"Regardless of what path you may choose in your journeys through our great world, may the road travel lightly beneath ye, and may the wind always stay to ye're back."
MetalMan's Review of "Tales of Philipia" by Aaron Johnson
Tales of Philipia (TOP) is an attempt to develop a anthropomorphic (or "furry" whichever you prefer) free fantasy roleplaying game and setting. How immersive is the setting and would you want to play in it as well as how does the mechanics system operate within the game will be evaluated in the following review.
The Premise:
Philipia is a war-torn kingdom that is attempting to rebuild itself after hundreds of years of interspecies warfare and the massive invasion of the lizard-like Saurions that almost destroyed all life on Philipia until the intervention of the dolphin-like Porphant with their advanced technology were able to beat back the invaders. Philipia finds itself at a crossroads with a splinter faction of the defeated Saurions continuing the war and the once-distrustful Philipians attempting to gain trust amongst themselves.
PERSONAL NOTE: Tales of Philipia is a work-in-progress. It is not in a finalized stage and, as such, information in this
review may very well be outdated or changed as you read this. The most recent version of the document can be obtained from the TOP website: http://members.nbci.com/jstallion/download.htm
What Ya Get:
Tales of Philipia is a twenty-seven page Microsoft Publisher file. You will need a copy of Microsoft Publisher to read the official version of the rules. Additional file formats for HTML, ASCII text, and Wordpad are also available but they are not claimed to be the official current version. As I consider anything called "official" a public-release version, this is the version that I will be reviewing. Your use out of one of the other formats may vary.
Cost:
Nada. Nothing. Zip. Zilch. Gratis. Free.
Appearance:
Why Microsoft Publisher was used for the official version of the rules is beyond me. It only alienates those who don't have Publisher from being able to see the game in its current state as well as makes it impossible for users of Mac or Linux machines to view. After looking and printing out the file, it doesn't make a difference. Anything done in the rules could have easily been done in Word which tends to be a much easier read format amongst other platforms. Apparently the only choice behind using Publisher was to do a cover page with graphics and its terrible with obvious clipart and horribly pixelated drawings that look like they were enlarged to the point of destruction.
The Setting:
First you get the awful cover image. If you get past that, you get a blank table of contents page. If you get past that, then you get a credits page that endlessly rattles on for a full page and attempts to be funny. Less rambling - more game please. After that, you get a "message from the creator" page that really seems like it should be been integrated into the credits page. Finally, we get to the first page of the actual game itself... but wait! That's just a "what is roleplaying" page but there is a notation about dice at the bottom that says if you roll more ones than successes you get a spectacular failure (most are familiar with this as "botches") there is also a rule that a roll of six becomes open-ended and you can continue to roll and add that number to your total as long as you keep rolling sixes.
The next five pages cover the history of Neogea which is the world or continent that Philipia is on (it is never really defined in the rules exactly which it is). Anyway, an introduction is given that talks about an enigmatic race that existed before the current residents of Philipia that left mysterious cities the everyone else calls the cities of the damned. Thats all we get on them... very much like 7th Sea - a vanished civilization that leaves stuff all over the place and you can get these trinkets but no information is forthcoming about them. This is a real letdown if you like to play up the exploring the unknown-type games as I like to do. Ah well... nothing a good GM can't make up I guess. It continues with documenting the formation of nomadic tribes based on species and the formation of the first meeting of these tribes that resulted in the Canine/Vulpine alliance that later destroyed itself in a conflict between magic and technology. Passing mention is made of the Felines who became a pacifistic race after a large war over political power.
The Vulpines lauched a guerilla war against the Canines who had "enlisted" the friendship of the Rodents. In reality they browbeat the Rodents into believing that the Canines would help them become strong and respected. During this time, the Equines enslaved the Bronk and elephant-like race. This lasted for many years until the Bronk finally wised up and revolted for their freedom. The Canines made an attempt to destroy the Vulpines but were defeated by the unknown alliance between the Vulpine and the Cervians, a deer-like race. These battles would continue for years until the Equines showed up and forced "peace" on both sides. Finally, the Canines and Vulpines combined forces and attacked the Equines which lauched another war which was only interrupted after the appearance of the Saurions which forced all three to united against a common threat.
War went badly for all races against the technological might of the Saurions until the appearance of the Porphants who could match the Saurions. With their combined forces, the Saurions finally were forced to admitt defeat and surrender, however, a splinter group called the Sardasian Combine vowed to continue to fight. That's it. While this history section isn't completely uninteresting, I had problems with calling the races by their scientific terms (i.e. Vulpine/wolves) as it doesn't give any race any character. Why not call the Equines something like "Ironshodden" and come up with interesting tidbits about them to make them more than just a name? I don't mind long histories and I really think that the world could have been enlivened with more cultural information instead of war after endless war stories. I know conflict makes for good adventure but, without something to care about the combatants, I'm just playing with emotionless toy soldiers.
This is slightly rectified in the next two pages as a little more information is given on the races. Still, there again, not enough information ot make them stand out and some very glaring typographical errors. This section sorely needs to be expanded and proofread.
Character Creation:
Character creation is covered next. This section starts off with a "twenty questions" type of list that players can go through and answer to flesh out their characters. Its nice to see this in a free rpg as it is rare enough in commercially published material. Characters are characters NOT just statistical matrixes. With that said, starting charcters get 100 character points (CPs) and 250 units of money to buy gear with. Selection of advantages and disadvantages is next and these either reduce or increase the amount of CPs available. No rules are given for limiting these but a resourceful GM should be able to limit abuse of this by cleverly structuring games around these themes.
There are seven attributes: Toughness, Dexterity, Strength, Intelligence, Charm, Willpower, and Initiative. Each point in these attributes cost 2 CPs unless it is modified by choice of species. For example, Equines only pay 1 CP/point of Strength and Intelligence yet pay 3 CPs/point of Dexterity. Some species also gain special advantages such as the Canine who automatically get Night Vision. Skills are purchased at 1 CP/level of skill. Finally, you can purchase gear with your initial allotment of 250 units of money although you can spend 1 CP to gain an additional 10 units of wealth. Unfortunately, however, the section for listing equipment and weapons to buy wasn't included in the rules. Major mistake. Thats it for character creation. A two page list of Skills wraps up this section.
Combat:
Initiative is handled by rolling a d6 and adding in your Initiative attribute. Combat them proceedes from the highest to lowest roll. Melee fighting is handled so that each combatant rolls his weapons skill v. a target number of four. Whoever has the highest roll is the winner of that round of combat meaning the attack hit and dealt damage or if was successfully defended against. There is no defense against a ranged attack but the attack has to roll better than a difficulty number based on range the firer is away from the target. Mounted combat if jousting is handled by rolling weapons skill plus the Trust rating of your mount. Highest number wins. Melee combat while mounted works as normal melee combat but initiative is calculated by d6 plus Initiative attribute plus Trust rating of your mount. I really like the inclusion of your mount into the equation for mounted combat as it makes things more realistic as well as fun. Skittish warhorses should be very fun to spring on players. Unfortunately, the section on mounts that was mentioned was not included in the rules Various modifiers to rolls are then presented to cover combat situations and the use of cover.
In a combat round, players can perform three different types of actions: Elaborate, simple, and effortless. These vary as to how many you can realistically do in one round (i.e. one Elaborate action will take up the full round). Examples of each type of action are given. Healing is a skill roll v. the amount of bodily integrity (b.i.) loss (more on this in a second) divided by ten. For every success, reduce the amount of damage by 5 b.i. Character health is confusing because you've got a good bit of calculating to do to determine how much damage was inflicted. Damage is rolled for the successful strike. Toughness is rolled and that result is subtracted from the damage. Armor further reduces the damage at a cost to its intergrity. The remaining damage is split between actual physical damage and stun damage. Its all rather complicated and there are exceptions to it that would take up too much space. It seems realistic enough but I think it may be too complicated in actual play although I could be wrong on that as I haven't playtested it.
Alchemy is covered in the next two pages and give rules on how to create various potions and powders. Its pretty straighforward with each potion requiring a Drain roll v. Alchemy skill. The number of successes determines the potency of the potion. Some example potions are listed with their effects and Drain ratings.
Tales of Philipia wraps up with a few pages on adventuring. These pages include the average distance certain animals and vehicles can cover in a days time as well as a random encounter table for when travelling outside. The price and availablity of items in stores are covered with random rolls to determine these as well as taxes on items. I don't like this because its too random. If players had to pay a three percent tax last time why should it change if they come back a month or so later? ... and they will remember these things. Street Knowledge is an interesting additon for being able to find things inside unfamiliar cities and it is modified by the amount of time spent there. This concept might be well used in a D&D game when players find themselves in an unfamiliar place and have to find the nearest public chamberpot. Rules follow this on how to train at skills and how to make money employing yourself with those selfsame skills. Its a very nice idea and another one that might be lifted for any fantasy game although I don't like the "getting out of shape" rules. They seem like far too much a punishment for learning new skills. The adventuring section ends with a page on how to handle ship to ship combat. Its pretty simplistic but effective except unless you're fleeing - it pretty much boils down to broadside firing and seeing which hull collapses first. I would have liked to see rules for other damage to ships such as taking out cannons or masts and rudder damage.
Overall Impression:
It means well and, with some concentrated work, could be a very good system. I liked most of the mechanics in the game and I think the setting could be interesting with some more fleshing out. There were some pretty crippling flaws though with the missing equipment and mounts sections as well as no rules for magic included. Unless you're willing to invest some time into twinking the game from its current state, I'd give it a pass and get Ironclaw if you're looking for furry fantasy. However, assuming that work still continues on Tales of Philipia, you may want to keep an eye on its future progress.
MetalMan signing off.
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