Derek Hiemforth

Thanks again, all! I've run many convention games in the past, so I know that most of the advice surrounding those considerations is right on the money. I'll likely go with a hero team that isn't actually the Justice League or the Avengers, but where each of the characters is an easily-recognizable homage to a famous comic book character. With character sheets for introductory games, I'm always a little torn between using simplified/customized sheets that go light on the numbers, and using "normal" sheets like they're going to see in the books or from most Hero Designer exports. I don't want to scare them off with a sheet that makes gameplay seem more daunting than it really is by including a lot of accounting, but I don't necessarily want them to be completely lost looking at a full character sheet either. I think maybe I'll do both... I'll give them the simplified sheets for the initial game, but also provide them with full character sheets (for the same characters) at the end, so they can see the full thing with a character they've already become familiar with. That way, they'll have a better idea what all those numbers on the full sheet mean before they confront it. Great suggestions so far! Keep tossing 'em out if you've got 'em!

Remember, this isn't for a book/module... I'm seeking suggestions for an adventure that I'm going to be running myself at a convention. There will definitely be pregenerated characters, but it will just be the one scenario, I'll run the villains, etc. Thanks for all the suggestions so far, folks! Keep 'em coming!

I'm putting together an adventure for Champions, and I'll be running it at a regional convention in February. I'm aiming to make it enjoyable for new players who may have been curious about Champions, but never played it. I'm interested to hear what you all think would make an adventure a good "Get people hooked on Champions" adventure. Imagine that you're brand-new to Champions/Hero games, and you sit down at a table to play it for the first time. What aspects of the game would really have to shine to intrigue you enough to want to buy the book and keep playing with your friends? Conversely, what elements might turn you off if they came up, and might make you not want to buy it or play it again? These things can be related to the game rules, the character sheets, the GMing style, the storyline... whatever comes to mind. Thanks!

+1/4

It's been a while since I've run a game where I cared about Encumbrance. But the last time I did, I assigned armor a STR Min, and based the Encumbrance penalties on how far below the STR Min you were. A strong enough character might have no penalties. Weapons and other gear generally weren't factored in, but if you were carrying an unusual amount of gear or heavy items, that could add an additional penalty.

Probably depends on the level of "realism" you want in your game, and what the tone is meant to be. If superpowers were real, it would probably happen a lot, and it may also happen quite a bit in a grim-outlook sort of world. But not so much in a four-color sort of world. "Superhero physics" would probably be more likely to win out in those cases...

That's from months ago. He wasn't talking about the move a couple of days ago. But no, we haven't lost any in any move, near as I can tell (not posts, anyway). I can still find posts going back nearly ten years...

Thanks, folks!

I believe you can get the PDF through www.bits-and-mortar.com

There was no intentional change made to that rule. I just omitted a line that probably should have been retained. I should have reworded it as "A character may have other Powers outside of a Power Framework that add onto one of his Framework slots, or Powers in Framework slots that add onto a Power outside of the Framework. In either case, the "add-on" Power only works with the Power it adds onto (not by itself, or with another slot/Power)." Sorry for the confusion!

There has also been a new update added that allows it to work with Java 7.21.

You know, although I think I understand why Steve didn't do this, I do wonder whether some of the angst over the decoupling of Figureds would have been muted by just including a sidebar or something in 6E that pointed out the old formulae, and just noted something like "For characters similar to humans, these might serve as simple value guidelines for some Characteristics, by relating them to the values of some other Characteristics." Sort of a nod to the logic of that configuration for many characters, without keeping the game system forcibly tied to it for all characters...

I get the "they fundamentally make sense" argument -- to me, it's the best argument in favor of Figureds -- but there's also a problem even with it. Namely, they fundamentally make sense for certain Special Effects. Granted, the Special Effects they make sense for are probably the large majority of characters (characters with some fundamental similarity to humans). But the split between Special Effects and game mechanics is one of the basic axioms of Hero. We generally accept that -- wherever possible -- game mechanics should not enforce particular Special Effects. In that respect, decoupling Figureds reinforced the "Special Effects and game mechanics are separate" nature of Hero.

I can't see how something's cost could be part a system's flavor. So I presume you must be talking not about how many points they cost, but about their relationship to the Primary Characteristics. And there's nothing in 6E that says you can't keep that if you like it. You're just no longer required to enforce that particular "flavor" if you don't like it, or if it doesn't fit for a particular character. Detaching Figureds from Primaries makes the game more flexible. Personally, I can't see increasing flexibility as a negative thing, especially for Hero.

I dunno... While your costs seem reasonable enough, I'm not sure I see the point (no pun intended). If it's the value relationships your players liked pre-6, you can do that without changing 6E costs by just enforcing the same value relationships. If it's the cost relationships your players liked pre-6, they won't like your costs either.

Indeed. It was the most cost-effective thing you could possibly purchase, and -- although I would never advocate sacrificing character concept for cost-effectiveness -- I would say that if you didn't push up your DEX as high as your character concept could possibly allow, you were a sucker...

It's kind of hard to suggest a good remedy without knowing what their specific objection is to making the formerly-Figured CHAs stand-alone. If it's that they like the relationships between the values of the Primaries and the Figureds in the old system, then perhaps leave the costs as standard for 6E, but make it a campaign ground rule that the formerly-Figured Characteristics must be bought to at least the level of their starting value under the old system (except one, which can be lower than that, as though it were the one CHA that you "sold back"). So for example, PD has to be at least STR/5, OCV has to be at least DEX/3, STUN has to be at least BODY+STR/2+CON/2, and so on. The costs would still look different than they did under 5E, but functionally, they'd be the same (except for the broken relationships between Figured Characteristics and other game elements that 6E fixed). If it's that they don't like being able to take advantage of the cost structure of the old system, that's less easy to fix. However, it should be pointed out that -- in the end -- it really doesn't matter that much if the decoupled Figureds result in the character costing 50 more points, if the character also starts with 50 more points. After all, points ain't nuthin' but a number.

Re: What Champions books are 6th ed? The currently-available-in-hardcopy 6E rulebook and Champions genre book is Champions Complete. Champions Universe is the CU setting book, and the characters in it are 6E. The Champions Villains books (Masterminds, Teams, and Solo) are all 6E. The characters are a mixture of "old school" villains and newer villains. Other 6E Champions books include Champions Powers (a pre-made Powers book), Champions Beyond (a CU expansion covering aliens in CU), and The Book of the Empress (a book going into detail on the CU master villainess Istvatha V'Han and her worlds/operations).

Re: Champions Complete: Modifier List/Cheat Sheet? What you're describing would be nearly as long as the Power Modifiers section of the book, which is the main reason no Summary Table of them was included. In order for it to contain enough into to be useful, it had to be quite a bit longer than all of the other Summary Tables combined (and really not that much different than just the actual Power Modifiers section).

Re: Random elements in Character Construction You could build various Templates with various Characteristics increased and/or decreased, then have each player randomly select a Template they must use when they build the character. Personally, and this just reflects my own preferences, I would never do something like this. Random elements in character generation tend to drive me away from other games, and their lack is one of the things that most strongly attracts me to Champions/HERO.

Re: How do GMs out there handle late arrivals The GM of the game I'm currently playing in has a take I hadn't seen before, but I like it, and I think I'll adopt it for my own games from now on. He treats XPs as a sort of "game clock" for tracking the progress of the campaign. A certain number are added to each character every adventure, to give the campaign as sense of growth and progression. But they're not added to specific characters in individual awards, with bonuses or penalties particular to each character. So it's not "My character has 64 XP." It's "The campaign has advanced to where the characters now have 64 XP each." Under that setup, a newcomer entering the campaign would start with 64 XP, because that's where the game is now. If desired, you could also add the "reward" aspect by awarding other bennies for things like good roleplay, etc. (possibly things like extra HAPs or the like).

Re: How do you feel about House Rules? Speaking As A Moderator: I remind you all that the board guidelines call for all members to be treated respectfully. Please tone it down with the snarky asides and putting words in other peoples' mouths. Thanks.

Re: How do you feel about House Rules? If I were to try that as a house rule, I think I'd limit the amount of BODY you could lose that way. For example, perhaps you could lose no more than half your BODY total to "Bruising." The idea of characters getting a bit beat up is interesting, but I don't think I'd want anyone dying from it directly...