DriveThruCards.com
Browse Categories
$ to $







Back
pixel_trans.gif
LotFP Rules & Magic Full Version
 
$5.00
Average Rating:4.5 / 5
Ratings Reviews Total
68 6
14 1
7 1
3 0
1 1
LotFP Rules & Magic Full Version
Click to view
You must be logged in to rate this
pixel_trans.gif
LotFP Rules & Magic Full Version
Publisher: Lamentations of the Flame Princess
by Andre B. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/22/2023 14:21:41

There's a number of already great reviews written about this from others .. I tend to agree with the positive reviews not the negative ones though of course it goes without saying we're all entitled to our own opinions.. so I will just comment on a few things I think any newbie to LOTFP should know about.

First off I cannot believe the amount of not only free but quality content that the creator/chief writer/owner type person James Raggi makes available.. if you're feeling guilty about downloading it for free off the drivethru rpg website like I did under the "pay what you want" scheme bear in mind that "Grindhouse referee", "slugs", "vaginas are magic", " better than any man" and "doom cave of the crystal headed children" are linked as free downloads on Mr. Raggi's official LOTFP website. Also bear in mind that much like any good drug dealer Mr. Raggi makes the "first taste free" with all this quality stuff and then hooks you on it so you will buy the paid content :P .. which is fine , the writer/publishers of Torg Eternity do this too in my opinion (you can see my reviews of those products too if you like for more info on that) and there are a lot of high quality (in my opinion) tabletop RPG's that are taking this approach too in what is admittedly a competitive field. So do what I did, get on google and search "LOTFP best books" and wishlist them, you'll see a lot of say reddit comments for example where diehard dedicated LOTFP fans and reviewers give their opinions (there's a LOTFP reddit which is highly informative if you do a google search for that too).

So what you'll need to do is click on the LOTFP bundle option just to make sure you can see all these basically free titles to begin with.. drivethru rpg I love you enormously and I buy a lot of stuff from you but sadly I've found just clicking on the publisher's link.. like say clicking on "lamentations of the flame princess" in this case.. does not bring up all the related titles, same problem when you click on what's supposed to show all the Torg Eternity products .. but clicking on the LOTFP "get everything" bundle works as far as displaying everything.. do that and then snag the following titles I listed above for free as well as "Deep Carbon Observatory" and "sky stone river place" (or if it doesn't show up in the bundle do a search on drivethru rpg for it to snag it) ... and read Mr. Raggi's forewords for that matter too, they are hilarious and honestly the eldritch cock foreword in my opinion pretty much sums up Mr. Raggi's opinion regarding how he pushes the boundaries on controversial content.

Speaking of which.. there's absolutely no doubt these books push the boundaries as far as, ahem, "adult situations" and violence, censorship is simply not done here and in Mr. Raggi's opinion censorship is an awful thing to begin with so this absolutely will not be the kind of thing you can run with all the types of players out there, as the gamesmaster you'll know best if it's a good fit for your players or not.. but get it and read it anyways, you can't beat a price of "free" so why not and if you're like me you'll find it to be a highly entertaining read even if you never run it for your players. The core rulebook with the art is $5 and sure you could get it without art for free which is also very generous of Mr. Raggi but.. trust the other reviewers who have said to pay the $5 for the art included content, it's not a lot of money in my opinion and the value you receive for it is enormous... I absolutely loved the artwork not only in the "Lotfp rules & magic full version" but in the free content as well and it makes a ton of difference, I can't remember the last time I would go back and look at the same pictures in an RPG over and over again thinking to myself " holy crap this is REALLY good artwork"... and as mentioned above the words are pretty good too :)

LOTFP has had a lot of controversy associated with it over the years and if I was to address that I would easily go past the word count allowed for reviews here so I will say this much.. if you're concerned go ahead and google search "lotfp controversy" and you'll see a lot of stuff that raises eyebrows.. all I can say is I personally like to treat this the same as any other controversy .. listen to both sides of the story including Mr. Raggi's own (it's out there if you just look for it on the 'net) and THEN make your decision... I'm a left wing leaning pro socialist myself who absolutely believes in being what the right wing terms "politically correct" and even I wince at the lynch mobs formed not only in Mr. Raggi's case in the past but in other person's situations too (certain actors and actresses for example) and find myself wondering if we in the left have taken things too far. If after reading about it you can't bring yourself to patronize, even with the free products, LOTFP that's fine it's your call but at least make an informed decision before you do so. Myself, I am eagerly looking forward to purchasing more LOTFP titles as the months go by and my budget allows (gets expensive putting two kids through college :) ) ..



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
LotFP Rules & Magic Full Version
Publisher: Lamentations of the Flame Princess
by david w. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/02/2019 19:31:00

I heard a lot of good things.. but I'm sorry, I find this ruleset unbelievably stupid. The HUMAN fighter is the only class that improves in combat ability. That includes Dwarves and Elves. After that I closed the book.

there are some interesting rules changes, and the art is really good... but I'm not going to be able to get past the silly fighter rules.

Also, the PDF opens up two pages at a time, making viewing it on a tablet, or actually printing it out impossible.



Rating:
[1 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
LotFP Rules & Magic Full Version
Publisher: Lamentations of the Flame Princess
by Thomas R. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/09/2017 11:08:51

I've kind of fallen in love with LotFP. It's not so much the rules, though I'm certainly not complaining about them. It's the vision of a twisted journey into a history where witchcraft is real, and demons might eat your soul. There's really nothing quite like it.

Having said that, it's definately not for everyone. If you have a particularly weak stomach, it's not for you, and I wouldn't reccomend trying a game with any group who aren't fully comfortable with each other, as the modules can go in some pretty dark places. But I feel very happy that this product exists, and it's definately my favorite old-school RPG.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
LotFP Rules & Magic Full Version
Publisher: Lamentations of the Flame Princess
by Brandon M. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 12/04/2016 12:05:49

Lamentation of the Flame Princess is my favorite modern interpretation of the B/X ruleset. The rules per se are coherent, streamlined, and sensible, and cover oft-neglected topics such as retainers, property, and magical research. Nearly every awkward aspect of the "original" rules is reinterpreted gracefully (the Specialist class in particular comes to mind). The writing itself is flavorful and rarely dry, but on a first reading it can occasionally be unclear how a particular game mechanic works.

The PDF is beautiful and has a very readable layout. The bookmarks are well done, and a few pages at the front and back collect tables for convenient reference. The font size is larger than in most "competitor" products, so the book's 176 pages are not as dense as most—this is a feature for me, since that page count would otherwise be quite long for a B/X-inspired rulebook with no monster list. The artwork is of variable quality but is generally very good, although you may or may not appreciate the frequent gore and occasional nudity in the subject matter.

LotFP is certainly a practical choice with regard to OSR compatibility, but it intentionally does not emulate the original ruleset as closely as Labyrinth Lord emulates B/X or OSRIC emulates AD&D. For philosophical reasons (as I understand it), the rulebook omits lists of monsters and magic items, which means that you may need to find those descriptions and stat blocks elsewhere if you plan to play modules written for similar games such as LL—and if you're planning to write your own content, you must be comfortable creating those stat blocks or importing and adjusting them from elsewhere.

For all LotFP has going for it, I can't feel that it has something of an identity crisis. As the description on the official website disclaims, LotFP is written to be a game about "weird fantasy" (i.e. horror fantasy set in the early modern or late medieval periods), but the rules themselves do very little to support this—a notable exception being the nine-page description of the Summon spell and its horrific Lovecraftian consequences. The dissonance between the game's mechanics and its presentation is, in my view, its largest fault. If you can look past that, then you have a very solid system.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
LotFP Rules & Magic Full Version
Publisher: Lamentations of the Flame Princess
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 09/09/2016 03:17:51

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This massive core rule book clocks in at 176 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page inside of front cover, 2 pages of editorial, 2 pages of ToC, 1 page SRD, 1 page inside of back cover, 1 page back cover, leaving us with 167 pages of content, so let's take a look!

This review is based on the version of the rule book that does have the artwork.

Wait, before we do, a general disclaimer:

This book has an 18+ mature content warning.

Now personally, I wasn't offended by any imagery here, but your mileage may vary. The artworks contained herein feature copious amounts of gore in both b/w and full-color pieces and the book also sports full frontal nudity. I never got why nudity offended anyone, but then again, I'm perhaps too German in that regard. Suffice to say, little kids, particularly sensitive ones should not get their hands on this. There are kids like yours truly that have always gravitated to horror and the dark stuff, but I'll leave that up to parental discretion.

In order to determine whether you'd be offended by this book's art, there are two simple tests I came up with:

1) When looking at an album cover from a gore-themed death metal band like Cannibal Corpse or Bloodbath, are you offended? No? Great, the artwork herein is tamer, so you'll be fine. Yes? You may be offended.

2) The most risqué artwork (and one of the two most memorable pieces in my opinion) features a medusa performing sexual intercourse with a man she, by the look of his face, has obviously petrified in just this moment.

If one of those two offend you, I'd suggest getting the art-less version for this book instead...but then again, not sure you'd be comfortable with all of the material LotFP has to offer.

Now there are two main points I feel the need to cover in the context of the game as such and the first of these would pertain the rules. The rules herein are OSR-rules: Attributes ranging from 3 - 18, bonuses/penalties based on them from -3 to +3. Hit points are determined by class and non-human races are their own class; while dwarves, elves and halflings aren't necessarily an assumption in the pseudo-historical context many LotFP-books operate in, they are included here for the convenience of the customer. Combat is resolved via an ascending attack bonus: Roll a d20, add modifiers and compare to AC; if it's higher than that, you hit. Nat 20s are always hits. Classes gain +1 to attack at first level and increase that every level; fighters start with +2. Saving throws are included in the class table and depict the target number - roll that or higher and you're good. Paralysis covers movement impediments, poison covers...well, poison, breath weapons are used for area effects, magic device is for magical items and magic covers innate abilities and spells. Alignment-wise, we remain similarly old-school: Lawful, Chaotic, Neutral. That's it.

Unlike many OSR games, the default value for coins is the silver piece and conversion notes are provided. Starting money is 3d6 x 10 sp, plus an equal amount for characters that start at higher levels. The class tables feature, as we've become accustomed to, different XP values for different class level ups and the respective classes do feature entries for apprentice/0-level characters. Clerics gain spellcasting up to 7th level, magic-users and elves up until 9th. Spells gained through level-ups do NOT pop up; they still have to be researched.

Also: This is old-school. Once you hit that 10th level, you will no longer get full Con-mod to hp and a fixed value. A massive modification has been done to the specialist, who is this game's "thief/rogue"-standing - you get to choose your area of expertise in a simple manner: You allocate a few skill points. You have an "X in d6"-chance and for each skill point allocated, you increase that chance. Default start is 1 in 6; sneak attack works a bit differently: for each skill invested, the damage multiplier for such attacks increases by 1. A specialist with 2 points in sneak attack would deal triple damage, for example. This mechanic is also used for the dwarf's architecture, the elf's searching tricks and the halfling's bushcraft.

Unarmored AC is 12; armored, you gain the armor's AC. Shields provide +1 AC versus melee, +2 versus ranged attacks. Ranged weapons have short, medium and long ranges. Some weapons have a harder time hitting foes with a certain AC threshold. (Good luck whipping that dude in the plate armor...) and a ton of miscellaneous equipment is provided with prices -that are different in rural areas and cities...pretty cool. Italicized items are negligible for encumbrance purposes; bolded items in italics are Oversized.

While old-school, I'm not too happy with the suggestion that avoiding foes or negotiating does not yield XP per default, but that rule is easily ignored enough. Guidelines re XP by monster HD are simple and cleanly presented. The book provides clean and simple rules for getting lost, catching diseases, foraging, etc. Rest usually recovers 1 hp and shifts, unless something happens, do not hamper this recovery. Characters who spend a full day resting with at least 1/2 maximum HP also regain 1d3 hit points for each day spent thus. Characters below 1/2 their maximum hit points don't regenerate any hit points by resting and only 1 via full day's worth of rest. Characters reduced to 0 HP will regain consciousness after 1d6 hours, thereafter they may crawl at 10' rate. Temporary ability score losses are regained at 1 point per day.

Language-acquisition is similarly simple. Now I already mentioned encumbrance, so how does movement work? There are 5 levels of encumbrance and carrying certain objects increases it. movement rate is reduced accordingly. Characters carrying 6 + different objects? +1 encumbrance point. Chain armor? +1. Plate? +2. Movement in combat is 40 ' for the unencumbered, 30 ' for the lightly encumbered, etc. Overland exploration and running follow a similar formula, beginning with 120 ' and decreasing it in increments of 30 ' and a simple miles per day column also is included. I wished that one had kilometer-values as well, since the (feel free to boo) feet, yard, mile, etc. system never made any sense to me. Metric system ftw. Oh well, that's what I get for favoring roleplaying games... ;P

Time is measured as follows: A round is 6 seconds; a turn is ten minutes and a segment is 1 second. Skills and their use are codified in simple and easily understood ways: Characters have a 1/2 swimming speed and characters too encumbered have a referee-determined chance to drown. A ton of different ships with required crew and carrying capacity, hi points etc. are provided and the pdf sports similarly easy ship-to-ship combat rules. Retainers to send into the corridor and die horribly...äh, I meant "valuable assets for adventuring groups" also get a massive table with wages and space requirements to house. Managing finances and property (!!!) is also covered in this book with surprisingly nice and concise rules - this patrician wizard...yeah, the rules support making that guy.

Now, as for combat: Characters may be surprised on a roll of 1-2 on a d6, 1-4 on an ambush, etc. Encounters usually begin at a distance of 3d6 x 10 ' and random NPC reactions can be determined, if required. Initiative is either determined for the whole group, or by players, with 1d6. Dex is used as a tie-breaker. Actions include attacks (with means to emphasize offense or defense), changing weapons, casting spells, holding, parrying, aiming, etc. - oh, and firing into mêlée isn't smart: random chance of who is hit. Aiming can skewer the odds slightly...but yeah. I actually like this; always hated how easily most systems allow you to fire into the chaos of mêlée combat.

Spellcasting also deserves special mention - veterans will note that quite a few modifications have crept in here and this section, perhaps more so than any before, should make clear that LotFP's WFRP has a somewhat different focus. A couple of weeks ago, I posted my take on Frog God Games' excellent "Swords & Wizardry"-rulebook - which is my default OSR-system for traditional fantasy and fantastic roleplaying. This book, in contrast, is what I use when I'm going for the dark, the weird, the strange - this system, while generally usable for a plethora of games, has an undercurrent of the horrific: The dead animated with magic always interpret your commands in the most violent way possible, for example. More interesting and perhaps enlightening would be the fact that Summon is a truly horrific and risky business - the rules of the spell cover multiple pages; if the caster botches it, he may generate blasts of antimatter, different creatures...or may not even be able to control them. Oh, and guess what? If you're really unlucky, effects like an collective unconscious desire for suicide can be found; and if your group switches referees, that is a distinct possibility as well.

Other highlights include being hit by mankind's fear of universal annihilation (yes, ALL of it!)...or all sense breaking down, which is represented in the following gem: "Make have is the to and of them meaning numbers power order no sufficient no. [...] Cleric retain faculties, keeps time slipping, must kill the stalwart stabilist to stabilize. Kill until it is dead. First to next sleep dies as brain flees." - to give you and impression of why I consider this section frightening and inspiring. What if time starts breaking down as the collective spaces between second break into the timestream? Oh...and if you REALLY botch it...there's a chance that the global sea level will rise, by 10' per round, until it's 50 ' higher than the character's location. Yes. This can END THE WORLD.

Btw.: Grognards who are missing the ole' fighter attacks everyone in range-trick...Army of One. Turn Undead's a spell, just fyi. This whole section is intriguing -a somewhat eclectic, yet organic collection of magic that manages to capture old-school aesthetics with a general feeling that magic is something DANGEROUS. Weird Vortex can make the target develop explosive blood that damages those that hit him...and that is just one of the effects...others include degeneration/devolution...so yeah, the theme is different; this is closer to horror, to a framework that works when postulating a pseudo-historic environment. After all, there needs to be a reason for all that hubbub surrounding the slaying of witches, hunting warlocks and the like...Oh, and guess what? Most direct damage magic spells are gone. No lightning bolt. No fireball. Magic-users subsequently feel much more like the characters from Sword & Sorcery books, Howardesque fantasy or horror literature - smart, yes; powerful, yes. But once the mob is coming, they better have planned for it in advance...

The appendices contain a handy glossary, rules for early modern firearms and associated equipment (including detailed pictures of the firing mechanisms) and a break-down of the character sheet - you get a visual representation AND the pages where the information can be found - pretty handy!

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are top-notch. I noticed no significant glitches. Layout adheres to a b/w-two-column standard that is easy to read. Artwork has approximately 3 distinct styles: There are somewhat stylized, comic-like renditions in b/w that tend to depict gore and violence. There are almost photorealistic, glorious b/w-artwork that feature unique environments, characters or e.g. ships that are very evocative...and in the middle of the book, we have a total of 8 full-color pieces that, quality-wise, are certainly on par with the cover - drop-dead gorgeous, they depict witches eviscerating foes by disintegrating them, horrid blood sacrifices, a mummified god floating in space as an iconic character approaches, sheathed in magic from the cold void (my other favorite) or blood-spattered musketeer-style iconics, triumphing over their viscerally slain foes and aforementioned medusa-artwork, to name a few. No matter your stance regarding drawn violence, the quality of the artwork here is impressive and I like quite a few pieces. The pdf comes fully bookmarked for your convenience, with ample of nested bookmarks.

James Edward Raggi IV may be a somewhat controversial character, but honestly, this rule book as such doesn't leave much to be desired. I can see people being somewhat disappointed by the lack of magical items and specialist classes like assassin, druid and the whole associated material - but you can get that in Swords & Wizardry (and mix and match systems easily). I can see people being offended by the art, though I honestly don't think it's that bad. I saw infinitely worse stuff online when I was 13 and the internet was much tamer back then.

So what is exactly the focus? See, this is where it's a bit harder to describe, for if you take a look at some of the things circulating online, you'd think this is just blood, gore and guts. That is patently WRONG. While gore is certainly a part of the aesthetic, shock-value decreases in effectiveness quickly. So yes, while the book features that component, it is NOT the content of it...or the modules available for it.

I've seen this called "Metal" - without any prefixes, I'd disagree: The cheesy 80s-metal/power metal/heavy metal aesthetic is captured better by Kort'thalis Publishing's Crimson Dragon Slayer.

I've seen someone call this the "Death Metal of OSR" and I'd beg to disagree; this is not as in your face as you'd expect it to be; it's not shock for shock value's sake...at least not all of it.

Instead, a closer analogue would probably be the calmer and more introspective black metal or the atmospheric doom metal bands out there; I can see Skepticism or Reverend Bizarre working rather well as a playlist for a session of LotFP. For non-metal-heads: The assumption here is, that while there are horrible and bloody things that happen to characters, and while characters will die (quite a lot), shock value is only a thin coating of something that actually has a worthwhile substance, only an accentuating highlight for a grim panorama.

You can play gonzo happy go-fun adventuring with these rules; but the way the magic and everything in the small details is set-up, I'd call this the go-to low magic and horror iteration of the OSR-systems I know of; the system for the truly strange and outré ideas. I was talking about substance before. Well, a rule-book needs to be easy to use, easy to grasp and precise. This book is all of these. Unless you manage to be offended by the artworks (with the text being crisp and deadpan), the structure and organization of this book will make its use easy and quick. There is less choice than in some rules-variant peppered OSR-systems, but that would be by design. The changes and modernization of the specialist-formerly-known-as-thief is glorious and makes them suck no more, particularly at low levels. The modifications of the spells, particularly when they are radically changed or have these small, uncanny sentences, similarly help generate a basic expectation: Once you realize how dangerous magic can be, it suddenly is something to be slightly weary of...even if your ole' friend over there is casting it.

So, if you're looking for OSR-rules, through a shade darkly, then this book will deliver in spades. The weirdness, though, stems mainly from what you (and LotFP's cadre of authors) do with the framework presented by these rules; there are glimpses and hints of the things to come, there are small tweaks in the system here and there that already show some of what's to expect - but as a stand-alone book, this simply is a retro-D&D-system with dark fantasy/horror-conductive tweaks and great production values. Even if you are not interested in the system or the art, scavenging the concise and simple encumbrance system or some of the other modifications is done easily enough - even for use in a regular fantasy setting/with other OSR-rules. The transparency is there and the operations simple.

How to rate this, then? Well, in the end, this is one of my two favorite OSR rulesets. In my own OSR-games, I mashed this one and S&W together until they became a horrifically gibbering monstrosity. If you eliminate all the controversy and the focus on the excellent art, this book remains a more than solid rulebook - and one whose merits you can ascertain for free if said controversy-inducing art doesn't interest you anyways. For the low price point of the pdf, the art we do get is exceedingly impressive (if you like dark and gory artwork) and the quality and merits of the rule set are pretty evident. You can complain about the aesthetics, they are a matter of taste; but I can't see any true faults with the rules presented herein. Making the specialist not suck and customable is awesome and I love what was done with the spells and the encumbrance system is genius.

So yeah, I will settle on a final verdict of 5 stars + seal of approval. And yes, I will cover more of the darker OSR-material now that I've covered LotFP's basic rule book.

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
LotFP Rules & Magic Full Version
Publisher: Lamentations of the Flame Princess
by Nathan T. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/12/2016 16:17:05

As a current Pathfinder player, I found this system surprisingly appealling. Maybe I've been submerged in rules bloat for too long. As others have pointed out, LofFP is essentially a retroclone. BUT they've included some of the better things incorporated in 3.X systems - ascending AC and customizable rogue (LotFP calls it a "specialist") skills stand out. But they've managed to keep the simplicity of old-school D&D.

Perhaps my favorite part is what LotFP has done with Magic-Users. LotFP removes most of the direct damage spells - most notably Fireball and Lightning Bolt (but kept Magic Missile oddly). And it's added some intuitively-consistent utility to spells that had little love before - a "Light" spell can be used to blind an opponent, and "Feather Fall" can be used on a missile fired at you. I'm not a big fan of the new spells - the "weirdness" feels a little forced to me. I'm looking at you "Strange Waters" and "Summon" which is a stupidly-complicated spell for a game that focuses so much on simplicity, albeit there is some inspiration in the way Summon works - it just needs heavy refinement IMO. If it were my system, I would add cantrips and allow magic specialization, but that would undermine their goal of simplicity. The end result is that Magic Users are far darker and less direct in how they deal with problems, and personally, I love it despite my complaints.

I'm out of time to review, so I'd like to comment about a few odds and ends . . . I love what LotFP did with the specialist class (roll d6 to determine success, eight-ish skills to specialize in). I'm torn that LotFP allowed Fighters to be the only class with an increasing base attack bonus and try to balance that by giving Fighters bad saving throws...hmm. I wish they would have given weapons a little more detail - I feel like that's how melee classes distinguish themselves.

On the whole, I love the publication, but it makes me want to tweak it in about a hundred different ways. I know, it's allowed, but I don't like to tinker with base rules too much because you risk all kinds of balance issues. Anyways, I give LotFP rules 5/5 for a refreshing take on the D&D system.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
LotFP Rules & Magic Full Version
Publisher: Lamentations of the Flame Princess
by MARC G. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 05/15/2015 13:42:18

Awesome game. It has refreshed the dungeoneering experience for me! :D



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
LotFP Rules & Magic Full Version
Publisher: Lamentations of the Flame Princess
by Damon D. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 12/26/2013 16:41:30

I began my adventures with Lamentations of the Flame Princess when I first bought the Grindhouse Edition a couple of years ago, drawn in by the promise of a crazy, weird-fantasy take on the original fantasy roleplaying game. What I got wasn't bad, but not quite what I was promised.

LotFP is a "retro-clone" system, using Wizards of the Coast's Open Gaming License to reverse engineer the rules of early fantasy roleplaying games, in this case, the Basic and Expert boxed sets of the original game, with a few adjustments to make the system easier to learn and play, particularly the use of ascending armor class in a similar fashion to the 3rd Edition SRD, and a simple, effective, and unobtrusive encumbrance system. While these are fairly nice additions to the old-school formula, the system still seems bare, containing only the core classes, without any sign of the more colorful sub-classes. In addition, the fighter is the only class which gets an increased to hit chance as he or she increases in experience. While the attempt to make the fighter more effective at higher levels relative to spellcasters is certainly noble, it seems like a crude patch which could have been much more carefully balanced without such a huge disparity in fighting ability between classes.

"So," you must be wondering, "where does the weird fantasy come in?"

Well, to be honest, I'm not sure. There's very little in this system that gives it any sort of identity other than an old-school revival RPG. There are no "weird" character classes or abilities, no particularly "weird" spells (most, if not all, of the spells will be very familiar to fans of the original games), and no collection of monsters whatsoever. At least, this was true of the Grindhouse Edition release, who knows, maybe monsters will be included in the referee book, which has yet to be released at the time of this writing.

Maybe I'm overreacting, but I feel the spell list and monster list would have been prime territory for illustrating a weird-fantasy world unlike anything you've seen before in a fantasy RPG. Instead, what I got was a fairly bare-bones retro clone.

If you already own the Grindhouse Edition, the new Rules & Magic book's only major addition is the inclusion of firearms rules, which was nice, but nothing that interested me particularly.

Honestly, if you're looking for weird fantasy, look to Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea. The weirdness is baked right into the system, all the way from the classes, straight through the spells and to the monsters. It's another retro-clone system (This one emulating the Advanced 1st edition of the original game), so you'll be able to scratch that itch.

If you're not interested in the weird, and looking instead for a refinement of the Basic/Expert editions, my personal favorite is Adventurer Conqueror King System (ACKS). It is easily the most streamlined, well-designed, fun retro-clone I've played to date. Instead of looking to the 3rd Edition SRD for inspiration, the author took the original rules and found his own way to streamline the system while keeping its essence intact.

I know I sound harsh, but LotFP is not a bad game, it just didn't do much to impress me. For what its worth, the encumbrance system is the best I've seen in an old-school revival product, and one I've house ruled into many similar systems. If you're looking for some inspiration, it may be worth picking up for that reason alone. If not, read the free rules, see how you like it, and make the choice for yourself.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
LotFP Rules & Magic Full Version
Publisher: Lamentations of the Flame Princess
by Rob M. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 07/25/2013 09:55:41

The latest printing of the LotFP rules has the publisher breaking from their tradition of compact box sets with a beautifully designed hardcover. Largely this is the same rules that appears in the Grindhouse Edition, with the exception of an overhaul to the layout and the addition of rules for early modern firearms and armor.

At this point I feel that there are enough reviews of LotFP as a game that I don't need to go into much detail in that regard. However, I do want to reiterate that this is an excellent game. I would go so far as saying that it is the best retroclone on the market. The changes that it makes to Basic Dungeons and Dragons are all excellent and greatly improve the game experience. When I run a game of "D&D," even with elves and dragons and magic wands everywhere, I use LotFP. It's just a good game.

Also, LotFP has the best character sheet I've ever seen. Everything a player would need to know is displayed clearly with no mental math and no rules memorization. Other game publishers can learn a lot from these character sheets.

If you want to see why this is such a great set of rules, even for high fantasy games which it is not intended for, check out the free no-art version.

So is the art worth paying $5? Definitely.

LotFP gets a lot of attention because of the art in its products, especially the core books. The art alone is the reason for the 18+ warning on the cover and has caused quite a bit of controversy. I have some mixed feelings about the art because I feel it draws too much attention away from the rules and presents the game as specifically a horror game. I know that's how James Raggi, the creator of LotFP, runs his game, but the rules do not demand any specific setting or tone. That aside, the artwork in this book is amazing. Many of the pieces from the early editions return and other less evocative works are replaced with art that better captures the weird fantasy vibe.

The way that the artwork is integrated into the layout is also spectacular. When reading the no-art version, keep in mind that every large block of white space is filled with something awesome in the full version.

The major addition to the rules is the appendix for early modern firearms and armor. These rules clearly are the product of diligent research and playtesting. The price of the book is worth it for these rules along, as they go so much further than reskinned crossbows. The artwork is also essential for this appendix as if gives you a crash course in early firearms, complete with detailed illustrations of these awesome but wholly unfamiliar weapons.

With this edition I really think LotFP has established its place as a leader in the OSR movement. It's a testiment to the quality one can expect from the publisher and a beautiful packaging of my favorite old-school ruleset.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
Displaying 1 to 9 (of 9 reviews) Result Pages:  1 
pixel_trans.gif
pixel_trans.gif Back pixel_trans.gif
0 items