ScottishFox

My limited understanding of IQ theory says that IQ tests very heavily weight working the former (perception, working memory and speed of thought) because that's actual intelligence. Someone, on the other hand, can be very methodical, conscientious (the psychological trait) with a vast amount of knowledge and would not be considered intelligent. They would, however, accomplish far more than "smarter" folks with less knowledge, unrefined processes and weaker work ethics. As a game mechanic INT affects enough skills that I think it's fine the way it is. It doesn't really break down in super campaigns where the per-five-points design of the game works better. It's in the heroic game levels where HERO system tends to not work well. I recall an article from the 80s talking about the various gaffes in each game system and the example for Champions was that a 0 STR baby could throw a football a laughably far distance. It made such a good point that I wrote a letter to the game designers (this was before email was a thing) complaining that the throwing distance was too far at the low end (babies with baseballs) and failed to scale (superman with baseballs) at a suitably comic-book level. They very succinctly told me to make my own chart. There might have been a silent go-pound-sand in there.

INT 12 = genius.

How are you deriving that number? 140 is quite exceptional. Much higher puts you at the practical human limit minus a handful of "legendary" people. 140 IQ puts you in the top 99.3790320141% of the population almost top 1 of 200 people. 160 IQ puts you in the top 1 of 10,000 people. 180 IQ puts you in the top 1 of 3,000,000 people. 200 IQ is top 1 in 2,000,000,000+ people. Like 3-4 on the planet. Given the older style descriptions where people begin to describe you as a thing around 13-15 (he's strong, she's smart, etc.) and where you start to dominate your respective field of endeavor around 18 and are among the best in the world at 20+.

Great news!

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/450797-all-candidates-raise-hands-on-giving-health-care-to-undocumented-immigrants

If that phone call was worthy of impeachment proceedings then so is winning the presidency. A real danger of setting the threshold too low on impeachment is that it will become a tool to overturn elections any time the party that has control of congress loses the presidency. Trump is one of the worst candidates I've ever seen. Just put up a better candidate and bounce this guy out. 13 months and change. Just do it.

This would be my concern. Trump has the media chasing his lies like a kitten after a laser pointer dot. He pushed in pretty major policy and procedure changes and they never got above the horizon on most news sites because everyone was outraged over sharpie-gate and other nonsensical things he does.

I'd like to see us get out of pointless trillion dollar foreign wars and campaigns. Ideas I'd like to see Democrats address Healthcare costs in a reasonable fashion. Promising "free" healthcare to people who aren't even citizens while millions of Americans aren't covered is an election losing idea. But doing something to increase the number of doctors able to get through medical school without $500k in student debt would be a good start. Also, the idea that eyeballs and teeth shouldn't be covered by health insurance is asinine. I'd like to see pharmaceutical companies forced to see their drugs in America at the same price they sell them everywhere else. The idea that you can get a massive discount on your insulin by crossing the border, but are legally barred from importing it, is BS. I'd like to see social security income go back to being non-taxable as seniors can't even begin to pay for healthcare with the pittance they get from social security.

Trump's aggregate approval rating topped 51% last week. That means at least a few of the Hillary voters have switched sides. Trump is going to win 2020 if the Democrats don't put up a solid candidate with more mainstream ideas. Tulsi Gabbard has won me over during her Joe Rogan session and a few interviews. Sounds way more sane than several of the other choices.

Great article. And I agreed with the author's insights. I've been on the side of having a doctor afraid to continue medication and finishing off my shoulder reconstruction (bone dissolving screws and all) was VERY painful. I was only a few weeks into the pain meds and they reduced my dose to something slightly less effective than thinking happy thoughts. Let the doctors sort it out. Keep the politicians and threats of taking medical licenses away from healthcare and let people in pain get the medication they need. The great political art of changing the laws to make it look like you're doing something is usually worse than not doing anything at all.

I wouldn't say that sales are in a healthy state currently nor that the rules are particularly well accepted by the masses. The game who's biggest weakness was complexity became increasingly complex and rules heavy until the player base all but vanished. Personally the dropping of figured characteristics was not a big deal for me and it does allow some interesting character constructs. On the other hand they feel pretty intuitive to players and losing them has NOT helped adoption of the game system by new players. My Saturday game just wrapped up a big campaign in 6th edition and honestly if HERO designer supported 4th edition I'd revert back to that before the next campaign starts.

Honestly, it wouldn't feel like HERO system without combat skill levels. I mostly do heroic campaigns now, so that is probably a factor. But I do like guys who are good at certain things and not others and the idea of shifting the focus of your skill towards offense, defense or damage feels right. Static OCV and DCV numbers don't feel right by themselves. I like them as a baseline, but there has to be some room for offensive and defensive shifting. Plus I find skill levels to be pretty intuitive for the players. You have fixed offense and defense values and you have a number of floaters that you can shift to one side or the other when your turn starts. That was one of my biggest gripes with D&D 5th edition. A level 20 fighter is just as easy to hit as he was at level 1. His offense soars over the levels, but aside from gear upgrades, he's as easy to hit as the day he started. Meanwhile in Fantasy HERO the equivalent fighter has OCV/DCV values in the 7-8 range, plus martial maneuvers with his weapons of choice and 4-6 combat skill levels to float around. If he doesn't want the novice to hit him - then he doesn't get hit. Based on a decent amount of martial arts training over the decades - this feels more accurate to me. It's part of why I've stayed with Fantasy HERO.

Remakes I'd like to see: A Champions PC game that is actually based on the HERO system rules. A classic fantasy game (like Baldur's gate I & II) done with Fantasy HERO system rules.

We are not in disagreement.

I hate how Hollywood has gotten lazy and decided the best way to make money is recycle old movies. Make. New. Shit!

I think most - if not all - politicians in America that were caught in 3 situations wearing blackface at the ages Trudeau did would see their career go down in flames. Like - instant destruction. Cancel culture is all the rage here in America though perhaps the recent Dave Chappelle routine on Netflix represents the turning of the tide.

The best reason I've seen so far - at one of the tables I run - is that you've hit the campaign OCV/DCV cap and that the 10pt all combat level is now the same price as double-cost OCV/DCV point and more flexible.

It was 3x the last I checked. I can't imagine most politicians surviving this. Or maybe this will start unraveling cancel-culture and the populace will open up to the idea that people can make stupid mistakes and believe stupid things and then - over time - become better people.

I will be shocked if Trudeau wins another election at this point. The last couple days have not treated him well.

I think at the point you're making players pay character points for a cell phone your game is probably dead. It's one thing to have to pay character points for high-tech gadget that is part of your super persona and another thing altogether to have to pay for every day items that are possessed by hundreds of millions of people.

Since this is the same legislature that is ignoring the lawful results of the Brexit vote there's no moral high ground to be had. Also, I don't like that guy and he is most definitely NOT like the hulk.

I DM'd 5th edition for them for a couple years first. Then I got them hooked on the HERO. Nobody wants to GM HERO, but most of my players enjoy the great amount of freedom that comes with character creation and a system where armor behaves in a more intuitive way (not harder to hit, harder to injure, slower, bulkier, heavier).

I agree with your first line completely. Creating games about decadence and immoral political intrigue by an immortal race of murderous blood suckers isn't really a ding on White Wolf. The issue was squarely that one human being was willing to lie - repeatedly - to another human being to win a cooperative storytelling game. That person needed a completely non-game discussion about ethically participating in the game. I get someone pulling that at one of my tables and they are gone for good.

Sadly, this is true on both sides of the aisle. Politicians care about politicians. Term limits for everyone would help (a little).

So far I've done Return of the Runelords (didn't enjoy it very much) and War for the Crown. This one was War for the Crown - which was great. Lots of political intrigue, investigation with the occasional dungeon crawl or extended combat. They really play up the reputation and political power aspects as well as some city building early on. It is a great mix of things to do in a world that is much more than a dungeon crawl. I highly recommend that particular adventure. Luckily I do simple math very quickly in my head so I generated some formulas for converting the creatures on the fly and it worked out pretty well.