dsatow

The rules increase body based on increasing thickness (check under environment rules for walls).  I think rather than reducing Body to below one.  As one reduces thickness, the defense of the item should go down.  Personally, I just make an educated guess and just run with stuff pulled outta thin air using the environment values as guides.

The rules increase body based on increasing thickness (check under environment rules for walls).  I think rather than reducing Body to below one.  As one reduces thickness, the defense of the item should go down.  Personally, I just make an educated guess and just run with stuff pulled outta thin air using the environment values as guides.

Yes, its a problem for a lot of players when starting to play Hero for a while.  They probably should use the term "your segment" rather than "your phase" and only use "your phase" when actually describing your actions but I doubt it will help in any case.  It would be a battle similar to trying to stop people using the word STUN/STUNNED vs CON STUN.

One reason not to is if you allow maneuvers for mental attacks.  Say someone is trying to use telepathy to read your thoughts.  Theoretically, you could try to fill your mind with useless trivia (a mental dodge) or you could try to block the attempt by thinking something unpleasant (a mental block).

Valentine's Day.

If you work wonders and do the impossible with your whip, you can use it on a sandwich.
 
Everyone loves Miracle Whip.
 
Lucius Alexander
 
The palindromedary thinks the "Move A Head" Power might count as a miracle whip power.....

If the temperature of your whip is low enough, you can use it as a desert topping.
 
Everyone loves Cool Whip.

I think this relates.  A 0 pt contact is like the friend and a 1+ pt contact is like the best friend.
 

I generally treat contacts as player accessible abilities.  In other word, you can have "contacts" without paying points for them, but they may not respond to you if they are busy or etc.  It's more a role playing exercise/plot contingent contact and slightly beneficial.  If you want someone who will drop what they are doing to try and help you out when you need it, then the contact perk is for you.  
 
Example of the difference (YMMV): 
You know a lawyer.  He's good (18- PS: Lawyer) but he's not bought as a contact.  You get framed for the murder of some punk.  You call him for help but get his secretary.  She says she'll relay the message to him.  A day goes by and this kid fresh out of college come by your prison cell.  Kid lawyer has been referred to you by the big shot lawyer.  When you get out of jail on bond a day later, the press tries to crucify you outside the court house.
 
You know a lawyer.  He's good (18- PS: Lawyer) and he's bought as a contact.  You get framed for the murder of some punk.  You call him for help and get the roll.  His secretary puts you through to the big shot lawyer even though he's in a meeting.  15 minutes later, you are out of jail on bond.  The lawyer has gotten a gag order on the press in place and is already talking about how to defeat the accusations.
 
You know a lawyer.  He's good (18- PS: Lawyer) and he's bought as a contact.  You get framed for the murder of some punk.  You call him for help but you failed the roll.  His secretary gives him a message.  A hour later, a junior partner from the firm gets you out of jail on bond.  The press already has wind of your problem but he's arranged for a press release to give your side of the issue.

I generally treat contacts as player accessible abilities.  In other word, you can have "contacts" without paying points for them, but they may not respond to you if they are busy or etc.  It's more a role playing exercise/plot contingent contact and slightly beneficial.  If you want someone who will drop what they are doing to try and help you out when you need it, then the contact perk is for you.  
 
Example of the difference (YMMV): 
You know a lawyer.  He's good (18- PS: Lawyer) but he's not bought as a contact.  You get framed for the murder of some punk.  You call him for help but get his secretary.  She says she'll relay the message to him.  A day goes by and this kid fresh out of college come by your prison cell.  Kid lawyer has been referred to you by the big shot lawyer.  When you get out of jail on bond a day later, the press tries to crucify you outside the court house.
 
You know a lawyer.  He's good (18- PS: Lawyer) and he's bought as a contact.  You get framed for the murder of some punk.  You call him for help and get the roll.  His secretary puts you through to the big shot lawyer even though he's in a meeting.  15 minutes later, you are out of jail on bond.  The lawyer has gotten a gag order on the press in place and is already talking about how to defeat the accusations.
 
You know a lawyer.  He's good (18- PS: Lawyer) and he's bought as a contact.  You get framed for the murder of some punk.  You call him for help but you failed the roll.  His secretary gives him a message.  A hour later, a junior partner from the firm gets you out of jail on bond.  The press already has wind of your problem but he's arranged for a press release to give your side of the issue.

Repeated uses of Presence attacks drop the effectiveness of the attack by 1d6 per previous attack (6e2p138).  If used in combat, the PRE attack suffers a -1d6. 
 
If the attack is a super power ("I have a scare power which makes people scared of me"), I usually do not give extra dice for violent actions or soliloquy.  I also think the more experienced your players get, the less violent an action will seem.  When the heroes first start out, a guy with a mini gun shooting at you is pretty violent, but after facing Dr. Destroyer and Mechanon a few times, he just doesn't seem as dangerous.  I also allow people to use either EGO or PRE whichever is higher and most players have bought their EGO or PRE to about 25-30 after 30+ xp.  Your mileage will vary of course.

I think we all know that gymnasts are in fact all good at fighting.
 
My source:
 
 

CON stunned is not in the book.  Only stunned. 
 
My friend a long time ago said that the only correct version of CON stunned is the one where you have been gaming for 24 hours straight, hopped on Coca Cola and junk food, at a convention on the third night and the GM asks you what are you doing.  The blank look of the CON goer is CON stunned.

I suspect that Hero Designer does not distinguish between STR Min 4 and STR min 8.
 
Lucius Alexander
 
The palindromedary is also surprised to see "Beam" as a Limitation on a hand to hand power....

Buy the magic as Requires A Skill Based Roll.  Buy the corresponding skill.  Buy two levels in the skill, Usable Only During Daylight. 
This achieves the two point difficulty swing without any fancy business on the Requires A Roll modifier, since it offloads the variability to the skill itself. 

"Stunned" has always meant what you call CON-Stunned.  "Unconscious" is when a character takes enough STUN damage to leave them at 0 or negative STUN.

As opposed to DEX-stunning or STR-stunning them?
 
Why not just say 'he stunned two of them'?  Am I missing something?

So just to put the rules I am looking at out there (6e):
 
"To use Incantations, a character must be able to speak freely and clearly — if he’s gagged or has his mouth full, he can’t activate and/or use the power. It’s also impossible to use the power while in a silence field (see Darkness). If he takes damage or is adversely affected by any power that requires an Attack Roll or MCV Attack Roll while he’s Incanting, the power doesn’t turn on or immediately turns off."
 
That said, I think what you want is the Choke maneuver:
 
"Besides being Grabbed, the victim of a Choke takes the listed NND damage and cannot speak or shout."
 
That would effectively prevent incantations as well as delivering a nice 2d6 NND if you want to keep doing it and can manage the attack roll.
 
There are some other ambiguous wording in Grab specifically about doing extra damage with hit locations, but they do in fact recommend using the called shot penalties. I think Choke is simpler.
 
- E
 
Edit: Somehow the Palindromedary snuck in an extra signature.

Probably the meanest things I've ever done
 
is create an AVLD vs. Non-magical Defenses does Body RKA.  If they put on a bulletproof jacket, they were fine, but most of them had these strange heavy magical defenses with little explanation other than its magic. an entangle which blocked all normal senses and the person was entrapped in what appeared to be stone. HKA damage shield powered by the attacker's strength (lots of bricks in this game) a guy with acting and absorption into his physical (not ED) stats.  Every time he was hit, he played as if he could only barely take the punch (kind of like pro wrestling).  After he got powered enough, he began his attacks against them. a guy with completely invisible power effects on his desolid and a high speed.  
 

Probably the meanest things I've ever done
 
is create an AVLD vs. Non-magical Defenses does Body RKA.  If they put on a bulletproof jacket, they were fine, but most of them had these strange heavy magical defenses with little explanation other than its magic. an entangle which blocked all normal senses and the person was entrapped in what appeared to be stone. HKA damage shield powered by the attacker's strength (lots of bricks in this game) a guy with acting and absorption into his physical (not ED) stats.  Every time he was hit, he played as if he could only barely take the punch (kind of like pro wrestling).  After he got powered enough, he began his attacks against them. a guy with completely invisible power effects on his desolid and a high speed.  
 

I guess I live in a bubble. 
I usually don't have issue with players having problems with the actual play rules.  In game to hit, OCV, DCV, etc and such.  Heroes play rules are pretty simple.  Far more simple than Pathfinder or Shadowrun.
 
The major problem I see it players bail during chargen.  The system can build anything.  But if the new player has had zero exposure to the game in play, it is really difficult for them to apply the build rules in constructing a concept.
 
Run them through a simple session with pregens so they can experience the game in actual play. THEN they will be ready to be guided through a build.
 
Just an opinion.

So I am going to jump in with my $0.02.  I'm probably repeating other comments, so I apologize ahead of time.
 
1)  What is the best genre for learning the 6e rules?
For completion sake, Supers.  It can use every rule that Hero has.  For ease of learning, modern heroic.  It keeps the learning curve down as a lot of stuff people are familiar with, there isn't D&D bais, and as long as you leave hit locations and critical off, combat is much easier.
 
2)  Is it best to start with pre-gen characters?
I don't think so.  Character creation is a big plus in the game for players.
 
3)  Which parts of the rules are most important to teach first?
How to keep track of stats and how to roll for combat and skills.
 
4)  What's the best way to start playing?
Given how you describe the original post, I would just give out blank character sheets and have them describe their basic characteristics as a normal human.  Then run them in something like a brawl or fist fight.  Then have some bring out a knife or a gun.  Hopefully by now, they would have create a 100-150 point normal without them going James Bond in skill and levels.  I would have them have a common accident which gives them super powers.  I wouldn't worry about point total but you should have them record the number points every thing costs and how to spend their xp.  After a set of games, I would them say they can keep their current characters or design their own.
 
5)  What's the best way to introduce combat?  
Probably the typical fist fight is the best initial combat.  Its not lethal, can introduce the concept of blocking and dodging as well as grabbing, haymakers, and simple punches.  It will also allow them to keep track of end use, stunning, and body and stun loss.  It will also introduce them to how to calculate normal attacks.
 
6)  What sort of handouts? 
Character sheets with basic maneuvers.
 
7)  Have you ever tried teaching 6e using the 3e games?
Nope.
 
? What else am I missing?
If you are doing supers, I've found heroclix and matchbox cars make good props.

OK, I've had situations like this and this is how I handled it in a campaign.  YMMV.
 
PS: It's a lot harder in CON games or games where you have little say over what the players bring (like say a communally GM'd campaign).
 
1) If you are going to have mysteries in your group, make sure your players know that there will be mysteries to solve.  They will tend to buy up their INT and deduction skills and possibly buy things like forensics and criminology. 
2) Never have them roll to spot evidence or never tell them what they need to make it by.  Just have everyone roll perception and tell them to tell you how much they make or miss it by.  If they all fail, then simply say there was a bonus to their perception modifier (make up something like "Your experience in super power combat gives a bonus the police don't have in ordinary crime.") and the players who made it the closest are the ones who spotted the clue.
3) If they continue to ignore the plight of the DNPC, kill the DNPC.  Yes, that is correct.  Kill the DNPC (or effectively eliminate the NPC from the game).  Its an NPC, or effectively your character, not the players.  I can see the NPC getting into serious trouble and no longer wanting to be their DNPC.  In the situation you describe, you could give the player 1 last chance.  The DNPC is supposed to have a date with the hero but doesn't show up and doesn't tell him about breaking the date.  If he goes to her apartment, she's not there and the villain is burning her apartment down. Stopping the villain will lead to the question of where is she.  If he doesn't care, that's fine; she's gone.  If you don't want her dead, she is rescued by another superhero (one who will annoy the hero) whom she has fallen in love with.  Make the player get a different NPC or buy off the complication.  If its a second reporter, well people in the industry do like to gossip and the player though, handsome, rich, and smart, never seemed to pay much attention to his last girlfriend...
4) The two skills most heroes need, especially if the players are a bit clueless to your mechanizations is deduction and tactics.  Deduction is great for "Hey, this is the plot thread!" rolls and Tactics is good for "You ain't gonna win!" rolls.  Apply rule #2 to these rolls as well.
5) Recap adventures in the beginning of the session.  Most players don't take notes.  They don't remember what happened last adventure let alone the one, one or two adventures ago.  Emphasize the clues they have found. 
6) Even with all these things, players can be dense.  Auto pilot them. If you ended with their discovery of the burning car, the next adventure auto pilot them, by saying, "Last adventure, you found someone's body in your girlfriend's car.  In your concern for her safety, you go to her place and check up on her where she leads to this startling confession 'I think someone might be trying to kill me.'"  If they still aren't biting, go to #3.

OK, I've had situations like this and this is how I handled it in a campaign.  YMMV.
 
PS: It's a lot harder in CON games or games where you have little say over what the players bring (like say a communally GM'd campaign).
 
1) If you are going to have mysteries in your group, make sure your players know that there will be mysteries to solve.  They will tend to buy up their INT and deduction skills and possibly buy things like forensics and criminology. 
2) Never have them roll to spot evidence or never tell them what they need to make it by.  Just have everyone roll perception and tell them to tell you how much they make or miss it by.  If they all fail, then simply say there was a bonus to their perception modifier (make up something like "Your experience in super power combat gives a bonus the police don't have in ordinary crime.") and the players who made it the closest are the ones who spotted the clue.
3) If they continue to ignore the plight of the DNPC, kill the DNPC.  Yes, that is correct.  Kill the DNPC (or effectively eliminate the NPC from the game).  Its an NPC, or effectively your character, not the players.  I can see the NPC getting into serious trouble and no longer wanting to be their DNPC.  In the situation you describe, you could give the player 1 last chance.  The DNPC is supposed to have a date with the hero but doesn't show up and doesn't tell him about breaking the date.  If he goes to her apartment, she's not there and the villain is burning her apartment down. Stopping the villain will lead to the question of where is she.  If he doesn't care, that's fine; she's gone.  If you don't want her dead, she is rescued by another superhero (one who will annoy the hero) whom she has fallen in love with.  Make the player get a different NPC or buy off the complication.  If its a second reporter, well people in the industry do like to gossip and the player though, handsome, rich, and smart, never seemed to pay much attention to his last girlfriend...
4) The two skills most heroes need, especially if the players are a bit clueless to your mechanizations is deduction and tactics.  Deduction is great for "Hey, this is the plot thread!" rolls and Tactics is good for "You ain't gonna win!" rolls.  Apply rule #2 to these rolls as well.
5) Recap adventures in the beginning of the session.  Most players don't take notes.  They don't remember what happened last adventure let alone the one, one or two adventures ago.  Emphasize the clues they have found. 
6) Even with all these things, players can be dense.  Auto pilot them. If you ended with their discovery of the burning car, the next adventure auto pilot them, by saying, "Last adventure, you found someone's body in your girlfriend's car.  In your concern for her safety, you go to her place and check up on her where she leads to this startling confession 'I think someone might be trying to kill me.'"  If they still aren't biting, go to #3.