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KnightErrantJR
Great Reader
USA
5402 Posts |
 Posted - 23 Sep 2007 : 02:03:45
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I'm going to post a link to this because I've played a modified d20 Forgotten Realms game using the Crafty rules system, which is a d20 game system, and I personally thought it worked pretty well. We used the Spellbound rules, and Darkmeer and another member of our gaming group did a lot of modifying, but in the end I played a cleric of Ilmater that felt like a cleric of Ilmater.
At any rate, this product will be using the same spellcasting system from the Spellbound expansion, which means that essentially you get a number of spells "for free" per day, but you can attempt to cast others, utilizing a skill check, but there are penalties for failure.
Anyway, its level based, there will be divine and arcane casters, saves, attack rolls, and most of the spells in Spellbound are fairly straight adaptations from the d20 spells of the same name.
It might be worth a look for anyone that thinks 3.5 can use some tweaking, but not quite the "tweaking with a steamroller" that 4th edition seems to be from some of our sneak previews so far. And unlike 4th edition, I have to say that I've actually seen some of the mechanics being used in the upcoming Fantasy Craft, and I'm not scared of where they are going with it at all.
Anyway, no release date or price yet, but if you want to keep an eye on this, here is the link:
http://www.crafty-games.com/node/348
And I know Darkmeer will probably be along to say more about this since he's been going over this with a fine tooth comb for some time now . . . 
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Darkmeer
Senior Scribe
USA
505 Posts |
Posted - 23 Sep 2007 : 03:10:22
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And drooling. You forgot the drooling.
So, yes, I'm a Crafty Games guy. Seriously, these guys have done something right. If you do nothing else, check out their core rulebook (which is admittedly for a "spy" type modern genre, no magic). Then from there (their base), they move to things like spellbound, origin of the species. The rules are built so that a magic based caster will have an equal edge with a normal character. Even better is their NPC challenge system, which remains constant, and adding "abilities" just alters the xp award, without having to worry "is this balanced?" I ran the first parts of the Shackled City with these rules (The first adventure & flood season's intro).
Much of what I see 4e heading towards I am unsure of due to the over-publicizing of it all. Crafty has already done, in a way that I enjoy a lot, the conversions that I would do in the case of changing magic. Further, the guys over at Crafty question & answer rules. They view their system as a plug & play system, meaning you can plug it into any world you WANT, and then play from there. I don't believe they are fans of any single setting, but their rules work for pretty much anything. Mind you, they are rules mechanics, not story mechanics, they feel that's for each person's own game.
Okay, teasers:
Spellbound Volume One's caster class is the Channeler, an Evoker-type with a high base attack bonus that works within their system (BAB does not determine number of attacks).
Origin of the Species: Olympus gave us something I've always wanted: An ECL ZERO Medusa, Centaur, and Faun. (There's a merman there, too).
If you want dramatic conflicts, exciting chases, seductions, interrogagions, and other things, these are included in the CORE rules of spycraft.
Yeah, I'm done plugging for Crafty... for now. Thanks KEJR for putting this up there, as I'd have made a much longer post on the general goodness that is crafty.
/d
Edited because the wording wasn't right. And I said Minotaur instead of Faun |
"These people are my family, not just friends, and if you want to get to them you gotta go through ME." |
Edited by - Darkmeer on 23 Sep 2007 16:55:08 |
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Darkmeer
Senior Scribe
USA
505 Posts |
Posted - 23 Sep 2007 : 04:11:18
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A wierd thought occurred to me:
I didn't start this thread. KnightErrantJR did, which means...
YAY! I have a convert!
 
I'll be doing my happy dance now.
/d |
"These people are my family, not just friends, and if you want to get to them you gotta go through ME." |
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KnightErrantJR
Great Reader
USA
5402 Posts |
Posted - 23 Sep 2007 : 04:17:15
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Just wanting to make sure people have options . . . and this one sounds to me like it might be closer to some of the classic elements of D&D than 4th edition is, but who knows for sure at this point.
I'll still be DMing in 3.5, but I did like the rules for casting, and I miss playing Nystar.
In the interest of fairness, I would be a lot happier with this system if it was "self contained" rather than an add on to Spycraft. I know its a minor quibble, but looking through a snazzy, high tech, slick ultra modern book for character creation for your FR character can take your head out of the moment a little bit.
But as I said, its got me interested, and I do want to see what they do with this. |
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Darkmeer
Senior Scribe
USA
505 Posts |
Posted - 23 Sep 2007 : 04:34:05
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They are making it "requiring" of the core book (at least for the base character creation stuff). BUT, as I love the core book (and the incredible value it is), I'm not too worried for myself.
The known things about the book is a "no dead levels" version of the core classes, along with some interesting mechanics that (I hope) will make players and GM's alike open up to the possibilities of open character creation from the ground up (and it's something I find very interesting, as the "races" of spycraft do affect your character throughout his/her career in minor, but important, ways).
/d |
"These people are my family, not just friends, and if you want to get to them you gotta go through ME." |
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Darkmeer
Senior Scribe
USA
505 Posts |
Posted - 23 Sep 2007 : 16:52:56
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Pointing out my error (thanks to a good friend)
They don't have Minotaurs in Origin of the Species Olympus, it's Fauns, a.k.a. Satyrs. I'll be editing above to make sure it's all good.
Sorry for the confusion.
/d |
"These people are my family, not just friends, and if you want to get to them you gotta go through ME." |
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Darkmeer
Senior Scribe
USA
505 Posts |
Posted - 04 Nov 2007 : 06:22:44
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Crafty just put an update up,
http://www.crafty-games.com/node/425
(please, any mod, activate this as a link, my brain's dead).
I like the title. It does not include a "bard" per se, but I can certainly see several bard-like things on the preview (I know, just class names). I think Spymaster is the one that made me smile.
/d |
"These people are my family, not just friends, and if you want to get to them you gotta go through ME." |
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Darkmeer
Senior Scribe
USA
505 Posts |
Posted - 12 Nov 2007 : 03:29:05
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I knew this was around there somewhere:
http://www.crafty-games.com/forum/index.php?topic=179.0
That's the link explaining how things are developing within their system. They are taking the "core 11" and making them 1/2 of their creation system. Simply put, Talent/Specialty, where Talent can be Race/Specialty can be the "class" that someone chose. So, one could have an Elf Ranger, or a Sneaky Grifter (human). Then one would choose an actual class.
Each Talent provides benefits, whether it be racial modifications, bonuses to hit points (vitality/Wounds), and many other things. It represents inborn qualities.
Specialty representts your early training. So, a ranger would be a wilderness sort (I know, stating the obvious), and the grifter would be the snake-oil salesman/con man. There's more to it, bonus feats are in every Specialty (this is in addition to your Normal 1st level feat).
The guys at crafty intend everything to be modular, so you can keep or exclude anything you want to. This means that races not normally allowed at first level (such as Gorgons }medusae{, Satyrs, and centaurs), all become feasible. It's all a matter of how far you want to take that concept (through feats, including 1st level only feats). What's more, if you don't want everyone to play a gorgon, you can say "Centaurs are okay, but no Gorgons." Yep, it's in the rules, and you can say "no." I, honestly, see this as an advantage, rather than a Disadvantage for the system. I've played in enough campaigns (and DM'd a few) where the balance wasn't there, and these guys are meticulous about balance.
I also found the link explaining the various "Elven Nations"
http://www.crafty-games.com/forum/index.php?topic=124.0
This is all preliminary information, but it definitely lends to the flavor of it all. Oh, and an Advocate from the Spider nation would be just nasty.
Thanks for reading,
/d
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"These people are my family, not just friends, and if you want to get to them you gotta go through ME." |
Edited by - Darkmeer on 12 Nov 2007 03:39:36 |
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Darkmeer
Senior Scribe
USA
505 Posts |
Posted - 01 Feb 2008 : 05:39:08
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Well Met,
I've been doing some devouring here tonight. Mostly with the .pdf Origin of the Species: Classic Fantasy Races from Crafty Games. I'm already penning up how to integrate into the Realms, and it just kinda ports right in. The only "worry" I'm having is magic, and I'm eagerly awaiting the Fantasy Craft hardcover to fix that right up 
They have taken 4 classic Fantasy Races (elves, dwarves, orcs, and Pech >halflings<) and have done something rules-wise that I did not expect. Much more than what I expected, there are some interesting rules and ideas in the book.
What was most interesting, to me, was the idea of a Drow that I'd allow in my campaign (I ban them, period). A spell-resistance that makes sense (it weakens with light), and a playable drider by 4th level. Oh, and that was a total of three feats. I find it even more interesting that the Avariel Elves are possible as first-level characters, without breaking the game (yet another feat).
At 29 pages, it includes a section of racial "talents" and specialties (the two halves of your racial/character origin), and then it gets to the "Legendary x" classes (x being the race), which are 5-level classes able to be taken between level 5 and level 7. The legendary Dwarf is very hard to wear down. The legendary orc is the general, or fits quite well for the power level of a leader-type necromancer. The legendary elf, at the end of its progression takes his time and gains 3 feats, the Legendary Pech is a lucky, lucky soul indeed. The book then delves right into Racial Feats, where you differentiate your character from every other character. There are at least 8 feats per race (elves and dwarves get a lot of love, while Orcs have the fewest).
Why place this in this particular scroll? Well, some of the racial feats tie into Fantasy Craft. That, and it's on the subject. I recommend going to http://www.crafty-games.com/node/584 if'n yer interested.
/d |
"These people are my family, not just friends, and if you want to get to them you gotta go through ME." |
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Foghorn
Acolyte
6 Posts |
Posted - 11 Feb 2008 : 18:50:43
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Also, for anyone who wants to take a peek:
http://www.crafty-games.com/files/File/Issue_45-How_to_Wrestle_Three_Tigers.pdf
It's an interview with the three main guys behind Spycraft and Crafty Games, but the real nugget for Candlekeepers is near the article there's a teaser of the Elf. The final version is a little different, mainly a smaller hit to Constitution in exchange for a different, neat little penalty, but kind of gives you an idea of how things are a wee different from your usual d20 elf. |
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Darkmeer
Senior Scribe
USA
505 Posts |
Posted - 13 Aug 2009 : 19:06:35
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*Casts Raise Scroll*
Well Met, fellow Scribes!
I have on my hard drive a wonderful new book. FantasyCraft has come out this week. It's an exciting week for me, as this is one of the rulesets I'll be using for the Realms I run. I'm only one sevent of the way through the book, if page 61 is considered that far into a 402-page tome.
This is an exciting ruleset, slightly different from the standard Spycraft-fare. It's using Mastercraft, which allows you to adapt in a different way than standard d20. So, without further adieu, I'm going to open up some of the options that I've seen.
Let's start with Races. Like Spycraft, your "Racial abilities" are divided between Talent and Specialty. Talents are your base physical attributes, and also help to determine your race. The Specialty part of this is what you've been trained to do as part of your livelihood. So, you have a number of races, including all the standard fantasy tropes (elves, dwarves, Pechs (same species can be divided into both halflings and gnomes), orcs, goblins, and ogres. Then they go the extra mile and include Giants, Rootwalkers, Unborn, and Drakes. Each of the subraces of these is determined via feat choice.
Drakes are Large Dragons. Simply put, by feat selection, you may choose the type of dragon you are, and then you can play a dragon from level one that actually can DO something.
Rootwalkers are Large Treants, and they work quite well for what they are.
Unborn are constructs, and you could certainly create a warforged with one of these if you so chose, but there are lots of other choices.
Giants are based as "hill giants" but the feat selection makes it possible to play a Fire Giant, Cloud Giant, or various types of giants to make this work for you.
Ogres have feats that allow you to play Oni (Ogre-Magi), among other diverse races, such as trolls.
Goblins and Orcs are very similar, and as such use the same feat trees to determine the kind of orc or goblin you are going to use.
Human Talents: The human talents can be used to create virtually any kind of human that you want, and many of them (but not all) contain an ability modifier to chang the character. I like this, as not all humans will be good at x, and it helps to make them less "generic" than standard d20.
Specialties: This is what your character is trained to do. This is even more impressive that they took 10 of the 11 core classes (all of them excluding the paladin) and made them into a simple specialty. They boiled the essence of the classes down, and allow you to play, perhaps a "Methodical Cleric" Priest of Helm (I'll get into this later).
Now to the meat of the issue for me: Classes.
The list of 20-level Classes (with minor descriptions where necessary:
Assassin: Yes, a 20-level assassin. And it's full of awesome.
Burglar: A very much stealer-in type of rogue, with much less sneak attack, and some great tricks.
Captain: Think the Marshall, but better. Seriously, this class has both the flavor I wanted out of the marshall, and the capabilities beyond what I'd expect. This is a great class.
Courtier: This could be a very powerful merchant or a Noble, either one. This is a class meant as a support role, with a low BAB, but it works well within the system for them to do the talking, and the others (captains and soldiers) to do the heavy lifting.
Explorer: Think Indiana Jones, but with teammates. The class is designed with the idea that you know the dangers you face, and you enter them without fear.
Keeper: This is the loremaster for civilizations. The learned scholar, the one with that hidden secret. The class works well in any environment, and I can picture a few non-spellcasting druids with this as their class.
Lancer: This is the cavalier. Very well done. It's what you'd expect, and I can picture a hordelands barbarian in this role, as well as some purple dragon knights.
Mage: This is the primary spellcaster of Spellbound. These have a bit of Multiple Ability Dependency, BUT none of your spellcasting is dependent on having a 19 in an ability score (one of my 3.x gripes). You can feasably have a spellcaster with an INT of 13 and cast 9th level spells. I'm happy with this change.
Priest: This is my current deep inspection. The priest does not gain spells, they walk along "paths." These work like domain abilities, and some mimic spells, but a few of the paths do not have spells at all, but have special abilities. It is feasable to have the priest class be the primary clergy, and mix in some "mages" as necessary to do the bulk of the "real" spellcasting. Both classes are generic enough, and the arcane versus divine line is a little bit fuzzier with FantasyCraft (and Spycraft in general). The best way to explain it is that divine magic is restricted, but very consistent with results, while Arcane magic (via Mage or other spellcasting class) is not as consistent and can fail.
Sage: This is a port of the Spycraft Pointman. Really, it feels like a d20 expert-type of character, able to do many things and help out with the other classes. This is a great support class, but it does require that there be others in a group willing to use lots of teamwork. The last note about this class is that it allows a choice of class abilities to let the sage use from other classes. They aren't the most powerful class abilities, but they are enough to bring a few extra tricks into the class.
Scout: There are many people I know who scream "no magic ranger!" This fits the bill nicely, and has a flavor all its own.
Soldier: This is the fighter. This is the fighter with an attitude. It fits a Barbarian type of character, as well as other changes to the class as well. It's no longer just about feats and those choices, this class fits a barbarian-type character, or even a grizzled warrior, or even some of the dexterity based ideas.
Then you move into "Expert" classes (i.e. prestige classes I)
Alchemist, Beastmaster, Edgemaster (very much the Blade from the Bard's handbook), Paladin, Rune Knight, and Swashbuckler. I need to get more into these.
I am skimming the skills and feats, and I will update this thread with that once I get to them. What I can definitely say about the skills is that they are much more limited than previous d20 versions. I'll get on to that in a few days once I have devoured the rules.
Merry Met,
/d |
"These people are my family, not just friends, and if you want to get to them you gotta go through ME." |
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Dark Wizard
Senior Scribe
USA
830 Posts |
Posted - 16 Aug 2009 : 03:12:40
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| Thanks for the interesting and detailed review thus far. Heck, thanks to KnightErrantJR and Darkmeer for informing me about the system in the first place. I'm glad to hear of this adaptable fantasy RPG system. It may be what I'm searching for but haven't found yet, I'll have to check it out when I get a chance. |
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Darkmeer
Senior Scribe
USA
505 Posts |
Posted - 21 Aug 2009 : 06:54:03
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quote:
Originally posted by Dark Wizard
Thanks for the interesting and detailed review thus far. Heck, thanks to KnightErrantJR and Darkmeer for informing me about the system in the first place. I'm glad to hear of this adaptable fantasy RPG system. It may be what I'm searching for but haven't found yet, I'll have to check it out when I get a chance.
Still working on the whole book, DW. This is a very, very interesting read (I'm to Spellcasting... I expected a change, but wow... this is big and I'm very pleased with it). I'm pleased with how it turned out, but I need much more time with the book to give it a proper review. I'll be posting more in a week or so.
/d |
"These people are my family, not just friends, and if you want to get to them you gotta go through ME." |
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Brimstone
Great Reader
USA
3286 Posts |
Posted - 21 Aug 2009 : 14:32:19
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Looks interesting. What book would I get to start out. |
"These things also I have observed: that knowledge of our world is
to be nurtured like a precious flower, for it is the most precious
thing we have. Wherefore guard the word written and heed
words unwritten and set them down ere they fade . . . Learn
then, well, the arts of reading, writing, and listening true, and they
will lead you to the greatest art of all: understanding."
Alaundo of Candlekeep |
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Darkmeer
Senior Scribe
USA
505 Posts |
Posted - 21 Aug 2009 : 15:27:15
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Really, you would only need FantasyCraft to get started, Brimstone. It's an all-inclusive book, with everything you need to run the game. It's a slimmed down version of what Spycraft is, the Crafty guys call this slimmed down version MasterCraft.
You have a character creation section, a section of information on how to run the games, and some example NPC's (the NPC system is very different from 3.x, as everything scales WITH the players).
It's a great system. I really enjoy it. It can work out any type of world that you want (actually, we're starting an Iron Kingdoms game with this system, and I think it fits perfectly). The one thing that Crafty Games have said over and over about their systems: They are toolkits to make worlds come alive. They are very crunch heavy books, although there's a larger amount of fluff than normal with the classes and races in this book, but it all works well.
Now, other books you may be interested in, although they are written with the Spycraft main system, rather than MasterCraft system, but they are quite handy:
If you want to compare races out, check out Origin of the Species: Classic Fantasy (you can make every elf imaginable, as well as any other typical fantasy race you can think of). Tieflings and such are handled via feat choice, so a tiefling could be elven in origin, or it could be any other race as well. They also have an Origin of the Species: Light of Olympus, which covers Medusae, Fauns (Satyrs), Centaurs, and Tritons as playable characters at Level 1.
The magic system is very interesting, being a skill-based check for arcane casters, and an "auto success" for priest-type characters in MasterCraft(when their "paths" <read: domains> have a spell. Some don't). I'm familiar with the magic system from Spellbound: Channeler, and Spellbound: Seer (I have both .pdf's). Even though Spellbound is in Spycraft terms, they really do work within Mastercraft (FantasyCraft) terms with very minor tweaks.
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"These people are my family, not just friends, and if you want to get to them you gotta go through ME." |
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Darkmeer
Senior Scribe
USA
505 Posts |
Posted - 31 Aug 2009 : 03:26:43
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Well Met, Fellow Scribes.
I have been doing more work on reviewing the wonderful FantasyCraft Tome (402-page .pdf version, not dead-tree... working on affording the latter).
This section will tackle the Action Dice, Skills and feats of the system.
Let's start with skills. There are 20 different skills, and there are many ways to combine the skills. The biggest difference between the way skills work is how they are obtained. Unless a specific campaign quality is used, then your character may only gain ranks in skills designated in his class, or designated as "origin skills," which are usually skills the class you are using does not have. There are ways to earn extra origin skills (such as the bandage feat), as well as the inclusion of skills earned during multiclassing (note: you may only spend skill points on skills for the class you are obtaining the level in, unless the Veratile Heroes campaign quality is in action).
As in core D20, the maximum rank in any skill is Class Level +3, and you DO gain the x4 skill points at first level (I missed this on my first read through the creation section).
The skills are streamlined, and allow for some specific goals to be obtained. When you are wanting to play a character, the skills are what matter the most, as FantasyCraft edges away from ability checks, and runs with skills and other checks to make the game run faster, and aid with party success. Seriously, this is a chapter that, even if you don't play FantasyCraft, is worth the read to help you slim down the core d20 skill list. Very nice section indeed.
One note on Skills: There is NO knowledge skill. Characters use interests, as well as personal experiences to determine knowledge of the character. That means that your dwarven fighter with an interest in architecture and engineering may have a better check looking at the fortress the PC's are about to assault than the Mage who has no clue about fortifications. This validates the grizzled warrior knowing more than the raw recruit, and makes me happy.
Now, on to feats. This is the bread and butter of the Spycraft system, and is just as much so with FantasyCraft. Having the Spycraft book, and reading this one, there is only one complaint here: The Feat Tables are gone. I wish they were back, as it made determining what feats I needed to take and use to make my character effective.
Feats are divided into categories, as with Spycraft (and the .pdf bookmark is quite handy that way to find the section you want). The categories are:
Basic Combat (i.e. Great Fortitude type feats),
Melee Combat Feats (most feats grant you a bonus and a stance that allows you to do something cool),
Ranged Combat Feats (again, as Melee Combat),
Unarmed Combat feats (again, as Melee Combat Feats),
Chance Feats (luck and action die expenditure and modification, much nicer than I read the first time through. I have a Priest with chance feats, and it is good.),
Covert Feats (which include ways at making others believe things about your, or make you that much meaner than others, rogue-type characters will enjoy this section, immensely),
Gear Feats (This section includes Item Creation and Leadership <followers> type feats, as well as ways to increase your Prizes. I'll definitely get into prizes, as some will love it and others will hate it),
Skill Feats (skill foci, other neat tricks with skills)
Species Feats (Yes, you may play a drow elf at level 1 in this system. The way this is done, you truly do get a good hint at what the Origin of the Species line is all about. It's a great primer, and a great way to play that Genasi, Tieling or Aasimar that you've always wanted to.)
Then come spellcasting feats (read: Mix of Metamagic and other types of magic-based feats, primarily for Priests and Mages).
Style Feats (You gain a few new tricks with charisma based skills, and can gain the Personal Lieutenant feat, which is what I wanted Leadership to be).
The last type of feat is Terrain, which gives you tricks to use in various environments, as well as some degree of battlefield control. On the flip side of Personal Lieutenant, this feat tree has the Animal Partner feat, which is essentially the same thing as Personal Lieutenant, but with lions tigers and bears!
Prior to both of these in the Lore chapter is Action Dice, which we are all familiar with. The difference being that the uses for the dice are very well defined (and I'll even list 'em!). Boost a single Die Roll (attack roll, skill roll, saving throw, or knowledge check). Boost a character's defense (increasing the defense for a short number of rounds), Activate a threat (critical successes and failures take action dice to activate, very nice system here), Activate an opponent's error (as per threat), and Heal your character (not as overpowered as a surge, and most folks I game with don't want to use that option unless absolutely necessary, as the above uses for action dice are much nicer).
All in all, the section is very nice, but the tables for the feats would have been nice. Grab the .pdf, and it's much easier to "thumb" through this section. But then again, a few Realms products didn't have these tables either, and we did just fine.
Now onto the Grimoire (the spellcasters).
This is the one of the nicest laid out chapters, and helpful when looking at how they determined spells and spell schools. The spells are grouped into 8 schools, which are then divided into 3 disciplines each.
They reference their entire Spellbound .pdf series, which shows how they are dividing the schools, and all Spellbound disciplines are represented in MasterCraft (and have no major differences from Spycraft).
This chapter is also the home to the Spellcasting Skill.
The reason that it's a skill is that an "arcane" caster knows how to cast the spell, but the spell requires an effort (set by the spellcasting DC) to make it work correctly. The DC's Start at 13 for a 0-level Orison, and increase by 3 each level, until level 9 spells provide you with a DC 40 spellcasting check (those spells are hard to fire off!).
The book then goes into how the spells work, and shows the basic way of reading a spell. Of note about changes are the distance, area, and a few other notes. The one errata note that I have seen here is that Cold damage is not defined anywhere except in ONE table for magic items.
Then we get into spells. The spell chart included shows all spells in alphabetical order, and includes pretty much all of the basic spells you would expect via the SRD. The biggest change here is presentation. The mechanics ONLY are shown. There is no fluff, and it makes perfect sense to add your own as necessary. Thus, all spells can be customized by caster without expenditure of a feat.
Onto the Forge. This chapter deals with equipment. The difference between this and standard d20 is the way that it's organized. Each character has a two ways that track Wealth, Coin and Lifestyle. Then we get into Reputation and Prizes (a very important part of the game).
Coin is based as Silver Pieces (always abbreviated as s behind the coin amount). You have two values for your Coin, which is coin on hand and Stake. Coin on hand is your spending cash, and Stake is your savings. You can use your Stake to make the major purchases of your career, but your coin on hand is always valuable. This factors in to your lifestyle. There is a coin on hand value listed for any starting character.
Lifestyle is the second part of your wealth (before reputation and prizes). This is how your coin on hand after an adventure is determined, as well as how much money you save at the END of an adventure. It's divided into Panache (your coin on hand at the start of an adventure), and Prudence (money saved). Panache is great if you want that character who starts out with a good amount of money for bribes, but Prudence is good for saving money. Each of them has a score, which starts at 0, and goes on a scale up to 12 each, with incremental bonuses to starting cash and amount able to be placed into your stake at the end of an adventure. Panache also affects your skill modifier for charisma based checks. There are some who would rather have panache than prudence. Others would rather be prudent than full of panache, while the third category (me) tries to split the difference between the two. There is also a handy feat that allows you to increase your prudence (if you so choose to do that), but otherwise there's no way to increase them than via class and Charisma.
After this it goes into carrying capacity (where it should have been in 3.5 to begin with!), and the gear. It does include a section for Firearms, as well as eras that weapons are available. Describing weapons, and adding "tags" to each weapon to allow players to choose a weapon that fits their fighting style, as well as describing how the weapon works (AP X is armor-piercing X, as the Fantasycraft system uses Armor as DR, not just a bonus to Defense). There's more, but you really should read this chapter yourself. It's a great, great way of doing things.
Reputation and Prizes: more aptly Reputation, Renown, and Prizes.
Okay, this was the hardest part of this chapter to read for me the first time through. Things are defined once, so simply that it went right over my head the first time through.
Reputation is earned by achieving success during your adventures. It is scaled (although I'm not there quite yet) by your legend (a factor in your class) and the threat level of the adventure, with a level-1 character starting with 10 reputation.
Renown is how you get and keep your prizes. Your total renown score + 1 is how many prizes you may keep. Prizes include in their own words: "contacts, favors, holdings, and magic items." Let's break this down further, shall we?
Renown is earned at 1 point per 50 reputation. Each character starts at ZERO renown. Renown is divided into three different, yet useful, types: Heroic, Military, and Noble (all going to a maximum "rank" of 10). (I'd like to say they should have done a Clerical as well, but that's just me, and it's well within your rights to do so, what with the license to improvise and such).
The higher your renown, the more people recognize you, whether it be heroic, military-wise, or in the circles of Nobility or Rich Merchant families. This, in turn, allows you to call in favors (which cost reputation and some downtime). These favors includes blessings, changing of laws, delivery of messages or other goods, diversions, or even gatherings of people. It could be anything from a day to a month to make it happen, but the fact that it is there to be used and grants the party benefits as well as yourself makes me very happy as a player.
Prizes. This is gong to be the sticking issue for any of you who like monty haul type campaigns (there is a Monty Haul campaign quality, which is great for lots of magic items, contacts, or what-have-you). Otherwise, in a party of 4 characters with 0 renown, a character may only have 1 prize each. This could be puff the magic sword, the thieves' guild contact, a wand (which may burn out), and a small apartment for the characters. Pretty basic, but each of the prizes counts towards your maximum (there are feats increasing contacts, holdings, and the number of prizes that you may keep). Again, this is a great limiting factor, and means that your characters get to choose between the super nice sword or the contact that will help them in the future. Each prize has a cost (in reputation), and the maximum cost on reputation is your renown x 10 for "purchasing" prizes. This cost to keep a prize does not apply to magic items and such found through the course of an adventure, which may be kept and held againt your prize maximum. All other prizes are lost at the end of the adventure, either donated or just used up during the downtime between adventures.
The Contacts are a great section, and, to me, encourages the players to think about things other than that big magic sword, but the people around them. There are feats to increase this, and it makes a great deal of sense for at least one player to have a contact for information.
Holdings, a specific prize reference your Prudence and Panache. The higher one of these are , the better your holdings are. I'm very pleased with this mechanic. It shows Conan having a nice palace, but not really able to save jack squat. The way that the holdings are described makes me very happy with the way it works. We'll see how this pans out, as I can see the PC's getting a small farm to use as their base of operations as a prize from the local lord, which would go out of the scale given in the book. This is, again, a difference between kept prizes and purchased prizes, I think.
Magic Items... Great, GREAT way of using reputation, and a good limiting factor as well. This is, to me, a very old-school approach, since it counts against the above mentioned prizes. One other factor, is that players can create their own magic items as their own prizes (with the correct feats). I like this, and it doesn't stop any character from advancing in level, it merely makes them spend their hard-earned reputation on something they really want.
This really ends where the Players are creating their characters. From this point on you have the chapters dealing with Combat, Foes (and all those nifty NPC's and NPC qualities), Worlds (and Paths for the Priests to take), and other useful information. Let me start by saying, so far, that the system is full of awesome. It works well. I will go back to the "Expert Classes" once I get through the rest, they do deserve a fair shake all on their own.
Until the next section (through the end of the book).
/d |
"These people are my family, not just friends, and if you want to get to them you gotta go through ME." |
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Darkmeer
Senior Scribe
USA
505 Posts |
Posted - 31 Aug 2009 : 17:00:32
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Good Morning (from my point of view) Fellow Scribes.
Okay, the next section of the review deals with the final three chapters: Combat, Foes, and Worlds. This is also going to be much shorter than the last section, merely because these sections are so well laid out.
Combat is a well-done, well oiled machine in FantasyCraft. Instead of 50 bazillion attacks, as you can get with some of the Monk combinations, you generally get two half-actions (i.e. single attacks) per round, if you so choose. My favorite option, although it may not be yours, is the fact that there are some tricks to use in this chapter dealing with combat. These tricks cost a weapon proficiency, and many of them have a prerequisite (such as a forte in a weapon group). These tricks help to customize your fighting style, just as much as the Combat feats did in the earlier chapters. Damage types are all included in this chapter (including cold, which I missed on first read through.... silly me), and you can read this whole chapter very quickly and get a good idea of what you can do in and out of combat. This chapter also includes some killer ways of healing in and out of combat ("refresh" is an action that allows you to do so. It's an interesting mechanic, and deserves a bit of notice for those unhappy with other non-magical healings).
The foes chapter, like Spycraft before it, has included a great NPC generation system that is both different than the PC system used, as well as incredibly more versatile. You can create virtually any NPC or character you want, and it's all laid out for you. There are some templates (such as species templates, as well as other templates such as skeletal and Lich templates). The way that skills are done for NPC's means less bookkeeping, as well as how their spells are done means less bookkeeping. The NPC's are divided into two categories: Standard and Special (note: PC's are considered special). Standard NPC's don't have a set vitality or wounds, they have a damage save that is based on how much damage they've taken. Special NPC's have vitality and wounds, much like a PC, but they typically have a higher vitality than is possible for the PC's. Overall, very nicely done chapter, and I think most folks who look into their system will see it as a nice progression from standard d20/3.5 system NPC's. 5-15 minutes and BOOM! you're done with the NPC once you get the hang of it. (I'm still at about 30 minutes per NPC, but that's just me).
The final chapter of the book, Worlds, is all about the world around. It feels, to me, like a stripped down and streamlined World Builder's Guidebook. It includes everything from threat level and other GM's miscellany, to the Paths for priests to take. It offers advice on the first adventure, some adventure seeds, and other notes on helping both the players and GM achieve the goal: A cinematic, exciting, fantasy game.
The one thing of note, for me, is paths. I've taken the FRCS (3.0) and converted virtually every domain into a path. Some domains didn't need a full path, while others did. The ones that didn't need a path, I noted which two paths made the most sense to include in someone who is trying to follow said path. Very nice part of the toolkit. I'll be posting those sometime soon, likely over at Crafty Games first, but here once I have ironed them out.
Now, onto the gripes of the book. I only have 4.
1: Skill points. The first TWO reads through the character creation I completely missed the x4 skill points at first level (and after playing and testing PF beta for so long, I hadn't latched back into a 3.0 mentality, so this was a sticking issue for a while).
2: Wound point values. They are listed in ONE place I can find in the book, so far (and I'm sure that they're listed somewhere, I've likely just missed it). It's on table 6.2 NPC wounds (same uses as PC's, but only listed here... seriously?  ).
3: There are none of the Feat Tree tables from Spycraft that I know and love. This, as note above, is not a dealbreaker for me. I've dealt with worse, as well as worse organization. Crafty, even though there are no tables, made sure the feats were easy to find and reference. So, neutral ambivalence, but otherwise I'm ecstatic.
4: Money. This has been brought up on the crafty boards, but I think that each GM will modify the starting gold by an appropriate amount if they want more starting gear.
Outside of those four things, the book is marvelous, and I encourage all scribes who are interested in a retooling of d20 fantasy to check this book out.
I'm open for any and all questions, and I'm sure that anyone over at Crafty can answer anything I can't
/d |
"These people are my family, not just friends, and if you want to get to them you gotta go through ME." |
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Foghorn
Acolyte
6 Posts |
Posted - 06 Sep 2009 : 19:26:45
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Just thought I'd pop on and address some of Darkmeer's points here really quickly.
The skill points thing has been missed by a couple of my players. It's right at the beginning of the class section where the book describes what the skill points per level entry on the class description means. It's one sentence that's easy to skim over, especially if you're already d20 proficient and figure you know all this already.
Wound point values is my buddy here becoming victim to skimming once again. When you choose your Species, it tells you what your maximum wound points are as part of your Type entry.
Feat tree tables would be nice, but that was strictly a space issue. On the upside, they use a naming convention so that any feat that has another that makes it even better is always named so that they come after each other alphabetically (e.g. Comely leads into Elegant which leads into Enchanting; Spider Nation leads into Spider Noble; Favored Gear, Signature Gear, Trademark Gear; etc.). I do miss being able to skim those trees real quick because I can't remember if Bandage is a Gear or Basic Combat feat, but without them, we did get more crunchy goodness crammed into the tome.
Money is something that a lot of people have griped about. The standard 100 silver runs out quickly, but all gear gives some kind of mechanical bonus as well. Blankets allow for heat/cold resistance, goggles give flash resistance, even the pipe gives you a +2 gear bonus to Concentrate checks. With all those little bonuses thrown in, I'm more than happy to allow characters to have 'common' items, but if you want the piece of gear that allows for the little bonus, spend the coin. Additionally, it's easy enough to gear up a character with a weapon or two, some decent armor, a kit, and some misc gear as long as you're willing to use the 'crude' quality. Makes your item a little less durable or clumsy, but it works out fine. And, bottom line, if you're still not happy with how the starting characters gear up, like Darkmeer said, the GM can just hand out some extra silvers to everyone. |
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Neil Bishop
Learned Scribe
Singapore
100 Posts |
Posted - 14 Oct 2009 : 12:08:07
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Would Fantasy Craft be suitable if I wanted to, for example, run the Cormyr/Shadowdale/Anauroch series and include, inter alia, the Weave/Shadow Weave and Dead Magic Zones?
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Regards
NXB |
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Pekkias
Acolyte
Finland
1 Posts |
Posted - 17 Oct 2009 : 15:54:40
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quote:
Originally posted by Darkmeer
The one thing of note, for me, is paths. I've taken the FRCS (3.0) and converted virtually every domain into a path. Some domains didn't need a full path, while others did. The ones that didn't need a path, I noted which two paths made the most sense to include in someone who is trying to follow said path. Very nice part of the toolkit. I'll be posting those sometime soon, likely over at Crafty Games first, but here once I have ironed them out.
Howdy!
As a new FantasyCraft GM planning to run a game in the Realms, I'd be interested in your domain conversion work. Is it already available someplace?
-Pekkias |
A knight is sworn to valor. His heart knows only virtue. His blade defends the helpless. His word speaks only truth. His wrath undoes the wicked.
-The Old Code of Bowen, the last of the dragonslayers. |
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Darkmeer
Senior Scribe
USA
505 Posts |
Posted - 27 Oct 2009 : 05:18:45
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quote:
Originally posted by Neil Bishop
Would Fantasy Craft be suitable if I wanted to, for example, run the Cormyr/Shadowdale/Anauroch series and include, inter alia, the Weave/Shadow Weave and Dead Magic Zones?
Yes, actually it would. You would do very well to read up on the magic section, as well as the campaign qualities for the whole of the three parts. The biggest part of running a campaign like this is the conversion work for the major players. Outside of that, the mooks and others are relatively covered in the hardcover. |
"These people are my family, not just friends, and if you want to get to them you gotta go through ME." |
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Darkmeer
Senior Scribe
USA
505 Posts |
Posted - 27 Oct 2009 : 05:20:46
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quote:
Originally posted by Pekkias
quote:
Originally posted by Darkmeer
The one thing of note, for me, is paths. I've taken the FRCS (3.0) and converted virtually every domain into a path. Some domains didn't need a full path, while others did. The ones that didn't need a path, I noted which two paths made the most sense to include in someone who is trying to follow said path. Very nice part of the toolkit. I'll be posting those sometime soon, likely over at Crafty Games first, but here once I have ironed them out.
Howdy!
As a new FantasyCraft GM planning to run a game in the Realms, I'd be interested in your domain conversion work. Is it already available someplace?
-Pekkias
Yes, I have them, but they haven't been posted anywhere yet. I'd be happy to email them to you. PM me with an email to use, and I'll send what I have, as well as the logic tree that I used based on their powers.
/d |
"These people are my family, not just friends, and if you want to get to them you gotta go through ME." |
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Arioch
Learned Scribe
Italy
222 Posts |
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Fantasy Craft from Craft Games
