High Fantasy

A Time and a Place for Imagination!

It has now been more than four decades since my personal journey in this hobby began. We today call what we do "playing role-playing games", but in the early days it was just a new sort of game, a bit different, but approached much as tabletop games had always been. The year 1977 saw my entry when I acquired a copy of the white box and little brown books just three years after its publication. The Original Fantasy Role-Playing Game was released in 1974 and had taken off in a way that probably exceeded even the most optimistic expectations and was from its start prompting many enthusiasts to experiment with rule variations, in addition to designing their own setting or dungeon. 1977 was also the year Jeffrey C. Dillow self published his ideas on tabletop role-playing in a game he called High Fantasy.

One need only glance at the cover of the first edition of High Fantasy to see that it is obviously an amateur publication. Almost everything in the then new hobby was in those early days of the 1970s. TSR, the company that introduced us to tabletop role-playing via its Original Fantasy Role-Playing Game rules, released the first of their hard cover Advanced Game book in 1977 (Monster Manuel) and with it the quality of production in the hobby moved from the strictly amateurish to a more polished and professional standard. TSR's first version of the Basic Set, edited by J. Eric Holmes, came packaged in a neat box featuring an engaging color illustration of a dragon atop treasure made it's debut in 1977 as well. It was a big year for the hobby.

As a collector of tabletop games, old and new, I have read a lot of rule systems, setting material and adventure modules. I have even played a few of them! High Fantasy is a system that I have returned to again and again, in my reading although I have only ever played it solo. I find the game interesting because it pioneers a number of ideas that will reemerge in later games, it shows a remarkable understanding of many of the finer points of running the game and because it is the work of a fellow Hoosier from the Indianapolis area. 

Like most fantasy role-playing games, High Fantasy relies on the character class archetype distinction of warriors verses wizards - those who adventure and fight with muscle power and those who rely upon magical power. The author of High Fantasy adds two original classes to the mix, Animal Masters and Alchemists - character classes that will also be revisited in many subsequent fantasy systems. The impressive part of character creation, in my opinion, is Mr. Dillow's introduction of Subclasses which add skill abilities to the Main Classes just described. In High Fantasy Thieves and Assassins are a Subclass available to a character of any Main Class. Seems appropriate when I consider the implications of playing a "thief". Other Subclasses include Hunter/Huntress, Healer, Historian (Archeologist), Martial Artist, Sensitive, Jeweler, and Armorer. With the probable exception of the Sensitive, all of the Subclass abilities are probably intuitive. The Sensitive Subclass bestows the following "skills" which are in addition to the Main Class abilities: Being able to transmit and receive thought; Being able to detect truth/falsehoods; Being able to locate a known person; A chance to deliver a "mental blast attack; and Being able to detect magic. All of the abilities function according to High Fantasy's percentile dice roll mechanic (yes this is an early example of a "universal mechanic").

In addition to the Subclass system, High Fantasy offers an optional "Talents" aspect to character creation. Talents include abilities acquired as part of the character's background and are diced for on tables including Business Background, Musical Background, Nautical Background, and several others. The specific background table rolled on can be at the player's discretion, but the actual Talents are determined randomly - yes this is 1977.

The person setting up the game and running it at the table is called its "Judge" in High Fantasy and Mr. Dillow has some advice for the Judge that seems appropriate across the several decades since the 1970s and useful for many systems. When creating your own "world" start small/local and build onto the setting as play expands. Giving some thought to why things exist as they do, treat NPCs as if they have their own motives and schemes separate from the player characters. (I have found this is an excellent way to bring life to the campaign.) Offer objectives to the players allowing them to choose their course of action, going where they will, exploring what interests them and attempting the task they find most appealing. High Fantasy lists a number of optional "Investments" into which players may wish to place the hard-earned cash of their PCs and there-by providing motivation beyond the immediate mission. A Wizard may Invest in magical or mundane studies. An Alchemist may wish to Invest in constructing a laboratory and experimenting with various alchemical recipes. The results of such Investment not only benefit's the PCs through gaining advanced abilities, but helps shape the campaign setting offering the players that much more agency. 

In the 1970s we had no internet community. The best place I found to make connection with other people interested in gaming was university and hobby shops. This seems to have been fairly common in those days. As a result, gaming groups tended to be local. It was conceivably quite common for a gaming group to accumulate a set of preferred practices or "house rules" that might eventually prompt one or more in the group to say, "Hey, these seem pretty playable, maybe we should write them up in a nice format and make them available for others to try!"

Looking back at the early games we played over 45 years ago, I am amazed at how much the early designers seem to have gotten "right". The advice given to players and referees regarding "how to play" demonstrated a depth of understanding even in those days about what makes a tabletop game fun to play. Looking back upon many of the products marketed in the 1970s, they often seem as relevant now as anything I encounter being published today - at least in some respects. Fun, creativity, and comradery based upon a shared interest remain central themes across the hobby. High Fantasy is most definitely a product reflecting a specific time and place. I doubt that it ever gained a huge following, but it provides a glimpse into our hobby's past and is a unique vehicle for exploring science fiction and fantasy adventure for anyone with an interest in doing so using a system that seems fresh with new discovery each time I reacquaint myself with it.

And did I mention there are some pretty decent solo adventures written for High Fantasy which I have found to replay quite well.