim full color books, usually hardbacks. 
 
At this point through long years of hard work, we've managed to put out a huge amount of very thorough books across a wide variety of genres and subgenres as well as a pretty comprehensive line of "ultimate" niche books and core rules. We arguably now own the "crunchy heavy weight universal game system" perch, having surpassed the traditional rival for that slot just by sheer volume and tenacity if nothing else. However a recurring criticism of our product line is that it has a tendency towards a dry no-nonsense business like writing style and a lack of visual flair. For some product lines this is less of a detriment than others, but for the very visual supers genre and its demographic of visually oriented people who prefer to read things in picture form, it is a very jarring mismatch.
 
Going into this next edition, it is very important to us that we have full color hardbacks with art that will hopefully resonate with the highly visual superhero rpg fans; we have a leg up here because for superhero content at least we can use art assets developed for the same video game we got the cash from in the first place. 
 
So, what we'll do is, double down on what has been working for us so far...big chunky books even more chock full examples, rulings, options, and so on, than before, PLUS in color and with color interior art. The book will be thicker, but no big deal, we can print the design time rules in one volume and the run time rules in another volume. This may even be beneficial as some players who otherwise might not buy the book and just use their GM's copy might decide to buy the character creation volume.
 
The people who like us for our chunkiness will be even more happy. The people who are put off by stern black and white walls of text will find the pretty color pages more inviting. Seems foolproof, what could go wrong?
 
____
 
Ok, now lets groundhog day that, knowing what we now know with the benefit of hindsight.
 
Maybe instead we kick off the 6e era by releasing Champions Universe Complete, Turakian Age Complete, Alien Wars Complete etc, up front. They are relatively concise books by Hero standards, maybe an inch and a half across the spine. They each contain the necessary setting information for immediate play, with a playable version of the rules with the proper "presets" of options selected, plus enough content in the form of templates, gear lists, etc, to immediately start play with, and an abbreviated character creation via 8 to 12 partially customize-able templates.
 
For the product lines that take off in this format, print splat books in all the usual ways that game companies tend to do, plus an adventure here and there. Someone always says "but adventures don't sell well", to which I say "loss leader". GM's running the one copy of an adventure the group owns tends to lead to supplementary purchases of other stuff, an engaged player base which draws more players, and of course maybe even the one copy of the adventure the group buys to run after this one is done.
 
I imagine I don't have to explain what this would look like, because nearly every other game markets themselves in that way.
 
But that's not Hero! rings out the cry. Worry not, true believers! The text-only version of the full system is available as an SRD online, for free. How do we monetize that? Well, there's the Limited Edition Full Color Hardback 2 Volume Core Set, for starters. What does that look like? Well, it looks exactly like the 2 volume set we got. What's different about it? Consumer perception. 
 
The casual set, both current and hopefully newly attracted, are happy with the various buy and go setting + micro rules books. The hardcore set is happy because they have the massive 6e tomes of thoroughness, ownership of which proves their leetness.
 
Of course no one knows how it all might have gone down, and we don't know the inner workings of DoJ or what challenges they had to overcome to accomplish what they did. I assume the challenges were harrowing, and I'm personally deeply impressed by what they achieved during both the 5e and 6e eras. It's staggering in scale. It is also true that the rpg industry and the print industry were (and are) going through a brutal period of being disrupted by emerging technologies and changes in interests towards other media.  But I think it is possible that a different approach that was more sensitive to the marketplace and player base would have had a better outcome in the long run. 
 
I imagine that you imagine that I imagine that we are imagining along the same imaginary lines.

I've just read the first few chapters of Gleipnir and I'm starting to wish I hadn't (mainly because of Claire), but I've got the general idea of what you're wanting and I think I've got an 'easy' idea of how to do what you're wanting:
 
1) Make stats for Shuichi.
2) Make stats for a vehicle (we'll call it Chucky Ruxpin because the first thing I thought of when I saw Shu's altered form was So that's what you get when Teddy Ruxpin 'gets busy' with the Bride of Chucky.). Add a computer (or just add INT & EGO to the vehicles stat block) with Shuichi's INT & EGO and the Physical Complication: EGo is 0 when someone with the coin is 'riding' Chucky Ruxpin.
3) Give Shuichi the power Multiform:Chucky Ruxpin.
4) Let the coin be the 'key' to Chucky Ruxpin and give it the skills Combat Pilot:Chucky Ruxpin and maybe some 'martial arts' with the focus being the coin (IIF most likely). This way anybody can pilot Chucky Ruxpin - so long as they have the coin.
5) Done.
 
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go chug some brain bleach in an attempt to get the Boo Hag known as Claire outta my head.

I have seen it... but it took a long time, and the players had to learn that they were very powerful, and that they didn't get punished for holding back... nor did they get punished for cutting loose when the situation called for it.
 
One thing I always try to emphasize with supers games is just that... the characters are super... and they should get the chance to feel that way. Maybe a group of heavily armed thugs were a challenge when first starting out... but later, the same situation is a piece of cake. Unlike D&D where all the creatures have to level up to the PCs... I love situations where experienced supers run up against thugs or lesser villains and just easily trounce them... because they should. The game aspect of 'every scenario has to level up to the PCs' concept... that isn't ROLE playing, IMO. Powerful heroes should get the chance to show how powerful they are... often by getting to hold-back and be confident and competent... but this requires the PLAYERS to feel that way, and not like everything is a "gotcha moment." Got to get rid of the GM vs. player mentality to let the PLAYERS feel confident and cool.
 
And it is important to realize the mentality of players who DO NOT know what is going on in the GM's head, and some of them never really learn to trust. I had one long term player who's character was one of the big three, and on track to become an immortal, godlike, and he NEVER felt confident going into battle. Not the character, but the player, because he was so used to every other game being "screw the player" by the GM. One time, he said, "I always feel threatened. I wish we had some easy fights."  I looked at him and said, "Just this evening, you took on a small army of 350 pt cyborg-killing machines. You one shotted several of them and literally out raced the rest, leaving them stranded behind and unable to stop you, practically ignoring them on the way to the big bad. Each one of those was a lesser supervillain, and you destroyed them!"
 
"OH," he said, looking surprised. "But the way you described them... they were so scary!"
 
Seriously.
 
After that, I made it a point to explain exactly what kind of threat and really emphasize where the PCs were more powerful, less powerful, etc., for every adventure. It became abundantly clear that having a meta-conversation about the game and their perceptions of it was absolutely essential for them to feel comfortable in the world, and this lead to much more confident role playing as well.

You have to address the PLAYER mentality... not the characters.

Alex Ross again--
 

Alex Ross, doing what he does best--
 

Only if she doesn't go tumbling down hills. 
 
Badum-bum-TISH!!!