Fleaux! | Review

In this review, we talk about Fleaux! (pronounced “flay-O”), a dark fantasy OSR role-playing game in which we will play unlikely heroes in a world in ruins.

The game comes from the mind of Kobayashi and is published by Livres de l’Ours; in Italy is localized by Nigredo Press and published by MS Edizioni. Thank you both for sending us a copy to be able to write this review. We suggest you follow Livres de l’Ours on their official website.

If you are interested, you can find it on his DrivethruRPG page for $32.08 in hardcover. Otherwise, you can get just the PDF for $10 here.

Review of the Structure and the Art of Fleaux!

The manual is very light and compact, suitable to be carried comfortably; it is divided into 12 chapters, including a pre-made adventure. The writing is excellent: simple and fluent, to allow a quick and pleasant reading; moreover, the information is well distributed and I did not find paragraphs too verbose. The only drawback is the lack of examples, which would surely have been useful in certain passages. Instead, I appreciated two pages at the end of the volume that summarizes the entire basic regulation, essential for quick consultations.

From an artistic point of view, the manual is a jewel to be collected (and played). The only two colours are white and black, in addition to their shades; this guarantees a raw and dirty effect that suits the tones of the game beautifully. We could find illustrations of both monsters and landscapes, all made in such an extraordinary way as to stimulate curiosity; you can evaluate this aspect by enjoying the images included in this review of Fleaux!.

The layout of the entire volume is also taken care of in detail; each seemingly random element is instead the result of careful evaluations. This is noticeable from the use of bold and italicized text and from some finesse, such as the fact that some pages have the title of the chapter at the bottom instead of in the head. A real eye-catcher!

Unlikely Heroes

In Fleaux!, players play criminals who, despite themselves, will find themselves heroes.

Characters are defined by 7 Characteristics:

• Strength: used when talking about showing off muscles.
• Dexterity: Represents coordination and agility.
• Erudition: this value summarizes the general knowledge of the PC.
• Charisma: the ability to influence others during a conversation.
• Guts: represents the ability to stand firm in the face of horror or tense situations.
• Melee: Used in melee combat.
• Shooting: it is essential in distance combat.

Each of these must be determined by rolling 2d6 and comparing the result on a table; if you want there is the possibility of reversing the score of two Characteristics between them. Final scores can range from a minimum of 8 to a maximum of 13.

We must then choose the Origin, that is, the set of lineage and context of the birth of our hero; this can be pulled randomly with a d6 or decided by the player. The various bloodlines available are Human, Halfling, Elf, Dwarf, Goblin and Orc Blood. As a context, for example, we could be a human born on a farm or an Orc Blood who spent his youth in the Arenas.

Then you will have to roll a d20 to find out what crime our protagonist has committed; for example, he may have stolen a sacred relic, been an apostate, have threatened an Inquisitor or much more. Basically, with this single roll we could define the background of our character.

Fleaux! therefore proposes a quick and simple creation that will take us little time to have a great character.

Professions and Equipment

Another focal point of our Character is his Profession, which represents what he relied on to survive. Rather than choosing a canonical class, here we will have 4 different ways (Entrepreneurship, Isolation, Violence, Knowledge), distinguished according to which characteristic is predominant for our PG. They are:

Depending on the route chosen, we will have to roll a d6 to determine the exact Profession of our unlikely Hero. From this we will get bonuses and a special ability; I found all the Professions very interesting and in particular, I was struck by the Herbalist, who allows us to create potions, and the Scammer, who allows you to shoot with Advantage when you try to deceive someone.

In addition to this, our Profession will determine the starting Equipment; if for example, our work is about violence, we will start playing with armor and a weapon.

Linked to the equipment we find a very interesting mechanic: The Price of Life. At the beginning of each Adventure, you will need to spend a number of shillings (the in-game currency) equal to the Strength score; if this is not done, you will have a Disadvantage on all Feature checks during the entire session. You could try to overcome this problem with illegal actions or work, which will engage the PG. This mechanic is really interesting because it allows you to create a lot of storytelling even outside of real adventures.

Review of the Growth and the Talent System of Fleaux!

After overcoming adversity and completing the adventures, our heroes can gain experience points to grow and survive a few more days.

Each time you complete an adventure, you earn 1 to 3 experience points; each time you reach 5 Experience Points, you earn a level, up to a maximum of 10. When we reach an equal level, our hero earns a +1 to a Feature, while at odd levels we can add a Talent or a new Profession; in both cases, we get 1 additional maximum HP.

There are also various tips in the manual if you want to slow down or speed up the growth of the PGs; for example, if we wanted to accelerate it, you can level up every 3 Experience Points earned instead of every 5.

Talents are special abilities that our hero gains and can exploit in various situations. They are very varied and allow us to customise our protagonist as much as possible, going on to build a specific growth path for the design we had in mind (or adhering to what happens during adventures). Some examples are

• Cook: once per session allows us to cook a restorative meal for our companions, as long as we have the ingredients.
• Protector: once in combat we can defend our companion from 1d6 damage.
• Paranoid: with this Talent we can obtain Advantage in the Initiative test.

Review of the Mechanics of Fleaux!

Fleaux!‘s strength is its rules: simple, immediate and quick to learn.

When you want to face a test whose result is uncertain, you will have to roll a die of 20 and stay below the value of the chosen Feature. Depending on the situation or the use of specific skills, you can have an Advantage (you roll two dice and the player decides which outcome to keep) or a Disadvantage (you roll two dice and the Game Master will choose the outcome).

An important thing to keep in mind is that a 1 on the d20 is always a Critical Success, allowing our hero to do great things; a 20 corresponds to a Critical Failure, which will bring unpredictable results and require a Will Test.

One of the mechanics I preferred is the Usage Die; it represents the limited amount of given resources, such as torches, bullets, will, magical item charges and much more. The Usage Die starts from a certain size of nut that will be lowered when pulling the nut 1-2 (d20 > d12 > d10 > d8 > d6 > d4). We will have to roll the die when we use the associated resource, which will be consumed when the last size of the die itself runs out.

The Willpower Die and the Panic

A mechanic linked to the Usage Die is Willpower or the mental strength of the PG. The Willpower Die is a very normal Usage Die that, however, should only be rolled in four cases:

• Perform the same action in a Combat Turn: then attack twice, move twice, or other similar cases.
• Cast a spell: magic has a significant mental cost.
• Use a talent that requires it: it is not always required, but if it is specified.
• Getting a Critical Failure in a Feature Test: Errors pay off.

A player can also decide to “Burn Willpower” to improve the result of a Feature Test; in practice, the Willpower Die is rolled and the result of the Feature Test is subtracted, but in this case, the size of the Willpower Die is automatically reduced.

When the Willpower Die runs out, the Character will Panic and must roll a d6 on a table. The effects are varied and also include having a heart attack to harm oneself or one’s mate; otherwise, it could go well and our hero will keep control.

Review of the Brutal Combat of Fleaux!

Fleaux!‘s combat is a brutal and very dangerous experience, so much so that many times escape is far preferable.

Each clash begins with the characters rolling a Liver Feature Check; the successful one starts before the opponents. In case of Critical Success, he can take an additional action in the first turn, while if he gets a Critical Failure he loses an action.

The fights are divided into Turns. Two actions of any kind can be done during the Turn, except for spells that can be cast only once. To measure movement, the game does not use a grid or a system of measurements but uses indicative distances; there are four: Contact, Near, Far, and Distant. When you want to approach or move away, you will need to spend a movement action for each variation in distance.

Attack, Defense and Firearms

When we want to attack, we will have to make a Melee Test or a Shooting Test, depending on the circumstances; in case of success, damage equal to the result of the Damage Die is inflicted, which varies depending on the weapon used (from d4 to d20). By making a Willpower Test, we can add additional effects to our attack, such as the ability to disarm our opponent.

When we have to defend ourselves, we can Parry with a Melee Test or Dodge with a Dexterity Test. The moment we achieve success, we cancel the damage; if we fail, however, we would take the damage of the attack (reduced by our armour)

If our Character takes too much damage and finishes his Hit Points, he will be considered Grounded and unable to act. At the end of the fight, you will have to roll 1d6 on the Defenceless table; the effects include injuries and mutilations, but a result also corresponds to death and in this case, you will have to create a new hero.

As the setting is a counterpart of our seventeenth century with the introduction of fantasy elements, firearms are present but considered complex instruments of rapid death. Attention: if in the Shooting Test attack we make a Critical Failure, the weapon will explode in our hands; with a Critical Success we will kill the opponent on the stroke. Another interesting feature is the ability to infuse firearms with runes, to create devastating effects such as infallible bullets.

Review of the Witchcraft of Fleaux!

In the game world witchcraft is a powerful art, but it corrupts those who use it and everything around it.

Compared to other RPGs, we don’t have Magic Points or a maximum number of spell uses per day; we can virtually cast witchcraft whenever we want. Regularly this is balanced by the fact that each attempt corresponds to a Willpower Test; in the case of Success everything will be fine, but in case of Failure some spells have very risky implications. If you have already cast a spell during the day, a subsequent Willpower Test must also be carried out with a Disadvantage. In short, don’t take magic lightly!

In case the Willpower Die runs out after casting a spell, we will have to face a Chaos Revenge; basically, you will roll a d6 on a table and we will suffer the effects. You will go from simply losing a handful of Hit Points to being dragged into another dimension by a monstrous being. As a tool to limit damage, we can modify the Willpower Test by sacrificing HP; for each point spent, the result of the test will be lowered by 1.

The manual contains a good number of ready-to-use spells, some simple and others complex; among them, I mention Combustion, which will burn our enemies, and Voice Thief, which will allow us to speak with someone else’s voice.

There are also rules for Alchemy and the creation of potions; certainly a very interesting subsystem, both for the possibilities offered and for the relevance to the setting.

Fleaux!‘s Bestiary and World

The bestiary in Fleaux! is very simple; there are no illustrations, just a list of monsters to take and use. They are quite classic, although you can also notice some surprises such as the Shoggoth and the Tyrannosaurus. Fortunately, the formula to create your custom monsters is also provided; the process is quick and truly intuitive, thus greatly expanding the variety of content to be offered to players.

Within the manual, the game world is then presented; it is divided into regions and each one is defined through key places such as cities, fortresses, dungeons and much more. In addition, each of them included six adventure hooks. The descriptions of the regions and points of interest are essential, coming back to be interesting without going too long and leaving the right space for the narrator’s imagination. Some of the regions are:

• The Viriatean Empire: the largest kingdom, with the most powerful of fleets; its well-being is based on slavery and colonization.
• The Iron Kingdom: a large island whose ruler is kept alive by a machine made of iron and magic.
• The Republic of the Two Crowns: a republic born from the union of a human and an Elvish kingdom. Power is in the hands of two sovereigns and an assembly of nobles.

An element of the manual that I appreciated is the beautiful map of the world of Fleaux!, very useful for orienting yourself and freeing your imagination in this setting.

The Adventure: Bloodbath at Kragstein Castle

Inside the manual there is also a short introductory adventure, perfect for a three-hour session; it can also become a great start to a longer campaign.

The story begins with an accusation for each character, which costs him imprisonment in the prisons of Kragstein Castle; it is said that it is not possible to escape from there. What initially seemed “just” a normal captivity will worsen catastrophically and the characters will have to find a way to escape and save themselves.

The strength of the adventure is not the plot, simple and with some clichés, but the fact that it is perfect to learn the mechanics both as a narrator and as a player; in fact, many tips are provided to conduct the adventure and how to apply the various sections of the regulation, as well as providing all the statistics for NPCs and really well-made maps that encourage exploration.

Conclusions of the Review of Fleaux!

To sum up this review, I consider Fleaux! a great simple, lethal and effective game to create character stories that start from the bottom and then redeem themselves (perhaps).  

The care in creating a simple but varied system and in creating a world with its particularities and charm make it a great product for all lovers of dark fantasy; its value rises thanks to the truly spectacular graphics sector, which also makes it an excellent collector’s item.

I recommend Fleaux! to all fantasy lovers who want to immerse themselves in a dark world and try a new system that will surely involve them and make them have fun for many sessions (and probably many PGs)!

If you enjoyed this review of Fleaux!, keep on discovering us to discover more role-playing games!