Brian Stanfield

As someone who only recently got into 6th edition rules (after a 30 year break!), let me offer some advice on the books: Don't bother with the hardcover copies of 6th edition. 6e1 is almost impossible to find at a reasonable price, and if you do find one under $100 the binding is so dang fragile that it will break after you open it several times. You definitely don't want to use it as your physical reference. 6e2 is still available at the store here at HERO, at the original price, so is probably worth the price, but the binding is also going to be ridiculously fragile. If you don't mind not having the full-color books, you can get them in paperback, reasonably priced and printed on demand, at DriveThruRPG with a full color (well, blue and yellow) cover and black-and-white interior. They are well done, and are more durable than the hardcover books with the fragile spines. I'd definitely have a copy (or several) of the Basic Rulebook, as I mentioned above. It's a good introduction, and it is easy to flip through to find the rule you're looking for. It won't have some of the more complex rules, but you aren't worried about them right now anyway, right? Just focus on getting the basics under your belt. I can't emphasize this enough! I've read through the two big volumes cover to cover, and it's a slog! I've read the Basic Rulebook several times, and it's much quicker and more concise, and makes for an easier overview of the rules (stuff like understanding normal and killing damage, damage classes, hexes=2 meters, range modifiers, all the things you are asking about). If you're into fantasy, then get Fantasy HERO Complete. It's essentially the Basic Rulebook with genre information added to it. It will show you how to apply HERO System to a genre you are interested in, so may be very useful for you. If you're genre-neutral or undecided, Champions Complete is going to cover a little bit more of the modern rules situations you may need. Neither of these books is necessary, if you have the other rulebooks, but they can help you figure out how to apply the Powers rules to different genres (magic, special abilities, building weapons or firearms, etc.). Once you have these core rulebooks, there are so many others to start looking at. They are all available at DriveThruRPG. The Grimoire is an entire book of magic; the Martial Arts book may actually be more up your alley with lots of ways to build fighting systems, including contemporary military campaigns; likewise, the Equipment Guide will be incredibly useful for your non-supers campaigns (you won't have to figure out how to build all your firearms, for example); the Skills book is useful for heroic-level campaigns where players will not be using Powers as much as they will have lots of varied Skills; the Advanced Players Guide 1 & 2 are not immediately needed for you, but are full of interesting applications of the rules in non-standard ways. Anyway, all these books are available when you're ready for them. You can also get the PDFs here at the HERO store if that's all you need, plus you'd be supporting HERO directly. If you're looking for more direction in the modern settings other than super heroes, get old used copies of Danger International and Justice, Inc. They are from 3rd edition, but they have such great material for the genres that they may come in handy. They are by no means necessary, and while they can be converted to 6th edition, that whole process will only confuse you. But as genre books they work great. Once you get this stuff under your belt, you'll find that a lot of the 5e books will be very useful as well, and by then you'll be ready to start converting older editions to 6e. But for now don't worry about any of this. I'm just pointing to all the tantalizing possibilities in the future . . . . Also, keep this in mind: there is rarely only one way to build something. You'll find that there are many, many ways to create what you want, so don't worry about "the right way to do things." HERO System is really just a toolbox to help you build things the way you want. Keep asking questions in the forums so you don't have to reinvent the wheel. And don't be surprised when a single question yields a dozen contradictory solutions! Pick the one you like best and run with it. I hope this helps somewhat. I had to go through what you are right now, and had to figure all this stuff out on my own.

You can buy the books individually through the HERO shop under 5e Star HERO. The complete set is also available from the original producers of the game (sort of—it’s a long and convoluted history) at https://www.farfuture.net/FFE-CDROMs.html. I got the CD-Rom a while back, and it is packed full of more stuff than you’ll ever use, including unpublished notes! And for $35 it’s a steal. There is also a thread in the Star HERO forum about the CD-ROM here. There is an updated file you can get for one of the ships. I hope you at least check it out, but I suspect you won’t be able to resist getting it.

If you're looking for a more condensed version of the rules, you can either read Champions Complete, which gives you all the rules and the Champions genre information. Or you could get the HERO System Basic Rulebook, which is a 100 page version of the rules and is great for getting a basic grasp of the rules. I'd recommend the Basic Rulebook as an introduction. You don't have to read every Power and things, so it's an even shorter read if you're just looking at the combat rules and stuff. Character creation comes with experience, and familiarity with the Powers comes with practice. So, in order of recommendation: Read the HERO System Basic Rulebook, excluding all the Powers/Advantages/Limitations (except only to become familiar with them). Use pre-gen characters from the big 6e rulebooks, or some other source other than Satran's characters. There's lots to choose from. Jump right in and do some skills challenges first, and then some combat. Use the 6e1 and 6e2 books for reference, just as you have been, when you need clarifications. Once these things make more sense to you, then create your own characters. Here is when you really need to learn about the Powers and how they are built. Ask lots of questions here in the forums section. Most importantly, have fun and keep things rolling along. Don't be a slave to the rules yet. Just wing it, keep track of what you need to look up, and do it after the game is over. Keep things moving for now and study later. Hope this helps. Good luck!

Dang, I didn’t even see that until you spelled it out for me. This chemotherapy has got my brain moving even slower than usual!

It seems like you could have a lot more fun with the acronyms. How about Royal Omega Task Force League vs World Terror Front? You’d have ROTFL vs WTF!!!

Have you seen the Traveller HERO PDFs that are available now? They can give you a bunch of good technology for a near future game.

So are we, or are we not changing the wording at this point?

It’s slow going, for sure.

Not a full rewrite or anything, just a reliable PDF that hasn’t been available yet. We’re almost done with the second read-through.

How dare you question God! I'm just kidding, of course. I love Alston, but the layout of all of the HERO books back in the day was flawed. I'm surprised there aren't more obvious errors. I'm helping Duke Bushido edit Western HERO, which actually has entire pages placed out of order!

It was written by Aaron Allston, so there were no mistakes, only nuances you couldn’t possibly understand . . . .

You know, it wouldn’t be too hard to make your own cards and add them to the decks. They may not look the same, but who cares? You could replace the cards you don’t like with ones you prefer.

So, I have to start by asking, are you looking for the expected rational response from your players, or from you as a GM. I could see the players giving up (well, not really . . . it seems kind of silly to me, but I can at least understand it), and I could also see the GM getting distraught and drinking himself sideways, but I can't see why the players would go on a bender. Unless that's what they do when they give up . . . . Ok, regardless, it seems to me that this would be a great time for the GM to ask the group of PCs to make a deduction roll. See who makes it and offer a bread crumb, such as, "Do you think that it seems significant that the Duffeys reported a burglary at their house on the night of December 18th?" or, "I wonder what the connection might be to the car explosion and the burglary report . . . ." It is dangerously close to railroading the PCs, but it's also just a nudge in the right direction. Maybe they just need a hint or two, and a reminder that this is a role playing game. Or maybe you need to get them good and drunk before the next session and see if that has an effect . . . .

I’m your one new viewer. Thank you for this. It seems I may try a similar approach at my next conference.

I’d be really interested to see your log as well. I’m interested in teaching some new people the HERO System, and I’d like to start with a heroic level game. There are so many fewer moving parts to keep track of. I’d most likely to a Danger International or Justice, Inc. sort of game, although updated to 6e.

I love this sort of inside-out storytelling approach. It’s like Tucker and Dale Vs. Evil. If you haven’t seen that, then boy do I have a nice surprise for you . . . .

If you have Fantasy HERO 6e handy, there are a couple of sections that offer suggestions (very broad suggestions) on these issues: p. 108, for several pages, discusses characteristic maxima, ranges, and specific rationales for cultivating certain characteristics in various situations. p. 390, for several pages, discusses character guidelines, effectiveness caps, ranges, and growth, etc. I assume 5e discusses the same things in roughly the same spots, but I only have 6e handy. It’s not extensive, but it is a handful of pages that summarize much of what has been offered above by everyone else. He layout isn’t always the most friendly, but the information is usually in there somewhere. I’ve toyed with other layouts of information for teaching purposes, but no matter how you do it it still amounts to drinking from the fire hose while simultaneously jumping onto a moving merry-go-round! I hope this helps, at least in terms of explaining where the material is. Whether it’s enough is another issue.

I’ll work backward toward you.

I've gotten the GM's section at the end of the book done, pages 140 to the end. Where are we at with the middle part of the book?

That’s why they made it a montage!

Oo! Oo! Is that the next book we work on?!

By no means rehash it all for my sake. Sometimes it’s best just to let things lie, especially in a thread that has gone dormant.

Unfortunately the meetings are called “Thanksgiving” at my family’s house.

Dang, I totally dropped the ball on that one. *ahem* Hi, Tjack!

Let me know what you think of them. I hope you enjoy them, because I think they're a pretty cool idea. I'd like to build a set for fantasy that helps build different archetypes by race, class, etc. for simply and quickly starting a game to teach new folks. And probably cards for weapons and spells separately. But the Champions cards work great! I'm glad you got both decks.