10 reasons why every OSR fan needs to get in on the TFT kickstater

ffilz · August 09, 2018, 05:26:52 PM

Quote from: Larsdangly;1052343Combat in TFT is best played strictly by the rules, or strictly by whatever clearly specified house rules you might introduce, rather than by intuitive interpretation of circumstances. This is because the rules are simple but quite concrete and intentionally 'gameable'. It is just like chess in this respect. Chess is cool and fun to play, but wouldn't go well if you used your intuition to decide how far a bishop could move or whether a pawn could take a knight. You might have your reasons, but the result would be a different game that is won with different strategies.

I get that mostly, but if there are rules that create really odd situations, and you want to use the system in an RPG as opposed to a board game, then the GM may need to arbitrate situations.

Consider that almost any RPG rule probably has a situation where the rule doesn't make sense and blindly following the rules creates jarring outcomes.

Frank

AsenRG · August 09, 2018, 05:41:27 PM

Thank you, I wasn't aware there's such a KS:)!

Shawn Driscoll · August 09, 2018, 10:28:38 PM

Quote from: Larsdangly;10523111. The Fantasy Trip has been locked away in a hermetically sealed chamber since 1982

2. A lot of the artwork is being prepared by one of the essential 70's-80's era roleplaying game artists

3. The official setting amounts to 'everything is possible, and it is your job to figure out what that means'

4. Your characters will definitely die.

5. But that's o.k. because it will take you less time to make a new one than it took me to write this sentence.

6. And every character basically fits on a 3x5 card

7. Yet somehow combat in this game kicks the crap out combat in whatever other game you are currently playing

8. Hyper intelligent armed octopuses

9. Great company that you know will deliver the goods

10. All those OG nerds will be playing it in a couple of months

In other words, nostalgia is the only reason.

mhensley · August 09, 2018, 10:57:50 PM

Quote from: Shawn Driscoll;1052379In other words, nostalgia is the only reason.

Yep, pretty much. I've already owned this game before. It's cute but it's no more realistic than D&D and is less fun imo. And you're kidding yourself if you think sjg is going to be supporting it much. They just churn out 47 different flavors of Munchkin anymore.

Larsdangly · August 09, 2018, 11:45:34 PM

That's all right; it's best if snarky sour-pusses keep away from your table anyway. More space for people who like games.

WillInNewHaven · August 10, 2018, 12:31:15 AM

What happened to "produce something and sell it?"
I remember The Fantasy Trip from its first time around the block. It was OK, although no one in our area actually ever ran it. Several of us bought copies and discussed it and I remember suggesting that someone who wasn't running anything at the moment run it, but no one did.
Why should I buy it before they have a product?
I Kickstarted C.J. Carella's first novel and I don't regret it. But he was as broke as I was, actually broker.
Why should I pay an established company for something that they have yet to produce.
I realize that SJG is not a fly-by-night which is not going to produce the game; this isn't a matter of distrust.

Spinachcat · August 10, 2018, 12:38:04 AM

There are no hexes in fantasy!!!

TheShadow · August 10, 2018, 12:57:01 AM

It's a great little game and always clicked with me. And I didn't discover it until 2005 so it's not nostalgia. This game works (it's designed by Steve Jackson after all) and yes it mainlines a 1970s gaming vibe but that's hardly a bad thing.

JeremyR · August 10, 2018, 01:38:12 AM

4 Reasons not to:

1) Other companies have produced retro-clones of TFT (and adventures), companies that do it for the love of the game and not Kickstarter money
2) Much of TFT's marketing (still to this day) is "D&D sucks!" which frankly was trite in the late 1970s.
3) SJ loved TFT so much that he took what, 30 years to get it back? Is he even into RPGs anymore? When was the last time he personally wrote something for GURPS? Hell, does anyone produce anything for GURPs anymore? Seems kinda dead.
4) While TFT is a fun enough micro-game of arena combat, and works fine for "programmed" adventures, it kinda sucks as an actual RPG (though better than GURPS)

TheShadow · August 10, 2018, 02:36:32 AM

The negativity in this thread is off the charts...advise a few people to open the blinds and let in a bit of sunshine! Nobody is holding a gun to your head to support TFT, but stuff like "Steve Jackson ignored the game for 35 years so it must suck" is pretty off base (he was shut out from the IP and is republishing it at the first opportunity).

Spinachcat · August 10, 2018, 02:59:35 AM

I played TFT back in the day and it does arena combat really well, but I remember there being a math hack that got abused to much.

It's GURPS-lite fantasy and I remember we had plenty of fun non-dungeon games with it. We did Roman / Greek myth stuff instead of LotR stuff. Make more sense to us since hex dungeons were weird.

Though hex caverns were cool.

philreed · August 10, 2018, 04:22:31 AM

Quote from: mhensley;1052384And you're kidding yourself if you think sjg is going to be supporting it much.

Support will depend on success. At the moment, the project is performing well enough that we have started notes/discussions for an expansion to take to Kickstarter in early 2019, after we have shipped this game to project backers.

philreed · August 10, 2018, 04:25:16 AM

Quote from: WillInNewHaven;1052392Why should I pay an established company for something that they have yet to produce.
I realize that SJG is not a fly-by-night which is not going to produce the game; this isn't a matter of distrust.

The world has changed. And, more importantly, the game industry has changed. Many products are one-shots in today's market, periodicals that come and go from a retailer's shelves quickly, replaced by the next new thing.

At the office, our approach depends on titles getting more than a 30-day shot. So, as have many, we are using crowdfunding for some of the projects that are on the line; The Fantasy Trip has been off the market for so long that we had no way to judge true demand. Kickstarter gives us the tools to produce the correct product at the quantity needed.

philreed · August 10, 2018, 04:26:50 AM

Quote from: JeremyR;10524002) SJ loved TFT so much that he took what, 30 years to get it back?

This is a misunderstanding of the legal issues surrounding the game. What I can say:

When Steve was legally able to secure the rights to The Fantasy Trip, he did.

philreed · August 10, 2018, 04:29:03 AM

Quote from: estar;1052326It what I did with GURPS for a long time. Until I got Cardboard dungeon and saw how they quashed hexes to make it fit a rectangular grid. It made translating dungeon maps so much easier.

I worked on that project. I spent a few weeks working with the art that Loubet provided, going Photoshop-mad crafting all sorts of little bits and pieces and assembling the package. That feels like a lifetime ago.