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<blockquote data-quote="Mercule" data-source="post: 1485310" data-attributes="member: 5100">I like HERO a fair bit.&nbsp; It's right behind d20 in my book.&nbsp; I've also got a friend who's a bit obsessive about it.&nbsp;HERO is very much a one-book system.&nbsp; There are suppliments out there for it, and they look like they might be helpful, but I've never picked up anything besides the core book (of course, I've usually been on the player side of the equation in HERO).&nbsp; &nbsp;The 4th edition book honestly reads like a dictionary.&nbsp; I never made it all the way through it in eight or so years of playing it -- very much referrence only.&nbsp; The fifth edition hardbound is much better, although still not as interesting as the D&amp;D PH.&nbsp; I picked it up when I had to take a week-long business trip.&nbsp; Just reading it in my hotel room, I'd made it most of the way through the book by the end of the week -- without falling asleep.&nbsp;HERO does have a pretty sharp learning curve, compared to D&amp;D.&nbsp; Still, it's managible.&nbsp; We played it exclusively for a couple of years in college.&nbsp; The first year we played supers (Champions) and had a lot of fun, but realized afterward that we'd really messed up in a couple of areas.&nbsp; The second year, we did Fantasy Hero and did things much better.&nbsp; I'd say that within the first couple of months of the Champions game, most of the daily mechanics (combat, damage, etc.) were second nature and pretty transparent.&nbsp; Four months through the FH game (if not before) almost all of the mechanics were transparent to everyone, even the neophyte gamers.&nbsp; Some of the really contorted math required the hand of a &quot;pro-gamer&quot;, but not that often.&nbsp;If you want to run a HERO game, I've got a few suggestions.&nbsp; &nbsp;1) Do a short-term, beer-and-pretzels (i.e. don't take it too seriously) campaign first.&nbsp; This'll help everyone, especially the GM, learn the rules.&nbsp; Supers works well for this because you can add a fair amount of cheese before the genre breaks.&nbsp; After that, move onto somethin a bit more serious.&nbsp;2) Start off with simple builds.&nbsp; With HERO, you can really tweak your powers.&nbsp; Avoid that tempation until you are more comfortable with the system.&nbsp; This is another reason to start off with Champions.&nbsp; In comics, it isn't uncommon for characters' powers to evolve over time.&nbsp; The suspension of disbelief is much lower there than when a wizard starts casting spells completely differently than he used to.&nbsp;3) Pick up Fantasy Hero (assuming you want fantasy).&nbsp; Yeah, it's an extra book, but it's really more like a campaign design tool.&nbsp; You won't usually have to take it to the game with you, and if you do, it'll be more like a Monster Manual than anything else.&nbsp;I haven't seen the 5th edition version, but I assume it's similar to the 4th edition FH (actually, I've heard it's much better).&nbsp; The 4E FH book had some packages that could be used like classes and races, so you've got the first few chapters of the PH right there.&nbsp; There was also a premade magic system or two and a boatload of spells -- I didn't much care for the specifics of the magic, but it was no worse than the D&amp;D Vancian system.&nbsp; There were also listings of several classic fantasy monsters like dragons, orcs, etc.&nbsp; I believe the book also contained a couple of fantasy-specific rules that weren't critical, but simplified things.&nbsp; You can start with the FH book as a base-line and customize to taste without ever needing to buy anything else (or, probably, any great desire to do so).</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Mercule, post: 1485310, member: 5100"] I like HERO a fair bit. It's right behind d20 in my book. I've also got a friend who's a bit obsessive about it. HERO is very much a one-book system. There are suppliments out there for it, and they look like they might be helpful, but I've never picked up anything besides the core book (of course, I've usually been on the player side of the equation in HERO). The 4th edition book honestly reads like a dictionary. I [u]never[/u] made it all the way through it in eight or so years of playing it -- very much referrence only. The fifth edition hardbound is much better, although still not as interesting as the D&D PH. I picked it up when I had to take a week-long business trip. Just reading it in my hotel room, I'd made it most of the way through the book by the end of the week -- without falling asleep. HERO does have a pretty sharp learning curve, compared to D&D. Still, it's managible. We played it exclusively for a couple of years in college. The first year we played supers (Champions) and had a lot of fun, but realized afterward that we'd really messed up in a couple of areas. The second year, we did Fantasy Hero and did things much better. I'd say that within the first couple of months of the Champions game, most of the daily mechanics (combat, damage, etc.) were second nature and pretty transparent. Four months through the FH game (if not before) almost all of the mechanics were transparent to everyone, even the neophyte gamers. Some of the really contorted math required the hand of a "pro-gamer", but not that often. If you want to run a HERO game, I've got a few suggestions. 1) Do a short-term, beer-and-pretzels (i.e. don't take it too seriously) campaign first. This'll help everyone, especially the GM, learn the rules. Supers works well for this because you can add a fair amount of cheese before the genre breaks. After that, move onto somethin a bit more serious. 2) Start off with simple builds. With HERO, you can [u]really[/u] tweak your powers. Avoid that tempation until you are more comfortable with the system. This is another reason to start off with Champions. In comics, it isn't uncommon for characters' powers to evolve over time. The suspension of disbelief is much lower there than when a wizard starts casting spells completely differently than he used to. 3) Pick up Fantasy Hero (assuming you want fantasy). Yeah, it's an extra book, but it's really more like a campaign design tool. You won't usually have to take it to the game with you, and if you do, it'll be more like a Monster Manual than anything else. I haven't seen the 5th edition version, but I assume it's similar to the 4th edition FH (actually, I've heard it's much better). The 4E FH book had some packages that could be used like classes and races, so you've got the first few chapters of the PH right there. There was also a premade magic system or two and a boatload of spells -- I didn't much care for the specifics of the magic, but it was no worse than the D&D Vancian system. There were also listings of several classic fantasy monsters like dragons, orcs, etc. I believe the book also contained a couple of fantasy-specific rules that weren't critical, but simplified things. You can start with the FH book as a base-line and customize to taste without ever needing to buy anything else (or, probably, any great desire to do so). [/QUOTE]

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