Review by Colin D. Speirs c.speirs [AT] equus.demon.co.uk

Disclaimer: The copy reviewed was supplied free by Ganesha Games (who also insisted that this fact be mentioned).

“So there you are, running for your life through Mevania town, the hobnailed boots of the Inquisition guard only a few yards behind, the walls at eiter side scritch to the scampering feet on the walls as the rat-minions of the vampire Malviccion shadow you. The wind carries the carrion smell of the vampire towards you from somewhere ahead. You get ever closer to the estate of your home. So what do you do?”

This bit of description from a game of “Familiars” was not directed at a band of heroic warriors or cunning rogues, well not exactly,but at a terrier called Giacomo being ridden by a sword wielding rag-doll called Poppo and overhead a bat called Scuroala, the familiar spirits of the mage Giovanni Onesti, who was deep in a complex ritual, unaware of the twin threats of the Holy Inquisition and the vampire Malviccion.

That sums up the nature of the game. Magery is illegal though mages are common enough. The temporal and spiritual authorities are ever-vigilant to stamp out the threat, and other evils threaten the mages, directly or by risk of black mail and exposure. The mages must therefore work through agents, spirits bound to animal or constructed form, their familiars.

Like his recent fantasy skirmish wargame (“Songs of Blades and Heroes”), Andrea Sfiligoi's role-playing game has a very light system. In this game adding the number of the relevant attribute to a 2d6 roll and getting above a target number, or, when trying to beat another person, highest roll plus attribute. Like “Songs of Blades and Heroes” there are special abilities, which may be either natural abilities of the familiar's animal form, or it is a gift gained through experience,e.g. Bat naturally flies and has echolocation, but they may also learn gifts such as Sense Magic or having a terrifying presence. Generating a character is a matter of choosing a character archetype (animal or the rag-doll homunculus) and dividing a number of points amongst the attributes.

Each familiar has a number of natural gifts,a list of gifts they can learn, though you could always give them a flaw in order to gain an extra gift, and a description of the general character of that kind of familiar, Magpies are blethery gossips, owls are wise, mice don't much care for owls and think about food, especially cheese, a great deal of the time. Each familiar can call upon their master or mistress at need, but only for a limited number of times and with no guarantee that they will receive aid.

I have played a few story telling games and story telling roleplaying games over the years. In the main I do not like them, with only a couple of exceptions, “De Profundis” and “The extraordinary adventures of Baron Munchausen”. I can now add a third. “Familiars” is not sold as a story-telling game but the games premise reminds me of many good stories, in the manner of “The Brave Little Toaster”, and the system is light enough but flexible enough to allow for randomness without getting in the way of smooth play and narrative. The milieu suits a mix of humorous and dark gaming, depending on how the players and games-master feel. Goblins and the like could be slapstick villains, or chilling adversaries either possibility is playable.

The game is well presented. The bright cover, female mage sitting in front of a mixed selection of creatures and a lurking rag doll on top of a gradiated pink background with a darkened skyline visible out of the window is striking. The interior is crisp and readable, with charming, clean and unfussy illustrations by the author. I could only detect one factual error. The game says Shrews are rodents, which they are not, but that isn't a big deal and I believe that that is now an official errata.

A great game, imaginative and fun. I would have liked for there to be more information on the game world but that at $5 you get more than your money's worth. As it is you get the system, character generation and development, some world information, though not much it has to be said, actions including combat, dangers, a character sheet and a sample adventure. If I haven't convinced you yet, the price should be enough for you to take a risk on.