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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jhamin" data-source="post: 1486555" data-attributes="member: 1023">Kannik has very eloquently laid out alot of my own beliefs.  I alternate between a Hero (Champions) game and a D&D 3.5 campaign as my main two campaigns, so I can speak with some knowledge of how it is to run them both.  A few points: - There is alot of book keeping at character creation, but this is misleading.  Beginning hero characters are alot more capable than beginning D20 characters.  It may be more accurate to compare making a hero character to making a 6-8th level D20 character (Including Wealth/Equipment, feats, attribute improvements, multiclassing/prestige classes) - Combat is complex, but one again you have to compare it to a high level d20 battle that involves lots of spells, feats and class powers.  A hero system fantasy wizard who has to decide if he should cast one spell or another based on his remaining endurance and what defences that hero barbarian likely has vs. his active point levels is no more complex than a D20 wizard who is balancing casting lightning bolt or charm person and deciding how many spells he has left and what the barbarian's will and reflex saves are vs. the DCs of his spells. - There have been alot of comments about plaing hero being all about how you bought your character, that the actual play is less important than character creation.  In my mind this means these players have not been playing or creating characters in a well run game.Hero's greatest strength and greatest weakness are it's flexibility.  The GM is absolutly required to set a tone and a power level for his game, and in my experience the players have to make their PCs together so they all are able to do what the player envisions them doing relative to the other PCs.  Once you get a good bunch of characters and the GM knows what level to set the opposition at, the game runs just as well as D20, with the added bonus of working the way you wanted it to without having to worry about how all this will mesh with the next splat book.*D20 takes the approach that if you are level 7, then pretty much any combination of level 7 characters can form a party with you and you can go adventuring together.  If you are the fighter, then you are a better swordsman than the Bard.  It's just part of the game.*In Hero, then you have to decide what "powerful" is and what sort of a game you are running.  If you are playing Fantasy Hero and want to have a really strong PC do you need to be Wulfgar/Caramon strong?  Or Conan Strong?  Or Rock Troll Strong?  Or Anime Guy/Inuyasha Strong?  Or Dragon Ball Z/Super Saiyan Strong?  Hero can do any of these, and all are valid characters, It's just that if you made Matthew Broderick from Ladyhawk and somebody else made Legolas from LOTR, and the GM wants to run a game like the Princess Bride, nobody will like the game. - Creating all the opposition all the time for every game is indeed very tiresome.  But just like I can't imagine running 3.5 without the Monster Manual and the NPC charts from the DMG, there is no way I can imagine running Fantasy hero without the Hero System Bestiary and Monsters, Minions & Marauders.While Hero can be a one book game, you certanly don't have to run it that way.  In fact if you are a newcomer to the system you probably need one of the Genre books and a couple of the supplaments that support it.If you are a D20 player with a world book, three class books, two monster books, and three books filled with spells, then it's no fair to say that Hero's one book doesn't spell it all out for you.  You have to include all the supporting books for them as well.</blockquote>

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