A Brief Introduction
to the Fools & Heroes
Live Role-play Society
So, what exactly is live role-playing?
Essentially it is a kind of free-form amateur dramatic hobby... without
scripts or audience. First of all, you take on a character... then it
is up to you to react as your character, to the events that take place
around you. All of your decisions and actions will determine the
course of your character's life (or death).
Live role-playing (or LRP) takes many forms, from traditional battle re-enactment to sword-and-sorcery and futuristic science fiction. Fools & Heroes is set in a medieval fantasy version of our own world (England is re-named "Ithron"), where knights and warriors clash with hideous creatures, priests do the bidding of their gods and mages wield powerful magics (when they are not running away). In this kind of world, the actions of individual adventurers do make a difference.
Within this genre of LRP, there are many different systems active at the moment: the main differences between them being game world and they systems for combat and advancement. For ease of explanation, Fools & Heroes is best described as a level based system: your character's skills are determined by profession and rank combined with individual ability. Combat is based around a `1 hit per location' system, which means that each character (not the player!) will receive an injury from a single weapon blow - always assuming that they are unarmoured. This represents the painful truth: being hit with a real sword would hurt.... lots. Armour complicates matters but these things are explained more fully in the players guide.
Fools & Heroes is a national society, with local branches in many locations around the country. Players often travel from branch to branch and are often willing to help with lifts to new players. We pride ourselves on being a friendly society. Currently there are usually around 20 active branches at any one time, so the chances are high that an adventure will be running somewhere accessible to you, pretty much every weekend. Each branch runs adventures, usually at set times each month. These adventures follow a local story-line or plot specific to the area: the majority of local events will be based around plots run by the branch referees. In addition, there is a national plot and elements of this may appear in any adventure. At each meeting of Fools & Heroes, the players are divided into two roughly equal teams. Each team takes it in turn to play their characters on an adventure or to play the monsters and act out th plot written by the referee. The referees usually run at least two adventures at each meeting, so a player should always have the opportunity to play as well as monster.
In addition to this, branches can organise 48+ hour events called fests, which attract large numbers of participants form all over the country and involve possibilities such as night adventures, banqueting until dawn, taking part in a mass battle (or two) and rubbing shoulders with the good and the great of Ithron.
It is worth mentioning that, whilst we are an amateur
and therefore non-profit-making society, we pride ourselves on the professional
level at which the game is played. There is an annual membership
fee (currently £10), which you will need to pay after your first two free
adventures, but this is kept as low as possible. The money you pay is
used to provide public liability insurance for all players taking part
in a society event, to cover some of the overhead expenses for the branch
which you join and also some of the society running costs (including your
free copy of the Players Guide and the society's twice yearly publication
"The Norham Herald"). Branch adventures may cost £1 - £2 but are often
free. Large weekend events (fests) cost from £10.00 - £25.00 but include
a free banquet with all drinks. Many other systems will charge you a similar
amount and often a lot more for a great deal less. For combat purposes, the body is divided up into six locations. These
are split into two types: Limbs (Left Arm, Right Arm, Left Leg,
Right Leg) and Body (Head, Torso). Every character has 1 hit point
per location, though some monsters may have more. When a location is reduced
by damage to 0 hit points, it becomes useless. Magic & Spells Magic
works in three ways. There are "Commands" where the character speaks the
activation phrase and thus casts the spell, "Enchantments" and "Prayers"
(Religious characters) where the character writes the spell on a spell
card before setting off on the adventure - to cast the magic user reads
the card and tears the spell card in two, and finally "Rituals", which
are written in advance on scrolls and performed around a person or item.
Magic Users can use their own power in order to either resist spells that
are cast at them or to lift and/or dispel spells that are cast on other
people. Players choose a race to play. The game world is biased in favour of
humans but elves, half-elves, dwarves and halflings are often seen amongst
the adventuring community. Humans gain no advantages or disadvantages
but only humans can gain position so power within the guilds and churches.
Other races gain a mix of advantages and disadvantages, but of course
an appropriate costume must be worn to reflect the race. Highly religious characters may choose one of three levels of worship.
The Kindred are lay members of the church and gain no mana (power to cast
spells) but are able to call upon their god for aid in times of dire emergency.
The Devoted, who gain a small amount of mana and spells, are considered
the martial arm of the church. Full priests gain a fair amount of mana
and spells but are required to actively lead other members of the faith
and convert those who have not yet chosen a calling. Each level of worship
carries with it progressively greater advantages and disadvantages as
the gods require deeper observance of strictures associated with their
worship.
Combat - A brief overview
Fools & Heroes has a single hit combat system
(i.e. one blow results in one point of damage), where damage is taken
instantly without a battle-board. Although Referees oversee any game activity,
players and monsters are responsible for keeping track of the condition
of their armour and any injuries that they sustain, also the effects of
any spells cast at them. The aim is for continuous flow and to minimise
the use of out-of-character calls that disrupt the suspension of disbelief.
Characters
Every player creates their own character following the guidelines laid
down in the rules. Special characters created outside of those rules exist
and to a degree are encouraged as the world is a magical one where rare
an unique characters do live. However, in order to preserve game balance
across the whole country, anything outside of the standard guidelines
requires prior consultation with the Campaign Co-ordinator and possibly
also the Senior Referees.
Religion
There is pantheon of Seven Gods. All characters believe in these gods
and respect them. A character can choose to follow one of them above all
of the others, thus joining the Church associated with their religion.
In doing so, they gain power from that god. The Seven are: Crowa, Goddess
of Battle & Protectress of the Weak; Kharach, God of Death; Longstor,
God of Nature; Rolbor, God of Wealth, Prosperity and Hospitality; Sidhe
(pronounced Sid-thay) God of Justice, Equality and Balance; Tralda, Goddess
of Luck and last, but not least, Vleybor, Goddess of Life, Peace and Healing.
The Guilds
The Mercenaries:
The
backbone of all adventuring parties, mercenaries are the warriors whose
armour and fighting skills carry the brunt of any encounter. Unofficial
mottos include "Death before tactics" and "A mage can't cast
if he's got no face!".
The Scouts:
Often
lightly armoured members of this guild are usually ahead of any party,
checking the path ahead for signs of any monsters. Speed and stealth are
the main weapons of a Scout, though bows, spears and blades can be pretty
useful as well.
- Guards
& Foresters: Members
of the these guilds are Ithron's law enforcement. Always on duty they
have sworn to uphold the laws of the land and to be responsible for
the safety of the people of Ithron.
Physicians: Members of the guild of healers learn to mix medicines and apply bandages, without which few adventuring parties would last beyond a single fight. Healing warriors during battle is not a task for the faint hearted.
Alchemists: Often viewed as greedy and unscrupulous, members of this guild brew potions with protective healing and also poisonous properties, as well as some rarer and more powerful concoctions. They supply these to fellow adventurers - at a price.
Mages: Wearing no armour and rarely carrying any weapon other than a staff a mage is very vulnerable in a fight. However the power to manipulate soulfire carries with it the ability to cast spells of great power. Mages ultimately specialise in one of four areas, each governed by one of the following four Schools of Magic: Necromancy, Demonology, Enchantment or General Magic. Mages are choosy about who they let in and few, in any, starting characters are permitted to join the exclusive group. Characters must usually prove themselves first, before being accepted.
Knightly Orders: A character with honour and valour may be a member of one of the four knightly orders of Ithron. These are religious orders of fighters who follow strict codes and are deadly warriors. The four orders all have different restrictions and advantages: the Griffin Knights know no fear, the Black Knights are feared by many, the Grey Knights are noble and chivalrous and the Templar Knights are warrior monks. A religious order of fighting women, the Crowan Roses, also exists.
Thieves: Secret and illegal, members of this guild do not advertise themselves. Often members of other guilds the thieves look to make a profit for themselves using skills not available to others. Thieves are often called upon to do the jobs no one else will do and are expected to be loyal to the guild. The life of a thief can be risky rewarding and often rather short.
Nighthawks: Highly secret guild of assassins, rumoured not to exist.
Other Guilds: A player may choose to create a character with membership of a guild not normally associated with adventuring such as a bard blacksmith or scribe. It is possible to play characters who gain abilities and skills from membership of foreign guilds. All characters who fall outside of the standard rules however must be cleared and passed in advance by the Campaign Co-ordinator and possibly also the Senior Referees.
The game is set in the country of Ithron (England) with Lirron (Scotland) to the North and Sortho (Wales) to the west containing a few branches. The capital of Ithron is the city of Norham and the King rules Norham Province which is Ithron, Lirron and Sortho. The province is split into thirteen duchies with various towns and cities (branches) in each duchy. Fools & Heroes has been running since the early 80s and as such a rich and cohesive history has built up with many events shaped by character actions. Most history comes from events taking place at Summerfest (the large annual fest open to very member of the society), but also in some cases from the actions of small groups of characters on a normal branch adventure. Characters can progress through the guilds and churches - starting at the lowly bottom yet, with luck, becoming the guild head of church primate.
What do I need?
The most important thing you need is a sense of fun. We are a friendly group out to enjoy ourselves. No one earns any money from the society and most people put a lot of effort into the game. We do have a high level of minimums standards with regard to costume but initially others will be happy to lend you kit to get you started.