Taking the plunge into Fantasy Hero ... help!

[Briguy123]

Re: Taking the plunge into Fantasy Hero ... help!

 

Oh, I didn't mean to imply the system was unplayable, merely that it didn't give the effect we wanted. If you like it, more power to you!

 

To take your own example, Theramin could take an extra 12 seconds and have a 13- roll, with a 16- chance of avoiding side effects, for 3 points, which is pretty good odds. It's not something that you do in combat, which was something I mentioned: a lot of the spells that were really useful were out of combat or precombat spells. But in a non-combat situation, 12 seconds is nothing. Given a minute to prepare, warriors would load up on extra strength, forcefield, and so on - but they still tended to rely on weapons and armour. As for traditional old-guy-in-a-robe style mages, we didn't have any. Those we started the game with either retired or rapidly acquired weapon familiarities and armour. and we had to outlaw spells with the advantage "trigger" to stop people racking up powerful spells that they could later call on. (as an aside, that's a good way to do "Vancian" magic)

 

If you want a system where everyone has "charms" - the blacksmith can melt iron with a few gestures and a chant, the local healer can heal broken limbs as well as charming warts off and so on, then this system will give you that.

 

Problems or lack thereof might also reflect the group you game with - in ours, the most active players were also GMs. We took turns at running and often had two games going at the same time, so the possibilities of the system were immediately apparent to all!

 

cheers, Mark

 

One way I limit things is buy not allowing players to design their own spells. They are allowed to pick from a limited list of spells at the beginning of the campaign and have to find, steal, or buy information in order to learn new spells. That is why mage guilds are so popular. The guilds tend to accumulate spell lore which is made available to members. Basic membership in a guild is a 3 point perk with each step up the guilds heirarchy costing 5 points. I have one player who has tried to break the system, but I am very strict about what I do and don't allow. Granted, this system requires more work on the GM's part, but so far it has worked well for my campaign.