GM_Champion

Hi, I just noticed it was time to update HD (I had 4/18/23, and 7/15/23 is the newest version), but I have no idea what was updated.

Would it be possible to include a changelog.pdf with the .zip download, or perhaps a webpage here on herogames.com that lists what was done with each revision?

Thanks in advance for all your hard work!

Hi all,

I just got Fires of Heaven (print + pdf) and other Star HERO books from herogames.com.

I like Fires of Heaven a lot!

**Question to anyone who can answer** -- did Patrick Sweeney/Blackwyrm ever put out MAPS of the many planets detailed in the setting?

(I'm sure some GMs like the "freedom" of not having any prescribed maps, but I'm more of an "inker" than a penciller - I would prefer to have some sort of map showing the continents, major cities, acid oceans/notable features mentioned in the text.)

Thanks in advance!!!

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/93490/Star-Hero

Could we please get POD Star HERO 6e at the above link?

www.herogames.com store only has the pdf.

Thanks in advance!

Anyone know what changes/fixes etc. are in the "new" 8/1/22 version?

(go to herogames.com, click store, click manage purchases, scroll to HD, and voila, 8/1/22 version available for download)

Just curious since HD doesn't have a "release notes" file that lists changes in each release.

Thanks in advance!

I don't know if this is HD or Java, but here's the situation on Windows 10:

1) no issues with HD version 20210804 (immediately prior version)

2) I've used HD version 20220312 the past couple of months without issue, but loaded it today (Saturday) for the first time in a few weeks, and I think maybe Java updated once during that time.

3) Issue - I load any hero, go to Skills tab, click on a skill, and then either click edit button at bottom, or right-click on the skill and select edit - then HD main window loses focus (as it should), but no edit window shows up anywhere.

When this first happened, I used task manager to end the Java task, loaded up 20210804, loaded same hdc, edited skills without issue, saved. Then I went back to 20220312, loaded hero, tried to edit a skill, same thing - HD main window loses focus, no new edit window shows up.

Since it happens across multiple hdc files, I don't think the hdcs are the issue but maybe (1) java update recently combined with 20220312; or (2) the edit window is spawning, but always off-screen.

I use a laptop with a second display, and I've tried disconnecting the display and then loading HD to see if the edit window would show, but no go.

Help, please?

(I'll upload any file you think would help)

A friend suggested I check preferences about window positions.

I unchecked "Remember dialog position and size" and that fixed it.

Q - how does the dialog position get corrupted to begin with?

Simon,

Just checking to see if anything in the Nov 25, 2020 update was other than a minor update.

Thanks!

Over 370 members now, and growing - come join us and stir the best RPG pot ever, HERO!

https://discord.gg/HcUJvJH

All,

The Discord continues to grow - we're over 300 members now, and we are having, and have had, many awesome HEROic discussions!

https://discord.gg/HcUJvJH

Jump in, the active points are fine!

To add to roles not covered, and to piggyback on "science officer," I am reminded that Star Trek, both original and TNG, often had guest stars be geologists, xenobiologists, botanists, and various other science specialists - you could be one of those, with a "side order" of other things/skills.

Likewise Cultural Anthropologists who evaluate a whole society rather than be "the face" who skill rolls a single NPC into an info dump.

Finally, I don't know whether the Terran Empire has Universal Translators as commonplace like in Star Trek, but one of my favorite sci-fi characters is Daniel from Stargate - linguist, sociopolitical analyst, archaeologist, etc.

The Galaxy might run on Galactic English as a lingua Franca, but I have to imagine that, were there no universal translator, many backwater worlds, and some economic powerhouses, would prefer their own languages.

(And yes I know that even now in 2020, Google and other companies are trying to have real-time audio translation)

So... Science specialist, linguist, anthropologist, etc... Some possibilities...

Tungsten,

Use this one:

https://discord.gg/HcUJvJH

Welcome!

3 minutes ago, Cheshire42 said:

Tried to follow the link, came up as invalid.  Does this Discord server still exist?  If so, can we get a fresh invite link? 

Gadzooks, I'm not sure why the original link is broke, but here's one fresh from the server:

https://discord.gg/HcUJvJH

Please reply here if the above doesn't work, and I'll generate another eternal join link.

(I'm also one of the moderators on the server)

Another bump - we're at about 170 members now on the Discord - the water's fine, come and join us!

12 hours ago, TranquiloUno said:

 

Interesting. Traveller is one of the classics that I've never gotten around to spending any time with.

 

 

My understanding was that the The Expanse setting was at least partly derived from actual tabletop games the two authors were involved with.

Interesting to look for aspects of that in the novels\show. Interesting to see a system based on a TV show\book based on an RPG (at some point).

 

 

 

 

 

 

You think his is a significant factor in things?

 

TranquiloUno,

The first RPGers came out of a mostly-common background of board game and/or wargame experience, plus every actor-in-training who walked by a gaming table.

That's a heavy math-enabled demographic not intimidated by Subtraction, and not allowing the friction of having to use an unused skill (subtraction) stop them from having fun.

Today, 5th edition D&D (helped largely by Critical Role actual play YouTube channel) has pulled in so MANY new gamers from the mainstream that the gaming demographic is now much closer to the national demographic (at least in the USA).

With that comes people who do not use, or do not like to use, mental math as a daily task. They use it to shop and buy things because they have to, but have calculators and computers and smartphones to give them the answer.

Addition simply costs less mental effort than subtraction for many people for a variety of reasons.

Therefore, addition creates less friction to stop a mainstream person from getting into an RPG.

As proof, 5e D&D has sold more copies of D&D than all previous D&D editions put together, D&D has entered mainstream news without stigma, and D&D is now a "cool" activity instead of mainstream society viewing it as a minority interest unworthy of mainstream attention, or worthy of mainstream derision.

I find subtraction easy. Almost everyone on this forum does too, I bet, but we are not the mainstream majority, and if we want HERO to live and grow, HERO needs to become more accessible (roll-high) without giving up its strength and reason to be - ultimate customization of one's character.

So as not to derail this thread, please feel free to start a new thread in the Rules subforum or some other appropriate place for your quote and reply.

19 minutes ago, Duke Bushido said:

GAH!

 

You folks (and all the chatter elsewhere) are making me wish we could get that show locally!

 

 

Duke,

It's on Amazon Prime only, but Amazon Prime as a service is no longer an annual lump sum as the only option.

$11 or so buys you a month of streaming, during which month,if you had time, you could binge-watch all 4 seasons.

I think they also sell the episodes individually if $2-$3/month to own one episode fits your schedule and budget better...

AGE system is pretty much Traveller with roll-high a la most modern d20 games, and also Mongoose Traveller, and it adds the Stunt Die.

I approve of 3d6 roll-high.

However, in these days of "all games are 5e or PF2 at conventions" (and maybe Cyberpunk REd and Shadowrun and Call of Cthulhu) finding AGE is about as rare as finding HERO.

That said, I hope the Expanse sells gangbusters and encourages more RPG producers to grow the science fiction pie.

(And that 7e HERO, when it comes, moves to roll-high for everything so we can get all the RPG newbies 5e D&D yanked out of the mainstream...)

I agree that Star Wars is "Future-themed Swashbuckling Adventure."

However re: The Long Night, see Traveller RPG (and since we have Traveller HERO with an excellent timeline, buy and use that) for at least one conception of how you could end up with that situation.

Even within a single nation on Earth, compare a New York, Shanghai, Accra, or London to how citizens live just 50 miles away in the burbs or a small town.

See also modern-day nations taking/recovering land from their neighbors in sometimes perpetual back and forths - lots of infrastructure lost in conflict zones - over in Somalia, unofficial split-off Somaliland was doing fairly well, but Somalia itself is still dealing with Warlord conflicts.

And this is all on Earth.

Make Earth the size of a Galaxy, or perhaps small inter-stellar region, making each Earth nation its own planet, with some devastated by conflict and others with sufficient space navies to build ever forward, and yes,something Asimov-like can happen, such as where a librarian, scared, shoots his laser at a peaceful intruder, who happens to have a personal force shield with a power source the size of a walnut, to no effect, and the librarian is flabbergasted as such tech is nearly Mythic in the period following the fall of Trantor, the 40 billion population administrative capital of the former human empire.

Come to think of it, Third Imperium is Marc Miller's take on Asimov, with the addition of catman and dogman aliens along with human-alikes (Vilani) 🙂

In conclusion, while Star Wars is sloppy about its tech and history, if every world does not have its own starship production industry, then high tech variance or stagnation could occur.

(See also Firefly, which spent all but one episode on Frontier Worlds, but one ep did a heist on a rich Hi-Tech world, and that was night and day to the rest of the season.)

Gauntlet, thanks for starting the topic!

In my campaign, the heroes have settled on starting a company - the analogy is this:

As Blackwater (ex-military hiring out as combat contractors) is to the U.S. Army, (and I know Blackwater renamed themselves after debacles in Iraq) H.E.R.O. is to the local police, at first, with plans to expand, franchise, and go regional and then national.

The Mega-rich no-secret-id Brick acted as frontman to the precinct commander for the sales presentation, had lawyers draw things up before, during , and after.

He wants to take deputization in order to gain local police powers, while at least half the team remain pure civilian contractors with no more power than citizen's arrest until the Brick or another deputized team member can do the arresting act. (Half the team have good reason to not reveal their secret IDs to the police/public, even with ID protection equivalent to SWAT officers)

They want to be an extension to SWAT rather than beat cops, basically, to start.

I am looking forward to seeing whether the non-deputized members can avoid losing self-defense/defense-of-another legal protection if/when there are civilian casualties during a super-battle!

Lord Liaden, thanks for the reminder on Stronghold - it goes on the wishlist!

So, I was at Robert Huston's spectacular Pulp Space HERO game at Mace 2019 recently, and noticed one of the other players had, not the blue and yellow Hexman dice, but the black and green ones from the time of 5e.

They were spectacularly appropriate for a pulp space game, bringing back memories of Commodore PET computers and other 80s green-screens....

But, my Google-fu is failing me - not even on eBay does anyone sell these!!!!

Time for a Kickstarter? I know the story here has 700+ sets of 6 Hexman blues and yellows, but since they have ZERO of the retro blacks and greens.....

If I say Jason Walters' name three times will he appear and launch a dice Kickstarter?

Thanks in advance!!!

Indeed - Robert Huston's Space Pulp HERO was awesome!!!!

Wow, moving that far south?

I hope that means they outgrew the old hotel and are super-popular now!

2 hours ago, steriaca said:

Humm....thinking about price points.

 

$1.00: Good for single villains and other short subjects less then five pages long. It won't break the bank of most people, and it is easy to figure out who gets how much per unit sold (as for tge Dropbox, writer $0.50, Drive-Through RPG $0.30, Hero Games $0.20, othoe I may have the DTRPG and Hero payment switched around).

 

$3.00: Good for short adventures. Akin to the original 4th edition adventures of days of old. I'm thinking between 30 to 60 pages, including maps and artwork.

 

$5.00: Good for longer adventures and for small sourcebooks (like, say, WITCH). Also good for small Enimies books. From 60 to 120 pages should do.

 

$10.00: This is for major adventures of an epic scale, medimum sourcebooks, and good size Enimies books.

 

$20.00: Your creating (whatever) Hero campaign books at this price.

Steriaca,

One concern I can think of is that DTRPG frequently runs sales from 25-50pct off (by frequently I mean 3-4 times a year) and some gamers only buy during those sales.

For comparison, Paizo's own pdf-only 32 page organized play adventures are $4 each, and only sold on their own website so there's no DTRPG cut.

Third-party adventures (standalone 58-62 pages) run about $8 on average for same.

I haven't published anything myself, but my gut tells me that authorial output is worth a little more than you suggest, maybe another $1-2 on each price, minimum.

While the profit percentages between author, Hero, and DTRPG are likely set in stone, I hope the asking price is up to the author, solely, and that an author can choose the "pay what you want" option if they are concerned about price points turning off customers.

If you do the whole con, I'd call the hotel reservation line right away from the DunDraCon website to get the block rate - also even if they say no rooms are available, keep trying once/week or so, and make sure you have a backup reservation at another hotel nearby.

I enjoyed many many DunDraCons - always the best!

13 hours ago, GreaterThanOne said:

 

This. It doesn't matter how good the products look if no one buys or plays them. I personally believe the best thing at this point would be to make the system free and sell the modules, miniatures, etc. Using Unreal Engine as an example, they were able to quickly dominate the market because they a) Made a product that was easy to learn, hard to master, and b) they let everyone and their mom make mods, systems, games, add-on and plug-ins for free and retain a percentage. 

We are still following old models in a very much changed world but there are some excellent opportunities with long range playing advancements, VR, etc. But we have a lot we can do now. Maybe we need a Hall of Heroes where GM's share resources for new players and coordinate for conventions? I just came back from a long hiatus so there may be a bunch of resources I am missing but first we have to run the games so people can see that it isn't that hard.

 

Also we should probably stop telling each other that what we are doing is "hard". It isn't. It's a set of logical rules which anyone can learn with some patience and diligence. No, you can't learn Hero by flipping through a few pages and scanning a weapons chart but it can be learned without much fuss if your IQ is anywhere near average. 

 

I spent most of yesterday at a sponsored event which had a series of short games. One of the games is new and being released and we each got a character sheet, some dice and a quick overview of what was on the sheet. We played. The launch is in a few months and it was an excellent way to spread the game but it is a COORDINATED effort not some lone Urban Gamer trying to revitalize a system. 

 

Anyhow, I for one am here for the long haul. 

There's a "HERO in 2 pages" PDF on drivethrurpg.com.

With some layout/art/presentation updates it could be a snazzy 4-page (one folded 11x17 piece of paper) intro to HERO.

Add some character sheets and boom.

Think Beginner Boxes like for 5e D&D, Pathfinder, Starfinder, Spectaculars, and others. Done right, high production values.

Inside, "Now that you've enjoyed playing the Champions (Defender et al), design your own hero with Champions Complete, available at gamestores everywhere!"

Onward and more HEROic!

Hi all,

1) if anyone's search-fu is awesome, I would like links to any threads here comparing the Star HERO editions.

2) I'm interested in particular if the pages/chapters in each edition for subgenre selection/campaign design have held up well, considering the passage of time in real life makes future predictions obsolete fast (compare 1990s looking at Cyberpunk vs. Transhumanist sci-fi written in the last few years, or Cyberpunk 2020 vs. Sarah Newton's Mindjammer (there's a Traveller version if Fate is troublesome to convert to HERO).)

In short, does the advice of (especially) 3rd edition Star HERO hold up as well as Allston's 3E Strike Force does?

Likewise for 5E Star HERO and any other editions I missed. (6E is the most recent, but being almost 10 years old, how has its explanation of Transhumanist sci-fi survived in 2019?)

Thanks in advance! (No wrong answers!)

On 10/22/2019 at 6:56 PM, grandmastergm said:

 

Thank you John, glad you noticed this thread!

We all notice this thread!

I had much fun with Erg - playing the tortured soul just doing his best to be a hero...