Category Archives: News

Prepping for Gateway!

  By Andy | 2016-08-30 - 2:56 pm | , , ,
Leave a comment

Hello again, in preparation for Gateway (LAX Hilton, Labor Day weekend), I’ve been updating some of the powers (Monster, Size & Shape, Earth, Animal) and also modifying and simplifying a type of power that I am now calling a ‘Helper’ power.

A Helper power is a power that gives you another character of some kind that works along with your Hero.  It might be an animal friend, a robot, a Detective on the police force, or an elemental creature you can summon.  All of these, I realize now, are variations of the same basic thing – someone (or something) that will do stuff for you.

Each of the ‘Helper’ powers is different and unique, but from a game-design perspective, they needed to be considered and balanced together.  Check out the rules for how to create these ‘Helper’ characters, and see some ‘Helper’ characters examples and basic animal examples.  let me know if it makes sense to you.

Cheers!

Andy A

The Hero Instant at Gateway! (Labor Day weekend, Hilton LAX)

  By Andy | 2016-08-29 - 8:19 pm | ,
Leave a comment

Hey kids!

Gen-Con was fun and I met some great new people and played some great new games, but now I’m happy to be back on home and running THI at Gateway again.  It was one year ago that I ran The Hero Instant for the first time here!

This year, I’m starting to get excited about Halloween, so I’ve concocted a two-part adventure featuring some classic monster-themed Heroes: a wolf-man, a zombie, a vampire, a lagoon-creature and an electrically revived flesh golem.  Monsters!  Heroes!  What will happen?!?

  • Friday (Sept 2)
    • 8pm-midnight:   The Shadow Heroes (Episode 1)
  • Saturday (Sept 3)
    • 9am-1pm:  The Shadow Heroes (Episode 1)
    • 8pm-midnight:  The Lair of Darkness (Episode 2)
  • Sunday (Sept 4)
    • 9am-1pm:  The Shadow Heroes (Episode 1)
    • 2pm-6pm:  The Lair of Darkness (Episode 2)

Of course, as with all The Hero Instant games, you do not need any experience or special equipment.  However, if you have played at Strategicon before, I will bring your prior characters back if you want to play your own character instead of one of the pre-generated characters.  (That is, unless you took your character with you.  In that case, feel free to bring it with you.)

I look forward to seeing you there!

Andy A

Prepping for Gen-Con!

  By Andy | 2016-07-11 - 11:20 pm | , , ,
Leave a comment

Hello folks,

In preparing for Gen-Con, I wanted to re-write the Hero Trait Drama Trait section of the rules and character creation sections.  The changes are not big – mostly a different angle on Drama Traits to better describe how they are meant to be used.

In doing this, I realized the that I had never actually posted a section about Drama Traits in the rules.  They were mentioned in Character Creation, but they are important enough to ALSO have their own rules page.  Here it is!  Drama Traits & Drama Tokens

By re-writing that section, I also needed to update the Character Creation document, too, to make sure it matched.  Done!

See you at Gen-Con!

GenCon 2016

  By Andy | 2016-07-06 - 8:21 pm | ,
Leave a comment

Hello folks!

A busy spring here, but I am very excited that The Hero Instant will be taking part in Gen Con Indy, as part of the con’s RPG offerings.

Here are the details:

  • Thursday, August 4th  –  10 AM  –  ‘Ant Invasion‘ (part 1 of 2)  –  JW Marriot, Room 302.  –  ID#RPG1690841
  • Thursday, August 4th  –  4pm  –  ‘Ant Invasion‘ (part 1 of 2)  –  JW Marriot, Room 302.  –  ID#RPG1690842
  • Friday, August 5th  – 10am  –  ‘Ant Agony‘ (part 2 of 2)  –  JW Marriot, Room 302.  –  ID#RPG1690843
  • Saturday, August 6th – Noon  –  ‘A City In Peril‘  –  JW Marriot, Room 302.  –  ID#RPG1699362
  • Saturday, August 6th  – 4pm  –  ‘Ant Invasion‘ (part 1 of 2)  –  JW Marriot, Room 302.  –  ID#RPG1690844
  • Sunday, August 7th  – 10am  –  ‘Ant Agony‘ (part 2 of 2)  –  JW Marriot, Room 302.  –  ID#RPG1690845

Here’s a LINK to Gen Con’s website schedule for The Hero Instant.

‘Ant Invasion‘ and ‘Ant Agony‘ are a two-part story, but it’s totally OK to play in either part.  You don’t need to play in part 1 to play in part 2.

‘A City in Peril‘ will be run by Kertis H.  (And you may find me there as a player if there is enough space left!)  I’m enormously proud to have Kertis run this game.  It’s always a thrill when one’s game is run by another GM!

Additionally, as has been requested by several of you, there will be a single downloadable .pdf of the game’s rules and current Power Sets by the first of August, too.

C’mon down to Indianapolis and join us for some super-heroic fun!

Andy A

Updated Size-changing Rules

  By Andy | 2016-03-04 - 5:14 pm | , ,
Leave a comment

Hello folks,

Big thanks to Sam U. who sent some notes to me regarding the larger sized characters (Base Size Increase 1: T-Rex, 2: Dia Kaiju and 3: Titan), to make them more playable.  This instigated an update of all the size-changing powers in the Monster and Size & Shape power-sets.  Check ’em out, especially if you have a character with one of those power-sets.

He also sent this fun video showing relative sizes of monsters, characters, robots and some ships in anime:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XbeVosPszo.

Neat!

LA’s Strategicon and Beyond!

  By Andy | 2016-02-21 - 2:02 pm |
Leave a comment

Hello folks,

It’s been a while since I posted, but that’s what paying work + holidays will do.  I’m back on it now!

In fact, I ran a 2-parter at LA’s Strategicon (Orc-Con) over President’s Day weekend that was a blast!  Some old friends came by – people who played last year – for another run!  Repeat players = FANS!  I’m proud and a bit in awe of how great these people are.

AND THEN, I find out that some of those players started a game at their HOME CLUB at Cal Poly Pomona!  This is it!  This is the first (that I know of) game of The Hero Instant to be run without me being the one to GM it!  History is made!  I couldn’t be more excited!   I understand that one of the Heroes is really just 31 squirrels in a trenchcoat, and another is a speeding ball-shaped man of metal!  I can’t get over how fantastic that is!

So, thank you, Cal Poly Pomona Gamer’s Union!  You all have officially rocked my world!

– Andy A

Con-Volution!

  By Andy | 2015-10-01 - 11:51 am | ,
Leave a comment

Hello friends!

I’ll be at Con-Volution this weekend (Oct 2-4, 2015), so come on down.  I’m bringing everything I need to run a game of The Hero Instant, but I don’t know when and where.  Find me and maybe it will happen RIGHT THEN!  I need to playtest the new Electricity power-set!

I’m also on a panel about the art and science of RPG Game-Mastery on Saturday at 10:00 am, followed by a Hands-On Game Design Tutorial at 11:30 am.

Fun!!  If you’re in the SF Bay area, c’mon down!

Andy A

 

New ‘Force’ powers and also a Strength chart

  By Andy | 2015-09-25 - 4:14 pm | , , ,
Leave a comment

Hello folks,  I set a goal for myself to provide some kind of new material at least once a week, so I apologize for the delay.  I’ve been re-thinking how we balance the Powers in a Power-Set after the excellent play-testing at Gateway.

As a result, I have updated the Force power-set.

Additionally, I’ve added a brand new Strength chart, which also includes some rules about lifting and carrying very heavy things, AND how to use found objects as weapons.  Does your hero want to grab a small car and throw it at the villain?  Here’s how!

Finally, I’ll be at Con-volution over the 1st weekend of October!  I’ll run a few sessions of The Hero Instant, and I’ll also be presenting a game-design workshop!  Fun!  If you’re near San Francisco, come on down!

Thank you, Gateway and Players!

Image

  By Andy | 2015-09-07 - 9:08 pm | ,
Leave a comment

I had a great time this weekend, running THI for some truly terrific players at Gateway (Strategicon)!  I got some great feedback and now I want to adjust ALL the powers.  I’ll also be posting the some of the characters that the players created and played.  More soon, but now I need to sleep.

The Hero Instant at Gateway 2015

Look at all the fun that was had!

Gateway 2015

And even more fun!

Mostly, I am just very, very grateful to Strategicon and to the players that made my weekend so fun!

– Andy A