What is Fantasy Express?
Fantasy Express Lite is a new game, based on Against the Darkmaster and the Grievious Grimoire, and the more fully described Fantasy Express! It is released under license from Open 00 Games, and also being released under Creative Commons license.
But what is Fantasy Express like?
Basic Mechanics
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Dice Mechanic - Uses a 2d10 open-ended mechanic (not d100)
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Resolution Mechanic - Has a universal mechanic that is used for almost everything, with a few flourishes, based on the type of roll (i.e. spells get saves, etc.) using the FEAT (Fantasy Express Action/Task) table. It also determines how successful the character is with up to 5 Success Levels able to be earned. The FEAT table takes up a tiny portion of the character sheet so that is always readily available.
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Combat - For Combat, you roll on the FEAT table, and subtract the foe's Defensive Modifier (DM) and look up the result. Partial Success = deal half of the weapon's Damage rating as hits of damage. Success, do the full damage rating as hits (plus +1 hit for each point the result is over 20), and you also earn Success Levels. Those are spent on Critical Results, chosen by the player - no random criticals - and even include results that can be beneficial in the following round. On the other side, Armor reduces the amount of damage dealt (both weapons and armor have ratings for types of attack, so may be better in one aspect than another -- for example, an Armor Sword has a Damage Rating of 12s/8p, and Soft Leather has an Armor Rating of B1/S2/P1/SL0, so wearing just the leather armor reduces the Slashing attack from the sword by 2 points - Parrying IS your friend!!!
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Magic - Magic is divided into 3 Schools of Magic: Divinism, Magery, and Sorcery. There are nearly 100 spells spread across those 3 Schools of Magic and a group of spells known as Universal Spells, which are available to everybody. Each spell is learned as a separate skill. All spells are scalable in some fashion or other. Spells can be scaled up in ways that increase the Mana Point cost of the spell, or in other ways that can provide modifiers to your casting roll. With almost dozens of different Scaling Options available on these spells, the possibilities are astounding as you can mix and match the scaling options on a given spell, and in some cases, apply a scaling option more than once for even more increased effects.
System Details
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Stats - there are 7 stats, and multiple methods for generating them.
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Races - 6 Races total (1 Human, 2 Elven, 1 Dwarf, Dwelf (think slender, athletic halflings), and Gnome) -- each provides the character with some background option points, stat modifiers
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Cultures - There are 8 Cultures to select from. Each provides some information about dress, general demeanor, and give a bit for starting wealth. Each also provides 20 skill ranks divided among a number of skills.
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Vocations - There are 12 Vocational Kits given. However, each is only half of a full Vocation, so you select 2 for your character and simply combine them. This method gives you about 72 possible combinations for building the type of character you want. This allows for extremely flexible character generation without a lot of complication. Each Vocation gives 10 Development Points split among the Skill Categories, and 20 skill ranks split amoung the various skills. Each also gives you the choice of one of 3 Special Skills related to the Vocation.
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Skill Categories & Skills - There are 9 Skill Categories in total and 42 separate skills, although, some skills, such as Spell Lores, are learned multiple times, for a different version of the skill each time.
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Special Skills - There are about 24 Special Skills. Each can only be learned once, and you do not purchase them like normal skills. You get them from your Vocation, from a Background Option selection or from Milestones
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Background Options - there are 57 Background Options with 2 levels to each, giving a total of 110 Gifts that you can spend your Background Option Points on. But wait! There's more! There are also 34 Drawbacks as well. Drawbacks give you more BackGround Option Points (you can get up to 3 total) to spend on more Gifts.
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Passions - Passions are essentially descriptions about how your characters act. Each character has 3. When they come into play, they can earn you more Drive.
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Drive - you can have up to 5 Drive total at any given time (if you have 5, you cannot gain more until you spend some). Drive can be spent to do rerolls, give a bonus on a roll, or a small number of other things. You also track how much Drive you have used (this is called your Heroic Path), and for every 10 points on your Heroic Path, you gain a Milestone.
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Milestones - Thes are bonus abilities that you can gain after you have spent 10 Drive Points. There are about 35 in total, and while you can only gain most once, there are some that can be gained multiple times.
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Bestiary - There are 74 distinct creatures detailed to allow for many different types of encounters.
