What books?

[Mercule]

I've been off playing D&D 3E for several years, but I used to play Champions and poke at Fantasy Hero with a stick. With the increasing complexity of D&D, I'm looking real seriously at moving back to FH.

 

But, I need some guidance for things like magic system, packages, monsters, etc. I'm definitely a home-brew kinda guy, not a published setting guy. I don't really care about maintaining a "D&D feel", either.

 

What book(s) should I look at, to warm up? I see that the "Fantasy Hero" book appears to be available only in PDF from various locations, while there are setting books like Valdorian Age and Turakian Age (I think I got those right) are generally available.

 

Do the setting books contain information useful to homebrewing, thus replacing Fantasy Hero based on style? Is FH still the best bet? What about the Grimoire?

 

I've been GMing for over twenty years, though I'm really green to GMing FH. Any info about what it takes to make that jump, though, would be greatly appreciated.

[CrosshairCollie]

Re: What books?

 

Well, Fantasy HERO to start with, obviously.

 

The Grimoires are pretty basic spell-listings (at least, Grim I is, I don't have II), which can make them pretty handy if you don't want to go through all the effort to make your own spell system.

 

As far as settings go, you have the high-magic Turakian Age, and the low-magic Valdorian Age. It's a matter of personal preference which is better for you.

 

FH Battlegrounds ... well, I don't know much about it, but if it's like Champions Battlegrounds, it's a series of adventures that can be played either separately or as a related story-arc, with lots of maps.

 

As far as 'making the jump' goes ... well, I play and run both D&D and Champions off-and-on and have for a long time, so I'm not really sure there's anything to say (especially given my next game will probably be Eberron HERO).

[Starwolf]

Re: What books?

 

The four basic things you need ar Fantasy Hero which goes into great detail on creating your own magic system, Fantasy Hero Grimoire I & II, these are spell, and magic items prebuilt and are easily adapted to whatever magic system you design or choose from FH, and of course the core Revised Hero 5th edition. If you have some players that are new to Hero I would recommend Hero Sidekick, it is a sort of Hero lite that introduces al of the basic core character construction and game mechanic rules, you only need 5ER to introduce advanced concepts and options. One last thing I would recommend is Monsters, Minions, and Marauders. It is a book of creatures and races for Fantasy Hero and complements the Hero System Bestiary.

[Lord Liaden]

Re: What books?

 

First of all, welcome to the boards, Mercule! I hope you enjoy your visits here. We're generally a pretty friendly bunch to newcomers.

 

To be honest, if you're a homebrewer and new to GMing HERO fantasy (and assuming you already own the HERO System Fifth Edition rulebook), the Fantasy HERO genre book should probably be your first purchase. It's very nearly the definitive guide for how to design and run your own fantasy campaign, everything from constructing magic systems, to choices for economies and social structures, to the ecological niches of races. Even experienced GMs usually say that FH has been very useful to them. There's tons there for folks who don't even play HERO, but if you do the sample race and profession Package Deals, weapon and equipment stats, magic system examples and options, and new Talents, among other things, are a great boon.

 

The Hero Games management has said recently that they're hoping to reprint FH this fall, so if you can wait a month or two you may have a fresh copy in your hands.

[Starwolf]

Re: What books?

 

Sheesh I am going to start sounding like a dang sales rep...

 

One other thing you may consider that drastically reduces the character creatin overhead is the new Hero Designer v3. There are data packs available for all of the books mentioned by everyone so far. That way all of your races, spells, magic items, creatures, etc are available with just a few clicks of your mouse

 

Hmm... I wonder if I can negotiate a commission?

[ghost-angel]

Re: What books?

 

Fantasy Hero is supposed to have a reprint sometime this fall, hopefully sooner than later. Probably about the time they're gearing up to release Tuala Morn and Celtic Beastiary. Otherwise the PDF is available now, and worth every penny.

 

Other books, as others have mentioned:

Grimoire I and Grimoire II are all spells. Tons of them.

Monsters, Minions & Marauders plus Hero System Bestiary are both chock full of monsters and creatures of all sorts, I value the Bestiary over MMM, but that's because it has wider appeal (not just fantasy focused).

 

If you want an asian flavour there are two Asian Bestiaries, both worth the investment.

 

Turakian Age and Valdorian Age are both setting books, so if you don't want published settings these aren't for you.

 

Fantasy Hero Battegrounds is a book or premade adventures, a number of them in fact, that are pretty setting independant so is a good collection for ideas or if you just can't think of anything a good place to turn to for a nights session.

 

Other non Fantasy books to go with:

The Ultimate Mystic - good good for some generalized information on magic and ways to run it.

Hero System Equipment Guide - good collection of stuff, it covers several eras but has some fantasy related stuff all in one spot.

 

Books I find I don't game without

Combat Handbook - this has actually replaced the main book as to what I bring to game; but mostly that's because I've memorized a good chunk of the rules already.

Fifth Ed. Revised or Sidekick, Revised - depending on just how much Rules you need.

[Mercule]

Re: What books?

 

Thanks for the input, all. I may wait the month or so for the reprint of FH. I'm not exactly in a place where I can switch on a dime, anyway.

 

What's the difference between H5E and H5ER? I picked up 5E the month in was released, but haven't really had a chance to use it yet. Is the Revised book enough better to warrant a repurchase or not so much (i.e. whenever I have $50 I don't know what else to do with)?

[ghost-angel]

Re: What books?

 

Thanks for the input, all. I may wait the month or so for the reprint of FH. I'm not exactly in a place where I can switch on a dime, anyway.

 

What's the difference between H5E and H5ER? I picked up 5E the month in was released, but haven't really had a chance to use it yet. Is the Revised book enough better to warrant a repurchase or not so much (i.e. whenever I have $50 I don't know what else to do with)?

 

It incorporates the FAQ (located online here); the Genre by Genre document (also online here); Corrects typos; expands on a few things that were clarified in Sidekick. It's worth the purchase, but not urgently so. I would suggest picking up other books that would serve your game better and get 5ER when you have all the other books you want.

[Lord Liaden]

Re: What books?

 

Persuant to ghost-angel's fine suggestions, you can download PDF of the rules FAQ and rulebook errata from here, and of the Genre By Genre document here. They're not as well organized as the material in H5ER, but FWIW I'm still using these documents plus the original H5E, and I do all right.

[Kristopher]

Re: What books?

 

I hope we get a reprinting, I missed picking up FH 5th the first time around.

[Spence]

Re: What books?

 

Persuant to ghost-angel's fine suggestions' date=' you can download PDF of the rules FAQ and rulebook errata from here, and of the Genre By Genre document here. They're not as well organized as the material in H5ER, but FWIW I'm still using these documents plus the original H5E, and I do all right.

 

 

 

As LL pointed out. If you have H5E you really don't need H5ER. I held off for a while and used the cash flow to buy enough Sidekicks.

 

A little extra info Turakian Age and Valdorian Age are genre books. A general and very loose description would be TA is more High Fantasy such as D&D, LotR and so on. VA is more sword and sorcery, think Conan-type.

 

The Fantasy Hero genre book is the #1 book I would get. It is over 400 pages of really good info. A lot of it isn’t even system related so it is useful as a resource for any system and I actually use info from it in some of my non-fantasy games (Pulp). You don’t really need anything else but until you get used to the system you can benefit from the pre-builds in the source books. So I would suggest you get “The Hero System Bestiary”, “Monsters, Minions & Marauders” and one of the Grimoire’s.

[Spence]

Re: What books?

 

I hope we get a reprinting' date=' I missed picking up FH 5th the first time around.[/quote']

 

ouch.... The Hero Genre books are IMO the best books to get, and FH is the second best (PulpHero being the best of course )

 

PDF is fine, but nothing comes close to an actual paper book.

[Spence]

Re: What books?

 

a last note...The Online Store has a pretty good sale going on right now. They also ship for free.

[Captain Obvious]

Re: What books?

 

If you've already got your setting in mind, Fantasy Hero is a good buy. If not, or if it's not entirely settled in your mind, the Grimoires, the Bestiaries (to include MMM), and the setting books (Valdorian Age, Turakian Age) all have lots of goodies to pick and choose from.

[Susano]

Re: What books?

 

I recommend The Asian Bestiaries.

 

Like you expected me to recommend something else?

[Spence]

Re: What books?

 

I recommend The Asian Bestiaries.

 

Like you expected me to recommend something else?

 

Subtle hint there

 

They are really good books, they are sectioned by country/region. Vol 1 has beasts from China, India, Cambodia, Indonesia, Mongolia, Thailand and Vietnam. Vol 2 they are from Japan, Philippines, Burma, Korea, Malaysia and Tibet.

 

I do have both myself. So was that worth a cookie?

[Mercule]

Re: What books?

 

I recommend The Asian Bestiaries.

 

Like you expected me to recommend something else?

 

Heh. I'm afraid that's a taste issue. After reading the Genre-by-Genre document, I'd say my style falls somewhere between Epic Fantasy and Sword and Sorcery, with the emphasis on the latter. I prefer human(oid) foes, mundane-ish heroes, and a fairly good smattering of subtle corruption (demonic, undead, or simple human folly) pulling things down.

 

I don't mind the occasional Asian/Wuxia feel as a player, but it definitely ain't my cuppa tea for the long haul or as a GM.

 

On the other hand, if there's stuff in the book that fits well with a pseudo-Euro/Arabic setting, then I definitely am interested.

[John Desmarais]

Re: What books?

 

Heh. I'm afraid that's a taste issue. After reading the Genre-by-Genre document, I'd say my style falls somewhere between Epic Fantasy and Sword and Sorcery, with the emphasis on the latter. I prefer human(oid) foes, mundane-ish heroes, and a fairly good smattering of subtle corruption (demonic, undead, or simple human folly) pulling things down.

 

I don't mind the occasional Asian/Wuxia feel as a player, but it definitely ain't my cuppa tea for the long haul or as a GM.

 

On the other hand, if there's stuff in the book that fits well with a pseudo-Euro/Arabic setting, then I definitely am interested.

 

You'd be suprised. I have no particular love for the whole "Asian" thing as a setting or a genre, but sometime I just want to quickly get a monster the players haven't seen before. These books are great for that.

[Susano]

Re: What books?

 

Heh. I'm afraid that's a taste issue. After reading the Genre-by-Genre document, I'd say my style falls somewhere between Epic Fantasy and Sword and Sorcery, with the emphasis on the latter. I prefer human(oid) foes, mundane-ish heroes, and a fairly good smattering of subtle corruption (demonic, undead, or simple human folly) pulling things down.

 

I don't mind the occasional Asian/Wuxia feel as a player, but it definitely ain't my cuppa tea for the long haul or as a GM.

 

On the other hand, if there's stuff in the book that fits well with a pseudo-Euro/Arabic setting, then I definitely am interested.

 

The Asian Bestiaries really aren't just for Asian-themed settings. I think the stuff in there could be used in most any fantasy game, just change the names and some of the visuals and you're good to go.

[Gunrunner]

Re: What books?

 

Heh. I'm afraid that's a taste issue. After reading the Genre-by-Genre document' date=' I'd say my style falls somewhere between Epic Fantasy and Sword and Sorcery, with the emphasis on the latter. I prefer human(oid) foes, mundane-ish heroes, and a fairly good smattering of subtle corruption (demonic, undead, or simple human folly) pulling things down. [/quote']

 

If you like this style of fantasy, then I think you'd really enjoy The Last Dominion. It's almost exactly what you are describing.

[Spence]

Re: What books?

 

Heh. I'm afraid that's a taste issue. After reading the Genre-by-Genre document, I'd say my style falls somewhere between Epic Fantasy and Sword and Sorcery, with the emphasis on the latter. I prefer human(oid) foes, mundane-ish heroes, and a fairly good smattering of subtle corruption (demonic, undead, or simple human folly) pulling things down.

 

I don't mind the occasional Asian/Wuxia feel as a player, but it definitely ain't my cuppa tea for the long haul or as a GM.

 

On the other hand, if there's stuff in the book that fits well with a pseudo-Euro/Arabic setting, then I definitely am interested.

 

Some of the creatures have an obvious asian feel, but on the whole they are just really cool creatures. But with all of them, unless you use the pic, and unless that pic is specifically asian, no one would know. I have to say that while the standard Bestiary fills most of my casual encounters and MM&M for "fantasy" types. Most people (gamers) have a good grasp of creatures and their capabilities, until you pull out the asian version.

 

Good stuff

[Eosin]

Re: What books?

 

If you like this style of fantasy' date=' then I think you'd really enjoy The Last Dominion. It's almost exactly what you are describing.[/quote']

 

Thanks, I felt bad about pimping my own books.

 

I'd say my style falls somewhere between Epic Fantasy and Sword and Sorcery, with the emphasis on the latter. I prefer human(oid) foes, mundane-ish heroes, and a fairly good smattering of subtle corruption (demonic, undead, or simple human folly) pulling things down.

 

This is pretty much an exact description of The Last Dominion. Very human oriented with lots of warring petty states. The Ennwrathi (undead and demons) corrupt men by their mere presence, so even fighting them becomes a challange.

 

Check out the website ~ there is a metric ton of "stuff" in the downloads section that should give you a feel for the setting. There are also a number of HDv3 downloads that you can download that includes weapons, armor, magic, and some characters.

[Mercule]

Re: What books?

 

Check out the website ~ there is a metric ton of "stuff" in the downloads section that should give you a feel for the setting. There are also a number of HDv3 downloads that you can download that includes weapons' date=' armor, magic, and some characters.[/quote']

 

Looks very bloody cool. It's definitely going on my list. First up, though, is figuring out what the heck I'm looking at with Hero, which means Fantasy Hero. I wish I knew for sure if/when there was going to be a reprint. I'm starting to lean back toward getting the PDF, even though I'm not a fan of the medium.

[Tanir]

Re: What books?

 

Fantasy Hero is supposed to have a reprint sometime this fall' date=' hopefully sooner than later. Probably about the time they're gearing up to release [b']Tuala Morn[/b] and Celtic Beastiary. Otherwise the PDF is available now, and worth every penny.

 

Other books, as others have mentioned:

Grimoire I and Grimoire II are all spells. Tons of them.

Monsters, Minions & Marauders plus Hero System Bestiary are both chock full of monsters and creatures of all sorts, I value the Bestiary over MMM, but that's because it has wider appeal (not just fantasy focused).

 

 

 

Hi, everyone!

 

 

I'm a new recruit, having been thoroughly disappointed by the fourth edition of GURPS. The new edition of the HERO system appeals to me essentially because of the Grimoires and creatures books which ease the GM's task considerably.

 

So far I've purchased Sidekick on Amazon and Fantasy Battlegrounds and the Grimoires from my local store in France. Apparently they will receive a new copy of M, M & M shortly, but I haven't thought of asking them about Fantasy Hero itself. I haven't had much time to browse through M, M & M, but it seems to have quite a few humanoid races inside, with Dog-men replacing D&D Gnolls, for instance. I'll probably be able to see for myself next week...

 

Congratulations for all those books (Sidekick, in particular, made me feel like becoming familiar with the HERO System while the big 5th edition basic rulebook discouraged me a bit). I don't know if I'll switch from my dear old GURPS 3rd edition to HERO for my campaigns, but I'll definitely collect the books.

 

 

Regards,

 

 

Tanir

 

 

tanirogalarn@yahoo.fr

 

http://www.antredegurps.org/ (Sorry, site mostly in French for the moment)

[Thia Halmades]

Re: What books?

 

Few notes from the bench where the convert sits.

 

Fantasy Hero is a must buy; if you can suffer reading on a screen then... well, that's suffering, IMO, which says it all right there. Wait on the text, it's worth it. I love Fantasy Phonebook so much I will purchase the 5ER version when it's released. So there's a notch for that.

 

Ghost-Angel and I are in perfect agreement as to what to get, but I'll pare it down to more the total essentials:

 

- Ultimate Martial Artist (even damaged, a must have)

- Hero System Combat Handook (HSCH)

- Hero System Equipment Guide (HSEG)

- Hero System Bestiary (it's not just for fantasy anymore!) (HSB)

- Fantasy Hero (FH)

- The Ultimate Vehicle (TUV)

- Monsters, Minions & Marauders (MM&M)

 

I own Fantasy Battlegrounds - it's very good while being very "eh" all at the same time. I think there's some maps hiding in it (I'm too lazy to go look) and some adventure hooks if you're stuck for a plot some night. I wouldn't rank it high on my personal list, but I'm not selling it on eBay, either. Take that FWIW.

 

I converted from d20 to HERO about a year ago. Haven't looked back. Welcome aboard, have some rep, and if you haven't been immunized, please avoid the NGD. They're rabid.