The older i get the less I need.

The worst case for me was someone with a very un-bounded VPP in Fantasy Hero for HSR 4. Every use was presaged by a couple minutes of number crunching.
I only allowed players who were very proficient with Hero to take a VPP, or ones that were willing to do the "homework" and come with a lot of pre-mathed use cases.
 

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The worst case for me was someone with a very un-bounded VPP in Fantasy Hero for HSR 4. Every use was presaged by a couple minutes of number crunching.

Open-ended VPPs are definitely something you want to reserve for people who are very experienced with the system, and even then it pays to avoid particularly complex constructs (and of course, in the case of spells have the mandatory limitations pre-calculated so you don't have to do it anew each time). Fortunately, even a lot of output from those doesn't have to be complex; if someone can't figure out a fireball pretty fast (since its a base power with one Advantage) they probably shouldn't be even trying that kind of construct in the first place--but then, in a system with any detail, they probably shouldn't be playing an open-ended type mage in any game.
 

I only allowed players who were very proficient with Hero to take a VPP, or ones that were willing to do the "homework" and come with a lot of pre-mathed use cases.

Honestly, a rather lot of VPPs should be used that way anyway; they're mostly for things with the limits on them being about conditions or set-up more than what one can do, per se. As an example, if you have a set of standard rules for how it applies, a power copy type is relatively easy (if often overpriced), and a back-in-the-lab gadgeteer or D&D style prep-spell mage is not particularly painful.
 

Nothing about Champions was fast paced. "A couple minutes" for a VPP isn't bad given the speed chart, using maneuvers, and adding up Body.

Though I honestly think some of that is overstated when it comes to people familiar with the system. I can't say toward my latter years I found any of that any slower than any number of other games. But then, I'm not particularly prone to very simple games in the first place, so that may color my views.
 

I also purge my stuff after a while.
The stuff you like you seem to remember and use as you will.
It is nice today that you can get a lot of stuff pdf or print on demand to go down the memory lane, which I have done.
I keep the stuff that I reference or the stuff that I think is unique and inspiring in one way or another.
 

Open-ended VPPs are definitely something you want to reserve for people who are very experienced with the system, and even then it pays to avoid particularly complex constructs (and of course, in the case of spells have the mandatory limitations pre-calculated so you don't have to do it anew each time). Fortunately, even a lot of output from those doesn't have to be complex; if someone can't figure out a fireball pretty fast (since its a base power with one Advantage) they probably shouldn't be even trying that kind of construct in the first place--but then, in a system with any detail, they probably shouldn't be playing an open-ended type mage in any game.
If he'd gone for fireballs, it would have been easy.
Every spell was bespoke for the foe and what he thought their weaknesses were.
 

Nothing about Champions was fast paced. "A couple minutes" for a VPP isn't bad given the speed chart, using maneuvers, and adding up Body.
Strongly disagree.
With players comfortable with the action economy, each PC activation is typically 1-2 minutes, about the same as it took me in AD&D, player speed in HSR 4-5 is not particularly slow, especially since the Turn, while it may take twice as long as in D&D, is 2-5 activations of each PC, vs 1 in D&D.
 

Strongly disagree.
With players comfortable with the action economy, each PC activation is typically 1-2 minutes, about the same as it took me in AD&D, player speed in HSR 4-5 is not particularly slow, especially since the Turn, while it may take twice as long as in D&D, is 2-5 activations of each PC, vs 1 in D&D.
So what's the problem with the VPP taking "a couple minutes"?
 

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