Released in 2022, Fabula Ultima is a game by Emanuele Galletto. Unabashedly calling itself TTJRPG, it is highly inspired by Japanese-style console RPGs, where young heroes-in-the-making may reluctantly save a village farm from angry wolves to penultimately fighting primordial gods and time goddesses while handling political drama of squabbling nations for world domination. Typical JRPG storyline.
Unlike the games I've reviewed so far, listed as part of the character creation process is the World creation and Group creation process. And they have random tables for these! We'll have a swing at it, just to get the vibes and aesthetic of the world our future hero will help save or doom. I'll skip any steps that involves making specificity, like drawing maps and naming nations, unless it is pivotal to the character creation step. We'll then think of an archetype that suites the world and group we've made. See Cooking Characters Primer for more details about archetypes. The version we'll use is v1.0. So, let's dive in!
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| you can feel an anime opening oozing out |
WORLD CREATION
Step 1. Choose a shape of your world. So, at the time of writing this I did not know JRPG worlds are usually donut-shaped, at least when creators were mapping them, so I think I'll just choose a donut world. We gotta play into the tropes.
Step 2. Mapping out the world into a sheet. We'll skip this one, but I think we'll have a general idea of the region where we'll be once we fulfill the other steps.
Step 3. Declare the roles of magic and technology in the setting. Since this is fluff stuff, I'll call that we roll twice on the table and choose one. Rolled [15] and [19].
Monsters are born from the restless souls of the dead. This is more intriguing, world building-wise. Maybe nations and tribes have specific burial ceremonies and traditions to make sure the dead stay dead. And those who die in the outlands fighting monsters become monsters themselves. And thus, the adventurer business, as in being wandering mercs, is not a sought-after career.
A lot of promise in this one. And I will declare my bias and say that this has a big Southeast Asian vibe.
Step 4. Create your major kingdoms and nations in the map. We'll skip the specific naming and making borders in the map, but I will roll on the table of what type we'll be from. Rolled [7] and [4].
I like the idea of city-states, and after step 3 I'm already leaning to make this world a big archipelago world. Maybe floating islands, maybe islands that disappear during tidal changes. And city-states sit in the only stable islands that most of the people live in.
Step 5, 6, and 7. Discuss the historical events, mysteries of the world, and threats that looming over. I've decided to do all three in one go, as they all are rolled in the same table in the game, which I really love. For historical event, I rolled [10] and [7]. For mystery, [8] and [9]. For looming threat, [10] and [12]. I've picked: The world is transforming. The destruction of the moon. Gods are forsaking the world.
Including the role of magic and technology, let me weave them all into a brief world intro of sort.
Centuries ago, human society has reached a golden age of science and religion, a harmonious time. And then came The Shattering, when many moons orbiting the world cracked and plummeted down from the skies, plunging nations and civilizations. They say it is the will of gods, humbling mortalkind. Some say it was a military experiment gone wrong. Many believe it is spirit of the world itself punishing human hubris. But with this, continents shattered along with human progress. Land masses and survivors are scattered all over the world, creating many island nations in near endless ocean horizon.
For years, humanity clung to their salvaged technology and gods' mercy. And then they learned that the giant moon shards, which they call Moon Mountains, radiate mana that they can harness. City-states are made around them, creating magical societies based on moonshards mined from the titanic debris. Magic that was once sought after and prayed from the various gods are now possible with the help of magical tools and technology using moonshards.
Around 50 years ago, The Abandoning happened. Mediums and priests have reported that gods have stopped hearing their prayers. Humanity's over-reliance on their moonshard magic, the loss of faith due to The Shattering, or perhaps gods simply being apathetic to the mortalkind - no one knew the real cause. And the aftermath of this is something moon magic could not help them - the souls of the dead no longer transcend to the afterlife, and they have become relentless spirit monsters in the land.
Now, city-states have created magic universities to train promising children to defend their lands. They become monster slayers, trained to fight the monstrosity born from the dead, and god seekers, hunters of remaining god magic and relics that can help in defeating monsters. You are one of such promising talents.
And we have a JRPG world! A moonless, god-forsaken archipelago world fighting spirit monsters using moon magic. Neat. With that kind for world, I'll go for a [Dimaapi] archetype for our hero in training, battle savvy and ready for trouble. Now we proceed to the next step.
GROUP CREATION
For this one, there really aren't any steps to follow nor tables to roll on. It presents five choices of group dynamic. Given the world history, I will choose with Seekers on this, going for a god seeker party member. Hopefully a good one.
And finally, we get to the meat of this review.
CHARACTER CREATION
Step 1. Create a character's identity. A phrase that describes your character. Core concept, adjective, then detail. It mentioned "up to two" to some tables, but I just chose one each to keep it simple.
For concept, I roll 1d6 and 1d20. And I got [1], [16] and [5],[1]. I'll go with Thief on this one.
For adjective, roll 1d6 and 1d20 again. I got [4], [20] and [3],[5]. I'll stick to being human, so I'll go with Troubled.
For detail, just 1d20. I got [7] and [17]. From the High Academy fits well, as one of the city-state university "heroes". Maybe from the more prestigious one.
So, we have a Troubled Thief from the High Academy. We could go for a troublemaker but academically gifted student. Troubling because they are from a wealthy noble family yet does skullduggery to their teachers and authority. We have some internal issues. Good.
Step 2. Choose a theme, a strong ideal or emotion driving your actions. There's no table to roll for, just a list of possible themes. We could also make one if we want to.
I see our hero having high Ambition, wanting to make a career out of this god seeker thing. City-funded adventuring that gives glory to their house and money on the table is a sweet gig, at least in paper. Gotta prove that there's no better candidate than our slugger.
Step 3. Choose an origin, the place you hail from. So uhh since we skipped mapping the world, we can just make a location catering to the identity we've made, keeping in mind the world history. I think the essence of our origin location is more important than its actual place in the map. There is also a Location Name table in the book, while we'll use.
Garaphis is a mining city-state stationed at one of the largest moon mountains in the world. Most citizens are part of the mining industry, from excavating moon shards to selling moonshard equipment to nearby nations. Its prestigious academies boast academics that graduate as artificers and machinists. It has helped keeping their technological advancement above most other city-states.
Step 4. Choose classes and skills. This part is one of the most surprising for me, in that players start at level 5. There are 15 classes, and you can spend 5 levels to progress to any of them and get one of their skills (or progress an existing one) per level. Choosing a class will give a free benefit and a skill. Some benefits and skills scale when choosing the same class. We must have at least 2 classes (so no 5 levels on 1 class), and no more than 3 classes, so the game wants us to multiclass at the very start. That's amazing. There is a list of archetypes with pre-built classes, skills, stats, and items, if want to make a quickstart or pre-gen character on the table. But for this review we will build our own.
I pushed for a godseeker-trained mischievous academic, so I will lean away from being an artificer and more rogue-ranger-magey - bits of exploration, bits of trickery, and (hopefully) bits of magic firepower. And yes, I almost went for fighter-mage-rogue multiclass to be a bard, but that doesn't seem fitting here. Also, there's an Orator class, which is The Bard of this game.
I will take inspiration at Wirbel from Frieren anime and manga franchise, as I see him as our godseeker's future career path. Our seeker may have defeated a few monsters here and there, but they are yet to prove their worth. So here are my class choices.
- Rogue, 2 levels - We get extra Inventory Points, because who doesn't want more pockets. I took High Speed skill, which is a free attack or shenanigan option before the first turn starts. And one of my favorite skills I've read in this book, See You Later, is my 2nd skill. It is the one of the True Rogue fantasies, slipping away from any scene and sprout into the next one, packaged in one ability.
- Elementalist, 2 levels - We get increased Mind Points and can perform Rituals, because our seeker may skip classes, but not the learning materials. I took Elementalist Magic skill twice, gaining two spells - Thunderbolt for some heavy-hitting nuke spell, and Ventus, an anti-air wind attack. No one flies above us.
- Entropist, 1 level - We get increased Mind Points again and do Rituals. Honestly, I just chose this one to manifest the protagonist persona and the bumbling thief vibe. I got the Lucky Seven skill, so I can create intentional successes or failures in scenes that matters, if I want to.
Step 5. Determine the base die size for your attribute scores, using an array of die size profiles. Keeping in mind the chosen skills and intended ambitious rogue-mage gameplay, I'll go for Willpower as my highest stat. Rogue and Elementalist skills need high Insight and Dexterity, so those come second. And sadly, we will be not so Mighty for our final attribute.
For context, checks are made by rolling 2 dice from relevant attributes and beating a target number to succeed, usually 10. So higher die size means better chances of success.
DEXTERITY d8
INSIGHT d8
MIGHT d6
WILLPOWER d10
Step 6. Calculate starting stats and modifiers. Hit Points are based on character level and Might die. Crisis is half your max HP. Mind Points, based on character level and Willpower die. Inventory Points start at 6. We then add in benefits from classes if there any.
HP = Level 5 + Might 6 * 5 (30) = 35
Crisis = 17
MP = Level 5 + Willpower 10 * 5 (50) + Elementalist 5 + Entropist 5 = 65
IP = 6 + Thief 2 = 8
Defense, the target number to hit for basic attacks, is based on current Dexterity die, and Magic Defense, the counterpart for spells, is based on current Insight die. Initiative modifier starts at 0. Unlike HP and MP, which were based on attribute die as well, DEF and MDEF are based on CURRENT die sizes, so they can go down and up during scenes and combat. Those stats, including Initiative modifier can be affected by combat conditions, status effects, and equipment.
DEF = 8
MDEF = 8
INIT MOD = 0
Step 7. Purchase equipment using a starting budget of 500 zenit, and then add any leftover to initial savings. I want to dress our seeker with cool but functional gear. I'm thinking of getting a Sage Coat (200z) to increase DEF and MDEF but lose a bunch of INIT MOD. Our HP is on the squishy side, and MP is not infinite, so I'll get a Crossbow (150z) for shooting effectively at a distance. And a big old Staff (100z) for a melee option that uses my WLP for the attack. We have a leftover of 50 zenits.
Adjusted stats
DEF = DEX 8 + Sage Coat 1 = 9
MDEF = INS 8 + Sage Coat 2 = 10
INIT MOD = Sage Coat = -2
I then roll 2d6 * 10 for initial savings. I got [5] and [5]. Adding the leftover, we get 150 zenits initial savings.
Step 8. And lastly, describe the character and choose a name and pronouns. I think I've given him plenty of description from previous steps. For the name, I've chosen one from a character name table in the book. I will call them Edgar. Edgar Musica.
And now we plug all of that to the official character sheet. Very presentable and functional, form-fillable for convenience. It can even upload a pic!
I showed the first page of the sheet above, though quality might not be great. You can download the fully filled sheet here.
REMARKS!
- I like how you can make this a quicker character creation - just roll for identity and then choose a theme and one of the pre-generated classes + skills + stats + item combinations. And you can also delve into all the options and curate your ideal character. A lot of classes and skills to mix and match - a good hallmark for games intended to be played repeatedly for a long time.
- Starting at level 5 is an interesting choice. It implies that characters know their fundamentals in-universe and should not be treated as incompetent adventurers or funnel units.
- There are a lot of unique and powerful abilities within class skills, so aligning with GM is important.
- One nitpick: I dislike in the identity tables that being non-human is an entry amongst other adjectives. I know JRPGs aren't mostly human-dominant. Well, a lot of popular ones are. But still. I feel a better way to implement it is possible.
- If we consider the world creation and group creation in the process, the game makes you feel involved in the realm you will venture. And if the GM has a predetermined campaign or setting already in mind, it is also a quick plug-in via Origin choice in chargen.
- Character sheets having quick rules reminders are great, especially placed properly. I've read some of the mechanics shown - bonds, statuses, Fabula pts - and they are the ones that will be used during play, presumably.
- Character sheet is also easy to use and navigate. The extra pages are more for longer play and extra skills/spells, so all things you need at start is at 1st page.
SCORING TIME!
- Player Fun: 8
- The outline for character creation is standard, but choices are robust. As most choices are playing into the tropes, it is easy to visualize the concepts behind classes and identities. Getting to pick and play 5 levels of classes at the very start can be daunting but plays into the fantasy of JRPG heroes.
- GM Fun: 4
- If we set aside the world and group creation, the chargen process doesn't get deep into the setting aside from Origin, keeping it flexible. A GM should have ease in keeping the players' choices meaningful within the adventure or campaign in mind or built using the world creation.
- The step of integrating world and group creation with players is a plus for me. The collaboration of GM and players in what matters in this world, including tone, key history info, and maybe establish current starting region's status. It minimizes homework duty for GM and players to learn about the world by making it part of in-session pre-play.
- Designer Fun: 3
- I don't think I've seen or heard of other games that tells you to go level up to 5 at a base game. The closest maybe is Dark Sun Campaign in D&D 3.5, where it recommends you play it at level 3 because Athas (the planet) will kill you with heat stroke. Multiclass at the very beginning is a bold choice, and on point to the JRPG experience.
- The sheet is clean and functional. It has space for a lot of info, but it's not as cluttered as I thought it would be. It feels like a control panel for your character when you get to play.
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