Review: HERO System Advanced Player’s Guide 6th Edition

I was for some reason actually expecting new optional and advance rules with this product, I should have known better. As I've mentioned before, Long is basically a cut and paste writer who will reprint material whenever[...]
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In praise of a player: Terry

This coming weekend my friend Terry is taking me to Las Vegas again. She took me for a weekend earlier this year not long after an immediate member of my family had passed away, and I can’t tell you how much I needed a[...]
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Ask The GMs: Rubbing Two Dry Words Together

Why have different languages in an RPG? How can they be used to enhance a story? And what’s wrong with Universal Translators, anyway? I have a question about using languages in fantasy RPGs. There are numerous[...]
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HERO System 6th: A question of skill

So I'm playing around with recreating some 5th edition characters in 6th just to see, and came across this jewel...OCV and DCV were completely detached from DEX in 6th, a fact that neither greatly upsets nor to any degre[...]
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A Gamer’s Treasure — Different Worlds #23

To say that Different Worlds Issue #23 is one of the highest Superhero Themed Gaming Magazine issues of all time would be an understatement. It closer to the truth to say that this particular issue of Different Worlds [...]
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Review: HERO System Martial Arts 6th Edition

In the past various incarnations of the HERO System Martial Artist supplement (Ninja Hero, Ultimate Martial Artist) have always been the most useful book outside the main one.That trend certain continues with the 6th Edi[...]
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Review: HERO System Ultimate Base

The Ultimate Base is one of the latest supplements for HERO System and one of the first (if not the first) for 6th edition.It shows all the typical Long styling- heavy cut and paste from other books (Ultimate Vehicle in [...]
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Campaigns I’d Love to Play: July 2010 Edition

As a pen & paper rpg enthusiast that’s often saddled with GMing duties, it’s probably not really all that surprising to see me put up a post now and then about games or campaigns I’d love to play in[...]
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HERO System 6 Edition Review Part II

I likely should have mentioned this in yesterday's review but it was a bit long to include there. So I'll go back and add an link.HERO System was always a very detailed and map focused game system. The game spoke in term[...]
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HERO System 6 Edition Review

Managed over the last couple of weeks to look over copies of the two core 6th edition books.Things aren't as bad as they could have been I suppose. Most of the rules are intact (it takes all of one page to list the chang[...]
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Surprised by Superhero 2044 — The First Superhero RPG was More Influential than You Might Think

According to Heroic Worlds by Lawrence Schick and Steve Perrin in Different Worlds #23, Superhero 2044 by Donald Saxman is the first commercially available superhero themed role playing game. Saxman's game was publishe[...]
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100 Posts, ya’ll!

Holy cow, I only noticed this weekend that I hit 100 posts! Hurray for me!Really, no big deal. Anybody can do a bunch of posts. But in the last several months or so I have tried only to post when I actually had something[...]
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What about Champions Universe? A review…

This is a short review about a PDF product we recently received a review copy of, Champions Universe by Hero Games. This is the default Hero System superhero universe. A rich, detailed campaign setting imbued with the fe[...]
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Suppressive Fire and HERO System- Solutions

Previously we reviewed how HERO System handled Suppressive Fire in the core rules and foundd it somewhat wanting.So we turn to house rules in order to achieve our goal.Here I see two possible (and simple) options.Define [...]
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Dungeon Master as Civil Servant

Am I too easy as a DM? Is this really a low paying (read: non-paying) job that forgoes my fun or frivolity for the service to others? I started as much an adversarial DM as anybody from my time. That’s how D&D game[...]
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Do I like Champions more than D&D?

D&D is my first and always will be my best love. I think. I’ve been running my 1st ed. (started out as OD&D) game world for over 30 years, and it would be hard not to look at it as a favorite son. And jeez, I [...]
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The Critical Threshold: A brief debate on the Merits of Extreme Results

This is not the post that I expected to make this week. I simply ran out of time and could not finish either the article I had intended to post this week [about time travel] or the one for next week [the long-awaited fo[...]
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What about ICONS? A review…

ICONS RPG is a new superhero role-playing game by Adamant Entertainment. It has been enthusiastically received by the role-playing community, if blog posts and sales at RPG Now/Drive Thru RPG are any indication. Since fi[...]
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Running Away is Hard

I was recently reminded of something I've long found true in most roleplaying and wargames – running away from a combat is very difficult, much more difficult than it is in the source material.There are really three so[...]
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Sophisticated Links: Degrees Of Seperation in RPGs

Introduction This is not the post I was originally going to write for today, but a paragraph in one of the books I am reading brought to mind the game that seemed to be everywhere just a few years ago, “Six Degrees[...]
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I’ve got supers on my mind…

In my years as a Game Master I’ve run a lot of campaigns, fantasy, sci-fi, modern, space opera, but no genre has proven as difficult as the superhero game. Sometimes I muse about why that is… Superheroes are everywhe[...]
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Latest Material Index

   It’s once again time to get the latest material index updated and to transfer the material from the old one to the main index tabs at the top of the page. If you want the very latest material, it may be necessary [...]
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The coolest sounding RPG book I’ve heard of in a while

Lucha Libre HERO! I can’t imagine ever getting around to running this but I like the fact that I live in a word where it can exist. (via Ken Hite)[...]
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Golden Age Supers

Yes, we’re back on schedule and playing a golden age supers game using the Hero System (5th edition, of course).  The group is trying to track down some lizard/ mole type people underground. About an hour into the[...]
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Champions – Kugia

   Here we have an anime-style Mystic Ninja, built on a 75-point base – albeit with the one permissable slice of cheese (the attribute aid) to make Mystic Ninja a cut above all the relatively normal people. [...]
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Champions – Afreet

[...]
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Lahatiel, Angel of Wrath

[...]
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Brancariad – The Star Stone

[...]
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Brancariad, The Welcoming Gargoyle

[...]
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Jurassic Manor and the Mandate

   When Adrian Maximilian set out to gather his own team of superheroes, he decided to base them out of his family estate. Why not? It was sizeable, private, conveniently close to New York City, and there wasn’t anyo[...]
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Scenario Sequencing: Structuring Campaign Flow

In a previous blog, I’ve written about my Superhero campaign currently facing a big finish (A Grand Conclusion: thinking about a big finish). This post will be a sequel of sorts, because any big finish naturally in[...]
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Ask The GMs: Systematic Systems Choice

How do you choose the right game system? The Ask the GMs questions here at CM never seem to stop, which is great, because they never fail to inspire new discussion topics. This one’s been sitting on the backb[...]
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A Quick Look at Supers Combat

Whenever I’m running a supers campaign, it usually takes a little bit of time for me to adjust to the way things go.  Combat in a supers campaign is a  dynamic affair as the sheer amount of collateral damage and [...]
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Disparity of Power Level in Superhero Games

One interesting issue when designing a superhero roleplaying game is how to handle the vast disparity in power levels between characters considered to be superheroes. If you allow the players to imitate any characters fr[...]
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Answer to 5E HERO Quiz

Ok, it appears that no one is going to catch the problem with 5th Edition Dive for Cover that posed in the last article. Not unexpected, really. I don't think I have many readers who are really into that system.As a said[...]
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HERO 6th Campaign Assembly, Part 2 – Sample Character, Not Togusa

I’ve been doing some fiddling with the HERO 6th character creation software to see if my earlier projections will be sufficient for making characters at par with the source material.  One of my players has already[...]
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HERO 6th Campaign Assembly, Part 1 – The Groundwork

As I posted yesterday, I’ll be laying down some groundwork with regards to the HERO game I’ve been mulling over to test HERO 6th.  Today, we’ll be looking at the campaign limits and character guideline[...]
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HERO 6th Campaign Assembly, Part 1 – The Basics

So… I’ve had a copy of HERO 6th Edition in my hard drive for a while now, but I haven’t really gotten back to studying it.  There’s been some changes from 5th Edition Revised, and I don’t [...]
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A pointer to HERO 6th Edition reviews

I can't bring myself to buy the two books needed to do my own review of 6th edition HERO System. But from reading online, these two reviews at RPGNet hit the high points: Character Creation and Combat and Adventuring.The[...]
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Latest Material Index

   It’s once again time to get the latest material index updated and to transfer the material from the old one to the main index tabs at the top of the page. If you want the very latest material, it may be necessary [...]
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Even More Campaign Ideas

Once in a while, I get odd campaign ideas in my head.  Some might eventually mature to full blown campaigns, while others are left as strange curiosities of the mind, little idea seeds that may yet inspire other GMs to [...]
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Why The Earth?

   The Earth. Hotly desired by dimensional conquerors. Highly magical. Hosting an incredible concentration of super-beings. With immensely powerful psychics. Boasting numerous ultra-genius inventors creating “tec[...]
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The Specter

   Arnold Rohan was a fairly ordinary fellow.    Then he died, which was also pretty unexceptional. Most people do.    Arnold hung around. Still nothing too special.    He did what little he could – impingi[...]
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Champions Online??? Maybe?

Yeah, I’ve tried Champions Online and have called it quits, for now. Now, I’ve grown up with the Hero System and REALLY wanted C:O to be great. As good as it is, it’s short comings outweigh the good. Th[...]
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Champions Offline

In something somewhat related to HERO Games, Champions Online crashed Christmas day and was still down as I went to bed last night.For those who are unaware, Champions Online is a MMO using the HERO Games setting. Sort o[...]
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The Paladin and the Hero of Legend

   He has ridden to ten thousand battles, worn a myriad masks, and fallen a thousand times.    Yet there is always someone to take up the mantle again, to bear the blade, and to ride forth to rescue and defend.    [...]
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Shopping for the 3rd World Gamer #4: HERO System 6th Edition, Basic Rulebook

So far we’ve looked at several quick, rules-medium games which fall neatly in our budget.  But what if the recipient has a taste for more rules-heavier games?    Thankfull, there’s still a way to get arou[...]
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Comments on the State of the ‘Market’

Busy time for me, Christmas is on the way and it's something of a big deal for my family. A lot to do that takes time away from my blog. Insult to injury, the latest expansion for Lord of the Rings Online shipped and tha[...]
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A Grand Conclusion: Thinking about a big finish

I know I’ve written about this before (An Epic Confusion, Or How To Stage A Blockbuster Finish), but I’ve been thinking some more about big finishes to campaigns, prompted by the fact that my superhero campai[...]
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You’d GM it if you could (but probably never will)

Since the 80’s, I’ve always tried to have an alternate game to do for my D&D groups whenever I was feeling a little burnt out, or if a player important to the current scenario was missing. From the late 80’s un[...]
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