Christopher R Taylor

Its also possible that the armored folk were so much more likely to survive that they didn't lie dead in a heap with the others

Right, the cost is in the production, not the format. POD costs you nothing to set up and prepare, only to print. And the beauty of print on demand is that you can just not print anything until you get buyers. Having them order off your POD site means no up front thousands to print copies. If you get the publication costs out of the way, then all that's left is if you want inventory to do the fundraising for copies printed off. If it doesn't work, then you're out some time but still have product to sell.

These look like an illusion for most of them, although you could use a cosmetic transform with a narrow variable result (these sort of effects) of a die or two. The effects are tiny and minor, and making a plant bloom is not anything beyond how it looks, really. These all look like minor change environment or images. Probably a Change Environment with a few effects the character can pick between would be fine. Again, images to sight and sound. The door or window thing is a bit more powerful and would probably require a minor telekinesis of a few strength. I love very low end cantrip type effects. Its this stuff that makes someone seem magical, more than the big blasts and such. Superheros can throw around lighting but it feels magical to make a plant bloom or shape fire.

Definitely adding at least links to POD would be good

Well in one sense, all of publishing is in trouble, the way you mean it. Not just games, all publishing, from newspapers to magazines to books. In another sense there's never been a better time for games because there's so many options, so much creativity, so many interesting things going on that not only do gamers have tons of fun options, but publishers can do what they never have before. 30 years ago, I couldn't have gotten Hero Games to put my stuff on their catalog and license it, sell it in their own personal store, and reach the entire planet, no matter how hard Rob Bell tried. 20 years ago I could't have even have published what I do now.

Yeah the Hole in the Wall Gang would set up fresh horses at regular stages along their getaway route, posses had no chance of catching them. Plus, in game terms, riding rolls and animal handling rolls can get more out of a horse than just a rider. Skill and care in how you ride, paths taken, how you interact with the horse, etc can all help.

Well, all that, and a horse can get you there faster, if you don't care about the horse.

Pretty much anything that was put out with the Hero reboot attempt Fuzion, really. I would say that Savage Dragon was in the era but he wasn't really part of the genre.

Yeah there's a merchant language as well, mostly hand signals and negotiation terms, but it can be used as a "lingua franca" between various cultures and peoples when traveling and in more wild areas as well. Just trading topics and basic information (1 point max language skill) but enough to get the job done.

True enough, but then not a lot of people actually wore much armor back then. Armor was very expensive and required materials few people had a lot of around to spare, even leather. Nothing in that article suggested they found armor (only bits of weapons) which means either the reporter wasn't interested in that aspect, the warriors were wearing armor that didn't last (bone, leather, wood, cloth), or they didn't have any. Most historical research I've read says that they didn't wear a lot of armor in the pre-bronze and bronze age, unless important people or very wealthy. On the other hand, some cultures did (Egypt, as MarkDoc notes, Spartans, etc) and they wore a lot.

And that's the nutshell of capitalism that isn't taught or understood: what looks like exploitation is in fact opportunity. Starting out at the bottom isn't being a loser, its being a level 1 worker, at the beginning of your quest. You're not being cruelly abused by your boss, you're gaining skills, learning, studying, moving up in "levels" and questing for your ambition. But even if you don't aspire to being a great game writer or whatever, putting out scenarios and supplements can be pretty cheap and then its just (slow, trickling) profit because it costs you nothing to maintain a pdf copy and POD service indefinitely. Putting Hero product on the shelf - especially good quality, in demand product - helps the gaming hobby and Hero games in particular tremendously. If there's 300 products on that virtual shelf, it means easier to get into the game and makes it seem more popular and attractive. That's the other side of the medal, unfortunately. That's part of the problem with how easy it is to publish today and it hurts the market. Everyone is playing their own cobbled up version of a gam instead of the published ones. And that means people aren't buying product. But as MarkDoc says... perhaps that's a marketing edge, an opportunity. All those worldbuilders out there, all those creative writing minds, here's your metastructure to make your own game, without having to build and balance your own rules! I'm pondering the best way to present that. Fantasy seems the most popular build-your-own genre, so maybe a Fantasy Hero book giving the skeleton and guts to adapt to your own world, as well as tips using the system and suggestions. Here's what the stats are, and what they can be understood as or used in your world! How to use the power building rules to create your magic system!

big swords, big guns, tiny feet, gritted teeth, military style jackets with pouches everywhere

Hero has an excellent licensing system by which you can create content for the game and sell it, they will put it on their catalog and take part of the sales, you get the bulk. So there's no "do stuff for free and they get the profit" here. Like I've said before: if you want the game to prosper, what are you doing about it? Not "post moar on the forum boards!!" What are you doing to make it happen?

You might be able to work out some kind of licensing deal to use characters and likenesses just for that book

I really liked the Mystic Masters structure and bad guys, honestly. It had a terrific Dr Strange feel to it that works well for comics.

Sorry the AVLD should be AVAD (Attack vs Alternate Defense) in the "advantages" section. It allows you to use an attack to target other or non-traditional defenses, such as a blast that targets power defense or just requires life support vs breathing to defend against it. One common form is NND as Ninja-Bear lists above, an AVAD that is all or nothing and does stun only damage, against an non-traditional defense. Look at Change Environment for smoke that causes haze or reduced perception in an area (Area effect) and lingers once used. A limitation of "half effect in open areas" would make it more effective in enclosed areas!

Yes, and in fact I included some into my novel Old Habits! But its not just for thieves, its called "Gutter" and pretty much all the street level criminals and lower class slum dwelling types (and Ratmen living in the sewers) speak it. Its a form of slang of the established local language that is designed to sound odd and innocuous but deliver information right in front of ordinary people and law enforcement. A sample:

Champions of War - playing superheroes in time of war, with various war settings and rules for being in military, etc. BE Captain America.

If you want, you can buy a small AVLD (all or nothing) with it, or buy that as a separate effect to indicate a more dense, choking effect The smoke would be a nice visual special effect, nothing you'd have to buy Sounds like Only in Hero Form with stats, defenses, etc. Plus a smoke-based costume. Other options: the Darkness (super dark smoke) effect - a smoke-based knockback blast, just a huge surge of it to knock people around - smoke to make images with so you can craft it into shapes and designs (Johnny Storm doing the Fantastic Four flare in the air), smoke to tag items and mark them or write with using soot (cosmetic transform), smoke to lift others off the ground (flight usable on others or telekinesis), smoke to block IR vision but not normal (darkness to sight, only vs IR), Smoke as a barrier to block sight (are effect darkness as a ring or "any" or a very weak barrier), etc.

That's a good basic solution. Some of those dials in the optional rules are great for controlling combat results. Want it gritty and rough? Turn them all up to 11. Want it more fun and 4-color? Turn em down!

Now I know for almost all GMs the active cost cap in a campaign is negotiable, based on the power. And I know that some don't even bother with an AC cap. But for power frameworks, it seems like you almost have to violate the AC cap to make them give equivalence. Consider: Campaign has a 60 Active Cost cap. If you want to have a multipower with the ability to use a 60 active cost power and anything else in it at the same time, that multipower must by definition exceed AC cap. To explain consider this: PTS POWERS AND SKILLS 90 Fire Powers: Multipower (90 pts) 6v Fire Blast: 12d6 blast (vs ED, fire) 4v Fire Shield: 20 PD, 20 ED Resistant protection, costs END every phase 6v Flight: 24m flight, x2 noncombat, 0 END Cost, no gravity penalty, no turn mode, combat acel/decel now, this build would allow Fire Girl to use some of her flight and fire shield and blast at the same time, or any of them up to 60 active points. But the Multipower its self shatters the AC Cap, even though no one power used at a time is more than 60 active points. And, of course, Power Pools bought with 60 max points have the same effect on cost. Yes, technically a multipower or a power pool is more powerful than a straight power but keeping them under AC means keeping them below everyone else's max power level in the game. Sorry Bob, you only get an 8d6 blast in your power pool, while everyone else gets 12d6. Now I've always allowed people to go above the AC limit in the campaign with frameworks because of this effect, as long as individual powers in the framework weren't over it. But I'm just curious what others have done or if the rules actually deal with this specifically.

Yeah as soon as I hit "post" I thought the same thing, Darkness belongs outside the multipower (and it all could be put into a Unified Power envelope).

And I should add, that's exactly what we're working on together for Champions in this thread right on this forum. If you want to be part of the solution, pitch in. Or start your own project. It has never been easier to write, design, publish, and sell products before in the history of mankind.

Right, that's been dealt with here over and over. The assumption is false, and that's what we're up against: changing that presumption. And easy-in front end stuff would change that significantly. Steve Long did a brilliant job setting up the rules as a core, and all that's needed are quick-in introductions to settings using that core.

It seems like a mix of flint and bronze was in use, suggesting either one side was richer/more advanced or the transition was going on between the two. Flint actually probably makes a better arrowhead than bronze but its darn hard to mass produce.