''The Spawn of Fashan'' is a role-playing game published by

The Games of Fashan ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

in 1981.

Description

''The Spawn of Fashan'' is a fantasy role-playing system The rulebook includes a character-creation system, combat rules, guidelines for creating wilderness, towns, dungeons, monster descriptions, a brief description of a campaign setting (the land of "Boosboodle"), and an example of play.

Publication history

''The Spawn of Fashan'' was designed by

Kirby Lee Davis Kirby may refer to: Buildings * Kirby Building, a skyscraper in Dallas, Texas, United States * Kirby Hall, an Elizabethan country house near Corby, Northamptonshire, England * Kirby House (disambiguation), various houses in England and the Unit ...

, and published by

in 1981 as a 96-page book, part typeset, part typewritten. The second edition was published that same year, and was fully typeset.

Reception

Ronald Pehr reviewed ''The Spawn of Fashan'' in ''

The Space Gamer ''The Space Gamer'' was a magazine dedicated to the subject of science fiction and fantasy board games and tabletop role-playing games. It quickly grew in importance and was an important and influential magazine in its subject matter from the la ...

'' No. 49. Pehr commented that "''The Spawn of Fashan'' is a fascinating set of fantasy combat rules which are trying to become a full role-playing game ..its current value seems limited to experienced FRPG players who want something novel. Beginners will be baffled, and gamers happy with their current rules will find little reason to journey to the far planet of Fashan."

Lawrence Schick Lawrence Schick is a game designer and writer associated with role-playing games. Early life and education Schick attended Kent State University Kent State University (KSU) is a public research university in Kent, Ohio. The university al ...

originally reviewed ''Spawn of Fashan'' in the April 1982 edition of ''

Dragon A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...

'' (Issue 60), and refused to believe that anyone could create a roleplaying game so bad. He concluded at the time that the whole thing must be a parody. A decade later, in his book ''Heroic Worlds: A History and Guide to Role-Playing Games'', Schick decided ''Spawn of Fashan'' wasn't a parody, although he still found it funny: "Hilariously bad fantasy system, legendary among RP game designers as the epitome of clichéd, amateurish FRP games. (Some maintain that it is so bad, it must be a hoax.) The rulebook includes a bizarrely complex character-creation system, painfully cumbersome combat rules ndmonster descriptions (with names like 'makl,' 'foklom,' 'finikor,' and 'rolmtrokl')". He also noted that this game is a "highly collectible item".

Reviews

Different Worlds ''Different Worlds'' was an American role-playing games magazine published from 1979 to 1987. Scope ''Different Worlds'' published support articles, scenarios, and variants for various role-playing games including ''Dungeons & Dragons'', ''Ru ...

#19 (Feb., 1982)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spawn of Fashan Fantasy role-playing games Role-playing games introduced in 1981