In progress review of "The heroes Journey 2nd Edition"
A heart warming and honest game perfect for exploring the folk tales of your childhood
I had planned to do a longer review after we have a few more adventures under our belt, but this came up in a different forum and I ended up hammering out a spontaneous review there, and so I thought I'd share an in-progress or first impressions review of The Heroes Journey 2e, especially since it's on sale right now and some people are considering it. Summary at the end, video link to one of our sessions:
This is not your typical OSR game - The game is built on OD&D / Whitebox Swords and Wizardry. Off the bat, if you don't like the Whitebox simple formula of roll over a single save number, you won't like the core mechanic of the game and how the other mechanics interface with it. I love Whitebox, no problem there. That being said, what James did was take Whitebox and use it as a skeleton or something that went in a completely different direction than the OSR. Everywhere else in the book this game tiptoes into "story game" category, and encourages you to do that, in some places the author outright states that's what you should do.
What I mean is, this isn't a game about pure emergent gameplay that is gritty and grounded in numbers like most retro-clones. This is meant to use the OSR skeleton to achieve the same form of gameplay as something like "The One Ring" but do so in a more familiar, and simpler way.
If you want "The One RIng" but something much simpler, this is the game for you.
2. The tone and genre is firmly in the category of G rated folk tale/fairy tale - You might notice in the video that we pray. Yup, it's a church group! This is a great game for kids, families, churches, what have you. The reason is that the archetypes, lineages, spell power, everything that speaks to an implied setting is aiming for something like "The Black Cauldron", "The Hobbit" (But probably the 1930's pre-legendarium version), "Narnia", and childrens folk and fairy tales. It feels like you are travelling through a folk or fairy tale, but not in a weird, adult, acid-trip way like most fairy tale OSR titles such as Dolmenwood, Rackham Vale etc.
I would say this game fits better in the more vague, fairy/folk tale setting of the 1930's Hobbit than it does in the epic, war-centric, sprawling middle earth of Lord of the Rings. That being said, it would allow for smaller scope adventures in medieval earth perfectly in my opinion and I myself pull from The One Ring constantly to run it, but prefer the simpler mechanics of "The Heroes Journey" to the many, narrative mechanics of The One Ring.
3. The game still keeps some trappings from the OSR - Magic is scary, dangerous and hard to understand. It's VERY hard to be a Wizard and they are the only major spellcasting class in the book. Their spells are mythical and change based on how you use them, there aren't many spells but they are about a page each. Some spells can have unintended side effects, like harming the wizard to save others.
Also, the game remains very dangerous (less so because of the grievous wound mechanic and the damage reduction system). This is a game that is great to have with kids who get to strap on a sword, but truly are encouraged to find other ways to solve problems, just like in other OSR games. It is however, also honest about death and failure. It doesn't pat you on the back and tell you that everything is ok. Loss and failure are real like in the OSR.
4. The prose and use of mythical terms is hauntingly beautiful and heart warming - Strength is "Might" and you have the mojo or spirit as a person's "Weal." Every stat affects the character in important ways. You don't "Create food and water" as if you are a scientist, instead you "Bestow a Goodly Blessing" by crafting a "Hearty meal to heal the heart." The whole game uses this kind of language, but don't let that intimidate you, it fits in the framework of OD&D so the brain fills in the gaps.
Lastly, the prose that presents the game itself constantly speaks from the heart of Tolkien. Check this out from "Themes"
"Though The Hero’s Journey has no default setting,
there is the implication that within the context of each legendarium
that the world itself is old and was once filled with grand realms that
were fair and noble. Great kingdoms were ruled by goodly kings.
Ancient elves dwelt in wisdom and harmony with birds and beasts in
the wild places untouched by men. Dwarves, deep in their mountain
kingdoms, once crafted such treasures that it was as though dragon
fire and starlight were caught in the glimmering reflections of silver
and gold. But in these later days, the great kingdoms of humanity
have fallen to ruin or been forgotten in the passage of generations of
time. Elves feel a growing sadness as the natural world is stripped
away more with each passing season and they know that by their
count of ages it will not be long before they have no place in the
world. Ancient dwarven forges are cold and forgotten, save for a
few subterranean citadels where lesser sons craft mere imitations
of their ancestors’ creations - for the true beauty of smithcraft fades
with each stroke of the hammer. It is a long, but seemingly inevitable
twilight and the world is not as beautiful as it once was.
....
in their adventures, perhaps they may find a new hope and help to
return the world to its former glory - or at least remind those that now
dwell in the faded realm that they still live in an era of legend. They
only have to believe in the so-called myths of the past and rise to the
potential proven to be true by those who came before them."
The book is full of prose like this. At first I was intimidated by the use of mythical language because I was afraid it would get in the way of the familiarity of the OSR formula, but I found my brain filled in the gaps and the literary language spoke to my heart.
5. It has some fiddly mechanics - Something that's clear is the author between the 1st and 2nd edition made the choice to go in an entirely different direction than most OSR works. In my opinion the downside to The Heroes Journey is that there are times it didn't go far enough.
The Damage reduction system hides the fact that the game isn't as lethal as most OSR titles, which is good for what this is going for, but in gameplay it made combat take a loooooong time and needs perhaps more narrative options in combat to resolve things more quickly as in it's cousin "The One Ring."
The initiative system I found myself completely handwaving unless it was important, because this isn't a game of OD&D Swords and Wizardry or OSE where initiative should matter so much. Instead, I skipped to the heart of what is mentioned where players can give their turns to someone else.
The game strangely calls for lots and lots of save checks, which is something it didn't need to take from the story game genre imo. It very frequently says "The Narrator should call for x save" when it could have leaned into the OSR way of expecting a ruling.
I found that the prime requisite bonus in this story game ended up being an uncessary gate for character abilities that didn't seem to serve a purpose except with the Wizard, who is the only primary spellcaster.
There are a lot of small, ingenious things the author did with mechanics which I won't explore, may in the full review later I will.
Summary:
Pros -
-Perfectly evokes the feel of children's fairy/folk tales through gameplay mechanics, style, art, etc.
-Provides a simpler option for Lord of the Rings style campaigns outside the more complex options in the market, and for those familiar with Swords and Wizardry, D&D or other OSR type games.
-The artwork and prose is heart piercingly beautiful, and it's a joy just to look at and read.
Cons -
-Stays too loyal to the Swords and Wizardry formula, resulting in some fiddly mechanics it probably doesn't need.
This may have become my favorite RPG, and I can see myself running all of my future, grounded folk tale style adventures in this amazing game. Overall I’d give it an A