Tales of Fablecraft's early access release is already an excellent introduction to tabletop roleplaying for a new generation of Dungeon Masters

GamesRPGTales of Fablecraft’s early access release is already an excellent introduction to tabletop roleplaying for a new generation of Dungeon MastersWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

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(Image credit: Riftweaver Game Studio)

A woman holding a giant fishhook.

Increasingly it feels like the tabletop RPG industry is feeling out its digital future. Virtual tabletops, which provide a basic shared interface for online play,are increasingly numerous and popular, but there’s also a push to see how much further that idea can be taken. There’sMirrorscape, for example, which hopes to wow with 3D graphics and augmented reality; meanwhile Wizards of the Coast is going big on production value, with an upcoming VTT that basically looksas much like playing Baldur’s Gate 3 as possible.

Tales of Fablecraft(formerly just Fablecraft) is trying a different path—rather than incorporating D&D or other existing systems, it offers an entirely new ruleset, designed from the ground up for digital play with its own fantasy setting. Combined with a slick interface, high production values, and animated top-down tactical battles, it makes a really striking first impression. I was certainly impressed whenI first got to check it out last year.

But back then I only experienced it as a player, with one of the developers running the game—really what I wanted to do was to get in the Dungeon Master’s seat myself, mess about with the tools behind the adventure, and see how robust they really were. Now I’ve had my chance—Tales of Fablecraft has launched into Early Access, and I was recently able to run my first session. Did it feel like the future of TTRPGs, as I so boldly claimed last time? The answer, I think, depends very much on who you are. And maybe how old you are…

As part of its free offering, Tales of Fablecraft offers a short campaign of five adventures: The Road to the Starfall Festival (more campaigns are available as pretty reasonable microtransactions). It’s a straightforward tale—the players escort a caravan, fight bandits, chase down a magical macguffin, that sort of thing. But what impressed me from the Dungeon Master’s perspective was how incredibly easy it is to run.

(Image credit: Riftweaver Game Studio)

An adventure in progress from the DM’s perspective in Tales of Fablecraft.

The system itself is just as easy to get to grips with. Outside of combat, simple skill rolls cover player actions. When a fight does break out, the game takes on a more tactical feel, but all both players and DM need to do is move their character around and click to activate their attacks and abilities—the game handles everything else. It makes even large combats a breeze, and even running the monsters I had fun playing with their different spells and effects to see what combos I could pull off.

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It’s all remarkably easy and intuitive for the level of production value you’re getting out of it. Putting on a show this slick in a VTT like Roll20 would require hours upon hours of learning and prep, on top of the experience needed in running tabletop adventures. In Tales of Fablecraft, almost anyone could run a session with ease.

(Image credit: Riftweaver Game Studios)

A player casting a fireball in Tales of Fablecraft.

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(Image credit: Riftweaver Game Studios)

A literal flying pig - a wild board-like creature with feathers and wings in Tales of Fablecraft.

All together these limitations make it feel a little too much like a choose-your-own-adventure book rather than a TTRPG adventure. I think that would suit an inexperienced group, but for us it felt very limiting, and I’m not sure we were ever able to relax into truly playing the game and embodying characters rather than just going along for the ride.

(Image credit: Riftweaver Game Studios)

A hero casting an ice spray spell in Tales of Fablecraft.

You can design your own adventures, and the drag-and-drop nature of the assets would make it quite easy in theory to improvise entire encounters, but the tools for that are fairly limited in the current Early Access build, and you’re having to use things from the game’s established library—the NPCs, locations, and monsters from the premade adventures.

Currently you’re also bound, of course, to the in-built rules and setting. The system is functional and pleasingly accessible, but extremely light—I think many groups will be looking for something with more depth. The world is an attractive land of rogue magic and cute creatures, but just slightly too weird and specific to be broadly appealing for telling your own stories in, and far enough from generic fantasy that the assets can’t simply be repurposed for more standard D&D-like campaigns. A few generic portraits of orcs, dwarves, and elves would diminish the game’s distinct personality, but make it a lot more flexible.

The Early Access release ofTales of Fablecraftis available now, for free, on Steam.

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