The core combat rules found in HERO System 5th Edition and HERO System 6th Edition provide role-playing gamers with a wide variety of options. The 6th Edition is a rule book that is over 700 pages long, with over 100 pages devoted exclusively to combat. The goal of the initial release of Hero Combat Manager is to provide a tool that assists the GM in managing combat in most circumstances.

The following combat rules are not modeled directly in Hero Combat Manager.  
Abort:  If a character decides to abort the following action, it is necessary for the GM and/or player (as applicable) to track that information outside of Hero Combat Manager.  

• Minimum Damage from Injuries:  The GM can do this manually by using the GM Adjust button to adjust the Stun of the target character.  (This is an identified bug in the software which may be corrected in subsequent releases.)

• Optional Effects of Damage: Bleeding is the only optional effect of damage implemented.  Future releases of Hero Combat Manager will implement the Optional Effects of Damage rules.

• Other Damage Effects – Hero Combat Manager does not implement any of the Other Damage Effects rules.  The GM can use the GM Adjust button to simulate the “STUNNED – DEAD” and “ONE-HIT WONDERS.”

• Penalty Skill Levels – Due to the way Hero Designer stores this information and the lack of support in the export capabilities, it is impossible to export the Penalty Skill Levels into the Combat Record File.  A workaround for this is to convert Penalty Skill Levels into regular combat skill levels with the appropriate modifiers and names.

The following combat rules described in the 6th Edition Rule Book are not currently modeled in Hero Combat Manager.

• Being Attacked While Taking A Recovery, 6th Edition Rule Book, volume 2, page 130, is not implemented. As a workaround, the GM Adjust can be used to adjust the results if this situation occurs.

• Multiple Attacks are modeled using the exact mechanism as the Area of Effect to apply damage.  After the attacking character has determined which target character(s) have been hit, the player or GM will roll the appropriate damage dice.  The damage will then be applied to all the targets the GM selects.  Individual target(s) will have their defenses applied against the damage.  A GM who needs to follow the 6th Edition rules more accurately can use the GM Attack dialog to handle each damage roll.

Version 1.14 and earlier:

Hero Combat Manager requires Java 1.6.x or greater installed on the computer running it. It has been tested extensively using Java 1.6.0_37 and Java 1.7.1 on Windows 7 computers. It has also been tested on Macintosh computers, which run the current operating system and Java 1.7.1.

A screen resolution of 1280 x 600 is highly recommended.

To use Hero Combat Manager, you must have a current version of Hero Designer. Hero Combat Manager uses Combat Record files that Hero Designer exports.

Version 1.15 and later:

This readme file is to help you with installing the Hero Combat Manager on your computer.

1. Unzip the hcm-package.zip into a temporary directory
2. You should have two files:

• ReadMe.txt - This file
• hcminstaller-#.##.zip - This zip file contains a version of Hero Combat Manager. The version number is based on #.## in the file name.

1. Unzip the hcminstaller-#.##.zip so that the HeroCombatManager folder (directory) is unzipped in a folder (directory) to which you have full rights. For Windows systems, I recommend installing it into a C: Applications folder that you create. I can't make similar recommendations for Mac or Linux systems because I don't own those systems.
2. Once unzipped, the folder HeroCombatManager has the following items:

• export folder - This folder contains the custom Hero Designer combat record export files needed to export characters from Hero Designer to be used by Hero Combat Manager.
• hcm.jar - This is the actual Hero Combat Manager Java program. Double-clicking the jar file does not work anymore.
  • hcm.bat - If you have Windows PC, use this is the batch file to start hcm.jar.
  • hcm.sh - If you are running a MAC or Linux Operating System, use this shell file to start hcm.jar. You will also have to change the permissions of the shell script, by using chmod u+x {/path/to/file.sh} or chmod 755 {/path/to/file.sh}. This has been tested on a Linux Operating System. It has not been tested on a MAC.
• HCM_UserManual.pdf - This is the user manual
• HeroCombatManager.gif - part of the icon that shows up when Hero Combat Manager is running
• HeroCombatManager.ico - The desktop icon for Hero Combat Manager
• ReleaseNotes-#.##.txt - A list of bug fixes and new features in this release
• You will need to manually create a short cut to your desktop. If you don't know how to do this use your favorite search engine to look it up on the Internet.

NOTE:

Java 21 or higher is required. You can't use the version found on java.com. Oracle has changed its licensing process. I recommend downloading the current JDK from https://www.openlogic.com/openjdk-downloads . Select the following:
JAVA VERSION: 21.0.x or higher
OPERATING SYSTEM: Select your operating system
ARCHITECTURE: 64-bit
JAVA PACKAGE: JDK

Hero Combat Manager is a Java application and is capable of running on any computer and operating system that has Java installed on it.