"Living" Hero

[Rage]

Larps are alot of fun and I think a hero LARP could be done, but what is the point? I mean the source material isn't that well known and there are much freindlier Larping systems out there.

[highlander61]

Originally posted by BobGreenwade
With Tom's explanation (I'd been unfamiliar with the concept before), I think this is something that Hero Games should consider -- though not with any haste. I actually considered trying to organize something like this back in the 3rd-Ed days. The various settings of the Hero Universe would be just right for this sort of thing, once they're fleshed out. With the great breadth and variety of those settings and the limited time and budget for publishing books, this won't happen for a few years. I say wait until this fleshing-out process is well under way, see what happens to the idea of "Living" games in the meantime, and decide from there.

I have played HERO system in the past and currently play Living Greyhawk. There is no alternative to it right now. Hero Games is missing a great opportunity. The campaign administration is done by volunteers who maintain the campaign setting and adjuduicate rules effects and disputes. It acts as a great selling point for the D&D books. All that would need to be done is a group of players get together, develop a setting, decide on some guidelines, develop some adventure plot lines, get approval from Steve et.al. and pick a forum to premier (i.e. a convention) and bam you are there.

Hero Games can be as much or as little involved as they chose and thier time investment would be nominal and would reap great rewards in terms of increased sales. While that may seem a bit crass to some of you - the plain fact is, Hero Games people do this to be able to make money to be able to buy things (like gamimg products, dice and pizza ).

So this is a good idea that should not be put off too long. There is a certain window that you have to hit and it only has a few short years before it becomes closed to new entrants.

BWS

P.S.
Forgive my spelling. I am better at calculus than english.

[GreyGuardian]

for a decent explanation of Living greyhawk go to their website: Living Greyhawk .

In a nutshell you get a person to run an adventure and people to play it and sit down at a table with dice and paper etc... it ain't a LARP usually... though some mini-larping can happen at special interactive events such as The Grand Dukes wedding etc.

I've been stuck playing mostly d20 since the ars magica game I was in folded. I've even been dragged into co-authoring a metaregional modual for LG (Shades of Gray) which has gotten very good reviews from the folks that have played it so they can judge it next weekend at Patriot Games.

The primary advantage of the living format is you get to play YOUR character and you can do it whenever you can get a group together to play or when you go to a locally run convention or when you go to a national or international convention.

With all that said, I am not at all sure that hero system is suitable for a living campaign because of the flexibility of character generation and design. After I get home from Patriot games I am going to start outlining a "mini series" campaign for champions. Ideally I will have from 4 to 12 adventure modules that take about 4 to 5 hours each and it will cover one overall plot arc with a bunch of subplots thrown in. I probably will set it up so people can play their own characters and will try and playtest it with LG players and other gamers I know that say things like, I really liked champions that would be cool. The until database is going to be a HUGE help, I was skeptical about the utility of the book since I have been playing hero off and on since 1984 - I bought it, I read it... darn fine job Steve.

I expect it will take me a lot longer than I think it will take... I know writting the LG module has gobbled enormous amounts of time. I'll certainly post results of the experiment after I get it rolling.

This all assumes that fantasy hero doesn't de-rail my brain back to my old fh campaign that has been on hold for a few years.

[highlander61]

Originally posted by GreyGuardian
for a decent explanation of Living greyhawk go to their website: Living Greyhawk .


The primary advantage of the living format is you get to play YOUR character and you can do it whenever you can get a group together to play or when you go to a locally run convention or when you go to a national or international convention.

With all that said, I am not at all sure that hero system is suitable for a living campaign because of the flexibility of character generation and design. After I get home from Patriot games I am going to start outlining a "mini series" campaign for champions. Ideally I will have from 4 to 12 adventure modules that take about 4 to 5 hours each and it will cover one overall plot arc with a bunch of subplots thrown in. I probably will set it up so people can play their own characters and will try and playtest it with LG players and other gamers I know that say things like, I really liked champions that would be cool. The until database is going to be a HUGE help, I was skeptical about the utility of the book since I have been playing hero off and on since 1984 - I bought it, I read it... darn fine job Steve.

You have to limit the characters in some ways. Number of points, disads, adds ect. But everyone participating has to adhere to that standard. You give up a little of the flexability to be able to play your character in any modual.

BWS