Introduction

Role-playing games

Do you want to have an adventure? Create your own destiny in a land of fantasy? Fight bandits, orcs and dragons? And also with hypocrisy, deceit, cowardice? Perform great feats, save your home village or just overcome your fears? All this and much, much more is offered by role-playing games!

Role-playing games (RPGs) are social games, but they are completely different from all the others and offer unsuspected possibilities. Individual players play characters (adventurers) living in a fictional world created and controlled by one of the players - the Game Master (GM). The Game Master creates situations and places the players' characters in them. They act and the Game Master judges their actions and communicates to the players the reaction of the environment to their characters' actions. You can think of playing RPGs as a play or writing a book, where the players write the parts (for their characters) and the Game Master is the director, writer, stage master and architect all in one person.

This is where the main difference between RPGs and other games comes in - usually everyone plays for themselves and tries to win over the others. Then there's usually one winner and one loser. In role-playing games, the player is playing someone else and not trying to beat the others; they're trying to control the character to act as they would in reality. In RPGs, no one wins or loses against anyone, they just have fun playing. The character wins mainly over himself, over his shortcomings and feelings - fear, desire for money or love.

The player's goal, then, is to guide his character as best he can and have fun with his game. His loss is mainly boredom, his win is good fun. Each player must always defend his character's interests first and foremost, not his own. The player must relate to his hero and act as his character, not himself, would act in a given situation. He must put himself in her shoes, immerse himself in the world she lives in, and detach himself from real life.

Rules

To play, you need little: imagination, time, dice (the six-sided ones from Ludo), and the rules you're currently holding in your hand, called Heroes of Fantasy - Character Rules.

The group will certainly benefit from the expansion book - Secret Arts, which contains detailed information on spells, deities, and other arcane lore.

The Game Master cannot do without the Game Master Rules and Bestiary, which contain information players must not know - information on running the game, world building, and monster descriptions.

If you don't want to become a Game Master, never read the Game Master's rules!

Players

Each player plays a character. But best of all, he's not playing himself, but someone else, someone he might never have become. The characters, or heroes, are the focal points of the entire game, and to some extent the entire world revolves around them.

In this book, you'll learn how you create your character, what race you assign them, their knowledge, past, desires, goals, fears, dreams, and much, much more.

Game Master

The Game Master is the highest authority in the game. He always has the final say in all disputes, as he is the one who knows best the world he has created. If you disagree with his judgement, try to present your point of view to him. If you fail to convince him even the second time, you must submit to his judgment. If such disagreements appear more often in your game, try to agree and choose another Game Master from among yourselves.

Remember, the Game Master is not your opponent! He has a right to know everything, and he should know most things in order to play his role well.

The Story

Once you begin character creation, the story of your fictional world slowly begins to unfold. It's up to you as players whether the story will be suspenseful, adventurous, horror, heroic or even comical.

You can fight hordes of enemies or just try to survive in a harsh world where even the strong die.

You can deal with others, fight, cast spells, steal, sneak, gamble, help others or harm them. It's all up to you...

Game Objective

Every game has an objective, but in role-playing games it's a little different. The goal is to play the characters, immerse yourself in a different world, let your imagination run wild and, most importantly, have fun.

It's quite different with the characters you play. They have their own place in the world, and with it, their own goals. You lead them, you overcome obstacles, but you can also build them...

Does that make sense?

Yes, it does. In Heroes of Fantasy, you can choose a character who is strong, beautiful, witty, charismatic and altogether unbeatable. But how about trying something more interesting? Playing a character who wants to help others, but no one understands her; whatever she does will somehow backfire on her.

Or a character who is strong and powerful but afraid of the dark?

What about a thief who forgets? He hides his fortune so thoroughly that even he can't find it?

What about the greedy man who is prosperous, but would have his knee drilled for copper?

There may be a difference between player and character here - the player, or person in our world, might keep the money they found, but the character (Vearmea) has a different view of the world and wants the money back.

Here, another conflict between player and character can occur. The friends-players might divide among themselves, the characters (the greedy dwarf) will not.

Survival

Everyone wants to survive. Even if you're playing an imaginary character, never forget that she wants to survive and will do almost anything to do so.

Only exceptional characters in exceptional situations will put a higher interest above their own life. As a rule, this is how good characters act, sacrificing themselves to help others.

The World Around

The world around you responds to your actions through the mouth of the GM. Before you do something, consider what the character might want to do and what others will say or do in response.

Other player characters, as well as characters and creatures living in your world, also want to survive, have their own interests, desires and goals, and will act accordingly.

Learning the Rules

Heroes of Fantasy is an extensive game, with lots of rules. But you don't have to worry about that at all. For starters, you only need to go through this book once or twice to learn everything you need to get started. If your fellow players have already played this or similar games, they will certainly help you get started.

After a few games, the basic rules will get "in your blood" and then you can learn the rest.

Nobody can master all the rules perfectly, not even their authors. They are there so that you can choose the rules that suit your game best and that you have fun with.

Warning

Not all rules are for all players. In particular, the Game Master Rules belong exclusively to the person who runs the game - the Game Master. He, unlike the others, should know the rules in their entirety, or at least know where to find what.

Contents of the Character Rules

First, read the chapter "Game Basics". In it, you will learn the most important concepts and rules you will need to understand the other parts of this book.

In the World of Fantasy chapter, you will learn more about the setting in which the game takes place.

Before we start with the game itself, each player must have created a character. What character you can choose, how to create it, and much more can be found in the first part called Character creation.

Chapter Two - How to Play? shows you how to play as your character and how to make proper use of their abilities.

The Fighting section of the rules shows you how to resolve situations using weapons and brute force.

Secret Arts

Would you like to be initiated into the secrets of magic and spells? Or do you want to know more about deities or alchemy? You can find this information in the book Secret Arts, which contains 500 magic spells and 200 nature spells, 600 prayers, 300 alchemy products, and much more.

Game Master Rules and Bestiary

These books belong only in the hands of the player who has chosen to run the game.

Distinguishing Text

For better clarity, the different parts of the text are distinguished by font type and color:

Role Playing

Because Heroes of Fantasy is a role-playing game, numbers, stats or bonuses gained are not enough to express everything. This typeface distinguishes text descriptions where you can (or should) use role-playing.

Game Aids

Dice and, of course, these rules are essential for Heroes of Fantasy, but you will also make use of figures and tokens.

Dice

To play, you need at least one six-sided die (like the ones from Ludo). Better yet, each player has one or two dice of their own.

Figures

Many situations in the game are easier to imagine if you use pieces (tin, plastic or paper).

Playing surface

When playing with figures, you will use a playing surface. A sheet of card with squares drawn on it, matching the size of the figure bases (for example 2x2 cm), is quite sufficient.