Why are all the faces on the cover of Fantasy Hero Complete smiling and laughing? Even the dragon?
I recently picked up a copy of the "complete" version of the Hero System for fantasy play at a local Half-Price Books and spent some time reading it this weekend. I find there is a lot of good material packed into its 264 pages. The Hero System powers this RPG. The Hero RPG system started life in the 1980's as a generic version of the mechanics introduced in the Champions superhero game. The "complete" edition is an idea to offer a single volume which allows play of a single type of RPG and first used to give us Champions Complete. Fantasy Hero Complete is the result of a crowd founded campaign to produce a single volume focused on just the fantasy genre.
As a generic system, Hero is aimed at giving the gamer a comprehensive set of tools which allows building just about any type of role-playing game. The current sixth edition comes in two massive volumes and contains more options than I care to cover. The system has its adherents and has survived the test of time. There is a lot of good ideas contained in just one of the focused "complete" versions.
To briefly summarize, the Hero System uses a point-buy character and monster creation system that allows the player/GM to customize any aspect of their creation. Abilities, skills and talents can be scaled to make realistic to super-powered beings depending on how many points are spent. Hero uses a roll under three six-sided dice mechanic to resolve most actions. Damage is broken into Stress and Body. Regular damage can incapacitate through Stress and killing damage can wound the body, perhaps leading to death. Magic is a variation on the "powers" mechanic and involves flavoring an effect such as a "blast" attack with details including range, area of effect, damage dice, and descriptors such as "fire", "cold", etc.
Did I mention this is a tool box approach to gaming? I think it will take considerable GM effort to bring Fantasy Hero Complete to the table as everything from character races and monsters to magic will need to be defined in specific game terms prior to play beginning. The prospective GM has to build almost everything using the admittedly considerable game components provided, but the resulting game seems to promise a lot in return. In other words I can see why people like the Hero system. Its appeal to me is that it is a GM's game. It empowers the GM and puts creative license in the GM's hands to make this your game.
As referee/GM, I frequently find myself at odds with one aspect or another of all published role-playing systems, especially those that aspire to define nearly everything. I have found the less-is-more approach to rules is more to my liking as it empowers me as the referee to make rulings - a task which I rather enjoy doing. Being honest with myself, by nature I am a hopeless tinkerer. I like to see how things work, take them apart, discuss them, and experiment with them using alternative methods. I have never yet found an RPG that I haven't thought could stand some improvement.
Fantasy Hero Complete recognizes the need for a GM to put it all together and the entire book can be viewed as a GM guide (and not a player's handbook). Of special note is a nice section titled "Swords and Sorcery - Fantasy Roleplaying" which discusses a number of genre related topics including story structure, setting flavor and GM challenges, and explains how fantasy archetypes, creatures and magic can be constructed using the Hero System mechanics.
Complete, yes in the sense that Fantasy Hero Complete gives us all the tools needed to create a fun and rewarding fantasy game experience, but don't expect to run this straight from the book as it comes.
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