Hello all,
Wanted to share my experiences with Heroes of Adventure and sing its praises a bit more.
I came across HoA well into the 1st edition when the three core books and Lair of the Mutant were already released. I had been trying to convince a couple of friends to give TTRPGs a try and while a fantasy board game or two (like Zombiecide Black Plague) had them interested, they winced or their eyes glazed over whenever I showed them a full on RPG rulebook and tried to go through what the rules entailed.
One night, when showing them this great, free, very readable new RPG, Heroes of Adventure something clicked in their brains. "This! This is the one" they said. They loved the simple direct explanation of rules (just two pages of bullet points for the basics?) They liked the very concise presentation of lore that presented a familiar fantasy world that was yet a blank canvas setting to explore. They loved the little detail of players suggesting where in the world they were from, even being prompted to mark it on the map.
I too loved the simplicity. The unified skills and attributes system did away with the convoluted stats, bonuses, proficiencies, derived stats, feats, skills, and other mess you get with a standard RPG. One glance at the HoA character sheet and you know what a hero is good at and how good they are. No need for endless formulae or learning 4 or 5 systems to run one character.
So my friends generated their characters. I let them have lot of free choice rather than rolling randomly as they had already spontaneously started creating lore for the world and characters to inhabit it. They created their own little corner of the world to justify why their mismatched character would be friends on a quest together.
A few sessions later and they were knee deep in gore, stuck somewhere under the old moat house, trapped in the Lair of the Mutant.
A while after that, stories of adventure had a couple of co-workers interested in giving roleplaying a first try. They were familiar with all the tropes from many videogames and fantasy books but had never had a chance to try the real thing. I brought out the HoA books I'd had printed up for the previous adventure, plus copy of the shiny new Fortress on the Wild Frontier. I led them through character creation and they leaned right into it, creating simple but compelling backstories and discussing reasons why they might end up journeying to the wildlands.
I started them off trundling down the frontier roads with Grun and son. Within the hour they were at the moat house, where the random encounter rolls were so favourable they almost missed out on all the fun. And let me tell you, a wizard with illusion magic and luck on her side is nothing to take lightly. Critical spell rolls, those video gamer instincts and a sturdy rope saw them in and out without scratch faster than you can say "little boy lost down unmarked abandoned well."
On they went to Skenrith Keep, leaving a confused swarm of ants wondering where the queen's dinner went. A letter from a relative and a chance encounter with some miners set them on their way north from Skenrith to the old silver mines up there. They stopped off at a fishing village over night, where chance encounter with a very grumpy crocodile seemed to tie in with their previous adventure when they sliced it open to find it had recently eaten some kind of mutated insects. But they had been requested to help out t the mines. Some trouble there spooking the miners it seemed. A couple of sessions later and they had enjoyed the satisfying conclusion of their second dungeon quest. Not bad for first time roleplayers.
Now, admittedly, I can see how some veteran gamers might find the rules less satisfying than their 600 page core book and 15 rules supplements, made playable only through the use of some virtual tools. But at that point it's just virtual videogame anyway. Whereas Heroes of Adventure has a simplicity that suffices to provide reliably satisfying resolution of events without players feeling bewildered. My novice players never once seemed confused as to how things worked. They learned quickly which of the funny looking dice they needed to cast spells or shoot arrows and the rest of the time they were roleplaying.
I'll end my ramble there. Just wanted to share and hope it inspires.
Big thanks to The Nameless Designer for the gift of HoA!