Showing posts with label Retro Phaze. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Retro Phaze. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

64 Days Till GaryCon! You Gotta Be Kidding Me.

Two games that I am big fans of are Engines & Empires and Retro Phaze by John Higgins. I've had the privilege to play both with the creator when I lived in Indiana.

I've talked about both games in the past and I highly recommend picking up the free PDF versions of the games at the very least. I actually own a hardcopy version of Engines & Empires that I have gone so far as to tab so I can get to certain sections quickly. The print versions are relatively cheap compared to similar books. About $10 + S&H for Engines & Empires and around $7 + S&H for Retro Phaze.

So can someone tell me why Noble Knight is selling the print version of Retro Phaze for $30? And why are they listing it as out of print? It's not out of print, it's print-on-demand! I would hate to think that someone would see that and get the impression that Retro Phaze was not available or too expensive and give it a pass.

If you are looking for a new twist on Dungeons & Dragons, please give Engines & Empires a try. If you are interested in a game that simulates the old 8-bit console RPGs like Final Fantasy, take a look at Retro Phaze. And check out John's blog Playing Dice with the Universe and give him some feedback. John's a very creative guy and a real asset to the hobby. And I really want to see more from him. Maybe a little encouragement would help.

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

B is for Blue Magic

Greetings my fellow Kenzerites. If you are looking for the post Dave was talking about on the boards, it's the next one down. But feel free to read this one while you're at it.

As I mentioned earlier, I've been playing Final Fantasy V as of late. I'm a big fan of the series as whole, which is why I also am a fan of Retro Phaze. Well, that and its creator is a friend of mine.

Final Fantasy V is notable within the series for introducing the concept of blue magic. Blue magic is based on the concept certain monsters have abilities that can be learned as if they were spells. This is not without risk. For in order to learn these abilities, the mage in question must suffer the effects of the ability, and survive. Blue magic offers advantages that black and white don't have. Attacks of non-elemental, or non-standard elemental type, inflicting status effects not available to other classes, and special defensive abilities. It's a class that would provide an interesting twist to a Retro Phaze game. But there are a few issues that have to be addressed.

First of all, Retro Phaze is based on the Vancian magic system in Final Fantasy I. By the time Final Fantasy II came out, the games switched to a spell point system. In Final Fantasy V, there were still spell levels were still in effect for black, white, time and summon magic, but not for blue magic. So creating a blue magic class would require either assigning levels to certain abilities, or creating a new system just to handle blue magic.

Second, blue magic is learned by suffering it's effects. A blue mage runs the risk of falling in battle from an attack. So we have to come up with a time frame that the mage can be unconscious/dying and still retain the knowledge he has just learned. I believe a good rule of thumb would be one round per three points of Intelligence.

The biggest obstacle would be having to rework the monsters in Retro Phaze to accommodate this new class. This would include adding not only the new abilities, but other attributes such as Strength, Dexterity, even levels for abilities that depend on the target's level of experience. While Retro Phaze's monster section is only eight pages long, it would need expanding to accommodate these changes.

Just as a sample of what I am going on about, here is a small sample of some low level blue (or as I call it, monster) magic.

Level 1 Spells
  • GobSmack- Range= 0", Spread = 0", Does 2K1 damage, 4D if the target is the same level as the caster.
  • SelfDetonate- Range= 5", Spread= 1", Does damage to the target equal to the caster's remaining hit points.
  • SwampSong- Range= 5", Spread= 0", Turns the target into a frog (resistance roll to avoid). This spell also reverses the effect.
Monsters
  • Goblin- Level: 1, HD: 1, DF: 7, MV: 5", AT: 1D, Special Ability: -1 to attacks in sunlight, GobSmack once/battle.
  • Lesser Bomb Spore- Level 2, HD: 3, DF: 7, MV: 3", AT: 1/2D, Special Ability: SelfDetonate
It's admittedly a work in progress, but it could put a new twist on the game.

Thoughts?

Thursday, March 1, 2012

[Retro Phaze] New Wizard Weapons

I've been playing Final Fantasy V as of late. Final Fantasy holds a place in my heart from my days as as a young RPGer. While it probably isn't the first console RPG, it did grab my attention due to it having a setup similar to Dungeons & Dragons. It had character classes similar to D&D, monsters that seems to be culled from the Monster Manual, and even followed a Vancian magic system for it's three spellcasting classes. However, it was limited by a linear plot that's pretty unavoidable with computer and console RPGs. Eventually, the Final Fantasy franchise spun off from it's D&D roots to become a system unto itself.

Last year, after The Baron Lieutenant Reginald Hornsby and his band of ragtags vanquished the evil Zedikiah MacKenzie and recovered the Sword of Dracus in the world of Engines & Empires, John Higgins asked a select few of us to play in another game he created called Retro Phaze (formerly called Elegia), a tabletop RPG based on the original Final Fantasy.

Friday, April 22, 2011

Q is for Quests

Okay, this one is for real.

I won't purport to be an expert on this subject. But I have noticed a distinct difference between the nature of the quests in my last campaign and the one I am currently playing in.

When we played Engines & Empires, our quest to stop the evil Baron MacKenzie was an 'opt-in' quest. By that, I mean that there wasn't anything forcing us to go on this quest. We started at level one as a group of lawfully aligned adventurers that stumbled upon an evil sorcerer's plot to find an ancient sword. As we continued on our adventures, we discovered more about the plot and decided to take matters into our own hands. Players came and went with little to no issue (more an indictment on the players and not the adventure). By the time the queen of Avalon charged us with stopping MacKenzie, we were already level 6 and three steps ahead of her. We pretty much went to the queen for the rewards we knew she would give us for doing what we were already going to do. It was a win-win situation.

Retro Phaze is a completely different scenario. For starters, there isn't anything resembling a hero in our ragtag bunch. We were a bunch of people in the wrong place at the wrong time who are now framed for a crime we didn't commit. I guess ideally we would come together as some part of a heroic galactic rebellion or the A-Team in Spaaaaaace! Two sessions in, and I have no idea how I'm going to play my character in this campaign. This shouldn't be a problem, I should be able to figure out what my niche in this campaign and carve it out and thrive. The problem right now is, I haven't figured out what it will be. I have an idea, but I can see another player stepping on my toes as I try to develop it. It's going to be a challenge that I hope I am up to.