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Message: <blockquote data-quote="kenada" data-source="post: 9794862" data-attributes="member: 70468">I did a read through of the Core Rulebook on the Ars Technica forum. I’m not going to link it here because: the forum allows swearing, and there is swearing; and to stay within the bounds of both this forum’s rules and the spirit of a [+] thread. I will summarize my thoughts though:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The book is a nice read. The art is good, and the layout is solid. When I say that it’s a nice read, I mean just reading it is nice. Some games are tedious to get through, but this one is not;</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Fabula Ultima is often pretty specific about what it wants you to do, which I really like. There are a couple of places where I wish it could be more specific. In particular, I would have liked to see more information on scene-framing. This is particularly true for GM scenes;</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I struggled viewing it as a “JRPG simulator”. The author’s experiences are different from mine, and I’m sympathetic to Yoshi-P’s <a href="https://youtu.be/8ZTNoV2Iey0?t=1686" target="_blank">take on the term in an interview last year</a>. However, I find Fabula Ultima seems to be perfectly good as a fantasy RPG rather than as just an emulator of certain ones;</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I wish there were more group types. I find “Brought Together By Fate” particularly unsatisfying because it’s described a placeholder until you figure out which of the others will be your real type;</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I like the way it builds characters. It reminds me of Sword World with the obligate multiclassing. IP is a nice abstraction for consumables. We always had problems in Pathfinder 1e with having the right ones, but it should be easy here. Also, yay magic tent;</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">There is some good stuff in the GM chapter, and I like the design of monsters, but creating new creatures seems like a very intensive task. I understand there are quick build rules coming;</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">If I called out scene-framing as needing more detail, I wish there was more information on creating a prepared dungeon. While there is a ton of advice available on creating dungeons for conventional RPGs, Fabula Ultima is not a conventional RPG;</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I want to call out puzzle boss monsters. I’m really looking forward to getting to use some of these, though (again) the monster creation rules are pretty intensive. I particularly liked the example with Angela, the Fire Mage; and</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">A special mention goes to the rare item list. I really liked all the different items. They provide good examples of what kinds of items you can create, and some of them are just cool. Plus, the pixel art is pretty neat.</li> </ul>I plan to try Fabula Ultima running for my group this weekend, but I won’t be using Press Start. I really wanted to use it, but there’s a part at the end that describes the differences between it and the full game, and those are all things that are important to us. In particular, I have concerns about how well the collaborative world creation/building will work and whether my players will like the character creation/building. The latter in particular has already been raised as a concern by one player, but I know the former hasn’t been popular with my group in the past.I will probably integrate some form of unlocking to explain the rules. My players already have the Press Start to get familiar (since I’m not going to run it). The two things I called out (scene-framing and dungeon prep) are not major concerns for me. I can figure it out, but given how specific the game is about what it wants you to do, I feel like there could have been more detail or more instruction on how to do those things.I also plan to read through the GM’s booklet before we play Saturday, but it’s a pretty short book. It’s mostly additional tools plus some tips and tricks. There’s also a GM screen, which will be handy.</blockquote>

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