Heroes of a Thousand Tales: an action-anime game that's anime at its Core.
Adventure Horizon Publishing's first international RPG is a framework system for epic shonen/seinen anime-style adventures.
Heroes of a Thousand Tales offers a simple framework for exploring a wide variety of anime worlds. Instead of a fixed setting or pre-written lore, the game uses Campaign Frames, called "Series" in the game's terminology. The core rulebook will include three of them.
Mechanically, the system aims for simplicity and helps bring the experience of watching a series to life through narration. Two features support this above all: the Drama Tracker and combat micro-scenes, though the system has plenty more to discover.
Players: 2-5
Play Time: 3-4 hours
Age: 10+
Inspirations: Dragon Ball, Black Clover, Wistoria: wand and sword, Fairy Tail, The Seven Deadly Sins, Berserk, Dororo, Claymore, Blue Exorcist, Fullmetal Alchemist, Demon Slayer, Clevatess, Tower of God, Black Torch, Solo Leveling, Hell's Paradise, Sentenced to be a Hero and more.
BASICS – ROLLING THE DICE
Let me start with the rolling mechanics, which are really simple: in almost every case, you roll two 12-sided dice and take the higher result, unless a specific rule says otherwise.
There's also a special rule, Dramatic Success, that works in both combat and non-combat situations and can create exciting moments. To trigger it, all you have to do is roll the same number on both dice. A double 1 and a double 12 have the same effect (yes, even a double 1 is good news here!), and the final result decides how it plays out: A failed roll becomes a success, while a successful roll becomes a Critical, or a Critical becomes the Non Plus Ultra, an exceptional success.
DRAMA TRACKER – DO YOUR ANIME THING
The Drama Tracker rewards characters for doing "anime-like" things (tropes): delivering a dramatic monologue in the middle of a battle, having an exciting flashback, sprinkling the story with well-timed jokes, or showing off their unique traits, such as their Quirk, brilliantly. Of course, there are also mechanical triggers that award a few points automatically, without the Director (GM) having to do anything.
These moments also fill the Drama Tracker, which has three milestones. Each milestone is worth 1 Drama Point, which you can spend in an important scene to secure an immediate success and a spectacular moment.
This is also where character development comes in: every Drama Point spent is worth 1 XP. In this game, characters level up (Power Level-Ups) by taking part in the story organically, in an anime-style way.
MICRO-SCENES – EVERYONE IS PART OF THE STORYTELLING
As mentioned above, combat is played out in micro-scenes. An important part of the game is that players are active participants in the storytelling, not just in conversations, such as when they need to convince someone and the exchange becomes more vivid, but in combat too.
On their turn, a character doesn't just throw a simple punch or swing a sword. Instead, the player narrates a short sequence of scenes, complete with a monologue and a description of how the fight is unfolding between the hero and their opponent. At a specific moment in the story, the dice are rolled, and the result decides the outcome of that moment.
These scenes can be as simple or as elaborate as your group likes; the game merely encourages this approach. It makes the action much more dynamic and "visible."
ART – NO GENERATIVE AI
Every illustration in this book is the result of human, hand-drawn work. The lead illustrator is Ignite, a talented Hungarian Mangaka, but I, the author of the book, also contributed a few drawings to the final result—for example, the dice. 😄
The campaign has already reached its funding goal, but we still hope the game will reach as many people as possible and bring a lot of joy to anime fans.
Heroes of a Thousand Tales is also among the contestants in the Gamefound RPG PARTY 2026 competition.
