House of the Jade Lantern

I recently discovered the Heroes of Adventure rpg, thanks to the fine folks at the Mr. Mean Speaks community. Heroes of Adventure (or HoA for the rest of the post) is a free, minimal(ish) fantasy rpg by The Nameless Designer. They’ve put out three core books (64 pages each, which makes my old school heart warm) – the basic trinity of Players Handbook, Referees Guide, and Monster Book.

They’ve also released a series of four supplements, including an introductory module (The Lair of the Mutant) and a sandbox (Fortress on the Wild Frontier).

The rules strike me as a clean unified mechanic (a d20 plus a d4, d6, d8, d10, or d12 for things a PC has abilities/talents/skills in) vs. a target number from 5 – 30. I found the presentation to be clean – almost a bullet journal style of delivery – and it really clicked with me. The rules are pretty present in the PHB, and the GM book is mostly a wide ranging resource set of tables and support.

I ran the Lair of the Mutant for a group of 4 earlier, and really enjoyed the experience. Having only downloaded the rules a few days earlier, I nonetheless felt I had a good handle on the rules, as well as the nicely outlined and presented adventure. The game in play felt D&Dish without being just a D&D retroclone (not that I don’t like me a good retroclone).

With a $0 price tag and generous Creative Commons license, Heroes of Adventure might make an excellent choice for budget minded players or club play. For introductory purposes, I’d recommend included some references for GMing – HoA doesn’t spend much time introducing the chops (and there’s enough resources out there that I don’t think it’s a capital crime).