rjcurrie

Re: Total NEWB gushing over how amazing this forum is

Ah' date=' young Grasshopper, you have passed the 1st test of HEROism. Now you must install the rocket on the Badger to pass the 2nd.[/quote']

 

Actually, Grasshopper, when you can build a Hero Power to snatch a pebble from my hand, you will be ready.

Re: THE HERO SYSTEM BESTIARY: What Do *You* Want To See?

But can't you just derive these things from the creature write-ups?

Re: The HERO System Advanced Player's Guide

I just see the HERO System Advanced Player's Guide in the online store.

Does this mean that there were reprints?

Yes. Hero Games had another print run done a little while ago -- just before DunDraCon in mid-February.'

Re: Blue Stuff Battery

Is there a reason this isn't just REC 5 on the END Reserve with the Limitation "Only when injected with Blue Stuff"?

Re: More Complications, Please

Third Edition Champions was indeed a square-bound typeset book. It also had the three superheroes on the cover.

Actually, there were two versions of 3e. One was square-bound. The other was a box set that had two stapled books: the rules and a sourcebook. It was the same content, just packaged differently.

Re: Basic Rulebook

To clairfy, I suspect when Checkmate says "the Advanced Rules", he is referring to the main 6e rulebooks. I just want to clarify because there is a book called the "Advanced Player's Guide" which is not what you want right now.

Re: CHAMPIONS UNIVERSE: What Do *You* Want To See?

I'm pretty sure it is planned to be full color.

Re: Does your campaign world have a S.H.I.E.L.D.?

Yet it's always seemed to me that "UNTIL" was written by people who assume that the UN is one monolithic organization and that the "United" in UN and US mean the same thing. I'm not even going to get into the fact that some people in the US believe that the UN is going to invade the US and imprison all good Americans in concentration camps. Puh-leaze. The UN couldn't stop arguing long enough and even if it could' date=' it could never get its disparate members pointing in the same direction long enough. It should really be the HDN - Hopelessly Disunited Nations.[/quote']

 

So, the UN is more competent in the Champions Universe than in the real world. Governments aren't kidndapping supers and forcing them in military service in the CU or rounding them up and putting them in camps or simply bagging them to be disected in labs -- all of which I think would be likely in the real world if supers existed.

 

I'd say that people in the CU are more likely to fall at the extreme ends of the good/evil scale. Thus, governments, including the UN are more likely to be interested in doing what's right than just what's in their own best interest.

 

Or more simply, if the CU can have people who can fly and fire beams from their eyes, why can't it have a UN with at least one competent agency?

Re: CHAMPIONS UNIVERSE: What Do *You* Want To See?

Given that "Book of the Empress" has been announced for 2011, I suspect that is where you are more likely to find info on alternate dimensions and on taking the fight to Istvatha V’han.

Re: What if...

What if Smallville had attained the rights to use Batman?

I suspect they would have used him in a similar manner to how they use Green Arrow. In fact, didn't they decided to use Green Arrow when they couldn't get Batman?

Re: CHAMPIONS UNIVERSE: What Do *You* Want To See?

Would this be an appropriate book to include 6th Edition Templates for the various alien species active on and near Earth during the present day?

I'm pretty sure that Champions Beyond would be the book for that.

Re: building KISS

I believe Darren Watts is writing up the superpowered KISS for this year's HERO All-Stars convention event.

Re: Does your campaign world have a S.H.I.E.L.D.?

In my SuperSquad America universe, I haven't introduced a worldwide UNTIL equivalent, but for the U.S., I use EAGLES -- the Elite American Group for Law Enforcement and Security. This is not to be confused with E.A.G.L.E. (Extra-normal Activities Garrison for Law Enforcement) from Kurt Busiek's Astro City but since I had been using EAGLES for years before Astro City came out, I decided to keep it, even though I suspect some people in my convention games figure I just took it from Busiek. That universe also has OASIS -- the Office of American Scientific Investigative Studies -- which was somewhat inspired by OSI (Office of Scientific Investigation) from the Six Million Dollar Man; however, OASIS is focused much more on the science and tends to work with EAGLES on projects that need agents more than scientists.

In other campaigns in the past, I have also used the Canadian agency M.A.P.L.E. -- the Multiprovincial Agency for Protection and Law Enforcement. And in a short-lived comedy campaign, I had the United States Elite Law Enforcement Security Service aka USELESS.

Re: New to Champions advice on what books to get needed please

The Champions setting book as well as the Champions Super Powers book are set to release very soon...I believe the Champions setting book is at the printers right now. Both will give you all kinds of help getting your superhero campaign going.

 

As for the Post Apoc book, it is certainly one of the finest books Hero Games has put out and even though it is written for 5th Edition, it has very few actual mechanics in it, instead focusing primarily on the Post Apoc genre and giving oodles of advice on how to run myriad types of Post-Apoc settings.

Actually, it is the Champions genre book which is currently at the printers. This is the book that describes how to use the Hero System to run superhero games. The setting book is entitled Champions Universe and will be out later this year. In between those will be Champions Powers (which mayapuppies referred to as Champions Super Powers) which is a collection of super powers of various special effects written up in Hero System terms. Also, due out this year are Champions Villains 1, 2, and 3 which should provide you with all the villains you need.

Re: USA 5O for Sixth Edition

MISSOURI is up for review and comment.

His Team Blackberry is Difficult to Dispel and thus costs 9 points compared to Alaska's 6 point version without Difficult to Dispel. You should probably settle on one version.

I'm assuming these are still very rough write-ups and you will eventually clean-up things like replacing "Custom Adder" with the actual text describing the Adder.

And I second Bob's recommendation of using "Custom Modifier" rather than "Limited Power". There's at least one example (Water Currents Sense) where there is no definition of what the Limitation being represented by Limited Power is.

To be honest, these write-ups seem so rough that it is hard to review them in any meaningful way. If there is more editign to come on areas such as Custom Adder and on the Limited Power stuff, it might be best to state up front what reviewers shoudl and shouldn't be looking for.

Re: USA 5O for Sixth Edition

now also up: ARKANSAS

again, please critique and comment.

 

note: he has a ton of complications, because he has a long "history"

I've divided them into major and minor, with a value reduction on the minors

to represent their role as flavor text

Once again, if a lot of it is flavor text, is it really necessary on the charater sheet? Or can it simply be in the text?

"Science Skill: Science" seems a strange way to express a knowledge of Flora and Fauna. Perhaps "Science: Flora and Fauna" and even then is his knowlege of all Flora and Fauna or American (or North American) Flora and Fauna? For example, does he really know anything about exotic plants in the Amazon Rain Forest?

Is the team Blackberry something that only some team members have?

Re: USA 5O for Sixth Edition

I have re posted ALASKA and he has most of the mods suggested

 

thanks again. it really helps.

Looks pretty good.

I don't care much for your approach to Complications. I suspect I'd rather see you take a close look at how important the various Complications really are to the character and trim them down to 75. For instance, is the group DNPC really that important to the character? Or is it just something that worth a line or so in the background write-up?

Also, is it really necessary to give Research In Motion (makers of the Blackberry) a book full of free advertising? Would "Team smartphone" not work just as well? If you do decide on using Blackberry, you check into what you need to do to properly acknowledge Research in Motion's trademark -- so that you do not contribute to the possible loss of their trademark.

Re: Steve's Chat Tonight (Wednesday, December 9)

um

isn't it 3 PM PST?

I assume he actually meant 9 PM EST, 6 PM PST -- the usual time for his chat.

Re: HERO SYSTEM MARTIAL ARTS -- What Do *You* Want To See?

My pipe dream/make-a-wish would be to include stick figure drawings for each martial art's basic stances, and more description text for how the moves look, to help players describe their combats in greater visual detail.

 

Not sure anyone else cares. But anything to improve the visyals while accurately reflecting the actual combat style would be good.

I think it's a great idea. I suspect that there are a number of practical reasons against doing it -- but I like it . I thinkit would be a great help in selecting a martial art for a character.

Speaking of which, how about a page or two on selecting the right martial art for your character -- basically, a section that suggests vario0us marital arts based on certain criteria.

Re: Ultimate Pulp Cover

all 6ed books are goig to have the same coveri think theHEROsymbol on a blue background i wonder why that is

From what I understand, the Blue and Gold covers with a Hexman variation are going to be used for many (or all) of the core library (and similar books) while more genre-specific books will have covers with genre-related art.

Re: day of ragnararok pulp?

Yeah' date=' but Hite admits himself it's more commie smashing than Nazi stomping.[/quote']

 

To be honest, does it really matter? In pulp, they're both basically mindless followers of an evil ideology.

Re: Invisible Armor

Actually' date=' in 5e Armor [i']is [/i]invisible unless you apply costs end or the visible limitation. I don't have my 6e books handy as Im not at home, but I assume Resistant Defense works the same way by default.

In the interest of total clairty, I asume you mean Resistant Protection.

Re: Bad Guy books?

does anyone know when the bad guy books' date=' particularly for champions will be released?[/quote']

 

The 3 book Champions Villains series was originally scheduled for spring 2010, but I would not be surprised if that date ends up changing. We will know more when Hero Games announces the revised 2010 schedule and the preliminary 2011 schedule in mid-February at DunDraCon.

Re: CHAMPIONS 6E -- What Do *You* Want To See?

I think I'll be a voice of decent on the Mini-Settings. As a big fan of PAH and especially the variety of setting suggestions' date=' I don't know how I'd feel about an ad-hoc and barely defined mini-settings in the Champions book. I'm sure I'd love to see each and everyone you listed, Steve, and many others, but I'd like to see them in depth. This will hardly effect my motivation to buy the book, and I'm sure I'll still enjoy what ever you put in there. I am somehow just not sure if it will leave me wanting. The old adage comes to mind, [i']if you're going to do something, do it right[/i].

 

Other than that, I can't think of too much to add to this that hasn't been stated before or that I think would be of value.

 

La Rose.

To be honest, I think the mini-settings in PAH and UFH are too detailed. I would far rather see something like "50 Campaign Seeds" where each one is no more than a few paragraphs and it is left to the GM to work out the details. I prefer inspiration over having it all done for me.

Re: CHAMPIONS 6E -- What Do *You* Want To See?

To make myself clear, here is my organized, concrete suggestion:

 

GURPS 4e has the Infinite Worlds campaign, which is a multidimension-spanning campaign of cross genre adventure.

 

That to me is an excellent way to show off a universal-type system.

 

TORG and Rifts are the two big classic RPG's in the realm of cross-genre roleplaying, and I think that Voyagers of the Infinite gives HERO 6e a chance to truly show off its versatility.

 

I think that it can be done by having Voyagers of the Infinite being a slice of a greater campaign setting that expands with every genre book.

 

I think that this is a uniquely good time to try it out as Champions will be the first genre book.

 

Let's say that Fantasy HERO is the next genre book (come to think of it, it is isn't it?).

 

If it has any mini-settings, one of them could be an extension of the Voyagers of the Infinite, where it both has a more magical take on the same concept, but it also can directly connect with VotI if the GM so chooses to do so but it can be independent if the GM desires so as well. The setting would also present the generally magical side of the same multiverse, so if one is still playing in the originally Champions-oriented setting they could be a character who uses magical artifacts or what-not that came from a magical dimension.

 

Let's say that Star HERO is next. I picture a campaign that is something like Star Trek mixed with Doctor Who, which would present a sort of "less super" version of the original Champions-style game, but nonetheless connects with both the VotI as well as the Fantasy version.

 

And it would go so on and so forth for each genre book.

 

I think that that's as well as I can describe it while leaving the real details to you.

While in some ways it is an interesting idea, I'd worry that it is way too similar to the GURPS Infinite Worlds approach.