Rob_Knotts

In working out test chars for Fantasy Hero, I've decided to treat fantasy characters as "Superheroic", where characters have to pay points for anything the average person doesn't have (spells, armour, weapons, riding animals). I'd still like to keep weapons some discrete from characters though, since so many fantasy games encourage the collection of weapons from enemies. I'd also like a more specfic structure for weapons for when it comes to spells that affect what a weapon does and how it does it. My current idea is to set up a framework similar to vehicles/bases/computers with a similar 1:5 point ratio. The basic idea is to describe weapons as having four basic stats: Max DEX, Max SPD, DEF, BODY. Any thing else the weapon can do, particularly attacks, are bought as powers using the weapons points but used as if they belonged to the wielder, i.e. a sword with a HKA would use the wielder's STR to determine total damage. I'd also be using this structure to creat e shields using Missile Deflection and (possibly) skill levels for Block. As an example, a basic broadsword might look like this: DEX 18 (24) SPD 3 (12) DEF 8 (8) BODY 5 (5) HKA(edge): 1&1/2d (25) HKA(point): 2d, only w/Find Weakness roll (-1/4) (24) Active Cost: 108 Perk Cost: 22 I'd be very interested in any constructive comments you might have.

All I can think to ask is that you don't restrict inspiration to just books or movies. I'm sure I don't have to remind the folks that publish Champions that comics have alway included a lot of great ideas for fantasy, although I get the feeling that they're often overlooked by game authors. Also, don't be shy about looking to videogames for idea for creatures. I know some people stigmatize video games as juvenile, but I've seen some monsters in games I could only dream of seeing in a major motion picture. Lastly, don't overlook b-movies, both fantasy and horror. A lot of these feature monsters no major motion picture would touch (Pumpkinhead and Deep Rising come to mind). Along the same lines, horror monsters often work just as well in fantasy settings: the Alien monster would be just as scary in a dwarven mine or isolated castle, the Kothoga creature from Relic would probably work better in fantasy, the Cen(t)obites from Hellraiser are perfect for sophisticted demons... I could go on but I'm starting to have flashbacks of watching late night cable during my teens....

I'm still mulling over how I want handle armor, but what thing I'm pretty sure I will do is make players pay for it with points. My players and most fantasy players I've met simply never remove thier armour during gameplay. If they want armour to be such a ubiquitous feature of thier character, they can pay for it with points. OIF and Real Armour will be required as well, I'm not sure about encumberance yet.

I liked the gritty feel of old cover (spearman vs an orc/ogre on a snowy mountainside), but I also think the new "superheroic" cover seems appropriate to the modern fantasy gaming market. Look at other fantasy games like D&D or Exalted, fantasy gaming nowadays is already leaning heavily toward the superheroic. By the time ICE's Fantasy Hero came out, I'd had a lot of experience in the more subdued fantasy gaming found in systems like GURPS, so I found the old cover quite appealing. Compared to it's modern peers, however, I find the new superheroic Fantasy Hero cover just as a appealing.

So, when are ya gonna show us the final version of Storn's cover so we can drool over it?

I don't like the idea of adding a package bonus, arbitrary things like that really rub me the wrong way when it comes ot HERO, but I do like the idea of letting players "get around" the rules. But that I don't mean get around the basic HERO rules, but get around the rules I've set up for the setting. In particular, when if I'm going to ban powers or set up cost minimums for powers in a game, I'll try to offer some package concepts that "break" those rules. As George Carlin said: "My rules, I make'em up!" Likewise I'll break my own rules if it seems appropriate to a package I'm writing up. For example, I've considered banning HKAs, or at least giving them a high minimum for my upcoming FH game (rather have the PCs using swords). However, I'd be perfectly happy including an HKA for a Werewolf or Vampire package, even if I've banned the power or would othewise require it a higher minimum cost than what's listed in the package.

Guidelines are garbage, especially in an archetype-heavy genre like fantasy. I've come across too many GURPS and HERO players who will take a great interest in the guidelines set out for a game, carefully discuss them with the GM, and then completely ignore them so that they can min/max thier character at the expense of any sort of roleplaying concept. And please spare me the "any GOOD GM" rebuttle, players will go min/maxing over roleplaying concept under whatever GM they have, the only difference for them is how far they can get away with it. And as for NCM being some sort of freebie disad, allow me to reiterate that normal humans use the regular NCM as published, whereas the "tweaked" NCM will all be part of racial packages. And once again, no guidelines here, all the packages will be offered on an all-or-nothing basis, and for just about every racial package I can think of NCM will only be one of several disads. So it's not just a matter of the player picking whatever NCM he's most comfortable with, it'll be a choice of no NCM, NCM as published, or a "tweaked" NCM as one of several disads attached to a package. In GURPS, having an INT of 13 actually means something! -One of my players on switching back from D&D 3e to GURPS.

Only if the NCM is pointless to begin with - if you're using NCM in the first place you're accepting the fact that Charateristic Maxima are important. As as far as "tweaking" them goes, there's nothing artificial about it, in that NCM is artificial (subjective, arbitrary) in the first place. The only thing establishing the published NCM as the one and only set of maxima is tradition. I also suspect you're making the mistake a lot of people make in discounting the of lowered maxima accompanying raised maxima. Sure, a 25 STR is useful for everybody, but a maximum of 12 in EGO or PRE is likely to affect a lot of characters as well. And you an bank on the idea that when I increase a maximum I'm going to be lowering a maximum right along with it. Besides, all of this only matters if the players try and buy up beyond the maxima, and I plan to make taking NCM optional in the first place. They can deal with it or not, it's up to them.

For my first FH game, I plan to make NCM optional - but with a few catches. First, it won't be common but it also won't be unsual for spells to be written with NCM in mind. I'm not quite sure what euphemism to use: fated, blessed, epic, something like that, but it'll come up for some Detect spells and power Limiations (Only works on "Fated" characters). The other catch will be that most, if not all racial packages will include NCM, although each race is also likely to have slightly altered NCMs (higher STR/lower INT, that sort of thing). My philosphy is that these packages will also be optional (your character can be an Orc with or w/o the package, but the package has some benefits), and even if they do use a package there's nothing forcing them to buy up stats above the maximums. Characters who don't pick NCM or any racial packages have more freedom, but some spells will be designed specifically for them, and the packages will include some advantages they can't get elsewhere (aside from a modified NCM). For example, I don't like flying characters, they complicate things a lot, so I plan to put a minimum of 30pts or so on Flight. However, since it's my game and I'm writing up the racial packeges, I'll be perfectly happy to give Gargolyes or some other kind of Winged Folk Flight at below minimum cost because it's part of an overall package.

My Bullette write up is already overdue. Signature monster of mine, and my players will almost be disappoined if it doesn't show in early in my FH game Right now I'm giving some thought to Mind flayers ( ). The psychic powers almost too easy in Hero, the problem is the whole brain-sucking ability (kinda hard to do an "instant kill" attack in Hero ).

Fantasy Anime It's a shame that a lot anime from the 80s and earlier will never be produced for the English-speaking market. One outstanding anime film that most English speaking fans have never heard of is Arion, a harsh, over-the-topic epic about the Greek gods wiping each other out. This is the sort of serious anime film that can only be compared with the likes of Akira or Mononoke, and I simply can't put into words the kind of ambitious fantasy imagery it contains.