Fantasy Games

John Norris

Fantasy and legend are older than history. They are not history as it
was, but history as it should have been. For example, historical studies
such as John Morris' excellent 'The Age of Arthur' have shown that
Arthur, or Artorius, was a Romanised Briton who conducted a series of
distinctly unromantic and rather messy frontier wars in a temporarily
successful attempt to stem the tide of English invasion and re-establish
a central government of the Britons. That is history. How much more
inspiring, though, are the legends of the incomparable King Arthur and
the fantasies of the Round Table. The distinction between historic
warfare and that of fantasy is much the same. Historic war fare was
numbers of men of very similar abilities, with different amounts of
fairly standard equipment, attempting to kill each other by common
methods. Fantasy warfare is warfare as it should have been, embellish ed
with heroes worth a hundred ordinary men, sorcerers of dark mysteries,
and dreadful monsters.

It is this embellishment that is both the advantage and the disadvantage
of fantasy wargames. On one hand, it offers the designer greater
freedom, both in terms of variety and to suspend some of the con
straints of sordid reality. On the other, it offers much less of a
secure foundation for a balanced game system, because it cannot be
tested against historic out comes. The advantage and disadvantage are
directly related, since the greater the embellishment on and departure
from history, the less relevant historic outcomes are to the outcomes of
the game.

Most of our fantasies and legends have always been set in the ancient
and mediaeval periods, and they remain favoured set tings today. Where
fantasies are set in a later period, more often than not it is one when
culture and technology have largely reverted to ancient or mediaeval
levels. In the circumstances, it is hardly surprising that the great
majority of fantasy wargames have an ancient or mediaeval setting. This
article endeavours to cover most of those commercially available at
present. Virtually all of them are of American origin, and as the
publishers will not be familiar to most readers I shall give their full
postal address, and that of any British agent, the first time they are
mentioned.

The oldest, and probably the best known, fantasy game is 'Dungeons and
Dragons', published by TSR Hobbies of PO Box 756, Lake Geneva,
Wisconsin, USA 53147, whose British agent is Games Workshop, 15
Bolingbroke Road, London W14 OAJ. 'Dungeons and Dragons' or D&D as it is
abbreviated, is a game in which the players control their individual
characters who move on maps of subterranean workings (the 'Dungeons' of
the title) drawn and 'creatured' (the 'Dragons') by the referee. Each
character has various attributes determined by dice throw, and as he
gains experience he ascends the levels of his chosen profession, for
example warrior or magician, and increases in ability.

From his expeditions in the dungeons, he can gain experience by slaying
monsters and by finding treasure. Of course, he may also be killed, and
this introduces the necessary element of risk. The basic rules of D&D
are printed in three booklets, on men and magic, monsters and treasure,
and underworld and wilderness adventures respectively. These have been
augmented by two supplements dealing with innovations intro duced in two
long-running American campaigns, 'Greyhawk' and 'Blackmoor', and a third
is apparently in preparation. These contain a variety of ideas on combat
systems, monster types, spell types, etc. In addition to at least the
three basic booklets, the main requirement is an imaginative hardworking
and patient referee, on whom the bulk of the work falls, since he has to
devise and prepare the maps and background for the campaign, as well as
actually umpiring it.

Much of this work is already done for the players of 'Empire of the
Petal Throne', or EPT as it is abbreviated, TSR's other main offering in
the genre. EPT is a complete world setting for D&D type adventures, with
a world map, a map of the suggested starting city, a political
background, a complete mythology, etc. Adventures in this setting are
governed by a set of rules akin to those of D&D, but which have been
developed in a rather different direction. Apart from the differences in
mechanisms, the non-human creatures and the general flavour have
changed. Whereas D&D is set in the familiar Western European context,
EPT is set in a world where the dominant influences are those of South
and East Asia, and of pre-Conquest South America, which makes a
refreshing change. The rules cover not only the adventures common to D&D
but also such matters as social advancement and employment in Tsolyanu,
the Empire of the title, and travel over long distances by land and sea,
as opposed to purely local widerness adventures of D&D. There are also
outlines for the conduct of ritual combat in the great Hirlakte arenas
between warriors or priests and sorcerers. For the former, gladiatorial
rules are recommended and for the latter, a special game, 'War of
Wizards', produced by the same designer, and published by TSR.

'War of Wizards' is a boardgame of magical combat, set in one of the
Hirilakte arenas. There are two contestants, who may be priests or
sorcerers or one of each. They take up their positions on their
respective dias at either end of the arena, and proceed to hurl spells
at each other. The skill of the game lies in planning a strategy of
spell-casting that will eventually exhaust the opponent, while
preserving oneself. Though each spell has a counter-spell, the secret of
success lies in combining spells in such a way that some get through to
damage the opponent, and cumulatively exhaust him. It is a fascinating
game in its own right.

The D&D genre is one that is very popular in the US, and one that is
growing in popularity in Britain. It offers wargamers an original
campaign,which is almost infinitely adaptable and can be extremely
enjoyable. While it may not be everyone's taste, it is well worth
trying. When I produced it at my own local club, I was dragooned into
draw ing a map of some dungeons on the spot, and we had our first
expedition down there that afternoon! The main drawback from the point
of view of British wargamers wanting to try D&D is the prices. Like
nearly all US wargaming products, these games are expensive in
depreciated œ's, the only consolation is that you only need one set of
rules or game for each campaign, so if necessary it is possible to
spread the cost between several players.

(In this review of the D&D genre, I have had to be relatively brief. A
longer article on D&D itself, which gives more details and conveys more
of its flavour, appeared in 'Games and Puzzles' No.48 May 1976, pages
7-9.)

A quest within a wizard's tower is the scenario for 'Citadel', published
by Fantasy Games Unlimited, of PO Box 182, Roslyn, New York, USA 11576.
Like D&D 'Citadel' is largely a game of limited intelligence, wherein
the 'good' player must expend his 'heroes' to overcome the fixed and
monster defences of the 'evil' player's tower and recover the Talisman
therein. The tower is composed of six grids, one for each floor, upon
which are placed the defences and Talisman itself, and the doors from
one level to another. All these are face-down, effect ively recreating
the situation in D&D dungeon adventure where the map is known only to
the referee. The heroes of the 'good' player are then moved into the
tower, and the quest begins. Once again, mechanisms used in the rules
are generally simple, and very clearly explained, a usual strong point
with this publisher. The scope of the game is unlimited by its
relatively simple format, but once again it is a campaign game that can
be played in an afternoon. Another point in its favour is that it is
comparatively inexpensive for an American game, selling at only $4.

Fantasy warfare at the strategic level is repre sented by two boardgames
which are very different from each other. The better known of the two,
inevitably, is SPl's 'Sorcerer'. This very original game emphasises
combat between magicians and in particular their magical creations. Its
key feature is the use of magical terrain. In the game, magic may take
on any of seven colours, white and it's six coloured subdivisions.
Similarly, each hex of the board is either one of those seven colours or
neutral grey. The strength of a magician's creations in combat thus
depends on the relatiionship of their colours to that of their opponent
and to that of the hex in which the combat is taking place, as well as
on their own intrinsic strength. Since each magical colour is related to
each other magical colour in a non-transitive manner, each one being
inferior to some and superior to others, the possibilities are legion.
It is just as well that there are only three different types of magical
unit to be created, or the combinations would become impossible to
handle! Another original and interesting feature is the attrition rule,
whereby magical units that have chosen to station themselves in hexes of
colours where their own magical colour is strong have a proportionally
higher chance of returning to their magical plane. This is a good game,
with relatively simple mechanisms that interact in a complex way,
preventing easy analysis. However, once the interactions have been
grasped it's relatively limited scope can lead to a loss of interest.

The second boardgame, 'White Bear and Red Moon', published by The
Chaosium, P0 Box 6302, Albany, California, USA 94706, is a much more
ambitious conception. In scope, it resembles EPT more than any other
game, since the author has not just designed a fantasy game but has also
attempted to write his own epic fantasy around it. The basic mechanics
of the game are not too difficult, units being defined in terms of
physical combat strength, movement factor, and magical strength and
range, if any. Movement is affected by varying terrain types, and
magical ability by the phase of the Red Moon in some cases and by more
esoteric factors in others The pieces them selves represent not only
combat units but also heroes, magicians, monsters, etc. The great
majority of the latter are personalities in the epic fantasy.

Though the mechanisms themselves are not complex, the game itself is.
This is because of the sheer variety of everything from terrain types
through combat units to personalities. Though the relationships
themselves are not hard to handle, the sheer volume of them can be. It
is a game where a multitude of detail from the fantasy has to be
mastered, and thus does not lend itself to a few casual games. It is
clearly a labour of love for it's author, Greg Stafford. The artwork in
general is excellent, and the rule book, though duplicated rather than
printed, is beautifully produced. The same is true of a magazine, 'The
Wyrm's Footnotes' that Mr Stafford has produced to cover nothing else
but the playing and development of his game.