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Download:
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Ooooh. I thought they could only be done with Martial Weapons. Sorry, still learning. Having lots of fun though.

Yup ANY weapon can be used with Martial Moves (though they may not be able to perform every move, depending upon the weapon - we leave it to the GM to determine what seems right - i.e. you cannot do a Shield Bash with a Quarterstaff....)

Martial Weapons simply gain a +4 when performing Martial Moves.

Oh, another suggestion, worth exactly what you paid for it: re-naming the vocations that aren't already in plain English. As cool as Sicarius (for example) sounds, it doesn't say at a glance what it is. Whereas "Warrior Mage" paints a pretty clear picture. This would help reduce the time spent on deciding vocations, of which there are a plethora.

Some of them have more common names that I did not want to use, others have names that don't really convert too well...

• Diwhar = warrior who specializes in two weapon combat
• Sohei = Warrior Monk(ish) or Martial Artist, yes I know Sohei is a culturally specific term, but I think it fits better overall
• Vanguard = warrior who specializes in shield use to protect others
• Sicarius = Ninja or Assassin (neither actually appropriate as one is culture specific and the other implies underlying  evil intent); also there is a Special skill or background option called Assassin -- and I don't want to use the same term for multiple things
• Spiritior - Spirit Warrior does not really convey the meaning desired

I've been chatting with Tim on rpg.net, and I'll add my thoughts here as well for public consideration.

Firstly, I think Tim is really onto something here. Having a RM core mechanic but with a bell-curve is frankly brilliant. While I love the swingy-ness of RM, it can get to be a bit much sometimes.

Awwww... Gee thanks!

The Action Table is fantastic. It's essentially the same idea as done in Talislanta 4e, and should be played up as a central feature. One Table to Rule Them All, etc.

I love the success levels. They're like the Stunt Points in the Age System, which are pretty fun IMO. I ran a FAGE one off and the players really enjoyed them. Mythras has something similar with its Special Effects.

There were a number of games that provided influence. And I have always liked the "One mechanic to rule them all" types of systems, as there is always ways to play with that to allow for variations and different methods of resolution even while using that one mechanic.

The Drive Point mechanic with Special Skills is absolutely brilliant, especially the ones that activate for a whole scene. So cool.

That I cannot take credit for. Most of that come from Against the Darkmaster and the Grevious Grimoire.

Things I'd change:

Full disclosure: I'm a longtime HEMA instructor, practitioner of Japanese Swordsmanship and Judoka. I could (and do) nerd out on combat mechanics all day long.

Weapon reach is vital, even after the initial engagement. Getting into range with a dagger against a longsword, for example, is incredibly difficult, and staying there is hard too. I'd say that if you don't do a Daze or Stun, an opponent can easily reset distance and keep initiative. Or maybe say that you need one success level per difference in reach to maintain initiative or something.

Yeah, Against the Darkmaster's combat system always goes with "Longest weapon attacks first" where I prefer initiative systems.

I like the idea of adding a combat results option for "maintaining distance" or something like that, that allows for that first round of combat longest weapon" init modifier (or perhaps making it a Free Action item would be better - then I could also have a "Close Distance" item too, and have them resolve as Conflicting Actions...

Fumbles: it's much easier to fumble a one-handed weapon than a two-handed one. With a two-handed weapon, if your grip slips, you can use the other hand to recover quite easily. That's why our instinct is to hold on with both hands when someone tries to grab something from us: it works. I've fumbled one-handed weapons much more than two-handed during my career as a tournament fighter. Daggers are indeed hard to fumble, though. It's not that hard to hit the ground with your weapon if you're under stress though, that's for sure.

Good points! I will need to go back and take a closer look the CF ranges.

Fun fact, in tournament I once saw a longsword (during a grapple) bend against the mats like a longbow and promptly fly away from the opponents at incredible speed perfectly vertical, pommel up, point down for probably 15 feet, with the pommel denting a metal door on impact. I've never seen anything like it before or since. While a sharp sword would just get stuck in the ground, on a cobblestone surface that could possibly happen. Real swords can be surprisingly bendy.

Neat!

I am not a fan of the RM armed combat vs. "martial arts" distinction. It's a holdover from (admittedly fun!) 80's kung fu movies. Karate is a martial art. So is longsword fencing, so is Kenjutsu. That being said, if you want that vibe, go nuts. I'm about to run an RMSS game where one player is going all-in Warrior Monk with stuff from the Martial Arts Companion, and it's going to be interesting!

Fun fact #2, European monks were apparently known for being expert grapplers. The oldest fencing manual (sword & buckler) shows monks, too. Kinda neat.

Over the various versions, I have reduced the Martial Arts benefits  several times, reducing their overall power.  And they all use the Brawl skill (and you can use it with Hand weapons too).

My groups have always loved the magical herbs in RM. So glad to see them in FX. I love the Essential Salts too. Cool idea. It's great that Alchemy is getting a nice treatment. I've been reading a lot of Chivalry & Sorcery 2e lately and the in-depth treatment of mages' "down time" is amazing.

Essential Salts is a staple in all of my games for the past decade or so. I use them as a catalist for crafting magical items, and for using as extra mana as well.  And I have always loved herbs as well, as they can often be les expensive than magical healing.

The Vocation system is very neat. Incredibly flexible and looks like it would be quick in practice. I'm eager to try it out.

I actually stumbled on to that idea... I was trying to create a flexible Vocation system (since vsD only has like 8 or 9 Vocations) and I have 8 different Schools of Magic, and I kept running into issues until I basically cut the Vocations in half, and then that just clicked.

32 Vocations, where you simply select 2 - that offers multiple paths to get similar character type, all of which are unique to

With 300 pages, it's reasonably hefty. Depending on the design goals, it could go either way in page count. Is it supposed to be "lean and mean" or an omnibus? Either is fine, just be clear about the final goal, IMO. Are you looking to streamline or expand?

I do have a lite version of the rules, which keeps the core elements, but offers a less expensive buy in to the system.

For the full set of the rules (300 pages), considering that Against the Darkmaster was over 500 pages, I think I am actually doing good here... hehehe

This is something very special. There's so much to like about this game, and it will be worth it to take the time to do it right with polish, good production values and intensive playtesting.

Thank you, and I agree, which is why I am not in any hurry to end the Beta yet.

Not sure if this the correct place to put this but-

Page 266 - the table for Mythic Creatures - TSR/RSR/WSR/HP columns are incorrect. Looks like numbers have been shifted to right. The TSR for all are same as creature level, and HP's are what WSR should from looks of it (otherwise those some really fragile monsters lol).

Page 275 - Under Ghoul, lists Vampyri in Sunlight Allergy description.

Page 277 - Under both Wight and Wraith, Fear and Soul damage both say Specter in description. Wight also lists Wraith under Cold damage instead of Wight.
               

Good catches. I will get them updated and out this weekend. (I actuall have a thread for these things in the playtester forum, which anybody can request to join using the link on the left....)

Over on rpg.net there was a recent thread asking about high fantasy games that could also be gritty as well. Of course, I offered Fantasy Express as a possibility. The response I got was both very unexpected and gratifying at the same time!

Rasyr Ok, bought and read quite a bit of FX. I think it's great. I love it. Your game does so many things right. And I can tell you've been around the block design-wise given how polished a lot of the mechanisms are. And what you've borrowed from Against the Darkmaster and iterated upon is superlative.

Love expanding vocations and then choosing two to form something unique.

You've streamlined combat, transitioning from all the phases of the tactical round sequence to an action economy that feels propulsive and dynamic. And a critical option sheet is freaking awesome - I love being able to spend success levels (and for skills and magic too! That's great!) to be badass.

I love skills and rpgs and think many modern games underplay them - I'm super glad you increased from vsD's list - gives more diversity of expertise, IMO.

Great job with magic, scaling spells is clean and spelled out.

Oh and Milestones and Revelations in character advancement -- what freaking terrific idea to bequeath cool traits to the character instead of just more XP!

Anyway, I'll stop gushing. Can't wait to get this to my table and try it out. I'm hoping it plays as good as it reads.

Great job.

Over the weekend, BOTH of my sites went down, this one and my personal site, Wizard's Lair.


I royally screwed it up trying to fix it, (this was before I figured out WHAT I could do to fix it, which I then did to fix this site).

So, I will have to rebuild it from scratch.

Since I am trying to teach myself Bootstrap for work, I figure I will see what I can do along those lines.

Here is what it current ly looks like.

https://www.wizlair.net

I am sorry about the DB erors that happened today. I believe that I got everything fixed now (for this site (still struggling with my personal site - I may have screwed that one up even more)