The Inside Scoop on Gaming

On a whim, I purchased this game on-line, based solely on the quality of the free downloads available from the publisher’s website. This is not the kind of activity I am normally given to. I’m broke and I’m Australian – which means doubly broke when you consider the exchange rate and airfreight.

Firstly, let me tell you that we have something special here.

Far too many years ago, when the gaming alternatives were limited to Traveller or AD&D, I stumbled across Runequest. It was am eye-opening experience for me. The text hinted at a special place dripping in a magical history yet only revealing enough to leave me wanting more. The rules themselves seemed to make perfect sense and creating a character was like giving birth.

Arrowflight is not Runequest but twenty years after I began role-playing it has revived my flagging enthusiasm for my primary hobby. It delivers much, it prods the imagination into activity and it leaves you wanting more. Lets have a closer look.

The book itself is a glossy covered, perfect-bound affair with a striking if somewhat confusing front plate and just shy of 200 pages within.

The text is profusely illustrated with artwork ranging from ‘top-class’ to ‘why bother’. As a semi-pro artist myself, it always irks me to find below average art sullying the pages of my favourite hobby. But here, the quality of the good pieces easily out-weighs the presence of the bad. In fact, the good work here achieves it’s purpose admirably, it gives the reader a glimpse of the world and steps the readers imagination up another notch.

The text begins with a potted world-history that zooms-in to highlight some of the details over-looked in some settings (the days of the weeks are named) yet leaves other areas untouched (the months are unnamed, and there is no time-line of historic events beyond that of the monarchy).

Next comes a section entitled ‘Provinces’ in which a number of the games regional areas are named. However, the chapter actually tells us nothing of these areas, instead it discusses the rulers of these lands and their noble houses. It also identifies ‘Major Clans’. These clans are not discussed elsewhere and it is difficult for the reader to fathom what role they play in the grand scheme of things.

At this stage, the book has delivered a chaotic mix of history, culture and myth but does so with such style that the reader can easily forgive the omissions, after all, what are supplements for if not to fill the gaps left by the initial volume.

It’s worth pointing out that although the text is dogged by it’s fair share of typos common to ‘first printings’, the quality and style of prose is excellent and very readable. This game is a labour of love and it shows.

Now the meat of the feast: The rules.

Very broadly, the rules of the game are just this: roll a number of D6s equal to your character’s primary stat, each die that rolls equal to or below the related skill is considered a ‘success’. The more successes, the better.

The specifics of individual situations call for more detail and the rules expand seamlessly to cover as many tasks, effects and events as you care to consider.

Character generation is skilfully handled with the allotment of points from an initial pool, modified by the ‘Lifeline’, a series of short tables roughly outlining the character’s ‘pre-game’ history.

Combat training and skills are described with the development of unique ‘styles’ such as ‘Swashbuckler’ and ‘Rogue’, which cover training in particular weapons and techniques. The use of these meta-skills adds great depth and flavour without the increase in complexity that such detail usually entails.

Magic of both mystical and divine origins is elegantly handled through a series of ‘template’ spells, which can be personalised by the player to create a unique grimoire.

Following on from skills and spells, the book explores the varied religions of a slice of the world that serves as the campaign’s focus. A few metaphysical facts of heaven and hell are shoehorned into the section almost as an after-thought. Indeed the reader is often given the impression that Arrowflight is greatly distilled from a much larger text and not everything could make the page-count.

Next is an exhaustive section on the local economy, which takes time out to discuss the eating habits of our characters and points out the vital differences between ‘tea’ and ‘dinner’. We are also treated to an enormous list of all manner of goods and services, followed by a detailed selection of weapons and armour. There are some crucial rules hidden here which really should have been incorporated in to the combat section. Publishers please take note for the reprint!

The Bestiary section is up next and makes for a good read. There are a few familiar faces here and to be honest, I’m glad. Sometimes, you just have to have goblins! A few interesting twists on some old favourites serve to add more flavour to the game and spice to the adventurer’s lives. One point that should be noted is that the section does suffer from the inclusion of ‘normal’ animals such as the domestic cat, dolphin and parrot. Worse still these entries are accompanied by large illustrations. A note to the authors: We know what a rabbit looks like and we don’t want to fight it, so the fact that it has a Will of 4 and an Agility of 7 is of no use to us!

Following the sections on monsters and rabbits, the authors launch into their ideas on game-mastering. There is some interesting stuff here and like the rest of the book, these pieces are engagingly written. However, this is not a ‘beginners’ game and the space could be much better used. Did I mention the rabbits?

The book finishes with a loose story described as a ‘complete and detailed adventure’ and a handful of story seeds, character sheets and maps, all very useful and nicely presented. Although the ‘complete and detailed’ scenario is extremely sketchy it does give us a first hand view of how the mechanics of the game are put to use inventively.

Despite it’s typos, errors, omissions and obscure inclusions (bloody rabbits), the game has captured the imagination of my group more than any other since the halcyon days of Runequest (the Chaosium edition, I hasten to add). In writing this piece it has dawned on me that I can’t really isolate and identify just what it is about Arrowflight that has struck the cord of our imaginations with the enthusiasm of old. It could be the quality of the writing, the friendly style of prose, the best of the excellent artwork or the glimpse of a world that might just be a place worth staying for a while. A long while.

Arrowflight
Arrowflight Playtest Review by Mike Hill on 13/04/02 Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 5 (Excellent!) A glimpse of good things to come from Deep7's 'Flagship' RPG product. Product: Arrowflight Author: Todd Downing (and others) Category: RPG Company/Publisher: Deep7 Line: Cost: 22.95US Page count: 186 Year published: 2002 ISBN: 0-9710820-9-X SKU: D7RPG100 Comp copy?: no Playtest Review by Mike Hill on 13/04/02 Genre tags: Fantasy	On a whim, I purchased this game on-line, based solely on the quality of the free downloads available from the publisher’s website. This is not the kind of activity I am normally given to. I’m broke and I’m Australian – which means doubly broke when you consider the exchange rate and airfreight. Firstly, let me tell you that we have something special here. Far too many years ago, when the gaming alternatives were limited to Traveller or AD&D, I stumbled across Runequest. It was am eye-opening experience for me. The text hinted at a special place dripping in a magical history yet only revealing enough to leave me wanting more. The rules themselves seemed to make perfect sense and creating a character was like giving birth. Arrowflight is not Runequest but twenty years after I began role-playing it has revived my flagging enthusiasm for my primary hobby. It delivers much, it prods the imagination into activity and it leaves you wanting more. Lets have a closer look. The book itself is a glossy covered, perfect-bound affair with a striking if somewhat confusing front plate and just shy of 200 pages within. The text is profusely illustrated with artwork ranging from ‘top-class’ to ‘why bother’. As a semi-pro artist myself, it always irks me to find below average art sullying the pages of my favourite hobby. But here, the quality of the good pieces easily out-weighs the presence of the bad. In fact, the good work here achieves it’s purpose admirably, it gives the reader a glimpse of the world and steps the readers imagination up another notch. The text begins with a potted world-history that zooms-in to highlight some of the details over-looked in some settings (the days of the weeks are named) yet leaves other areas untouched (the months are unnamed, and there is no time-line of historic events beyond that of the monarchy). Next comes a section entitled ‘Provinces’ in which a number of the games regional areas are named. However, the chapter actually tells us nothing of these areas, instead it discusses the rulers of these lands and their noble houses. It also identifies ‘Major Clans’. These clans are not discussed elsewhere and it is difficult for the reader to fathom what role they play in the grand scheme of things. At this stage, the book has delivered a chaotic mix of history, culture and myth but does so with such style that the reader can easily forgive the omissions, after all, what are supplements for if not to fill the gaps left by the initial volume. It’s worth pointing out that although the text is dogged by it’s fair share of typos common to ‘first printings’, the quality and style of prose is excellent and very readable. This game is a labour of love and it shows. Now the meat of the feast: The rules. Very broadly, the rules of the game are just this: roll a number of D6s equal to your character’s primary stat, each die that rolls equal to or below the related skill is considered a ‘success’. The more successes, the better. The specifics of individual situations call for more detail and the rules expand seamlessly to cover as many tasks, effects and events as you care to consider. Character generation is skilfully handled with the allotment of points from an initial pool, modified by the ‘Lifeline’, a series of short tables roughly outlining the character’s ‘pre-game’ history. Combat training and skills are described with the development of unique ‘styles’ such as ‘Swashbuckler’ and ‘Rogue’, which cover training in particular weapons and techniques. The use of these meta-skills adds great depth and flavour without the increase in complexity that such detail usually entails. Magic of both mystical and divine origins is elegantly handled through a series of ‘template’ spells, which can be personalised by the player to create a unique grimoire. Following on from skills and spells, the book explores the varied religions of a slice of the world that serves as the campaign’s focus. A few metaphysical facts of heaven and hell are shoehorned into the section almost as an after-thought. Indeed the reader is often given the impression that Arrowflight is greatly distilled from a much larger text and not everything could make the page-count. Next is an exhaustive section on the local economy, which takes time out to discuss the eating habits of our characters and points out the vital differences between ‘tea’ and ‘dinner’. We are also treated to an enormous list of all manner of goods and services, followed by a detailed selection of weapons and armour. There are some crucial rules hidden here which really should have been incorporated in to the combat section. Publishers please take note for the reprint! The Bestiary section is up next and makes for a good read. There are a few familiar faces here and to be honest, I’m glad. Sometimes, you just have to have goblins! A few interesting twists on some old favourites serve to add more flavour to the game and spice to the adventurer’s lives. One point that should be noted is that the section does suffer from the inclusion of ‘normal’ animals such as the domestic cat, dolphin and parrot. Worse still these entries are accompanied by large illustrations. A note to the authors: We know what a rabbit looks like and we don’t want to fight it, so the fact that it has a Will of 4 and an Agility of 7 is of no use to us! Following the sections on monsters and rabbits, the authors launch into their ideas on game-mastering. There is some interesting stuff here and like the rest of the book, these pieces are engagingly written. However, this is not a ‘beginners’ game and the space could be much better used. Did I mention the rabbits? The book finishes with a loose story described as a ‘complete and detailed adventure’ and a handful of story seeds, character sheets and maps, all very useful and nicely presented. Although the ‘complete and detailed’ scenario is extremely sketchy it does give us a first hand view of how the mechanics of the game are put to use inventively. Despite it’s typos, errors, omissions and obscure inclusions (bloody rabbits), the game has captured the imagination of my group more than any other since the halcyon days of Runequest (the Chaosium edition, I hasten to add). In writing this piece it has dawned on me that I can’t really isolate and identify just what it is about Arrowflight that has struck the cord of our imaginations with the enthusiasm of old. It could be the quality of the writing, the friendly style of prose, the best of the excellent artwork or the glimpse of a world that might just be a place worth staying for a while. A long while.