Forgotten Heroes: Fang, Fist, and Song - available at RPGNow.com

catsclaw227 · Oct 9, 2008

Forgotten Heroes: Fang, Fist, and Song is now available at RPGNow for $12.95.

It looks like this is the first "competition" product for the barbarian, monk, druid and bard. It will be interesting to compare the three different barbarian classes, though WOTC may have the advantage of getting a gob of playtesting done for free.

RPGNow.com - Goodman Games - Forgotten Heroes: Fang, FIst, and Song

Jack99 · Oct 9, 2008

Hmm..

Anyone who has it already can maybe answer a question. It says 4e (GSL), but I thought it wouldn't be possible to call a druid a druid and a monk a monk under the GSL?

I am asking because after buying their "4e" DCC products, which aren't really 4e, I think I am going to stay away from such products. They didn't really impress me with the way they did things.

MerricB · Oct 9, 2008

Jack99 said:
Hmm..

Anyone who has it already can maybe answer a question. It says 4e (GSL), but I thought it wouldn't be possible to call a druid a druid and a monk a monk under the GSL?

It's possible while Wizards haven't released a Druid or a Monk in the 4e SRD.

After that, the license is a little unclear.

Cheers!

Hypersmurf · Oct 9, 2008

Jack99 said:
Anyone who has it already can maybe answer a question. It says 4e (GSL), but I thought it wouldn't be possible to call a druid a druid and a monk a monk under the GSL?

My understanding is that Druid is not a defined term in the 4E SRD, and so you can use it however you like.

But... if Druid is added as a defined term in the 4E SRD, then you can no longer sell product which alters WotC's definition of the term.

Given that we have a preview of the Barbarian from PHB2, it seems to me that gambling that Barbarian won't be added to the SRD is a poor bet.

But maybe a/ they're gambling they'll sell enough copies before the SRD changes to be worthwhile, or b/ WotC won't enforce the retroactive clause, or c/ they have a loophole, or d/ I haven't understood the GSL correctly - which is entirely possible!

-Hyp.

EP · Oct 9, 2008

Is it for sale in print? If not, then they'll likely pull it once those other classes are added to the official list and PHB2 comes out.

Fifth Element · Oct 9, 2008

I wonder why they left the barbarian out of the subtitle?

Not that I mind - I hate that 3.0 splatbook naming convention.

Drkfathr1 · Oct 9, 2008

Reviews? Comparisons with Advanced Player's Guide?

davethegame · Oct 9, 2008

I'm working on my review now- I received an early review PDF from Goodman Games. Hoping to have the review up tomorrow.

To answer a few questions, it is GSL. It'll be in print in a few weeks. It does use the "real" names. My impression is that it has a really neat hook for including these classes in your game, but the classes themselves seem a bit more complex than the versions in APG.

Eytan Bernstein · Oct 9, 2008

Fifth Element said:
I wonder why they left the barbarian out of the subtitle?

Not that I mind - I hate that 3.0 splatbook naming convention.

The barbarian and the druid really can both be classified under "fang." We had a lot of debate about the title and went through multiple different incarnations, but we eventually settled on this one.

Eytan Bernstein · Oct 9, 2008

EP said:
Is it for sale in print? If not, then they'll likely pull it once those other classes are added to the official list and PHB2 comes out.

It will be for sale in print. I spoke explicitly with the guys at Wizards about this and left with the impressions that any material put out before a term is defined in WotC cannot be considered to conflict with that term. It's hazy and I guess it's possible that this could change, but they indicated that we had nothing to worry about creating our own druid before Wizards created their version. No one can predict what concepts are going to appear in books in the future, so there cannot (or at least most likely won't be) be after the fact copyright infringement. Ari was smart in his approach with the APG, giving things similar but alternate names, but we're hoping our approach will help FH.