Back in ages past, I had quite a lot of He-Man action figures and actually did concoct some weird storylines for my fellow playmates -- some kind of proto-DMing. Then a few years later I began to look at Teela with different eyes and stopped playing with toys.

Now, quite a few years later I watched some episodes of the 2002 He-Man version, and thought that this is actually a rather neat sci-fantasy background, once you get over the insanely stupid names.

Anybody actually tried playing something like this? I know that Claudio Pozas has some interesting pictures about a re-imagining of the basic characters in a D&D setting. I'm kinda torn between playing this with a fantasy RPG or with something more superheroic -- or with different amounts of points in a generic game...

(Hah, this thread will surely confuse some people )

I'm not very familiar with He-Man since I was somewhat past the age of its target audience when it came out, but along the lines of Pozas' re-imagining, there's this thread over at Concept Art:

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=32872

Quote from: Pebbles and MarblesI'm not very familiar with He-Man since I was somewhat past the age of its target audience when it came out, but along the lines of Pozas' re-imagining, there's this thread over at Concept Art:

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=32872

Interesting site and the re -imagining is pretty cool actually. Also the D&D reimagining is pretty interesting though I don't think I'd ever use them. Knowing my group they'd go - "What no She-Ra"

Regards,
David R

Quote from: SosthenesAnybody actually tried playing something like this? I know that Claudio Pozas has some interesting pictures about a re-imagining of the basic characters in a D&D setting. I'm kinda torn between playing this with a fantasy RPG or with something more superheroic -- or with different amounts of points in a generic game...

(Hah, this thread will surely confuse some people )

Hell, I'm a major "he-fan" and I was already finishing up high school when the first series debuted. I've run a couple of MOTU/POP-style campaigns -- the first time I combined Basic/Expert/etc. D&D with Gamma World, and later I folded in a lot of stuff from Villains & Vigilantes.

I guess if you were after the exact same feel as the original series something like Cartoon Action Hour would be the best choice, but I can't say 'cause I never tried it. Otherwise I figure most folks would pick something like Mutants & Masterminds.

Now for some links. A few years ago somebody tried writing up a FUDGE Masters of the Universe over at RPGnet:

http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=1693

Here's a strange AD&D 2E approach to the MOTU, where the author made a lot of arbitrary changes to the setting:

http://members.fortunecity.com/woden/heman.html

Over on the WotC forums someone got inspired by the new He-Man series from 2002 and tried writing up characters in D&D 3E. Like the 2E version, you get to see how the bog-standard classes don't fit those characters:

http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=91259

Also, at He-Man.org there was a thread a while back about someone using The Evil Horde in his Forgotten Realms campaign. No stats but some nice fan art:

http://www.he-man.org/forums/boards/showthread.php?t=115851

Claudio's stuff is OK but I really hated Marko Djurdjevic's approach. If you're looking for some updated looks that are more faithful, check out the rest of He-Man.org's fan art forum and pay a visit to the GrayskullChronicles.org galleries:

http://www.grayskullchronicles.org/index.php?ind=gallery

A long time back, I found a file on some MOTU fansite that contained a scan of the original outline for the world of Eternia.  It sounded like the creator had his Monster Manual handy when writing it.

Lots of those old Saturday morning cartoons would be great.  I'm sure my friends and I weren't the only ones to think of doing something game-like with the stats on the back of the Transformers boxes!

Not sure what system I'd suggest.  Maybe check out Cartoon Action Hour; it's meant to do this stuff right, no?

The MotU line was started as action figures to the Conan movie. Which then had a little too much violence and sex in it for a toy company, so they quickly changed the line. It's rather interesting to contrast the various incarnations. The original booklets from the action figures pictured a rather bleak and harsh setting. Only later the He-Man/Adam thing was introduced, and with the Filmation serial it only got more innocent...

The new TV series was rather interesting. It still was suitable for a younger audience, but a lot darker than the previous TV efforts. I won't even talk about the movie, though...

There are several ways you could use the setting. Yes, you could play the cartoons, which would require a rather over-the-top system. FUDGE or BESM would work, don't even try it with Champions...

Or you could use it as an inspiration for a super-heroic game, where FASERIP or M&M would definitely be worthwile.

Then you could just use parts of it to run your own kind of campaign, without the usual cartoonish tropes. The general conflict would be very nice for a post-apocalyptic science-fantasy campaign. This could be done with D&D, but one shouldn't strive for total genre emulation. People would probably die in that case...

I'd be interested in something between the second and third approach, a rather super-powered sci-fantasy campaign. D&D at that level is prone to breakdowns and way too much effort to manage. So I'd probably try it with M&M2. Then again, I could use all the story for a Exalted campaign, with just enough window dressing to hide the origins of the story from my players. Which Exalted book has the technology required for the sci-fi stuff?

Speaking of which, there aren't that many settings with a good mixture between sci-fi and fantasy anyway. Where can I play a barbarian wielding a sword _and_ a laser gun?

I was introduced to He-Man and pot at basically the same time- which is pretty much why I'm finsihing up my undergraduate work at 40.