Beyond Grimdark...

[Prime_Evil]

At the moment there's a trend towards gritty realism in fantasy that seems to be a reaction against the epic fantasy that dominated the genre during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Authors such as Joe Abercrombie and Richard K. Morgan are often held up as champions of the trend, although it is possible to find precursors in the works of David Gemmell and Glen Cook. The television adaptation of George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones exemplifies this trend. This style of fantasy has sometimes been labelled "grimdark fantasy" - partly in a parody of Warhammer 40K ("In the grim darkness of the future, there is only grimdark darkness"), and partly to distinguish it from traditional swords and sorcery fiction (that can be as gritty, but tends to feature protagonists who have a streak of genuine heroic motivation buried under their mercenary exterior).

Legend does the grimdark style very well. The combat system has a brutal and bloody atmosphere that feels like gritty realism. However, I'm interested to know what tweaks you would make to the system to run other styles of fantasy, such as lighthearted swashbuckling adventure or high-powered epic fantasy. Any thoughts?

 

[Old timer]

A simple tweak for a more swashbuckling/lighter game would be to give PCs more hero points, and be more generous when awarding them. It is a method i will use when i next run a more lighter game than my current legend games.

 

[Prime_Evil]

A simple tweak for a more swashbuckling/lighter game would be to give PCs more hero points, and be more generous when awarding them. It is a method i will use when i next run a more lighter game than my current legend games.

I thought of using Hero Points and Heroic Abilities to modify the feel of the game, but I'm still wondering how to implement this is practice. For example, would you allow Hero Points to be used in any additional ways that are not covered by the existing rules?

 

[Old timer]

Yes, i would allow a hero point to be spent to succeed at a roll that the players does not wont to leave to chance, for example allowing the HP spent to be used to achieve a normal success for an athletics roll to swing from a chandelier or other such heroic stuff.

 

[jwpacker]

Maybe replace hit points by location and hit locations with the BRP style "Major Wound" concept, and making PCs and major NPCs sturdier by assigning them CON+SIZ hit points, while lower levels have (CON+SIZ)/2, and mooks fall to any hit that does more than 1 point of damage.

 

[hanszurcher]

A simple tweak for a more swashbuckling/lighter game would be to give PCs more hero points, and be more generous when awarding them. It is a method i will use when i next run a more lighter game than my current legend games.

I thought of using Hero Points and Heroic Abilities to modify the feel of the game, but I'm still wondering how to implement this is practice. For example, would you allow Hero Points to be used in any additional ways that are not covered by the existing rules?

You could always try using FATE-like Aspects. Invoking an Aspect (and spending a hero-point) when it can help, Compelling an Aspect (and earning a hero-point) when it complicates the PC's life.