What's Old Is New Again

By far, the most time consuming part of designing The Hero's Journey was writing the menagerie. The second edition of The Hero's Journey actually features fewer monsters than the the original game, but this time I sat down and had a very specific design philosophy and intent when creating that chapter instead of a simple "copy, paste, and tweak" that was done with the first edition. From the beginning, I wanted the monsters of THJ2e to stand out. Fantasy roleplaying games have plenty of staple monsters that we all know and love: kobolds, mimics, chromatic dragons, and beholders - just to name a few.

But I wanted to make things fresh by going back to the mythology and legends that inspired The Hero's Journey and influenced many of the works that were in turn an inspiration for the game. To that end, whenever it was possible for me to go back to the British or Celtic mythological sources in terms of monster design, that's what I did.

Kobolds became tiny, wizened old men that live in the stone deep beneath the earth. Salamanders became strange tree-dwelling lizards that fallowed the land. Dragons were no longer separated by the color of their scales - instead, the very definition of the term "dragon" grew to include mythological creatures like the great wyrms of Arthurian myth and the poetry of Beowulf, while "new" monsters revealed themselves like the strange and tragic lindworm. 

This exploration was really a lot of fun when it came to exploring the fey. That makes a lot of sense in hindsight, given their prominence in British and Celtic mythology and I knew by the time I'd finished the menagerie that the Fair Folk were definiately going to need a more thorough investigation in their own supplement even before the core book was done. Keep an eye out for Betwixt and Between, it's in the works.

This became more than just a question of "how do I stat that?" as a game designer. Each monster became a unique creature with unique elements that still felt genuine because they were rooted in real, historic mythology. It was, at least for me as a creator, both refreshing and familiar. It created a kind of internal consistency in the entire chapter that I didn't notice until the entire chapter was completed. It also introduced me to a lot of wonderful stories along the way, and isn't that what The Hero's Journey is all about really? Sharing stories?

Exploring the monsters of mythology was a wonderful adventure in and of itself, and I feel it's given The Hero's Journey a flavor all its own. Just ask anyone who's ever taken the offered Goblin Fruit from a Goblin Merchant lingering in the deep places of the world or along the banks of a long forgotten river. I'm sure they'll have a story all their own.

The Price of War

One of the most common observations I hear about The Hero's Journey is that the game looks, on paper, to have a high lethality. It's a bit more complicated than that and I wanted to talk about it for a second. In THJ2e, characters receive a flat Endurance at character creation, have two hit dice at 2nd and 3rd level, then receive a small bonus every level thereafter, maxing out at 10th level. This means that statistically speaking, a Warrior who rolled maximum Endurance at 2nd and 3rd level who has a Resolve of 18 would have a total Endurance of 51. That's the absolute maximum possible in the game, with some very, very rare exceptions.

Now, statistically speaking that means that a such a character shot by a Heavy Crossbow (which does the most base damage in the game of 1d12) could be slain after being shot 5 times. Given that player characters often face off against multiple foes, that means such a powerhouse character could get whittled down very quickly. Not to mention, if they are reduced to zero Endurance, there is a chance of a Grievous Wound or even death. That doesn't even take into account powerhouse magic spells like Flame Bright & Sacred, which has the Wreathed and Consumed option. This spell inflicts 1d6 Endurance per level of the caster. Given that it is a Journeyman spell, this means the Wizard must be at least 4th level to cast that spell in the first place, thus giving the spell minimum damage of 4d6 - twice the damage of the most powerful weapon in the game, with a statistical average damage equal to that of the Heavy Crossbow's maximum damage. That's terrifying. Given how quickly someone can be shredded in combat or how a few poor rolls could bring a character dangerously close to death, why would anyone choose to enter combat? 

They wouldn't. 

Most average people avoid violence until it is the absolute last option available - especially lethal violence. Choosing to go into battle is dangerous and unpredictable. I wanted combat in THJ2e to reflect that. When a player character chooses to draw a weapon and enter battle willingly they should know they are putting their life at risk. When they choose to go into a monster-infested forest, they should feel afraid that they might not come out because the map says "Here There Be Dragons." Wizards should be able to wield spells that are capable of incinerating foes, because magic is powerful and terrible, and scary and so are those who wield it. When someone is named a Wizard, that title alone is cause to pause and take notice. In addition, the stories which inspired the game presented combat as a climax. It's not a cure all of whatever problem the player characters face. They're not going into the dungeon to "kill the zoo" and take its treasure. 

To use an example, in The Hobbit you do not see any real combat until the entire party has to be rescued from a group of giant spiders. Prior to that you see a group of fourteen characters face off against trolls, goblins, and angry elves. What do they do in every instance? They attempt to talk their way out of things first and then when battle seems imminent, they recognize the danger they're in and make a retreat. Even when facing off against those spiders, the protagonist engages in a tactical retreat with the goal of rescuing his friends - not fighting the monsters. And when the fight seems impossible to avoid, he tells his friends to run knowing he will stand and defend them and likely die in the process. When the novel climaxes with the Battle of Five Armies (which much time is spent trying to avoid by a very wise Wizard), the focus is not on the battle itself - but on the mourning that comes from the losses and foolishness of the whole affair. When you choose to risk your life, it needs to be a real risk with real consequences.

The Hero's Journey further reinforces its lack of focus on combat as a solution because player characters never receive XP for defeating a monster as an end. Fighting off a terrible evil in defense of something good and true is XP-worthy, but not combat for combat's sake. That's senseless risk.

So the next time you're playing The Hero's Journey (or maybe another RPG) stop and think about what it really means to draw a sword and take a life. The great heroes in the stories that inspired this game certainly did that, and they are remembered as heroes because they recognized that taking a life and risking one's own life is a dangerous, dangerous thing.

The Power of Fellowship

Roleplaying games are, by their nature, a group activity. With rare exception you cannot play them alone. In most circumstances, you're playing them with a group of friends - four or more. All but one of those participants is taking up the role of a single character that's part of a group. As a group you will face challenges and obstacles and as a group you will work together to overcome them. 

This sense of fellowship with other characters, and indeed the other players at the table, is a paramount theme in The Hero's Journey. You will face danger, but you will not face it alone. As a writer, you can state this over and over again in the text, but in the actual rules of The Hero's Journey, Second Edition, there are several rules to highlight this theme.

One of these rules changes is the way Initiative works in combat. In most traditional roleplaying games you roll a die (perhaps with a modifier) and the person with the highest roll or most successes goes first. This means that often times players (and thus characters) are restricted in acting as a team because they have to either wait until an ally has gone before they can perform some complimentary action, thus inhibiting the ability of the player characters to work together as a team.

In The Hero's Journey, Second Edition, each character still rolls a die for their initiative at the beginning of each combat round (in this case a  d12) and adds appropriate modifiers. However, when it comes their time to act, that player can choose to actually trade their own initiative roll total with any other player who has yet to act in a combat round. 

On its face, this seems counter intuitive. "Wait, so my Changeling Swordsman with a Finesse of 18 who gets +3 to Initiative just rolled an 11. So they go on 14. How does that translate to the Human Wizard with a Finesse of 10 going first in a combat round because of what I rolled?"

By the straight numbers it doesn't. But from a narrative point of view and by using those themes of working together as a group so that each character has a chance to shine and the group is able to become more than the sum of its parts, this is absolutely, 100% in line with the ethos of The Hero's Journey.

So yes, your ultra quick Swordsman could go first in the combat round, but by trading that Initiative roll of 14 with the Wizard (who sadly rolled a 4), the Wizard can act first and cast Lingering Starlight to blind the Goblin King with a Blinding Flash before the Swordsman moves in to deliver a well-placed blow. This allows both the Wizard to perform some helpful actions that both give them a chance to utilize their abilities and the opportunity to have a meaningful contribution to the Swordsman's impending battle with that Goblin King. In short, it promotes teamwork by permitting the group to effectively operate as a team.

And when players see that they have more opportunities to operate as a team instead of a group of individuals, then they will do so. Moreover, they will start to think like a team, and _feel_ like a team. Everyone has a chance for their worth to be seen in active play at the table, which creates a more enjoyable experience for everyone playing the game.

Thus each character's worth is more readily apparent and hopefully, the player characters will see just how valuable their fellowship with one another is, and thus a bond will hopefully be created.

Strange and Wonderful

At the time of this writing the adventure compilation Adventures and Interludes is in editing and am I am drafting a sourcebook/supplement focused on the fey and on the Land of Fairie called Betwixt and Between. In addition to The Hero's Journey core book, there are currently four additional products available in the game line: The Narrator's Screen, The Hero's Companion, The Hero's Grimoire and Of Beasts Brave and True. That's a lot of material.

And you don't have to use all of it at once. 

One of the cornerstone elements of The Hero's Journey is keeping magic magical and ensuring that the strange, fantastic elements of the game and its world stay wondrous. To that end, I wanted to talk for a moment about how I, as a designer, intend for the supplement books in the product line are intended to be used. 

I have found that there is an unspoken implication that if a product is "official" then it is automatically assumed to be available for use in any given game. This goes beyond The Hero's Journey and seems to be a universal assumption across the roleplaying hobby. I reject this notion.

I find it perfectly reasonable to assume that nothing aside from material found in the core rule book of any RPG is mandatory or automatically available at the table. In the end, even when it comes to the material presented in a game's core book, nothing - no rule, no character lineage or archetype or heirloom or spell - should be assumed to be automatically present. In the end, the Narrator is looking to create their own unique gaming experience at the table and as such some material within any given game may be appropriate to that and some may not.

During the playtest campaign for the material found in Adventures and Interludes, the legendarium began with only three player characters - all of whom had independently decided to play humans. During first session of the game they didn't encounter a single supernatural. Not an elf, not a halfling, not a monster, not a spell, nor a magic item. By the time we finished one of my players looked up and said "That could've been a historic game. That was really cool - it felt like a real fairy tale." He said he found the lack of heavy magic often found in other games to be refreshing and engaging and that the hint of magic things just on the edge of the adventure made it feel like a real world fairy tale. He called it "refreshing."

As the legendarium continued they inevitably encountered supernatural elements. Fairies and dragons, wizards and curses, evil goblins, the works. But it always felt magical and strange to them because the world was grounded in the mundane. That meant they reacted with wonder and awe and fear whenever they came across something that was magical.

And ya know what? It was refreshing for me too.

The Hero's Journey line of products is full of fantastical stuff. From the core Lineages available like elves and dwarves to the more unusual stuff like Tree-Folk and Rovers in The Hero's Companion, to the magical dangers found in Adventures and Interludes - but use it sparingly. A little goes a long way.

Keep magic magical and keep the wondrous wonderful.

The First Steps on an Adventure

I spend a lot of my time thinking about The Hero's Journey, Second Edition. The game itself, in one form or another, has been in my head for over ten years and when the first edition released around 2017, I was both proud and dissatisfied. On one hand, I had created a complete game that focused on the themes that I wanted present when I played a fantasy roleplaying game. On the other time, the game had quite a few concessions that were made to ensure it was compatible with the White Box rules set.

I'd initially made this choice for a combination of reasons. First, and perhaps least important, is because it was easy. I know the White Box rules set forwards and backwards so writing for it was as easy as falling off a log. (I also happen to be very good at that too.) Another reason was that I was known within the self-publishing community for creating quality White Box content. It felt expected that any game I wrote would, by default, be a White Box game. So, whenever a major rules change to make the original edition of The Hero's Journey Fantasy Roleplaying would have made it incompatible with other White Box products, I favored rules over that the themes and tones I loved so dearly.

That was a mistake.

As I started to make those concessions more and more of them came. I started including things simply because I liked them and not because they fit beloved theme. Yes, Monks and Jesters are cool. But they are not well known iconic archetypes rooted in western European folklore and classic fairy stories. They're just cool. Yes, dragons divided by chromatic colors are neat and familiar to almost every gamer who ever dared to roll dice - but again, they don't really have a firm place in that source material. Sacrifice after sacrifice was made in the name of pragmatism and in the end while The Hero's Journey Fantasy Roleplaying is a fine game, it's not quite the game I set out to create.

Yes, it was well reviewed and well received, but I hadn't been true to my vision and more than anyone else, I had failed myself in its creation. That doesn't make the first edition of The Hero's Journey a bad game, it just didn't end up being the game I set out to create.

When I partnered with Gallant Knight Games in 2019, I was told that I still had complete freedom to produce whatever I desired. That was a strange thing. I am fiercely independent as a creator and had previous offers to partner with other publishers in the past. When I partnered with Gallant, I expected there to be a "catch" once all the paperwork was signed. Turns out, there was. The "catch" was that Gallant challenged me to not make the concessions I had. Not to worry about what people would think. But most of all, Gallant challenged me not to do things by a half measure. So once the contracts are signed I was asked "What do you want to do?" I casually mentioned that I'd always wanted to do a revised edition of The Hero's Journey. But most people never get even one shot at a fantasy heartbreaker, let alone two. My off-hand remark was met with an enthusiastic "Then do it!"

So, for three months I went back to the final draft of the original document of the first edition and started trimming, editing, cutting and rearranging. That took about three months. Then I turned it into Gallant Knight Games. Knowing me better than I know myself, the folks at Gallant handed the manuscript and said "Now, stop writing the game you think other people think you want and write the game you want."

That was when the work began in earnest. I gutting the game almost to its foundation and as I cut away secret cows of fantasy gaming like Alignment and Divine Magic, it became easier to forge the game that I had inside me - the fantasy game I wanted. By the time I'd made all the changes it was no longer a retro-clone. Heck, it wasn't even White Box compatible anymore. Not by a long shot. It was its own thing. And instead of being afraid it wouldn't sell, I was proud of the game I had made on my own. It might even be the first game I ever truly made on my own. And after over a year of work, I was in love.

How did I know I was in love with The Hero's Journey, Second Edition? When I'd finished previous large scale projects like White Star or Class Compendium, I was exhausted. I put them down and knew for a time that I wouldn't even want to touch them, let alone write more material for them. Sure, I was proud - but I was also more than a bit burnt out. But not so with The Hero's Journey, Second Edition. I still remember closing the document on the core book and immediately opening a new one to begin The Hero's Companion. Meanwhile as I'm writing the Companion, I was writing The Curse of Cormac's Hollow, Goblin Promises, and Troll Knoll. Instead of wanting to run away from the finished product, I longed to continue to drink deeply from that well.

Even now, with nearly a quarter of a million words written or drafted across very products, I still have countless pages screaming to get out and into print. I can confirm that there will be a supplement focusing on Fey and Fairies tentatively titled Betwixt and Between, a sister book to The Hero's Companion tentatively titled The Narrator's Tome, and a few stand alone adventures. When Mike Brodu showed me his early draft for Of Beasts Brave & True, I loved it. I wanted it to be a part of the game's official product line and I immediately offered him a place at the table on the condition that we expand his foundation into something we could turn into a short supplement for publication as an official part of the line. There's more to come too. I have plans for other large supplements and several short ones - including a few stand alone adventures and books that focus on different elements of the themes and tones of The Hero's Journey, Second Edition.

In addition to my work at Barrel Rider Games, I also freelance pretty regularly. Lately I've been wanting to do so less and less because I can't get The Hero's Journey, Second Edition out of my soul. Every fiber of it is infused with things I love - right down to Nic Giacondino's art. You see, many of the iconic characters who appear and reappear in the product line feature the likeness of real people. Friends, family, and even pets (and yes, the author too) are present throughout the product line and will continue to appear because The Hero's Journey, Second Edition is an unfettered expression of the things I love about both gaming and fantasy.

The Hero's Journey was born in my mind almost a decade ago, and it just set off in earnest on its first adventure this year with the release of the second edition. I sense a long, perilous road ahead. Dragons will be slain. Kingdoms will be saved. Heroes will rise and fall. Boon friends will arrive at the most unexpected moments. But I hope, more than anything, that many people will join me on this adventure and maybe, just maybe, find a little bit of that fierce love I've put in these pages at their own gaming tables.