by sdonohue

Thrilling Places is a 2007 release from Hero Games. It is a supplement for Pulp Hero (HERO System 5). It was written by Robert Hudson and features art by a number of Hero Games regulars.

Presentation
This is a perfect-bound softcover with color covers on heavy stock and black and white matte interior. It's also available in PDF. The book is will made. The layout is mostly two-columns with space for sidebars. Illustrations and maps often break this rule.

Content
The book aims to provide interesting places for pulp characters to visit. In all, there are 14 different places, each with an unusual twist. Some of the places, like K'hull Island with dinosaurs and a giant gorilla, are vaguely familiar while others appear to be new to the supplement. The book features a table of contents, a brief introduction, and then from 7 to 12 pages on each location. It closes out with a short description of a half-dozen additional locations.

Each section is laid out a little differently since the Grant Building has a completely different feel than the Pleistocene Plateau, but the effect is the same: there's enough information here to allow the GM to make use of the place in game. The sections typically start with some history of the location, then a description of the current state of affairs. There will be a number of maps to make the location usable. If there are any people or groups of interests, there will be an explanation of their role in the location, and finally, there will be character sheets for each of the denizens. These can be for individuals or for types of creatures. It ends with some plot and adventure hooks.

Evaluation
I'm not a pulp expert, but these locations feel interesting and evocative to me. It's possible that more of them are drawn from tropes of the genre than I realize and some are probably common like a haunted building. The locations are well written and well-documented and the maps are clear and well-keyed. The only editing error I noticed was that page numbers are incorrect in the table of contents. With only 14 sections, it's not hard to work around, but it is confusing.

This is a good book if you're running a pulp era game and there's enough information here that you could easily use the locations in another system.

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by sdonohue

Institute for Human Advancement is a 2022 release for Hero Games for Champions (Hero System 6). It was written by Thomas Stadley and the art is primarily by Michael Edward Smith.

Presentation
This book is a available in PDF and as a 160 page perfect-bound softcover. The covers are color and heavy stock, the interiors are on matte paper and black & white. The book is well-made and the cover feels good. Most of the content is in two-column format, although actual character sheets (and there are quite a few) are typically single column.

Content
This is a sourcebook for a dangerous organization in Champions. The book opens with a long explanation of the origins of the IHA and their mission. The summary is that these guys don't like mutants, but they try to destroy them not just by capturing and jailing or killing them but by ruining their reputations, even if they are heroes. The IHA is very aware of public opinion and its effects, so they work hard to make sure they are well-thought of and there enemies aren't. There's a lot of history here and it stretches to almost 10 pages tied to a lot of the Champions canon.

The next section, Procedures and Tactics, explains how IHA identifies their targets, rates them and begins to attack them. There's a brief description of four types of teams they might use against a mutant based on the mutants powers and their objective. This is followed by tips and questions used to form the attack plan.

From this point on, much of the book is weapons, tactics, and relationships. IHA has two main bases and an office in the US and get explanations of each including character sheets for their leaders. Chapter 4, Associations, explains how the IHA views a variety of common organizations and powerful villains in the Champions universe and how hose entities view them. Chapter 5, Equipment Manifold, includes details descriptions for guns, weapons, protective gear, armor, experimental weapons, and vehicles.

Chapter 6 explains some standard agents of the IHS including character sheets by role and rank. It ends with character sheets for a handful of their top (super-powered) agents. Chapter 7, Mutant Files, provides detailed character sheets for a number of mutants who are currently on the wrong side of the IHS. There are two groups here: Revenge Evolution has 4 members and Sons of the Father has 6. There are also 4 individuals. The last dozen pages provides an adventure called "What a Goddess Will Do for Her Child". The synopsis is that IHA found a mutant and killed her mother and kidnapped her child so she'd go into a rage and provide more bad publicity for mutants. She's holding a hundred cars hostage by levitating a big part of a bridge with about 100 cars on it. If the heroes return her child, she'll surrender and likely wind up in Stronghold while her son enters foster care. Viper will try to recruit her and offer to get her out of Stronghold. This is fine with IHA as she'll just prove that mutants are villains.

The book ends with a form used by IHA agents to request operations against a mutant.

Evaluation
There is a lot of background here and using all of it would require a big investment in the concept of IHA. If that sort of dark conspiracy is the kind of supers game you want to run, this is a great resource. If you're more of a 4-color person, there's a lot of great equipment and ideas here you could use for an agency more to your liking. It's an interesting book, but it does require a lot of buy-in from players and GMs, starting with a focus on whose powers are a mutation and whose come from other sources. I like it, but i probably won't ever use it as written.

by Rachel

More progress today on Composer's Cat. I've started on my video script and a revised edition of the special real sheet music cards featuring The Parting Glass has been completed and made available. Woot!

In other news, earlier this week, I received a very special holiday prezzie from an amazing elf:

Elder Sign's clock has never looked so epic!

I waited 'til today's blogpost to share because while my new clock was 100% a surprise, I knew that something else, well 2 something elses were set to arrive:

Noble Knight is the best! And it’s a belated Merry Christmas/Happy Birthday for me.


And now, my Elder Sign collection is complete! Don't worry, I'm still planning and plotting that custom campaign, but I'm also super excited for my first adventure aboard the Ultima Thule!

Game Over On borrowed time...

Happy Thursday and happy playing!
-Rachel

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