Fantasy Imperium

[Kester Pelagius]

FANTASY IMPERIUM

Shadowstar Games, $35.95, HB, 429 pgs

Review by C. Demetrius Morgan​

Time Required: Median.*

Core System: Uses a percentile based skill mechanic.

Playability: Average.

Complexity: Median, though "at a glance" it appears Tremendous.

Product Quality: Nice glossy cover with a good binding.

Originality: Average.

Best Suited For: Veteran role-players

Grade: B-

* Even with a GM familiar with the material to walk you through the basics there's a lot of charts to weed through.


THE REVIEW

Looking for something different in fantasy role-playing? How about an Interactive Storytelling Game (ISG) of Historical Fantasy set in Medieval Europe. What? You've never heard of an ISG? Neither had I until this tome came across my desk.

Curious? Well read on ladies and gentlemen, read on.

Fantasy Imperium, written by Mark O'Bannon the front man for Shadowstar Games looks like most any other RPG manual, until you pick it up. The book must weigh at least a pound and a half. One could easily make jokes about it being capable of smiting near Earth asteroids to avoid an ELE. Anyway you look at it that's an awful lot of rules! Or is it?

When queried about this the author said: "'The rules' only take about 68 pages. The rest of the book consists of spells, and other background material. So there aren’t (sic) really an “avalanche of rules” to learn."

At a glance this appears to be just another set of fantasy role-playing rules in yet another ho-hum fantastical medieval world, but if you scratch the surface you find it's actually a bit more. Or tries to be. If any RPG can be classified as family friendly this is it, granted it may not appeal to everyone.

For instance two things are made clear from the first few pages: Spiritual Warfare is a significant aspect of the game as is religion, or rather the interlocking elements of fate and luck. Yet those two points get lost under the avalanche of charts and minutia unleashed in the next 400+ some odd pages.

Intent

Fantasy Imperium tackles role-playing by stressing storytelling; the author refers to his creation as an "Interactive Storytelling Game". However unlike most RPGs this is not merely a rehashing of Lord of the Rings or the usual uninspired genre tropes but rather an attempt to create a rules system designed for role-playing in a historical setting.

Certain traditional elements of fantasy folklore are present, such as mythical races and various types of magic, but Fantasy Imperium concentrates primarily on rules for running a game in a medieval setting. So what do you get?

Mechanics

Fantasy Imperium is essentially one massive rules tome with a glossy cover and sturdy binding of heirloom quality. (There are RPG books in my library I've almost never used that are falling apart due to cheap bindings so I consider a good binding a major plus.) However the real question here is: Are the rules within this massive 429-page volume worth the paper they're printed on?

While billed as an "interactive storytelling game" it is actually a skill-based RPG. To begin with character generation is accomplished by rolling D100 (%ile dice) for each of 10 Stats, which form a character's Characteristics. Next a skill point base is generated. These SP are used to purchase skills, all pretty standard RPG rules fare. There is a bit of difference. Fantasy Imperium has a specific time period in which it is designed to be played. A time period in which social class is an integral part of the character generation process. Another surprise was that secondary traits require six-sided dice. A minor speed bump in an otherwise streamlined system, or is it?

Character Creation

You can tell a lot about a game by looking at the character sheet. The Fantasy Imperium character sheet is six pages. Talk about daunting! First impressions are everything and that may turn off a lot of gamers. No matter how good the cover art is or how well constructed the rules may be veteran gamers all look to the character sheet as a gauge of the game. Conversely, those coming into role-playing for the first time may glance at the charts and character sheet and decide this game system is not for them. Which is a shame because those six pages may lead many to conclude this game is a crunchy, rules heavy, time consuming monstrosity.

But is that assessment true?

To find out I'm going to walk you through character creation, you be the judge. I used a stopwatch, sans time for printing the character sheet et al, to find out how long creating a basic character takes.

How long did it take? To start a quick three minutes to generate basic stats. (A die bounced off the table in a vain effort to escape forcing me to execute recovery plan baker.) By about the eight minute mark, and that's with a calculator, various sundry secondary "combat factors" stats were on my sheet. By the eleven minute mark I had the "saving throws" filled out and generated Luck and Fate scores; which you need six-sided dice for by the way.

By the thirteen minute mark I was confused. You're supposed to determine Social Class then choose a Profession appropriate to it so, flipping pages, yeah, how?

Had to re-read everything. Added a couple three minutes to the time. By the eighteen minute mark, after much double and triple checking, I had my profession recorded on the character sheet; sort of. Quadruple checking my figures showed, no, I could not be that Profession because I didn't have enough SP left after buying into that Social Class. I blame that evil die and its attempt to escape its honor bound duties for distracting me.

Overall I feel the process might have gone smoother if the charts and process were explained by way of example instead of leaving the reader to muddle through. Even so the time taken thus far is still pretty good. All told, after another minute or three occupied in page flipping, the basic characteristics and character profession took roughly twenty minutes to generate the first time through. That's up to step eight in the thirteen-step character creation process. The remaining steps being mostly equipping the character, determining starting spells, and the all-important background.

A note to veteran gamers: Social Class really matters. Expect to not have a lot of fun if you're used to playing Mages and your dice rolls were not generous on the Social Class chart. On the other hand there's a lot of professions to choose from and, once you know the basics of how character creation works, it's a very organic experience. In the meantime just call me Father Absolon Wishiwasamage.


CONTENTS

While game mechanics and character creation are important so is assessing what you are getting for your money. With all the role-playing games on the market the real question here is: Why should anyone care about Fantasy Imperium? To answer that we must look between the covers and evaluate what we find therein.

Chapter 1 - Characters: Following a one-page introduction come these four pages of the game's basic rules. Covered here is character generation, an explanation of characteristics, and very brief sections on character background and character flaws.

Chapter 2 - Skills & Professions: This chapter contains 10-pages broken up into roughly a page and half of explanatory text followed by a massive list of skills.

Chapter 3 - Combat: These 5-pages cover the basics of the Fantasy Imperium conflict resolution system.

Chapter 4 - Movement & Fatigue: A sparse 4-page extension of the conflict resolution system that covers movement (for horses) in depth and Fatigue as it affects combat, magic, and travel.

Chapter 5 - Injuries & Death: Flipping through the 6-pages of this chapter you will see paragraph headings that read "Injury Procedure", "Hit Location", "Magick Weapons", "Severity of the Wound", and etcetera. This makes for a total of 15-pages dedicated to the conflict resolution system so far.

Chapter 6 - Morale & Healing: Two simple pages covering morale rules and healing; raising the tally to 17-pages of conflict resolution rules.

Chapter 7 - Fighting Styles & Tactics: More of an expansion on the skills systems this chapter contains 11-pages outlining basic combat techniques from Boxing to Streetfighting. Thematically some may feel this chapter should have come before Chapters 5 and 6, as these are unarmed combat skills. For instance the "Boxing Techniques" are listed as: Jab, Hook, Uppercut, Cross/Power Punch, Combination, and Body Punch. Each skill listed comes with it's own fatigue cost and damage thus, in this reviewers opinion, this chapter really should be read before Chapter 5.

Chapter 8 - Spiritual Warfare: That this chapter has 7-pages shows its import to the game world of Fantasy Imperium. Covered herein are Piety, Prayers, Blessings, Spirit, and brief overview of the medieval view of the struggle between the angelic and demonic realms.

Chapter 9 - Fate & Magic: The frontispiece to this chapter is a shadow-shrouded skeleton sitting at a table dimly lit by candles with a skeletal hand hovering over a spread of tarot cards. Quite the thought-provoking introduction to the 6-pages that follow. This chapter presents rules for Fate Points, a discussion of the four categories of magic- Ceremonial, Natural, Extrasensory, Black Magic- and how Magick and Fate are intertwined.

Chapter 10 - Ceremonial Magic: 28-pages covering priests, astrology, alchemy (sic), conjuration, ritualism, necromancy, and spell lists for same. Here necromancy is closely linked with spiritualism- defined as "the study of the dead"- and has the most spells (35) associated with it. An interesting section even if I do not entirely agree with how Alchemy has been presented. Too, I would like to have seen more text dedicated to discussion of priests and priestly sects.

Chapter 11 - Natural Magic: 31-pages covering Deceivers (Illusionists), Elementalism (Earth, Fire, Air, Water), Enchantment (Candle Magick, Eldritch Magick, Enchantment), and Sorcery with associated spell lists. This is perhaps the most mundane section of the magic rules as it encompasses the familiar sorts of magic we've all seen before.

Chapter 12 - Extrasensory Magic: 27-pages providing rules for playing a Mystic (Mysticism), Psychic, Seer, or Talismanic (talisman magic) with associated spell lists. One thing many GMs will like about the rules for talismans is they are self-limiting, meaning once an item has been used it becomes inert. Better yet each talisman is, by the rules, powered with only one charge. These sort of checks and balances built into the rules might make baby Monty Haul cry but it sure makes the rest of us smile.

Chapter 13 - Black Magic: 9-pages of rules for the black arts, which within Fantasy Imperium is mostly limited to Hexes & Curses. One interesting twist is the use of hatred not only as a motivating factor but a central component of the casting process. As the book says, "if the person that the spell caster is fighting is a mortal enemy, then there is a bonus to cast of +25%". What's not to love about that?

Chapter 14 - Time & Money: 16-pages of (mostly) lists of items and their prices with a bit of historical background about timepieces and monetary units for the target periods in which Fantasy Imperium is intended to be played.

Chapter 15 - Weapons: 18-pages of charts listing weapon types, where in the world they might be found, who used them, their weight, and various other sundry data points needed to generate damage et al.

Chapter 16 - Armour & Shields: Like chapter 15 this is 19-pages of charts for armor and shields with a section on shields and their enhancements.

Chapter 17 - Mythical Races: This is perhaps the most disappointing chapter in the entire book. It's only eight pages and provides a grand total of six, count them SIX, fantasy races. If you've played any incarnation of Dungeons & Dragons, GURPS Fantasy, Palladium Fantasy, D20/OGL Fantasy, or any of the half a hundred other FRPGs published in the last twenty years you've meet these six races before ad infinitim ad nauseum. There are some twists but are they enough? You'll have to make that judgement call for yourself. And the races of Fantasy Imperium? They include: Centaurs, Elves, Dwarves, Half-Elves, Halflings, and Gnomes. The racial write-ups average about a page each and provide a dearth of information.

The remainder of the book is filled with appendices for Spell lists, weapons (marvelously illustrated), armour (also marvelously illustrated), suits of armour, and a section entitled "A Witness of 1121 A.D." which is a primer for the world of that time period from the British isles to Northern Europe and beyond. There is also a extensive appendix of reference charts and an index that lend Fantasy Imperium the look of being a very well rounded core rulebook. But is it?


ANALYSIS

In short Fantasy Imperium tries to cram too much into its pages. Looking at the book sitting on my desk through the eyes of a potential Game Master it is cumbersome. Why was Dungeons and Dragons popular amongst Junior High School age teens back in the eighties? As I was one of those teens I'm going to let you in on the big secret. . .

All you really needed to play, besides the dice, was the Players Handbook. Yes the Dungeon Master's Guide and a module or two were handy to have, but the modules you really did not need. Too, there were about a dozen or so pages from the DMG that you could Xerox and still play while leaving the core rulebook at home. For those who don't remember the PHB was a very small and lightweight book. That meant you could carry it in your backpack without worries of its added weight breaking your back.

In short all a kid needed to play D&D were quick reference sheets for character creation, a summary of conflict resolution, and a reference manual that's about as heavy as a hamburger. Fantasy Imperium is thick and heavy. It's a pretty looking tome for gathering dust on a shelf, not carrying around. In short the Fantasy Imperium rulebook is best suited for veteran gamers and collectors of game rules.

This is not to say Fantasy Imperium is built upon a bad system, merely that this reviewer has reservations about aspects of its presentation. Like the Experience system. As written the text makes it sound like experience points (XP) are awarded not based on goals achieved or character accomplishments but are rather doled out by the Storyteller "at the rate of 1-10 for each gaming session".

I prefer an experience system that provides for positive (and negative) reinforcement of player character actions during the gaming session with rules that state so in no uncertain terms. Merely sitting at the table and occupying space should not be a guarantee of XP gain, at least not wholly, and this oversimplified rule may lead to lazy GMing. XP should be earned. However there are some interesting checks and balances built into the XP system.

Unlike many older RPGs, where XP seems to accumulate with no other purpose than to "level up" Fantasy Imperium makes the XP system an integral part of character development. XP are used to purchase skills, with a hard coded rule that 75% of accumulated XP must be spent on profession-based skills.

On the surface this seems very reasonable, though my overactive imagination can conceive of one or two problems, but the only way to find out for sure is to test this system in prolonged campaigning. Does that mean it's bad? No.

When you gain a profession the system makes allotments for how much income the character may receive, as well, and what the social class for said profession is. At a glance the system appears to be very well integrated into the world setting. Perhaps too rigidly for some Game Master's tastes, but for those who abhor the gray areas that spawn rules lawyers this is a very refreshing approach.

And what about Chapter 4? While it's great to see horses covered- after all they are often a player's second game character- I can't help but notice no mention has been made of fantasy creatures. Certainly this would have been the place to mention fairies, giants, unicorns, or other fantastical creatures. Even if such creatures weren't intended for inclusion in the game humans do come in a variety of sizes. Shouldn't some mention have been made of the relationship between size/height and speed? Alas I saw none.

What about those reservations mentioned in Chapter 10? These I cannot let go so easily. Alchemy seems woefully misrepresented for a historical RPG. Too, the lack of information on priests and priestly castes seems an oversight. Granted Fantasy Imperium is intended for medieval role-play in the European world but there were still many contrary sects out there. Speaking of omissions where are the Cabalists? Why was no mention made of Witches or the Templars? What about the Inquisition?

Appendix F seemed unnaturally quiet on this subject and only one inadequate paragraph was devoted to it in Chapter 8. Aside from a laundry list of heresies and pagan movements I could mention that weren't this section, as presented, is internally consistent; if wanting. But that's just my opinion.


APPRAISAL

Now for the really harsh words. I've been with Fantasy Imperium since it was in the play test stages, when I received a PDF of the game, back when it was still referring to itself as a RPG. Believe it or not I like it. The rules have a very old school feel. While the idea of centering the focus of the game on storytelling is a noble idea I have to admit there are times, when reading the rules, that I have sat back and thought: "That is going to confuse a newbie." I've thought this not because the text is hard to decipher but rather because these rules really aren't the sort you're used to seeing in a storytelling system.

Fantasy Imperium is a fantasy role-playing game. The rules are for a fantasy role-playing. Having a previous edition of the rules I can see the intent. Mr. O'Bannon is attempting to fuse the best of RPG mechanics with the best of storytelling concepts. Just as Fantasy Wargamming (a book printed back in the early days when RPGs were still emerging from tabletop wargamming) was a set of rules that attempted to fuse the best of both worlds, in it's case tabletop war games and role-playing.

Alas who remembers Fantasy Wargamming?


FINAL THOUGHTS

Fantasy Imperium is a massive rules tome that's essentially a plug-in game engine for the world setting it emulates. Sadly it is not entirely playable 'out of the box' as presented; at least not without some major work on the GMs part. This is due to a lack of adventure starters or even a detailed world setting. The background presented is sparse and minimalistic. The book itself is full of daunting charts that, sadly, will have first time gamers thinking the game is far more complicated than it really is.

What we have here are rules for running a certain style of fantasy role-playing game set in Christian Europe that manages to squeeze an encyclopedia of resources into the appendices. The world is built upon a foundation of classic fantasy stereotypes, however as previously mentioned the scope is limited to Christian Europe. So if you are wanting to run Arabian Nights Fantasy or Sword & Sorcery ala Howard or Moorcock this is probably not going to do it for you without major tweaking.

Veteran gamers will find Fantasy Imperium a welcome addition to their RPG library. The tome is chock full of old school goodness alas, for the novice just starting out, Fantasy Imperium might become little more than a doorstop until Shadowstar Games puts out some fluff filled source books and adventure modules. But if you're willing to put in the effort to spackle over the holes you may just find Fantasy Imperium has provided a solid foundation on which to build a campaign.

Note: The original draft of this review was written in 2006.

Copyright © C. Demetrius Morgan