The plain cover belies a great system.
There is one game system that I have been wanting to try to run for, frankly, years. Hero System was something that I discovered back when the 5th Edition was released. I got to play it when I visited Origins in Columbus, Ohio way back in 2004. I played in a full session of fantasy roleplaying joy and have ever since been itching to play the game again. So what, you may ask, is stopping me?
Hero System looks heavy.
When you have a gaming system that, with the present Sixth Edition, fills two hardbacks comprising of some total 680+ pages of rules you might be forgiven for thinking that the game is pretty griddley and rules-heavy. I guess it depends on what you are looking for.
Hero System provides a complete gaming framework for the kind of player who likes detail and choice. If you are a storyteller who requires very few rules and who games with a bunch of aspiring actors, then Hero System would bore you silly. If however, like me, you game with people who appreciate game structure and the opportunity to customise their character with cool abilities, then take another look at this game.
Yes, there’s a lot in those two volumes. Yet it is worth considering that from page 65 onwards in Volume 1 you are pretty much looking at choices and options, not crunchy rules. Even in Volume 2, where the combat rules reside, a very large portion of the book is dedicated to solid Gamesmastering advice. Plus, to be frank, the game plays on very simple core rules.
One core mechanic.
The core engine of Hero is, “roll 3d6, score under a target number”. This applies across the board, so it’s really easy to remember the rules. The damage rules are cool splitting damage into Stun and Body (lethal) categories. This is done on d6′s too, so no fiddling around with polyhedral dice.
The beauty of the system is that a child can pick up HOW to play in around 5 minutes. An adult will take slightly longer, mostly because (from my own experience) they will be trying to figure out how to overcomplicate things. That means that gaming is easy and flows once people get over the initial basics.
The challenge is in the options.
The reason why I have hesitated in introducing the game to my buddies is simple: getting your head around all of the options is a really big deal. Let me explain…
The system uses “character points” to allow players to choose the stuff they want their hero to have and then “buy” those abilities with the points. Simple enough. The problem, for many it seems, is that the system offers you so many choices that you really need to zoom in on who your hero is, thus allowing you to figure out what to buy.
On top of that, Hero System offers you the chance to make your amazing abilities work in exactly the way YOU decide. The Powers section of the rules offers you a means to design any amazing, well… power… that you can imagine. You get to customise the spells, psionics, super-powers or whatever else you need yourself. No more convenient lists of spells which only work one, often limiting, way. Oh no… this game offers you the chance to make your stories work your way. The BK of the gaming world, I suspect.
Of course, that strength is also a big problem: if you don’t put in the effort to customise things, you don’t get what you want. Thus lazy gamers will not like the Hero System. GMs beware!
What do you want?
You see, for me, Hero represents everything I ideally want in a game: really solid, tried-and-tested rules + total customisation. The problem I have had for over 6 years is that I haven’t taken the time to work with it, and to figure out quite how to introduce it to other gamers. Once you’ve played a game it makes a lot of sense. As a rulebook to read, it really risks frying your head.
Do you want to have a game that is so flexible that you don’t need to write your own rules? Do you want a system that is so customisable that you can choose to play it with the 135 page Basic Rulebook and it does great? Or do you shun rules and prefer to freeform?
Hero System demands good roleplaying.
One point I would make: you cannot create a really cool character with this system without having a really strong concept. Unlike other games that will offer you “character classes” or “templates”, and such, Hero System really expects the GM and players to collaborate on a central vision for every single thing and being in the games they play. That is an incremental development of their entire vision of the gaming setting, which is then translated into reality through reasoning from effect. What does the ability look like? Ok, now we can work out how it plays.
Good roleplaying has this attention to detail and focus on a strong vision of the heroes. Just like in a good novel, each character is fully realised BEFORE the rules are brought to bear. Yes, that takes effort… but the payoff is big.
Game on!