Take a look here at my new about me: Troy Christensen

For those new to Phantasm Adventures, and to those who have not yet played or read much of the rules, I thought I would spend some time giving you a very global preview of the game. As you had read from my first post, this game has been around for a very long time. That being said, Phantasm Adventures is an old school RPG that is complex, rich, and often obtuse in its rules. In the most recent edition, the 4th, I have made some attempt to clean up the rule systems to make it a bit more lean, but part of the mysticism and unique quality of the game is in the very fact that it is not simple and straight forward.

There are nine statistics in the game, with each score being represented by a racial and a personal score; so in effect there are eighteen statistics. Each character is thus described by a racial and personal score in strength, endurance, coordination, courage, coordination, intelligence, ego, and by three sensory scores of visual, auditory, and olfactory. Scores are created by rolling 3d6 and adjusting the values with a few modifiers.

The game includes templates for more than 60 player races, each with its own unique abilities, powers, and capabilities. It is thus possible for adventuring groups to have giants and sprites, giant eagles and unicorns, intelligent apes and four-armed insects. Phantasm Adventures, to this day, still has the most robust playable races in any game. Also interesting to note that with racial and personal scores it is possible to have a stone giant berserker and a pixie berserker together but are played in completely different styles.

For example the stone giant has a racial strength of 10 yet a pixie has a 1. So if both had a 16 personal strength, both are very strong but the giant is ten times more powerful just by the nature of his being than the pixie. Conversely, the pixie has a 9 racial coordination score compared to that of a 2 for the giant and thus even if the pixie had a 6 personal coordination and the giant a 18, the wee faerie would still have far more ability than the latter.

Along with statistics, a character is granted a number of special background options which could include money or other sources of long term money, careers, advanced social levels, or unique abilities such as the ability to go into a death trance, heightened statistics, special friends, or more than 30 other special grants.

Unllike most other games, there is no levels in the game with respect of a character’s ability to survive in the world or deal greater amount of damage. Thus, a character that has been around for multiple campaigns more than likely would have the same hit points and mana as a newly created character. What differentiates a long time character is his social standing, skill levels, and equipment.

Professions have social levels which most characters start off at the bottom, prohibiting them from using many items in the game by law (although out in the wilderness they could don plate armor and use magic weapons without fear of breaking codes and laws).

There is more than thirty professions to select from and the class grants the character various costs to skills in the game. For example, a paladin may pay 1 experience point per level in a weapon skill while a sorcerer may pay 6 points. There are twelve categories of skills with ranges of 1 to 10 rating for each in all professions, giving a robust selection for players to select exactly the kind of character they are looking for.

There are more than two hundred and thirty skills in the game, with many of them offering unique critical success and fumble tables (I found these to be the most fun in the game when players succeed or fail with a critical). Great laughter and stories are created and remembered for years with these raucous results applied to the game.

Combat is also relatively unique in the game, with character expending 4 action points a round with dozens of maneuvers and skills coming into play. No two battles are the same, yet combat is quick and easy with statistics, race, class, and skills all having major influences on the outcome of the adventures.

The game would not be complete with the most outrageous and intricate magic system in the game. And with all these years I have been playing, I have yet to see two characters that summon and use magical spells in the same way: Yes! This is the truth in that magic is created so uniquely that I once calculated the number of forms of magic to be in the millions of combinations.

Essentially each spell caster selects two realms of power and levels of efficiencies for both. This determines requirements to cast magic, mana scores, rejuvenation of mana, casting time, and success of the spell. Thus, one character may select deity and celestial (a cleric that uses the stars and moons to summon magic) or perhaps another who use multiversal and entity (a wizard who draws spirits from the surrounded rocks and a special familiar like a dog, cat, or other animal).

Endless combinations of wizards!! Also, because no profession is restricted from casting magic you can have barbarians casting spells alongside of paladins and conjurors (though admittedly some professions can summon far better and greater spells).

Defining spells in the game are called Circles of Magic or groupings of magic spells. Each spell caster may select a circle if they are a wizard or a mishmash of lesser cantrips if they are not fully vested into casting magic spells. Hundreds of spells are in Phantasm Adventures, and I hope to create literally volumes of additional spells after the release of the primary book.

Finalizing Phantasm Adventures the 4th edition, is a listing of hundreds of monsters to stock dungeons, ruins, and fetid jungles for adventures. Everything from giant ants to blood crazed zealots will have listings so DMs can create wild adventures.

What would be a fantasy world without pantheons of demons and gods, and Phantasm Adventures has three diverse selections of gods and demons with devotional powers granted to those that pray and offer magic to their gods.

I hope you will stick around this year as the book comes together and ultimately go on sale on lulu and other ebook sites (such as itunes and for the kindle).

I also would love to hear from anyone with suggestions on the game.

Troy
January 2012