Korgoth

We'll see. as I said, I'll watch the first episode, but if its the usual "current year Disney tropes" I will not watch further.

The opposite is also true. Westworld and Altered Carbon had great first seasons then it all fell apart. 
 
As for Willow, a new trailer came out, and yet again, Female lead, and deconstructing poor Willow. I’m done with Disney. 

So I got to thinking about my figure collection and Hero System. Naturally I want to use my figs as much as possible, so I thought up a game of super-powered airborne infantry invading France in 1944. The characters will be under 5th ed. revised, 250-300 points worth of superpowered individuals, but with human weaknesses to bullets, strangulation and other "natural" means of dying. Think of the Godlike RPG when imagining characters.
 
So the player characters drop into Normandy in the first session, and have to link up with their HQ. Combats will be handled with miniatures on terrain, and other stuff will be ToTM.

I will be designing the characters for this, so ideas are welcome. So far I have a super-strong "brute" with a BAR rifle and a nasty disposition, a private who can fire armor piercing laser from his eyes (though the power will probably have the "Burnout" limitation), and one soldier who can turn into a beastly form to tear into the Nazis with claw and fang.

The PC powers will probably be "raw" talents, so they will require an activation roll, and will have some limitations (EGO roll to prevent beast form guy from losing control of himself?) , but they are still super powers. The nazis will also have superpowered troops, but I haven't come up with concepts yet.
 
I have a battle-mat and terrain for the combats, and a couple of tanks (if I grok the vehicle rules) for variety.
The games theme will be some form of gritty, down-to-earth warfighting and the consequences of human superpowers (hubris anyone?) combined with wargamey concerns and some roleplaying and storytelling to round out the experience.

This was supposed to be a complete book, but I didn't have the oomph to finish it (yet) so I post it here for review/feedback. I love the WW2 setting so that became the emphasis for this. Could be any setting, really.
Skirmish HERO.pdf

Maybe a "Dark Net" site. A hangout for pro-Vigilante types with an otherwise innocuous Patreon-style system.

Foxbat, definitely.  Also, every "dark hero's" favorite adversary--a group of pseudo-anarchists who livestream themselves destroying things for the sake of destroying things.  Then the hero shows up, and that's usually the last thing they livestream.
 
I can't really see heroes doing something like that--maybe in a four-colored campaign, but not in the "grim-and-gritty" world of Dark Champions.  Same with a Patreon page, or a GoFundMe campaign.  ("Help me avenge my family's death by freeing me up to beat crooks with my bare hands!")

I can picture some superheroes live-streaming their adventures. Some villains too (like Foxbat).

Believe it or not, it was 20 years ago today that Darren Watts, Jason Walters, the Secret Masters, and myself bought the HERO System (and its related IPs)!
 
It's been a wonderful, amazing journey ever since -- one with its ups and downs, like any journey -- but still an awesome one. My deepest thanks to all the HERO fans out there who have made it possible!

Kickstarter?

Since some of the other classic games have gotten premium reprints in recent years, I've dreamed of having the option of buying a reprinted 4e Champions BBB hardcover that's not from page scans (other than of the artwork) but from a modern recreation of the original layout -- with all errata integrated.
 
It would require paying someone for data entry, copy editing, and layout, at the least.
 
Last time I knew anything about those costs was in the mid-90s. Does anyone have an idea of what getting such a project ready for printing would cost these days?
 
It would be so great to have the BBB (and ideally all the 2e and 3e games) available again as though they were brand new, not just for those of us who use them regularly, but for people who fondly remember them and any gamers who may prefer the approach of an older edition. It would also possibly raise HERO's profile a bit in the wider gaming community.
 
I can dream, anyway.😁

I'm looking forward to Hero Games starting a Patreon account and plan to join it as a supporter, and I'm especially excited to hear about the Martial World supplement.

Shadowcat combined my two favorite things and gave us an official Traveller HERO.
 
On the strength of my appreciation for that alone-- and I probably shouldn't admit this publicly, but oh well-- I will blindly buy anything with his name on it.  Shadowcat rocks.
 
 

Would still love to see the 6e Vehicles core book that never got published.

Fwiw the Chimera System has really piqued my interest.

Fellow Hero System Fans-


I’d like to take a moment to talk about our plans for Hero Games in 2022. I believe they’re both modest and realistic, in that they can be accomplished on time and using our limited resources. At the same time they are also ambitious, as I intend to release four projects in 2022; one each quarter of the year. They will be the following:


(Quarter One) HERO2023 Champions Begins Created by a group who wish only to be known as “Hero Fans.” This high-quality free electronic product provides everything you need to play your first game of Champions! It’s designed to teach people new to Champions how to play the game, but isn’t a complete presentation of the rules set; it provides you with just enough to play for the first time. The zip file contains a 52 page GM book, a 20 page Player book, a villain book, hero book, paper figurines, and Hero Designer files.


(Quarter Two) HERO2017 IHA: Pride & Prejudice Created by Thomas Stadley. To most people the Institute For Human Advancement is best known for its boring spokespeople who appear on talk shows that only their parents watch. But the Earth’s superheroes know better: the IHA is an insidious, genocidal threat to the planet’s mutants – and anyone else who gets in the way of their plans! Packed with agents, villains, weapons, and equipment, IHA: Pride & Prejudice contains everything you need to introduce the IHA into your campaign.


(Quarter Three) HERO2018 Champions International Created by Steve Long and Jason Walters. There are a variety of imaginary and unusual locations that have been mentioned in Champions Universe books over the years, but have never been fully explored or detailed. Champions International does exactly that, providing an in depth look at locations such as Awad, Lugendu, Larisagrad, and Costa Azul. It also includes some new locations like Transnistria and Prosperidad. Previously released individually in 2021 and 2022, these articles will be further edited and reworked to become chapters in the final version of the book.


(Quarter Four) HERO2024 The Chimera System Created by Philip J. Guinchard. The Chimera System is a hybrid of the Hero and OpenD6 systems in which elements from both have been combined together by the author to create a unique, new game system. Like the recently published Champions Now, it’s a joint undertaking by ourselves and a creator to publish a variation of the Hero System fans will find interesting and useful.


Additionally, if things go well with Champions International, Steve and I are considering creating a Patreon account to fund the creation of the HERO System Advanced Player’s Guide III, Champions Martial World, and other projects starting in 2023. But we’ll see how this year goes before we commit to a long-term project like that!


If you have a manuscript you would like to submit to Hero Games, contact me at jason@herogames.com with a one to three paragraph description of your work. If it sounds like something we would be interested in, you can then send me the full manuscript for review. And, of course, feel free to post any comments or questions on this thread.
 
- Jason Walters, Publisher
 

Also, you can let drivethrurpg.com to do "high quality color hardbacks" which are really medium quality.  But I think more fans than just myself would be willing to pay the increased cost of POD hardbacks.
 
I know I would be willing to pay $100 for a solid hardback product to hold and put on my shelf.
 
I totally miss the ones Steven signed when he came to Sedro Woolley and regret having lost them so very much.

Are there any plans for printing physical books again or ways to get the hardbacks? Over time I have lost my hardbacks of the Hero 6th edition volume 1 and 2. 
Looking around the only options I saw were paperback from Amazon.com or drivethrurpg.com.
 
I have an old copy of the POD paperback version and the colors are washed out and not as vibrant as the hardback was.

Careful there, Son....
 
If we have too many more discussions about PRE, it's going to disappear in the next edition and become "Startling Appearance" or some such nonsense. 
 
 
Seriously, though:  all the reasons you stated in your Farmer vs Bad Guy argument?
 
Those are the reasons I allow EGO (force of will) to defend against Presence Attacks.
 
 
However--
 
and man, I really hate reaching back to this thing over and over, but not only was it our most successful "western" game, it was the longest-running of all of our non-supers stuff (I will happily run supers; I will happily play supers.  I would _rather_ run or play pretty much anything else.  Such is life.    ) except for the space opera, and even that is only "long running" because we keep playing in the same universe, same characters and stories or not.
 
Anyway, during our occult western game, I had cobbled up an ability (when 4e came out-- about mid-way through our western campaign, I took to calling it a "Talent") called Strength of Conviction.  Essentially, it allowed you to make a modified EGO roll.  If you succeeded, then you could add the higher of the amount by which you succeeded to your EGO (again: I defend PRE attacks with EGO, not with PRE.  For "normal" use, you'd add it to your PRE) _or_ the value of any relevant Psych Lim you had on your sheet that might be triggered by the situation.  For example, a strong code of ethics might be listed as a disadvantage on your character sheet.  Not the value of the whole thing, mind you, but the value of the "results in this kind of action" part of that limitation.  If you only had 5 points of that section (say, "well, I'll be unhappy, but I'll go along with it"), then you could add the higher of the Conviction roll's success or that 5 points.  If you had the 15-point "I will kill everyone in this room over this!" level of reaction, then you could add the higher of the Conviction Roll's success or the 15 points for that (odds are, it was going to be that 15).
 
Okay, before everyone breaks out into "But Disadvantages can't be advantageous!" complaint, let me get in a couple of comments:
 
First, we had that discussion here a few years ago, and we accepted (some more grudgingly than others) that within limited bands, it is conceivable that they work to some advantage.
 
Second: an untrained farmer whose strength of conviction has encouraged him to stand fast before Lightning McFastdraw, Killer of a Hundred Men, is hardly doing something "advantageous."
 
Third: failing the save v psych lim is going to put him doing something stupid anyway.  This Talent simply let him channel and control that stupid into something other people might consider brave.  This was simply buying the ability to voluntarily trigger a psych lim.  For all the arguing and protesting that can come out of the idea, I'd have to say that politics and the public the last couple of years have demonstrated this actually far more common-- and likely less-expensive-- than I actually priced it.
 
Fourth:
 
Let he who has _never_ taken a Berserk or Enraged with the idea tickling the back of his mind that it might somehow prove "accidentally" useful cast the first stone.
 
 
 
 

Look at Ninja Hero 5th Ed pg 55 Staredown Rules.

Sorry about the delays, folks. Partly it relates to some health matters and other real life causes for delay, partly it relates to me being lazy, partly it relates to what Hugh pointed out -- since I don't work full time for Hero/DOJ anymore, sometimes other things ambush me and take priority. But I'm working out some things, and Jason and I have figured out an arrangement that will give me the ability to answer rules questions on a regular basis. First I will have to clear out the backlog and delete all responses from other people, but that's what I get for taking so long.

I would love to get one in HC again. While I still have my old BBB, it's seen better days.

One of Steve Long's mantras as the Hero Line Developer was, "You bought the book, it's your game now." I appreciate that he always peppered the rules and FAQ answers with, "The GM can rule to allow this if it makes sense for their game." Mind you, he's not above saying, "You shouldn't do X," but that's very rare and almost always conditional.

I seem to recall Steve once posting that, for 5e, he was somewhat constrained in what he could do, while he had more free rein in 6e.
 
I don't know what his 5e process was.  Like most of us, Steve watches what other gamers do and cribs the ideas that work for him, I'm sure.  There was a 5e Revised, but that was more cleanup than substantive change, adding examples and corner cases here and there.
 
For 6e, Steve assembled a "sounding board" group.  To the extent that created a "6e by democracy", well, perhaps, but only if Steve was the only 18+ YO, since he held the sole vote and decided what would, and would not, be discussed.  There was also, as I recall, a "what do you want to see in 6e" Board for some time before he wrote 6e, and many of the issues discussed on those Boards made their way to 6e.  I think Steve started a few threads there with "I'm thinking of doing this", so how much was "Board ideas" is open to debate there as well.

I agree with Chris to an extent. I always felt that the best edition was 4e with a few of 5e's new ideas sprinkled in. But using 5e or 6e as the foundation is not my preference.
 
One huge advantage of 4e, in my view, is that it doesn't lure you into thinking you have to search the rulebook for the "official" answer to every tiny piece of minutiae that comes up in play (or during character creation). Quite a bit is left up to you and your players to reasonably extrapolate from what's given. Once you get the hang of that, you'll be using the system as a general framework for playing anything you can think of, and you won't find yourself consulting the rulebook very often. The same can't really be said, IMO, of 5e or 6e, as those editions attempt to encode every little possible contingency into the main rulebook, filling every margin with stuff you will feel compelled to use and adhere to.

Whether you base your rule set on 4E or 5E, the two editions are about 90% compatible, significantly more so than either are with 6E. That makes it very easy to use materials for one with the other. Those two editions each had extensive supplements published for them, particularly in the supers genre. Those are also now widely available in PDF form, far cheaper than their original cover price.
 
If I was limited to my 4E and 5E collection, I would have enough to run many games in almost every genre, and more stuff for supers than I could ever use.
 
EDIT: One of our forum colleagues created a detailed checklist (and thoughtful commentary) on all the changes from 4E to 5E.
 
 
HERO System 4th to 5th Edition Checklist-Commentary.htm