|
Infobox RPG
]]}} F.A.T.A.L. is a fantasy roleplaying game first published in 2002 by Fatal Games, written by Byron Hall.
[edit] Overview
F.A.T.A.L. attracted notoriety in the roleplaying community for its length (over 900 pages in the first, freely available rulebook) and a rules system that was considered extremely cumbersome. Despite its creator's claim that the game is "the most difficult, detailed, realistic, and historically/mythically accurate role-playing game available," detractors disputed and derided most of these claims.
The name of the game (short for Fantasy Adventure To Adult Lechery, later changed to From Another Time, Another Land) spawned controversy, as did the book itself, which centered on themes of graphic violence, especially graphic sexual violence. Claims of the game being the most difficult RPG on the market were accepted with some skepticism, but also prompted questions as to why this would be considered beneficial; game designs had been trending for many years toward simpler and/or easier to grasp rules.
Although it was the subject of controversy on several gaming message boards (including RPGnet) almost from its release, F.A.T.A.L. came to most gamers' attention through a review by Jason Sartin and Darren MacLennan. The MacLennan-Sartin review was notably long, negative, and peppered with personal insults directed at the authors of the game. Although the review was largely intended to amuse, it did make serious criticisms of the game. Essentially the main issues were with what the reviewers alleged were F.A.T.A.L.'s cumbersome and derivative rules, and preoccupation with violence, sex and sexism. As they put it, "this won't be just another Tolkien-clone RPG, but a raping and shitting Tolkien-clone RPG!" [3]
With the help of an individual calling himself Burnout, Byron Hall posted a rebuttal to the Sartin/MacLennan review. Byron Hall claims to "show the stupidity of their arguments, point by point, with reason," presumably hoping to demonstrate professional credibility (though the article to which they respond admits to being a "grand-standing, 'spectacle' review" rather than an objective, professional effort). However, the rebuttal contains virtual snickering at the content of the game (particularly the vulgar magical fumbles), attacks on spelling and grammatical errors in the review, irrelevant personal opinions about religion and other topics, and confusing, literal-minded responses to hyperbole.
Byron Hall prefaces his rebuttal by claiming that Sartin and MacLennan's negative reactions to the game were caused by fear of the game's content and hatred for those involved in its creation. The owner of the site on which the rebuttal is hosted refers to the review as a product of "the stupidity of conservatives," presumably because of the horror with which the reviewers respond to the graphic violence, racism and sexual content present in F.A.T.A.L.
[edit] System
F.A.T.A.L. had a system containing a large number of character traits; unlike most roleplaying games, individual abilities such as Intelligence and Charisma are further broken down into sub-abilities. For example, a character's Vocal Charisma determines whether or not his voice has a pleasant quality. Other sub-abilities tracked minutiae such as how fast a character could speak in words per minute, how complex a machine they could assemble, and the most complex word in their vocabulary. In addition, the game contained a large number of random tables for determining character traits, adventure encounters, wounds sustained in combat, results from casting magic spells, etc.
The mechanical core of F.A.T.A.L. is called the Mean System, both as a pun ("a mean game needs a mean system," according to the web site) and as a reference to the detailed mathematics involved in many aspects of the system, such as the (4d100/2)-1 roll for character stats that produces values along a bell curve. F.A.T.A.L. is based on the class/level paradigm of advancement used in Dungeons & Dragons and many other fantasy RPGs. Characters choose an occupation, such as warrior or barmaid, and accumulate experience points by performing activities relevant to their occupation. Upon reaching a predefined number of experience points, the character's level increases and his or her skills improve. F.A.T.A.L. has been sharply criticized by the gaming public as being overwrought, unwieldy, and excessively detailed, while bringing nothing truly new or valuable to the genre. In particular, the class/level paradigm is considered by some gamers to be archaic and a symptom of unimaginative design.
[edit] Criticism
The system, like other aspects of the game, was criticized for focusing on the most lurid aspects of violence, sexuality, and scatology, and of actualizing racism, sexist, homophobic, and other bigoted viewpoints. For example, characters have statistics for breast size, penis size, and anal and vaginal circumference, to determine how much damage is taken when characters are raped. In addition, weak men and unattractive women are more likely to be homosexual, and characters with very low intelligence have a chance of gaining a "retard strength" bonus. Certain magical items would cause characters to look and act like various racial stereotypes. Random rolls on tables for combat damage might result in characters receiving unlikely wounds such as a severed clitoris, while magical accidents might result in curses such as having fruit grow from one's genitals. Characters can also increase their skill in Urination, allowing them to urinate farther and more precisely.
Many critics of F.A.T.A.L. stated that the content of the game was not the real problem, so much as the tone in which it was presented; games such as KULT have sometimes been cited as being better and more mature "dark" systems. Much of the material, such as the magical accident table, was criticized for being overly juvenile, in part because of the constant use of vulgar and offensive slang in an alleged "scholarly" work. Many readers also felt that the author attempted to portray acts of sexual violence as normal or even commendable. Byron Hall stresses that he does not condone rape or discrimination in any form, going so far as to post short articles such as "Is F.A.T.A.L. misogynistic?" on the Fatal Games web site.
Byron Hall claims to have done over one thousand hours of research in order to produce a "historically and mythically accurate" fantasy world for F.A.T.A.L. called Neveria, based on 14th-century Europe. Hall also claims that F.A.T.A.L. is the most realistic RPG ever produced. F.A.T.A.L. is one of the few roleplaying games to feature a bibliography, as well as footnotes to referenced material throughout the book. However, even this aspect of the game has been challenged by critics.
For example, a character's mind and personality are categorized according to humorism, a now-discredited theory. Although it may be accurate to state that humorism was held as credible in the 14th century, its appearance as a core game mechanic in a system that claims to be as realistic as possible has been called into question. Furthermore, Christianity does not exist in Neveria, removing a major historical influence from the record. At the same time, curious historical minutiae abound - a note in F.A.T.A.L.'s publication data, for instance, states that the Garamond font was chosen for its historical relevance to the time period. Critics have accused Hall of cherry-picking his sources, and of using inconsistent standards to determine what should be included in a "historically accurate" setting.
Early RPGnet responses to F.A.T.A.L. can be found in this thread (the page will display errors at the top, but all comments are accessible).
[edit] Second Edition
The second edition of F.A.T.A.L. was available as a PDF file in online stores such as RPGComplete.com. The creators' website featured a 100-page sample PDF of the new edition, which featured rules changes, new interior art and a new name (the acronym remained the same, but it stands for From Another Time, Another Land). Additionally, all of the racist material was removed (see above), but all of the other controversial content was still present. Fatal Games has also expressed intent to publish a print version of the game, packaged with a CD-ROM containing a digital rulebook and various utilities such as a character generator.
As of July 2006, the availability of F.A.T.A.L. is uncertain, and the Fatal Games website has been unreachable for several months.
Byron Hall (the author of F.A.T.A.L.) has not been responding to emails sent to his F.A.T.A.L. email account since February of 2006. This occurred after one of the assistant authors criticized the format of the skills list and jokingly referred to the game as Hall's midlife crisis. However, it is unlikely that the contents of that email were the cause of Hall’s disappearance. Also, the Yahoo group the authors used to discuss development was shut down in July of 2006. During creation the game was frequently updated, with the most recent update being given out only to assistant authors and people who purchased it online from the Fatal games website. The last update was released on January 1st of 2006. If you are interested in receiving a free pdf of the last release of FATAL, see the bottom of the discussion page.
[edit] External links
Category:Fantasy role-playing games
Declined. This suggestion doesn't sufficiently explain the importance or significance of the subject. See the speedy deletion criteria (A7) and/or guidelines on notability. Please provide more information on why the subject is worthy of inclusion in an encyclopedia. Thank you. ffm 12:56, 17 September 2007 (UTC)
|