So to start, the PDF is good sized, and the cover art is classic or the genre. All the FOTN books have used classic art, and this is no exception. It brings a fresh perspective on RPG books that are usually very cartoony or anime-like. But it may not be for everyone since some in our play-group felt it was like a museum exhibit.
Alright, first chapter is all about the last age of gods and men. It does a rather high and fast fly-by of the end times that lead up to the final battle. What my group and I seriously enjoyed was the perspective from the giant side. It’s presented as a list of grievances against the gods, and it sets the stage as to why the final show-down must happen. This also sets the tone as high fantasy which is a big contrast to the second edition which we found to be low fantasy (more historical).
It then jumps to the mechanics, and this is where most people will stop in their tracks and do a double take: this RPG uses no dice! It uses Viking RUNES instead!! Talk about a mechanic that fits the genre like an old shoe- we fell in love with this. This is also were the steepest learning curve in recent memory hit us as well. As a seasoned gamer, I can pick up any RPG out there and figure it out in a few hours…. This took days! BUT, I’d say in hindsight, it was well worth it.
OK, so how does it work you’ll ask (and hope that I spill the beans and give you a tutorial that will save you a few days)… ok, I won’t be mean, here goes: The character is defined by the runes they own and the amount of runes they draw. Picture this as two stats. The more runes you own, the more stuff you know and the harder you are to kill. The other stat defines just how much you can do, and how well you can do it. Each player is encouraged to experiment with what they would find as their favorite ratio. Our group was debating the pros and cons for a year and still couldn’t agree on what would be best. It truly is up to your play style.
OK so next you bind the runes you own to power and skills. Each rune can be mapped to one active power, one passive power and one skill. So if you own 5 runes, your know 5 active powers, 5 passive powers and 5 skills. OK, so now what do you do with these runes? So in this RPG there is a pay mat, and depending on where those runes end up, different things occur. If you know comp sci or math, think of it as a state machine. If you’re more artistic, think of it as telling a story depending on how the runes move on your personal play mat.
So now onto combat. Hey what’s a blood thirsty Viking game without combat? First things first, the damage you take immediately moves runes you can use out of reach… damn realistic, each hit huts and you feel it as you lose the ability to manifest some of your powers. Secondly, it’s visceral and tactical. The way you mix and match your runes defines the end effect. The closest thing I can compare it to is the computer game Magicka. Every hand you draw is like a poker hand, you study it, study your current predicament and play the best actions you can. You can play lone runes, or combo them for various meta effects. There are also conditions which use tokens (poison, immobilized, immolated, etc), and that may be the only clunky part of the design. Everything else gets 5-stars.
The classes/archetypes/occupations are the standard ones from previous FOTN and we love them. No boring warrior/thief/mage/cleric stereotypes. Same can be said for the monsters and items. The nice thing about progression is that is continues the tradition started in FOTN 2e of using chess boards. No skill trees, you progress along a chess board and you can have multiple chess boards, or spec to just a few. After many years, the FOTN universe has matured and taken on a very distinct flavor. We don’t need Githyanki, give us Skwee!
Now the adventuring world is new. Nothing from the old FOTN worlds are used. The times are dark, gritty, ugly and dangerous. So a whole new locale has been designed to capture the mood. The NPC’s are all dark shades of grey, there is no black and white, and very few light shades of grey exist. It’s not for young kids, and I’d say it’s borderline 18+ for rating. The NPC’s aren’t you typical fare, and when we’re so desensitized to violence and cannibal NPC’s don’t phase us, the designers throw allusions of deviant sex offenders (nothing graphic but enough to shock). This keeps things far from typical unicorns and leprechauns. The closest parallel I can draw is to is Warhammer Fantasy from the 80’s.
So in conclusion, this book is incredibly innovative and it’s a shock that this type of rune mechanic hasn’t been adopted by other RPG’s (well maybe there would be law suits, I dunno). It is a system that is incredibly crunchy and allows for uber character customization. Yet you can make a character in less than 2 minutes if you’re not into min-maxing. An area that all the FOTN games need improvement on is new art. What prompted me to write this is hearing through the grapevine that a 2nd edition of FOTN:R may be coming by end of year. If it is, guys please don’t mess with the mechanics (well maybe conditions could use a small improvement), they rock. Just spruce up the eye candy and add *MORE* content and you’ll make my gamer table very happy! Peace!
ps. Best skill ever: "Drinking & Wenching"
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