Christopher R Taylor

Problem is, KOTR was set four thousand years before the films were set and they had... internal hyperdrives, hyperspace tracking and navigation well enough to get around the galaxy lightsabers, droids that were functionally identical to the film versions, etc.  Its stagnant.

Disney has demonstrated very abundantly that they are willing to simply not allow access to their content unless they control it.  Most of their catalog was only available at special showings or rarely if ever on TV.  They wouldn't even release a lot of it on DVD or Video tape in the past.  I predict they will make sure there's only one way to see their stuff, and that's streaming on their service.

Because if someone buys a DVD or downloads the video for their own server... they only pay for it once.  If they have to pay to see it on the streaming service, that's money every month.  And the mouse wants that cabbage.

I keep wondering when and if we're going to see someone try to pull an Orville on Star Wars.. That is, Orville is nOT star trek, but it's so close fans recognize a homage (Some would say a rip off) and some embraced it as carrying the spirit of it.
 
If someone makes Star Wars 'inspired' stuff that's close enough to be kissing cousin but just far enough away not to get sued, I have to wonder how many old Star Wars fans would jump on that band wagon?

Pretty much come to the conclusion the new Disney films are a deconstructionist anti-mythology of Star Wars. 
 
The prequels, as terrible as they are as art & movies, at least preserve the mythological essence & character of Star Wars. 

He was a villain when he was just a supporting character in the Mummy franchise. When his Scorpion King character became the lead in a movie, Johnson did the hero's journey thing.
 
OTOH

I never really liked find weakness anyway. I mean, there is some precedent in the comics for a power like it (Karnak, one of the Inhumans) but really that's just a AVAD that takes extra time.  I complain about some of the stuff that was removed in 6th but Find Weakness and Gliding as its own power, removing leaping distance from STR, those made sense to me.

I'll just treat them like HBO and such. 
Every once in a while they will have a single program worth watching and I can do that when they hit DVD/Blu-ray. 
I never had a compelling need to be first in line for a show or movie so I can wait. 
And I seriously doubt the mouse will pass up sales.

There are many stories of people shot multiple times in key areas yet still fighting despite clearly dying on their feet. And one of the aspects of Hero that endeared it to me most was the fact that you can die fully conscious or be knocked out without dying.

I'm going to have to sleep on the penetrating effect or cost.  It needs to increase the chance of body damage, but not be more powerful than penetrating presently is (although, honestly I think its overpriced at +½ at present).

I saw this and my first thought was "Admiral, there be whales aboard!"
 
 

Man, I dunno. The Trek reboot isn’t bad but I’m seriously tired of franchises that aren’t Marvel. 

Sure, these aren't meant to be regularly played characters, they are a learner tool: here's a selection of characters so you can start playing RIGHT NOW.  When you get used to the game you can make your own, or personalize this character.  Like a tutorial character: you only have the abilities the game allows, and they are as stripped down as possible.

For what it's worth, 
 
be mindful of the little reaction face that looks like sympathetic sadness.  It's actually just "you made me sad" and inflicts negative rep just like the down arrow does.  Don't use it unless you mean it.
 
 

But in 6e you can just buy DCV directly, right? And limited forms of it? So no CSLs involved in 6e. I think.
 
 
 
Yah, that was what I was wondering, how much is "only vs rear attack\multiple attack" worth. -2 seems reasonable. I'd go -1/2 for the Extra Time though I agree -1/4 does fit the pattern. Either which way though about the same 1-2pts per level of DCV compensation.
 
 
Sure, totally.
 
 
 
It seems neater too. "+3 to DCV, only to negate attacks from the rear or from multiple attackers, which requires no extra time" tells me what it does in a way Defense Maneuver III does not. Unless I'm a serious Hero dork and have it memorized. ;D ;D
 
 
 
Dropping a half-phase to (kinda) apply combat levels, particularly defensive combat levels, seems worth more to me than just the -1/4 the chart implies.

This would require the GM to permit using Combat Skill Levels with modifiers to be DCV only, of course.  But to build an effect, sometimes you have to break the rules.
 
Here are the levels of Defense Maneuver:
 
 
So if we built this as a set of limited DCV levels, they'd instead have varying costs rather than levels with set costs.
Level I seems like its simply "DCV vs surprise or rear attacks" which is pretty specific so maybe -2 (plus the extra time for -¼?? Half Phase isn't actually in the chart, for some reason so you have to guesstimate) for a total of 1.5 (1) point per DCV.  If you want to get technical you could charge 3 points per 2 DCV.
Level II is a lesser limitation, since it covers multiple attacker bonuses as well, but that's still pretty specific, maybe -1¾.  After all this doesn't come up a lot and you still have every other attack in the game that this added DCV doesn't help with.  That works out to 1.6 or 2 points per DCV.  Again, I guess you could charge 5 points per 3 DCV, but it probably should just cost +1 point per DCV added to the Level I ones you bought.
Level III is again a slightly lesser limitation, perhaps -1½, so that works out to 1.8 points per DCV or 2.  Again an additional +1 per DCV added to the previous
Level IV doesn't work out to a clean and easy cost, since each level is a different price, but its roughly 1 point at most (.8, in fact).
 
So it would look like this: buying +1 DCV at Level I would cost 1 point
Adding Level II effect would cost 2 points total, +1 each
Adding Level III effect would cost 3 points total, +1 each to the previous cost
Adding no time would cost 1 point each DCV level.
 
So +3 to DCV, only to negate attacks from the rear or from multiple attackers, which requires no extra time, would cost 12 points.  And 3 is enough for most characters to effectively negate "half DCV" since that's as low these maneuvers and attacks can reduce you.  That's roughly the same as the present Defense Maneuver, but low DCV characters need not spend so much.  If your DCV is 5, you only need 2 levels (8 points).
 
*as a house rule I always have treated IV as an adder: that is you can pay those +2 points at ANY level of the skill and just not have to take the extra time.

I think the characters should be designed to a "typical" Supers power level to be consistent with published materials.
 
However, I also see a lot of merit in the pre-fabs having some "unspent points".  These would be spent in one or more later updates of these pre-fabs to flesh out the basic characters with a few bells and whistles, fill in some "personality abilities" like skills of an occupation, and round out what started as very basic characters.  Some of those points, like some of the Complications, might be left for the player to fill out (perhaps with some suggested packages or options they may want to consider), allowing them to finalize the details of these characters, and move them from pre-fab template to fleshed-out character.
 
These pre-fabs, to me, are intended as tire-kicker characters.  Test out the system with some combats and other early scenarios, demonstrate how the core elements of the system functions, etc.  The campaign and role playing elements get added in at the later stages of that process, once we have conveyed a grasp of the mechanical system.

There are many stories of people shot multiple times in key areas yet still fighting despite clearly dying on their feet. And one of the aspects of Hero that endeared it to me most was the fact that you can die fully conscious or be knocked out without dying.

Honestly, most of those are Silver Age in tone.
 
Most of the costumed crime fighters were vigilantes, often clashing with the police.  Batman carried a gun early on, and more than a few of his opponents died.  Superman actively killed several people in his first few years.  Almost all of them were willing to let a bad guy die without putting any effort into saving them, especially if it was an ironic death (Dr Evil was crushed by the gears of his own deathbot, that serves as a lesson to all of us...).
 
That's not to say you can't have those themes in a GA game, just that historically in the comics of the time, things weren't quite so white hat squeaky clean.

I think street level is a good place to start at with premade super simple beginner characters.

There are many stories of people shot multiple times in key areas yet still fighting despite clearly dying on their feet. And one of the aspects of Hero that endeared it to me most was the fact that you can die fully conscious or be knocked out without dying.

I'm leaning heavily toward using this simple intro scenario for the Champions Begins project.  Makes writing a heck of a lot easier and its a classic

I agree in principle, it doesn't make sense to me even with the way Hero combat moves around in jumps rather than a constant fluid scene of action.  Someone can try to move around you on their phase to get an attack from behind, but you can also turn while not on your phase to face them.  Its just a question of whether you want to do so and let others be at your flank/back or not.  Which is where defense maneuver comes in: that ability lets you reduce or eliminate the problem by making you so fluid, fast, and skilled in combat you effectively have no flank or rear to be struck from.

Digging through potential weapons for Western Hero, I've found quite a few really odd and experimental guns that were being developed at the time.  Since the wild west was the transition period from cap&ball to true cartridge rounds, there was an explosion of inventiveness, sometimes just dumb and crazy and sometimes pretty amazing.  This was the sweet spot for designers like John Moses Browning (love to see a biopic about him) and guys like that, who were creating what we now take for granted in guns.  Its been quite an experience.  Like the 4-barrel shotgun

 
Or LeMat's various combo weapons such as this 9-shot pistol with 1 shotgun round in the  middle

 
And stuff like Colt's experimental shotguns such as the revolving hand cooker

 
And winchester's lever-action shotgun

When a player moves their character around to get behind another character, either the player of that second character, or the Game Operations Director if it's an NPC, should reach out their dominant hand, grasp the figure between thumb and forefinger, rotate the figure until it faces the one who just moved, and say "Ok, he turns to face you."
 
Problem solved.
 
Lucius Alexander
 
The palindromedary has no behind to get

Well, at this point we've had questions raised and responded to, and alternatives proposed. There have been several points on which various parties have agreed, and points on which parties have disagreed, which is normal. For the most part the exchange has struck me as quite civil. Expecting everyone to agree is unrealistic, and IME trying to force that to happen just leads to escalating resentment. Personally I prefer to agree to disagree once I've explained my position. Particularly when that involves opinions from people on the Internet whom I don't know and will probably never meet.