Hero creation preview extravaganza

A little while ago, I got excited and offered a “first come first served” hero creation session at the Kickstarter. Keith was the first, but since he was followed within microseconds by 11 others, I got more excited and said they could participate too. So Keith and I did two sessions to create Nebula, who began as a Starfire expy and rapidly became her own hero just as the rules are intended to encourage, and I conducted some email dialogues with six other people. Given a couple of auxiliary characters built into some of them, we ended up with a nine-member hero team.

The attached document is our summary, so check that out. The videos are fun but a little detailed, so view to taste.

  • I will list some core concepts which are going to be the big hurdles for all Hero System players, because this isn’t the Hero System, but is instead based on Champions before that generic system was codified.
  • Special Effects are not “skin.” All Hero System special effects rules are similar to those found in GURPS: Supers, not early Champions. Here, special effects are the king rule, not a minor detail of narration.
  • The classic Killing Attack is gone. The relevant mechanics are still present but now structured very differently in points, Recovery is now managed differently, and the original rules about dying (again, early Champions, not Hero System) are in place – the summary point being that you no longer have to armor-up and weapon-up in order merely to survive.
  • Quite a bit of a character’s abilities are handled through keywords and ordinary characteristic rolls rather than a detailed skill list. This is again a feature of the early game and represents the “trajectory not taken” when the Hero System was created.
  • Points do not model objects or any characters who aren’t designated heroes or equivalents like villains. You don’t build guns, people, tables, or agents. They have mechanics but not point totals. So a starting hero is 200 points, and all point rules are based on going up from there, for people/characters only.

All questions are welcome. Well, most of them.

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