High Fantasy is a fantasy role-playing game system originally published by Fantasy Productions in 1978. A second edition in 1981 and several subsequent books were published by Reston Publishing that featured solo adventures using the High Fantasy system. The game received mixed reviews in game periodicals including White Dwarf, The Space Gamer, Different Worlds, Ares, and Dragon.
Description
High Fantasy is a fantasy role-playing system similar to Dungeons & Dragons.
Gameplay
Character generation
The player can choose one of four main character classes: warriors, wizards, animal masters, and alchemists (who may make and use firearms).
Magic
Using magic utilizes a spell-point magic system.
Combat
The melee combat system uses percentile dice (a random roll from 1–100). The player's character rolls percentile dice and compares that number to the opponent's chance to dodge; it is the difference between these that determines whether a hit is scored or not.
Gaining experience
Characters gain experience for successful adventures, enabling them to advance in skill levels.
Monsters
The rules include brief monster descriptions.
Publication history
While Jeffrey C. Dillow was attending Indiana University, he started to play the original edition of Dungeons & Dragons. Unsatisfied with the rules, Dillow wrote his own set of rules and started to run games for his fellow students. After graduation, Dillow and his wife formed Fantasy Productions in 1978, printed 100 copies of the rules as a 44-page book with an orange cover titled High Fantasy, and began to sell them a games conventions. The Dillows used their profits to publish a second printing with a cream cover. This brought them to the attention of Twinn K, a maker of slot cars looking to diversify. This partnership enabled Fantasy Productions to publish a third printing with a color cover.
A second edition was published by Reston Publishing, a subsidiary of Prentice Hall, in 1981 as a 208-page hardcover book, a 208-page softcover book, and a boxed set including two books, five character sheets, and dice. The second edition included a 73-page introductory solo scenario, Escape from Queztec'l, with 360 numbered scenes. (The player's character is in the city of Queztec'l for a religious festival when General Tezcaloz'l and his minions attack the city, killing everyone they can find. The object of the adventure is to escape from the city.)
As the High Fantasy gaming system gained in popularity, additional adventure books were added, including Fortress Ellendar (1979) Moorguard (1980). Adventures In High Fantasy (1981) Judges Screen (1981) In the Service of Saena Sephar (1982) Murder in Irliss (1982), Wizards & Warriors (a hardcover book containing both In the Service of Saena Sephar and Murder in Irliss.) Goldchester: More Adventures in High Fantasy (1982)
Reception
In the June/July 1980 edition of White Dwarf (Issue #19), Don Turnbull did not think this new role-playing system stood a chance in the over-crowded marketplace altready dominated by Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D), saying, "in the case of any new role-playing game nowadays, any rating on review has to take account, not just of objective judgment of the game but also of its likely impact on a market which is already dominated [...] Whether you are likely to enjoy the game-system is not entirely the point: the question is - will the game-system contain enough material which fits your personal taste to the extent that it tempts you away from whatever system you are using at present [...] I believe that the High Fantasy rules are too lightweight for that. So my ratings are based on the degree to which High Fantasy materials will compete with D&D or be compatible with D&D and (in the case of modules) the degree to which these make a significant contribution to material which would be grafted onto a D&D format." Turnbull concluded by giving the game system a dismal rating of only 4 out of 10.