Our gaming group has been playing all kinds of games over the last 20 years. Well, this one’s a blast from the past – there’s a gap between long term campaigns as Paul winds up his Dungeon Crawl Classics campaign and Tim gets his WH40K campaign started, so Bruce decided to run The Fantasy Trip!
What is The Fantasy Trip, you may ask? You’d be justified in asking because it comes from the 1970s. It was a game Steve Jackson worked on before he made his own game company, and is a progenitor to GURPS. It fell out of print in 1983 and languished until Steve managed to get the rights in 2017. Now it’s back in print! https://thefantasytrip.game/
He’s always wanted to run it so we are in! He did a one-shot initially, but since Tim is not always available we now have it as a side campaign.
It’s an old school brutal game, but “GURPS-ey” instead of “D&D-ey”. In play it’s pretty simple – 3 stats (Strength, Dexterity, IQ), 3d6 vs stat roll under, deal damage soaked by armor, Strength is hit points, spend hit points to cast spells. Pretty fast and deadly.
Preapring for play is a different story. I’ll be honest, it’s not organized as well as you would hope… I have done a couple rounds of trying to figure out the rules; even though he provided pregenerated characters, thank God, as it’s a point build system and if you don’t already know the system there’s a lot of traps. I tried loading the PDF into ChatGPT and it’s forever missing the little rule nuances as well. The rules are 178 pages and you really have to dig deep into them. The character generation is full of “you can’t do that” gotchas.
For example, the pregenerated character I picked up was Karla Dawn Spark, the feisty mage. She has a quarterstaff. But then it turns out I don’t have the strength to use a quarterstaff. Nor do I have the ‘talent’ required to do it so there’s a die penalty. I do have a spell called Staff III that lets it do occult strikes, so I can use it even so. But those strikes drain one of my 9 hit points whenever I do it. None of this was clear to me and was discovered over the course of 2 game sessions. (Bruce decided I could use the occult strikes without spending ST since apparently that was a new rule not in his old grognard version from the 1980s, which meant I can spend most of my time not cowering). Well, since I have a hand free maybe I can use a shield… No, I don’t have the talent for that. Can I buy it? Talents cost double for wizards. Except for Literacy, which has a special exception. It all kinda goes on like that.
I spent 2-3 hours last night trying to figure out if I could buy a magic item with the $1000 I got from the first adventure, and, if so, what it would do, and if when I did it if it would cost me ST or not. Heaven forfend we do much with “hand-to-hand” combat (like grappling) or illusions, there are pages and pages of rules on each.
But, once you manage to figure it out, it’s fun in play. And the characters are simple once created – here’s the list of pregens Bruce gave us for the first game. Built on 34 points, with an option to move to 35, and an equipment budget of about $1000 (average).
Harbben: Tough Warrior
ST 13
DX 12 (10)
IQ 9
MA 10 (8)
Talents: Toughness (2), Sword (2), Shield, Alertness (2), Ax/Mace (2)
Equipment: Leather armor (2 hits, -2 DX), Small shield (1 hit), Toughness (1 hit), Morningstar
(2d+1), Labyrinth kit, 4 days rations, Lantern, 2 bottles oil, 3 healing potions
Leilika Vecky: Quick Fencer
ST 10
DX 13 (12)
IQ 11
MA 10
Talents: Fencer (3), Sword (2), Detect Lies (2), Detect Traps (2), Bow (2)
Equipment: Fine Saber (2d), Cloth armor (1 hits, -1 DX), Horse Bow (1d), Fine Dagger (1d-1),
20 quarrels, Labyrinth Kit, 4 days rations, 3 healing potions
Note: -1 DX to attacks against her; parrying allows an extra die; -4 DX to do +1d damage
Agbor Ironfoot: Dwarf Axeman
ST 14
DX 11 (8) (9)
IQ 9
MA 10 (6)
Talents: Ax/Mace (2), Shield, Toughness 2 (4), Recognize Value, Literacy
Equipment: Magic Great hammer (2d+2, 2-hand, +1 DX), Chainmail (3 hits, -3 DX), Toughness
(2 hits), Labyrinth kit, 4 days Rations, 1 Healing potion
Delbin Truemoon: Scholarly Aristocrat
ST 12
DX 11 (9)
IQ 13
MA 10
Talents: Literacy, Pole Weapons (2), Knife, Physicker (2), Courtly Graces, Locksmith, Tactics,
Scholar (3), Crossbow
Equipment: Spear (1d, 1d+1 with 2 hands), Leather armor (2 hits), Physicker’s kit, Fine Dagger
(1d-1, +1 DX), Light Crossbow (2d), 20 quarrels, Labyrinth kit, 4 days Rations, Lantern, 2
bottles oil, 3 Healing Potions
Mary Nettles: Forest Witch
ST 10
DX 11 (10)
IQ 12
MA 10
Talents: Naturalist (2), Physicker (2), Bow (2), Silent Movement (2), Pickpocket, Priest, Sword
(2)
Equipment: Saber (2d-2), Cloth armor (1 hit), Physicker’s kit, Horse bow (1d), 20 arrows,
Labyrinth kit, 4 days Rations, 5 Healing potions
Advance: +1 DX, Leather armor (2 hits), MA 8
Karla Dawn Spark: Feisty Mage
ST 9
DX 12
IQ 13
MA 10
Spells: Fireball, Staff III, Freeze, Repair, Break Weapon, 3-Hex Fire, Shock Shield, Blur, Speed
Movement, Trip, Summon Scout
Talents: Literacy
Equipment: Striking Staff (1d, 2-hex range, +3 DX, 2 Mana), Labyrinth kit, 4 days Rations, 4
Healing potions, Reverse Missiles scroll
Charles Mux: Creator Mage
ST 12
DX 11
IQ 11
MA 10
Spells: Staff II, Silent Movement, Create Wall, Rope, Illusion, Summon Wolf, Blur, Aid, Reveal
Magic, Dark Vision
Talents: Literacy
Equipment: Manastaff (1d, 4 Mana), Labyrinth kit, 4 days Rations, 4 Healing Potions, Lock/
Knock Scroll
Like I said I was Karla Dawn Spark, so between me and ChatGPT I made an annotated character sheet to make sense out of what was going on – that’s much longer:
KARLA DAWN SPARK — FEISTY MAGE
ST 9 (HP + spell fuel)
DX 12 / 15 w/ staff
IQ 13
MA 10
- Attack (staff): 3d6 ≤ 15 → 1d occult damage which bypasses armor and natural defenses, 2-hex reach (stay at 2 hexes whenever possible)
- Spellcasting: 3d6 ≤ 12 → pay ST cost even on failure (don’t spam)
- Staff III: +3 DX (included), 2-hex reach, 1d damage, counts as staff focus (you are a reliable melee threat, not backline only)
- Turn flow: threatened → Blur or reposition; good control target → Trip or Freeze; safe → staff attack; clustered → 3-hex fire
- Positioning rules: end where ≤1 enemy can hit you; prefer 2-hex distance; avoid adjacency to multiple enemies; movement > bad attack
- ST management: start 9; stay ≥4 unless finishing fight; rotate spell → staff → staff → spell
Items:
Staff of Striking (1d, 2-hex range, +3 DX, 2 Mana) see p.148. Immune to drop weapon, break weapon, critical failures.
4 Healing potions – use at ≤4 ST (don’t die holding them)
Labyrinth kit
4 days rations
Reverse Missiles (2 S + 1/T, IQ 11, T, p.23) scroll – missiles or missile spells go back and hit their sender. use vs archers/ambush (hard counter ranged)
SPELLS (roll 3d ≤ 12 to cast, all costs in ST)
Attack
- Fireball (1–3 ST, IQ 12, M) p.24, 135 ranged attack spell; 1d-1 per ST, will set things on fire; use before melee engagement (good opener)
- 3-Hex Fire (2 ST, IQ 12, C) p.19, 23 creates fire covering 3 adjacent hexes; damages 4 hits and -2 DX anyone in area or 2 hits to anyone starting there/passing through it (though armor and protective spells work), IQ<8 won’t go through it; great vs clustered enemies (only cast when you can hit multiple targets)
Debuff
- Trip (2 ST, IQ 10, T) p.21 target within range falls prone immediately (DX roll to hit target as normal for spells); prone targets are hit easily and lose actions getting up and must make a 4-die DX save to not fall into something adjacent (best default control)
- Break Weapon (3 ST, IQ 12, T) p. 24 destroys or disables one weapon, shield, or staff halving damage; extremely strong vs heavy hitters (removes most of their damage output)
- Freeze (4 ST, IQ 12, T) p.24 target is completely unable to act for 2d6 turns (no movement, no attacks, only spells 5 under IQ) (use on strongest enemy to remove from fight)
Defense
- Blur (1 ST + 1 ST/turn, IQ 8, T) p.18 cast on yourself; attackers suffer -4 DX penalty to hit you; lasts till turned off; cast when you expect to be attacked (turns you from fragile to survivable)
- Shock Shield (2 ST + 1 ST/turn, IQ 10, T) p.21 Does 1 die of damage to any other creature in the subject’s hex at the end of each turn the spell is on. Armor and shields don’t protect; lasts multiple turns; use if you’re forced into HTH with enemies (punishes swarmers).
Buff
- Speed Movement (2 ST, IQ 10, T) p.21 doubles MA for 4 turns; lets you reposition, escape, or maintain 2-hex spacing (use to avoid being pinned)
Utility
- Summon Scout (1 ST + 1 ST/minute) p.20 creates small weak creature like a rat or bat under your control; can see through its eyes to scout, trigger traps, or occupy enemies (use for utility/distraction, not damage)
- Repair (6 ST, IQ 12, T) p.25 restores damaged item; non-combat utility (ignore during fights)
- Staff III (5 ST, IQ 8, S) p. 18, 23, 26 makes a cool staff
SPELL NOTES
- Missile spells are complicated (p.135)
- Thrown spells are -1 DX per hex away (p.136)
DEFAULT PLAY PATTERN
- Turn 1: Fireball at range or Fire for battlefield control
- Turn 2: Trip or Freeze key target (control > damage)
- Turn 3+: hold 2-hex range, staff attack, use Trip opportunistically, Blur if threatened
So far the world feels a lot like Dungeon Crawl Classics, but wizards aren’t quite as overwhelming. Dungeons have arbitrary super-magic stuff going on in good old fashion. I’ll share our adventures next!
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