Christopher R Taylor

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

A few old grizzled mountain men types could be fun; did Jim Bridger really die before then, or just fake his death? Do you want to go really wild with guys like Pecos Bill and John Henry? Tall Tales give some fascinting possibilities. Hopalong Cassidy, and the Sacketts from Louis L'Amour's series would be interesting options as well. Tell Sackett was a legend.

I've always used a real city for my campaigns because its easier to describe and familiar to players. These days with the world's largest research library at your fingertips (the internet) for very little price, its so easy to get information for a real setting its silly to break your brain creating a new one to compete. Unless you're going to publish your campaign, there's no danger of lawsuits, hurt feelings, or conflicts.

I actually don't mind when mages have more defenses than melee types for three reasons. First, the melee types are a lot tougher under the defenses so they tend to fold up when their shield spell is breached rather than say "ow." Second, when a mage is interrupted casting a spell, terrible things often happen to them, which a warrior doesn't have to face. And third, when you stun a mage, most if not all of his magic will tend to shut off, and a suit of chainmail stays in place. So the mage with 15 resistant PD is not really better off than the warrior with 6, overall. A good mage is going to shine because of their non-kill spells though, yes. In fact, in my world and magic system, utility is emphasized over booms. You can blast that guy for 6d6 fire damage... or float him in the air half DCV for everyone to use as a pinata. Which is better?

It depends a lot on the kind of game you're running in terms of lethality and what threats people face. If 4d6 KA is not uncommon in the game, there are going to be a lot of dead PCs or fudged die rolls by the GM (average body to the head = decapitation). If that's the kind of game you're fine with and the players like, good. If you want a different sort of game, you're going to have to be careful with what damage players can do. There's always the problem with escalation if you aren't careful as a GM. Upping the defenses of the bad guys to deal with the increased damage of the players makes them want more damage which leads you to... well you get the idea.

I've found it more interesting when players cannot easily count distances, so they have to estimate. That said you can usually tell off the top of your head if you can reach someone and guesstimate range at least in terms of how likely you are to hit without needing a rangefinder, so there's arguments for both sides.

I agree that the damage output between mage and non mage needs to be carefully considered; certainly letting someone use martial arts maneuvers and skill levels with a 2 handed sword to do 3-4d6 damage or more will be trouble for your campaign. Its part of the juggling act as a GM to keep all those factors in mind and make sure they don't stack up too much. At the same time, the mage who can start fires, levitate, blast things 500 feet away, read minds, and create food has a lot more utility than grog who can hit things with his hammer. So if the non mage characters are doing a bit more damage, that's reasonable given their limitations.

I suppose its not surprising that sandbox does well, since the way the poll is listed it is targeted at GMs who would run a game. The surprising results so far are how well "Over the mountains and through the forest quest" is doing (I'd have thought it would be too cliche and dull to people) and how poorly unusual settings is doing. It seems like people prefer their fantasy familiar

In our games we have a hex mat for close up action and movement, and use measurements for range and long distance action, so its kind of a blend of techniques. In the pdf I suppose it wouldn't matter if I had both hex and grid maps, but I think people might be confused or annoyed that there's two sets of maps for little reason. I don't know if Hero would carry two versions of the book or not.

I agree, and while you and I are apparently in a minority of fantasy readers, I'm not fond of the Discworld books for the same reason. I don't care for humorous or comedy adventures, partly because the comedy is more than sufficiently provided for by the players in my group, and partly because it never seems to really work. Its usually too contrived or makes a mockery of fantasy, which is ridiculous enough to begin with. I just felt like it should be in the list, because I was trying to cover all the bases

I agree, you don't really need to write up the effect. Use the drowning rules and describe how the trap makes the players stay in the water.

I usually build a drowning effect as an AVAD (NND - defense not breathing or able to breathe water) that does body damage, DOT or constant attack of a few dice of blast. You can't kill someone really fast with a drowning effect but its slow and inevitable. It doesn't do a lot of body in a hurry, but it does add up.

That's actually kind of what I have in mind. I'm releasing adventures and source material for a single campaign world, instead of trying to make them generic. The next big release planned is a bestiary (yes, I hear you groan, but bear with me) not of the usual stuff everyone always has, but only the things unique to the campaign world. That way I can put references to creatures that nobody knows about or that are unique to my world in adventures and such and people know what they are. The Fantasy Codex is a piece of this puzzle; the spells mentioned in the scenarios and the spell system are explained. Each bit will help make a full setting so that players and GMs have a coherent single place to work in and I can put out materials for that world. Its a bit of a risk, given the creativity and uniqueness that Hero tends to spawn in GMs, but like you said, its pretty cheap to put stuff out so its worth the risk in my opinion. And as far as I'm concerned, anything that helps Fantasy Hero spread and grow is worth trying.

Looks like sandbox, urban, and exploration are doing the best so far. There's really not much urban out there and that's an area that all three could cover: a large city to explore, find lots of places to adventure in, and have urban themes.

What kind of fantasy adventures do you like to play or run? If you had control over what was produced for Fantasy Hero what would you like to see published?

Champion is kind of a generic term for any heroic figure fighting for other people - a hero in other words. And it has instant name recognition. If the line had always been "x Champions" instead of "x hero" I think it might have helped sales, and still could. Its not like the content of the book isn't immediately obvious from the cover and the subtitle. Champions: Super Hero Role Playing (with superheroes blasing up the scenery). Fantasy Champions: Fantasy Role Playing (with a picture of people fighting a dragon). Pulp Champions: Adventures in the pulp era (guy in a fedora with a pistol), etc. That way products such as Golden Age and Dark Champions are just part of a whole pattern rather than simply subsets of one genre.

I agree that hexes would be more "Hero-ish," but with the 6th edition shift to meters, it seemed an easier sell to a broader customer base to use a straight grid pattern. It retains that classic "dungeon module" feel from the past. And yeah, its a lot easier to render squares than hexes.

OK thanks for the input, A version with a cover and no introductory blank pages is up on the store now. I apologize for the mistake; the content is the same but its prettier to look at now

If you want you can contact me, the only difference would be no blank pages and a cover, though.

I'll talk to Jason about that, apparently I sent the print version (the first page is blank in the print version, making 2 pages blank in the pdf).

There is a 15 page preview of the first pages of the Codex here (where the hard copy may be found). I'll post a page of spells here too, so you can see the format and what the content looks like. Incidentally, the spell count does not include the variants at the bottom of many of the spells; those are additional. If I added all those up it would be several thousand spells. Eventually I'll get a product page with preview pages and such on my website but I hate coding and its a lower priority for me than writing.

I like the idea of using "Champions" in everything to tie all the games together and refer people to the flagship and still most familiar and famous title. Fantasy Champions, Star Champions, Dark Champions, etc.

I wrote this module, so if anyone has any questions, input or thoughts I'll try to respond here. Its only at Hero Games in pdf, and you can buy a hard copy at Lulu.com as well.