[Review] Fantasy Craft Adventure Companion

[mach1.9pants]

bookdespository doesn't charge shipping and it is a balancing act between their price + no shipping vs Amazon with shipping.

[Mister Andersen]

Ok, lets pretend I'm not just going to buy the book no matter what...

Say your not a fan of published settings (prefering being given the tools to do your own), is there enough left in this book to make it worth while?

If you're going to totally ignore the setting stuff, get the pdf.

[Aldus Vertten]

bookdespository doesn't charge shipping and it is a balancing act between their price + no shipping vs Amazon with shipping.

Bookdepository is great. unforutnately, so far it seems that Crafty games is not avaliabe there. I want to buy the print books eventually, but so far the only way to do that is in the distributor website, but the shipping rates are insane. So for now, pdfs are the only option for me.

[Deral]

Ok, lets pretend I'm not just going to buy the book no matter what...

Say your not a fan of published settings (prefering being given the tools to do your own), is there enough left in this book to make it worth while?

If you're going to totally ignore the setting stuff, get the pdf.

This is true, I use my own setting that I've been putting together since FC came out and have no interest in using any of the book's settings. That being said each setting has at least something really cool that can be easily adapted to any campaign, and half the book is classes (though the expert classes are reprints of already released PDF material), and feats (only a few of which are reprinted from those same PDFs), as well as a whole bunch of tricks, some new, some converted over from Spycraft and Practice Makes Perfect, I don't have any desire to use the published settings, but after a wee bit of conversion, I will be using something like 85% of the book.

[Mister Andersen]

Some people might poo-poo the reprinting of the non-magic CtA releases, but having them in a single place instead of having to open multiple files is incredibly convenient. I also find that it crosses a certain psychological Rubicon for some people: if it's in a book/compilation, that makes it more acceptable in their eyes than individual electronic releases

[Deral]

Some people might poo-poo the reprinting of the non-magic CtA releases, but having them in a single place instead of having to open multiple files is incredibly convenient. I also find that it crosses a certain psychological Rubicon for some people: if it's in a book/compilation, that makes it more acceptable in their eyes than individual electronic releases

Yeah, definitely- and even nicer that it's going to be in print.

[SilvercatMoonpaw]

That being said each setting has at least something really cool that can be easily adapted to any campaign....

Which could definitely include adapting those settings as parts of a larger world.  (Or in Cloak & Dagger's case it wouldn't be that hard to change the info so that you end up with an ancient Greek world of city-states: monsters aside we have to remember that Greek myths used politics as plot-hooks.)

[Wolverine]

what exactly do they sell?

I'm referring to Maelstrom Games. They mainly sell miniatures, but they do stock some FFG boardgames and RPGs (usually the ones licensed from GW).

Back to the Companion, it's nice to see the Goblin from the first page of the Forge chapter in FC managed to make something of himself and became a Regent.

[the331st]

Just got it last night,

The setting stuff is great inspiration for the games I'm currently writing for and playing in. Also a good jumping off point when I eventually run FC games in other Settings (Iron Kingdoms, Dark Sun, ect). I think the real strength of the book is in it's classes and feats section as well as laying out the crunch for differing materials and currency.

The settings are nice and varied but I found the first person presentation both a boon and a curse. I had a harder time understanding the fiddly bits of each setting but definitely felt more immersed. Which is great if I was a player and not so great if someone asks me to run one the settings.

It felt like reading old Planescape books, but without the setting neutral tone in areas that were for the DM.

My favorite part was the FANTASY CRAFT SUB-SPECIES side bar on pages  134-135, when I saw it I made an excited gasp

All in all, I felt that this was worth the money 100%. And that the Pros out weighted the Cons by a wide margin. Will be very useful in current and future games.

[Crafty_Alex]

Back to the Companion, it's nice to see the Goblin from the first page of the Forge chapter in FC managed to make something of himself and became a Regent.

Thank you for noticing. My art idea was, "Napoleon as a Goblin."

[mach1.9pants]

Back to the Companion, it's nice to see the Goblin from the first page of the Forge chapter in FC managed to make something of himself and became a Regent.

Thank you for noticing. My art idea was, "Napoleon as a Goblin."

LOL he is not short enough!

[boring pointless historical FACT] Napoleon wasn't actually short, he was average height, just portrayed that way by the British press to ridicule him[/boring pointless historical FACT]

[Crafty_Alex]

The settings are nice and varied but I found the first person presentation both a boon and a curse. I had a harder time understanding the fiddly bits of each setting but definitely felt more immersed. Which is great if I was a player and not so great if someone asks me to run one the settings.

It felt like reading old Planescape books, but without the setting neutral tone in areas that were for the DM.

That's sort of what we were shooting for - not the boon/curse tone, but certainly the vibe the settings are for the players as well as the DMs.

My favorite part was the FANTASY CRAFT SUB-SPECIES side bar on pages  134-135, when I saw it I made an excited gasp

Ah, good! It was an interesting challenge, seeing what I could/couldn't make from classic fantasy games using just the feats in the book. That table ended up generating even more species feats when I realized I'd missed some opportunities...

All in all, I felt that this was worth the money 100%. And that the Pros out weighted the Cons by a wide margin. Will be very useful in current and future games.

Excellent! Glad to hear you're getting use out of stuff throughout the book.

[Arakor]

[boring pointless historical FACT] Napoleon wasn't actually short, he was average height, just portrayed that way by the British press to ridicule him[/boring pointless historical FACT]

Point of Order: Napoleon was actually 2 inches taller than the average french man of the time, and therefore was an inch taller than most english men of the time.

[Catodon]

Thankyou all,
Sounds like its going to very useful to me even if I don't use the settings. I picked up a copy of the pdf this morning when the $Aus was worth more than the $USA*. Flicked through once over breakfast looks good proper read will have to wait to weekend but so far looks like a good buy for world-builders. Lots of nice support for Drakes too.

*I like Americans so I'm glad to help out your economy 

[Sletchman]

[boring pointless historical FACT] Napoleon wasn't actually short, he was average height, just portrayed that way by the British press to ridicule him[/boring pointless historical FACT]

Point of Order: Napoleon was actually 2 inches taller than the average french man of the time, and therefore was an inch taller than most english men of the time.

While I knew this, I will always prefer to think of Napoleon as he was presented in Jack of all Trades.

On Topic: While I can't see myself using the settings as they are presented [I enjoy crafting my own worlds from scratch], I will certainly be taking elements from each of the presented settings that I liked and using them as either civilisation seeds or adventure seeds.