Breaking the mold

[Ezram]

Is it just me, or is anyone else ready to move past the "Medeival Europe" phase for what generally defines fantasty?

Basically, is Fantasy Craft going to be set along these lines (thematically) or will it be all over the place (thus giving the overall feel one of true fantasy and not just earth in the middle ages)?

[Crafty_Pat]

Is it just me, or is anyone else ready to move past the "Medeival Europe" phase for what generally defines fantasty?

Basically, is Fantasy Craft going to be set along these lines (thematically) or will it be all over the place (thus giving the overall feel one of true fantasy and not just earth in the middle ages)?

Several of our settings have non-traditional time periods, including Godspawn, Cloak and Dagger, and Epoch, and very few take place on "Earth." You'll see a good spread.

[Crafty_Alex]

Is it just me, or is anyone else ready to move past the "Medeival Europe" phase for what generally defines fantasty?

Basically, is Fantasy Craft going to be set along these lines (thematically) or will it be all over the place (thus giving the overall feel one of true fantasy and not just earth in the middle ages)?

You, my friend, have just nailed one of my key pet peeves of nearly all fantasy Since we're all working out of the same pool of basic parts (IE we have a expansive yet finite list of races, weapons, etc.) the fantasy won't get SUPER weird (the way I personally like it), but Epoch and Cloak and Dagger are both very much NOT Earth in the Middle Ages

[Ezram]

Hey hey, that's great news! 

I can appreciate the former as a good stepping stone for beginners to the world of roleplaying, or heck, fantasy in general. It's just that it becomes insulting after a while, so a change of pace can only be a good thing.

[afrodave]

So are there any plans for a non Euro-centric fantasy?  ala Legend of the Five Rings? or even better Chinese fantasy?  Hero, House of Flying Daggerss, etc.

[Morgenstern]

Fully half of the fantasy settings we are developing are entirely non-European in flavor and theme . Another setting encompasses several cultures and so has european-like areas. One is deeply european, but probably not the part you'd first think of for fantasy.

Heck, Sunchaser is the closest to standard fantasy, and even that should give a few fresh ideas on the topic of culture in RPGs.

[Gentry]

So are there any plans for a non Euro-centric fantasy?  ala Legend of the Five Rings? or even better Chinese fantasy?  Hero, House of Flying Daggerss, etc.

For reference, the Wyrmstone campaign includes a superpower "Middle Kingdom" of elves in the Celestial Empire, and an offshoot nation of half-elven exiles called the Court of the Jade Crown.  There's *ample* opportunity for Asian fantasy in a variety of flavors.

[Crafty_Pat]

So are there any plans for a non Euro-centric fantasy?  ala Legend of the Five Rings? or even better Chinese fantasy?  Hero, House of Flying Daggerss, etc.

You'll want Swords of the Zodiac, which hits this target pretty squarely.

[NekoMouser]

So are there any plans for a non Euro-centric fantasy?  ala Legend of the Five Rings? or even better Chinese fantasy?  Hero, House of Flying Daggerss, etc.

A Chinese cinematic fantasy setting? That's easy to set up. All the PCs and Special NPCs would die at the end of every adventure!

Kidding.

Actually, I'd be pleased with a setting with nothing immediately recognizable as real world in origin. The trouble with most of the pseudo-culture based fantasy settings is that they tend to be highly charicatured. I'd like to see something totally unfamiliar, like Dark Sun was back in the day.

[Rhishisikk]

Second on the originality.  It's just STUPID the number of systems where you can look and find your Russians, Chinese, Japanese, Italian, etc.  cultures.  Part of a role playing game (for me, at least), is to ESCAPE from the real world for a little bit.  I didn't like History in school, why would I consider it relaxing now?

Okay, I'm stretching reality.  I like seeing how history evolves, I don't romanticise the crap world the one we live in came from.  Frankly, I find roleplaying in 'historical' environs to be tooth-grinding.

Take a look at the systems most often 'ported' to other game systems to avoid mechanics.  For example, RIFTS.  Great game world, but unless you like games like Star Fleet Battles...  (No comment, I grew out of that phase.)  Anyway, the point I'm TRYING to make is people play game systems with great rules.  They play in game worlds that capture their imagination and make for great stories.  It would be cool if Fantasy Craft provided both of these.

[Crafty_Pat]

Take a look at the systems most often 'ported' to other game systems to avoid mechanics.  For example, RIFTS.  Great game world, but unless you like games like Star Fleet Battles...  (No comment, I grew out of that phase.)  Anyway, the point I'm TRYING to make is people play game systems with great rules.  They play in game worlds that capture their imagination and make for great stories.  It would be cool if Fantasy Craft provided both of these.

I think we can hook you up. In fact, one of the reasons we're doing multiple settings - which we consider our examples of the rules in action, not the other way around - is so that we can hit the folks who want pre-built settings of various types (historical, fictional, epic, low-power, humans only, multi-species, etc.).

[spinningdice]

Funny thing is, if you actually play in something pretty closely resembling medieval Europe a lot of D&D players get really confuddled.
At least that's what I found when I tried to run a fairly dark realistic version in Ars Magica (& I think the game imploded after a session)

[Crafty_Pat]

Funny thing is, if you actually play in something pretty closely resembling medieval Europe a lot of D&D players get really confuddled.
At least that's what I found when I tried to run a fairly dark realistic version in Ars Magica (& I think the game imploded after a session)

Sadly, "popular" genre fiction has somewhat tainted that particular well.

[Rhishisikk]

Lol, I tried for a historic Europe ONCE.  It was back in the days before I knew there were female players.  The entire party got slain resisting arrest, put a damper on the game really quick.  I put my notes in the trash can and never once looked back.

I eventually got tired of playing in worlds like Greyhawk and Faerun, where the authors reserved the right to control the 'official' source material.  It was like Dark Sun was described to me - no matter what you do, or how powerful you become, you will NEVER be able to make a difference in the world.  I live like that, why do I want to pretend to do that in my spare time?

So I do my own worlds, taking notes during each game session.  Each world generally starts around one village or region, and grows outward from there.  My ideal is the Green Valley campaign, starting with nothing but commoners, and let the players develop their own classes as the game goes along.  But most people want their characters to NOT be afraid of the goblins with their rusty knives.

But I'd have to say the most important part of any Fantasy rules system (for me) is the 'special effects' classes.  I prefer systems like Iron Heroes, where you have to invent your own spells rather than the Level/Circle/Slot system that seems to have become dominant.  What you end up with in systems like that is a codex of flat, lifeless spells/effects that make each 'mage' begin to look more generic.  I have a system, but I'm told that if I ever post it in a forum like this, I lose the rights to it.

In general, look at your more balanced superhero systems.  Look at what THAT stuff costs.  Rub an eraser over anything magic just SHOULDN'T do.  Then decide how those points merge into the magic system you're using.  Is it perfect?  Nope.  But it works far better than most systems I've seen.

[Krensky]

Ars Magica and it's descendants: Mage, and pretty much any other effects based predicate magic system.

Elements of Magic: Revised for D&D 3.5, Elements opf Magic: Mythic Earth for d20 Modern, and dynamic sorcery (if I remember right) and it's in depth bok Advanced Magic for BESM d20 did it very well in d20.

I've been bouncing ideas for combining EoM:R and SC2.0 that is as compatable with Spellbound as EoM:R is with traditional D&D magic. I still don't have anything hacked together enough to post.