Christopher R Taylor

It came up in this discussion of splitting out damage into different types based on physical characteristics. I like the idea so much I'm using it from now on in my heroic games and its going to be in my Jolrhos Fantasy Hero setting when the Player's Handbook and Treasure books come out.

Skill levels to offset location modifiers are Penalty Skill Levels, so they should be bought using that skill rather than Combat Skill Levels. 6th goes into better detail explaining how they're used, incidentally.

I agree, Mob Rule works well as a starting adventure, although not quite as good as Viper's Nest in my opinion.

I like the thinking of some of the people here. Since I run default hit locations in games with people using bows for weaponry, I just saw "picking your target" as a clear hit location issue. However, it does make sense that you could consider a Haymaker just another way of defining that without being specific. In fact I'd go further and say that you could actually use Haymaker to be a hit location proxy: choose the location you hit instead of a damage bonus by taking extra time and a big DCV loss. I like this idea so much I think if I ever run a game again, that's what I'll do. However, with the alternate damage system we've discussed on these boards, it might be unnecessary. In that system, there is no KA alternate dice, just normal dice with AVAD: resistant defenses. So all damage is rolled as if normal damage. That d6+1 RKA because a 4d6 RKA against rPD. And in that system, instead of multipliers in hit locations, you see dice adders, and that begins to act exactly like haymaker anyway. So a head hit would be +4d6 (after defenses) just like a Haymaker.

My work isn't official, but I have more than a few monsters in the Jolrhos Bestiary with sub-3 MCVs (and even OCV/DCV). My philosophy was to try to build creatures as closely to how I envisioned them and ignore the baseline in all cases. Well you had some lousy GMs then. One of my players built a mage with KS: Geology and I worked hard to find ways to make that useful and interesting in the game. When starting out, all players can roll on their PS to have more starting money. I try to find ways to work that into the game, because skills give characters depth. In fact, in many games I gave people free points equal to their INT in background and non-combat skills in addition to their starting points just to encourage having them.

The thing is, it was pretty standard for villains to be very up front and announce their villainy. The brotherhood of Evil Mutants, for example. We're evil. Deal with it.

You must have started at 4th edition.

If you can run down a copy of Viper's Nest, that's a good starting adventure module. Deathstroke is a great one as well but requires considerable work to bring it up to date.

Might be worth slipping CON into session 2 so people get stunned in combat 2 instead of 1, but its not that complicated a mechanic

If possible, I encourage you to build your game around enforcing genre and teaching players about what they should and shouldn't do as heroes to start with. NOt a lecture, but adventures that emphasize heroism, self sacrifice, doing good, protecting people over killing, getting loot, advancing personal goals, and triumphing. Champions is a very different creature than D&D: its not about gaining power and prestige, its about being a hero.

Yeah its all rep, not real comparison. Even making a Savage Worlds character requires significant math and work to figure out. Its just what people learned and how they learned, not the complexity of the rules (unless you go really crazy like Phoenix Command). Hero has a rep of being crazy complicated, so its considered bad now. D&D has a rep of being simple despite being no more simple than Hero, so people prefer it.

Historically and realistically, you can underfire a bow (not draw it back the full way) but you can't overfire a bow (give it more power than proper use), so no I would not. I don't like haymakers with ranged weapons to begin with, it just doesn't make sense even with a thrown weapon. thrown weapons are more about technique than raw power, if you throw them too hard, you mess up the ballistics and it won't hit right, or at all because it will go wild. Its like pitching a baseball, if you throw as hard as you can, its going to go wild and probably hurt your arm. But if you throw with proper technique and learning, it can go very fast and exactly where you want. That said: its your game, you can do what you want.

OK I've been in contact with Jason who handles this kind of thing and he's on vacation right now, but will be back in a couple of weeks so I would like to have a proposal ready to give to him so he can pitch it to the guys who own the Champions IP.

My combat survival guide is in downloads, might be useful for you.

I agree, no rules, except the very basics on how to play for the GM in the most simple terms (how to roll to hit, roll damage, do speed, etc) in a tutorial format is the way to go. I think Cracked's text with a goofy picture breaking it up regularly is welcome today. I don't mean to imply that modern people are morons, just that they are used to small bits of text so its best to spoon feed info.

Well I think we can look at maybe more in the future, if we can pull this off and its popular. I like the idea, especially with the different sorts of approaches, but right now its a question if we can get one out yet.

Pretty sure Haymaker is exclusive - that is, it cannot be combined with any other maneuver.

Definitions are sliding a bit. We're not talking "smart" we're talking "top of their field genius." We're not talking "fit and healthy" we're talking "toughest guy on the battlefield that soaks up damage and laughs." That front line warrior with the plate armor who can take the big hits isn't just fit. The thief type is fit. The Ranger is fit. The mage can be fit. He's a brick.

Android would be enough. I know a lot of people use Iphones but I'm not confident any but a tiny minority are gamers, and Apple appears to be on the wane in terms of technology and market share.

OK we need to decide what adventure we're going to give to the GM to run as an introduction to Champions. So, here's a poll. I can't figure out how to add one into a comment so I'll just do it manually: WHAT ADVENTURE SCENARIO DO YOU PREFER 1) Viper's Nest 2) Deathstroke 3) Some other conversion from Champions past (please specify) 4) A conversion of some other product (please specify and explain) 5) A totally new adventure my vote is 2, then 1 as an alternate.

The point isn't whether this is great for you or terrifically functional in all situations, but rather whether it would be welcome to others, perceived as modern and up to date, and help Hero's business life.

I vote for a reboot of Viper's Nest or Deathstroke over something completely new just for the sake of making things a lot easier.

I agree someone needs to build a couple of great Hero apps for the company: a dice roller/damage calculator, a character builder, a combat hit list manager, etc. Those would all be quite welcome. An official module for systems like Fantasy Grounds would also be good. But, who's gonna pay for all this?

I think presenting the system as a basic super stripped down core rules to players, then adding in options and choices for the game is the best approach. Some obviously have a package (classic Champions: no hit locations, no bleeding, no disabling/impairing, uses knockback, etc) but if you start on that basis, you have a very simple, easy to learn game. That's the approach we're trying with the Champions Begins project, start players out with absolute minimum info, then add bits in as each adventure session takes place, resulting in a sort of tutorial approach.

I'm fine with Diamond Spear being the one that keeps people on track and focused, organizing who does what, etc. I can be the editor and do some writing and art. If need be, I can do layouts and publishing work as well, I have quite a bit of experience with that and have a little business that does publishing.