Reflections

[revshafer]

Been very impressed with TFT. It is it’s own starter kit. I can plunk this down and immediately start playing. The Lone Wolf Adventure Game allows for this, as well as the new start per kit for Warhammer RPG. I like those products but prefer the TFT approach. Board games, and then a quick digression to Death Test if people want a quick little campaign. Very easy for the GM.

I prefer a full color rulebook, but the overall cleaness of the layout of In The Labyrinth is growing on me. It’s not fancy. It just gets the job done. All in a way that keeps these old eyes from squinting.

As part of all of this, I was looking through the Dungeon Fantasy pdfs as well. That is a wonderful full color set. But if I had to choose between them I’d pick up TFT. For myself, I find the distance between conceptualization in my head and realization on the head to be blessedly short with TFT.

I’ve always enjoyed Runequest, but if I wanted to set up an adventure there was a lot of work involved. I had to roll up the stats for each creature. That’s a lot of rolling. D&D was easier to run because I just had to roll up hit points. That was a series of rolls that could be done on the fly. A series of rolls that would be much harder to do off the cuff in Runequest.

Two years ago I was waiting for Dungeon Fantasy to come out. I wanted to use the rules as a basis for a campaign involving adventurers latching onto generation ships at near light speed that had become corrupted by the depths of space. I started putting things together, but in the midst of classes, calculus, etc. it fell by the wayside. What rules to use? Waiting for a release date, etc. Deciding between options and building system mastery takes time. TFT isn’t a perfect rule set, but it feels like my decisions are more quickly focused on what will occur on the table.

Doing a series of encounters on a postcard is possible in TFT. Yeah, and could be done with TNT, Traveller, D&D, and possibly Warhammer FRP (depending on the encounter). I have my doubts about GURPS, RQ and Dungeon Fantasy being able to use a postcard format. But that is part of the fun of TFT. Lunatic creativity can be unleashed in this comprehensive rule set. A comprehensiveness that didn’t result in a boom from a giant rulebook, but a boom from a box that was designed for playability.

Out of all of the stuff that I took in pdf on deployment, TFT has kept coming back. I can read Middle Earth Adventures and conceptualize a campaign using Warhammer 4E rules, but then it has to be implemented. In TFT I feel that the implementation is much faster. Heck, yesterday I thought that the staff magic spells could be used to simulate Jedi. Why not?

TFT packs in the fun. I’ve bought the everything set which acts as an introduction, possibly kicks off a campaign, has multiple copies of the rules, a number of counters, and looks to be stunningly complete. This is all without seeing any of it. My wife has a massive box on the floor, and I’ll get to open it on my return. She did show me the Companion. Mine was one of the ones with messed up shipping and she happened to open that smaller box.

Cost aside, and this set is an investment, I am consistently amazed at the play value that is in this box. I feel that this game may be the finest encapsulation of components and rules that get ideas onto the tabletop so they can be played. Whether those ideas are scenarios, characters, campaigns, or whatever, it gets from your head onto that table in a very fast time. My memory is not what it was, but it seems to me that a massive amount of material was released during this Kickstarter. Ideas to execution. I like it!

I’m looking forward to these various releases from Steve Jackson Games, but I’m more looking forward to the releases from my head onto the table. Who knows? Maybe with this new licensing thing I could release a labyrinth on W23? Maybe other people will as well. TFT opens up worlds, and I am thankful for that.

I enjoy a game that takes me from “Am I doing this the right way?” to “Wow! That’s gonna be fun!” TFT is a lot of fun.

[JLV]

I totally agree with you on this. I like GURPS, but I love TFT, and it's definitely my preferred system. Plus, it's incredibly flexible.

BTW, if you want a complete set of TFT Traveller rules, they're out there on-line. So also is a TFT-Empire of the Petal Throne conversion. Also, over on Dark City Games, they have simple rules for space gaming and old western gaming; both available as a free download. So if you don't feel like doing the converting yourself, you can always find those items and be all set to go -- even if you decide to tweak the other guy's rules a little bit along the way! ;-)

[philreed]

Originally Posted by revshafer

I feel that this game may be the finest encapsulation of components and rules that get ideas onto the tabletop so they can be played.

Thank you! You'll be very interested in the Decks of Destiny project that is set for Kickstarter next month. The Decks of Destiny set is all about providing more tools to get the game moving:

* New megahexes, because more tiles/locations to explore are always welcome.
* More fighter cards.
* Wizard cards.
* Option decks for the players, to make it easier for everyone to select their actions each turn.

And lots of other decks and accessories. Everything in Decks of Destiny is about one thing: Playing the game.

If you're not yet following the Warehouse 23 account on Kickstarter, we recommend doing that before next month: https://www.kickstarter.com/profile/warehouse23/created >> Then you won't miss out when the Decks of Destiny campaign goes live.