darkdiamond
Initiate Douchebag
Posts: 36
Preferred Game Systems: any
Currently Playing: Song of fire and ice
Currently Running: Trying to create a Wild talents one shot
Favorite Species of Monkey: Gorrilla
|
Curiousity
Jun 11, 2014 21:45:55 GMT -8
via mobile
Post by darkdiamond on Jun 11, 2014 21:45:55 GMT -8
So i am still very new on the rpg world, i like most others started with the gateway game D&D (4ed) i was gming a game with my friends, lvls 1-5 so far
Anyways i got to the episode in season 4 where the interview from the hero system, but i was wanting to know more about the system pros cons etc where hero has its downfalls and where it makes up for it
Thanks Darkdiamond
|
|
|
Post by jazzisblues on Jun 15, 2014 10:13:11 GMT -8
Welcome to the community. You will get many differing thoughts and ideas about Hero, so I will go ahead and throw mine in for what they are worth.
As I'm sure you are aware, Hero is a generic game system meaning that theoretically you can run any sort of game with it. The difference being not what sort of game can you run but what sort of flavor will it have. As we have discussed on the show, GURPS is the most simulationist of the game systems we tend to talk about. Hero is less simulationist than GURPS (Or more cinematic) but less so than Savage Worlds. Steve Long describes Hero as being "movie cinematic" the idea being that the action is going to look and feel like a movie.
I'm going to start with the downsides
Hero can be, ok it is to most people, rather complicated. The reason for that is that it is fairly math intensive. One needs to calculate the cost of skills and powers and that is singularly the most complicated part of the game. Learning that from scratch with just the books can be more than a little daunting. However, there are great resources both in this community and online for working them out, and Hero games sells a character builder that makes the whole thing a lot easier.
Now for the up sides
Hero gives the gm and the players ultimate power to create anything they want. In my opinion even more power to do that than GURPS. You can seriously make anything you want that works any way you want it in Hero.
Hero is a BIG game things that happen in it are BIG and heroic and cinematic and exciting. People get knocked through walls and thrown to enormous heights.
Hero earned its reputation doing super hero games but I've done all manner of games from traditional fantasy to supers to spies to zombie apocalypse with great success.
For someone just starting out I recommend either the Basic Rules book or Champions Complete. The Basic Rules are out of print but you can still find them.
Cheers,
JiB
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jun 22, 2014 15:52:12 GMT -8
been playing champions for almost 30 yrs It is my favorite system Champions Complete"CC" and Hero Designer is the way to go all the rules in a not scary sized book and a computer program that does all the math HD can only be bought at the Hero games website But if you get CC from them you get the pdf of CC free also
|
|
athos3
Apprentice Douchebag
Posts: 83
|
Post by athos3 on Jun 24, 2014 12:27:09 GMT -8
I've been playing Hero on and off for 30 years and think it's one of the best systems out there. I will say that it is easier to have someone teach you than learn it on your own but it is incredible. You can do anything with it. The actual mechanics of play aren't too bad but building characters can be a time sink primarily because you have so many options available in the rules. If you don't want to make a big investment but want to learn about the system I would like to recommend Hero Sidekick. It's a stripped down version of the rules available for $7 pdf from Hero Games: Hero System SidekickIt is in the 5th Edition rules but they are very similar to 6th Ed. and if you know one the other will be easy. I've played and run Superheros, Spies, SciFi, Fantasy, Post Apocalyptic, Horror, and Pulp with it. My recommendation is to start with a low point game and fairly straightforward characters. Later you can learn how to add bells and whistles to it. In Fantasy games the magic system is completely up for grabs. It can work in anyway that you can envision it. In a way Hero's greatest strength is also it's biggest weakness. People freeze up at the amount of things that can/need to be defined and that can cause problems. Do you have any particular genre in mind? One of the reasons my gaming group has always come back to Hero is because when we want to switch genres we don't need to learn a new system. Pete
|
|
darkdiamond
Initiate Douchebag
Posts: 36
Preferred Game Systems: any
Currently Playing: Song of fire and ice
Currently Running: Trying to create a Wild talents one shot
Favorite Species of Monkey: Gorrilla
|
Post by darkdiamond on Jun 25, 2014 20:31:33 GMT -8
to be honest i hadn't thought that far ahead, you see, my DnD 4e group seems to of fallen apart, i mean i got switched to afternoons plus working Sundays, my gfs schedule is fairly erratic, her sister just got a job, and our other friend has been busy working as well, and so the urge to pick up and play again hasn't been their with our group being so busy, with clashing time tables.
I was just wanting to see how this system was and hearing about how versatile it was intrigued me. and its just something that i might want to throw at them once we have gotten past the gateway into RPG's.
|
|
|
Post by jazzisblues on Jul 6, 2014 11:43:13 GMT -8
I am, as everyone knows, a huge fan of the system. I would add my voice to the Champions Complete plus Hero Designer chant but with a caveat. Hero Designer is great in that it does the grudge work for you, but at some point it's a good idea to understand how the grudge work gets done so you could do it if you had to and so you'll have a greater understanding of how the system thinks.
If you can I would suggest playing in a game to get a feel for how the system works.
JiB
|
|