Grow-Arm-Hair Lad

In FASERIP you can spend as much as necessary to make the roll (it’s been a few decades) but it took piles of Karma to raise something or get a new power so the system was more built around you spending your “xp” to influence rolls rather than build up or out. In Hero System even a couple XP can get you an improvement somewhere. They are a bit of different beasts. 
 
I might consider just rewarding “one HAP” when a complication is roleplayed, the focus of an adventure, or otherwise comes up in a story enhancing way. This will make players take more pertinent complications and lean into them possibly instead of downplaying them. If you handed out HAP and the player could roll 4 dice and pick the best three for example on a roll, it doesn’t guarantee but it does create a very likely situation. 

I like Hero points because they compensate for having no writer.  Here is an example of what I mean:
 
I had a brickish character whose conceit was that he was a "bloodguard" that he was part of a long line of people through history that were chosen by God to protect someone and keep them safe.  These might be nobodies who have an unknown impact on the world, they might be someone important and obviously historical.  In the game, the ward was one of the other PCs who was a bit of a glass cannon, he was big on utility but light on defenses.
 
The ward got into trouble at the top of a building (the team split up and came from below and above) and my character was at the bottom floor.  So he flew into an elevator shaft, and flew straight up as fast as possible and did an armor piercing move through on the roof of the elevator to get out in time to save his ward and do a neat presence attack.
 
I rolled all ones.  I'm not even joking, every die ended up a one.  I did zero body to the elevator shaft and bounce off it, taking no damage.  Thankfully the giant bang was enough to distract the bad guy but... really?  My big moment ruined by a catastrophically bad die roll?  This was a perfect, beautiful moment for the splash page, to do my duty and fulfill my character's purpose, turned into a humiliating and frustrating failure.
 
In some campaigns that kind of thing is fine, it fits the theme and tone. In most, though... not so much

Given how few xp you get in Hero and that they directly apply to permanent character upgrades there's no situation I can imagine in which it would be worth it to me to sacrifice an experience point for one roll in a game session.

It is that “guarantee”, that I take as the root of my objections.  Shifts it from a game, to a work of player fiction. 

If such adjustments are left to GM's discretion, I would assume they would only be made in exceptional circumstances. That's certainly how I approached the issue.
 
If you can't trust your GM to not be abusive, nor to let your well-earned victory fall to blind luck, IMHO you're in the wrong game group.

Some of the resistance is the idea of it being a guarantee. I understand that, and I have mixed feelings about that. But I think that's what Karma or Fate Points kind of promise? I could be wrong. Maybe Fate and Karma and the Hero points in 6e only give you an increased probability of succeeding at something important.
 
I agree that a guarantee is not the right word or mechanism.
 
I don't really want to add a new type of points to my game (like how 6e presents it, if I'm understanding that correctly). I think I do want Hero xp to act like FASERIP Karma, which, IIRC, can be used to improve your character or instead be "burned" to do something cool.
 
So, if I were to use xp like Karma, how many xp should be used to accomplish what die bonus?
 
(If you're dead set against the idea, coolcoolcool, but if you're seeing how this might be along the lines of Karma instead of bringing in a new currency in Hero, help me make this close to FASERIP.)
 
 

I feel like I've seen people talking about this in the forums, and that there are a few people who do this, but I'll be darned if I can mine up any threads.
 
I want to start using xp as Fate Points or how Karma is used in Faserip. I think I want it to be that you can burn an unused xp to increase a roll by one. Does anyone do this? If so, how does it work in your game?

I may have mentioned here and there a Star Wars Hero game... I've now been running it for a couple of months.  I've written up a document for it, which contains rules info and session write-ups, here. 

We call this "Tuesday" for the X-Men

I played a lot of Boot Hill in the Eighties. And a lot of Champions. My group switched back and forth between these two games before Champions won out.
At that time, it would never have occurred to me to combine the two.
 
To be successful, I think you'd have to be very careful how you run this. I would handle the powers very, very carefully. A rule like "only 25 points for powers or abilities beyond normal human." 
 
I remember reading Rawhide Kid and Kid Colt and Cheyenne Kid. The stories didn't have supernatural elements for the most part. I was well-versed in these comics before I tackled Boot Hill, and that was the reason the games were successful: I got it. I watched a lot of westerns but the comics really were the sources I went back to when I was running Boot Hill.
 
It's been mentioned already but when the heroes outpower the opponents, it eventually ruins the game. The idea of swarms of opponents--maybe a cavalry outpost, all the soldiers possessed--that energy runs out and wears thin. If the PC's are very close to the level of the opponents, or even inferior in power, it's better. Like, you could have a bartender (the PC) who is good with a scattergun (who isn't?) but he's no sharpshooter, he's not that fast. The opponent could be a Billy The Kid type. Billy has no superpowers, but he seems inhumanly fast, very accurate, supremely confident (Presence). But your bartender PC might have one power that puts him just about on par with Billy, say, maybe the bartender has a very minor Magneto power, a VPP based on metal control. Up to 10 Active points. You could do a lot with that, maybe throw up a force field "only vs metal" which is fine for bullets.
 
How much is 10 points of this VPP going to help you versus Billy the Kid? Well, the bullet might still hit you but maybe most of the Body is blocked and you don't get knocked out because of the Stun you absorbed with your Force Field. Billy is positive he hit you square on, now he's a little shaken, and you're set up for your blast from your scattergun, or maybe you draw your revolver and use your VPP to make the bullet swerve to find its target.
 
Maybe the bartender got his start in a traveling freak show, he could bend spoons at a distance. Met a woman in one of the towns and settled, told everyone it was all parlor tricks and mirrors.

My own mindset is similar to yours. But that's us.
 
I do stand by my earlier assertion that a great many people were brought up with this kind of storytelling, and aren't familiar with more positive avenues of imagination.
 
I think of the example of Galactica. The original series, which I quite enjoyed before its quality declined, was built around hope, wonder, and family/comradeship. The more recent remake was built around desperation, deception, grief and guilt.

True.  The PDF I have on the computer I'm on has Revised as part of the file name.

BTW the title of the book is just Hidden Lands. Don't look for a "Revised" edition, it doesn't exist.

Absolutely. The hidden city of Shamballah, and its evil twin Agharti, are probably the closest analogues. There are also several isolated temples mentioned in various Champs books that teach very advanced martial arts techniques, and one extra-dimensional realm inhabited by spirit beings who can imbue humans with extraordinary ch'i powers, nearly Dragon Ball level.

Look at the third chapter of the 5E book Hidden Lands Revised.

I have been planning a 5e fantasy game. I generally play only two systems: AD&D 1e and Hero 5e. Here are some of my ideas.
 
The idea of alignment, I'd run it as a Psychological Limitation. Give everyone 20 points but they are held to whatever the alignment description says. I read your discussion on this thread and I wasn't sure if you were doing it that way, or if what I'm saying is obvious, so I apologize!
 
I'd let everyone have their own magic system. I'd forget about package deals (I don't mean that you should forget about package deals--I'm just 'splaining my angle). So if you have a woman that can only shoot fireballs but is stealthy and can pick locks, another woman who has a magic wand (focus) that stats out a Wand of Wonder from AD&D but also carries a soul-stealing sword and she also can do the paladin "lay on hands" thing... What I mean is, the beauty of Hero is that you can build anything.
 
I had a recent experience in 6e where I built a character, and I had just been playing a lot of AD&D 1e right before that. I realized I could use Hero to make a character that makes up for the perceived shortcomings of Dungeons and Dragons. I could make a character who wears armor who can pick locks, move silently, cast spells, and be built like Conan. Or, I could go even crazier: I could make a wizard who carried a sword and also wore armor and who had one of those Krull throwing stars and could shapeshift into different animal forms...
 
Anyway, the idea of playing D&D modules and using Hero to build the characters, I think it's a great idea. 
 

I have been planning a 5e fantasy game. I generally play only two systems: AD&D 1e and Hero 5e. Here are some of my ideas.
 
The idea of alignment, I'd run it as a Psychological Limitation. Give everyone 20 points but they are held to whatever the alignment description says. I read your discussion on this thread and I wasn't sure if you were doing it that way, or if what I'm saying is obvious, so I apologize!
 
I'd let everyone have their own magic system. I'd forget about package deals (I don't mean that you should forget about package deals--I'm just 'splaining my angle). So if you have a woman that can only shoot fireballs but is stealthy and can pick locks, another woman who has a magic wand (focus) that stats out a Wand of Wonder from AD&D but also carries a soul-stealing sword and she also can do the paladin "lay on hands" thing... What I mean is, the beauty of Hero is that you can build anything.
 
I had a recent experience in 6e where I built a character, and I had just been playing a lot of AD&D 1e right before that. I realized I could use Hero to make a character that makes up for the perceived shortcomings of Dungeons and Dragons. I could make a character who wears armor who can pick locks, move silently, cast spells, and be built like Conan. Or, I could go even crazier: I could make a wizard who carried a sword and also wore armor and who had one of those Krull throwing stars and could shapeshift into different animal forms...
 
Anyway, the idea of playing D&D modules and using Hero to build the characters, I think it's a great idea. 
 

Yes, you're lined up with what I was thinking. The medical hologram has been activated. The PC's are on a secret mission: they are a Defiant-class ship that has just a skeleton crew. The question "Why would the medical holo go on an away mission?" can be answered with the same kind of logic as "Why was McCoy on so many away missions?" My answer: The holo doc is a main character and the player wants to be on the away missions!
 

Why would he ever need to be brought back anyway?  I hated Voyager's premises so I almost never watched more than bits and pieces, but why would the Doctor ever be in a physical confrontation?  And if he's an AI, his 'death' wouldn't be from disrupting his projected body anyway.
 
Realistically, I don't see much more than some Really GOOD skill rolls...science skills xenobiology and medicine, paramedic, that sort.  Eidetic memory.  Speed reading.
 

I would use a complication "Holographic Being" which would cover what happens if the "bee" is damaged or shut down, as well as the things he wouldn't be able to do. I don't see a need for Desolid based on what I've seen in the Trek shows. Mostly KS/PS skills, with Regeneration/Immortality so long as the programming remains intact. That said, a potential second complication "Subject to Programming" or even a vulnerability "Computer Effects" may also come into play.

Eliminating the "Desolid" aspect should make things a lot less pricy. The character might reasonably have a "regenerate from death" option - the force fields and projectors have been demolished, but the memory core remains and can be repaired (possibly requiring outside assistance to recover), or the tech can self-repair (nanobot technology, for example).
 
Life Support reflecting many needs of humans that don't impact the Hologram seems important. Situations where no one else could go somewhere were common opportunities for the HoloDoc to shine.
 
Perhaps a Multiform - if the hologram emitters are shut down, and all that's left is a tiny little light bee (but he can still jet around), that would be an interesting riff setting the character apart from the source material bases.
 
Outside his invulnerability to many things that would injure living creatures, the Doc didn't really have a lot of "powers" per se.  He wasn't a combatant, but he was largely indestructible.  The source character started out with only medical skills and the powers granted by being a hologram, with no social skills, lousy bedside manner, etc. and was viewed as a piece of tech, not a teammate, by the rest of the crew.

Adding to Duke's comments, perhaps the GM is running a Star Trek game and has set parameters for that game.  If those include "Hologram characters cannot leave the ship", then that's the campaign rule. Either accept being unable to leave the ship or play a different character.
 
Or speak with the GM. If the writers, half way through Season 3, decide that the Doctor will be a more interesting and useful character if he can leave Sickbay, they will likely write a story placing emitters throughout the ship. If they decide he should also be able to leave the ship, they will likely write a story where the Doctor obtains something like a mobile hologram emitter and, suddenly, can go anywhere the writers need him to go. Which is what actually happened in Season 3 after I typed that and looked it up. 
 
In-game, we spend xp, or create a backstory to explain deviations from the campaign standard.

Being a hologram is a special effect, just like being an alien, a robot, or a fire golem.
 
Do as you said: just build the character with whatever powers and abilities you want him to have and declare that he is a hologram.
 
Now this:
Do not fall into the most common group think trap on the boards:  because something _can_ apply, then it _must_ apply:
 
A hologram is intangible; he _must_ have Desolidification!
 
No.  If you don't want him to have Desolid, then he doesn't have it.
 
A hologram is made of light; he should be unable to be stealthy in the dark because he is essentially a man-sized beacon!
 
Not if you don't want that, he isn't.
 
A hologram is essentially a projection from a remote system; all of his senses should percieve as if his point of perception is actually twenty miles away!  He should have serious penalties to his senses!
 
Or worse:  he should pay points for his disadvantages / complications!  In the above case:  he must buy Clairsentience, with a fixed location point (the source projector and it's sensors), and take a disadvantage that this is his _only_ perception point, full-time, and he is going to need to buy lots of modifiers to his senses in order to be effective at perceiving  if he moves a great distance away-
 
You'd _think_ that was exaggerating, but do be prepared for it.  Remember: just because your guy is made of fire doesn't mean that everything he touches _must_ catch fire. 
 
There is no _must_ anything based on your character's SFX for simply _existing_.  Now those SFX can easily _suggest_ other interesting abilities of the same effect-- Desolid, Takes No STUN, Teleport, whatever.  Equally, they can _suggest_ limitations appropriate for the character: cannot interact with physical world, cannot exceed X distance from projection point, glitches / freezes when stressed.
 
And so on and so forth.  They will, however, _never_ mandate any of them, period.
 
There are lots and lots of Appropriate Things.
 
There are absolutely _never_ any Must Things, and don't let anyone convince you otherwise.  That will turn you off to the boards (and guite possibly the game) faster than anything else.
 
 
 
 

Yeah, your response does make sense. I do remember having good time with my gaming groups in person. But I've been in a really small town for several years, and I haven't managed to drum up a group. So I switched to email games. I guess what I found is that I can have a group of friends that are not gamers, and then I can focus purely on the gaming in the email campaigns.
 
But yeah, maybe I'm kidding myself that play-by-email is better than the camaraderie of a good in-person gaming group.
 
That being said, there is something nice about a "pure" experience where almost every syllable is dedicated to gameplay and furthering the plot. That's one thing that I do appreciate about playing by email: the players are all focused on writing concise responses to keep the game moving forward, where--in my experience--gaming groups in person sometimes get sidetracked by topics.