10 August 2023

Classic Fantasy Imperative coming soon


Above is the cover for the Design Mechanism’s forthcoming Classic Fantasy Imperative. (Classic Fantasy is a supplement for Mythras that gives the game a strong “first edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons” flavour, while retaining most of what makes Mythras a great system.) Classic Fantasy Imperative (CFI ) will be released under the “ORC” license, which was created in reaction to WotC’s (ultimately unsuccessful) attempt to change the OGL back in January.

Here is Loz’s description of the book (from this post):  

Classic Fantasy Imperative is actually pretty extensive. It's a complete rule-set, but we have redacted some classes, races, spells, and other things from Classic Fantasy to retain the utility of the core book (and the upcoming Unearthed Companion). However, CFI does take characters up to Rank 5, and offers a great deal of material to allow you to see and play the game to its full extent without necessarily needing the Unearthed Companion or the core rules. What you won't find in CFI are extended spell descriptions, monster stats, additional classes or races, and a great deal of cool extended material.

Classic Fantasy Imperative has two aims: introduce new players to Mythras and d100 gaming using familiar tropes and concepts from D&D and Pathfinder; and give third party creators a solid, comprehensive, open system to build their own games, and merge Classic Fantasy and Mythras material with other ORC-powered sources (like the fresh edition of BRP). In short, we're opening up Mythras, and starting that journey with Classic Fantasy. Mythras Imperative will also be licensed under ORC too, to ensure full consistency across our range. However, the core rules - Mythras Core, CF core, will not be ORC. If people want to license material found in our full rulebooks, we'll still have the Mythras Gateway to allow access in much the same way we do now (although we'll be relaxing some of the conditions).

If you have Classic Fantasy and Mythras already, you don't need CFI - however, there's still enough material in there to provide old hands with some additional, free information. It also makes a great intro for new players, so it'll be worth picking up. The SRD and PDF versions (the latter will receive layout treatment; the former will be a Word document) will be free, so no reason for you not to have a copy. 

I have Classic Fantasy and think it’s very cool. I’m definitely getting CFI when it comes out. If I wasn’t already playing in a Mythras campaign (as a player, I’ve participated primarily in Mythras campaigns over the past dozen years), I’d be tempted to use Classic Fantasy for my next campaign. 



1 comment: