Quote from: apparition13;821714It could do with an increase in the number of kingdoms so there are more than one good, one evil, and one neutral option. It would be pretty easy to do as well, as there are a lot of valleys in the map that could be split off to create other countries. As it is, it's a bit too simple a political situation for my taste. I'd say between 10 and 15 polities with 3-4 evil (but different kinds of evil) and the remainder split fairly evenly between explicitly good (but in different ways) and more or less neutral (again in different ways) would be the way I would go.

Have you seen the Blue Rose companion books? They expanded the world a little, though not as much as you suggest. Given the relatively brief all-in-one Blue Rose corebook, I think covering only two cultures was OK for that short a book. I dislike the practice of companion books with a hodge-podge of expansions, though. I'd prefer something like a dedicated world-book that expands out to the 10 to 15 polities you suggest, along with a dedicated player expansion book and a dedicated campaign book for GMs.

Quote from: estar;821715The Deryni series is Romantic Fantasy? That not how it comes across to me. If anything it more like Martin's Game of Thrones only way less bloody and fewer characters dropping like flies. Although the series does have it bloody moments.

I guess if Romantic Fantasy is about character driven stories then the Deryni series qualifies.

I haven't read the Deryni series. It sounds like it has some overlap but wouldn't be central. Common features of the Romantic Fantasy genre are typically:

(1) more focus on political differences rather than good-vs-evil, as opposed to high fantasy like Tolkien; (2) magic is of a psychic bent and generally positive, as opposed to magic in sword-and-sorcery like R.E. Howard; (3) relatively egalitarian societies.  Psychic animals and/or nature-connected themes are common but not necessarily definitional.

Defining authors are Mercedes Lackey and Tamora Pierce, along with others like Diane Duane and Catherine Asaro.

I liked True20. It had a lot of interesting modular systems. For that reason alone I thought Blue Rose had a lot going for it. Glad to see they brought it back. GR is good people, and they make great games. Fully support!

Not familiar with AGE... time to check it out.

Quote from: RPGPundit;821629So yeah, that's a thing.  What do you think?

I might actually sign up for this Kickstarter. I have the d20 Blue Rose. It's a good game, haven't run it yet though.

Not a game for me, but here's hoping that those who buy it play it and have fun. If it brings more people into the hobby, or reignites somebody's lapsed interest in the hobby, all the better.

Quote from: jhkim;821736(1) more focus on political differences rather than good-vs-evil, as opposed to high fantasy like Tolkien; (2) magic is of a psychic bent and generally positive, as opposed to magic in sword-and-sorcery like R.E. Howard; (3) relatively egalitarian societies.  Psychic animals and/or nature-connected themes are common but not necessarily definitional.

Defining authors are Mercedes Lackey and Tamora Pierce, along with others like Diane Duane and Catherine Asaro.

Wikipedia does not mention egalitarian societies as a defining trait of Romantic Fantasy nor does it seem a necessary element to applying the tropes of romantic fiction to a fantasy. Other than wanting to narrow the definition for some reason, why would one include egalitarian societies.

In the Deryni series (1) and (2) are main elements of all the stories. If Deryni isn't romantic fantasy, it certainly tended in that direction. Andre Norton's Witchworld series also seems to fit the same overall genre. though again her societies are egalitarian tending instead to either be patriarchal or matriarchal.

SJWs having their own games to play is a good thing.
SJWs stopping other people from playing different games is a bad thing.
So it's a plus in my book.

Quote from: S'mon;821757SJWs having their own games to play is a good thing.
SJWs stopping other people from playing different games is a bad thing.
So it's a plus in my book.

This, and the re-release of Blue Rose will act as a rallying point for the SJWs who keep trying to shit up other games. Maybe it will cause them to leave everybody else alone for awhile.

Quote from: spinachcat;821670...but i wonder if blue rose pcs can leap into an astral "safe space" whenever an npc brings up a topic that triggers them...

lol :d:d

I don't think there's anything particularly story-gamish or political in the original game itself - unless you consider Mercedes Lackey to be political.

I played one adventure in the setting - I think 4 sessions or so, and several one-shots.

Here's my review of the original core book:

http://www.darkshire.net/jhkim/rpg/reviews/bluerose.html

Short form: a little dry in spots for both the mechanics and the setting, but with plenty of promise. The core story is being fantasy police/judges, rooting out hidden evil. I'll post more on the the magic system. Here's what I said in my review:

QuoteArcana are the magical effects of the system (singular "arcanum"). In some ways they more resemble what is usually termed "psionics" than traditional RPG magic. A central arcana is "Mind Touch", which allows mental contact magical effects on targets from a great distance -- based on how personally familiar you are with them. Other effects include various mental manipulations, and control of nature -- such as control of and speaking with animals, plant shaping, water shaping, etc.

There are a total of 49 arcana defined in the core book. Each is much more broad than a typical spell in D&D. A single arcanum will often have multiple functions. For example, "Heart Shaping" has six functions: Despair, Fear, Friendship, Hatred, Hope, and Rage. Further, arcana are not graded in levels. Instead, they are all considered equal and each arcanum's effects grows more powerful in proportion to the caster's level. For example, rather than a low level "Ray of Frost" spell and a higher-level "Cone of Cold" spell, there is a single "Cold Shaping" arcana whose effects scale with the caster's level, and which can be cast at reduced power for a reduced chance of fatigue.

An intriguing touch is the option for evil magic -- termed "sorcery" here. Essentially, sorcery is powerful and dangerous magic, but carries a risk of demonic corruption. With each act of sorcery, you risk gaining a point of corruption. Corruption is a grave threat unless the character chooses to embrace it, essentially turning over to evil.

Quote from: Piestrio;821651If you want an actual licensed "Romantic Fantasy" RPG check out the Deryni Adventure Game based on FUDGE.

http://www.fudgerpg.com/products/deryni-adventure/ggg6001.html

Oooh...loves me some Deryni.

[Edit - Sonofabitch.  I clicked the link, and found hey, I own that! But...I've never read it beyond the cursory glances I gave it on the day I bought it.  WTF is that? Gotta dig that out now]

Quote from: Bradford C. Walker;821654A second shot for a shit property. Some folks don't read the market very well; the same folks who didn't buy before won't buy now, and the same folks who didn't play then won't now.

Forty years, folks. We've had TRPGs for forty fucking years now. We now what works, and what doesn't. This shit doesn't work, and it's long past time to start viciously punishing fools who keep trying to pull a Canute.

Seems like it works enough, for enough people, to make some money writing and selling it...what exactly is your objection, other than badwrongfun? I mean, it doesn't sound like the game for me, but what the fuck do you care if it's the game for someone else - or even if it's just some smug thing some people buy and stick on their shelf so they can feel more smug about it being on their shelf?

Quote from: Mistwell;821817...or even if it's just some smug thing some people buy and stick on their shelf so they can feel more smug about it being on their shelf?

I can ASSURE you my shelf is already DRIPPING in smugness. It's ultra smug. Like a fucking smug bomb went off up in that bookshelf. MASSIVE smug. In fact, I'm pretty sure the smug is SMUG.

Kind of strikes me as bizarre.  AGE (the generic version of the Dragon Age system) doesn't seem like it would be as good of a fit as Chronicle (the generic version of the Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying system).

Blue Rose interest seems like it would be better served with a more narrative system with built in stuff for creating families, realms, etc (like Chronicle does.)

Odd Choice, but more power to 'em.  Might get the Usual G+ Suspects to actually purchase and play a game for the first time in their lives.  Might make them happier and less concerned with destroying anything in life that makes them uncomfortable.

Quote from: CRKrueger;821827Kind of strikes me as bizarre.  AGE (the generic version of the Dragon Age system) doesn't seem like it would be as good of a fit as Chronicle (the generic version of the Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying system).

Blue Rose interest seems like it would be better served with a more narrative system with built in stuff for creating families, realms, etc (like Chronicle does.)

Chronicle is probably too brutal a system, given the default for Blue Rose is more swashbuckler meets Star Wars.

Also, John Snead, BR's creator, is pretty strongly opposed to narrative systems and prefers to leave relationships and social interaction to roleplaying. That was one reason why they went with a D20 mod for the original game.

On saying that, I would expect to see AGE's social stunt system developed a little for Blue Rose, so that you get to do extra things on social rolls and the like.

BTW, isn't Blue Rose the place where there are "normal humans", the elf analogue are "good magical humans" who are pale with white hair, the evil race analogue is "evil corrupted humans" with black skin, and the orc analogue is the "Night People"?

Isn't this setup the kind of thing that gets the Outrage Brigade going crazy?