Fantasy Craft released (in PDF...)

[Krensky]

Whatever happened to Farthest Star and Shatterpunk?

Crafty got closed mouth after they realized their well intentioned enthusiasm was hurting them so they don't discuss project status anymore really.

That said, Farthest Star left with Scott Gearin since it was his baby. Shatterpunk is likely still on the schedule, but I believe 10k Bullets is the next big release.

 

[Krensky]

Whatever one wishes to believe about such things, it is literally the case that I would've bought that PDF, had it been a fair amount cheaper (i.e., what I consider reasonable for a RPG PDF), but simply won't, as things stand.

YMMV, naturally.


edit --- Oh, and I know of one other product, so far, where the publisher is following suit. No, it's not 400+ pages, but the book is considerably more than the PDF, if I'm not mistaken. Adamant's supplement for Pathfinder is what I'm referring to, btw. Hopefully, this will catch on. . .

I understand this is a matter of principle for some people, and a matter of price vs utility for others, and cold, dreary economic reality for others (sorry and good luck guys). To provide some context though let me present some comparative PDFs:

Pathfinder + Bestiary - $9.99 + ??
Exalted 2e - $19.99
Conan - $34.97
M&M + W&W - $36.95
Iron Heroes Bundle - $35.00
HARP PDF Value Pack - $38.00
Hero 5th Revised + Fantasy Hero - $57.99
True20 + 3 Handbooks + Fantasy Paths + Bestiary - 67.99
GURPS 4 Basic Set Bundle + GURPS 4 Fantasy + GURPS 4 Magic - $104.80

Now, I admit there is some wiggle on the last three of the amount of necessity a given source book might have, but its still a useful comparison.

 

[Pbartender]

Crafty got closed mouth after they realized their well intentioned enthusiasm was hurting them so they don't discuss project status anymore really.

Yeah... I remember that, now. It was just after AEG let them off the leash. Wasn't that something like three years ago?

 

[kitsune9]

Alright, I know Pathfinder is the big hype, but Fantasy Craft is another fantasy alternative out there, and the PDF is out now. The hardcopy MAY be out by GenCon, but the pdf is here:

Fantasy Craft - Crafty Games | EN World PDF Store

This is based on Mastercraft, which is a trimmed down version of spycraft 2.0. It might be worth looking at if you want something a bit more generic than Pathfinder, and/or something that emphasizes skill based conflicts a bit more than Pathfinder, D&D 3.5, or 4e.

Though its a d20 derivative, it's less plug and play ready with 3.5 than Pathfinder, but it does have a pretty handy OGL creature converter. But it does use the scalable/abstract NPC/creature system of Spycraft.

The game is flexible in that it features campaign qualities that help define the tone and flavor of the game. For example, arcane magic is not part of the game (or assumed in the balance) unless you use the sorcery campaign quality. Other factors like the presence and function of morality in the game, progression, deadliness of combat, etc., can all be tweaked by selecting the right campaign quality. More or less, they are like built in house rules, with the additional advantage that the rest of the system keys into the existing qualities nice (for example, all classes that would only make sense in a world with arcane magic have the sorcery quality listed as a prerequisite.)

As with Spycraft, it pays more attention to its skill system than 3e. You can get criticals (or fumbles) with skills, and a complex skill system is part of the game. Even the classes reflect the openness of the system to less combat-centric play: all classes have more skills, and there is a courtier core class (that doesn't suck.)

The cheating death rules are a nice new little feature. It provides a variety of story driven methods for allowing a player to cheat death, though there is usually a consequence. But it's a nice compromise if you don't like the implications of excessive resurrection magic.

More as I read. I'm seeing cute little angles all the time. Like I see rewards include more than just treasure. There's a cute looking little favor system...

Thanks for the background!

 

[Voadam]

Other then Pathfinder, I can't think of any other 400 page books whose PDFs cost less then $30.

I can.

A Game of Thrones (d20) 500 pages $10. The deluxe d20 + Tri stat one is $25.


Midnight 2e $10. Bundled with the movie and a module for $15. 400 pages.


Dawning Star Helios Rising $12.95 540 pages.


Warlords of the Accordlands Campaign Adventure 516 pages $16.00


Spycraft 2.0 500 pages $20.


Stargate SG-1 488 pages $20.


Exalted 2e 400 pages $20.


World of Warcraft RPG 400 pages $20.


The Great Pendragon Campaign $25 400 pages


War of the Burning Sky Complete Campaign Saga Currently on special sale for $15. 700+ pages. Very worth taking advantage of the sale.

 

[Krensky]

I can.

I knew some smart ass would prove me mistaken. Indeed, I was.

That said, those are all older products. Of the game systems, rather then setting or adventure materials, only two of them are still 'in print' (in the hard copy sense).

Exalted 2e is three years old and comparable in broad strokes to Fantasy Craft, although I think you'd be hard pressed at this point to run a Exalted 2e game from just the main book. Your players would go nutty.

Spycraft 2.0 is four years old and is, in reality, priced in relation to the Pocket edition, not the hardback. You'd World on Fire and several of the PDF releases to be comparable to Fantasy Craft for running a fantasy game.

 

[Obryn]

Is this available in a non-PDF format, like, say, through Lulu? Or is it PDF-only.

Sadly, PDF-only will kill my interest in a hurry.

-O

 

[Krensky]

Is this available in a non-PDF format, like, say, through Lulu? Or is it PDF-only.

Sadly, PDF-only will kill my interest in a hurry.

-O

The hardback might be available at GenCon. If not, Mongoose will be taking orders for delivery and the book should be out within a week or two at the most.

Most of the supplements will likely be PDF only, however. This may not be so for long though, since Crafty has started offering it's PDFs in collected form.

 

[coyote6]

Exalted 2e is three years old and comparable in broad strokes to Fantasy Craft, although I think you'd be hard pressed at this point to run a Exalted 2e game from just the main book. Your players would go nutty.

I'm pretty sure you could run a Solar Exalted game with just the main book, though you'd be making up a lot of world details yourself, and you'd also either be making a lot of items, or be running a low artifacts, low magitech game. Also, low Martial Arts, maybe.

The real question for this thread should be, how well could you run Exalted with FantasyCraft?

 

[Krensky]

I'm pretty sure you could run a Solar Exalted game with just the main book, though you'd be making up a lot of world details yourself, and you'd also either be making a lot of items, or be running a low artifacts, low magitech game. Also, low Martial Arts, maybe.

Like I said, your players would lynch you.

The real question for this thread should be, how well could you run Exalted with FantasyCraft?

It somewhat depends on how you mean the question.

Just using the main book you could probably do something recognizable as a game involving god-lings in the world of Exalted. To do it justice you would probably need to make new species and feat chains up. However, I don't know Exalted well enough to say for sure.