Fantasy Hero

[The Souljourner]

So when 3.0 first came out, everyone hailed it as the end to cookie cutter characters... feats opened a whole new way to customize your characters... and yet, here we are, just a few years later, and I'm bored of the character creation restrictions. Theoretically there are thousands, maybe millions of character possibilities, but in reality, the number of viable character builds is fairly limited. It's not like there are a very many significantly different monk builds or bard builds. I want something different!

So I was at my local gaming store and noticed something on the shelf - Fantasy Hero. I've always loved the Hero System concept of unending possibilities, but applying it to anything other than superhero games seemed difficult at best.

Has anyone tried Fantasy Hero and if so, what did you think? If it's decent, I thought I might give it a try.

-The Souljourner

 

[WayneLigon]

I did a lot of Fantasy Hero back in the day. I decided not to pick up the current version until I'm in a long-running FH game again.

Well, in many ways HERO winds up with the same problem. You're doing characters (almost always) on the Heroic scale of things, instead of the superheroic. Which means there are, really, only about five stats most people wind up with: 10, 13, 15, 18 and 20.

Armor and weapons of course are very customizable.

Spells are even more customizable. If you want to save your sanity, you'll look at the Grimoire that just came out. I'm assuming it has tons of spells like the same version of the older edition did... but it still wasn't what I was looking for. I required something fairly unique, so I still wound up making all the spells by hand. All. Of. Them. It's a daunting task depending on the type of magic you want.

On the other hand, FH probably scales better in some ways. Since you're building the characters (and usually the NPCs) by hand, it can be as low magic or high magic as you want.

 

[drnuncheon]

So I was at my local gaming store and noticed something on the shelf - Fantasy Hero. I've always loved the Hero System concept of unending possibilities, but applying it to anything other than superhero games seemed difficult at best.

Since you say this, I'll assume you've already got the HERO System main book - either the BBB or the new FREd edition.

That said, it can work great for a fantasy game - provided the DM is willing to do a lot of work beforehand setting up the way magic works, etc. If you don't have a framework and requirements for magic, it will wind up as 'superheros with swords', but with the proper limitations, you can pretty much handle anything, from subtle, low-powered magic to stuff on the level of Rhialto the Marvelous or the Taken from the Black Company series.

You'll want to turn on a lot of options that you don't use in superheroic settings, from not paying points for equipment to hit locations.

What problems specifically do you think you'd have? It might be more useful to provide a concrete example, but I'll bet FH addresses them.

 

[BiggusGeekus@Work]

I disagree with your premise about viable builds, but FH is a good system.

The transition from supers to fantasy is pretty easy. All the "powers" become "spells". There's certainly a little more flavor than that, but I'm sure you get the drift.

Of course, I haven't looked at it since around 1990.

 

[Teflon Billy]

I bought into Fantasy Hero years back, and while it is very flexible, the math is daunting (as is usually the case with hero)

Plus, unless watched very closely, the game basically becomes superheroes (the spellcasters--and most of your players will be spellcasters--tend to get mroe and more superheroic as they gain points....which is I guess to be expected from hero)

Some folks I know really love it. I think HERO is great for supers, but I doubt I'd use it for the style of FRP that I like.

I use GURPS for that.

 

[Archade]

I played earlier editions of Fantasy Hero (I have the second-most recent version of the Hero system), and I enjoyed the system at the time.

However, I disagree that you can't have unique characters in D&D. In FH, you can buy allergies of phobias for your character, in D&D you can roleplay them. While D&D is far more mechanical than previous editions, it leaves the realm of roleplaying off of paper. While you can build custom characters in the Hero System, I find that those characters tend to be the same for each player -- ie, Bob will give his character 5 phobias each time to get more points, etc.

That being said, FH/Hero has all sorts of good mechanics for a reactive combat system, unique magic systems, and deadly creatures easily managed. Their XP system rewards roleplaying and the growth of power and expertise of characters is easily handled by the DM. The downside is that a mechanical system is provided, and you will have to build EVERYTHING yourself. Every unique spell, monster, npc, trap, or effect is a complex mathematical statblock (just as bad as D&D), and the source material is nil -- if you are into building it yourself, or running a tight-knit campaign that doesn't stray too far out there, FH might be the system for you.

 

[Psion]

I have run games with Fantasy Hero in the past and have found that they are a lot of fun.

The biggest boon of Fantasy Hero is the ability of the GM to craft the feel of the setting and magic system simply by defining how you can design spells and the limits on those powers. In my old FH game, I had truename magic, divine gifts, mentalism, and a variety of other forms of magic, all with their own flavor.

The disadvantage is that it really takes a player with some comfort with math to get it. IME, some players just won't play mages because the power system will scare them off.

Also, I don't think that FH is as non-cookie cutter as you propose compared to D&D. When I ran, all characters of a particular archetype had statistics that were very close. The players simply purchased what was most efficient within the limits. And my players at the time weren't longtime hero players rules abusers either... most were either new to the system or had only played champs a few times (very few, as we preferred DC Heroes for our supers action.)

 

[ST]

I haven't bought it yet, but the new edition of Fantasy Hero has a *ton* of information, much of which would be useful for fantasy worldbuilders whether they use HERO or not. I do like HERO, and used older editions to run games long ago.

ENWorld is so D20 focused, IMO, that you'd probably have better luck asking this question on RPG.net. Then again, it seems most HERO system users stay on the dedicated forums at herogames.com.

 

[barsoomcore]

I don't really have much to add to most people's thoughts on HERO, except to say that it's a lot of work for DMs.

I know people have said that, but I think it bears repeating. HERO is a lot of work for a DM. I ran two Fantasy Hero campaigns and while they were fun, they weren't really much more fun, and they were a LOT more work.

Creating magic systems from scratch is always a lot of work, but in HERO it's a LOT of work. In 3E it's just a lot of work.

 

[Psion]

I haven't bought it yet, but the new edition of Fantasy Hero has a *ton* of information, much of which would be useful for fantasy worldbuilders whether they use HERO or not. I do like HERO, and used older editions to run games long ago.

I dunno. That was true of the 4th edition one, but the fifth edition version (which I am writing a review for) seems like it is not much better on this score than the 4th edition version.