Black Spear: Bucolic Fantasy Role Play--Any Good?

Best Selling RPGs - Available Now @ DriveThruRPG.com

Lofgeornost

Feeling Martian!
Joined
Jul 8, 2020
Messages
3,355
Reaction score
10,051
Drivethru RPG is a real Fibber McGee's closet. Checking it for the Deal of the Day today, I stumbled on Black Spear: Bucolic Fantasy Role Play, published by Sad Fishe Games. It seems to be an Openquest variant, but maybe with a more ancient/Bronze Age feel. It's pretty cheap: $2.95 US for the main book, or $3 for a bundle that has the rulebook, the SRD (which you can also get for free), solo rules, and an adventure. And the softback print version + PDF is just $6.99.

So price is no obstacle, but I've got so many games and systems sitting in the queue waiting to be read I wondered if this one was worth picking up or not. It seems to have been released quite recently (12/2020), but in the hopes that someone here has experience with it, I thought I'd ask about it.
 
I’ve never heard of a ROG being self described as “bucolic”. So no cities then?
 
Welcome to Black Spear, dangerous adventure in an enigmatic, ancient world. Black Spear has taken the core of Openquest, pared it down for the sake of simplicity, and added modern table-top gaming philosophy to create compelling, snappy updates to the D100 system suitable for the intended themes of the game.

90FF7777-8C89-4308-BAD1-6FC4B811438C.jpeg
 
Hi there

Black Spear dev here, Tyler T. specifically.

I would be very surprised if anyone here had experience with the system. It was a pet project of ours last year where we tried to meld certain themes and mechanics we liked about Openquest (and so BRP), Zweihander, and a couple other bits and baubles. Bucolic was a marketing choice to try and convey some of the setting themes we tried to accommodate- specifically, that of pastoral living and troubles, rather than urban or even necessarily feudal fantasy. Its a brand of escapism that I know the three of us at our little studio have been craving.

We really just wanted to write a fantasy system with some rules we preferred, and specifically at a low cost and open basis. We enjoy playing it, and are actively developing still as we discover errata or seek to supplement the current rules for situations we run in to or write about in our other work. Its all OGL, so, feel free to do what you like with that. If you'd like a free dtrpg download, just shoot me an email, sadfishegames@gmail.com. Its no skin off our bones.

Please don't judge our heresy too harshly, commissar CRKrueger. Its all in good fun.
 
Thanks much. I sort of scroll around sometimes but thought I ought chime in since someone brought up our work.
 
I kid above S SfgTAT, but what exactly has been "simplified," from OpenQuest, magic systems?
 
Magic is perhaps no more or less complex in most ways. There is no cult distinction, exactly, though Divine Spells (Rituals) do call upon a specific deity, though anyone with the right knowhow and skill can use them. Instead, just three classes of magic and two skills: Sorcery as its own Skill and type of magic, Ritual as same, and Petty being magic that can be used with either Sorcery or Ritual, whichever the caster prefers.

One larger change is that of Damage Thresholds and damage tracks rather than HP and hit locations and so on. This system is very similar to that of Zweihander- a hit either breaches your damage threshold and moves you down the Health track, or it doesn't. Its just the mechanic we prefer, though Openquest handles HP much better than many systems. Skill rolls in general are somewhat simplified by not fussing with +/- X% modifiers- your target on a roll is based on a GM difficulty ruling, normal being to roll under the relevant skill value, easier to roll under twice your value, and harder to roll under a 1/2 or 1/4 fraction of your skill value. This, instead of tracking -10% here or +25% there. That is sort of borrowed from, say, Call of Cthulu, among other systems. We also adopt an Action point system, typically 3 points per turn for most characters, making it a resource to manage for things like defensive actions. Openquest already sort of does this, if not literally than functionally, but AP systems are something we've come to prefer over the past couple years of play- it limits much looking up regarding whether X can be done after Y, since you know the general actions available (they're listed) and whether you have the AP to do it. Damage in general is typically the same across weapons, a 1d10 roll + the character's bonus that explodes into another d10 on a face 10 roll, a la zweihander, with the distinctions between them being weapon Traits that enhance or open up the option for different kinds of use, rather than one weapon doing 2d6+modifier and another doing 1d8+modifier. This also opens up the possibility of what seems like a non-threatening attack to end up being rather dire indeed, which is a goal we had. There are some other changes too, but I'd better not write an essay.

Is this ACTUALLY simpler? Lol who knows. For us it is, and it achieves some design goals we had for some things we had not liked when playing other games. We had a lot of fun writing it- I'll let the people decide how well it holds up to scrutiny. I appreciate even passing interest, folks. Offer stands for the download, or an at cost print copy if you like.
 
Hi there

Black Spear dev here, Tyler T. specifically.

I would be very surprised if anyone here had experience with the system. It was a pet project of ours last year where we tried to meld certain themes and mechanics we liked about Openquest (and so BRP), Zweihander, and a couple other bits and baubles. Bucolic was a marketing choice to try and convey some of the setting themes we tried to accommodate- specifically, that of pastoral living and troubles, rather than urban or even necessarily feudal fantasy. Its a brand of escapism that I know the three of us at our little studio have been craving.

We really just wanted to write a fantasy system with some rules we preferred, and specifically at a low cost and open basis. We enjoy playing it, and are actively developing still as we discover errata or seek to supplement the current rules for situations we run in to or write about in our other work. Its all OGL, so, feel free to do what you like with that. If you'd like a free dtrpg download, just shoot me an email, sadfishegames@gmail.com. Its no skin off our bones.

Please don't judge our heresy too harshly, commissar CRKrueger. Its all in good fun.
Prepare to be surprised: I've got your game:grin:!

I haven't played it, though, just read it. The way you describe the setting seems a bit...rose-tinted to me, but whatever works for you (especially since you say it's your vanity project).
I'm pretty sure my interpretation of it would be very different, but hey, I can say the same about pretty much any setting I've ever run.

I kinda liked your approach to the wounds, though I'm not sure* whether it doesn't make stuff like sentry removal harder than they should be.

*I.e. I didn't run the numbers...though some day I shall, and might even do something interesting with those:thumbsup:!

And BTW, welcome to the Pub:shade:!
 
I am indeed surprised. Rose-tinted is entirely fair. A major meta-theme of pastoral/bucholic literature as a 1500-1800s genre is that it ultimately is that its trying to present a reality that does not and probably has never existed, and is largely written by people with grossly misguided perceptions as to what they are writing about. I'm sure I'm a bit rose-tinted about my work in general. Fitting, right

I think your point on wounds is well-taken. A tool that I don't think is adequately expressed in the current edition but for which I have some errata notes is using single wound "minion" enemies if necessary for such situations, though the system as a whole does try to allow for GM discretion for figuring out how "not quite combat" plays out- if Player wants to sneak take out an unprepared sentry and can land a hit, a GM should probably rule it so. I appreciate your patronage, by the way. Happy gaming.
 
S SfgTAT Well, being a compulsive collector of (most) things BRP-related I couldn't resist picking up the bundle on DriveThruRPG.

I've just skimmed through the SRD and there's some interesting things in there. I like the wounds system a bit, I can't say I like the Corruption pool much (and despise meta-currencies in general) and I've got some other half-formed thoughts, but I'll reserve those until I get a chance to give everything a proper read-through.
 
I truly appreciate the patronage.

The Chaos/corruption as well as the pooled points are both something that, as we've kept playing, I've come to think need revisiting. I think the ideas are solid, but needs tuning to better fit the overall flow of play. I'm with you on that. I do think the pool is important, in general- there is a particular ebb and flow I've seen in a couple other games that I want to try and capture between players and game masters, as well as to give a tool for both "sides", not that its a competition, to use to break expected chains of events and cause extra drama/risk. I'm not sure it does quite what it is intended to as currently written. But I certainly understand, without even reading a detailed description of your issue.

Sometime this year we will probably begin work on a Revised edition, and thats a section flagged for some more rigorous testing and reworking
 
I'll likely snag the bundle tonight once my paycheck hits. I told ORtrail ORtrail about it, and I think he grabbed the bundle already.
 
I did grab that bundle. Only glanced through the main rulebook and looked over the character sheet. The Wound Track was what caught my eye. I hadn't yet noticed what you had done with weapon damage, but I have pondered ways to make damage in D100 games less about what the weapon can do, and more about how good someone is with it. A peasant flailing around a broadsword versus a skilled assassin with a dagger -it should be no contest not just in regards to hitting but damage as well.

In any event, I like to see all the different takes on D100 rules, and OpenQuest in particular.

Also, I hear urbwar's paycheck is EXACTLY three dollars, so it's meant to be, right? :grin:
 
I really do appreciate the patronage. urbwar, just take a free download- I know its just a couple bucks, buy hey, a couple bucks is a couple bucks. I sure don't need it, much as I'd like to move 5000 thousand of these things and take a closer look at ditching the day job.

Here, this link should work for free copies of the base game: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse.php?discount=93a594a56a
 
I also succumbed to the lure of the $3 bundle. I'm hoping that AsenRG AsenRG, Nick J Nick J, urbwar urbwar, and ORtrail ORtrail will post more about their impressions of the game when they've had a bit more time to look at it. I'm too snowed under with other things to read it myself until next week at the earliest.
 
This is in the errata file, but if anyone ends up having any concrete suggestions or spots any errors (and I'm sure there are some), I've been using this form to collect them, if you feel inclined to pop it into it: https://forms.gle/AYfNTEhjMPe7DfLU9
 
I really do appreciate the patronage. urbwar, just take a free download- I know its just a couple bucks, buy hey, a couple bucks is a couple bucks. I sure don't need it, much as I'd like to move 5000 thousand of these things and take a closer look at ditching the day job.

I appreciate the offer, but ORtrail ORtrail and I were joking about me not having money. I purchased the bundle shortly after my last post, and printed up the SRD to read (along with a couple of others I have). I just got a nice paycheck this morning (they owed me about 6 1/2 hours of OT from about a month ago, and with some I made after the snowstorm, had money to spare for some rpg stuff). I could have bought it, but I wanted to get some stock art for a project I'm thinking about doing (as I self-publish also)
 
Its a lot of fun to publish! The three of us more or less subsidize our tabletop hobbies at this point. Its a happy dream to imagine doing it as a job, but a distant one.
 
I also succumbed to the lure of the $3 bundle. I'm hoping that AsenRG AsenRG, Nick J Nick J, urbwar urbwar, and ORtrail ORtrail will post more about their impressions of the game when they've had a bit more time to look at it. I'm too snowed under with other things to read it myself until next week at the earliest.
How much more time would I need and for what? I've had it for weeks now:grin:!

But, basically, the author already said what I had to say about the mechanics. I commented about my impressions, and he even agreed they're, most likely, correct and that applying some "rose-tinted glasses" is a genre conceit.

I don't know what else to say, really. If you ask a question, I might be able to answer.
 
Banner: The best cosmic horror & Cthulhu Mythos @ DriveThruRPG.com
Back
Top