It looks like it smashed its Kickstarter goal:

$359,031 pledged of $45,000 goal
3,593 backers

I've not played any Torchbearer, although I have played some Burning Wheel and it's by the same folks, so that makes me wary.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/burningwheel/torchbearer-2nd-edition

I own and have run 1st ed. I mostly enjoyed it.  The players were game, but mostly didn't.  I was running with six players.  I think the game is probably better for 3 or 4.  There are some very odd things about how it is put together that makes a dungeon crawl (or something structurally equivalent) by far the best thing to run with it.  I can see where a 2nd ed. would help it, because there are a few sections in 1st ed. that are very confusing, even for someone like me that already had experience with other Burning Wheel games.  I would summarize it as having an elegant underlying system with an overly complicated set of rules slapped on top of it, for what it does.  Since you've played BW, think about the difference between the BW hub versus the rest of the rules.  TB isn't quite that wide a range, but it has somewhat the same effect.

For a D&D fan, TB is the most approachable of the BW games.  Whether it approaches enough, is another question.

So a Kickstarter run by a Kickstarter employee in charge of the gaming section of Kickstarter "smashed" its goals?

How surprising.

haha Good one Spin!

Quote from: Spinachcat;1130390So a Kickstarter run by a Kickstarter employee in charge of the gaming section of Kickstarter "smashed" its goals?

How surprising.

Do you think the purchasers are fake? That he forced people to buy it against their will? Please do explain the conspiracy theory behind this nefarious plot (particularly since it's a dead link at the moment...must be a plot to gin up interest!)

Quote from: Mistwell;1130398Do you think the purchasers are fake? That he forced people to buy it against their will? Please do explain the conspiracy theory behind this nefarious plot (particularly since it's a dead link at the moment...must be a plot to gin up interest!)

Oh shut the fuck up...

Quote from: Steven Mitchell;1130367... I would summarize it as having an elegant underlying system with an overly complicated set of rules slapped on top of it, for what it does.  ...

I find this to be true for BW games in general.

I have Burning wheel and I keep it around as an example of a game that is somehow both very abstract, and complex, at the same time.

That being said - I actually like it because I feel that the game has a lot of good ideas in it, it's just the overall execution of them, and that he tries to do them all at once,  that I've always scratched my head at.

Quote from: Jaeger;1130407I find this to be true for BW games in general.

I have Burning wheel and I keep it around as an example of a game that is somehow both very abstract, and complex, at the same time.

That being said - I actually like it because I feel that the game has a lot of good ideas in it, it's just the overall execution of them, and that he tries to do them all at once,  that I've always scratched my head at.

Yes.  I'm glad I ran it. If the right group was really interested, I'd run a short game of it again--or more likely, TB or MG instead. But absent that, I'm highly unlikely to run it again. It was more educational than fun.

I backed it, because I'm fond of uncompromising games.  I like Torchbearer's realistically harsh perspective on wandering miles into the middle of nowhere, going into some cave, and trying to stab large angry wildlife (or worse) in the hopes of finding some money on the floor.  D&D has gotten more and more like playing low-level superheroes as the editions have progressed, the grit is a nice change of pace.

Quote from: Valatar;1130498...D&D has gotten more and more like playing low-level superheroes as the editions have progressed, the grit is a nice change of pace.

One could make the argument that this is a direct result of WOTC listening to the fan surveys they periodically put out.

Regardless of how one feels about the direction of the game, they have mostly done this to great success.

On another forum though I wondered how much of the direction of the game is influenced more by players than GM's.

After all there are far more players than GM's responding to these OWTC D&D surveys. But yet their voices seem to be all lumped together with no distinction made when looking at the survey results.

I wonder how much different each edition from 3e onward would have looked if the GM responses were separated out and given equal weight to player responses on these surveys?

If it was me I would lean towards giving the GM's more weight when looking at survey results to see what changes to implement in a new edition. IMHO, making the game easier to GM is a big plus for overall edition playability.

Does TB play like that stupid mouse game?  Because I seriously hated playing Mouse Guard with every fiber of my being.

Quote from: Hakdov;1130601Does TB play like that stupid mouse game?  Because I seriously hated playing Mouse Guard with every fiber of my being.

It's more detailed than MG, but the basic engine is very similar.

Quote from: Steven Mitchell;1130605It's more detailed than MG, but the basic engine is very similar.

Is the combat group oriented story telling nonsense like MG?  I hated that.  

The combat in BW was way more interesting.

Quote from: Hakdov;1130610Is the combat group oriented story telling nonsense like MG?  I hated that.  

The combat in BW was way more interesting.

I can't remember enough where the boundaries are, since it has been some time since I looked at any of them.  TB is definitely in the middle between MG and BW.  TB does have one character take the lead each round, with the rest only helping.  It also clamps down pretty hard on having and using equipment, but that's more about hyper-inflating the sense of dread and scarcity, with its effects on combat more of a byproduct.  The whole flow of TB is built around "The Grind" which is meant to make the characters increasingly desperate.

Quote from: Hakdov;1130601Does TB play like that stupid mouse game?  Because I seriously hated playing Mouse Guard with every fiber of my being.

I haven't ever played Mouse Guard, but the developer's stated that Torchbearer is based off of its mechanics, so if you hate the one, betting you will the other too.