Nekkidcarpenter

Snyder made a better movie than Whedon (which likely wasn't difficult given an extra two hours to work with).
 
But having the whole movie be a set-up for "Superman and His Barely Adequate Sidekicks" wasn't the payoff I was expecting. Or wanting.
 
Yeah, I've said for decades that the Flash's best superpower is that he can run and bring back Superman really quickly. But that's supposed to be somewhat tongue-in-cheek.
 
Knowing that they were going into the Last Battle for the Planet without having Superman at their side, I would have expected them to have taken some more thought to it. (In particular, Batman saying he was specifically going to draw off the minions so the rest of them would have a clear shot at getting Steppenwolf then all the rest of them a couple of minutes later track down Batman, away from Steppenwolf, to have a "superhero group poster shot" was really annoying.)
 
I would rather have had something like Batman telling the Flash, "Here's my old utility belt. I labelled everything for you. Go and distract Steppenwolf. Put batarang bombs on his back. Tie his legs together with the grappling cord. Tie him to a couple of parademons. Glue his feet to the floor. Put a bag on his head. Pick up rubble from the floor and throw random things at him or at parademons. You're fast enough to come at him from unexpected directions then be gone before he knows you're there. Change things up, keep him guessing. Don't let him tag you. We're going to also use you for emergency extraction if one of us goes down or gets in trouble. Listen for our calls."
 
Then we get to see Flash geek out over opening up the utility belt in combat, fumble with the items, use some of them well, use some hilariously wrong (shining a flashlight in his eye, thinking it was a laser), and occasionally move the other heroes from point A to point B to keep them from getting overwhelmed. Which is a lot more visually interesting than having the Flash run in circles endlessly waiting for Cyborg to get ready to do something.
 
At least doing something like that would make it look like the heroes were thinking and trying. And when Superman comes along to save the day, it doesn't seem like the rest of the heroes had been floundering around helplessly until he came along.

The Snyder version is the only version I have seen.  The only rhing I would like to have seen addressed is why Bull from Night Court is trying to destroy the world.

As the executive producer, I can assure everyone that Zach Snyder had considerable input on the WW84 movie and its writing.  The author of that essay on Heroes though, he has it right: Jenkin is great at getting best performances out of women in her movies (the men are kind of bleh but fair enough, most women in other movies are bleh.  You're supposed to like the love interest because she's pretty and that's about it) but she's not much of a writer.
 
Zach Snyder can do good work but he needs to stay far the hell away from anything involving superheroes or good guys, because his view of the world is Sucker Punch.  He should have no power or input whatsoever with making DC comic movies.  None.

Hell, I'm afraid to watch BvS, JL, SS, et al. And I have them on my DVR for free from the premium channel preview weekends. I don't even want to waste time, or brain cells, on these things.  

Hero Central, a place online where you could play various flavors of Hero in a play by post format, has been gone for a long time (since 2014, if I remember correctly).  For those of you who played on Hero Central, did you move your games elsewhere, or just stop playing in that format?  Are there any current sites out there that function as a replacement?

It's an alternate Wednesday, which means Explain This!! is back with the final part of our History of DC Comics! https://explainthis.podbean.com/

Face front, True Believers! Explain This, Comics Guys!! takes on the tragedy of Siegel and Shuster and the battle for Superman in our latest episode! https://explainthis.podbean.com/

Hey all! Long time no see! Just wanted to drop in and let people know that my new comic book history podcast, Explain This, Comics Guys!! began last week with its very first episode, about the history of the Comics Code Authority and the Code itself. New episodes will drop every other week - we've got six in the can already so we have some margin in case of illness, travel or whatever. You can check it out here:  https://explainthis.podbean.com/  Thanks! dw

Especially with Hero branching out to try new things, I really think we need a "game powered by Hero" which takes the above into account.
 
Let's assume Fantasy because that is where the market starts.  What does the game need?
 
It needs to explain the stats.  Maybe not all of them.  Maybe we actually build some as combined stats.  Maybe STR comes bundled with some STUN and some PD and CON comes bundled with some END, REC and ED.  Perhaps everyone gets 10 BOD and 3 SPD by default.  Those need not be the choices, but choices are needed.
 
It needs to provide some races, cultures, archetypes, vocations and/or backgrounds.  62 (above) seems like a lot.  Let's say 4 human cultures and 6 non-human races (you select one of the 10 choices), 12 vocations (segregated into 4 archetypes such as "Warrior", "Mage", "Devoted" and "Rogue" (you pick one) and 15 Backgrounds (pick 1).  If we got to 12 backgrounds and were out of great ideas, stop.  if we had two more great Cultures, add them.  But the number of choices must be manageable.
 
Now, let's make each Race/Culture cost 50 points, each Vocation costs 100 and each Background costs 25.  That's your 175 starting points.  DONE.  Within each, we might have choices (e.g. select 5 skills from this list; select 3 Prayers from the Orisons list and 2 from the Miracles, Minor list).  
 
Now we need to describe the skills, those mechanics taken up in the abilities gained through Vocations and the game play rules.  That's our Rules section.  Too many rules to fit the page count?  Cut something, and take all abilities related to it away. 
 
Now, let's pick a setting.  Maybe this will be a Turakian Age game, or perhaps we start from scratch.  Pick a location in the broader world and provide enough detail to make it a "home base".  MAYBE provide some broader info on the bigger world, but that's space permitting.  We can have a full world book, or new region books, later.  They can even have new races, cultures, vocations and/or backgrounds.  Provide some monsters and some short starting adventures.  Provide an xp system, but all they can do with xp is increase stats, buy new or improved skills or buy new picks from their race, vocation or background.  Don't even offer the option of buying from other cultures, backgrounds or vocations.
 
Get the adventure rolling, and map out a broader "adventure path" surrounding it.  If it sells, we can make Book 2 - more adventure, and some more character options for more powerful characters.  We left room for Miracles well past Minor, and should do so in all "vocation powers" structures.  They want to custom-design abilities and powers and new gear and new monsters and and and and?  Buy the Hero System.  Unlike most games, you can look under the hood and customize the game using the same toolbox the designers worked from.  Want more pre-designed stuff?  If you keep buying the books, we'll keep making the books!
 
But make and sell a game.  Not a "here is the huge system and an enormous list of options for what you can do to build a game within it".  A game already built from that huge system, pre-selecting the options for the gamers.  Is that for sure what they want, and it will fly off the shelves?  Nothing is for sure.  Is it similar to other gaming products, some of which pull in a lot more sales than Hero has in the recent past?  I hope so because that was the idea.

Thank you all for your responses. There are some interesting suggestions on this thread, and I will think about them. (Not being deliberately vague here; just avoiding a "laundry list" of responses for the moment.) I'm going to give a Patreon account serious consideration in Quarter Two 2021 after seeing how Champions International goes, both financially and artistically. Several of you had very good suggestions about how a Patreon account might work; I will remember those. 
 
Steve Long and I had a long discussion at GenCon some years back about High Rock Press doing a stand-alone Danger International book focusing on the "super" part of the super spy genre. Both that and Star Hero Complete are very reasonable recommendations for using the Hero Games Kickstarter account. But as I've just launched a fledgling program to produce and release regular content for Hero Games (as opposed to publishing a product every year or two), I want to see how that goes before I make any promises.
 
Jason Walters, Publisher

Hello everyone! We have a variety of projects going on at Hero Games right now, both for quarter one of 2021 and for the year as a whole. I wanted to let you know about them, get your input, and ask if there is anything you would like to see created by Hero Games in the coming year. Of course, I can’t promise you we will act on those suggestions! Only that we will listen and do what we can, given the limited time and resources that we have. Please feel free to comment.
UPCOMING NEW RELEASES
The following three projects have been turned into us, have been approved, and are in various levels of production right now. (If you have submitted a project to us and don’t see it listed here, don’t be alarmed! We simply haven’t gotten to it yet. These things take time.)
Western Hero: Rough and Ready Roleplaying – This is a joint project between Kestrel Arts and Hero Games. Written by Christopher Taylor and based on work by Matt Forbeck, it’s an exhaustive, rules complete 276 page Hero System 6th Edition book. It has already been through layout, editing, and (due to the subject matter) sensitivity reading, and will be made available physically and electronically through DriveThruRPG, Amazon, Indie Press Revolution, and the Hero Games store. A Hero Designer Character Pack for this product will also be available for sale.
Institute For Human Advancement: Pride & Prejudice – Written by Thomas Stadley, this book is a 50,000 word Champions 6th Edition source book detailing the history, structure, agents, and technology of the infamous Champions Universe villain organization known as the IHA. It is currently being edited by AC, and will be made available physically and electronically through DriveThruRPG and Amazon, and electronically through the Hero Games store. A Hero Designer Character Pack for this product will also be available for sale.
The Hero System Book of Templates II – Written by Christopher Hackler, this is the sequel to Chris’ popular Hero System Book of Templates. I’m editing this book myself right now, and it’s excellent. At 33,000 words it’s even better than the original, and extremely useful to new players. It will be available in electronic and physical form from DriveThruRPG and Amazon, and electronically from the Hero Games store. A Hero Designer Character Pack for this product will also be available for sale.
SECTIONAL BOOKS
Steve Long and I have come up with a new publication concept for releasing Hero System books, and we are going to try applying this concept to a couple of projects this year and see it works out, financially as well as artistically. I’m calling these “sectional books,” as they will be released in sections that stand alone as electronic products, but can be combined in the end and released as a complete print-on-demand book on DriveThru and Amazon. The stand-alone products won’t have any original artwork, but the final book they will be combined into will have an original cover and at least some original interior artwork (though they will be softcover black-and-whites).
Subject matter for these books will be selected in part based on their suitability for the format: meaning, they can be released in sections, then those sections can be combined into a unified, consistent final product (not a magazine or the like). The first two will be written by Steve, and will be Champions International – a collection of chapters about imaginary countries with exist in the Champions Universe – and Martial Enemies, which will detail a wide variety of martial arts characters suitable for Champions, Ninja Hero, Pulp Hero, or any of a number of other genres. He’s already turned in the first section Champions International: Lugendu, which AC is getting ready right now.
If the sectional book projects goes well, Hero Games will launch a Patreon account to support even more work in that vein, plus provide exclusive content to Hero System fans who choose to become backers. (But we’ll have to see how the project goes before I commit to that!)
KICKSTARTER
At this point I don’t have any plans in 2021 a Kickstarter project. I’m willing to hear suggestions if you folks have any. But please keep in mind that the Hero Games KS account is reserved at this time for “big” projects. By this I mean comparatively large, rules-complete works which require no additional books to play. So I mean projects that are like Champions Now or Fantasy Hero Complete, but not Book of the Empress or Champions Villains III. I’m open to the idea of licensed intellectual property projects; though, again, I can’t make any promises. Actually getting licensed IP is an extremely difficult and time-consuming undertaking that I have only succeeded at twice (once here at Hero Games, and once at my own imprint High Rock Press); though behind the scenes I tried one dozen other times over the years unsuccessfully. Success requires either a perfect alignment of circumstances, or large sums of money; and the former is by nature unlikely, the later - nonexistent.
HALL OF CHAMPIONS
So far you fans have contributed forty creations to our Hall of Champions DriveThruRPG community content program! Please continue, feel free to contribute to the creative legacy of Hero Games, and maybe make a few bucks along the way.
-Jason Walters, Publisher

Way back when, I wrote up a super-team called the Amnesty Alliance. Not officially associated with Amnesty International. They specialized in rescuing political prisoners, people kidnapped by bandits, terrorists and other assorted unpleasant people, and the like. Controversial because on the one hand, everyone knew the people they fought was genuinely bad and lawless. OTOH no governments wanted private citizens taking quite such a direct role in such delicate diplomatic issues. Especially when dictators with oil or strategic minerals got punched in the face in the course of a rescue. Not that they ever set out to overthrow governments, but... they were very careful vigilantes, but still vigilantes in that they went outside the law to get results.
 
Unfortunately, I never found the opportunity to use them in an adventure. Maybe someday.
 
Dean Shomshak

I ran a game for a short time (sadly it fell apart early on) in which the premise was this: Superheroes have taken over a post-apocalyptic earth -- the destruction caused by a huge war in which governments tried to hunt down and control supers who fought back and took over but nukes were flung about and superpowers basically destroyed everything.  Now there's miles of wasteland between garden cities in domes, but they rule like total tyrants.  The PCs were normal people who tried to fight this, got exiled out of the domes, and found an old VIPER base.  It was based on the 4th edition VIPER suggested story and players really liked it.  It would have been interesting to see where it went, with smart, driven people using VIPER tech and resources against evil, lazy supers.

Sooo FYI we have some openings if there is interest. Follow this link: https://discord.gg/3QJvYSTQTB
525 AH (After Holocaust) is a continent of six Kingdoms.  I have created this world and site to gather a brave group of Adventurers to quest within for fantastic role-playing!  I use Hero System 5e (Champions) to build everything and it is great at being able to build characters that only your imagination is the limit! We just had a player drop out and would love to add 2 or 3 more! https://www.worldanvil.com/w/525-ah-rhair3

My deal is that "Batman", "Green Arrow" (Hawkeye) and similar characters are viable CNow characters by definition. I'm struggling a bit about how to build them.
 
Batman himself isn't an issue. In 1939, he was a "pure" martial artist without any drama.

That doesn't apply to, say, Green Arrow, Sandman, Doctor Mid-Nite or a whole bunch of other characters.
 
The problem with them is that they tend to be very broad concepts, involving skills, martial arts and gadgets. That spreads their points across a lot of things. This tends to mean they aren't all that effective in a pure combat sense.

It's not that big a deal if their gadgets are fairly narrowly defined. Sandman has a gas gun, Dr Mid-Nite has darkness. But Green Arrow has a bunch of different arrows, and so on.
 
I can kind of fix things, but none of my builds have yet impressed me.
 
Has anyone built a "skilled normal with gadgets" that works well for them?
 
(An admission, I'm looking at a Green Lantern/Green Arrow team, or a Superman/Batman "World's Finest" team.)

---
I will not rant about Dennis O'Neil's political background.

No, C stands for Cookie. That's good enough for me. 

How do you feel about Fantasy Hero? Are you available Monday evenings to play on Roll20?

Hi!  Newbie here looking for an online game.  I'd love to give this system a spin!  Respond to this post or email thehixsons1973 AT gmail.com.  thanks!

If it's a Tuesday evening EST, I'd be interested. Only evening I have free at this point.

What days and times are you considering?
 

Usually that would mean beginning heroes built on less points than standard, typically 300, that are in fact usually teenagers. That of course does not mean that YOU need to be a teenager to play.

Am I understanding correctly that this would be an adventure comprised of teen agers?

Would you be interested in me being the GM and running an on-line Teen Champs game?

Is anyone a Champions 6e player that lives in central Arkansas?  I am looking to connect with people nearby to communicate with about Champions and take part in adventures.  Online is good for now, but I am hoping to connect with people who my son and I can play adventures with in person eventually.  I use to play the original Champions when I was a teen and am now introducing my teenage son to Champions 6e.  We are kind of stumbling along with it by ourselves.  I am the GM for him and me, and we would like to get others involved.
 

Providing pre-built characters with only the essential information can work very well for beginners.