Today we have the pleasure to let you read the review of Fantasy World, a tabletop role-playing game by Alessandro Piroddi and Luca Maiorani.

First of all, we would like to thank the authors and MS Edizioni for providing us with a physical copy of the volume, which you can find for sale on Fantasy World’s official website for 40 euros. The manual includes a digital version, but only the PDF copy is available for half the price.

For those who have a passion for the work, it is also on sale Kosmohedron, a collection of “quick-setting” at a cost of 35 euros. For true collectors, it is possible to add, for 3 euros, the set of personalized dice by Fantasy World.

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Review of the Fantasy World Handbook

From an editorial point of view, Fantasy World is a great product. Intermediate format between a paperback and a larger one, hardcover, rather thick pages. At first glance, you get the idea of ​​a particularly handy manual that resists well even to the most careless players. Not that that’s a good reason to let them get their hands on it.

Graphics, layout and illustrations are by Luca Maiorani himself. This ensures that the feeling returned by the images is exactly what the authors intend, without any filter. The layout is simple but effective, even if the single column is not the most convenient solution for those who want to read it from a mobile phone; a larger format screen is better. Very convenient, however, the edge of the pages of a different colour for each section of the manual; which makes consultation much more convenient and quick.

In any case, if you would like to meet Alessandro and Luca, we advise you to go immediately to pages 4 and 5 of the manual!

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What’s a PbtA?

Told as it is Fantasy World, we also need to explain what it is Fantasy World. First of all, it must be specified that it’s a Powered by the Apocalypse. Which divides players into three clear-cut categories:

• who will love it regardless
• who will reject it regardless
• those who are still wondering what that means

And it is precisely to this last category that a large part of the manual is addressed. Too often games PbtA (an acronym for Powered by the Apocalypse) assume that the reader already knows what they are talking about.

Some traits common to all can be indicated PbtA. First of all, the game is solved for narrative scenes, in which the players do not roll for each action of their character but perform a specific move: depending on the result obtained, there may be various consequences. The moves available are usually linked to the chosen archetype; in Fantasy World the archetypes are declined as classes, which we will see later.

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Fantasy World: a Narrative Game Review

Usually, a PbtA prefers the aspect of shared narration at the gaming table over that of adventure. The game flow is never stiff. Sure to the narrator (who in Fantasy World is eloquently called World) there is always a certain amount of preparation work to be done. But the narration must always continue following the outcome of the actions thanks to the system of moves.

It is not a mechanism of immediate understanding for those accustomed to the so-called traditional games, in which the shot determines the success or failure of a single gesture. Precisely this usually makes it difficult to approach one for the first time a PbtA, because these are elements taken for granted. Fantasy World has the unique value of creating a path that leads the World and the other players by the hand not only in discovering the rules but also in understanding their functions.

The manual is written in a very direct, conversational style. Choose an extremely effective communication from the author to the reader, sacrificing the neutrality of a more traditional explanation. Surely this choice has its pros and cons, gaining effectiveness but also becoming much more subjective and less practical. In any case, it is an authorial choice that may or may not be liked, but cannot be defined as wrong in any way.

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Few but Essential Rules

The game is based on some fixed points that must be respected if you want to play Fantasy World.

• The Single Golden Rule, a reworking of the famous zero rule: everyone at the table must like what others describe. This means that everything has to be “put on the table”, and any issues need to be talked about openly before developing the narrative together
• When a character’s action description matches a move, it is automatically triggered. In practice, it is not a player’s choice, but a condition that occurs spontaneously
• Magic is a real element of the setting, a fact
• The gods are silent, and you cannot get in touch with them in any way
• Cities are rare, and consequently travelling is dangerous

These are inseparable preconditions. If they are not respected nothing happens, of course, but simply in Fantasy World it does not work. These are rules that go beyond mechanics. PbtA are designed for very specific gaming experiences, and these mechanical and narrative rules are fundamental to their realization. Also because mechanics and narration, in this case, are merged into a single entity: even the damage system, usually among the most crunchy elements of a game, is purely narrative.

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Review of Fantasy World and the “Dramatic Fantasy Adventuring”

As mentioned, Fantasy World offers a very specific gaming experience. But we must not think that this is linked to a single setting. On the contrary, it is an “agnostic” system, as it is defined in the jargon, i.e. without a specific setting. Because of this Cosmohedronoffers various quick settings: Fantasy World can be applied to any tasteful fantasy tabletop setting.

The important thing is that the goal is to play“Dramatic Fantasy Adventuring”. In the intentions of the authors, the purpose is not in fact to conclude an adventure or to perform heroic deeds. Dramatic fantasy adventuring has as its objective the discovery of characters. About what they will do, and how they will react. How they will evolve or, if you like, how they will grow.

The game system allows each choice to obtain an unpredictable result. The entire gaming table moves in the direction not of completing the mission, but of discovering what events will lead to. How the relationships between player and non-player characters will intertwine, and how the situation will evolve. In romance fantasy, the ultimate goal of the game is to discover how the character has evolved over time.

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A Complete Guide

The manual is divided into six main sections, which are structured according to the “game guide” principle that Fantasy World wants to have. Firstly it explains the fundamentals we’ve covered so far, followed by a more specific focus on the game’s mechanics and how to use them.

The third chapter is dedicated to the first game session, which actually corresponds to the famous zero session. This is a delicate and important phase because it allows you to lay the foundations for everything that will be played later. The fourth section is instead a guide specifically dedicated to the World. Fantasy World is one of those games in which knowing the rules is essential for everyone, but the World requires particular attention to some elements, not only to the underlying plot (which, on the contrary, becomes superfluous here).

The penultimate chapter is dedicated to the moves, complete with subsections dedicated to each of the classes that players can choose. Closes it all a guide to Customization by Fantasy World: the authors are keen to explain that the game has its own strong underlying coherence, and to illustrate its principles. This does not make it impossible to modify them, but the closing of the manual illustrates what are the criteria to be respected in order to do so without distorting the game.

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Review of the Characters of Fantasy World

Each Protagonist (because if the master is the World then the characters are its Protagonists) can be created very quickly by outlining a few essential but fundamental traits.

Blood is a narrative label that goes beyond the classic concept of fantasy “race”. Simply, for the purposes of the game, it becomes important not for the mechanics, but only to the extent that it contributes to the characterization of the Protagonist. It goes hand in hand with the Kin, which outlines the cultural origins of the character. These two elements together also become elements of the setting, built collectively at the table.

On the other hand, the Issue and the Doubt of the Protagonist have a greater impact on the game. These are real narrative springs that move it, two parallel and antithetical elements at the same time. What will keep him in constant tension, the contrast between what he wants to face and what he fears will happen if he resolves to do so.

Finally, each protagonist must choose a Class, which comes with a whole package of specific moves. The game advises against choosing the same classes, although it doesn’t outright forbid it. This is because the moves greatly condition the unfolding of the game, and more Protagonists who use the same set (and generally have the same approach to the narrative) could create redundancies.

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Options for Protagonists: Classes

Players can choose between:

• Animistic
• Captain
• Knight
• Scoundrel
• Maker
• Troubadour
• Occultist
• Priest
• Veteran
• Wayfarer

The Classes do not need particular descriptions: the names are enough to identify them for what are the most widespread archetypes of the fantasy genre, however, they can still be interpreted in a broad enough way to allow them to be easily adapted to any context and setting. And if you really do not find anything that is right for you, the famous sixth chapter of Fantasy World explains how to create a new Class and new moves to match it.

It is important to note that players will not only have to create their own character but also their own party. Players collectively choose what kind of Hero Company to play, which will play a big part in determining what kind of adventures the Protagonists will have.

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Conclusions of the Review of Fantasy World

Definitely, Fantasy World is a PbtA interesting but with great added value.

Interesting because it allows you to explore the “dramatic fantasy adventuring” about whom the authors speak extensively, allowing the entire table to enjoy an absolutely special gaming experience.

With a great added value because it allows you to approach the games Powered by the Apocalypse even to newbies, finding a complete guide to what this means. It accompanies all players step by step to discover a new way to play, or to a better definition of a style that too often takes something for granted. In this, Fantasy World is definitely a game that shouldn’t be missing in any fan’s library.

 

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