Heroes Are Made Not Born playtest

[claytonian]

I converted another GG product, Heroes Are Made Not Born, since it was actually designed for 0-level characters (well, 3.5 NPC classes). The conversion was pretty easy in most respects, but I wasn't sure of what number AC, damage, and saves were appropriate for monsters, so the beta left me kinda hanging there. Also, the beta never explained what "Act" in the stat block was, but I figured it was what kind of action dice/how many attacks the monster gets.

The 3 players all had 4 zero level characters printed (thanks to that PDF maker someone made and shared in the forums), and most of them were dismal PCs. The star was a potato farmer who had high strength, intelligence, and stamina. One player had his strongest character, an elven artisan, be a snooty leader with a French accent.

If you know the adventure module, you know it is really easy to just say, "and you are a group of people from the town that just aren't going to put up with the ogre any more."

Most people died after just one hit. One died falling down a grassy knoll. It didn't take long for one player to realized that his chump characters could just burn through their luck to help kill monsters. Oddly enough, most of those characters survived with their zero luck.

At the end, the player who made a snooty elf had lost it, and was stuck from a couple weaker characters to choose from, for only one would be allowed to go on to first level. One of the other players ended up giving him a slightly better survivor that they didn't want. But I was wondering if it wouldn't be better to just make a lvl 1 character from scratch at that point.

Almost all encounters in the module were taken on, but I rolled slightly low when I did monster HP, so I wonder if they weren't lucky. On the other hand, I usually rolled hits and those usually killed no matter how low my damage rolls were. I gave the wizard NPC villain a couple spells, but he fumbled on the first check and died before he could try another one (I didn't bother with the hacking cough concentration check in the original module).

Overall, I'd say the players had fun with their weakling PCs and didn't mind their deaths too much, but from here on out, if we play again, I am thinking it will get a bit gonzo (we will have to start using the rules and dice for thieves, wizards, and warriors). Combat was short and sweet, and easy to keep track of on one a small memo pad. I love that.