Playing 3.5 after Fantasy Hero

[Guest taxboy4]

Re: Playing 3.5 after Fantasy Hero

 

This is an interesting thread, because I finished a Dragon Lance 3.5 campaign a short while ago. Even starting characters can be munchie. I used a Druid character who could summon Wolves and during the final conflict used all my spell points??? to summon a pack of 30. They tore the enemy apart and left the party with little to do save a Finishing Blow from our Ranger/Archer.

 

I guess I have been playing GURPS Fantasy too long. I resisted Fantasy HERO games because I still equated it with Superheroes. Since 5th Edition I have lost that resistance and gone for full blown enthusiam for anything HERO.

 

I am a born again HERO

 

QM

 

How do people find GURP-s Fantasy compares to Hero Fantasy.

 

I was thinking about buying GURPS?

[Legendsmiths]

Re: Playing 3.5 after Fantasy Hero

 

Having played a lot of GURPS Fantasy I can tell you it is a lot of fun. But, you have to consider the style and feel of your game. GURPS tends to be more on the realistic side, and models that very well, but that can be a downside if you are looking for epic feel. I played GURPS Fantasy from '88 to the arrival of d20, when I wanted something more epic. When that didn't quite do it, I brought out my HERO stuff and gave that a new look.

 

I think GURPS requires less effort to get your setting going, if for no other reason than it has a well defined and excellent magic system. YMMV as some people don't like the system. It suits my style of play just fine, and the changes made to it in GURPS 4e make it even better.

 

Don't expect epic battles with giants and dragons however. The system can certainly handle them, it just handles them as realistically as such things can be handled. Attempts to block a giant's club with a shield will be met not only with a shattered shield, but most likely a shattered arm as well. Dragons can tail bash entire parties, knocking them around like bowling pins. But no matter the realism, the combats will be a lot of fun and always interesting. The combat system works, and works well (too well sometimes). Fights against orcs or more reasonably sized monsters will be scary and fun. If you saw Brotherhood of the Wolf that level of monstrousity and action works great.

 

Why HERO? It's the little things that make the difference. Knockback (when you want it), PRE attacks, Grabs/Entangles/Contests of STR, Epic damage -- it all works so well. You end up with the epic scale you often find in D&D games with a lot of the fine control that GURPS offers. Since playing HERO we've ended up in so many situations that would not have played out as easily in GURPS, nor with the same flair.

 

So, if grit is what you are looking for then I think you can find it in GURPS 4e. The changes made to the system are excellent. But if you are looking for epic scale in GURPS you aren't going to find it. You can find cinematic realism, but that's about as far as you will get.

[Gunrunner]

Re: Playing 3.5 after Fantasy Hero

 

The setting book for GURPS fantasy is a bit more realistic and not as High Fantasy as the setting book for FH (Turakian Age). IIRC, GURPS fantasy is about a world that humans from the Middle Ages were somehow sucked into. (called Yrth) They still retain their real-world culture and practice real-world religions like Christianity, Islam, Buddism, etc. They explain different things like how Christianity and magic coexist, but the existence of real-world religions make it feel less like fantasy than I like. Turakian Age is a more typical High Fantasy world that has a lot more detail and flavor despite it's lack of originality. Don't get me wrong, I like TA. I just wish the setting was a bit less conventional.

 

There was also an old GURPS fantasy setting that looked interesting, but I never got my hands on it. It was something like the Land of the Mad Gods. I read a little about it from the cover I saw on the GURPS site and it sounded really cool. Mudpyr8, do you or anyone else have this book? If you do, could you tell me a bit about the setting? I'm curious

[Gunrunner]

Re: Playing 3.5 after Fantasy Hero

 

NM, I just read the description given at Steve Jackson's website

[Guest bblackmoor]

Re: Playing 3.5 after Fantasy Hero

 

D&D 3.5 is a fun game, and a huge improvement over every previous version of D&D and AD&D (particularly second edition AD&D, which was damn near unplayable). The character generation and advancement is more complex than with Hero, but there are fewer choices to make (the system makes a lot of them for you). And there are some advantages to it not being a universal system: you can have a game mechanic customized to a specific special effect, which can be awkward in Hero System. By the same token, it's less flexible than Hero (this is most obvious in the selection of spells available to characters, but it is apparent in other areas of the game, as well).

 

I don't think there is any need to make an either-or choice between D&D and Hero System. They are both good games, with their own strengths. It just depends on what you and the other folks you game with are in the mood to play.

[Guest bblackmoor]

Re: Playing 3.5 after Fantasy Hero

 

There was also an old GURPS fantasy setting that looked interesting' date=' but I never got my hands on it. It was something like the Land of the Mad Gods.[/quote']

 

That book is like the Flying Dutchman, or Keyser Söze. I know tons of people who'd love to have a copy just based on its reputation.

[Legendsmiths]

Re: Playing 3.5 after Fantasy Hero

 

Owned it, just sold it, never liked it,

[Fitz]

Re: Playing 3.5 after Fantasy Hero

 

I only played 3.0 sparingly' date=' and haven't touched 3.5. My initial reaction was it was like a cheap HERO system without checks and balances. [i'](snipped)[/i]

 

Cheap? You must have got your d20 stuff from happy and magical fluffy place, because my d20 stuff cost me waaaaay more than my Hero stuff ever has (so far)