rjcurrie

Only if your game is all combat.

I guess this just shows how people differ. I'd worry more about characters with similar personalities than characters with similar powersets.

There is a total of zero RPG worlds that I personally want to see converted to Hero, but then I have little interest in GMing (especially) or playing in any published world -- whether that world comes from movies, TV, books, RPGs, or whatever. I would far rather play in a GM-created world that may borrow concepts and themes from such worlds.

Wouldn't Hitler just have a high PRE and a very good Oratory Skill?

Fair enough. I guess one thing I don't like about the Gumshoe system is the whole "spending points" for clues which just feels horribly artificial and takes me out of the game.

My own approach to investigations in HERO is to not have specific clues in mind, but rather to have specific information that they need to get to the next point of the adventure. When it comes time for the players to investigate, I'll go around the table and ask each player what they're doing to investigate. I then decide what investigation paths will turn up what information. I'll then play out short scenes of the players obtaining their "clues". Sometimes I'll ask for a roll on the skill they might be using but usually a failure is just used to complicate the situation slightly not really reduce the chance of them learning something. Finally, if there is information that the players do not have the skills to obtain or simply do not take any investigation approach that could obtain it, then I'll have some kind of NPC provide them the info or point them in the right direction.

Don't all these attempted balancing techniques just go out the window once characters come into play? To be honest, I've usually found that the player's creativity, tactics, and roleplaying ability have far more impact than the character's stats. In the main Champions that I used to play in that lasted for many years, there was almost nothing resembling a rule of X. I believe there was a total point limit and that was that. We had a character that had no stat higher than 20 and no attack bigger than about 8d6 being tremendously effective while a character with an 120 Cosmic Power Pool was dead within about 3 sessions. We had a STR 100, DEX 33 brick that was much more effective in combat than a lot of us, but combat was only one aspect of the game. We also split up frequently to deal with different plots or subplots and probably did many other thngs that "conventional HERO wisdom" tells you not to do.

He seems to now be posting under the name Legendsmiths.

I assume that these things are a given when dealing with the RPG "Industry".

You say you work in print professionally, but do you work with essentially first time authors who are working their writing in around a busy career and family life?

Okay. That answers my supplemental question, which was "Who wrote The Sands of Time?" But it does seem strange not to list the author in the description of these products. I know personally that I have made purchase decisions on RPG products solely based on the author.

Is there a reason that descriptions (viewed here, in the Hero Store, and on the Blackwyrm web sit) do not include author information?

For those that don't know, the Fifth Doctor Sourcebook has been written by former Hero Games president Darren Watts.

You're right if you're going to be modifying a piece of equipment. But I was more thinking of the case where the character uses standard weaponry and you just want to have quick access to the stats. For example, if my character uses a Glock 34 semi-automatic pistol, do I really need the full Hero build on my character sheet or just the stats? Now if I was creating a modified version of the gun then yeah, I'd probably include the fully written up version -- although I still might just want the updated stats on my character sheet. So, I might hide the actual write-up with a custom export template -- although it would still be available in the HD file to be modified.

Depending on the focus, the character without a secret iD can still be caught without it. For example, even though Cap does not really have a secret ID, does he really take the shield with him when he runs out to the local convenience to grab a quart of a milk because he's run out?

When I add weapons to a character in Hero Designer, I just tend to use Custom Power and enter the stats for the gun. I see no need to reinvent the wheel by building it from scratch.

The main railroad line through Paradise City is pretty much the dividing point between the good and bad parts of town and is often simply called "The Line". There have been many reported sightings of the Man in Black striding along those tracks.

Re: Champions Complete Available On Preorder And as I pointed out in the Company Questions thread on the subject, when you pre-order the bundle, you can get the PDF right away.

Re: Public vs. Secret Identity

Re: 6e Hero Designer You can use the current Hero Designer to build both 5e and 6e characters.

Re: Bells and Whistles and Experience Points I'm not sure I'd allow people to spend XP mid-session. I'd rather see people solve problems in character rather than get around them with spending points.

Re: [Retro] COTN 5th edition proposal Canada almost suffered from the same problem. When I read the original draft of Champions Universe (back in the days when drafts were made available for review), one of my major comments to Steve Long was that Canada's superhuman population would be way too low to support a new Champions of the North. The percentage given in the final product was much higher.

Re: Attractiveness - Comeliness Vs. Striking Appearance In any event, however you think physical looks affect others, explain how Striking Appearance doesn't accomplish what you're trying to do.

Re: Question: Can you give Limitations on a Perk? I can`t remember any specific examples off the top of my head. But I`m pretty sure that even Teri Hatcher`s Lois Lane was smart enough to come up with other ways of getting in touch with him, especially once she learned his secret ID. Either you were trying to make a joke and didn`t make it clear or your attempts to cram every hero known to man into 250 points has ruined your ability to think rationally about the Hero System.

Re: Question: Can you give Limitations on a Perk? Why Jimmy need to speak to use his signal watch? It just sends an ultrasonic signal that Superman can hear. And even if the watch transmitted sound, would Jimmy need to be able to use it? Could he not hand a note to someone else to speak into it? Or could he tap out Morse Code -- which isn't out of line for both Jimmy and Supes to know?