Issue #005: A Fablecraft At Our Fingertips

THIS WEEK IN TTRPGS:

• Dungeons & Dragons Worlds & Realms: Adventures from Greyhawk to Faerûn and Beyond is a new book scheduled to release this fall. It’ll detail the extensive lore of DND if you’re inclined. Because some of us don’t have enough books on this game. (‘some of us’ is me, FTR.)

• If you’re old enough, you might remember that there was a Dungeons and Dragons cartoon. Well, those characters are now grown up and adventuring on their own in the new Player’s Handbook.

• If you’re a fan of Werewolf the Apocalypse, the lupine-focused RPG published in the World of Darkness setting then you might be excited to hear that Scent of Decay, the first Chronicle for the game’s current ruleset was released on Wednesday. I’m more familiar with Vampire the Masquerade but this looks cool regardless.

Fablecraft: Attaching Rules and Software

One of my current points of fascination is around “Virtual Tabletops,” or VTT. These are the technologies behind most online games. If you’ve ever used Foundry to host a game, bought a campaign on Roll20 or even just used those maps that DnDBeyond provides you, then you’ve used a VTT. Some take a lot of programming skill, while others try to create simple interfaces for you and your players. It truly depends on what you prefer.

That’s why a game called Tales of Fablecraft caught my attention.

A self-described “Virtual Tabletop RPG,” Tales of Fablecraft attempts to provide the rules, the character options and the visuals/maps all in a singular app while also framing its storytelling in 90-minute chunks. The app seems like an attempt to alleviate two of the greatest issues facing RPG players these days; their ability to play for long periods of time and the DM’s need to do prep.

The game is still in development after a successful Kickstarter campaign last spring, but I was able to get a taste with their recently released demo. The game also appears to have the backing of at least one popular DM (Aabria Iyengar, best known for her role on Critical Role: Exandria Unlimited) based on its advertisement. So is it worth our time?

At its core, Fablecraft seems a simpler version of the classic fantasy-esque RPG like DnD or Pathfinder, but uses variant D6es for its attempts, attacks and spells. The art is gorgeous and it’s clearly an act of love. But what stood out to me was how it bonded its gaming system with the VTT. If players want to play Fablecraft, they’ll have to use the video game interface. The game will initially be available on Steam but the developers will eventually release mobile-friendly versions of the game. And As far as I can tell, the game doesn’t have physical books released (or not yet. This was a Kickstarter, after all.)

I can see a partial case for this personally, as a lot of people only use VTTs to play. While I adore having a chance to play DnD in person with physical dice, all of my current games are digital. And I’m okay with it. But there’s something about designing a TTRPG for digital-only that I find unique.

What I am curious about is how flexible Fablecraft will be. Again, the art is delightful and the mechanics seem clear at first glance. But it all seems preset to a particular setting and perhaps even a particular story. Nothing wrong with setting your campaign rules in a specific world, mind you. There are games out there (like Blades in the Dark and Spire) that do this magnificently. But they’re still books, which means that a DM can reflavor or reframe a story if they wanted to place Blades in a different setting (such as Waterdeep or Victorian London). I cannot tell if Fablecraft will allow a similar flexibility when it comes to its storytelling. The Kickstarter does promise to launch a marketplace that will allow users to access content from third parties, but how that plays out will be a test over time.

Game Deals

1. A group of TTRPG publishers have banded together to present the GAMERS UNITE FOR BRAZIL bundle to help provide relief to those suffering from flooding in Brazil. An honestly nice gesture and only $20 on DriveRPG

2. Foundry, one of the popular virtual tabletops to date, hit its fourth anniversary. Pinnacle Entertainment, one of the folks behind the Savage Worlds system, is offering all of its Foundry content for 25% off. IF you wanna try this system, give it a look!