Chris Goodwin

I think it was Crusaders for the armor and weapons, and the Hammer Horror films version of Abraham van Helsing for the turning undead part. And like you said, a spell for every special effect in the Bible.

I hereby dub the town, for whenever I run it, Sharpe's Corners, after a family named Sharpe who were early settlers.

In many of the Fantasy Hero games I remember from ye olden tymes (the Game Alliance of Salem, mid-late 80's) we had many Fantasy Hero games in which "arcane" wizards had healing spells, and few to no "cleric" types were to be found. The healing spell would often be one spell out of a list of some number between 3 and 8, and the same caster often would have damaging spells, defensive spells, non-healing buffs, and so on. Many magic systems that invoke the names of the gods could fall anywhere on the spectrum from arcane wizardly to devout priestly. As with everything, It Depends. If you're using "schools" of magic, it's possible that one or more might have healing spells in them, perhaps working differently (one to restore Impairing/Disabling wounds, and another one to restore BODY), and that a "true" healing might require both healing spells together. It's possible that there might be a specialist known as a "medical mage" who is required to have mundane medical skills as well as knowing one or more healing spells; I've often wanted to design healing spells that provide bonus Healing if the caster makes a medical skill roll. Those who minister to the flock don't have to be inherently magical, no matter the source of that magic; those who heal don't have to be associated with any deities. This is Fantasy Hero, after all!

Duke is being way too modest. I had the wild hair of an idea, wrote about two pages, then Duke added... what looks like another one hundred seventy seven pages! Seriously, thank you. You did, almost literally, a hundred times as much as I did. It wasn't all that hard to match up original module monsters with Bestiary entries.

A lot of times I start with a cosmology. How did the *verse come into being? Then from there I figure out parts of the magic system. Sometimes I start with the magic system and figure out what kind of cosmology could have brought it into being. But I know I run the risk of hearing "Blah blah blah, cosmology." Sometimes I really do want to hear parts of the 5000 year history of the pyramid builders.

I was just reminded of a "language generator" that can also create names. You can choose phonemes using the International Phonetic Alphabet, and it will generate the language or names with a consistent sound. Or you can let the generator do that too. The free version generates up to 200 words; there's a paid version to go up to 4000. https://www.vulgarlang.com/

A thing I've heard of being used with great success is writing down a list of twenty or a hundred names and keep it behind your screen. When you need one, pick from the list and check it off. Lists of people's names, lists of place names, and so on. Bonus points: add some kind of marking to denote how common a name is. Maybe your world has a name equivalent to "John". Another idea: you don't have to go to the trouble of creating a whole conlang, but if you look in a baby book or online you can find the meanings of names. Come up with the translations of those names into Common, or any number of dead languages, and you've got some neat sounding names. Do similar with occupations (how many IRL last names come from professions?) and general place names (wood, village, town, ford, crossing, city, river, sea, mountain, etc.).

In a web serial I've been reading, there's a running joke that in game sessions, someone will inevitably stop the GM in mid-description with "Blah blah blah, politics." It would seem to me that one could write that in one's world notes and save a lot of typing. 😂😂😂

What's the subgenre and tone? Is there a specific fantasy world the GM is trying to replicate? What does this world have that you wouldn't expect to see in a typical fantasy world? (The printing press? Railroads? Airships? Anything else?) What does this world not have that you ordinarily would expect to see in a typical fantasy world? Some basic notes about the world and its geography. "It's a flat disc carried on the backs of four elephants who live on the back of a giant turtle." "It's a pretty normal world with a sun and moon and stars." "There are giant floating islands all over the place. You might come from one of those." "The world is a giant floating cube in space, and each face is a different fantasy world with its own races, magic systems, etc." Are there elves, dwarves, hobbits? Are there other nonhuman races (catfolk, wolf people, winged ones, greys, etc.)? Are there any "typically evil" nonhumans as playable races (kobolds, goblins, orcs, etc.)? Are there racial animosities (i.e. elves and dwarves hate each other, catfolk hate orcs, etc.)? Are there gods? Do they empower clerics with divine magic? What magic system(s) are there? What kinds of magic items are there? How many? How are they generally created? What country/ies are the PCs from? How do those countries feel about one another? What other countries are there? Name of ruler, type of government, are they "good" or "evil"? A few other bits of detail about them. What organizations are there, that either the PCs might belong to or that might be hunting one or more of them? You don't need detailed notes about a dozen; evocative names and a basic note about their goals and membership is probably fine. A rough basic timeline with a dozen or so entries and maybe information about the current "age" if there is one.

Since Duke answered, and mentioned my name, I guess I'll answer as well. Why your username? It's my name. I was going to say something about "My parents gave it to me," but they didn't actually give me my username. Why your avatar or if no avatar why not? It's me, from a picture of me taken at my son's kindergarten graduation, which was in 2008. I look pretty much the same now, except the hair is a bit more grey. What area do you live in? Hillsboro, Oregon, in the western suburbs of Portland. What's your profession? I'm an IT geek... Are you Windows, MAC or Linux? Windows and Linux. I got started in Linux by forcing myself to have it single-boot on my computer, so I wouldn't be tempted to boot into Windows just to do something I could do on Linux. About six years ago or so, I finally relented and added a Windows partition. Over the past four or five years or so, my son made use of my computer as well, so was booting into Windows more frequently, and I've been using it more and more on my own computer. My preferred Linux distribution is Debian. Are there TV shows and/or movies you like to binge watch? Sci-fi, fantasy, and superhero. What drew you to the Hero System? A friend back in the 80's was a Champions player, and he would talk about it every so often but otherwise didn't try to advocate for it or anything. I'd picked up Autoduel Champions mainly for the helicopter rules for Car Wars, but I did keep looking at the superheroes in Car Wars and the autoduelling in Champions parts. Finally I started getting burned out on D&D, and finally said to my friend, I'm going to buy Champions, can I pick your brain when I need help? He said absolutely, and now here we are. Which edition did you start with? Third edition, though it was in the period where most of the people I was playing with had either first or second, and we weren't nitpicking edition differences anyway, so it was pretty much the first-gen mix. The group I was playing with got rapidly into the other Hero games; we probably played more Fantasy Hero, Robot Warriors, and Danger International than Champions. Which edition is your favorite? I have to say, 6th edition has been growing on me a lot. I've been playing a lot of 6th edition lately. Before that it was 3rd. What have you used the game for? Oh boy. Let's see: superheroes at various power levels and tones; lots of different fantasy, including a Fantasy Hero game based on the Bushido RPG, and one based on the Myth Adventures series by Robert Asprin; quite a lot of different Danger International games, a lot of which were modern military-based in some way, though there were also a number of sci-fi games using it; Robot Warriors; Battletech Hero using DI and RW; a Western Hero game before Western Hero existed, using DI and Justice Inc. along with various other western RPGs; and there are probably a lot of others I'm just plain forgetting. What point system have you ran or played in? Everything from 10 points (PvP games we called "Death Wish") to 700+ point monsters. What was your first Hero character? The first two I made were a mutated cat that stood on two legs, and a guy who fell off an ocean liner and was raised by dolphins. The first one I played was an heat-ray energy projector named Infrared. What was your favorite Hero character? Different ones at different times. Shifter was the 700+ point monster, played in a solo game with the friend who got me into the game. Chameleon was a permanently invisible brick. Subbei was a "budoka" (a ninja, really) in the Bushido game. A ki-rin in a high powered "yourselves in a fantasy world" game back in the 80's. A stretchy character in 2019. Current character in Champions, who is a TV actor who all of a sudden discovered he could switch forms into the alien character he played on TV, with the character's personality and memories (mentalist and pocket brick). Do you still play or GM the Hero System Still play. Recently GM'd a short Robot Warriors campaign using 6th edition characters and original RW mech build rules. Are there other games you play? A number of indie RPGs, off and on. D&D. Traveller. Nothing much beyond those, recently. On an A to F scale how do you rate the system overall? A! What are some house-rules, if any, you use in the past? Most of the recent games I've played in have used a "hero point" mechanic. If you could put together a 7th edition what are some things you add, omit and/or change? I've been keeping a file full of changes I'd make, but none of them are all that radical or even particularly new-edition worthy. Oh, I'd have a secret infinite multiversal cataclysm that would separate all of the Fantasy Hero settings into their own universes rather than being part of the Champions Universe. I'd formalize Differing Modifiers to be based on any set of Advantages that make sense, with GM permission; I'd tweak Healing some; I'd tweak Standard Effect some; I'd probably add back in some of the powers that went away over the years, like Instant Change and Suppress. I'd revamp Adjustment Powers with a bit more differentiation between those you'd primarily use on Characteristics and those you'd primarily use on Powers. I'd add some notes on generalized power systems (in other words, "magic systems" for other types of powers). And I'd add an appendix on "Editionless Hero" wherein a GM could bring back any rules from previous editions they wanted, with notes on how to get them to work with the current systems. I'd also release a Hero SRD under the Open Game License.

That's "manna". Mana is a Polynesian word meaning something like "power" that got co-opted by Westerners to represent magical power.

In Robot Warriors, it depends.

I'm always thinking about magic systems. One recent idea is: everyone can buy a power, probably just one, and with it you get an Everyman Power Skill. You're encouraged to buy the full skill, and in so doing you can turn your power into a "magic system" of sorts.

I can't find it in either of the supplements. That might have been one of those things that they assumed everybody know. I'm pretty certain there were published characters back in the day that had AP or other Advantages on STR. Edit to add: Armadillo, in the 3rd edition core rulebook, has 1/2 END Cost on his STR, through an OIF (suit), and it's costed correctly, based on 50 STR. Second edit, because I can't seem to get everything written down the first time : The Juggernaut in Enemies III has half END cost on 50 out of his 70 STR. I would say that the precedent is pretty well set with Reduced END Cost. Go ahead and buy AP on the character's STR; just note that if you're using Martial Arts with it you'll have to prorate it down, or else buy AP on your Martial Arts as well. I'm about 99% certain we had that as a rule Back In The Day, but it's been 30+ years.

If it's not in the core rulebook, try Champions III.