Tabletop roleplaying games were first popularised by the Dungeons and Dragons franchise in the 1970s but largely forgotten by the turn of the century. In recent years they have had a resurgence, with many popular online channels streaming live games. This has in turn lead to a revival of home games.
I have been playing regularly with my friends for nearly 30 years now. We started with Dungeons and Dragons 1st edition (current revision is 5th edition) but after a few years discovered the Fantasy Hero system which is now part of the broader HERO System, and have been using that system since then.
If you are thinking of catching the new wave of roleplaying games we highly recommend the HERO System
product range as the best game system for all genres. We support and recommend the official
HERO Games site. You will want to start with the
two core rules books.
Generic Tavern is a campaign manager tool for the HERO system which enbables most of the record keeping required to play these games to be managed online. If you are an experienced Game Master, you will appreciate how difficult it is to enable players to feel in control of their characters while enforcing some kind of control on abilities, inventory, status, etc. Generic Tavern provides a practical way to "negotiate" such changes.
HERO System has a very consistent and balanced but somewhat more technical combat system than some RPG systems. The Generic Tavern Combat Manager tool is exactly what you need to keep track of action timing, damage and status of participants (both player and non-player). The Dice Roller tool is specific to HERO System. It even has a combat map feature which can reveal areas as the party sights and searches them.
I encourage you to "Take the Tour" on the Generic Tavern product web site.
