Gaming Archives : Page 3 of 3 : Untold Realms

Why I Hate Classes and Alignments

If there is one thing I never understood about D&D, it was character classes and alignments. Just never got them. And I hated them. When I found The Fantasy Trip, it was like a breath of fresh air. The lack of classes and alignments just made sense.

TFT:Gothic

I recently found the Swords & Wizardry WhiteBox: Gothic supplement from Barrel Rider Games, and was kinda blown away. I've been looking for ideas to add elements of horror to my TFT games, and and this really fit the bill. Here is my take on how to fit those elements into The Fantasy Trip.

Talents and Backgrounds in The Fantasy Trip

I am always looking for ideas from other game systems and supplements, and a very interesting one is Zozer's Solo. One of the cool things I learned from that supplement was to use talents as roleplaying opportunities by having the player explain how the character obtained them.

Insanity in The Fantasy Trip

One of the things that is missing in The Fantasy Trip is a simple set of rules for dealing with insanity. Here are some simple house rules that make a stab at guiding players and GMs on insanity (madness!), but keep things as simple as possible.

Old School Revival

Lately I have been reading a lot of articles on the web about OSR, or Old School Revival (or Renaissance). These usually refer to retro-clones of D&D, games that are copies of the original, trying to improve upon them but retaining the "feel" of game or time. While people are usually talking about D&D, the concept still applies to The Fantasy Trip.

The Fantasy Trip Returns Home

By now most of you have heard the news that Steve Jackson has regained the rights to The Fantasy Trip. This announcement on December 26th took the TFT community by storm, with an overwhelmingly positive reaction. This is truly great news for lovers of the game, but some things are uncertain moving forward.

Fear and Loathing in TFT

One gaming aspect that was missed in The Fantasy Trip was fear. Why does that matter? One view was that most adventurers seemed to be psychotic killers who were never affected by all of the blood, gore, monsters and the supernatural that were all around them. Another is that in the years since TFT was published, roleplaying has come a long way.

Fighting Styles in The Fantasy Trip

As much of a tactical game as The Fantasy Trip is, it is kinda generic when it comes to actual fighting. But it would be nice to add some kind of color to combat, something that adds some flair--something that can give players options. That's where fighting styles comes in...

Gameshops From the Past

Local gameshops are a big part of the gaming hobby. As I get back into the hobby, I keep thinking about gameshops or hobby stores I hung out at back in my formative years.

The Value of Free Stuff

Last weekend I went on a rampage, scarping up everything I could find for free or Pay What You Want (PWWYW) on DriveThruRPG. I'll be honest--there is a lot of crap out there that is not even worth the download. But there is a lot of great stuff that really is worth the time to download--especially if it is free!

Support Your Local Gameshop

Yes, that message has always been hammered home for decades--for a reason. Local gameshops are the lifeblood of our hobby. They are also a great place to meet other people to game with.

Keeping Things Simple

Why play The Fantasy Trip and not GURPS? Why go... backwards? I don't think that it is backwards, not really. The beauty of TFT is its simplicity.