Scouting covers climbing, tracking and finding your way - it is a general outdoor skill. Sanctity has the same problem - after a while, it becomes clear that sanctity can be used to destroy undead, banish spirits and lift curses amongst other things (including getting you barred from the a wizards' school for being too closed minded). This is not a huge thing as succeeding at a magic roll always produces a positive effect (it would be mean if you succeeded at a magic roll only to be told that it was the wrong effect when you didn't know what you were doing) but there is no spell system and so you can't really work out what your plan is unless you are told what you could do before hand. Combat, thievery and charisma are quite clear through their connotations but when you are prompted to use magic, you may not be told what effect you will produce. Sometimes, however, you do not know what action you are going to take by rolling against this ability.

Your opponent then attacks you in the same way. If the sum of your combat score and the result of two dice is higher than your opponent's defence, then you reduce your opponent's stamina by the result of that score minus your opponent's defence. If it is equal to or lower than the difficulty then you have failed in the task.Ĭombat is similar. If the result is higher than the difficulty, then you have succeeded in the task. You roll two dice and add the result to your ability. Tasks are given a difficulty and require a certain ability. You start with a weapon, some armour, a map of the lands you are about to explore and 16 shards (the currency, which are not actual shards, they're coins). Your profession also determines how certain characters in the book respond to you and which quests you can embark on.įinally, you can carry up to 12 items of equipment. Each profession has a high score in one of the primary abilities with medium and low scores in other abilities. You could choose to be a priest, a mage, a rogue, a troubador, a warrior and a wayfarer. You then have to choose your profession which determines your six primary ability scores. Your defence = your combat score + your armour's defence score + your rank. The last statistic is your defence score which determines how hard it is for you to be hit in combat. You start this book with 9 stamina points. You also have a stamina score, which determines how much damage you can take before you die. Thievery - the talent for stealth and lock picking. Scouting - the techniques of tracking and wilderness lore. Sanctity - the gift of divine power and wisdom. The descriptions are taken from the book:Ĭharisma - the knack of befriending people. In addition to rank, you have six primary ability scores. A higher rank character is harder to hit in combat and is better at succeeding at certain tasks that are especially difficult.

Your rank goes up when you complete quests and overcome great odds. You begin the game as a lowly first rank character. So there is a lot to explore in the Fabled Lands, but what is the gaming system like? What characteristics are measured? What rewards and penalties can you get? Are the die rolls fair or is Fabled Lands made impossible by difficult tasks? I'm posting this on Friday as I'll be away this weekend.

Fabled lands 5