Fantasy Rules! (3rd edition) (Chipco, 2003).pdf

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Fantasy Rules!
A Chipco Game
Third Edition, 2003
Fantasy Rules! editions 1 - 3, and all contents copyright Chipco 2003, except for public domain items.
Introduction
Never in the memory of the world had such a war occurred. In the skies, great
flocks of eagles spun and turned in combat with dark, bloated, tentacled things that drifted
through the air reeking of sulfur and spreading disease and corruption in their wake. On
the land, enormous armies clashed, their banners and pennants rippled by unnatural winds.
Giant stone colossi and golems ranged where they would, along with all size and manner
of war machines from the carts of the inquisition to the infinitely variable battle wagons
of the gnomes. Battles raged within the earth also, as dwarves and kobolds struggled for
victory in the dark tunnels and stinking warrens of their subterranean empires. Even the
pristine sea was not spared the ravages of the conflict as water shamen and hydromancers
led armies of mer-folk and sea creatures into battle in the reefs and trenches of the ocean.
On the surface, dolphin chariots and giant squid grappled with ships and other sea mon-
sters for control of the sea-lanes. In all the known world there was no place safe from
conflict, and everyone agreed that the war must be the work of gods; for who else would
play such games with the lives of mortals?
Welcome to the third edition of Fantasy Rules! Much is the same, but a great many
things have also been changed thanks to the inputs of players and the inevitable develop-
ment of concept. To ease the task of those experienced with the rules, all changes to the
second editon are in a different color, as you can see here. Also, this edition takes full
advantage of the capabilities of Acrobat, so it is extensively bookmarked and has thumb-
nails for every chapter. Using this and the chapter headers should help you find your way
around easily.
Fantasy Rules!, or “FR!”, takes place in the worlds of fantasy and mythology. The
races in the game correspond roughly to the armies of earth’s history and the creatures of
their mythologies, the armies of popular fictional works of imagination, and even some
creatures particular to FR! alone. FR! features special racial capabilities, a simplified move-
ment and combat system, numerous different spells, and a novel “continuous magic” sys-
tem that lets magic be played at any time in the game by either side. The morale clock makes
FR! playable in around one to two hours with 750 to 1000 point armies. The composition of
individual armies is variable within parameters, and FR! is designed to allow play in 15mm
or 25mm scales with all popular figure lines.
The rulebook you hold in your hands is the result of many years of development
and can appear daunting. It is really not, however, as you will discover. The rulebook is
organized as follows.
Section One: Basics
introduces some basic concepts for the game.
Section Two: The Game
outlines the rules of play in sections corresponding to
the sequence of play. The actual rules for movement, magic, and combat are each only a
few pages long – simple, really.
Section Three: The Stuff of Dreams
introduces you to the real meat of Fantasy
Rules! – the almost infinite variety of character types and unit types, along with special
items and abilities, optional rules to expand your universe of play, and rules for creating
your own unit types and magic spells.
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Introduction
Section Four: Reference
gives you some helpful reference materials, including
over 50 complete army lists.
We recommend that you take the following steps in reading FR! for the first time:
skim over the various chapters and become familiar with the overall organization of the
rules; read sections one, two, and three in order; scan the reference tables, spellbooks, and
sequence of play in section four; review sections one and two; enjoy your first game!
Instead of limiting your imagination to a fantasy universe of
our
creation, we’ve
endeavored to give you a fantasy rule system that allows you to play in any mythological
or fantasy universe of
your
choosing. Please let us know if we’ve been successful. You can
reach us at:
Chipco
http://www.sabersedge.com/chipco
Chipco1@aol.com -Chip
for questions relating to Le Petit Empereur, Age of Gunpowder,
Days of Knights, and Chrysanthemum Throne
Chipco2@aol.com - Curtis
for questions relating to Fantasy Rules! and Days of Knights.
That’s Chip on the left and Curtis on the right.
Thanks for buying Fantasy Rules!.
We appreciate your
business and hope you have a great time with our game!
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Basics
As you move through Fantasy Rules! you will be exposed to many concepts, often in
considerable depth. These will usually appear in their own specific rules sections. Some concepts are
very basic, however, and will be encountered in many places within Fantasy Rules! We have summa-
rized them for you here.
Wargames.
Whether fantasy or historical, wargames involve the use of printed rule sets
describing the ways that various units and characters depicted on the wargaming table move and
interact. These rule sets may be of the simulation variety, or of the effect variety.
Simulation rule sets seek to precisely simulate the capabilities of individual soldiers and
their weapons during a given period in history. They may also include the impact of command and
control, long distance movement and supply, the weather, and perhaps even forces such as diplomacy
that are only peripherally related to the battle’s outcome. These rules sets take considerable time to
learn and often require calculation and that players use complicated tables to achieve the end result.
Play time for simulation wargames can run from four or five hours to days.
Effect rule sets seek to simulate the feel of the period through the use of highly abstracted
rule conventions. These sets require little computation and few tables because many of the effects
present in simulation wargames have been integrated into higher-level rules. Play time for effect
wargames typically runs from one to three hours.
Not all wargames are alike or easily classified into one of the two categories we’ve described,
but rather fall somewhere between these two ends of the spectrum. Of the two, Fantasy Rules! is most
like an effect wargame.
Miniatures Wargames.
What distinguishes miniatures wargames from traditional board
wargames you may have played is the use of miniatures, or figures. Miniatures are small (usually �½
inch to 1-�½ inches tall) replicas of soldiers, heroes, and creatures. Typically made of metal, they are
bought unpainted at a game or hobby shop. Older miniatures were made of a lead alloy while more
recent ones are lead free pewter; but no matter the material most wargamers still refer to these figures
as lead miniatures and to playing miniatures wargames as pushing lead.
Painting the miniatures you purchase is a topic of its own, and researching the proper
appearance of a particular unit prior to painting is often the introduction to a fascinating lifetime of
study. Miniatures are what attract gamers to these games. Painted historical miniatures often recall
memories of exciting childhood adventures with toy soldiers. Fantasy miniatures often recall the
pleasure of reading great novels of fantasy and the vicarious thrill of imagining that “you were there”
while eldritch energies crackled over the battlefield. Fantasy Rules! allows you to combine historical
and fantasy gaming by including rules for both historical and mythological armies as well as those
depicted in the works of modern fantasy fiction.
Mass and skirmish miniatures wargames.
Within the categories of simulation and effect
rules sets, a further categorization into mass and skirmish miniatures wargames is possible. In mass
wargames, you simulate a whole unit by mounting several miniatures onto a pre-cut piece of material
called a base. In skirmish wargames you mount each figure on its own individual base. These two rules
types generally give a very different feel to play. Fantasy Rules! is of the mass sort, although it does
have individual characters mounted on their own bases similar to skirmish rules sets.
Figure scale.
Most figures used in miniatures wargames are made in one of two scales, 15mm
or 25mm, although figures are also available in 6mm and 10mm.The term
15mm scale
refers to the
height of the figure from the bottom of the foot to the eyes, and as such is different from the 1/72
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