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FARFLUNG: Sci-Fi Role-Play After Dark
[1-932592-30-X]
$19.95
Publisher: Sanguine Productions
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by Pierre S [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 05/03/2017 17:02:31

Farflung RPG is a solid addition to the games using the Powered by the Apocalypse rules system. The setting is a generic madcap far-future with a long list of inspirational material given at the back such as The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Guardians of the Galaxy, Barbarella, and many more. Choose from 24 character types representing professions or very oddball entities of the Universe: archivists, career soldiers, energy-beings, shape-shifters, former dark "despicable" commanders of thousands of minions who have fallen on hard times, sentient spaceships and so on. All characters have standard Moves, and each character type has an additional playbook of special Moves befitting its type. If a character type has a mad power, it is balanced by limiting shortfalls in something else. There would be a lot of fun in seeing how character types will complement each other and work together, and even...fall in love? Yes, there are Moves for seduction activity, not to be blatantly sexual but possibly for the SF amusement of having a hard-bitten PC alien fall in love with a NPC gas-cloud and such. The author is getting at something like this with the game's subtitle "Sci-Fi Role-Play After Dark".

Another reviewer went into detail about the game mechanics. I will mention the organization of the book. The hardcopy is a well-manufactured hardcover. One key thing is the introduction which explains the game in 3 perspectives: if you never played an RPG, if you played a computer RPG, or if you have played other tabletop RPGs. This is good to ease beginners into this tabletop game. The Powered by the Apocalypse system gives players a lot of essential information up-front on the character sheet (and in 4 pages of "playbook" for each character type) to try to slot any conceivable action into one of their Moves, which is handled easily with a 2d6 die-roll. A good GM will still be needed to explain things to new players. I'm sure any lapses in rules procedure will be forgivable as long as players have fun with the zany, gonzo nature of the world.

Next are descriptions of the basic characteristics of the character (the 6 "quantum particle" attributes), health, points in time (History-x and Future-x points which are spent back and forth to power certain Moves) and general procedures and dice-rollings of the game. It then lists general Moves common to all players, and then an exposition of the 24 character types and their Moves. Characters can suffer "damage" in 3 types: Doing (physical), Thinking (mental) and Feeling (emotional). Depending on their character type, they have the ability to divert damage of one kind into each of the two other kinds (indicated by filling in an arrow on the health circle which is divided into 3 parts for these 3 types). Then the back half of the book gives a sampling of several types of "opponents", some notes on conducting the game, various optional rules, and the bibliography of sources of inspiration. Optional rules include the X-Card system first proposed by John Stavropoulous, which can veto GM or player actions or plot elements if a player is uncomfortable with something. I personally don't agree with this since it smacks of "snowflakeism" which clashes with RPGs where you might adventurously be called on to storm the beaches at Normandy or something.

All in all, Farflung is a PbtA system tweaked for goofy, zany far-future characters for a light-hearted time, with possibly some elements of romance if desired (which I would tend to X-Card until these are annihilated at the molecular level.)



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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FARFLUNG: Sci-Fi Role-Play After Dark
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