NZRaG

[sophmelc]

As mentioned in another thread, http://www.nzrag.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=2404, Green Ronin are about to release new rules for George R R Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire. As a big fan of the books I decided to download the Quickrules and run the intro adventure, A Journey to King's Landing.

I got 5 people (4 from these very boards) to come over and have a play of these new rules with me. The players and their characters were:

James P: Lord Rhys
spacestormy/CarlStar: Ser Merek
Adrexia: Squire Jonas
Thad: Nicholas River
Glenn: Maester Rudolphus
Me: Septa Alanna (seeing as she seemed like a background character to me)

Once we'd explained a little bit of the back ground to those who weren't familiar with the books we leapt right into the thick of it.

The adventure was a pretty simple one and didn't have any surprises but it did have plenty of opportunity to have a play around with the new rules.

The dice pool system was easy and in my mind unintrusive. The same basic mechanic is used whether you're fighting, hiding or charming someone.

I had been a little unsure about the Intrigue rules (basically a form of social combat), but after a very quick Intrigue between the Maester and the Innkeeper I think they will add an interesting dynamic to a section of the game that is usually left to roleplaying and the whim of the GM.

The group really got into the swing of the roleplay and there were some amusing moments when Ser Merek wanted to see how the stable boy "handled the shovel", not to mention most of the people in the group finding the stable boy's fondness of horses questionable.

My one issue, and this is something I think will become clearer with more play, is that the combat rules seemed particularly brutal. While I do know that they are meant to be harsher than your average "high fantasy" game a la DnD, the number of one hit take downs was pretty large. Perhaps the players just rolled well, or the GM read the rules wrong (very possible!). Regardless I found the combat fast paced and from a GMing point of view easy to control. With 4 NPCs in the combat I never felt that it was getting out of hand.

I hope some of the players will put their thoughts in here as well, but my end opinion is that I liked it and I look forward to seeing the rules in their entirety.

*edited to correct a players name.

[Adrexia]

It's got my vote. The rules system was easy and non-obtrusive.

I had fun.

[sophmelc]

[spacestormy]

im carlstar elsewhere but spacestormy here, just incase you are wondering why im saying anything about the game.

The game was good and easy to work out. Fun had by all. I don't see why a knight can't watch someones spade work. He just has a thing for spades.

The combat was very quick and deadly and im not sure how the players would feel if it was the enemy killing the PCs so quickly. Then again it could be that it seemed deadly because the levels are low and people tend to die at lower levels?
The game doesnt seem to be designed to just be a combat dungeon crawl as some of the PCs wern't exactly suited for battle. I guess their battles are via the spoken word.

It will be good to see the rules when it comes out.

[thad]

Certainly a fun one-off game (although not sure it's my cup of tea for a longer campaign run).

I'm thinking for the combat quickness, the main NPCs could have gone with injuries/wounds instead to keep them in battle longer. (Unless they did do that and I missed it.)
Certainly minor NPCs, bam, gone, but the main guys should be more relisient than that.

(Although the GM(*) has enough to think of without trying to keep track of all that sort of thing!)

(*) More personal experience here than implying anything about Sophie's style.

[sophmelc]

[Adrexia]

I don't really get a lot of joy out of combat. I just like it to be simple and over quickly, which it was in this case. I'm far more interested in the social interactions, and well, the story, which this system seems to emphasize. The brutality of combat is a nice reason to avoid it when you can.

Though I was pretty impressed with how much of a munchkin my character turned out to be when shooting others in the back of the head with a crossbow.

[sophmelc]

[Anarchangel]

That sounds very cool, especially the stuff about one hit take-downs. Thanks for the report!
_________________
Playing: Dresden Files RPG, 4e.
Running: Nothing.
Planning: Con games (Echoes, DitV & Hot War for Day After Ragnarok), Psi*Run, Action City!.
Writing: Outta the Walls, A Certain Kind of Decision, FATE Deadlands, other games.
My LJ

[sophmelc]

[Anarchangel]

[sophmelc]

[Anarchangel]

That sounds like a very cool idea, somewhat similar to Ars Magica's Troupe style, but not entirely. It could be a little difficult to pull off in a web-of-intrigue setting like the books where so many threads interrelate, but I imagine it could be very rewarding if it came off!
_________________
Playing: Dresden Files RPG, 4e.
Running: Nothing.
Planning: Con games (Echoes, DitV & Hot War for Day After Ragnarok), Psi*Run, Action City!.
Writing: Outta the Walls, A Certain Kind of Decision, FATE Deadlands, other games.
My LJ

[sophmelc]

Yeah I've been thinking that each player would have a character that they are developing the story for in a way. It would need some parameters of course, but it could give all players a feeling of greater buy in to the story of the game.

[Luke]