atlascott Posted February 2, 2006 Report Share Posted February 2, 2006 And this is the first time I am planning on running a Fantasy Hero campaign. I am undecided on how to have magic work. I am not crazy about the Summon-heavy Valdorian age approach. Any advice/preferences? What about general help for a first-time FH GM--who is used to running the genre using 1st or 3rd ED D&D? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thia Halmades Posted February 2, 2006 Report Share Posted February 2, 2006 Re: Gonna start me a campaign... If you haven't seen it yet, go to http://www.killershrike.com and click on the High Fantasy HERO banner - it has a ton of material on it for newbie FH runners, and I (and many others) have made extensive use of it. For clarification, by all means post back here, but start there. My own magic system is a VPP model, based heavily on KS's version. Simply: Build your VPP normally, and starting at 30 point VPP for 1st level, every 15 points thereafter represents another level, 45 pts. is 2nd, 60 is 3rd, 75 4th, 90 5th, and so on. You'll find it fairly easy to match d20 spells to the VPP model in terms of point to point. What this does is allow you to memorize multiple spells, each time consuming a chunk of your VPP in Real Points against the total pool you have available. I use 2x because it comes very close to being the same block build that d20 makes use of. The big trick in simulating the "feel" of d20 is using the Limitation "All Spells Must Have One Charge (-1)" in which you can assign each spell into the VPP in accordance with its Real Point value. The other thing is that instead of the normal VPP rules, you House Rule the limit to either 2x (me) or 3x (KS's) of the base VPP to determine the number of Real Points they can memorize in spells per day. Using this, you have each spell with "One Charge" hence you can memorize it multiple times (say, four instances of Fireball, each one with 1 one charge) and it consumes four Real Point values worth in the VPP. This gives players a ton of flexibility, unties them from a tiered system, and of course lets PCs find/research new spells. Since they pay for the VPP, they don't pay for spells, but we also include an additional limitation "Only Spells Known (-1/2, I think)" which means that they can't create new spells on the fly. There are MANY ways to build a magic system, including one on KS's site that I asked him to design - a system built purely around NPAs, where you learn individual Spells and also individual NPAs, and the casting is the combination of the two. I take credit for thinking it up, but Sensei wrote it. So, check his site, think about what you want it to do, and get back to us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Desmarais Posted February 2, 2006 Report Share Posted February 2, 2006 Re: Gonna start me a campaign... And this is the first time I am planning on running a Fantasy Hero campaign. I am undecided on how to have magic work. I am not crazy about the Summon-heavy Valdorian age approach. Any advice/preferences? What about general help for a first-time FH GM--who is used to running the genre using 1st or 3rd ED D&D? Thanks! If you're looking at Hero's published material, Turakian Age has a very familair feel to people who have played a lot of D&D and, when combined with the Fantasy Hero Grimoire (and FMG2) has a very complete magic system (this being where a lot of "create your setting" gets bogged down). Add in the Beastiary (and Monsters, Minions, And Marauders) and you've got all of the creatures and non-human thingies you'd need. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted February 2, 2006 Report Share Posted February 2, 2006 Re: Gonna start me a campaign... And if you don't like the divide by 3 rule, you can always go with the Limitation, Magik Spell (-1) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Jogger Posted February 6, 2006 Report Share Posted February 6, 2006 Re: Gonna start me a campaign... Talk to the players. Ask them these simple questions. You come across a problem that needs the heroes help, you immediately wonder... A) Who do I have to fireball? Who do I have to sword fight? c) How can I use my magic to help ease the suffering? D) How much are we getting paid? You learn that you must travel to the next town, do you... A) fly or teleport there. ride your horse. c) figure out what spells will make the journey easier. D) complain on how miserable it is to travel. You come across a mighty dragon, do you... A) Become a dragon and attempt to fight it on its own terms. Knuckle down under your shield and close to melee? c) Wonder if your spells will even affect it. D) Run away. You see a city where there is great social injustice, do you... A) Realize there is nobody to fight and get bored. Ask the local monarch why the peasants starve while royality eat like...well kings. C) See if you can use your magic to help the people. D) Ask how we are getting paid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.