It's got an ad on this site, it's apparently kickstarting an English translation of a French game, so can Ben or any of our other Gallic members enlighten us?
That must be a fairly recent game because I am not familiar with it.
I'll have a look at the French intarwebz.
15 days to go. :D
Here you basically have the GROG's summary of the book (http://www.legrog.org/jeux/ombres-d-esteren/univers-fr#5), with a bunch of reviews from amateurs of French RPGs. What I see here is that the reviews are generally positive. 2/3 of the book is dedicated to the universe and its background, apparently. The graphic quality of the work is consistently praised in everything I read.
The system seems relatively light, "far and away from D&D's rules for everything", based "more on the psychological aspects of the characters than their ability scores", which seems to mean that you have a sort of merits and flaws system, as well as traits that describes the passions or interests of your character. You apparently can't create "paragons of virtue like a Paladin champion" because "none of the characters escape the psychological conundrums of all mortal men" (some type of system like Pendragon's virtues and sins, maybe?). Apparently you have some "Voies" or "Ways" instead of stats, one of them is Combat. They are more like themes for your character. There are five of them. It seems you put points into them.
There are three kingdoms, three factions, and three magic systems. It sounds very "White Wolf" in the way the whole seems organized. Some complaints include some Forgists (ditto, in the text) blaming the game for not being "courageous enough" and not going for a coherent design that would be either gamist, narrativist or simulationist in favor of something that seems "tasteless" with "a few innovations here and there" which in the end leave these people cold.
All the book seems written like a kind of diary, with an in-character voice, instead of an author-to-GM stance, which seems to bug some reviewers, because the game loses in clarity it seems.
Some people complain that the background was marketed as being super original and everything, and say that what they got in the end was something relatively tepid, with some clichés, not "out there" enough.
Here you have it. Some of what I could gather from the reviews.
Quote from: Benoist;560366Some complaints include some Forgists (ditto, in the text) blaming the game for not being "courageous enough" and not going for a coherent design that would be either gamist, narrativist or simulationist in favor of something that seems "tasteless" with "a few innovations here and there" which in the end leave these people cold.
This is the best thing you said about the game. :D
Quote from: The Butcher;560371This is the best thing you said about the game. :D
definitely a bonus :)
sounds pretty neat. looks like their kickstarter is doing rather well (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1176616619/shadows-of-esteren), still with 14 days to go. hells, i'm in for 15 :D
@ The Butcher, I spent all last night stoned to the bejusus; listening to that album whilst making a dungeon.
Quote from: Gib;560414@ The Butcher, I spent all last night stoned to the bejusus; listening to that album whilst making a dungeon.
Excellent choice, if I may say so myself. I'm all for geeky lyrics but they aren't always sung to the sound of very good music (see: Dragonforce, Manowar, every death metal band ever). The Sword's got good music to back up their lyrics about barbarians and starships and wizards and mutants and shit, and they know their Conan to boot.
You can find the Prologue book in French (6 page setting, 6 page rules, 6 PCs and 3 adventures) for free (legally) on the Esteren site here http://www.esteren.org/telechargement/Esteren_Livre_0_Prologue.pdf (warning: its 35MB). I don't speak French but it looked impressive.
The system seems pretty traditional but with a greater focus on Sanity (24 pages) and less on Combat (3 pages) than most fantasy RPGs. Its a roll 1d10 and add Skill to beat a target number. There are 16 Skills which then break down at high levels into specialities. Physical 'attributes' are handled by a system of assets and flaws.
There are also 5 attributes focussed on how the PC deals with the world and overcome problems (Combativeness, Creativity, Empathy, Reason, and Conviction) and these are also tied into the Sanity system. This seems vageuly reminiscient of the kind of subsystems seen in WW games like Exalted's Virtues.
The setting is described as one part Name of the Rose, one part Slaine and one part Princess Monoke/Nausicaa. I have also seen Game of Thrones mentioned.
One criticism is that there are some setting secrets which are not yet revealed, but promised in the book after next in French. The publisher is also promising to do further KS for all Esteren books as soon as they are translated.
Finally, the KS is offering up a lot. At US$90, assuming it hits its $50K threshold, I am getting:
- hard copy of LE 288p full colour rulebook
- PDF of the rulebook
- international shipping
- a 88p PDF with 3 adventures and 6 pregen PCs (plus intro to setting and system)
- t-shirt
- poster map of setting
- 5 art prints
- 6 character sheet
- folders for holding map, art prints and character sheets
Interesting. Well, one thing you can say is at the very least they know where to advertise!
RPGPundit
GM Screen (gorgeous) and a CD of music (pretty cool) added at US$120 level.
I went in for the $120. It looks great, I'd almost buy the base book just for the artwork.
Quote from: Skywalker;560507The system seems pretty traditional
So on a scale of Skywalker Traditionalness, where is this going to clock in compared to The One Ring, Marvel Heroic Roleplaying and Mistborn? ;)
I'm just waiting for payday to drop some money, I'm just debating if I just want the Hardcover copy of the book, or do I want the extras?
Quote from: CRKrueger;562376So on a scale of Skywalker Traditionalness, where is this going to clock in compared to The One Ring, Marvel Heroic Roleplaying and Mistborn? ;)
More traditional than all of those. As traditional as White Wolf RPGs.
I haven't seen anything I would consider to be a storygame element in Esteren, which can't be said of those three RPGs you mention. Even the indepth sanity system is arguably not that far from Call of Cthulhu's or WFRP's Insanity system.
From what little I've read of it, it reminds me a little of Conspiracy of Shadows, but with more detailed magic, and much better artwork. It looks interesting, but as I just finished 2 other kickstarters, can't justify jumping in this one :(
Yeah, I understand that :) The difference with this KS is that they are printing the books right now so it will be sent out in less than a month. Most other KS require you to wait months.
After some further enquiries, I think the attribute system is less "untraditional" that it might seem. Its not the standard array, but the 5 attributes pretty much seem to work like most attribute systems. For example, Combativeness is pretty much Physical attribute. The main reason for the change of approach is to allow the attributes also to act as a "psychological" profile on which to tie the Sanity system.
The voting on the extra art print and book mark show you some of the amazing art in the book.
Just to update, at the US$120, assuming it hits the $50K threshold, you get:
- hard copy of LE 288p full colour rulebook, numbered and stamped
- PDF of the rulebook
- international shipping
- a 88p PDF with 3 adventures and 6 pregen PCs (plus intro to setting and system)
- GM screen
- CD of music
- t-shirt
- poster map of setting
- 6 art prints
- 6 full colour character sheets
- folder for holding map, art prints and character sheets
- bookmark
- 5 wallpapers
Hi everyone,
Thank you for your interest in Esteren!
If i can help you or answer question, i will do my best. But forgive my spelling mistakes because English is not my native tongue.
Regards,
Nel
Quote from: Nelyhann;563459Hi everyone,
Thank you for your interest in Esteren!
If i can help you or answer question, i will do my best. But forgive my spelling mistakes because English is not my native tongue.
Regards,
Nel
Bienvenue sur le RPG Site, Nel. :)
Quote from: Nelyhann;563459Hi everyone,
Thank you for your interest in Esteren!
If i can help you or answer question, i will do my best. But forgive my spelling mistakes because English is not my native tongue.
Regards,
Nel
I assure you, your English is much better than my French.
I won't be able to support your kick starter, but I have a friend that will be at GenCon this year, if I gave him the money, will he be able to buy a copy of your book there?
Quote from: CoffeeDave;563476I assure you, your English is much better than my French.
I won't be able to support your kick starter, but I have a friend that will be at GenCon this year, if I gave him the money, will he be able to buy a copy of your book there?
Studio2 Publishing are printing the books and have said copies will be at Gencon. This will be the non-limited edition book FWIW.
I kinda got dogpiled over at RPGnet for observing that the core book didn't seem "complete" to me as advertised given the lack of information on monsters, what with it being promoted as a medieval horror game. It was subsequently explained to me that by default, the monsters are mere folklore, with stats for making them real appearing in future books.
Shadows of Esteren appears to be like Song of Ice and Fire RPG which only included a bare minimum of details on the supernatural (a couple of supernatural creatures IIRC). Most antagonism in the game is from other humans and the environment.
Quote from: Dan Davenport;563595I kinda got dogpiled over at RPGnet for observing that the core book didn't seem "complete" to me as advertised given the lack of information on monsters, what with it being promoted as a medieval horror game. It was subsequently explained to me that by default, the monsters are mere folklore, with stats for making them real appearing in future books.
sounds like Standard Operating Procedure for tBP. guess this will be the next darling over there? :rolleyes:
Quote from: Skywalker;563613Shadows of Esteren appears to be like Song of Ice and Fire RPG which only included a bare minimum of details on the supernatural (a couple of supernatural creatures IIRC). Most antagonism in the game is from other humans and the environment.
See, that's what throws me, though: how does that make it a "horror" game?
Quote from: Dan Davenport;563801See, that's what throws me, though: how does that make it a "horror" game?
In two ways IME. The first is that the horror created by a players mind is far greater than the horror that is presented to them by the GM. So, having mysterious adversaries that are rarely encountered but commonly spoken of ties directly into this.
Second, and related to the first, the unknown is an integral part of horror. As soon as a player is able to comprehend what they are up against and predict what will happen, the horror aspect is diminished.
So the horrific Goblin that I need 26 pages of Sanity rules to diagnose my interaction with is actually a big dog in a blanket I just don't know it yet?
Cool.
Quote from: beeber;563782sounds like Standard Operating Procedure for tBP. guess this will be the next darling over there? :rolleyes:
The apologia is starting to make it sound like a purple shitball, yeah.
All the key elements are there.
Quote from: CRKrueger;563919The apologia is starting to make it sound like a purple shitball, yeah.
All the key elements are there.
add in the extra art stuff in the higher KS brackets, plus a soundtrack, suddenly i'm reminded of eoris (or whatever that darling was).
Interior pages have been posted up. Looking good on all counts for me.
Good to see that the translation looks to be good.
http://www.esteren.org/blog/esteren_layout_sample0.jpg
http://www.esteren.org/blog/esteren_layout_sample1.jpg
http://www.esteren.org/blog/esteren_layout_sample2.jpg
http://www.esteren.org/blog/esteren_layout_sample3.jpg
http://www.esteren.org/blog/esteren_layout_sample4.jpg
Characters sheets are now up: http://www.esteren.org/shadows_of_esteren/download/Esteren_character_sheet.zip
So close to $50K with less than $5K to get in over 2.5 days.
Less than $3K to go in more than 1.5 days. A PDF of the GM Screen added to the $50K stretch goal.
$700 to go to $ 50K and 24 hours to go.
The 50k stretch is only something that kicks in for those who ponied up $65, right?
Nope. All backers get the PDF of the GM Screen. You need to have ponied up $65 to get the PDF of the Prologue book though.
It's worth noting that you can also grab extra copies of the book for US$25, despite a RRP of US$50, with free international shipping. I had a friend interested in Esteren who didn't have the money for the US$50 who took advantage of that.
$50K reached.
Congrats, and thanks for advertising with us and posting here; I hope that helped!
RPGPundit
Yep. Kickstarter done and $55K reached. The good thing about this KS is that the books are being printed as we speak, so hopefully no long waits.
Quote from: Skywalker;566426Yep. Kickstarter done and $55K reached. The good thing about this KS is that the books are being printed as we speak, so hopefully no long waits.
Glad to hear that, since I went for the $50 book option near the end.
Quote from: RPGPundit;566411Congrats, and thanks for advertising with us and posting here; I hope that helped!
RPGPundit
It was what caught my interest (and ultimately my contribution)...although I'm now in the camp of "Wait...there's no monsters in this book?"
Hopefully I won't regret the purchase.
I hope not. Remember, our ads do not imply personal endorsement of the product advertised! Though usually an advertiser choosing to put up an ad with us does indicate they have good taste.
RPGPundit
Thanks everyone for your support!
It was a n incredible adventure...
We have worked hard on those book and we hope you will like our work.
And thanks RPGPundit for letting us the opportunity to advertise on RPGsite.
Sincerely yours,
Nel
Quote from: Nelyhann;567142Thanks everyone for your support!
It was a n incredible adventure...
We have worked hard on those book and we hope you will like our work.
And thanks RPGPundit for letting us the opportunity to advertise on RPGsite.
Sincerely yours,
Nel
You're very welcome!
RPGPundit
Quote from: Tommy Brownell;566603It was what caught my interest (and ultimately my contribution)...although I'm now in the camp of "Wait...there's no monsters in this book?"
Hopefully I won't regret the purchase.
seconded. but at least i'd only be out 15 bucks.
A 20 page preview is up: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1176616619/shadows-of-esteren/posts/283065
Holy crap. PDFs of the book and GM Screen are being sent to backers today! That was quick. This is my kind of Kickstarter.
Enjoying what I am seeing so far. Any questions, fire away. It's going to take me time to digest this all.
I've got a couple of questions:
A) How's character creation? Is it simple/complex? Am I seriously gonna need that 3 paged character sheet or can I write it out on basic lined paper?
B) are there any 'monsters' in the book at all? or shall we wait for another book for that?
C) How complex is the game overall?
D) Is it a Player's/GM's book in one?
I'm sure there's some other 'dumb' questions I can ask, but that's all I have for now.
Quote from: CoffeeDave;570392I've got a couple of questions:
A) How's character creation? Is it simple/complex? Am I seriously gonna need that 3 paged character sheet or can I write it out on basic lined paper?
B) are there any 'monsters' in the book at all? or shall we wait for another book for that?
C) How complex is the game overall?
D) Is it a Player's/GM's book in one?
I'm sure there's some other 'dumb' questions I can ask, but that's all I have for now.
A) Simple. Basic lined paper.
A full PC statted out is:
Ways: Combativeness: 5. Creativity: 2. Empathy: 3. Reason: 1. Conviction: 4.
Skills: Close Combat: 10 (Discipline: Axe: 11) (+1 bonus). Craft: 3. Demorthèn Mysteries: 4. Erudition: 2. Feats: 10 (+1 bonus). Natural Environment: 6. Perception: 2. Relation: 6. Shooting and Throwing: 7 (+1 bonus). Travel: 4.
Advantages: Strong.
Sanity: Mental Resistance: 9. Orientation: Instinctive. Trauma: 2.
Combat: Attack: 11 (Axe: 12). (Axe Damage: 3. Short sword Damage: 2). Shooting and Throwing: 8 (Bow Damage: 2). Defense: 9 (Protection: 3). Speed: 8. Potential: 2. Stamina: 10.
Survival Points: 3.
Personality: Character Traits: Upright, Impulsive. Latent Disorder: Frenzy.
B) No monsters. But you encounter monsters as regularly as you do in A Song of Fire and Ice i.e. very rarely. Most antagonists are human and can be made easily enough with the rules. There are extensive Sanity rules, which will handle most of the supernatural interactions that do happen.
C) Simple. Core rule is roll D10 + Attribute + Skill v Difficulty.
D) Both. Deep GM secrets are reserved for a later book called Secrets.
And after a small scare of some missing pages in the initial PDF release, it has been confirmed that there are no missing pages in the physical books :)
Would people find it useful to create a PC by forum? It may give a better idea of the system.
PC creation consists of 10 steps, being:
1. Ethnicity
2. Profession, Birthplace, and Social Class
3. The Ways
4. Age, Setbacks, and History
5. Character Traits, Sanity, and Personality
6. Experience Points, Advantages, and Disadvantages
7. Potential, Defense, Speed, and Stamina
8. Fighting Attitudes and Attack Rating
9. Survival Points, Rindath, and Exaltation
10. Description and Equipment
Let's do the first two in one hit:
1. Ethnicity
There are four human ethnicities to choose from, though none have a mechanical impact other than a second language choice.
They are Tri-Kazelian (the norm for the setting), Osag (an insular society of strong warriors), Tarish (nomadic people from far off lands), Continentals (slender and slim people, rarely seen in Tri-Kazel).
2. Profession, Birthplace, and Social Class
Profession: Choose a Profession. This will grant one skill (or Domain) at 5 and another (from a selection of 2) at 3.
Professions include: Bard, Craftsman, Demorthèn (Druid), Explorer, Fighter, Hunter, Investigator, Knight, Magientist (tech wizard), Merchant, Occultist, Peasant, Religious of the Temple, Rogue, Scholar, Spy, Varigal (messenger).
You can also choose 2 more Domains at 2, and another 2 at 1. This means that you have total starting Domains at levels 5, 3, 2, 2, 1, 1.
Birthplace: Each PC also gets +1 Close Combat Domain and +1 in either Natural Environment 1 or Relation 1 depending if they were born in a city or not.
Social Class: Last, you choose Commoner, Clergy or Nobility for social class.
- Commoners: For peasants and rural people, obtain +1 level in two Domains among Feats, Natural Environment, Perception, and Travel. For craftsmen and workers, obtain +1 in two Domains among Craft, Erudition, Relation, and Science. For middle class, obtain +1 in two Domains among Craft, Erudition, Performance, and Relation.
- Clergy: Obtain +1 in two Domains among Erudition, Prayer, Relation, and Travel.
- Nobility: Obtain +1 in two Domains among Close Combat, Erudition, Relation and Science.
Domains: There are only 16 Domains. These are rated from 1 to 5, but specialities (called Disciplines) can add another 10 to that, for a total of 15.
The Domains include: Close Combat, Craft, Demorthen Mysteries, Erudition, Feats, Magience, Natural Environment, Occultism, Perception, Performance, Prayer, Relation, Science, Shooting/Throwing, Stealth and Travel.
Anyone want to have a stab at choosing Ethnicity, Profession, Birthplace, and Social Class to get the ball rolling?
Quote from: Skywalker;570560And after a small scare of some missing pages in the initial PDF release, it has been confirmed that there are no missing pages in the physical books :)
Really? Did they send out an update for it or anything? I hadn't heard anything and hadn't had a chance to dig into the PDF much.
Quote from: Tommy Brownell;570585Really? Did they send out an update for it or anything? I hadn't heard anything and hadn't had a chance to dig into the PDF much.
Yep.
No update yet as the team is travelling to Gencon but it shouldn't be far away. The bookmarks are also in French and are being translated to English.
No response so far, so let's push on. I will go for a pretty straight forward mercenary warrior type for this PC.
Ethnicity: Tri-Kazel
Profession: Fighter
Birthplace: Rural *
Social Class: Commoner +
So, his Domains are: Close Combat 5 (Swords 1*), Shooting/Throwing 3, Natural Evironment 3*, Feats 2, Perception 2+, Travel 2+
Note that as the PC's Close Combat Domain is at 5, which is max, he must progress thereafter in Disciplines (i.e. specialisations) and these can go up to 10.
FWIW having Close Combat at 5 allows the PC to access certain Fighting Arts including Two Weapon Fighting, Parry, Archery, Cavalry and Sneak Attack. This are a simple paragraph but allow for a few additional options for combat focussed PCs.
3. The Ways
There are 5 Ways being Combativeness, Creativity, Empathy, Reason and Conviction. These are ranked from 1 to 5. There is an optional rule for just distributing 15 points, provided that one 1 Way is at 1 or 5.
The Ways effectively act as Attributes in that each Domain has a linked Way added to the dice roll.
However, high values can cause issues for the PC as they will often encourage the PC to take certain actions. High Combativeness means the PC tends to be impassioned, high Creativity means the PC tends to be subversive, high Reason leads to doubt etc. I won't detail this all just yet but just bear in mind a high Way can be a negative thing. This is reminisicent of Exalted's virtue system.
Any thoughts?
I note that the book is very easy to follow in terms of PC creation. Not only is there the list upfront, but the mechanical parts are also noted with a Cletic symbol, indented and the text is in a different colour.
What about Combativeness 5 Creativity 4 Empathy 1 Reason 2 Conviction 3? Essentially, a tough free spirit whose dour demeanor unsettle most other people.
4. Age, Setbacks, and History
This is a simple step that sees you choose an age for your PC from 16 to 35. If you choose higher, you get more Domains but suffer a growing number of set backs, randomly rolled from 10 possibilities?
I would be tempted with the age of 22 which gives us +1 Domain but 1 Setback. I am thinking of taking Occultism 1 to reflect the weird stuff the PC may have seen on his travels.
Thoughts?
SUMMARY
Ways: Combativeness 5 Creativity 4 Empathy 1 Reason 2 Conviction 3
Domains: Close Combat 5 (Swords 1), Shooting/Throwing 3, Natural Evironment 3, Feats 2, Perception 2, Travel 2
If you're asking people to judge the build, I don't have the rules, just have what you put here to go off of.
Quote from: Skywalker;570605However, high values can cause issues for the PC as they will often encourage the PC to take certain actions. High Combativeness means the PC tends to be impassioned, high Creativity means the PC tends to be subversive, high Reason leads to doubt etc.
Sounds like in essence, you pay for mechanical benefit (higher Ways add to Skill Tests) by accepting roleplaying restrictions (High Way isn't My Way? :D).
Slightly different tack then the classic newschool technique of "teaching those knuckledragging gamists to roleplay through Pavlovian mechanical rewards". In Riddle of Steel, if you roleplay your Passions you get mechanical benefit, so even people who only care about mechanical benefit get corralled into roleplaying.
This Way system seems like the stick, not the carrot. Go for the crazyass skills, but prepare to have your character's decisions forced if you do (or lemme guess, it won't be "forced" but I'll have to spend some metagaming currency to go against the behavior dictated by the Way?).
Quote from: CRKrueger;570641If you're asking people to judge the build, I don't have the rules, just have what you put here to go off of.
Nope. I am putting up choices in case people want to pitch in and see how the system operates.
Quote from: CRKrueger;570641Sounds like in essence, you pay for mechanical benefit (higher Ways add to Skill Tests) by accepting roleplaying restrictions (High Way isn't My Way? :D).
Possibly, except everyone has the same amount of Ways. So its more those things that you chose to be important for your PC can be good and bad. I will highlught what Ways do more when I get to them. I am still learning this myself.
So, let's go with 22 and get +1 Occultism.
I get 1 setback due to age and randomly roll 1d10 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3651210/) to get a 9. This is Poor. Essentially, the PC only owns a weapon or a tool of poor quality, as well as a few personal belongings. That certainly sits well with the free spirited mercenary.
5. Character Traits, Sanity, and Personality
This is a relatively mechanical section with little choices in it.
Traits: First, I choose two Traits. One is a Quality and one is a Flaw. They have to relate to Ways rated 1, 2, 4, or 5. Those of 1 or 2 are called Minor and those of 4 or 5 are called Major. There is a big list of Traits to chose from.
For some variety (going a little against expectations, I chose Rebellious (Flaw, Creativity, Major) and Master of One's Emotions (Quality, Empathy, Minor).
It is worth noting that these traits seem purely descriptive and have no mechanical impact.
Sanity: You have two stats that determine how the PC deals with mental stress. Consciousness deal with rational thought. Instinct deals with, well, instinct. Consciousness is Reason + Conviction and Instinct is Combativeness + Creativity. So that's Consciousness 5 and Instinct 9. You start with Trauma equal to the difference, which in this case is 4. That's one off starting with a mental disorder with madness kicking in at Trauma 15.
Mental Resistance is Conviction + 5 or 8.
Finally, you can chose a madness that is likely to afflict your PC, giving the GM and player a common idea where that aspect of the PC is heading. I don't really know this but let's chose one anyway. The book has a nice table of madnesses by Ways and whether it is Minor or Major. I chose Paranoia being a Minor Empathy Disorder. Essentially, the stoic and rebellious free spirit often cuts ties with others with his behaviour. He has started to suspect that perhaps others are purposefully trying to stop him from achieivng his goals. This was confirmed when his latest mercenary company abandoned him with nothing after he questioned the company's captain.
Next up:
6. Experience Points, Advantages, and Disadvantages
You get 100 XP (which can be saved for use later) and can spend them on:
10 - +1 to a Domain
25 - +1 to a Discipline
20/40/50 - Ally
10-50 - Financial Ease (not allowed due to Set Back)
20 - Fighting Arts (can take as Close Combat Domain is 5)
30 - Lucky
30 - Survival Instinct
20 - Well Read
20-40 - Advantages: 30 - Beautiful, 30 - Charismatic, 40 - Good Health, 30 - Good Sight, 40 - Intuitive, 20 - Keen Hearing, 40 - Nimble, 20 - Quick, 40 - Smart, 40 - Strong, 30 - Strong Mind, 30 - Sturdy
There are also Disadvantages:
20 - Addiction
20-40 - Disadvantages: 30 - Aftermath, 30 - Enemy, 20 - Fragile, 40 - Phobia, 10 - Poor, 10 - Shy, 10 - Trauma, 10 - Unlucky
Its worth noting that in many cases getting +1 to Domain or Discipline is better than Advantages. However, things like Charismatic do allow you to breach the max 5 cap for Domains.
Any thoughts?
SUMMARY
Ways: Combativeness 5, Creativity 4, Empathy 1, Reason 2, Conviction 3
Domains: Close Combat 5 (Swords 1), Shooting/Throwing 3, Natural Evironment 3, Feats 2, Perception 2, Travel 2, Occultism 1
Sanity: Mental Resistance 8, Orientation: Instinct, Trauma 4
Personality: Rebellious, Master of One's Emotions, Latent Disorder: Paranoia
I decide to spend my 100 XP on:
Fighting Arts: Parry - 20
Strong Mind - 30
+1 Swords - 25
+1 Shooting/Throwing - 10
+1 Feats - 10
That leaves me 5XP. I did consider taking Enemy for the mercenary captain but decided against it.
7. Potential, Defense, Speed, and Stamina
8. Fighting Attitudes and Attack Rating
9. Survival Points, Rindath, and Exaltation
10. Description and Equipment
These are mostly derived stats for combat.
Potential is used to modify your combat stats through stances and is based on Creativity. Our PC has Potential 2.
Defence is the difficulty to be hit. Its Reason + Empathy + 5 or 8. This is low, but I do have Parry. Parry can only be used against opponent's with whom the PC has initiative over rather than attacking to replace Defence with the PC's attack roll.
Speed is initiative. Its Combativeness + Empathy or 6.
Stamina is 10.
Attack is Combativeness + Domain/Discipline or 12.
Survival is 3.
Rindath is used for Demorthen Mysteries and is Empathy + Combativeness + Creativity or 10. I doubt I can use this though.
Exaltation is used for Miracles and is Conviction x3 or 9. I doubt I can use this either.
Given he's Poor, I will give him just a Longsword with nothing else.
SUMMARY
Ways: Combativeness 5, Creativity 4, Empathy 1, Reason 2, Conviction 3
Domains: Close Combat 5 (Swords 2), Shooting/Throwing 4, Natural Evironment 3, Feats 3, Perception 2, Travel 2, Occultism 1
Combat: Attack 10 (Swords 12), Defense 8, Speed 6, Potential 2, Fighting Arts: Parry
Sanity: Mental Resistance 9, Orientation: Instinct, Trauma 4
Stamina: 10
Survival: 3
Personality: Rebellious, Master of One's Emotions, Latent Disorder: Paranoia
And that's the character done.
Ways are interesting, the Sanity stuff seems like a lot of it is just focusing what's gonna happen if the character loses it to the existing personality traits of the character.
How does the game handle Stat checks in a game without any? In other words, how do I check to see if I can lift a portcullis, or even see if I can lift more weight then another character?
Quote from: CRKrueger;570700Ways are interesting, the Sanity stuff seems like a lot of it is just focusing what's gonna happen if the character loses it to the existing personality traits of the character.
How does the game handle Stat checks in a game without any? In other words, how do I check to see if I can lift a portcullis, or even see if I can lift more weight then another character?
It would be a Feat Domain check (standard skill check). This uses Combativeness as a default Way i.e. Feat Domain + Combativeness + d10 v TN. This may seem like it would produce strange results but the system is Skill focused with 75/25 Skills to Ways in weight.
You can buy physical (and mental) advantages like Strong with XP, if you want to be exceptionally strong.
In other words, just like most systems. The Ways operate very much like Attributes, just with a more personality profile vibe than a D&D default one.
One thing I quite liked was how Stances worked. Effectively, you can take a default, aggressive, defensive or quick stance. Each grants a bonus equal to your Potential to a combat stat and imposes a malus on another.
Aggressive sees Potential added to Attack and subtracted from Defence. Defensive is the other way around. Quick adds Potential to Speed and subtracts it from Defence.
Overall, some Warriors will be more flexible than others, which is distinct from raw capability in any one area. It's reminiscient of The One Ring, but without the asymmetrical combat system that causes some people issues.
I did another PC creation on TBP: http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?641137-Shadows-of-Esteren-Let-s-make-a-PC. This one was a Tarish noble scholar who was possessed by a Feonadas and has since become a mentalist detective in order to hunt the Feonadas down.
finally downloaded my book 1 copy, and a quick observation. the general layout is backwards to me--by which i mean, the world info is the first half and the game mechanics the second half. no big deal, i'll just skip the first half while i peruse what makes it tick, the game physics, that is.
makes more sense to me to put the mechanics first ("how do i do stuff/make a character/etc.?") and the fluff/world info second.
I talked tot he designers at GenCon and ran through the rules and fluff.
I thought it looked really good.
I like that a high combativeness menas a high passion and therefore affects saves to resist doing stuff. A nice balance.
I liked the idea that the supernatural was mostly just folklore. I think you can easily stat out monsters if you like.
Thought it was an interesting take and the discussion with the designers showed that they thought about games a way I recognised talking about the cool time a PCs chainsaw type tool powered by some canned flux exploded.
generally some very good ideas
Looks like i may be playing in a one-shot of this. Will offer my thoughts when I have had a chance to play.
My friend just got back from GenCon and got my copy over there. I'm hoping to get a chance to pick it up so I can go through it
I have almost finished reading the rulebook. I like what I see alot and can't wait to receive the physical product and run this game.
The three big sticking points for people will be:
1. The Ways are really cool but they also create a big abstraction in the system. You don't primarily describe your PC in terms of capabilities but instead by what makes them tick. If people can't get over the abstraction then this will be a sticking point.
2. The setting material is in first person tales rather than the more usual reference material. I kind of love how it feels like the knowledge is being handed down, is not necessarily complete and is open to intepretation. However, some people will find this a sticking point when they want that list of precepts for the Temple or know who the king of Tri-Kazel is.
3. No bestiary. Feondas are an important part of the setting yet are rarely encountered and are mysterious. As such, they are not given any mechanics or stats in the book. I find this to be a plus, but it will be a big for some people.
Just received confirmation my books have shipped and should be here in 1 to 2 weeks. The final PDF and Book 0 PDF are due any day now too. That's what I call a snappy KS.
I got my copy this weekend, and I've been reading through it. I've got to say this is a gorgeous book. The rules themselves are an easy read, it's the reading through the world is the thick read. Enjoyable, but thick. The staff was cool enough to paint in my book too.
http://postimage.org/image/a7mocwu13/
Nice. I wonder if all Collector's Editions got a pic like that.
The rules are a real pleasure. Very simple yet full of flavour.