The Best Heroic System

[GandhitheBFG]

So, HPs suck. Lots of people agree. Lots don't, but lets just assume they do. Unfortunately, they let you run into a melee between Orcs and damsels, defeating the orcs against immense odds, subsequently saving the day.

So, what works better? D&D, or something else? I have no experience with anything other than D&D 3.X, GURPS and NWoD, and am looking for something more ...right... than HP.

Post away!

 

[Eolin]

I love the simplicity of BESM -- Big Eyes, Small Mouth. And I'd use it for everything if I could but convince my gaming group!

I figure heroism can be done easier when the rules are light, which describes Besm to a T. In the name of our Ford, its a good system.

 

[fafhrd]

Well according to D&D for Dummies it's Weapons of Legacy.

 

[John Morrow]

So, what works better?

My group ran a successful D&D-like fantasy game using the Fudge system which uses wounds instead of hit points, though it takes some work on the part of the GM to do it right. The key, unless you want to toss Fudge points around like candy to keep the PCs alive, is largely one of getting rid of the death spiral(*) and balancing opponent skill against PC skill (which should be fairly high) such that most opponents simply are not as good as the PCs. That allows the hoards of evil minions while allow the PCs to survive with a wounding system instead of hit points.

* The "death spiral" has to do with taking penalties in combat for being wounded. If you penalize a wounded character in combat, the first wound creates a "spiral" of negative modifiers (as the negative modifier makes it easier for the character to take more and more wounds) that result in the character's death. Our solution in Fudge is to not apply penalties for wounds until after a significant break in combat (on the grounds that the adrenaline rush of combat allowing characters to ignore the pain and penalties of wounds for short periods).

More on Fudge here:

http://www.fudgerpg.com/

Of course D&D 3.5e does D&D-like fantasy really well, which is currently why I'm running it, hit points and all.