Derek Hiemforth

I think you have some interesting ideas... worth trying out. I'd expand your DCV bonus idea to saying that a character gets +1 DCV on the first attack against him if he has either moved out of the attacker's hex to an adjacent hex, or moved from one adjacent hex to another (changing the angle of attack). Likewise, an attacker would get a +1 OCV on their first H-T-H attack after entering a defender's hex, if he ended a previous Phase in an adjacent hex. (So he wouldn't get the bonus just for making the first attack of a melee, but if he had already been fighting this opponent and presses the attack against him, then he does get the bonus.) Also, Acrobatics can get you OCV bonus for surprise maneuvers. You could alter that slightly, and rule that a melee participant that moves at least one hex and combines it with a successful Acrobatics roll can get either +1 OCV on the first melee attack they make afterwards, or a +1 DCV against the first melee attack against them afterwards (their choice). You could also rule that Tactics could be used the same way as Acrobatics described above (with the movements simulating skillful feints and blind-side attacks rather than agility).

Based on this, I really think you'd be happier with Hero. Hero overall isn't that similar to GURPS (it's more flexible, more powerful, and more universal, IMO), but enough of the core concepts are similar that you'd find learning Hero fairly easy.

Re: Re: Re: Not fair "Custom User Text" under Edit Profile.

I know you said to only name one, but... GURPS Time Travel and All Our Yesterdays (Last Unicorn Games' time travel sourcebook for their Star Trek RPG) are both solid books with overviews of time travel considerations and "how-to's."

I would respond to your question with a question. Do you ever plan to run anything besides superheroes? The answer to that may help you decide. If you never plan to run anything but superheroes, both M&M and Hero have a lot to recommend them. M&M is probably faster and simpler, while Hero is more detailed and has a bigger support base to draw from. However, if you think you might run something other than supers somtime, and you're interested in doing that without changing rules engines, definitely go with Hero. M&M is purely a superhero game. It's core mechanic is d20 System-based, but there's enough difference between it and other d20 games that you might almost as well be changing rules systems when you switch between them. Hero has a much stronger "out of the box" ability to handle multiple genres and power levels, and in fact already has genre books out for Sci-Fi and Martial Arts in addition to Supers (with Fantasy coming this summer). Plus, there is no canned setting available yet for M&M (if that matters to you). The Freedom City book is now about four months behind its originally announced shipping date. For Champions, on the other hand, the Champions Universe setting book and a huge book of villains (Conquerors, Killers, and Crooks) are already on game store shelves, with the Millenium City book due out soon.

D'oh! That'll teach me to post a question on the questions section without checking the FAQ first. This has already been answered, and you can.

Can Breakfall be used to regain your feet as a 0-Phase action any time you're prone, or only immediately following a fall or being knocked back? Thanks!

I'm not so sure... I've always assumed that Breakfall used the momentum to help you roll to your feet. In other words, you can use Breakfall to regain your feet, but only if you've just fallen or been knocked back. I'm not sure it's supposed to let you gain your feet in a 0-Phase if you were just prone for some other reason (such as having previously been knocked out.) Maybe a question for Steve.

In Fantasy Hero, I've always used them as DCV (and bonus to Block) as described in the books. However, I don't see anything wrong with defining them as Armor with an Activation Roll or something if you wish to do that instead. I wouldn't recommend allowing them to act as both... that seems too powerful. If you did do that, maybe set it up as a Multipower, so it could be either a DCV/Block bonus or Armor, but not both simultaneously.

Re: Thinking about GMing X Files/Conspiracy X/Black Ops type game.. The three GURPS books you mention and Bureau 13 are all good. I'd also recommend S. John Ross's GURPS Warehouse 23, and maybe Ken Hite's GURPS Cabal. (The latter is more horror-ish, but it has a conspiratorial slant.) Ken Hite's Suppressed Transmission books are indispensible. SJG publishes them, and they're just absolutely crammed with Gameable Weirdness. Just browse through 'em and you'll see what I mean. Ken Hite also did a supplement called Secret Societies for Chaosium's Nephilim game. That's another great source if you can find it. The Sub Rosa book from the Conspiracy X line (the original... not the GURPS version) is a good resource aimed specifically at how to design cool conspiracies.

The description of Telepathy says that language is not a barrier to telepathic communication. Does this also apply to Mind Link? Thanks!

What would it do? When you use Duplication, your duplicates can appear a distance away instead of right next to you? Is that the idea?

If Istvatha V'Han decides your dimension just isn't worth the trouble... If you can fake out Menton with the Jedi Mind Trick... If you habitually refer to The Harbinger of Justice as "That pansy in the fedora..." If you can use Turn Undead on Takofanes The Undying Lord... If you round down your Speed because you only want a Speed of 11... If you don't need MegaScale... If Mechanon awards you an "Honorary Inorganic" certificate so he doesn't have to fight you... If you appeared in The Mutant File*... If you have to hold back when hitting Grond... If Doctor Destroyer wheedles you to just let him have the little town of Zerstoitenburg... You might be overpowered. * Sorry! Couldn't resist!

Personally, I think Covered and Held Actions handle this situation well enough. I'd be worried about the can of worms that would be opened by allowing people to abort to attacks.

This question came up on the HML... When rolling damage for an Area Effect attack, do you roll once and apply that damage to each target in the area, or do you roll damage separately for each target? Everyone I've ever known does the former, but I couldn't find it spelled out anywhere. Maybe I missed it.

They're also of high quality, IMO. Both contain a wealth of material for gaming in the setting they set out to describe, and both contain Fantasy Hero material for everything. The Campaign Classics books are much better in that regard (or at least much more consistent) than the Shadow World books are. As a side note, I believe that Kevin Scrivner, who posts hereabouts, had a hand in the writing of Pirates...

Re: Magic in a Champions game? It appears in virtually every game, as one of the PC's is a sorceress, and another is a demon. However, because the game is really a straightforward supers game, it's treated more-or-less like any other SFX. If the campaign was more magic-centric, that would change.

Re: Re: Old Hero System books. Wings of the Valkyrie was pulled from the shelves right after its release due to controversial subject matter. (The heroes were faced with a situation wherein they had to decide whether to allow Hitler to live (and therefore bring about the Holocaust) in order to prevent an even worse future.)

Re: Old Hero System books. Yep. I have everything listed on my All Hero Books web page linked below. They're worth picking up, especially Mythic Greece and Mythic Egypt. It wouldn't be any harder to convert them to 5th than it is any other 3rd-4th Edition stuff. But they're useful more as sources of non-game-specific material than as out-of-the-box Hero material. They're interesting. If you want to play in (or just read) an unusual fantasy setting, they're worth a look. If you want Fantasy Hero info in them, though, make sure to get the older, outof print, copies. The newer ones (everything after the Emer boxed set) don't have Fantasy Hero info anymore. Also, the FH info in them is sometimes a bit sketchy. It really depends on the book.

Re: Re: Re: It has arrived! Friendly Local Game Store.

If you're looking for inspiration or more material, check out Sengoku by Gold Rush Games.

Honestly, I think all of the 4th Ed. supplements are perfectly useful in 5th Ed. play. Not that much was actually changed from 4th to 5th. Lots of stuff was added, but there's not much that invalidates anything on a 4th Ed. character sheet.

My favorite character is essentially a Green Lantern clone, so he would trap the villain in a force bubble, which would almost surely be strong enough to protect the normals from the explosion if the villain chooses to trigger it. I'm not sure what kind of answer you're looking for... my different characters would all do different things, depending on their powers and personalities.

Drain returns at the rate of 5 AP/Turn. The rate can be slowed for the cost of +1/4 per step down the Time Chart. (+1/4 for 5/Minute, +1/2 for 5/5 Minutes, etc.)

Hey, GURPS books gave me something to buy in the years when Hero lay fallow. Some of my favorite RPG sourcebooks have been GURPS books. Favorites include Atomic Horror, Cabal, Cliffhangers, Fantasy II, Illuminati, The Prisoner, Religion, Space, Time Travel, and Warehouse 23. GURPS Illuminati would probably be on my list of the top 5 RPG books ever.