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NOTE: Some rudimentary knowledge of the
HERO System
rules is necessary to understand this conversion
document. |
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Years ago when I was but a small lad I was
lent a book by a newly met friend at school.
It was a simple paperback, with a black
spine and a colorful cover depicting a young
man with a green cloak and glowing sword
against a backdrop of dark winged creatures
and slavering wolves. Its cover proclaimed
it a "Roleplaying Adventure".
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Well, I had no idea what a "Roleplaying
Adventure" might be at that point in my
life, but it sounded intriguing. Opening
the book was even more intriguing; rather
than the normal linear text starting inside
the front cover and ending shortly before
the back cover, this book was arranged in
seemingly random order in snippets.
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Further
weirdness, there was some kind of task resolution
chart in the back and discussion about
something called a character record sheet
in the front for which I was prompted to
pick from a list of "Kai Abilities" and
write down the contents of an imaginary
backpack.
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All very strange stuff. So following along,
I soon had picked out some powers, dutifully
written everything down, and was jumping
around the pages of the book following the
adventure of my surrogate self, choosing
as wisely as my prepubescent mind allowed
from the options presented at the end of
every numbered text blurb and picking resolution
numbers mostly honestly from the chart in
the back (cheating only occasionally).
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It was a blast! Soon thereafter I had acquired
the books of the series and worked my way
from lonely half-trained Kai stripling to
uber nasty Kai Grandmaster, stomping across
the world of Aon one numbered text entry
at a time.
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Those of you not familiar with Lone Wolf
and his world are probably shrugging and
thinking "just sounds like a Choose Your
Own Adventure book, big deal", and you're
right, but these were the Cadillacs of Pick-a-Paths.
There was a common narrative thread across
the books; your character had continuity
and improved from book to book, items and
people from previous books would appear
in later books, decisions made would have
later repurcussions. Pretty impressive stuff
really; it pushed the boundaries of the
format.
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Meanwhile, I was also becoming initiated
in the ways of more proper "Roleplaying
Adventures", now that I had dipped my toes
in the shallow end of the pool. Red Box
D&D was followed by other golden age
TSR boxed sets. Marvel Superheroes, Gamma
World, Star Frontiers. Then the hardbacks...1st
Edition AD&D, then 2nd Edition. Warhammer
FRPG. Off beat, small press games like Talislanta,
Ars Magica, stuff from Palladium, Champions,
later White Wolf, and many other RPGs as
the years rolled by.
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So, in a way, Flight From The Dark and the
rest of the Lone Wolf series was basically
the "gateway drug" of RPG's for me; the
mostly harmless taste that got me hooked
on a serious RPG addiction.
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Now we've come full circle. It occured to
me, in response to a thread someone opened
on the HERO Games Forums about Lone Wolf,
that the basic archetype of the Kai brothers
is very playable in the context of a higher
fantasy game in the HERO System. So, I sat
down and pretty quickly was able to define
approximate versions of Kai abilities in
HERO System terms, which are presented here
for your use.
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HOW TO USE |
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There are several different uses this material
can be put to, including:
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- CONVERT EXISTING CHARACTERS: Someone
with similar memories of the books could
use this material to assist in a conversion
of their Kai character record sheet into
HERO System terms for nostalgia or curiosity
purposes.
- FILE OFF THE SERIAL NUMBERS: The
basic idea of the Kai could easily be "retasked"
and renamed, and incorporated into some
other campaign setting either as is or with
further alteration. The abilities of the
Kai represent an expensive but potent collection
of natural and supernatural abilities that
make for a very capable semi-mystic warrior
kind of character.
- MAGIC SYSTEM: Taking a step further
back, the Kai ability set can be used as
the basis of a simple Magic or Psionics
System in a lower powered campaign where
the cost would serve as a natural speedbump
on overall power.
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125 |
Kai Abilities: Choose any five (5) of the basic Kai Abilities |
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5 |
Fit: +5 STR |
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9 |
Adept: +3 DEX |
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6 |
Durable: +3 CON |
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6 |
Tough: +3 BODY |
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2 |
Kai: Perk: Kai Initiate |
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2 |
Kai: Reputation: Powerful Mystic Warriors 14- +1 / +1d6 |
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155 |
TOTAL |
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- PROJECT AON: A very
awesome site with online versions of the
Kai adventure books.
- MONGOOSE PUBLISHING
: a well known RPG company that is reprinting
Lone Wolf material and (apparantly), new
material as well.
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