EL-HAZARD
THE MAGNIFICENT WORLD

At it’s heart El-Hazard is a Planetary Romance story, akin in many ways to Edgar Rice Burrough’s takes of Barsoom and John Carter. It’s also a Lost World’s adventure, and very much at home amid other Pulpish stories of the same type. Certainly the world of El-Hazard, with its ancient relics, strange inhabitants, high technology, and various races (including the Phantom Tribe and the Bugrom) is rife with gaming opportunities.

The character sheets presented here were derived from the El-Hazard Role-Playing Game and Resource Book published by Guardians of Order for use with the Tri-Stat System (also known as Big Eyes Small Mouth.). The characteristics and powers were adapted from the resource book and then further modified by the author. I used my own conversion notes (found here: BESM to HERO) to do the initial work, then made adjustments based on my own viewings of the El-Hazard OVAs.

A Note on the Priestesses

The three Chief Priestesses of Mount Muldoon presented a bit of a problem in adapting to the HERO System. Much of it has to do with apparent in consistencies with how their various “Lamps” (i.e. the relics they carry that grant them their elemental control powers) actually work. It seems they need to active the Lamps before using their powers, but Shayla-Shayla seems capable of tapping into her fire powers with out it. In the interests of simplicity and playability, I’ve decided to take some liberties with the character design (something I almost never do).

For starters, I’ve decided to use the builds presented in the El-Hazard Role-Playing Game and Resource Book for the Priestesses and their Lamps. This means each of the Priestesses has certain powers in common (even if they never used them in the anime). I’ve also decided the following for how the Lamps work:

1. The Lamps must be activated before use.
2. Activating the Lamp fills the Lamp’s Endurance Reserve.
3. Once the Lamps are activated, the Priestess can then use it to tap into their elemental control powers.
4. All Lamps allow the user to manipulate their associated elements, detect their associated elements, and project their associated elements (i.e. all Lamps have Telekinesis, Detect, and at least one Blast).
5. In keeping with traditional HERO System power levels, most Lamp powers are centered around 60 Active Points. This means that by giving the Lamps an Endurance Reserve of 60, it allows for roughly 10 Phases of fighting before a recharge, which seems to simulate the anime quite well.

I feel this makes the Lamps more like an artifact of the El-Hazard ancients. I also think it separates the Priestesses from the people of Earth, who gained their powers due to being brought over via the dimensional warp, while the Priestesses shouldn’t have innate paranormal abilities, but should depend specifically on the lamps. Game Masters who wish to include the Priestesses in the games could consider additional Lamps. Right now there’s Air, Fire, and Water, which are three of the four elemental forces of the Classical World. The other, of course, would be Earth. For those wishing a more Asian take, you could have the Lamps based off of the Chinese elements (Earth, Fire, Metal, Water, and Wood) or the Japanese elements (Air/Wind, Earth, Fire, Water, and Void).

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