The ‘Legendary Thursday Nighters’, provides an opportunity to play out a whole host of games, accumulated in a wish list that we can, over time, play through. As such, our european roster of players (I think of myself as such despite being UK based!) are primed for shorter form play to tick off dusty games that need playing. In reality the mini-campaign duration is not set in stone, and the group mood is much more ‘relaxed gaming fun’ than ‘completist game-finishers’.
In such a spirit, and realising my own goal of getting some Heroic Fantasy to the virtual table, I have offered up my own game for some play. I’ve really wanted to give this game some play, and to make some use of the Foundry VTT sheets that I have cobbled together using the Custom System Builder. In joyous frame of mind, I have eschewed a meticulously planned campaign, and just ‘gone for it’, with an empty map and some ideas to tie us into the possibility of travelling to the Gods of the Forbidden North. This campaign is a sprawling epic, designed for OSE, but easy to adapt to any fantasy game, especially one as light on its feet as Heroic Fantasy.
For now, I am revelling in not having a plan. We are using some of the narrative elements of the game to sketch out some truths in the fantasy world we create together.
Character generation is quick. Essentially, you select a kindred, archetype (class) and then transfer the abilities onto your sheet. Heroic Fantasy charcters get all their special abilities up-front at 1st level. As they ascend up to 10th level, their numbers get better. It’s more than that though. Freeform traits, called ‘Aspects’ provide setting or character flavour, with characters starting with two of them (or three if human). Adelheid is a jewelsmith and has an intense stare. Both of these will say something about what she can do and how she approaches her interactions. In game terms, these give Adelheid a Help Die (roll with advantage) for certain tasks. The intense stare may instead give her a Hinder Die as she unnerves her contact!
Characters also have ‘Deeds’, which are signature events that will make the character remembered in the legends. One is allocated at every level, building up a story of the memorable tales of this notable hero. I look forward to seeing what stories will be told.
There is always something compelling about a blank map. Our game starts with a fairly blank canvas, which we will fill in together. Our female elf paladin, Aeryndel Sunwarden, is from the forest relam of Gilfinar, so that goes on the map. I’ve added a shattered empire, filled with haunted ruins and a rising dark power to frame the early adventure. I won’t be putting anything more on until we start playing and see what the players come up with.
Returning to Heroic Fantasy took me back to DrivethruRPG, where the game continues to garner positive feedback.
In fact, with my Age of Arthur writing largely complete for now, I’m feeling a touch inspired to return to the game and publish a second, complimentary, volume, building out elements of the game. I’ll also pt out a hardback, which I have already managed to do, but didn’t publish as the cost was much higher. A range of typos could be squashed across all versions.
Gaming fun times…