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Message: <blockquote data-quote="drnuncheon" data-source="post: 995973" data-attributes="member: 96">So, comparing GURPS (3rd edition) and HERO (Champions is the superhero genre book) 4th & 5th editions.Like GURPS, combat can be slow and clunky unless everyone knows it very well.  Big slowdowns include the unusual dice mechanics - unlike d20, where you can tell at a glance if you hit or how much damage you did, you have to either refer to a chart or do some mental adding and subtracting (in the case of attacks), or do some unusual dice-counting tricks (for damage - most attacks do both 'stun' (like subdual) and 'body' (like hitpoints) damage, and you count the dice in different ways depending on what kind of attack it is.)GURPS has individual systems for different things: magic is different than psi which is different from high technology or super powers.  HERO, on the other hand, is a metasystem: everything is built off of the same framework.  This has its advantages and disadvantages.  For example, it is very easy for different types of 'power' to become bland and undifferentiated, because a magic mind-reading spell and psionic telepathy work in exactly the same way.  However, it's also very easy to define how things work and interact - if you have an 'extinguish fire' spell you know how well it will work against a flamethrower, a fireball spell, a pyrokinetic, or the Human Torch.This metasystem also requires you to be able to think in HERO-ese - basically, HERO is an effects-based system.  If you want a power to have a particular effect, you need to buy it, unless it's incredibly minor.  You can't just define your Energy Blast power as a 'flame bolt' and expect it to set people on fire, for example - if you want them to keep burning, you have to pay extra.  This is really difficult for some people to do.GURPS has far more support than HERO.  Steve Long's new company is doing better on that count than HERO games has for the past ten years or so, but SJG has been putting excellent books out steadily for all of that time.  That means that the HERO GM usually faces more work than the GURPS GM in setting things up.People will tell you that HERO can't handle realistic - but it does with the right rules options.  People will tell you GURPS can't handle cinematic - but it does with the right rules options.  Ironically, neither one are (IMO) all that great for playing superheros.  Hero is wonderful for creating superheros, but the complexity of the system slows it down.  I think superhero fights should be 'roll and shout' not tactical wargaming.  (So I like V&V, and to a lesser extent MSH - simple, stripped-own systems.)</blockquote>

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