Gearing Up for the Journey

 The Hero's Journey, Second Edition is beginning to build a lot of supplements. We've got the core book, The Hero's Companion, The Hero's Grimiore, Of Beasts Brave and True already out there with Adventures & Interludes, By Feather and Coop, Betwixt and Between: A Book of Fairie Lore, and Mischief and Merriment announced. That's seven supplements, plus a core book - not to mention Skaldic Sagas: Heroic Journeys in the Viking Age, which uses the same rules set to tell stories set in a mythopoetic pre-Christian Scandinavian cultures. We've also got more planned for the future.

Some material is repeated in these supplements and that is intentional. One of my favorite roleplaying games and one that was formative for my love of the hobby was West End Games' The Star Wars Roleplaying Game. They were famous for reprinting stats and info across many books and it was often seen as padding or filling pages, but in hindsight I don't think that was the case and its certainly not the case for my own product line.

I loathe when a game supplement refers a reader to another supplement. It makes me feel like they're trying redirect me to spend more money on top of the game's core book and the supplement I'm currently reading. As if I'm some how out of the loop if I don't have all the books. But with West End Games' Star Wars, I never felt like I was somehow missing out. I was part of the game, part of the community, and part of the fun, regardless of what books I did or didn't own. I was included.

I wanted to promote this ethos in The Hero's Journey. That's why the Pugilist alternate for the Swordsman Archetype appears in Of Beasts Brave and True. That way if you don't have The Hero's Companion in which it originally appears you still get full use of the product you've already purchased. The spell Cold Both Fierce and Fell appears originally in The Hero's Companion and is reprinted in Betwixt and Between, as is the Knight Archetype variant Feysworn. 

This is intentional and by design. If you play The Hero's Journey, Second Edition, then you're a part of the game, the community, and you have my thanks and you most certainly have a place at the table. So grab the gear at hand and maybe you'll pick up a new treasure or two along the way. Let's have an adventure.

The Journey into 2021

 Well, 2020 is almost over and for many of us it's been one brutal tribulation after another. Personally, my method of choice when it comes to dealing with stress is to write and I hope that translates into something that both benefits and excites you. So, keeping in mind that 2020 is the Year of Madness and may have an impact on the exact timeline of releases, I wanted to give you a preview of what we've got coming next year for The Hero's Journey, Second Edition.

Again, keeping in mind that 2020 leave a long and nasty trail of complications, here's what we're planning for The Hero's Journey, Second Edition:

Adventures and Interludes: This book has been in development since before the launch of the Kickstarter which funded the creation of The Hero's Journey, Second Edition. The more successful that Kickstarter was, the larger this book became. Well, the fans maxed it out. Adventures and Interludes includes eight pre-written scenarios for The Hero's Journey, Second Edition. Flavored to the themes and tone of THJ2e, it highlights the kinds of stories the game is designed to tell and the elements of play that are important to me as a designer. They include:

• The Curse of Cormac's Hollow: In the forested northern wilderness a small village fears the coming of winter and the terrible curse of a legend-shrouded witch. But not all is as it seems, and and an ancient pact with the Fey Queen of Winter will be their doom if a small band of heroes doesn't find a way to get out of a promise made a hundred years ago by desperate settlers.
• Goblin Promises: Dwarf miners, bound by promise to the stone-dwelling kobolds deep beneath their mine, have been banished. Now, they turn to outsiders to find out what they have done to betray their oath. But what sleeps beneath that mountain could change the world forever.
• The Boggart's Boy: Summer celebration has come to the halfling community of Westwick! But young lad Coby and his strange new friend are stirring up trouble, and amidst the festivities the players will need to find a way to save the boy's soul.
• Errants of Dunvegan: A young prince not yet ready to ascend the throne must prove the strength in his heart by confronting a terrible legacy born in blood and bound forever to an ancestral blade. Lest he learn the lessons of the true nature of a hero from some errant travelers, his kingdom may be consumed by the wrath of a dragon.
• Astride the Beanstalk: A sky giant, fallen from the sky, seeks aid from the small earth-bound folk to reconcile a terrible schism with his children, recover a beloved friend, and maybe even reconcile with those who have turned their back on him and chosen lives of chaos and destruction.
• The Midnight Rider of Loch Dearmad: After recovering an ancient magical sword, the heroes are plagued with nightmares of a terrible midnight rider who craves blood. If they do not find a way to free themselves from this accursed weapon their nightmares will rise to the waking world and drag them down into an abyss of fear and carnage.
• Beastspeaker, Birdsinger: A kindly old Wizard finds himself betrayed and stripped of his magic by a bitter apprentice. In the wake of the strange enchantment that prevents him from drawing upon his power a small team of heroes will navigate the world of birds and beasts to stop the young, imbittered sorcerer from destroying the harmony of the wilderness forever.

    In addition to the eight adventures, there's several new Heirlooms and Aspects, and more than a few new strange creatures. Everything in this book is designed specifically for use with The Hero's Journey, Second Edition core rule book. Adventures and Interludes contains enough material for months of heroic gaming and I hope you'll love using the material in this book as I did writing it.

Next up, with an aim for a Q2 release in both Print-on-Demand and PDF is By Feather and Coop. This short supplement will bring the feathered fancies of chickens to The Hero's Journey. You heard me right: chickens. As whimsical as spring itself, this supplement will introduce a new Lineage (the Bantam), new magic, new Heirlooms, new optional rules, and a few new creatures. A bit of light fun that can be used to add a bit of levity to your legendarium while still remaining 100% balanced with existing material for The Hero's Journey, Second Edition.

The third quarter of 2021 is where things start to get even more exciting. Continuing the partnership with Gallant Knight Games, we're hoping to launch a small Kickstarter to fund the publication of Betwixt and Between: A Book of Fairie Lore for THJ2e. This is a massive book. To give you a comparison, the core rules for The Hero's Journey, Second Edition clocks in at around 70,000 words. Betwixt and Between is over 60,000 words. It's chock full of fey and fairy goodness for your legendarium. In addition to cover art by Jon Hodgson and interior art by Nic Giacondino, you'll have new content like...

• Five new Lineages: The immortal Ever-Child, the melancholy Sea Born, the heroic Summer Born, the feral Wildlings, and the frigid Winter Born.
• Three variant Archetypes: The Rhymer, a bard variant who can hear the song of fate and foresee what is yet to come. The Fey Knight, previously appearing in The Hero's Companion but presented here for those who don't have that product, they have sworn their serve to the strange nobles of the fey court. The Enchantress, a wizard variant who has not only mastered the mysteries of fairie magic, but can steal the very essence of such incantations and claim them as their own.
• New Character Options: Become one of the fey-touched, and have your character's destiny altered forever. Whether you're the Seventh Son of the Seventh Son, served at the forge of Wayland himself to become a Smith-Crafter, or have become the uncanny Marquis de Carabas himself, an encounter with the fey may change your life forever!
• New Rules and Information: The nature of the fey and their strange realm of Fairie is explored in detail. This includes crossing the mysterious and wild border between the Mortal Realm and Fairie, whether it be through mushroom rings, or even in your own dreams. The many domains of Fairie, from the grand Summer Lands and Winter's Hollow, to lesser (but no less legendary) realms like Avalon, Tir Na Nog, Wayland's Forge, or the Pixie's Parlor.
• New Fey: Of course you knew there'd be new fey creatures! Twenty five new fey are introduced in Betwixt and Between. Ranging from the clever little Flower Fairies to the brutal Lord of the Wild Hunt, you'll explore the vast diversity and unsettling strangeness that is the Fair Folk.
• New Magic: In addition to including the spell Cold Both Fierce and Fell (which originally appeared in The Hero's Grimiore and is reprinted here for easy reference), you'll also find a plethora of ways to protect yourself against the fey, what happens when you suffer a Fairy Curse (and how to break it), and the strange magic of Fairie Charms that sometimes comes to Changelings.
• New Magical Items: New Aspects and Heirlooms will be introduced. Whether you're wearing strange Goblinized Armor, or drawing on the uncanny magic imbued in a child's tooth that has yet to be claimed by the Tooth Fairy, you'll find all manner of strange artifacts in the last pages of Betwixt and Between.

We're hoping that if Betwixt and Between funds, we'll be able to get it out to you by Q4 of 2021. The book is written, the cover art is done, and its currently in editing.

Our other Q3 news is the release of the short supplement Mischief and Merriment, which will deal with festivals and celebrations. You'll find a few new human variant Lineages, along with four new Archetype variants: The swordsman variant Jongleur, the bard variant Mummer, the burglar variant Prestidigitator, and the yeoman variant Paladin. We'll also explore seasonal festivals that can be easily inserted into your legendarium and allow player characters to take unique Festival Actions that have an impact on their future adventures in the seasons to come. There will, of course, be a few new creatures - including the appearance of a mythic being or two commonly associated with the holidays. Finally, it'll have new Heirlooms and Aspects, like the Gift-Given Aspect which can only be received and never earned by spending your own Myth Points.

By Q4, we hope that Betwixt and Between will be in your hands and that will give you new content for The Hero's Journey to look forward to through out the year. Don't be surprised if you see the occassional THJ2e article pop up now and again in Gallant Knight Games' periodical TinyZine. While it focuses on the wonderful minimialist TinyD6 system, publisher Alan Bahr has graciously offered me a few pages to help fans of the game get their fix between quarterly releases.

Now, like anyone else, you're probably wondering "Yeah, that sounds great.... but what about after that?" Have no fear. We've got plenty of content still in the works that isn't mentioned above and I think that the journey has only just begun., 

Lineages Inspired: Rovers

 I love dogs. I love scrappy little dogs like terriers, mutts, and spaniels. I love their tenacity, their endless optimism, and their unwavering affection. They give me hope and to be frank, if I could be more simply joyful as dogs often are, I'd probably be a happier person. I knew from as far back as when I was wrirting the first edition of The Hero's Journey.

I've had dogs as friends and companions for most of my life. Muffin, Max, D.C. Jack, and Pippin. A few months ago, my lil' buddy Pippin (a Yorkie/Cairn mix) passed after almost nineteen years of being awesome. I was, and am, sad of course. But the thing is, he was a great dog and played like a puppy right up until the day before he passed. He was named Pippin because like the fool of a Took he was cute, energetic, always happy to meet new people, ready for adventure wherever it took him, and a complete and utter simpleton. 

That's what a dog has always been to me: A steadfast and loyal companion. We all hear stories of a young hero with their loyal animal companion who stands by them through thick and thin. So much so that it's become a narrative trope and taken on a greater resonance. So, naturally, I had put it in THJ2e. 

It's by far the most unorthodox lineage available in the game, I admit. But I think it has a proper place. Rovers are, for the most part, perfectly mundane dogs. They're just a little smarter, a little more capable than their real world counterpart - just like in the stories. The biggest influences on the creation of the Rover were several rather disparate sources. J.R.R. Tolkien's short novel Roverandom was definitely one, but also the adventures of Lassie, a favorite childhood film 1993's Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey (I dare you to watch this scene and not cry), and the video short Steadfast Stanley.

I wanted that noble devotion, that joyful dedication, that true and simple heroism present in my game and I couldn't think of a better personification than the beloved canines who had stood by me through the years.

Why call them "Rovers"?

Two reasons. One "Rover" is a traditional (to the point of being cliche) name for a dog and second as a nod to Roverandom. Also, given that it's a dog on a journey who "roves" it seem doubly appropriate.

Why include them in the game?

I've been in so many table top RPGs where a player character gets an animal companion or familiar as an NPC and they clearly love having it - so much so that they start taking more interest in that companion than in their original PC. So why not cut out the middle man and allow them to play that role? Yes, there are some obvious limits (thumbs are useful, after all), but I loved the idea of the heroic group who has a loyal dog by their side through all the danger - or even a two PC game with a single hero and their steadfast canine.

What do they contribute to the game?

Dogs have an innocence and hope about them that I believe are at the core of the themes THJ2e tries to evoke. They are loyal and optimistic, satisfied with the simple joys of live over treasure. Mechanically speaking, they're small, quick, and natural trackers. In addition, though not powerful combatants they're never unarmed. An often overlooked element ot the Rover is that they're quite literally a 25 - 30 lbs dog which means they can often get into places and observe things that other lineages cannot. This makes them excellent scouts and spies.

Customizing the Rover

I have to admit that once the Rover was in The Hero's Companion, I figured that was it for animal player characters. But then Mike Brodu went and did all the hard lifting and heavy writing on Of Beasts Brave and True, which gives opens for playable animals - namely cats, birds, and horses. All of these creatures certainly have their place in the stories and tales that inspired THJ2e, but Mike took it a step further and even included a few mythic options. So if you want to see what can be done with animals as player characters, give Of Beasts Brave and True a look.

Lineages Inspired: Halflings

 

Today is September 22nd, so it seems only appropriate that the discussion for this blog post be Halflings. In The Lord of the Rings it is established that September 22nd is the birthday of both Bilbo and Frodo Baggins and many fans of the works of Tolkien (including myself) call it "Hobbit Day" and use it as an opportunity to celebrate the Professor's work. So as a nod to this celebration, we'll be talking about Halflings.

Halflings are far and away my favorite fantasy lineage - particularly as expressed in the works of Tolkien. I deeply identify with them on a personal level. I have a personal love of rural living, an untroubled life, a good and simple meal, and smoking my tobacco pipe. But more than the surface things that are often identified with halflings, I love their often forgotten strength of spirit. Halflings have heart and when they were updated for THJ2e, I wanted to reflect that.

Why call them "Halflings"?

Well, that's easy. That's because its a shorthand (pun intended) that has existed in the roleplaying game industry since 1974. Even those who haven't played a roleplaying game but are familiar with fantasy are quite likely to know exactly what a halfling is. No need to call them "Little Folk" or something just for the sake of being different.

Why include them in the game?

As mentioned above, I deeply identify with them and when I write a game I want it to be a game that I want to play - and I almost always want to play a halfling. On a more general level, some would claim that given THJ2e is a fantasy RPG that their presence is obligatory or mandated. Not so. Halflings are important to THJ2e because they are, in both stature and in how the rest of the world views them, the underdog. They're small in size, generally rather docile, and do not at all seem prone to go on adventures. Generally speaking, if they do go off on an adventure, it's for a specific reason.

The halfling's love of friends, family, and the comforts of home is truly critical to the themes of THJ2e. They, more than any other lineage, are a physical representation of why those who choose to go off into the dangerous and wild places of the world do so. They go off into the dark places of the world to protect the light, to protect what they love - and more over they remember the simple joys of life even in the darkest of places so that hope is not lost. They do not get caught up in the grandness of a cause. They simply want the little things to remain as they are - and if that means facing down an Elder Wyrm to make sure that little Bingo can still celebrate Autumn Harvest in oblivous happiness and the company of his family - well, someone's got to do it.

What do they contribute to the group?

As mentioned above, they can keep a group grounded through roleplay - but from a rules standpoint, halflings have a lot to offer. Sure, their Might restriction means they'll never be superior melee combatants, but they're dead-eyes in ranged combat and combine that with their truly ridiculous stealth abilities and you've got a character that can slip past all but the most wary of eyes and deal a surgical strike like no other.

Halflings, both from a roleplaying and mechanical point of view, act as the heart of the group. They receive Advantage on all fear-based Saving Throws, including Despair. This means that when everyone else is panicked while facing down a terrible Death Knight or awe-inspiring Fey Queen, a halfling is far more likely to keep a straight head on their shoulders. Combine this with their increased likelihood of having a high Weal (which can grant Advantage on any roll) and you have a character that's quite capable of turning the tide in a terrible situation.

Like most other Lineages, Halflings have only one Archetype where they are permitted to advance to 10th level - the Yeoman. A lot of folks were surprised by this given the stereotype of the "halfling thief" that pervades the fantasy RPGs out there. Sure, they're stealthy and make great Burglars, but that's not who they are. Halflings are all heart and reach their true potential when defending the people and places they love. Their Lineage abilities compliment those of the Yeoman on a very effective level and it takes an already unexpectedly powerful Archetype and maximizes its effectiveness in a thematically appropriate fashion.

Customizing the Halfling

If you want to make changes to the Halfling, it's pretty easy. As long as you keep that core value of a love of the simple joys of heart, home, and family, there's a lot to go on. An obvious choice (to me at least) is to alter them into rustic river-folk who are primarily fishermen. Turn their skill with thrown weapons into something more focused, such as it being tied directly to spears (to reflect being spear fishermen) and give them a bonus to swimming instead of having sharp senses and you're good to go. Or maybe they grew up as miners in a far-removed mountainous community? Swap out their stealth for a dwarf-like ability to navigate underground or detect unsafe stone work. 

The key with halflings is to remember not necessary what they can do but why they do what they do.

What do you think? How do halflings function at your table? What do they represent thematically and how do they fit into the narrative of your legendarium? Sound off in the comments below and let me know what you'd like to hear me discuss in future posts on this blog!

Archetypes Inspired: The Swordsman

There were quite a few drastic changes as The Hero's Journey went from first to second edition. One of the most visible transformations occurred among the Archetypes (called Classes in 1st ed). The game went from 13 of them down to 8 in second edition. Those that are present were given a ground-up re-examination, and in some cases reconstruction. Most often though, folks wonder why certain archetypes made the jump into second edition and why some did not. So, I wanted to take a second to talk about my thoughts behind that and investigate each archetype individually to show what its meant to do within the rules, what its meant to evoke thematically, and how it fits within the traditions of the source material that inspired The Hero's Journey. To that end, let's take a look at the Swordsman.

Why call it "Swordsman"?

In early drafts of THJ 2e this Archetype was called the Swashbuckler, but as the game's themes continued to evolve and come more sharply into focus I found the term Swashbuckler was a bit off. When we think "Swashbuckler" characters like Athos, Porthos, and Aramis come to mind. That's an archetype more in line with the likes of Jack Sparrow or Zorro. It evokes images of a character from the late renaissance and not someone from the pseudo-medieval period implied by The Hero's Journey. The more neutral term of "Swordsman" was settled upon.

Why include it in the game?

The true genesis of the Swordsman was born out of my love of the film Willow. I saw the film in the theater in the summer of 1988. I might've been nine years old and my mother did me the great kindness (given that she had zero interest in fantasy or sci-fi) of taking me to see it while my brother and sister went and saw something else. Willow may have been the start of my love of halflings, because prior to this I had no understanding or context of them and had not yet read The Hobbit or Lord of the Rings. But, I digress. 

We all know the coolest person on screen through that whole movie was Madmartigan. He was Han Solo if Han Solo had a sword. How cool is that? To a nine-year-old boy, it doesn't get any cooler. Over the years, Madmartigan remained too cool for school and re-watch after re-watch over the past 30 years haven't diminished that in the least. More over, he has a genuine arc in that film as he goes from a selfish, jail-bird mercenary to a genuine crusader. His sword means something by the time the film ends. He goes on, if you'll forgive the joke, a real hero's journey.

Countless other stories so many of us love feature a gifted sword-wielding hero going off on a journey. So there was precedent for its inclusion in the game and it's my game and I wanna play someone as cool as Madmartigan.

What do they contribute to the group?

While it's true they're skilled with a blade (it's in the name), they're limited in their combat abilities. Without a sword, they're little more than a glorified beat stick. But, what they do offer is style and agility. Every swordsman I've ever seen in stories has a kind of gravitas about them and there is an implication in both the archetype's description and art that they get by on a fair bit of charm. There's no mechanical reflection of this in the archetype because I wanted the game to be driven by roleplaying over rules. 

What they do bring to the table mechanically speaking, other than their combat prowess, is mobility. Acrobatics allows them to potentially do things that range from leaping distances both far and high, walking tightropes, dodging through narrow places, ducking swinging traps, and performing all kinds of feats of agility. While a lot of this comes from Madmartigan (launched yourself from a catapult, hitting a wall, and seeming to take no damage is a clear use of Acrobatics), a fair amount of it comes from Luke Skywalker - my chief childhood hero. That might seem surprising, but go back and watch Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Luke flips more than a trick coin - and almost always with his trusty lightsaber close at hand. He's a Swordsman too, from a certain point of view. (See what I did there?)

Customizing the Swordsman

In The Hero's Companion I introduced the concept of Variant Archetypes. Each of them is tweaked and modified to express a new, but similar, concept without introducing a whole new archetype. The Swordsman Variant is a Pugilist in this book - which could suit anything from a bar room brawler to the grappling Friar Tuck of Robin Hood fame. In a future supplement, you'll be introduced to the Jongleur - a variant that focuses even more on feats of physical prowess and has an uncanny ability with thrown weapons. 

Narrators are encouraged to modify the Swordsman to suit their own legendariums. Perhaps they want to play a dedicated shepherd who's skilled with a quarterstaff and able to watch for sudden storms and prowling wolves. Swap out swords for quarterstaff and club and change Acrobatics to Forestry and you'e good to go. 

As The Hero's Journey continues to grow and and expand, I always look to how everything - Archetypes, Lineages, monsters, magic, all of it - fits into the stories the game is designed to tell. I hope this entry has given you some sense of why the Archetype was included in the game and inspires you to maybe create your own Variants.

What would you like to hear about next? Another Archetype discussion? A focus on one of the Lineages? Maybe one of the monster types? Let me know and journey on! 

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.

Strange, Dangerous, and Inhuman

Note: This entry originally appeared on January 7th, 2020 on the Halfing's Luck blog.

When I was a boy I loved fairy tales. Jack and the Beanstalk, Puss in Boots, Rumpelstiltskin - I devoured all of it. My fascination that there was a strange and magical world full of fantastic creatures just beyond my senses drove the imagination of a young boy who was forced to stay inside due to childhood illness. It was no wonder that I would later develop what has become a lifelong passion for fantasy, mythology, and role-playing games.

As I grew older, I became more interested in fairy tales - but in their original forms. The truly strange and unnerving fairie stories of the Brothers Grimm and the like. This lead to an interest in the mythology of the British Isles and what are sometimes called the Fair Folk. They were magical and powerful, beautiful and terrible, and above all they enchanting. It was only natural that the Fey would feature prominently in The Hero's Journey 2e.

Tesh, Changeling Warrior

Because of its roots in British folklore and Celtic mythology, the Fey are more present in The Hero's Journey than in more traditional fantasy role-playing games. In fact, right from character creation, players have the opportunity to take up the role of a Fey character through the Changeling lineage. But make no mistake, this lineage is no shapeshifter. A Changeling in The Hero's Journey is a strange being that has been left behind from the realm of Fairie in place of a mortal child stolen long ago. Though life in the mundane world has muted their strange nature, it is still ever-present and they are almost always regarded as vagabonds, miscreants, or cursed by most "civilized" people. But their Fey nature grants them some unique benefits which range from being ever so slightly out of touch with the flow of time to the ability to remain unnoticed and ignored by mortal eyes.

In addition, The Hero's Journey features a myriad of Fey creatures in Chapter Eight: Menagerie. Each of these creatures is designed to cleave very lose to the folklore that inspired the game. Kobolds are not cowardly trap-smithing lizard-dogs. They are tiny wizened men that dwell in the deep places of the earth, guiding and condemning underworld travelers with their strange knocking. Fey Cats are not panthers that cast strange illusions, but innocent seeming felines that will suck the soul from a mortal body as it sleeps. And a Fey Queen is as beautiful and terrible as the season she commands and all who comes into her presence know only fear and awe.

A kobold, passing between the deep places of the earth
 as it returns to its hidden city of stone. 

Magic itself is also infused with the energy of Fairie, particularly illusions and phantasms. All deceptive magic has ties to the realm of Fairie, for they are the masters of power and perception with little heed for the constants of the Mortal Realm. Wizards and bards that dare to dabble in the magic of the Fair Folk may find themselves making promises to fairy ladies and fey lords in return for magical knowledge, only to be bound forever by the unintended consequences of a promise.

By the same token, the strong presence of fairies and their ilk by no means mandates their inclusion in a Narrator's legendarium. They are simply tool in the wardrobe to color the adventures being told. That being said, it is my firm belief that the strong presence of the Fey in The Hero's Journey 2e can create a gaming that is both at once familiar and deeply unsettling -  just like any good fairy story.

The Hero's Journey, Second Edition goes live on Kickstarter on January 7th, 2020. All art in this blog post is by Nic Giacondino and appears in the game's core rule book. Art is owned by Barrel Rider Games, Copyright 2019.

A Fey Queen, vain and glorious, entertaining the affections of
a Fairie Dragon.

Bonds of Fellowship

Note: This entry originally appeared on January 5th, 2020 on the Halfing's Luck blog.

Tabletop role-playing games are a group activity. It's a group of (usually) three or more people sitting around a table, working together to collaboratively share an experience that all present will enjoy. Often this experience involves overcoming an adversary or accomplishing a difficult task. More importantly, most folks who sit down to play RPGs together are friends - and if they're not, after a few sessions of play, they're likely to become friends. That's one of my favorite things about tabletop RPGs. It creates a shared experience for all involved, a shared memory, and often a shared sense of victory and accomplishment.

In the case of The Hero's Journey 2e, many of the sources which inspired the game are stories about a group of friends. Whether it's the classic Company of the Ring from The Lord of the Rings, the brotherly bond of Pug and Thomas in Raymond E. Feist's Riftwar Saga, the unlikely friendship of Willow Ufgood and Madmartigan in Willow, or the iconic Companions of the Dragonlance series, none of these stories would resonate as they do without those bonds of friendship. As such, The Hero's Journey 2e has several rules to reinforce this theme.

Tucker, Human Yeoman, protecting
a dear friend in battle

One of its new Archetypes, the Yeoman, is entirely built around this concept. Mechanically speaking, a Yeoman is a supporting Archetype and functions primarily to empower other characters. Thematically, this is done through the use of their Promise ability. At the beginning of each day, the Yeoman declares a promise to one (or more, at higher levels) other player characters (or important NPC) and as long as the two remain within close proximity, the character (or characters) which have been chosen as the beneficiary of the Promise ability receive bonuses. In addition, should a character under a Yeoman's Promise ability become injured or wounded, the Yeoman becomes a truly fierce opponent, gaining Advantage on attack rolls and other abilities. In short, a Yeoman is the heart of an adventuring company.

Tucker, Willow, Flynn, Bingo, Evelyn, Tesh,
Puckstone, and Kara relaxing around the campfire.

Secondly, while traveling on the road or resting at an Inn, the group can choose to Relax Around the Campfire. This action allows characters to enjoy the company of their fellow heroes and draw upon the strength of those shared good times to find strength of heart in dark times. In short, successfully Relaxing Around the Campfire grants a character Advantage to any one Saving Throw of their choice the next day. The bonds of friendship are strong indeed and can see heroes through the darkest times.

Finally, Chapter Seven: Running the Game features a section on creating player characters that begin play with a reason for those characters to be bound together in their adventures. There is little place for the "lone wolf" character in The Hero's Journey 2e and no one is an island. In short, it is our friends who will give us the strength to survive the horrors we must confront - and that is a theme that has resonated in legends through to the modern day because it is as timeless and universal as friendship itself.

The Hero's Journey, Second Edition goes live on Kickstarter on January 7th, 2020. All art in this blog post is by Nic Giacondino and appears in the game's core rule book. Art is owned by Barrel Rider Games, Copyright 2019.

Heroes standing together against the evils of the world

Courage is There for the Taking

Note: This entry originally appeared on January 4th, 2020 on the Halfing's Luck blog.

In most fairy tales and high fantasy stories that inspired The Hero's Journey, all the protagonists had one thing in common: They were afraid. They had moments of doubt and terror. They stood against terrible, impossible foes and (at least at first), they felt helpless or outright ran away. In The Lord of the Rings we see it over and over again. It's a key plot point in what makes dragons dangerous in the Dragonlance novels. And fairy tales, well they're just full of fearful things. After all, many of them where written specifically to frighten children into behaving!

To that end, The Hero's Journey 2e has a mechanic called Despair and characters will sometimes be called upon to make a Despair Saving Throw. But Despair is more than just a "It's a big scary monster, run away" mechanic. Fear and weariness are often part of any great journey worthy of tale or song. Whether it's crossing a Blighted Land or suffering the terrible heartache that comes with the death of an dear friend and boon companion. All of these are part of Despair and all of them play a role in The Hero's Journey 2e.

In addition, every fantastic creature in The Hero's Journey 2e has a Despair Rating. Typically this ranges from 1 to as high as 15, though it can be higher. The more fantastic, more powerful, more overwhelmingly evil such a creature is, the higher its Despair Rating. So, a goblin might only have a Despair Rating of 1, while a horrific Death Knight has a 13. Some creatures have extraordinarily high Despair Ratings not because they inspire fear, but because they inspire awe. None more beautiful and terrible than they Fey Queen with her Despair Rating of 15.

Behold the majestic terror that is the Death Knight.

When the player characters encounter a creature with a Despair Rating five higher than their level, they must make a Despair Saving Throw. Certain Lineages or Heirlooms may grant bonuses or penalties to this Saving Throw. If the Saving Throw fails, the character suffers Disadvantage on all Saving Throws and attack rolls made while in the presence of the source generating the Despair. They are literally crippled by fear.

Tesh, Bandoras, and Willow cross a desolate realm bereft of hope.

But dangerous creatures aren't the only thing that causes Despair. If a character is travelling across a blasted landscape of unnatural evil, it can take its toll and may impose a Despair Saving Throw after an extended period of time. The sheer evil that infuses that Blighted Land seeps into their soul and begins to drain away hope and valor.

Finally, if a player character witnesses the death of a loved one or another player character, they must also make a Despair Saving Throw. Adventures sometimes have dire costs and witnesses the violent or tragic end of dear friend can weaken the resolve of even the most hardy warrior, after all.

Surrounded by death and carnage, Tucker tends to
his wounded friend Tesh.

The Despair rules are present for two reasons. They reinforce that fear is a part of any hero's journey and that, more importantly, it can be overcome. From a mechanical standpoint, a creature's Despair Rating can be used as a measure by Narrator's as to how dangerous a foe is against a group of player characters - though some dangerous beasties that specialize in fear may have surprisingly high Despair Ratings compared to their actual threat level.

Most importantly, fear and Despair never actually remove character agency. Players are at a literal Disadvantage when under the effects of Despair, but they are never unable to act -- no matter how impossible the odds may be. Completely removing player agency is something I as a game designer try to avoid whenever possible. The challenge faced by a player character may seem overwhelming and impossible to overcome, but they should always be given the chance to try...

Kara, with no more than courage of heart and a blade of steel
faces off against a Lord of Flame and Shadow.

The Hero's Journey, Second Edition goes live on Kickstarter on January 7th, 2020. All art in this blog post is by Nic Giacondino and appears in the game's core rule book. Art is owned by Barrel Rider Games, Copyright 2019.

Forged in Legends

Note: This entry originally appeared on December 31st, 2019 on the Halfing's Luck blog.

One of my biggest pet peeves in so many fantasy roleplaying games is the "upgrade factor" of magical items. In traditional D&D-style roleplaying games, characters are pretty excited to find a magic item - at least at first. A +1 Sword is awesome and they're thrilled to find it! That is... until they find a +2 Sword. Then the once coveted magical blade gets cast by the wayside as little more than obsolete technology that's either sold off for gold or simply left by the wayside. Perhaps worse is that when a weapon is described in mere terms of being a "+1" or "+2" weapon, it loses all sense of mystic. It's simply a mathematical improvement over its predictor. In essence, these two factors make magical items the worst thing they could possibly be: Mundane.

Magic items should be part of a character's mystique, part of who they are. They shouldn't be a tool to be discarded when a better one comes along. That mindset undercuts the very nature of magic by removing the fantastic and the sense of wonder. Yet, as characters grow in power they're going to want magic equipment that is more able to handle the challenges they face.

The Hero's Journey attempts to avoid this problem through the use of Myth Points, Aspects, and Heirlooms. Myth Points are earned each time a character gains a level. Every level earned means the character earns one new Myth Point. So at second level, the character earns their first Myth Point, at third they earn their second Myth Point, and so on. Additional Myth Points can be earned by specifically questing for them and performing heroic feats that are... well... worthy of myth.

Aspects are descriptors applied to weapons, armor, and shields. So you might have a Feycraft sword, a Valiant shield, and a Renowned set of armor. An item earns its Aspect or Aspects by the owner spending any Myth Points they've earned to permanently infuse the item with that Aspect. But characters can't select any old Aspect. They have to earn, through play, the Aspect they want. So if a character slew a Goblin King and saved a village, they could choose to apply the Aspect of Goblin Bane to their axe. Or if their shield saved them from the grievous blow of that same Goblin King, they might choose to apply Goblin Bane to their shield. Want a Dwarf-Forged weapon? Well, find a dwarf to reforge your sword. Itching for a Feycrafted shield? Well, you might have to cut a deal with the Fey...

Some example Aspects

Heirlooms are a bit more miscellaneous in nature. The Hero's Journey, Second Edition core book includes over thirty Heirlooms to serve as examples for creating your own to suit your legendarium. It is a magical item that is neither a weapon, a shield, nor a suit of armor that has gained magical properties through legendary deeds committed by an individual using the item or by a its valued place within a Lineage's culture and/or history. So, for example, dwarves as a people may know the secret of crafting Fireworks, but Bingo's Book of Rhymes and Riddles was written by a famous halfling adventurer and its pages sometimes contain surprising answers to fit just the puzzler perplexing perturbed player characters. Using these Heirlooms as guidelines, player characters and Narrators are free to create new and unique items to suit their own legendariums as the story unfolds!

This also means that every magical item a player character finds has a rich history and is not something simply to be disposed of. Magic is rare, fantastic, and flows through the history of The Hero's Journey - it's something far greater than simple "pluses" to a stat.

An example Heirloom

The Hero's Journey, Second Edition goes live on Kickstarter on January 7th, 2020. All art in this blog post is by Nic Giacondino and appears in the game's core rule book. Art is owned by Barrel Rider Games, Copyright 2019.

Wizards in The Hero's Journey 2e

Note: This entry originally appeared on December 21st, 2019 on the Halfing's Luck blog.

Evelyn, Human Wizard

Wizards as portrayed in the the works that inspired The Hero's Journey are characters like Merlin, Gandalf, Raistlin, and Pug. When a wizard enters a room, people notice. People slink back a bit. People are in awe of the magic they wield. But the reality of playing most traditional fantasy roleplaying games always fell short of that for me. Sure, on paper they were described that way - but when it came time to play the character itself you often found (particularly at low levels of play), that you were more of a liability than an asset. You were no fearsome arcanist walked from legend into reality - you were a fragile glass cannon who might be useful if you happened to have prepared just the right spell for just the right moment. Creative and experienced players learned to work around this through clever use of spells, often in ways they weren't intended. But the truth of the matter was that playing an arcane spellcaster usually was an exercise in patience and (often) frustration. That being said, those who did remain patient (and alive) would rise to become earth-shattering masters of magic capable of shaping reality to their will. But until then, hide behind the guy with the biggest shield and hope for the best.

I wanted to take a minute to talk about Wizards and magic spells in The Hero's Journey 2e. They do find their basis in the traditional spellcasters depicted above, but there are significant and important changes. First and foremost, a Wizard either knows a spell or does not know a spell. End of story. It's not memorized, nor does it require a book from which it must be prepared. Instead, a Wizard is limited in the number of spells they can cast each day before needing to rest - at least in most cases.

The spells that a wizard casts are also different from traditional fantasy RPGs, though many elements are familiar. As an example, this is the spell known as Errant Pilgrim.

When a character casts Errant Pilgrim, they choose one of the three effects described above at the time they cast the spell. So, even if Errant Pilgrim is the only spell they know, there is still flexibility in that single spell. Each spell in The Hero's Journey 2e is linked thematically. Errant Pilgrim has obvious nature themes, particularly those that relate to travel and observation. Stand Against the Adversary is themed around protection from and the defeat of evil foes. Breathed in Silver is centered around illusion and fey enchantment. By binding the spells in this thematic fashion, it allows players to create a character who's Archetype is Wizard, but select spells to give them a more thematic flavor without creating additional Archetypes. So if you want to play a nature-focused Wizard who calls themselves a druid, you might select Errant Pilgrim, Harkening of the High Hawk, and Friend of Birch and Beast for your spells.

Evelyn taps the essence to
cast Fire Both Bright & Sacred

Moreover, Wizards are not without options once they've expended their daily allotment of spell by Tapping the Essence. Tapping the Essence to cast an Apprentice Level spell inflicts 2d6 points of damage on a Wizard - a serious risk that can kill them. They're literally ripping their own essence apart to draw the magical energy necessary to cast a spell. But, even if it does kill the Wizard, the spell is successfully cast - because going out in a blaze of glory is cool. Wizard can always choose to cast any spell they know after they've expended their daily allotment of spells by Tapping the Essence - whether it's an Apprentice, Journeyman, or Master spell

Also, because each Lineage offers a character a few additional weapon choices Wizards are not limited to the traditional "staff and dagger" weapon restrictions - but nor are they martial masters by any stretch of the imagination.

Finally, and most importantly I think, to keep Wizards rare in The Hero's Journey 2e, a character must have an Insight of 15 to even qualify for the class. Few have the mental discipline to wield the arcane arts masterfully. A Bard may occasionally dabble in Apprentice-level spells, but only Wizards ever learn Journeyman or Master level spells. They are the true artisans of enchantment -- feared and awed, as they should be.

The Hero's Journey, Second Edition goes live on Kickstarter on January 7th, 2020. All art in this blog post is by Nic Giacondino and appears in the game's core rule book. Art is owned by Barrel Rider Games, Copyright 2019.

I'm Going on an Adventure

Note: This entry originally appeared on December 17th, 2019 on the Halfing's Luck blog.

So, with the impending Kickstarter for The Hero's Journey, Second Edition set to begin on January 7th, 2020, I'm hard at work on supporting material in the hopes that the funding is wildly successful and folks genuinely want to play the game. But writing an adventure for The Hero's Journey is a bit different from writing a traditional fantasy module. As I was writing The Hero's Journey, I tried to emphasize that while combat was an element of the game, it was not a strong focus an should not be the first solution in a group's repertoire. In fact, combat should be the last option. When swords get drawn and battle is joined then circumstances must be dire.

Tesh, Changeling Warrior, locked in combat with a Redcap

To this end, as I'm penning these adventures (yes, I'm writing several) I decide to break from traditional fantasy RPGs and not list a recommended level. The world of The Hero's Journey is dangerous, regardless of your level. That's already implied by the fact that characters do not see a huge increase in their Endurance, even when they reach high levels of play. It's more akin to "I can get his by a sword two or three times an probably not die" instead of the more traditional route of "I can fall a hundred feet and keep on swingin' without any problem."

As an example, a 10th level Warrior with a Resolve of 18 that rolled maximum Endurance at 2nd and 3rd level would still only have an Endurance of 50. By contrast, the bite of an Elder Wyrm does 4d10 points of damage. This means that the mightiest Warrior in history, a literal living legend, could most definitely survive ONE bite from an Elder Wyrm. A second bite (or a swat from the other claw and tail attacks it gets in the same round) would almost certainly kill that same Warrior. This also makes a 10th level Wizard that casts Wreathed and Consumed can do between 10 and 60 points of damage to everyone in a 20 foot radius. A genuinely cataclysmic explosion. And that's not to speak of the mind an reality altering powers of the Fey...

So, as you can see, combat is deadly in The Hero's Journey. But strange creatures have no "alignment," and have their own reasons for acting as they do then roleplaying becomes the most valuable tool in a character's bag of tricks. Conan cleaves through countless foes with a swing of his axe. Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser face off against half a dozen wizards at the gates of Lankmar. But when Tristan crosses into Stormhold, he rarely uses his sword. In Lord of the Rings, the Fellowship runs from most combat encounters. When Bilbo faces off against the spiders of Mirkwood he uses hit and run tactics to distract them -- not to face them in battle. The clever hobbit doesn't even think to try to kill the dragon outright. It's not that these things are impossible, it's that slaying a dragon or felling a giant in The Hero's Journey is a genuinely legendary and requires genuinely legendary planning, skill, and even luck.

Tucker (Human Yeoman), Flynn (Half-Elf Bard), Bandoras (Halfling Burglar),
and Evelyn (Human Wizard) are about to have a very bad day...

Given that in traditional fantasy roleplaying adventures a recommended level is usually provided to gauge the viability of combat encounters, it seems at odds to name a recommended level when writing adventures for The Hero's Journey. Combat is rare and deadly in The Hero's Journey, regardless of character level. It is the stuff of legendary songs or sorrowful laments. That goes beyond a character's level and permeates the entire essence of the game. Be clever. Be resourceful. Be diplomatic. Be heroic. Your sword when all else has failed, not as the first solution to a problem.

On the other side of that Narrators running The Hero's Journey shouldn't rely too much one combat. A single tense battle or a few small combats to build drama can be useful, but if your game turns into a meat grinder of character, then your players will never get invested in either their characters or your legendarium. Use combat sparingly to keep the inherent drama of its presence high and when players use a quick wit or clever turn of phrase to avoid bloodshed, then that is to be commended. A hero is not measured by the body count they leave in their wake.

So the adventures I write for The Hero's Journey will have no "recommended level." Instead they will tell stories inspired by folklore and heroic fantasy literature. Players will need to rely on more than their weapons and spells to solve problems. They will need to be of stout heart, quick mind, and perhaps, just a bit lucky... but then again, what hero hasn't been saved by these things more often than not?

Bandoras and his lucky Rabbit's Foot

The Hero's Journey, Second Edition goes live on Kickstarter on January 7th, 2020. All art in this blog post is by Nic Giacondino and appears in the game's core rule book. Art is owned by Barrel Rider Games, Copyright 2019.