Step into a world where Heroes shape the destiny of Antagarich through daring deeds, strategic battles, and personal quests for glory. In Heroes of Might and Magic 2d20, you take on the role of great champions – masters of sword or sorcery – leading armies and performing legendary feats to carve their names into history.

This 62-page FREE Quickstart PDF is just a taste of what the full game has to offer. Inside, you will find:

• Descriptions of sample nations, character classes, and units.
• A selection of ready-to-play Heroes.
• An introductory scenario, The Krewlod Frontier.
• All the rules to play through the scenario, including your first battle!

Disclaimer: The publisher provided the prototype copy of in depth Quickstart PDF of Heroes of Might and Magic TTRPG. The opinions expressed in the review are completely my own. 

Credit: Modiphius Entertainment 

Overview:

I want to start this review off by saying that the publisher has provided an in depth Quickstart PDF that anyone can download for free. It is well written and makes it very easy to understand the game. It covers all the game’s systems in detail and even provides a starter adventure and pre-generated characters. The Starter adventure is straightforward and fun and it’s a great way to test out the game and see if it is a good fit for your group. I’d recommend that anyone interested in the game check out the quickstart and see for yourself what you think of it.

Modiphius is a world-class creator and publisher of TTRPGs. I first learned about their 2d20 system a decade ago with the Infinity RPG. But more recently the system has gained a lot of popularity with the games Fallout: Wasteland Warfare and Star Trek Adventures. The 2d20 system is based around players rolling a certain number of d20s, their pool of dice starts with 2 d20s and additional d20s can be added. Challenges are set based on a number of successful rolls required to succeed. A successful roll is achieved by rolling under a target value determined by the character’s stats. Successes in excess of the challenges requirement can be carried over and become a resource to use in the future. Each game has a slight variation on this metacurrency but typically they can be used to make future challenges easier. 

The 2d20 system has long been proven to be a fun and simple way to drive narrative focused stories. Now we are getting a High Fantasy title based on the popular video game series of the same name, “Heroes of Might and Magic”. 

Heroes of MIght and Magic is a video game series that gained popularity in the 90s. It is a turn-based strategy game where players control a variety of heroes and units to explore the world around them and defeat powerful enemies. There are a bunch of games in the series now with a new one being released this year. But Heroes of Might and Magic 3 is generally considered the best and most iconic game and it is the basis for the TTRPG as well. I personally never played Heroes of Might and Magic, but from some basic research the TTRPG appears to capture the source material well.

This game in particular does a couple unique things mechanically that I think really sell the theme. This is a high power fantasy game. Your characters are Leaders and Heroes already. They have developed an elegant system for controlling heroes that start as powerful leaders. Each character has units under their command that range from a handful of soldiers to whole armies. These units are represented by a simple stat block and controlling them in mass combat uses the characters traits and does not make the game overly complicated. 

Game sessions play out over a series of phases that include Preparation Phase where Heroes plan and prepare for their journey, Exploration Phase where Heroes venture into the world with their armies. An Adventure Phase takes heroes away from their armies to focus on individual missions and the Battle Phase has armies clashing on the battlefield, then heroes can end the day resting in the tavern during the Tavern Phase. 

These phases help set the pace for the game and give clear direction to the players. I found teaching new players the system was very easy as a result. 

Like other 2d20 games, this does tend to be more narrative focused. Tactical positioning in battles is handled through a handful of “Zones” that can be drawn out or described. Attacks are specified as being close range, within the same zone or medium to long range that affect other zones. Your characters and units have a handful of abilities to impact combat, but the major mechanism is managing your meta-currencies, Morale and Threat. These are staples of the 2d20 system so I won’t describe them in detail, but they do make up the most important decision making of the game. Exploration is handled in a hex crawl format that is very reminiscent of the video game. Encounter tables are used to determine what is found when exploring. It is thematic but also a pretty common staple of fantasy RPGs.

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