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Agreed the art is spectacular. Design Mechanism is just feeding me awesome after awesome. And they just dropped that their releasing Mythic Gwynedd...I’m perpetually amazed that they keep tickling all my pleasure zones
The setting is a nice change from bog-standard western-medieval fantasy, reminding me a bit of Glorantha, with enough to be interesting, but not overwhelming.
Yeah Loz let it slip.Really? That's great news! I couldn't find any mention of it on their website, though.
I had hoped that Vagabonds of Dyfed might have a medieval Welsh setting, but no dice.
Just as a comment - in T H White's "The Sword in the Stone" - the first of his Arthurian Quartet - Arthur is indeed a contemporary of Robin Hood. Merlin becomes The Wart's (Arthur's) tutor, and "In one of their excursions, the boys and Merlyn encounter Little John, who leads them to Robin Hood (referred to as Robin Wood) and Marian. Their extended stay with Robin culminates in an encounter with a griffin. Kay manages to slay the beast, taking its head as a trophy. During the fray, the griffin breaks the Wart's collar bone"I think Jackals is based on OpenQuest (an OGL BRP variant).
As for the other Osprey games, I bought the PDF for Romance of the Perilous Land, and while the production values are nice, the actual system is just OK (a class and level system that kind of reminds of mix of various iterations of D&D with a little bit of Dragon Warriors thrown in). The setting ended up being not all that appealing to me. It's a weird mix; it assumes that Arthur and Robin Hood are contemporaries for example. I have no experience with Paleomythic.
It's a really good book.Just as a comment - in T H White's "The Sword in the Stone" - the first of his Arthurian Quartet - Arthur is indeed a contemporary of Robin Hood. Merlin becomes The Wart's (Arthur's) tutor, and "In one of their excursions, the boys and Merlyn encounter Little John, who leads them to Robin Hood (referred to as Robin Wood) and Marian. Their extended stay with Robin culminates in an encounter with a griffin. Kay manages to slay the beast, taking its head as a trophy. During the fray, the griffin breaks the Wart's collar bone"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sword_in_the_Stone_(novel)
Well, that's at least as historical as Arthur having a plate, so why not?Just as a comment - in T H White's "The Sword in the Stone" - the first of his Arthurian Quartet - Arthur is indeed a contemporary of Robin Hood. Merlin becomes The Wart's (Arthur's) tutor, and "In one of their excursions, the boys and Merlyn encounter Little John, who leads them to Robin Hood (referred to as Robin Wood) and Marian. Their extended stay with Robin culminates in an encounter with a griffin. Kay manages to slay the beast, taking its head as a trophy. During the fray, the griffin breaks the Wart's collar bone"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sword_in_the_Stone_(novel)
It's a really good book.
The wuxia game, Righteous Blood, Ruthless Blades uses a light system modeled loosely after the system I used in Ogre Gate (faster and involves less record keeping than Ogre Gate, more rulings over rules focus). It tries to capture a Gu Long-like dark wuxia feel.
From what you have described, the Valour/Mettle system sounds very similar to CONAN 2D20's Vigour/Wounds system, except add Major Wounds table like seen in SB or OQ.OK, so I've read the combat chapter, which is interesting. I should say I haven't looked at Mythras for a while, so I'm not sure how it compares. However, this is what I've gathered from my first read.
All characters have a derived characteristic called Mettle (half their Vitality + Courage). This can be reduced by things that fatigue you - mainly travel (exacerbated by being encumbered). At the start of any combat you calculate your Valour, which is you Mettle times the number of unfilled wound box rows you have (max 3, so not too difficult). This would gives a score of 27 if you had a completely average human stat of 9 in Vitality and Courage.
Valour acts as a "soak" when you take damage, as you lose these before losing wounds, and they regenerate after combat once you have had a short rest.
Initiative is a fairly standard roll at the start of combat. In a round you can move and take an action, but importantly each round you also have Cash Points (which are kind of like action points). You can spend Clash Points for a variety if effects - minor actions like opening a door or retrieving an item from your pack, switching weapons or standing from prone, casting rituals. You can also use them to improve you combat actions (spent after finding out whether your attack was successful) - doing extra damage, damaging an adjacent target etc. Most importantly, spending a Clash point turns an enemy's attack into a Clash - you both roll combat skill and compare outcomes - this can result in one or both taking damage - if both score a critical, they will both take maximum damage, ignoring protection (and both gain a Fate point as well).
Armour protects by subtracting from damage before it is applied to Valour or Wounds.
After the fight, you may suffer a scar, depending on how many Wounds you suffered. The outcome depends on a % roll with modifiers depending on Wounds suffered. They range from minor scars (cosmetic only) through permanent impairment (a permanent loss to Mettle, Wounds, Clash or Martial skills). I see that the worst outcome is a severed limb - not quite sure how you would fail to notice this until the end of combat... Reminds me of Major Wounds from some BRP games.
I would like to play a combat in this system - it looks interesting but maybe a little more forgiving than some BRP games I have played.
There is a simple travel system - poor Survival checks will result in (temporary) damage to you Mettle (with consequences to you Valour if you get into a fight on arrival...)
Rituals - are essentially magic and each cultures has its own - a player can access the'r own culture's rituals (though they will have to travel to the appropriate place to learn them - for example the Luathi Rite "Balm of the Kahar" can only be learnt at the Temple of Alwain in Ameena Noani, or the Temple of the Morning Lord in Sentem) or Mouatheni rituals (evil and corrupting). Magic is generally fairly low powered (though you can learn advancements for rituals through the advancement system) but useful (healing, improved skill levels, protection etc).
I going to take a look at advancement and the chapter on the War Road (the main setting) next.
Indeed, one of the best fantasy books I've read.
Speaking of which, any good historical or fantasy books set during the Bronze Age come to mind for anyone?
The Running the Game section is pretty good - it gives some brief general advice, then deals with the calendar and seasons. It deals with the forgotten people of the lands, and towns and settlements...
thanks - it's a pleasureJust wanted to say thanks for this read-through of the book; it's very enlightening.
The Running the Game section is pretty good - it gives some brief general advice, then deals with the calendar and seasons. It deals with the forgotten people of the lands, and towns and settlements.
There is then a section on Corruption - this can really cause problems for characters (for example mental and physical corruption and posing connection with their supernatural patrons) and lead them down a dark road. Atonement is possible, but only on a small number of occasions - and isn't easy to achieve.
There are the expected sections on light and darkness, environmental threats and detailed encounter tables. Thereafter the chapter deals with equipment, modifying it and commissioning it, magic items and treasure (mostly a "how to" guide but with a few detailed items. There are also guidelines on how a piece of mundane equipment might become "awakened to greatness" and start to become magical in its own right.
There is a fairly lengthy section on Kleos (essentially renown), the gathering of which allows greater recognition for a character as well as unwanted attention fro the forces of chaos. It also allows you to gain a patron (there are 5 pages of sample patrons to use) and to be a target for coercion/temptation by the forces of chaos, and subject to prophetic dreams.
You can also take seasonal actions, including atone, carouse, crafting or commissioning an item, increasing your Kleos, research, establishing a home, hospitality etc. Many of these cost money, but also give considerable benefits, including active advances, increasing influence etc.
Finally there are rules for retiring characters (as opposed to them dying in action) which establishes them as NPCs and allows the players new character to start with more experience than a beginning character.
I like this section - it gives a bit of a feeling of growth and continuity sometimes missing in an rpg, but without being as complex as (for example) Pendragon. Nice.
Next up is the Bestiary and encounter building. Again fairly straightforward - the creatures, monsters etc have their skills rated by group (eg Defence, Combat, Urban etc) rather then by individual skill - this makes it simpler to run them. Each also has different "combat ranges" - the GM rolls to find which range to use and can use any ability on that row or lower. An example form me here might make it clearer...
a wolf might: Snap, darting in for 2d6 damage - if the wolf does damage it disengages and moves away half a move; Hamstring - 1d8+1d4 damage - the target must then make an endurance check or lose 2 Clash Points and half their move until they receive a successful Healing Check; Darting Maul (3 attacks) - 2d6 bite (1), 1d8+1d4 claws (2), the wolf can move up to one quarter of its Move between each attack - if both claw attacks hit the same target, the wolf knocks their opponent prone.
The Bestiary is flavourful and nicely illustrated in respect of some of the fantastic entries (no illustration of wolves or lions for example)
Tomorrow I'm going to take a look at the adventures (three of these) but I won't give any spoilers
I’m enjoying it too!thanks - it's a pleasure
However, I think there's a question there of whether it's to do with Merlin living backwards in time rather than Arthur and Hood being contemporaries. The Perilous Land is pretty much its own thing I think and meshes both legends together. I rather like that, but as we've seen in this thread that kind of gonzo approach to British folklore isn't going to be for everyone.Just as a comment - in T H White's "The Sword in the Stone" - the first of his Arthurian Quartet - Arthur is indeed a contemporary of Robin Hood. Merlin becomes The Wart's (Arthur's) tutor, and "In one of their excursions, the boys and Merlyn encounter Little John, who leads them to Robin Hood (referred to as Robin Wood) and Marian. Their extended stay with Robin culminates in an encounter with a griffin. Kay manages to slay the beast, taking its head as a trophy. During the fray, the griffin breaks the Wart's collar bone"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sword_in_the_Stone_(novel)
hmmm. I don't own the book any more, but my recollection (and a quick look online) doesn't seem to come up with anything relating this to Merlin - he isn't actually on the quest, he just tells the boys to "walk along Hob's strip of barley" until they encounter something. This leads them to the Forest Sauvage where they encounter Much and Little John leading to the adventure to rescue Friar Tuck and The Dog Boy (one of Ector's servants) from Castle Chariot where they are being held by The Oldest Ones of All (faeries) under the rule of Morgan le Fay. So it's a right old mash-up.However, I think there's a question there of whether it's to do with Merlin living backwards in time rather than Arthur and Hood being contemporaries. The Perilous Land is pretty much its own thing I think and meshes both legends together. I rather like that, but as we've seen in this thread that kind of gonzo approach to British folklore isn't going to be for everyone.
Aquelarra please.OK, so the adventures... there are three, which is nice (The Bronze Bell, The Lost Children, The Wolves' Lair).
Without giving any spoilers, they are fairly short, and reasonably straightforward. The Bronze Bell gives considerable opportunity for introducing some key setting elements and has plenty of scope for roleplaying/investigation. The other two potentially tie in to the campaign book (Fall of the Children of Bronze) which should be available later this year.
Whilst I like The Bronze Bell quite a lot, I would categorise the other two as "workmanlike" rather than anything else. My main beef with them is (for me) the lack of real roleplaying opportunities - they "feel" a little bit like early D&D adventures in some regards.
This brings me to my other personal issue - the supernatural seems very prevalent in the campaign setting. I don't have a particular problem with this as such, but there is a strong supernatural theme in each adventure, and personally I tend to like campaigns where the supernatural is rare - and adventures where there isn't any supernatural at all. In my book humans are humans everywhere, and there's lots of opportunity for greed, hatred, power play and petty rivalries to escalate and provide a good story without any need for the supernatural - one or more adventures dealing with this type of thing would have been nice.
Overall I would give the book 4.5 out of 5 - I would love to give it a go. Now all I need do is persuade the rest of the group....
I now have to decide my next big read - a toss-up between Aquelarre and Conspiracy X 2e
Seconded.Aquelarra please.
I now have to decide my next big read
Aquelarre it is then - I'll start a new thread
Yeah, and I'm thinking of whether I want to splurge for a print copy.It is indeed big.
Aquelarre it is then - I'll start a new thread
Wait what where?Design Mechanism [...] just dropped that their releasing Mythic Gwynedd...
Wait what where?
Yeah, and I'm thinking of whether I want to splurge for a print copy.
Reading the DriveThruRPG preview, it's interesting that apart from an acknowledgement of Newt Newport and OpenQuest, there's no connection to any OGL version of OQ, or Legend.
I know, or I wouldn't even be considering it. I'm just preparing myself mentally!You should. Aquelarre is a very thorough avant la lettre "Mythic Spain and Portugal".
That seems pretty crappy of them to do.
So they can make use of all Open Content.THIS LICENSE IS APPROVED FOR GENERAL USE.
PERMISSION TO DISTRIBUTE THIS LICENSE IS MADE BY WIZARDS OF THE COAST
Open Game Content may only be used under and in terms of the Open Game License Version 1.0a (OGL).
This entire work is designated as Open Game Content under the OGL, with the exception of those trademarks noted below under DESIGNATION OF PRODUCT IDENTITY and COPYRIGHT NOTICE.
DESIGNATION OF PRODUCT IDENTITY “Osprey Games”, the Osprey Games logo, all artwork, and the trade dress of this work (font, layout, style of artwork, etc.) is Copyright 2021 Osprey Publishing.
COPYRIGHT NOTICE The introduction and fiction or descriptive text, and the setting of Kalypsis in this product is Copyright 2021 John-Matthew DeFoggi and is not open content.
DESIGNATION OF OPEN CONTENT Nothing in this book is open content OPEN GAME LICENSE Version 1.0a The following text is the property of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. and is Copyright 2000 Wizards of the Coast, Inc (“Wizards”). All Rights Reserved.
IANAL but why bother putting in the license if none of it is open content?
Well that’s kind of sad I suppose.So they can make use of all Open Content.