The Fantasy Trip is a Steve Jackson Games re-release of the original Metagaming game by the same title. Originally Melee and Wizard, tactical games, the In The Labyrinth book expanded the tactical combat system into a full RPG. Steve Jackson wrote and designed these games, but the rights were locked up with Metagaming for decades, until recently. The reprint is available as a standalone book, but the way to go is the gorgeous deluxe boxed set, which I procured from the Kickstarter.
TFT uses a 3d6, roll-under mechanic familiar to GURPS players everywhere. In fact, character creation is a point-based affair, so this could well be seen as a proto-GURPS, the bones are there. The game world of Cidri contains portals to infinite dimensions, meaning characters can come from anywhere or anywhen. There aren’t really classes as such, aside from the distinction between Melee and Wizard characters, with Wizards being a bit more complicated. In the full RPG, this is called Hero (non-Wizard) and Wizard. The book gives quite a bit of info on how to build what we’d call classes by combining various Attributes, Skills ,and Talents. It’s a reasonably fast and easy system, and the bell curve of 3d6 makes every point added to an attribute very valuable, more so than the linear progression of modern D&D. Let’s dive in and make a character.
Character Creation System:
An interesting thing with TFT- characters are referred to as “figures.” This is a holdover from the roots of TFT being the Melee and Wizard combat games, which could be played with miniature figures, but was more commonly played with cardboard counters.
The first choice we’re going to make is the race of the character. In The Fantasy Trip, this controls how many points are available for Attributes and what the starting values of the Attributes are. The standard fantasy races are included here, humans, elves, dwarves, halflings, orcs and goblins, with the option for the GM to create any more they may wish. The baseline Human begins with 8 in each of the Attributes, Strength, Dexterity, and IQ. They have 8 more points to allocate. So the average Attribute for a Human PC is 10-11.
Let’s see if we can make an Elven archer, a nice, solid fantasy trope. We’ll choose Elf, which gives us a base ST of 6, DX of 10, and IQ of 8, with 8 points to spend. It also gives us a faster movement allowance, or MA, than a standard human if wearing cloth or leather armor. Before we spend the points, there are a couple of things to remember- access to spells and talents depend on the IQ Attribute. ST is not only raw strength, but also your hit points, as well as determining which weapons can be wielded without pentaly. DX determines your ability to hit with weapons and ranged spells. So, there is no “dump stat.” Everything is important. Oh! One more thing- spell mojo is determined by ST. You heard right, buff wizards cast more spells.
Our Archer will need an IQ of 9 at least to have access to the Missile Weapons Talent, which we want to make sure we have. A Small Bow requires a ST of at least 9, with a Horse Bow 10, and Longbow 11. I think we’ll start with a Small Bow, with an eye toward improving toward a Longbow. There are no “levels” in TFT, as experience is earned, it is spent on Attributes, Talents and Spells. So, that’s 3 points of our 8 getting ST up to 9. Let’s put 1 point into IQ so we have our 9 there, too, and the other 4 points into DX, giving us a DX of 14.
Now we pick talents and languages. Straight away, I spend one of my 9 IQ to learn the tongue of the local humans, which I’ll call “Common” for the sake of expediency and tradition. Then, because it’s our elf’s schtick, we take the Bow talent, which spends 2 of our IQ points. Then we spend three more on three levels of Missile Weapons. That’s 6 out of 9. Time to make our elf more than just a combat machine. Our elf is a bit of a storyteller and a lothario, so we take Bard for two IQ points, and Sex Appeal for one. Now we have a travelling elven musician who is known for amorous adventures, and just happens to be one of the best combat bowmen for leagues around.
We now have a gold allowance of $1,000. How far will that get us? Let’s see. We want some semblance of protection, so we’ll score Leather armor for $100. Armor stops incoming damage, but also encumbers the character by making ther “adjDX” lower. In this case by 2 points in both cases. Next, we buy a Rapier (not that we’re proficient in it) for $40, and our Small Bow for $20. Two quivers of 20 arrows runs us $20. We’ll grab a labyrinth kit, basically a backpack full of useful adventuring items, for $30. A pair of waterskins and a week’s rations costs $56 all told. That’s $266 spent, and quite a nest egg left over.
The Character:
Ardreth Farvyre lacked the magical talents of his siblings, and chose to distinguish himself in his own way. Taking up the bow, he poured his passion into becoming the best archer he could be, eschewing his studies and spending all his hours willing the arrows to strike any target he felt would be good practice. His single-minded approach was troublesome to the elders of his clan, but none could doubt his skill. While not the best shot among their people, he consistently outshot archers with centuries more experience. He was given duties as a hunter for the clan, and soon thereafter survived an attack during which human raiders attacked the hunting party and slew all but two of their number. Ardreth swore to find these humans, find out why they had attacked without warning, and see to it they paid for their cowardly tactics. This, too, was not met with enthusiasm by the elders, and Ardreth left the clan to find his answers - and vengeance - on his own.
In the months that followed, Ardreth was befriended by an adventuring band of mixed ancestry, and learned that the humans had many cultures- not all of whom were honorable. Today, Ardreth travels with these adventurers who have become his new clan, still seeking the identities of the human assailants.
My Thoughts:
This game looks like it could be a lot of fun. I’ve played the games from whence it comes, Melee and Wizard. I love them, and adding a more RP element just seems natural. I mean, we roleplayed our Melee and Wizard characters anyway. There are things about this game that jump off the page to me and beg to be played- some of the creatures, spells, and talents. The world of Cidri as a multiversal crossroads. But the thing that *I* want to see in action, is the Wizard’s Staff. Remember when I said Wizards used their ST to power spells? There are a series of spells, each requiring a higher IQ than the last, that allow a wizard to craft a staff that has increasing magical abilities- including storing ST for spellcasting. These staves are the hallmark of true Wizards in this game, or they appear to be so. I would love to adventure through the process of learning how to craft an ever-more-powerful Wizard’s Staff. It just seems like it would make for a great story.
This game definitely has an old school feel, and rightly so given it is nearly unchanged from the early 80s version. The presentation in the boxed set is gorgeous, and though the market is kind of overflowing with fantasy games, I think this one deserves some table time, both for appearing to be a genuinely quality game design, and for its place in gaming history.
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