Possible Fantasy Adventure

[Dr Divago]

Hallo heroes;

in near future, maybe i'll make part of a con, with fantasy theme (possible name: Hobbiton; in Roma, in January 2004)

 

And probably i'll must GMastering an adventure. Because of fantasy theme of the con, i cannot GM'ing Champions, so i'll GM a fantasy hero adventure!

 

Well, this is not sure, but possible; so i'll start to prepare the adventure

 

Now, the problem: the magic.

I dont want to create an entire magical system for a 2-3 hours adventure (with player who, at best, have never RolePlayed, and at worst, are D&D players...)

 

So i'm thinking about create some "magical ability" using standard Hero Systems Rules.

So i've thinked:

1) Summon spirit magic; elf who can call for an help summoning spirit essence (like fairy or like). I can build this like a Multipower (nature fairy for heeling, energy fairy for force field, air fairi for extra movement...)

2) Blood magic; dark elf (or dark human) who can tap energy from his blood, losing BODY (or STUN or normal damage) to power magic (builded like power with side effect)

3) Rune magic; casted using stone focus with rune carved into, or tatoo; this rune are single don't recoverable charge

4) item Magic; power activated by using a magic item (like staff or rod or wand )

 

But the question is: all of this is VERY EXPENSIVE; Heroic games (like standard fantasy) are build with fewer points than superheroic, so this can be very.. too expensive! (considered that some racial pakages likes High Elf are very expensive)...

 

So... i'm waiting for conseils...

[swobeas]

LIMITATIONS!!!

 

In your case, for unexperienced HERO players I would go the way described in Fantasy Hero (the old one).

 

Let them buy a magic skill and a KS Magic(of whatever sort).

Now they have to buy each spell individually but loaded full with limitations as

 

-requires a skill roll (magic) -1/2

-gestures -1/2

-incantations -1/2

-extra time full Phase

-concentrate (1/2 DCV) -1/2

-focus (magic stuff, amulett...)

-increased END cost x2

-only when no armor worn -1/4

-VERY important side effects (having a small explosion in the hand if the fireball doesn't work)

-charges ( maybe like 5 times a day ?)

-limitations that fit to the type of magic like no fire magic in heavy rain -1/4...

 

As you see, you can easily find limitations worth ranging from -2 to maybe -4, which saves points...

and PLUS these limitations enhance fantasy atmosphere ( I have never seen a fantasy wizard doing a spell while tied together with ropes, wearing heavy field plate armor with a old stinky sock in the mouth while a giant spider bites him in the foot....you see what I mean.) Magic is a difficult thing to do and is therefore worth many limitations...

 

Hope tha this is fine for you and the players...

 

Swobeas

[Alcamtar]

If you have inexperienced players, or those new to the Hero system, I'd suggest providing them with a D&D-style "spell summary" sheet instead of full Hero spell writeups.

 

For example if your spell is Fireball: EB 6d6, 3" radius, OAF sulfur ball, Incantation, Concentration, etc., summarize it as:

 

Fireball

Range: 150"

Area: 3" radius

Difficulty: -3

END Cost: 3 (or alternately, Charges: 4 per day)

Focus: sulfur ball

Effect: Does 6d6 damage (energy)

Cost: 24 (60 active)

 

You can provide the full writeup on another sheet for reference, but this will make things much easier to newcomers.

 

Anyway, as for costs, you might consider dividing all costs by 2 or 3, if you want wizards to have a lot of spells. For example, if dividing by three, a fireball costing 24 real points would only cost 8 real points.

 

Alternately, you could buy spells as skills (INT, 2/1). So to buy a fireball with a skill roll of (12-); taking the skill roll penalty into account would require a base roll of (15-), which would cost 6 points. If doing this though you might want to require a background perk costing 20 or 30 points, or everyone wil pick up a bunch of spells.

 

Finally, if this is a Con game and you are an experienced Hero GM, you could just make pregen characters and ignore the point costs; give them whatever powers and abilities you want them to have, with an eye toward keeping things balanced, and don't worry about cost. You could make a 500-point "Gandalf", but if his spells are subtle and low powered, a 75 point warrior will be able to keep pace with him. Pregens will also save a lot of time, and let you tailor the adventure to the characters.

 

For limitations, consider Charges; for a one-shot game, these will make spell use very easy to keep track of (no END accounting, just X spells per day), and are also worth a decent limitation. Most D&D players would be quite happy with 2-4 charges on any given spell, a 1 charge on rarely-used spells. (A low powered main combat spell, like a 1d6 magic missile, should have plenty of charges though).

 

Mike

[Dr Divago]

Originally posted by Alcamtar

f you have inexperienced players, or those new to the Hero system, I'd suggest providing them with a D&D-style "spell summary" sheet instead of full Hero spell writeups.

 

Well, this is a good idea... a very good idea!

I've made a "simplified" character sheet, coloured and with only simple description about powers for Superheroic Con Adventure; for Fantasy, i'mthinking about a more simplified and coloured sheet.

I think your suggestion is good for simplifed spell description

 

 

Finally, if this is a Con game and you are an experienced Hero GM, you could just make pregen characters and ignore the point costs; give them whatever powers and abilities you want them to have, with an eye toward keeping things balanced, and don't worry about cost. You could make a 500-point "Gandalf", but if his spells are subtle and low powered, a 75 point warrior will be able to keep pace with him. Pregens will also save a lot of time, and let you tailor the adventure to the characters.

 

For limitations, consider Charges; for a one-shot game, these will make spell use very easy to keep track of (no END accounting, just X spells per day), and are also worth a decent limitation. Most D&D players would be quite happy with 2-4 charges on any given spell, a 1 charge on rarely-used spells. (A low powered main combat spell, like a 1d6 magic missile, should have plenty of charges though).

Well, i'musing pregenerated characters; the only i've build is an elf female, who can "speech" with spirits and faerie, and "summon" faery in world to help her...

Mechanically, is a multipower, every power built in afixed slot with charges (some power with more charges than another)

Global cost is about 15 points,so not expensive.

Only problem is that is possible to "summon" more than1 faerie (use more than 1 power, 'cause with Gesture, Incantations and RSR, real cost for slot is very low...), and i don't' want to bother inexperienced players with "active point cost" and "real point cost" to calculate how many power canuse in the same time...

but i'm thinking about "limiting" this to only 1 faerie at time, or using a flat "only 3 faerie at the same time"rule...