ScottishFox

This is a good point.  The 6e books are great as a reference tool - like an encyclopedia set.
 
They are terrible for learning how to play.  750+ pages is just too much material to expect players to read through, much less learn.
 
D&D 5e made a decision to streamline their product and there are now more players than ever - by a lot.
 
I recently skimmed my champions 4e book and it reminded me just how well it balanced crunch vs. readability.

Several factors come to mind:
1-  Very relaxed culture.
2-  Tropical environment is easy on the body.
3-  Population is mostly Asian and they've retained enough of their cultures of origin to not balloon up to American sizes as a whole.
 
Though a quick review of the list on Wikipedia says Minnesota - a godforsaken icy wasteland -  is in 2nd place so there goes my theory.
 
 

This is a good point.  The 6e books are great as a reference tool - like an encyclopedia set.
 
They are terrible for learning how to play.  750+ pages is just too much material to expect players to read through, much less learn.
 
D&D 5e made a decision to streamline their product and there are now more players than ever - by a lot.
 
I recently skimmed my champions 4e book and it reminded me just how well it balanced crunch vs. readability.

6e? My condolences...

I don't think anyone will live long enough to make anything stick on the Clintons. 
 
Epstein had a painting of Bill Clinton in the blue dress on the wall of his his evil island palace and people were so sure he'd "suicide" in prison they were joking about it days before it happened with a litany of unbelievable excuses (sleeping guards, suicide watch pulled, cameras malfunctioning, 40+ year no-suicide run ended, etc.).  I think we all knew it was coming.
 
I do think there is a long enough pattern of shady dealings to not want her to be President - ever.
 
I'll admit I'm still upset by how she and the DNC screwed over Bernie Sanders.  Bernie seems to be aging so fast I don't think he can make a legit run at it now. 

Are you sure?
 
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/24/us/cash-flowed-to-clinton-foundation-as-russians-pressed-for-control-of-uranium-company.html

My feelings on Trump vs. Clinton are solidly of the “Pox on both their houses” variety. It saddened me—and still does—that out of 320+ million people in this country, we collectively decided these two were the best options.
 
A more damning indictment of the two-Party system I expect never to see again. (At least, I hope never to. But who knows what next year will bring?)

Well I disagree on some level, but I don't understand this at all. Just like all armies seem to try fighting the last war over, all "politicos" seem to want to re fight the last election. Trump is a total dumpster fire of a pres, but if you're trying to use that to say Hillary, or one just like her, is a good choice, You run the real risk of being over run by other forces yet again. Without Hillary Trump could not have won...that's on the machine politics that dominate both modern parties.

One of the best countries in the world decided that their best two candidates were Hillary and Trump. 
 
330 million people to choose from and those two got the nod.
 
We deserve whatever happens to us.

"Toute nation a le gouvernement qu'elle merite [Every country has the government it deserves]."
---Josephe de Maistre, Lettres et Opuscules Inedites (1851) vol.1, letter 53 (15 August 1811)

Picking up Greenland now before global warming turns it into a lush tropical paradise and the southern half of the united states withers into a desert wasteland would be a good move. 
 

One of the best countries in the world decided that their best two candidates were Hillary and Trump. 
 
330 million people to choose from and those two got the nod.
 
We deserve whatever happens to us.

Have you ever played Shadowrun (Any version)
 
or Phoenix Command?
 
Or in fact D&D with newer players who are cycling through a list of abilities and dealing with spell slots, and have to re-read every spell before they can cast it. Out loud. To the group. Just to find out it doesn't apply to the situation?
 
I agree, it can be slow. There are a number of things to keep track of that other systems do not have. It will take some getting used to. But these particular players are coming from shadowrun. In which the simplest character has a combat round like this: (not even factoring in intiative and combat passes)
 
I want to shoot something. Hmm Yes, with this ak-97. OK. So um, single shot, short burst extended burst? Ok short burst. oh focus the burst for more damage, or a spread short burst to cause the enemy to lose defense pool? Hmm spread.
Ok. That's 3 bullets. What did I do last round? I shot a single shot. The round before? Shot then moved. OK, so that is 1 recoil from last round + 3 from the bullets this round. Recoil of 4! But my gas vent on my gun gives me +1 recoil compensation plus 2 more for my base strength means I have 3 points of recoil compensation. 4 recoil  - 3 = 1 dice penalty for recoil. What are the lighting and wind conditions DM? OK  range? ok got all that down. I now roll 11d6 and count successes (5's and 6's). Oh wait there are a bunch of 1s there too, are there 6? If so that is a glitch. No no , just 4. OK, so I got 4 successes. Now the defender rolls his defense pool, reaction + intuition. Wait, does he have enough intiative that he can abort to a defensive manuever? Or has he already done a full defense manuever? Add the dice from that. He rolls and gets only 2 successes so I hit! I have net 2 successes over him. My gun does 9 base damage + the 2 extra successes is 11 base damage. So now the defender has to roll body + armor. He has 5 body and 12 armor. But my weapon has a -1 AP so that reduces his armor by 1. What kind of ammo am I using? I have APDS loaded, that is -2 AP, for a total of -3... so their armor is 9 and 5 body. GM rolls 14 dice and counts successes to negate the damage. What? We forgot to do penetration? Oh well the modified armor is 9 and the modified damage is 11, so the damage is more. so this penetrates and is physical damage, not stun. Phew. OK, where were we? Oh yes GM soaks the damage, rolls 5 successes. So 6 damage boxes get x'ed out. Bad guy is still up, but let's look at his damage monitor. OK, now he is at -2 to all dice rolls due to his condition monitor because he has no pain negating cybernetics...
 
No joke. This is not even calculating cover, casting spells, deckers performing matrix actions and attacks during the combat, riggers and their drones or any of that.
 
Hero isn't the quickest to resolve an action, but at the same time you rarely have extended combats like some other games with tons of HPs and you go many rounds in a big fight. But hands down the slowest combat system for any tabletop RPG? I disagree there.
 
However any system, introducing the crunch slowly is a good idea for people. But coming from Shadowrun I have a feeling they will have a sense of the combat being quicker and easier. Which is one reason I am hesitant of adding in the extra overhead of the damage negation. But some players I think will appreciate how the armor piercing factor works. My main concern is balance of weapons vs armor and how it will change fights to make them longer/shorter or have a different feel. And the extra time of damage negation factoring in and that they will need to have a DC chart to start letting them know how it scales (and anyone using a Katana may need to know that anyway for str bonuses and str boosts)
 
Point taken on the crunch. But I also think you underestimate the slowness of some other systems and their complexity.

Awakened at 2 a.m. by my nonverbal daughter who had a potty emergency. Hung out in her room for about 45 minutes in the (vain) hope that she'd go right back to sleep, at which point she sat straight up in bed and threw up the cantaloupe she had with dinner last night. Changed her clothes and her bedding. Now waiting for her to go back to sleep so that I can do the same. Alarm clock scheduled to go off in about two hours.

I think our legal system is too punitive and rigged besides...for you if you're rich, against you if you're poor. I DO believe that we should go less for punishing and more for rehabilitating... I have become , in short, a bleeding heart on the subject and will remain so until I'm mugged, assaulted, robbed or whatever...
 
And even I think "Justice Involved persons" is ...a profoundly moronic term.
 
 

The writer Spider Robinson once wrote about a bus sign that said  “Illiterate?  Write for help.”     I thought it was just something he made up until I saw one for myself.

I feel compelled to cheat since my entry missed the mark by only 4 months and 4 days (Aug 27th, 1999) - 13th Warrior.
 
It clocks in at 33% by way of critic reviews and I loved that movie.
 
With exceptions for Avengers, LOTR series and Commando I don't think I've watched any movie as many times.

I'll just assume that was a poorly delivered joke that fell flat. 
 
Otherwise, my head will hurt too much.

I'll just assume that was a poorly delivered joke that fell flat. 
 
Otherwise, my head will hurt too much.

I'll just assume that was a poorly delivered joke that fell flat. 
 
Otherwise, my head will hurt too much.

That's because a sword isn't a tool with broad demand creating high production levels, its a specialty collector's item and people will pay a premium price.  It does not cost all that much to put out a sword, just a lot of skill and some equipment (and nice steel).  In a culture where people buy and sell a lot of swords, the price drops much closer to production cost because the supply increases greatly to match the demand.
 
Even if the blade has super zowie tech going into it, that's going to be less zowie than the guns and still cheaper to produce.

He needs a filter installed between his brain and his mouth.

Its a pretty minor effect, honestly.  I think Mind Control (and other mental powers) are broken in Hero and always have been.  They cost vast points for minor effects and simulate the genre material very, very poorly.  I would rather see a structure more like transform where the desire effect determines the cost rather than a flat build structure across all desired attempts.  

Transform has different costs for specific attempts to accomplish a goal: Making someone's eyebrows pink costs 3 points per d6, its not a flat cost for every type of effect.  Mental powers should follow the same kind of structure, and target the Ego of a character to overwhelm it rather than presence attack-like levels of effect.

I've found several D&D spells can be best simulated with Change Environment using a rough guideline of being roughly as effective as falling down (1/2 DCV) at base value or 1/2 DCV & lose your turn using the APG +20 point version.
 
Like you said, using other constructs makes the AP cost prohibitive for non-supers campaigns.

I built it with a Change Environment; make an Ego roll or target and attack the taunter.  I know its a bit of a stretch but anything else is inordinately expensive for the effect, like 62 active cost above...