I review the Legacy Edition box-set of The Fantasy Trip!
Find out about this classic RPG that has been missing for 35 years, but has come back in a big way. But is it any good?
[video=youtube_share;K2EX7Bj-rPE]https://youtu.be/K2EX7Bj-rPE[/youtube]
I got the Melee & Wizard box today. Just the Melee & Wizard box nothing else. Something I found ironic and made me wish I just didn't bother was that, after reading in the intro Steve writing about copyright piracy and such, I looked at the back of the box and it said Made in China. Ha What a joke. Institutionalized government organized copyright infringement must be a-ok to Steve Jackson Games. Another little thing I thought odd was that the plastic box is supposed to be like one of the 80s releases, but it is a reprint of a 70s game. I would rather a 70s type box. Sort of like putting Original D&D in a Moldvay purple box. Fail on the nostalgia bit. I guess I like the item over-all, beside those obvious fails. I already knew the rules of the game, after all.
This is a well-done review for someone who didn't know The Fantasy Trip (TFT) before getting an unexpected review copy.
A couple of things I'd add as a very experienced fan:
* TFT can be used to run non-dungeon-crawl campaigns. The real focus I think one would tend to want would be on having some interesting combat. But there's no reason any of it needs to take place underground. It works really well if the group has a GM who will make their own homebrew campaign.
* I would say the real main genius, highlight, and reason to play TFT is the quality and nature of the combat system. Combat on the hexmap offers something very few RPGs (other than GURPS) do: a really well designed & developed tactical combat game where the situation and players' decisions determine the chances of who lives or dies. Every battle is a challenge to keep your character from getting seriously hurt or killed, and your choices and the details of the situation really matter.
* Because the map details matter, I wouldn't recommend playing in "theater of the mind" mode. For one thing, because you'd miss that highlight I just mentioned. But for another, the GM will then need to supply what the mapped situation usually provides - a game about what the situation is and who succeeds in managing to be in position to get attacks on whom and with what modifiers. Without mapped positions etc., the GM will need to answer who outmaneuvered whom and so who can hack or shoot at whom, which in turn is a huge part of what determines the outcome of a battle. A great GM could do that, and one really used to running TOTM could do so with TFT, but the system's not designed for that, as much of play is about arranging to whenever possible avoid getting attacked at all due to circumstances that come out of the map and where exactly everyone moved etc.
* A difference of a few attribute points can make one character significantly more capable than another. So does whether the points assigned are well chosen or not. If someone wanted to randomly generate character stats, they could, but it would have huge effects unless it were done quite carefully. There are some ready solutions however, including drawing from the deck of pregen starting fighter character cards which IIRC comes with the Legacy Edition box, or the new Decks of Destiny character cards, or a set of pregens a GM could easily make, or even rolling on a random table or using one of the random TFT generators on the web. Also an experienced TFT GM could invent a reasonable rolling system. A fair 0D&D-analog might be to roll 8 dice, and for every 1-2 add a point to ST, 3-4 means +1 DX, 5-6 means +1 IQ. Then the player could pick whether to be a wizard or not, and what spells/talents to take. (And/or maybe let them swap which attribute goes which what number, and/or add some chances they start with an extra attribute point or talent or something.)
(You're right about the "mixed" art - the bizarre and/or cringey elder modern geek faces crudely pasted onto some pictures are Kickstarter supporters who paid for that.)
(Oh, and you mentioned you'd post a link to your unboxing video but I don't see it.)
It bother anyone else how RPGPundit pronounces "melee"? :P