Christopher R Taylor

I go through this concept in pretty extensive detail in my Jolrhos Field Guide, but here are some highlights: Characters can build their own magical items using character points, but the points are never lost. Consider them a sort of initial investment, you have to be this tall to buy that item. Once you buy it, either you get the points back when it is destroyed, or a similar item, or can invest the same points in building something new. Certain substances and places have "matching" points, that is, for each 1 point you spend, they contribute 1 point, up to a maximum amount. This helps keep the cost down slightly, in exchange for risk and cost of game money. Items should be considered for point value when comparing characters. Joe the barbarian is not as powerful as Jane the barbarian who has the Brutal Axe of Decapitating even if otherwise their builds are the same. So if you let someone have an item, be aware that others will not be equivalent in power. Few other games pay heed to this like Hero does, and its a bit help for the GM to have a more quantifiable, clear read on relative power.

Either all movement should be affected by increased mass or none of it should. But each one is affected in different ways even if you made mass affect them all. For example no matter how much you weigh, you can teleport the same distance for the same points. But you can only teleport a certain maximum mass limit: its all or nothing. Again, this comes down to how Hero works and how it simulates the source material. Hero doesn't start with complete powers, it gives the tools to build powers with. So if you want mass to affect your flight, then it will. And since the source material does not show someone slower just because they are heavy, then the game should not either. Inconsistency is not a bad thing, if it makes sense and is consistent with the source material.

Sure, but the examples of very very strong beings that cannot also hit really hard are extremely rare. The source material being simulated shows that if you're really huge and swole, then you hit like a freight train. So the system reflecting that means that if you are able to lift heavy things but hit like a flea means you took limitations on your STR. And that's across all genres, that huge strong cowboy can punch out a horse. That burly orc can slap your face off.

Here's my case for Density Increase not being like, say, blast or flash in obviousness: its not in the comics. Nobody in the comics is figured to be extraordinarily heavy just by looking at them unless its a special case "that guy is made entirely of lead!" So by default its not an obvious power, its a complication or visible effects someone bought. BUt that's just my personal opinion and how I'd run my game.

Strength having nothing to do with dealing damage violates pretty much everyone's sense of reality and logic, though. I can, with some effort overcome the EXTREMELY OBVIOUS connection between Dex and CV, but strength is a change too far.

I had a GM once that tried to apply all these physics and measurement stuff. Some poor guy built a shrinking character, and the GM reduced his STR and movement proportional to size decrease. Why this cost points to buy with such severe penalties, nobody could explain. Ultimately you shrug at it because to do otherwise is not only too much work, but not fun and does not simulate the setting or genre.

however, you do bring up a good point: someone so smart they can think their way out of anything should have more than, say, 25 or 30 INT. It should take 60 INT to be Mr Fantastic (or MCU movie Tony Stark). It should take 60 Ego to be Professor X or Phoenix.

Excellent suggestions. I'm trying to make each of the books look distinct so they all have a different color and layout strip but how's this look? I am not too worried about a back cover for the moment, as it will be strictly PDF, and there's no need for a back unless it gets printed at some point

There are limits to where you can take the concept but yeah, you can already make an entangle against EGO so why not DEX or CON?

No, its a giveaway, free for everyone. I want to blanket the planet with this thing. Every new Champions player is a potential new customer for my other work, I figure so hopefully I can consider it an investment of time and effort. And I want more people to play Hero. I mean, I have a dream of a box set with this in it, and that would cost money but the pdf is gonna just be free.

I would interpret that as "you look dense by the way you affect the world" not "you glow and hum while using your power".

It is remarkably inexpensive to buy affects desolid on STR, but its really not too expensive to buy Affects Physical World on heroic-level STR as well.

The Hero Dice aren't technically in the right perspective, and I am not sure new players will give a damn about the history of Champions but it feels colorful and interesting, is a heck of a lot easier to do than my own art, and I think its eye catching. Here is what I think I might end up doing with the covers. There are four booklets, and I think each should have its own cover, so to do so I have an idea of making the covers four colors, and have them each expose a different part of the cover image. For example: Each of the four covers would have a different section of the cover revealed, and the sales/promotion version would be the full image. Since this isn't likely to see print right away, its a minor issue, because most people don't spend much time looking at pdf covers. Its not going to be lying on the table or in a shelf. But this would clearly and instantly show what book you're looking at with a glance.

That's why I suggested the use of a complication to simulate the effect he's looking for. Its easier and cleaner than building an entirely new system and works within existing structures.

Pretty sure Density Increase is an "inobvious" power, so that it doesn't have big crackly obvious special effects when in use.

Body is not merely physical presence, its life force. You can "kill" a machine by breaking its physical form, but you can also kill a person by doing zero physical harm to it, and attacking its will to live and soul in their Body. Remember, Hero is special effects-driven. The mechanics are how it happens in game terms (meta), and the special effect is how it looks and behaves in the game. Blast is blast, whether electricity, fire, or sonic. The mechanics do x, but that doesn't define the why or how. You define that. "Kill" a ghost? Do body to it until it doesn't have Body any longer. How does this work? That's where special effects come in. Now, if you want to create a different sort of mechanic, an option is to build a physical limitation, defining how and when they "die" outside of body damage. Something like "dies if EGO drained to 0" or similar.

Bolo thanks so much for the editing and input, great ideas. This has been a huge help. OK quick cover rough layout concept:

3 points is a huge swing on 3d6: that's the difference between an 8- roll (less than 10% success) and 11- roll (roughly 50% success).

I always thought the opposite, why isn't a roll vs roll check for STR? But it works that way too. The big difference really is that there's a much larger range of strength than other stats in the game. You can have 60 STR but rarely does anyone have more than maybe 30 or 40 in another stat and usually in the 20s. Probably +1 would better translate as +1 body to the roll though?

Well, both are active so they don't really qualify for the hall in my opinion but Louise is clearly the more significant influence of the two

Most of the really exciting, interesting, and innovative comics content is being done in Japan right now. There is some stuff in the USA (mostly online) and as always Europe has taken better advantage of the medium. I just wish you didn't have such a deliberately provocative, politically charged, and ignorant signature, though.

Whlie true, the real money in comics is in merchandising, not the comic books. Few comics these days even make money. But the tee shirts, buttons, jammies, sheets, hats, "action figures", games etc do.

Thor was a no-brainer to me, but it didn't catch on as well with others as it did me. I really liked the first movie. Most thought it was meh.

Yeah a lot of women went an watched Aquaman several times for... some reason Its not a very good movie, but it looks neat.

And how did they do that? With relatively new, fresh concepts and stories, with strong interesting and likable characters that largely (at least until recently) stayed away from being preachy or woke. A lesson Hollywood still does not seem to have learned.