When Raven Crowking announced that he was
making his own RPG, I made a promise to myself that I would write a review of it once it finally came out. Lo and behold,
he did so here I am. After reading through it, this is my review of Raven Crowking’s Fantasy Game (RCFG). To state the obvious, it’s a role playing game written by Raven Crowking.
On one level, the RCFG is simply yet another Fantasy Heartbreaker. That means that while the creator did pour his heart and soul into the project and came up with a few innovative ideas; it is mostly a rehash of traditional D&D concepts. Seriously, I felt like I read it all before. I think he typed it all up himself but it’s hard to tell since it’s so much like previous D&D material. The heartbreak occurs when the game is ignored by the public due to a combination of no brand name and being very similar to D&D itself. Most RPG players will generally go “why play this when we can just play D&D instead?”
On another level, RCFG is like Pathfinder. It may be very similar to D&D, but that is entirely intentional. It contains a lot of subtle changes you won’t notice unless you look for them or see them in actual play. It also has the much more realistic goal of attracting a small subset of roleplayers who feel disenfranchised with D&D as done by WOTC.
Looking at the system itself, the first thing that sticks out is how old-school it is. Every class gains minions/followers, literature is regularly quoted, and a third of the book is just for spells :P The art, layout, and general voice of the whole work is all about the old-school sensibilities. Yet if you look, you can see influences of new-school design ideas. Martial characters can regularly choose talent/options; abilities actually scale well, and there are even mechanics that resemble/simulate healing surges and skill challenges. You’ll also notice the level of detail for things. I’m surprised (in a good way) by rules for cover fire; then I’m amazed at why I haven’t seen them sooner. There’s also rules for guns and siege weapons if you’re into that type of thing. It certainly cover its bases.
The combat system deserves special mention for being a fairly unique system. For one, all characters can naturally use different attack styles, focusing on hitting, damage, defense, etc. depending on the weapon. This reduces the need for feats, which don’t exist in this game (by the way). Initiative is rolled every round to determine how many actions a character has (higher int = more actions). Creative use of skills in combat (or stunting) is strongly encouraged. I’m not gonna explain every detail of the combat system. It’s fairly unique but not too hard to learn if your willing to read through it.
If you are planning on reading through it, I suggest you start on page 96, the "Exploration and Adventuring" chapter. That and the following sections put considerable focus on things like adventuring advice, RPG philosophy, the concept of magic, and stuff of that ilk. You know; fluff. If you’re the type who has to have reading material in their RPG games, this is the place for you. There are also plenty of asides and boxes that explain the idea behind the rule or game theory and are also worth checking out. For example, there one section that has rules for sacrificing people to pay the EXP cost for spells (heh heh heh). It’s a solid, if basic, treatment of traditional fantasy adventure.
That last sentence basically sums up RCFG to a large extent. If you’re looking for that type of thing, you could do a good deal worse. Chances are, you’re not gonna end up playing this game. I’m not saying it’s a bad game for playing. I just can’t say how well it plays until I actually play it. I know I’ll never find three to five players who both know about RCFG and are willing to play it. If you manage to do so; you sir, have a higher diplomacy score then I do. Most likely, you’ll probably just read it and maybe steal a few ideas for your own game. If you don’t mind the Déjà vu, there is a good deal of ideas to mine. It’s also solid RPG reading material.
One thing I would like to note is that the version I’m reviewing is the “Pre-Release Release” or Alpha version. That means it’s not done yet so expect revisions and additions in the future. However, it is largely complete; except for an introduction and maybe a clearer explanation of the morale rules. It may require minor tweaks unless a problem arises during play. On the whole though, it covers everything an RPG should cover and then some.
The last thing I would like to note that is largely a one man project. Putting out a two hundred page plus Open Gaming Licensed project for free (say that five times fast!) takes a lot dedication and hard work. Say what you will about the project; simply getting this far is worth some credit and he’s not even done yet. It seem Raven Crowking is planning to put out a Monster Book as well as an “RCFG Game Master’s Handbook” sometime in the future. Looks like he’s not done yet; not by a long shot…
