Starting over

[Bygoneyrs]

Hello everyone,

 

I am new to this form but not new to Champions or RPGing at all. I am

a 44 yr old gamer that has played D&D and Traveller for close to 32 yrs.

I started playing Champions in v2 and have collected it since. Over the

years I have loved the Hero's system, and have often wanted to

convert my own D&D campaign and Traveller campaign to using Hero's

system.

 

Now in the last couple of years I have collected everything I could get

my hands on for D&D v3.5, and anything Traveller. At the same time

my oldest son age 12, has started to play RPG himself and has fully

taken to the Hero's sytem. Thus I have purchased for him all the books

out for v5 Hero's (Champions, Dark Champions, Fantasy Hero, and

Star Hero) I will also purchase the New Traveller Hero books, and

PA genre as well too.

 

So having a great resource library at my finger tips(I love hard copy

books ONLY), I now want to begin the task of converting my D&D

campaign into a Fantasy Hero campaign. Yes I know that D&D is

about to release a new v4 version of the game up from v3.5. I have

spent far to much on loads of books to do it again. When I think of

all the different books for D&D, AD&D, v2, v2.5, v3, and v3.5 I'm

not doing it again. They killed off both the Dragon and Dungeon

mags, and I have them from issue #1s of each...I refuse to continue

to support that system any more. My son doesn't really like the D20

system, and perfers the Hero's system.

 

Now that there is a conversion path for me to take both my D&D

campaign into Fantasy Hero, and my Traveller campaign into

Traveller Hero..I am extremely happy. Heck now with PA, I can

even bring Gamma World back to life again as well too.

 

So starting with my Fantasy campaign which I have DM'd now with

multiple groups for over 20 yrs, how best might I start converting

that to Fantasy Hero? Any thoughts on this redesign path? Also

what is this I hear of a new updated/revised Fantasy Hero core

book due out in Dec 2007?

 

Penn

[Maur]

Re: Starting over

 

Check out Killer Shrike's website for conversions of D20 to HERO.

 

http://www.killershrike.com/

[Bygoneyrs]

Re: Starting over

 

Awesome help, and thanks!

 

Penn

[teh bunneh]

Re: Starting over

 

Hi Penn, and welcome aboard! You and your son are obviously men of great intelligence and class.

 

I will second Maur's suggestion that you check out Shrike's site. It's a very useful resource.

 

When I was converting my 20+ year AD&D campaign to Hero, one thing dawned on me... Using Hero, I didn't have to convert things over on a 1:1 basis. There were a lot of things I didn't like about how D&D worked -- just about everything that had to do with spell casting, for instance, from the spell lists to the way spells are cast.

 

I began tinkering and changing the things I didn't like, making the world (and the system that supported it) more my own. I've ended up with a game world that is recognizable to someone who's played D&D, but that isn't the same as D&D.

 

So my piece of friendly advice is to build the world that you want to build, and don't be limited to copying what they do in D&D. Keep those things you love, but don't be afraid to modify or toss out the things you don't. With Hero, the sky's the limit!

[MorpheousXO]

Re: Starting over

 

Oh yes, this is a very nice system to build things with that come straight out of your brain. Currently I'm working on two custom worlds with HERO. I've been working mainly on a DnD inspired Fantasy Setting lately, so I feel I can speak on this a bit... though not too much since you've already been directed to the bulk of the work.

 

Definitely use KS's site (he should be along anytime now with some words of wisdom). If you decide to stick with the magic system he's got it all there. Heck, even if you decide to depart he's got a bunch of others to use. The only thing he doesn't really have are monster/creature write-ups, but the Beastiary is good for alot of that, and there's lots of write-ups online for various things.

 

As far as converting monsters goes, I can say that KS's conversion guidelines are superb, as I just used them to convert over all the age categories of Gold Dragons (slightly modified to fit in with my setting's background).

 

For some more conversions and such, check out Surbrook's Stuff, lots of goodies there (and don't be afraid to modify stuff there from other genres, I can't wait to find out how the "LV-426 Life Form" holds up in a game... someday).

 

Anyways, I'll be doing more conversions as time goes on (modified, but thus far they haven't been too big of changes), so just let me know if you're interested... or maybe I should post them up for critiquing...

 

Anyways, have fun, and keep us posted on how things go!

[Bygoneyrs]

Re: Starting over

 

Greetings my felllow players,

 

Thank you so very much for your thoughts so far, they have been of

great help and support. I must say having some more time after

reading a bit I have alot to think about. For me I really have three

campaigns to think about:

 

AD&D converting to Fantasy Hero

 

Gamma World converting to Post-apocolyptic Hero

 

Traveller converting to Traveller Hero

 

Each of these three campaigns set in my only home grown campaign

backdrop all have 20+ years of developement and game play to them.

Now looking at the three of them, there is alot of work to be done or

rather redone. It kills me because over the last 2-3 years I have spent

tons of money (don't tell the wife) on upgrading my resource library

to upgrade to v3.5 for D&D D20 system.

 

 

Now I am considering merging both my AD&D and Gamma World

campaigns together. Simply the world reached a high tech level but

had a great war and the great accomplishments of the "Ancients'

have mostly been lost or forgotten. Now what remains is greatly

unknown or misunderstood. The world has changed and many

mutations have happened and many new creatures have emerged

and carved out a nitch. Also in the process "Magic" has been dicovered

and spread with acceptance. The campaign is mostly Fantasy based

with some items from the "ancients" thrown in.

 

Now my own Traveller campaign is actuallty two campigns really.

The first traditional one was set in the Verge sector in 1109 or so.

The 2nd one is one more of my own creation. Set in my own universe,

the humans culture set out on a major quest to save itself. Earth

was greatly damaged by the stupidity, greed, and foolishness off

the 21st and 22nd century. Mankind built great Arks that were

sleeper ships and were sent out to this new star system that would

take some 200 yrs to reach. Well the new star system Alninnar, with

a yellow son like our own and had four planets and one asteroid belt.

The system had two worlds that could support life, one much like our

own Earth (before mankind damaged it), and a would much like Dune

in nature (mankind would need to wear a special breather to live on

the surface there). So over twenty years , one ark was lanched each

year on the 200 year voyage. Well the first 17 made it, but no sign

of the reamining 3 has ever been heard from. Also around the time

after the 1th Ark was launched, all data transmitions from Earth also

stopped. It has been 30 years since the last Ark arrived within system

and at campaign start mankind have reached the state to start to

explore the star systems surrounding their new home system. The

players make up a team of scouts, dispatched to explore. I don't use

standard 'Jump drive' but instead Sleeper Tubes and slow passage

between systems, kinda like what was used in Aliens II Movie.

 

I look at what I have done and I have alot to look at and try to figure

out where to start from and etc. My head is swimming with the

thought of restarting again and just picking a point to start with.

Plus I have to decide which campaign to start with, I like them both.

 

Penn

[tancred]

Re: Starting over

 

Penn, welcome to the board!

You have a lot of work ahead of you, but there are a couple of things that can help.

 

First, RIGHT NOW, buy Hero Designer, if you haven't already.

It's a STEAL for only $25, and it will make your life MUCH easier. It is so very easy to use, and makes creating whatever is in your head go very quickly indeed.

You can also pick up the character pack for the Bestiary for a song, to give you monsters ready to use.

 

Second, for your Fantasy Hero game, let me echo what keyes_bill said. The beautiful thing about Hero is that you aren't limited by the system. Consider getting away from the D&D magic system, and letting your imagination run wild.

 

I'm starting a Turakian Age game, using that book and the 2 Fantasy Hero Grimoires, and it is going to be a blast.

I happen to really like the magic system Turakian Age uses, and I think my (so-far-only-one) magic-using player is going to, too. Give it a look, if your budget will stretch that far (I know that problem; it's why I don't have Post-Apocalyptic Hero yet).

[Thia Halmades]

Re: Starting over

 

I'll add a log to this fire.

 

One, I did the exact same thing; I came over from d20 3.5 and into HERO. Which was pretty awesome; both wide open, and initially, weirdly limiting as I didn't get my head around "how to" do things quite yet. I'm well past that now.

 

Shrike built a rough approximation of the d20 magic system; I took it a step further and went ahead and did my own conversion of the magic system (currently you have Wizard 1-5 & Cleric 1-3 available to you in their respective threads). I mostly did it for the challenge and to see what really "translated" well and what didn't.

 

Unlike many of my fellow posters, I really love the 'specificness' of the d20 magic system; one of the things it's easy to get drawn into with HERO is "Fly/Shield/Blast" -- things tend, by nature, to run to the generic, so you have to fiddle quite a bit to get them pared down and feeling truly unique. That was the whole reason I took on the project in the first place; I wanted to retain the "feel" of d20 magic without sacrificing the flexibility.

 

It may be of zip in the help department, but if you want a "true" conversion, I endeavored (and received much help, especially from Hyper-Man) to re-create them as literally as possible. I then leapt back to HERO: Combat Evolved which takes up an aggregious amount of my time.

 

Eventually I'll do Cleric 4 & 5, then figure out what's missing for Druids, Paladins, etc. & so forth.

 

If you don't by Hero Designer, you are teh lame. You don't want to be teh lamez. Buy Hero Designer today. Seriously. Don't touch another book until you've purchased the software. I'm not kidding.

 

Do it. Do it now.

[Killer Shrike]

Re: Starting over

 

D&D 3e to HERO System Conversion

[Spence]

Re: Starting over

 

Re: Hero Designer.

 

[soapbox mode]

 

I am an old gamer from the years when it was a new thing and cut my teeth on the first D&D. I can remember the first SciFi RPG. Yadda yadda yadda.

 

I have had a computer since the old days.

 

There have been many many many small programs, both home brew and commercial, that were designed to be used to create characters. I have bought many and they were all junk.

 

For the longest my idea of computer aided character design was a template of the character sheet that I could fill in. Mostly because all the so called character design software out there was garbage.

 

Then there is Hero Designer. It is probably the only one out there that not only does 98% of everything involved in designing characters, vehicles, bases, monsters, everything else and so on. But has provisions for the missing 2% so you can add customized anything to tweek your house changes into whatever you are building.

 

I won't say you must have it or order you to get it. Because I steadfastly refused for a long time. And then even after buying it I hardly ever started it up. Even when GMing. Then I started to use it for the last game I ran. I was able to create/update/ready everything in one evening in preparation for the Sat game instead of the 3-4 nights using only paper and the book. The character packs are worth their weight in gold. Need a monstrous beast? Open the normal animal from Bestiary, tweek, save as ?, and there you have it. 2 minute monster.

 

Plus if you need a creature/monster and just don't have time or can't think how to start. Just ask on the board and you'll get 4-5 versions plus 3-4 links to sites with more before you can shake a stick.

 

In the end, I would really really recommend getting HD. It is something that actually delivers what it promised.

 

And that is rare these days.

 

[/soapbox mode]

 

 

PS Welcome aboard

[Hyper-Man]

Re: Starting over

 

Let me add an obligatory "ditto" to the chorus regarding Hero Designer. It just rocks.

[Thia Halmades]

Re: Starting over

 

And oh yeah.

 

Hi.

 

I am the Lord Captain Thia Halmades.

 

But you can call me Thia.

 

Have some rep. It won't count until you have 50 posts in forums other than the NGD (Non Gaming Discussion). But I rep all the new people. So ... yeah, that's it.

 

...

 

Did you buy Hero Designer yet?

[eternal_sage]

Re: Starting over

 

i also am a DYED IN THE WOOL d20 player who gave WoTC the &$*% boot over the CRAP they call game books lately. Fantasy HERO is THE DEAL if your world is different, even if only by a small amount. my wife and i have an oriental fantasy game that we created for d20 origiinally, taking 4-5 MONTHS of intense work just to get a barebones ready to try, not even having creatures, or much beyond base mechanics lined up.

 

3 weeks in, and the things nearly done, doing the martial arts packages and creature packs now, both in HERO Designer and in PDF format (will post when its done, and not until!). and it FEELS right, unlike the d20 version! its awesome!

 

good luck with all that.

 

and THATS AWESOME about your son! keep up the good work!

[Killer Shrike]

Re: Starting over

 

 

Definitely use KS's site ... The only thing he doesn't really have are monster/creature write-ups, but the Bestiary is good for alot of that, and there's lots of write-ups online for various things.

 

As far as converting monsters goes, I can say that KS's conversion guidelines are superb, as I just used them to convert over all the age categories of Gold Dragons (slightly modified to fit in with my setting's background).

Yes, I got out of the practice of providing Monster write ups. In my original AD&D 2e to HERO System 4e conversion I went thru the MM and converted it all, and made it available. Big mistake for a lot of reasons.

 

1) It mostly just served to touch off a lot of arguments. How much Regen should a Troll have, how much damage should a Linoleum Dragon's breath weapon really do, but your Hill Giant smooshes most of my groups PC's with one swoop of their oversized club...etc etc...

 

2) Most monsters are about 70% the same after converted; they do a certain amount of damage, take a certain amount of damage, and have one or a few custom abilities. Rinse & Repeat. Most differences are just "SFX" or presentation -- cosmetics. The entire process of converting was painfully boring.

 

3) Having them on hand didn't really save me any time anyway, because whenever I was actually going to use something in an actual game I'd end up tweaking it out anyway...I found it was generally better to write them as I needed them. Having them on hand was useful for spur of the moment needs from time to time, but I don't really do "random" encounters -- people's time at the table is too valuable to waste on pointless / meaningless encounters. If I do a "random encounter" its not really random -- its tailored and carefully selected, even if it has nothing to do with the actual plot line.

 

4) The template approach (as described on my site) is a faster, more leveraged approach in general.

 

5) Its a huge drain on my almost nonexistent free time to convert over the hordes and multitudes of monsters from D&D. There's just way too damn many of them, and most of them are silly, lame, retarded, or just an unimaginative collation of other monsters. (IMO)

 

 

So, in the end I prefer to teach people how to fish rather than give them fish. Thus, I present advice on how to do it instead, and let people apply them as they see fit. It's a fairly easy exercise to take an MM entry and translate it into the HERO System using the guidelines I provide...just the other night I did a quick conversion of a quasit thuamaturgist and Goblin Dogs from Pathfinder #1. It's easy to do with the application of a little patience and some common sense.

[tancred]

Re: Starting over

 

snip

It's easy to do with the application of a little patience and some common sense.

 

AND Hero Designer! :thumbup:

[MorpheousXO]

Re: Starting over

 

Oh yes, no chance in heck would I have tried to convert a gold dragon without HERO Designer. So very nice to just start with Wyrmling then add stuff til I hit Great Wyrm (then go backwards and fix the stuff I messed up cause I did it in two sessions two weeks apart from each other...).

 

And I definitely wasn't dissing the lack of monsters on your site. Your guidelines truly are superb, and it's fun to convert when you know what you're doing. :

 

Now I just need to figure out what to convert next (afterall, I'm also doing this to get a feel for where things are DIFFERENT between my world and DnD, the Divine Dragon isn't quite the same as a Gold Dragon).

 

Ooh, idea just popped into my head... though not for converting... gotta write it down, ciao!

[Killer Shrike]

Re: Starting over

 

Yes, HeroDesigner is awesome in its awesomely awesomeness.

 

As an aside, the SAVE AS TEMPLATE and NEW CHARACTER FROM TEMPLATE functionality is very very useful when creating monsters. I use it all the time to create a baseline and save it as a template, and then create iterative / more progressed versions by opening new from template and adding / taking away.

[shadowcat1313]

Re: Starting over

 

if you ever have any questions or need any help on traveller hero, just ask here on the forums, or send one of us a PM. Eodin and Tancred and I all are active on the boards, as is Polaris from Com-Star Games itself.