Scott Ruggels

What about How Harbinger of Justice did it in Dark Champions?

I could not give you a Like or a thank you as I am not grateful or like it, but I cannot argue with the truth. This just strengthens my argument for a 2E or 3e re-issue.

Second Edition is complete. it's just not as granular or detailed as 6e. but it was more than adequate back in the 80's

Outstanding fight scenes. Reminded me of a couple of FH campaigns I have been in. Will be scraping it for ideas, on Episode 3.

Going back to 2e serves several purposes. 1.) Nostalgia of the old guys. Having a 40th Anniversary edition publicized would be how money is raised to print it and support Hero. The Strike Force Kickstarter raised a two amount of cash. I think that a publicized Second Edition would as well. Add in stretch goals supporting it would be helpful. 2.) Second Edition is slim, yet complete. Players and GM can learn reading from reading the book, leaving the adventure(s) for the GM. 3.) Hero is backwards compatible. Most of what the new players learn carries forth to later editions. Once they know the basics, then they can search out later; newer products if they so choose, or they can stick with it and this will still grow the player base. Character creation has become far more complex, since then, but basic combat is generally the same. Once players have the basics down, then they may be ready for further complexity. 4.). Having a Collector’s Item type physical copy, may get copies, however briefly back into our FLGS. An effort to bring GMs at the same time to those shops to run games would at least expose players to the system. Some people learn by doing rather than the reading. 5.) Second Edition does not need the electronic help that 4th edition and beyond need for character creation. They may help, but they are not necessary. Leaving a sheet of paper in the box that on one side has web addresses for the support materials for Second Edition supplements available on DriveThru RPG, and on the reverse has information about Hero as it is now, and where to get it. Blank character sheet and sample characters (the original Hero Team?) can and should be included. 6.) Other Genres can be re-introduced if the is successful by re-releasing the 3rd Edition genres, if other players find Superheroes an unattractive genre for them. Your other points are sound regarding presentation and materials. I do not think that the current edition can really be unpacked and streamlined enough to not be intimidating to new players and without writing powers as a 3 sentence paragraph, and following that 2nd Edition format. Authors writing new material need to be paid for their time. Sure, it could be prettier, but new art also needs to be paid for. Launching a super slim 6e Superhero Essentials like WOTC is doing, would be exp naive, and do s not have the attraction of nostalgia. Bringing 2e players forward may be easier than SrA ting them fand on 6e to begin with. I also think it would be far less expensive, and a way to generate some good Will.

Season 4 of The Expanse. So good! I binged it Friday and Saturday.

Well that fits as the show runner is one of the two or three people that wrote Avatar.

As was I, though my introduction was with Steve Petersen, and Bruce Harlick running it at Pacific origins in the late summer of 1981. My General RPG introduction was at a friends Dinner Table learning D&D from some 7th Graders.

So rather than a re-issue of the First Edition for the 40th Anniversary, you would suggest a re-issue of the Second Edition Boxed set, with the Viper adventures, Dice, Map sheet, and such? Seems eminently plausible as 2nd Edition as I remember, wasn't that different from First Edition... was it? But I think a possible solution to the whole complexity issue is to have new players come up into Hero the way it was done in the past. introduce the complexity in stages, rather than dropping 6e on them. If they like Hero, they may climb the ladder themselves. But in all seriousness, the way to get more players is to get more players into F2F situations and play. I don't see a lot advocacy for itinerant GMs putting up flyers in FLGS or other venues, offering to run. Almost all RPG players started as visitors to someone else's table.

Well Hero coul re-release the First and/or second editions as a “Facsimile 40th Anniversary Edition ” with the book, map, dice and adventure included in a box, and that would serve to cover everything we have been thinking about. The summer of 2021 is a year and a half off, time to organize crowd funding with a big enough goal to print retail copies as well as cover the backers.

Welcome to 1981, folks, pull up a chair and listen....

Artists like to draw boobs. | That being said I have seen a few artists that draw feminine reptilian types without boobs that look nice.

Because good software development is it's own expensive nightmare of a project. and the design phase is the most important. Do we cede tabletop, because we don't have a decent phone app? Then I guess it's ceded.

The problem with Bayonets is that when attatched to rifles they are long annd unwieldy in close quarters (see previous arguments), but in the field, well bayonets can be more useful, with a lot of training. Imperial Japan put a lot of emphasis on bayonet training, to the point of making a sport of it called Jyuken Jutsu. after the US occupation the sport was revived as Jyukendo, and the popularity is growing. a friend in Australia joined a Dojo that teaches it.

I missed your post, But yes, something like that for Champions might work, but in building the Pre-generateds, build thinly disguised versions of popular superheroes. (Either from Film or Comic), so that the new player can kind of assume. But now, does it have to be Champions, or are we selling the system, rather than the genre? Espionage (Marketed as Action Hero), might get more traction, maybe?

[lost my post due to a Windows Update] Okay, I see three things here: The complete Series was not a bad approach, but was sub-optimal due to bad organization and layout. As it is it's focused, but it's not a good product for a beginner to Hero. There is little to no chance of there being any ability to change the published rules as is, but there may be a chance to repackage the "Complete" series as re-organized as a PDF maybe (with permission). A reorganized product might be easier for beginners, but it is a large sandwich to swallow. What this re-organization would look like would have to be discussed as I have no clue what that would look like. organization is not my strong suit. This produce might be useful to someone new to Hero, but a more experienced GM. There is a new product from WOTC. It's entitled Essentials Kit. It is a boxed product that contains a 64 page rule book with ruled to cover characters from levels 1 - 6, Dragon of Icespire Peak an introductory adventure, Double Sided poster map, Dungeon Master's Screen, 6 blank Character sheets, 11 polyhedral Dice, 81 cards describing Magic items, sidekicks and more. The produce comes in a fairly substantial box and I bought it retail for $24.00 US. (the reason I bought it, was that my Nephew wants to learn how to play D&D< and this is a way to do it, without tossing him into the deep end by buying him a PHB). The product is definitely aimed at Beginners, and includes an abbreviated rules set, but otherwise is compatible with the current 5e rules. Boxes are still a thing and work well for introductory products. Hero at the current time does not have the finances to attempt this. But the product format is still worth looking at for design and educational purposes. The third thing. I was looking at Fantasy Hero Battle Grounds for Fifth Edition FH. It's a book of adventures, with a fair amount of details. They are all loosely linked with some background to make them into a whole, short campaign. Why wasn't this idea pushed further? (probably because it didn't sell). Partly I think it should have had a more evocative title, like "Rising of the Forgotten God". But as written is looks and feels pretty solid. The only thing missing would be a set of pre-generated adventurers, to make this something like an introductory product. So it has been done before. If we must, it could be easily ported over to 6th Edition, but it will still need some pre-generated characters. I could not tell from my first pass if this product was at all tied in with any other existing Hero FH Background, but it could be, I suppose. But I think some sort of combination of What WOTC hass done, What Hero has done in the past, and what is economically feasible is what we should aim for , in attracting new talent. Now we can't have a box, or dice, or probably multiple books, but a very slimmed down, basic set of the 6e rules might work, with an included Adventure and pre-generated characters. All examples using those characters names and such. Maybe even splitting things out further into a GM's book, and a player's book, ala D&D, to keep the amount of effort on the new player minimal? something like Fantasy Hero Primer, but with more pre-generateds would work as the player manual. https://www.herogames.com/files/file/367-fantasy-hero-primer/

Wabbit Season!!!

Oh those bands are on the list as well. (Well except the Cure), but Depeche Mode was/is one of my favorite bands just due to the consistency of the stuf I like, even their early stuff. US Music in the 80's was British music on certain stations. (I avoided hair bands).

A good chopice, but I have a mix of old 80' s dance tunes I call "Music by Work by" with things like Obsession by Clan of Xymox, Alphaville's "Dance with Me", plus some new stuff like Dolya Riska, byt the cheese people, and Dog blood, by Chella Ride (which is the soundtrack to a martial arts fight scene in a movie playing in my head). But my love for the 80's is eternal.

Looking forward to the Next WW movie. I think DC movies finally have worked themselves out from under their curse, finally. Also New Order's Blue Monday, for the Win!

Usagi is "Rabbit" in Japanese. So w're hunting wabbits?!?!

Never quite understood the difference between skills and talents. But then it was all skills when I started.

He’s got my vote!😺

There is a thread below that discusses what long term Fantasy Hero characters look like and you might want to look at that. But the TL:DR of it is that the characters become more skilled , and more competent, and more flexible, rather than superheroic.

..did someone say "meat"?