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View Full Version : [Forward...to Adventure!] I got it



Kiero
2007-09-23, 07:06 AM
Forward...to Adventure! (http://jalan.flyingmice.com/FTA.html) is a new game which aims to re-create that old-school feel of the original D&D boxed sets without all the crunch. It claims to be not for serious games:


Can you use FtA! for serious sophisticated stories, with lots of politics, intrigue, romance or character development?

Well, sure, you can, but really why would you? FtA! is the game for when you are tired of all that junk, and just want to go back down into the Gnomish mines, travel through the dangerous wilderlands in search of ruins, steal from shops, try eating a wraith corpse, and maybe, if you're really lucky, find Mjolnir.

Get to it, boys and girls, adventure lies ahead.

And you can check out a sample (http://jalan.flyingmice.com/FTA-sample.pdf)and the character sheet (http://jalan.flyingmice.com/FTA_Charsheet2.pdf).

My impression of it, having had a browse and started creating some characters, is that it feels like a cut-down version of True20 (the True20 influences are clear to see), with a bit of Tunnels and Trolls inspired elements in the combat system. It uses True20's modifiers in place of ability scores, has analogues for it's Roles in the classes (though there's five: warrior, wizard, rogue, warrior-wizard and rogue-wizard), and uses the same Skills list.

There's no Feats however, so if you like that kind of thing, you'll be disappointed. As someone who appreciates lite games, I'm liking the look of it. Here's a couple of reviews (here (http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/13/13325.phtml)and here (http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/13/13203.phtml)) of what other people think.

If rules-light fantasy harking back to the old classics is your kind of thing, check it out.

Darth Anthony
2007-09-23, 07:57 AM
Like many others, I have a soft spot for my old red box AD&D set with the cheap dice (which later became known as "my first dice" and was loaned as punishment to anyone in our group who forgot their dice). But the samples and reviews do not answer the one question that comes to mind: If you want to play a simple game of old-school AD&D, then why not just break out the red box and play? What makes FtA so much better? Without the book to read through, I cannot be certain, but there does not seem to be any compelling background setting. Anyways, just my two cents... :smallsmile:

Kurald Galain
2007-09-23, 08:06 AM
I fail to see how this is different from, oh, just about any other rules-light RPG, including FUDGE and most homebrew settings. As such I don't see why this would be worth spending money on.

Bosh
2007-09-23, 09:34 AM
And in any case it would be very hard to build a better rules light system than FUDGE :)

Kiero
2007-09-23, 10:57 AM
Like many others, I have a soft spot for my old red box AD&D set with the cheap dice (which later became known as "my first dice" and was loaned as punishment to anyone in our group who forgot their dice). But the samples and reviews do not answer the one question that comes to mind: If you want to play a simple game of old-school AD&D, then why not just break out the red box and play? What makes FtA so much better? Without the book to read through, I cannot be certain, but there does not seem to be any compelling background setting. Anyways, just my two cents... :smallsmile:

It's simpler and more streamlined, which may be a positive or negative depending on your preferences.

I had a look at my old Red Box booklet the other day, and that's not light. Different XP tables, all that guff about XP bonuses for high attributes, no race-as-class, six different saving throws and so on. Hell compare the character sheets, that should give you a pretty good idea.


I fail to see how this is different from, oh, just about any other rules-light RPG, including FUDGE and most homebrew settings. As such I don't see why this would be worth spending money on.

Because it's nothing like FUDGE or FATE? It's like D&D (or more accurately True20) distilled down to it's essence. You get a lot of the same feel, without the crunch. Admittedly if the crunch was part of the appeal for you, then it won't feel the same.

Kurald Galain
2007-09-23, 11:34 AM
Because it's nothing like FUDGE or FATE? It's like D&D (or more accurately True20) distilled down to it's essence. You get a lot of the same feel, without the crunch. Admittedly if the crunch was part of the appeal for you, then it won't feel the same.

Yes, and given that the essential parts of the D&D crunch are free, why on earth would people want to pay for a subset thereof? Sounds like a scam to me.

Kiero
2007-09-23, 12:10 PM
Yes, and given that the essential parts of the D&D crunch are free, why on earth would people want to pay for a subset thereof? Sounds like a scam to me.

Because it isn't based on 3.x. As I said, it's OD&D strained through True20 with some Tunnels and Trolls.

The combat system isn't like D&D at all, there's seven phases, no iterative attacks, and melee combat is collective, rather than individual.

Magic system is completely different as well (again clearly inspired by True20), there's no Vancian auto-successful casting, every spell requires a check to succeed, and has nasty failures. There's no "arcane" or "divine" split, and there's fewer effects. Less of the shopping list mentality.

I think it does a better job than C&C at giving you some options and distinction between two members of the same class, though it's not massive differentiation.