Foul Heroes is a Dark/Weird traditional/adventuring RPG. Players portray Combat. Roll relevant dice to determine action order.
on order. The GM rolls 4D.
(guess?)… Foul Heroes (FH) seeking power and renown; the Grim Master
(GM) will portray good victims, react to players' choices and be fair (?). The
world is dark, dangerous and full of gritty people like you. This is a high
stakes minimalist game you can play in any fantasy-ish setting! You can
discover more about roleplaying on wiki pages and lurking the internet!
Create a Foul Hero. Create a Foul Class (Demonic Archer, Deformed
Occultist, Hollow Knight, etc), 2 Traits (Quick, Deceptive, Stealthy, etc) and
3 key items (with related stories, they MUST matter, like "the Black Ring of
1,000 Treasons"). You start with 1D+6 Health and 0 Guile (below!).
Doing Things. When you act dangerously, roll 2d6 (2D) for every relevant
aspect (Class, Trait and/or Item, depending on your narration). Remove -1D
for every negative occurrence (like environmental dangers, armors and
such). Whenever you roll more than 8D, the GM gains 1 Judgment (guess
what? Below!).
Once rolled, sum up all results: for every 5 points you get, you
score a Grin (0 is 0, 1 is miserable, 2-3 is foul, 4+ is eeeevil AND you gain 1
Guile… Below!). If you score 5+ Grins, you trigger a Foul Moment! Wow!
Foul Moment. During a Foul Moment, the triggering FH becomes the Deus
Ex Machina (DeM) and gains +1D (cumulative!) to all rolls for the remainder
of the Scene or until he rolls at least two 1s (no matter the outcome!)...
At the same time, the GM gains 1 Judgement every time the DeM
will roll more than 6D (instead of 8D!). The DeM can grant 1 or more of
these extra Ds to other FHs, if it makes any sense!
Guile. Gain 1 Guile when you score 4+ Grins or trigger a Final Grin! Spend 1
Guile to gain +1D on a future roll, +2D when you are the DeM. You can store
up to 3 Guile (use Tokens).
Judgement. The GM can spend 1 Judgement as if it were 1 Guile (+1D on a
subsequent roll of ANY enemy) or 6 Judgement to create a world shaking
event against the FHs! This is a huuuge opportunity to unleash good willing
antagonists or more evil folks to provide some interesting challenges! If you
have doubts on what to do, grab a famous RPG book and roll an encounter.
Players and GM will act in order, from the highest number of Grins scored
to the lowest. During your turn, move around and act. Enemies are built like
characters (except they don’t have Classes, using their “type” - i.e. a Dragon
is a Dragon). The GM will handle them and they’ll take care of YOU.
When you attack and score at least 1 Grin, you deal 1 damage per
Grin scored. A miserable result means you’ll suffer consequences as well! If
you drop to 0 Health spend 1 Guile or you are dead. If you spend 1 Guile, you
are in danger, but not dying: you need help within 1D turns or you’ll still die.
No Gear! Mundane Gear is not taken into account in this version of the game
(!!!). You are supposed to own every item you should reasonably have for
your Class to work.
Leveling Up. When you defeat a very good guy, complete an adventure,
personal plot or find / discover huge treasures / new places, gain 1 XP. Then,
if you have 6, erase them and level up. When you do, add 1 Trait or Key Item
AND +1D Health. At 6th level, you can start building a Guild / Settlement.
Manage it as you please and get inspiration from classic games! This should
generate new ideas for adventures, characters and more foulness!
Last but not least, at every odd level, you raise your maximum
Guile by 1, up to a maximum of 5.
Sample Characters (Class/C, Traits/T, Items/I)
➢ Jade the Thief. C: Poisoner. T: Cunning, Stealthy. I: Arcane
Locpicks, Poisoner's Kit, Lost Spellbook of Curses.
➢ Liam Greymantle. C: Feral Druid. T: Intuitive, Survivalist. I: Staff
of Polymorph, Dual Scimitars, Shadow Cloak.
➢ Payne. C: Evil Skald. T: Charming, Inventive. I: Lyre of Courage,
Armor of Ancient Wisdom, Sword of Broke. Hopes.
➢ Shade. C: Necromancer. T: Aware, Leader. I: Crown of Undead
Control, Icy Rod, Tainted Scroll.
➢ Sir Kaleb. C: Dark Knight. T: Frightening, Powerful. I: Cursed
Greatsword of the Order, Ring of Memories, Dead King's Lance.
Foul Heroes by Marco Ricco
Facebook (Artist Signature): Evolving Dreams Productions