thormagni
Explorer
I was just reading the Mutants and Masterminds segment about Hero Points and thought I would share with the group how cool of a feature it is.
Hero Points are almost exactly like Fate Points in Conan, Action Dice in Spycraft or Unearthed Arcana or the Dramatic Editing in White Wolf's Trinity Universe books. You use them to alter the game or the results of die rolls, to achieve something that you "really" couldn't achieve, such as suddenly possessing a needed feat or succeeding where your first die roll failed.
What to me, is REALLY interesting about the Hero Points is the ways you accumulate them.
The main way, that I can see, is by voluntarily taking Complications in your character's life and then role-playing those complications. If you and the GM drop in a scene about your Secret ID, there could be a Hero Point. Or you have a fear of heights you role-play, another Hero Point. It encourages you to take on these "negative" traits to parlay the role-playing of them into Hero Points.
Another way, is to fail spectacularly at something. Botch a roll and the GM gives you a Hero Point so you can better succeed heroically next time.
And if the GM decides to out and out cheat, the players get a Hero Point. For example, if the players are getting ready to knock out the bad guy, and the GM wants the bad guy to escape, the GM just doles out Hero Points and makes it happen.
There are several other situations where Hero Points are handed out, and I don't want the great Green Ronin to come down on me for spilling too much of the beans, but really, I just think this is a fascinating mechanic. It really seems to have hit on a way to make for more heroic game play and to raise the players "metagame" involvement.
Hero Points are almost exactly like Fate Points in Conan, Action Dice in Spycraft or Unearthed Arcana or the Dramatic Editing in White Wolf's Trinity Universe books. You use them to alter the game or the results of die rolls, to achieve something that you "really" couldn't achieve, such as suddenly possessing a needed feat or succeeding where your first die roll failed.
What to me, is REALLY interesting about the Hero Points is the ways you accumulate them.
The main way, that I can see, is by voluntarily taking Complications in your character's life and then role-playing those complications. If you and the GM drop in a scene about your Secret ID, there could be a Hero Point. Or you have a fear of heights you role-play, another Hero Point. It encourages you to take on these "negative" traits to parlay the role-playing of them into Hero Points.
Another way, is to fail spectacularly at something. Botch a roll and the GM gives you a Hero Point so you can better succeed heroically next time.
And if the GM decides to out and out cheat, the players get a Hero Point. For example, if the players are getting ready to knock out the bad guy, and the GM wants the bad guy to escape, the GM just doles out Hero Points and makes it happen.
There are several other situations where Hero Points are handed out, and I don't want the great Green Ronin to come down on me for spilling too much of the beans, but really, I just think this is a fascinating mechanic. It really seems to have hit on a way to make for more heroic game play and to raise the players "metagame" involvement.
