Scott Ruggels

I've harped on adventures for Hero in the past.  Not just adventures, but content: spells, monsters, and so on.
 
D&D 3.x had the OGL, and an explosion of third party content, meaning adventures, spells, monsters, and so on.  D&D 4e had a restrictive license, and no third party content.  D&D 5E had the OGL again, and again an explosion of content.  We're watching the slow motion trainwreck of D&D 6E happening in internet time. 
 
It's not that Hero has any kind of restrictive licensing terms at all, but you still have to contact Jason Walters and ask. And Jason is eminently approachable and one of the nicest guys in gaming and will in all likelihood say yes, but... however small a barrier asking for permission is, it's still a barrier.

The votes are in.  Hubby's Friday game will be...Serenity.  So the GM still gets to indulge in his crapsack world fetish.

Paizo just gave WoTC and Hasbro a pair of middle fingers, and may have built a foundation for them to surpass D&D
 
 

At its very root, Hero is a much easier game to tweak than any other, I'd say. But that doesn't mean the book, and I'm refering to the 6e books because those are the only ones I have, aren't lethally confusing. I don't mean that the layout is especially bad or anything like that, there's just way too much fancy bologna going on in Hero system to wrap your brain around as a new player. Things like the Follower perk and multipowers are extremely unintuitive, seemingly creating character points out of thin air; Talents that simply do things outside the otherwise intuitive powers and characteristics systems; Trying to figure out exactly what should be paid for with character points, where does one draw the line between mere possessions and fundamental aspects of one's character, how are we meant to make those distinctions on the fly. ETC. I have been in love with Hero for a few years now, but only distantly. I've never actually played because of running into confusions like this, despite buying several books. Hero demands an enormous amount of gaming wisdom be afforded up front, and if you don't have much experience with actual play, like myself and my brother, it's prohibitively difficult to understand.

Apparently, once that info got out, so many people went to cancel their account, the web page crashed temporarily:
 

I never got a paid subscription thankfully.

If this really was the time for hero games to step up, then it would need a free, web based, app to generate characters like D. & D. Beyond.  Even as a first day adopter of Champions, back in 1981, I have trouble with the math. But having a separate app, for $25, otherwise, getting stuck in math world, seems a bit distancing, or unfair in comparison. New products to attract new players, should probably follow the pattern of Champions begins. That would mean a something like fantasy, hero begins, and something based on modern adventures, modern Adventures without superpowers.
 
 

D&D's biggest issue isn't that it's hard - it is, especially to run - it's that it's utterly broken to the point fighter and magic-user are playing entirely different games, and the game falls back constantly on the DM to fix it on the fly. ...and one could fill volumes. Its the worst significant TTRPG of all time.
 
Hero is complex and hard to learn, too, but once you learn it, it's a functional system.
(I want to say, "except for skills," but that's not the point)
 
It's just that the vast majority of potential new TTRPG fans have /only/ heard of D&D.  So if they try D&D and, reasonably, find it to be a bad experience, they figure they don't like TTRPGs, and never try Hero or anything else.
 

I have been here for _years_, and honestly, I have wondered that, too.
 
If you are opinion shopping, mine is that the internet let's millions of people with whom you would otherwise never have any truck share their opinions with you.
 
You think you have your head wrapped around something, and hear people tell you that you clearly havent, or that something is too hard, or too broken, or some other thing that makes you question yourself, so you start hunting answers, looking for a "right" way.
 
Why else would the rules have swollen to ten times their origin so size?  Some people just dont trust themselves, and are hunting for a perfect right way.
 
Some folks are just looking for ideas or another point of view.  As an example, the guy looking to build the hologram character a couple of daya ago: he showed up with workable ideas.  I suspecr he was just looking for inspiration as to other ideas for the character.
 
HERO doesn't have a huge following, but it has a devoted following, with most of us falling in love with it at some point in the 80s or 90s.  That didnt happen because we took special classes or held large online-discussions.  It happened because it is fairly easy to grasp the five mechanics that run the game:
 
Skill check: 11 or less adjust with modifiers.
 
Opposed Skill checks (such as roll to hit) fall under this, as they are nothing more than a way to resolve two rolls at once.
 
Count damage
 
Determine multiples (later, this became levels of success
 
Deduct Defenses
 
Apply effects, though I dont count this as a mechanic because every game does this.  Damage, endurance, multiple/ levels above target characteristic, sanity, whatever.
 
Everything else falls into place.
 
Even character building boils down to nothing more rhan determining how much of what kind of defense  you want this character to deduct, how many and what modifiers you want to what skill checks, and what kind of damage or multiple/ levels of success you wish him to consistently return.
 
Then color him up with special effects.  We picked That up  with one reading and two or three sessions of play- just like every other game out there.
 
HERO isnt any more difficult to learn than any other game, and way easier than some (looking at you, Aftermath and Pheonix Command and Universe and Living Steel and so on).
 
The only problem-  and I have said this a lot, but recently-  is the core rules _books_.  Push Basic as the core rules.  Do not push the massive encyclopedia.  Rebrand That as Advanced.  The problem is the core rules present a ridiculous number of options- so many that it is now possible to play a HERO game unrecognizable to any 1984 gaming table.
 
Stop doing that.  I have no idea why- probably tied to the increasing percentage of people with anxiety, but analysis paralysis is a real thing, and- again, if you are opinion shopping-  _this_ is the only thing that makes HERO 'difficult.'
 
Stop with all the God/×[%+ "options" and calling them core rules.  "Advanced guides" are the place for options.
 
Wait-  we have those, too.  Ans they are full of more options!
 
Pur them all there, or cull them out completely; I don't care.  But id you want to attract new players, get them out of the core rules.  There is a significant number of potential customers who just cant handle it.
 
 
 
 
 
 

WoTC blinks
 
Wizards of the Coast Cancels OGL Announcement After Online Ire
 
 

Yeah its going to depend on what kind of game you want.  More on that in a moment.
 
Realistically, there are five actions in play here:
grabbing the gun drawing the gun cocking the gun aiming the gun firing the gun In game terms several of those are bundled together into single actions, like grabbing and drawing the gun, or aiming and firing the gun.
 
Realistically, it takes actual training to get a single action revolver out and fire it with any sort of speed.  I mean you can shoot yourself in the foot fumbling with the hammer or yank it out in a hurry and cock it then fire at the sky, but to actually pull off an actual attack action takes actual skill beyond "I know which end the bullet comes out of".  That skill takes practice and in the game is the form of "Fast Draw".  Remember, you only roll Fast Draw if you're finding out who goes first, just tugging the gun out to fire doesn't require a roll.
 
An untrained normal person with just base familiarity with a pistol is not going to get that thing out, cock it, and fire it at someone in a single phase, realistically and historically.  I've literally watched regular people try it and its a lot of fumbling and aiming.  its a conscious, aimed action to cock the hammer back that takes concentration and time, the same with each action. 
 
However, even a 1-point familiarity with Fast Draw will allow you to pull this off smoothly and take only a half phase to fire..
 
That said... some genres, its going to be common that everyone can do it.  Or it may be in some genres that the technical aspects of the pistol are irrelevant: they just pop up and fire when you want them to, and never run out of bullets.  All of these are valid approaches to a frontier game, as shown in various media through the years.
 
So in some games, you have to buy fast draw.  Some games, the GM might rule that cocking a pistol is an action that takes no time (but can only be used on a character's phase).  Some games its not even a matter of timing or rolls, you move your hand and shoot the target.

There was an article in an OLD dragon magazine where a GM did this.  
 
The players were getting bored of being the good guys and wanted to let loose their Inner Mr Hyde.  So he put the game on hold, they rolled new PC, all scums and creeps, and he gave them free reign to do what they wanted.  And they went nuts.  Robbing, pillaging, and ... other stuff.  Culminated in them getting a small gang together to attack and loot a small town.  Thus endeth the arc.
 
 
Now back to the regular PCs, who are coming back to town after their latest adventure, to find it ransacked, beloved NPCs dead (or worse), buildings destroyed, etc.  NOW the PCs got mad (as did some of the players)  But most used it as a chance to roll play, especially trying to bring their evil PCs to justice.
 
Now this was obviously a mature group, so be careful.  Make sure you know what they can tolerate, and remind them, what they can do, you can do back!

Thanks for the positive comments!  Greatly appreciated!!
 
I fixed the Luke Cage 2x Overconfidence issue (I have "Running from the past" as the lesser disadvantage).
 
I cannot find my Colleen Wing character.  I'll see if I can't rebuild her over the next couple of days.  One of the harder to put together, as she changed so much through the show.

If this really was the time for hero games to step up, then it would need a free, web based, app to generate characters like D. & D. Beyond.  Even as a first day adopter of Champions, back in 1981, I have trouble with the math. But having a separate app, for $25, otherwise, getting stuck in math world, seems a bit distancing, or unfair in comparison. New products to attract new players, should probably follow the pattern of Champions begins. That would mean a something like fantasy, hero begins, and something based on modern adventures, modern Adventures without superpowers.
 
 

Yes but you meed to know how to yes the tools. I’ m not bashing Hero but everytime some one points out the flaws of (especially) D&D and say Hero is better never really look at the issue and see if Hero really is easier or does Hero just have the issue but from another angle or a different set? Like Ild man upthread was saying how much easier is it to build a character you want than searching multi classes and feats. Probably depending on what you want. If Hero is so easy why are there so many How do I? Question are on this site? 

Paizo just gave WoTC and Hasbro a pair of middle fingers, and may have built a foundation for them to surpass D&D
 
 

It doesn't, but as people have taken great pains to point out, the new OGL (now called OGL 2.0) isn't finished yet.  And no one trusts Wizards further than we can throw them.  They could certainly put a clause into 2.0 that says, anything you've ever published belongs to us now.  
 
Also, signing onto OGL 2.0 means you're giving up the right to publish anything under OGL 1.0a.  So if Mongoose wanted to publish anything for the next version of D&D under OGL 2.0, they're no longer allowed to publish anything that's under 1.0a.  Which means, any OGL content from their web site, or any Traveller 1e material that's still under OGL 1.0, or any other.  "No longer authorized," and the text of the OGL is copyright to Wizards of the Coast. In order to distribute any Open Content, you have to include the text of OGL 1.0a, and if Wizards tells you that you can't distribute that any longer, you're SOL.  
 
I'm sure that what Wizards thought they were doing was telling people that anything they wanted to use to play D&D with using D&D Beyond (the virtual tabletop software they're trying to lock everyone into) would have to be submitted in a certain format, and would then belong to Wizards of the Coast.  They seem to have botched that pretty badly though.  
 
Copyright law doesn't protect game rules, procedures for play, or a large number of other things that appear in a roleplaying game manual, but as WotC and now Hasbro were the 800 pound gorilla in the space, no one wanted to risk being sued for making products that were compatible with their stuff.  The OGL gave people peace of mind that they wouldn't be.  People built businesses and made livelihoods based on that, and with one announcement Wizards pulled that peace of mind out from under them.  That peace of mind is what built the 5e ecosystem, and inarguably made D&D 5e the biggest RPG of its time.  
 
(Apparently the reason GDW went under was not because they were being sued by anyone, but the possibility that they could be, and what they'd have to do to comply with discovery in the event the might be, was what did it.)  

Apparently, once that info got out, so many people went to cancel their account, the web page crashed temporarily:
 

Interesting Communication to D&D Shorts of YouTube:

 

Apparently, once that info got out, so many people went to cancel their account, the web page crashed temporarily:
 

Apparently, once that info got out, so many people went to cancel their account, the web page crashed temporarily:
 

I didn't hear his reasoning, but at the Gencon where D&D 3.0 and the whole OGL phenomenon began, Villains & Vigilantes developer Jeff Dee was strongly opposed to it. I don't recall his reasoning, but my guess was that involved the efforts by WOTC at the time to turn as many companies/publishers as possible into promotion sources for D&D.
 
It may have turned out that way, but only to a limited extent. They certainly did not expect M&M to build its own engine on the core of D20, and when they launched 4e they never in a million years expected their magazine contractor would turn around and release Pathfinder (aka D&D 3.75) and build it into a juggernaut.
 
I'm surprised this didn't happen in 2009.

Balance is overrated and not always desirable.