Arma Fantasia Tactics - Playtest
A downloadable playtest
Arma Fantasia Tactics
Arma Fantasia Tactics is fantasy adventure roleplaying with an emphasis on character & loadout customization and tactical action.
- Create just the right character for you by blending different kiths, jobs, special abilities, and equipment.
- Engage in battle with overt and mutable victory conditions more interesting than just "kill all the enemies", on diverse battlefields with mounting complications.
- A design philosophy about maximizing choice & consequence, slowly evolving characters, and adding options without spiking power levels.
- Uses 2d6 for core resolution, but a wider range of dice for damage, healing, and other variable effects (d4 through d12).
Where this one came from
Things will probably look a little barren around here for a while. I originally put this one together after I sat down to synthesize a handful of ideas I'd been ruminating upon regarding Final Fantasy XI, Final Fantasy Tactics, and having just recently re-read Gubat Banwa & Lancer, and just read Fabula Ultima all the way through for the first time.
Some version of this game, with the original name just being Arma Fantasia, had been floating in my WiPs for a while. But I suddenly had a clear vision of what I wanted it to look like, so I went for it.
State of the Project - This is only a playtest!
Current Version - v0.02: 63 pages, 10 Kiths, 14 Paradigms, 9 Jobs, 24 enemies. Basic bedrock features are about 50% there and most parts of the adventurer's daily life are explained and supported. Caveat emptor & suchwhat.
This version is missing a lot of things. This playtest document isn't what I'd call "complete", and makes note of a few things which aren't in there yet (e.g. "Belt Slot" items are mentioned a couple of times, these will be supported in a later version).
Feedback is welcome, but keep in mind the above information. Things are subject to change without warning, new versions will be added over time, etc. But if you run a session or even just a test combat or two, feel free to let me know how it goes.
Download
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Comments
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Question for actually hitting in combat is it the player rolling and hitting the Armor DC equivalent or am I missing something?
This looks really fun! The job/sub-job system feels intuitive and I'm looking forward to seeing how players get creative with it. The "automated" enemies are really neat too.
p. 6 says "Each kith provides a special talent and action," does that mean you have to pick one of each? Can a Firbolg pick Men of the Bag and Traveling Tradesperson (two talents)? Can a Drakkan pick Dragonblast and Take Wing (zero talents?)
p. 10, last section of Mind Points says "Your LP is equal to..." instead of MP
Is PC Dodge intended to be really low? Like a Warrior with a Parrying Shield has Dodge 3, total? Or did I miss something?
GIGANTIC says it adds 4 to Encumbrance on p. 38, vs adding 3 on p. 39
Enemies preference nearest targets first, but also try to maximize the number of targets affected by AoE. If one hero is 3 spaces away, but three heroes are all standing next to each other 4 spaces away, which would an AoE prioritize?
Do enemy parts get "destroyed"? If they take damage to hit location 6 and are out of armor, do they stop being able to use the action associated with that hit location?
I know fine-tuning encounter balance is often a mess, but it would be useful for playtesting to have some sense of how many enemies to include, or even just 1-3 recommended playtest encounters like "use two Belltoll Hollowhaunters, one Hecateye Alchemalgam, and one Graven Eikon" or something.
On a similar note, are most enemies intended to be roughly equivalent in "budget" ? The Goldmire Drake looks like it's probably worth two of anything else, but I'm not sure as to the "balance" of the bestiary overall
I see now that my question about Dodge is answered by looking at the character sheet, that makes a lot more sense!
The draft rolling out here in a sec has some corrections, revisions, and additions, much of it related to what you were asking/pointing out here. :)
Kith stuff has been reworded a bit-- the intention is for you to be allowed to pick any 2 abilities from your kith(s). Errant mentions of LP & Strength in the MP section were fixed. Hero defenses are meant to be fairly on the low side, but not quite as low as a lot of characters' defenses were coming out, so they've been bumped up by about +1 across the board.
Similarly, enemy defenses were a lil too high, so those have been reduced by close to -1 across the board. And weapons have all been given a native Accuracy bonus from +0 to +2.
I also added a new Encounter Building section with some very light guidelines that I'll be beefing up and refining as playtesting continues.