Well well. The Hero's Journey got a nice, if short review over on ENWorld.
The Hero’s Journey is a neat rulebook with a clear layout, offering multiple optional rules for basically everything. What’s missing? Random encounter tables, adventure creation guidelines, and substantial GM advice. You could use the player-facing rules and the bestiary as is in conjunction with your favourite GM-facing procedures, or just steal your favourite bits and merge them with your own old-school frankengame.It actually says nice things about THJ, but I think looking for adventure guidelines and substantial GM advice from a ruleset that will probably not be anyone's first foot in the OSR is repetitive. Now, of course I love me some random tables so...
There's more to the above review which s linked here.
Did I mention that some of the commenters do not know what a homage is? Sigh.
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Maybe I'm jumping to conclusions, but it seemed like the homage confusion was fueled by . . . Well, not disdain for the OSR exactly so much as dickish self-righteousness, I guess. Looks like Spahn will just have to do his best to make it through life without that one dude's four ninety-nine!
ReplyDeleteUm, I mean, it's very nice to see OSR self publishers getting exposure from ENWorld.
I was very tempted to comment something along the lines of "Seeing as the author of The Hero's Journey has actually served as a freelance writer for The One Ring RPG and Adventures in Middle-Earth, I'd imagine he has an understanding of what qualifies as an homage vs. image theft."
DeleteBut, as is typical with EN World, avoid the comments section.
Or better yet, just avoid ENworld...
DeleteAnd that, good sir, is why I did not say something.
DeleteThe title invokes Campbell. The cover art invokes Tolkien. The innards invoke OD&D with nothing I have found that invokes either Campbell or Tolkien - except that it has all the old LOTR tropes.
ReplyDeleteNot a bad set of rules, certainly not a necessary one unless one is playing in James' campaign.
Well if you have OD&D, no role-playing game is really essential. You remember the old Diaglo motto "OD&D is the one true game, all others are a pale imitation of the real thing."
ReplyDeleteI am using the Hero's Journey for my Oerthbound Legacy game. I've basically changed a few things like gold for XP, a level zero with a full hit die, implemented the AD&D 1st ed economy instead of the one described in the book, plus a few other tweaks here and there. The result for me is something that feels very OD&D, with armor for damage reduction and shields giving big AC bonuses, magic items that can develop from use via myth points, and classes that feel more out of Unearthed Arcana than this or that OD&D supplement.
This is a game that is meant to digested, and modified to suit one's purpose, hence all the options and "house rules" suggestions in the first place. The result? With one life time Greyhawk veteran and two new yet very gifted player to old school game play, we are all having an insane blast right now playing live via Skype, hangouts and chats.
My hat's off to James. Right there, that makes the Hero's Journey a game that added pleasure to my life and allowed some great games to happen. Is there a better compliment to bestow from one gamer to another? I think not.