The first time I came in contact with Klothos - The threads of destiny, was before its publication in 2017 when its author, Claudio Serena member of the collective of Fumble RPG, put online a beta downloadable from the associated FB page, now merged into their new page Facebook.
I will be very sincere with you, I was very fascinated by the subject matter so much that I downloaded the beta, printed it and, obviously for lack of time, left it there to gather dust.
The endemic shortage of time and my presence in the role player Limbo, have increasingly led me to suffer this fate, in addition to this there is also to say that a big change was underway for me and my other colleagues and friends with whom we manage these pages, but there is no need to complain about the past time.
Analysis on Klothos - The threads of fate
The manual, which consists of 224 pages, comes in two formats: hardcover and paperback cover in A5 format. The paper is very light, almost transparent, with nice illustrations, coming out of the hand of Peter Bastas, which are a pleasant interlude with the rules and explanations of the mechanics.
The game system used is called Thread Systemhence the term Fili del Destino, integrated with the six-sided die. All the tests, which are faced during the course of the game, are resolved in a simple and standard way, the throwing of a single dice plus the most suitable approach to the situation, which may vary based on how the action is described by of the player, if the final result is 7 or greater the action is successful.
There is also a mechanic regarding luck and bad luck and how these two can influence the game through misfortunes and sudden changes of fate.
What is Klothos - The Threads of Destiny actually talking about?
This manual draws inspiration, in all its parts, from the works of Joseph Campbell, "The Hero of a Thousand Faces", and "The Journey of the Hero" by Christopher Vogler. The combination of the themes of these two books leads to the birth of Klothos. In fact, this manual is an excellent starting point for those who are starting to appear in role-playing games or for those who have been playing for years and are looking for a narrative product that also contains action elements.
The most interesting innovation that this product introduces is the use of the threads of fate. These threads can be used to force a test to success that a player does not want to make a mistake, but this choice must be made before the approach test is performed. However, what does this use entail? Becoming aware of your destiny allows you to unlock the potential of your character and increase your skills thus being able to choose a new power linked to the Constellation that guides him. Obviously there is a fio to pay. Once the last Thread of Destiny has been burned, the character will face death at the end of the scene described so as to immortalize in the minds of those who remain what the player has accomplished, giving their remaining companions the opportunity to draw on that power in the moment of need.
Conclusions
This game has won the prize like Best Game Design of 2019 in the competition Player Awards (I am among the voters in his favor) and I still have to confirm my choice today. The first time I held it in my hands I told myself that I had felt such a strong attraction to a similar product only once more, many years before when Janus-Design published the game "Polaris - Tragedy of the Chivalry in the Far North".
We are undoubtedly talking about two profoundly different games, but the themes covered, the final sacrifice, the tone of the stories proposed nevertheless make these two games of distant relatives.
My advice is to absolutely try this game, if you have the time, if only because it is something different from the classic fantasy game canons, and that could give you a lot of satisfaction. There is also an adventure, called "The Court of Oberon", which in addition to six playable scenes, enriches the basic manual with new monsters and presents some new pre-generated characters.
