Next are 3 pages of major NPC's in Darok including a brief write up of personality, treasure and equipment. Following this, is a village (Ghee) with buildings notated and stocked with NPC's. After the village set up, is a companion scenario The Treasure of Zierro Mhaddray, set on the plans of Darok. Next are additional rules for horsebreaking. First (and last) time I have read 3 pages on horsebreaking in an RPG or its supplement!
The next pages are dedicated to additional scenarios to play, and possible random encounters (like a hexcrawl) while players are in Darok. On the balance the few scenarios are interesting, but the hexcrawl bits are quite good. Odd that a as completely hex mapped system, TFT failed to develop a hex crawl tool. Gamelords provide a limited on in this book specifically for Darok, but it could easily be applied elsewhere.
Finally, the book ends with Random tables to create NPC Fighter, Wizard,...and THIEF. As TFT only designated characters as either wizard or hero, it is interesting to see a codified Thief option and title in an official TFT book. In all the tables are functional but unspectacular.
So what do I think? As Darok was the first in the line to be published, I see it as a pretty good teaser for a much broader and more expansive line that never was. This is disappointing on a number of different levels. First, these came out right as TFT was dying. While I don't think it would have saved Metagming, in any way, this range of supplements as planned were the first true RPG supplements for the TFT system beyond the core rules. Its inclusion of scenarios, a village, NPC's, treasure tables and basic hexcrawl tables were a much needed addition to flesh out and expand TFT. TFT as a system and product line remains a vast expanse of what ifs in my mind, and Warrior-Lords of Darok serves to further that expanse. If you are interested, my own take on a basic rules TFT inspired the system can be downloaded at Heroes & Other Worlds.
Thanks for the write-up. I have to say though that the center portrait is an extremely goofy looking dude.
ReplyDelete"Instead, the completed TFT work for Shaylle was reworked to match a d20 system and released as City of the Sacred Flame."
ReplyDeleteHuh, didn't know that. May need to see if I can track down a copy of Sacred Flame.
@Narmer-no problem, yeah that cat is a little funky!
ReplyDelete@Knightsky-it is still easy to track down for purchase. Note the background info and setting changed quite a bit from the original TFT design, but it is the TFT Shaylle capitol book with some different parts on it.
The contents for the other areas were largely reforged and released as the non-TFT Gamelord supplments, "City of the Sacred Flame" and "Within the Tyrant's Demense."
ReplyDelete"City of the Sacred Flame. This was originally intended to be Shaylle: Soldier City for the Land Beyond the Mountains campaign, but when Metagaming went out of business the module was rewritten and issued under the new title, for use with the Thieves' Guild rules system. The history section was heavily redone and the main non-player character's names are changed, but many of the area descriptions and the adventures remain essentially unchanged. In fact, at least one quest in this module still has the original NPC's name, unchanged.
Within the Tyrant's Demesne. This was originally intended to be Intrigue in Plaize for the Land Beyond the Mountains campaign, but when Metagaming went out of business the module was rewritten and issued under the new title, for use with the Thieves' Guild rules system. As with City of the Sacred Flame, the history is rewritten, but many descriptions and references remain largely unchanged. The product number would probably have been 2205."
You can read a little more about TFT in general at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fantasy_Trip
(which is also from where the quote above came) and at:
http://tft.brainiac.com/
and at:
http://gamersrave.webs.com/tft.htm
This statement above -- "Instead, the completed TFT work for Shaylle was reworked to match a d20 system and released as City of the Sacred Flame." -- is a little misleading. "D20" as the nomenclature is used today didn't exist. Gamelords originally published their material as AD&D (1st ed.) supplements in a series entitled "Thieves Guild" (which I believe made it all the way to the double digits). Those supplements included not just source/setting material, but also AD&D rule variations to support the contents of each supplement. Ultimately, in fact, Gamelords released a house system, which certainly bore some resemblance to (A)D&D. I believe both "City of the Sacred Flame" and "Within the Tyrant's Demense" actually supported the Gamelord system and not AD&D... but regardless to reference it as a D20 system would be somewhat misleading.
BTW, through a totally different venue was recently turned on to "Heroes and Other Worlds" -- a very nice, simple, yet thorough treatment of a TFT-like game. Kudos!
Cheers,
--The Raving Gamer