Heroica
Heroica is not a standard fantasy world. It has its own character, rules and themes. Read this to understand the foundation before diving into details.
A Dark World
Do not expect fairness or kindness. Prejudice runs deep. The wrong race, faith, gender or class can ruin you. Doors will close, chains may await, and death is never far. Tread carefully and mind who you face. Heroica is harsh and unforgiving, and survival demands caution.
In most fantasy worlds, things are just fine, until a problem comes along. In Heroica, things being bad is the default, then a problem comes along and makes it worse.
This darkness is deliberate. With every country, every people, the design questions has not been "How do we make them good?", but "How are they bad?". Most have virtues, but there is always a dark, cracked side.
I wanted the world truly dark, not just "a nice world with horrible monsters". There is no excuse here. We can't blame monsters or gods, doing evil because it's what they do. People are the monsters. People do evil, because that is what they do. People like us.
The darkness serves a purpose. It contrasts the players, giving them broken things to mend and wrongs to right. Heroica is almost as dark as real history, but it has champions fighting the dark.
The World is Alive
Nations rise and fall. Rivers shift course. Rulers go mad. Wars ebb and return. Nothing is static. The world moves, and the players move with it.
Laws of Nature
Heroica is a fantasy world, and the laws of nature are not universal. Gods shape their domains.
Hollows may be created in Lumekhet but not in the Empire. Djinns can be bargained with in the desert but not in Draknir. In the deep Montosho jungle, gods have no reach and magic itself weakens.
Regional identity should be clear. Different lands feel different not only in customs but in the very rules of reality. A shaman may be powerless far from home, far from his ancestral spirits. A Lumekhet priest swears hollows exist while an Imperial senator calls it superstition. Both are right in their own way.
This mirrors real-world lore, where strange beings and wonders always lurked at the edge of the map.
The map of Heroica follows the needs of play, not real geography or climate. Can you sail off the eastern edge to reach the west? No one has tried, yet. There may even be more lands beyond the map.
No borders
There are no drawn borders on the map. Boundaries follow geography and, at times, lines of conflict. The modern idea of fixed borders does not exist here. In a historical or fantasy world, nations are better seen as spheres of influence that fade outward, meeting in uncertain and often contested lands.
Slavery
Slavery is nearly universal. Its forms vary, from the cruelty of the Empire and the Twin Cities to gentler systems elsewhere, but it is present almost everywhere. In most places, seeing a foreigner or someone of another race raises the question, "Who owns that one?"
It serves three purposes:
- It provides an alternative to death. Capture leads to enslavement, rescue or escape.
- It highlights the brutality and indifference of the world.
- It sparks conflict, which drives stories.
Culture Before Race
People are shaped more by culture than blood. Laws, traditions and faiths define them. Heritage matters, but destiny follows culture.
Halfbreeds
Unlike most fantasy settings, Heroica has no halfbreeds. Races cannot interbreed, and their distinct natures remain, from a game perspective, undiluted. This is because Heroica build on choices that matter, no half-measure compromises.
Attitudes toward interracial relationships are often hostile. Sexual contact may happen, but they rarely carry respect. In many places, having exotics in a harem or as slaves is a mark of status, not affection.
Few Monsters
Monsters are rare. The true threats are people: schemers, rulers, raiders, zealots. Enemies here are not faceless beasts but beings with purpose and will, motives and passions. People, in a context, are the best opponents.
Fighting people also brings moral weight. It's never just another monster slain. People have families, allies, and positions of power, and every death has consequences.
As a result, there are no dragon slayers. Dragons belong to another order of power. Only gods might stand against them.
A Common Tongue
All peoples share one language, called "The Word", often colored by heavy accent. Its origin is mythic: "In the beginning was the Word, and from the Word, the world was made."
The practical reason is simple: a shared language keeps play focused on people and choices, not on translators. If the game master wants to force a guide on the party, there are better ways.
The challenge isn't "Can we talk?" It's "What do we say?"
Misunderstanding can still be used sparingly. A word meaning "subordinate" in one dialect might mean "slave" in another, causing trouble without needing separate languages.
Ancient god-tongues and ruin-scripts may exist, but in daily life all speak the same tongue.
Literacy
In civilized lands, literacy is common. Assume most people can read and write unless there is reason they cannot.
Money
Noble metals and stones are more common than in our world, and thus less precious. So, a treasure chest might actually be a small chest full of coins and gems. Gems are often the size of an acorn. Treasures feel like treasures.
Money is always counted in silver. Actual coins may be in other metals, copper, gold and even gem-studded gold, but their worth is measured in silver.
Coins from one nation may be unwelcome in another, especially among enemies, and might even mark you as a spy or foreign agent, or at least get short-changed.
Because coinage varies, every merchant keeps scales to weigh payment. Some dishonest traders use false weights, a grave crime when discovered.
Code of Honor
In civilized lands, a code of honor is widely recognized:
- If an opponent surrenders, do not kill him.
- If you are spared, do not seek revenge.
It may seem noble, but it does not forbid enslavement, ransom, or plunder. In practice, the code protects such acts from reprisal.
Armor
Armor in Heroica is lighter than medieval plate. The heaviest common kind resembles Roman legionary armor. Only the reptilians of Ssar'et use full suits of heavy plate.
Armor is a statement. Wearing metal says "I am here to fight," and the same goes for carrying a large shield. Authorities will treat you accordingly. Civilians wear at most leather and a buckler. Entering a market in full armor is like walking into a shop in SWAT gear.
There are exceptions. Nobles may keep guards in full armor, their rank making it acceptable. Even so, a noble would not march into another land so dressed without prior agreement.
Crossbows
Crossbows do not exist. Ranged weapons are bows, thrown arms and siege engines.
Omens
Eclipses, comets, two-headed calves, strange lights, storms, these are all omens. People treat them as true signs of things to come, if only one can read them correctly. To the people of Heroica, chance does not exist; meaning hides in everything.
Magic
Magic Users
Magic demands talent, training, and total devotion. It is never a pastime. Magicians have no second trade.
Place in Society
Magicians hold great status. Rulers keep them as advisors and guardians. Shamans serve as anchors of tribal faith. Few walk free of any patron, for an unbound magician is seen as too dangerous.
Court magicians are not tame servants. They pursue their own goals, and rivalries among them have sparked wars.
Types of Magic
Heroica has no quick-fire magic. No combat fireballs. Magic is slow, ritualistic and strategic, more like a game of chess than a weapon. Its effects spread like ripples, shaping events long after the spell is cast.
Each form belongs to a culture and tradition. No magician can master them all, oven select from them all.
The Use of Magic
Magic reshapes the world, but it also reshapes the one who wields it. When you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes back. This is Heroica's heart: how do you fight evil without becoming it?
Magic always exacts a price. Sacrifice is inevitable.
Summoning is contract-making. You do not command the summoned-you bargain. Demons twist every word and clause. Few survive long in this art. A summoner must be part magician, part lawyer, part diplomat, and part gambler.
Prophets
Prophets are not magicians who draw on divine power, nor ordinary priests. They are the chosen, branded by the gods to serve as their voice in the world.
This calling is rare, unwanted, and never safe. A prophet does not wield a god's power; they endure it. Their strength is not their own, and their will is never free. At times they seem exalted, at others crushed beneath the weight of their patron's demands.
For some, prophecy brings visions and miracles. For others, torment. The god's will drags them into acts they would never choose. A prophet may topple a kingdom with a single word, yet stand powerless before the next command whispered like thunder in the dark.
To the faithful, prophets prove that the gods walk close. To rulers and common folk, they are unsettling and dangerous. Magicians plot and bargain, but a prophet speaks with divine certainty, and no one knows when or why that voice will fall silent.
Fail Forward
Failure is not an ending. It shifts the story onto a new track. Defeat, capture, loss and humiliation open new paths. Let failure spark the next chapter, a new goal, a new option or a new challenge.
Define Your Own Characters
Descriptions of peoples and professions are guides, not rules. There are no tied mechanics, both to keep Heroica system-free and to let players shape their own interpretations.
If you play an ogre, you'll likely make a strong, kind, slow-witted brute. You wouldn't play him as a small selfish bastard schemer; that would be a dwarf instead. We trust you, the player, to stay true to character, and the game master to guard the tone.
Death
Death is the least rewarding outcome in long campaigns, yet danger must remain.
A useful rule: player characters do not die without the player's consent. This does not make them immortal. When death strikes, player and game master instead find a path of survival, always with a cost. The result should always create story: enslavement, exile, debts, lost allies, new enemies.
If this mercy is abused, the game master may end it.
Heroica is built to be narratively dangerous but mechanically forgiving.