Publisher: Autarch
Heroic Fantasy Handbook Review: A Great Supplement for Adventurer Conqueror King System
Do you love heroic fantasy stories like Conan the Barbarian, Elric of Melniboné, or Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser? Do you want to play a role-playing game that captures the flavor of these dark and brutal adventures? If so, you might want to check out Heroic Fantasy Handbook, a supplement for Adventurer Conqueror King System (ACKS) that offers a new way of playing with the familiar mechanics of the D20 system.
In this Heroic Fantasy Handbook review, I will tell you what this book is about, what it offers, and why I think it is a great addition to the ACKS system. I will also give you my personal opinion on the book and some tips on how to use it in your games.
What is Heroic Fantasy Handbook?
Heroic Fantasy Handbook is a 256-page book published by Autarch in 2017. It is a supplement of rules for the fantasy role-playing game ACKS, which is based on the D20 system and inspired by the classic games of the 70s and 80s.
Heroic Fantasy Handbook focuses on the subgenre of heroic fantasy, where the characters are heroes who face dangers and magic in a dark and brutal world. Heroic fantasy is different from other types of fantasy, such as epic fantasy or high fantasy, in that it is more realistic, gritty, and low-magic. Heroic fantasy stories often feature anti-heroes, moral ambiguity, violence, horror, and tragedy.
Heroic Fantasy Handbook aims to provide a new way of playing ACKS that reflects the style and tone of heroic fantasy. It does so by introducing new character classes, new magic systems, new spells, new monsters, new treasures, and new campaign settings. It also provides guidelines and advice on how to create and run heroic fantasy campaigns.
What does Heroic Fantasy Handbook offer?
Heroic Fantasy Handbook offers a lot of content for both players and masters who want to play ACKS in a heroic fantasy mode. Here are some of the highlights of the book:
- The book introduces 16 new character classes inspired by the archetypes of heroic fantasy. Each class has unique abilities and privileges that make it interesting and different from the others. For example, the noble champion is an aristocratic warrior who can challenge his enemies in a duel, the runist is a wizard who engraves magic runes on objects or people, the seductive warrior is a fighter who uses her charm to manipulate others, the zaharan sorcerer is a necromancer who can create undead horrors or transform into a monstrous creature, and the chosen one is a hero destined to perform great deeds or fall into disgrace. The new classes are well balanced with each other and with the basic classes of ACKS, and offer many possibilities to create original and memorable characters.
- The book presents a completely new magic system, the eldritch magic, which captures the flavor of heroic fantasy. The eldritch magic is subtle but powerful, and offers a new range of effects in the game. The eldritch wizards can enrage their enemies, summon minor demons from the Outer Darkness, call wolves from the forest, or turn rain into acid. But eldritch magic involves risks, including corruption and madness resulting from the dark arts. The eldritch magic is based on a series of principles that define its limitations and consequences. For example, eldritch magic cannot create something out of nothing, but only manipulate what already exists; eldritch magic cannot be used to heal or protect, but only to damage or destroy; eldritch magic always requires a sacrifice or a price to pay; and so on. These principles make eldritch magic more consistent and interesting to use in the game.
- The book proposes a new way of creating magical effects, ceremonial magic, for worlds where not every wizard casts spells in a round. With ceremonial magic, characters can perform long ceremonies from a variety of traditions ranging from cthonic to liturgical to shamanic. Using traditional objects, amulets and talismans, ceremonialists can perform miracles – or suffer terrible consequences of failure. Ceremonial magic is based on a series of rules that define its conditions and variables. For example, ceremonial magic always requires proper preparation, minimum duration, appropriate location and material component; ceremonial magic can be influenced by external factors such as time of day, moon phase, planetary alignment or presence of magical creatures; ceremonial magic can have unforeseen or unwanted side effects; and so on. These rules make ceremonial magic more challenging and fun to use in the game.
- The book contains a new way of casting spells, magical singing, which allows characters to weave spontaneously new spells on the fly. Use magical singing to represent the fluid arts of elves, the psionic powers of a dying race, or the weaving of words of power by island mages. Magical singing is based on a series of elements that define its components and combinations. For example, magical singing always requires a verbal component, which can be a word, a phrase or a song; magical singing can be enriched by additional components such as gestures, objects or emotions; magical singing can be modulated by modifiers such as intensity, duration, range or target; and so on. These elements make magical singing more flexible and creative to use in the game.
- The book contains over 155 new spells designed to be used by eldritch wizards, ceremonialists and singers. Forget comic book teleportation and fireballs. If you walk the dark path, get ready to drive your opponents mad with dark whispering torture them in body and soul with iron maiden or even rip their bones and animate their flayed skeleton as your servants with flay and serve. The spells are divided into six categories: alteration communication control destruction evocation protection Each category has subtypes that reflect the different sources and purposes of magic. For example, the alteration category has the subtypes animal body mind and nature; the evocation category has the subtypes demonic elemental spiritual and vital; and so on. The spells are described in a clear and detailed way, with the necessary information to use them in the game.
- The book also includes new monsters, new treasures, new campaign settings, and new rules for heroic fantasy adventures. You can find creatures like basilisks, harpies, manticores, minotaurs, sphinxes, vampires, werewolves, and zombies; items like cursed swords, dragon scales, magic rings, potions of healing, scrolls of protection, and wands of fire; worlds like Auran Empire, Barbarian Conquerors of Kanahu, Crimson Pandemonium, Lairs & Encounters, Majestic Wilderlands, and Zardoz; and guidelines for creating your own heroic fantasy setting using ACKS’s tools.
My opinion
My personal opinion on Heroic Fantasy Handbook is that it is an excellent addition to the ACKS system, which offers many options and ideas to create exciting and original heroic fantasy campaigns. The book is well written and illustrated, with many examples and tips for players and masters. The book is compatible with other fantasy role-playing games based on the same basic rules, so it can be easily adapted to other settings or systems. If you like heroic fantasy and want to try something different from the usual epic or high fantasy, I recommend you take a look at this book.
Heroic Fantasy Handbook on DrivethurRpg
