Despite the excellent cover artwork Fantasy Imperium is a terrible product with mediocre internal artwork, poor layout and production value and a very bad rules set.
Re: [RPG]: Fantasy Imperium, reviewed by Rhandhali (2/1)
Sorry,
I didn't get much from this review. Does this game have a setting? If so, what is it? What's the storytelling aspect (is the storytelling aspect just a bunch of hype)? How does the storytelling aspect play into the overall mechanic? Questions, questions. Tell me more, I want to know.
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Re: [RPG]: Fantasy Imperium, reviewed by Rhandhali (2/1)
I get the impression that the setting is the world history info-dump that Randol mentioned. As for how story-telling fits in, the other impression I got was that it does not, other than admonitions in the opening chapter.
One point I would make to Randol: I think you can win or lose in an RPG. T&T explicitly said this all the way back in the late '70s, and there are a lot of systems out now that have endgames and actively adversarial GM-player setups. Ergo, it's not too far-fetched a claim.
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One point I would make to Randol: I think you can win or lose in an RPG. T&T explicitly said this all the way back in the late '70s, and there are a lot of systems out now that have endgames and actively adversarial GM-player setups. Ergo, it's not too far-fetched a claim.
Except: while adversarial GMing has it's place and can be very fun for all, it's also a contrary paradigm to "Storytelling". Maybes the authors of Fantasy Imperium have a completely different definition than, say, how White Wolf defines "Storytelling".
Except: while adversarial GMing has it's place and can be very fun for all, it's also a contrary paradigm to "Storytelling".
I'm not sure that's necessarily true. I mean, yes, the WW definition is very much based around a collaboration between players and GM, but you can be narrativist and adversarial at the same time.
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Re: [RPG]: Fantasy Imperium, reviewed by Rhandhali (2/1)
Thanks for the review. Just one small observation, though, based on the following:
"The writers do consult some interesting sources (how many roleplaying, sorry, storytelling, games have a bibliography?)"
This seems to be suggesting that most games lack bibliographies. Maybe I'm unknowingly selective, but I'd say that the majority of RPGs I own have a bibliography and very often a list of other sources too. Such things are certainly de rigueur for products from the likes of Steve Jackson and Hero, for instance. Indeed, I would consider it rather a lapse for any game with an historical or pseudo-historical focus to omit one.
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Re: [RPG]: Fantasy Imperium, reviewed by Rhandhali (2/1)
I live out in San Diego, and I remeber telling them that it wasn't as great as they thought it was. I even recommended dual stating for D20 to increase sales. They really didn't listen.
Re: [RPG]: Fantasy Imperium, reviewed by Rhandhali (2/1)
And I don't think much of the cover, if that's what is on their website... A woman in a bikini holding a big phallus and a flower. You don't have to be Freud, Georgia O'Keefe or a first year psych or women's studies student to see something in that!
Sounds like a dreadful game. I'm bummed for the people, I'm sure a lot of effort went into it, but it sounds like a bad investment of time, money, and creative energy. Ugh.
Re: [RPG]: Fantasy Imperium, reviewed by Rhandhali (2/1)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard Parkinson
Sorry,
I didn't get much from this review. Does this game have a setting? If so, what is it? What's the storytelling aspect (is the storytelling aspect just a bunch of hype)? How does the storytelling aspect play into the overall mechanic? Questions, questions. Tell me more, I want to know.
Yep, I'd like to know more about the setting as well. It does sound like a Fantasy Heartbreaker, but I'd still like to know more. I am still vaguely tempted to pick up a copy, as I don't actually knwo what the game is about. Are there classes? Is it a fantasy game?
Re: [RPG]: Fantasy Imperium, reviewed by Rhandhali (2/1)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Old Scratch
And I don't think much of the cover, if that's what is on their website... A woman in a bikini holding a big phallus and a flower. You don't have to be Freud, Georgia O'Keefe or a first year psych or women's studies student to see something in that!
Personally I've never adhered to the concept of the sword as a phallic symbol. It's just a long, straight, sharp bit of metal for sticking into people you don't like. I think it bears saying that, regardless of the content of the picture in question, it does show a great deal of artistic merit. Personally, I would be more likely to read that the flower and the sword were twin symbols of the opposing concepts of war and peace myself.
As you say though, it's a shame that the game sounds like an absolute stinker.
I am still vaguely tempted to pick up a copy, as I don't actually knwo what the game is about. Are there classes? Is it a fantasy game?
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