Dear Toady One and Threetoe,
If you feel like this might blow up, feel free to lock this thread. No hard feelings. However, I will do my best to ensure that forum guidelines are followed at all times.
Moving on.
Ladies. Gentlemen. Other formal gender designations. [helpme] Most, or at least many of you are familiar with F.A.T.A.L., (From Another Time, Another Land [originally Fanasty Adventure to Adult Lechery]) and the
famous review of it by Darren MacLennan & Jason Sartin from RPG.net. However, you may not be as familiar with the
rebuttal to the review, penned by the author, Bryon Hall, and another contributor to the game, known as Burnout, or Jason. In their rebuttal, they claim that their goal was to create a system to provide the experience of living in Europe, around 1350 C.E. [They got the tedium down perfectly.] They claim that every single dice roll only improves the experience, enhancing the realism. [Taste the grimebow!] They claim that if you look past the sexual and racist elements, you have an incredibly in-depth RPG, with mechanics for every single situation, and that's a good thing. They claim that F.A.T.A.L. is not the "homesick abortion of a game" that MacLennan and Sartin accuse it of being. Instead, they state, flat out, that "FATAL is the best role-playing game that there could be!"
I would like to prove one of the two parties right [or at least part way], and one wrong. Why?
I postulate that, if you take out the sexual and racist parts and the generally unsavory parts...
[I'm sorry. I couldn't stop him.]
F.A.T.A.L. is the Dwarf Fortress of RPGs.
please don't kill me
At least, let me explain.
Both are trying to provide an in-depth simulation of life in a fantasy version of the middle ages/Renaissance.
Both are backed by powerful mechanics governing things most other games leave out for ease of play.
Both are obviously unfinished.
Both are obvious passion projects, games that the creators want to play, games that no one else was going to make.
Both are incredibly dense and difficult to get in to.
Both are totally free.
Both cannot be critiqued without playing first, (probably) at some length.
Both are advertised as being incredibly difficult.
To be clear, I do not like F.A.T.A.L. or those who designed it. At all. But I have to know. Is it really
that bad? Does it have some redeeming qualities? At all? Can it compare to other systems that were designed to be games?
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So here is what I am proposing. I need four brave volunteers [Scratch that. He meant victims.] willing to be non-judgemental, and put away their prejudices for the length of this game. It will be PBP, because that's what I have time for. Updates will be occasional, and only at night, because, unlike D&D, I do not feel comfortable opening the F.A.T.A.L. PDF/book in public, and especially not at work.
Basic rules:1. Let's keep this PG 13. All sexual content will be glossed over. All of it. This will be strictly enforced by me.
2. You will roll for everything during character creation. This is F.A.T.A.L., after all. I recommend Random.org.
3. The rule book recommends that minors not play this game. This is something I will not be enforcing, but I am going to recommend that if you are underage, you consider this when you are thinking about participating.
4. There is some required reading. It's not too much, but it's worth it. The
review, the
rebuttal, and the
forum guidelines. [You think he's joking about that last part. He isn't.] I'm really not. Not when it comes to F.A.T.A.L.
5. Don't cheat. [
] Don't you encourage them!
6. First
In, first served.
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Since there is [thankfully] no online F.A.T.A.L. character sheet, I have... *shudder* [It's okay. It's for posterity. It's so no one else has to suffer as you did.] I have, through my own effort and volition, spawned a monster. Nae! An abomination.
I made my own F.A.T.A.L. character sheet. The things I do for you people! Currently, I am going to wait until I get four signups, at which point, I will share a copy with each of you. It would help me if I could send it to a gmail account, so only you and I can edit it. I recommend doing as I did, and create an email under your preferred username. Also, if you see anything wrong with it, leave a comment, please!
I should probably have mentioned this earlier, but there's me, and then there's cynical me. [Sup.] While I have put away my prejudices [They're not prejudices if they're true] shut up while I'm talking. While just have put away my prejudices, he hasn't. He'll be hanging out in this thread, grumbling about the fact that we're playing F.A.T.A.L. [Oh boy, will I!]
Thanks for staying with us through this wall of text!
Hall claims that Neveria is "the most detailed gaming world ever". I have never been lied to or insulted more in my, life. [That goes for the both of us.] The table of contents is missing page numbers. There is no sample plot or adventure. Half of the constellations are missing. The entire .pdf is 66 pages, padded by randomly placed blank, empty pages. Since Hall demands counter-evidence to the criticisms in the review, I'm going to point to Greyhawk and Eberron and Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms and Planescape and Spelljammer and Dark Sun and EVERY SINGLE OTHER D&D CAMPAIGN SETTING EVER, especially after you remember that they're backed up by books like Manual of the Planes, Deities and Demigods and the Fiendish Codexs. (Hell, I thought about abandoning this idea and running a game around rising through the ranks of the Nine Hells.) Need I say more? [We can. R. A. Salvatore, bitch.]
Alev
Berius
Sheb
Author
Topic: A F.A.T.A.L. Experiment: Reboot!-Delayed (Read 21149 times)