Yes, the ultimate edition of MYFAROG is now ready. All the flaws of previous editions fixed, much added (not least creatures) and the price is of course the same! You can get it from here.

MYFAROG 3.3 is now out, and it is different from previous editions (MYFAROG 4.0 is just 3.3 with some typos fixed and new cover artwork). I have removed some features, added others and modified a lot. I am very happy with the result, and for the first time I will actually strongly advice players to buy the newest version of MYFAROG. It is so much better! It is like a new game.

Removed:

–Life Stance

This was removed because the “Religious” part of the High Festivals were simply representing an ignorant and basically wrong version of our pre-Christian Traditions. Left is only the much more accurate (but still adjusted to the game) version of our own heritage.

–Alignment

Alignment was removed because it was complex and really unnecessary – and because “nobody” used it anyhow. It felt like something that just made manoeuvring in the book more hard.

–AV

This is a tough one. Since my debut in RPGs, I was a great fan of having armour absorb damage rather than make you harder to hit or harder to injure. But in combination with the 3D6 system (that is discussed below) it made combat too predictable and too easy for powerful characters. Not only would they never be hit at all because of the 3D6 system, but if by chance – or bad luck – they were hit after all, the AV would absorb all the damage anyhow. Frankly, it made little sense. And it was hard to fix this. Oh, believe me I tried, but I only managed to diminish this flaw of the system, never remove it altogether. Until now, that is.

Now the armour adds DV (Defensive Value) instead, and – yes this is noteworthy – because damage increases with a better hit in MYFAROG, armour actually still absorbs damage, but in a more logical and mechanically functional way. Also, the armour absorbs little or much depending on how well a character is hit.

E. g. a character with no armour and a DV of +10 is hit with an OV result of 14. So the result is 4 more than needed to cause any injury, meaning “Weapon Damage +1”. But had he put on a Gambeson (+2 DV) the hit would have been only 2 more than needed, and thus the damage would have been “Weapon Damage”. So the armour absorbed 1 damage. With an OV result of 20 the difference becomes bigger: “Weapon Damage +10″ if he wears no armour”, and “Weapon Damage +8” is he wears a Gambeson. So 2 damage was absorbed by the Gambeson.

If we take the same OV results, had he worn a Plate Armour (+6 DV), the difference would have been much bigger. “Weapon Damage +10” with no armour, and “Weapon Damage +1” had he worn a Plate Armour. Although if the OV result had been 26, then the result would have been the same. The Plate Armour would have given zero damage reduction. In such a case, you can imagine that the armour was bypassed, a weak spot was hit, an unprotected spot, so it had no effect. Full damage was delivered anyhow.

Because of the increasing damage system in MYFAROG, having armour giving you more DV actually makes sense – and it also makes combat faster and opens up for more narration. You no longer try to hit your opponent as such, but to injure him. If you fail to so so, you might well have hit him, or his shield or helmet, but you simply didn’t cause any damage.

In the end I am very pleased with this new system, and it works very well too. See more about this below.

–Playable Orcish races

Hamingja and Orcish races don’t mix. As simple as that. You are supposed to be good guys, heroes, and not Orcish filth. Go back to the Land of Shadow, Orcs! Begone”

–3D6 to resolve skill checks

AV was one problem with the old MYFAROG system, but the 3D6 too were a huge problem, and one I tried and tried to fix, but only ever managed to diminish. Yes! The 3D6 gives you more predictability. Yes! Critical results become rarer and don’t mess up play 5% of the time, but…

The 3D6 system has a major flaw. Once a character becomes good at something, he becomes insanely good at it. Every time a character became good at fighting, nothing could stand in his way. Because that +2 or +3 advantage he holds over others matters so much in the 3D6 “bell curve” system – and because you almost never cast a natural 17 or 18 in combat (needed to even hit the guy, most of the time). When you finally did hit, the AV would absorb almost all the damage anyhow. So no big deal.

See more about how this was replaced below.

–Toughness

Toughness and Resistance? Why not just lump it all together under “Resistance”? Well, I did. No it is all called Resistance. As simple as that.

Added:

–More playable Elven races

More is better. All the classical elves are there now, enabling you to easily use other settings for your MYFAROG game. And yeah, even though I love Thulê, because I have so little time to actually make adventures myself, when we play I often just take modules from other games and use them when we play MYFAROG.

–D20 to resolve skill checks

Yes. I used to detest any D20 system, because of the 5% chance for a critical hit and a 5% chance for a fumble. That’s way too high! When playing you end up with players not wanting to do anything, because with 4-5 players one of them is likely to cast a 1 when they try that actually rather easy jump across the abyss. So they choose to just fight and fight and fight their way around instead. It also gives everyone the same chance for critical failure! Whether you have an untrained and clumsy character try to climb a cliff or the most trained and dexterous character in the world do it, they both will critically fail 5% of the time. That makes no sense!

But…. with the 3D6 being too predictable, and with combat being broken by it when characters became good at fighting, I tried out resolving combat with a D20 instead, and it worked like a charm. With an automatically “at least damage / 2” result on a natural 19 and an “at least normal damage” result on a natural 20, and with an automatic miss on a 2 and a fumble on 1, it works really well.

Still 5% chance for a fumble, you say? Yeah, but most of the time when you fumble in MYFAROG you only miss your attack and stand a risk of falling (test Acrobatics).

See more about this below.

–Variable chances for Critical Failure

The problem with a 5% chance for a critical failure has been solved. In combat the extra roll on a fumble table fixes that, and with other skills the natural 1 doesn’t give you an automatic critical failure, but a “Critical Failure Risk“. When this happens you cast a D12 and if the result is lower than your skill proficiency (normally ranging from -5 to +10), then it’s just a normal failure. Otherwise it’s a critical failure. So the more skill you have, the less likely you are to critically fail. And yeah, this fixed the problem!

–More Creatures & types of Orcs

More is better. Lesser Goblins (≈Kobolds), Goblins and Hobgoblins, Snow Orcs and Snow Ogres, Black Orcs and Black Ogres, Ogres and Giant Ogres as well as Wild Orcs (≈Bugbears). Standard version, Leader and Chief, as well as Shaman version.

–New Weapons

Short spear and broad seax have been added. Also Dane axe is now a concussion weapon and sword scythe is a swords & daggers weapon.

Overhauled:

–Combat system

A lot of minor changes. With AV gone the Cut/Shock tables needed minor changes. Morale is now affecting you in periods of minutes instead of rounds. Shields are simplified. Armour is simplified. Wrestling is changed (size now matters! I have no idea how I could leave that out before…. ). Combat modifications changed for attacking multiple times (max 3 attacks per round!) and cover has been added as a factor for missile DV. Rules for helpless and surprised targets changed. Size matters more for missile DV.

–Spells

Not much done here, but some spells have been added and others changed a bit. More enchantments on weapons possible for spell casters, and I can add that this was needed, as enchanted weapons are needed for Incorporeal Trolls.

–Skill system

Well, it’s basically the same, only now you use a D20 instead of 3D6, but many minor changes have been made too. Especially to Tempo and Navigation. For the latter, getting lost is now much easier if you decide to keep on travelling in the dark hours.

–Travelling

Travelling has had a major overhaul and is now easier to use and also punishes those who wear heavy armour or carry loads of weight on their travels a lot more – which by the way might well push players to use horses and ponies more, or to travel lighter.

–Encumbrance system

It was meant to simplify things, but…. it just complicated things. Now a pretty standard old-school encumbrance system with a weight limit has replaced it. You carry a medium load when you carry more than your STR * 4, a heavy load when you carry more than STR *8, and the Flaw “Bad Back” and the Talents “Strong Back” and “Mule” can modify this. Physically weak characters will from now on probably not try to put on a plate armour, so to speak. That alone will make them carry a medium load and give them a -1 to MS and CS. Travelling will be very tiring. Strength matters.

–Character Sheets

Nothing dramatic done here, only an adjustment to the modified 3.3 edition rules.

–Talents

Nothing new as such, but some have been changed. E. g. Athletic and Fast now each give you a +10 to your movement if you run, sprint or dash.

–Sorcery

All spell-casters now use Int to determine if they can learn a spell or not, and how many times a day they can cast it, except Bards and Rangers who still use Cha.

–Armour

Medium armour gives you increased (+1 per hour) Stamina Point usage when travelling and heavy armour even more so (+2 per hour). Armour also has a fixed MS penalty, that can only be adjusted with the quality of the armour and Elf and Dwarf quality. Wearing anything more than light armour will give you a negative MS mod.

–Shields

Small, Medium or Large. As simple as that. DV +1 (+2 MI) for S, +2 (+3 MI) for M and +2 (+4 MI) for L shields. Otherwise, they are like before. Small shields can be used with a sling and you can carry more javelins and such in your shield hand than you can with larger shields. Large shields cannot be used on horseback. Etc.

–Character Role skills

The over-skilled elf is now divided into different types of elves, all of them less skilled than the old elf of older editions of MYFAROG.

 

You can get the new and vastly improved edition (4.0) of MYFAROG from here.