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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Rackhir" data-source="post: 1486332" data-attributes="member: 149">Like many of the commentors, to me Hero System is hands down the best Superhero RPG ever. Nothing I've seen even comes close to it. It does break down if you want characters who have absolute powers. Such as "Totally Invunerable", with out spending horrific amounts of points, but all systems break down at some point if you push it to an edge.RE: Complexity - I really don't think that Champions is more complex to DM and Play than D20 is for example. In some respects it's actually easier, since you don't have books and books of spells, feats and magic items to sort through (Granted there is 1 MASSIVE book). Generally speaking a champions character has everything they can do on their character sheet, right in front of them. Combat isn't more difficult, in fact D20's combat system seems to me to be derived from a lot of the mechanics ideas Champions introduced to RPGs. The thing that can make Champions more difficult to play is due more to the enviroment than the system. If you are running superheroes, you are dealing with a far more open and less controllable situation. A lot of D&D comes down to characters marching through 10' wide corredors, obviously that's a lot more limiting than when characters are leaping/flying/running/T-porting/swinging/etc... through the concrete canyons of a city.Character creation is one of the things that people often hold up as examples of the complexity of Hero system. Which is really not accurate. The basic mechanics of the system are actually quite simple, 5/10/15 Char Points for 1d6 of effectiveness for offensive powers and secondary powers powers that involve die rolling for effectiveness. Skills and such run on a similar system based off of 3 points for 11 or less roll +Stat Mods. etc... What makes it seem complex are two things.1) There are A TON OF OPTIONS, so some people slip into a paralysis of choice.2) Power Advantages and Disadvantages - These are probably what most intimidate people since they involve multiplication and division, which most people haven't used much since they graduated from high school. Not to mention that there are a lot of people who fear/are uncomfortable with math. The math problem is actually fairly easy to solve. Anyone with a basic knowledge of spreadsheets can whip up one to do the math for you and they can be found on the net without a difficult search if you don't wish to make your own. Hero games also makes a book called "The UNTIL Superpowers Database" which is a thourough and complete guide to the various types of superheroes, complete with examples and explanations of powers and how to achive various effects commonly seen for that type of characters. It really does make it pretty simple to put together a superhero of almost any type.Finally there is the aformentioned HERO Designer, which gives you everthing you could ask for at your fingertips. The idea of starting off with a "Beer and Pretzels" kind of campaign to get used to things is a good one. When playing a new system there are always adjustments that need to be made to playing styles and problems/opportunities in character design/playing that aren't immediately obvious. In short if you've managed to learn one RPG system, then learning Champions is not a difficult task. Once you have learned it then you can create virtually any kind of superhero you could dream of. It really is a very elegant and powerful creation tool. The roleplaying then is up to you and your DM.</blockquote>

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