Reading Lamentations of the Flame Princess for the first time was a shock. This was several years and two editions ago. The author's voice - and preferences - comes through loud and clear and I suppose one either likes it or one doesn't. Yes, James Edward Raggi IV is a somewhat controversial figure in our hobby. His game, Lamentations of the Flame Princess (LotFP), remains one of my favorite interpretations of the D&D system and his play philosophy has frankly influenced my entire approach to how best to play the game. So what is it about ...the Flame Princess that appeals to me so?
It's not the art. To be fair, the illustrations are quite good in quality in all the LotFP editions, but I would describe it as "edgy". The cover sports an 18+ Explicit Content warning. Enough said.
What I consider the good points are related to the game's emphasis on individualizing the setting with unique monsters and magic, keeping the magic "magical" and creating a "horror" experience.
LotFP is often described as being a house-ruled version of the B/X or Basic and Expert D&D game. It is a lot more than that however. It is perhaps B/X as seen through the personal lens of Mr. Raggi who describes his game as "Weird Fantasy". Mechanically LotFP resembles the Basic/Expert game - roll a d20 to hit, saving throws, basic character classes and so on. It is the philosophical differences that I find so appealing and which sets LotFP apart from the other old school games.
There are seven LotFP character classes: fighter, cleric, magic-user and specialist for human characters, and the classes of dwarf, elf and halfling. Only fighters progress in their ability to better hit monsters. Clerics get their spells and turning and improve in these abilities as they advance. Magic-users progress in the number and level of magic spells they can know and cast. Specialists improve in their specialized skills such as bushcraft, sleight of hand and tinker. All skills are tested by rolling one d6. I really like the restrained, but traditional approach to the character classes that I find in LotFP. Each class is focused around the defining class ability. The fighter class fights well, etc. I like that.
Character hit points increase but stay relatively low (compared to other iterations of D&D), even at higher levels, which together with non-fighter characters never improving their to-hit ability at all means that even low level monsters remain challenging even as the characters advance to higher levels.
Monsters - there is no bestiary in LotFP. Mr. Raggi believes each referee should create their own unique monsters and therefore leaves this task up to us. Unique monsters and unique magic items are heavily encouraged with each having its own backstory. Discovery is a big part of every play experience of a LotFP campaign.
The list of magic spells has been modified and grognards will find a noticeable absence of the more flashy fireball and lightning bolt type of spells. This is not to say the magic-user can not research and develop such a spell, but it isn't to be found on the standard spell list. This results in a more subtle approach to magic and helps keep magic "magical". Divine casters will not find raise dead on their list either. In LotFP dead is dead. Hello to fear!
Oh, yes, and darkness is blinding because none of the characters (even dwarves) can see in the dark without a light source. Being in the dark can be scary again! (I like this idea so much that I have imported this into many of my games as a "houserule" because I believe in dungeon horror.)
I am on record as a fan of alignment in my games as I find that its inclusion adds a "right verses wrong" conflict and is one of the things which sets D&D apart from many other fantasy RPGs. In LotFP there are just the three original edition alignments, Lawful, Chaotic and Neutral. The rules state that most characters will be of neutral (self interest) alignment. Cleric characters in LotFP are by nature Lawful. Magic-users are chaotic because magic changes the natural order of things.
As a rules-as-written system, LotFP covers a lot of topics in its brief (168 pages) and to-the-point format. It does so while introducing some nice take-away concepts that are also useful for the home-brew fan. The specialist class is brilliant in that it allows for the player to focus their character build on a number of possible skilled archetypes including the classic woodsman/ranger or scout/thief while maintaining mechanical simplicity. The 1d6 specialist skill system replaces the often criticized percentile thief abilities table from older TSR editions and feels more "natural".
A clever and simple system for encumbrance eliminates the tediousness of keeping track of weight carried while allowing a degree of accountability in a genre where resource management is part of the game's challenge.
The current Player Core Book: Magic & Rules, pictured above, has been out since 2013. There is so much in playing the game of LotFP that I really like, but it isn't my go-to system. Due to some of the artistic content I find it an awkward book to hand to someone while saying, "Here look this over because I would like to play it."
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