What I do like about the current (Hero 6th Edition) version is that there's a clear dedication to giving a taste of not only the tropes and elements of the genre -- there are quotes from the many varied novels and short stories and other source material that serve to illuminate each of them.
Like prior versions, though, it provides options for running fantasy games: racial templates, class templates, varied magical systems, equipment lists, martial arts (weapons and barehanded), genre and subgenre definitions, and so on.
In short, a gold mine of tools to put together your own campaign -- whatever your chosen ruleset.
Of course, the Hero System is one of my favorite systems, because it taught me (someone who didn't quite understand the concept of game balance/imbalance early on in my gaming career) how to evaluate what trade-offs are done between advantages, disadvantages, abilities, penalties and so on.
Of course it depends on how narrowly you define OSR. If you include The Fantasy Trip then there you have a game that emphasized tactics.
ReplyDeleteAnd I like the same things about HERO, especially because I prefer magic systems where spells use energy. Writing a spell up in HERO gives you a good idea if the energy cost matches the spell's potency.
Hi JerryC!
ReplyDeleteWell, in the "rulings over rules" arena it technically already fails. But it's true what you said: it depends on the narrowness of your OSR definition.
Hi anarchist,
ReplyDeleteI'd be delighted, but I am a bit swamped right now to do any reading -- I'm editing an anthology right now for Philippine Speculative Fiction volume 7 (along with my wife) and we're currently slogging through the submissions.
I will e-mail you in case come December (when my work should thin out) you're still interested in my reviews.