How Does Any-System Work With the HERO System?

You can match Any-System skill and difficulty descriptors to corresponding values and stats in your favorite roleplaying game. Thanks to Steven S. Long for taking the time to develop this adaptation of the HERO System to the Any-System Key with the permission of Hero Games. Remember, porting Any-System Key material to your favorite game is just as easy.

Adapting the Any-System Key to the HERO System is just as easy as adapting it to any other roleplaying game. All you have to do is convert over the Any-Key System’s generic terms to more concrete HERO ones. Since HERO System campaigns can vary wildly in terms of "realism," drama, and other factors, what follows is just one possible set of guidelines for conversion; each gamemaster should make any adjustments necessary for his game.

Skill Levels

The Any-Key System “skill levels” break down in HERO System terms like this:

Task Difficulties

Similarly, Any-Key System “task difficulties” are easily represented in HERO System terms as modifiers to the Skill Roll:

Caveat:  The HERO System uses a bell curve method of random determination. Therefore how a Skill Modifier affects a character’s percentage chance of success (the benchmark used by the Any-Key System) depends on the character’s base Skill Roll. For example, a -1 penalty for a 16- Skill Roll is trivial, but that same penalty significantly hinders someone with an 11- Skill Roll. See The Ultimate Skill for more discussion of this if you’re interested.
 
 

   "This is called a Griffin because it is a winged quadruped. This kind of wild animal is born in Hyperborean parts, or in mountains. All its bodily members are like a lion's, but its wings and mask are like an eagle's. It is vehemently hostile to horses. But it will also tear to pieces any human beings which it happens to come across."