New Fantasy Hero Complete Kickstarter

[SteveC]

I just saw that they are making a Kickstarter for an all-in-one gamebook for Fantasy Hero, which you can check out here.

I first discovered Fantasy Hero back in 1985, and it was exactly the kind of game I was looking for.

Since then, I've played in many campaigns with it, and really love the approach that it brings to the table. I'm not affiliated with the KS at all, but I can't recommend the game enough. That's especially the case with what Hero did with Champions Complete.

If anyone is interested, I'd love to talk about the game and answer any questions you might have.

The biggest thing I'd say is that if they continue the tradition of previous editions, FH will not have the complexity that the Hero System is criticized for. It's a crunchy game to be sure, but the scope is a bit more limited in what it's trying to present. Hopefully this will do well!

 

[Hyper-Man]

I just saw that they are making a Kickstarter for an all-in-one gamebook for Fantasy Hero, which you can check out here.

I first discovered Fantasy Hero back in 1985, and it was exactly the kind of game I was looking for.

Since then, I've played in many campaigns with it, and really love the approach that it brings to the table. I'm not affiliated with the KS at all, but I can't recommend the game enough. That's especially the case with what Hero did with Champions Complete.

If anyone is interested, I'd love to talk about the game and answer any questions you might have.

The biggest thing I'd say is that if they continue the tradition of previous editions, FH will not have the complexity that the Hero System is criticized for. It's a crunchy game to be sure, but the scope is a bit more limited in what it's trying to present. Hopefully this will do well!

I just added a similar thread in the Kickstarter subforum:
http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?354877-HERO-Announces-Fantasy-Hero-Complete-Kickstarter

 

[Evenglare]

This is absolutely amazing. I haven't checked out hero stuff in a while since I had bought all the books I could ever need for the system. But I liked their take on champions complete, so now it's great to hear they are doing it for Fantasy as well, I can only hope that Star Hero Complete is in the pipeline.

 

[Nikosandros]

Too bad about the lack of International shipping. I'll have to hope it funds and then get it through more traditional channels. International shipping from the US has become a nightmare and it looks like things will only get worse....

That said, I haven't played HERO in a while, but it's a great game and I have fond memories of a couple of FH campaigns... keeping my finger crossed for this project to succeed.

 

[mach1.9pants]

International shipping being not available is sad. But I am now often supporting KS in PDF only cos the shipping is ridiculous, except for companies I know and love and have a great record (Frog God Games, for example). Then I get them printed in perfect binding here, which is often cheaper than the physical anyway, although never as nice finish. But I digress.

As to this, I have heard of it but know nothing of FH. Sell me, experts

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

1) For every edition prior to 6th, all you needed to play HERO is the basic book, your sheet, a pencil and dice.

2) all other books are still unnecessary, but very helpful.

3) 6th split the 1 core book into 2.

Since in HERO there may literally be thousands of ways of producing a particular effect, what sourcebooks in prior editions did was save the players and ESPECIALLY the GM time in figuring out how to model things. You don't have to follow those guidelines, but if you do...

So Fantasy HERO in prior editions showed ways of making elves and orcs; had a bunch of spells; discussed different kinds of magic systems, and how they could be modeled. And provided a sketched out setting and some NPCs as well... all, some or none of which might apply to the campaign you want to run.

 

[RevTurkey]

Well..just picked up a cheap copy of Champions Complete to see what is what these days in the land of the Hero System.

Back in the day, played quite a lot of Hero. Champions, Fantasy Hero, Dark Champions, Western Hero. All in all, had a lot of fun with it back then. I used to enjoy making characters up a lot.

Moved on to playing lots of other games since but definitely enjoyed playing those games.

I was put off returning to the game by the sheer size of the basic rulebooks in the latter editions. I am not a fan of huge, weighty rpg books. I like my games in smaller more easily digestible chunks.

This new format might just get me interested again. I'm going to have a peek at the Champions Complete to see if I still like the game and see if I like where it is now...I might then put a bit of backing into the new kickstarter for Fantasy Hero, just to have a look. I'm sold on D&D Next unless it is a mess when it finally turns up but I might just fancy a change every now and then anyway and Hero was always good as I remember.

 

[Hyper-Man]

They've already reached $8000 of the $15000 goal.

Regarding International Shipping....

from: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/herogames/fantasy-hero-complete/posts/833492

[h=3]International Shipping[/h]We've had a lot of inquiries about our not including an option for shipping physical copies of Fantasy Hero Complete internationally as part of this Kickstarter project, and feel that our foreign customers deserved an explanation. The reasons for us making this choice are strictly economic. It costs us somewhere between three and five times as much to ship intentionally as domestically. The $15,000 we are asking to complete this project is the bare minimum it will cost to create and ship the book to domestic backers with no “wiggle room” for extra expenses. Until we reach that point, any added money for international shipping doesn't actually make the book happen. It just goes to shipping. So if we accept international shipping before reaching our goal, we could wind up reaching the goal but not getting enough funds to actually make Fantasy Hero Complete.

And nobody wants that.

(Additionally, books that are shipped overseas get lost more frequently than those shipped domestically, so we need a good cushion of funding to cover cases where we wind up having to ship a replacement book.)

However, it was never our desire to exclude our foreign customers, but rather to serve them by making electronic files available during the project and physical copies available via direct sales and international distribution afterward. So if we reach our $15,000 goal by May 16th (the halfway point), we'll add a $60 “Legionnaire” Level which will be the same as our Myrmidon Level, only with international shipping included. That's Canada and Mexico at cost - and we'll subsidize all other international shipping.

If you're an international customer, please remember that you can pledge at the Journeyman Level ($20) now, then change your pledge with the blue "Manage Pledge" button to the Legionnaire Level should we get to add that. Or, if you're feeling particularly supportive, you can choose the $20 reward but pledge $60 now to get us to $15,000 faster, and then drop back to $20 if we don't make that goal by May 16th.

 

[mach1.9pants]

Really the best way to deal with international shipping is to charge it at the shipping point. Send a Paypal bill. Then money on the KS isn't going towards postage so they know where they stand. Amazon doesn't take it's 8% cut, nor the tax man. You get the exact right amount and international types get to spread the payment a bit. It takes a bit of organising but is really the best way. And if the purchaser doesn't pay when the time comes, tough, he/she can come and pick it up in person!

 

[RevTurkey]

Well...got my copy of Champions Complete. Had a thumb through and really like the format. Rpgnow have a sale on Hero 6th Ed and Champions so I grabbed those for a bargain price. No doubt they will be useful as they go into depth but I have to say the 'Complete' format is much better in my opinion. I have backed the Kickstarter for the pdf as International shipping is very expensive (well it will be if conditions are met etc) but I think this new version of Fantasy Hero Complete could be an excellent book and all in one game.

looking forward to seeing it make print hopefully.

Are we getting anything like a bestiary or spells within the book or do we have to make them up or buy the big blue books...or are things like that going to be released in new formats does anybody know?