Changing the setting and game system can be frightening: moving from the classic fantasy to something more complex, perhaps close to modern settings, can take away some dynamics that we thought were obvious but which instead, once lost, become vital for us. Yet exploration, as for the adventurers you have played in countless campaigns, is always a source of growth, and it is even when it arrives through games that are different in terms of setting, style and even conceptuality. It is the case of Fabula Ultima, an all-Italian game inspired by JRPGs, the so-called Japanese-style role-playing games, which bring with them dogmas and trappings that we have found adapted in this Fabula Ultima. Let’s talk better in ours review.
What dice do you roll?
Let’s start from the base linked to the dice: each character in his sheet will have some characteristic values, divided between Dexterity, Intuition, Force And Will: these will appear dice instead of numbers, aimed at highlighting which die will be rolled according to the test. Then there are various skills related to some characteristic values, as well as information related to objects and ties between characters. The tests during the course of the session will be made using the words dictated by the Game Master or by the specific skill.
Let’s take for example a climbing test: to be completed it could require Dexterity and Vigor, or agility to move and strength to stay hanging: here then the test becomes [DES + VIG], and to solve it you will have to roll the respective dice: the GM will then know, based on the result, how this test will be passed. It is not impossible that some tests then focus on a single characteristic: in that case it will be enough to roll the same die twice. Everything else is then handled by a class system close to jobs of Final Fantasy, with the possibility of choosing more than one and positioning the levels depending on which build you want to carry on. On the other hand, the traits and bonds are different, which we will see later.
The game does not require the use of maps or anything else, but obviously this will be up to the players session: for the rest in Fabula Ultima things are managed in a more streamlined way, something we will see later… because now the time has come to talk about the most important concept: who runs the game world?
Password: cooperation
If there is one thing that impressed us during the test of Fabula Ultima is his desire to decentralize power: we know well that in many games, the gamemaster he stands as a deity of the game world, capable of deciding the course of things. What if that’s not the case here? Obviously we assume that Fabula Ultima also works by removing this rule (since the setting shines on its own and the system is agile and well done), but we are sure that you will be fascinated by the way in which not everything in this game revolves around the GM’s choices . Although in fact he is a great supporter of narrative thinking, capable of making the story flow from that point of view, sometimes forcing the hand and pushing the players, the experience I had with Fabula Ultima has opened new doors.
From the beginning, the game world will be created through a table capable of making everything automatic: this system, which decentralizes the importance of GM and allows everyone to have a say on the universe that will be created, it makes players interested and immersed from the beginning, something that sometimes works less well in other games. If all this were not enough, Fabula Points come into play, real gamechangers in terms of the player-GM relationship. Given that these points will be acquired in moments in which you have problems in the game (critical failures, appearance of the villain, surrender at 0 life points), they can always be spent in order to take advantage of the role played and the game lore.
For example, you can use them to invoke a Treatmentor a possible identity, a theme or an origin, to be able to roll one or both dice, or to invoke a Link (with characters from your background or not) to add strength to the test result. But the most important thing, as far as the game is concerned, is the alteration of the story: by spending a point you will in fact be able to alter the story in an advantageous way (in case it is something related to other characters, you will need to have permission), which will change the cards on the table to the GM, who will have to adapt. So here you can insert new characters, special events or anything else that comes to mind, and all with a single Fabula Point.
This mechanic, which at first seemed something very uncomfortable for the GMactually during the sessions it seemed very exciting to us, pushing the Game Master to have to improvise in the right way and in this way to make the game a little more difficult for him too.
Limit breaks
Another interesting novelty that Fabula Ultima inserts is the clock: this circle, divided into segments according to the action, will be used to manage more long-lasting or complex actions: let’s say that your goal as a player is to climb a mountain while some enemies attack you. Taking advantage of the clock, you can divide the circle into 6 segments and, with each total completion of the player’s shifts, you can blacken a quadrant to define the passage of time in the challenge and its completion. Meanwhile, of course, players may find themselves having to dodge, jump, attack, or do something else, all timed by specific skill rolls. This thing can also be inserted as a sort of studied and elaborated attack move, as happens with the Limit Breaks in Final Fantasy, or to define complex actions of the enemies, such as charged attacks or other.
Last, but not least, the setting: the vibes linked to Final Fantasy, Tales of and all the others JRPGs there are so many classics, and this is a plus. The game takes advantage of this proximity to make itself unique and differentiated, as well as for the style of play we have seen so far, also for the aesthetic and characterizing style of every single detail that will color the world you are going to create. All this, in one Basic Manual very cheap, which you can also accompany with expansions capable of giving you a screen for the GM, very useful.
Review
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Fabula Ultima
9Final vote
Fabula Ultima offers a different game from the classic RPG. This is why it defines itself as TTJRPG: because the setting is very close to classic Japanese-style RPGs such as Final Fantasy, because it includes systems for calculating turns and attacks capable of creating tension like the turn-based combat typical of JRPGs, and because it classic western RPG styles with some interesting ideas (although not strictly related to the eastern trend). Hence, the game world is born between players and GMs, and changes and evolves thanks to the Fabula Points spent by the former, so as to make everything a challenge for the Game Master as well.
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