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Sgirra
Posts: 17
Joined: Sat 18 Apr 2020, 11:54

Re: Dragonbane BETA Rulebook Feedback - Chapter 2 Your Character

Tue 06 Dec 2022, 15:23

I have a feeling that if characters gain a Heroic Ability every five sessions, my group will have a dozen Heroic Abilities in no time (we play weekly, planning on an ongoing campaign).
I would argue, that this is easy to fix: Give them a new ability every 8-10 sessions. ;-) We play once every four to six weeks, so we are happy with the regular suggestion.

I really hope that FL does not switch to a normal point buy system. Yes, we know it from thousands of other systems, it works and we love it. But we also know it from thousands of other systems. Granting a new ability every X sessions is sweet, and a nice take on the 5E milestone system for level-less advancement.

But maybe you want to add a Designer’s Note-/Optional rule-box and explain how easily one can adjust the advancement tempo by changing the amount of sessions needed?
 
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Short Fey
Posts: 398
Joined: Sat 03 Dec 2022, 14:45

Re: Dragonbane BETA Rulebook Feedback - Chapter 2 Your Character

Tue 06 Dec 2022, 15:48

I have a feeling that if characters gain a Heroic Ability every five sessions, my group will have a dozen Heroic Abilities in no time (we play weekly, planning on an ongoing campaign).
I would argue, that this is easy to fix: Give them a new ability every 8-10 sessions. ;-) We play once every four to six weeks, so we are happy with the regular suggestion.

I really hope that FL does not switch to a normal point buy system. Yes, we know it from thousands of other systems, it works and we love it. But we also know it from thousands of other systems. Granting a new ability every X sessions is sweet, and a nice take on the 5E milestone system for level-less advancement.

But maybe you want to add a Designer’s Note-/Optional rule-box and explain how easily one can adjust the advancement tempo by changing the amount of sessions needed?
Perhaps there is a condition you must do to earn a advancment point per session, like "defeat, outwit or resolve a conflict non-violently with a dangerous foe", "explore a dungeon or dangerous location", "discover a rare treasure"and/or "complete a quest". Perhaps also "act out a fun/memorable scene" for those who wanna reward good roleplay.

This means that on sessions you spend shopping, training skills, milling in town or just non descriptive travel would'nt earn you a point, slowing the tempo a bit.
Beware the fey!
 
JohnWithAgun
Posts: 134
Joined: Sat 18 Jun 2022, 14:27

Re: Dragonbane BETA Rulebook Feedback - Chapter 2 Your Character

Wed 07 Dec 2022, 09:37

Had my first run with the game last night.

One of the players ended up being a knight(page 19), with the equipment role of full plate armor (armor and helmet).
This created a very unbalanced first encounter fight with some wolves. (8 armor vs the 2,1 and 0 of the rest of the party).
It was a tense fight the rest of the guys, where a wolf bite was quite dangerous. But they hardly made it past the armor on the knight and he could properly have killed them all by himself.

This could be intended, but i feel like you should stick a warning label on the class warning the GM, making it optional or some other way for the GM to shut it down without looking like the bad guy.
... it also felt silly to start him off with d12 silver, after giving him more than 6000 silver worth of gear :)
 
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VorpalMace
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Re: Dragonbane BETA Rulebook Feedback - Chapter 2 Your Character

Wed 07 Dec 2022, 12:08

One of the players ended up being a knight(page 19), with the equipment role of full plate armor (armor and helmet).
This created a very unbalanced first encounter fight with some wolves. (8 armor vs the 2,1 and 0 of the rest of the party).
It was a tense fight the rest of the guys, where a wolf bite was quite dangerous. But they hardly made it past the armor on the knight and he could properly have killed them all by himself.

This could be intended, but i feel like you should stick a warning label on the class warning the GM, making it optional or some other way for the GM to shut it down without looking like the bad guy.
... it also felt silly to start him off with d12 silver, after giving him more than 6000 silver worth of gear :)

That sounds pretty realistic, a combatant in plate armour shouldn't be a match for mere wolves. Don't forget though, that if they roll a dragon they can bypass armour or deal double damage.

As for the powerful starting equipment, don't forget that the knight has the ability to soak up damage instead of others, which they should use. If the knight is doing their job well they will be the only ones who take damage in the round till they run out of WPs to burn. Looking at it this way, having some heavy starting armour is no longer that much of an overkill. How else are you expected to take damage meant for four to six characters alone?

On a sidenote, fighting wolves is a trope I find tiresome and ridiculous. Wolves unless really hungry or forced to will avoid contact with humans, and will definitely give up fighting something they can't handle. Heck, you could scare or keep most animals at bay using fire.
 
Gunslinger
Posts: 23
Joined: Sun 01 Jul 2012, 22:40

Re: Dragonbane BETA Rulebook Feedback - Chapter 2 Your Character

Thu 08 Dec 2022, 14:49

I have created (or seen created a couple of characters). I think the age has a slighly weird effect and overall the skill calculating is a little bit boring. It's simple and that is good. But: You won't have any better skills if you are old, you will only have more of them. If you are a young fighter or an old fighter, wouldn't it be appropriate that you are worse or better on your core skills?

Also, many of the skills are quite similar with their attribute dependencies. So with a base chance of 6, many of your skills will be 12. Not much variation.

How about ordering your skills and getting +2, +1, +0, -1 on your four profession skills. And if your are young, you get the same number of skills, but +1, +0, -1, -2. An old character can get one more skill but also +3, +2, +1, +0. Or something like that.
 
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Short Fey
Posts: 398
Joined: Sat 03 Dec 2022, 14:45

Re: Dragonbane BETA Rulebook Feedback - Chapter 2 Your Character

Thu 08 Dec 2022, 15:39

I have created (or seen created a couple of characters). I think the age has a slighly weird effect and overall the skill calculating is a little bit boring. It's simple and that is good. But: You won't have any better skills if you are old, you will only have more of them. If you are a young fighter or an old fighter, wouldn't it be appropriate that you are worse or better on your core skills?

Also, many of the skills are quite similar with their attribute dependencies. So with a base chance of 6, many of your skills will be 12. Not much variation.

How about ordering your skills and getting +2, +1, +0, -1 on your four profession skills. And if your are young, you get the same number of skills, but +1, +0, -1, -2. An old character can get one more skill but also +3, +2, +1, +0. Or something like that.
I've seen them use a similar idea in another one of their games called Vaesen.

In essence the idea is a young character is physically fit, but lacks experience, hence the attribute bonus but only get one extra skill in beyond the ones you get from your proffession.

An old character is not as physically able but have years of experience to draw from various fields they may have dabbled in, hence the attribute reduction but more skills after your proffession.

An adult is still in good condition, but got some yeara learning some new things, making them middle in the road.

I prefer this over what you have pruposed, as it would would have fewer skills overall, and only stuck using what is in your proffession (fighters would only have weapon skills and nothing else)
Beware the fey!
 
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Vile Traveller
Posts: 67
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Re: Dragonbane BETA Rulebook Feedback - Chapter 2 Your Character

Thu 08 Dec 2022, 16:26

Why not both! Or some new skills plus some extra levels in professional skills. This reflects how most characters develop after leaving their profession for an adventuring career.

By the way, I think the term 'profession' is causing some misconceptions particularly amongst gamers coming from class-based RPGs. A more accurate term would be the old RuneQuest 'previous experience', because most (all?) characters leave their job behind when they become adventurers. It doesn't define how they develop from character generation onward.
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Crafting the finest table top role-playing games for your discerning diversion
 
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Short Fey
Posts: 398
Joined: Sat 03 Dec 2022, 14:45

Re: Dragonbane BETA Rulebook Feedback - Chapter 2 Your Character

Thu 08 Dec 2022, 17:00

Why not both! Or some new skills plus some extra levels in professional skills. This reflects how most characters develop after leaving their profession for an adventuring career.

By the way, I think the term 'profession' is causing some misconceptions particularly amongst gamers coming from class-based RPGs. A more accurate term would be the old RuneQuest 'previous experience', because most (all?) characters leave their job behind when they become adventurers. It doesn't define how they develop from character generation onward.
I could agree to some kind of combination of the two yeah.

And i can agree, a different tearm for Profession could be useful. I'd say "Background", though i can see people considering it too generic/dnd 5e.
Beware the fey!
 
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Vile Traveller
Posts: 67
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Re: Dragonbane BETA Rulebook Feedback - Chapter 2 Your Character

Thu 08 Dec 2022, 17:31

I like background!
https://dreamscapedesign.net/
Crafting the finest table top role-playing games for your discerning diversion
 
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Vile Traveller
Posts: 67
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Re: Dragonbane BETA Rulebook Feedback - Chapter 2 Your Character

Fri 09 Dec 2022, 11:05

It would be nice to have a generic character generation option not using a specific profession, e.g.:

5 skills
1 heroic ability
X silver worth of gear

Many more experienced BRP-adjacent players like to use this system, especially once they've tried out all the standard professions.
https://dreamscapedesign.net/
Crafting the finest table top role-playing games for your discerning diversion
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