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Charles Picard
United States
Washington
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I've played Hero as my main system on and off for years, so I approach this title with an appreciation of the system and with a broad knowledge of Hero products in general. Also, I've become a bit of PA fan and have acquired a number of rules/supplements for Gamma World, The Morrow Project, and Twilight: 2000.
Overview
Post-Apocalyptic Hero sets out to provide a comprehensive look at the post-apocalyptic genre and succeeds wonderfully. Every aspect of the material covered is thorough and well researched. Although the cover is one of the better Hero Games efforts, the interior art seems amateurish in places. The book crams a lot into its 215 pages. If anything, one could wish it to be longer, particularly in the information it gives for the various settings.
In Detail
One of the truly excellent things about this book is that author Steve Long realizes that it appears in a context filled with many, many other popular post-apocalyptic games, settings, and works of fiction. Without attempting to give direct conversion advice for all those nifty older systems, he begins by dividing the genre into "high" and "low" post-apocalyptic settings. For high PA, think Thundarr the Barbarian, where magic and powerful, if inscrutable, technologies exist side by side... or Gamma World, where amazing mutant abilities can change a game. For low PA, imagine settings where crossbows and swords are the most common weapons, and where just a single piece of functional ancient technology can alter a kingdom or a world. This discussion of genre and tone (which also involves an examination of the subgenres & mixed genres possible in apocalyptic gaming) takes up Chapter One.
Chapter Two and Chapter Three deal with Character Creation and Gamemastering respectively. Both chapters provide advice for getting the most out of the Hero System for the sort of challenges involved in a post-apocalyptic setting. In Character Creation, players are offered suggestions on character archetypes for PA gaming (a dozen new package deals appear in this chapter), along with ideas about how to handle skills, perks, talents, powers, and disadvantages. The Gamemastering chapter provides the would-be GM with concise and useful rules for handling Rad exposure, Ruin exploration, Scavenging, and more.
In Chapter Four the book provides several possible settings, some of them quite inventive. While giving good treatments for a Zombie apocalypse (Zombie World), and a Car Wars-type setting (Tobacco Road), there's also an intriguingly novel setting called Revelations 1001 in which the biblical apocalypse starts to come to fruition at the end of the first millennium. Another setting, Destinations, which focuses on character survival on a wasted Earth, offers an interesting "Hope" mechanic which provides a way of measuring if characters can hang on to their sanity and decency long enough to get to safety. The longest setting section, After the Blast, posits a world (somewhat in the mold of Gamma World) where radiation has changed the landscape of biology with powerful mutations. Champions players will be pleased to see the Mechanon Triumphant section, in which the evil uber-robot is very close to destroying the Earth (at least in one reality). In all there are 8 settings offered, 5 of which are of significant length.
As far as I know, there's no other work quite like Post-Apocalyptic Hero with its willingness to range from Fantasy, to "traditional" PA, to the Super-Heroic.
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Chris Bailey
United States
Broomfield
Colorado
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What books do you need to run this? I'm guessing some core rulebook for Hero?
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Charles Picard
United States
Washington
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ixnay66 wrote: What books do you need to run this? I'm guessing some core rulebook for Hero?
Yes all you'd have to have would be the 5th edition core book. (I also think it would be more or less compatible with the new 6th edition rules.)
Beyond that, I'd consider these if you're going to do any kind of campaigning...
The HERO System Bestiary
The HERO System Equipment Guide
These can both be real time savers.
Thanks for responding to my review,
cP
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Bruce Miller
United States
Grand Rapids
Michigan
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Thanks for the review. I've been thinking of gaining this item. You've convinced me that I need to run my game.
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Charles Picard
United States
Washington
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cypar7 wrote: Thanks for the review. I've been thinking of gaining this item. You've convinced me that I need to run my game.
You're quite welcome. I think you'll find useful stuff in this title.
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