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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ruleslawyer" data-source="post: 2830030" data-attributes="member: 1757">Good luck! I do agree that your choice of game should depend on what people are interested in playing, since you'll want players first and foremost!IH does not use alignment. IH combat is fairly complicated, though not as bad in practice as I'd thought at first. The main issue is resolving the stunts and challenges that the game introduces, although of course, if you don't want to use stunts and challenges, you don't have to! They're combat options, so a player (or DM) has to decide to use them in order for them to be a part of combat. However, if you find yourself wanting to use them, the following quicksheet makes it a breeze:<a href="http://joasaerano.pbwiki.com/f/IH+Stunt+%26+Challenge+Sheet.pdf" target="_blank">http://joasaerano.pbwiki.com/f/IH+Stunt+&+Challenge+Sheet.pdf</a>There's also a "simple stunts" system at the IH house rules wiki:<a href="http://ironheroeshouserules.pbwiki.com/SimpleStunts" target="_blank">http://ironheroeshouserules.pbwiki.com/SimpleStunts</a>In truth, though, IH is easier, if anything, to run than D&D as a DM. You don't have to track treasure/magic item balance, there's very little PC spellcasting (in fact, several DMs seem to disallow PC spellcasting classes entirely), no situational buffs from magic, and best of all, IH comes with prepackaged "villain classes" which are simplified, prefab NPC archetypes (the dreaded sorcerer, the demonic knight, the champion, etc.) that are balanced by CR and come with a simplified, streamlined set of abilities that make them usable out of the box. So no more high-level, complicated NPCs to build!Really, the only thing making IH more complicated from the DM's perspective are zones (specialized terrain with unique effects on combat, like ice bridges and avalanches and such; but you don't have to use those), having to learn about new PC classes (not so hard, since the classes are mostly fighter variants), and possibly having to do conversions for D&D adventures. This last strikes me as the most difficult, but OTOH, there's actually nothing wrong with just leaving D&D adventures as is; IH PCs are roughly as powerful as D&D PCs of equal level, and you can explain away NPC magic items as innate abilities, mystical gifts, or some such. I run an IH game set in Waterdeep (of the Forgotten Realms), and so far, I've been having a blast! I've actually (behind-the-curtain time here) spent virtually NO time building NPCs thus far (they're all either monsters or IH villain-classed NPCs) and my use of zones and such is largely invisible (I think) to my players (a slippery sewer ledge or two, an icy, muddy alley, a narrow, twisting rock passage, not much else). The stunt and challenge mechanics have wasted more game time than I'd like, but we've decided to simply declare combat actions in-character and either let me figure out the mechanics or keep it to 5 or fewer seconds with the quicksheet I linked to above.However, if you want a simpler fantasy alternative, I might recommend Conan. It has a reasonably easy combat system that caps out in terms of complexity by about 10th level, meaning that the crazy-complicated high-level D&D combats aren't a factor. It has no alignments (replacing that system with a VERY Howard-esque honor and corruption setup) and it's fun.</blockquote>

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