Fantasy, as many people who read my other blog, Shores of Night, will know is a difficult category for me because at times it feels too historical, and at times not enough. Often it feels as if the whole genre, especially in RPGs, boils down to 'the Wild West with spells, monsters, and ancient ruins. I tend to look outside of that for my fantasy fix and have a soft spot for Yggdrasil, Exalted, despite the rules set, Runequest, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay and Legend of the Five Rings. Of these, the ones I've played enough of know what they're really like are the last two and I find it hard to pick between them.
I love Warhammer for the sense of the Old World and the Empire. They feel like real, living places and as if they are in the midst of change. Being modelled on a real place helps because it grounds the world into a more realistic place, one where you know that drinking the water is a bad idea (Phil, our GM, worried that we'd all end up as alcoholics because we always ordered beer, unwilling to take the chance of cholera or dysentry). On top of that the world is built on idea that actually work, there are reasons why the Empire hasn't fallen to wizards, reasons why monsters infest the dark forests. It's not like D&D where you often wonder why adventurers retire to open taverns when they could buy and sell most kingdoms because of the amount of dragon loot they're lugging about. Add to that the fact that I love the Skaven (no idea why) and Chaos is one of the most interesting antagonists I've seen in games, and well I'm pretty much sold.
I like the system, too. The core mechanic is simple and the careers mean that its more engaging than a class system.
Legend of the Five Rings, on the other hand, scratches another itch; my 'we're not in Kansas anymore' itch. Rokugan is weird and alien, and interesting. It forces people to think in different ways and look at the world, the game world, differently. I like the fact that money is largely unimportant, player characters aren't scrabbling around after coins in the hope of making tonight's rent. I like the schools and the different techniques that they teach; it makes the characters feel fresh and interesting, rather than everyone being the same. As with Warhammer, the mythology the game's built on feels interesting and I have a soft spot for the Nezumi (rat people are apparently one of my weaknesses when it comes to gaming, but I always did like anthro stuff).
I'm not so sold on the system, finding it hard to balance fights; one of the combats in my game saw an ogre taken down in one round, and I always found it hard to make combat work in terms of challenging the players enough to keep things interesting but not pushing them so far into a position of weakness they needed to be bailed out. That was, by and large, my only issue with it though, despite some snafus with the magic system.
I love the way both the games look too. They have unique approaches that are both very evocative; neither are vanilla. Just the sight of that orange mohican on a Troll Slayer's head catches my interest, in the same way that the simplicity of the L5R cover does. Their interior art is just as beautiful and imaginative, whether its a scholar's candle hat in WFRP or the various samurai pictures in L5R (of which there are too many for me to just pick one).
In terms of good memories, WFRP wins, but from aesthetic appreciation I go the other way. to L5R, and I'm not sure I can choose an outright winner. So I'm afraid I'm going to sit on the fence and declare it a draw.
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