Like a thief in the night

Pastor Beau emailed me his edits to the referee section last night!  I will now go through his edits and I need to add back some charts that were lost in translation...so that will be my weekend chore.  Glutton for punishment that Pastor Beau is, he has kindly offered to re-review  the (nearly) final edit of the players section.  So it is all coming right along!

Character Creation

One of the hallmarks of the melee/wizard system is the character creation.  Unlike most games of the time using random creation, M/W used point based character creation.  Character construction included selection of everything from attributes, to skills and spells.  For the new player, this can be an overwhelming start to fun.

Think of Monopoly. If you had to create special information for the dog, the iron, the car, or the boot prior to playing--well you might not ever begin. 

One of the good things about classic D&D is the simplicity of starting a new player: do you want to be a fighter? A thief? an Elf? a Dwarf?  Okay you pick Dwarf, now roll 3d6 for each attribute, now roll for HP, here is some gear and away you go. There is a minimal setup or investment for the new player to start.

Don't worry HOW retains the classic point buy system, yet I feel an opportunity remains for random creation.

My question is whether or not this optional system should, or should not, be included as part of the main HOW rules.  As Blades & Black Magic will contain additional optional  rules, perhaps it is best left out of the core rules and reserved for this book?

On the update front, for the players portion I added a combat example, character creation example, and some brief additional notes on fire and poison.  The referee portion at the time of this writing is still being edited, but again I do believe it will finish soon.

Nothing Fancy

For the people following this blog for awhile, thanks and pardon that this description will be old hat.  To the cats just clicking, thanks and here is a quick synopsis of Heroes & Other Worlds:

The HOW system is inspired by Melee/ Wizard games from Metagaming. The HOW rules book presentation is inspired by the Moldvay D&D Basic Rules book.

In essence I want the Metagaming inspired mechanics linked with the role playing inspired goodness of the Moldvay book. There is no setting included in the basic rules, the other worlds are what you will make of it.

Support
A second book Blades & Black Magic will include more character options, different types of magic, more spells, more creatures, and a S&S style setting. Not really EXPERT RULES, but a collection of additional material that can add more crunch and options for players who want/need that kind of extra detail.

Cauldron will be the zine I use to continue to add new optional ideas, and will be the vehicle to have YOU submit your own adventures, spells, creatures, equipment, other worlds etc.

Adventures
Right from the start there are a large number of adventures compatible with HOW. Where? DARK CITY GAMES. They produce programmed adventures just like the classics from Metagaming.  As HOW uses the same core system, you have a lot of great adventures right from the start!

In addition I will be creating an adventure ode to the original Death Test modules. It will be a programmed adventure and it will be deadly.

Okay so the big question--WHEN?

editing on the referee section is still on going and I believe it is going to finish this weekend.  Then Layout, print test, review of print test and boom publication: aiming for late November.

No kickstarter, and I am not taking your hard earned money until I have something to give you back.  

just because I could

Tough month

October did not turn out as planned.  Frequent travel for business and a nasty cold which hit both my wife and I left my best laid plans unfinished.

Editing is continuing on the referee portion of the book and once completed, then layout on the full book can begin.

At this point, November is a more likely month of release.  I apologize for the delays, the spirit is willing, but time is not always as accommodating.

Thanks for your support and patience!

Happy Accident

I am a big believer in the idea that things happen for a reason. To that end, I am happy to announce Pastor Beau has finished editing the player portion of  Heroes & Other Worlds! HUZZAH!

As I spent the morning reviewing the edit a not wholly original idea struck me: Perhaps a new player, referee, or just curious sort would appreciate purchasing just the player portion of the basic rules? This would include the basics of character creations, skills, spells, combat and equipment.  Once lay out is complete I believe it will run about 50 pages in digest single column format. MSRP $14.99

If the Players book is of interest and someone wanted to add just a Referee portion, a second book will be available as well. This contains both the programmed and refereed adventures, NPC and adventure suggestions, traps, terrors and treasures. I am going to hazard a guess that this will run around 50-60 pages as well once lay out is done. MSRP $14.99

Both of these covers feature unique illustrations by artist Richard Luschek!

For those already committed, or for the person who wants it all, a complete edition uniting both books in one volume will be offered. This volume will feature my wife's cover artwork as seen previously. MSRP $24.99

The work continues...

Change of plans

Rather than just put out the adventure for free, I will combine it into a free "zero" issue of Cauldron.

This free issue will remain a free give away and hopefully provide a reason to buy other issues as they come out.

So Enon Tor adventure will be included as well as some other bits and bobs that  can be added into your game play experience with Heroes & Other Worlds.

Enon Tor

Way back in 1984, Imagine magazine published a little adventure called The Beacon at Enon Tor.  It was a great introductory D&D adventure for a beginning referee and beginning players taking about 2 to 3 hours to complete.

In 2006, inspired by the Castles & Crusades RPG white box, J.B. Littlefield converted it to C&C and posted it as a free PDF download adventure.

Well inspired by J.B., I am going to convert it into a Heroes & Other Worlds format adventure and offer it up as a free download once the HOW rules book releases.

No word yet on the edit progress, but I am hopeful to see it this week.