Fantasy Craft is Behind the 8-Ball

[LordKruelos]

Indeed.  Crafty is the Blizzard of RPGs. 

Except that nobody has died after playing Spycraft for two days straight

...that we know of...

[Leeking208]

Indeed.  Crafty is the Blizzard of RPGs. 

Except that nobody has died after playing Spycraft for two days straight

...that we know of...

...because they were too dead to post about it after.

[Morgenstern]

1) FC has no intent of having real compatibility with the 3.5 OGL (Web site product description doesn't make this explicitly clear)

I'd refine this statement a bit. While converting individual spells from 3.x to Fantasy Craft proved to be sort of an expert level exercise - there being too many exceptions and oddities in the original material to present as a single uniform convesion system, 3.x monsters are structured tightly enough that we are presenting a system for porting them to Fanstasy Craft. This means 3.x monster products and a lot of adventures will be directly useful to the Fantasy Craft GM. I'd have liked to make other products' spell libraries more accessible to Fantasy Craft, but there were just no good standards laid down by the SRD, and as a result, the 3rd party products vary wildly on that front.

The vast majority of 3.x classes look more like a feat chain than a class to me, not having enough meat on them to fill out the Spycraft/Mastercraft expert class ability template. That puts it more in the realm of community project here on the boards than something that we should try to fold into the book. The 3.x feats are in general exercises in slicing a mechanical benefit in to the smallest possible increments to be dolled out grudgingly at best. You can use most of them as is, but they're rather... thin. Like gruel.

So yes, we specifically set out to make a game system that is structured like 3.x for ease of accessibility and imediate recognition for one of the largest segments of the gamers community (the 6 attributes, classes/levels, 3 saves, skill points/ranks, feats, d20-based skill checks and combat) but we've filled in the blanks differently to try and create what we think is a more generous, vibrant game that gives both the players and the GM tools to realize their goals and produce more play sessions that everyone in the group wants to talk about for years afterwards because it was made epic win or heinous downfall.

(you are also using terms a bit improperly. we are compliant with the OGL, we are not directly linked to the 3.5 SRD)

[Crafty_Pat]

First of all, Three... I haven't laughed that hard in ages (the folks here at the coffee house looked at me like I was having a seizure). Thank you.

Indeed.  Crafty is the Blizzard of RPGs. 

I can think of few greater compliments.

Except that nobody has died after playing Spycraft for two days straight

There were quite a few GenCons there where I tried really, really hard. Ask any of the dozens of people I blew off to head up AEG's Spycraft event schedule. 

(you are also using terms a bit improperly. we are compliant with the OGL, we are not directly linked to the 3.5 SRD)

We like to refer to Mastercraft as "Spycraft 2.0 and D&D 3.0/3.5-portable," rather than "compliant" or "compatible." A lot of the same principles are in play but the deeper into the system you get the less they're applied and used in the same ways.

[Number Three]

First of all, Three... I haven't laughed that hard in ages (the folks here at the coffee house looked at me like I was having a seizure). Thank you.

Those things have been running through my head since my reply Friday night.  Sadly, it doesn't seem anyone else as any respect for my attempted meme-age. 

(Deathbus will only enter play through a Natural Disaster Event.)

(Deathbus comes into play at NPC Tier Cry Some More.)

(Deathbus' stats go to XI.)

(Shh.  Don't let it know, but we're actually saving The Stig for act three of Deathbus Ten Thou-HOLY SH
[LOST CARRIER]

[Crafty_Pat]

Those things have been running through my head since my reply Friday night.  Sadly, it doesn't seem anyone else as any respect for my attempted meme-age. 

Oh, I wouldn't say that. Lots of people like to laugh in silence on the web.

[MilitiaJim]

Those things have been running through my head since my reply Friday night.  Sadly, it doesn't seem anyone else as any respect for my attempted meme-age. 

They need to be going up in the Motivational Posters thread.

[gaghiel42]

I'm not sure what to think about all this Deathbus stuff... but, what I do know is that over and over again, I'm still pleased with the maturity level of arguments and such that inevitably brew from anxious gamers.  Reading all this was both enlightening and amusing. 

My two cents (since I didn't get to toss any in while people were still going crazy on it):

1.  Color is all well and good, even worth a few extra bucks.  Color pictures can be worth it, but not always.  As an attempted graphic designer (college as usual has a way of making people change career paths 8-10 times) I have to say that even if you get all your pictures in black and white, tossing in a bit of color to the text, and general backgrounds or tables etc, helps spruce it up a bit while not costing overly too much for rights and such that pictures would.  I'd say its worth the little extra.  Having the second printing in greyscale is most excellent, but my friends leave it to sit in the corner, while they fight over getting to use my color PDF.

So, while I think that color pictures are not worth Crafty's time, I'd love to see the pages have a little bit of color.  It'd make my eyes happy.  If not, not gonna complain too much.  I'm already too anxious to have it in my greedy mits right now that I'm willing to sacrifice a few luxuries of some of the other RPGs out there.

2. the 3.5 system while awesome and all now sits on my shelf gathering dust, and I pretty much refuse to look at the 4e stuff.  After I heard about FC, (and had a lousy couple experiences with GMs at cons) my friends refuse to play it anymore.  Heck, I'd dig it up and go nuts, but ultimately, the creative freedom granted by crafty products far exceeds anything WoTC can toss out.  (Maybe with the exception of the Unearthed Arcana book, that thing made life good for alternatives).  So, as 4e continues to stomp 3.5 out of the heads of young impressionable gamers, my friends are waiting on baited breath for FC to come out, lest we be forced into playing Hackmaster again... *shudder*

Please Crafty 3, don't make them make me play hackmaster again...    (although Aces and Eights is fun)

3. This is a last second add on cent.  Also, nowhere did 3.5 provide canon ways to make Kaiju.  (the magazine doesnt really count, as noone allowed those at convention play really)  However, with Crafty's monster NPC creator system, those tools will be at my disposal, and my Godzilla Universe game will finally come to fruition!   

[Mortadelo]

Indeed.  Crafty is the Blizzard of RPGs. 

Except that nobody has died after playing Spycraft for two days straight

...that we know of...

Have your heard about Verbal lately? 

[Wolverine]

Have your heard about Verbal lately? 

Verbal ain't dead, he's just in Belgium

[MilitiaJim]

Have your heard about Verbal lately? 

Verbal ain't dead, he's just in Belgium

They're really different?