The Hero's Journey, Second Edition is not an OSR game.
Let me say that again: The Hero's Journey, Second Edition is not an OSR game.
Now that we've established what it isn't, I wanted to talk a moment to talk about what it is. It is a game built on the bones of classic fantasy adventure games. It's got plenty of those elements. Six attributes, which along with a lineage and an archetype, define the bare bones of a character. Combat, along with much of its conflict resolution is resolved with the toss of a twenty sided die. Characters earn experience points. Characters level up. Characters earn magic items. But that's simply the "how" of the game. It's not what the game is.
The Hero's Journey, Second Edition is a game about fairie stories and friendship. Those are easy words to use, but what do I mean? When we think of fairie stories we think of the Big Bad Wolf, Rapunzel, Jack and the Beanstalk, Cinderella. But fairie stories are more than Mother Goose and the Brothers Grimm. They're told and retold, reshaped and reformed, with the core essence somehow still as timeless and evident as ever. They're Tangled and Frozen, Farmer Giles of Ham and the Princess Bride. What makes them endure, what makes them timeless is that they resonate with us and have for hundreds of years, through thousands of retellings and reimaginings. But why? Why are they still with us after all this time?
Because at the core of all these wonderful stories that I've loved for my entire life are a few central themes: The forest is dangerous and you shouldn't wander from the path. There are dragons beyond the edge of the map. Magic is wonderful and inspiring. Fairies are strange and dangerous. Heroes, as long as they have a pure heart and a few good friends, will triumph over evil.
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| Errants of Dunvegan, from the supplement Adventures and Interludes. |
We believe that. Somewhere deep down in our hearts, when a cynical world tells us just to kick in the door, kill the monster, and take its treasure, we still believe that Good is more powerful than Evil and the True Love's Kiss see us through. That's what The Hero's Journey, Second Edition is. It's a game about hope and faith, the belief that there is a happily ever after to be found at the story's end. Once Upon a Time is now and it always has been.
If you want to tell stories where friendship matters, where wizards are truly strange and magical, a farmhand with a sword can save the kingdom, where the dragon's voice still roars like thunder, then play The Hero's Journey, Second Edition. That's what it's there for. So you can tell those stories again and you can tell it with your friends. Because they matter and they endure.
C.S. Lewis once said "Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again."
That's what The Hero's Journey is. Some day has come.
