F.A.T.A.L.

F.A.T.A.L. is a fantasy roleplaying game first published in 2002 by Fatal Games, written by Byron Hall.

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 have 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 Sartin/MacLennan review was notably long, negative, and peppered with personal insults directed at the authors of the game.

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 that the authors of F.A.T.A.L. were mature and professional (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, attacks on spelling and grammatical errors in the review, irrelevant personal opinions about religion and other topics, and confusing, literal-minded responses to hyperbole.

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 system, like other aspects of the game, was criticized for focusing on the most lurid aspects of violence, sexuality, and scatology, and of actualizing 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.

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).

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.

External links

• Fatal Games (website inactive as of July 2006)
• Review of F.A.T.A.L. by Jason Sartin and Darren MacLennan
• Rebuttal to Sartin/MacLennan review by Byron Hall and John "Burnout"