Anyone check out Radiance RPG yet?

Karak · Sep 19, 2012

Went through just a tiny bit of it tonight but what I saw I REALLY liked.

Stacie GmrGrl · Sep 19, 2012

To the author, what inspired you to write this game the way you did? You pretty much got rid of Feats and massive Spells lists and made them class abilities instead, which I am thankful for.

Karak · Sep 19, 2012

Got done with most of it and have to say. Bravo. I dig it.
Now I just have to squeeze in some time to actually play another game.

AncientSpirits · Sep 20, 2012

Stacie GmrGrl said:
To the author, what inspired you to write this game the way you did? You pretty much got rid of Feats and massive Spells lists and made them class abilities instead, which I am thankful for.

A lot of inspirations...
1) Make a game my S.O. is willing to GM and not just play occasionally.
2) Can we actually fit each class on a page? What a challenge!
3) Want to reduce prep time as a GM and reduce the in-combat math, and generally simplify... without losing the flavor.

Now sure of the roots any more. I wrote a bunch of stuff 5 years ago, put it in a drawer, found it 2 years ago, decided to either a) throw in trash, or b) make it happen.

Perhaps writing "Secrets of Pact Magic" suggested to me that a full set of usable material could appear on a 2-page spread. I just replaced "lots of 2-page spirits" with "lots of 2-page classes", and then added races, and originally had the usual chapter entitled "feats" before I realized I could silo them into themes that might discourage power-gaming and encourage a little bit more feeling of connection with a character's history, destiny, etc.

Your question takes me back! Thanks!

AncientSpirits · Sep 20, 2012

Karak said:
Got done with most of it and have to say. Bravo. I dig it.
Now I just have to squeeze in some time to actually play another game.

Thank you!

Up next... it's hell finishing the GM guide's right now... checking of monster stats. Ugh!

Karak · Sep 20, 2012

AncientSpirits said:
Thank you!

Up next... it's hell finishing the GM guide's right now... checking of monster stats. Ugh!

Agreed. I wrote a Kickstarter update for my project today and realized that the one bit I am really gearing up for are the monster bits. One part excitement, one part ONMYLAWD WUT!

I do love this though. Bravo seriously.

AncientSpirits said:
A lot of inspirations...
1) Make a game my S.O. is willing to GM and not just play occasionally.

Did number 1 really pan out?

AncientSpirits · Sep 21, 2012

Karak said:
Did number 1 really pan out?

Not yet.

Though, I detect more enthusiasm about playing, as there is now more for out of combat role-play and less "accounting" (number crunching).

Robyo · Oct 2, 2012

I was wondering if the Master's Guide will include rules for converting 3.x (or older editions) monsters to Radiance? Particularly, if there is a quick and easy way to convert HP to Wound/Vitality...

Much enjoying the game so far!

AncientSpirits · Oct 2, 2012

Robyo said:
I was wondering if the Master's Guide will include rules for converting 3.x (or older editions) monsters to Radiance? Particularly, if there is a quick and easy way to convert HP to Wound/Vitality...

Much enjoying the game so far!

Glad you're enjoying it!

Monster conversion is the number 1 task, time-wise, so yes, there are some conversion guidelines. There are so many great monsters out there.

In Radiance RPG, a monster's hit points work like this:

Vitality = level * 7 + Con modifier
Wounds is based on monster size (Tiny=2, Small=5, Medium=10, Large=15, and Huge=20). Some monsters like trolls get more, but that's fairly irregular.

Converting 4E monsters is pretty easy. Just adjust hit points, change AC to match Fortitude or Reflex (whichever is better), and remember that some energy types like "radiant" have different names in Radiance RPG. Since 4E uses passive saves and such, there's not much else to do!

Converting 3.5/PF monsters is more work. I suggest this: Start with the creature's CR, not it's hit dice. The CR = the creature's level. Keep its attributes (Str, Con, etc). Then calculate its attack, saves, hit points, and DR based on its level, per the monster creation rules on page 246-247. Finally, map over its other abilities as-is, such as darkvision and special attacks and resistances.

AncientSpirits · Oct 2, 2012

BTW...

An updated version "N" of "Radiance Players Guide" is now up for free download at www.DriveThruRPG.com and Radiance RPG.

The changes are very limited (8 things?), though there is an errata sheet for those who wish to know for sure. The most egregious was the medicant's Inflict Wounds. After a month of intensive release into the wild, if this is all that came up, then I'm a happy designer

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