Monster Compendium refresh out now!

The updated Monster Compendium is now out on DriveThruRPG.  If you already purchased the compendium, you'll have the new version in your library!

The updated Monster Compendium includes these major changes:

• Monster Compendium expanded and revised 
• Updated Monster Compendium to color
• Added 40 monsters (now with 176 monsters!)
• Added section on encounter balancing

Monster Compendium Refresh

This Hero Kids Monster Compendium refresh has taken way longer than I hoped, but it's almost done. 

The Monster Compendium is increasing from ~130 monsters to almost 180 monsters!  This includes over 20 pieces of new and refreshed art, now in full color.

One thing for youse all, I'm redoing the Monster Stand-Ups PDF for printing, and I'm reducing the number of stand-ups on each page for the 'tougher' monsters, on the grounds that you should never need 8 tough monsters!  Let me know if this might be a problem. 

Brecken Vale Gazetteer OUT NOW!

I've just released the latest (and long-awaited) Hero Kids expansion, the Brecken Vale Gazetteer!

The Brecken Vale Gazetteer is jam packed with all-new artwork and 79 pages of information about the places, people, customs, factions, and adventures of the Brecken Vale.

Inside the gazetteer you'll find:

• Maps and regions of the Brecken Vale and beyond
• Maps and locations in Rivenshore
• People of the Vale (including 26 printable character cards)
• Culture and customs across the Vale
• Geography and climate
• Lineages of the Vale (humans, elves, dwarves and other lineages)
• Factions of the Varld
• Random encounter tables for each habitat or locale
• Campaign paths for beginner characters to heroes of the Varld
• Over 50 new adventure hooks

Heroes From Out of Time

Here's something new for Hero Kids; Heroes from Out of Time!

This expansion for Hero Kids includes ten new heroes for your game:

• Athlete - The athlete's massive strength and imposing frame makes them a formidable sight
• Ghost - Practiced in passing unnoticed, Ghost uses an improvised surujin to strike at distant foes 
• Goth - The goth's unique style belies her knowledge of herbal healing remedies
• Hick - This country boy never travels without his sturdy slingshot
• Jock - The jock's countless hours of gruelling physical training make him hardy and resilient 
• Princess - A withering gaze and a cutting remark are the princess's weapons of choice 
• Slugger (female) - The slugger takes advantage of enemies' distraction to swing for the fences 
• Slugger (male) - The slugger uses his unique mobility to maintain balance in any situation
• Tech (female) - Wielding unique tech invented by this duo, the tech's quantum pack shifts time
• Tech (male) - Carrying the other quantum pack they invented, this twin's pack rewinds time

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Check out the Hero Kids Complete Fantasy PDF Bundle at DriveThruRPG

Hero Kids full color release

The first stage of the Hero Kids color updates is now complete!

The following Hero Kids products are now available in full color:

• Hero Kids Role-Playing Game (the core rules)
• Hero Kids - Heroes II
• Hero Kids - Heroes III (Heroes From Out of Town)
• Hero Kids - Heroes IV (Forest Friends
• Hero Kids - Heroes V (Monstrous Heroes)
• Hero Kids - Heroes VI (All Hallows' Eve)
• Hero Kids - Pets I
• Hero Kids - Pets II
• Hero Kids - Space Heroes I
• Hero Kids - Space Heroes II

Check out a bunch of the new artwork below (including the new Brecken Vale map!

If you want to get Hero Kids, or pick up any missing products, check out the complete PDF bundle:

Hero Kids Complete Fantasy PDF Bundle

And if you want more rip-roaring space action, check out the Hero Kids Space Adventures:

Hero Kids Space Adventures Bundle

Heroes in full color

Thanks to everyone's sage feedback, I've decided to update all of the Hero Cards and Monsters to full color.  I will also maintain the existing B&W versions of the Hero Cards and Hero stand-ups for the folks who want to color in their heroes!

The first step in this process is to color all of the Heroes.  

Which is a lot:

Here's a sneak peek at what a colored Hero Card looks like:

More on this as I make progress.

Out.  :-)

Hero Cards and Stand-Ups in Color?

So I've put off reaching out to y'all to ask this, but now is as good a time as ever. Would you prefer the Hero Kids stand-ups and hero cards in B&W (for coloring by the kids) or in color? 

The reason I'm asking is because if I switch to color heroes, I don't have the capacity to maintain B&W variations of the hero cards and stand-ups.

Let me know in the comments what you'd prefer!

Brecken Vale Gazetteer

I'm working on something new for Hero Kids, and it's taking a while! 

It started as a simple idea to produce a official map of Rivenshore.  But since then, it's expanded to a gazetteer of all of the Brecken Vale.

The gazetteer will feature an overview of the regions of the Brecken Vale, a rundown of the key locations in Rivenshore, as well as details about notable characters from across the vale.  Additionally, the gazetteer will be packed with gameable adventure hooks to inspire your Hero Kids game.

Here's my original layout of Rivenshore:

Rivenshore layout

From my layout, Eric Quigley illustrated the village:

Rivenshore early sketch

Rivenshore work in progress

Which has become this thing of beauty!

Rivenshore

Speaking of Eric, he's also illustrated a whole bunch of notable characters, both friendly and villainous, from across the vale:

Ratch 

Sheriff Walt

Jarl

Lizardkin Shaman S'Lis

Mortain and Crow

Old Madge

Tark

Keep an eye out for the Brecken Vale Gazetteer in the not-too-distant future.

Hero Kids flat plastic miniatures again...

The original Hero Kids flat plastic miniatures Kickstarter was a while ago now, but Arcknight have just kicked off their second campaign. I only mention this because the Hero Kids miniatures are available as an add-on for the new campaign!

For $30, you can get all 62 Hero Kids heroes as amazing full-colour plastic stand-ups!

Flat Plastic Miniatures 2 by Arcknight - Kickstarter

Hero Kids Flat Plastic Miniatures

In all of the excitement of the work on the Hero Kids Monster Compendium, I almost forgot that a neat box arrived containing 64 Hero Kids flat plastic miniatures from ArcKnight's Kickstarter campaign.

Even better, these are now available from ArcKnight's online store:
Hero Kids Flat Plastic Miniatures.

The set contains 64 miniatures from these sets:
•  Hero Kids - Fantasy RPG
•  Hero Kids - Fantasy Expansion - Hero Cards - Set II
•  Hero Kids - Fantasy Expansion - Hero Cards - Set III
•  Hero Kids - Fantasy Expansion - Hero Cards - Pet Cards
•  Hero Kids - Space Expansion - Hero Cards - Set I
•  Hero Kids - Space Expansion - Hero Cards - Set II

Monster Compendium Cover Art...

I loved working with Hero Kids resident artist Eric Quigley on the cover for the new Monster Compendium.  One of life's greatest pleasures is watching other people work. :-)

In honor of Eric's work, and so that others can have the pleasure of watching Eric work, I created this GIF of the each of the steps we followed creating the cover for the new book:

Although technically it was mostly him doing the work...

Monster Compendium Editing...

Spent the week editing the Hero Kids Monster Compendium.  I'm noticing a pattern that little projects develop into big projects...

The compendium is now 120-ish monsters, but also includes details about the monsters, a sprinkling of history, and a boatload of adventure hooks.  As Brian Beniot states:

"From the perspective of a GM, I absolutely love all the hooks you've included in the book.  You could literally flip to any page and run an off-the-cuff adventure off of any one of the hooks provided, so I love the book from that perspective."

The compendium also features an amazing new cover by Eric Quigley:

Hero Kids - Monster Compendium preview

Quick update on the Hero Kids - Monster Compendium.  Each of the types of monsters will include a description of the monster, plus extra gameable details about their tactics and adventure hooks.

Here's a preview of the Elementals and Cultists:

Six-Score Monsters Approaching...

Sooooo...  I'm still working on the monsters for the upcoming Hero Kids monster compendium. And now's a good time for an update.  First, I've finished 120 monsters.  Approximately 40 of these are from previous adventures and the core game.  The rest are new.  There's also a bunch of new art for some of the old monsters...

Second, I'm currently editing these monsters.  Much highlighting.

Third, I've been exploring boss monsters and how to make them work well when fighting one to four heroes.  For example, this hydra is my current favorite.  As you can see, each of its heads must attack a different target, giving it more actions as the number of attackers increases:

Finally, here's a preview of all these bad boys (and girls):