Korgoth

To me that's a big part of "Westerns" (and by extension Western RPG's). That is the "Duel in the main street of town at High Noon".  Whomever draws first is the aggressor (be they the White Hat or the Black Hat) and the one who draw's second is acting in self defense. At least if there are witnesses (Towns folk) who'll vouch for the Hero if he didn't draw first, but was faster than the Villain. 
 
To me it's one thing that's been missing from all the Western RPG's I've looked at, though that's by no means an exhaustive list. A "Stare-down/Flintch first" system where the Player and the Villian have to play a game of chicken and make the other one flinch and draw their gun first, thus making themselves acting in self defense, and safe from prosecution by the law. 
 
I'd like to see some sort of "Grit" stat (not sure what I'd use in HERO for that? Presence? EGO?) on which each part in the duel has to roll against their "Grit" and if they fail they draw their gun. Each round they succeed the next round is at a cumulative -1 to simulate the building tension till one of the parties snaps and goes for their gun. 
 
Now
 
As for gunfights when no ones is watching, well... anything goes pard'ner.

5th and 6th ed stuff is easy to convert, mostly just watch CVs and damage classes and defenses
there are a few things like the expanded change enviroment and regeneration in 6th
only downside is that Hero designer does not do 4th ed
you pretty much have to do everything by hand
there is Hero Creator software but it is really old
there have been excel sheets done for 4th but I have not gone looking for them(I have tons of 4th ed stuff that I would convert to 5th or 6th as needed)

Back by popular demand! This file, which is also available for free from the Hero Games Online Store, contains all the errata known to me as of today.
 
If you find an errata in the core rulebook which isn't listed here, please PM me to inform me about it. Please don't post it here, because I may not see it. Sending it to me directly ensures that I won't overlook it.
6E Errata 2020-02-09.pdf

Please be patient, Western Hero is still on its way, its just being edited and cleaned up to make sure its as good as we can make it.  I hoped it could be out before Christmas but it looks like it will be next year.  I hope to have a cover reveal soon.

I'm baffled on how to respond because what your saying has nothing to do with what I'm talking about.
 
In the Gunsmoke episode, Charles Bronson, aka The Killer, is goading cowpokes to draw on him and then killing them and claiming self defense. Marshal Dillan knows the guy is trouble but can't arrest him (or shoot him) because he hasn't committed a crime. His only choice is to get The Killer to draw on him which is complicated further by the fact that The Killer is quicker on the draw than the Marshal. This modern white-hattery forms the basis of the drama of the episode.
 
A similar situation occurs in the opening of Fistfull of Dollars, when Clint is demanding the men apologize to his mule to get them to draw their guns so he can kill them all.
 
Or in True Grit, where Rooster is on trial for shooting an unarmed man while serving an arrest warrant. 
 
You can exclude all these iconic scenes as modern legalism, but if you make a western RPG that excludes Gunsmoke, Fistful of Dollars and True Grit, I'm not sure what you have left. 

False.  It suffers from a distinct lack of George Perez cover art.

One thing I do like abouit 6e. If I have a question about the rules, I can be 99% sure that what I am looking for is there and also with an example that illustrates how something works. 5e base is around the same size as 4e. 5er is much larger. YMMV
I love RPGs that have a TON of supplements. So that I can find anyting I need with game stats (ie I won't have to convert)

YMMV

I'd suggest adding Killershrike's Cyberpunk stuff to your Cyber Ombnibus book. 
 
http://www.killershrike.com/MetaCyber/MetaCyberSetting.aspx
 
It would have to be copy/paste of his web content but it's really good stuff (as is all of Killershrike's content)

OK, at the risk of a derailing the thread, could you provide some details?

I guess I'd be wondering "Mechanically" "Best" for....what?
 
Resolved: Any version of (almost) any RPG has rules that you can run a game with. (the actual important thing, playing the game)
Resolved: Any version of (almost) any RPGs rules will not survive contact with the enemy\players. (the less important thing, because rules will always be adjusted)
Resolved: The actual in-game stuff, specific to the group\characters\genre\setting\play-style, will be much more impactful than the actual rules.
Resolved: Running games is the actual thing that really matters.
 
 
So then, for 6e, what is it best at? And "best" compared to...?
 
What can I do with 6e that I can't do with 4e (or 5e\5er) that will improve or effect most\some\the "average" game? What's "best" about it?
 
I'd say 6e makes character creation slightly more complex for us Hero System veterans and somewhat more complex for new folks.
 
Resolved: Old-heads don't really matter to be honest. We'll modify things as we see fit. We're comfortable with the rules already.
 
So in this sense then 6e introduces complexity that...was anybody asking for this? Did old-timers find Figured Char and un-decoupled Dex\Ego CV so constrictive we couldn't run the games we needed to run?
 
Introducing complexity to a rules system and providing no real benefit to either new folks, or old folks, doesn't seem "best".
 
The 6e stuff in general makes sense as a logical end point of the 4e beginnings. IMHO at least.
 
But I don't think it really does much of anything to enhance average\general game play. IMHO again.
 
I also think, I mean, you know, essentially only us weird folks that give a funk about the rules actually read, post, care about the rules. So it's mostly going to be idiosyncrasy in terms of "best" rules version.
 
To me the advantages (+2?) of Hero are:
 
I can build stuff I want instead of picking stuff from lists that other people thought up.
A fairly clean and universal game engine (not char gen) that you only learn once.
 
6e added more fiddly bits to the "building stuff you want" but didn't really allow me to build stuff I couldn't already build.
The game engine doesn't seem to have changed significantly.
 
So...I can put time in to learning the differences in rules versions so I can...run the games I'm already running? Is that the best use of my time?
 
 
But...change your mind?
Well, sure, how about: What kind of games are you running now in 6e that you couldn't ever do before? How has 6e changed the actual games you are actually running for the better?
 
I will speculate baselessly that: A) You run fun games that your players enjoy and B ) You ran fun games in 4e and 5e as well.
 
So...for any additional work that would go in to learning the updated system, re-stating anything that needs re-stated, what's the IRL fun or ease of use that you're getting with 6e that you don't with 4e?
 
Like...just cost\benefit if I spend X hours learning rules and stuff which doesn't make actual game play better then couldn't I have spent those same hours running games, prepping for games, writing up stats and NPCs (I realize you, Killer Shrike, have stated up a bazillion NPCs and PCs and every other gawddamn thing under the sun, but you know what I mean) then...is it best?
 
Or maybe you meant specifically 6e is the best *Mechanically* of all Hero versions. IN which case...can you MAKE *your* case for that? What are the mechanics in 6e that improve over 5e in terms of game play?
 
 
 
 
 

Well if you think that I am a troll rather than a long standing supporter for the game and those who play it, and that I am trolling rather than asking people who don't like 6e to itemize the problems they have with the ruleset that cause them to express a general dislike for it at one end of the spectrum up to using terms like "detest" at that other end of the spectrum, then you misunderstand me.

I'm not attempting to troll you (or anyone else) Christopher. I've been away from these board for a while, and coming back to it I notice a trend with the posters currently active where a noticeable subgroup seem to hold 6e in poor regard. As the opening post stipulates, I want to start a friendly forum for reasonable discussion for people to put forth their talking points for why some other version of the rules is a better version of the rules.
 
You are of course free to not participate in the discussion if you don't want to, but popping in to participate by accusing me of trolling seems counterproductive on the one hand or perhaps some might say a bit trollish in and of itself on the other. Name calling has a tendency to propagate, I suppose. But if you have an opinion about why 6e is not the best mechanical version of the rules, I would like to hear it if you would take the time to type it out.

Yes.  A very important one, I think.
 
For Western HERO, as much as I love the 4e sourcebook, there is a sourcebook that outdoes it.  Well, let me rephrase that: it doesn't out-do it; as a sourcebook, Western HERO had everything: background, genre tips, discussion of breakdowns within the genre....  Sample characters, historical figures, stated out and read to use, maps and maps and maps, a full-fledged town, broken down and visited, a second, roughly-explained "ghost town" that could be fleshed out to be any other town you wanted....  a couple of sample scenarios, one of which was multi-session and a _great_ kick-off to a campaign...  In my own opinion, it really was the _best_ 4e genre book ever published.
 
However, there is a book of equal quality, researched and laid out equally-well, that covers things that Western HERO, solely because of its scope, could not: lots of maps-- maps of the whole country at various points in history.  Great heaping helpings of historical data, and day-to-day information on the lives of the people in the early days of expansion westward, from fur trappers (and a nicely-detailed and historically-acurate summarization of the history of fur trading that runs pretty much up to modern times), railway men-- everything handled with equal care, and presented in scrupulous detail, all the while being a wonderful and easy read; it never feels like a textbook and never feels "dry" to read.  And that sourcebook was called The Old West, and it was published for Third Edition GURPS.  If you are going to actually build yourself a massive single tome, complete with densely-packed information that add all the details you can handle about the westward-expansion days of yore, then this book is a _must_ include, to the point that if you asked which _one_ book (other than Western HERO) you should include, I would have only GURPS Old West, 3e, as my suggestion.
 
Now then, on two other notes, related to your post:
 
Is the fan-made Cyberpunk something for distribution (as in, is it something I can find on the author's website or something?  Because I'm interested!) and can I use your cover art for my own personal reprinting of Western HERO?  I envy you.  I have considered doing something like this for _years_ with 2e Champions-- to include notable characters from various play groups over the years, etc and with Western HERO, from the time years ago I thought I might write a supplement for it (I posted on that some time back.  During my research, I stumbled across GURPS Old West 3e, and realized I could _never_ do the job as well as the authors of that book had already done), but never could find the time to actually do it.
 
Actually, can I use the cover for your Cyber HERO as well?  
 
 
(Seriously, Man: those are _beautiful!_)
 

 
 

Just came across this thread and am really glad to see you're testing these waters out (HERO Games).
 
I also was hesitant at first to try the print on demand service at RPGNow/DriveThruRPG. But the soft cover and hard cover books I've bought are of great quailty. You can't really tell the difference from a store bought book IMO.
 
I'm off to order both books right now. 
 
Please add the new "Ultimate Skill" to the print on demand service as well :-)