Been reading reviews and previews for this game: Fantasy Craft.

I'll tell you what I might like about it.  The reviews seem to suggest that there is a fairly robust system in the book for out-of-dungeon lifestyles, contacts, strongholds.  Also, at least one mentioned that NPCs are easy to build.

I'll tell you what I'm wary about.  Some reviewers mentioned that there is an even greater emphasis/more feats and skills.

Anyone own this and/or played it?  Thoughts?

Also, I would have forgotten I was looking at it, but it was brought up in this thread created by Joethelawyer.  Tell us which D&D you'd fuck or marry.  It's good times.

It has some seriously annoying fans who seem more interested in shilling it on message boards than actually playing it.  

That alone was enough to put me off.

Hopefully Caesar Slaad will see this.
He's a Grand Dragon or Wizard of the FantasyCraft. I don't remember which.

Quote from: winkingbishop;368420I'll tell you what I'm wary about.  Some reviewers mentioned that there is an even greater emphasis/more feats and skills.

Anyone own this and/or played it?  Thoughts?

It's pretty much my game-du-juor. One of the major features/emphasis is modular rules that let you adjust the feel and create the sort of feel you are looking for in a game. I'm running a Freeport dark fantasy game using it, as well as having run 2 different game day scenarios using it. One of the gameday scenarios is a swords-and-sorcery scenario set in a far future earth inspired by Vance's dying earth and Clark Ashton Smith's Zothique. The second is a swashbuckling nautical fantasy game.

The skill system is more robust and the game does lean more on the skill system than D&D 3.5 does, but there are in fact FEWER skills. 20 total. Further, knowledge categories are not skills, but are a separate subsystem that lets you pick a number of interests and automatically know basic facts regarding the interest.

Beyond the shorter list and the creation of an interest and knowledge check system, I like that there are criticals for skill as well as combat, and there are fumbles for both... but their occurrence isn't a mere random roll; GM or player resources are spent activating a crit or fumble.

Feats, I didn't count. They may or may not be more than in the 3e PHB. Nonetheless, I prefer them to 3.x feats because they are more consistent in design, and fairly neatly categorized in a way that dovetails neatly with the class abilities. For example, you know how in 3.x there are "fighter bonus feats". Well, in FC, all feats fall in a category like "combat" or "covert" or "style". Classes that give bonus feats give them in these categories; when you extend the feats, you automatically extend the pool of feats for related classes.

NPC creation is easy, and NPCs scale with level, making it easier to adjust the level of challenge to fit the PCs.

There's more I can say, but I'm REAL tired right now... for all I know, I have a number of typos above just out of exhaustion.

The main sells were everything Caesar mentioned above, and for me, in particular, the removal of move/standard/minor/free in favor of full and half actions (something I like from Dark Heresy), as well as the removal of AoO's (which I've never liked anyway, in either a gamey context or a fight-sim context), which makes playing without minis a bit easier.

Although I hear the Priest class comes off a bit weak in extended play due to having weak saves for their spells (unique from a cleric -- normal spellcasters can use healing magic, priests are a weird exception), and the way Priest spellcasting works is rather poorly explained.  There's some errata and discussion on the message boards, though, and it's my hope that those sorts of unaddressed or unclear things will be reworked for the second printing (due out...uh...whenever later this year, methinks).

So yeah, there are weird odds and ends, but I think overall the system is more malleable and should run more smoothly than stock 3.x.

I'm not sure if there are any quickstart rules available, but Crafty does keep an extensive wiki with rules on converting characters/NPCs from 3.x to FC and vice versa, so you may be able to pick up on some of the differences there.  Unfortunately, the PDF is almost prohibitively expensive.

Quote from: Peregrin;368441I'm not sure if there are any quickstart rules available, but Crafty does keep an extensive wiki with rules on converting characters/NPCs from 3.x to FC and vice versa, so you may be able to pick up on some of the differences there.  Unfortunately, the PDF is almost prohibitively expensive.

Indeed.  It's pricey.  Maybe I'm spoiled by previews.  And so far I haven't found anything I can read freely that compels me to buy the game.  To reiterate, what I'd really like to know is more about the off-adventure, stronghold, interaction-with-world mechanics that some of the reviewers implied were built in.

Which is precisely why I'm asking the folks here.  I'd like some evaluation from people that actually played the game over at least a few sessions and didn't just review the game at face value.  I dig the interwebs, and respect a lot of reviews I read.  But none that I found got at the need I feel I my games might have.

Quote from: winkingbishop;368443Indeed.  It's pricey.  Maybe I'm spoiled by previews.  And so far I haven't found anything I can read freely that compels me to buy the game.

There is a preview with the table of contents, a species, a class, and the beginning of the npc section:

http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/download_preview.php?pid=63884

QuoteTo reiterate, what I'd really like to know is more about the off-adventure, stronghold, interaction-with-world mechanics that some of the reviewers implied were built in.

All right... as best as I can read you...

Off adventure: FC has a concept called downtime. Between "adventures" (or even "during" them if there are in-game lax periods), you can exercise your skills to gain cash or reputation or (if the pc is a craftsman or the like) create or customize gear.

In my game, I use the players' decisions on what to do during their downtime as a jumping off point for adventure intros. Instead of job propositions and meetings in taverns, I've had adventure opportunities pop up while the courtier is schmoozing to gain reputation, the assassin is selling cures, or the explorer is combing libraries.

Stronghold: FC permits PCs to purchase and control holdings. Holdings can includes anything from a permanent room at an inn to a palace, galley, or private island. How much of a holding you can control is based on your panache or prudence.

Details of holdings are rather high-level; it doesn't bother you with cash costs for each room or fortification or anything like that. Rather, it boils everything down to game terms. Having guards points you at the NPC section, fortifications are phrased in terms of how difficult it is to penetrate your defenses using the skill system, and having NPC assistants gives you a bonus to skill rolls (which, in turn, gives you cash via the downtime system.) The whole holding section is only two pages.

"Interaction with world" - I'm not sure exactly what you mean here. Would you be referring to reputation and prizes? A holding is an example of a prize; so are contacts, magic items (which may or may not exist in a game), and favors. The game limits your prizes by your renown, which sort of measure how much sway you have. There's also a second "reputation" economy that lets you buy prizes, which you normally can't buy with cash.

One particular member of these boards can't get enough of hating on the prizes and reputation economy. I like it because in play, fundamentally it works, and it makes the cash economy work too by taking magic items out of it (which is what makes the D&D 3.5 cash economy so damn dysfunctional).

QuoteWhich is precisely why I'm asking the folks here.  I'd like some evaluation from people that actually played the game over at least a few sessions and didn't just review the game at face value.

Like I said, this is my regular game and have run it both in a weekly campaign context and one-offs. I could bring up things I like about it or focus on things you're curious about.

Quote from: Caesar Slaad;368482"Interaction with world" - I'm not sure exactly what you mean here. Would you be referring to reputation and prizes?

I wouldn't know exactly what I meant using FC terminology, but I'm pretty sure you nailed my query; I meant all those campaign/downtime attributes that you carefully described.

Thanks for your input, sincerely.

I wonder...and this is speculation: Is it a pain in the ass to do all that extra record keeping?

Quote from: winkingbishop;368489I wonder...and this is speculation: Is it a pain in the ass to do all that extra record keeping?

I'm not seeing what extra record keeping you are doing, other than the reputation economy. The cash economy is simplified compared to a normal "cash economy" game, since "maintenance" and everyday items are abstracted away using the prudence mechanism.

The main record keeping I see is a bit old school style "selling the loot", but depending on your campaign style, that may not come up.

Quote from: Caesar Slaad;368495I'm not seeing what extra record keeping you are doing, other than the reputation economy.

Well, for starters, I'm not.  Don't own the game which is why I started soliciting opinions.

You're right again, I was talking about things like reputation, wealth, what-not.

I'm reading this thread thinking this game sounds very cool, except it's so frickin expensive .

Quote from: Sigmund;368571I'm reading this thread thinking this game sounds very cool, except it's so frickin expensive .

Yup.  For that kind of dough I want to be sure it gets played and doesn't sit on the shelf.  And that's not a jab at the publishers, mind you.  You write a 400 page book about anything and have decent art, one wants to get paid.

It's a pretty good game. My only hang-up on it is Prizes. They're limited by Level, which breaks my credulity meter.

I had a thread on here about it a while back where i posted some stuff that might get your juices flowing. Just do a search for Fantasy Craft.

Quote from: winkingbishop;368610Yup.  For that kind of dough I want to be sure it gets played and doesn't sit on the shelf.  And that's not a jab at the publishers, mind you.  You write a 400 page book about anything and have decent art, one wants to get paid.

Absolutely.