August 2009 Archives

I picked up Fantasy Craft at Gen Con, and in the few days since, I've managed to read or skim almost the whole book. I have to say that the more I dig into this system, the more I like it.

Fantasy Craft builds on Crafty Games' more venerable property, Spycraft 2.0, using a streamlined set of rules called the Master Craft system. (Crafty intends to use this system for later releases as well, including the modern crime game Ten Thousand Bullets.)

Fantasy Craft is built on the core of the d20 system, and it stays truer to its roots than other d20 variants like Mutants & Masterminds. It's still class/level-based, you still gain feats and skills in much the same way. But Crafty Games presents everything in a strongly modular, toolbox style, offering options that all seem to fit together seamlessly.

Unlike its fantasy-d20 forebears, Fantasy Craft doesn't just focus on combat and physical conflict. There are strong gamist systems for tracking stress, dispositions, social contacts, renown and reputation, dramatic pacing, personalized subplots, and countless other narrativist activities.

Note about art: Crafty went with a black-and-white ink art style that I have missed tremendously in the last 5 years (or so) of gaming products. The illustrations in this book really take me back to my earliest gaming products.

As I read this book, I'm leaning very strongly toward making my next fantasy campaign a Fantasy Craft campaign.

400 pages; color cover, B&W interior. $49.95 (Print); $29.95 (PDF)

Gen Con was a lot of fun, as usual. I didn't really notice a decrease in attendance; hopefully the economy didn't hurt the show too much.

Jamie and I hitched a ride with our friend Mike, and we met our friend Ben in Indy, who we hadn't seen since our wedding. All four of us shared the hotel room and basically hung out when we had spare time.

We got in on Wednesday afternoon, checked into the University Place hotel, then walked to the convention center to pick up our badges and tickets. The walk wasn't too bad (about a mile) but it would get old soon enough. One disappointing sign of the economy was the pathetic showing in the attendee swag bags, which basically amounted to a booster pack of Magic, the requisite Gen Con d6 from Crystal Caster, and a handful of coupons. We ended the night with dinner at PF Chang's.

Thursday opened with an initial pass through the dealer's hall. You can see what I got in The Haul below. Jamie and I ran our first games at 1:00. I ran an awful fun Iron Age Mutants & Masterminds game that Ben sat in on. Full table, and it went very well. Thursday night, the three of us played in a pretty gonzo demo adventure for White Wolf's new Geist game, which we'll probably be picking up later via Amazon.

Friday was a double running day. I ran a Star Wars Saga Edition game in the morning for four guys, and good times were had by all. In the afternoon, I ran Wild Talents for a table of One-Roll newbies, and they all seemed to enjoy it.

Saturday began with a second run of my Saga Edition module. This was slightly less enjoyable than the first run, partly because I ran for 8, and partly because two of those players were under 13. Still, pretty fun, with a lot of storm troopers dying and lots of Force action, blasters, and such.

Ben, Jamie, and I were scheduled to play in a Mutants & Masterminds game immediately after my Star Wars session, but the GM never arrived, so we left and got our tickets refunded. Then we ate lunch at Steak & Shake and looked through the event guide. I saw that Allan Goodall was running Wild Talents in the setting he wrote, This Favored Land, so we headed to Union Station to see if we could get in on that or a Dreadful Secrets of Candlewick Manor game that was running in the same room. We ended up playing This Favored Land, and it was a blast. Lots of American Civil War superhero action. Then we met Mike and got dinner at the RAM. Yum.

Sunday was devoted to touring the dealer's hall one last time looking for con-end deals. I didn't pick up much additional, just a pair of Eberron books and some minis. Then the ride home (including pancakes at Denny's).

Even running four slots, this was still a great con. I'm already looking forward to next year. I won't run if I can help it (at least not as many games). It's pretty tiring work. Still, much fun.

The Haul
First and foremost, Fantasy Craft. I'm so glad I picked this book up. Crafty Games have put together an awesome product here.

I picked up my pre-order copy of Kerberos Club for Wild Talents, with a second copy of the Wild Talents Essential Edition to make up for my shipping cost.

After receiving a $5 coupon for playing in Allan Goodall's This Favored Land game, I picked up Dreadful Secrets of Candlewick Manor for Monsters and Other Childish Things.

I grabbed a copy of A Dirty World from the IPR booth and then got Greg Stolze to sign it.

Jamie had squirreled away the money for me to pick up the convention GM's special from Dark Platypus Studios, which contains two more sets of Bendy Dungeon Walls, the magnetic feet adapters for the walls, and the Magna Mat magnetic-receptive battle mat. Added a set of feet adapters for the bendy walls I already have, as well.

Found the last two books I needed to complete my 3.5 Eberron collection (Faiths of Eberron and Secrets of Xen'Drik) and picked up some heavily discounted Rackham minis.

I feel like I'm forgetting something. I'll update if I remember what.

Jamie's cousins Cole and Elizabeth came over yesterday, excited to play Dungeons & Dragons. Cole's friend Joey came, too. Joey had played D&D before, but aside from one game she sat in on here two years ago, Elizabeth hadn't. Cole had apparently made up a character once, but he'd never played.

It took about an hour and a half to make characters. Joey wanted to play a ninja (of course, there's always one, especially at their age).He ended up playing a CN pickpocket (what else is a Rogue when you're 14?). Cole played a Ranger, Elizabeth a Druid with a wolf companion, and Jamie a Sorceress.

I actually hadn't planned anything, since I didn't know they were coming until about 8:00 a.m. yesterday morning. Thank goodness for Monte Cook! They managed to get through two rooms of the Dragon's Delve, fight a ghast and a ghoul, and become obsessed with the first bluesteel door they came across.

It was pretty fun. The kids seemed to enjoy themselves, and they said they want to come back and play again some time. Jamie said she had a good time, too.

It's weird running for absolutely new players. They don't know what's "wrong", so they're willing to try things that experienced players never think about. Of course, they don't know what's "right" either, so they spend a lot of time on things that veterans would just brush past. I had fun, even though running for three 14-year-olds is like herding cats at times.