slammingthetabletop

[slammingthetabletop]

Lamentations of the Flame Princess

As many DMs/GMs do, I spend a lot of time looking for inspiration and ttrpg resources online. Many times, on /r/rpg or /r/dnd, I see posts about a “controversial” game system titled Lamentations of the Flame Princess. These posts are usually multi-dimensional: applauding adventure design and 3rd party supplements, while also bashing the creator and his peculiar design choices.

Immediately, I am intrigued. The name itself is very interesting. Who is the Flame Princess and why is the lamenting?

Here is where the red flags begin. The Flame Princess is claimed to be created based on the creator’s, James Edward Raggi IV, girlfriend.

After being dumped, his creative direction changed to a dark tone.

The red flags continue on from here. In a reddit ama (https://www.reddit.com/r/RPGdesign/comments/6b3lgc/rpgdesign_activity_james_edward_raggi_iv_creator/) the author claims that his ultimate dream is to have the Flame Princess drawn by Larry Elmore in a “hot as hell” style. He also says that he has no plans to create a version of the rulebook that is SFW (he also makes a huge blanket statement that children with internet access undeniably seek out NSFW content). Overall, creepy vibes coming from this guy.

But, let’s look at his actual writing. To get a sense of his style, I looked over his adventure “Death Frost Doom,” which the author claims to be his biggest accomplishment.

For reference: I am not well versed in the LotFP rule set, and read this adventure through the lense of a DnD conversion, which is something that is talked about often on dnd subreddits.

That said, I have a few major takeaways.

I’ll start with the good. Raggi has some seriously cool ideas. From the beginning, the uneasy atmosphere the adventure creates reminds me of Lovecraftian horror. 

One of my favorite subtle pieces of horror in this adventure is a painting that takes on the image of the inhabitants of the cabin (one of the main scenes of the adventure) that is thousands of years old. This is something I could definitely see myself taking inspiration from in some of my future DM endeavors. 

My other favorite piece of this adventure (and spoilers: maybe the only way to make it through alive?) is a magical clock that one player can use to rewind or fast forward time.

Now, onto the bad. There’s a lot to be said here, but I don’t want to repeat myself too much. The bottom line is this: I do not possibly see how this adventure can be fun and meaningful for a player. Sure, they have the opportunity to get some gold scattered around, but at the risk of dying in just about every turn they take. To name a few, there is the possibility of raising an army of undead. There is the possibility of waking a giant that would destroy the entire mountain this adventure takes place on. And, although this has less of an impact on an entire campaign, multiple instances of “save or die” poison.

This sentiment is echoed at the preface of the adventure, stating that the 3 times the author has ran the adventure, there were many casualties and more catastrophic events, which to him, is a win.

One thing that I’ve heard about LotFP is that it is mostly a GM powertrip in game form.

To summarize my thoughts, I understand why this system is talked about often and in the way that it is. A lot of the adventure was very inspiring. There was a lot of great time, detail, and brilliant sparks in this adventure, but that is overall overshadowed by the insane masochism that players must have to enjoy this game.

But, don’t take my word for it. Feel free to support the author by purchasing stuff at his shop here: https://us.lotfp.com/store/