First look, the cover sports the Palladium Books logo, the title, and a picture of a three headed dragon breathing fire on a paladin or knight on horseback. It was written by Kevin Siembieda. Opening the cover shows a powerful fight between a human fighter and a albino wolf-man (wolfen in the game, to be explained later). This is in full color, and graces both the inside front cover and inside back cover. Aside from the obligatory warning that graces this book, it's a work of fantasy, and not real life.
What is inside?
Inside the Palladium Fantasy RPG (PFRPG, not be confused with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game or again -- PFRPG) is a section on creating your character -- dealing with character attributes, races to choose from, hit points, insanity, alignment, and experience points. There is a section on skills, along with the Occupational Character Classes. These include: Men of Arms -- Mercenary Fighter, Soldier, Long Bowman, knight, paladin (or spelled Palladin), ranger, thief, assassin, and a few optional O.C.C.s that work for NPCs. Then includes Men of Magic -- the Wizard (or mage), Warlock (elemental magic), Witch (diabolic magic), Diabolist (Mystic wards and symbols), Summoner (Circle magic), Mind Mage (psion or psionicist), and Alchemist (NPC class). After that comes the Clergy, which includes the Priest/Priestess (Cleric or specialty priest), druid (shapeshifter), shaman (oracle), and the Healer. After that notes on creatures and monsters as well as the world of Palladium itself. Then the Tombs of Gersidi adventure and the Arms of Nargash-Tor adventure.
Differences from Advanced Dungeons and Dragons
The PFRPG is a complete Roleplaying Game. It has information on how to play a roleplaying game and information on the world in which the game takes place. It uses a variety of Polyhedral dice -- including all the dice from the D&D basic game. Rolling attributes for your character is no different from D&D, and also percentile dice is also used. The twenty-sided die (d20) is also used for combat related applications. That should make the PFRPG similar to Dungeons and Dragons, Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, and other similar games. So, what makes it different?
The differences include: the magic system, the alignments, the available races, the Occupational Character Classes (O.C.C.), the skill system, and Monster statistics (which are gone more in depth in Monsters and Animals -- the monster book for the PalFRPG). First are the O.C.C.s.
The Mage has been split into different occupational character classes as well. You have the wizard (mage) which specializes in spell magic. The witch is a class that worships demons or devils. The warlock is a spell caster specializing in elemental magic. The diabolist specializes in symbology, wards, and runes. The summoner works in magic circles of protection, summoning, and power. The mind mage is your basic psionicist. And the alchemist is an NPC class.
The clergy classes include: the priest or priestess (regular cleric class). The druid, who specializes in changing into animal shapes. The shaman which is an oracle. And finally the healer who heals people. And then there a number of optional O.C.C.s, which can be used for NPCs.
A key difference from AD&D and other FRPGs is the inclusion of many other different races. Some of which can be quite alien -- including the wolfen, orc, and troglodyte. You can choose any number of races to play, although some (such as dragons and giants) are off limits.
Another difference, or innovation, from D&D and AD&D is how the spell magic system is handled. A Wizard may cast any spell from any level he knows, despite his current level. However, he's restricted by level of how many spells he can cast (same with the witch). As he goes up in experience, a wizard would be able to cast more spells. Although this is not universal. The warlock's spell knowledge is limited by his spell level.
Besides this, the diabolist specializes in symbol, ward, and rune magic. Then the summoner specializes in circle magic. And there are drawings of each circle, symbol, or rune included in the book. Plus, the priest and shaman classes also use the Wizard spells for their magic.
Alignment is different and I touched on how it works in my Rifts RPG review. The concept of Alignment works like how it works in Dungeons and Dragons. It's a guide to help you roleplay your character to your likes. You can select between two good alignments: Principled (Lawful Good), and Scrupulous (Neutral Good); between two selfish alignments: Unprincipled (Chaotic Good), and Anarchist (Chaotic Neutral); and between three evil alignments: Miscreant (Neutral Evil), Aberrant (Lawful Evil), and Diabolic (Chaotic Evil). After that, your character is basically done. There are no neutral alignments.
The skill system is another "innovation" of the PalFRPG. It comes from the Runequest RPG. Basically, each skill is governed by a percentile roll. If you roll under the percentile chance, you perform the skill expertly. The skills go up in percentile range as you gain experience levels. This is different than AD&D, which can work without skills.
As for monster statistics, they are considerably shortened than those in the Monster Manual. Something I'll get into more depth when I review Monsters and Animals.
Conclusions
The Palladium Fantasy RPG is a good game to start young players on. Just remember to tell them the difference between fantasy and reality. The game system is easy to learn and use, even though it's a bit dated compared to newer systems of D&D (3rd, 4th, and 5th editions). The game is a good system and I recommend it. Just remember, it's a fantasy game and not real life. The book itself is a marvel, though. I suggest you order yourself a copy. Oh, and this is the 1st edition of the game, which is forty years old, now.
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