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From: jonab@sdcrdcf.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.games,net.games.frp
Subject: Re: Looking for a new game...
Message-ID: <340@sdcrdcf.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 20-Jun-83 10:18:29 EDT
Article-I.D.: sdcrdcf.340
Posted: Mon Jun 20 10:18:29 1983
Date-Received: Wed, 22-Jun-83 10:33:04 EDT
References: <2032@tekmdp.UUCP>
Reply-To: jonab@sdcrdcf.UUCP (Jonathan Biggar)
Organization: System Development Corporation--a Burroughs Company
Lines: 55

My favorite role playing game is Fantasy Trip.  Do not
dismiss it in view of only the basic Melee and Wizard modules.
The advanced system introduces non-combat skills, and also
gives decent rules about setting up dungeons.  As to your
specific questions:

1)  There are only two classes in FT: Magic users and everyone else.
    However, magic users can learn to use any weapon, and non-magic
    users can learn spells, but at a premium of skill points.
    (Skill points are equal to your intelligence, and you can
    use them for weapon skills, spells, or other non-weapon skills
    like literacy, horsemanship, thief, detect & remove traps, etc.

2)  Fantasy trip has a very simple spell point system.  Each spell
    causes a certain amount of exaustion to the character, which
    is applied against his hit points, but he can rest and get them
    back faster than he can heal wounds.

3)  Fantasy trip has a non D&D combat system.  Each player has a
    dexterity rating affected by armor and what else he is carrying
    that he must roll less than to hit.  Each weapon then does a
    different random amount of damage, which is reduced by the
    targets armor and shield.  I prefer this combat system because
    it is much more realistic and it takes less time to resolve
    battles.  As a GM, I give each player a list of the options
    he is allowed to choose from each combat round.  They are very
    explicit and cover almost all combat situations.  The battles run
    faster once your players have played a couple of times because
    he knows exactly what he is capable of doing at each point,
    and because FT requires a tactical map for the battles, he
    has no problem visualizing the spatial relationships envolved.

4)  No frp game will easily rid itself completely of discrete levels
    because at some point you have to say that a character is able
    to do something better than he did before.  However Fantasy Trip
    does a good job at making the levels close enough together that
    the character does not jump unrealistically in skills.  After
    accumulating enough experience, a character may trade them for
    one extra point of strength, dexterity, or intelligence.  Strength
    dictates how large a weapon you can swing, and is also equal to
    the characters hit points.  Dexterity is a direct measure of
    how likely the character is to connect when he swings a weapon,
    and Intelligence gives how many skills an spells the character
    may know.  So when a character gains a level, he can choose to
    take more damage, hit his opponents more often, or learn one
    new spell or skill.

The main disadvantage with Fantasy Trip is that there is little
aid for a novice game master who is trying to create his own
world from scratch.  Knowledge of other frp games and a lot of
time is required to be able to set up a coherent world.  However if
all you want to do is design dungeons for the players to explore,
it is really no worse than any other game.

					Jon Biggar