JCR

I NEVER tell the players how much of these a bad guy has at ANY point, but I always let them know both how effective their attack seems to have been, "seems you just grazed him", "yup he reels back w/ a growl as he grimace's in pain", as well as how bad a shape the bad guy is in in general, "he spits a glob blood as the smoking scorch marks on his upper body smell just as bad as they look", and seems to have been working for decades w/ different groups. The only exception I can think of was that one time the group fought a specific magic automaton monster that seemed to look pristine until it fell to pieces destroyed.

 

As a player personally I cannot stress enough how much I absolutely abhor how much I hate it when a GM custom alters a bad guy on the spot just to avoid the characters from whooping its arse! In the process you are not only punishing the players for having the good sense to create good characters, make interesting (to them at least) choices, but it also steals away and invalidates any 'lucky' rolls they may have gotten to make it to that point.

Yeah sure its easier to cheat them w/o their knowledge just for you to keep doing what you want to do instead than have them obliterate that really awesome bad guy you thought was gonna give em hell and the really cool story you had planned behind him. Selfish and abusive!

The best darn 3yr irl campaign i ever been a part of started w/ my character running a steak thru the heart of the big bad vampire lord who was supposed to be the bad guy for the entire campaign. Instead of completely ignoring my reality-breaking natural rolls and cheating his way to life just to keep his bad guy and story alive, GM simply went w/ it and the game still lasted almost 3yrs irl.

Last month i ran my 1st champions scenario and the heroes just steamrolled thru the bad guys and the boss, I simply added more story, picked new better bad guys for the new story and new boss. They had fun kicking butt then and now still have the same amount of fun finally having a challenge. They're actually worried about being beaten in the current scenario, which is a real possibility, but if they do get beat, the story doesn't end and I will definitely wont be readjusting stats to make it easier or harder on them. The story will continue regardless, should they triumph they will be happy, should they fail, they will learn and will make their next encounter all the more sweeter should they be victorious then.

Yes players and GMs like a challenge, heck yeah, BUT adjusting on the fly simply means I shouldn't bother w/ character creation or making plans since you will already adjust on the spot to defeat or invalidate me or my choices on the spot no matter what I do or what I roll(s) I make.

P.S. no, am not accusing you specifically, I guess its could be considered a pet peeve and since I am in bed after surgery bored out of my wits I may have gone into a small rant. Also, I had to stand many years of abusive and unfair DMs to drive a mind flayer insane.

I NEVER tell the players how much of these a bad guy has at ANY point, but I always let them know both how effective their attack seems to have been, "seems you just grazed him", "yup he reels back w/ a growl as he grimace's in pain", as well as how bad a shape the bad guy is in in general, "he spits a glob blood as the smoking scorch marks on his upper body smell just as bad as they look", and seems to have been working for decades w/ different groups. The only exception I can think of was that one time the group fought a specific magic automaton monster that seemed to look pristine until it fell to pieces destroyed.

 

As a player personally I cannot stress enough how much I absolutely abhor how much I hate it when a GM custom alters a bad guy on the spot just to avoid the characters from whooping its arse! In the process you are not only punishing the players for having the good sense to create good characters, make interesting (to them at least) choices, but it also steals away and invalidates any 'lucky' rolls they may have gotten to make it to that point.

Yeah sure its easier to cheat them w/o their knowledge just for you to keep doing what you want to do instead than have them obliterate that really awesome bad guy you thought was gonna give em hell and the really cool story you had planned behind him. Selfish and abusive!

The best darn 3yr irl campaign i ever been a part of started w/ my character running a steak thru the heart of the big bad vampire lord who was supposed to be the bad guy for the entire campaign. Instead of completely ignoring my reality-breaking natural rolls and cheating his way to life just to keep his bad guy and story alive, GM simply went w/ it and the game still lasted almost 3yrs irl.

Last month i ran my 1st champions scenario and the heroes just steamrolled thru the bad guys and the boss, I simply added more story, picked new better bad guys for the new story and new boss. They had fun kicking butt then and now still have the same amount of fun finally having a challenge. They're actually worried about being beaten in the current scenario, which is a real possibility, but if they do get beat, the story doesn't end and I will definitely wont be readjusting stats to make it easier or harder on them. The story will continue regardless, should they triumph they will be happy, should they fail, they will learn and will make their next encounter all the more sweeter should they be victorious then.

Yes players and GMs like a challenge, heck yeah, BUT adjusting on the fly simply means I shouldn't bother w/ character creation or making plans since you will already adjust on the spot to defeat or invalidate me or my choices on the spot no matter what I do or what I roll(s) I make.

P.S. no, am not accusing you specifically, I guess its could be considered a pet peeve and since I am in bed after surgery bored out of my wits I may have gone into a small rant. Also, I had to stand many years of abusive and unfair DMs to drive a mind flayer insane.

Thank goodness for that. I'm in a mood and would rip you a new one.
 
Or two.

I have stood up a new Discord Server called Hero-Champions-RPG.
 
You can join with this (permanent) link -->  Hero-Champions-RPG
 
Goals:
A discord server focused on the HERO RPG and genre books; past, present and future. A place where folks can schedule and run online discord games. A place where HERO can announce new releases. A place where 3rd Party Publishers can announce new releases. A place where people can share or announce Kickstarter projects relevant to HERO gamers. A discord server that comes up in searches, focused on this awesome RPG!  
Let me know if you want to be a Mod! I'm happy to add any HERO games peeps as Admins as well (obviously).

Discord is super popular!
 
When I went to look for a Discord server for HERO I found a small server focused on a superhero setting that discussed a bunch of RPGs. Not exactly HERO-related. Having a Twitter account doesn't mean I hate Facebook. I use a bunch of different social media platforms. I feel like the goal here is to meet people where they are at. It doesn't hurt to have a presence on every platform. Did you know there is a /r/Champions and /r/herosystem Reddit forums? A Facebook fangroup?
 
To wit: when I upload something to the downloads here, I link to it in other places - to encourage people to come look here! The goal is to generate buzz, find people where they are at and then share stuff with those interested. One of the big issues with non-current-D&D RPGs is keeping the presence up to those looking for something else. I believe having a Discord server could help on that front. Think of it as screaming into the room from under the 800lb gorilla...

Taken from the PDF of San Angelo Enemies villain, Dr. Talos: "The autoblaster will cost $25,000. Come back in three weeks."  etc. From the 1993 Viper book, here's a few costs: VP-01A Fang Blaster Pistol $500, VR-02a Light Blaster Carbine $1000, Minotaur Exo-Skeleton Armor $20,000.
 
Hope that helps.

"But honestly, Mr. FBI guy, I was researching the prices of a Ladyboy prostitute, rabbed wombats, and a nuclear bomb for my roleplaying game session tonight. I didn't know looking up prices were illegal sir."

In my game, I do allow characters to purchase real-world things that do damage (e.g. regular firearms) or can affect combat (e.g. smoke grenades)  with money rather than CP - though these all come with a "real world" limitation.  The team members all have walkie talkies to communicate?  Well, they probably don't work as well as the CP-paid radio headset (interference, and maybe batteries dying at inconvenient times) and are definitely much more fragile.  ("You fell five stories after Green Dragon threw you off the roof.  Due to your high PD you don't take any damage, but your walkie talkie suffered some deceleration trauma.")
 
Also, depending on what something is, buying it might incur some in-game complications. 
 
As to looking up real-world prices - that will work fine until you start getting into things that aren't readily available on Amazon or in stores.  How to price that tear gas grenade, for instance?  I suppose you could figure out the active points for the item, and then give it some multiplier (maybe a random number) to determine how much in-game money it costs. 

For your stated purposes, I would recommend the pricing system discussion and extensive example equipment and service price tables in Chapter Two of the 5E FH genre book, pp. 143- 48, which should cover nearly everything you'd want to reference for your game. They're designed to be "generic," not tied to a particular setting.
 
(If you like what's in Terran Empire, I think you'll like this.)

Uhm... I am not trying to be impolite, but sorry, I don't have to do that, all due respect, our group wants monetary system, we get one. Any given group can decide how their game is run and it doesn't have to adhere to anyone else's notion outside the group on how things should be done or not. A group is free to accept/disregard any rules/guidelines it wishes and agrees on, its their game after all and only affects them. Giving your opinions and views are always welcome, doesn't matter if we agree or not, trying to tell my group to do what you want us to do instead of what we want to do just doesn't help. What works for someone doesn't mean works for the person next to you. We as a group want a system to trade apart from CP that uses currency and are all in agreement, irregardless of what the system says. As long as we are in agreement and works for us and we have fun who cares if the system is supposed to work w/ CP only. I think even the creator of the book will tell you its dealers choice, he sells you the book, you use it however you want.
 

This guy had the best idea and its what we will end up using as a currency system. Open browser look up item and done, price tag available, even includes 2-day deliver in most cases, haha!

Short answer: Yes. Long answer: Hell yes.
 
The price list covers over a hundred personal-use items, including laser, plasma and ion weapons, armor and force fields, computers, comm and sensory gear, antigrav equipment, medical and survival gear, cyberware and bioware. All of those items are described and 5E game-statted in the preceding two chapters of TE.

Fantasy Hero 5th Edition has price lists  on pages 143-148ish. Including some ideas on raising and lowering the cost based on quality, etc... 
 
Fantasy Hero 6th ed also has a price list (and a more detailed one then 5th edition I think) but I don't have my copy here right now, so not sure what page numbers.

Prices and currency are campaign-specific.  Fantasy Hero gives you the rules you need to run a game, but not an official setting like D&D, for example.  There are settings out there which have the currency and prices set up, however.

You can buy one of the settings.  For example 
 
Narosia
Kamarathin
The Atlantean Age
my Jolrhos Setting

http://kimberlychapman.com/rpg/equipment.html
 
https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/comments/3sqc3x/generic_rpg_price_list/
 

Pardon me if I'm missing something obvious, but is there some reason to fabricate prices instead of just looking up real world prices? 

Yes. in the Deathstalker series hand blasters fired once, then their power crystals would take two minutes to recharge. And personal deflection fields that made conventional firearms useless were common (they also protected against blasters, though combined fire could burn them down). Swords went through the fields without noticing them, being too heavy to deflect.
Dune, of course, had the Holzmann shield, which would deflect fast projectiles, and kill both the shield wearer and the gunner if hit with a laser. Again, swords and knives became the weapons of choice.
 

I once tried to start a science fantasy campaign where futuristic knights wielded energy swords (lightsabers with the serial numbers filed off) and rode robotic horses. That never happened, but I put in a few battle reports in my Flickr account. A couple are in comic book form; the other is a series of photos. Unfortunately, I didn't leave any commentary; I should do that someday.
 
 

I don't know if someone already said it, but if I remember correctly there was a series of sci-fi novels called Deathstalker in which swords where still used because the energy weapons they had would self-recharge at such a slow rate that the only options left were to stare at each other until it did recharge and try again or fist-fight, thus they always carried blades w/ them and used the often.

I agree completely.
 
I'm an experienced enough player that if I'm not doing damage when I'm hitting that I'll trip him, drop a building on him, or throw him into a fuel truck (or electric lines) so it's not as big of a feel bad moment to do zero damage. But it's still a bigger feel bad moment (in a superhero game) than missing completely.

Honestly I rather miss entirely and know that the enemy is just better at defense than I am at offense atm or that am just getting unlucky w/ my rolls, than to hit, hit, hit, and hit and absolutely feel pathetic because I am just tickling the opponent (no damage/effect). I can always find a way to improve my OCV, but everyone seems to have a cap when it comes to how much points one can sink into a power (including the characters in the books) thus limiting the amount of damage I can do no matter what (the same doesn't apply to defense).

Oh no, this is not only a recipe for disaster, why should anyone put themselves thru having a bad time to please someone else (unless its your significant other or your child, for those its ok)? Don't get me wrong every once in a while, sure, but every game nite?! heck no, life is too short. I was a part of a group for a long time that constantly wanted to play games that were fun to them and not me, and neither they or me had any problems w/ me finding something else to do meanwhile. I even recently had to walk away from a game being run by a friend because it just had a very disruptive player that made things very boring and annoying to me (and later on the rest of the group) and I just couldn't keep wasting my free time on something that made me miserable. I explained to my friend and he was ok w/ it as he understood why I was not having fun and had to walk from the table, no problems, no drama, and I was able to use the time for more entertaining/productive things.

Oh easy, he just punched you in the gut and stole your lunch money, straight up.

If you don't articulate that you aren't enjoying yourself, and why, your resentment is only going to build. Sooner or later that's going to come out, probably in a way that will be more harmful to your friendship than if you were straight with him early on. I'm sure there are other things each of you enjoys that the other doesn't. If you're reasonable about it, and he's that good a friend, he should understand. If he doesn't he couldn't have been that good a friend, and it's better to know that now.

Oh no, this is not only a recipe for disaster, why should anyone put themselves thru having a bad time to please someone else (unless its your significant other or your child, for those its ok)? Don't get me wrong every once in a while, sure, but every game nite?! heck no, life is too short. I was a part of a group for a long time that constantly wanted to play games that were fun to them and not me, and neither they or me had any problems w/ me finding something else to do meanwhile. I even recently had to walk away from a game being run by a friend because it just had a very disruptive player that made things very boring and annoying to me (and later on the rest of the group) and I just couldn't keep wasting my free time on something that made me miserable. I explained to my friend and he was ok w/ it as he understood why I was not having fun and had to walk from the table, no problems, no drama, and I was able to use the time for more entertaining/productive things.