Akiva

Re: And 6e print books start to arrive Received mine last night. They're. Frickin'. Heavy. Heavier than you might imagine. The whole package came in at 8 lbs, which should tell you something. The binding is remarkably tight and is probably the first RPG that comes anywhere near Ptolus' print quality. The pages are thicker than your standard magazine glossy page (or so it seems) and they're just overall beautiful, beautiful books. And, of course, I'm pleased to see that the format of HERO 5er wasn't messed with but, instead, massaged toward greater greatness. Although I no longer run any RPGs (my group went to straight board gaming early this year), I'm happy to continue my support for HERO and buy all of the books and supplements (excepting that superhero nonsense, of course) and read them all.

Re: Making a master Table Booklet Another thing to consider is grabbing and pasting screen captures of various charts and whatnot that won't cut-and-paste properly. I know a lot of people who have used this method to construct GM screens that look like they were professionally produced.

Re: Expanded Unoffical Bibliography for Urban Fantasy HERO Just about anything written by Ligotti if you want to blend a little horror into your urban fantasy. Winterlong by Elizabeth Hand is the perfect example of post-apocalyptic urban fantasy. And, although I didn't read it fully, Perdido Street Station by China Mieville tackles Urban Fantasy from the opposite direction. As for RPGs, there's Tribe 8 which falls in line somewhere between Winterlong and Perdido Street Station. I'd also throw Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow in there. If read with an eye for it, it's pretty much an epic fantasy adventure with various magical sects (the Pavlovians), items (Rocket 00000), creatures (the giant solenoid), and is itself written with a mystical structure. It also happens to be my favorite American novel.

Re: Urban Fantasy Hero

Re: Urban Fantasy Hero

Re: Urban Fantasy Hero

Re: Urban Fantasy Hero

Re: Urban Fantasy Hero I remember where you discussed it in the book and that's where my eyebrows raised; I had just expected a broader scope beyond magic-in-the-modern-age. Not that there's anything wrong with that, of course. I've been waiting a long time for this book and it's great stuff so far. It's too bad about Weird Conspiracy Hero, though. It's pretty much my favorite genre (especially when combined with Urban Fantasy) and I'd be interested to see what you'd have written about it. Luckily, I can pretty much generate whatever I need between Urban Fantasy Hero, Dark Champions, and The Ultimate Mystic.

Re: Urban Fantasy Hero Steve, I was surprised that you limited UFH the way you did rather than expanding it and including weird, supernatural, conspiracy, mystical, and surreal types of 'urban fantasy'. Stuff like Twin Peaks, Carnivale, etc.

Re: Urban Fantasy Hero

Re: Urban Fantasy Hero

Re: Urban Fantasy Hero Just received mine today as well. First thing I noticed also was that there was no index which I found to be quite startling considering how the HERO books are widely regarded to have not only some of the best indices in the business but also some of the most functional. Other than that, so far it's tremendous. I've been waiting for this book since I got into HERO!

Re: Howdy I know nothing about Hero System and was wondering something I, and everyone else here, will also agree that HERO Designer essential. I want to add, however, that it's value comes not from the fact that it takes care of the 'hard stuff' but that it knows every little one-line rule and exception in the book. Once you get into designing things with Powers, HERO Designer pays for itself over and over again. However, I also recommend you do things by hand at first. Sure, some of the points will be off, you'll miss this or that or wrongly allow things to combine or accentuate but I think that it's a good thing to get your hands dirty with the undercarriage before you start enjoying that quality leather up top too much. In fact, I'd plan for your first one or two game sessions to be nothing more than you guys sitting around with the rulebook, trying different character and Powers builds, and so forth. All of HERO's complexity and depth is, for the most part and thankfully, front-loaded (in other words, once characters are finalized and the game begins, HERO is, for the most part, extremely light-weight). So, turn character and Powers creation into a mini-game with all of your players where you approach it like engineers and you'll have a damned good time.

Re: Howdy I know nothing about Hero System and was wondering something I'm a recent convert to HERO myself and I did the same tentative song-and-dance. It took me about a week of reading reviews over at rpg.net, looking through posts here, and leafing through the book itself at my FLGS before I took the plunge. Of course, being who I am, I just went straight for the big book knowing that I'd have to purchase it anyway. Somehow, I felt better doing that then buying Sidekick and then buying that. Having written that, however, my recommendation is to get Sidekick and then 5er. Why? Because even though you'll eventually end up buying and relying solely on the 5er, having a copy of Sidekick around is great for getting new players up to speed quickly. Also, somewhere on herogames.com, there's a preview PDF that provides a quick overview of the entire system. Worth a look if you're still uncertain. Finally, yes, welcome. You have truly found the best RPG ever published. And I say this in all honesty because I am not biased (okay, that part's a lie). Oh, and the full rulebook smells great. That's worth the price right there.

Re: Guess Who Finally Read the Powers Chapters Thanks, guys. These are all some good ideas. I do plan on keeping the daemons as NPCs because it allows greater flexibility for hackers to use Computer Programming to design newer or stronger daemons. I have some restrictions in mind, as well. For example, a daemon can never have a skill roll or Characteristic higher than that of the programmer who coded it, etc. I'm torn over using the Mind Link Power because I want some tangible means to differentiate between characters who can do it and those who cannot and, as far as I understand it, you can't charge for SFX only and I'd also like to be able to model the fact that the Daemonlink can be detected by the Radio Group as Armitage has shown. Also, Armitage, good catch on the IAF/OAF. I had somehow missed that part.