HeartQuest is a game that I love and I am unashamed in my exuberance for. Michael Hopcroft is a man who has been very good to me and not only as a friend but as a Gamemaster and now boss. I should upfront say that a few last minute contributions of mine were included in this book but the vast majority was not my work. I am going to view though in what you can probably call an unabashed highly biased review the book that I saw several friends create, that I in fact do hope will sell. If you are still interested despite my personal involvement then please continue. I hope I can be objective enough that this doesn't come completely off like an advertisement.
HeartQuest Revised is 160 pages long, available at RPGnow in e-book form http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=2609& though their new publishing partner (Windstorm) promises the paperback soon, and filled with color and black and white photos. It costs 11.95 and I don't have to tell you whether I think its worth it or not, but judge by what I say the content is rather than my 'word' on it if you are of the suspicious sort (as most RPG consumers today should be).
NOW ONTO THE CONTENT REVIEW...
The first thing you will notice about Heart Quest Revised is the cover. The original Heartquest cover was basically an image of three very well drawn anime girls on a cover (the Diceless cover was of a much inferior quality) but this cover is definitely of professional quality. The Seraphim Guard icon character Ghost Tamer Miyaki, a strange eerie white haired woman I take to be from "Masterless Hearts" setting in the back, and finally a plug suit wearing beautiful redhead that I take it to be a character from the new setting "Future Shocked".
Next is a personal letter from Michael Hopcroft that basically thanks everyone involved in turning the game from an independent publication of love into an actual hopeful money making business. It's an endearing letter and I know it personally came from the heart. He's just so incredibly grateful about getting into the RPG business and enthusiastic about the subject. The tone of the letter also says he didn't think that anyone would be interested in a magical girls/romance/shoujo RPG at the beginning.
Chapter 0 is an introduction to role-playing and the content is immediately distinguishable from the first fan-publication independent run. Everything is smooth, articulent, and lacking the mistakes that characterized the previous edition. It explains shoujo anime, the basic rules structure of the game, and what Heartquest is all about in detail.
Chapter 1 opens up with a full page "manga" illustration of Chiharu from "Sendai Academy" studying with what appears to be her little sister. The increase in the quality of the artwork and newness of it all is a major point in this book's favor, in my opinion at least. This covers the rules section of HeartQuest revised and gives an expansion on the biggest complaint of Edition one in "social interaction rules". The FUDGE system is made use of by providing a great number of reaction skills for the social life of a character. The combat rules, oddly the best developed part of the game last edition, are also clarified further. Gifts and Faults are also expanded with several new ones that I especially liked (Enemy and Flunkies are my favorite). There is also a focus on providing "backgrounds" for characters so that they may have considerably more social tools to draw from in their romantic adventures.
Chapter 2, Finally they cleared up the 'supernatural ability' section so that players no longer give vague descriptions of powers but actually a fully functional system for describing the limits and levels of a player's ability. I felt the system was still flexible enough though to handle Goku to Sailor Moon though. It lists many new supernatural gifts along with a magic and "power" system.
Chapter 3, Playing the Game is a section that deals with handling GMing and gives a concise summary on rules-based romantic/social interaction along with non-rules based interaction, it's not terribly detailed but still an improvement over the old version.
Chapter 4, Combat is a section that bears a good deal of discussion in my opinion. HeartQuest 1st edition's combat rules are a bit of a joke at my table since I use its system for our "Evil Dead" games since the character generation system allows for creation of rapidly generated combat monkeys who can kill in 'realistic' cinematic fashion....that was not exactly the most shoujo styled system out there. The system doesn't 'downgrade' itself but there's alot more expansion on non-lethal fighting along with talk about how to handle battle in magical girls style and where/when to use it in a romantic game.
For instance while combat of any sort may not be appropriate in "Child's Toy", there's also "Revolutionary Girl Utena".
Chapter 5, Gamemastering is a section that appropriately covers storytelling shoujo games and deals with things like handling the system as well as hitting "high points" in storytelling along with invoked emotions. Its again a short section but given I understand they're working on a Gamemaster's Guide for much more detailed information, I'm not especially worried.
Chapter 6, Teen Romance remains my favorite chapter of Heart Quest Revised as it deals with social norms and life in Japan. This is almost verbatim the same material from Heartquest Diceless, which isn't bad even if its not entirely new. It gives all players really need to know about playing life in a slightly different culture though I suspect that this is still gradually evolving and will become outdated in a few years.
Chapter 7, Magical Girls is where a good number of Heartquest's fans have "crossed over" for information about how to run their BESM or other anime themed campaigns in this little developed subgenre. The information present here seems greatly expanded on the history of the magical girl, what constitutes them, and how to play them...alas no info on becoming a 'magical woman't though.
Chapter 8, Historical settings and Other-worldly settings gives information on running settings in fantasy or historical environments. Basically it gives some good suggestions and a number of examples but mostly I enjoyed the expanded examples including Feudal Japan for that Inuyasha feel. Nothing really ground breaking here but I liked having some options for other-worldly shoujo. It's discussion of characters in relation to one's setting I commend for being very thorough.
Next up is the sections on personal campaigns. Heartquest has always been slightly ‘odd’ in the fact that all of its books contain readymade campaigns with pre-generated characters to play in the world of. They expand lightly some of the existing campaigns in this book as well as added three more.
The existing “Sendai Academy” suffers somewhat I’m afraid in Heartquest. Sendai Academy is a Japanese High School “Slice of Life” campaign based on a repressive school environment simmering with teen hormones. Its signature character Chiharu (on the cover of the last HeartQuest edition) gains a personality and history instead of being a object of pure fan-boy lust but she also suffers from having the worst typo in the book (one of two). Alas they didn’t include any of the headshots that were in the original book and thus all the characters go un-illustrated. Sendai Academy’s controversial molestation plot is also expanded on in the book, which I’m not entirely comfortable with.
“Ghost Tamer Miyaki” is the next campaign supplement and unfortunately only includes one new piece of art, the original iconic art contrasting somewhat with the newer sleeker art of the book. Ghost Tamer Miyaki is somewhat of a cross between Sailor Moon and Buffy the Vampire Slayer with the ridiculous conventions of the magical girl genre contrasted against monsters that will rip your throat out. Expanding the Ghost Tamer Miyaki mythos, which is getting its own book later this year, is a romantic rival for the mysterious Black Rose in the form of a thousand year old magician. Oddly the new piece of art is clearly a picture of the new character yet has given him demon wings, that may confuse him with the campaign’s villain.
“Steel Heidi” is the final of the “original” campaign settings. A historical romantic epic in the vein of Rose of Versailles, only set in Hapsburg Germany. The art for Steel Heidi is from, I understand, the manga that will be coming out later this year along with Ghost Tamer Miyaki. The characters are beautifully illustrated except for Heidi herself who is the same picture from previous editions. Added to the story is the option for supernatural Steel Heidi games.
“Masterless Hearts” is the first of the new campaign settings and seems to be another Slice of Life Drama, instead focusing on personal relationships of young men and women as opposed to the academy but later evolves into a Sentai vigilante game of all things. The characters seem interesting enough and earnest in their behavior that I think it gives better perspective on running “romantic” games without people going ‘squick’.
“Future Shocked” is the next of the new campaign settings and seems to be loosely based on the romantic future-comedy “Chobits”. Basically a future where androids are common (and cheap) household appliances, the world has to deal with their sudden intrusion into culture as well as in the world of romance. I found the concept intriguing in Chobits and find it equally intriguing now.
The new sample characters are detailed enough that you could insert any or all of them into virtually all of the existing games, with only a few seeming “off the wall ones” like a militant group of magical girl eco-terrorists (and that was worth a third of the price of the book there). Heartquest’s ground breaking gay male couple, being one of the only ones…actually THE only one that I’ve seen in RPGs that isn’t 1. Lesbian 2. Bi curious 3. Veiled 4. Somehow apologetic or a fanboy’s wet dream. Heartquest has always been a homosexuality friendly game-line and it’s good to know they haven’t forgotten the importance of some of their achievements. Heartquest also tries to appeal more to its female fans by adding a lot more ‘pretty boy’ characters I think as well in the illustrations. Unfortunately, the Bibliography section doesn’t add “Ai Yori Aoshi” or oddly “Chobits”, which is just criminal in my mind as a reference. However, it remains a fairly comprehensive guide to shoujo anime.
I’m afraid I can’t give the book a ten, that’s reserved for supplements that make me go like Gollum into a hole and rub them lustfully. The art could have been better in some places, even if it’s a major improvement over the previous editions. Also I’m going to tease them mercilessly for the single typo in the entire book they made when quality control was such a focus of their re-design.
Still, I think this is an awesome supplement and something to definitely pick up in both paperback and e-book form (thus begins my gushing over the book and you can end your reading of my review if you want to stop reading praise). I believe a whole new client of Heartquest players will be drawn to it and they won’t find their money wasted.
9.5/10
