Recommend me a system (Head Lopper).

[jdrakeh]

So, I've recently become enamored with Head Lopper, a series of comics that follows the titular Head Lopper, Norgal, and his companion, Agatha Blue Witch (or, rather, the animated severed head of Agatha Blue Witch). Can anybody recommend a system that:

A. Presents a ton of options for martial fighters who are supernaturally good at killing things. I mean, Norgal doesn't cast spells or anything, but his skill at arms far exceeds that of a normal man. He's a legendary warrior of sorts, having earned the name "Head Lopper" in certain circles due to his prowess with a sword.

B. Presents rules for companions who can cast spells, but may not be mobile, standard characters. Like, they may be a severed head in a bag or something. Agatha is, specifically, highly sought after by Norgal's enemies for her magical power.

Now, granted, the easy answer would be for me to use HERO or GURPS. Both would allow me to create the characters above, but would also do so in the most incredibly generic of ways. Same deal with Savage Worlds, in my experience. I'd like to find something a little more focused if possible, even if that means hacking an existing system.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I wouldn’t call the options in HERO generic. IME, you get out of it what you put into it. (Then again, I’ve been playing it since it was first published as Champions.)

Setting that aside, I’d still look at supers games in general. Because of the nature of the genre, most supers games* are designed to be flexible- supporting sci-fi, horror and fantastic tropes of many kinds.

My next thought would be fantasy-inspired anime RPGs, the more “wahoo!” the better.


* at least, those not trying to model a particular IP or narrow superheroic subgenre.

 

[BookTenTiger]

I love Head Lopper (please call him Norgal). To me, Ironsworn fits really well. It's already got a magic viking society feel to it, tons of different martial paths, magic that's ritualistic and flavorful, and combat that can be as straight forward ("I rush in and chop off his head" = a single Battle roll) or complex (a full battle with rising stakes, waves of enemies, or complicated opponents) as needed.

Edit: Oh, it also has Companion mechanics built right into character creation and advancement! A talking witch head with Eldritch blasting capabilities would not be far outside the blinds of the rules.

 

[Umbran]

So, I'll note that there's a significant difference between there being lots of options for martial characters, and there being lots of tactical combat.

Fate, for example, would probably handle this well - it is generally pretty good as pulpy genre emulation. The options are limited by the player's ability to think of Aspects for their characters. The options are narratively deep, rather than tactically so, though.

 

[jdrakeh]

I love Head Lopper (please call him Norgal). To me, Ironsworn fits really well. It's already got a magic viking society feel to it, tons of different martial paths, magic that's ritualistic and flavorful, and combat that can be as straight forward ("I rush in and chop off his head" = a single Battle roll) or complex (a full battle with rising stakes, waves of enemies, or complicated opponents) as needed.

Edit: Oh, it also has Companion mechanics built right into character creation and advancement! A talking witch head with Eldritch blasting capabilities would not be far outside the blinds of the rules.

It's weird that you should mention Ironsworn, as that's what immediately popped into my head. Glad I wasn't alone!