Why play Fantasy Hero over other fantasy games?

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Why play Fantasy Hero over other fantasy games?

 

You might take a look at The Tomb Of Rakoss The Undying, a fantasy adventure module available for downloading from the "Free Stuff" section of the Hero Games website. It looks like it might fit your parameters for an introductory adventure.

[Guest taxboy4]

Re: Why play Fantasy Hero over other fantasy games?

 

I'm just getting into Hero through Terran Empire but I thought I'd drop in my opinion of how to bring in new guys to Fantasy Hero. It may or may not work for you.

 

I'm not getting Hero for the rules as much as I am for the settings. Terran Empires looks great and much work is done for the GM. The fantasy settings for Fantasy Hero also look great.

 

For new people (like myself) I'd start with Sidekick and one setting book (or your own setting made with Sidekick rules if you're experienced GMing Hero). Get the players in slowly then add on the advanced rules as you go.

 

I'm going to take the plunge into Hero for the reasons many posters already said. Settings are easier to design in Hero than in other systems (like D&D). I just want to start with a little less complexity. So Sidekick and one setting book.

 

Totally agree - I'd like to point out as a DM you actually don't need to know the rules, I started playing FHero about 18 months ago and one of the rules wizards in the group pretty much told me the rules when i asked him.

 

Now of course (I'm an accountant) I've learnt most of therm, dropped the ones you can etc. But most of the time I let the dice guide me and make it all up..

 

Players love FH tho, as gives them flexibility, realism and it ain't D&D.

[Chris Goodwin]

Re: Why play Fantasy Hero over other fantasy games?

 

Here's the reason for me. D&D strongly leads players toward a certain style of play: killing monsters, taking their stuff, and levelling up so you can do it more efficiently. This is the behavior that the system rewards, and while people say you can play it differently (and I'm not disputing it) support for doing so isn't built in to the rules.

 

I was burning out on that, pure and simple. I was getting tired of reading about people's games in Dragon Magazine where that's all they were doing. I was getting tired of hearing my friends talking about their half-elven half-dragon multiclassed Xth level anti-paladin/Yth level barbarian/Zth level ninja with +12 Gobs of Smacking and about fifty other magic items.

 

Then I discovered Hero, and learned that there was more to roleplaying games than that and, eventually, that there was a lot more to Hero than just not-D&D.

[arcady]

Re: Why play Fantasy Hero over other fantasy games?

 

Well, as another thread over in the Hero System boards says, I'm going through this situation myself right now.

 

I'm setting up a playtest to make the transition,and we'll see how it goes.

 

Upon discovering this thread when it popped back up, I sent a link to my players.

 

I suspect we'll be doing a session to make characters and a session for a short adventure. But the characters probably won't work for the regular game I plan (the setting to which is still inwork), so I'll have to do a character session again at a later point.

 

Right now, I need to figure out just how much I want to show them in the playtest. How to show them enough to show them the advantages... and do it in only one session of about five hours.

 

 

The last poster has hit on something about play styles. DnD is set up to encourage a certain style, and you can get very burned out by struggling against this model. Try running or playing in an almost purely social game in DnD. That's what I play in right now, and while it's a good game sometimes it seems so futile. The system doesn't support the game norms we evolved into playing.

[Killer Shrike]

Re: Why play Fantasy Hero over other fantasy games?

 

If you like to create things on your own, the HERO System empowers you tremendously. If you prefer to let someone else do all the grunt work and just run with whats provided then the HERO System is probably more overhead than it's worth for your needs.

[teh bunneh]

Re: Why play Fantasy Hero over other fantasy games?

 

I would like to hear about some othe the adventures and stories people have put together using either the published material or there own. This will help me get an idea of how people utilize Fantasy Hero.

 

This may help. Two recent and ongoing threads regarding current FH games -- one using the published material, one home-grown.

 

http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17642

 

http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19578

[Greatwyrm]

Re: Why play Fantasy Hero over other fantasy games?

 

If you like to create things on your own' date=' ...[/quote']

 

...don't look at any of Killer Shrike's websites. There won't be anything left for you to do.

[Maelstrom]

Re: Why play Fantasy Hero over other fantasy games?

 

I've played and run Fantasy Hero. It's more organic than D&D. More complex, more detailed, more flexible. It's a real RPG. The more I play D&D, the more I realize that it started out as a wargame, and then had RPG grafted onto it. The skill system and feats were further grafted onto it. I find D&D boring and limiting -- if I want a warrior that has a freaking healing salve, I build one, darn it!

 

D&D characters are usually differentiated by their STUFF. "I have a ring of thus and so, and therefore will attack in this fashion." Fantasy Heroes are differentiated by their build, of which their personalized gear is often only a minor part.

[Turin]

Re: Why play Fantasy Hero over other fantasy games?

 

I play Fantasy Hero for the flexibility that it gives me as a GM and a Player. It allows me to construct a world that fits my imagination more easily then others. It allows me to make the exact character that I want to play. This flexibility is exactly the reason that I play.

 

I have had little trouble getting two groups that I play with regularly to switch for these exact reasons.

 

Yes there is over head but I don't feel that it is much more then the amount of overhead that you get trying to sort through the various optional books for D20 or trying to get certain rules to fit campaign ideas for others. Once we have fleshed out the rules , magic being the biggest, the individual sessions and combat move just as smoothly.

 

I like it enough to purchase two copies of the 5E and all FH books plus loaner copies of Side Kick. This was to make the transistion for my groups easier and it worked.

[starblaze]

Re: Why play Fantasy Hero over other fantasy games?

 

I have considered Fantasy Hero and eventually bought Conan the RPG with my birthday money instead. Why? Because in my present group about half of them are almost anti-Hero. Sure they will play it, they recently play- tested Enemy of my Enemy for me, but when it comes to Fantasy they probably would not play anything Hero because they consider D&D to be much more simpler and easier to understand. They will complain that Hero has too big a learning curve and that they would continue to play a D20 game because they don't want to go to the trouble of making yet another Champions/Hero character.

 

As you can probably tell I am a little bitter about this.

 

So I bought Conan because at least with Conan I can play a less magic heavy game that relies on the PC's using intelligence and wit to survive instead of just pulling out yet another created magic item to deal with the problem.

 

Another problem with D&D as well is that outside of High Fantasy you can't really do any kind of low magic, sword and sorcery type game because the system is designed with a power gamer mentality. With Fantasy Hero you can make up your own campaign world they way you want it.

[teh bunneh]

Re: Why play Fantasy Hero over other fantasy games?

 

Another problem with D&D as well is that outside of High Fantasy you can't really do any kind of low magic' date=' sword and sorcery type game because the system is designed with a power gamer mentality.[/quote']

 

You can, it's just really hard to strike a good balance and challenge a party properly. A 10th-12th level party in my world (magic items are in the "so rare that most people have never even heard of them" category, and spells are in the "If you can cast 6th level spells, you're an archmage" zone) is probably the equivalent of a 5th-7th level Forgotten Realms or Greyhawk party.

 

Bill.

[Markdoc]

Re: Why play Fantasy Hero over other fantasy games?

 

But just tempering the power level is not enough to allow different styles of play. The catalyst for me to convert my D and D game over to Hero came when I wanted to run a series of adventures where spying and negotiation played a role. I made up some good adventures and then suddenly realised "Who am I kidding? They're not going to negotiate with the thieves's guild. They'll storm in there and kill every living soul." The only way I could counter that was to add in some meaty opponents, at which point we are back to thud and blunder, not a less combat oriented style. To get to that, I had to get away from the "I have 88 hit points" mentality.

 

It was worth noting that after converting the characters across and ending up with a 265 point barbarian warrior (in a game world where your average city guard was 10-25 points) the players still adopted a more thoughtful style of play, even though their power level was similar. I can only attribute that to the fact that the system - and therefore the whole game world - was different.

 

cheers, Mark