I’m preparing a campaign to teach my wife and 9-year-old daughter to role play, so I was looking for a “rules light” system. I thought it might be useful/interesting for others to read the impressions of a longtime gamer’s take on Lejendary Adventure. To cut to the chase, and before I trot out my own particular issues with the book, let me say up front for anyone reading this and wondering if they should buy this game, the answer is "Damn Right You Should".

One point of note - I don't really care whether RPG books have pretty pictures. If you do, then you will not agree with my marks for Style. If fancy artwork is important to you, then this book has a style of 2 (maybe even 1). It has simple drawings but not "art" in the Elmore style, though the cover drawing does have an not-subtle portrait of Gygax as the wise mage (at least, its not subtle to me!) I like the simple artwork, but others will not.

First off, this book includes the best “Author’s Preface” I think I’ve ever read in a game book. Rather than yap on about how grateful he is that his wife fed the cats so he could devote himself to writing the book, or other similar drivel that often finds its way into RPG intros these days, Gary Gygax writes a short “State of the Hobby” manifesto which, even if you don’t agree with it, at least should make you think about where our games are going.

One of the first things that leaps out at you is that this book is written for a sophisticated reader. The writing is pretty complex stylistically and may challenge those for whom reading is a bit of a chore. I earn my coin writing on and reading about complex international issues, but there were a few passages that had me scratching my head. A case in point:

“In the case of non-material or spirit creatures, Health also represents the free will of the individual considered, the mind. When all Health of a non-material or spirit creature appearing with a material form is lost, that individual dematerializes and must return to its own dimensions. When all free will in a non-material creature is lost, the immaterial spirit is destroyed.”

Huh?

Okay, I think what this means is that if a non-material spirit from another dimension takes a material form, it is banished back to that dimension when it runs out of Health. However, a non-material creature that somehow loses all its Health (since Health = free will) while in its natural, non-material state is permanently destroyed. But heck, I could be wrong. Anyway, my point is that this isn’t RPGs For Dummies, but thats okay. Too many books are dumbed down and written for the fourth grade level these days.

The first section of the book on how to create a character (an Avatar in LA-speak) is a fun read. Character creation is similar enough to other games to be easily grasped by an experienced gamer, but different enough in some significant ways to leave me feeling pretty darn excited about rolling up my first character. Things that I found particularly intriguing:

1) Only 3 (plus one optional) attributes (Base Ratings). Interesting. This will definitely make the game easier to grasp for new gamers who won’t have to struggle with the difference between wisdom and intelligence or wonder whether a high charisma means the character is beautiful. The three attributes, Health, Precision and Speed are well explained and simple enough to understand, though they do encompass more than their simple names would suggest.

2) The linking of starting equipment to character skills (Abilities). I really like this. Assigning a number of picks from an appropriate equipment list for each major Ability is an excellent idea. Especially for newer players, this will allow them to start off relatively well-equipped for their chosen specialties. Thus, someone who doesn’t really know what a wizard might own, but wants to play one anyway, will be able to choose from a logical list of doodads and daily implements. A character that loves to hunt can similarly consult a list of equipment that would make sense for someone with that skill. Damn, why didn’t I think of this years ago?

3) The link between Base Ratings, Abilities and Race. I think its great that a character who chooses to be intensely interested in a particular skill sees an increase in the related Base Rating. This is so sensible, since it is only logical that someone who spends all their time hacking down trees with an axe would probably get stronger. Duh. Yet another good idea.

The section on races is original and not restricted to the Standard Operating Races of most games. The special capabilities and handicaps for each race seem logical and would make for some good roleplaying opportunities.

I would have liked to see more detail on the races though. Aside from a brief but useful physical description, there is virtually no discussion of what the races are like other than in relation to game mechanics. By extrapolating from the abilities and capabilities of each race a reader can draw a few conclusions about each race, but an explicit explanation of their habits, attitudes, general living conditions, etc would be welcome.

For example, the racial description for the Ilf tells us they are tall, slender, and generally considered attractive. Extrapolating from the game stats, I surmise they don’t like or do well with complex concepts or machines (can’t ever learn Commerce, Evaluation, Mechanics or Metallurgy) but are somewhat settled and civilized (also can’t learn Nomadic or Savagery). They seem to be nature folk, having skills in Hunting and Stealth and an affinity for animals. They appear somewhat chaotic, having a tendency to be rash and gullible.

Okay, thats a start, but what the heck IS an Ilf? They aren’t Elves - those are Wylfs. I have a basic picture of some sort of fey or faerie folk, but thats certainly not explicit. Are they xenophobic? Do they work magic particularly well? What kind of social structure forms the basis for Ilf society? I realize that most of this may be left unspoken to allow a game master to make the race whatever he wants, but I would have like a little more info on what makes an Ilf different from a Wylf, or a Trollkin, or any of the other unique races. I assume this is all in the Lejendary Earth supplements, but still, it would have been welcome in the core book.

My only other (minor) whines about the races section are that as a DM I don’t need the game to dictate what percentage likelihood there is that a human will discriminate against a non-human. Thats way to subjective to be codified in the racial description. I also didn't find the information on the race's auditory ranges very helpful since I'm a musical ignoramous and wouldn't know a middle-C from a Big Mac.

All that being said, I find the races to be original and well thought out in terms of skills, abilities, and with a little work and some imagination, a DM could produce a world of unique societies to fill his characters with wonder. I also can't wait to have someone swindled by a Major Oaf.

My reaction to the section on Orders and Benefits is mixed. I like the concept and I especially like the way a character can choose to strive to join and eventually rise through the ranks of an order. Having rules that allow a character without all the prerequisites to know his place relative to the Order, and to know what he has to do to become a full member is a wonderful tool for promoting roleplaying. I think I will make up some fancier names for the Orders in my campaign. “I want to join the Grasping Fist” sounds so much cooler than “I want to join the Outlaw order”. On the other hand, the presence of Orders is a little contrary to the "classless" system. You could easily leave Orders out and never miss them. I may leave them in as purely roleplaying props, removing all of their impact on game mechanics.

The list of abilities is a good length. Its not so short that characters become shadows of each other, but it is also not so long that it confounds the efforts of new players to quickly make an effective character. I like the flexibility in the system of having broader skills which players and DMs can apply “common sense” to during a game. I like this more than the more codified systems where one might know how to ride a horse, but not a donkey, or where one can wield a knife but not a dagger. A couple of ability names are, um, obscure, but a quick read of the description clears it up. (Okay, hands up everyone who knew that “pantologic” is from the Greek and means something like universal knowledge....)

I was blown away by the magic system. The fact that there are six very distinct types of magic, and that these "schools" are not just mild variations on a similar theme is excellent. I was a little concerned at first that there seemed to be no limit on how powerful a spell a new character might cast, but then I realized that while a brand new Avatar could cast some pretty powerful spells if he wanted to, he wouldn't be casting very many of them. I like this flexibility, where a player can decide if he wants to blow his wad in one humongous display of flashy magic, or if he'd rather cast a bunch of more subtle spells.

The spells are original and intriguing, and I like that they take varying amounts of time and preparation to cast. The use of summoning and protection circles is a nice touch too.

The memory tablet concept is one I'm not sure about yet. In one sense it reminds me of my least favourite part of OAD&D - spell memorization, but of course its more flexible than that. My question is, if one loses a memory tablet, has one lost the spells on it? If you go buy a new blank tablet can you copy them back out or do you need to find a new copy of the spell to transcribe onto the memory tablet? How big is a memory tablet? Is my mage going to need a pack mule to lug these things around? I'll give it a try the way its written, but I may house rule it that mages simply learn spells and once learned cannot lose them. Of course, I can be pretty stingy with handing out new spells, so it won't be like every mage has hundreds to choose from. I haven't studied the spells in enough detail to have much of an opinion on individual spells, but as I flipped through them I did stop often to say "cooooool".

The actual game mechanics (kudos by the way for probably the shortest "rule" section I've seen in a while - keep it short, keep it simple) are easy to understand and easy to implement. I suspect the game plays best with an experienced DM who can make judgement calls on many things, since the rules lack specificity on many areas. Some people will not like this, especially those used to games with enormous tomes of rules with a specific rule for every possible occurrence (okay, on page 2375 you'll find the optional damage determination system for frost bite above the 50th parallel when travelling in the mountains).

What can I say. I love the simplicity but also the depth (and no, those aren't mutually exclusive).

After my read through I quickly whipped up my first character. I did it under a half hour, and that included pouring over the Geourgy section to pick powers. I could easily walk a group of new players through this in under an hour. I even like my experimental character enough to make him an NPC in my future games.

Thus far my reaction to the game is one of excitement. I honestly haven’t been this enthused about a game since my first Players Handbook back in 1979 or so. This game is exactly what I’ve been looking for to teach some willing but inexperienced folks about roleplaying.

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