The Hercules & Xena Roleplaying Game is a role-playing game written and developed by George Strayton and published by West End Games in 1998.
The Hercules & Xena Roleplaying Game was the last title released by the original West End Games before their bankruptcy, as well as the first to use a modified D6 System based resolution engine that would later be known as the Legend System.
Books[]
Hercules & Xena Roleplaying Game Boxed Set [WEG36000][]
- Hero's Guide (Player's Handbook)
- Secrets of the Ancient World (Game Master's Handbook)
- Game Master's Screen {4-panel screen}
- Hero Dice {6-piece dice set}
- Adventure booklets:
- Favor For A Favor
- Shackled Spirit
- Ixion and Telephus
Other Books[]
According to a list on the back cover of the Hero's Guide, West End Games had planned to release other sourcebooks for the game. There was a proposed Gazetteer of the Ancient World, a Mythic Monsters bestiary, an Instant Adventures adventure generator, Miniature Battles starter wargame rules, Ancient Powers (Magic rules), Treasures of the Ancient World (Magic Items), and an unnamed adventure or campaign. The only other book that ended up being published was the standalone Hero's Guide (Player's Handbook) [WEG36008], which was useless without the Game Master's handbook.
Hero Dice set[]
The Hercules & Xena Roleplaying Game used the optional Hero Dice set. The basic set came with two different types of six-sided dice: 5 purple Hero die and 1 red Wild Hero die. They used pictograms rather than numbers to show the results.
The Hero die had 2 Failure facets (Hydra head logos) and 4 Success facets (Xena Chakram logos).
The basic Wild Hero die is like the regular Hero die, except it has the potential to roll a Critical result. It had 1 Critical Failure facet (Eye of Hera logo), 1 Failure facet (Hydra head logos), 3 Success facets (Xena's Chakram logos), and 1 Critical Success facet (Zeus' Thunderbolt logo). A Critical Failure counts as a regular Failure, plus it negates a Success from the pool. Since the Wild Hero die uses the "exploding die" mechanic, a Critical Success counts as a Success but also allows the player to roll again and add the result to the final total. If the player is lucky, they can string together a chain of Critical Successes until they roll any other result (Critical Failure, Failure, or Success).