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"Crestfallen" (v008), is a fantasy RPG, written by Dan Hiscutt, it is based on Celtic mythology and is available for download as a 1.4 Megabyte .PDF from www.crestfallen.net.

The book is divided into three sections:

THE WORLD BOOK.

This section describes the world of Kerun. It begins with the history of Kerun, from its creation by the god Kerun, his banishment of the Giants (the first created race) to the World of Husks and Rinds (Underworld), to the creation of the Harvest Gods by the World Tree with the aid of shamans, the destruction of the World Tree by the Giants and the creation of the Arcadians (tree men) from its remains, to the present day.

The physical details of the game universe are next, the planet Kerun is described from the icepack in the north, under which is buried Annwyn, the only giant not exiled to the underworld to the four continents (Tain Dor, Yakut, Soth & Rivannon) which make up the majority of the planets landmass.

The continent of Rivannon is the intended starting point for PC's, it is mapped and its nations described in terms of population and society, with the most information being given for Pretanin, the nation in which the new player characters will begin their adventures.

Other information contained in the world book includes descriptions of the Harvest Gods and of the calendar of Pretanin.

THE CHARACTER BOOK.

The Character Book begins with descriptions of the five player character races, they are:

ARCADIAN. These are tree-men, formed from the shards of the dying World Tree, they are craftsmen, but their skill is tempered by a cynical personality.

CYCLOPS. These peaceful giants once blind, discovered a powerful magic which they used to give themselves the ability to see. This is an ability they are fated to loose as punishment for abusing the powers they discovered. Their tunnels beneath Rivannon, carved when they lived underground, may become the highway by which the orcs who live on the northern ice use to invade south Rivannon.

HUMANS. The humans of Rivannon are the descendants of slaves who fled their masters in a great exodus sometime in the distant past. Over the years they have developed into several different races and now dominate Rivannon.

LUPUS.

Wolf sprits given humanoid form by Kerun as a reward for faithful service, they are among the most spritual of the races, it was their shamans who were responsible for the creation of the Harvest Gods. Now they face extinction at the hands of the more advanced races around them.

NADERITES.

These four armed beings are natural warriors, created by wizards as fighting slaves. Freed by a revolt, they scratch a living as mercenaries along the edges of human civilisation.

Each of the racial descriptions, which contains information on biology, personality, sprituality & society, is written as if the reader is a member of the race in question, which I believe to be an effective device for getting the PC to think in character.

Following the racial descriptions are the character creation instructions. This is the first point at which a PC is required to pick up dice and it is at this point that the type of dice required and their use is explained.

There are six dice (2xD6, 2xD8, 2xD10) half are red and half green, and they are used by rolling two dice of the same type and subtracting the result on the red dice from the result on the green dice. In the character creation process these are D6's and the result, positive or negative is added to the base attributes for the chosen race.

There are 8 attributes, they are:

Agility: Reflexes/Dexterity

Strength: Endurance/resistance to injury

Health: Physical toughness/resistance to disease

Knowledge: Ability to remember information. Willpower: Determination/bravery

Spirit: Magical ability

Social: Charm, attractivness, confidence.

Each of the attributes is defined and the linked skills are listed beneath.

Once the player has rolled for his characters attributes he adds the gender/age modifiers to determine the final starting attributes.

The player then choses a racial template, this specifies what starting skills the character will have and what starting carreers are available for the character. These templates cover urban, rural, nomad and wilderness backgrounds and also give any special racial modifiers. Once race and career have been determined the player choses his characters religion and the skills that go with it.

Skills are obtained using a Skill Point system. Skill points are determined when the PC choses his charaters starting age, the higher the age, the more skill points he receives, but he will also suffer attribute penalties.

After skill points have been distributed the charater determines his characters injury table, the determines the nature of injuries received in combat (stun, light, medium, heavy, critical).

The player then determines the characters piety (faith) and wealth, before purchasing equipment. If the player so desires he may use a series of questions provided to 'flesh-out' the characters background and personality.

The character generation system is straightforward and the provision of a demonstration of the character creation process is a great help.

THE GAME BOOK

This section describes skill use, combat and magic. In all of these tasks success/failure is determined using the following formula:

Attribute(or skill) modifiers (GreenD8 - RedD8) > Target number.

The target number can vary from 0 (trivial) to 25 (impossible), in cases where the roll is verses another individual (for example combat), the target number is the number rolled by the oponent.

Combat occurs in three stages, first initiative is determined, then players decare actions in order of initiative. Combat is resolved in terms of oposing combat skill rolls, with damage being determined by the difference between the successful roll and the unsuccesful roll, which is compared to the injured characters injury table.

The combat section concludes with a list of available weapons, both natural and manufactured.

Following the combat section is information on character improvement and how a character goes about improving their piety.

The magic section is currently incomplete, but does explain how the magic of "Crestfallen" works, there are two types of magic users, shamans and priests. Both types of magic users bind spirits to do their bidding, shamans can bind more spirits than priests, but priests are able to bind more powerful spirits than shamans.

The magic section contains an outline description of how a shaman is selected and trained, followed by an incomplete section that will in a future edition outline the selection and training process for priests.

The following this description of the two magic user types, the rules covering binding spirits and magic skills are outlined. The final part of the Game Book is a description of the different spirits and what powers they grant the magic user, this section is currently incomplete.

CONCLUSION.

"Crestfallen" is a professional and well written product, while there are only two maps and three illustrations they are clear and well drawn.

Its problems are the result of its incomplete state, there is at present no beastiary, but a GM should be able to use the skill & weapon descriptions provided to create animal opponents.

This fine effort is worth four out of five for value (it's free) and four out of five for content.

Crestfallen
Crestfallen Capsule Review by Graham Donald on 21/11/01 Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 5 (Excellent!) A very good free RPG Product: Crestfallen Author: Dan Hiscutt Category: RPG Company/Publisher: Self Published Line: Cost: Free Page count: Year published: ISBN: SKU: Comp copy?: no Capsule Review by Graham Donald on 21/11/01 Genre tags: Fantasy	"Crestfallen" (v008), is a fantasy RPG, written by Dan Hiscutt, it is based on Celtic mythology and is available for download as a 1.4 Megabyte .PDF from www.crestfallen.net. The book is divided into three sections: THE WORLD BOOK. This section describes the world of Kerun. It begins with the history of Kerun, from its creation by the god Kerun, his banishment of the Giants (the first created race) to the World of Husks and Rinds (Underworld), to the creation of the Harvest Gods by the World Tree with the aid of shamans, the destruction of the World Tree by the Giants and the creation of the Arcadians (tree men) from its remains, to the present day. The physical details of the game universe are next, the planet Kerun is described from the icepack in the north, under which is buried Annwyn, the only giant not exiled to the underworld to the four continents (Tain Dor, Yakut, Soth & Rivannon) which make up the majority of the planets landmass. The continent of Rivannon is the intended starting point for PC's, it is mapped and its nations described in terms of population and society, with the most information being given for Pretanin, the nation in which the new player characters will begin their adventures. Other information contained in the world book includes descriptions of the Harvest Gods and of the calendar of Pretanin. THE CHARACTER BOOK. The Character Book begins with descriptions of the five player character races, they are: ARCADIAN. These are tree-men, formed from the shards of the dying World Tree, they are craftsmen, but their skill is tempered by a cynical personality. CYCLOPS. These peaceful giants once blind, discovered a powerful magic which they used to give themselves the ability to see. This is an ability they are fated to loose as punishment for abusing the powers they discovered. Their tunnels beneath Rivannon, carved when they lived underground, may become the highway by which the orcs who live on the northern ice use to invade south Rivannon. HUMANS. The humans of Rivannon are the descendants of slaves who fled their masters in a great exodus sometime in the distant past. Over the years they have developed into several different races and now dominate Rivannon. LUPUS. Wolf sprits given humanoid form by Kerun as a reward for faithful service, they are among the most spritual of the races, it was their shamans who were responsible for the creation of the Harvest Gods. Now they face extinction at the hands of the more advanced races around them. NADERITES. These four armed beings are natural warriors, created by wizards as fighting slaves. Freed by a revolt, they scratch a living as mercenaries along the edges of human civilisation. Each of the racial descriptions, which contains information on biology, personality, sprituality & society, is written as if the reader is a member of the race in question, which I believe to be an effective device for getting the PC to think in character. Following the racial descriptions are the character creation instructions. This is the first point at which a PC is required to pick up dice and it is at this point that the type of dice required and their use is explained. There are six dice (2xD6, 2xD8, 2xD10) half are red and half green, and they are used by rolling two dice of the same type and subtracting the result on the red dice from the result on the green dice. In the character creation process these are D6's and the result, positive or negative is added to the base attributes for the chosen race. There are 8 attributes, they are: Agility: Reflexes/Dexterity Strength: Endurance/resistance to injury Health: Physical toughness/resistance to disease Knowledge: Ability to remember information. Willpower: Determination/bravery Spirit: Magical ability Social: Charm, attractivness, confidence. Each of the attributes is defined and the linked skills are listed beneath. Once the player has rolled for his characters attributes he adds the gender/age modifiers to determine the final starting attributes. The player then choses a racial template, this specifies what starting skills the character will have and what starting carreers are available for the character. These templates cover urban, rural, nomad and wilderness backgrounds and also give any special racial modifiers. Once race and career have been determined the player choses his characters religion and the skills that go with it. Skills are obtained using a Skill Point system. Skill points are determined when the PC choses his charaters starting age, the higher the age, the more skill points he receives, but he will also suffer attribute penalties. After skill points have been distributed the charater determines his characters injury table, the determines the nature of injuries received in combat (stun, light, medium, heavy, critical). The player then determines the characters piety (faith) and wealth, before purchasing equipment. If the player so desires he may use a series of questions provided to 'flesh-out' the characters background and personality. The character generation system is straightforward and the provision of a demonstration of the character creation process is a great help. THE GAME BOOK This section describes skill use, combat and magic. In all of these tasks success/failure is determined using the following formula: Attribute(or skill) modifiers (GreenD8 - RedD8) > Target number. The target number can vary from 0 (trivial) to 25 (impossible), in cases where the roll is verses another individual (for example combat), the target number is the number rolled by the oponent. Combat occurs in three stages, first initiative is determined, then players decare actions in order of initiative. Combat is resolved in terms of oposing combat skill rolls, with damage being determined by the difference between the successful roll and the unsuccesful roll, which is compared to the injured characters injury table. The combat section concludes with a list of available weapons, both natural and manufactured. Following the combat section is information on character improvement and how a character goes about improving their piety. The magic section is currently incomplete, but does explain how the magic of "Crestfallen" works, there are two types of magic users, shamans and priests. Both types of magic users bind spirits to do their bidding, shamans can bind more spirits than priests, but priests are able to bind more powerful spirits than shamans. The magic section contains an outline description of how a shaman is selected and trained, followed by an incomplete section that will in a future edition outline the selection and training process for priests. The following this description of the two magic user types, the rules covering binding spirits and magic skills are outlined. The final part of the Game Book is a description of the different spirits and what powers they grant the magic user, this section is currently incomplete. CONCLUSION. "Crestfallen" is a professional and well written product, while there are only two maps and three illustrations they are clear and well drawn. Its problems are the result of its incomplete state, there is at present no beastiary, but a GM should be able to use the skill & weapon descriptions provided to create animal opponents. This fine effort is worth four out of five for value (it's free) and four out of five for content.