Opal

Oh, Stun Lotto, which is so controversial and we tried so hard to fix for so long?
 
Critical hits and exploding dice are like Stun Lotto on Purpose. 
 
(Which just further illustrates the Duke's point, I think)

Oh, Stun Lotto, which is so controversial and we tried so hard to fix for so long?
 
Critical hits and exploding dice are like Stun Lotto on Purpose. 
 
(Which just further illustrates the Duke's point, I think)

Something on the order of the original Champions, Hero 5th Sidekick, or the current basic book...
...or, y'know, Fuzion?
 
(Oh, and you know what would really help? Ditch all those 3pt skills and open-ended skills and just use characteristic rolls.  Science Stuff? INT roll.  Want to be a great scientist? Levels with science INT rolls plus Reputation: Great Scientist)

Conan the Fremen
 
It's Sword and Sorcery and Planet

I don't remember exactly when I noticed that and went to confirming criticals - roll 20, it's an auto-hit, roll again, if it's a hit, it's a crit - '85 maybe? It became official in 3e...
 
... only when I did it, a 20 on the confirmation was a "double crit," if you confirmed -  aaand, exploding dice.  lollol
 
(Also, I've seen "20 is an auto hit, but a crit only if you would have hit anyway")
 
And, no I don't use crits in Champions (nor Hero System, well there was that Robot Warriors.... nevermind)

I didn't see this mentioned in the 4th Edition GURPS Basic Set, but there is a note under Bulletproof Nudity that topless females get an extra +1 to active defenses when this cinematic combat rule is in effect.

"By Crom, walk without rhythm!"

Yeah it is baffling.  I saw a webcomic where the artist proposed that's where the she-lizards store their eggs, in a satchel around their chest, so it looks like breasts.  But its silly.

This is 3 years old but it does bring up an interesting point: people's concept and expectations of gaming are pretty fixed along certain kinds of lines, and Hero blows those lines to bits.  Its just tough to get them to understand the way some genres can actually be RPGs.  Most of the tropes of D&D-style games don't fit Superheroes, for example:
 
Party Roles (healer, tank, support, dps etc)
Treasures and loot
Dungeons
Leveling and steady advancement of power
Questionable ethics (thieves, assassins, burning down a village that was rude, etc)
 
Champions is more about the story and the use of powers than the setting.  The setting is super familiar in most cases: today.  Its a different approach to gaming.  Its not hard to help change minds, its just a barrier.

It's tempting for a serious RPGer to want to look to the content of games for explanations of success.
 
But, D&D had a unique arc, it made a splash among wargamers initially, because it was quite different, but it became a fad when people started hearing about it in the mainstream.
 
Not because fledgling TSR had an advertising budget, but because of suicide, steam tunnels, and Satanism.  Yes, any free publicity is good publicity.
 
And, to this day, D&D remains the only TTRPG with mainstream name recognition.

It's tempting for a serious RPGer to want to look to the content of games for explanations of success.
 
But, D&D had a unique arc, it made a splash among wargamers initially, because it was quite different, but it became a fad when people started hearing about it in the mainstream.
 
Not because fledgling TSR had an advertising budget, but because of suicide, steam tunnels, and Satanism.  Yes, any free publicity is good publicity.
 
And, to this day, D&D remains the only TTRPG with mainstream name recognition.

I do like yaoi and don't see any of it in D&D. 
Pretty heteronormative, really with the hot girl demons/devils/fey/etc typically having the charm powers and boobs on half the art means we're not sexist.
 
5e has been getting a bit furry, tho

It's tempting for a serious RPGer to want to look to the content of games for explanations of success.
 
But, D&D had a unique arc, it made a splash among wargamers initially, because it was quite different, but it became a fad when people started hearing about it in the mainstream.
 
Not because fledgling TSR had an advertising budget, but because of suicide, steam tunnels, and Satanism.  Yes, any free publicity is good publicity.
 
And, to this day, D&D remains the only TTRPG with mainstream name recognition.

And the single die roll resolution.  And hit points for all-or-nothing combat (you're fine, you're fine, you're fine, you're dead).  And armor class (you hit, you didn't).  The core of D&D, which cannot fix or it stops being D&D, is where its primary flaws originate.

No one else has mentioned it, so:
 
D&D was reasonably balanced for about 2 years, between the release of 4e in 2008 and the release of Essentials in 2010.  Even then, it didn't return to the profound, perennial imbalance you alude to until the official release of 5e in 2014.

I don't think I ever played it, nor "B/X" which OSR types seem to remember could walk on water and cure cancer. 
 
But I played 1e AD&D plenty until I found a group for Champions.
And, yeah, the first few levels, it had a life is cheap vibe, like multiple backup characters would be good.
 
5e D&D, which I have played a little and run a little more, is also unpredictably, pointlessly deadly at 1st level. Especially the more the party leans toward sword-swingers over spell-slingers.  
But it drops off quickly as the party's hp and spell slots accumulate.

The big difference between D&D then & now, as I see it, is casting.
(Rant warning)
 

I don't think I ever played it, nor "B/X" which OSR types seem to remember could walk on water and cure cancer. 
 
But I played 1e AD&D plenty until I found a group for Champions.
And, yeah, the first few levels, it had a life is cheap vibe, like multiple backup characters would be good.
 
5e D&D, which I have played a little and run a little more, is also unpredictably, pointlessly deadly at 1st level. Especially the more the party leans toward sword-swingers over spell-slingers.  
But it drops off quickly as the party's hp and spell slots accumulate.

The big difference between D&D then & now, as I see it, is casting.
(Rant warning)
 

I still drop by D&D spaces, and a very common topic of discussion/hand-wringing is how to "fix" published adventures, customize them to the "OP level" of your party, etc.  You can find major re-writes by fans and influencers on line.
 
Difference is Hero has (is) tools that let you do that.
 
I guess this is relevant to the discussion due to D&D's persistent market dominance, and it's tempting to think there was something other than name recognition and timing to explain it.
 
They are more than adequate explanations, imho.

A hundredfold,  you say?
 
D&D:  yipe, from 8d to 800d, we're all dead.
 
Hero: so +35 Apts is x128, call it 33pts, +6.5d? It a KA. 2d, then? Explosion. Ok, roll your fireball +1.5d

D&D's biggest issue isn't that it's hard - it is, especially to run - it's that it's utterly broken to the point fighter and magic-user are playing entirely different games, and the game falls back constantly on the DM to fix it on the fly. ...and one could fill volumes. Its the worst significant TTRPG of all time.
 
Hero is complex and hard to learn, too, but once you learn it, it's a functional system.
(I want to say, "except for skills," but that's not the point)
 
It's just that the vast majority of potential new TTRPG fans have /only/ heard of D&D.  So if they try D&D and, reasonably, find it to be a bad experience, they figure they don't like TTRPGs, and never try Hero or anything else.
 

I agree. I know that Hero Designer is an earner for the company, but its a false economy.  Yes, it makes money from people who play Hero, but its a barrier to people learning to play Hero, and new potential customers.  Its like when comic book companies abandoned the spin racks and went to direct sales only.  This worked for a while, because it coincided with the collector boom and existing comic book fans loved it.
 
But it hurt comics by creating a foolish, pointless barrier to new customers, they stopped getting new young comic book readers because their product was hidden behind a wall by sticking the comics in specialty shops.
 
 
I think that's rare.  Almost every gamer has played D&D, and is familiar with its mechanics.  Almost every Hero player started with other systems and embraced Hero because its just better.

D&D's biggest issue isn't that it's hard - it is, especially to run - it's that it's utterly broken to the point fighter and magic-user are playing entirely different games, and the game falls back constantly on the DM to fix it on the fly. ...and one could fill volumes. Its the worst significant TTRPG of all time.
 
Hero is complex and hard to learn, too, but once you learn it, it's a functional system.
(I want to say, "except for skills," but that's not the point)
 
It's just that the vast majority of potential new TTRPG fans have /only/ heard of D&D.  So if they try D&D and, reasonably, find it to be a bad experience, they figure they don't like TTRPGs, and never try Hero or anything else.
 

D&D's biggest issue isn't that it's hard - it is, especially to run - it's that it's utterly broken to the point fighter and magic-user are playing entirely different games, and the game falls back constantly on the DM to fix it on the fly. ...and one could fill volumes. Its the worst significant TTRPG of all time.
 
Hero is complex and hard to learn, too, but once you learn it, it's a functional system.
(I want to say, "except for skills," but that's not the point)
 
It's just that the vast majority of potential new TTRPG fans have /only/ heard of D&D.  So if they try D&D and, reasonably, find it to be a bad experience, they figure they don't like TTRPGs, and never try Hero or anything else.
 

D&D's biggest issue isn't that it's hard - it is, especially to run - it's that it's utterly broken to the point fighter and magic-user are playing entirely different games, and the game falls back constantly on the DM to fix it on the fly. ...and one could fill volumes. Its the worst significant TTRPG of all time.
 
Hero is complex and hard to learn, too, but once you learn it, it's a functional system.
(I want to say, "except for skills," but that's not the point)
 
It's just that the vast majority of potential new TTRPG fans have /only/ heard of D&D.  So if they try D&D and, reasonably, find it to be a bad experience, they figure they don't like TTRPGs, and never try Hero or anything else.