Kakita Taminoko by raynkazuya, click to see their deviantart!
The Courtier is an interesting addition to the Fantasy Craft Classes because it focuses on an activity that doesn’t usually get a lot of time in the spotlight in most D20 games: Talking and Negotiation. That said Fantasy Craft takes this this niche and runs with it, coming up with one of the most amusing Classes I’ve seen in a long time.
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November 10, 2009
Today’s Class Act brings us to the Captain:
Captain by Slipgatecentral, click to view their DeviantArt!
Among all the Classes in Fantasy Craft, the Captain is the one character that exists to be obeyed. That said, the Captain is also one of the classes that exists for the purpose of being with a team. As the old saying goes, a leader is nothing without his people, and many of the abilities of the Captain class highlight the innate ability to lead, assuming of course, the other party members actually listen to what he has to say.
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November 9, 2009
Today we take a look at the Burglar Class.
Lockpick by Inkthinker (Ben McSweeny), click to see his DeviantArt!
Unlike the Assassin, which conducts its business by being another face in the crowd, the aptly named Burglar Class is doing its job right when you don’t see a face at all. The Burglar is Fantasy Craft’s answer to the Thief, or Rogue, one of the 4 Basic Food Groups of Dungeon Monsters. (The others being the Fighter, Cleric and Wizard.) Like the Rogue, the Burglar specializes in stealth and dealing sneak attack damage.
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November 6, 2009
Now that we’ve been up and down the entire list of Origins for Fantasy Craft, I think it’s time for us to turn an eye towards the other half of the equation: Classes.
Crafty-Games pretty much took the same route they did with Classes as they did with the Races… mainly, to allow themselves to be inspired by various sources, and assemble a fresh take on these iconic concepts and give them the tools they need to make players want to make a character of that Class. Their inspirations show quite well through their work, and I’m certain more than a few people who have had a chance to look over the book will find that they can practically name the characters that were the basis for these classes. That said, Crafty-Games left a lot of personalization options open, so that even if you do pick a Class, you won’t be limited to just doing a couple of things well, but will be useful in and out of a combat situation.
Let’s start with the Assassin:
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November 5, 2009
Automatons. Ever since the whole Steampunk boom (and perhaps preceding it, really), Automatons have been pretty popular in RPG circles. From Promethean: the Created, to Warjacks, Modrons, Golems and Warforged, there’s something about having mechanical beings that behave like humans that fascinates and frightens us.
It’s no surprise to find that the Unborn are in Fantasy Craft to represent this much-loved stereotype. The Unborn is really meant to be a sort-of catch-all race for reanimated corpses, clockwork people, or beings of living brass or steel. The single unifying characteristic is that you were built for a purpose, and given life by technology or magic.
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November 4, 2009
Lizardmen.
Of all the fantasy races in fiction, I find the Lizardmen to be the most awesome and under-appreciated. With the exception of the ones in Warhammer Fantasy Battles and the Lizardman guy in the Soul Edge fighting video game series, they barely register on most people’s imaginations when they think of fantasy.
I feel this needs to be rectified asap, and it is with great amusement that I discovered that Fantasy Craft had their own take on this fun non-human race in the form of the Saurians:
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November 3, 2009
Treemen, Ents, Rootwalkers. This species comes in many names, but everyone can pretty much tell one when they see it. Unlike the famous Dryad, Rootwalkers resemble trees more than people, and naturally have 4 (or more) twisted branch-limbs. Solitary and patient given their rather long lifespans, Rootwalkers often wonder at the impatience of more short lived species. I find that this is an interesting addition to the list of playable races for Fantasy Craft as it takes a familiar and well loved concept of a tree person and finally puts it into the hands of players as an option.
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October 30, 2009
Today we talk about the Pech.
Yes, I know it’s a strange word for most people, but I did some research (well, lazy, look it up in Wikipedia Research really, but hey) and it turns out that Pech is actually a creature of Scottish Mythology. Though, based on the attributes it looks like Fantasy Craft Pechs aren’t quite as strong as in the myths, instead favoring speed, and resembling more of the Halflings and Gnomes of D&D.
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October 29, 2009
Orcs suffer from being the stereotypical antagonistic race in many a Fantasy setting. Ask anyone, and they’ll probably know what an Orc is. Often savage, occasionally civilized, always brutal, and nearly always green, these guys are standard cannon fodder for most campaigns. Sure there are a few examples that mix it up, most notably Thrall, the Orc Shaman from Warcraft, but most of the time they’re not really fleshed out all that well in fiction.
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October 28, 2009
Unlike Orcs and Goblins, Ogres suffer greatly from being underrepresented in popular media. There’s not a lot of them out there, and aside from very specific examples from certain video games, other RPGs, and Shrek, I don’t have anything that immediately comes to mind. The only features I can figure might be universal is: They’re big, they’re ugly, and they’re not known for being very smart. Let’s see how Fantasy Craft takes the Ogre concept out for a spin:
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October 27, 2009
