My Black Hack based ‘Heroic Fantasy’ game continues to see play online and in the real. In the background I’m continuing to develop it, and consider where I might take it in the longer term.
For now, it has been good to get the game running with a character sheet on the Foundry VTT using the Custom System Builder. Foe templates and some light background lore and we are cooking for some more RPG action!
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| Heroic Fantasy running in Foundry VTT |
The core game has had a recent text refresh, with some minor sentence improvements, page reference updates, and a few spell description improvements. These are available in a v2.02 PDF. The changes are minor, but if I find there are any more changes, then I will also update the physical books.
A recent DrivethruRPG review was very welcome, and energising for my recent developments.
“Hands down, this is the best fantasy themed hack of the brilliant “Black Hack” RPG that is out there. With several smart variations to the original base rules first provided by David Black, the authors have improved this game and its mechanics, allowing for a full role-playing experience that succeeds with a lot of variety without bogging the game down thus creating the best old school feel from a Black Hack design out there. My hats off to the authors and I hope to see further supplements for this second edition game in the future. I would also love to see a gritty sci-fi themed version of the “Heroic Fantasy” rules down the road from these authors.”
A science fiction themed version of the game would be good fun to write. Quite an endeavour, though I may have sketched out the chapter headings and thought about some of the content.
Next to come out will be ‘Dug Up Trivia’, a short list of optional rules for the game. Most of them have been play tested! I would like to try out all of them before I put the short supplement live on DrivethruRPG. The heaviest option is to switch the game from standard Black Hack asymetric design (only players’ roll dice), to symetric, where tests are opposed by active foe dice rolls. This change has been a lot of fun in play, and may now be the standard way that I run the game. It’s also good to have it pushed out in the ‘trivia’ of an optional supplement. The core game also plays fine as it is.
My plan is to release the PDF when ready enough, and provide free updates as the trivia mounds up. It would be nice to incorporate some further additions, with new kin, archetypes and perhaps an adventure.
If scaled up enough, it might release as a small pamphlet sized tract. Paul Tome’s cover art alone warrants it; I want this little book in my hands! More work to be done on it.
Although a simple game, it has proved fun to create and play with. It is so easy to convert D&D adventure material to it. I’m definitely time squeezed by the many other great games that vie for my attention, but Heroic Fantasy continues to bring me joy.