How do we start?

[UbiquitousRat]

Hi,

Although I played Palladium Fantasy back in the day, I'm (to all intents and purposes) a newbie.

On Friday, some friends are happy to have an interlude in our regular campaign to try something new.
They are asking about "superhero" stuff. I just received the "Heroes Unlimited" 30th anni book.

HOW CAN WE BEST GET STARTED ON FRIDAY NIGHT? Any recommended adventures? Tips? Ideas?
Help?!

[LeeNapier]

Try to prepare just a short adventure - most of your first evening is probably going to be character creation.

Some rampaging villain that they can use as a springboard to team-up usually works, and is plot-light (but can serve as a foundational element for a deeper plot later).

Think of your first attempts as "learning the ropes" - don't be afraid to make mistakes, or to come on here and ask questions. When you know the system better, you can think about more involved things like the tone and power level of your campaign, but for now, just have fun and learn how to GM in a way that is fun for both you and your players.

[UbiquitousRat]

Hmm. No, the guys won't want to spend the night making characters. I have one night to grab their attention and wow them.

I've been GMing for 35 years, so I know how to start a typical campaign. This is a demo session but there are no example characters and no adventures to hand. I guess I better just forget it, given the time remaining.

Thanks anyway.

[Regularguy]

How many players? I'm sure the folks hereabouts would be happy to create ready-made characters for them to play -- each good in his or her own right, and built to be better with teamwork -- plus a villain with foilable plans and a capturable henchman.

[LeeNapier]

HU is not really a game that you can jump into without some preparation. It's not a board game. If that prep scares you... maybe you're not cut out to GM Heroes Unlimited? I know that sounds harsh, but It seems like what you want is for people to hand you a packet of players, villains, and a pre-cut adventure.

Those don't exist for this game.

But I promise you, if you put in the legwork for Heroes Unlimited, you come out with a game that's enjoyable and fun.

[NMI]

HU is not really a game that you can jump into without some preparation. It's not a board game. If that prep scares you... maybe you're not cut out to GM Heroes Unlimited? I know that sounds harsh, but It seems like what you want is for people to hand you a packet of players, villains, and a pre-cut adventure.

Those don't exist for this game.

But I promise you, if you put in the legwork for Heroes Unlimited, you come out with a game that's enjoyable and fun.

Regarding the highlighted portion:

Normally with just the corebook, you would be correct. However, HU GM's Guide has NPC's and adventures, Villains Unlimited - tons of, well villains, heroes and adventure ideas, Century Station and Gramercy Island = tons of adventure hooks and NPC's and potential PC's.

[say652]

I recommend rolling up two or three mutants. Random rolls are so much more fun. Name them make the lessers three levels higher the leader five levels higher. And do a simple bank robbery scenerio. Then if one is captured he of course rolls over for a lesser sentence and gives up the hide out and the leader. Remember though heroes rarely kill in this genre. The badguys dont have this problem.

[hinomaru]

depending on what you want to do like the traditional way " your all at a bar anbd you over hear something about a bank robbery" or go with the occult " on the news there was a murder but the body was found with no injuries and ghost white" ( i.e. bio ghost or life draining vampire) or or someone broke some super villains out ( use the vallains unlimited to draw inspiration or century station) or get a few books or think of TV shows look at the old misfits of science show or universal soldier there is a team of mercenaries killing people and taking there bodies next on news 11 ( taking the bodies to make more soldiers and your group has to basically take them out and try and save the people that have been resurrected as soldier and defeat the scientist/merc in charge)

Hi,

Although I played Palladium Fantasy back in the day, I'm (to all intents and purposes) a newbie.

On Friday, some friends are happy to have an interlude in our regular campaign to try something new.
They are asking about "superhero" stuff. I just received the "Heroes Unlimited" 30th anni book.

HOW CAN WE BEST GET STARTED ON FRIDAY NIGHT? Any recommended adventures? Tips? Ideas?
Help?!

[UbiquitousRat]

How many players? I'm sure the folks hereabouts would be happy to create ready-made characters for them to play -- each good in his or her own right, and built to be better with teamwork -- plus a villain with foilable plans and a capturable henchman.

There are four guys, all new to Palladium games but convinced that they're "too complicated".

To those being constructive, my thanks - it's nice to see a community wanting to help. Can you help me show my guys how this thing plays? I just don't think an evening making characters is going to engage them: it'll make them think it's too complicated... But I don't think it is.

HU is not really a game that you can jump into without some preparation. It's not a board game. If that prep scares you... maybe you're not cut out to GM Heroes Unlimited? I know that sounds harsh, but It seems like what you want is for people to hand you a packet of players, villains, and a pre-cut adventure.

Those don't exist for this game.

But I promise you, if you put in the legwork for Heroes Unlimited, you come out with a game that's enjoyable and fun.

Ok. Well, as I run an ongoing campaign with HERO, I am not afraid of prep. That's not my problem.

I have a choice of games. Other games come with pre-gen heroes and starting scenarios. If these don't exist for this game, that's a big oversight... which is why I came to the community.

As a demo'er of games, yes I am hoping for a packet I can grab and use. Is it not worth the effort to promote the game to make one available for newbies? Fan stuff is usually the best, so I am asking the fans.

But then, if I'm wrong as this game is a bucket of work, well ok.

[zerombr]

personally I like starting off with a basic issue at hand, no character sheets, just people describing how they work and their options.

Only after do we know each other and decide on a few strengths or weaknesses, do we make the char proper.

Only downside is the stats rolled may not match the imagined stats.

[Glistam]

If something like what you're looking for exists then you'll probably find it by asking in the Megaversal Ambasadors Forum. They've made demo kits for a few games but I don't remember if HU2 was one of them. There used to be an adventure in the Revised edition of the game where a trio of villains held a mall and the people inside hostage. The G.M.'s Guide has 10 adventures in it as well.

I pregenerated six characters for the players to choose from in the game I'm currently running. I left at least half the skills unchosen and "open" and offered a choice between two alignments on the character sheet. That has seemed to work out well for my group. It took me a few hours but once I got started each one went quicker and quicker.

[MADMANMIKE]

As was mentioned above, the G.M. guide has some excellent canned adventures. But since you didn't say you have the G.M. guide, I'll direct you to my Heroes Unlimited Gallery, where you'll find 9 pregenerated characters; also if you dig a bit further, you'll find four pregen Minions, powerless bad guys you can easily add some powers to if you want; when I used those minions I changed the names/numbers and essentially doubled up, using the same stats for two characters each, giving me eight to start.

I highly recommend Villains Unlimited as well, somewhat for the villains, but mostly for the Agency Creation Rules; you can use them to generate a hero or villain team's resources pretty quick. To that end, Here is where you'll find my character sheets, and this one (on pages 6 thru 8 ), this one (pages 4 thru 7), and this one all have an Agency Worksheet built in for the players to keep track of said resources. Or if you want a simpler design that you can fill out and print (but doesn't have the agency worksheet, just a generic Palladium design), here's my Megaverse Character Sheet.

Heroes Unlimited Revised was my second core book purchase way back in 1989 and I've loved the game ever since. I'm starting an Aliens Unlimited game here in the next week or two, where we use the core rules and setting (and aliens/alien generation table) to do our own Firefly-esque space game.

Have fun and please do update us as to how it goes over.

[UbiquitousRat]

I pregenerated six characters for the players to choose from in the game I'm currently running. I left at least half the skills unchosen and "open" and offered a choice between two alignments on the character sheet. That has seemed to work out well for my group. It took me a few hours but once I got started each one went quicker and quicker.

Cool, thanks! That, combined with the earlier advice to roll up some mutants is very helpful.

I need to check if my copy of HU (the 30th Anni) has that scenario... I didn't see one on first pass through, but I could have missed it.

Thanks!

Does anyone know of an HU character sheet that looks less like an accountancy form than the official one on the Palladium site?

[UbiquitousRat]

I'll direct you to my Heroes Unlimited Gallery, where you'll find 9 pregenerated characters; also if you dig a bit further, you'll find four pregen Minions, powerless bad guys you can easily add some powers to if you want; when I used those minions I changed the names/numbers and essentially doubled up, using the same stats for two characters each, giving me eight to start.

To that end, Here is where you'll find my character sheets, and this one (on pages 6 thru , this one (pages 4 thru 7), and this one all have an Agency Worksheet built in for the players to keep track of said resources. Or if you want a simpler design that you can fill out and print (but doesn't have the agency worksheet, just a generic Palladium design), here's my Megaverse Character Sheet.

Heroes Unlimited Revised was my second core book purchase way back in 1989 and I've loved the game ever since. I'm starting an Aliens Unlimited game here in the next week or two, where we use the core rules and setting (and aliens/alien generation table) to do our own Firefly-esque space game.

Have fun and please do update us as to how it goes over.

Wow - awesome resources! Many thanks!
Looks like "game on"!

[MADMANMIKE]

You're welcome!

Oh, I should say that the pregenerated characters are a bit simplistic, listing powers without explanations, typos here and there and reference to an invasion; I used them for an alien invasion game I ran at the Open House a few years ago (and will probably run at GenCon this year as well).

[Glistam]

UbiquitousRat, I sent you a PM with some links that I hope are helpful.

[MADMANMIKE]

My group has equal amount of play with Palladium games (run by me) and others (run by another GM), and is lucky to get together once a month. To that end, in order to reduce the amount of time spent generating characters, I usually do class primers for them; in our Aliens Unlimited game for example, I limited the education to the O.C.C.'s described in the back of the Aliens Unlimited Galaxy Guide, then made character sheets with the 'class' skills already on them. When they picked a class I handed them the sheet and a second sheet that I had listed all of the available skills for them to choose from and what choices they got to make (2 from W.P., 3 from Pilot: Advanced, etc.)..

Not as easy with Heroes Unlimited education chart, but something to consider for the first timers to Palladium's system; pregen a good portion of the character and let them do the rest, saves time and keeps the ball rolling.

[Epically]

Although it's too late now, I would have suggested getting a copy of GM's guide and running an adventure from there, or at least take inspiration.

[Glistam]

Tonight's the night. Let us know what you decide, how you proceed, and ultimately how it goes!

[UbiquitousRat]

Ran a session with three of sample heroes, a villain, a load of mook thugs, a bank heist, and a museum heist. The guys had fun and are all talking about making their own Supers for future one-off scenarios as interludes in the ongoing gaming.

Thanks to all for the help!

[Glistam]

Sounds awesome!

[Lord_Dalgard]

Well, late to the dance as usual (!), but I'll throw this out there for prosperity of anyone ever goes looking for Pregens in the future and stumble across this thread. these are some heroes I did up for a Con game I ran. They range from low-end "Dazzler"-level heroes to Superman level, and everything in between:

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0Bx2GuL9v1gitZFVpSy12Q0dTS1U&usp=sharing

[Reagren Wright]

You're welcome!

Oh, I should say that the pregenerated characters are a bit simplistic, listing powers without explanations, typos here and there and reference to an invasion; I used them for an alien invasion game I ran at the Open House a few years ago (and will probably run at GenCon this year as well).

Ah lots of memories of that adventure at the Open House. Any way the best way to run an
adventure is to take a look at the old school comic books (1960-1980s). The adventures from
HU 1st edition and revised, as well as TMNT are perfect starter adventures. As NMI and the
MADMAN said, GM GUIDE great source for ideas, but trust me an old school comic book are
great source of inspiration. Don't try long complicated "Watchmen" storyline if you're just
starting off. There is also a nice HU adventure coming up in the Rifter too .

[NMI]

You're welcome!

Oh, I should say that the pregenerated characters are a bit simplistic, listing powers without explanations, typos here and there and reference to an invasion; I used them for an alien invasion game I ran at the Open House a few years ago (and will probably run at GenCon this year as well).

Ah lots of memories of that adventure at the Open House. Any way the best way to run an
adventure is to take a look at the old school comic books (1960-1980s). The adventures from
HU 1st edition and revised, as well as TMNT are perfect starter adventures. As NMI and the
MADMAN said, GM GUIDE great source for ideas, but trust me an old school comic book are
great source of inspiration. Don't try long complicated "Watchmen" storyline if you're just
starting off. There is also a nice HU adventure coming up in the Rifter too .

I wonder who wrote it and if it is any good! LOL.

[KillWatch]

start in vegas with one dam thing.
everyone is in town for a convention or a bounty or a show, what have you and then this happens

[MADMANMIKE]

My group has equal amount of play with Palladium games (run by me) and others (run by another GM), and is lucky to get together once a month. To that end, in order to reduce the amount of time spent generating characters, I usually do class primers for them; in our Aliens Unlimited game for example, I limited the education to the O.C.C.'s described in the back of the Aliens Unlimited Galaxy Guide, then made character sheets with the 'class' skills already on them. When they picked a class I handed them the sheet and a second sheet that I had listed all of the available skills for them to choose from and what choices they got to make (2 from W.P., 3 from Pilot: Advanced, etc.)..

Not as easy with Heroes Unlimited education chart, but something to consider for the first timers to Palladium's system; pregen a good portion of the character and let them do the rest, saves time and keeps the ball rolling.

Until next Thursday the Galaxy Guide is 50% off, get it while it's on sale!

I called Kev for approval last night and he said it was okay, so I've put the quick-gen pages in my deviantart gallery for anyone to download and use.

You still need Aliens Unlimited and Heroes Unlimited to use the GG, but 50% off the GG is a great deal on an awesome setting.

The quick-gen character sheets are at the top of the Character Sheet gallery linked in my sig.