What I’m Seeing

Message:

The system still holds up in later-level advancement play. There is always a few rolls in sequence (bad) which can put your character in danger. Double-vicious is never off the table. Flairs can kill any party, at GM's whim. That's most fantasy role-play folks.

The power creep compared to the original is gone. We continue to understand our options with free-style law magic. Rather than making one roll to move a Skill in-play, we can directly create Battle Cry for ourselves to gain that dice pip. The magic is not as prevalent as I may like, but that’s because I still run the scenarios in a very wargame, plot-driven flow. If I had more wandering whimsy, there certainly would be more ordinary use of the supernatural. And yet would the theme of the game be muted by this? With roughly 50-50 fail dice, you’d see more Deviant Consequences (not all permanent malady). Many an NPC conversation would abruptly end when town burns down as hero fails to conjure a gentle rain.

Also, I have yet to run a cross country flow of encounters, like those generated by Fantasy On the Fly. Download the XL macro driven generator if you haven’t already.

Overall, Conrad's Fantasy Next Millennium is a nice design. I still might favor event driven combat (Cutlass and Outlands), but for a game where you solve bucket and basin problems, figure out a way to converse with a demon using a whistle and bring a skull back to it’s rib cage, it’s good. The only complaint is the one I have for most role-play, very driven by Referee’s talents. Event Driven Card-Flip adventures reduce that curve, making a nice vanilla with some pralines. Conrad’s Fantasy Next is Rocky Road, good and unexpected, just more effort and not suitable in a Sundae.

Besides, my ego says I can run anything. How much effort depends on my mood. I’m currently cranky old man and not interested in reading a 273 pg volume before getting started. Zen Fanatsy has advantages in that regard as well.


Yours,