Got Thieves World?

I've read Crothian's excellent review, but I haven't seen any threads about the new Green Ronin's Thieves World and I was just wondering if anyone had it and, if they did, what they thought of it.

I've been a fan of Thieves since it first hit the bookselves at B. Dalton all those years ago and I'm very interested in revisiting it. . . plus, much like the Black Company RPG from GR, I think it'll be hoot to read.

I have it, but you knew that. If you have any specific questions I can feild them pretty well.

You mention that the maps are small, but not how detailed they are (or if you did, I missed it)... So, uh, how detailed are they?

Have you actually played it yet? If so, how well does it play? I've found that some games read real well, but I don't particularly like how they play.

For instance, I thought the Black Company Campaign Setting magic rules rocked on toast, until I tried to use them in play and then they bogged the game down (for me), which I didn't enjoy, unless the player made up a "Spell Book" of preconfigured spells that they could modify slighty on the fly with little time. While this extra time was cool for the wizard's player (they were, afterall, playing during this extended time), after the first several times, the attention of the other players started to wander since they had nothing to really contribute.

As a long time Thieves' World fan, how well do you think it models the Thieves' World experience?

I think what I'm looking forward to most is Shadowspawn's Guide to Sanctuary which will have more information for playing in the "Classic Era," but, while your review touched on it, I'm wondering how much information is present in the main book for conducting such a campaign.

THe maps show the city and show the different sections of the city. But they don't go into much detail beyond that.

I have played and I think it playes well. The lower massive damge really makes combat interesting and deadly, the waiting for someone to cast a spell can add supsense, but the key ingredient to run a Thieves World game has never changed: Players and DM in the right mind.

THe magic is simplier then Black company. Basically the character rolls a magic check which is like an attack. This is used to draw in mana to cast the spell. They can fail and cool things hpapen, succeed and cast the spell, or succeed but not get enough mana and have to try again next round.

It models thieves world pretty good but could be darker. But they do talk about how dark it can be and their are hints of it in there. But you really can't havea book aimed at the general gaming population be as dark as Thieves World can get. But I do know that Rob Schwalb knows how dark it is. He runs a good game.

The book is aimed at the time period of the new short stories. The map is of Sanctuary as it exists now and not then. But the backgrounds, classes, cultures are all good for both time periods. THe city description is current and not classic.

If you want to play classic the book will help especially if you want the d20 rules. I use the new TW with the old TW box set that is fantastic. That box set has a freaking large map of the city, sperate map for the maze, and sperate map for the tunnels and sewers undeneath the city. They have a players book and DM book in the box set, neither are big but they are good for capturing the feel of the city. And my favorite part is they have random table for differnet buildings in the different areas of the city. THis way the DM can fill in the buildings he needs but as its not concreate what is where all the time things can change and keep the players on their toes.

Thanks, Crothian, for the reply. I'll pick it up sometime in the near future.

Though of another question

It is my understanding, though, that Shadowspawn's Guide to Sanctuary is going to contain a lot more information on the Classic Era. Does understanding seem correct to you?

Doc_Klueless said:

It is my understanding, though, that Shadowspawn's Guide to Sanctuary is going to contain a lot more information on the Classic Era. Does understanding seem correct to you?

Click to expand...

I think that's right, but I really have no insider informaiton on what is in the upcoming books.

While the new books are OK - I'm really interested in the Sanctuary of the original series so I was a little irked by the emphasis in the players handbook on the new books (may be it was my imagination - but may be not!)

Also I was midly annoyed with the book not following the Mongoose style of being a complete game (e.g. Conan) but instead requiring purchasers to have the 3 core rules books. To be honest I have the core rules (and more) but it just made the book seem incomplete.

I'm really hoping that Shadowspawn's Guide to Sanctuary does focus mainly on the old series, but as Shadowspawn does feature in the new books (albeit under a different name) it could easily follow the players handbook style.

I perfer the book being all new material then the Mongoose bookms that seem to be half reprinted from the SRD

Doc_Klueless said:

It is my understanding, though, that Shadowspawn's Guide to Sanctuary is going to contain a lot more information on the Classic Era.

Click to expand...

It's going to contain information on both eras, and in particular has full NPC writeups of all the major characters from those eras. However, the Rankan Era will get fleshed out a bit more just because there's more stuff to cover from that era - 12 anthologies as opposed to 1 novel and 2 anthologies. It also has optional rules and material that you can use to make the world darker, lighter, more heroic, less heroic or whatever suits your style.

After that, the Gazetteer will cover the world and places outside Sanctuary, plus advice on running games and more customization options. While it's set in the modern/Irrune era, the vast bulk of the info is timeless; it can be applied equally well to modern or classic campaigns.

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As for the 'classic vs. new' thing... well, one function of a licensed game is to tie into the property being licensed. People who like the stories buy the game; people who like the game buy the books. Now, there's little point in making a game about a setting that's been out of print for more than 10 years; it's not going to attract new blood, and it's going to frustrate gamers who want to explore that world further but can't find those OOP books. So it makes much more sense to cover both eras, but to favour the modern, accessible, currently-in-print era over the other.

Having said that, I don't think we've ignored the classic era at all; just as the modern stories build on that history and legacy, so too does the RPG. All the TW RPG sourcebooks are designed to provide tools for both eras, to give a broad base of support and information and let players/GMs decide which era of the setting appeals most. The classes, rules, magic system, GMing advice and support... it's all usable in both eras. The choice of era determines events, characters and social dynamics more than anything else, and those are elements that GMs and players provide far more than sourcebooks.