Lord Mhoram Posted November 6, 2007 Report Share Posted November 6, 2007 Something that has been rattling around in the back of my head while working on my Fantasy Hero game, and the articles I write for Digital Hero that are an outgrowth of that.... We all know how flexible Hero is when looking at characters and powers. We do see some of that same flexibility in campaign design, but it really shows itself when importing things from other game systems. Two cases in point- In my years of playing fantasy based RPGs I loved the feel and style of the rolemaster magic system. I like the three realms, and the "ancient arts" that were before that. I liked that people could be really powerful mages, or could dabble. I liked the segregation of magic types. It took a bit of finagling but I worked a spell system for Hero that felt like what I wanted, keeping the things from Rolemaster's look and feel that I liked. And I still played D&D, until, finally I analyzed what I liked about D&D. I liked feats, I liked classes (or rather class abilities), I liked the laundry list of abilities to chose from. I also liked, specifically, quite a few spells, and lots and lots of said feats and class abilities. I also liked a number of races and such. So, it finally dawned on me to convert that stuff over. A lot of work, but I have nearly 200 talents that are adapted from feats, and some class abilities, I have a number of professional packages that give all sorts of nifty special abilties. I have more spells that I worked into the system I had adapted from rolemaster. So I am GMing (and playing solo) Fantasy Hero that in my mind has the best elements of D&D and Rolemaster grafted to Hero, and it works. And someone playing my game might not even know where these major pieces of flavor, color and mechanics came from, but that they work in Fantasy Hero. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killer Shrike Posted November 6, 2007 Report Share Posted November 6, 2007 Re: Conversion and System Flexibility Yep. Mechanics usually don't come over well from other systems, but concepts typically do. Here's a general doc I wrote on conversion styles for those of a mind to undertake such a thing for themselves: Conversion Styles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Mhoram Posted November 6, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 6, 2007 Re: Conversion and System Flexibility Yep. Mechanics usually don't come over well from other systems, but concepts typically do. Mechanics inform and define feel to an extent. If a game has a mechanic of spell backfiring on a failed magic roll (Rolemaster does this) or not allowing certain types of character access to certain wepaons or spells (as in older D&D), to duplicate that feel, to work with those concepts, you have to find a way, with Hero, to duplicate the "look and feel" of that mechanic. Part of my post was just talking about how Hero is flexible enough to do that. And I love the stuff on your site, even if I don't use the stuff directly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killer Shrike Posted November 6, 2007 Report Share Posted November 6, 2007 Re: Conversion and System Flexibility Mechanics inform and define feel to an extent. If a game has a mechanic of spell backfiring on a failed magic roll (Rolemaster does this) or not allowing certain types of character access to certain wepaons or spells (as in older D&D), to duplicate that feel, to work with those concepts, you have to find a way, with Hero, to duplicate the "look and feel" of that mechanic. Part of my post was just talking about how Hero is flexible enough to do that. And I love the stuff on your site, even if I don't use the stuff directly. Right -- what I'm saying is the IDEA of a side effect on fail is doable, the EXACT WAY IT WAS DONE in the other system may not be. The CONCEPT vs the MECHANIC. The doc I linked to discusses "Total", "Look & Feel", and "Reboot" conversions, and the pros & cons thereof. The Total conversion would try to duplicate the mechanic, the L&F the idea, and the Reboot would substitute some preexisting arrangement native to the new system (if any). My approach is generally Look & Feel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Mhoram Posted November 6, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 6, 2007 Re: Conversion and System Flexibility Right -- what I'm saying is the IDEA of a side effect on fail is doable' date=' the EXACT WAY IT WAS DONE in the other system may not be. The CONCEPT vs the MECHANIC.[/quote'] Okay I get ya. Completely true. I just love the fact that while we talk about modeling an effect, or model a character, Hero can also model another game system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted November 7, 2007 Report Share Posted November 7, 2007 Re: Conversion and System Flexibility As some folks around here know, I spent several years collecting and collating HEROphile-created conversions from other RPGs on the Internet. If any proof were needed of HERO's ability to adapt concepts from other games, it's the extraordinary volume and diversity of what the system's players have demonstrably adapted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorpheousXO Posted November 8, 2007 Report Share Posted November 8, 2007 Re: Conversion and System Flexibility Just wondering, will any of this be getting posted/linkied? (or have I just not browsed over to the FH forum to see it's already there...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted November 8, 2007 Report Share Posted November 8, 2007 Re: Conversion and System Flexibility Just wondering' date=' will any of this be getting posted/linkied? (or have I just not browsed over to the FH forum to see it's already there...)[/quote'] Well, it's a little dated now (I haven't had time or energy to include stuff created or modified over the last few months), but you can find my RPG conversion compilation here: http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23298 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Mhoram Posted November 8, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 8, 2007 Re: Conversion and System Flexibility Just wondering' date=' will any of this be getting posted/linkied? (or have I just not browsed over to the FH forum to see it's already there...)[/quote'] On my end not really - some might be, but I've posted prelim stuff a while ago. A lot of what I do ends up fodder for Digital Hero Articles - I've done two that are collections of feats, a basic plug in magic system, a character article, and a collection of original races. Up coming/currently being written I have a third talents article, some more characters, another magic system (this one will be a big one), and another idea I had recently. The stuff I've done for my primary magic system, I might post, or link to some PDFs I've done, but my format doesn't fit well with the boards for my spells. That would be one I'd be willing to share, as I couldn't sell it (way to much direct adaption/conversion in it). If Anyone is interested in seeing it, I'd be glad to emails the PDFs of my magic system and spells - it is always a work in progress. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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