"Fox Magic" is a 93 page historical fantasy RPG centered on the kitsune (shape-shifting foxes) and other spirits of Japanese mythic culture and the Shinto religion. The text is presented in two-column justified with a large (12pt) serif font with clearly defined margins and occasional grey-background side-bars. Various section and chapter headings are in a hand-script font, which is a little difficult to read. The table of contents includes chapter headings and sections for the 66 pages of the game that are actually rules; at this length it is not surprising that there is no index. Page numbers are in a particularly small font and page descriptors are iconic, rather than descriptive.
The artwork, page design and watermarking used throughout is quite attractive, although a great deal of space is dedicated to such material; there are over 20 full-page illustrations or chapter pages, a huge quantity for a short book. Further, some of the artwork is repeated in the text. Also notable are a number of pages which complete with a fair amount of unused white space. A page of recommended reading and films is provided prior to the well-defined chapters; Introduction, Character Creation, Abilities, Mechanics, Storytelling, The World & Questions and Sample Characters. Despite this definition the organisation of the text within the chapters could be improved; often terms are introduced with the explanation of their meaning or use some pages later; sometimes there is a direct reference. This said, the writing style is easy to read, and even a little too light.
The Introduction chapter begins with an explanation of the Shinto notion of Kami and a note that the game is not setting bound either in time or space and by way of illustration examples of contemporary manga is referred as an example of setting diversity. This is followed by a two-page glossary and short pronunciation guide before moving on to the basic abilities and psychology of the kitsune. Revealed here are their core characteristics; size equating to power, optional multiple tails on display, ability to walk on hind-legs, and the overwhelming desire for family, a dedication to honesty, dignity and the promotion of harmony through trickery.
Character Creation and Abilities
Character creation begins with the GM ("Fortunes") determining whether PCs will begin as one- or two-tailed. The player must then choose a breed, which have a special strength attribute is their strength providing a bonus die in Challenges), and their Ban, a spiritual requirement associated with the strength attribute. An attribute point must be spent to prevent the fox from having to fulfill the obligations of the Ban. The game recommends adopting a name for the fox based on distinguishing characteristics and/or adding the suffix -ri as servants of Inari, the fortune of foxes. The breeds and their associated strength attributes are as follows: Byako (Wisdom), Kuko (Spirit), Genko (Skill), Reiko (Spirit), Shakko (Cunning), Yakan (Cunning), Tenko (Wisdom) and Zenko (Skill). The attributes in the game are Cunning, Skill, Spirit and Wisdom.
A fox that out-does their previous accomplishments may gain a new tail at the end of a story. It is also possible to lose tails, and the effects and recovery of tails is differentiated between quick-play games and campaign games. This is tied to the idea of the fox losing and gaining 'stories', contributing to an overall legendary narrative of the shapeshifter. Gaining a tail provides four additional attribute points and a new ability; losing a tail subtracts the same. Additional benefits are gained at five, seven and nine tails as these are considered lucky. Each attribute begins at a value of one; a one-tailed fox has an additional eight points to distribute and an Ability, a two-tailed fox has twelve points and two Abilities and so forth. Attribute Points are used to fuel Abilities whereas Story Points are used to fuel exceptional Abilities, refresh Attributes or manipulate the story. PCs begin with a number of Story Points equal to their lowest Attribute whereas the Fortunes begin with a number "equal to the total number of tails possessed by the players" (read: characters; I'm reasonably sure the players are not fox shape-shifters with multiple tails).
A fox begins with a number of Abilities equal to their number of tails; for each tail they may also sacrifice one Attribute point for another Ability. Activating an Ability costs two Attribute Points, or one if it is breed-related, or a Story Point. Nineteen basic and six rare Abilities are described with a basic description and mechanics running to approximately half a page to a full page each. Rare abilities require a mentor to teach the fox. Basic Abilities include include Bachi (a divine curse), Fox Cry (communicate with other animals), Illusion, Kitsune-Tsuki (domination, possession), Respiration (spiritual bond) and so forth. Rare abilities include Akashic (elemental control), Mahou (speak with the dead), and Shugendo (summon spirits).
Mechanics
The core of Fox Magic is the development of a Story, broken down into Scenes, which the PCs can influence in a significant manner; the Tempo represents the character which has temporary control of a Scene and therefore can narrate the action, although the Fortunes will decide where and when a Scene will start and what other characters (Named and Extras) are present. The first Tempo in a Scene is determined by the fox with the highest number of tails; in the case of a tie, the initiative (as it were) is determined by the players. Through the expenditure of Story Points, the Tempo may add new Named characters to a Scene.
If the Tempo declares a significant action that has a chance of failure, or which another player wishes to contest, a Challenge is held. A Challenge begins with a number of d12s equal to the current rank in the Attribute needed, with bonuses for Opportunities and penalties for Complications and either for Conditions, with an overall minimum of one die being rolled or two if the Attribute is a character Strength. Engaging in a Challenge will reduce an Attribute by one die, or two if (for example) an Ability is invoked. If the dice rolled have any results of 7 or higher, the Challenge was successful and the PC keeps the Tempo (or may hand it to someone else). On a failure, the Tempo is given to the challenger. If an action is declared unchallenged, it succeeds, but the Tempo must be handed on. The Tempo may be refused, and handed back to the original PC. The Fortunes always have the right to take control of the Tempo and negate an action if they consider it disruptive.
Success and failures come in degrees; an absolute success (roll 12), a success (roll 10-11), a partial success (roll 7-9), a partial failure (roll 4-6), a failure (roll 2-3) and an absolute failure (roll 1). The degree of success and failure comes with Opportunities and Complications with a cost variable to the degree; an Absolute Failure, for example, results in the loss of the Tempo, plus a Complication chosen by the Challenger. With a partial success, the Tempo is retained, but the challenger may grant a Complication at the cost of a Story Point.
Conditions are neutral circumstantial modifiers, neither a boon nor a bane in themselves. Opportunities provide benefits and Complications provide penalties. These may be scene-specific or on-going; a scene-specific condition provides a value of +/- two dice to challenges, whereas an on-going condition is valued at +/- one die. On occasion, scene-specific Conditions may be inverted, albeit at a value of one. Note that these Challenge values are absolute; every difficult chasm to cross or wall to climb is, in terms of the game system itself, of the same difficulty. Conditions must be explicitly evoked in a Scene or Challenge. The Fortunes determine whether whether Conditions are scene-specific, on-going or require a Challenge or Story point to remove.
A Scene ends when either the Fortunes or the players Relent, suffer Defeat, or, in the case of foxes, are Slain. If the Fortunes relent, the players may determine how the Scene ends; if the players relent it is up to the Fortunes. It is often advisable to Relent rather than suffer defeat or worse. A defeat occurs if a character is Challenged, but cannot pay for the Attribute required for the action; they then acquire the "Defeated" condition remains for the rest of the Scene and cannot gain control of the Tempo (although they have it given to them). If a defeated character is Challenged, they gain a new complication or they are Slain. A Slain character loses a Story (and a tail, and attribute points and an ability) but may reappear in a subsequent scene if the player gains the Tempo. Once a character loses their last tail they are forever lost.
Storytelling, The World, Sample Characters
The three pages of text that make up the chapter on storytelling suggests incorporating various challenges and character bans into the story through the individual scenes which can stand on their own or be incorporated into the wider plot. Like the players, the Fortunes may manipulate a Scene by spending Story Points and they gain an extra Story Point every time a player spends one; thus there is a gradual bias in favour of the Fortunes as the story progresses. Particular Scenes will be determined by the Fortunes as "critical", which must occur at least once in a Story. In a Critical Scene the Fortunes determine all the actions, rather like a cut-scene in a video game. The Fortunes should also set a difficulty of each Scene based on a Challenge Pool, varying from 1 (easy) to 10 (insurmountable), to be used when a player challenges the Fortune's use of the Tempo.
The hefty World chapter starts off with an introduction of Japanese mythology, incorporating both Shinto and Buddhist perspectives before describing the various the various realms that a kitsune may find themselves in or spirit beings they may encounter. This then leads to descriptions of over thirty-five mythical creatures, which are described in one to three paragraphs and are assigned a variable Challenge Rating, rather than a mechanically complete set of Attributes and Abilities. For example a Goryo, is described as a vengeful ghost of a powerful lord, wrecking havoc on crops through typhoons and earthquakes, but possibly subject to appeasement; a goryo has a Challenge Rating of +5 to +8. Sometimes these 'creatures' take the form of inanimate objects (remember that kami is everywhere), such as a nurikabe, a plaster-covered wall, which misdirects and impedes people (Challenge Rating +0 to +3). In addition the World chapter also includes nine famous Kitsune from Japanese legend and two kistune "gods". The former collection are provided with approximately half a page of description, Attribute scores, and Abilities.
The Sample Characters chapter makes up the reminder of the book, each with a full-page illustration and a full-page (and usually largely blank) character sheet. There is little to be said about these, as they are provided strictly in accordance to the game system rules - which is fairly simple. There is certainly little justification for the overwhelming contribution to the book's page count that this chapter uses up.
Conclusion
The author of Fox Magic shows some knowledge of Japanese religion and spirtualism and especially the mythos surrounding shapeshifters in that culture and has produced an interesting, player-driven, largely narrativist system to channel this mythology. Whilst one can overlook the fact the game never really lives up to the promise of being setting adaptable, the fact that there is no background on other pertinent aspects of Japanese cultural mores, tools and equipment etc is less acceptable. I would not recommend designing a story or running a game of Fox Magic without a copy of Bushido, GURPS Japan, Sengoku or, in a pinch and with a grimace, Legend of the Five Rings. The lack of a sample Story and Scenes is also notable and disappointing, as rules-lite games such as these are typically initially played on a whim, and having a ready-to-run game certainly makes life easier for the Gamemaster. For the players however, the game is certainly fun as so much is in their control and competition between the players is encouraged.
The general design of the product could certainly do with a substantial review as well. The page-count dedicated to the sample characters is simply unreasonable. There are font, layout and white-space issues. Replicated artwork should also be a no-no as well. Comment could also be made on what some consider to be a steep price for the PDF. Whilst the cost is high considering the content and the norms of the market, the determination of value-for-money ultimately comes down to a combination of disposable income and a metric of the style/substance relative to cost - as such, that is up to consumers themselves to determine.
Overall, I like the idea of a kitsune-based RPG (having had a few players run such characters in medieval-themed Japanese games I've run) and I enjoy the game system provided in Fox Magic. But ultimately, I would prefer this game to have a substantial revision before I give it a solid recommendation.
Style: 1 + .4 (layout) + .4 (art) + .5 (coolness) + .5 (readability) + .5 (product) = 3.3
Substance: 1 + .3 (content) + .3 (text) + .7 (fun) + .5 (workmanship) + .5 (system) = 3.3
Help support RPGnet by purchasing this item through DriveThruRPG.
