You an' FRED

[DrunkonDuty]

Dannyalcatraz wrote:
OTOH, we could help out...

Got a PC concept?

Heh heh, I'm detecting a need to play HERO. I sympathize, am trying to convince my gaming group here in Sydney to try it. There's some interest mixed with reluctance.

And if anyone is interested in 6th ed HERO there's a dedicated forum on the HERO site for suggestions of what to include/leave out/change in the new rules. I haven't bothered to chime in as I haven't had a chance to play 5th ed yet. <big sigh>

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Yep...I'm jonesing for some HERO fun.

 

[Lhorgrim]

I tried to post this question on the Hero Games boards, but it isn't showing up over there.

I want to start a Champions game with a couple of my gamer friends, but I don't know if I should drop the scratch on FREd, or wait for 6th edition to be released.

Any ideas on the actual street date of 6th edition? Am I better off getting FREd? Should I pull my copy of 4th edition (Champions) off the shelf and play that until 6th is released?

Advice, opinions, thoughts?

 

[DrunkonDuty]

I'd just go with 4th ed. The changes are not that significant. Point costs for things have changed, some new skills (like auto fire skills) and talents and perks are added. Reputation is done differently (it now gives penalties/bonuses to interaction rolls and Pres attacks and is either a disad or a perk depending on the exact rep.) Some other stuff too.

None of which stops you from using current (5th ed) resources like NPC write ups. The actual point value for an NPC may be wildly different from what you might expect but the combat system works the same, the damage is the same, etc. Assuming you want to buy 5th ed resources of course.

If you want a cheaper way to go to 5th ed there is the Sidekick's Handbook. I've got a copy. It covers all the important stuff like character creation and powers but leaves out the scads of other stuff that would still be covered in your 4th ed rule book (like damage from environmental effects and vehicle combat.) Is much smaller and much cheaper than the BBB (Big Black Book.)

As to when 6th ed is going to be released I have a vague recollection it's sometime next year but you know how these sort of deadlines can change for small publishers.

cheers mate,
Glen
(edit for spelling)

 

[M.L. Martin]

I tried to post this question on the Hero Games boards, but it isn't showing up over there.

I want to start a Champions game with a couple of my gamer friends, but I don't know if I should drop the scratch on FREd, or wait for 6th edition to be released.

Any ideas on the actual street date of 6th edition? Am I better off getting FREd? Should I pull my copy of 4th edition (Champions) off the shelf and play that until 6th is released?

Advice, opinions, thoughts?

Sixth Edition is slated for a GenCon release, assuming recent events (Steve's shoulder surgery, the untimely death of Andy Mathews) don't throw it off-track. It's probably going to be a more substantial change than Fifth Edition was--COM is probably dead, Figured Characteristics won't be figured anymore, and Disadvantages are in for an overhaul, to name three.

Fourth and Fifth are probably as close, if not closer, than D&D 3E and 3.5. There's a page out there that goes over the differences thoroughly, but I don't have the link offhand.

 

[Ahglock]

In case anyone cares the online champions game is what sparked them making a 6e.

Basically what was going to me the Marvel comics MMORPG fell through, and the company that was making it (Cryptic I think) scrambled for a new intellectual property to hang there super hero games name on. Some of the designers liked champions from previous gamer experience and bought outright the Champions setting. Not the rules, just the champions setting.

Now the online champions game sounds fairly free form in character design, heck absurdly so compared ot other mmorpgs i am familar with so it may capture a champions feel mechanically. And heck I grew up with champions more than I ever did with DC or Marvel so its more my comic universe than either of them. I see moeny leaving my bank account since I've wanted a champions computer game since I was 14, which was way too many years ago.

Champions Online Official Site

 

[DrunkonDuty]

MLM & Ahglock: interesting. That's a much closer release date than I realised. And I didn't know that about Champions Online either.
Thanks.

 

[Center-of-All]

Wow, we have more HERO players here than I thought. I'll ask here then: IF someone is already fairly heavily invested in GURPS material, what would HERO offer that GURPS doesn't? Conversely, what does HERO do worse then GURPS 4th?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

HERO: This game is the most flexible and internally consistent game I've ever played, earning it my #1 favorite ranking (Mutants & Masterminds is #2, D&D 3.5Ed is #3). I know that if I have characters of the same point level/disad limits, etc. will be balanced against each other, regardless of genre and setting...at least, insofar as PCs of a given point level can be balanced (rules gurus can abuse HERO just like any other system).

IOW, if I want to take a 300pt monster from Fantasy HERO and use it in Star HERO, I can probably use it unchanged.

In contrast, I have found that GURPS' various settings have enough variant rules and point costs for abilities that it kind of puts the lie to "Generic" and "Universal." For example, a PC based on TK powers in basic GURPS might be radically underpowered vs a PC based on TK powers in their superheroic setting at the same point cost.

(According to Jurgen Hubert- ENWorld's resident GURPSophile, the latest edition of GURPS does much to address this.)

GURPS: Better than any other game system out there, GURPS stats out all kinds of settings & useful supplements. I know I'm not alone when I say that even though I don't really play GURPS unless I'm being sociable (or playtesting), I will buy some of their supplements, like Martial Arts or their Weapon books. Whoever does their research does good work.

These are, of course, just my opinions.

 

[Aus_Snow]

I know I'm not alone when I say that even though I don't really play GURPS unless I'm being sociable (or playtesting), I will buy some of their supplements, like Martial Arts or their Weapon books. Whoever does their research does good work.

Nope, you're not the only one who thinks about GURPS that way, that's for sure. But it deserves to be further emphasised, just how good some of those supplements are. Some of the very best RPG supplements I've read. And I've read (or, in some cases, tried to read) tons over the years. Yep, that good.

Still looking forward to buying a copy of HERO, and getting to know it. I will wait for 6e, I've decided. Unless of course I get invited to another thing, where this system is being used, and I can make it to the sessions. If that happens, I might just buy a copy of whatever they're using.

The information and discussion has made me very curious, and keen to try it out some time. Maybe this year, even!

Thanks to all those who've posted info, opinions and everything else, and I hope people continue to do so.

Cheers.