Sunday, January 24, 2016

Hero's Journey RPG Update

OK, so I've been writing like a fiend so far. I've decided to be pretty public with what's going to be in Hero's Journey, since it's really just a vanity project. It is built upon the core concepts and mechanics of Swords & Wizardry White Box. After one weekend of compiling notes, orgaizing and writing like a fiend, I'm 70 pages into the first draft. That includes:

Attributes: HJ will use the traditional six attributes from D&D and other retro-clones, but I am tweaking Wisdom a bit and retitling it Willpower. Two additional attributes will also be added. Attributes will run the standard range of 3 to 18, though modifiers will be slightly more variable than +1 or -1 for extraordinarily low or high attributes.

Secondary Skills: I'm not a fan of proficencies, but I do like the broad applicability of secondary skills, so HJ will feature a secondary skills chart. Your secondary skill will establish a broad set of skills described very loosely in which your character was trained before becoming an adventurer. Your secondary skill will also determine some of your starting gear and how much gold you begin play with.

Races: I'm keeping with the classics: Dwarf, elf, half-elf, halfling, half-orc and human. A character's race will determine what classes are available to them and to what level they can progress in their chosen class. Race will also provide more abilities to the character than traditionally found in OSR games. Finally, race will determine how your attributes are rolled. So, for example, a halfling will roll 2d6+6 for Dexterity, instead of simply receiving a modifier applied on top of the traditional 3d6.

Classes: There are 14 (yes, 14) classes in Hero's Journey. These are all classes previously published in White Box Omnibus or White Box Companion II, tweaked to suit the changes present in Hero's Journey. Clerics and Magic-Users (now called Wizards) are more difficult to qualify for in the hopes of keeping them rare and exotic.

Equipment: Equipment is, for the most part, as S&W WhiteBox, with some minor changes to weapon damage - everything is still d6-based though - so don't worry too much. Oh, and I added "lance" as a weapon, because damnit I like lances. Armor and shields work differently than White Box, and anyone who's been following this blog can likely guess at what kind of updates I'm making on that front.

Oh, and I have cover art - it's currently in layout and when I have it available I'll show it off here on the blog. I have to say, I'm having a helluva good time writing this game. Though it is based on WhiteBox, it will not require any other products to play the game. Hell, who knows? If it does well at all, maybe I'll even do a supplement or two somewhere down the line - but for now, I'm hyper-focused on getting this badboy done.

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