Scott Ruggels

I've tried looking at mainstream comic books from time to time over the past decade. Comparing them to the comics I grew up with, I've almost always been disappointed. The writers don't understand inspirational heroism. The artists don't know how to tell a story graphically. It's all flash and noise, no heart.

OTOH the budget for producing comic books is hella smaller than movies. Particularly special-effects-heavy ones. Comics can provide the most spectacular effects with just paper and ink.

Pretty much echo LL above 99-100%

Excellent suggestions.  I'm trying to make each of the books look distinct so they all have a different color and layout strip but how's this look?  
 

 
I am not too worried about a back cover for the moment, as it will be strictly PDF, and there's no need for a back unless it gets printed at some point

I could say Luck is not a Hero Stat  😁 However, luck may not be enough. Sure, the narrative focused games will have a luck stat, or a narrative bonus token, but I don’t think that is enough, for the simple fact that most players of RPGs these days base their ideas of  heroism and exceptionalism from film, far more than text on a page. Comics exist on that halfway point between film and text, and players want their characters to have a “bit”!to show off their skills in being a badass or above the average person. It takes a diffevent kind of player, in control, and satisfied with their lot in life to be  the character actor, rather than the heroic lead. This is assuming a solo game, as characters like that seldom.can carry their weight in a dangerous situation and are more suited to be NPCs. 

Luck would be a good thing to have. Otherwise, an Average Joe wouldn't likely survive repeated encounters with the supernatural.
 
TV and books would work. I remember the old 1970s show Kolchak: The Night Stalker. But my mental picture of the character would look more like Anthony Stewart Head than Darren McGavin, and he'd work as a university professor or antique book dealer instead of a reporter.

I think it would work better as a book or TV show than as an RPG. RPG Protagonists are player's escapeism, a chance to be "better" than normal in som way or another. being a dead stock normal, especially when one is not as clever or witty as they imagine their character to be, is a bit of a downer.

Lately?
 
 
This:
 
 
 
 
And I just can't stop....
 
 

I finished watching Arcane: League of Legends yesterday. Now, I have never played the game, have never had any interest in the game (not a MOBA fan), and have no intentions of ever playing the game, but I must say that this series is phenomenal. The story is absolutely gripping, the characters are brilliantly realized and voice-acted, the soundtrack is stellar, and the animation is breathtaking. Everything about this series is of the highest caliber in my opinion. The events of the episodes stuck with me long after I watched it. Simply incredible. A second season has been ordered by Netflix, but since it took something like six years to get this first season completed (though at least one year of that was due to COVID-related delays, I believe), I expect to be waiting a good long while for the second season. But maybe that's okay: I wouldn't want them to cut any corners on this. It now has a reputation of the highest order to live up to, and I'd rather wait for as long as it takes for a second season that it just as good as the first, than get a rushed follow-up that is a pale shadow of its predecessor.

I have always believed that is the standard for your normal gm, author, blogger, or general creative. 

Bag of Tricks!
 
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For some, adherence to realism makes or breaks a battle scene; indeed, for some, their minds will starve if deprived of realistic tactics - grand scale down to mano-a-mano. I, on the other hand, find that emotional investment is key...highly charged broad strokes form the foundation of the most memorable clashes we revisit years later.

Yeah!
 
Like the oh-so-useful nunchucks!
 

I would really like to see this elaborated on, as I am running into résistance to trying Hero, from other players. Everyone is defaulting to 5e, and those that aren't are going to minimalist systems I can't stand. Maybe start this in another thread as I don't want to derail this topic either?

What Scott said.    
 
Because HERO is Champions, it's geared toward the high end-- the superhuman end.  Of course, we all know that.  What we tend to not want to accept is that because, even after genericizing and genre-flipping, it's geared for the high end, it doesn't do the low end very well at all.  At least, in terms of differentiation.
 
 
That being said, I _think_ what Christopher is after here-- more or less-- is getting away from "this is 1die killing, as are those other forty things."  I myself have toyed with converting by DCs to something that would use dice read "normally," just to introduce a little variation:  2d6RKA would become 6d6 "normal" damage-- that is, count body as normal; count stun as normal (and sometimes with a small multiplier-- like 1.5 or something, but not always) and make it "killing" by applying it against resistant defenses as per Killing Attack.
 
In the end, it's not too terribly dissimilar to 1d6KA-1; 1d6KA; 1d6RKA+1; etc.   It _does_ allow a bit more granularity by virtue of the fact that you can still do half-dice and +1 / -1, but it never really added enough granularity to make it worth pushing for as a serious optional rule: at _best_, it was like adding half-steps between whole numbers 0-5: you've doubled the number of options, but the difference is negligible. 
 
I think what Christopher proposes is interesting enough to see where it goes.  if, like me, you play more Heroic than you do Superheroic, there's a good chance you've wanted to see some tweaks at the normal human end of the scale, too. 
 
 

One runs into this with firearms in the Heroic games. In that there are few things that delineate differences other than caliber and range mod. Pistols cluster around 1D6 plus or minus, rifles 2D6 plus or minus wit a 1to 3 add to range mod if braced. You may have a clue here with the dex mod, BUT, with those weapons there is a trade off between damage and Dex level. Now I can easily see a weapon limiting a character’s action to the Dex of the weapon, but that being said, do you see this effecting OCV, because I do not. ( remember, I don’t do 6th edition). I also think that the weapon would have no effect on the character’s speed. Daggers are fast, but only add to the strength of the character. Pole arms add reach, and can be leveraged. The heavier the weapon, the more additional damage it can add to strength ( at the cost of dex). The only downside I see is switching weapons in combat is going to change the dex order, and most online systems don’t seem to handle that well. It’s not a bad idea you have, just try to keep the extra book keeping to a minimum. 

Personally, I prefer to have fantasy character start off with as few points as possible and allow circumstances and need drive development - say 50 to 75 pts plus 50 complications. Otherwise, you get power-designed characters who have a backstory just to explain how they got so perfect. This way, they have almost no back-story as they have no heroic history, just a pretty normal upbringing with perhaps some personal struggles, advantages and achievements. You can be generous with experience points at the start and make skills learning not too difficult (e.g. friendly mentors are available) and they can decide how to develop their characters in response.
 
I would also expect a minimum points spend on background skills and talents since you can't logically develop these quickly later. 50 pts of complications can seem a lot at that early stage, but you can go soft on those at first until they get more powerful (eg their hunters are rumored to be near, but they never actually show up in force until much later).
 
If they start off weak and grow fast, they will develop according to what you throw at them and in ways that fit the campaign setting. If there are lots of combat tasks, they will naturally spend point on combat. If there is more talking, sneaking, travelling or mysteries, they will naturally spend points on skills to be better at those things. They will then work out that they don't need everyone to be good at everything, so strategic decisions about who specialises in each area of ability naturally occur and everyone feels they have an important individual role in the party.
 
This is particularly useful for starting players, but it's also an interesting challenge for experienced players who may have a "road map / master plan" in place but can then adapt their concept to fit the campaign and work with other party members more effectively.
 

I want elves to die in fire, actually. I'd only include them to placate whiny players, and they wouldn't get anything humans don't.

For the non-humans I agree package deals are the way to go. Just try to make sure that the the limitations make the costs vs. disads balance out to as near zero as you can.  That should keep any power gamers away from playing them just for the advantages.

Artbreeder.com is a site using A.I. and sliders to generate art, by "breeding" two pieces of art to make a hybrid, that can be subsequently bred to other pieces. Then you can save the art. High Rez files are available if you pay a few dollars/ Euros a month. It's not very useful for Superheroic content, but Heroic games Modern, Sci-Fi and Fantasy. IT also does Landscapes, and facial portraits. A lot of concept artist use these as a base, for paint overs. and because the art generated for your save has never existed before, so it's yours to use as you see fit. Copyright free (unless you copyright  it yourself). This could help the artistically impaired for generating Campaign art. 
 
http://www.artbreeder.com
 
and here is how to use it.
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVcASCdVY8I
 

I found these at the local Comic store. They are metal,  about 40mm tall, and these are two of the three boxes. They cost me about $12 per box, so they weren't a painful expense.  IF one feels ambitions you could drop them in paint remover, clean, re-prime, and paint to your own heroes."

 
 
As to their use, for any sort of tactical combat game, which Champions is one of them, I find Maps and miniatures mandatory, because it allows everyone to agree on the same  terrain, and can plan their moves. It also keeps people more involved, planning out their next moves.  We didn't build a lot of terrain features, but drew the terrain out on 25mm Hex Chessex Maps, using  Stadtler Wasserlosich pens to  line out what the terrain was for the night, and using matchbox cars and 1/72 scale model kits of vehicles if available (because supers toss cars).   Now granted, I came into this hobby, from tabletop war games, so I am used to reading the maps and boards, because "Theater of The Mind", doesn't always do it for me. But having the maps helps in my experience, to give people more tactical  options. Hope this helps.

 

Horror On The Orient Express - London - Dancers In An Evening Fog
 
IN WHICH THE INVESTIGATORS EMBARK ON A INTERNATIONAL SCAVENGER HUNT AND ARE PUT OFF BARBEQUE FOR LIFE
 
The investigators have learned that their friend Professor Smith, and his manservant Beddows, are missing under highly suspicious circumstances. It’s not the only shocking news in the paper today either - another article (front page in the tabloids, naturally) claims ‘Man Dies Three Times In One Night!’. 
 
It’s a man they know, too - the Turkish antiques dealer Mehmet Makryat, or at least three similar-looking but younger men with the same name.
 
Florence Braxton-Hicks: Triplets? With very unimaginative parents?
 
The mysterious Mehmets were all found in a room at the Chelsea Arms Hotel, and according to the newspaper all had passports in the same name, had been travelling the Continent for the last few years, and had all been stabbed in the heart. Sub-lieutenant Huxley speculates wildly about the case, despite an almost total lack of actual information. Certainly the Professor seemed perturbed by every meeting with Makryat, but why was Beddows seen fleeing the house fire? He certainly appeared to be content in his position.
 
Sub-lieutenant Huxley: And how does a grievance with the Professor lead to the death of Makryat’s three identical triplet sons?
 
It becomes even more bizarre when a fourth Makyrat, presumably the original, is found burned to a crisp in the ruins of Smith’s house, only identifiable by the keys to his Islington shop and the ostentatious gold wristwatch he was wearing at Smith’s lecture the previous evening. 
 
Huxley: So we have a fourth dead Makryat.
Florence: Big family.
Huxley: This is getting well beyond weird trains. We’ve got a dead Turk who is apparently multiplying. 
 
Huxley and Flo scurry around London, attempting to keep ahead of the police, whoever killed the Makryats, and rival newspaper reporters. Using the reasonable excuse that they have to determine which books and documents were lost with the fire, Huxley and Smith’s colleagues start itemising everything left in Smith’s college office. His 1922 diary includes a lot of cryptic references such as ‘dare I return to Turkey?’ and speculation whether whatever expedition he was planning in 1923 is connected to his brush with some exceedingly unpleasant cultists thirty years ago. Huxley’s paranoia is rising fast, not least because Smith’s assistant at the University has also vanished, with signs of a struggle. Florence tells Huxley off for not reporting that last discovery to the police, before she and Alex head off to break into Makryat’s shop.
 
GM: Having just told off Huxley for not reporting a crime, you and your cousin head off to commit one. 
 
Florence manages to drag herself away from the pretty things in the antique store long enough to thoroughly search the place.
 
Alex: Do this sort of thing often?
Florence: I did tell you what I got up to at school, didn’t I? I broke out of there three nights a week, and didn’t get caught once.
 
They also pocket a few of the smaller, more portable items, while they’re there.
 
GM: Breaking and entering, and now theft
Florence: Oh darling, why stop there? If he’s cleared out, we may as well help ourselves.
 
It certainly looks like Makryat had abandoned the shop, taking his clothes, any books, and luggage with him. The only remaining documents in the store are his account books, which are tedious enough but do include an odd reference to the purchase and later sale of a custom-built toy train. The purchaser of the train apparently vanishes in a cloud of smoke shortly thereafter, but by that point Huxley is so paranoid he insists on getting out of London as swiftly as possible, and refuses to investigate.
 
Huxley and Florence do get an unexpected visitor that evening - a cabbie dropping off a desperate message from the Professor (confirmed by his use of a Macedonian ring to mark the sealing wax of the envelope). He and Beddows are in hiding at a bedsit in Cheapside, and Smith has been horribly burned in the house fire. 
 
Huxley OoC: Do I need to make a Sanity Check here? I did see burn victims during the war.
GM: And that just means you’re getting flashbacks now.
 
Beddows has apparently done what he can, and intends to smuggle his master out to a war clinic as soon as possible. But first Smith has to croak out his tale, and his warning. His home was attacked by Turkish madmen, because he and Makryat had been seeking out the pieces of something called the Sedefkar Simulacrum, last in the possession of one Comte Fenalik in pre-Revolutionary Paris. The pieces need to be gathered together and destroyed in their original location, in Constantinople, and between them they’d found some clues to their whereabouts. And evidently these madmen heard about it.
 
GM: Admittedly some of the clues are a bit thin - ‘One of the pieces might be buried somewhere in Bulgaria - bring a shovel’.
 
But assuming he survives his injuries, Professor Smith fully intends to help as best he can, using his long list of academic contacts across Europe. More practically, he also has Beddows provide a small suitcase containing hundreds of five pound notes. 
 
GM: Allowing for inflation, this is what we call a metric f***ton of cash.
 
Huxley: But why do these Turks want the statue anyway?
Prof. Smith: *seizing Huxley’s wrist with a hand greasy from the burns and the emollient cream* To possess the Simulacrum is to possess immortality… I’ve always considered myself a man of science, my friend… but the Simulacrum is evil! Evil! God help you... God help us all...
 
The Professor lapses back into unconsciousness, and Beddows explains that the Professor had chosen the investigators to accompany him on the search, and intended to explain all. Naturally, he’d planned to travel on the Orient Express, the fastest and most luxurious way to travel the distances involved. 
 
It will take a few days to arrange visas, drop points for telegraph messages, and the purchase of top-quality clothing and luggage for the trip. Florence will need to persuade her Editor to let her go, too. 
 
GM: Nellie Bly IS one of your heroes after all - it might not be Around The World in 80 Days but it’ll still be a trip to remember, and write about.
 
Her uncle is a bit reluctant to see her go off by herself, but agrees readily enough when Florence suggests Alexandria come along too. 
 
Uncle: I mean what trouble could you get into if there’s two of you?
 
The Professor’s extensive notes for the trip probably went up in smoke (or, perhaps, ended up in the hands of their attackers) so Huxley spends much of the next week at the British Museum’s Reading Room, confirming what he can about Sedefkar, his Simulacrum, and the whereabouts of any documents about same. He’s too paranoid to return to his home, too. 
 
GM: On Friday you’re left a series of increasingly anxious messages from Huxley - he’s no longer at the Library and there’s a reason for that.
Florence: Have you done anything about your clothes yet, or are you going to embarrass us on the train?
 
Formal clothes for dinner on the train had not been a priority in Huxley’s mind, because somebody left a skinned human corpse at the library, propped up where it could watch whatever he was doing. It was carrying a note, too, written in Turkish on flayed human skin. 
 
THE SKINLESS ONE WILL NOT BE DENIED
 
Naturally, medical students get the blame. Huxley thinks otherwise.
 
Huxley: I think they’re onto us.
Florence: So did you inform the police this time? Or are we going to have the police after us as well?
 
Huxley has no intention of going out by himself now, and if it wasn’t for the fact that Alex is STILL packing for the trip, would prefer to get out of London that night.
 
Florence: The Sub-lieutenant can always hide in the attic until we leave - maybe he just needs a quiet place to calm his nerves.
Huxley OoC: Probably true - I’ve already lost 5 Sanity in the last two days.
 
Huxley, Florence, and Alex depart for Paris, to discover what they can about the Comte, and whether any parts of, or documents about, the Simulacrum remain in the city. Antonio intends to travel ahead to his native Italy, to do preliminary legwork in Milan, Venice, and Trieste, all apparently destinations for parts of the statue. Hopefully he can uncover clues - the party will need all the help they can get...

Just a plus one? This discounts the kind of people that as soon as they are done with school, go to the basketball court and endlessly practice their shots until dinner time. There would be NPCs let alone players who would be looking for that extra edge. 
 
Now I have had some success with a fantasy game without magic, so there is no incentive to search for that edge, but the PC and friendly NPC body count has been high. 

Good luck with that. 

Good luck with that. 

I'm considering making magic inaccessible to PCs. That way they won't have to worry about the mechanics.