All page references are to The Fantasy Trip In the Labyrinth rulebook, unless noted otherwise.
A collection of my own musings, not to be taken too seriously. -HJC
In this article I will lay out my suggested path to introduce new players to The Fantasy Trip (TFT), a tabletop role playing game. This guide is tailored for the new Legacy edition of TFT. I suggest that readers who remember the original 1980 version of the game first glance over The Fantasy Trip, Legacy vs First edition to acquaint themselves with the major changes to the new edition.
In any role playing game (RPG) the players act as storytellers, relating the actions of one or more characters in the game. As a tabletop RPG, TFT also has a Game Master who narrates the events of the broader fantasy world and the actions of Non Player Characters (NPCs). TFT also has many solo adventures where one or more players read paragraphs from a book that provide choices and situations to deal with.
The tabletop (and boardgame) origins of TFT show up most clearly in combat situations which are usually played out on a map gridded by hexagons (hexes) where each player would reach over and move the counter or figure that represents their character when that character's movement phase occurred each turn. The hexagon the figure is placed in and the direction the figure is facing then determine the action the figure may attempt that turn, and also influences the modifications to the chance of success by say being far from the target of a missile weapon or directly behind the target of a melee weapon.
In the following sections I will go over some of the available materials for TFT and what can be learned from each. Note that this guide focuses on learning the system by yourself at your own pace. If you have a gaming group that is already using TFT they will have their own methods of getting new players up to speed.
As of this writing the The PDF version of Melee is available at no cost. If you don't have anything else from TFT you may download this and follow along below for a while before deciding if you want to invest your money (in addition to your time) into the system.
I suggest that you first read the Melee rulebook up to page 16 then skip "Prone and Kneeling Fire" and everything else until you reach and read "DEFENDING AND DODGING" and "REACTIONS TO INJURY" on page 20. Now skip ahead to "X. COMBAT EXAMPLE" on pages 23 and 24 to read through that.
At this point print out the Melee map and place tokens for Flavius and Wulf at opposite ends. Play out each turn of the example by moving the two tokens as directed. Flip back to the rules you have read to understand each rule as it applies.
Once you understand the example reset the tokens, write out the character sheets and play the scenario for yourself. Make your own decisions for what each character should do each turn and roll the dice to see the results.
Once you understand the combat example then go back to page 3, read "III. CREATING A FIGURE" and create your own pair of combatants to fight it out, choosing attributes, weapons and armor for each.
Now read over the entire Melee rulebook, picking up the rules we skipped the first time. Try two characters on each side and try out firing a missile weapon past friends and foes, Hand to Hand combat and so forth.
Once you are satisfied that you understand the Melee system well enough, it's time to go on an adventure. Purchase either the Death Test and Death Test 2 PDF bundle for $10 or so, or get these as part of the The Fantasy Trip Legacy Edition PDF bundle for $35 or so (which will also include all of the following elements and another copy of your free Melee).
Create a team of four starting fighters and give each one 400 experience points (XP) as per Melee rulebook page 22 to add a total of four points to either their starting ST and DX, and adjusting their weapons and armor to match.
Send this team into Death Test (the first one) and see how far you get.
Repeat with a new team until you are finally able to complete the Death Test.
Now you are ready to add some magic to your game. If you purchased the complete Legacy Edition set above you already have Wizard. If not you can purchase the stand alone Wizard game, or purchase the In the Labyrinth rulebook PDF (ITL) for $18 and use the spellcasting rules from there.
If you have the Wizard rulebook you can read through it now. You already know the rules for movement and combat so you just need to focus on spellcasting and the new attribute of IQ.
If you only have the ITL rulebook and not wizard then read ITL 9 "Injury, Fatigue, Death, and Healing" for the rules on fatigue and then ITL 15 "Selecting Attributes" to learn about IQ and skip all mention of talents for now. The important point is that a wizard (and not a hero, i.e. fighter) knows as many spells as his IQ stat, and that these spells must be selected from their IQ level or less, from the list that starts at ITL 18. Once the spells are selected skip ahead to ITL 134 "Advanced Magic" and read up through "Continuing Spells" at ITL 140.
If you do have the Wizard rulebook then read through the Combat Example on the last page and follow this up by first moving the various tokens across the map as the example directs. Then finally play out the fight yourself, choosing actions for both wizards as you see fit.
At this point you are ready to send one wizard and three fighters who are assumed to have only basic weapon talents through Death Test 2. Make sure they all have a total of 36 attribute points each, with the fighters at IQ 8. Given the limited amount of rest allowed in this adventure I suggest that your wizard focus on supporting the fighters with tactically placed fire hexes and illusion duplicates rather than attempting to missile spell or control every foe you meet. For the majority of the encounters the wizard will need to settle for defending (or attacking) with their staff to minimize fatigue loss.
Now you are ready to add Talents and advanced gear to your game. Read through the In the Labyrinth rulebook and create a party of four starting characters, again three heroes and one wizard and send these through the two Death Tests, healing up (and applying experience) from the first before continuing with the second.
The Fantasy Trip(t.m.) is a trademark of Steve Jackson Games, and their rules and art are copyrighted by Steve Jackson Games. All rights are reserved by Steve Jackson Games.
This game aid is the original creation of Henry J. Cobb and is released for free distribution, and not for resale, under the permissions granted in the Steve Jackson Games Online Policy.