Although I really liked them in 1e, there were a few problems with some of them. Especially the Kings Blade for Hobbits was a) really powerful compared to others. Effectively making Hobbits with the Trait „Small“ quite powerful in melee combat. And b) I didn’t saw it quite fitting, that every Hobbit character could get an old blade from Arnor. In the LotR these blades are magical treasure and not something that is given away in a Hobbit familiy.
Others were very cool, like the Woodmen or Beorning rewards. But in 2e I would balance them a bit more. Some are like „If you roll a Gandalf you get xyz, while others are like „you get a d6“. I really would take a look at that and make sure, that every reward is useable as often as the others.
Re: Am I the only one who is missing 1e specific Rewards for Cultures?
I really enjoyed those as well. The current rewards are just meh.
Re: Am I the only one who is missing 1e specific Rewards for Cultures?
Yes, there's something to that. Cultural Virtues have a lot of color and variety, but Rewards are all just kind of bland and generic. I mean, once heroes start finding famous weapons and armour that changes, because they use their Valour points to unlock magical qualities. But, until then....I really enjoyed those as well. The current rewards are just meh.
So, yeah, we need a big fat fan collaboration tome of flavorful cultural rewards.
Re: Am I the only one who is missing 1e specific Rewards for Cultures?
I wouldn’t see it in such a negative way. You always can narrate or describe your rewards as being cultural. In fact from a game mechanics view they don’t differ much from 1e. They are just generic. But you can call them whatever you like. A Hobbit with a Keen blade could always tell the story of his grandfather, who found it in an barrow of old Arnor.
Re: Am I the only one who is missing 1e specific Rewards for Cultures?
Indeed, I agree with Sebastian on this. This way players and the LM can give flavour as needed, without it affecting the game system to much. If anything, I felt the cultural rewards tended to restrict players too much.
-
- Aiden Harrison
- Posts: 133
- Joined:
Re: Am I the only one who is missing 1e specific Rewards for Cultures?
Perhaps expanding the list of generic rewards and repurposing the old cultural rewards and updating/fixing the lacklustre ones and adding them as options to a larger master list might make a nice community project.
Then they can be reapplied as cultural rewards for those who want them.
Something to think about.
Then they can be reapplied as cultural rewards for those who want them.
Something to think about.
Re: Am I the only one who is missing 1e specific Rewards for Cultures?
I disagree (shocker, right?) that adding narrative fluff to generic rewards is better than cultural rewards.
1) The generic rewards can be optimized mathematically. Whereas it's hard to quantify the benefit of some of the better-designed cultural weapons and armour.
2) TOR already (in my mind) leans heavily toward mechanics that are highly repetitive and deterministic, but observations to that effect are often met with "Just narrate it colorfully!" Others may disagree, but I tire of having to embellish simplistic mechanics. I want a game, not a roleplaying cue generator.
3) Traditionally, cultural rewards were designed to have synergy with the weaknesses of the cultures. So, for example, Hobbits aren't great at combat, so they got a virtue to help with archery, and a reward to help with close combat. King's Blade may have overshot the mark, but that's the idea. Generic rewards, on the other hand, can't really be designed this way, because in the hands of an unintended culture can be OP.
4) The two systems can co-exist, so adding cultural rewards doesn't have to detract from the value of generic rewards. As long as "trap choices" (such as King's Blade) are avoided.
I do agree that there is some awkward fluff to the 1e cultural rewards, e.g. the incongruity of around half of all adventuring Hobbits (based on my own experience playing TOR) somehow getting their hands on one. But that's an issue with implementation, not concept.
1) The generic rewards can be optimized mathematically. Whereas it's hard to quantify the benefit of some of the better-designed cultural weapons and armour.
2) TOR already (in my mind) leans heavily toward mechanics that are highly repetitive and deterministic, but observations to that effect are often met with "Just narrate it colorfully!" Others may disagree, but I tire of having to embellish simplistic mechanics. I want a game, not a roleplaying cue generator.
3) Traditionally, cultural rewards were designed to have synergy with the weaknesses of the cultures. So, for example, Hobbits aren't great at combat, so they got a virtue to help with archery, and a reward to help with close combat. King's Blade may have overshot the mark, but that's the idea. Generic rewards, on the other hand, can't really be designed this way, because in the hands of an unintended culture can be OP.
4) The two systems can co-exist, so adding cultural rewards doesn't have to detract from the value of generic rewards. As long as "trap choices" (such as King's Blade) are avoided.
I do agree that there is some awkward fluff to the 1e cultural rewards, e.g. the incongruity of around half of all adventuring Hobbits (based on my own experience playing TOR) somehow getting their hands on one. But that's an issue with implementation, not concept.
Re: Am I the only one who is missing 1e specific Rewards for Cultures?
I posted this thread in July after we got the beta rules for reviewing: viewtopic.php?f=129&t=8128&p=60838#p60838As stated in the topic name, while I like many aspects of the 2e, the one thing that I very much miss are the specific rewards for each Culture which IMO gave even more "uniqueness" to each one of them.
What is your opinion about it? Do you think is possible to reintroduce them in the new rules without unbalancing the system?
Re: Am I the only one who is missing 1e specific Rewards for Cultures?
Why did Francesco say they were problematic? Maybe from a balancing standpoint sure, but tbh with minor correction I don't see them as problematic at allI posted this thread in July after we got the beta rules for reviewing: viewtopic.php?f=129&t=8128&p=60838#p60838
Re: Am I the only one who is missing 1e specific Rewards for Cultures?
100% agree with you, not everything can be fixed with "insert narrative". In the end, this is a game and a game needs both narrative and mechanics to be interesting, otherwise, it's just theatrical actingI disagree (shocker, right?) that adding narrative fluff to generic rewards is better than cultural rewards.
1) The generic rewards can be optimized mathematically. Whereas it's hard to quantify the benefit of some of the better-designed cultural weapons and armour.
2) TOR already (in my mind) leans heavily toward mechanics that are highly repetitive and deterministic, but observations to that effect are often met with "Just narrate it colorfully!" Others may disagree, but I tire of having to embellish simplistic mechanics. I want a game, not a roleplaying cue generator.
3) Traditionally, cultural rewards were designed to have synergy with the weaknesses of the cultures. So, for example, Hobbits aren't great at combat, so they got a virtue to help with archery, and a reward to help with close combat. King's Blade may have overshot the mark, but that's the idea. Generic rewards, on the other hand, can't really be designed this way, because in the hands of an unintended culture can be OP.
4) The two systems can co-exist, so adding cultural rewards doesn't have to detract from the value of generic rewards. As long as "trap choices" (such as King's Blade) are avoided.
I do agree that there is some awkward fluff to the 1e cultural rewards, e.g. the incongruity of around half of all adventuring Hobbits (based on my own experience playing TOR) somehow getting their hands on one. But that's an issue with implementation, not concept.
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: Google [Bot] and 1 guest