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I've been working on some house rules, and one in particular has led me down a path, to wonder why we need both a Darkness and a Flash Power. For starters, both of those Powers have the same base cost for the initial Sense Group (5 for targeting, 3 for nontargeting), and the same additional cost to add one Sense or Sense Group (targeting: +10 per group / +5 per sense; nontargeting +5 per group / +3 per sense). If you were to take No Area (-1/4) and Usable As Attack on Darkness, you would effectively have something like a Flash that lasts as long as it is maintained for. In fact, Usable As Attack specifically calls out Darkness as its use case. So... why not combine them into a single Power? My tentative name for it is Obscure. Ranged, Single Target, Constant. Senses and sense groups are as per the current common cost for Darkness and Flash. The character can buy up the power level -- duration? Intensity? I'm not sure what. Maybe both? 5 points per +1 to either. Costs END to maintain; when the user stops spending END (which could be immediately), Obscure stops affecting the target at the end of that Segment, +1 Segment per +1 to power level. An Obscure bought to 0 END Cost would require some way for the target to stop being affected, as per normal for these kinds of Powers. Flash Defense would be renamed to Sensory Protection, and would protect against Obscure. If a character has enough Sensory Protection to reduce the Intensity to 0, then instead of being completely blinded (or whatever), they instead take a PER penalty equal to half the Intensity (the penalty reduced by 1 per additional point of SP), and those penalties go away completely when the Obscure drops. If the target has some Sensory Protection, but not enough to reduce it to 0, then each point reduces the number of Segments they're affected. Example: a target with 10 points of Sight Group Sensory Protection is hit with an intensity 12 Sight Group Obscure; when the attacker stops maintaining it, they're still blinded for an additional 2 Segments. Another target with 15 points of Sight Group SP would instead take a (Intensity 12 / 2 = 6; SP 15 - Intensity 12 = 3; 6 - 3 = 3) -3 penalty to Sight PER while the Obscure is maintained, and none at all when it drops. Comments? Thoughts?

I'm writing a Fantasy Hero game for a convention, which means that run time is a consideration. I want to use the mechanics that provide the right feel but which don't slow the game down. It is likely that some players will be unfamiliar with the Hero System so everything needs to be as streamlined as possible. In my experience, the Hit Location table provides an excellent mathematical distribution of STUN damage, but the time required is significant. An extra 3d6 roll, refer to a chart, then go back to the damage roll and multiply. It's not hard, but in a four hour con game with 6+ players it will add a noticeable amount of time. On the flip side, the standard 1-3 multiplier is simple but too low - without the possibility for higher STUN results, smaller fantasy weapons are not worth using. (For the old-school out there, d6-1 gets the higher STUN results but way too often). I have some crazy ideas using custom d6, but I'm wondering if other people have any ideas.