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Sunday, August 7, 2011

Closing in on a Review of The Secret Fire RPG

Of the GenCon timed RPG releases, The Secret Fire is the one I find the most interesting thus far.  That may change once I get thru the whole thing, but for now it is an accurate statement.  The most anticipated, by me, was The One Ring, and I'm sure if it wasn't for TSF, I'd be immersing myself in Hobbits and such right now.  No worries, I'll be returning to The One Ring shortly.

Now, back to some more perusing of The Secret Fire (which was originally billed as Legends & Labyrinths - not a bad choice ether).

Stamina Points (which apply to each Wound level) do not increase as you gain levels.  So, no Hit Point issues of the 9th level fighter surviving a 100' fall because of his Hit Points (he may now survive it for other reasons).  Oh, and high level combat is no longer a war of attrition.  Well, at least not of HP.

As Padre pointed out, do we really need Man-Boob Satan on the second page?  It doesn't add anything (unless you are going for Raggi Shock Value, in which case this is a "fail") and may give a wrong opinion of the rules.  Not a real issue, just a question.  I mean, is this what one needs to include to prove Old School Cred these days?

About Energy Points (this is the "hook" in my opinion, and something I really like so far):


In THE SECRET FIRE™, Energy Points (EP) represent a character’s daily energy level ,which can be spent in a variety of ways (called Special Effects), as a free Action, both within combat and without.The heart of the roleplaying system of TSF lies in the use and acquisition of Energy Points.


It's a way to make feats and feat like abilities and the like flexible as well as a resource to manage.  You can regain your spent points quicker through actual role playing your character.  A role playing game that actually rewards role play.  I'm having one of those "duh!" moments.  So obvious.  So overlooked.

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