Lots of OSR games exist. I get it. We can't play them all. Even my own favorite, Dungeons and Delvers Dice Pool Edition, is not that popular as a whole. I might be the only one here to have ever played it. I like it, and that's enough.
But this game, Fantastic Heroes and Witchery Retro RPG, has features that make it stand out.
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/m/product/129194 (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/m/product/129194)
1. Lots of classes like Knights in addition to Fighters and Templar (aka Paladin). Even race specific classes like Elf Eldritch Archer, Elf Fae Mage, and Elf Forrestal, Elf Warden.
2. Unique races including 20/21st century Earth humans transported to a fantasy land, including bonuses for being otherworldly.
3. It even has some sci-fi classes and gear if you want to run stuff like John Carter of Mars or He-Man.
One area it doesn't have is a bestiary. Buy another book or download a free game for that it says. Oh, well.
Anybody have any thoughts on this title?
Or thoughts that too many OSR games exist with damn near nothing amazing about them? That's how I feel about Old School Essentials and Basic Fantasy RPG. They sort of exist to be the white bread of OSR. Their selling point is that they don't have fat. They're just games, take it or leave it.
It makes me wonder why these other games don't get more interest. That's why I play the ones I do, because they're not plain-Jane.
Don't get me started. This product is terrific. Magic system has some cool tweaks. Skill system is cool. This thing is terrific.
Needs a Monster Manual.
However I think the author has disappeared. Pundit used to work with him I think
I can't find it, but there was a pretty long thread on here about the game when it came out. I was waiting for the additional books, but DOM seems to have ridden off into the sunset after publishing Dark Albion (another good game you should play).
It is a cool game, no doubt, and I love the use of stock art, it has a very "old school" feel.
It is also free.
It carries all the complexity of later AD&D (weapon proficiencies, combat segments) with some bits of modern D&D. Dozens of fun classes and races, zillions of spells. Very comprehensive - RC level of details, but a bit more streamlined. Single save, unified skills, unified XP tables, etc.
Yeah, it lacks a bestiary, but we might as well use the 1e or 2e monster/monstrous manual.
It is JUST A LITTLE too crunchy for my tastes, but overall... it is one of the best neoclones in existence, IMO.
Quote from: Eric Diaz on December 09, 2022, 12:39:07 PM
It is also free.
Single save,
I actually didn't know it was free. I've got so many OSR games in PDF format I lose track. I think I have about 200 or so games at this point?
But the fact that Fantasic Heroes was able to peak out from that big pile of games should tell you something.
I'll admit, the single feature of having real world, modern humans as a race option was the reason it didn't get filed away as OSR game #3,452. The rest of the book was just as good.
I also highlighted the single save as another good point. I like that.
So, how come I'm not playing it.
Truthfully, it's because I found even more cool games that edged it off my top 5 list. A list I'm still at #3, with two more to go to test drive.
There are too many good games out there. With that said, how is the drama around One-DND still newsworthy? Play this. Play OSR. Play D6. Play hundreds of games and find your game.
here's a counterpoint: godbound
Quote from: MeganovaStella on December 09, 2022, 01:25:58 PM
here's a counterpoint: godbound
Godbound is good (I mean, I have an appendix I paid for on the KS), but it's different scope than typical OSR games. I love Kevin's stuff, but I wouldn't recommend it over thins like FH&W or OSE. I can see using it to play standard D&D.
Took some digging but found the thread: https://www.therpgsite.com/pen-paper-roleplaying-games-rpgs-discussion/fantastic-heroes-witchery-new-retro-clone/
The game still holds up almost 10 years later.
It has some unique characteristics... Especially, combing and AD&D feel (instead of the more popular B/X and even OD&D) with lots of simplification (XP, skills, single save) but still an enormous variety of options - while keeping things mostly OSR compatible - is not something you see often.
Adding "group classes" like 2e is great.
Keeping modifiers in line with B/X instead of AD&D is perfect.
Thieves skills are wonderfully simple.
In fact, most classes take less than a page. This is simpler than OSE in many regards, but still has more options.
And, of course, the "science fantasy" flavor is quite rare.
Awesome stuff.
One lovely tidbit: drow are a race of tiefling elves. Perfection!
Amending:
I also agree with the observations above. The small, random chance of a human character being from modern Earth ala John Carter. Science Fantasy classes and equipment. Great stuff!
And the author is right about monsters. There are so many monster books available, for purchase and for free, that it would be a waste of page count to republish the same standard set of creatures.
The only missing elements of old-school play are strongholds/domains and mass combat. And there are enough variants of those that you could adapt your favorite.
Or, if you already have a favorite retroclone, FH&W can be a source of additional ideas to weave in.
One of a handful of "lost or overlooked" gems in the community.
Yes, it a superb take on old-school D&D. I could sing its praises all day, but you asked why I'm not playing it. So...
(1) I have a hard time getting people to play OSR titles in general and this is an OSR title that is generally unknown even in OSR circles. I'd rather be playing a moderately good game than sitting by myself reading the best game ever written.
(2) The author is verbose. There is nothing so obvious that he doesn't want to write a few sentences about it. The writing isn't bad, but it results in a fat book.
(3) It is just a little bit more crunchy than I like. Mind you, my preference runs closer to OD&D and B/X in this regard.
That's all I got. Everything else about FH&W is great. The fact that it has no bestiary or magical item list should bother nobody who plays OSR. Those things are largely interchangeable. My favorite part of the game is how it includes options for the cleric class that actually make sense, which I dont find in any official edition of D&D.
Quote from: PulpHerb on December 09, 2022, 01:28:49 PM
Quote from: MeganovaStella on December 09, 2022, 01:25:58 PM
here's a counterpoint: godbound
Godbound is good (I mean, I have an appendix I paid for on the KS), but it's different scope than typical OSR games. I love Kevin's stuff, but I wouldn't recommend it over thins like FH&W or OSE. I can see using it to play standard D&D.
You can easily scale it down to Heroic Mortals- the level of most DND characters- anyway.
Is this the one that uses the combat rules from Chainmail?
Quote from: Tasty_Wind on December 10, 2022, 12:02:16 AM
Is this the one that uses the combat rules from Chainmail?
No, it uses the d20, no weapon vs. AC adjustment (and either ascending or descending AC). You may be thinking of
Spellcraft & Swordplay, which is *my opinion* of the OSR we should be playing. :) It's very close to
Chainmail-style combat, but does use a modified Man-to-Man
Chainmail system for all combat (and ignores the Troop-Type and Fantasy Combat systems).
There are some other clones which are close to
Chainmail-style combat (
Platemail,
The Seven Voyages of Zylarthen are two I'm aware of), but each differs in more significant ways. And there may be even more I'm unaware of.