I just read this blog post on Dungeon's Master, and I must admit that it intrigued me. I'm seriously considering implementing this as a house rule in both 4E and 13th Age, both systems which lack a charged magic item mechanic. Though some modern games (like the aforementioned two) have done away with them, I think that charged magic items hit a sweet spot in magic item design.
Consider two extremes in design; the do-anything magic item system of 3rd edition D&D vs the bland system of 4th. In the first case magic items are arguably too easy to acquire and too powerful (for parties decked out with a lot of them), and in the other they simply weren't interesting even if they remained easy to acquire. Having charged items as one element of the magic system was something that 3rd edition did right, though.
I'm specifically thinking of a middle ground here. A system where PCs are not dependent on keeping a suite of magic weapons, implements, armors, etc up-to-date just to maintain baseline competency, but with items being interesting enough to feel "magical." They should be rare, tough or impossible for PCs to create themselves, and should have certain limitations or drawbacks depending on the item's specific power level. Charges are perfect for this! More powerful items have fewer charges, less powerful items have more. Some items might require a skill check to activate, while others would be more widely useable. Best of all, a flexible system that gives GMs plenty of guidelines (trial and error is fine too, if you're house-ruling) would foster the creation of custom items. Theoretically, any game element (a maneuver, spell, monster's power, etc.) could be replicated as limited-use magic, with the GM tweaking skill check requirements, number of charges, and recharge rolls to account for how s/he envisions the item impacting the party dynamics.
Besides which, deciding how/when to expend charges gives the PCs some interesting resource-management decisions outside of any full rest/daily mechanic that may be present in the system.
Friday, November 9, 2012
Friday, October 26, 2012
Radiance RPG Review
Introduction
The text of Radiance RPG begins with a "letter" to the gamer outlining the design principles the game employs. These do a good job of framing the basis for everything else a reader will find in the pages thereafter; in other words, this letter brings transparency to the forefront, which is a good thing. The first principle is familiarity; the game contains the major tropes of D&D and fantasy in general, including things like Magic Missile, owlbears, etc. These familiar tropes ground the players, allowing the authors to add more setting-specific details that some might find a bit "out there" (more on that later). The rules are also very streamlined, with a minimum of sub-systems and simple rules that don't necessitate constant reference during play. This is extremely valuable in my opinion, given the heavy influence of 3rd Edition D&D (with its cumbersome rules being one of the big weaknesses of the system). Glad that's not a problem here. The game also aims to be flexible and modular, although not to the extent of D&D Next perhaps. Electrotech has its own chapter, as does magic items, etc., with few references to a specific subject in other chapters, making it very straightforward to simply not use a certain chapter in order to cater to a specific style (the example given being that not using the Electrotech chapter makes for a pretty stereotypical medieval fantasy game, assuming certain classes are also not chosen). Finally, the game strives for balance. I'm not sure that they've necessarily succeeded here, but without actually playing it's hard to tell. Certain options (class features) seem to be obviously better/worse than others, but all classes seem to have equal access to similar kinds of class features. In other words, while trap options exist and can lead to weaker characters, a player's choice of class/race will not likely "punish" them.
The Setting
Different types of setting are outlined early on, and these include things like classical myth, gritty medieval, comical mash-up, Lovecraftian horror, high fantasy, multiplanar epic, space fantasia, swashbuckling renaissance, Tolkien saga, Victorian steampunk, and zippy electrotech. Because specific mechanical options are not present in most other fantasy RPGs, the system probably does electrotech and steampunk the best. The technology can be as high as power suits, which bring to mind Iron Man or Samus Aran (at least that's what I think of). Thus, one could pretty easily run a "modern" (or even futuristic) game with classic fantasy tropes like vorpal swords and elves. Or not; just as electrotech can be cut to play a medieval-style game, the fantasy elements (while admittedly more entwined in the mythos and mechanics than electrotech) can also conceivably be cut to represent a modern setting without the fantasy elements. Honestly though, you almost have to see the art in order to get a feeling for what "default" setting the authors seem to have in mind.
Character Building - Structure
Choosing a race/class/theme combo, assigning ability scores (the familiar Str, Con, Dex, Int, Wis, Cha), and buying equipment will all make sense to anyone who has played D&D or a similar RPG before. For those who haven't, character creation seems to be laid out concisely in an intuitive way. That said, some sacred cows were slain in the making of this game, and it's about time too!
There are no feats, spell lists, or powers; everyone simply chooses from a list of class features with enough options for heavy customization. Whereas a Wizard might pick up Fireball or Detect Magic, a Fighter would choose Defensive Block or Power Attack. These class features are organized into tiers (basic, intermediate, advanced, and paragon) with higher levels granting access to features from higher tiers. Additionally, class identity is maintained by giving every character 3 core abilities automatically. Fighters get Combat Focus, Rapid Attack, and Weapon Focus, whereas Wizards get Arcane Training, Magic Missile, and Spellbook. Class features also grant skill bonuses, and while there's a defined skill list there's otherwise no way to gain bonuses in skills. That's right, unless you take a skill-specific feature, the skill list is nearly meaningless, being a simple ability check by default. An example of this is that a Wizard can choose to take Dark Lore (+5 to Arcana and Dungeoneering), but might have to give up Mage Armor for it. Considering that there are some class features that boost Comeliness (an attribute that is described as having no mechanical value, but rather a numeric for assisting roleplaying), you can see how intra-class balance can be a bit off.
Another sacred cow slain: hit points! Sort of. Your race grants you Wound points (as an example, Humans are average and get 8) which represent bodily harm, and these never increase. Your level gives you Vitality points equal to (5x level) + Con and these represent energy, luck, and skill. You chew through vitality first, and when that's depleted damage starts applying to your wounds. Wounds recover more slowly than vitality, and vitality is also used to fuel many class features (which is how a Wizard's spells are balanced against a Fighter's maneuvers; both classes would tap into vitality for their more powerful abilities. This also has interesting implications for magical vs non-magical healing, and as an example Witches get an ability that lets them kiss allies to heal vitality.
What else is gone? Armor class. Yep, Radiance uses an "armor as DR" system that arguably makes a lot more sense. So what do opponents use as a target number for their attacks? There are 3 defenses straight out of 4E: Fortitude, Reflex, and Will. Like 4E, Fort is keyed off of the higher of Str or Con, etc. The math for the defenses is a lot cleaner than 4E's discrepancies between weapon and implement attacks, and AC vs NADs (non-AC defenses).
Choice of deity (or lack thereof) contains mechanical weight, as there's a Faith Point system that grants deity-specific boons. There are also guidelines for factions, alignment, and cultures to make sure that characters have ties to the game world, which is a general trend in fantasy RPGs that I'm fond of (13th Age and Dungeonworld have mechanics that serve a similar purpose).
Races
This game has a ton of races. Races provide ability score adjustments (both bonuses and penalties), physical traits (including racial powers and traits that all members of the race get), and Racial Abilities which function much like class features and allow for customization (some players might be happy to note that cultural adjustments would appear here). To provide an idea of scope here, Humans have a list of 27 abilities that you can choose from. Like class features, some of these provide skill bonuses (ex: Army Skills grants +2 to Athletics, Endurance, Handle Animal, Intimidate, and Warcraft), others grant combat bonuses (ex: Pride's Power grants +1 to all attack rolls), and still others offer limited-use powers (ex: Violent Ambition grants a +10 bonus to next attack once daily as a move action). Half Elves have a particularly interesting ability: "Interlude: After 1 hour of uninterrupted romantic intimacy with another person, that person regains 1d4+1 vitality. A person can benefit only once daily from this ability. Costs 1 vitality." Yep, apparently Half-Elves are natural prostitutes. Healing people by having sex with them might bring new meaning to the ubiquitous phrase "I need a heal!" Like the "Intoxicated" condition in the D&D Next playtest, I find mechanics like this to be a bit silly and potentially disruptive, but I guess it's worth a laugh.
The list of races includes Humans, Asimar, Atlan (aquatic people from Atlantis), Drack (Dragonborn), Dromite (insect people), Drow, Dwarf, Elf, Gnome, Goblin, Goliath, Grippli (frog people), Half Elf, Half Orc, Halfling, Hobgoblin, Kobold, Lizardfolk (with the worst Lizardfolk art EVER), Pygmy (mythological fey people, not meant to parallel real-world pygmies), Rakasha (cat-folk, basically half Rakshasa), Slith (Githzerai and Githyanki), Tengu (Kenku, or bird people for those not familiar with D&D Kenku), Tiefling, and Warmech (Warforged, but even more like robots and less like golems). Doesn't lack for choices, eh?
Classes
Each class has a prime attribute that they use for attacks. Fighters use Str, Clerics Wis, Wizards Int, etc. Medium and Heavy weapons target Fort, light and ranged weapons target Reflex, and magic can target pretty much any defense. A rather long list of party roles is discussed, but each class isn't shoehorned into one of 4 roles like in 4E; rather, a single class can cover multiple roles, and often gets a choice of which role(s) it fills. The roles are as follows: anti-mage, booster (buffing), brute, crafter, defender, devastator, face, healer, manipulator, scout, sneak, striker, summoner, traveler. As you can see, these aren't all combat roles, and perhaps that's enough to encourage people to pick up skill-boosting class features. Of course with anywhere between 1 and 5 class/race features gained at any given level, perhaps the sheer volume is enough to ensure that some of the "weaker," more situational, or fluff-based options get chosen. Or perhaps it will just facilitate min-maxing; without having played the system, I don't know.
Multiclassing exists as an optional rule, and it's more or less 3rd edition style. You forego the usual benefits from leveling up in your class, instead gaining the core abilities and 1 basic ability from your new class. Multiclassing takes time and money, and you're usually limited to a handful of classes by race (Humans can do whatever, as is expected).
Like the list of races, the class list is quite extensive: Artificer, Barbarian, Bard, Blackguard, Cleric, Dhampir (Vampire), Druid, Elementalist, Fighter, Gallant (Swashbuckler), Gunslinger, Inquisitor, Invoker, Mageblade, Medicant, Monk, Necromancer, Paladin, Pathfinder (Indiana Jones), Psion, Ranger, Rogue, Sage, Shadowcaster, Shaman, Shifter (Lycanthrope), Sorcerer (Dragon lineage, can transform into one), Warlock (explicitly evil), Witch (enchanter/illusitionist/empath flavor), and Wizard.
Combat
Combat is pretty similar to the newer editions of D&D, albeit more streamlined that 3rd or 4th edition. Like, the-whole-chapter-is-only-8-pages streamlined. The suite of standard, move, swift, and immediate actions will be familiar to many gamers, though Radiance allows for up to 3 swift actions during a turn. Yikes! Many of these fall under what would have been free actions before, though. There is also a list of special maneuvers that require the use of 1 or more actions (up to a full turn), and these include Forfeit Turn, Full Defense, Full Withdrawal, Full Aid, and Readied Action. The 4E Line of Sight vs Line of Effect rules are used. Organization is a little weird with status effects here, as some are presented in their own sections (for example, Blinded is in the Senses section), while others are in the dedicated list of Conditions. Contrary to the otherwise streamlined nature of the system, there is a surprisingly large amount of specific conditions much like 3rd edition D&D (ex. 3 different fear conditions; shaken, frightened, and panicked. Fatigued, Exhausted, and Lack of Sleep are all separate conditions. Etc.). All told there are 20 status effects in just the conditions section, 4 more under Senses, 4 under Special Protection (cover, etc.), 3 under Attacking, 1 under tracking damage, and Death, if you count that. That's 32 (or 33 if Death counts)!!!!! Too many, and it's a major hit against an otherwise very solid combat system. Few gamers can remember the nuances between that many conditions, the differences between sickened and nauseated, etc., and this will inevitably lead to rules-referencing during play, which is counter to the goals of the system. Personally I'd probably port the conditions list from D&D 4E or 13th Age into the game (perhaps with some modifications) because it would run a lot more smoothly. Other than that the chapter very concisely explains moving (with a section on using a grid), attacking, damage, terrain, size, opportunity attacks, area effects, surprise, initiative, and healing. Standard stuff.
Monsters
The Monster Folio is pretty sparsely populated, but as part of a free download with the PHB I guess you can't complain too much. You've got some of your very basic fantasy staples, a few weird things, and not much else. Gnolls are present, but no goblins or orcs? Ok, sure, if you say so.
Without having actually tried to GM the system, I'm inclined to say I don't like how monsters are presented. Each one takes up a full page of just crunch. Some of this is for different variations of the monster, but still. The stat block is concise if you think about it, but something about the layout just doesn't pull your eye to the important bits, and then outside the stat block you need to keep different abilities in mind. For example, the bulette has 5 base abilities (improved knockback, leap attack, resist mundane arrows, scent, and tremorsense) with variations adding even more (Death's Head bulette gets 3 more abilities on top of the base, and Ironworks bulette gains a whopping 5 more for a total of 10 abilities). Add on to this a list of numerical modifications to the stat block for these bulette variations (presented in sentence form, without a separate stat block, yuck!) and running anything other than the base creature will require the GM to reference a lot of different spots on the page, including mentally adjusting the numbers in the stat block or else re-writing the whole stat block with the changes factored in manually. It's simply not user-friendly.
A more extreme example can be shown with devils. There's a base devil stat block with 10 base abilities. Your different varieties of devil (osyluth, erinyes, kyton, etc.) add 3 to 5 additional abilities, and with the exception of the Balor all use the same base stat block, which is on a different page, of course. Fortunately these devil variants don't adjust the numerical values, but that's still a lot of flipping back and forth just to run a single monster, never mind encounters with multiple different kinds of monsters. One could probably get used to this, but with a trend toward simpler monster presentation in many systems why bother? The GM has a lot to worry about, and adding to that workload (even if it's just a little bit for each monster) has the potential to slow the game down.
If you're too discouraged by this section don't necessarily write the game off completely; this is arguably the system's biggest weakness, and it definitely bears pointing it out up front. GMs used to running 3rd edition D&D might not even notice the problem, and would enjoy an otherwise much more streamlined system.
Townies
There's a whole chapter on People, which is to say NPCs. This is where the Factions and Cultures are, but also Townies. Townies are a neat way of quickly generating memorable and mechanically meaningful NPCs of various professions. These can be hired by PCs or simply used by the GM. There's a simple Townie stat block, and then a list of 100 (!!!) different variations. These range anywhere from Witch Doctor (who can heal, possess animals, and make voodoo dolls, among other things; 8 abilities in all) to courtesans (who can heal your vitality if you have sex with them). A lot of these entries are very cool, and serve as a great source of inspiration for GMs at a loss for interesting NPCs.
Closing Thoughts
With such a wide variety of fantasy RPGs on the market these days, any given game needs something unique to draw in players and cause it to stand out from its competitors. I'd say that the selling points for Radiance are the following:
So when all is said and done, will I play it? Like Dungeon World and D&D Next it's a game that I'd love to take for a spin, but overall I think 13th Age does a better job of giving me what I want in a fantasy RPG. I probably won't run a long-term campaign with it, but I'm intrigued enough to play around with it and possibly steal some mechanics from it. Can't complain about having "too many" good games available, for it's certainly better than not having enough!
The text of Radiance RPG begins with a "letter" to the gamer outlining the design principles the game employs. These do a good job of framing the basis for everything else a reader will find in the pages thereafter; in other words, this letter brings transparency to the forefront, which is a good thing. The first principle is familiarity; the game contains the major tropes of D&D and fantasy in general, including things like Magic Missile, owlbears, etc. These familiar tropes ground the players, allowing the authors to add more setting-specific details that some might find a bit "out there" (more on that later). The rules are also very streamlined, with a minimum of sub-systems and simple rules that don't necessitate constant reference during play. This is extremely valuable in my opinion, given the heavy influence of 3rd Edition D&D (with its cumbersome rules being one of the big weaknesses of the system). Glad that's not a problem here. The game also aims to be flexible and modular, although not to the extent of D&D Next perhaps. Electrotech has its own chapter, as does magic items, etc., with few references to a specific subject in other chapters, making it very straightforward to simply not use a certain chapter in order to cater to a specific style (the example given being that not using the Electrotech chapter makes for a pretty stereotypical medieval fantasy game, assuming certain classes are also not chosen). Finally, the game strives for balance. I'm not sure that they've necessarily succeeded here, but without actually playing it's hard to tell. Certain options (class features) seem to be obviously better/worse than others, but all classes seem to have equal access to similar kinds of class features. In other words, while trap options exist and can lead to weaker characters, a player's choice of class/race will not likely "punish" them.
The Setting
Different types of setting are outlined early on, and these include things like classical myth, gritty medieval, comical mash-up, Lovecraftian horror, high fantasy, multiplanar epic, space fantasia, swashbuckling renaissance, Tolkien saga, Victorian steampunk, and zippy electrotech. Because specific mechanical options are not present in most other fantasy RPGs, the system probably does electrotech and steampunk the best. The technology can be as high as power suits, which bring to mind Iron Man or Samus Aran (at least that's what I think of). Thus, one could pretty easily run a "modern" (or even futuristic) game with classic fantasy tropes like vorpal swords and elves. Or not; just as electrotech can be cut to play a medieval-style game, the fantasy elements (while admittedly more entwined in the mythos and mechanics than electrotech) can also conceivably be cut to represent a modern setting without the fantasy elements. Honestly though, you almost have to see the art in order to get a feeling for what "default" setting the authors seem to have in mind.
Character Building - Structure
Choosing a race/class/theme combo, assigning ability scores (the familiar Str, Con, Dex, Int, Wis, Cha), and buying equipment will all make sense to anyone who has played D&D or a similar RPG before. For those who haven't, character creation seems to be laid out concisely in an intuitive way. That said, some sacred cows were slain in the making of this game, and it's about time too!
There are no feats, spell lists, or powers; everyone simply chooses from a list of class features with enough options for heavy customization. Whereas a Wizard might pick up Fireball or Detect Magic, a Fighter would choose Defensive Block or Power Attack. These class features are organized into tiers (basic, intermediate, advanced, and paragon) with higher levels granting access to features from higher tiers. Additionally, class identity is maintained by giving every character 3 core abilities automatically. Fighters get Combat Focus, Rapid Attack, and Weapon Focus, whereas Wizards get Arcane Training, Magic Missile, and Spellbook. Class features also grant skill bonuses, and while there's a defined skill list there's otherwise no way to gain bonuses in skills. That's right, unless you take a skill-specific feature, the skill list is nearly meaningless, being a simple ability check by default. An example of this is that a Wizard can choose to take Dark Lore (+5 to Arcana and Dungeoneering), but might have to give up Mage Armor for it. Considering that there are some class features that boost Comeliness (an attribute that is described as having no mechanical value, but rather a numeric for assisting roleplaying), you can see how intra-class balance can be a bit off.
Another sacred cow slain: hit points! Sort of. Your race grants you Wound points (as an example, Humans are average and get 8) which represent bodily harm, and these never increase. Your level gives you Vitality points equal to (5x level) + Con and these represent energy, luck, and skill. You chew through vitality first, and when that's depleted damage starts applying to your wounds. Wounds recover more slowly than vitality, and vitality is also used to fuel many class features (which is how a Wizard's spells are balanced against a Fighter's maneuvers; both classes would tap into vitality for their more powerful abilities. This also has interesting implications for magical vs non-magical healing, and as an example Witches get an ability that lets them kiss allies to heal vitality.
What else is gone? Armor class. Yep, Radiance uses an "armor as DR" system that arguably makes a lot more sense. So what do opponents use as a target number for their attacks? There are 3 defenses straight out of 4E: Fortitude, Reflex, and Will. Like 4E, Fort is keyed off of the higher of Str or Con, etc. The math for the defenses is a lot cleaner than 4E's discrepancies between weapon and implement attacks, and AC vs NADs (non-AC defenses).
Choice of deity (or lack thereof) contains mechanical weight, as there's a Faith Point system that grants deity-specific boons. There are also guidelines for factions, alignment, and cultures to make sure that characters have ties to the game world, which is a general trend in fantasy RPGs that I'm fond of (13th Age and Dungeonworld have mechanics that serve a similar purpose).
Races
This game has a ton of races. Races provide ability score adjustments (both bonuses and penalties), physical traits (including racial powers and traits that all members of the race get), and Racial Abilities which function much like class features and allow for customization (some players might be happy to note that cultural adjustments would appear here). To provide an idea of scope here, Humans have a list of 27 abilities that you can choose from. Like class features, some of these provide skill bonuses (ex: Army Skills grants +2 to Athletics, Endurance, Handle Animal, Intimidate, and Warcraft), others grant combat bonuses (ex: Pride's Power grants +1 to all attack rolls), and still others offer limited-use powers (ex: Violent Ambition grants a +10 bonus to next attack once daily as a move action). Half Elves have a particularly interesting ability: "Interlude: After 1 hour of uninterrupted romantic intimacy with another person, that person regains 1d4+1 vitality. A person can benefit only once daily from this ability. Costs 1 vitality." Yep, apparently Half-Elves are natural prostitutes. Healing people by having sex with them might bring new meaning to the ubiquitous phrase "I need a heal!" Like the "Intoxicated" condition in the D&D Next playtest, I find mechanics like this to be a bit silly and potentially disruptive, but I guess it's worth a laugh.
The list of races includes Humans, Asimar, Atlan (aquatic people from Atlantis), Drack (Dragonborn), Dromite (insect people), Drow, Dwarf, Elf, Gnome, Goblin, Goliath, Grippli (frog people), Half Elf, Half Orc, Halfling, Hobgoblin, Kobold, Lizardfolk (with the worst Lizardfolk art EVER), Pygmy (mythological fey people, not meant to parallel real-world pygmies), Rakasha (cat-folk, basically half Rakshasa), Slith (Githzerai and Githyanki), Tengu (Kenku, or bird people for those not familiar with D&D Kenku), Tiefling, and Warmech (Warforged, but even more like robots and less like golems). Doesn't lack for choices, eh?
Classes
Each class has a prime attribute that they use for attacks. Fighters use Str, Clerics Wis, Wizards Int, etc. Medium and Heavy weapons target Fort, light and ranged weapons target Reflex, and magic can target pretty much any defense. A rather long list of party roles is discussed, but each class isn't shoehorned into one of 4 roles like in 4E; rather, a single class can cover multiple roles, and often gets a choice of which role(s) it fills. The roles are as follows: anti-mage, booster (buffing), brute, crafter, defender, devastator, face, healer, manipulator, scout, sneak, striker, summoner, traveler. As you can see, these aren't all combat roles, and perhaps that's enough to encourage people to pick up skill-boosting class features. Of course with anywhere between 1 and 5 class/race features gained at any given level, perhaps the sheer volume is enough to ensure that some of the "weaker," more situational, or fluff-based options get chosen. Or perhaps it will just facilitate min-maxing; without having played the system, I don't know.
Multiclassing exists as an optional rule, and it's more or less 3rd edition style. You forego the usual benefits from leveling up in your class, instead gaining the core abilities and 1 basic ability from your new class. Multiclassing takes time and money, and you're usually limited to a handful of classes by race (Humans can do whatever, as is expected).
Like the list of races, the class list is quite extensive: Artificer, Barbarian, Bard, Blackguard, Cleric, Dhampir (Vampire), Druid, Elementalist, Fighter, Gallant (Swashbuckler), Gunslinger, Inquisitor, Invoker, Mageblade, Medicant, Monk, Necromancer, Paladin, Pathfinder (Indiana Jones), Psion, Ranger, Rogue, Sage, Shadowcaster, Shaman, Shifter (Lycanthrope), Sorcerer (Dragon lineage, can transform into one), Warlock (explicitly evil), Witch (enchanter/illusitionist/empath flavor), and Wizard.
Combat
Combat is pretty similar to the newer editions of D&D, albeit more streamlined that 3rd or 4th edition. Like, the-whole-chapter-is-only-8-pages streamlined. The suite of standard, move, swift, and immediate actions will be familiar to many gamers, though Radiance allows for up to 3 swift actions during a turn. Yikes! Many of these fall under what would have been free actions before, though. There is also a list of special maneuvers that require the use of 1 or more actions (up to a full turn), and these include Forfeit Turn, Full Defense, Full Withdrawal, Full Aid, and Readied Action. The 4E Line of Sight vs Line of Effect rules are used. Organization is a little weird with status effects here, as some are presented in their own sections (for example, Blinded is in the Senses section), while others are in the dedicated list of Conditions. Contrary to the otherwise streamlined nature of the system, there is a surprisingly large amount of specific conditions much like 3rd edition D&D (ex. 3 different fear conditions; shaken, frightened, and panicked. Fatigued, Exhausted, and Lack of Sleep are all separate conditions. Etc.). All told there are 20 status effects in just the conditions section, 4 more under Senses, 4 under Special Protection (cover, etc.), 3 under Attacking, 1 under tracking damage, and Death, if you count that. That's 32 (or 33 if Death counts)!!!!! Too many, and it's a major hit against an otherwise very solid combat system. Few gamers can remember the nuances between that many conditions, the differences between sickened and nauseated, etc., and this will inevitably lead to rules-referencing during play, which is counter to the goals of the system. Personally I'd probably port the conditions list from D&D 4E or 13th Age into the game (perhaps with some modifications) because it would run a lot more smoothly. Other than that the chapter very concisely explains moving (with a section on using a grid), attacking, damage, terrain, size, opportunity attacks, area effects, surprise, initiative, and healing. Standard stuff.
Monsters
The Monster Folio is pretty sparsely populated, but as part of a free download with the PHB I guess you can't complain too much. You've got some of your very basic fantasy staples, a few weird things, and not much else. Gnolls are present, but no goblins or orcs? Ok, sure, if you say so.
Without having actually tried to GM the system, I'm inclined to say I don't like how monsters are presented. Each one takes up a full page of just crunch. Some of this is for different variations of the monster, but still. The stat block is concise if you think about it, but something about the layout just doesn't pull your eye to the important bits, and then outside the stat block you need to keep different abilities in mind. For example, the bulette has 5 base abilities (improved knockback, leap attack, resist mundane arrows, scent, and tremorsense) with variations adding even more (Death's Head bulette gets 3 more abilities on top of the base, and Ironworks bulette gains a whopping 5 more for a total of 10 abilities). Add on to this a list of numerical modifications to the stat block for these bulette variations (presented in sentence form, without a separate stat block, yuck!) and running anything other than the base creature will require the GM to reference a lot of different spots on the page, including mentally adjusting the numbers in the stat block or else re-writing the whole stat block with the changes factored in manually. It's simply not user-friendly.
A more extreme example can be shown with devils. There's a base devil stat block with 10 base abilities. Your different varieties of devil (osyluth, erinyes, kyton, etc.) add 3 to 5 additional abilities, and with the exception of the Balor all use the same base stat block, which is on a different page, of course. Fortunately these devil variants don't adjust the numerical values, but that's still a lot of flipping back and forth just to run a single monster, never mind encounters with multiple different kinds of monsters. One could probably get used to this, but with a trend toward simpler monster presentation in many systems why bother? The GM has a lot to worry about, and adding to that workload (even if it's just a little bit for each monster) has the potential to slow the game down.
If you're too discouraged by this section don't necessarily write the game off completely; this is arguably the system's biggest weakness, and it definitely bears pointing it out up front. GMs used to running 3rd edition D&D might not even notice the problem, and would enjoy an otherwise much more streamlined system.
Townies
There's a whole chapter on People, which is to say NPCs. This is where the Factions and Cultures are, but also Townies. Townies are a neat way of quickly generating memorable and mechanically meaningful NPCs of various professions. These can be hired by PCs or simply used by the GM. There's a simple Townie stat block, and then a list of 100 (!!!) different variations. These range anywhere from Witch Doctor (who can heal, possess animals, and make voodoo dolls, among other things; 8 abilities in all) to courtesans (who can heal your vitality if you have sex with them). A lot of these entries are very cool, and serve as a great source of inspiration for GMs at a loss for interesting NPCs.
Closing Thoughts
With such a wide variety of fantasy RPGs on the market these days, any given game needs something unique to draw in players and cause it to stand out from its competitors. I'd say that the selling points for Radiance are the following:
- Players who like the familiarity of D&D (primarily 3rd edition) but want less rules and option glut (which lead to a faster game) could stand to gain from giving this game a look.
- While the game is blatantly grounded in D&D, the designers weren't afraid to slay some sacred cows to make the game that they want (wound/vitality instead of HP and armor as DR instead of AC stand out the most).
- Character-building is simple (each class entry is 2 pages, and doesn't require flipping around looking for feats or assigning skill points), and for a core book the variety of race and class choices is simply astounding.
- Core rules for both magic and electrotech, as well as the existence of a few "modern" class concepts and "horror archetypes" not typically found in fantasy settings, allows for a lot of world, story, and character-building possibilities. If you like the direction Eberron went, Radiance goes even farther catering to styles as far disparate as gritty medieval to futuristic space fantasia, and nearly anything in between.
- Despite monsters looking like they'll be a pain to run, GMs get a lot of tools for creating unique worlds and stories, with sleek mechanics and rules that allow for fast-pace and narrative priority.
- Player-friendly business model of offering the PDF for free, and the hardcovers are pretty cheap too!
So when all is said and done, will I play it? Like Dungeon World and D&D Next it's a game that I'd love to take for a spin, but overall I think 13th Age does a better job of giving me what I want in a fantasy RPG. I probably won't run a long-term campaign with it, but I'm intrigued enough to play around with it and possibly steal some mechanics from it. Can't complain about having "too many" good games available, for it's certainly better than not having enough!
Friday, October 19, 2012
Radiance RPG
I've been meaning to review this game for over a week now, and as soon as I have time to read more of it I'll do so. In the meantime, definitely check out this link to the FREE download. Yep, the full PDF of the core game is completely free. You wouldn't be able to tell it from the quality of the product (as well as its design).
From what I've read so far, Radiance is largely a streamlined mix of 3rd and 4th edition D&D, heavy on the 3rd in design and presentation. In my opinion it's a much better product than either 3rd edition or Pathfinder, however. It's not quite so simulationist, and the math and balance are both a LOT cleaner. There are a ton of races and classes, and other selling points include no feats and no spell lists. Everything comes from class features, and there are plenty of options within each class for customization. The presentation is very sleek and concise, however, so it looks very easy to run overall.
The assumed fluff is also quite interesting; this ain't no generic fantasy world. It has a Victorian-era feel but with magic, elves, etc. And "electro-tech." Kind of steampunk, but not quite. Classic fantasy Fighters and Wizards mingle with Gunslingers and Medicants (both core classes). You know what else are (basically) core classes? Vampires and Werewolves (under the name Dhampir and Shifter). There's perhaps too much to work with as it's a bit overwhelming, but better to provide the crunch and have most groups cut out what they don't want, right?
Anyways, check it out for yourself. It's free, why not?
From what I've read so far, Radiance is largely a streamlined mix of 3rd and 4th edition D&D, heavy on the 3rd in design and presentation. In my opinion it's a much better product than either 3rd edition or Pathfinder, however. It's not quite so simulationist, and the math and balance are both a LOT cleaner. There are a ton of races and classes, and other selling points include no feats and no spell lists. Everything comes from class features, and there are plenty of options within each class for customization. The presentation is very sleek and concise, however, so it looks very easy to run overall.
The assumed fluff is also quite interesting; this ain't no generic fantasy world. It has a Victorian-era feel but with magic, elves, etc. And "electro-tech." Kind of steampunk, but not quite. Classic fantasy Fighters and Wizards mingle with Gunslingers and Medicants (both core classes). You know what else are (basically) core classes? Vampires and Werewolves (under the name Dhampir and Shifter). There's perhaps too much to work with as it's a bit overwhelming, but better to provide the crunch and have most groups cut out what they don't want, right?
Anyways, check it out for yourself. It's free, why not?
D&D Next update
The last Legends and Lore article offers a glimpse of what's to come in the next D&D Next playtest packet, as well as the direction that the game is headed in overall. I'll admit that I haven't followed the playtest very closely recently. Without a face-to-face group (temporarily, fortunately) and because I've been following other games so closely (The One Ring, 13th Age, Edge of the Empire, and Radiance; I'll get a review of that last one up as soon as I have time to read more of the pdf), D&D just hasn't been a huge priority. I also disliked a lot of changes made to the recent playtests. Failure became virtually non-existent for Rogues making skill checks (looks like that's changing), skill became tied to ability scores again instead of applying as a bonus to any applicable ability check (thankfully that sub-system is gone as well), and Warlocks and Sorcerers muddied the waters a bit, especially with the Wizard traditions not even previewed yet (that one might get addressed).
Ultimately, the playtest is in a constant state of refinement, which is absolutely a good thing. Rules will go in undesirable directions, and the players (and designers!) will learn from that. Hopefully the game will end up more polished because of it. Honestly, the brand faces a lot of competition, and that will likely continue to increase. For fantasy roleplaying, 13th Age, Radiance, and Dungeon World are all new games that bring a lot to the table. Those games have specific goals and they meet those goals very well. For players seeking that specific niche, they might be unparalleled. It's tough for a versatile, "do everything" type of system like D&D Next to hold up well in those niches.
But perhaps all is not lost. Being able to apply a familiar core mechanic with modular options to a wide variety of gaming styles is desirable for groups that like to alternate between different styles. They won't have to constantly remember different rules every time they start up a new game. Additionally, mechanics from one of those other systems can possibly even be hacked onto D&D Next without too much effort (13th Age in particular has several mechanics that can easily port into another system, namely the Escalation Die, Backgrounds, One Unique Thing, and the Icon Relationship Dice).
I guess the best part of all this is that there's never been a better time to be a tabletop gamer. We have so many options these days that pretty much anyone should have a game that meets their needs, and for those who like to sample a lot of different games it's tough to get bored, even within a single genre.
Ultimately, the playtest is in a constant state of refinement, which is absolutely a good thing. Rules will go in undesirable directions, and the players (and designers!) will learn from that. Hopefully the game will end up more polished because of it. Honestly, the brand faces a lot of competition, and that will likely continue to increase. For fantasy roleplaying, 13th Age, Radiance, and Dungeon World are all new games that bring a lot to the table. Those games have specific goals and they meet those goals very well. For players seeking that specific niche, they might be unparalleled. It's tough for a versatile, "do everything" type of system like D&D Next to hold up well in those niches.
But perhaps all is not lost. Being able to apply a familiar core mechanic with modular options to a wide variety of gaming styles is desirable for groups that like to alternate between different styles. They won't have to constantly remember different rules every time they start up a new game. Additionally, mechanics from one of those other systems can possibly even be hacked onto D&D Next without too much effort (13th Age in particular has several mechanics that can easily port into another system, namely the Escalation Die, Backgrounds, One Unique Thing, and the Icon Relationship Dice).
I guess the best part of all this is that there's never been a better time to be a tabletop gamer. We have so many options these days that pretty much anyone should have a game that meets their needs, and for those who like to sample a lot of different games it's tough to get bored, even within a single genre.
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Edge of the Empire Reference Sheet
I put together this reference sheet today. My goal for the Advantage/Triumph Table (which was the impetus for this whole sheet) was to make something that's as easy to reference at the table as possible. The two tables as presented in the book are good for clarity, but ultimately the "wall of text" doesn't lend itself to quick reference during play. I feel that this is the simplest form possible for the presentation of this information, since it combines threat/advantage into a single table and consolidates mechanically similar entries into single, concise entries. For example, "immediate free maneuver" is all I need to know when trying to figure out what I can do for a given advantage/threat cost; obviously if it's threat that maneuver will benefit the opposing side. Moreover, I don't need separate entries for each combination of a PC/NPC gaining a boost/setback die, split across two tables. All I really need to know is that for 2 advantage or threat, someone can get a boost or a setback die. Whether the outcome is good or bad for the attacker depends on whether you're spending advantage or threat, and since that's obvious at any moment in time I don't need the table to spell it out for me.
Also on this table I've formatted the font based on the use of the entry. Bold lines are things that I can see coming up most frequently, so I want them to jump out at the user. Italics are narrative options, so they'll be both situational and dependent on the player's creativity. If you don't have something narrative specifically in mind, the eye can gloss over the italicized text pretty easily. Non-formatted text are things that, while useful and should certainly be included in the table, seem like they're unlikely to see quite as much use. If a player wants to try something unusual s/he can reference the table a little more carefully, as opposed to just glancing over the bold entries (which if done as a default should speed up play).
I also felt it important to include the difficulties for personal ranged weapons and starship weapons, if for no other reason than that they operate differently, which can be potentially confusing. They'll also most likely be the most frequently used attacks. While most players will probably memorize at least the personal weapons table pretty quickly I still thought it was important enough to include. Melee/Brawl attacks, on the other hand, would just clutter up the sheet since it's trivial to remember that they're always made at average difficulty.
Invariably healing and recovery are things that I tend to have to look up regardless of what system I'm running. Specific recovery rules never seem to "stick" in my mind; I blame it on all of the vastly different healing rules present in the different editions of D&D. In any case I wanted all of the recovery options for wounds, critical injuries, and strain to be all in one place. No use wasting time rolling Cool to recover Strain if the Medical check that was just performed on you already recovered it with advantages.
In a narrative combat system it's easy to get caught up in just "going with it" and making up rulings that certain infrequently-used maneuvers get forgotten or messed up. For example, during my solo playtest I'd forgotten that Guarded Stance also gives your own attacks a setback die, and I didn't feel like flipping open the book to confirm a rule I thought I already knew. Mostly, having a maneuver list keeps players from thinking too hard about the possibility of a maneuver that they may have forgotten about; reference the chart if you're unsure, otherwise ignore it and go for the standbys of moving, diving for cover, and aiming.
Starship maneuvers, on the other hand, really do need to be listed for easy reference. For one thing there's probably only 1 pilot in most groups, and why force the burden of memorizing more specific rules on just one player? I can imagine that starship combat also happens less frequently than personal-scale combat, making specific maneuvers easier to forget.
Unfortunately I didn't have room for the starship action "Gain the Advantage," and there's a handful of other starship rules that I'd like to include on a sheet. At some point I might make a "Starship Character Sheet," which I doubt will take up a full page. The remaining space can be used to write down some of these more specific rules for easy reference.
Yes, there's other stuff that could be included on a reference sheet (falling damage, dangerous atmospheres, etc.), but trying to include everything would result in too much paper clutter. I really wanted to keep this to one page, and the fact that there's some extra starship stuff doesn't worry me too much because each group will probably want a starship reference sheet anyways. Maybe at some point I'll make a separate sheet with the more situational stuff on it, but I wouldn't print it out and hand it to players; the less people have to look over the quicker things go at the table.
Also on this table I've formatted the font based on the use of the entry. Bold lines are things that I can see coming up most frequently, so I want them to jump out at the user. Italics are narrative options, so they'll be both situational and dependent on the player's creativity. If you don't have something narrative specifically in mind, the eye can gloss over the italicized text pretty easily. Non-formatted text are things that, while useful and should certainly be included in the table, seem like they're unlikely to see quite as much use. If a player wants to try something unusual s/he can reference the table a little more carefully, as opposed to just glancing over the bold entries (which if done as a default should speed up play).
I also felt it important to include the difficulties for personal ranged weapons and starship weapons, if for no other reason than that they operate differently, which can be potentially confusing. They'll also most likely be the most frequently used attacks. While most players will probably memorize at least the personal weapons table pretty quickly I still thought it was important enough to include. Melee/Brawl attacks, on the other hand, would just clutter up the sheet since it's trivial to remember that they're always made at average difficulty.
Invariably healing and recovery are things that I tend to have to look up regardless of what system I'm running. Specific recovery rules never seem to "stick" in my mind; I blame it on all of the vastly different healing rules present in the different editions of D&D. In any case I wanted all of the recovery options for wounds, critical injuries, and strain to be all in one place. No use wasting time rolling Cool to recover Strain if the Medical check that was just performed on you already recovered it with advantages.
In a narrative combat system it's easy to get caught up in just "going with it" and making up rulings that certain infrequently-used maneuvers get forgotten or messed up. For example, during my solo playtest I'd forgotten that Guarded Stance also gives your own attacks a setback die, and I didn't feel like flipping open the book to confirm a rule I thought I already knew. Mostly, having a maneuver list keeps players from thinking too hard about the possibility of a maneuver that they may have forgotten about; reference the chart if you're unsure, otherwise ignore it and go for the standbys of moving, diving for cover, and aiming.
Starship maneuvers, on the other hand, really do need to be listed for easy reference. For one thing there's probably only 1 pilot in most groups, and why force the burden of memorizing more specific rules on just one player? I can imagine that starship combat also happens less frequently than personal-scale combat, making specific maneuvers easier to forget.
Unfortunately I didn't have room for the starship action "Gain the Advantage," and there's a handful of other starship rules that I'd like to include on a sheet. At some point I might make a "Starship Character Sheet," which I doubt will take up a full page. The remaining space can be used to write down some of these more specific rules for easy reference.
Yes, there's other stuff that could be included on a reference sheet (falling damage, dangerous atmospheres, etc.), but trying to include everything would result in too much paper clutter. I really wanted to keep this to one page, and the fact that there's some extra starship stuff doesn't worry me too much because each group will probably want a starship reference sheet anyways. Maybe at some point I'll make a separate sheet with the more situational stuff on it, but I wouldn't print it out and hand it to players; the less people have to look over the quicker things go at the table.
Edge of the Empire Solo Playtest
I had some time this weekend to test out the system a little bit (even if I didn't have players!), and while it was a lot to take in and keep track of, I think I like how it plays. The biggest stumbling point was simply the fact that I was controlling 4 PCs and several groups of NPCs (I ran the first encounter from Crates of Krayts), and with all of the advantages I needed to spend and rules that needed to be referenced it was hard to keep track of whose turn it was, who had what boosts/setbacks, etc. I ended up having to list the PCs out to note things like "cover," "guarded stance," and "boost" or "upgrade" from various advantages. Obviously these are things that the players would keep track of in a real game. Things certainly seemed to run pretty smoothly on the Order 66 Podcast (which I listened to yesterday to compare my experience with their play session).
Character Creation
My party consisted of Kara Starhopper, a Human Explorer (Scout), Tanawook, a Wookie Technician (Mechanic), Frye Onasi, a Human Hired Gun (Bodyguard), and Zevrash, a Gand Smuggler (Pilot). Frye chose +10 starting obligation for maximum credits, Tanawook chose +5 obligation for an extra 1,000 credits, Kara chose +5 obligation for more starting XP, and Zevrash kept his obligation at the default level, though I did choose to make him a Gand subspecies with lungs, so that was a small XP boost in and of itself. Frye is rocking a Heavy Blaster Rifle (I was never able to get Auto-Fire to go off) and a Vibrosword, and it turned out that the melee weapon was a good idea for this fight. Tanawook uses a Bowcaster, of course, and Kara and Zevrash both stick with regular Blaster Pistols (Zevrash is the only PC who doesn't have a rank in a personal combat skill, though he does have Gunnery).
In making these characters, I devoted as much starting XP as possible to increasing Characteristics. To provide an idea of what kind of array is likely for starting characters, Kara has three Characteristics rated at 3, while the rest remain at the default of 2 (90 XP spent). Frye has a 4 and a 3, but wasn't able to raise anything else (100 XP spent). Tanawook has a 4 in Brawn and Intellect at 3, which equals 70 XP spent (since he started with a racial 3 in Brawn). Zevrash has 3 scores ranked at 3 (Willpower started that high), and the rest at 2 (with Presence raised from 1) for a total of 80 XP spent (granted I could have raised another 2 to a 3 here, but wanted to give him some nifty pilot Talents instead. Ultimately starting an ability at 5 is probably not worth it; for example, it would take a Wookie all of his starting XP to get Brawn up to 5, and a Human would need to spend all of his XP to get up to a 5, but only if he took +10 starting obligation, which is a steep price to pay. I see aiming for as many 3's as possible to be a good strategy for an all-around balanced PC, with increases in skill ranks making you more specialized through play. I wouldn't go higher than 4 for a single ability for someone who wants to be more specialized. Perhaps the exception will be Droid PCs who have more flexibility here, but I didn't make one so I wouldn't know.
The Combat
The maneuvers were mostly intuitive, and in a dynamic fight I could see players having to make real choices here, namely whether to fight more defensively or offensively. In a straight-up shootout I kept it pretty simple, with characters first moving to cover and then diving behind it, and using the Aim maneuver in subsequent rounds. Note that I counted moving to cover and then getting behind it as 2 maneuvers, assuming that a character has to be engaged with an environmental object before interacting with it, while it seemed like on the Order 66 podcast characters were just spending 1 maneuver to dive behind cover regardless of positioning. Given that drawing a weapon is also a maneuver, perhaps cover as 1 maneuver is the better ruling. All told, the only maneuvers I didn't make use of in this combat were Mount/Dismout, Drop Prone/Stand up from Prone, and Preparation. I can see characters who don't mind being locked in one position dropping prone after getting behind cover to gain extra defense.
One thing that concerned me going in was that Agility, Intellect, and Brawn seemed to be more useful in general than the other abilities. Willpower in particular with its paltry 3 skills (one of which, Discipline, seems to have a lot of thematic overlap with Cool) seemed like a good "dump stat." Now I'm not so sure. The temptation to suffer strain to gain an extra maneuver is greater than I thought, and after actually rolling post-battle Cool/Discipline checks it doesn't recover quite as quickly as I thought (never mind the fact that a high Willpower gives you a higher starting strain, and that often Obligation rolls will reduce your strain threshold). While Presence might be a tad more XP efficient (in that training Cool will net you Initiative and allow you to recover more strain), Willpower also governs a strain recovery skill (Discipline) and an initiative skill (Vigilance), and I can see Vigilance being used more frequently for initiative than Cool.
Here's how the importance of the Characteristics breaks down: Brawn governs only 4 skills, but 2 of these are combat skills and a high score here also boosts your Wound Threshold and your Soak value, making it an extremely important combat score. Agility is the base characteristic for the second highest number of skills (7), 3 of which are combat skills and 2 of which are piloting skills. These will all come up very often in-play. In particular, the most common skill rolls for most PCs will probably be a Ranged - Light or Ranged - Heavy roll. Intellect is impressive for the sheer number of skills based off of it - 11. This means that nearly a third of all skills are Intellect-based, and I can see Astrogation, Computers, Mechanics, and Medicine all being extremely important for most adventuring parties. Cunning might seem like an ideal dump stat now with only 5 associated skills and no other derived benefits, but if Perception is considered the best skill in D&D 4E then it can't be too shabby here, and given the fringer theme of most campaigns Deceit and Skulduggery will likely be important, and perhaps Streetwise as well. Willpower has been discussed above; despite governing only 3 skills it has the biggest impact on your strain threshold and recovery, and is important for initiative. Presence is the "face" Characteristic, with initiative tacked on as well. Overall I actually find it very interesting that EotE moved initiative away from and obvious pairing with Agility and split it between the two personality/charisma Characteristics.
Play Aids
This is turning into a longer post than I anticipated, so I'll move on to what might be the most important lesson I learned from my first solo playtest: keeping track of things is...different. I'm sure it seems like there's a lot to track because I don't know the system very well yet, and hopefully time will smooth that out. Here are a few ideas that I have, in brief:
• Tracking Destiny Points - while the suggestions in the book for counters or tokens is nice and probably works well, I'd rather not clutter up my gaming space with that stuff. I simply took a white d6 (light side) and a dark green d6 (dark side) and had the number of destiny points for either side face-up. For larger groups a larger die size might be necessary (or one could simply use multiple d6's).
• Tracking Initiative - For D&D what I do is cut out strips of index cards with the PCs names written on them, as well as generic monster groups (Mx, My, Mz). This allows me to arrange the cards quickly into the initiative order instead of writing everything down every time, and can quickly account for delaying and whatnot. For EotE I can simplify this even further with green cards (PC slots) and red cards (GM slots). This will save even more time setting up the initiative order because I won't have to search a pile of cards for a specific name, but rather just grab the right color.
• Determining Initiative - For this first time, it took a whole lot longer to compare success/advantages than it would have if initiative were a straight d20 roll. This was compounded by the fact that I was rolling for (and recording results from) every combatant on the field. In play I think the quickest way to tally initiative would be to call out everyone who got 0 successes, and then if needed compare their advantages. Then move on to 1 success, and so on, therefore building the initiative order from the bottom up.
• Tracking Strain - Constantly modifying current strain on the character sheet will get messy really fast. After all, losing or regaining strain is perhaps the simplest method for employing threats and advantages. As a GM, I'd rather just say "you lose 2 strain" than "this enemy gets a boost against you next turn," because I'll risk forgetting about the boost since it's yet another thing for me to keep track of. This will ultimately be up to the player, but tracking strain on scrap paper, adding/removing counters from a pool, or adjusting dice faces are probably all good ways of keeping up with strain.
• Maps - A rough, hand-drawn map with dots representing each enemy can keep positioning straight in a more narrative, theater-of-the-mind combat system. Or minis on the tabletop, no grid necessary. Rough relative positions can determine range bands, or you can just wing it. Most action is going to take place in the Short and Medium Range bands anyways, with Long range mostly being relegated to a tactical "sniper" range (since the prevalent blaster pistols won't fire that far).
• The GM's scrap paper - Yeah, regardless of the game system this will always be needed, though different systems will require a different setup. I think a simple list of enemies (or groups of enemies) will do, with a current wound total in one column and any other notes in another column (in cover, gets boost/setback next round, status effects, etc.).
Character Creation
My party consisted of Kara Starhopper, a Human Explorer (Scout), Tanawook, a Wookie Technician (Mechanic), Frye Onasi, a Human Hired Gun (Bodyguard), and Zevrash, a Gand Smuggler (Pilot). Frye chose +10 starting obligation for maximum credits, Tanawook chose +5 obligation for an extra 1,000 credits, Kara chose +5 obligation for more starting XP, and Zevrash kept his obligation at the default level, though I did choose to make him a Gand subspecies with lungs, so that was a small XP boost in and of itself. Frye is rocking a Heavy Blaster Rifle (I was never able to get Auto-Fire to go off) and a Vibrosword, and it turned out that the melee weapon was a good idea for this fight. Tanawook uses a Bowcaster, of course, and Kara and Zevrash both stick with regular Blaster Pistols (Zevrash is the only PC who doesn't have a rank in a personal combat skill, though he does have Gunnery).
In making these characters, I devoted as much starting XP as possible to increasing Characteristics. To provide an idea of what kind of array is likely for starting characters, Kara has three Characteristics rated at 3, while the rest remain at the default of 2 (90 XP spent). Frye has a 4 and a 3, but wasn't able to raise anything else (100 XP spent). Tanawook has a 4 in Brawn and Intellect at 3, which equals 70 XP spent (since he started with a racial 3 in Brawn). Zevrash has 3 scores ranked at 3 (Willpower started that high), and the rest at 2 (with Presence raised from 1) for a total of 80 XP spent (granted I could have raised another 2 to a 3 here, but wanted to give him some nifty pilot Talents instead. Ultimately starting an ability at 5 is probably not worth it; for example, it would take a Wookie all of his starting XP to get Brawn up to 5, and a Human would need to spend all of his XP to get up to a 5, but only if he took +10 starting obligation, which is a steep price to pay. I see aiming for as many 3's as possible to be a good strategy for an all-around balanced PC, with increases in skill ranks making you more specialized through play. I wouldn't go higher than 4 for a single ability for someone who wants to be more specialized. Perhaps the exception will be Droid PCs who have more flexibility here, but I didn't make one so I wouldn't know.
The Combat
The maneuvers were mostly intuitive, and in a dynamic fight I could see players having to make real choices here, namely whether to fight more defensively or offensively. In a straight-up shootout I kept it pretty simple, with characters first moving to cover and then diving behind it, and using the Aim maneuver in subsequent rounds. Note that I counted moving to cover and then getting behind it as 2 maneuvers, assuming that a character has to be engaged with an environmental object before interacting with it, while it seemed like on the Order 66 podcast characters were just spending 1 maneuver to dive behind cover regardless of positioning. Given that drawing a weapon is also a maneuver, perhaps cover as 1 maneuver is the better ruling. All told, the only maneuvers I didn't make use of in this combat were Mount/Dismout, Drop Prone/Stand up from Prone, and Preparation. I can see characters who don't mind being locked in one position dropping prone after getting behind cover to gain extra defense.
One thing that concerned me going in was that Agility, Intellect, and Brawn seemed to be more useful in general than the other abilities. Willpower in particular with its paltry 3 skills (one of which, Discipline, seems to have a lot of thematic overlap with Cool) seemed like a good "dump stat." Now I'm not so sure. The temptation to suffer strain to gain an extra maneuver is greater than I thought, and after actually rolling post-battle Cool/Discipline checks it doesn't recover quite as quickly as I thought (never mind the fact that a high Willpower gives you a higher starting strain, and that often Obligation rolls will reduce your strain threshold). While Presence might be a tad more XP efficient (in that training Cool will net you Initiative and allow you to recover more strain), Willpower also governs a strain recovery skill (Discipline) and an initiative skill (Vigilance), and I can see Vigilance being used more frequently for initiative than Cool.
Here's how the importance of the Characteristics breaks down: Brawn governs only 4 skills, but 2 of these are combat skills and a high score here also boosts your Wound Threshold and your Soak value, making it an extremely important combat score. Agility is the base characteristic for the second highest number of skills (7), 3 of which are combat skills and 2 of which are piloting skills. These will all come up very often in-play. In particular, the most common skill rolls for most PCs will probably be a Ranged - Light or Ranged - Heavy roll. Intellect is impressive for the sheer number of skills based off of it - 11. This means that nearly a third of all skills are Intellect-based, and I can see Astrogation, Computers, Mechanics, and Medicine all being extremely important for most adventuring parties. Cunning might seem like an ideal dump stat now with only 5 associated skills and no other derived benefits, but if Perception is considered the best skill in D&D 4E then it can't be too shabby here, and given the fringer theme of most campaigns Deceit and Skulduggery will likely be important, and perhaps Streetwise as well. Willpower has been discussed above; despite governing only 3 skills it has the biggest impact on your strain threshold and recovery, and is important for initiative. Presence is the "face" Characteristic, with initiative tacked on as well. Overall I actually find it very interesting that EotE moved initiative away from and obvious pairing with Agility and split it between the two personality/charisma Characteristics.
Play Aids
This is turning into a longer post than I anticipated, so I'll move on to what might be the most important lesson I learned from my first solo playtest: keeping track of things is...different. I'm sure it seems like there's a lot to track because I don't know the system very well yet, and hopefully time will smooth that out. Here are a few ideas that I have, in brief:
• Tracking Destiny Points - while the suggestions in the book for counters or tokens is nice and probably works well, I'd rather not clutter up my gaming space with that stuff. I simply took a white d6 (light side) and a dark green d6 (dark side) and had the number of destiny points for either side face-up. For larger groups a larger die size might be necessary (or one could simply use multiple d6's).
• Tracking Initiative - For D&D what I do is cut out strips of index cards with the PCs names written on them, as well as generic monster groups (Mx, My, Mz). This allows me to arrange the cards quickly into the initiative order instead of writing everything down every time, and can quickly account for delaying and whatnot. For EotE I can simplify this even further with green cards (PC slots) and red cards (GM slots). This will save even more time setting up the initiative order because I won't have to search a pile of cards for a specific name, but rather just grab the right color.
• Determining Initiative - For this first time, it took a whole lot longer to compare success/advantages than it would have if initiative were a straight d20 roll. This was compounded by the fact that I was rolling for (and recording results from) every combatant on the field. In play I think the quickest way to tally initiative would be to call out everyone who got 0 successes, and then if needed compare their advantages. Then move on to 1 success, and so on, therefore building the initiative order from the bottom up.
• Tracking Strain - Constantly modifying current strain on the character sheet will get messy really fast. After all, losing or regaining strain is perhaps the simplest method for employing threats and advantages. As a GM, I'd rather just say "you lose 2 strain" than "this enemy gets a boost against you next turn," because I'll risk forgetting about the boost since it's yet another thing for me to keep track of. This will ultimately be up to the player, but tracking strain on scrap paper, adding/removing counters from a pool, or adjusting dice faces are probably all good ways of keeping up with strain.
• Maps - A rough, hand-drawn map with dots representing each enemy can keep positioning straight in a more narrative, theater-of-the-mind combat system. Or minis on the tabletop, no grid necessary. Rough relative positions can determine range bands, or you can just wing it. Most action is going to take place in the Short and Medium Range bands anyways, with Long range mostly being relegated to a tactical "sniper" range (since the prevalent blaster pistols won't fire that far).
• The GM's scrap paper - Yeah, regardless of the game system this will always be needed, though different systems will require a different setup. I think a simple list of enemies (or groups of enemies) will do, with a current wound total in one column and any other notes in another column (in cover, gets boost/setback next round, status effects, etc.).
Saturday, September 22, 2012
13 True Ways FUNDED!!!!
The 13 True Ways Kickstarter is officially over, and I'm very excited to see so many of the stretch goals met! Perhaps most importantly for players who like a variety of classes, 3 additional ones join the ranks of the Druid, Monk, and Chaos Shaman: they are the Necromancer, the Battle Captain, and the Occultist. The Battle Captain will be a Warlord style class, and the Occultist looks to be a type of demon summoner (the Necromancer should be self-explanatory).
It's awesome that an expansion for a game that hasn't even been officially released yet has garnered so much support. Perhaps those that have followed the Escalation Edition shouldn't be surprised, as the quality of those drafts really speak for themselves.
It's awesome that an expansion for a game that hasn't even been officially released yet has garnered so much support. Perhaps those that have followed the Escalation Edition shouldn't be surprised, as the quality of those drafts really speak for themselves.
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