Four Color to Fantasy: Revised Edition
- Thread starter HellHound
- Start date
Corinthi
First Post
En Publishing's Four Color to Fantasy: Revised Edition is an update of thier well recieved D20 Superhero rules. Of course, I'm certain anyone reading this review already knows that. While I'll briefly touch on formatting, art, and the like, my primary review focus will be on actual content.
I've playtested the original Four Color to Fantasy extensively in multiple settings and campaigns. While none of my players are currently using Four Color to Fantasy: Revised rules at the moment, I am using these rules to spice up a handful of NPCs in my Arcana Unearthed campaign.
The 4CtF: Revised package contains two versions of Four-Color to Fantasy Revised - one in landscape format with graphics and bookmarks for use on-screen, and one in portrait format without graphics, bookmarks or color for printing out. The landscape edition is 140 pages, with the print edition trimmed down to 100 pages. Of course, the Landscape version is much prettier and dynamic, but my printer truly appreciated the ink saving, portrait version.
Art quality varies considerably throughout the work, with some pieces being merely passable and others quite enjoyable. The book does lack the visual appeal of more polished print releases, however, that's to be expected of a lower budget PDF release.
While I'm going to break down the content by chapter, I want to start with a disclaimer. Much of the information in this volume has already been touched on in the orginal Four Color to Fantasy, so may seem redundant to those already familiar with the work. Also, 4CtF was designed to work with existing D20 products as an enhancement, not as a stand alone system. Many of it's conventions and mechanics are intentionally familiar, as to make the product more modular and easier to insert into a campaign.
Chapter One: Superpowered Rules and Mechanics
The first new mechanic touched on is Backgrounds. For those of you familiar with Backgrounds in Spycraft, the idea is very similiar. Players buy built in 'plot hooks' for thier characters with Skill or Power Points. They then recieve bonus XP when those plot hooks play a role in the story. I don't like backgrounds as a game mechanic. I find it peculiar that a character with an interesting backstory would end up potentially less skilled than a character without one. I also have trouble with the fact that the Background XP awards don't scale with level. A background so dangerous that it's likely to result in your character's death grants a whopping 300xp regardless of your character's level when it's the focal point of the story. Eh, not for me.
Next comes the Everyday Hero optional rule modification to hit points. Essentially, it's a Vitality/Wound point system without stepping on Wizards' toes. Hit Point damage isn't quite as nasty and heals faster, but when a character runs out of hit points, they begin taking Con damage.
Reputation gets a brief treatment, with two systems. One for use with the D20 Modern reputation system, one without. Either system look as though they'd work fine for folks who feel a need to track reputation. One can delve as deeply as they like into reputation, allowing for different reaction levels depending on how you're perceived by individual groups. Reading over the section, I was tempted to stat out Spiderman's reputation, as it's such a large part of what makes Spiderman what he is.
The chapter ends on the discussion of Hyper Rolls. D20 is a very linear system, and at the higher levels of play one's modifier can become much more important than the actual roll of the dice. In order to keep some randomness in that power strata, they offer up the Hyper Roll mechanic. Essentially, for every 10 full points over a +20 modifier to a d20 roll, one drops 10 points off the modifier and rolls an extra d20. For example, instead of rolling 1d20+43, one would roll 3d20+23.
Chapter 2: Heroic Classes
I'll briefly touch on each of the new classes layed out in this chapter. Some of these classes have been designed with D20 Modern in mind, which may or may not limit one's utility based on one's opinion of D20 Modern.
Base Classes:
Hero: This class is the primary way that characters gain superpowers in 4 Color to Fantasy. And superpowers is about all it gets. Poor BAB, Saves, HPs, Defense, Reputation, and no skills. It's almost a template rather than a class and serves more of a way of noting the effect superpowers change one's CR. I have some reservations about the impact of the Hero Class when one considers epic style play. Several levels of poor everything could pose a serious hinderance that I'm not certain the Superpowers will make up for. Of course, this limitation is more a factor of D20's poor Epic ruleset than the Hero class itself.
Mage: This class is merely a revision of the Mage from The Elements of Magic, another En Publishing Title. You need that other book to make effective use of the Mage. The revision makes the Mage compatible with d20 Modern and allows characters to be spellcasters from 1st level. However, without the Elements of Magic, this class isn't particularly useful.
Specialist: This class is a mix of the Smart Hero D20 Modern class and the Expert D&D NPC class. It's designed to be a 'skills master' style class suitable for Fantasy D&D. This is /not/ a D20 Modern class. The class is incredibly customizable, but breaks so easily I cannot even imagine playing one as a core character. Dip classing for some skills and feats, sure, but not as the primary focus of a character. They are just far too frail to be adventuring. Thier HPs, BAB, and Saves are comparable to a Wizard (if a little worse), but they trade spellcasting for skills and feats. /Not/ a good trade.
Advanced/Prestige Classes:
Detective: 4 Level class devoted to advancing one's deductive skills. I like the implementation of the class, as it's dedicated to unearthing information without abusive abilities designed to destroy any mystery with a simple use.
Gadgeteer: 10 level prestige class based on the popular comic book convention of playing with wierd science toys. Definately one of the most complex classes on the books with class abilities that require both bookkeeping and math. It looks like a potentially fun class, but I'd need to playtest it before commenting on it's balance, and none of my players have ever played a Gadgeteer.
Menancing Vigilante: 5 Level prestige class dedicated to striking fear in the hearts of men. The two cornerstones of this class are beating criminals to a pulp while intimidating them out of thier shorts. An entertaining and classic archtype that's well represented.
Mentor: More a support than a hero class, the Mentor is a 5 level prestige class with a mixed focus. They get various knowledge type abilities as well as some abilities that allow them to buff others. Sort of a variant bard in a way. Probably better as an NPC.
Heroic Templates:
The chapter finishes up with a brief variety of templates. Blasters, Flyers, and Tanks, each subdivided into Weak, Lesser, Moderate, and Strong. The templates are designed to aid in character creation, giving both the GM and players quick and easy starting points to work from.
My only issue with the templates is that there's so few. I'd have liked to see a few more Archtypes templated out. Supersoldier, Speedster, and Mentalist all come to mind as useful builds.
Chapter 3: Super Powers and Super Powered Characters
Chapter Three discusses all the nitty gritty of superpowers. Basically it's all the mechanics you need for how superpowers work, how to purchase superpowers with Hero Points, how to create new powers, how to keep those powers balanced, and whatnot. The layout of the chapter is simple and clear, as are the mechanics. Power sources are discussed, as are Advantages and Hinderances.
Something to keep in mind is that 4CtF was designed to easily fit into existing D20 games, so the mechanics are largely recognizable and easy to work one's mind around. Also, the system allows one to customize thier powers a great deal. GMs need to be careful. A decent powergamer can do a lot of number crunching here and can end up with some outright abominations. The original 4CtF popped up from time to time in the Sultans of Smack thread, so be prepared to monitor your players.
One of my favorite parts of the chapter is the section on Heroic Powers. It's a guideline for awarding Hero Points in lieu of treasure in a fantasy game. Rather than a Ring of Protection, you could grant a fighter a Superpowered Insight bonus to his AC representing his preternatural skill at avoiding blows. A mage could devlop the ability to shoot blasts of fire from his fingertips. A rogue's fingers could be so fast it's almost as if your purse teleports into his hand. The guidelines allow you to give such boons while keeping the character's power level appropriate to his character level. Excellent stuff, although again, a GM needs to be careful. Things that look balanced on paper can be overpowered in play.
Chapter 4: Super Feats and Heroic Tactics
This chapter details 18 new feats and a variety of different rules to cover unusual situations, namely those involving Super Strength and SuperSpeed.
The feats cover everything from Exotic Weapon Proficiency (giant melee objects) to Partial Phasing to Telepathic Prediction. Although the feats are flavorful and entertaining, there aren't enough of them. I view the feats more as examples of how superfeats should be designed than a complete chapter.
The chapter on unorthodox tactics covers Breaking Things, Giant Weapons, Knockback, and Travelling at Superspeeds. Breaking things and giant weapons are pretty simple and easy to work into a game. Knockback is basically a modified bull rush mechanic and might be a bit more trouble than it's worth. Travelling at Superspeed seems a bit clunky to me. It involves a more die rolling than I like to worry with. Of course, the problem only really crops up at higher power levels than I generally play at, you your mileage may vary.
Chapter 5: Creating a Supers Game
This chapter gives advice about designing and running a Supers game. Setting, tone, genres, advancement, and other elements of a supers campaign are all described in plain English for the aspiring GM. It's a well written chapter with plenty of sound advice for GMs. Nothing in the chapter really grabbed me, but then I've been running Superhero games since the mid 80s.
Chapter 6: Dark Decade
Chapter 6 details an example 4CtF setting called, appropriately enough, Dark Decade. It's basically an homage to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It includes setting info, genre tropes, example characters, and a vampire template. Those familiar with the original 4CtF will find this chapter rather familiar. It's not a bad chapter to showcase what the system can do, but it's also not a setting I'm interested in. I'd have been happier with a street level Superhero game or an XMen spin off. Or for a fantasy spin, Xanth.
Chapter 7: Rogues Gallery
This chapter has 6 sample characters, complete with stats, history, and personality, as well as 2 heroic templates. The sample characters show a wide variety of power levels and genres and have some rather entertaining writeups. My favorite, naturally, is Zidi, the Halfling Titan, a young halfling warrior blessed by the fae to act as a champion of the meek. She's a mighty feisty halfling with an effective strength of 50 for the purposes of lifting and throwing. One of the better illustrations in the book is her throwing a wagon at a giant goblin.
The two templates are the Arachnid Warrior and the Andromedan. Spiderman and Superman respectively. The andromedan would make a challenging encounter for an epic party if used to it's full potential.
Chapter 8: Superpowers
The best analogy to this chapter is the Spells chapter of the PHB. Pages upon pages of sample powers, complete with Advantages, Restrictions, and construction guidelines. The array of example powers is somewhat daunting. The chart that lists the different powers is 4 pages long. Phasing, Telekinesis, Energy Blasts, Superspeed, Regeneration, Evasion, Invisibility... there are simply a host of powers characters can choose from. And if a players wants some ability not on the list, Chapter 3 gives solid guidelines on how to design that power. Chapter 3 detailed the rules behind power creation and how powers are used. Chapter 8 is the nifty grifty of powers. How much individual powers cost and what pieces you can fit together to build the effect you want. This chapter is an improvement from the original 4CtF. More powers are detailed and the costs have been tweaked slightly. Some loopholes have been closed, some powers have been recosted. The information has a better layout. It's simply a better chapter than the first edition.
Conclusions:
I like Four Color to Fantasy. It does exactly what it sets out to. It provides the GM all the tools they need to introduce superpowers into an existing D20 game and maintain balance with nonsupers. The hero point system is clever and is easily understood by anyone who can figure out how to spend skill ranks.
Four Color ro Fantasy is /not/ the best superhero game on the market. I've give that nod to either Champions or Mutants and Masterminds. Both are complete systems designed for superhero action. That alone gives them an edge over Four Color to Fantasy in that arena.
However, Champions and Mutants and Masterminds don't work so well with D20 Modern or D&D. I've done some fantastic things with Four Color. I mixed it with Spycraft for a Deus Ex game. I ran a D20 Modern game where all my friends developed superpowers after a mysterious accident and had to deal with thier emerging powers in as true to life fashion as I could create. I allowed someone to play a Monk PC who was entirely self sufficient, without a single magic item to encumber him. His chi was very strong.
Four Color to Fantasy is not perfect, but then no superhero game is. I was going to rate this supplement a 4/5 because there's always room for improvement. But as I wrote this review and really thought about what I've used Four Color to Fantasy for and what I plan to do with it still, I can't think of a single other supplement I have such a fondness for.
Four Color is flexible, well written, and easy to explain. It's as rules light as it can be and remain compatible with core D20. And it's totally modular. If there's a section you don't care for, ignore it. The game won't suffer as a result.
In short, although it's way too late for that, I highly reccomend Four Color to Fantasy. It's clever, entertaining, and a blast to tinker with.
Jesse Thacker
I've playtested the original Four Color to Fantasy extensively in multiple settings and campaigns. While none of my players are currently using Four Color to Fantasy: Revised rules at the moment, I am using these rules to spice up a handful of NPCs in my Arcana Unearthed campaign.
The 4CtF: Revised package contains two versions of Four-Color to Fantasy Revised - one in landscape format with graphics and bookmarks for use on-screen, and one in portrait format without graphics, bookmarks or color for printing out. The landscape edition is 140 pages, with the print edition trimmed down to 100 pages. Of course, the Landscape version is much prettier and dynamic, but my printer truly appreciated the ink saving, portrait version.
Art quality varies considerably throughout the work, with some pieces being merely passable and others quite enjoyable. The book does lack the visual appeal of more polished print releases, however, that's to be expected of a lower budget PDF release.
While I'm going to break down the content by chapter, I want to start with a disclaimer. Much of the information in this volume has already been touched on in the orginal Four Color to Fantasy, so may seem redundant to those already familiar with the work. Also, 4CtF was designed to work with existing D20 products as an enhancement, not as a stand alone system. Many of it's conventions and mechanics are intentionally familiar, as to make the product more modular and easier to insert into a campaign.
Chapter One: Superpowered Rules and Mechanics
The first new mechanic touched on is Backgrounds. For those of you familiar with Backgrounds in Spycraft, the idea is very similiar. Players buy built in 'plot hooks' for thier characters with Skill or Power Points. They then recieve bonus XP when those plot hooks play a role in the story. I don't like backgrounds as a game mechanic. I find it peculiar that a character with an interesting backstory would end up potentially less skilled than a character without one. I also have trouble with the fact that the Background XP awards don't scale with level. A background so dangerous that it's likely to result in your character's death grants a whopping 300xp regardless of your character's level when it's the focal point of the story. Eh, not for me.
Next comes the Everyday Hero optional rule modification to hit points. Essentially, it's a Vitality/Wound point system without stepping on Wizards' toes. Hit Point damage isn't quite as nasty and heals faster, but when a character runs out of hit points, they begin taking Con damage.
Reputation gets a brief treatment, with two systems. One for use with the D20 Modern reputation system, one without. Either system look as though they'd work fine for folks who feel a need to track reputation. One can delve as deeply as they like into reputation, allowing for different reaction levels depending on how you're perceived by individual groups. Reading over the section, I was tempted to stat out Spiderman's reputation, as it's such a large part of what makes Spiderman what he is.
The chapter ends on the discussion of Hyper Rolls. D20 is a very linear system, and at the higher levels of play one's modifier can become much more important than the actual roll of the dice. In order to keep some randomness in that power strata, they offer up the Hyper Roll mechanic. Essentially, for every 10 full points over a +20 modifier to a d20 roll, one drops 10 points off the modifier and rolls an extra d20. For example, instead of rolling 1d20+43, one would roll 3d20+23.
Chapter 2: Heroic Classes
I'll briefly touch on each of the new classes layed out in this chapter. Some of these classes have been designed with D20 Modern in mind, which may or may not limit one's utility based on one's opinion of D20 Modern.
Base Classes:
Hero: This class is the primary way that characters gain superpowers in 4 Color to Fantasy. And superpowers is about all it gets. Poor BAB, Saves, HPs, Defense, Reputation, and no skills. It's almost a template rather than a class and serves more of a way of noting the effect superpowers change one's CR. I have some reservations about the impact of the Hero Class when one considers epic style play. Several levels of poor everything could pose a serious hinderance that I'm not certain the Superpowers will make up for. Of course, this limitation is more a factor of D20's poor Epic ruleset than the Hero class itself.
Mage: This class is merely a revision of the Mage from The Elements of Magic, another En Publishing Title. You need that other book to make effective use of the Mage. The revision makes the Mage compatible with d20 Modern and allows characters to be spellcasters from 1st level. However, without the Elements of Magic, this class isn't particularly useful.
Specialist: This class is a mix of the Smart Hero D20 Modern class and the Expert D&D NPC class. It's designed to be a 'skills master' style class suitable for Fantasy D&D. This is /not/ a D20 Modern class. The class is incredibly customizable, but breaks so easily I cannot even imagine playing one as a core character. Dip classing for some skills and feats, sure, but not as the primary focus of a character. They are just far too frail to be adventuring. Thier HPs, BAB, and Saves are comparable to a Wizard (if a little worse), but they trade spellcasting for skills and feats. /Not/ a good trade.
Advanced/Prestige Classes:
Detective: 4 Level class devoted to advancing one's deductive skills. I like the implementation of the class, as it's dedicated to unearthing information without abusive abilities designed to destroy any mystery with a simple use.
Gadgeteer: 10 level prestige class based on the popular comic book convention of playing with wierd science toys. Definately one of the most complex classes on the books with class abilities that require both bookkeeping and math. It looks like a potentially fun class, but I'd need to playtest it before commenting on it's balance, and none of my players have ever played a Gadgeteer.
Menancing Vigilante: 5 Level prestige class dedicated to striking fear in the hearts of men. The two cornerstones of this class are beating criminals to a pulp while intimidating them out of thier shorts. An entertaining and classic archtype that's well represented.
Mentor: More a support than a hero class, the Mentor is a 5 level prestige class with a mixed focus. They get various knowledge type abilities as well as some abilities that allow them to buff others. Sort of a variant bard in a way. Probably better as an NPC.
Heroic Templates:
The chapter finishes up with a brief variety of templates. Blasters, Flyers, and Tanks, each subdivided into Weak, Lesser, Moderate, and Strong. The templates are designed to aid in character creation, giving both the GM and players quick and easy starting points to work from.
My only issue with the templates is that there's so few. I'd have liked to see a few more Archtypes templated out. Supersoldier, Speedster, and Mentalist all come to mind as useful builds.
Chapter 3: Super Powers and Super Powered Characters
Chapter Three discusses all the nitty gritty of superpowers. Basically it's all the mechanics you need for how superpowers work, how to purchase superpowers with Hero Points, how to create new powers, how to keep those powers balanced, and whatnot. The layout of the chapter is simple and clear, as are the mechanics. Power sources are discussed, as are Advantages and Hinderances.
Something to keep in mind is that 4CtF was designed to easily fit into existing D20 games, so the mechanics are largely recognizable and easy to work one's mind around. Also, the system allows one to customize thier powers a great deal. GMs need to be careful. A decent powergamer can do a lot of number crunching here and can end up with some outright abominations. The original 4CtF popped up from time to time in the Sultans of Smack thread, so be prepared to monitor your players.
One of my favorite parts of the chapter is the section on Heroic Powers. It's a guideline for awarding Hero Points in lieu of treasure in a fantasy game. Rather than a Ring of Protection, you could grant a fighter a Superpowered Insight bonus to his AC representing his preternatural skill at avoiding blows. A mage could devlop the ability to shoot blasts of fire from his fingertips. A rogue's fingers could be so fast it's almost as if your purse teleports into his hand. The guidelines allow you to give such boons while keeping the character's power level appropriate to his character level. Excellent stuff, although again, a GM needs to be careful. Things that look balanced on paper can be overpowered in play.
Chapter 4: Super Feats and Heroic Tactics
This chapter details 18 new feats and a variety of different rules to cover unusual situations, namely those involving Super Strength and SuperSpeed.
The feats cover everything from Exotic Weapon Proficiency (giant melee objects) to Partial Phasing to Telepathic Prediction. Although the feats are flavorful and entertaining, there aren't enough of them. I view the feats more as examples of how superfeats should be designed than a complete chapter.
The chapter on unorthodox tactics covers Breaking Things, Giant Weapons, Knockback, and Travelling at Superspeeds. Breaking things and giant weapons are pretty simple and easy to work into a game. Knockback is basically a modified bull rush mechanic and might be a bit more trouble than it's worth. Travelling at Superspeed seems a bit clunky to me. It involves a more die rolling than I like to worry with. Of course, the problem only really crops up at higher power levels than I generally play at, you your mileage may vary.
Chapter 5: Creating a Supers Game
This chapter gives advice about designing and running a Supers game. Setting, tone, genres, advancement, and other elements of a supers campaign are all described in plain English for the aspiring GM. It's a well written chapter with plenty of sound advice for GMs. Nothing in the chapter really grabbed me, but then I've been running Superhero games since the mid 80s.
Chapter 6: Dark Decade
Chapter 6 details an example 4CtF setting called, appropriately enough, Dark Decade. It's basically an homage to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It includes setting info, genre tropes, example characters, and a vampire template. Those familiar with the original 4CtF will find this chapter rather familiar. It's not a bad chapter to showcase what the system can do, but it's also not a setting I'm interested in. I'd have been happier with a street level Superhero game or an XMen spin off. Or for a fantasy spin, Xanth.
Chapter 7: Rogues Gallery
This chapter has 6 sample characters, complete with stats, history, and personality, as well as 2 heroic templates. The sample characters show a wide variety of power levels and genres and have some rather entertaining writeups. My favorite, naturally, is Zidi, the Halfling Titan, a young halfling warrior blessed by the fae to act as a champion of the meek. She's a mighty feisty halfling with an effective strength of 50 for the purposes of lifting and throwing. One of the better illustrations in the book is her throwing a wagon at a giant goblin.
The two templates are the Arachnid Warrior and the Andromedan. Spiderman and Superman respectively. The andromedan would make a challenging encounter for an epic party if used to it's full potential.
Chapter 8: Superpowers
The best analogy to this chapter is the Spells chapter of the PHB. Pages upon pages of sample powers, complete with Advantages, Restrictions, and construction guidelines. The array of example powers is somewhat daunting. The chart that lists the different powers is 4 pages long. Phasing, Telekinesis, Energy Blasts, Superspeed, Regeneration, Evasion, Invisibility... there are simply a host of powers characters can choose from. And if a players wants some ability not on the list, Chapter 3 gives solid guidelines on how to design that power. Chapter 3 detailed the rules behind power creation and how powers are used. Chapter 8 is the nifty grifty of powers. How much individual powers cost and what pieces you can fit together to build the effect you want. This chapter is an improvement from the original 4CtF. More powers are detailed and the costs have been tweaked slightly. Some loopholes have been closed, some powers have been recosted. The information has a better layout. It's simply a better chapter than the first edition.
Conclusions:
I like Four Color to Fantasy. It does exactly what it sets out to. It provides the GM all the tools they need to introduce superpowers into an existing D20 game and maintain balance with nonsupers. The hero point system is clever and is easily understood by anyone who can figure out how to spend skill ranks.
Four Color ro Fantasy is /not/ the best superhero game on the market. I've give that nod to either Champions or Mutants and Masterminds. Both are complete systems designed for superhero action. That alone gives them an edge over Four Color to Fantasy in that arena.
However, Champions and Mutants and Masterminds don't work so well with D20 Modern or D&D. I've done some fantastic things with Four Color. I mixed it with Spycraft for a Deus Ex game. I ran a D20 Modern game where all my friends developed superpowers after a mysterious accident and had to deal with thier emerging powers in as true to life fashion as I could create. I allowed someone to play a Monk PC who was entirely self sufficient, without a single magic item to encumber him. His chi was very strong.
Four Color to Fantasy is not perfect, but then no superhero game is. I was going to rate this supplement a 4/5 because there's always room for improvement. But as I wrote this review and really thought about what I've used Four Color to Fantasy for and what I plan to do with it still, I can't think of a single other supplement I have such a fondness for.
Four Color is flexible, well written, and easy to explain. It's as rules light as it can be and remain compatible with core D20. And it's totally modular. If there's a section you don't care for, ignore it. The game won't suffer as a result.
In short, although it's way too late for that, I highly reccomend Four Color to Fantasy. It's clever, entertaining, and a blast to tinker with.
Jesse Thacker
Similar Threads
