I've read through Barbarians of Lemuria (not the Legendary Edition, though), and I still see folks very enthusiastic about this game. Those of you who have played or GM'd it, what's your opinion of the system?

-What does it do well?

-What does it not do so well?

-How does combat usually go?

-Mechanically, how different can characters be from one another?

-What's your opinion of the magic system?

-Is it worth $25 or however much to pick this sucker up?

-How easy is it to use with other settings?

Interested in any and all opinions, good and bad. There's a ton written on this game out there, but I'm curious to see what the worthies on this board have to say in regards to its merits.

C/mon...I want to hear this as well.

My credentials (aka why I know what I'm talking about): I GM'd a game of BoL for two years and have also used the 1930s pulp supplement from Dicey Tales.

Quote from: Zachary The First;603518-What does it do well?

All manner of fast-paced pulp adventure, from fantasy to space opera.
For instance, BoL would do Star Wars better than either D6 or d20/Saga, and I'll predict that it would also be better for this purpose than FFG's forthcoming effort.

Quote-What does it not do so well?

The game's all about rulings rather than rules. If you need a lot of game mechanics to hold your hand, or if you find it impossible to trust a GM, move along now.

Quote-How does combat usually go?

Quickly, and with cinematic flair. It can get pretty deadly, even for experienced and competent characters, so it's worth players' holding back a Hero Point 'just in case'.

Quote-Mechanically, how different can characters be from one another?

Two characters can be almost identical in mechanical terms, yet be completely distinct from one another in play. The game mechanics are written in pretty broad strokes; the detail comes from the interpretation.
However there are sufficient options, purely in terms of careers and boons/flaws, that no two characters need to be mechanically similar. Then throw in the different and distinct approaches to sorcery and priestly blessings, different races, etc.

Quote-What's your opinion of the magic system?

Simple and easy to use. It emulates pulp/sword & sorcery tropes to perfection. Really powerful spells are available but are unlikely to be used by PCs due to the horrific costs (both in terms of their magic points and to their character's body and soul); less powerful spells are about as good as a competent character without magic. Day-to-day magic is really just a flavoursome way of achieving mundane (i.e. heroic/villainous) objectives.
The magic system also reskins with little fuss to become a system for psychic powers (see Dicey Tales #1).

Quote-Is it worth $25 or however much to pick this sucker up?

Yes.
It's also worth splashing out to get the Dicey Tales supplements.
Dogs of War is pretty good and gives you material to support a Mack Bolan/A-Team modern day game.
Barbarians of the Apocalypse is expensive but is a one-stop shop for post-apocalyptic supplementary material.

Quote-How easy is it to use with other settings?

I've run it in the Lemuria setting (Legendary edition version). I've also run the 1930s version. I've played BoL (well, Dogs of War) in a 'Car Wars + Zombies' setting for a few sessions. It copes pretty well; it's largely a matter of reskinning flavour text and tweaking a few rules.

I like BoL, but found it to be more The Savage Sword of Conan in tone and content, than R. E. Howard's Conan.

It seems best suited for one shots or short campaigns. Not sure how well it would hold up in a longer campaign.

I think that it's worth $25.

Man, I'm surprised not more discussion on this one. I thought we had several BoL players around here...

EDIT: Thanks to Al and the other responses so far, though!

Al Livingstone's answer above says nearly everything I could say on this topic, so I won't waste anyone's time by repeating it.

So I'll just mention that some people have problems with the armour rules, saying that heavily armoured characters are pretty invulnerable and a combat between two heavily armoured characters will drag on forever. Personally I've never found this a problem - although my group is playing in the default Lemurian setting - which is a hot country where people tend not to wear much armour. Also, some folks don't like the lack of crunch in the combat system. Again, we've never found this a problem. In our games a PC can come up with a snazzy combat move and the GM can rule on it - but such stuff isn't supported mechanically.

Dicey Tales is golden for a pulp game and is definitely worth getting.

Please be aware I am a total fanboy for this system.

Oh, forgot to say - it's really easy to hack to another setting. Just come up with a few new appropriate careers, boons and faults and you're good to go using standard BoL.

You can also easily tweak the core rules if necessary. Try to get a sight of the swashbuckling version Honor+Intrigue, for example - it has a slightly more involved combat system to the standard BoL mechanic.

I don't really have anything to add to what's already been said. I really like BoL, Dicey Tales and Legends of Steel (BoL Edition).

One reason perhaps, why $25 might be a bit steap for the book would be the poor editing: there's a number of misplaced apostrophes and homophone misspellings. However, this won't affect your enjoyment of the game.

Quote from: HombreLoboDomesticado;604069One reason perhaps, why $25 might be a bit steap for the book would be the poor editing: there's a number of misplaced apostrophes and homophone misspellings. However, this won't affect your enjoyment of the game.

Muphry's Law strikes again.

What about character advancement? Is it suited for long-term play, say a group meeting every other weekend for 8-12 months for 4 hours a pop?

Got it as a gift, read, and it's... nice, I guess, if a tad lighter and more abstract than I usually prefer my gaming to be. Never actually got around to running it, though.

Not having stats for common animals is a glaring omission in my book.

Of the supplements, Barbarians of the Aftermath is really, really good; it can do Jericho and Gamma World and The Walking Dead and The Book of the New Sun and every imaginable post-apocalyptic setting in-between.

And Honor + Intrigue takes the BoL skeleton and fleshes it out closer to my sweet spot of crunchiness, resulting in a very interesting swashbuckling RPG. I'd love to see an "advanced BoL" using some of the new elements introduced in H+I (especioally the combat system).

Quote from: Zachary The First;604170What about character advancement? Is it suited for long-term play, say a group meeting every other weekend for 8-12 months for 4 hours a pop?

I ran BoL once per fortnight for 2 years without any issues. Remember these two things and you shouldn't go far wrong.

• Advancement is per 'saga', not per session (or even necessarily per adventure).
• Attributes and/or careers higher than 3 may begin to stretch the system.

 

Quote from: The Butcher;604173Not having stats for common animals is a glaring omission in my book.

Dicey Tales #2 is probably the cheapest way of getting normal animal stats, though it should be easy enough to work them out on the fly using the attributes by size table in the rulebook.

Yeah I forgot to mention advancement when in my post about what people found problematic about the system.

As Al says, you are supposed to hand out advancement points rather meanly. You start with a competant character - already far more skilled than the norm. Like in the original source material, PCs are not expected to change that much.

If you are not into zero-to-hero play, this is a feature, not a bug. If seeing your PC improve steadily, game after game, is part of what you like in rpgs - then you might find BoL advancement an issue,

Quote from: Al Livingstone;604102Muphry's Law strikes again.

:duh: I'm not a native speaker/speller and I don't thoroughly proofread my posts all the time so thanks for doing it for me. Seems there's more to Muphry's Law than there is to Murphy's one.

What's wrong with the spelling of the word "misspellings", by the way, or does the word simply not exist?

I just found out that steap is apparently the Old English way of spelling steep... Interesting.

OK, back on topic.

Quote from: Al Livingstone;604275I ran BoL once per fortnight for 2 years  without any issues. Remember these two things and you shouldn't go far  wrong.

• Advancement is per 'saga', not per session (or even necessarily per adventure).
• Attributes and/or careers higher than 3 may begin to stretch the system.

I've found that the occasional Hero Point reward keeps players happy without a steady supply of XP.

Thank you all for the advice so far. Any other thoughts/comments/recollections, I'm all ears.