FANTASY HERO -- What Do *You* Want To See?

[The Main Man]

Re: FANTASY HERO -- What Do *You* Want To See?

 

I'm also thinking that a magic system based around psionic powers would make for an interesting contrast with Star HERO's discussion on the topic - shows two sides to the same coin.

[torchwolf]

Re: FANTASY HERO -- What Do *You* Want To See?

 

Magic system things I'd like to see (some of which may be more appropriate for the Hero System Grimoire):

 

Foci: a list of some commonly used foci (including expendable ones) pulled from real-life mystical traditions could be useful.

 

More Spellcasting Options: Spellbooks as AIs having Complementary Skills, or treated as necessary equipment for using the Skill; Summoned physical and/or spiritual beings functioning the same way; casting spells from a text or inscription without having to know the spell (maybe using Cramming), but needing access to reference to repeat this stunt, etc.

 

Many good ideas have been mentioned here.

[The Main Man]

Re: FANTASY HERO -- What Do *You* Want To See?

 

Perhaps a greater discussion on "magicotechnology" would be interesting. It could be a meeting of sorts between a magic system and equipment.

 

Similarly, what if there was a magic system based entirely around Clarke's Third Law?

 

 

If new "Heroic Feats" or whatever are included, perhaps a distinction could be made between Talents and Power builds.

[Old Man]

Re: FANTASY HERO -- What Do *You* Want To See?

 

At this rate, FH6 will be a book of magic systems with a couple of pages of feats and weapons stuck on the back end.

[Susano]

Re: FANTASY HERO -- What Do *You* Want To See?

 

Perhaps a greater discussion on "magicotechnology" would be interesting. It could be a meeting of sorts between a magic system and equipment.

 

Sort of like Final Fantasy 7 with its materia-powered weapons and the like.

[Steve Long]

Re: FANTASY HERO -- What Do *You* Want To See?

 

OK, let me see if I can head some of this off at the pass and save us all some time and bandwidth.

 

While I've already added a couple of new magic systems to FH, and hope to add at least one or two more as I buff and polish, I simply can't take most of the suggestions y'all are making, for several reasons. First, some of them would require too much time and/or page space and/or Fred's layout time. Second, there's a limit to how many example magic systems I want to put in this book; more is not necessarily better, and in any event I have to stop at some point. Third, some of them just don't spark my creative juices enough for me to wanna do 'em.

 

So, rest assured that I've read and am paying attention to your suggestions -- but at this stage there's no point in suggesting more, more, more. It ain't gonna happen.

[Hierax]

Re: FANTASY HERO -- What Do *You* Want To See?

 

Sorry, didn't mean it to sound like complaining -- I like what you do, so hopefully you can't blame me for being greedy for more!

 

I'm sure FH will be packed with all kinds of juicy Hero goodness!

[Steve Long]

Re: FANTASY HERO -- What Do *You* Want To See?

 

Sorry, didn't mean it to sound like complaining -- I like what you do, so hopefully you can't blame me for being greedy for more!

 

No worries at all, Hierax -- I definitely didn't take your post as complaining, nor really most others'.

 

If I had time I'd offer a point-by-point discussion, since you raise some interesting ideas, but I don't have time so let me just say (and this applies to many others, not just you): way ahead of you on some stuff (i.e., great minds think alike); some of your ideas have made me stop and consider some additions to the book (or at least cross-references to material that already exists that you may not know about); some of it I don't think is appropriate for the book or feasible to create/add at this stage; and some of it I strongly disagree with.

 

This answer brought to you by Generic Response Industries, providing politicians and game designers with broadly-worded responses since 1922.

[Steve Long]

Re: FANTASY HERO -- What Do *You* Want To See?

 

On the magic system front specifically (since that seems to interest many folx):

 

--I've already added one, a really neat one that I think many of you will like and adopt/adapt in some fashion, that riffs off a suggestion that was sort of tossed out there in one paragraph of the 5E FH text (and that's still in the 6E FH text, of course)

 

--I've already added one that's an adaptation/genericization of the Tuala Morn magic system, which I think works really well for many campaigns

 

--I am considering adding some more, depending on how much time I have. In fact, I had to make a list of potential ones, since I had so many ideas! The two most likely at this point are (a) a system specifically designed for Low Fantasy/S&S games with minimal magic, and ( a sort of "psionics"-based system loosely inspired by Kurtz's Deryni novels. One that I've rejected is what you might call a "spell tree"/spell prerequisite system; I really wanted to do one, but it would simply take too much of my time, too much of Fred's time, and too much page space, so it ain't happenin'.

 

One of these days we'll probably do a "Book Of Magic Systems" that collects all the ones we've published between two covers (and updates/expands them as needed), so maybe some of the rejected/non-feasible ideas will find their way into that tome.

[Steve Long]

Re: FANTASY HERO -- What Do *You* Want To See?

 

And another point that seems to interest many folx -- "Heroic Talents" or whatever you want to call 'em.

 

What I've done in 6E FH is this: I've taken the existing "New Talents" section from 5E FH and greatly expanded it by drawing in stuff from The Valdorian Age (and also put the "Fighting Tricks" concept from VA into Chapter Three), Tuala Morn, HSMA, other sources, and my own wacky ideas. Although these abilities are specifically referred to as Talents, I've formatted them in what's become our usual method for such things, as seen in (f'rex), DC, PH, and HSMA -- a title, a summary block, a description, the game information, and where appropriate some options. If I have an illustrative quote from Fantasy literature (as I often do), I've moved those into the sidebars here since there's no header to put them under like there is elsewhere in the book.

 

So, hopefully you'll all enjoy this stuff and find it a useful addition to FH.

[Susano]

Re: FANTASY HERO -- What Do *You* Want To See?

 

One of these days we'll probably do a "Book Of Magic Systems" that collects all the ones we've published between two covers (and updates/expands them as needed)' date=' so maybe some of the rejected/non-feasible ideas will find their way into that tome. [/quote']

 

I''d like that. Especially if you can include a system based on Dean Shomshank's work in the Ultimate Mystic for "real world" spell casting, such as voodoo, hermetic therugy, and more magical philosophies that I'll just end up misspelling.

[Susano]

Re: FANTASY HERO -- What Do *You* Want To See?

 

And another point that seems to interest many folx -- "Heroic Talents" or whatever you want to call 'em.

 

What I've done in 6E FH is this: I've taken the existing "New Talents" section from 5E FH and greatly expanded it by drawing in stuff from The Valdorian Age (and also put the "Fighting Tricks" concept from VA into Chapter Three), Tuala Morn, HSMA, other sources, and my own wacky ideas. Although these abilities are specifically referred to as Talents, I've formatted them in what's become our usual method for such things, as seen in (f'rex), DC, PH, and HSMA -- a title, a summary block, a description, the game information, and where appropriate some options. If I have an illustrative quote from Fantasy literature (as I often do), I've moved those into the sidebars here since there's no header to put them under like there is elsewhere in the book.

 

So, hopefully you'll all enjoy this stuff and find it a useful addition to FH.

 

Sounds good to me!

[The Main Man]

Re: FANTASY HERO -- What Do *You* Want To See?

 

Hmm... What to suggest... Hmmm...

 

Maybe something regarding Skills...

[Steve Long]

Re: FANTASY HERO -- What Do *You* Want To See?

 

Maybe something regarding Skills...

 

That's what I like to see, TMM -- precision and specificity!

 

Seriously, though, at this point I'm putting on the finishing touches and "gilding the lily" as much as I can. I don't really have time to incorporate too much more beyond what I already have planned. The sooner I can get this puppy off to Fred, the easier his life will be in June.

[The Main Man]

Re: FANTASY HERO -- What Do *You* Want To See?

 

Fair enough and I can hardly wait. Only my wallet and my bank account (or virtual lack thereof) keep me at bay for now.

[BobGreenwade]

Re: FANTASY HERO -- What Do *You* Want To See?

 

At this point, I'd say that the extent of anything new on magic systems should consist of a list with the header, "Here are some other ideas that the GM could develop into working magic systems...."

 

Even so, one could probably fill at least a half-page with such ideas. (Like, didn't the last issue of Adventurer's Club have something about Uncontrolled VPPs for divine intervention?)

[Lezentauw]

Re: FANTASY HERO -- What Do *You* Want To See?

 

On the magic system front specifically (since that seems to interest many folx):

 

--I've already added one, a really neat one that I think many of you will like and adopt/adapt in some fashion, that riffs off a suggestion that was sort of tossed out there in one paragraph of the 5E FH text (and that's still in the 6E FH text, of course)

 

--I've already added one that's an adaptation/genericization of the Tuala Morn magic system, which I think works really well for many campaigns

 

--I am considering adding some more, depending on how much time I have. In fact, I had to make a list of potential ones, since I had so many ideas! The two most likely at this point are (a) a system specifically designed for Low Fantasy/S&S games with minimal magic, and ( a sort of "psionics"-based system loosely inspired by Kurtz's Deryni novels. One that I've rejected is what you might call a "spell tree"/spell prerequisite system; I really wanted to do one, but it would simply take too much of my time, too much of Fred's time, and too much page space, so it ain't happenin'.

 

One of these days we'll probably do a "Book Of Magic Systems" that collects all the ones we've published between two covers (and updates/expands them as needed), so maybe some of the rejected/non-feasible ideas will find their way into that tome.

 

If you do consider adding another magic system, I would like to see your take on a skill based magic system. I have created one, and it definitely took some thinking out of the box to get it to work. I like how Tuala Morn's magic system used talents to determine how strong the magic a person could cast, just not sure how I would add that to my existing skill based magic system. I prefer skill based systems, as they usually tend to be cheaper, and that reduces the need to start out with high amount of points.

[Steve Long]

Re: FANTASY HERO -- What Do *You* Want To See?

 

Well, AAMOF, one of the new ones I created already is essentially Skill-based, and the Low Fantasy/S&S one I'm about to start working on is, too, in a different way. And depending on how you define "Skill-based," I think a couple of the existing ones qualify to some degree. So hopefully you'll find something you like in and amongst the possibilities.

[Steve]

Re: FANTASY HERO -- What Do *You* Want To See?

 

--I am considering adding some more' date=' depending on how much time I have. In fact, I had to make a list of potential ones, since I had so many ideas! The two most likely at this point are (a) a system specifically designed for Low Fantasy/S&S games with minimal magic, and ( a sort of "psionics"-based system [i']loosely[/i] inspired by Kurtz's Deryni novels. One that I've rejected is what you might call a "spell tree"/spell prerequisite system; I really wanted to do one, but it would simply take too much of my time, too much of Fred's time, and too much page space, so it ain't happenin'.

 

If I have to choose one, I vote for the Low Fantasy/S&S system.

 

One of these days we'll probably do a "Book Of Magic Systems" that collects all the ones we've published between two covers (and updates/expands them as needed)' date=' so maybe some of the rejected/non-feasible ideas will find their way into that tome. [/quote']

 

I would love to see that. Count me in as a buyer.

[Steve]

Re: FANTASY HERO -- What Do *You* Want To See?

 

And another point that seems to interest many folx -- "Heroic Talents" or whatever you want to call 'em.

 

What I've done in 6E FH is this: I've taken the existing "New Talents" section from 5E FH and greatly expanded it by drawing in stuff from The Valdorian Age (and also put the "Fighting Tricks" concept from VA into Chapter Three), Tuala Morn, HSMA, other sources, and my own wacky ideas. Although these abilities are specifically referred to as Talents, I've formatted them in what's become our usual method for such things, as seen in (f'rex), DC, PH, and HSMA -- a title, a summary block, a description, the game information, and where appropriate some options. If I have an illustrative quote from Fantasy literature (as I often do), I've moved those into the sidebars here since there's no header to put them under like there is elsewhere in the book.

 

So, hopefully you'll all enjoy this stuff and find it a useful addition to FH.

 

I think I speak for many in saying YAY!!!

[Steve Long]

Re: FANTASY HERO -- What Do *You* Want To See?

 

Okee-doke, the Low Fantasy/S&S-themed magic system, now more formally known as "The Spells of Sarillon," is done.

[Markdoc]

Re: FANTASY HERO -- What Do *You* Want To See?

 

Looking forward to this tome!

 

cheers, Mark

[Old Man]

Re: FANTASY HERO -- What Do *You* Want To See?

 

Is it a tome, or a codex?

[Steve Long]

Re: FANTASY HERO -- What Do *You* Want To See?

 

It's an incunabulum.

[Susano]

Re: FANTASY HERO -- What Do *You* Want To See?

 

Is it a tome' date=' or a codex?[/quote']

 

How about a tomb, since everyone's gonna want to loot it for stuff.