Long time Hero players not liking 6e non-figured characteristics

[Greywind]

5th is fine for folks who are used to it, and who are used to working around the obvious imbalances in the figured characteristics system. But I must gently disagree with Paycheck's assertion that it's an attempt to 'leave veteran players behind'. Hero Games could either keep publishing books for a set population of Hero grognards, or they could try and improve the system to get new players on board. I had many years of fun playing 3rd, 4th, and 5th ed Hero, and I loved every minute, but I'm not blind to the system's flaws either.

 

Seriously, it doesn't take long for new players to figure out how messed up the original figureds system is. After that you're building characters with this giant elephant in the room, which is that the system favors a STR 100, DEX 30, CON 30 brick with a little multipower tacked on. Build anything else and you're leaving points on the table. For all that the non-figureds system may be slightly counterintuitive, at least it isn't radically unbalanced. And again, it only matters for ten minutes of character creation; once the dice start rolling, figured/non-figured is in the past.

Just because a build like that is favored by the system doesn't mean that a GM would allow it.

[Old Man]

5th is fine for folks who are used to it, and who are used to working around the obvious imbalances in the figured characteristics system. But I must gently disagree with Paycheck's assertion that it's an attempt to 'leave veteran players behind'. Hero Games could either keep publishing books for a set population of Hero grognards, or they could try and improve the system to get new players on board. I had many years of fun playing 3rd, 4th, and 5th ed Hero, and I loved every minute, but I'm not blind to the system's flaws either.

 

Seriously, it doesn't take long for new players to figure out how messed up the original figureds system is. After that you're building characters with this giant elephant in the room, which is that the system favors a STR 100, DEX 30, CON 30 brick with a little multipower tacked on. Build anything else and you're leaving points on the table. For all that the non-figureds system may be slightly counterintuitive, at least it isn't radically unbalanced. And again, it only matters for ten minutes of character creation; once the dice start rolling, figured/non-figured is in the past.

Exactly--a game system should not be so flawed that the GM has to cover for it. Sure, the GM will always have to control character designs, but there's nothing munchkin about that stat-heavy build. There's no funny math or edge cases--the system explicitly allows, even encourages, that design. Hero has been covering this egregious flaw with GMs and house rules for decades.

[Hyper-Man]

5th is fine for folks who are used to it, and who are used to working around the obvious imbalances in the figured characteristics system. But I must gently disagree with Paycheck's assertion that it's an attempt to 'leave veteran players behind'. Hero Games could either keep publishing books for a set population of Hero grognards, or they could try and improve the system to get new players on board. I had many years of fun playing 3rd, 4th, and 5th ed Hero, and I loved every minute, but I'm not blind to the system's flaws either.

 

Seriously, it doesn't take long for new players to figure out how messed up the original figureds system is. After that you're building characters with this giant elephant in the room, which is that the system favors a STR 100, DEX 30, CON 30 brick with a little multipower tacked on. Build anything else and you're leaving points on the table. For all that the non-figureds system may be slightly counterintuitive, at least it isn't radically unbalanced. And again, it only matters for ten minutes of character creation; once the dice start rolling, figured/non-figured is in the past.

Giant Elephant

 

Val Char Cost

100 STR 90

30 DEX 60

30 CON 40

10 BODY 0

10 INT 0

10 EGO 0

10 PRE 0

10 COM 0

 

20 PD 0

6 ED 0

4 SPD 0

26 REC 0

60 END 0

75 STUN 0

 

6" RUN 0

2" SWIM 0

20" LEAP 0

Characteristics Cost: 190

 

Total Character Cost: 190

 

Base Points: 200

Experience Required: 0

Total Experience Available: 0

Experience Unspent: 0

[bigbywolfe]

5th is fine for folks who are used to it, and who are used to working around the obvious imbalances in the figured characteristics system. But I must gently disagree with Paycheck's assertion that it's an attempt to 'leave veteran players behind'. Hero Games could either keep publishing books for a set population of Hero grognards, or they could try and improve the system to get new players on board. I had many years of fun playing 3rd, 4th, and 5th ed Hero, and I loved every minute, but I'm not blind to the system's flaws either.

 

Seriously, it doesn't take long for new players to figure out how messed up the original figureds system is. After that you're building characters with this giant elephant in the room, which is that the system favors a STR 100, DEX 30, CON 30 brick with a little multipower tacked on. Build anything else and you're leaving points on the table. For all that the non-figureds system may be slightly counterintuitive, at least it isn't radically unbalanced. And again, it only matters for ten minutes of character creation; once the dice start rolling, figured/non-figured is in the past.

Damn! Those giant Elephants can leap far!

[Old Man]

5th is fine for folks who are used to it, and who are used to working around the obvious imbalances in the figured characteristics system. But I must gently disagree with Paycheck's assertion that it's an attempt to 'leave veteran players behind'. Hero Games could either keep publishing books for a set population of Hero grognards, or they could try and improve the system to get new players on board. I had many years of fun playing 3rd, 4th, and 5th ed Hero, and I loved every minute, but I'm not blind to the system's flaws either.

 

Seriously, it doesn't take long for new players to figure out how messed up the original figureds system is. After that you're building characters with this giant elephant in the room, which is that the system favors a STR 100, DEX 30, CON 30 brick with a little multipower tacked on. Build anything else and you're leaving points on the table. For all that the non-figureds system may be slightly counterintuitive, at least it isn't radically unbalanced. And again, it only matters for ten minutes of character creation; once the dice start rolling, figured/non-figured is in the past.

It's the 30d6 haymaker that worries me.

[Hyper-Man]

5th is fine for folks who are used to it, and who are used to working around the obvious imbalances in the figured characteristics system. But I must gently disagree with Paycheck's assertion that it's an attempt to 'leave veteran players behind'. Hero Games could either keep publishing books for a set population of Hero grognards, or they could try and improve the system to get new players on board. I had many years of fun playing 3rd, 4th, and 5th ed Hero, and I loved every minute, but I'm not blind to the system's flaws either.

 

Seriously, it doesn't take long for new players to figure out how messed up the original figureds system is. After that you're building characters with this giant elephant in the room, which is that the system favors a STR 100, DEX 30, CON 30 brick with a little multipower tacked on. Build anything else and you're leaving points on the table. For all that the non-figureds system may be slightly counterintuitive, at least it isn't radically unbalanced. And again, it only matters for ten minutes of character creation; once the dice start rolling, figured/non-figured is in the past.

Giant Elephant with costs adjusted for inflation (6e)

 

 

VAL CHA Cost Roll Notes

100 STR 90 29- HTH Damage 20d6 END [10]

30 DEX 40 15-

30 CON 20 15-

10 INT 0 11- PER Roll 11-

10 EGO 0 11-

10 PRE 0 11- PRE Attack: 2d6

10 OCV 35

10 DCV 35

3 OMCV 0

3 DMCV 0

4 SPD 20 Phases: 3, 6, 9, 12

20 PD 18 20 PD (0 rPD)

6 ED 4 6 ED (0 rED)

26 REC 22

60 END 8

10 BODY 0

75 STUN 28

 

Movement Cost Meters Notes

RUNNING 0 12m/24m END [1]

SWIMMING 0 4m/8m END [1]

LEAPING 18 40m 40m forward, 20m upward

 

 

 

[Tasha]

5th is fine for folks who are used to it' date=' and who are used to working around the obvious imbalances in the figured characteristics system. But I must gently disagree with Paycheck's assertion that it's an attempt to 'leave veteran players behind'. Hero Games could either keep publishing books for a set population of Hero grognards, or they could try and improve the system to get new players on board. I had many years of fun playing 3rd, 4th, and 5th ed Hero, and I loved every minute, but I'm not blind to the system's flaws either. Seriously, it doesn't take long for new players to figure out how messed up the original figureds system is. After that you're building characters with this giant elephant in the room, which is that the system favors a STR 100, DEX 30, CON 30 brick with a little multipower tacked on. Build anything else and you're leaving points on the table. For all that the non-figureds system may be slightly counterintuitive, at least it isn't radically unbalanced. And again, it only matters for ten minutes of character creation; once the dice start rolling, figured/non-figured is in the past.[/quote']

 

 

Also when Hero imported figured Chars into the FUZION superhero system. It became immediately clear that buying Figureds was plain stupid. In that system there was never a time when buying Figures was better than buying up primaries.

 

That should have raised a HUGE warning flag. They should have fixed the issue right then and there instead of infecting a "new" system with one of Hero biggest flaws.

[Greywind]

FUZION was a huge warning flag. Most players I'm aware of that even knew it existed were "WTF did they do to the system?"

[Old Man]

FUZION was a huge warning flag. Most players I'm aware of that even knew it existed were "WTF did they do to the system?"

That was certainly my reaction at first. It was only after the system had failed, and I actually got past what they'd done with the stats, that I took the time to read the rules. It was quite an accomplishment, really, merging Hero with Interlock and coming up with a pretty elegant system. It still had its flaws, but considering what they were trying to do it turned out better than I would have expected.

[Killer Shrike]

Thus when people say "I prefer figured characteristics"' date=' what I hear is "I don't understand math" or "I don't care about balanced game mechanics". [/quote']

 

Comments like this is why I gave up on this forum.

Hmm...it would instead seem that comments like that are what drive you to make passive aggressive posts about forums you claim to have given up on already. But, hey, I've done that before myself. We're all only human.

 

All joking aside, sorry you feel that way. My intent is not to offend you, but to express my point of view. If you disagree with my point of view, so be it. You could challenge or simply just ignore my post(s), rather than blanketing everyone with your stern disapproval and blaming them for comments made solely by me.

[Killer Shrike]

5th is fine for folks who are used to it, and who are used to working around the obvious imbalances in the figured characteristics system. But I must gently disagree with Paycheck's assertion that it's an attempt to 'leave veteran players behind'. Hero Games could either keep publishing books for a set population of Hero grognards, or they could try and improve the system to get new players on board. I had many years of fun playing 3rd, 4th, and 5th ed Hero, and I loved every minute, but I'm not blind to the system's flaws either.

 

Seriously, it doesn't take long for new players to figure out how messed up the original figureds system is. After that you're building characters with this giant elephant in the room, which is that the system favors a STR 100, DEX 30, CON 30 brick with a little multipower tacked on. Build anything else and you're leaving points on the table. For all that the non-figureds system may be slightly counterintuitive, at least it isn't radically unbalanced. And again, it only matters for ten minutes of character creation; once the dice start rolling, figured/non-figured is in the past.

"true dat".

[Killer Shrike]

FUZION was a huge warning flag. Most players I'm aware of that even knew it existed were "WTF did they do to the system?"

Yeah...Fuzion was such a beautiful trainwreck. Parts of it actually had very elegant underpinnings, but like the platypus it was an odd combination of potentially advantageous traits plus some random wth?-ness, that made for an overall rather ugly baby.

[Nolgroth]

FUZION was a huge warning flag. Most players I'm aware of that even knew it existed were "WTF did they do to the system?"

I actually liked Fuzion. It should never have been used as a "Bait 'n' Switch" for Hero fans, but I think that it had a lot of great potential. I love Hero, but I always look back on Fuzion as sort of a middle ground between the Crunchy Mechanics of Hero and the Freeform Storytelling of something like FATE or FUDGE. Didn't Gold Rush Games make a variant called Action! ?

[psyber624]

Having had time to think more about this for a while, a couple of more subtle points occur to me. The first is that the way figureds were eliminated (if not the elimination itself) is another step in the general DOJ-era trend for Hero to aim solely for the experienced Hero gamer without any consideration for bringing in new gamers. The reason for that is partly because you *have* to deal with more variables directly during character construction: the beginner probably has a crude idea of the likely game effect of a stat named "strength," but none about a stat named "recovery." The figureds offered some help in not creating captain fragile (though in fact it wasn't terribly good help, especially in the case of spd where it was basically a necessity to buy it up beyond what dex itself gave you).

 

But there is a second, more subtle reason: that the names of the stats-formerly-called-primary now are to some extent actively misleading. The beginner buying a high dex probably expected it to give him what OCV and DCV actually do, and in 5e- you could get a reasonable CV without buying beyond what dex gave you--indeed, the cost of dex was low enough for what it gave you that it was common to set your dex by the CV you wanted. You can't do that any more--in fact, it is all but certain that a beginner trying to build a character based on guessing what the names mean is now nearly guaranteed to be dissatisfied. That is a problem. My guess is that not too many people on this board will agree, but that isn't how hero is going to survive long-term as an active system and as a company.

 

I don't know that those problems are inherent in eliminating figured characteristics--they are more a sign of just how little the current incarnation of Hero Games cares to attract new players. I can think of some ways that might work. The simplest (for the case of dex, you'd treat other things similarly) is to rename dex to something like Initiative--of course, that would call into question why it is the base attribute for skills, so maybe better would be to rename it to something that reflects its current role as a simple package deal for skills (it's cheaper to buy up your dex roll than to buy up each dex sill individually) and then say something like "your initiative defaults to your skill base." Yes, that makes it a mini-figured, but the other choice is to split dex even more atomically, into Initiative and Dex Learning/Dex Skill stats (you see I'm trying to figure out what the non-technical short description would be for that concept) that have no mechanical connection to each other. In any case, that would then leave the term "dexterity" open to once again mean something like what every role-player is conditioned to think it means. At that point, it would make sense to make it an explicit package deal, as some clearly are doing. Side benefits to that are that you could do better than the old stat at hinting the beginner--nobody bought a 30 dex but kept the default 4 speed anyway, so you might as well cost it so that you get, say, a point of speed for every five dex or so. I don't really want to get into the argument about package deals, though--my real point is about how beginner-hostile the *terminology* has become. Mechanically, things can be named anything--DCV could be called "strength", running could be called "charisma," or whatever you like. The only reason for terminology is to make things easier by choosing it well. Unfortunately, the 6e terms are set for the convenience of experienced players (who at least know why Initiative + Skill Bonus has retained a name that is no longer descriptive) at the expense of new players trying to learn from the book rather than an experienced group (which apparently we have now given up on entirely, an odd business decision).

 

I have some further thoughts on how in a sense 6e chose to go "too far, and yet not far enough," but I'll leave that aside for now so as not to distract from the one point I wanted to make, which is evolution into a game that can't outlast the gaming lifespan of the current generation of players. If that's not true, it at least makes for an interesting (I hope) thesis to discuss.

Any person trying to create any character for any game by "guessing" what something does is almost guaranteed to be disappointed. You seem to assume that every "new" player will automatically assume that Dexterity will allow them to hit things better and dodge things better as well as the other stuff it currently does. I would disagree with that statement as DEX is used in many different systems for many different things and a while a new player might come into the system with some current bias's based on previous gaming experience that bias is in no way guaranteed to be along the lines you suggest. Also, figured characteristics added extra math, with many different formulas which slowed down character creation which is a far greater bar to entry for new players than "guessing" what things do when you create a character.

[Old Man]

FUZION was a huge warning flag. Most players I'm aware of that even knew it existed were "WTF did they do to the system?"

Still do I think. I wonder if they standardized on a die type.

[PaycheckHero]

But I must gently disagree with Paycheck's assertion that it's an attempt to 'leave veteran players behind'.

 

I don't think I said "leave veteran players behind"--in any event, the intent was quite the opposite. The percentage of the gaming population willing to attempt to learn the game from the book gets smaller each edition.

 

Hero Games could either keep publishing books for a set population of Hero grognards, or they could try and improve the system to get new players on board.

 

6e might be an improvement on the system--I haven't decided yet, maybe won't until I can actually play it. Maybe it will serve the grognards better than any previous edition. But I am certain it will not "bring new players on board"--it may be the worst possible way to "get new players on board" in the history of gaming. Champions Complete may help in terms of presentation, I hope so, but presentation isn't the only reason the system has gotten less accessible with each edition. I have actually thought of writing up what I think *would* be an improvement in that regard, but I'm not strongly motivated because it isn't likely to be publishable in any form.

 

For all that the non-figureds system may be slightly counterintuitive, at least it isn't radically unbalanced.

 

Possibly, though the general trend in the Steve Long era has been to subtly alter the meaning of balanced and what the system aspires to achieve from what it was in the McDonald/Peterson era so I'm not that optimistic that I'll find the system as a whole to be more balanced than it's predecessors. I suspect the system reached maturity (which isn't the same thing as stability) with 4e. Post 4e editions seem to me to break about as much as they fix, often because a more abusable mechanic was in some way more theoretically elegant (which doesn't mean that there aren't a lot of generalizations that are definitely improvements). It occurs to me that 5e came out near the time my players moved away, and I really used it as a supplement to what was probably better termed a 4e game. I missed a lot of things I think are rather broken. Not that there aren't also improvements, certainly--only that to some degree improvement from edition to edition has become much more of a zero-sum game. Now that I maybe get to game again, I don't like finding stuff I'm going to have to houserule away that was better in 4e (though the fixes are of course pleasant).

 

Which is really a way to lead back to the original point. It's a bit of an annoyance to find, for example, that 5e Damage Shield is unusably expensive and I just hadn't noticed the change, but it takes about three seconds to fix it. It won't affect whether I play the game. But if you're a newcomer, you can't do that yet. So the important point is that the subtle shift in emphasis post-4e really just another way in which the game has been evolving into a grognards-only game. I guess I can get by with any of several editions on my shelf, but that doesn't mean I don't care whether Hero Games stays in business. To some degree, it seems to me that Hero Games has a bit of the same business problem SPI did (if anyone remembers SPI): satisfying the existing players may involve reducing the number of new ones.

[bigbywolfe]

But I must gently disagree with Paycheck's assertion that it's an attempt to 'leave veteran players behind'.

 

I don't think I said "leave veteran players behind"--in any event, the intent was quite the opposite. The percentage of the gaming population willing to attempt to learn the game from the book gets smaller each edition.

 

Hero Games could either keep publishing books for a set population of Hero grognards, or they could try and improve the system to get new players on board.

 

6e might be an improvement on the system--I haven't decided yet, maybe won't until I can actually play it. Maybe it will serve the grognards better than any previous edition. But I am certain it will not "bring new players on board"--it may be the worst possible way to "get new players on board" in the history of gaming. Champions Complete may help in terms of presentation, I hope so, but presentation isn't the only reason the system has gotten less accessible with each edition. I have actually thought of writing up what I think *would* be an improvement in that regard, but I'm not strongly motivated because it isn't likely to be publishable in any form.

 

For all that the non-figureds system may be slightly counterintuitive, at least it isn't radically unbalanced.

 

Possibly, though the general trend in the Steve Long era has been to subtly alter the meaning of balanced and what the system aspires to achieve from what it was in the McDonald/Peterson era so I'm not that optimistic that I'll find the system as a whole to be more balanced than it's predecessors. I suspect the system reached maturity (which isn't the same thing as stability) with 4e. Post 4e editions seem to me to break about as much as they fix, often because a more abusable mechanic was in some way more theoretically elegant (which doesn't mean that there aren't a lot of generalizations that are definitely improvements). It occurs to me that 5e came out near the time my players moved away, and I really used it as a supplement to what was probably better termed a 4e game. I missed a lot of things I think are rather broken. Not that there aren't also improvements, certainly--only that to some degree improvement from edition to edition has become much more of a zero-sum game. Now that I maybe get to game again, I don't like finding stuff I'm going to have to houserule away that was better in 4e (though the fixes are of course pleasant).

 

Which is really a way to lead back to the original point. It's a bit of an annoyance to find, for example, that 5e Damage Shield is unusably expensive and I just hadn't noticed the change, but it takes about three seconds to fix it. It won't affect whether I play the game. But if you're a newcomer, you can't do that yet. So the important point is that the subtle shift in emphasis post-4e really just another way in which the game has been evolving into a grognards-only game. I guess I can get by with any of several editions on my shelf, but that doesn't mean I don't care whether Hero Games stays in business. To some degree, it seems to me that Hero Games has a bit of the same business problem SPI did (if anyone remembers SPI): satisfying the existing players may involve reducing the number of new ones.

Nothing about 6th was "less accessible" than 5th other than the cost, and Champions Complete fixes that.

[Tasha]

But I must gently disagree with Paycheck's assertion that it's an attempt to 'leave veteran players behind'.

 

I don't think I said "leave veteran players behind"--in any event, the intent was quite the opposite. The percentage of the gaming population willing to attempt to learn the game from the book gets smaller each edition.

 

Hero Games could either keep publishing books for a set population of Hero grognards, or they could try and improve the system to get new players on board.

 

6e might be an improvement on the system--I haven't decided yet, maybe won't until I can actually play it. Maybe it will serve the grognards better than any previous edition. But I am certain it will not "bring new players on board"--it may be the worst possible way to "get new players on board" in the history of gaming. Champions Complete may help in terms of presentation, I hope so, but presentation isn't the only reason the system has gotten less accessible with each edition. I have actually thought of writing up what I think *would* be an improvement in that regard, but I'm not strongly motivated because it isn't likely to be publishable in any form.

 

For all that the non-figureds system may be slightly counterintuitive, at least it isn't radically unbalanced.

 

Possibly, though the general trend in the Steve Long era has been to subtly alter the meaning of balanced and what the system aspires to achieve from what it was in the McDonald/Peterson era so I'm not that optimistic that I'll find the system as a whole to be more balanced than it's predecessors. I suspect the system reached maturity (which isn't the same thing as stability) with 4e. Post 4e editions seem to me to break about as much as they fix, often because a more abusable mechanic was in some way more theoretically elegant (which doesn't mean that there aren't a lot of generalizations that are definitely improvements). It occurs to me that 5e came out near the time my players moved away, and I really used it as a supplement to what was probably better termed a 4e game. I missed a lot of things I think are rather broken. Not that there aren't also improvements, certainly--only that to some degree improvement from edition to edition has become much more of a zero-sum game. Now that I maybe get to game again, I don't like finding stuff I'm going to have to houserule away that was better in 4e (though the fixes are of course pleasant).

 

Which is really a way to lead back to the original point. It's a bit of an annoyance to find, for example, that 5e Damage Shield is unusably expensive and I just hadn't noticed the change, but it takes about three seconds to fix it. It won't affect whether I play the game. But if you're a newcomer, you can't do that yet. So the important point is that the subtle shift in emphasis post-4e really just another way in which the game has been evolving into a grognards-only game. I guess I can get by with any of several editions on my shelf, but that doesn't mean I don't care whether Hero Games stays in business. To some degree, it seems to me that Hero Games has a bit of the same business problem SPI did (if anyone remembers SPI): satisfying the existing players may involve reducing the number of new ones.

Also 5e was the rewrite that was commissioned by Hero and edited by Bruce Harlick. He was line editor back then and the idea was to write an edition that was more or less bulletproof. No real changes, but tighter rules. They got a Long Manuscript that was trimmed down by at least 20% or so. Then the company ran out of money and couldn't publish the darned thing. Other things happened and the DOJ group took control of Hero Games and published 5e. If the pre DOJ owners didn't care for the direction of 5e they could have asked for rewrites. The fact that they didn't means to me that they agreed or at least didn't object too much to the changes in 5e. Though they might have just been happy to have a well written edition that would hopefully regain the people they lost to the FUZION debacle.

 

You do know that the so called McDonald/Petersen era ended the moment they sold the whole thing to ICE back in the 3rd edition days. Monte Cook (The Hero Line editor back in the ICE era)could be said to have had more influence on the system than the original two. It was nice having Bruce Harlick around as editor for the 4th edition days.

 

Also having played all editions rather vigerously esp v4-v5er. I have to disagree with you saying that 5e is somehow less balanced than 4e. 5e closed so many loopholes that were in 4e. I am wondering if your like for 4e and lack of real experience with 5e and 5er (5th ed Revised) is clouding your judgement for what is a VERY solid edition to the game.

 

Also you speak of a change in emphasis in balance. Perhaps you could explain what you think the Emphasis for balance was in 4e and older and what you percieve it to be in the last few editions.

[Killer Shrike]

I understand the essence of your argument PaycheckHero and part of me can agree with you, while another part of me does not.

 

I ran a bewildering variety of HERO games out of 4e #500, the tiny little rules-only book with the Perez "every genre" cover. I loved that book and had it practically memorized, and even if I had to refer to it I could almost invariably open it to the right page on the first crack. It was lightweight, fun, and accessible.

 

However, I did like the original 5e and 5er as well as they added more design options and clarified things that I had had to make rulings on in the past, and overall matured the game. I didn't agree with every change, but I agreed with most of them. The creeping size of the books did concern me, as did the price and the accessibility to new players. But Sidekick came out and addressed that for me (I don't remember how many copies I bought over the years to give away, but it was more than 10 and less than 20), as lightweight players could use it for their reference while I could use the full version as the GM. The Hero System Combat Handbook also came out eventually, and I switched to running the game with just Sidekick and the Combat Handbook, using the full books for reference and character creation and to quote from to win arguments on here these hallowed forums.

 

My one major concern, which became more of a nerd-rage inducing irritant, was the creeping encroachment of FAQ entries which in some cases introduced rulings that I simply did not agree with or which seemed inconsistent to me, or were sprung on me in play by a rules lawyer-y player and disrupted events in play...culminating in one particular encounter where the main villain was effectively castrated by a FAQ ruling cited by a incorrigible rules lawyer on a gap in the Absorption rules which ruined the encounter and consequently the session. I was beginning to feel like my role as the GM was being diminished by the increasing rules coverage which left less and less to interpretation and adjudication. However, I was also conflicted because I myself was the originator of a goodly number of FAQ questions, and there are a number of things that made it into 5er that directly originate from them, and many of the FAQ entries (mine and others) did address real gaps or problems in the rules and did arguably make the game "more complete" or "more correct".

 

In the classic book Systemantics, by John Gall, several of the laws of systems he observes apply here:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systemantics

 

As systems grow, they encroach

As systems grow in size, they tend to lose basic functions

The larger the system, the less the variety in the product

Systems tend to oppose their own proper function

 

 

Now we arrive at 6e, which came out during a difficult time in my life, where I had become a father and my career was really taking off, my parents both died, and a lot of other bs was going on. I was really excited about 6e, and felt that it was an improvement over 5e (with a few specific flaws), but due to life events I wasn't able to engage in regular face to face gaming. There were a few abortive attempts that tended to make it to about three sessions, and then scheduling difficulties would interfere. I did Here There Be Monsters in 6e and continued to produce material for it sporadically, usually around the holidays where I had some break time. Life eventually stabilized and I started running a new face to face HTBM campaign using 6e. I've bumped into a few things that I don't like and have adjusted for my use, but so far so good.

 

I've been using the thin "Basic Rulebook" as a table reference with occasional retreat to the full rule pdfs (I run the game off a laptop). Two of the four players have rulebooks of their own, but they get used for character generation and only occasionally at the table. I am explicitly trying to have the rules interject only as necessary, and keep it light and quick at the table. So far so good.

 

I have both Champions Complete and the "Basic Rulebook" and prefer the later as it reminds me of HERO 4e #500, but either are sufficient for most situations during play...the 80/20 rule, and both are accessible.