While browsing on Amazon, a book suggestion suddenly popped up that made me stop in my tracks. I bought Fever Knights last year and found it incredibly exciting and now there was an official role-playing game for it. I didn’t hesitate for long and jumped straight in.
Why I bought the Fever Knights RPG:
As already mentioned, I really liked the Fever Knights – Official Fake Strategy Guide. It mimics video game walkthrough books for games such as Breath of Fire, Dragon Quest, Earthbound and Final Fantasy. The Fake Strategy Guide gives you information about the main characters, describes the locations and which enemies and items you can find there. It tells the story of the fictional video game through this information. I found this idea incredibly original, and the setting also has an incredible charm, which is why a role-playing game really appealed to me. The only thing that puzzled me was the choice of rule system; I associate Zweihänder with a completely different type of game.
The world:
Fever Knights takes place on Toro Island in the Saltbrine Archipelago in a world reminiscent of the 90s. The center of the island is Harbor City, where the player characters presumably live. They were ordinary teenagers, but mysterious events they witnessed changed them. They are Fever Knights and try to solve the mystery and protect the population from animals that have mutated into monsters or crazy residents of the island.
The game:
As already mentioned, the Fever Knights RPG is based on Zweihänder, although you have to look very closely to see the Zweihänder-DNA. The game uses hundred-sided dice and you have to roll equal to or below the respective attribute, although there are only three attributes: Strength, Guts and Magic
There are two more mechanics for dice checks, flipping dice and help dice. When flipping, positive influences can result in you swapping the ten and one dice when it is to your advantage and when there are negative influences it is to your disadvantage (e.g. turning a 61 into a 16 when you have positive influences). If you get support from players or NPCs you get an additional d10. First you roll the help die and the tens dice and choose the better result, then comes the ones die.
For character generation, there are various tables on which you can roll dice or choose freely. Here there are mainly suggestions and descriptions of the character; the zodiac sign alone has mechanical effects because it determines the affinities to the elements. In addition to a D6, all weapons also do elemental damage, which is derived from the zodiac sign for players.
Players can choose between six classes, namely Bard, Mage, Paladin, Ranger, Summoner and Warrior. The class determines the ability values, the base defense thresholds, and equipment. Each class starts with a Fever Mode (more can be unlocked later). On the character sheet there is a so-called Fever Meter. Through critical successes and failures and the use of the resource luck you increase the meter and once you reach the top you can switch to Fever Mode. Fever Mode heals the character and gives them powerful skills. As the game progresses, each class unlocks a variety of powers and techniques. These can be compared to skills and spells from video games.
I already mentioned the defense thresholds, Fever Knights doesn’t use life points. Damage received is compared to the threshold values; the more these threshold values are exceeded, the further your life bar goes down. Once you reach the bottom, you become unconscious. The above-mentioned Fever Meter and the life bar are on the character sheet in such a way that you can mark each with a paper clip, which I really like.
What I find exciting is that there are no experience points, but you get an improvement after each session. These improvements are fixed, for example you increase your affinity for elements or you get a new skill.
Combat in Fever Knights is very reminiscent of games like Final Fantasy. The battle scene is divided into three rows: front, middle, back
Depending on where you are, you take less damage (but you also do less damage yourself). In addition, the game master can distribute secrets on the battlefield; these can provide cover, perhaps even end the fight directly, or have other effects. The game also has a whole range of status effects that are also familiar from video games.
The players share a pool of luck, a resource for rerolling rolls, removing status effects or doing maximum damage. If you use such a point, it goes into the game master’s pot and vice versa.
The game master gets a lot of help and I think that Fever Knights is a good introduction to role-playing. In general, the portion of the book that is intended for the game master is significantly larger, because Fever Knights delivers a complete campaign. The story is presented in quests with different scenes and the most important information. There is also a map of the place being visited (which actually wasn’t there in the Fake Strategy Guide).
The book:
The Fever Knights RPG has 208 pages and is full color. I think the layout and design are fantastic and it was a lot of fun to read the book. Almost 70 pages deal with character generation, equipment and rules, with the core rules and combat taking up about 15 pages. There are around 40 pages with enemies and NPCs and the remaining around 50 pages are taken up by the campaign quests.
Unfortunately, I have already found a few errors in Fever Knights or things that I assume are errors. For example, some items only have an exclamation mark as an image and the two images of the island are very pixelated. What actually bothers me the most and I hope that this will be solved soon is that there is currently no character sheet available to download. There is a character sheet in the book (even perforated for easy removal), but I would like a digital version.
Who is the Fever Knights RPG for:
- For players and game masters who want to experience a video game as a pen and paper rpg
- For people who are looking for an easy introduction to role-playing games
- For players who want it crazy and weird
Who is the Fever Knights RPG not for:
- For players and game masters who want to have a completely free world
- For people looking for a serious game
- For players who want comprehensive rules
Conclusion:
The Fever Knights RPG really surprised me and in an absolutely positive way. The rules are super simple, in my opinion they convey the video game feeling very well and I love the setting. There are references to various franchises and I like the humor. I think that the campaign is too railroad-y for some, but if you get into it, then you have a video role-playing game in the style of Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy in book form. Fever Knights is a good place to start, especially for beginners or perhaps younger players.
Dice Adventurer 