Saturday, February 25, 2006

Great new game.

Those of you not familiar with the FalconLore™ RPGs and Character Developer Kits may finally have a reason to cross over into FL. They just released their most powerful, versatile solution of all time, HeroCrafter. I've never seen anything like it. I am absolutely floored by the reasoning that went into this product.

First of all, it's easier than ever before to create a realistic hero. The intuitive, balanced flowcharts that get you going, plus the weighting systems that help you generate an Idealized Model (Stamina, Motivation, Training, Respect, Weaknesses) are absolutely, technically brilliant.

Oh, and I'd be completely remiss if I didn't mention the real gem of this product: The Tragedie, a large, translucent, fifteen-sided die that lists a different Life-Tragedy on each face. These range from Death of Father, to Sibling Betrayal, to Travellers' Betrayal, to Caul-veil Birth (positive, add 10). The Tragedie is the "wild card" that takes the hero you design and assigns a completely arbitrary, secondary weakness. This is the master-stroke. It helps take a consciously-designed character and give him that unpredictable element of life that you just don't get from most systems.

I've been going crazy with HeroCrafter all night. I even missed dinner — tempeh with "crazy mold," a dish I've been perfecting over time. Well, I guess I didn't technically miss it, since I went down and ate it a little later than I should have, but you get my point: HeroCrafter. Awesome.