Which Fantasy Hero settings would you most like to see updated to 6th Edition?

[Jhaierr]

I don't know if a poll for this has been done previously or not. I am curious about 5th Edition Fantasy Hero settings that were produced by Hero Games instead of third-party settings. Obviously, I am not from Hero Games, so this is just a "wish" poll more than anything.

You can select one or more of your favorite Hero fantasy settings that you would like to see updated for 6th edition (in at least a PDF format).

[Nolgroth]

I would love to see Turakian Age given lots more attention by an author that loves and gets the setting. For a brief period, I thought that I might have done something with the setting, but real life needs like becoming gainfully employed have taken precedence.

[Lord Liaden]

I sympathize with Nolgroth. The Turakian Age has such breadth and diversity, it can accommodate a wide variety of campaign styles, themes, and power levels. I think if "update" could also include "expand upon," that would be my first choice.

 

That said, I most enjoy high-powered epic fantasy, and I'm a sucker for Classical mythology; so I also have to give some love to The Atlantean Age. I've already used material from that book as the background for a couple of characters in my present-day, modified Champions Universe-based games.

[Old Man]

I very much like Turakian Age, but I really feel that it's a victim of its own size.  It's so all-encompassing that it winds up having little identity of its own.  Voted here for Tuala Morn which is the most distinctive of all the 'official' FH settings.

[Doc Democracy]

Yeah.  I have picked up exactly none of the fantasy settings.  I have no investment in them and, if they were re-issued/broadened, I do no think they would be at the top of my buying list.

 

I think that it is good those settings exist.  I think it is vital for a system to have a functioning ecosystem for lazy/time limited GMs to use.  I dont think HERO's settings will sell themselves.  

 

If there is to be a setting for HERO it must define, for new GMs, what the expectations are.  It has to explore where there is room for GM decisions that would not impact the usefulness of future material and where such decisions would limit the value of such material.

 

After that, what is needed is adventure/campaign packs,  These need to be well-produced little things with decent maps and cool ideas that tie into the main setting.  Not enough that they require the setting to play but enough to hint at a broader background that is available to those that are interested.  The more of these that exist, the more the setting itself becomes a priority to buy and the vastness of Turakian Age becomes an advantage as there would be huge swathes open for the GM to exploit however he wanted.  

 

HERO is a vague system and it needs to be shown off for others to appreciate it.  Smaller, well-written modules that might be useful for fantasy games outside of HERO would be better sellers than those that need HERO and its setting to play.  I know that I buy fantasy modules all the time simply for the artwork and maps that they come with that I then often use for other systems...

 

I have not voted for any as I could not, with any integrity, say that I would buy any of them.

Doc

[Lord Liaden]

I very much like Turakian Age, but I really feel that it's a victim of its own size.  It's so all-encompassing that it winds up having little identity of its own.  Voted here for Tuala Morn which is the most distinctive of all the 'official' FH settings.

 

If there is to be a setting for HERO it must define, for new GMs, what the expectations are.  It has to explore where there is room for GM decisions that would not impact the usefulness of future material and where such decisions would limit the value of such material.

 

After that, what is needed is adventure/campaign packs,  These need to be well-produced little things with decent maps and cool ideas that tie into the main setting.  Not enough that they require the setting to play but enough to hint at a broader background that is available to those that are interested.  The more of these that exist, the more the setting itself becomes a priority to buy and the vastness of Turakian Age becomes an advantage as there would be huge swathes open for the GM to exploit however he wanted. 

 

Very interesting thoughts.

 

It might be most prudent to start out developing the adventure potential of one region of Ambrethel (the Turakian Age world), preferably one that naturally leads further afield as the capabilities and aspirations of the PCs grow. The chosen region could be "generic" enough to support a variety of different adventures; alternatively, it might lend itself to a distinctive flavor or style of campaign, such as the Besruhan Intrigues campaign concept I posted here some time ago.

[Doc Democracy]

It is all in the marketing.  I think there needs to be a specific hook that makes people look at it - something explored that is perhaps overlooked in other products and becomes a selling point.

 

It cannot require players knowing deep history but the suggestion of depth needs to be there to avoid it looking shallow.  Talk about walking a tightrope...

 

And then, like I say, a few bits that could be used anywhere - decent maps and adventure ideas.

 

I think that your campaign concept is good - but the name would not sell it...it needs a title that shouts out the political intrigue (and the appendices should outline how HERO could be used to best exploit the social combat that would replace the physical).

 

Another dragon??!!  Avoid the tedium of adventuring and try your luck in the most dangerous of all sports - medieval politics....

 

:-)

[Lord Liaden]

Putting "intrigues" in the title doesn't shout out "political intrigue" enough?

 

That would take some thought to top. Maybe something like, "Bribers and Backstabbers?"

 

Guess I could try "Game of [something]" and hope not to get sued. Game of Crones? Game of Gnomes?

[Doc Democracy]

Nope - it sounds too clinical - it needs to hit at the gut level as well as the intellectual...

 

I do like Bribers and Backstabbers though.  :-)  I think that this with the more intellectual sub-title would work well...

 

You need the hook that makes people look and then the detail that makes them keep looking and the goodies promised inside that makes them splash the cash...

 

 

Doc

[Spence]

While I agree that TM is the more interesting setting TA suffers from the chronic "too much" syndrome that is Hero.

 

Far too many choices from the start that overloads the players, especially starting players.

 

Instead of a few core archetypes you can whip up and play today, you have dozens.  Instead of using generic names/titles that can be understood out of the gate, you have dozens of setting specific name/titles that cannot be remembered without actual study.

 

DM: Lets make characters for Fantasy Hero, we are playing in their D&D style world called The Turakian Age. 

 

Player 1:  I want to play a Human fighter!

 

DM:  Cool, so here are the choices...............

 

<<<<4 hours later>>>>

 

DM: Well think about that.  We will start actually building the character when everyone has chosen their archetype and race.

 

DM:  Hey?  Where did everyone go?

 

All the other players:   We are playing D&D.  We have never played it before, but we bought a copy of the starter set off the shelf, read the rule and started actually playing two hours ago.  Want to play?

[Lord Liaden]

I know you're emphasizing a point, Spence, but that seems rather hyperbolic. A GM who can't answer a simple request like that in short order has more problems than the setting.

[Spence]

Not really. Have you counted the number of archetypes/packages availble. Just priests have 10 packages. For Warriors there are actual charts to cover the various tribes of barbarians.

 

Roleplayers want to create their characters based on a realistic understanding of what the archetype/packages do. Some sense of how the selection fits in. Most of the Hero setting books are uber detailed to the point you would not discount deliberate attempts to discourage new players. Even the TA language chart is larger than the Fred modern language chart.

 

The point that consistently is missed or deliberately ignored is that Hero the game and Hero the creation system are two different things.

 

For TA, pick a place such as the Free City of Aarn. Include ONE standard high fantasy archetype per profession. Warrior, Priest, Rogue, etc. One race of human. One of elf. One of dwarf. Etc. All keyed to Aarn.

 

Pare down the write up to the local area out to maybe 10 days travel.

 

It is far easier to establish a small area for new players than immediate complete world. All the successful big sticks in high fantasy do this. D&D, Pathfinder, 13th Age, etc. Initial book has a bare minimum world. Most have a smaller basic character selection (easly recognisable across multiple game systems) allowing easy entry character picks for new players. The higher detailed world book and expanded character options usually follow as separate books.

 

What I'd love to see is a TA book centered around a town with a MUCH reduced series of options (one wrapped up magic system, etc) with a 3 or 4 scenario mini campaign. Want to play a warrior? Here it is. Rogue? Here is the choice available.

 

Enjoy the game and setting? Want more? Here is the full world book.

[Lord Liaden]

Not really. Have you counted the number of archetypes/packages availble. Just priests have 10 packages. For Warriors there are actual charts to cover the various tribes of barbarians.

 

Roleplayers want to create their characters based on a realistic understanding of what the archetype/packages do. Some sense of how the selection fits in. Most of the Hero setting books are uber detailed to the point you would not discount deliberate attempts to discourage new players. Even the TA language chart is larger than the Fred modern language chart.

 

Honestly, if I were the GM with a new player who wanted to play a "Human fighter," I'd spend probably five minutes talking with him as to what his thoughts were about the character's background and abilities, then pick the archetype template that matches that most closely. I would never just throw a pile of options in a newbie's lap. I'd certainly encourage him to explore the other options once he's more familiar with the game and the setting, if he was interested.

 

However,

 

For TA, pick a place such as the Free City of Aarn. Include ONE standard high fantasy archetype per profession. Warrior, Priest, Rogue, etc. One race of human. One of elf. One of dwarf. Etc. All keyed to Aarn.

 

Pare down the write up to the local area out to maybe 10 days travel.

 

It is far easier to establish a small area for new players than immediate complete world. All the successful big sticks in high fantasy do this. D&D, Pathfinder, 13th Age, etc. Initial book has a bare minimum world. Most have a smaller basic character selection (easly recognisable across multiple game systems) allowing easy entry character picks for new players. The higher detailed world book and expanded character options usually follow as separate books.

 

What I'd love to see is a TA book centered around a town with a MUCH reduced series of options (one wrapped up magic system, etc) with a 3 or 4 scenario mini campaign. Want to play a warrior? Here it is. Rogue? Here is the choice available.

 

Enjoy the game and setting? Want more? Here is the full world book.

 

This all sounds like a very reasonable and practicable plan.

[Lord Liaden]

I've had discussions with forum colleagues as to what location in Ambrethel I believe would have the most potential for development, as various people have outlined it on this thread. I won't derail the thread with that unless people want to hear more.

[Nolgroth]

For TA, pick a place such as the Free City of Aarn. Include ONE standard high fantasy archetype per profession. Warrior, Priest, Rogue, etc. One race of human. One of elf. One of dwarf. Etc. All keyed to Aarn.

 

 

Also, the archetypes you provide could also inspire a player to "roll their own" variant, providing that they have access to Fantasy Hero Complete or even the full Hero System rules. 

 

 

It is far easier to establish a small area for new players than immediate complete world.

 

As it turns out, something we both agree upon. My personal project right now involves developing two different fragments of game worlds. Smaller sections designed along the lines of the little sample world provides in the D&D Essentials books. You know, it has been a few years since we had a "What is your <year> Gaming Project?" thread. I think it is time to fix that. We need more gaming related threads.

[tiger]

Western Shores

[Nolgroth]

Western Shores

 

Reached my limit of "Likes" for the day. Western Shores has always been the prototype I used to turn to for a mini-setting and is probably churning around inside my head as I build my own.

[Lord Liaden]

As part of a "starter" Fantasy Hero campaign package, the Western Shores setting (last published in the Fantasy Hero genre book for Fourth Edition Hero System) would work very well. Recognizably generic (i.e. D&D-esque), self-contained, small enough to be easily absorbed but diverse enough for extended play if desired. For those GMs into extensive world-building it could bear a lot of expansion, but most game groups could get years of play out of it.

 

FWIW our long-absent forum colleague, Curufea, adapted the Western Shores as the basis for his own Fifth Edition Hero fantasy campaigning, and put the world background and his campaign notes on the Internet: http://www.curufea.com/games/western/campaign.php .  Note that Curufea did make a few changes to the setting for his games.

[Jhaierr]

Western Shores

 

I strongly considered including this setting in my list, but I figured that it would be even more of a stretch to see it "updated" for 6th edition. It was published before DOJ owned Hero and before the new wave of material for 5th edition.

[Christopher R Taylor]

For what its worth, my Jolrhos setting is along the same lines as the Western Shores, although I didn't try to cram every single fantasy feature into a single small area map.

[Lord Liaden]

I've had discussions with forum colleagues as to what location in Ambrethel I believe would have the most potential for development, as various people have outlined it on this thread. I won't derail the thread with that unless people want to hear more.

 

Well, no one said they wanted it, but no one said they didn't either. And we're already drifting, so .

 

If I were GM looking to develop a place in the Turakian Age world as home base for my campaigns, I would look for a spot with plenty of story hooks built in, but also lots of unspecified room to expand upon. I'd want the home base to be large enough to be interesting, but small enough to be manageable. I would prefer it to be able to support a variety of adventure styles without going very far afield: wilderness exploration, city skulking, dungeon crawling, monster fights, political intrigue, military conflicts, etc. But I'd also like there to be ready potential for PCs to travel to other interesting places, as their abilities and ambitions grow.

 

On the largest continent of Arduna there are two enormous bodies of water which are the centers of vast geographic regions, with multiple kingdoms on their shores engaging in trade and political interactions: the inland Sea of Mhorec, and Lake Beralka. These two bodies are linked by the long Shaanda River, navigable along its entire length, making it one of the most heavily trafficked trade routes in the world, potentially bringing people from almost anywhere. There is no single state dominating the Shaanda; pairs of rival kingdoms are at each end, but the central stretch contains several independent small cities and large towns. The largest of these cities, Ishthac, is smack-dab at the middle of the river.

 

One would expect the larger kingdoms at the ends of the Shaanda to vie for control over the strategic central river. One of those kingdoms, Valicia, is ruled by a powerful wizard with ambitions of conquering the whole region (and who makes for a fine "big bad" for a campaign). But the cities of the Shaanda are described as too independent and clever to be ruled. To me this implies that they probably cooperate to defend themselves and play the kingdoms against each other; but that doesn't preclude rivalry among the cities themselves. Otherwise the Shaanda cities are given little further definition -- nothing about city layout, population, society, government, or the like.

 

Ishthac lies at the south-western edge of the huge, rugged Valician Hills region, said to be populated by "monsters" which sometimes raid the river settlements; as well as independent-minded "hill folk" with only a few other clues as to their nature. The Valician Hills also rest above one of the largest regions of the "Sunless Realms" (TA's analogue to D&D's Underdark). Somewhere within the hills is a hidden coven of powerful witches whose agenda is unknown. Chonath, a large ancient ruined city once the home of mighty magicians, and now monster-infested, is perhaps a hundred and fifty miles west of Ishthac.

 

Traveling a couple hundred miles along the Shaanda River in either direction from Ishthac will take you into the territory of the larger kingdoms, and the dangers and intrigues they feature. From there it's a relatively short trip to the Sea of Mhorec or Lake Beralka, and ready transport to half the continent.

[bluesguy]

...

 

The largest of these cities, Ishthac, is smack-dab at the middle of the river.

 

...

 

But the cities of the Shaanda are described as too independent and clever to be ruled. To me this implies that they probably cooperate to defend themselves and play the kingdoms against each other; but that doesn't preclude rivalry among the cities themselves. Otherwise the Shaanda cities are given little further definition -- nothing about city layout, population, society, government, or the like.

 

...

Excellent observations on TA.  One of the advantages as well is that there are a number of excellent agnostic (or easily made agnostic) Fantasy city products that can be bought and then used to provide the GM with more detail.  Or the GM can use a tool like Cityographer to create a village, town and city (and populate it as well).

 

For example see http://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse.php?test_epoch=0&filters=100_2122_0_0_0

[Jkeown]

I started with Kythros, Saduria, and the Rumallan Empire and never left them. I bought the others, but I expanded upon FH 1E so much its hard to think of it as the work of another now. I don't think I'd buy a new setting at this point.

[Old Man]

Saduria entomon is a benthic isopod crustacean of the family Chaetiliidae. It is distributed along the coasts of the Arctic Ocean and of the northern Pacific Ocean.

[Lord Liaden]

Okay, now I have to create an epic fantasy story line featuring the Chaetiliidae family.