I was very much looking forwards to reading this, having heard many sing it’s praises and listened to a great interview with the author. The presentation of the book is slick and oozes atmosphere. The subtitle is ‘Weird Fantasy Role-Playing’, it can’t be a coincidence that this would have the same acronym as Warhammer Fantasy Role-Play, right? I was very hyped for it, to the point of thinking that when I finally get around to playing something this would be a fine contender. The Rules & Magic core book is fairly short, 159 pages, just over a third of which are spell descriptions, I managed to get through it all today (I skipped the spells).
I was, perhaps a bit unfairly, a little disappointed.
This is an OSR retro clone of B/X D&D set in the late middle ages/early Renaissance, although the setting exists really only in the equipment lists and the fact that there is an appendix on firearms of the period. It feels like a tidied up version of the Basic D&D rules with a hodge-podge bunch of house rules on top, to cover everything from ship combat to property management.
My single biggest criticism is that I’m not at all sure about the organization of the book, it all feels a bit random (I would have less of an issue if there was an index), and I think the explanation of many of the rules could be clearer, it could do with bolding key terms. There is however no fluff and no explanations of context, the thing is what you can read from the rules and see in the art. I may be being slightly unfair, it’s possible that my knowledge of Basic D&D was getting in the way, like I have an expectation of what should be explained when etc and that could have been fighting with the text.
If I had not listened to that interview with Raggi I wonder if I would have found the inclusion of Dwarf, Elf & Halfling classes weird? I know he only put them there because of expectation, but they feel at odds with the tone, or would they have made me detect a different tone?
The other key thing which sets it apart from its origins is in its spells, well, one spell.
It has the usual D&D, Vancian inspired magic system with all the usual spells; Magic Missile, Cure Light Wounds etc. with one paragraph devoted to each. Then we plunge deep into Lovecraft with Summon, a 1st level spell which runs to 10 pages! A 1st level spell, which as I'd heard from several sources, can destroy a campaign if it goes wrong!
The details of what comes through from the other sides is a hideous concoction of random tables, a bespoke horror with potentially awful powers rather than just a random creature from a subset of the Monster Manual. One possible disastrous outcome is a bit meta; the player who failed swaps roles with the GM until conditions are met for reverting play to normal!
I should note that there are also a whole slew of rule tweaks which evoke a more low fantasy setting; only Fighters hit chances increase with level and there are no damage bonuses due to Strength or Dexterity.
Reading it has not really dampened my desire to try it, although I do feel like it could maybe use an extra class or 2 in place of the non-human ones, and maybe a few extra skills. Oh and possibly a Sanity mechanic.
It and its many amazing modules and source books can be got from the publishers website.
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