Quick-Start Saturday: Gates of Krystalia Demo

Quick-starts are a means of trying out a roleplaying game before you buy. Each should provide a Game Master with sufficient background to introduce and explain the setting to her players, the rules to run the scenario included, and a set of ready-to-play, pre-generated characters that the players can pick up and understand almost as soon as they have sat down to play. The scenario itself should provide an introduction to the setting for the players as well as to the type of adventures that their characters will have and just an idea of some of the things their characters will be doing on said adventures. All of which should be packaged up in an easy-to-understand booklet whose contents, with a minimum of preparation upon the part of the Game Master, can be brought to the table and run for her gaming group in a single evening’s session—or perhaps two. And at the end of it, Game Master and players alike should ideally know whether they want to play the game again, perhaps purchasing another adventure or even the full rules for the roleplaying game.

Alternatively, if the Game Master already has the full rules for the roleplaying game the quick-start is for, then what it provides is a sample scenario that she still run as an introduction or even as part of her campaign for the roleplaying game. The ideal quick-start should entice and intrigue a playing group, but above all effectively introduce and teach the roleplaying game, as well as showcase both rules and setting.

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What is it?
The Gates of Krystalia Demo is the quick-start for the Gates of Krystalia TTJRPG, the roleplaying game based on Japanese anime and isekai stories. ‘Isekai’, meaning ‘other world’ is a subgenre of anime, manga, and fantasy in which the protagonist is suddenly transported, summoned, or reincarnated into a completely different, often magical universe.

It is a one-hundred-and-two page, 22.76 MB full colour PDF.

The writing style is that of a narrator giving game play advice in a computer RPG.

How long will it take to play?
Unfortunately, The Gates of Krystalia Demo does not come with a ready-to-play scenario. The demo does come with some a handful of enemies which can be used as a part of the scenario that the ‘Deux’—as the Game Master is known in The Gates of Krystalia—would need to write.

What else do you need to play?
The Gates of Krystalia Demo needs what it calls a ‘French’ set of cards per player as well as the Deux. This is effectively a standard deck of play cards with the Jokers removed.

Who do you play?
In Gates of Krystalia, the Heroes can be Humans, Dark Elves, Dwarves, Kemonomimi, Oni, Astralis, Demons, Elves, Kobolds, or Orcs. Potential Classes include Tamer, Berserker, Healer, Mage, Priest, Assassin, Knight, Engineer, Ninja, or Shaman. The Gates of Krystalia Demo details just three Races and four Classes. The Races are Humans, Elves, and the fox-like Kemonomimi, whilst the Classes are Berserker, Knight, Mage, and Ninja. Each Race provides adjustments to a Hero’s Abilities, two innate abilities, whilst the Class determines the Hero’s combat style and specialisations. A Hero has a Rank, from Heroic to Legendary, which will provide further bonuses. One of these, ‘Origin From Another World’, grants a bonus to an Ability and an Innate Ability is in keeping with the isekai subgenre.

How is a Hero defined?

A Hero in Gates of Krystalia has four Abilities: Charisma, Agility, Intelligence, and Toughness. These start out at zero and are adjusted by the Hero’s Race and a bonus from the ‘Origin From Another World’ trait. Each Ability is associated with a suit of cards. These are Spades for Intelligence, Hearts for Charisma, Clubs for Toughness, and Diamonds for Agility. Two of these will be Blessed Suits. At Heroic Rank, the Hero has four combat techniques and any of these match the Hero’s Blessed Suits, they will benefit from the Blessed Damage effect.

Each player also has a Vital Energy deck. This the standard deck of playing cards (with the Jokers removed) which represents the Hero’s physical and mental resources. Its cards are consumed when performing tasks or in combat, and from suffering damage. If the Vital Energy deck is exhausted, the Player Character collapses unconscious and if not healed quickly enough in combat, he can die. Sleep and some Combat Techniques can refill the Vital Energy deck.

How do the mechanics work?

When a player wants his Hero to undertake an action in Gates of Krystalia, the Deux sets a Difficulty Value from Simple and five to Impossible and twenty. The player draws a card from his Vital Energy deck and applies any bonuses or penalties set by the Deux. If the result exceeds the Difficulty Value, the Player Character succeeds. This is a simple test.

A Competence Test—which can be social, athletic, intellectual, or physical—also requires the draw of a card and any bonuses or penalties set by the Deux. To this is added the Hero’s Ability value, whether positive or negative. If the suit of the card drawn matches one of the Hero’s Blessed Suit, the total value of the card, plus situational and Ability modifiers, is doubled.

The card drawn from the Vital Energy deck in either case is discarded.

How does combat work?

In combat, initiative is determined by a draw of a single card, but otherwise uses the same mechanics as Competence Tests. Instead of drawing a single card, Player Characters and major enemies draw five cards for each scene (or turn). These are each combatant’s Strategy Cards. An attacker selects a Combat Technique and a single Strategy Card. A major enemy does the same. The Deux will draw a card if the enemy is standard rather than major. Both Combat Techniques and Strategy Cards are revealed simultaneously and whomever has the higher total will inflict damage on the other. If they are the same, no damage is inflicted on either combatant.

The base damage is inflicted if the selected Strategy Card is a number card. If it is a face card, the effect of the Combat Technique is also applied, but if it is an Ace, the base damage is doubled and the effect of the Combat Technique is also applied. If the suit of the selected Strategy Card matches the attacker’s Blessed Suit, the base damage is doubled.

In addition, a player can attempt to build a combo. A combo can be a set of cards or a run of consecutive cards, from the same suit or not, and will increase the base damage. This does increase the number of cards used and discarded.

Armour will stop some Base Damage, but better armour will also block conditions as well. When damage is suffered, cards are discarded from the Vital Energy deck.

Overall, the combat rules give each player tactical control and options in every fight without having to rely on the randomness of dice, but instead trying to get the very best of of his Strategy Cards. Working out if the effects of a Combat Technique and if a combo can be put together is not immediately easy and will initially slow play a fair bit. It may well be better if the cards are played openly initially until the players have a good idea of how combat works and how their Heroes’ Combat Techniques work.

How does magic work?

Magic involves power transmitted by the dormant archangel Krystallia or the dark forces of the Demon King and comes in various elements: Darkness, Earth, Fire, Ice, Light, Lighting, Nature, Poison, Water, and Wind. The Gates of Krystalia Demo does not include any specific spells, and only incudes the Combat Technique ‘Beyond the Limit’ that delivers a power blast that is magic-related.

What of the Gates of Krystalia?

The world of Gates of Krystalia is lightly detailed in the Gates of Krystalia Demo. It gives a description of Krystalia, the capital and Jewel of the Kingdom of Light, with its towers of pure crystal above streets paved in quartz. It is home to a Grand Bazaar where merchants from a thousand worlds hawk their wares and a School of Magic that defies the laws of physics, whilst below, craftsmen in the Foundation work the magical forges and alchemical laboratories to keep the city running. Travellers and visitors come to the city via the dimensional portals of the Gate District where reality seems to pulse and fluctuate every time a portal opens. The city is a beacon of hope where magic and mystery foment and home to the Archangel Krystalia, the Sleeping Guardian of the kingdom of Light, who used all of her power to seal away the dark threat, the Sovereign Demon Nergal.

The Gates of Krystalia Demo also details several enemies and also equipment and potential allies. Allies develop along with the Heroes and will increase the number cards in a Hero’s Vital Energy deck. In addition to developing his Hero and possible Allies, a player can develop a home and visit places such as saunas and spas to relax and recover.

One point of controversy is the set of six sample allies. Not that they are all female, but rather that collectively they are called the ‘The Hero’s Harem’. This is at odds with the tone and style of the rest of the book and the actual meaning of the word, and is a poor choice of wordage.

Is there anything missing?
Yes. The Gates of Krystalia Demo is not a quick-start or demonstration of the full roleplaying game in the traditional sense. There are no sample Heroes and no ready-to-play scenario. It is better described as a showcase that provides the Deux and her players with a taste of the roleplaying game rather than providing them with anything to play.

Is it easy to prepare?
No. The Gates of Krystalia Demo does not have content that can be prepared quickly or easily. The Deux will need to write a scenario and the players create Heroes.

Is it worth it?
Yes. That though, is a qualified ‘Yes’. The Gates of Krystalia Demo does give the reader a good feel for the rules, especially the tactical nature of the combat rules, but the setting description is light and whilst there is content enough that a Deux could run a session or two using the Gates of Krystalia Demo, it will take effort upon the part of Deux to develop it into something playable.

The Gates of Krystalia Demo is published by Top Notch International LTD and is available to download here.

From Console To Table

This is a world of high fantasy where a princess has lost her kingdom to the antagonist’s army, a veteran soldier has pledged to protect the people with his life, and a dark knight seeks redemption for his crimes. A silver palace orbits the moon, golems, airships, and elementally infused weapons are commonplace, but knowledge of the greatest of the world’s magic has been lost and lies ready to be rediscovered in sunken ruins or guarded by centuries old monsters. The enemies of this world—many the antagonist counterparts to it heroes—wield mighty magics and lead vast armies, but often turn to divine or the demonic for ultimate power. This is a world of natural magic where the daughter of the village chief seeks to prove her worth, the young hermit has discovered an entrance to a magical ruin in the forest, and the witch knows the prophecies that have been foretold all the way back to the ancestors. Great beasts populate the forests of this world and deep within lie forbidden places holding alien and magical secrets best left forgotten. The magic of the forest brims with life and energy whilst that of the ruins runs dark and cold, ready to power machinery that has laid dormant for centuries or more. The enemies of this world are disasters waiting to happen and technology waiting to take it place in the world once again, perhaps championed by the misguided, but always something greater and more powerful lurks, biding its time. This is a world of techno-fantasy where a scarred hero has had everything taken away from him, the magic-user is the last survivor from a long line of wizards who sought harmony with the world, and a failed experiment survives despite having been abandoned by his cold-hearted creator. Gleaming palaces stand over the squalor of the slums where most of the population are forced to live in cities that stand amidst barren landscapes. Magic has been drained from the world, seen as a source of wealth and power, and means of war, whilst the art and knowledge of magic has been lost or suppressed. The enemies of this world are industrialists who threaten to drain the world of all its magic in pursuit of their power and so bring about a cataclysm or drive the world into war.

These worlds are not one world, but the possible worlds seen in Japanese console and computer roleplaying games such as Ni No Kuni and the Final Fantasy series. It is these worlds that Fabula Ultima TTJRPG—short for ‘Table Talk Japanese Roleplaying Game’—published by Need Games!, brings to the table from the computer screen. Like those console roleplaying games, the worlds which the Game Master and her players roleplay in will be ones of heroic fantasy and action, heroes and villains, heroic destiny, challenging battles, and ultimately, their world. The latter is important because there is no default world in Fabula Ultima TTJRPG. Instead, the Game Master and her players decide upon a subgenre—high fantasy, natural magic, or techno-fantasy—and then combine it with the Eight Pillars of Fabula Ultima TTJRPG that are its core elements. These are ‘Ancient Ruins and Harsh Lands’, ‘A World in Peril’, ‘Clashing Communities’, ‘Everything Has A Soul’, ‘Magic and Technology’, ‘Heroes of Many Sizes and Shapes’, ‘It’s All About The Heroes’, and ‘Mystery, Discovery, and Growth’. Both players and Game Master need to keep these in mind as they create world during Session Zero, mapping it, deciding on the role of magic and technology, creating kingdoms and nations, and adding historical events, enigmas and mysteries, and lastly, the threats that cast a shadow over the world. There are tables to roll on, but these are still only prompt. Ultimately, the process is intended to be collaborative throughout and the result be a world that everyone wants to play in.

A Player Character in the Fabula Ultima TTJRPG is defined by his Identity, Theme, Origin, Classes, and four Attributes. His Identity neatly summarises who the character sees himself as; his Theme is a strong emotion or feeling that heavily influences his actions, and his Origins is where he is from. A Player Character in Fabula Ultima TTJRPG does not have one Class, but several. Fabula Ultima TTJRPG gives fifteen Classes. These are Arcanist, Chimerist, Darkblade, Elementalist, Entropist, Fury, Guardian, Loremaster, Orator, Rogue, Sharpshooter, Spiritualist, Tinkerer, Wayfarer, and Weaponmaster. Each Class asks the player where his character’s powers come from, what his past experiences are, and how the Class and its abilities define his behaviour. Each provides a list of free benefits as well as Class Skills, some of which can be selected multiple times. This includes the various spellcasting Classes, each of which is given its own list of spells, so that each time the player selects the appropriate skill, he chooses a new spell. For example, the Orator can be an ambassador, diplomat, or entertainer, and the player is asked if his character thinks everyone can be persuaded or has a price? Who betrayed the character? How does he feel about manipulating people, even if it is for a good cause? What happened when his words landed him in trouble? The Orator gains a bonus to his Mind Points and his skills include ‘Condemn’, ‘Encourage’, ‘My Trust In You’, ‘Persuasive’, and ‘Unexpected Ally’. The four Attributes are Dexterity, Insight, Might, and Willpower. These are rated by die type, from six-sided die to twelve-sided die.

To create a character, a player decides upon his character’s Identity, Theme, and Origin. There are again, tables to choose from, roll on, or use as inspiration. He chooses not one Class, but two or three, and assigns five Levels between them. The idea is not to create a one-note character, but one more rounded and flexible in terms of abilities and skills. Again, Fabula Ultima TTJRPG suggests options and combinations to create classic character types. For example, a Gunslinger combines Sharpshooter and Tinkerer, a Pugilist combines Fury and Weaponmaster, and Red Sorcerer combines Elementalist, Spiritualist, and Weaponmaster. Lastly, the player equips his character, and once everyone has created their characters, they prepare for a prologue, the first session of play, in which the players decide how their characters come together. Again, there are tables provided as suggestions.

Name: Shaw
Identity: Tomb robbing archaeologist
Theme: Ambition
Origin: Kuthage Empire
Classes: Rogue (Two Levels): Dodge, See You Later
Loremaster (Two Levels): Flash of Insight, Trained Memory
Orator (One Level): Persuasive
Dexterity d8 Insight d10 Might d6 Willpower d8
Hit Points: 35 (Crisis 17) Mind Points: 55
Defence: d8 Magic Defence: d10 Initiative Modifier: 0
Inventory (Maximum 8): Chain Whip, Travel Garb, Tome

Each time a Player Character acquires a new Level, he selects a Level in one of the Classes that he already has or a new one, up to a maximum of ten Levels in a Class. When this is reached, the Class is mastered and the character gains a Heroic skill, for example ‘Ambidextrous’ or ‘Extra Spells’. Other Heroic Skills are particular to a Class, like ‘Unbreakable’ for the Guardian which allows the character to survive a fatal hit once per scene or ‘Predictable!’ for the Loremaster which forces an enemy to spend Mind Points to undertake specific actions. In addition, when a Player Character reaches twentieth and fortieth Level, he can increase the die type of one of his Attributes.

Mechanically, in Fabula Ultima TTJRPG, a player always rolls two of his character’s attribute dice and adds the results together. For example, a pistol attack requires the player to roll his character’s Dexterity and Insight, Insight and Willpower to cast a spell, and Insight and Insight to recall information. Typical Difficulty Levels are seven for Easy, ten for Average, thirteen for Hard, and sixteen for Very Hard. A roll of one on both dice is a fumble, whilst rolls of doubles—of sixes and above—is a critical and automatic success. It also creates an Opportunity, for example, ‘Bonding’ with an NPC, ‘Unmask’ a creature or villain, or make ‘Progress’ on a Clock, the timing mechanism in Fabula Ultima TTJRPG. A player can also reroll the dice, but this requires the player to expend a Fabula Point and invoke either Identity, Theme, or Origin, or even invoke a Bond with another character to add the value of that Bond to the result.

Conflict—which includes combat—is described in Fabula Ultima TTJRPG as “back and forth exchanges at a rapid pace”. This can be a chase, an attempt to break into a castle before the guards notice, or an attempt to persuade a tribal chief to let you gain access to his lands, as well as fights. Initiative is handled as a group roll, with everyone else rolling to gain a bonus to the roll made by the player whose character is taking the lead. Then the Player Characters and the NPCs act in alternate order, one by one, but the order in which the Player Characters act is decided by the players. This models the play of Japanese console roleplaying games where the player can decide which of his characters is going to act rather than it be decided randomly. Should a Player Character’s Hit Points be reduced to zero, typically through combat, his player has two choices. The Player Character can surrender and suffer the consequences, but not actually die, or sacrifice himself to achieve a seemingly impossible deed. This has to be in front of a villain, benefit a Bond with an NPC, or improve the world.

The Fabula Ultima TTJRPG has two pools of points with which Player Characters and Villains can further their aims—Fabula Points and Ultima Points. Fabula Points are gained at the start of a session, when a Fumble is rolled, when a Villain makes a grand entrance, the Player Character surrenders after being reduced to zero Hit Points, and by invoking a Bond or Trait to fail a check. They are used to alter the story, invoke a Bond or Trait, or use certain skills. Spending Fabula Points also increases the amount of Experience Points the Player Characters receive at the end of a session, so the players are encouraged to use them rather than keep them. Obviously, Ultima Points are the province of Villains, but have fewer options in terms of what they can be spent on. The most notable is to ‘Escape’, safely leave a scene in true “I shall return!” style, to invoke a Trait, or to recover from a current status. Every Villain has another major ability and that is ‘Escalation’, the Villain transforming into a new, greater, and more villainous version of themselves, from minor Villain to major Villain, major Villain to supreme Villain. This means the Villain is effectively a new Villain and restores him to full powers again. The design and play of Villains is given its own section for the Game Master, covering goals, putting pressure on the Player Characters via the Clock mechanic, giving them hidden depth rather than making them one-dimensional, and even making the Villains mirror the Player Characters.

The rules of Fabula Ultima TTJRPG also covers the use of Inventory Points to abstractly represent useful items of equipment and consumable items like potions to recover Hit Points and Mind Points, travel, dungeons, equipment, projects, and more. Dungeons, which can be complex location that needs to be explored, can be handled as a series of scenes rather than a room-by-room crawl or a simple interlude, but a room-by-room crawl is also included as an option. Equipment can be basic or rare and each item is represented by a pixelated image, which feels very proper. There is good advice for the Game Master—specifically aimed at the neophyte Game Master—which also discusses how each of the Classes work and their roles in play, and how to design battles and Villains. This is backed up with some decent examples and the book is rounded out with a good bestiary.

Physically, the Fabula Ultima TTJRPG is cleanly and tidily laid out, the artwork is excellent, ranging from fully painted pieces to little scenes and encounters done in the Chibi style. The book well written and easy to read and engage with.

The Fabula Ultima TTJRPG combines elements of traditional roleplaying in its core mechanics and storytelling mechanics—or at least methods—in its set-up guidelines for the scenarios and campaigns. As written, it is aimed at newer players and Game Masters, and successfully supports both in getting them to play. This does not mean that it holds their collective hands, but rather recommends them as to what to do and warns them that mistakes will be made and that they can be learned from. More experienced players and Game Masters will pick up how to play and run Fabula Ultima TTJRPG with ease and be off and running with a campaign very quickly. Ultimately, the Fabula Ultima TTJRPG brings the drama, conflict, and action seen on the screen of the Japanese console roleplaying game to the table and not only makes all three exciting and accessible, but lets the players and the Game Master make the world their own.

[Free RPG Day 2021] Fabula Ultima TTRPG: Press Start

Now in its fourteenth year, Free RPG Day in 2021, after a little delay due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, took place on Saturday, 16th October. As per usual, it came with an array of new and interesting little releases, which traditionally would have been tasters for forthcoming games to be released at GenCon the following August, but others are support for existing RPGs or pieces of gaming ephemera or a quick-start. Of course, in 2021, Free RPG Day took place after GenCon despite it also taking place later than its traditional start of August dates, but Reviews from R’lyeh was able to gain access to the titles released on the day due to a friendly local gaming shop and both Keith Mageau and David Salisbury of Fan Boy 3 in together sourcing and providing copies of the Free RPG Day 2020 titles. Reviews from R’lyeh would like to thank all three for their help.

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Fabula Ultima TTRPG: Press Start is something a little different for Free RPG Day 2021. Published by Need Games!, it is a quick-start for the Fabula Ultima TTRPG—or Fabula Ultima Table Top Roleplaying Game—and is based on Japanese console roleplaying games such as the Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts series. As a quick-start, it is of course designed to introduce and teach the game to both players and the Game Master, but it does it in an interesting way. It models the learning process upon that of a computer roleplaying game. In a computer roleplaying game, the player is taken through the process of playing the game step-by-step—so movement, looking, attacking, defending, inventory, and so on. And until the player gets to the particular step in that process, he cannot tell his character to do the new part of the play of the computer game. Fabula Ultima TTRPG: Press Start does exactly the same, locking each part of the character until the players reach a particular scene in the adventure in the quick-stat. So in Scene #1, the Game Master introduces the game and its setting, and the attributes and status effects, whilst Traits and Bonds are explained and come into play in Scene #2, how to use Fabula Points in Scene #3, and so forth all the way up to skills, actions, inventory, and abilities.

Fabula Ultima TTRPG: Press Start takes place the near the city of Dunova in the surrounding forests. In the forest can be found the Crater of Megido, the ruins of a once-great city renowned for its magic, but destroyed in a magical cataclysm in ages past. The ruins are rumoured to still contain many of its secrets and the forces of neighbouring Empire of Elonia have been spotted in the area. The exact reasons why the Player Characters are headed there are left up to the players to determine, but as the scenario begins, they are aboard an airship bound for the crater.

Fabula Ultima TTRPG: Press Start is designed to be played by a group of four to five players, including the Game Master. It comes with four pre-generated Player Characters. They include Blair Clarimonde, the heir to the throne of Donovan, who can support her friends in battle and unleash the power elemental light upon her enemies; Cassandra, a former camp again of the Skyriders who wields a spear and can weaken enemies and strike at flying targets with her elemental powers; Edgar, a young inventors armed with a custom-made pistol which can target multiple foes and inflict negative status effects; and Lavigne Fallbright, the princess of the Kingdom of Armorica which was conquered by the Empire of Elonia, who wields a mighty greatsword. Each of the character sheet for these four is presented on a double-page spread and is easy to read, though there is no background for any of the four given on them.

A character in Fabula Ultima TTRPG: Press Start has four attributes—Dexterity, Insight, Might, and Willpower, Traits—an Identity, Theme, and Origin, Bonds (with the other Player Characters and NPCs), Fabula Points, Actions, and Skills. The attributes are rated by die size, from six-sided up to twelve-sided die, whilst of the Traits, the Identity is who the character sees himself as, Theme the dominating narrative force driving the character, and Origin is where he is from. Bonds are emotions towards others and are paired as Admiration or Inferiority, Loyalty or Mistrust, and Affection or Hatred. A character’s Bond to another character—Player Character or NPC, can consist of up to three emotions he feels about the character, one from each pairing.

Fabula Points are gained when a Villain enters the scene or when a player rolls a fumble, but can be spent by invoking a Trait to reroll dice or invoking a Bond to add the number of emotions tied to that Bond. Invoking either, requires a bit of roleplaying upon the part of the player. Actions include Attack and Guard, and depending upon the character, can include spells and Skills too. For example, a spell might be Flash of Insight to ask the Game Master about a single investigation and whatever answer the Game Master gives, it becomes the truth and a Skill could be a Bone Crusher, an attack which does no damage, but instead inflicts a Status Effect like Dazed or Weak, or reduces the target’s Mind Points (used to power spells).

Mechanically, in Fabula Ultima TTRPG: Press Start, and thus Fabula Ultima TTRPG, a player always rolls two of his character’s attribute dice and adds the results together. Typical Difficulty Levels are seven for Easy, ten for Average, and thirteen for Hard. Results of six higher than the Difficulty Level are a critical success, but rolls of one on both dice are a critical fumble. Status effects, suffered due to the environment, attacks, and spells, such as Dazed, Slow, and so on, which temporarily reduce the die types for a character’s attributes.

Combat uses the same core mechanic with the sides involved acting in alternate order, one by one. Initiative is slightly different in that it requires a Group Roll. In a Group Roll, one player, designated the Leader, makes the actual roll, but everyone else makes a separate taste against the same number. Each successful roll grants a +1 bonus towards the Group Roll.

All of this is explained scene by scene over the course of Fabula Ultima TTRPG: Press Start, as well as combat, interacting with NPCs, and descending into the Crater of Megido. There are some nicely done scenes which very much match the feel of the computer game, including a cutscene where the scenario’s villain enters stage left, but this actually comes with mechanical benefits in that the Player Characters gain more Fabula Points. Another is interacting with a merchant NPC, from whom the Player Characters can purchase Inventory Points. These are a resource which a player can use to purchase Remedies (which heal Hit Points), Elixirs (which restore Mana Points), and Tonics (which enable a character to recover from a Status effect). Although this abstracts the process somewhat, it still feels appropriate to the setting.

For the most part, Fabula Ultima TTRPG: Press Start is linear, but it offers a reasonable mix of scenes and challenges along its learning path—interaction, exploration, and of course, combat. It ends as it should with a Big Boss final battle which is intended as a big fight, but includes other options too, since unlike in a console game, the Player Characters have a wider choice when it comes to their actions. This is the most complex scene in the quick-start, and of all them, requires the most preparation upon the part of the Game Master.

Physically, Fabula Ultima TTRPG: Press Start is well presented. The writing is decent and the artwork has an anime style throughout. In addition to telling the Game Master the mechanics of each and every scene and how to run them, Fabula Ultima TTRPG: Press Start includes advice on running each scene too, whether that is enemy tactics in the final battle, advising that the Player Characters take a moment to heal, and so on.

Initially, Fabula Ultima TTRPG: Press Start is a disconcerting read because it is doing something in a way that not normally found in roleplaying games. It is teaching both the Game Master to referee and the players to play the Fabula Ultima TTRPG. Most roleplaying games, and certainly most quick-starts, expect the Game Master to learn and understand the rules and then impart them and everything else to her players, although exceptions abound where sometimes the learning by the player is done through play—such as in Alone Against the Flames, the solo adventure for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition. Fabula Ultima TTRPG: Press Start is different because of its programmed, step-by-step learning for both the Game Master and the players. The former is still expected to learn ahead of time, but both learning and teaching is focused because of its compartmentalisation, enhanced of course by a deft piece of design and layout. The result is that Fabula Ultima TTRPG: Press Start does have the feel of an introduction to a Japanese console roleplaying game, its anime storytelling backed up by the art used throughout. Overall, Fabula Ultima TTRPG: Press Start is an impressive introduction to the Fabula Ultima TTRPG and learning path to its play which will have players humming the Final Fantasy victory music after every battle.