Stargazer's World » Fantasy Craft

Get 20% off of selected titles at DriveThruRPG

Stargazer — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 10:31:23 +0000

If you have been following this blog you probably have seen these discounts before. Every month DriveThruRPG provides us with a discount code and a list of eligible products. As you may have noticed the new code arrived a bit late but this time we get a longer list of discounted products than usual. Without further ado, here’s the list of the stuff you can get 20% off until November 10th:

In order to benefit from the discount you need to enter the coupon code DiceInTheFall during checkout! There’s definitely a lot of good stuff on this list.

Review: Fantasy Craft Adventure Companion

Stargazer — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 11:00:58 +0000

When you have read my blog for quite a while you probably noticed that I have a soft spot for Crafty Games‘ Fantasy Craft. But Fantasy Craft is a more complex game than the other games I usually recommend. I have to admit that Fantasy Craft’s rules complexity is sometimes just a bit outside of my usual comfort zone.

But that said I am also convinced that it’s the best game that evolved from the d20 system. The Fantasy Craft core rules open a lot of options for interesting campaigns that don’t follow the classic high fantasy model. And a lot of the concepts in Fantasy Craft is meant to make the GMs job much easier than in D&D for example.

With their latest supplement, the Adventure Companion, the good folks at Fantasy Craft show how versatile their rules system can be used. The 145-paged book which has been released a couple of days ago in PDF format, contains not just one but three unique fantasy campaigns, and a plethora of new options for your Fantasy Craft game, like new expert and master classes.

With the first campaign in the book, Cloak & Dagger, Fantasy Craft comes full circle. You probably know that the Master Craft system first appeared in Crafty Games’ spy game, Spy Craft. Now Cloak & Dagger is a fantasy campaign where the player characters are secret agents for various warring houses in an empire inspired by the classical era, basically it’s Spy Craft in ancient Rome.

If you ever wanted to play in a game freely based on ancient Rome, Cloak & Dagger will be for you. It’s also very refreshing that the book’s author, Alex Flagg, opted to make C&D a human-centric setting. I sometimes get pretty tired of standard fantasy with elves and dwarves, and the lack of non-human player races makes it easier for GMs to use the material in the book for a historical campaign set into classical Rome.

The second included setting, Epoch, reminds me more of sword & sorcery settings but with a twist. The most intriguing fact is that the setting is partly inspired by Aztec mythology instead of European one. The premise of the world of Epoch is that the free tribes of the Children of the Dawn fight the invasion of the Keepers of the Gate, who are in league with the ghula. The Keepers of the Gate bring with them civilization and magic which both taint the savage lands. The champions of the last free people stand up to fight the demonic ghula and their followers. Epoch is another great example for a non-standard fantasy setting.

The third setting included in Adventure Companion is called Sunchaser which Alex once described as Lord of the Rings on the Mississippi river. And that’s actually a pretty good description. Humans are the newcomers in the Thousand-Rivers Valley, a place thrive with adventure and home to almost all the races described in the Fantasy Craft rulebook. Among the three campaigns in the book it’s the most “classical”. If you’re looking for a high fantasy setting for Fantasy Craft with elves, dwarves, drakes, magic, feudal lords and ancient ruins to explore, then Sunchaser is definitely worth a look.

Each of the three settings contains several pages of background information, new talents, feats and other setting-specific rules, new monsters and an extensive rogue’s gallery. There are even tips for what kind of adventures you could run in these settings. It’s actually astounding to see how many content they managed to squeeze into a 145-paged book. While the three settings are not as detailed as if they released a book for each, they give GMs enough information to make the campaign world their own. I actually prefer this approach to overly-detailed settings like the Forgotten Realms, where every small hamlet had it’s own sourcebook at some point.

The last section of the book contains options for the three campaigns or basically every Fantasy Craft campaign. There are over 150 Specialities, feats, 12 new classes (including Base, Master and Expert Classes), as well as new tricks and Paths. I have to admit the number of new stuff in the last part of the book can be a bit overwhelming but if you’re a veteran Fantasy Craft player or GM you should feel quite at home.

All in all I think Crafty Games’ Adventure Companion is a great product for a reasonable price. The PDF version available at RPGNow sets you back $14.99. The printed version will be available for only ten bucks more later this month. Even if you’re not playing Fantasy Craft right now you could probably make good use of the three campaign settings. The rules options in the back of the book can probably be used in your home brew Fantasy Craft games as well, even if you’re not that interested in the campaigns.

Please note that this review is based on a read through of the PDF version of Adventure Companion which has been provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.

Fantasy Craft Giveaway: We have a winner!

Stargazer — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 05:07:47 +0000

On September 1st I announced a Fantasy Craft giveaway contest in order to celebrate Crafty Games latest release: “Time of High Adventure”. There have been 30 eligible comments and two late entries which couldn’t be considered. Instead of rolling my trusty d30, I used random.org to generate a truly random number between 1 and 30. The lucky number was 29 this time and so, Typhon won!

I already sent him an email and when he accepts his prize, he’ll be reading Fantasy Craft in no time. In the unlikely case he doesn’t accept, I’ll do a second drawing. Typhon, if you read this and you haven’t got an email yet, please contact me using email (my email address is shown under that post).

Fantasy Craft Giveaway!

Stargazer — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 05:11:09 +0000

To celebrate yesterdays’ release of the PDF version of “Time of High Adventure” by Crafty Games, we give away one copy of the Fantasy Craft 2nd printing PDF today! As with all our PDF giveaways in the past, you need to have an account at DriveThruRPG/RPGNow in order to participate. But this should be a minor hurdle, if you ask me.

So, what do you have to do to get your hands on a copy of Fantasy Craft? That’s extremely easy this time. Just leave a comment under this post. That’s all. I will randomly pick a winner tomorrow at noon GMT+2 (German time). It would be nice if you write about why you’re interested in Fantasy Craft in the first place.

P.S.: To avoid possible confusion, please note that the prize for the giveaway contest is Fantasy Craft, not Time of High Adventure!

Gen Con: GM’s Jam!

Stargazer — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 07:45:44 +0000

One of the highlights of this year’s Gen Con was definitely the GM’s Jam seminar. Since I had brought my video camera with me, I recorded the whole thing and uploaded it to blip.tv. Alas I forgot to bring a tripod, so the video is a bit shaky at times. But aside from that, the video should be fine.

Part 1 (49:33):

Part 2 (32:41):

I hope you enjoy the video! By the way, there’s an alternative recording of the seminar at RPG Circus.

Gen Con: Crafty Games Interview

Stargazer — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 10:00:24 +0000

I finally had some time to edit the video interview I did with the nice guys from Crafty Games. If you are even remotely interested in Spycraft or Fantasy Craft, you have to check this out. Please excuse the background noise, but there was nothing I could do to avoid it. That’s Gen Con for you. And next time I’ll remember to pack a tripod!

Thanks again to Patrick and Alex for that awesome interview!

Video Review: Fantasy Craft

Stargazer — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 05:09:05 +0000

On the weekend I finally sat down and tried to record a video review of Fantasy Craft. I am using the word “try” because the result is probably not the best review possible but it works as a proof of concept. The text I have spoken was pretty much improvised on the spot, there has been some glaring editing errors and after watching the video several times I noticed how many cool things about Fantasy Craft I actually forgot to mention. But basically I think if I prepare things better the next time, video reviews may be an alternative to classic reviews in the future.

As hosting platform I switched from YouTube to blip.tv. While YouTube may be the best-known video hosting site, blip.tv has certain advantages. You can watch my Fantasy Craft review and the WFRP Unboxing video at our new blip.tv site.

For editing the video I used the free VideoSpin software which is actually pretty powerful and easy to use compared to the Windows Live Movie Maker I used before, BUT it’s still not really what I would call proper video editing software. I guess I am just spoiled by Adobe Premiere which I am using at work.

Without further ado, here are the results of my efforts:

So, how do you like it? By the way, the noise in the background is caused by my cooling fan, which is running all day. I hope the next time I do a recording, it’s cool enough to shut it off. And if there’s enough interest, I might upload a few outtakes.

You want to get a free copy of Fantasy Craft? Here’s your chance!

Stargazer — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 21:09:53 +0000

UPDATE: Contest is now closed. I will announce the lucky winner next week!

As you probably already know we joined OneBookShelf’s Blog/Podcast Support Program recently. And if you haven’t already done so, you can still use the 20% discount, I wrote about some days ago. But there’s more!

We got provided with a couple of PDF products we can give away for FREE! And since these coupons are valid for one customer only, we decided to run a couple of contests in the coming days/weeks.

The first free product I want to give away this week is Crafty Games’ excellent fantasy game Fantasy Craft. So what is Fantasy Craft about? Let me quote from the first look post I wrote last year:

So, what is Fantasy Craft anyway? It’s Crafty Games’ take on fantasy role playing using the d20 system. Instead of creating a game that is more or less compatible to D&D 3.5 (like Pathfinder), they created an almost completely different game. Combat has been streamlined (Attacks of Opportunity are gone for example), there are a lot of cool new character classes and races, they came up with a new way to create NPCs and monsters, they totally overhauled feats and the magic system relies on magic points and skills. Wow! Of course I haven’t been able to read all 400 pages of rules, yet, but I am officially impressed. More than once I thought: “That’s how D&D 4th Edition should have looked like”.

And this week we are giving away a free copy of the PDF version of that book! Here are the contest rules:

Tell us what you like the most about Fantasy Craft in the comments below
Make sure it’s five sentences or less
Make sure you enter a working email address when you submit your entry. If I can’t get back to you, I can’t provide you with your coupon!
Since the prize is a coupon code for RPGNow/DriveThruRPG, you need to register for an account there
The contest ends on noon of June 11th 2010 CEST (GMT +2)
I will then close the comments on this post and over the weekend we’ll pick a winner
Winners will be announced early next week.

I wish you all the best of luck!

Lazy Friday Video Post: Game Geeks #124 Fantasy Craft

Stargazer — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 08:41:19 +0000

Sorry for posting another Game Geeks video, but I had good reasons for doing so: a) the video is a review of the awesome d20 based Fantasy Craft game and b) the video comes with a 20% discount code for anyone who orders the Fantasy Craft PDF on DriveThruRPG!

You shouldn’t miss RPG Circus episode 11!

Stargazer — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:53:15 +0000

That’s what almost happened to me. When someone recently mentioned the latest RPG Circus (iTunes Store Link) episode, I was surprised that I haven’t listened to it. Usually I check it out on the day it gets released. And this time my blog and I actually got mentioned by Jeff during the interview! Alas he still doesn’t know the name of my blog.

So, why should you listen to episode 11 (or any episode) of RPG Circus? For one RPG Circus is actually the greatest show in gaming! I am not kidding you. I have listened to several podcasts and RPG Circus is definitely my favorite show. Another reason is probably that the hosts are all members of our RPG Bloggers Network, so they often talk about topics that were raised in the community. The latest episode is actually something special because it features a long interview with the guys from Crafty Games. Especially if you are interested in Spycraft or Fantasy Craft, you shouldn’t miss RPG Circus episode #11!

Disclaimer: I don’t get paid to regularly praise RPG Circus! I just enjoy the show and I feel the need to share my love for that show with you guys!

What’s on the horizon?

Stargazer — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 15:13:24 +0000

Today I want to give you an update on what’s brewing at Stargazer’s World right now. Just today I finished the first draft of a rather long post (1771 words so far) that will go live as a guest post on Philippe Ménard’s blog in a few days. We decided that the topic would make a great post for his blog and perhaps it helps to convince some of his readers to check out my blog too. Actually I am a bit excited since it’s the first guest post I have written for another blog. And ChattyDM is one of the people who helped me a lot since I joined the RPG Bloggers Network last year. His posts and good advice over Twitter or IM always helped me to get over the deepest of slumps.

In the meantime I am reading several RPG books I purchased recently. Alas some of my offline activities are getting into the way. It doesn’t help that I am now actually an elected local politician. I have been in politics for over ten years but it’s the first time I got a parliamentary seat in our town parliament! Yay!

But back to the RPG books I mentioned. I still have to read Eclipse Phase, the new game from Catalyst Game Labs. I got the PDF as soon as it was on RPGNow and printed it out. Alas I haven’t had that much time to read it, yet, probably because I then picked up a copy of Fantasy Craft soon thereafter . Fantasy Craft is a pretty cool d20 fantasy game that was created by the guys behind Spy Craft. If you want to read more about this cool game, you should check out "Life and Times of a Philipine Gamer". But rest assured that I will write reviews of both games when I have finished reading them.

I also got both the hardcover version of Vampire: The Dark Ages and Hunter: The Reckoning from a German blogger’s "Garage Sale" for just a few Euros, so expect some first looks of those games, too. Both books are probably out of print and at least Hunter has a successor called Hunter: The Vigil that sounds pretty interesting. And even if you don’t want to run games using the old World of Darkness rules, you still can use both books as inspiration for campaigns using the new WoD line for example. Hunter (the old or the new version) also sounds like the perfect world for the horror solo game I wanted to run for some time now…

I also started working on a translation of my Dungeonslayers supplement "Fireworks" to English. The booklet contains not only rules for firearms, cannons and explosives for Dungeonslayers but also introduces a completely new class. I don’t know when the translation will be done (this usually takes a lot longer than you think) but expect some previews as soon as I have something to show off.

I am also working on a secret layout project that is way past the initial deadline. Hmm, perhaps I should make this project top priority then…

Aside from all that I also would like to work on a Swords & Wizardry campaign based on the later titles of the Ultima series. But since I am already having too many unfinished projects I will probably put this on the back burner for now.

Phew! This post got much longer than I expected. But you now should have a pretty good overview about my current plans for this blog, so stay tuned. And if you have any comments, questions or advice please let me know! Any comment is highly appreciated!

Fantasy Craft

Stargazer — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 13:43:43 +0000

It all started with the Fantasy Craft preview PDF. While I was paging through it, my girlfriend was sitting next to me, and when we reached the section about Drakes, she exclaimed: “We HAVE to play this!” To understand this, you have to know that she absolutely loves dragons and everything somewhat resembling dragons. When we tried out D&D 4th Edition, she of course played a Dragonkin character. Who would have guessed.

Then I started reading a few previews and messages on Twitter praising the game, so I finally gave in, put down some hard earned cash and got a copy of Fantasy Craft. Almost $30 is quite hefty for a PDF, but it looked like it might be worth it. While I was leafing through it, I was stunned. Wow, it’s perhaps not as good looking as some other books out there, although the cover art is mega cool, but I very much like what I’ve seen so far.

So, what is Fantasy Craft anyway? It’s Crafty Games’ take on fantasy role playing using the d20 system. Instead of creating a game that is more or less compatible to D&D 3.5 (like Pathfinder), they created an almost completely different game. Combat has been streamlined (Attacks of Opportunity are gone for example), there are a lot of cool new character classes and races, they came up with a new way to create NPCs and monsters, they totally overhauled feats and the magic system relies on magic points and skills. Wow! Of course I haven’t been able to read all 400 pages of rules, yet, but I am officially impressed. More than once I thought: “That’s how D&D 4th Edition should have looked like”.

Currently the easiest way to get your hands on a copy of Fantasy Craft is to buy it from RPGNow, although I’ve heard you can also get printed copies at your local shops (in the US at least). I haven’t spotted it on Amazon, yet.