GM_Champion

I'm thinking about the idea of publishing "editionless" stats.  Characters, at least, with point costs hidden, except for the total at the end.  I'm on my phone at the moment but I'll try to work up some examples later.

I do play champions on roll20. They have a character sheet, but to use the one click rolling you need to have the api enabled, so need the pro level which is $9.99 a month (US dollars)) . I also use a few other api like a turn counter . 

I am planning a Star Trekish game but every link I click on for Star Trek Hero Stuff the links are dead. Anyone have any suggestions or sites that work that can help?

Yesterday Brennall and I spent time on Discord & TTS to see all the work he has done.  I have to say I am very impressed.  He is very close to creating an extremely usable/viable way of playing Champions (any Hero genre really) using TTS that really could pave the way to bringing new players into the game.  They would only need a good GM, who knows the Hero System pretty well.

Hell, every game has glitches and even with any little glitches it might have, Hero is still the best game out there.

Yes, lots of room, and there's been some good discussions on the discord thus far!
 
Giving this thread a bump so perhaps more people will do as many of us now do - participate in both these forums AND the Discord.
 
Jump in folks, the water's fine!

A comparison to later editions of D&D might be useful. Their combat round is 6 seconds, so Hero's 12-second turn is 2 D&D rounds. This lets us draw some direct comparisons:
 
SPD 2 = 1 attack/round
SPD 3 = 3 attacks/2 rounds
SPD 4 = 4 attacks/2 rounds
 
So, novice (low-level) characters would be SPD 2, with their SPD increasing as they gain experience.

#1 Absolutely.  Hero has far few players to afford to immediately push out a big campaign book.  That is why a DMs Guild or Miskatonic Repository type of outlet is critical to getting Hero back out into the world.
 
#2 IIRC the first half of CC and FHC is the Basic Rules with a few tweaks.  IMO CC and FHC are both two thirds ofva complete book.  CharGen and rules but no introductory adventure or team.  Hero's standard where they play hard but choke at the finish.

what we need is a Champions Starter Box

I credit the discovery to Pathfinder as it was their 3e D&D adventures that demonstrated the market and set the standard.  Its business strength is evidenced by the volume of "me too" in other games.

 
 
A rewrite of the rules would be fine, but I would start with Champions Complete and/or Fantasy Hero Complete as "the rules" at this point.


 
Rather than revise those to add a chapter on adventures with pregens, create an "adventure path/campaign" for either Supers or Fantasy, or both, and publish an introductory scenario, with pregens, online.  Whatever level CC and FHC established for "default character guidelines" should be used.  Variant guidelines are for some future campaigns, but out of the gate, stick to the standards.


 
USE these Adventure Paths to provide good examples for the pace and direction of character growth by having each chapter update the pregens and setting out expected xp benchmarks along the way.

 
 

Well, you have just described exactly the business model that has led Hero from being the top of the of Superhero games list to being functionally out of print. 
 
It is not Pathfinder that has amazingly somehow found a method to sell adventures.  Every single successful RPG, and by successful I mean actually selling books, has invested in well crafted adventures/campaigns.  They are not throwing out dozens of half-baked one sessions.  No, they are putting out  one or two well crafted campaigns (6-12 chapters/adventures) a year.  D&D, Pathfinder, Call of Cthulhu, Star Trek Adventures, Star Wars and Shadowrun is just a short list of the lines currently succeeding at this.  D&D is the actual example to use.  They started with free league adventures, and then they changed to "buy and run one of our adventure books on league night".  And it took off.  The FLGS has a regularly scheduled league night and coordinates GM's, the biggest issue is enough GM's.  There are new "as in I have never played D&D ever" players every league night and they always buy the Players Handbook and at least one Adventure book. 
 
Yes, the concept of using established groups to introduce individual new players to the game is neat.  But when the established groups that play Hero are virtually extinct, it is still the same loosing strategy that was adopted in the late 90's.  
 
What Hero needs in 2019 is a new strategy aimed at "how to get new players using just the books by themselves" and "how to get Hero back into the spotlight so that it is on the FLGS shelf".
 
1) the rules are fine.  DO NOT waste effort on yet another ruleset.
2) DO add a chapter(s) to the rulebook that contain an adventure with pregens to walk new GM's and players thru the process.
3) Publish at least one starter campaign, no end of the world mega villain stuff.  Instead a local in city crime spree or revenge on the city by a local master villain/mastermind.  Something that can be resolved by a new team based on standard supers build points.  
4) Tap into the fan-base and allow them to create and sell adventures using something similar to D&D's DM's Guild and Chaosium's Miskatonic Repository.  These allow fans to publish adventures and supplementary material and charge a price of which the company gets a cut, while maintaining control by limiting where they can be sold. 
5) Establish some form of League Play.  Either a prebuilt campaign adventure like D&D does or a campaign frame released in parts like STA. 
 
The point is the current strategy (95ish till present) has failed. 
A new strategy needs to be formulated and in this case we have a plethora of successful examples to emulate.
 

Not exactly the cheapest in raw dollars, but when you consider it is permanent, takes dry erase markers, etc.
 
https://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/30353745/
 
 

I have a transparent hexmap I bought many years (2 decades+) ago.  I don't think the original manufacturer makes them any more, but I found this:
http://arcknight.squarespace.com/shop/clear-map-grids-colors-and-styles
 

Hey, this is a quick request for feedback. I've put together a quick Glossary/Vocabulary Guide for new players. What have I missed? What's in there that doesn't need to be?
 
If you fine Herophiles wouldn't mind taking a quick look and commenting, I'd be grateful!
 
Champions Glossary and Terminology

To be fair, though, it's a holiday weekend for a lot of us.
 
 
 
This is an excellent idea, so long as you are asking "general" questions such as your question about rule of X and such as that.
 
 
Apparently not as many as any fan of HERO would like.  I hate it for Jason, but evidently he got stuck with a lot of material after some political backlash.  Evidently, the author of the source material is a loud-mouthed fellow who doesn't play politically correct very well, and poor Jason caught the brunt of it.  Personally, I can differentiate between a person who said something that offended me (God knows, JK Rowling can't open her mouth without irritating the crap out of me) and something I'm interested in (still watched the Harry Potter movies).  I don't know who is aware of it, but realistically the only one getting burned when someone decides "I won't buy this tie-in product because I'm mad at the author hurts only the makers of the tie-in product; the author already has his money.
 
I did buy the MHI complete book (it really feels "unfinished" or "accidentally over-edited" or something; there just seems to be some stuff that's flat-out missing), and have read it a couple of times, but I'm afraid I don't play it.  It has nothing to do with the author, though: I don't like the source material, and am not interested in reenacting it.  I bought it to support HERO, who I want to move beyond this slump and reattain their former glory.
 
I will attempt (in a general way; I am very sorry, but I'm not 6e-friendly, and so I can't help you with specific rules or examples) to help you with the damage classes the best I can.
 
The problem you have is rather unique with regard to damage classes, because your players will often be fighting humans as well as monsters.  If you allow DCs high enough to take out the monsters, human enemies become something of a joke, then something of a fine red mist.  The first thing you want to do is determine just _how difficult_ should it be for a single player, or perhaps two players, to take out a single monster.  That information will help you get a rough idea of your max damage cap.
 
A quick and dirty method I use-- and again, this is just to get the ball rolling; it won't put me right where I want to be, but it provides a convenient start-- is to look at the characteristics of a couple of the "typical" foes I expect the PCs to encounter.  I then think about how "tough" they should be: what does it take to bring one of these enemies down?  How many "typical" successful hits should it take?  How many players do I expect to have?
 
If I'm expecting say...  
 
well, let's keep it easy.  Let's say I'm expecting 5 players.  I want each player to have to get in a solid hit or two, so I'm going to start by figuring that the typical foe should go down with roughly 10 "typical" hits.  As we're talking MHI, we're talking killing (as opposed to knocking them out or subduing them), so we're going to look straight at the BODY score.  Let's say the BODY score is 20 (just to keep it easy).  Divide that by the 10 hits I expect this opponent to take and I get the need to inflict an average of 2 BODY per hit.  Add in the foe's DEF-- again, as this is Heroic and relatively "normal" weapons, we're talking Killing Damage, so just add in the Resistant Defenses.  Let's say there are 10pts of rPD.  Now we need a "typical" attack that averages around 12 BODY per hit.  With an average roll of 3.5 on a D6, we're going to need somewhere between 3 and four dice of KA-- somewhere around 10 or 12 DC-- of "typical" damage to get the action-packed fight I'm looking for.
 
Now again, you also have to remember that you will periodically have human opponents that may bring a firefight.  What does 12DC do to a human in your game?   Now to be clear, you're opponents will likely be unwitting agents of the monster, or other Monster Hunters, so beef them up appropriate before doing the math.  Easiest way is to grab two player characters and "average them together" to get a baseline "Monster Hunter" generic template at which we can throw damage.  Let's say he ended up with a BODY 15 and an rPD 5.  Thow a 4d6RKA at him and typically you can expect 14 BODY worth of damage, meaning he's going to take over half his BODY (9 points after rPD).  He may live to get another shot off, but he can reasonably expect to be downed (and probably in need of immediate medical attention) if he gets hit again.
 
 
How does this compare to your typical monster?  Is this what you want-- monsters roughly 5 times tougher than a Monster Hunter?
 
If not, adjust (either the humans or the monsters) to what you think they should be and try again.  Or-- and this is important-- alter the damage classes.  Maybe you want humans and monsters to scale out about like this, but want them both to be easier or harder to kill.  Changing damage classes can do that for you.  Add or subtract another die and run through it again.
 
One other important thing:  this is probably the best place in this operation to make adjustments to your DEF caps as well.  Higher DEF-- especially in Heroic-level games-- can really change things up with regard to what you and your monsters can endure.  This is because of the way HERO allows DEF to modify (in this case, reduce) the amount of damage actually applied to the character. Even then, though, remember this same method has drawbacks as well.   Consider that an rPD of a mere 4 can be expected to consistently nullify one entire die of Killing Attack.  That's _3_ DCs you are likely to shrug off.  rPD6, or course, guarantees it, but a mere 4 makes it consistent.
 
The drawback, of course, is that adding another die of KA not only gets through it, but it carries a _lot_ of damage with it.  Another 2 dice and-- well, you can see where this is going.  Just remember at all times to attempt the model what you are looking for as a "typical" situation.
 
Once you have established a baseline of the "typical" attack, think about the limit.  What is the most powerful weapon the characters could conceivably run across without too terribly much difficulty (that is to say, something they could _technically_ access, but it won't be particularly handy and likely not always available).  How much more easily should such a weapon take out the monster?  Or a rival Hunter?  Or a human agent of the monster?   Toss on another couple of DCs and run your quick-and-dirty simulation again.  When that attack does what you want, then likely you have found your _max_ DC limit.  If all the players want to jump straight to that limit, then reduce it a bit to get more of what you want.
 
Before finalizing it, think about the "boss monsters," if you'll forgive the video game terminology: that one big-bad that shows up after you have waded through a couple of other monsters-- either one that's been better at hiding until your success has put him on the run, or perhaps one who was running the entire pack of monsters you've already waded through-- at any rate, he's generally notably tougher than those who have gone before.
 
How are you going to make him tougher?  You can add BODY and STUN and END so that he can soak more damage and make more attacks.  This creates for some powerful scenes.
 
But for less investment, you can also add Defenses.  BE CAREFUL IF YOU DO THIS!  Yes, he can get hit _way_ more times and keep going.  The problem comes in when you stop to consider your DC caps: is there an attack anywhere in your campaign that can actually penetrate his DEF?  If not, then you have created an effectively-unkillable beastie.  While they are fun for pushing things in a certain direction when things are too far adrift, I absolutely _promise_ you that your players are going to absolutely _hate_ running into things that flat out don't bleed, ever.
 
I am sorry; I did not mean to ramble on quite so much, but I do hope that this little "quick and dirty" test helps you in some way.  It's been doing great by me for three decades or so, so I thought I'd pass it along.

The reality is the chance of finding a current active group that plays Hero is virtually zero. 
If you want a group to play Hero you will need to recruit players. 
 
Start at a FLGS and volunteer to run games for the shops current main lines(D&D, PF, 13th Age, etc.).
 
Once you establish yourself as a GM that people like, you can begin introducing less popular games but solid sellers (GUMSHOE, Shadowrun, Conan, Star Trek, various Savage Worlds settings, etc.).
 
Once you are fully established, you can bring forth games like Hero.  Most FLGS's will welcome you to run games in their shops.  Active games = sales.  But remember that Hero is only available through a single small distributor and unless the FLGS is a large high income one they will most likely only use the nearest local distributor for as much as they can and a large one like Alliance to get titles not carried by the local distributor.
 
Giving up table space for a game that is effectively out of print can become problematic.  
 
While there are a lot of gamers that do not like to utilize a FLGS and prefer to game at home.  Unless you already have a group, you won't find them in your living room.  
 
I am currently in the process of finding players for my future Champions game.  I am running at my FLGS.  For a while I ran event games such as Free RPG Day and games for Halloween and various one shots.  I have been making sure that the games I run are currently in print and most importantly available to order (in stock) at my FLGS's distributor.    I have just started a thing I've dubbed Saturday One Shots.  Each Saturday I will run an adventure and showcase an RPG. The only systems I will not run are the current big sticks (D&D Pathfinder etc.).  This up coming Saturday it is a Trail of Cthulhu scenario.  These games use pre-gens and have all of the material needed to play so people can just walk in, sit down and play. 
 
I really don't like D&D or any of the class level games, but I can run them and enjoy role playing.  But if you want to play an obscure game you'll need to recruit and build your own group. 

You might try running some HERO one-shots at the game store, bringing premade (Homebrew) versions of heroes from big comic companies.
 
One of the reasons I began running a Champions game a few months ago was to create more HERO players.
 
Since you don't have the pool I had, the next step is to consider both running occasional (advertised) store games as well as reaching out to gamers you know we'll, who have not played HERO before.
 
I was blessed that after two of my four left (one flake, one couldn't keep up the one hour commute each way) one of the remaining knew two friends/acquaintances to invite, both of which happened to work out.
 
At this stage in HERO's life cycle, it's time to face reality and run more HERO games to create more HERO players.
 
I invested 1-2 hours taking prose descriptions from each player and using Hero Designer to get each of them right, even the two players who dropped out.
 
I also invested an average of 1-2 hours each in pre-campaign video interviews to see if each player would be a good fit. This didn't stop some from leaving, but it made a good impression on those who are staying. If you can have coffee or a meal with your new recruits, that'd be even better.
 
If your first meeting is outside of the game store, make it 1 newbie, you the GM, and at least one player, and pick a good (non-chain) coffee shop with food/snacks.
 
None of the above is easy, but if you invest in people, the good people have a better chance of staying around.
 
If enough of you and your players are capable GMs, consider a HERO mini-convention at your game store, if there are enough tables. Your players, even if not GMing, can volunteer as HERo buddies (sidekicks?) To take the "teaching HERO mid-session" duties away from the GM.
 
I was blessed with one hero vet who naturally took that role and helped his acquaintances ease into the mechanics. Since I shielded them from actual character creation, the newbies were able to get into the story easily.
 
I gave the newbies one rule. - if they enjoy the game enough to want to make an alt (2nd character) they learn character creation (with handholding) then, and buy the 6E PDFs for $30 from this very website. (Or the POD versions if that floats their boat, but ctrl-f in Acrobat is such a godsend!!!)
 
I wish the shelves were full of at least Champions complete, but thankfully there are unlimited PDF sales to be made!
 
Best of luck Jayson, I'm sorry to hear people didn't respond to internet entreaties, now it's time to rope them in in person!!!
 
ALSO - I know Orlando gets a lot of big conventions (OASIS and others I think?) - run HERO there and ask if anyone is a local.
 
Many ways to find HERO players, including creating them!!! I never knew about Champions until college when a new friend shoved the 4e blue book in my hands and asked me to make a character. We didn't even have a game yet, I was the first player, but we found more just by asking!

It does support 5th or 6th edition rules out of the box.  I believe it defaults to 6th but can be switched to 5th in the settings area of the app.
 
The note regarding 6th edition is for the H.E.R.O tool only.  It was created for 5th edition only.  Everything else should flip between editions when you toggle that setting.

Hi all,
As the title mentions i am in search for a Hero System ruleset for Fantasy Grounds. There is one in development (in the last years), but it has not been published from Blackfoot.
Are there any alternatives?
If no, i would suggest for the Fantasy Ground users to add our voice in the Fantasy Ground forum:
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?20112-Champions-HERO-System-Ruleset-FG-3-0/page29
so that we can acquire the necessary user base for this project.

HERO Designer is a GMs dream.  You can construct characters for your players very quickly and build out your other NPCs at a greatly enhanced pace.

I am pleased to announce the launch of the HERO System Mobile app on both the Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store.  You can install the app by searching for it in your app store or by using the links provided.  The app is free to use, ad free, and respects your privacy.
 
Google Play - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.herogmtools App Store - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hero-system-mobile/id1352750917?ls=1&mt=8 Amazon App Store - http://a.co/byom955  
This project is an extension of an export template I wrote a few months ago.  I had so much fun writing that template that I decided to develop a full app.
 
Features
Import characters from Hero Designer using this export template Characteristics and Skills may be long pressed and a check will be made Dice rolling tools (3d6, Hit, Damage, and Free Form)  The H.E.R.O. tool generates random 250 point 5e supers (shout out to Cassandra for allowing me to use her original idea) Track statistics about your die rolls, including average values, distribution, total stun etc.  
This is still very much a work in progress and I have plans to add more features as time goes on.  For now though I feel that it’s mature enough to release to the general public.
 
Feedback is always welcome either here or at phil.guinchard@gmail.com
 
Happy Hero-ing

In our game, they don't exist, and for precisely the reason you describe, as well as others: outside, public-access data terminals are absolute candy for technomancing hackers.  Even gas pumps don't have card swipers outside: you come in and give your card (or your cash) to a cashier inside.
 
One of the things we do a lot is the "work-a-day super."  That is, people with super powers who don't go adventuring on either side of the law.  One of my most popular NPCs is Danica Motsley (who, thanks to Doc Democracy, I have a picture I can use after thirty-odd years!   ).   She's a teleporting duplicator who can make up to a dozen duplicates.  So what does she do?  While she's attending two different colleges to pursue two different doctorates, the rest of her work in various ways in the fields she is studying.  The PCs meet her most often at Daniels Industrial Innovations (the premier cutting edge science and research organization in our universe) where she works as numerous lab assistants, most of them to one particular scientist (Doctor Solomon Abrams has seven people in his head-- long stories-- and his artificial body doesn't sleep: t/he/y burn(s) out lab assistants rather quickly.
 
She is actually one of the more gifted "non-super" powered people in the universe: minor speedsters work as couriers or, in the tourist districts, rickshaw operators.  Low-level energy projectors work as high-rise welders, reducing the expense and danger of getting and maintaining equipment hundreds of feet in the air.  Relatively bullet-proof characters or characters with Force Wall powers are well-paid to be EMTs in high-risk areas, and are actively recruited for Police service.
 
And I think I've already mentioned the number of super-powered people working in the air travel industry in the "what's your universe like" thread.
 
 
The comic-book handling of super powers just never sat well with me: you either got amazing powers and became an adventurer for good / evil, or you got no powers.  It just seems like there would be even _more_ people who got "nifty parlor tricks" or powers of some kind, but did not get a power set really conducive to adventuring.
 
 

I imagine a lot of non-costumed powered secret agents running missions for the CIA or other fictional organizations. 

Albert Deschene
but then he was a long time friend and did some of my favorites character portraits

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