ckiraly
09-06-2005, 12:47 AM
Greetings all -
First and foremost, I'm going to apologize in advance as this is going to be a fairly lengthy post.
Before I go into details of what I want/need - let me give you a bit of background.
I have been roleplaying since 1982ish... Mainly DnD (1st, 2nd, & 3rd). I was completely devestated by WotC's treatment of 3.5, and basically swore off DnD, and gaming in general, for about a year. I recently started playing in a friends 2nd Edition (fairly modified) game, to get my gaming juices flowing again.
I always liked the feel of 2E in regards to the high fantasy, and I liked the simplicity of 3E (D20), but found that a) they simplified too much, and much of it became who can manipulate the points the fastest (munchkin-ism), and b) they totally destroyed any faith I had in them by bringing out 3.5 (after shelling out money 3 years ago for 3) and breaking more than they fixed.
So I was about ready to design my own game (a hybrid 2E, 3E, Hero mix - almost a D20 Hero if you will), when I came across an article on someone's blog (Treasure Tables, I believe) that talked about playing a superlative demo at a prior GenCon, and linked to your site. I read up on what I could (the 2 pdf's you had from the CB and BW), and decided that enough had sparked my interest to purchase the system (and the Monster Burner).
So I've been reading the system, and slowly making some notes for myself (it's not overly complex, but it helps me clarify things in my own mind).
So here's where I'm at.
I will be starting BW on the 1st Sunday in October (Oct 2nd I believe), and will have a group of about 7 friends. The advantage I have over most people trying to convert people to BW is that a) 3 core people in this group are heavy roleplayers (one is the DM i'm playing under) who could easily spend a night in town, purchasing supplies, and talking it up with NPCs; b) 2 of the players have never played anything before, and enjoy the idea that they will be in the same boat as everyone else, learning a brand new system (one is a significant other of one of my roleplayers, and they expressed interest in learning what their better half is doing on his saturday nights - but can't go on her own due to the pets my DM keeps); and c) because I haven't run anything in about 2 years, they are all chomping at the bit for me to run anything.
So, like I said, I'm creating my own explanatory document to hand out to my players because I'm the only one with the books, and it helps me get things straight in my head about the game. (For example, tonight I was describing the 3 styles of tests. When I started describing Open Tests, I realized that there was a difference between Open Tests and Open-Ended Tests. (Mainly that Open-Ended tests aren't really tests, but ability types and that the test still falls under Standard / Versus / Open). So it's helping me, and I think it will help my players understand it from reading it in my own words.
So after all that, here is where I'm at:
A) I plan on running the sample scenarious that are on the Site (starting with the Sword), but need to know a good way to add 3 characters to it (for my 7).
B) My grasp on the more advanced subjects (like Duel of Wits / Fight! / Wounds / Magic) are tentative at best. What is the best way to try and get my head around these topics?
C) Are there any topics (I haven't seen any) that discuss converting things from other games (mainly DnD 2E & 3E). I would be really interested in this as I have a buttload of material that I would like to use (adventures, etc) but would need to be converted.
My initial idea is to run the 3 scenarios for the first three weeks, then begin the character burning process. I want the players to have a solid grasp of the game basics before getting into character burning, especially since the burning process will take a bit with 7 people.
Oh, and a couple of concerns I have and would like to discuss...
1) The games lifepaths seems to be an attempt at historical accuracy (at least the human ones). While this is nice and all, I could care less about historical accuracy, so long as it makes any type of logical sense, and that the setting is High / Epic fantasy. Something that I didn't see covered is this: Is it possible for a character to go back to a lifepath setting he leaded out of? This question comes from the following: One of the things that I use to judge systems nowadays, is to determine "Can this system be used to create some of the fantasy characters I read about or watch in movies?" For example, one of the things I hated with 3E was that it took out the ability for one of it's storied characters to be able to do what he had done in one of the books (ie: Bruenor Battlehammer had created the magical warhammer Aegis Fang in the book The Crystal Shard. However, according to 3E, Bruenor could no longer make this weapon, as he was not a Wizard or Priest) So anyways, to the point. My example for this system is the movie "The Beastmaster" and the character of Dar. The concern I have is that Dar should definitely start out as Born Noble, but could never have spent 8 years in this lifepath, since he was basically kidnapped at birth, and prior to being killed, rescued by a villager (thus spending the first 10 years of his life as Village born). How would you burn Dar?
2) I'm also intrigued in the concept of Magic being a bit more common (almost Eberron-ish in feel), where in larger cities, magic is used to light the streets at night, and travel between the major cities. Not being 100% in touch with the magic system in BW, can this feel be achieved?
3) That last thing that concerns me at this point is the Resource skill. I am having a difficult time wrapping my mind around the concept of "no gold" to be found when searching a dungeon, or when soloing a criminal's character on a night 'on the town'. While I understand that Items can be found, the cool part of loot can also be the buying power of the money and gems/jewels the characters loot. Am I missing something, or is there some reason there is no need for the monetary exchange, and that you just use resource tests?
Any comments / advice would be greatly appreciated...
(Again, sorry for the lengthy post)...
- Chris
First and foremost, I'm going to apologize in advance as this is going to be a fairly lengthy post.
Before I go into details of what I want/need - let me give you a bit of background.
I have been roleplaying since 1982ish... Mainly DnD (1st, 2nd, & 3rd). I was completely devestated by WotC's treatment of 3.5, and basically swore off DnD, and gaming in general, for about a year. I recently started playing in a friends 2nd Edition (fairly modified) game, to get my gaming juices flowing again.
I always liked the feel of 2E in regards to the high fantasy, and I liked the simplicity of 3E (D20), but found that a) they simplified too much, and much of it became who can manipulate the points the fastest (munchkin-ism), and b) they totally destroyed any faith I had in them by bringing out 3.5 (after shelling out money 3 years ago for 3) and breaking more than they fixed.
So I was about ready to design my own game (a hybrid 2E, 3E, Hero mix - almost a D20 Hero if you will), when I came across an article on someone's blog (Treasure Tables, I believe) that talked about playing a superlative demo at a prior GenCon, and linked to your site. I read up on what I could (the 2 pdf's you had from the CB and BW), and decided that enough had sparked my interest to purchase the system (and the Monster Burner).
So I've been reading the system, and slowly making some notes for myself (it's not overly complex, but it helps me clarify things in my own mind).
So here's where I'm at.
I will be starting BW on the 1st Sunday in October (Oct 2nd I believe), and will have a group of about 7 friends. The advantage I have over most people trying to convert people to BW is that a) 3 core people in this group are heavy roleplayers (one is the DM i'm playing under) who could easily spend a night in town, purchasing supplies, and talking it up with NPCs; b) 2 of the players have never played anything before, and enjoy the idea that they will be in the same boat as everyone else, learning a brand new system (one is a significant other of one of my roleplayers, and they expressed interest in learning what their better half is doing on his saturday nights - but can't go on her own due to the pets my DM keeps); and c) because I haven't run anything in about 2 years, they are all chomping at the bit for me to run anything.
So, like I said, I'm creating my own explanatory document to hand out to my players because I'm the only one with the books, and it helps me get things straight in my head about the game. (For example, tonight I was describing the 3 styles of tests. When I started describing Open Tests, I realized that there was a difference between Open Tests and Open-Ended Tests. (Mainly that Open-Ended tests aren't really tests, but ability types and that the test still falls under Standard / Versus / Open). So it's helping me, and I think it will help my players understand it from reading it in my own words.
So after all that, here is where I'm at:
A) I plan on running the sample scenarious that are on the Site (starting with the Sword), but need to know a good way to add 3 characters to it (for my 7).
B) My grasp on the more advanced subjects (like Duel of Wits / Fight! / Wounds / Magic) are tentative at best. What is the best way to try and get my head around these topics?
C) Are there any topics (I haven't seen any) that discuss converting things from other games (mainly DnD 2E & 3E). I would be really interested in this as I have a buttload of material that I would like to use (adventures, etc) but would need to be converted.
My initial idea is to run the 3 scenarios for the first three weeks, then begin the character burning process. I want the players to have a solid grasp of the game basics before getting into character burning, especially since the burning process will take a bit with 7 people.
Oh, and a couple of concerns I have and would like to discuss...
1) The games lifepaths seems to be an attempt at historical accuracy (at least the human ones). While this is nice and all, I could care less about historical accuracy, so long as it makes any type of logical sense, and that the setting is High / Epic fantasy. Something that I didn't see covered is this: Is it possible for a character to go back to a lifepath setting he leaded out of? This question comes from the following: One of the things that I use to judge systems nowadays, is to determine "Can this system be used to create some of the fantasy characters I read about or watch in movies?" For example, one of the things I hated with 3E was that it took out the ability for one of it's storied characters to be able to do what he had done in one of the books (ie: Bruenor Battlehammer had created the magical warhammer Aegis Fang in the book The Crystal Shard. However, according to 3E, Bruenor could no longer make this weapon, as he was not a Wizard or Priest) So anyways, to the point. My example for this system is the movie "The Beastmaster" and the character of Dar. The concern I have is that Dar should definitely start out as Born Noble, but could never have spent 8 years in this lifepath, since he was basically kidnapped at birth, and prior to being killed, rescued by a villager (thus spending the first 10 years of his life as Village born). How would you burn Dar?
2) I'm also intrigued in the concept of Magic being a bit more common (almost Eberron-ish in feel), where in larger cities, magic is used to light the streets at night, and travel between the major cities. Not being 100% in touch with the magic system in BW, can this feel be achieved?
3) That last thing that concerns me at this point is the Resource skill. I am having a difficult time wrapping my mind around the concept of "no gold" to be found when searching a dungeon, or when soloing a criminal's character on a night 'on the town'. While I understand that Items can be found, the cool part of loot can also be the buying power of the money and gems/jewels the characters loot. Am I missing something, or is there some reason there is no need for the monetary exchange, and that you just use resource tests?
Any comments / advice would be greatly appreciated...
(Again, sorry for the lengthy post)...
- Chris