TranquiloUno

What I got from Obama's statements is that he's found the self-professed "woke" are (a) often feeling smug and self-satisfied that calling out problematic behavior and statements is enough, without recognizing the need to take further action; (b) that they are rigidly judgemental, not accepting that flawed people can also be good people, and that you can still share values with people you disagree with.

Correct.  Evidence in favor: 1) Frequent appearances on Fox News, on which she generally bashes Democrats or the Democratic party; 2) Favorable mention of Gabbard on Fox News, particularly in contrast to leading Democratic candidates; 3) Promotion of Gabbard by alt-right types online; 4) Heavy promotion of Gabbard and favorable coverage of her on English-language Russian media like RT/Russia Today.  Being the "favorite Democratic candidate of Fox News(and Russian state tv)" is not a great strategy for winning the Democratic nomination for president, but if you're planning a 3rd party spoiler candidacy to undermine the Dem nominee, it's a pretty solid plan.  
Gabbard fits the profile for a 3rd party spoiler candidate, one who damages the Democratic nominee in two ways; first, by attacking the Dem nominee from the ostensible left(sometimes from the center, as "too extreme"); second, by siphoning away a few votes in key battleground states.  

I think "needs" is a strong word.  We have had a national vote since the referendum which elected the current Parliament. We have no tradition of direct democracy in the UK and the vote in the referendum was advisory, the criteria for change would have been higher if it was to be legally binding on the Government, probably 60% at the least, potentially 60% of eligible voters, which would equate to 75% of the 74% that turned out.
 
Always tricky to talk democracy as it often is vague and undefined in the places you need it most.
 
It is almost the point of Parliamentary democracy to ignore the vagaries of public opinion as the Parliament has the time to become informed and to make decisions on behalf of the electorate, not as the electorate demands.  Obviously they also have to balance this with being elected again.
 
Doc

To me it sounds like a Drain Intelligence attack, powerful enough to take most people down to 0 INT.  
 
 
And at 0 INT the INT Roll will be 9- on 3d6 or a 37% chance of doing anything that Phase. So while the characters might make their roll and be able to take an action some phases, for the most part they will be "distracted" by what they saw the Magician do and can't stop thinking of it. So they might stare in wonder on their first Phase (failed roll), then force themselves to move the next phase (made their roll), then stop again and ponder what they saw the next phase (failed roll) and the phase after that (failed roll). And so on, until they slowly recover from the drain and their INT score returns to normal over a few turns and they get over what they witnessed. 
 
So maybe built like this: 
 
Befuddle: Drain INT 7d6 (standard effect: 21 points), Area Of Effect Nonselective (12m Radius Explosion; +1/4) (87 Active Points); OAF (magic tools) (-1), Target(s) must be watching/looking at Player (-1), Gestures (Requires both hands; -1/2), Requires A Roll (Skill roll (Magic tricks); -1/2), Extra Time (Full Phase, -1/2), Incantations (-1/4); RC: 18
 
(The area of effect (radius) with Explosion, is to simulate that the further away a target might be the less effective the power is because they can't see what is happening in detail)

I do think on thing people get wrong is internal damage that can occur from firearms inside a ship. It is not the hull or the possibility of loss of atmosphere that will be the danger.  It is the damage that can occur to the avionics and life support gear.  There are only so many spare parts available and only so much repair capability and a ship underway will have even more constraints.   A shotgun blast to a critical electronics bay or life support equipment bay could be catastrophic.  Not just cards or modules, but if you severely damage the main-boards you could be in trouble if you can't just pop the hatch.  
 
I've worked on non-commercial aircraft for years and have had to repair the results of a fire in an equipment bay before.  The boxes are the easy part, the wiring harnesses and rack equipment is the nightmare.  I can imagine trying to do the same while the air is fouling, it is not a pretty thought.

I'm not sure that's true....
 
Certainly people don't buy an RPG *just* for the art but I have also certainly bought any number of RPGs over the years sheerly based on cover and interior art. 
 
I think any pile of words can be a functional game system. I don't think people buy RPGs because of the words.
 
I think the book has to spark something in the person. Blue and yellow don't spark nuthin' for me.
 
Dr. D vs Seeker made me want to play that game without ever reading it.
 
I remember loads of Classic Enemies based on their art.
I remember buying Champions in 3d based almost solely on the cover art.
 
Since we're a bunch of Hero nerds here I know we all love our system of choice but I don't really think a system has ever sold a game.
I think art sells games.
 
Art invokes creativity.
Art informs potential buyers\players about all kinds of things about the game without them having to read a proverbial thousand words.
Art actually gets potential players to read those thousand or more words of the rules to actually play the game.
 
Shadowrun? Battletech? Bought 'em for the art.
Warhammer\40k? Art. In fact Warhammer and it's family are probably the best case for art being the only thing that really matters. IMO.
All those terrible Palladium games I used to play? It was the art that did it for sure.
Talislanta? Barely remember the system. Loooooove the art and the world and still wanna play that game solely based on the art.
 
Rules are bullshit (to an extent)\no plan survives contact with the enemy.
 
But pretty pictures are always pretty.
 
Art sells product.
 
IMO at least.
 
Gets pricey tho!
 
 

I've been thinking about that too recently while rereading the classics. VtM had, obvs, terrible cover art, but was still striking in it's way. But the interiors were really a sweet and stylistic departure from the TSR style that seemed standard before WoD\WW showed up.
 
Ars Magica is another one where the look, the art, and the system are all nicely congruent.
 
 
 
 
 
Yes, that's a bit strong to say that any pile of words can be a worthwhile game system. And for sure *if the cover can get you to pick up the book* then I think cover blurbs and intros and all the rest (interior art!) can have a chance to go to work on a potential buyer.
But I do think the nice cover art matters in getting folks to take a closer look.
 
 
 
Ha! Same. I mean I like Dr. D's appearance and design (not so for Seeker) but I don't particularly care for either character. But they did make me want to buy the book.
Same for the Hero System #500 cover from the ICE days.
 
 
 
Author made Tal available directly. Great stuff! I've downloaded copies on to multiple computers in fact.
 
Also Skyrealms of Jorune, Underground, Mekton, CP2020 (true, I was going to buy all the cyberpunk things regardless but those Chromebooks sure made it easier), some of the GURPS supps.
 
 
Heh. As fans we should just Kickstarter a collection of money to reprint FHC\CC or another slim Hero product but with loads of art dripping off every page. ;D
 

Fantasy Hero Complete in fact includes, electronically at least, 18 sample PCs (in PDF, RTF, and HDC formats!), a starter adventure (the Val of Stalla), 24 monsters, the Kingdom of Grishun setting, and five maps (kingdom, city, town, countryside, and dungeon).  So we pretty much have the Fantasy Hero starter set!  The only thing it doesn't include is the dice.  $20 for book + PDF, $10 for PDF only; both of those include the adventure, setting, PCs, monsters, etc.
 
We pretty much have the Fantasy Hero starter set! 

I'm always concerned when the issue of "efficiency" of private sector versus public sector is raised. I'm concerned because those two sectors have different priorities and different accountability. The priority of the public sector is to serve its citizens, and the success with which they do so is judged by those citizens through the electoral process. The priority of the private sector is to make a profit for those who own parts of a business or company, and it is to those people that they answer. When I've seen governments unload responsibility for public services, such as transportation or utilities, to the private sector, what invariably follows is either a rise in the cost of those services to citizens living where their delivery is more costly, or the curtailment of those services to those areas altogether whether or not the communities affected depend on them. The private sector's "efficiency" is derived not primarily through working harder or smarter, but -- and I realize this wording is harsh -- exploiting their less profitable customers to a greater degree, or else abandoning them. About the only way that I've seen this pattern offset is for governments to provide tax breaks or subsidies to either their affected citizens or to the companies providing the services. So in the end the government is still using tax dollars to deliver those services, albeit indirectly, and with much less control of spending priorities.

I think everyone is SO over the BatGod aspect of Batman and we are probably poised for a brilliant TV series about the World's Greatest Detective.
 
I think if you got a decent ensemble cast you could do something a bit less grimdark, not 1960's camp, not the nihilistic fun of Gotham but a street level superhero leaning more heavily on his detective skills and anticipation than kewl ninja fighting.
 
If they could get away from the fighting and opponents that are defeated through violent encounters, there might be space for good story-telling and interesting thought pieces about vigilantism and citizenship.
 
Doc

The only way having a set default SPD for constant abilities (and movement, for example) would work is to have it be the highest speed, rather than set for everyone.  In other words, you pay for END on you constant powers on SPD 4, unless you have a lower speed than that, and it only works/is paid for on your phases.
 
One thing that I've been doing for a while is to use a set speed for independent constant effects.  How often does a fire burn you?  On its own speed (which I use 4 for usually).  So if you stand in a fire, you're burned at a set rate, rather than based on how often you move.  That way the Flash doesn't burn to death faster than Joe average.  And you can vary the speed for particularly intense or mild fires: this one is speed 6.

The first solution to come to mind is to houserule that the END for Constant powers is paid upon activating the power and every post-12 thereafter instead of every Phase.  Add an END cost multiple if desired, you might not want to slash END/turn costs for the SPD 4 guys just because the SPD 8 guy is getting END-hammered. 
This would make it so both Fast Frank and Slow Sam get to pay the same END every Turn and do so at the same time. 

Our group has some basic guidelines we try to follow.  This has proven helpful over the years.  We don't always stick to it though.  Note that these are 5th edition standards, but they should generally apply to 6th as well.
 
--Spend about 10% of your points on skills that can't be used in combat.  Not combat skill levels, not martial arts, not autofire skills, I'm talking about science skills, knowledge skills, mechanics, stuff like that.  Characters shouldn't be sitting around scratching their butts when not in combat.
--The slowest guy in the group should be no more than 3 Speed slower than the fastest guy in the group.  So if the slow guy is a  Speed, the fastest could be a 7.  But don't let some horse's ass of a player screw the rest of the group by not buying it up at all.
--A difference of 3 in OCV/DCV is significant.  If I've got a 10 OCV and the group average is a 7 DCV, then I'm going to hit on a 14-, which is like a 90% chance to hit.  Likewise if I have a 10 DCV and they only have a 7 OCV, they only have about a 20% chance to hit.  This site has probabilites listed:  http://www.thedarkfortress.co.uk/tech_reports/3_dice_rolls.htm#.Xbn_9VVKiUk .
--A normal character should have enough Defense and Stun so that they can stay conscious through about 3 average hits.
--A normal character should have enough Defense and Con so that they don't get Stunned (damage exceeds their Def+Con and they lose their next phase) by the average attack.
--For superheroic games, characters generally want to have at least one offensive power, at least one defensive power, and at least one movement power.
--For an average game of 350 points (400 in 6th ed), it's fairly normal for the damage limit to be 60 active points (12D6 normal, 4D6 killing).
 
So an anime swordsman character might look something like this:
 
Captain Ninja Sword (350 points, 5th edition)
 
Str 20 (very strong for a normal human)
Dex 26 (much faster than a normal human, not technically "superhuman" yet)
Con 23 (damn tough for a normal person)
Body 13 (you don't actually take much Body in a normal Champions game, so we've only bought it up a little)
Int 13 (he's smarter than average, kinda)
Ego 15 (decently strong-willed, but not a telepath or anything)
Pre 20 (an intimidating guy)
Com 10 (just average looking)
 
PD 15 (at the very limits of human toughness -- guy can smash face first into a tree and not lose any teeth)
ED 15 (same -- a hot frying pan to the face will leave a comedic red mark, but he's probably okay)
Speed 6 (he can fight multiple opponents at once, like Bruce Lee in the movies)
Rec 9 (starting value with his Str and Con)
End 46 (starting value based off his Con -- as a martial artist he won't need much more)
Stun 40 (bought it up a bit, to show resiliency)
 
General physical abilities
--9/9 Combat Luck  (shooting him with a gun will basically never really put him in danger -- note this gives him a total of 24/24 Defense)
--Rapid Healing (even if he takes Body, he'll walk it off in a few hours)
--12" of Running (twice as much as a normal man, without even accounting for his high Speed stat)
--20" of Leaping (120 foot jump)
 
Kickass ninja sword
--3D6-1 HKA (4D6 with Str), 0 Endurance, OAF
 
Martial arts package
+2 OCV with martial arts
Weapon element with sword (note: none of these maneuvers are going to add damage to the sword, only martial strike really makes sense as a sword maneuver anyway)
Martial Strike
Legsweep
Martial Grab
Martial Block
Martial Dodge
 
Acrobatics 14- (kinda combat related)
Breakfall 14- (kinda combat related)
Climbing 14-
Concealment
Conversation
Disguise
Instructor
Interrogation
Persuasion
Paramedics
Stealth
Streetwise
Survival
Tactics (kinda combat related)
Teamwork (kinda combat related)
 
 
Scholar
KS: Ninja stuff 12-
KS: Martial arts world 12-
KS: World history 12-
KS:  Ancient legends 12-
 
 
 
That's 308 points so far.  Your basics are covered.  You've got an 11 OCV with your sword (at 4D6 HKA it's at the top end of a normal starting game), so you'll hit all day long.  Your defense is still pretty good (an average 12D6 attack will do 42 Stun, which means you're taking 18 past defense, not enough to Stun you).  You've got enough skills that you're useful in the right non-combat situations.  You've got 42 points left to spend to give yourself stronger willpower, various ninja tricks like smoke bombs or invisibility, maybe make yourself smarter or branch out into another skill area, or to give your sword some cool magic tricks.  Maybe you can swing the sword and launch an energy beam or something (cutting at range), so you want to turn your sword into a multipower.  Those are all fine.  This should give you a basic idea on what a normal character looks like.

Well that's your problem right there!  If you don't have any way to know how much is enough and how much is too much, you'll never be able to find the right numbers.  I'd recommend sitting down with your friends and figuring some guidelines out. 
Your book should have a handful of suggested guidelines, but my experience is that they're way too loose to be useful.  Pinning down some more exact numbers is far more useful. 

Hero scales up better than GURPS does.  GURPS probably handles the lower end of the scale a bit better.
 
 
It's been a long time since I looked at Western Hero, but generally any time you're looking at specific weapons and trying to make them accurately, you're gonna get some glitches between reality and the game system.  For instance, every "damage class" in Hero is generally considered to be twice as powerful as the previous one.  For normal (non-killing) attacks, that means a 6D6 punch is (theoretically) twice as powerful as a 5D6 punch.  In killing damage (which guns use), the steps are 1 point, 1/2 D6, 1D6, 1D6+1, 1 1/2 D6, 2D6, 2D6+1, etc.  So a 2 1/2 D6 killing attack is "twice as powerful" as a 2D6+1 killing attack.  Now, with a lot of guns, that's going to mean they are virtually identical.  A .45 ACP isn't actually twice as damaging as a 9mm (we aren't talking about muzzle velocity or grain, or even joules of energy, it's nebulous "power" and "damage").  There isn't really that much difference between most calibers, not enough to move it more than a single level of damage.  As a result, everything ends up looking the same.
 
The Hero System uses points to try to balance powers, and makes some determinations on what should be effective in an average combat.  But the Charges limitation doesn't really take into account the fact that one gun might be easier to reload than another.  Is a rifle that holds 17 rounds in a tube magazine really that much better than one that holds 16?  Normally that's a larger advantage (16 rounds is a +0 Advantage, 17-32 is a +1/4).  Since in a heroic game, nobody is paying points for these weapons (you just buy them at the general store like everything else), they didn't try to make the weapons follow the Powers rules exactly -- they just defined how they function.

For the most part, in Hero, we don't really care whether our target dies, as much as we care whether our target is "out".  Whether that's dead, unconscious in GM-discretionland, unconscious by 1 and staying down, whatever.  For genres where the primary attack type is Killing, we can pretty much get all of that from Hit Locations plus sectional defenses.  It's not laid out for you right in front, and it's not a Champions-style or even D&D-style slugfest.  You have to take advantage of cover, you have to Brace & Set when you can, you have to use CSLs, and most importantly you have to have a team.  
 
I'm aware of how... vociferously... IRL gun enthusiasts discuss the... vast differences between, let's say, a 10mm round and a .40 S&W... and, I mean, is there really?  

Honestly, it's going to depend on what your group in particular is slowing down on. 
Taking a while to figure out who goes next?  Set up an initiative and phase table! 
Players (or GM) taking minutes to decide what to do each turn?  Turn timer! 
To-hit calculations bogging things down?  Print a table of OCVs and rolls! 
Having to look up what powers do?  Quick-reference materials!  (Or simpler characters!)
Players asking questions because they weren't paying attention?  Spray bottle! 

Foolish Champions, I happened to Steve Long!  Even now he languishes under the barrel of a slowly charging deathray!  Unless I grant him mercy, Steve Long will be dead at midnight! 
Now, pathetic do-gooders, you will break into his secret lair for me, and return with the fabled 7th Edition Manuscripts if you value your friend's life!  Muwahahahahahaha! 

For quick start of play in Heroic campaigns, I like using Templates. I provide Archetype Templates (Characteristics), Occupational Templates, and (if appropriate) Species Templates. Most offer some player choice as to the specific traits. Mix and match one Template of each type and make your choices within those Templates to make your unique hero.
 
As far as random supers, there was that random chargen system offered in Champions III...

I popped out to a nearby village games club last night to say hello and see what was going on. There were three tables of D&D players in the local bowls club (a small venue).
They guys have a 3 hour timeslot - 18:30 - 21:30 so get straight into it. I arrived at 18:45. By this time two new players had rolled up their characters and were, more or less, good to go.
 
Hero needs this. Somehow.
 
I'll be interested to see contributions to Hall of Champions, just to see what everybody considers normal or reasonable builds/levels of power. I've always thought that the NPCs in supplements were way too overpowered (*) - certainly for my style of play,  so if I want to use them, I have to tone them down. Which equals more work, less play.
 
 
(*) exception being Mike Surbrook's stuff.

Hmmm...
So much wrong with this. 
Basically, if you don't have a lot of free time or don't already have experience in TTRPG then get out of my sandbox.
Yes, experienced GM's can pick up Hero and literally build anything because they have a frame of reference. 
But a game company in 2019 doesn't survive on the tiny margin of "experienced in TTRPG GM's". 
A successful TTRPG company makes new players into experienced GM's by paving the way.
This philosophy is exactly why Hero has plummeted from the #1 Supers RPG and one of the most well known universal RPG's to virtual extinction.   
But to be truthful, I a not really up to forum wars and such so I'll just bow out here.  Once the Hall of Champions opens for business I will see if I can turn my concept into reality.  Once that happens we'll find out if I am either a genius or just another idiot tripping over their own feet. 

True, but the majority of 6E adventures are not beginner friendly and can be hard to use as a starting point for a campaign for a new GM. 
 
The fantasy related adventures/settings do not contain usable magic that can be used right now by a novice player that just wants to play.  What spell "lists" there are intermix high and low power spells buried in walls of build stat text rather than a simple what it does in game and a simple cost. 
 
The Hero Grimoire is a perfect example, fantastic resource for the experience Hero player, mind melting horror for a beginner.
 
All of the current 6E Settings suffer from "here is a setting but we don't actually want to give you anything specific that can actually be used by a PC in the dice rolling part of the game" syndrome. 
 
The adventures assume that the players have access to detailed character builds elsewhere. 
 
Evermist is a cool adventure/mini-campaign but it lacks any actual how to build PCs for this adventure" details.
 
If I had never heard of Hero and bought Fantasy Hero Complete plus Evermist I would not be able to actually play it anytime soon. 
 
That is the missing piece IMO, a adventure combo that guides players into quickly (same day) playing.  Getting a product give a fully playable , fully playable and hopefully fun adventure with examples.

I actually find myself offering a half-hearted defense of Middle East Forever Wars as possibly the least bad option.
 
Others have mentioned the problems with simply throwing up our hands and walking away. ISIS rebuilds (or the next generation, possibly even more virulent, as ISIS was more virulent than Al-Qaeda). The Kurds, one of our few allies, get slaughtered. Russia and Iran increase their influence; American credibility plummets.
 
The great problem with the Middle East is that what happens there, doesn't stay there. For comparison, Africa regularly produces horrors that make the Middle East look tame. Think of the long trench war between Ethiopia and Eritrea, the decades of bandid anarchy through Central Africa, and the genocides in Rwanda and Darfur. But they don't metastasize, the natural resources keep flowing out; and so we cluck our tongues in concern, then do nothing.
 
But the Middle East has produced a movement that doesn't just want local power. Jihadists want to kill us for being us. When Osama bin Laden listed his grievances, they weren't limited to political issues such as support for Israel or American military bases on sacred Sudi sand, which Western governments could in theory do something about. He listed music, movies and TV as intolerable affronts. Jihadists won't leave us alone, because from their POV the West is engaged in a relentless propaganda assault to lead people to Hell. Our governments can't stop this, and I don't want them to try.
 
At the other pole, instead of Get Out we could Get Tough. Accept that the only way to contain the Middle East is to rule it as its people are accustomed to being ruled. This is not nation building: It's empire building in the old style. Brutal punishment for anyone who steps out of line (and their families). Extract resources to pay for it all. Appoint satraps to do the rough stuff, collect the taxes and tribute, and take the fall in rebellions. Let favorites get filthy rich at the people's expense, but occasionally execute them without warning.
 
In a technical sense, I think it would work. It's how the Ottomans ruled, and lots of empires before them. But I don't think we could do it. 19th-century colonialism, in all its many-layered brutality, relied on the colonized people being invisible to the colonizers back home. The more people saw, the less they liked it. The genocidal horror of the Congo Free State was undone to a great degree by journalists. At least I hope we couldn't rule the Middle East as the latest despot keeping order, because we wouldn't be us anymore.
 
So what's left? I would like a better alternative than endless whack-a-mole against Jihadists and knocking down strongmen as they arise, spending trillions and spending lives. But I haven't heard one yet.
 
Well, maybe there's one slim hope: We do have cultural influence. Young people are getting different ideas and wider perspectives. Some groups are trying to get their crap together and govern -- notably the Iraqi Kurds, who (I recall hearing, mostly on BBC newscasts) in the years between the Gulf Wars were resolving their infighting and administer northern Iraq in a competent and non-horrible way.  So, while playing whack-a-mole find the people who are least bad and try to help them grow.
 
I guess this would be nation-building, but starting with the proposition that we don't have to start with existing borders. It also requires accepting that this is a labor of decades. One problem I see with past failed attempts is that the US always acted with one eye on the exit, letting the entrepreneurs of violence and fanaticism know that they could out-wait us. (A taliban fighter interviewed for a documentary about the movement said this flat out: To paraphrase: You'll get bored and tired of dead soldiers. We won't. You'll leave. We'll still be here and take power again. The prediction seems accurate.)
 
It all sucks, but we may be the onbes who need to pull up our big-boy pants and accept that some things may need to be done even when they are slow, hard and uncertain of success.
 
Dean Shomshak

Her power is portrayed incredibly inconsistently in the comics.  Early on, she seemed a prime candidate for a big attack (potentially above whatever your campaign maximum is), with an Activation Roll and Side Effects.  The Scarlet Witch was the one Avenger who could potentially drop Ultron with one blast.  Of course if she tried to use it at the beginning of the fight, it would rarely work out in her favor.  There's not really a "wrong" way to portray her power, because it's so inconsistent.  Whatever you decide to do, it's probably been shown that way at some point in time.
 
I have a writeup of her, but I'm not that happy with it.  It's clunky and very expensive, and I kind of kludged it with using a VPP for part of it.  This was for a version of her with no cost limit, just trying to properly model the character with everything she could do.
 
Hex Power (3 parts):
--11D6 Luck, Activation Roll 13-, Side Effects (becomes Unluck), Costs Endurance (55 Active Points, 20 Real Cost)
--11D6 Energy Blast, 1/2 End, Affects Desolid, Variable SFX (any), Indirect (any direction, any origin), Variable Advantage +1 1/2, Activation Roll 13-, Side Effects, Locks out VPP when in use -1/2 (330 Active Points!!!, 120 Real Cost)
--70 Point VPP, Powers Change as 1/2 Phase Action (122 Real Cost)
 
So the Energy Blast could represent any weird effect you can dream up.  Use the Hex Power and a piano could fall on someone's head.  A bus could make a wrong turn and run over the enemy for 11D6.  An electrical line could fall and land on somebody.  The variable special effects let you choose any kind of appearance.  The variable advantage allows you to make it Area Effect, or Armor Piercing, or whatever you want.  There was a reason I picked +1 1/2, but I don't remember what it was now.  So the Hex Power represents things just going wrong for the enemy.  And the VPP could create any power if a straight-up Energy Blast doesn't work.
 
But again, it's kind of crammed together and I'm not thrilled with how it turned out.