Derek Hiemforth

However, as long as Venkman is in the team, other humans might initiate physical combat with them at any time...  

Change Environment is also better than Darkness for this purpose because Darkness doesn't penalize perception... it prevents it.  I would use Change Environment with the PER penalties bought per Sense Group, but instead of the Sense Group being defined as "Sight" or "Hearing" or the like, the Sense Group would be "Scrying Senses."  This eliminates the need to guess whether the scrying power is built using Clairsentience or Mind Scan (or whatever other sense, as long as the special effect is "scrying").

If you want to change the environment so that it is harder to scry, it seems like Change Environment would be a good starting point.

Ignoring the fact that many games that came out after Champions would never have existed (or would have been very different) because Champions was so influential, I would say definitely DC Heroes/Blood of Heroes.  In fact, although it may seem heresy to say so, I think that in many ways, if you're only playing superheroes, DCH may actually be better than Champions...

Ignoring the fact that many games that came out after Champions would never have existed (or would have been very different) because Champions was so influential, I would say definitely DC Heroes/Blood of Heroes.  In fact, although it may seem heresy to say so, I think that in many ways, if you're only playing superheroes, DCH may actually be better than Champions...

While this thread has understandably focused on Scott Bennie's numerous contributions to the tabletop RPG hobby, he also wrote extensively for the computer gaming industry, such as being one of the earliest contributors to Fallout. Scott was also an avid supporter of the Champions Online MMORPG since its earliest days online, a frequent player and role-player, and a beloved contributor to the CO community, usually playing as his alter-ego from his long-term tabletop Champions campaigns, the Canadian superhero Thundrax. CO developers and player base have been brainstorming a permanent memorial to Scott/Thundrax in the game.
 
Scott's contributions to the CO forums included posting a number of engaging short stories set in the official Champions Universe, usually revolving around Thundrax. Since this thread has been dealing with reading his work, these stories provide an excellent window into Scott's humor, his points of view, and the kind of gaming environment he liked to promote. I gathered links to such of his stories as I could find. I don't think it's exhaustive, but it's a good overview, and IMHO a fun read. They're listed chronologically as they were posted, earliest to latest.
 
https://www.arcgames.com/en/forums/championsonline#/discussion/253481/the-interrogation
 
https://www.arcgames.com/en/forums/championsonline#/discussion/1194343/woof
 
https://www.arcgames.com/en/forums/championsonline#/discussion/1194573/day-of-the-tornado
 
https://www.arcgames.com/en/forums/championsonline#/discussion/1203401/its-a-boo-tiful-day
 
https://www.arcgames.com/en/forums/championsonline#/discussion/1208114/craig-carson-and-the-horrible-no-good-very-bad-day
 
https://www.arcgames.com/en/forums/championsonline#/discussion/1209355/hercules-vs-thundrax-in-the-arena-of-death
 
https://www.arcgames.com/en/forums/championsonline#/discussion/1208186/this-story-does-not-exist
 
https://www.arcgames.com/en/forums/championsonline#/discussion/1209565/war-of-the-craigs
 
https://www.arcgames.com/en/forums/championsonline#/discussion/1209901/time-enough-for-war

OH my god.  I logged in to try and look Scott up to see this. 
 
Oh this is awful.  He was such a wonderful guy.  My heart is aching.

I'm not sure -- perhaps Dan S. or someone else removed it (or changed its "pinned" status) during a clean-up session. I'm still working hard on MH, trying to get at least a little work done on it every day, and more than a little whenever possible.

We here at Hero Games are deeply saddened to announce that our long-time friend, and frequent Hero Games author, Scott Bennie passed away earlier this week from complications due to pneumonia. As many of you already know, Scott suffered from extensive health problems for most of his life, and unfortunately this was one last struggle he simply couldn't win.
 
I personally met Scott in the early Nineties -- probably at one of the first DunDraCons I attended -- after I began writing for Hero myself and hitting the con circuit. In addition to being a talented writer and game designer -- perhaps best known to Hero gamers for his superb work on Classic Enemies and two VIPER sourcebooks -- Scott was quite simply one of the kindest, gentlest people I've ever had the privilege to know. I'm so glad I had the chance to work with him on several projects, including the VIPER and Villainy Amok sourcebooks for HERO System 5th Edition.
 
The world is a darker place without Scott's light in it, and all of us here at Hero Games shall miss him terribly.

Understood. 😁 The writeup in Champions makes me want to :headdesk: too...

Passin' the buck!

Sorry I forgot to prepend my post with "in my opinion..."   
 
Yes, Hero is designed with many ways to accomplish various effects. However, that doesn't mean you or your GM won't prefer (or even require) one particular way.
 
I, as a GM, would probably not allow this affect to be built as extra OCV specifically for Multiple Attack unless I heard a very compelling justification. Most characters in my games don't have extra OCV for fighting multiple mooks. They can just fight multiple mooks well because they're really good (i.e., they have a high OCV in general).
 
And if they do have some special ability for fighting multiple mooks well that isn't based around "being really good," then OCV seems to me like an odd way to model it anyway, because I think of OCV as being a measure of how good you are at hitting things in combat. If that's not the SFX, then another approach seems better to me (such as a Selective AoE attack).

Err... other two. 🤷‍♂️

Err... other two. 🤷‍♂️

Not sure what softcover you're referring to (as far as I know, there was no softcover of 6E Champions), but the ISBN number on the hardcover I have is 978-1-58366-125-3.

The last paragraph in the description of Costs Endurance on 6E1 p374 is an accidental holdover from 5E, when Powers that cost END were perceivable by three sense groups by default (see 5ER, p98 and p289). Disregard that paragraph.
 
In 6E, as stated on 6E1 p124, whether a Power is perceivable does not depend on whether it costs END. If you want an otherwise-invisible or inobvious Power to both cost END and be more perceivable, take both the Costs Endurance and Perceivable Limitations.

The last paragraph in the description of Costs Endurance on 6E1 p374 is an accidental holdover from 5E, when Powers that cost END were perceivable by three sense groups by default (see 5ER, p98 and p289). Disregard that paragraph.
 
In 6E, as stated on 6E1 p124, whether a Power is perceivable does not depend on whether it costs END. If you want an otherwise-invisible or inobvious Power to both cost END and be more perceivable, take both the Costs Endurance and Perceivable Limitations.

The last paragraph in the description of Costs Endurance on 6E1 p374 is an accidental holdover from 5E, when Powers that cost END were perceivable by three sense groups by default (see 5ER, p98 and p289). Disregard that paragraph.
 
In 6E, as stated on 6E1 p124, whether a Power is perceivable does not depend on whether it costs END. If you want an otherwise-invisible or inobvious Power to both cost END and be more perceivable, take both the Costs Endurance and Perceivable Limitations.

Yes, if you want to bypass obstacles entirely (e.g., reach through walls), then you need the Indirect Advantage. I can't really tell you what level you need; it depends on the SFX of the power and what you envision being able to do with it. I recommend working it out with your GM, or starting a thread in the HERO System Discussion forum if you want to discuss possible builds.
 
However, for the martial artist punching in the back of the head that you described in your earlier post, if you wanted them to be able to reach through a wall or similar barrier while doing that, you would need at least, "Source point is not the character, but is always the same (+¼)," and, "Path of Power is not directly from Source Point to target, but is always the same (+¼)," for a total Indirect value of at least +½. 
 
Note that even though Stretching has some indirect aspects to it, those do not lessen the cost of Indirect (6E1 p. 286). The level of Indirect you need is still based on what you want the source of the power to be, and what path you want the power to take, without factoring in Stretching.
 
On a personal note, I have a PC whose SFX are based around teleportation and portals and "reaching through the void," and she can do things just like you're describing.  She can create a portal and have her arm appear anywhere within her Stretching reach, and oriented so the strike can come from any direction. Her build uses Stretching, Doesn't Cross Intervening Space (+¼), Fully Indirect (+1). 

Assuming 2m is enough Stretching to reach the back of your opponent's head, then yes, that would work. You do not need to buy Indirect.
 
However, remember that Does Not Cross Intervening Space does not grant any Indirect properties that Stretching doesn't already have. So if there's an obstacle, you can't just ignore it; you have to "reach around it," even if it doesn't look like you're reaching around it in SFX terms. And if you can't reach around the obstacle (such as a wall or other barrier), then you can't reach the target; this doesn't allow you to just bypass an obstacle in the same way that fully Indirect does.
 
In other words, you have to still plot out the same "movement path" of your Stretching, in order to avoid obstacles and reach your target, as you would need if you didn't have Does Not Cross Intervening Space. So your 2m build will generally work for ordinary HTH combat situations, but even a relatively minor obstacle might put the target beyond your reach.

Believe it or not, it was 20 years ago today that Darren Watts, Jason Walters, the Secret Masters, and myself bought the HERO System (and its related IPs)!
 
It's been a wonderful, amazing journey ever since -- one with its ups and downs, like any journey -- but still an awesome one. My deepest thanks to all the HERO fans out there who have made it possible!

We were gaming online prior to Covid-19 and we used free audio/video services.  Once Covid-19 hit and it became clear that the church I belonged to needed a way to communicate plus communicate with family I purchased a Zoom license. 
 
My biggest issue is how poorly some members of the group handle the technology. 

I've noticed that too, but I was speaking less to the quality of the connections and more to the habits of the participants. It feels like many folks continue to talk simultaneously when they are talking, and not go on mute when they're not talking. I think it's a matter of learning the different rhythm that conversations have online, and of sticking to the etiquette of talking one person at a time, more than it is a technological hurdle.   

I noticed that paid services seem to have much better audio than free ones.  My theory is that both the audio and video quality is much lower on the free services to both save money and give you a reason to upgrade.
 
When my group started gaming online during Covid we tried all the free services: Google Meet, Zoom (free), Skype, and one more I'm not thinking of.  I kept noticing that the quality of the experience was much worse than the Microsoft Teams and Paid Zoom meetings I was participating in for work during the day.
 
Because I'm a computer guy for a living I actually pay for a bundle of Microsoft products for my own education.  This comes with an Office 365 tenant and I realized that I actually had Teams licenses I wasn't using.  So my Wife and I became licensed Teams users and after setting it up correctly I could invite the rest of the group as guests.  As long as a licensed user starts the meeting we get the better audio and video quality.  Our audio issues almost immediately went away.
 
We also now have a teams channel with it's own Wiki, File Storage, and Chat dedicated to each of our campaigns.  Not really practical for a normal group but it's working pretty well for us.

My issue with online gaming is the lack of technology experience that my group has. Far too many times did we have noise issues that could've been solved by tweaking the tech or just muting a mic.