What is the HEARTH System?

HEARTH is a TTRPG system focused on the three core pillars of game play:

Combat, Exploration, and Social.

Each pillar is exemplified through in depth rules that aim to make the game a streamlined experience while maintaining vast customization options with a focus on large parties.

Core Features

  • Stamina & Mana Systems

    We’re here for martial and magic equality. So both of them get resources to spend on Spells, Abilities, Features, and more!

  • Weapons & Armour

    Wouldn’t be a heroic fantasy without weapons and armour!

    Whether its a slow armoured juggernaut armed with a Lance, or a leather clad assassin with dual daggers, HEARTH’s weapon and armor system has options to tailor your character’s fighting style.

  • 14 Individual Classes

    HEARTH is home to 14 distinct classes to chose from.

    With classes broken down into categories - Warriors, Priests, Mages, Experts, and all Combinations - There is always an option for your character fantasy.

FAQs

  • No "nothing turns" and spending resources is always impactful

    • Ever cast a spell on a big bad and they make their save so nothing happens? Ever use a once a day ability only to miss so your turn is rendered useless? In Hearth, whenever you burn a resource you are guaranteed to have an effect and make your turn matter, even on what would be considered a fail. Our hope is to remove the feeling of wasting your turn and your time, especially in large parties. No more watching your party have all the fun and action while your cursed dice hold you back!

    Three equal pillars

    • Many TTRPGs claim they hold social, exploration, and combat pillars to equal importance. However, more often than not social and exploration are pushed to the side for flashy and exciting combat with maybe an ability or two for the other pillars. Hearth has fully fleshed out rule sets and systems for exploration and social encounters for a more balanced gaming experience. Choosing to be diplomatic or charming and actually traversing or getting lost in new terrain are just as important as swinging a sword. Our goal is to provide mechanics and class/spell based interactions to make your gaming experience that much more interesting.

    Much needed martial love

    • As martial arts practitioners ourselves, we might be a touch biased towards our non-magical heroes. In other TTRPGs martial progression can feel a little lacklustre next to magical heroes, and the impact difference towards higher levels can feel both narratively and mechanically skewed. In Hearth, our stamina system aims to even the playing field and make martial characters just as interesting to play as spellcasters.

  • Hearth stands for HEroic Action Roleplay Hobby. Each of those elements are explained here!

  • No! We created HEARTH with large parties as the focus, but it is not exclusive to large parties; HEARTH is for everyone!

  • We are very excited to have completed our first public playtest, and now we are opening the game up to you! Head to our downloads to start your adventure.

Meet the Team

  • AA

    Core Developer “Spark”

  • Brendan O'Rourke

    Core Developer “Smoke”

  • Nicholas McConnell

    Core Developer “Ember”

  • "Advarisary"

    Artist “Flare”

  • Shan Pullan

    Graphic Designer “Cinder”

We are the developers of The HEARTH System, and we could not be more excited to introduce you to what we have been creating. We’re a small team based out of Canada. We are brand new to game design but have a collective 24 years of Tabletop RPG experience, on both sides of the screen. Our goal is to make a streamlined system for large play groups that exemplifies the three pillars of gameplay, Social, Combat and Exploration.