Christopher R Taylor

Right, and the more distant in history you get the more opportunities for this kind of thing. Napoleon was a horrible warmongering despot, but after over two centuries you can admire the guy for some things and imagine playing a French soldier. But that is one aspect that would be good to emphasize: you don't know the big picture. You don't even know the small picture. You know who your friends are and where the bullets are coming from and want to get home.

With all of the optional rules applied, Hero can be very deadly, but that works well for this kind of setting. Although you could have a super elite force of Rambo types that never seem to get hurt much, the default would probably be high lethality. That means you could have a high turnover in characters, unusual for Hero but it can be interesting for players; reinforcements showing up, guys being sent home from serious injury, etc.

I'd call the parachute OIF, because it wasn't a one-phase operation to remove. OAF means something easy to remove, a simple act (if you hit) such as taking away a club or a hat. Something with straps and clips that takes longer than a phase to remove I lean toward OIF, and if it takes a turn, then definitely.

If the entire line was renamed "x champions" then the confusion would be significantly reduced. And as rjcurrie notes, the confusion with Dark Champions is mostly the fact that it WAS originally for gritty champions adventures. Its like naming a shoe company Nike then expanding it to include wedding dresses and car parts. People are going to associate it with shoes. Plus, there's nothing innately "dark" about spy or modern adventures, but the name is in there. So its more the "dark" part that's the confusing bit than the "champions" part, I suspect.

OAF presumes that the focus can be easily restrained and removed from the character, even used against them. Like a pistol, not a backpack.

Its reasonable to presume that the weight and restriction to movement that armor causes would tend to negate the benefits of combat luck. Almost all of the spells that add resistant protection in my Fantasy Codex specifically have limitations that note they do not stack with any other sort.

By the way I really like the concept that Bhelliom Rhal brought up of having templates for characteristics sets, skills, complications etc to help build characters. A form of that is going into my Fantasy Hero player's handbook. It would really help people who seem to just get overwhelmed by the flexibility and openness of the Hero system. It seems to genuinely frighten or paralyze some players: do I roll dice to force me into a predetermined roll somehow? Please?

I like unified power for tight concept groups and related powers, like "fire elemental powers" so if its drained, the whole thing gets weakened, not just the single power. It works well for a lot of concepts such as powers that are essentially one power used in different ways (but not in a multipower), or combined powers that should all be weakened proportionally at the same time.

Given I started doing this in the late 80s, I am not sure where the connection to D&D would be.

Yeah I agree, Elemental Control was basically a bonus for building a character well, which is kind of a bonus in and of its self.

I have a chart of items and things like property, favors and such that players roll on when they make characters, as heirlooms. I don't concern myself with the cost, since everyone gets one, its just a part of the campaign. Often I'll give some other freebies as well such as a number of points in background non-combat skills equal to the character's INT score.

Unfortunately I'm seeing it happen. I have a friend who's been playing Hero since the early 80s and now he's looking for a simpler system (he's trying out Savage Worlds right now). I think the desire to have a rule for everything that GMs used to guess or hand wave in the past starts to snowball and get out of hand in any game system. The thing is you don't HAVE to use all that stuff in Hero, and building a character is no more complicated now than it ever was. There are more options, but when I started playing Champions in 1983 there wasn't a handy Hero Designer program, either.

I think it would be a terrific product, but the way the gaming industry is now, publishing something without a ready audience is just a waste of money

A big thank you to everyone for your purchase of The Fantasy Codex, I hope you find it very useful in your games as both player and GM!

A big thank you to everyone who's bought a copy of the Lost Castle, I hope it gives you plenty of gun in games over the years. I have quite a few more long and short-form adventures in the works, from a mystery in a mages tower in town to a long journey through the mountains to a lost hidden elven kingdom!

The rules would need to cover all kinds of combat, but probably you could give basics on certain things then focus more clearly on them in supplements. The main rules can touch on air combat and maneuvers, then have more detailed ones for WWI War Hero, for example.

Before a certain point, maneuvers were incredibly important as well, and even up into the Napoleonic era they still had their value. That kind of historical thing would have to be part of the rules, but it could wait for era-based sourcebooks rather than the main rules. Stuff like the shield wall from Fantasy Hero and Roman maneuvers, Alexander's use of cavalry, the infantry square to deal with charging horses, etc. There have been several attempts at mass combat rules, its true, and they work but never have had a good feel to them. Each system technically achieved its goals but didn't play out very fun and that would be where changes could be made.

Yeah the deciding factor I think is the market, not the existing books. If there's enough interest, then a separate line is justified. That is a good point Red, a book that covered warfare, mass combat, and concepts of the battlefield for any setting would be more useful and have a broader market appeal. The big advantage is that if its mostly conceptual and ideas rather than specific gritty rules for a given setting or type of campaign the more broad its appeal across gaming platforms.

Well in the Sindbad movies and Conan books there were plenty of monsters but few people knew or could use magic. So you'd want a low magic campaign with freaky creatures and maybe a few very rare magic items with limited uses or heavy drawbacks. If that's what you're after a bestiary or two, and a very simple magic system is fine.

Possibly although I see it as a separate and distinct product line, not dealing with spies or vigilantes. Dark Champions covers too much ground already.

I agree, I think the "unusual setting" has to be handled better than it usually is. Instead of being an excuse to pore through bestiaries for what lives there, it should be distinct by its location and challenges but not contrived. I was thinking more something along the lines of a quest across the ocean (and perhaps under the surface) rather than across the forest, or a jungle rather than mountains.

I recommend both the Grimoire and my book, there's very little crossover and it gives you a mountain o' magic

I wonder if there's any market at all for a Hero System sourcebook for wartime role playing. You'd need basic rules for how to run a campaign, tips on making it gritty or cinematic, rules for things like "courage under fire" and basic command structure information. The main book could have a specific war setting with some adventures (WW2 probably a good starting point) and you could put out sets for Napoleonic, Vietnam war, Desert Storm/War on Terror, Indian Wars in the American old West, 100 years' war, etc. Each sourcebook would have the difference forces, equipment, timeline, history, and adventures. I'd be interested, but I don't know how big a seller it would really be.

Its a pdf you can buy from Hero Games in the catalog, almost 1000 spells and a magic system plus tips on building spells and using magic in your system and more. The Compendiums were additional helpful information and spells for 4th edition Fantasy Hero (I wrote a few spells for that too). Some good stuff in it, but the latest edition should have all you need in terms of ideas and information. Of you could wait a bit for Fantasy Hero Complete, should be out some time late this year. It will have a settting, spells, items, and all you need to run a FH game. if you need adventures I have a few on my website, they're built for 5th edition but they're free.

You'll need a magic system, if you're going to have any magic, and I humbly suggest my Fantasy Codex for that