Must-have books?

[Tonio]

Longtime D&D player (way back since Basic), long (but not as long) time Champions player, wanting to move from D&D to FH... which books are must-haves, which are nice-to-haves, etc? I assume FH is a must-have, of course... but what about the Grimoires? Equipment books? Bestiaries?

A very general list with very short descriptions of what each book offers would be great. =)

[tancred]

FH is a guideline to setting up your game. Notes on styles, magic systems, etc., etc. I'd definitely call it a must-have.

Ultimate Martial Artist (UMA) for everything about hand-to-hand combat. Styles, optional Maneuvers, special combat rules. A must-have for me, at least.

The Hero System Bestiary lists (I forget how many) monsters as well as mundane animals. Plus templates to customize them, custom Hit Location charts for different types of creatures.
A definite must-have. (And get the HD pack for it too, if you have Hero Designer. You don't? Buy it NOW!!! :D)

The Grimoires list the magic system for the Turakian Age setting. Spells of several different Arcana (spell colleges). The first is better than the second, in my opinion, but they're both good to mine for ideas. Must-have IF you're using the Turakian Age.

The Turakian Age is Hero's "generic" High Fantasy setting. I'm running a game set in it, and it's a lot of fun. Lots of places to run different styles of fantasy games.
The Fantasy Hero Battlegrounds book is a set of adventures set in TA, and I expect we're going to have fun with that when I get to the point of running it.
If you don't have your own campaign world all set up, TA is a good place to get started.

Monsters, Minions, and Marauders is another book of monsters. Some of them are specific to the TA setting, but all can be easily adapted to any setting.
If you want a bigger variety of monsters to choose from, another must-have.

Haven't bought the Equipment Guide yet; I think it's just a compilation of material that's already in FH and Dark Champions (and probably some others, too). Handy if you want a single reference.

Last but not least, if you don't have Hero Designer, buy it NOW. It is the best $25 you'll spend on gaming. Period.
Whether you're new to Hero or an old hand (I've been playing since 1982), it will make your job as GM much easier.
And the Bestiary character pack (for a measly $6.99) lets you load a monster, customize it, and have a new adversary in 5 minutes. Way cool.

Hope that helps. Feel free to ask for more.

[mayapuppies]

And of course you must go here: www.killershrike.com

[Tonio]

Thanks, this is precisely what I was looking for!

Yes, I DO own HD, and I do believe it's the best $25 ever spent on gaming. Ever. Really.

Three questions:
1) HD Packs... how do those work, exactly? Do I get a bunch of prefabs? A bunch of templates? A bunch of characters?
2) What's The Valdorian Age? Another FH setting? A "module" for TA?
3) Do FH, TA, and the Equipment Guide list prices (in money) for equipment, or something of the sort? I'm really quite bad at deciding how much things should cost, which is why I like long lists of equipment with stats and prices (also why I tend to buy big batches of books!).

[mayapuppies]

The best equipment list ever is a book by Iron crown Enterprises called "...And a 10' pole".

I have issues with creating equipment costs myself.

In answer to your questions:

1) Yes
2) It's a Sword & Sorcery style fantasy setting
3) Not really sure...I just use my 10' pole book

[tancred]

Thanks, this is precisely what I was looking for!

Yes, I DO own HD, and I do believe it's the best $25 ever spent on gaming. Ever. Really.

Three questions:
1) HD Packs... how do those work, exactly? Do I get a bunch of prefabs? A bunch of templates? A bunch of characters?
2) What's The Valdorian Age? Another FH setting? A "module" for TA?
3) Do FH, TA, and the Equipment Guide list prices (in money) for equipment, or something of the sort? I'm really quite bad at deciding how much things should cost, which is why I like long lists of equipment with stats and prices (also why I tend to buy big batches of books!).

1. The HD packs include write-ups for whatever the book is about. For the Bestiary, you get EVERY creature in the book as a character file (.hdc) plus Prefabs for all the various options and templates. (Way cheap at the price.)
Other books' packs may have more prefabs, depending on what they are about. Most packs have BOTH the .hdc AND the prefab file (.hdp) for each one.
Some of the later packs (created after HDv3 came out) may actually include Package Deals (.hpk) files as well.

2. The Valdorian Age is a "swords-and-sorcery" setting for FH (think Conan). Haven't played or run in it yet, but it has a VERY different and interesting magic system. Looks like it would be fun if that's a setting that would appeal to you.

3. FH and TA do list prices for all the gear. I totally sympathze with your plight about deciding on costs; I'm having the same problem with my TA game, trying to add to the list of things from FH and TA to make a really LARGE list of everything the players could possibly want to buy.

Edit: Eh, beaten to the punch. I need to look for that 10 foot pole book myself.

[runescience]

I personally purchased TA, tuala morn, Valdurian Age(VA), minions, monst, bestiary. VA is conan-esque.

I would have to add the following to your list: check out

http://www.kestrelarts.com/gamedls.html

In the download section there is a REALLY good monster manual. Also his herb and treasure table is quite good. He use to have a list of weapons and weapon construction information, but I dont see them anymore.

I found the hero bestiary a bit disappointing, mostly because I was looking for many types of humanoids to throw at my players. And I don't need stats for bears crocodiles etc. If you can get your hands on the OLD FH from around 1990, there is about 8 pages of monster listings. Kestrels Monster manual will run about 500 pages. Its the best Ive seen.

Somewhere around here if you check the forum, there is a master spell list, of like a thousand spells. This is quite good as well.

Shrikes site is really good. If you like the dnd bent for picking talents and creating abilities you should have a look at his talent feat list. It is REALLY good.

For worlds I might run the world referred to http://www.curufea.com/hero/doku.php

I also like the Arduin conversion.

There is also a conversion collection. http://www.curufea.com/hero/doku.php?id=conversions:fantasy_hero

Killer shrike previously mentioned is outstanding.

Also, look for Fitz's stuff. Some clever stuff there too.

If I have forgotten any of my fellow dm's who post their info, please forgive me. Good hero material is valuable, and I am personally always searching for good stuff. So, maybe people will start a thread of good FH finds.

[Tonio]

I'm not much interested in particular worlds/settings, apart from what it might offer for a generic or custom world/setting (that is, equipment, monsters, adventure seeds/ideas, etc.). Also not interested in system conversions or ports. We haven't used a pre-built game setting in ages; we pretty much roll our own. I'm therefore not really interested in rules or guidelines to make it easier to move from D&D to HERO (I don't particularly like the system, even if it does have a special place in my heart), especially since I'm already very familiar with the HERO system (except it's limited to superhero campaigns).

This is all excellent info, guys... many thanks!

Regarding KS's site... it's one of the main reasons I decided to do this. :)

Question: Am I understand this correctly? If I get TA and FH, the Equipment Guide doesn't offer me any more equipment appropriate to a FH game? Is it simply a collection of items from other books? (Not that that's a bad thing, mind you... just checking.)

[runescience]

I wouldn't get the equipment book for a fantasy setting. Look at a copy at your hobby store. I looked at it as soon as I could and it doesnt add value to a fantasy world.

[Tonio]

Haven't found ANY hobby stores in my area (Puerto Rico) that carry HERO books, sadly. :(

[Thia Halmades]

I like Puerto Rico. Good rum. Anyway, welcome Tonio. Somehow I missed you the first time around, so I greet you in the manner customary to your people.

Hi. By way of introduction, I am the Lord Captain Thia Halmades. Pleased to meet you. :D I live here during the holiday seasons, and maintain a nice bungalow at all other times. I've done a conversion of d20 magic (you can find the threads around here, and the Wizard conversion is on the Herodesigner website) and... sometimes I get bored and convert entire videogames, like HERO: Combat Evolved, which is based on Halo.

My core books that go where I go are:

5th Ed (obviously).
The Ultimate Martial Artist
The Ultimate Skill
Hero Combat Handbook
Hero Equipment Guide (yes, I recommend this)
Fantasy HERO (now in hardback! Get it before it's gone!)

The grimoires and setting books don't do much for me; I do get some mileage out of each of my Ultimate books -- OH. Ultimate Energy Projector. Nothing will do more to break up your spell design than employing those alternate rules. They're absolute genius. I rarely recommend a book so rabidly, but that's one of them.

I'm sure i'm missing some, but UEP is on my list of must-have texts.

[Teflon Billy]

I found the hero bestiary a bit disappointing, mostly because I was looking for many types of humanoids to throw at my players. And I don't need stats for bears crocodiles etc. If you can get your hands on the OLD FH from around 1990, there is about 8 pages of monster listings. Kestrels Monster manual will run about 500 pages. Its the best Ive seen. If you want anthropomorphic/humanoid monsters then pretty much every other monster book Hero's put out fits that bill. All of them since the bestiary have been slanted towards them.

It's one of my few complaints of Hero, that I want more monster/creature books instead of humanoid books.

TB

[Thia Halmades]

HULK NO WANT RIBS!!

Sorry, couldn't resist...

Yes, I also would like more 'monsters' rather than 'villain' books, but Steve insists (and I have no reason to call him a liar) that they sell poorly, so there's no point. I expect that like Tuala Morn, Atlantis will roll in its Bestiary with the core text. I'm disappointed by this.

[Spence]

You may want to check out Tuala Morn. It is a world/setting book not unlike TA or VA, but based on a more specific world. Celtic'ish sorta :nonp:

I would also recommend adding the two Asian Beastiary's. Some really great nasties to throw at people. In a standard (non-Asian) game a slight tweek of the name and look and the players will have no idea what they are up against :eg:.

[Captain Obvious]

Monsters, Minions, and Marauders has most of the humanoid type monsters, although I'd say the Bestiary is a must have for a fantasy game unless you're planning on staying in the city the whole time.

[Toushirou]

hmm, what a pity, just got my order. I am planning a Hero Fantasy game, too, but never thought, the Ultimate Energy Projector would help me in Spell design, the greatest problem, IU have encountered so far

[runescience]

I got home and checked the book. The equipment guide only has 32 pages in the fantasy chapter, 24 of those pages are text, but the other 8 are really big charts and pictures. IF you intend on running a fantasy game, save your money on this one and maybe get the hardcover edition :)

[Tonio]

Thank you all. I just bought a huge batch of books based on your suggestions. Huge. :D


Edit: I didn't buy any HD packs, though. Paying more for a pack than what I paid for the program, nearly as much as I'm paying for the book, felt kinda excessive. Hell, the Grimoire packs cost more than the book themselves... :(

[Thia Halmades]

Because someone had to put all that mess in there; much simpler to just buy the Grimoire bundles and then throw 'em onto HDv3 as you need too, rather than worrying about. Note, some people don't want to do that work, so for them it's probably a superior buy, but.

[Tonio]

Makes sense, yah. =)

Still, the value (for me) is substantially less than the cost; I don't mind adding the ones I'd use by hand. This is certainly a case where YMMV.

[tancred]

The $30 HD packs are too expensive for me, too; I haven't bought any of them, and don't plan to. As Thia said, I enter those as I need them.

The good values are the cheap packs: the Bestiary, TA, FH, Terran Empire and Spacer's Toolkit. All the ones that are less than $10 are a good buy; the time you save is worth that price.

The Bestiary, in particular, is as good a bargain as HD itself, because it comes with all the Prefabs for the Options shown in the book and the templates to customize the monsters. And you can use ALL those add-ons for other creatures, like those in MMM.

And Thia, you've convinced me that I've got to order UEP while it's on sale.

[Tonio]

Oh, I see... not all are that expensive! Got the Bestiary, FH, and TA ones, yay! =)

[Thia Halmades]

And Thia, you've convinced me that I've got to order UEP while it's on sale.

What I find amazing about UEP is what the book is really about. It isn't about building "the next great energy projector." I consider it a pure Ultimate book because of that. UEP is about breaking down 17 classic energy types, assigning values and interactions to them, and how they work within the framework of a game and other energy types.

The rules only really work if applied wholesale, i.e., I believe that Steve included a 'neutral' energy (Force, IIRC) for no points, because it's so dirt common and won't disrupt much. But Lightning has a modifier, gravity costs as well (+3/4, possibly, but don't quote me on that). The design is truly spectacular. I think a lot of people would be easily let down by what the book isn't; it isn't Ultimate Speedster, which is some alternate rules and a boat load of powers.

It's a boat load of well crafted, thoroughly well designed alternate rules. Like anything else, YMMV, and you may find some pricing is off, but true to HERO, each power is internally balanced by pre-established guidelines and then balanced within the system itself. Fantastic. It genuinely makes me want to go through and create a "UEP Edition" of my d20 spell conversions, because it strips all the vanilla out of each of them and creates its own unique creature.

Honestly, though, I'd have to preface it with "Warning: These spells use the UEP rules, if you don't have the book, you won't know why Lightning (+1/2) is listed as a power advantage."

[jaws]

I hope you get commissions Thia, I am sure anyone reading this thread that doesn't have UEP will run out and buy it NOW.

[Thia Halmades]

I hope you get commissions Thia, I am sure anyone reading this thread that doesn't have UEP will run out and buy it NOW.

You know, oddly, you're not the first person to say that. :think: I may have to go 'convince' Steve to pay me. Where's my bat? And it really is a stellar work; my favorite Ultimate Book by far.

OH SNAPS. Ultimate Vehicle. Also darn handy to have around. How did I forget TUV? I'd lose my armor if it wasn't attached.

[Toushirou]

I hope you get commissions Thia, I am sure anyone reading this thread that doesn't have UEP will run out and buy it NOW.
It's already on my list for the next order :D

[Thia Halmades]

Yep. Time to have a 'chat' with Steve. :eg: