Christopher R Taylor

I think lists of powers is sort of pointless for the system but some commonly built powers like Instant Change, flash defense goggles, etc would be good for a Champions genre book.

Thug is fine, so is Mook, Goon, bruiser, hood, hoodlum, bravo, strong-arm, tough guy, mobster, gangster, punk, ruffian.....

I think hero fights are short enough its unlikely you'll ever overheat a gun. But some optional rules using ablative and jam or burnout would simulate it fine. Every x magazines or rounds increases the chance of failure by 1, so 0, then 8- then 9- etc.

Also, most of the time, golden age heroes are pretty gullible and trusting. They're such honest good guys they never would lie, so they trust others. There are two kinds though: the pulp guys who happen to be in golden age comics (Batman, the Shadow, etc) and the Golden Age Superheroes (Superman, Captain Marvel, The Atom, etc). The pulp guys follow pulp rules. The heroes follow hero rules. So you can choose between these two options .

Enforcing period stuff helps: study history, having them interact with real events, emphasize the differences back then (it took days, not seconds, for news to travel in many cases. Phone calls were a hassle that took quite a while to connect to any distance, and went through people running switchboards, airplanes and cars were still amazing to people, etc). So does enforcing the genre. good guys are GOOD not conflicted and full of angst. Bad guys are BAD, not misled or technically good guys using the wrong methods, etc. Heroes were beloved and appreciated, particularly by children. The press praised them, not attacked. Nobody protested Hero Guy, they hugged him. Bad guys knew they were wrong but did it anyway. Love of country, family, mom, etc was normal and praised.

That's why I think the core rulebook can be the super detailed tome of doom, but individual genre books can be this stripped down version: just the basics, delivered in plain language, with easy to read write ups that are minimalistic.

Actually a lot of Golden Age heroes did not care much about life and limb. They wouldn't personally go out of their way to kill or maim, but they wouldn't exactly work hard to stop it happening. And sometimes they'd do stuff like blow up a building with bad guys in it, because they were just evil saboteurs/nazis/gangsters, etc.

I'm actually working on just that, for my Jolrhos Fantasy Hero setting. I have templates built for characteristics (strong, smart, fast, etc), profession (bard, spy, tradesman), and type (barbarian, do-gooder, lover) so people can mix and match to build their character as quickly and easily as possible. So no "player classes" but rather combinations of ideas in blocks that can be combined in various formats. My character is a Smart/Hunter/Trickster! And I've been putting out a couple of modules a year, trying to build up a library of adventures people can grab and throw into their game right away. In time, I'd love to develop Pathfinder-style adventure arcs. Its just me writing, illustrating, doing layouts, publication etc so its a bit slow.

Adding 1 DCV and a few meters of movement for each 3 pd/Ed ablated seems reasonable. Fast and hard to hit, but more vulnerable

They're a bit awkward for stats, because where do you put them when they get "spent"? Or go negative? Then you need 6 colors (10's and 1's for STN, BOD, END). But for Hero points and stuff like charges, yeah. Nice density, size, and durability.

I agree, and most of the time nobody has to know a thing about this level of complexity. For anything not directly and specifically involved in combat, it doesn't even matter what the numbers are. If you think you need an active cost (for dispel, etc), just estimate it. Its fun to figure out builds like flashlight and Zippo lighter, but in reality you don't need a build. Agree again. Personally, I think the Hero system basic rules should be the huge books, but the genre books can have stuff like "Instant Change" built as a talent-type power: here's what it does and costs. That way you're not actually putting different rules in different games, just short-form applications.

The Viper sourcebook for 4th edition had a scenario that involved fighting viper in a Planet Hollywood falling from the sky! The more interesting spots you can come up with, the better. A fight in a zoo with wild animals joining in? Great! A fight in a sewer? In an oil field with a gusher slicking everything up? In the central area in the oval during the Indianapolis 500? In Tralfagar square, with the villain using Cleopatra's Needle as a baseball bat? Anywhere can be fun!

I run into so few GURPS players, in real life, online, and at conventions that I suspect its sales are largely due to an incredibly dedicated core that buys everything that comes out, and GURPS puts a lot of stuff out. So less broad and more deep support.

There's actually a back story to that involving ownership of the coke recipe and corporate trickery as well. In hero terms though, yeah: don't mess up the basic product, just make the break in point easier.

"Is everyone having fun" is the most important key to any game, role playing or not. Play balance is only significant when it impacts peoples' enjoyment: this isn't PVP, so how well people match up is really not that significant.

I agree with the X-Men approach as a good profile; most of them have powers separate from their background and usually names that are different as well (Thunderbird being an exception, and possibly Banshee). DC has been less good at this, with The Knight and Beefeater as UK heroes, for example. But I agree with Massey, some stereotype or well-known types are welcome. Having The Minuteman or American Eagle for the USA is fun, or a viking from Norway could be. Nothing that makes eyes roll, but stuff that gives a little grin and a chuckle or a knowing nod.

I think some countries need better heroes (and villains) more than others. England actually does okay, for example, but Saudi Arabia not so much.

Meh, more like everyone likes their cell phone small so it doesn't take up room! They'll always be small! Until someone comes up with a way to get phones to do more cool stuff like show movies. Then they get bigger. Then tablets come out, and they got bigger. Right now people are looking for easy, fast, and simple - in all of life, not just games. Nobody wants to read anything longer than a few lines, shaped by text and quick distractions. For example, how many of you read sureshot's entire post all at once? Or were put off by that "wall of text" and looked away? Don't be ashamed, almost everyone is like that. Presentation makes a huge difference. The D&D rules are every bit as complicated as Hero. If you try to build a character in Savage Worlds, it takes math and learning the rules to build the character. If they put lots of explanation on how each ability and skill worked with examples, suddenly its not a pamphlet any longer; its a big book with lots of text. So a low impact "welcome to hero" book needs to be super simple presentation with lots of cool images and quick bursts of text that gets people started easily and they will get more interested I mean, D&D is simple! Then you talk to the guy that knows the full contents of 3 huge books full of data, numbers, and combinations off the top of his head.

Yeah, make an interesting character that works well and is creative and ignore potential "eek offense!" hyper sensitive jackwagons.

Although the art is great and some concepts were interesting in European Enemies, it is frankly packed with bad stereotypes and heroes only someone who doesn't live in these nations would have come up with. Its like someone outside the USA going "Eagle man! Captain Indian!" So what kind of international heroes can we come up with that are good international types? Heroes that don't necessarily have to reflect national character but seem right for the setting? I love the idea of Peregrine for a French hero, for some reason that just appeals to my sense of the nation and a flying battlesuit just works. But Einherjar for a Norwegian guy, a huge axe wielding warrior might be a bit too on the nose.

Yes sir, Cap.

I enjoyed when I played DDO, its "dungeons" felt much more like dungeons should, instead of artificial and clearly computer game-oriented arenas. But its a game you really cannot play long without friends and its not easy to get a group.

I liked the Mythbusters episode where they showed how quickly you go through a magazine (about 3 seconds with a variety of guns) in full auto.

Wick was kind of beat up and tired by that point, and really distracted too, but he only demonstrates shooting off handed once so maybe he's not really all that ambidextrous yeah. Might come up more in film 2.

No, I was just thinking that if someone has a dagger with weird magical effects on it, that would better simulate varieties of attacks a rogue might wield.