(no subject)
Okay, for the LT inclined among us, 3rd Ed rules have been released. Come read my thoughts as I read the PDF!
Disclamer: I may be misunderstanding, or things might become clearer as I go down the document. These are my very unformed first impressions.
I hoped the LT was going to use this as a chance to cut away the rule undergrowth that's grown up. Wrong!
Pointy Fingers are now official. So are Rites. Okay, fine. Rites and Rituals are still in the mix, so I guess that gives people TWO ways of solving 70% of the plot in the game.
Locational hits still. Darn.
What's happened to the magic system? There are now, ooh, call it five different magic schemes, with enough overlap and arbitary remits to completely confuse anyone not playing that scheme of magic. There's MORE spell calls to learn, not less.
There are now restricted races that players can't go for. I suspect I'd make a cute gargoyle, but surely it doesn't matter if there are no specific racial abilities? I understand why I can't play the hard-bastards of the planar sphere (the previous monster encounters with these suggest they're statted differently) but does that mean shambling mounds(!) are going to have their own powers?
On page 41, a hierarchy of Special. Some snarks just write themselves!
Looking at the new character points, there's no new lore skills, everyone can now automatically use a sword, and if you sink enough points into magic use...26 cards? holy magebolt, why not just call your mage Vickers Gatling and be done with it?
Claw competancy tests. Snicker. Well, snickt, certainly!
Lethal poisons now require a ref, and three out of the four poison types are generally lethal. Poison is notoriously tricky to kill with in LRP, but this is putting the nail in the coffin, to my mind.
With this all in mind, it's clear the game is about to become even MORE magic-centric, rather than less. If you don't take some flavour of magic as part of your character creation, you've every chance of being mown down, and combat wombats in particular may not be keen on that. I hope for the wombats' sake the new armour and Body Dev 2 rules keep some semblance of game balance, though I notice these are more defensive than offensive.
As for us lore-bunnies, well, we're still screwed, unless something SPECTACULAR comes to light in the OSP update.
The economics look exactly the same, I note. Again, there could be really cool trading/Filthy Rich Bastard skills in the OSP booklet, but I can't see it, somehow.
My first impression is one of bitter disappointment. It looks shiny if you want to play a cardripper, but if you don't, these rules changes seem to have left you more disenfranchised than ever.
I think this is probably a bit too high-fantasy for my taste, but I'm not making a final decision on whether to keep playing until I get my eyeballs round the new OSPs.
Disclamer: I may be misunderstanding, or things might become clearer as I go down the document. These are my very unformed first impressions.
I hoped the LT was going to use this as a chance to cut away the rule undergrowth that's grown up. Wrong!
Pointy Fingers are now official. So are Rites. Okay, fine. Rites and Rituals are still in the mix, so I guess that gives people TWO ways of solving 70% of the plot in the game.
Locational hits still. Darn.
What's happened to the magic system? There are now, ooh, call it five different magic schemes, with enough overlap and arbitary remits to completely confuse anyone not playing that scheme of magic. There's MORE spell calls to learn, not less.
There are now restricted races that players can't go for. I suspect I'd make a cute gargoyle, but surely it doesn't matter if there are no specific racial abilities? I understand why I can't play the hard-bastards of the planar sphere (the previous monster encounters with these suggest they're statted differently) but does that mean shambling mounds(!) are going to have their own powers?
On page 41, a hierarchy of Special. Some snarks just write themselves!
Looking at the new character points, there's no new lore skills, everyone can now automatically use a sword, and if you sink enough points into magic use...26 cards? holy magebolt, why not just call your mage Vickers Gatling and be done with it?
Claw competancy tests. Snicker. Well, snickt, certainly!
Lethal poisons now require a ref, and three out of the four poison types are generally lethal. Poison is notoriously tricky to kill with in LRP, but this is putting the nail in the coffin, to my mind.
With this all in mind, it's clear the game is about to become even MORE magic-centric, rather than less. If you don't take some flavour of magic as part of your character creation, you've every chance of being mown down, and combat wombats in particular may not be keen on that. I hope for the wombats' sake the new armour and Body Dev 2 rules keep some semblance of game balance, though I notice these are more defensive than offensive.
As for us lore-bunnies, well, we're still screwed, unless something SPECTACULAR comes to light in the OSP update.
The economics look exactly the same, I note. Again, there could be really cool trading/Filthy Rich Bastard skills in the OSP booklet, but I can't see it, somehow.
My first impression is one of bitter disappointment. It looks shiny if you want to play a cardripper, but if you don't, these rules changes seem to have left you more disenfranchised than ever.
I think this is probably a bit too high-fantasy for my taste, but I'm not making a final decision on whether to keep playing until I get my eyeballs round the new OSPs.