All Under Hero: BECMI D&D To Hit progression

Karameikos has always been the starting point of my understanding of Mystara; the first Gazetteer was my first realization that it was its own setting.

And since the Gazetteer states that Karameikos was designed as being designed to accommodate the rulebook classes, I've decided to assume that the D&D cyclopedia classes and levels are sort of 'rules of thumb' to build Mystaran characters -- and even to use as NPC templates for customization in the course of play.

So -- let's look at the To Hit tables for the classes (which include demi-humans)!

Progression Insights

According to this table, we can see that:

• Character classes are a cut above normal humans (even magic users), with a +1 to their To Hits at 1st level. 
• Fighters improve their To Hit chances by +2 every 3 levels.
• Clerics, Thieves, and Druids improve their To Hit Chances by +2 every 4 levels.
• Magic Users improve their To Hit Chances by +2 every 5 levels.
• Demi-humans progress a little bit differently (see the letters).

This can easily be done in HERO with equivalent bonuses to the PC's OCV per level.

Why not make these straightforward Skill Level purchases? Well, there are a couple of things that might complicate matters:

• reflecting hit points: rather than a straighforward boost to BODY, STUN, or PD / ED, allowing a bonus to CV instead of just OCV could reflect how higher level characters are just better at combat in general (as a guideline).
• weapon mastery rules: these also have an effect of boosting your skills, and any characters with this should have these reflected as skill levels with their chosen weapons; implementing with skill levels instead of a straight OCV bonus might confuse matters.

So, I'll proceed on this basis for now.

All Under Hero: HEROic D&D

Mystara has been a setting that fascinates me, due to the long-lingering influence of the Gazetteers on my fantasy gaming life. One of the reasons I attempted, years ago, to do a "HEROic" conversion of D&D (see the following old links), was partially due to the setting.

HEROic D&D - Part 1
HEROic D&D - Part 2
HEROic D&D - Part 3
HEROic D&D - Part 4
HEROic D&D - Part 5

Someone asked my why I would attempt such a thing, given how well HERO does fantasy, and the fact that I was obviously a HERO fan, and knew Fantasy Hero. I answered the following:

"to convert various NPCs, PCs and monsters into HERO characters and then play straight using HERO rules. 

It's not REALLY a system re-creation, but two things:
(1) primarily a way to rationalize in my head how these conversions would be done;
(2) very secondarily, a way to explore how HERO deviated from the original ruleset -- as I think I've hinted at here by how I handled stats."

Looking back, I would have to say that it was probably more of a combination of the first sentence, and #2 of the last paragraph.

To be honest, it seems to me that #2 of the last paragraph was a major part of it -- I wanted to explore why the ruleset of HERO resonated so strongly with my own mental model of how the world works, as opposed to my occasional hesitations when remembering the abstraction choices made in D&D rules (like the abstract Armor Class approach, which combines difficulty in hitting someone with the ability to penetrate armor / do damage).

At the same time, I also felt that Mystara had hidden depths that I could best express in HERO system (which I think echoes in my own explorations of magic systems elsewhere on this blog). I wanted to have a depth and breadth of fighting builds for characters, and a way to express how different magical / mystical systems could be realized in the world -- and why those differences matter when recognized by players.

That being the case, I'm returning to this project with a different perspective, perhaps to ground my explorations more. I'm going to begin building components for the Mystara / Enigmundia world in HERO to see where they bring me in terms of the ideas for the setting.

Kickstarter: Narosia -- Sea of Tears

Well, it looks like there's a new fantasy setting on Kickstarter. Powered by the Hero System. Check out the pitch on Kickstarter; and then the page with some preview material on the Legendsmiths site.

I am curious about it, since I am a Hero System fan. Especially since, in contrast to the traditional approach with the Hero System rules, all the rules will be included the RPG -- while allowing customization with the larger family of Hero System rules.

In the design philosophy, they even say:

The key design goal of Narosia is to provide a fantasy setting that is both familiar and new. The familiarity is found in the common fantasy elements that have been a part of classic fantasy roleplaying for many years. This means many things to many people, but the goal is to take many of the tropes of fantasy gaming and put them into a context that is coherent and supports the existence of those tropes as part of the backstory and metaplot.

Adventurers are a lauded professionals, dungeon crawling (including traps, greater challenges based on depth, etc.) is common source of adventure, magic has influence on the economy, and the gods walk the land. This is not the extent of Narosian gameplay, but illustrates the extent of the familiar.

  The involvement of Darren Watts and Kenneth Hite certainly caught my attention.

Fantasy Hero -- a different philosophy from OSR

In comparison with the more abstract combat of classic D&D, Fantasy Hero (based on its rules lineage of Champions and the Hero System) is much more tactically complex. But it also does give more tactical options in combat, options that would be eerily familiar to D&D 3E aficionados.

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.