It's Time for Going Away To Go Away

[pawsplay]

My God, how have we forgotten to mention Fantasy Wargaming? There's a game every serious gamer should read. It's not a bad game, really, but two things always stand out:

1. It's possible to roll homosexuality as a random flaw and bisexuality as a random advantage.
2. It gives combat statistics for the sainted Virgin Mary

Apart from that, it has a nice essay on the fantasy genre, and from a historical perspective, it's beautiful that it was written in an era where "fantasy wargaming" was the common term for simulated adventures and "role-playing game" was a catchphrase from Gygax and Arneson.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I've wanted Chivalry and Sorcery to go away. But not because its a bad game, but because an acquaintance of mine kept dumping on D&D in favor of a more realistic game.

Might have been fun for a comedic-fantasy campaign...but if that wasn't what you wanted, that WOULD suck.

 

[Votan]

I've wanted Chivalry and Sorcery to go away. But not because its a bad game, but because an acquaintance of mine kept dumping on D&D in favor of a more realistic game.

"I want my 'medieval' far more than my 'fantasy'," he'd say over and over again.

Finally, a few of us, actually gave the system a shot. But I rolled up a common peasant archer with "butterfingers" as flaw, which basically made my character's archery useless. And then he wouldn't let me re-roll the flaw, let alone the character. The other players had similar results, more or less. To which the GM just sat there and laughed at us.

But then he stopped laughing and got angry when people started leaving the table.

Yet even despite this, he still kept on insisting that D&D was a horrible system (in all editions) and trying to get us to play Chivalry and Sorcery, just so he could watch us blunder through life as peasants.

This seems to be an odd qay to enjoy a game unless the game is to have a group of normal people become heros despite their flaws. Maybe the archer left civilized life for a reason?

 

[Nagol]

My God, how have we forgotten to mention Fantasy Wargaming? There's a game every serious gamer should read. It's not a bad game, really, but two things always stand out:

1. It's possible to roll homosexuality as a random flaw and bisexuality as a random advantage.
2. It gives combat statistics for the sainted Virgin Mary

Apart from that, it has a nice essay on the fantasy genre, and from a historical perspective, it's beautiful that it was written in an era where "fantasy wargaming" was the common term for simulated adventures and "role-playing game" was a catchphrase from Gygax and Arneson.

I use Fantasy Wargaming quite a bit for inspiration. The Piety system was simple to adapt to Ars Magica (to give a more mechanical determination of True Faith and False Faith virtues).

The magic system, for all its complexity, is very nicely defined and offers a glimpse into how to use Correspondencies in a game. Though balanced it is not.

The social combat rules, although RPGs have moved very strongly away from that direction, are a nice start for resolving NPC temptation and intra-group politics.

The large table of named heavenly/demonic host (including the Virgin Mary and God himself) is nice for a supply of names and spheres of influence.

The collection of Welsh and English folklore creatures is also neat to leaf through.

It is a pity that the book was so poorly laid out and that it seemed to be a tactical wargame first with a RPG grafted on about half-way through.

 

[Thunderfoot]

Ah FATAL... I still remember when the author found out it wasn't a voting choice for the ENnies and tried to mount a boycott the elitists campaign.... He was sure it would win a gold...

Good times, good times...

So many of the judges complained about it, I actually asked to see their review copies, believing, like the OP, that there must be SOME redeeming quality in everything....my innocent naivete' died that day, never to be seen again.

 

[pawsplay]

So many of the judges complained about it, I actually asked to see their review copies, believing, like the OP, that there must be SOME redeeming quality in everything....my innocent naivete' died that day, never to be seen again.

See, you learned something.

 

[enworldatemylogin]

FGU. _______ Games Unplayable. I only ever tried to play Aftermath, but that was enough.

 

[Nagol]

FGU. _______ Games Unplayable. I only ever tried to play Aftermath, but that was enough.

We played Aftermath for years -- maybe decades in total. My last campaign in the game system lasted 5? years. It's still on the go-to list for its genre.

Bushido is basically the same system with a Oriental magic system tacked on that is also pretty good.

I strongly recommend Swordbearer as well. It's an entirely different system that has a lot of interesting takes on treasure rewards and character wealth that in many ways is similar but superior to d20 Modern. The magic system is also quite different from many other fantasy sets.

 

['Arry]

I liked Bushido, although I never really got the magic system figured out.

 

[Doug McCrae]

The World of Synnibarr sounds like it's full of wahoo fun, a lot like Rifts except turned up one more notch. 'Synnibarr' is a good word too, it sounds rich and exotic.

The worst gaming product I own is GURPS IOU, because it tries to be funny but isn't.