FMC Version Beta, Out Now!

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Fantastic Medieval Campaigns, Version Beta is now available and free to download! FMC is a faithful, one-to-one retroclone of the original 1974 fantasy adventure campaign guidebook. I made it originally for practice, and then for my own reference, and finally for others to read and use. As of this version, it also includes a complete version of the manual's default wargaming rules (originally published separately).

Below is a summary of changes made since the previous version! Originally from the announcement.

  • Appendix A: Chain of Command is feature-complete! Originally meant to be abridged, it seems like the people who use these rules are actually very passionate about what was missing: namely, unit formations and fatigue. These have been implemented so that, now, Appendix A is an accurate representation of the original ruleset!
  • The Balor is here! The Balrog from The Lord of the Rings was removed from later prints of the original volumes because of a cease-and-desist from Tolkien's estate. Why not put him back in there with a different name, surely not to arouse the spirit of a certain deceased professor of philology?
  • Hit dice have been reformatted! Now the first value in a hit dice formula, representing the number of dice to roll, has been appended with a 'd'. This means that a monster previously defined as having 4+1 hit dice is now said to have 4d+1.
  • Ascending armor class is an option! I list attack bonuses versus ascending armor class on the page describing the alternate combat system, and also have a few pages in the Indices appendix explaining how to use ascending armor class. Monsters have their ascending armor class given in brackets next to their original armor class.
  • Weapon-versus-armor bonuses! I incorporated a new version of my d20 weapon-versus-armor tables into an appendix of the book, in two forms: one as a matrix of dice scores, and one as a matrix of bonuses versus ascending armor class (similar to the one found in Supplement I, but corrected). Please refer to my original post!
  • Character record sheets (and more)! Printable on digest or A5 paper, based on a character record from the mid-seventies, this sheet emphasizes the week-by-week history and development of a player's character. Although it's only one interpretation of the game, I think it is one that is historically fascinating while also being novel with respect to our own tendencies.
  • Added PDF bookmarks! You can now navigate the PDFs using hierarchical bookmarks which link to chapters, sections, and pages of the book. Unfortunately, my program can't handle hyperlinks, but I hope that this is a nice alternative!
  • New art and new artists! Now featuring artists Kalin Kadiev (Website), Emanoel Melo (Website, Twitter), Ben Overmyer (Website)! I am so thankful for their gracious contributions.

And below are some links to various discussions about the rules since I made the original announcement:

  • "OD&D/FMC Character Sheet" (2022-02-08): A certain character record template from 1975 tells us a lot about how D&D was played early on, in terms of long-term campaign structure and inventory management. I ended up recreating it for FMC!
  • "Abstract Combat in OD&D/FMC" (2022-02-13): We can simplify combat in FMC differently than Supplement I originally simplified OD&D, namely by treating # regular figures as a level # fighter, and by giving +1 damage per level or figure. No multi-attacks necessary!
  • "FMC New Art & Test Prints" (2022-02-16): Featuring contributions by artists new to this version of FMC, and also showing off some test prints of the soon-to-be-released hardcover version from Lulu. Read this post in particular for a bunch of pictures!

Please refer to the Itch link above or below to download FMC, as always, for free!

My softcover copies of FMC are arriving this Friday, so I will see how those look before I make print-on-demand copies available (at-cost) on Lulu. I am just cautious of people paying for a physical book and it having silly typos or mistakes. Thank all y'all for your patience, and I'll try to keep everyone updated!

Comments

  1. boy_cries_wolfFebruary 23, 2023 at 1:15 AM

    Hey I was just wondering why Balor was crossed out in the monster section? Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  2. KaiqueFebruary 23, 2023 at 6:53 AM

    Great! Thanks Marcia for all the work you've been doing with FMC. It's a great ruleset, keeping faithful to OD&D while making the rules so much easier to digest. Something similar to what OSE did with B/X.

    I imagine you don't plan to release a new version soon, but have a little suggestion. The XP Required to level up above name level is not explicit in the books. Though it can be implied (like you did), there's some evidence that levels past Name each require an XP increment equal to Name level. There's a discussion about it on odd74, but IIRC, it's consistent with Ad&d tables, with M.Mordard's recollection of playing with Gygax, and with Gygax's stats for Mordenkainen.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Marcia B.February 23, 2023 at 2:37 PM

      thank you so much, kaique! :) it does seem like each level after 'name level' requires that amount of XP again, and OD&D itself implies as such since many of the levels given after name level are given as examples in the paragraph about experience, rather than being in the table itself. putting those XP amounts in the table itself seems to have different implications! i don't think i'll explicate the rule itself, especially since name level is not really mentioned by name as a concept in OD&D, but i have to reconsider whether presenting the extra levels in that way is almost too explicit. thank you!

      Delete
  3. HudsonFebruary 23, 2023 at 2:15 PM

    That's awesome!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Luis OliveiraMarch 1, 2023 at 8:04 AM

    Congratulations on the good work, I've been reading it and it's awesome. I've done a little prototype of an a4 version to be easier to print at home. Would that be okay with you? I can send you a copy if you want, it's only mortals and magic right now with just text.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Marcia B.March 1, 2023 at 2:49 PM

      thank you so much! i'm totally okay with that, though i'm sorry that the latest upload is not A4-compatible (since i had to adjust it to 8.5x8.5" for lulu). if you'd like, i can upload an A4 version soon? :) i'd also love to see your prototype!

      Delete
    2. Luis OliveiraMarch 1, 2023 at 7:23 PM

      I find a4 easier to print at home, which for me it's a plus, since Lulu takes forever to deliver to us here in Brazil. Here's the prototype
      https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eBGAy7Mq-DwjVTVJfOgM0LzGQVUVoTBx/view?usp=drivesdk

      Delete
    3. Marcia B.March 2, 2023 at 12:35 PM

      that looks wonderful and like so much work already! nice job with it :)

      but i bring up the above since version alpha was printed in an A4-compatible format (210 mm square). i could post that format again if it'd be easier for you! it would still be square instead of rectangular, though.

      Delete
    4. Luis OliveiraMarch 3, 2023 at 6:04 PM

      That's ok, I think the square version is better to read digitally. And the layout works too

      Delete

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