Shades of Heroes is a Role-Playing Game. It has a Fantasy setting that is based primarily in the world of Shaktung; but Shades of Heroes is not designed to be locked into only one mystical world. It is a platform designed to allow the players to craft their own world or to simply play in the world we have created.

It’s a different RPG, but not so different from all the other RPGs out there. So why look at Shades of Heroes? The attraction for you as a player is very similar to the attraction that caused me to want to create it.  I feel that the industry can support an unlimited number of games. Whether you; play Shades of Heroes as written, use house rules so much that it looks like something else, or use it as a research tool when building your own game, I will be happy. There are some ingenious new mechanics and some mechanics that are more familiar. It’s designed to have a tactical combat feel and not to require a battle mat.

Shades of Heroes is free. All the supplements are free (or will be when they come out). It’s not exactly an open source game; there is no board of community members to make decisions about its progress. Perhaps you could say there is a board, but only members of Argonaut Games Studio (i.e. yours truly, Jason Kirby) sit on it. However, I want to hear your feedback. I want the game to be a game you feel listens to you, as fans, and builds material you want.

Please feel free to download the PDF and please play and give me feedback.

Shades of Heroes Beta v1.5

Download PDF!