Fantasy Hero 6th ed- The Beast

I'm referring to Fantasy Hero 6 as The Beast because the sucker comes in at nearly 500 pages, and you still need the Core Hero Rules to use it.  It is an impressive PDF to behold, although it is of limited use to those that do not use the Hero System.

I tend to beg, borrow and steal from many sources when I run a game, and good ideas don't need to share the same rule system.  There is much here that is not specific to the Hero system.  The sections Elements of Fantasy, Fantasy Sub-genres, and crossing fantasy with other genres could stand on their own as generic advice for anyone about to begin a new Fantasy game with any set of rules.

Other Chapters, such as Beyond the Fields we Know:  Fantasy Worlds and Races and Wonders of the Imagination: Gamemastering Fantasy Hero stand pretty well on their own too.  The ideas and advice presented could easily be published as a systemless supplement, and I strongly suggest that Hero Games, or whatever the company is called these days, consider publishing these chapters to an audience outside of the Hero Game circle.  I suspect they would do well.

As for the bulk of the book?  Its been ages since I've run anything Hero / Champions - wise, so I am far from the person to be counted on for a definitive judgement, but even with my time away from the game I could see myself creating a Fantasy Hero character.  I don't have the day and a half available to do so at the moment ;)

On a more technical note, there is an excellent use of bookmarks in Fantasy Hero, something that is unappreciated until you start using them.  At that point, they become priceless.