Customer Reviews

High Fantasy

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This is the second edition of the High Fantasy game. It is designed to be a simple fantasy role playing game that is easily modified and has lots of features built-in while still be simple. It was great for its time, though it should be updated for a third edition to correct the occasional error and make it more accessible. I will probably include more details in Amazon's forums outside of the ones that appear in this review after finishing reviews and comments on all the rest of the the High Fantasy product line. The problem with the accessibility is that while it can be fine if the Judge/game master wants to make up their own world, the official two worlds have their information scattered among many books, which was actually common among game makers at the time these were published.

Product line information:
1. High Fantasy (Basic game instruction book. Includes a solo-adventure that gives a feel for how a game should be played. First of the two volume core set.)
2. Adventures in High Fantasy (Second volume of the two volume core set. It contains three game scenarios/modules: Fortress Ellendar, Moorguard, and Terra Ash. It also contains "Lords of Conquest" which is the wargame rules and further information for use by warriors and others for large scale conflicts).
3. High Fantasy Boxed Set (A box with the two previous volumes and miscellaneous equipment).
4. Judges Screen for High Fantasy ( A board that is set up to block the players' view with all the table information printed on the side facing the judge).
5. In the Service of Saena Sephar (A solo-adventure of a wizard/thief spy in a James Bond-like adventure).
6. Murder in Irliss (A solo-adventure of a warrior/historian in a murder mystery with clues. It is actually multiple stories in one, as which "fate stone" is chosen at the beginning determines who the murderer is and the clues with the background.)
7. Wizards and Warriors (It is the compilation of items 5 and 6 above in one volume.)
8. Goldchester: More Adventures in High Fantasy (It has author's notes for the background of Dillow's game world and what is left of the base town that was used. It also has 4 other scenarios/modules/adventures: Castle Knot, Quest for the Champion, Quest for the Heart of Set Te Mu, and the Dehysic Canyon.)
9. Circle of Truth. An unpublished book that was never completed due to the publishing company going bankrupt. From the author notes in Goldchester, this would have covered more adventures and game information of Dillow's world. Note that a completely different product (Gf Exploring American Citizenship, Trb 1995c) uses the ISBN number that this book would have used and this confuses book sellers on what they are selling.

There are two separate "official" game worlds: Craig Fisher, and Jeffery Dillow.

Dillow's world has a lot of interdimensional travel from gods and demons and monsters and the world is rather saturated in aether (magic). It appears that most humans have a life span of a few centuries. The products that include scenario information on this world are: High Fantasy (mostly the magic items), Adventures in High Fantasy (all the modules), Murder in Irliss (which includes a continental map of the Western "Kindoms"/city-states, and Goldchester (all parts and has the same continental map). Goldchester also gives a bit of the actual game history and reading between the lines, the players were not very good at what would in today's terms be called "Power Gamers" in looking for errors and holes in the rules that either needs to be corrected or can be exploited. While they apparently became quite powerful playing their characters, they did not really understand the wargame rules and got defeated repeatedly. It is strongly suggested that if this world is to be used that the Judge creates their own continent a few months travel to the West of the Western Kingdoms and wait until they reach the Third plane in skills before sending them to Dillow's world. Instead, it would be a good idea to simply pick up useful information and features from the products to use in their own game such as the gladiatorial arena in the Terra Ash adventure for way for the players to get experience for using the game rules and get relatively safe experience points for their characters (perhaps being paid 5 silver pieces per fight with repairs/replacement armor/weapons and healing being free). The size of the continent in the maps is a bit difficult to figure out, with some references implying that it is the size of Europe while others make it seem more like the size of the North America, though with none of the areas of the continent being exposed to polar glacial ice caps or large hot deserts. Note that the "Eastern Empire" was originally supposed to be roughly equal to the the Western city-states so it is likely roughly the same size geographically. Another consideration could be that generally walking/oxen with cart covers about 12 miles per day and horses cover about 30 miles per day, and given that it took a relatively short period of time for the East to invade the West (say one to five years) then the distance from the "Dwarven Wall" to the Westernmost coast is a minimum of 4,380 miles to a maximum of 54,788 miles. Note that the distances between some the locations given on the continental map might need to be moved around to match whatever the Judge desires as the Goldchester book puts the Temple of Set Te Mu and Castle Knot within a weeks travel time of the town of Goldchester.

Craig Fisher's world lacks interdimensional travel, or at least not very much. There are a lot of strange intelligent forms of life however, along with a rich history. The products that include scenario information on this world are: High Fantasy (the solo-adventure, which includes a continental map of that world) and "In the Service of Saena Sephar" (which includes part of the continental map and some territory to the East). The continent looks vaguely like the North America continent though positioned further South in the world (no apparent signs of freezing climate in the adventures). As a warning to Judges and players, the solo-adventure at the back of the High Fantasy book does contain some errors and several tricks that might have been put in to make mapping out the adventure difficult (such as teleport effects that is not noticeable).

It is suggested that Judges just skim the official worlds and write out or make note of interesting features to borrow for their own worlds. Some examples: the light gems (for light), gems of soul keeping (for ancestor worship), and various mana powered devices from Craig Fisher world. Ghost-related phenomena from Fifth plane beings apparently can result in (haunted-like) magic items in Dillow's world.

Here are some suggestions for bringing the second edition rules to what could have been third edition (I plan to include non-critical details in the forum in the future that is gotten from the various books so Judges will not have to get books that might not be available by any seller):

Scan and covert all books into text and tables for easy editing and print out on 8.5 inch by 11 inch sheets. This will also be be good for putting together copies of all tables in the game and handy reference information for making your own Judge's Screen.

Most non-combatant non-player characters are only roughly equivalent of first level character in terms of Offense and Defense, but they can be the equivalent of Fourth and Fifth plane in their skills (such as being a professional jeweler or being a scribe or being a farmer with an effective "Innate" skill of 95%). Most combat/adventurer skill-like related non-player characters will generally be from first through fifth level (First and Second plane). "Important" people are generally from Third to Fifth plane. This is also roughly how non-player character leaders will look upon the player characters too in terms of ability and importance. Some non-player characters might have unusual secret skills or have features not available elsewhere or are lacking those that are generally available. It is suggested that if a player makes an important character creation roll (such as Strength and Coordination for warriors or Innate for the others) below 50 for their character class, then it should be just considered as having rolled 50 so that the character has a reasonable chance on doing things in an adventure.

Move the "character races" from the "advanced players" (after the equipment tables) to just before the character generation.

Include Humans as an explicit race. Note that the high aether environment acts like a super-nutrient that makes them generally healthier and stronger than real-world humans. This includes giving them a general life-span of a few centuries. They have a Size of 3.

Half-giants have a +90 to their Strength roll at character creation (remove the existing +10 to encumbrance and so forth). If the Strength result is above 100 then the Offense bonus from that is still capped at 100, though the "true strength" still applies if subjected to weakening effects due to things like magic or potions. Note that they are not actually directly related to the Giants in the monster section. They have a Size of 4.

Elves should have their "supernatural senses" flavor text replaced with +90 for the corresponding rolls for things like Sight and Hearing. They also can use a certain type of alchemical metal for armor, called Elfin Chain (basically it is a non-iron based alchemical alloy that does not interfere with magic especially if it is in the shape of rings). If the Judge decides that a given elf (or familiar or other magic dependent creature) is exposed to too much presence of iron, then they could take X column damage periodically until the presence is reduced sufficiently.

Dwarves have a Size of 2. For hammers use the information on the equipment tables for maces.

Hobbits should be re-named Hobbinns (wink wink nudge nudge). They have a Size of 2.

Encumbrance/Weight: This needs to be corrected in the both the character sheet and the equipment tables. Divide the existing encumbrance/weight information ("tams") by 10 to get encumbrance in equivalent "pounds". Or the Judge could divide it by 10 and call the unit "Stone" (10 pounds equal one stone, though in the real world it is 14 pounds per stone) and emphasize that it simply an equivalent of encumbrance and not actually equal to mass. The term "weight" in the equipment tables should be changed to "encumbrance". Note that weapons can penalize Quickness by both their Encumbrance value and the Weapon Quickness value.

Tams (coins/money): These are actually coins roughly the size and shape of USA dimes with ribbed edges (to keep thieves from filing off the edges by being noticeable to others), round, and take up 200 coins per pound of weight (not 10 coins per pound in the original as it otherwise throws off the jewelry and other information). The metal used in tams are all alchemical alloys (roughly 10% of the substance are not pure of the corresponding metal) that results in the metal: looking exactly like the pure metal that is always freshly polished, having a hardness/strength of iron/steel, resists corrosion and acids like a stable ceramic, while still being ductile enough to be drawn into wire like the pure metal (for use by Jeweler subclass). This means that a pile of coins in sunken ship in ocean water for years look the same instead of being a corroded lump. There is another coin called "electrum" tam but it is also a special alchemical alloy of silver an gold and not the real world version in that it looks more like a metallic amber with cloud-like motes of star-like reflections that reflects gold or silver depending on the angle of light (or like waves near a shore under a golden sunset with flashing gold and silver sparkles of reflection) and the shape of the "clouds" can be shaped in artistic forms. These "electrums" are generally equal to 1000 silver tams (though there is supposed to be a version worth 2000 silver tams). The most important parts of tams are standardized though the faces can be customized by the various mints (presumably this relationship is enforced by the alchemy guild and jewelers to keep stable economies).

Value: Note that the value of equipment and items are distorted by magic availability and can be changed if desired. Solid stone and large masses of pure iron are available through the Wall spell (one of "permanent effects") and groupings of 5 wizards (along with the Transmutation spell to make them into easy to use shapes, like flat plates and wire/rods of iron for use by armorers). Creatures like horses are bred at effectively supernatural rates by Animal Masters as well as creatures appearing occasionally from inter-dimensional gates some of which are random and natural. In general, cheap hotel rooms, cheap equipment, and cheap food generally cost on the order of one silver tam. On the other hand, magic items and equipment from the investments lists can run into thousands of silver tams. Magic items and alchemical items are more like individual works of art and with few exceptions are not really subject to mass production. Goldchester has a town with many example prices for goods and services.

Movement: Multiply all references of "inches" in the character sheet and the monster table by 5 to get movement rate in distance of feet per turn. The inches scaling was from an earlier idea of using miniatures.

The character sheet should be changed. Make into a spreadsheet that has the information spread logically on two pages (each 8.5 inches by 11 inches). Include the character Race and Size information (note to Judges, decide on whether the effects of Size for character and Weapons from the Lords of Conquest rules apply on an individual scale and include space for the rules if you decide to include them). Change the Encumbrance to match the note above. Move the Basic (attributes) and Talents to the second page, and include a section that includes the appropriate averages for rolling on particular actions (such as climbing). A section on brief background history should be included (that the Judge approves and may suggest the nature of which before hand to limit argument).

Talents should not be completely randomly rolled. Instead the Judge should include a "home town" or at least rough backgrounds from which the player characters grew up. Note that talents have roughly 5 Plane-like levels of flavor text. The Judge or the players could choose a given reasonable "Plane" based on background history then make a roll within that "Plane". If that is too much trouble, the Judge could just assume that all player character have Talent scores of 70 on all of them.

Adventuring groups should number about 10 player characters. While it would be ideal if there was just one player per player character in terms of focus of role playing, the odds of characters with critical skills being incapacitated or killed (such as those with Healer skills) screwing with the rest of the adventure is too great to not have back-ups. This is in addition to allow player characters have two sub-classes. While splitting up the party can be dangerous, old school gaming did allow for squads to work close together in offering covering fire and avoiding being caught in wide area effects and ambushes.

Warriors. The "Swordsmen" and "Archers" get two bonus specialization in weapons rather than one at first level. There is a third type of warrior that can be called "Skirmisher" that only gets one bonus weapon specialization type at first level, but every specialized weapon bonus gained at each Plane can be from the Melee and Missile Weapon tables as desired and if the chosen weapon can be used as both a melee weapon and a missile weapon then the bonus applies to either usage. Skirmishers can benefit from anything that benefits Swordsmen or Archers. The Skirmishers are those that generally only stick to small groups and use both missile weapon and melee weapons as needed. The Swordsmen and Archers are those who prefer to operate in or are affiliated with large groups (the units of the Lords of Conquest rules). The Swordsmen generally take a large size polearm weapon for hitting targets at a distance as their main weapon and sword or other weapon as their back-up weapon. Archers generally have a main weapon that focuses on very long range and a back up weapon that focusses on heavy damage and a third weapon when the enemy gets into melee (often preferring light armor to allow retreating behind the Swordsmen.

Wizards. "Natural" positive and negative "nexus points" whether permanent or temporary) can temporarily open gates to other realities with aether possibly flowing through it and letting creatures through.
When a wizard book "dies", the covers become "un-imprinted" and the pages become loose (those that have not been destroyed possibly due to the circumstances). Another wizard can "imprint" themselves on the covers and it becomes their own spell book, though a wizard can only have one spell book that they are "imprinted on" at a time. The spell book is actually involved in the spell casting for the "non-memorizable" spells by helping in the flow of the aether and the manna. They do not automatically "die" in a negative nexus point or in an Exhaust Aether effect or against a Negate spell, though the link with wizard can be suppressed temporarily under those effects. A wizard can add non-spell pages to their books to give them the benefit of the other spell pages of not being readable by others (like a diary or personal notes) and being resistant to damage (wizard books are effectively water proof, resistant to casual abuse, can be completely cleaned of mud, only take stains that are desired like ink or pencil marks, etc.). Wizards are free to sort pages in their spell books any way they wish, though they normally sort them by Plane for ease of use and keeping track of those that get damaged from their links.
Copy the effect of iron magic reduction onto the armor table. Note that a wall of iron (from the Wall spell) has -50 to the Innate on spell passing its presence. If the Judge desires, this could mean that those fighting wizards or magic in general could have sufficient iron on them (generally armor) to also benefit from this to have a kind of magic resistance (except this applies to some extent to area effects too at the Judge's discretion). The Judge should decide on this ahead of time, as this could influence background stories and how strategies are done. See my review for "Terra Ash"(in "Adventures in High Fantasy") and "Goldchester" for more information on the nature of manna and aether and the relationship with iron.
The Judge should determine how the Familiar spell works as it is currently rather vague. There are only three examples: a brief one in "Terra Ash" adventure (looks like a human girl), an enemy in "Wizards & Warriors" in the wizard's adventure (looks and acts like tiny dragon), and the "pet" of an owner of a magic shop in "Goldchester" (looks like a fireball that can "possess" statues). None seems to exactly match the game rules precisely. This will be discussed in more detail in a forum topic in the future.

Animal Masters start off with a 0 Difficulty creature with a maximum Level of 2 (hint: choose a Giant Weasel). The total maximum number trained at one time is as in the main class description and not the Investment section.

That is basically it for this review. Further information will be put in the Amazon forums for this product later.

This is the first edition of the High Fantasy game, which is a "table top fantasy role-playing game". As might be guessed from the artwork of the front cover its emphasis is on the "sword and sorcery" genre. This is the basic rule book. It was supposed to be have a second book titled "Lords of Conquest" which was for handling large battles with armies (and give more information about large scale events and the players fit in), though that was part was never published before the second edition came out.

The core rules are based on a percentile dice (rolling two 10-sided dice with one being the lower digit and the other being the higher digit) and comparing it with a chance to succeed that is modified up and down depending on the circumstances. In combat this means means and "Offense" number of the attacker being reduced by the "Defense" number of the target (and with other changes as either side tries to take shift the odds in their favor) with the resulting roll (if successful) compared to on a chart to determine the effect on the target. Usually the result reduces the target's ability to fight ("offense") and defend ("defense") and damage the target's armor and other effects built in to the game. Abilities are based on 20 "levels" with 5 groupies ("planes" or plateaus) of special abilities (such as mastering weapons for warriors or a whole new mastery of magics by wizards.

There are the main classes such as "Warriors" (who are experts at fighting and handling battles), "Wizards" (who use strange living books that they are bonded to and can alter reality to a certain extent), "Alchemists" (alchemical based mad scientists who have gun powder-like weapons), and "Animal Masters" (sort of mind controllers). There are also "sub classes" used to give abilities that can round out or augment the characters (such as healing skills and repairing armor). There are various "for advanced players" that could be used, though they are not often placed where they could be best considered such as non-human player characters (like elves) being stuck near the end rather than at the character creation section.

In comparison with the second edition, the first edition lacks "Basic Abiltities" beyond Strength and Coordination (such as Sight, Hearing), and the Talents (such as Climbing and Swimming). A big change when it goes to the second edition is that the initial rolled value for Quickness is increased by 7 and the weapon quickness values are reduced by 7 (or altered to match the other weapons) so that weapons reduce Quickness (this change was so that things like trolls could pick up a sword and not get quicker). It also lacks the solo-game and the treasure section (various magic, alchemical, and other strange items). Most other things are the same or similar to the second edition. It does include a monster section (descriptions are not as much as the second edition version). Interestingly, the sections for the "Judge" (gamemaster in modern game terms) are somewhat greater for making a game world and making treasure.

There are some errors, though I will probably include the corrections in the forum section of the second edition book (as they were usually missed), though rather easily corrected by comparing with the rest of the game for context.

For this edition's series, the other books are "Fortress Ellendar" and "Moorguard". These are "modules"/"scenarios" set in Dillow's game world. In the second edition both books (as well as another module and the "Lords of Conquest" rules) are included in the book titled "Adventures in High Fantasy".

An historical note is that on the back covers of the modules are listed other products that ended up in the second edition products. These are: Lords of Conquest, Quest for the Heart of Set Te Mu, Terra Ash, and the Dehysic Canyon.

I will sum it up like this; Faster than Dungeons & Dragons and more in-depth than Tunnels & Trolls. Don't let anyone tell you it's a "knock off" of D&D! What fantasy Rpg isn't?