Anyone check out Radiance RPG yet?

[AncientSpirits]

My first reaction to the races in Radiance is "No way am I allowing all of those races." Now I realise that it is great that these options are in the free core book. (I hope WotC is reading this.)

I'm writing notes for my Radiance campaign, and the new Radiance Masters Guide makes that easy. This is not a simple rehash of the many GMGs of the past; it is a great guide to making the creation of adventures so much easier.

Yeah, the idea is that even for a cosmopolitan setting, the GM will strongly encourage particular races, say, a half-dozen to really help set the flavor of a particular campaign. They're just options.

As a GM, these days, I have so little time in my life to put together adventures. So why not give folks as many modular pieces as possible: stories, creatures, maps, townies, etc. To be honest, for most games now, I just select and print various materials that I think will fit the adventure I have in mind for that game day, and just throw in what I need as we go to meet the needs of the story experience.

 

[OberonViking]

Here's my attempt at a spreadsheet-based Character Sheet so far.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/lgfc9xgafaork80/Radiance Character Sheet.xlsx
I created it with a mind to printing it, so I am curious to hear how it looks on other people's computers and printers.
Also looking for feedback, especially regarding the back page.

 

[Quickleaf]

[MENTION=55778]AncientSpirits[/MENTION]
I gave my group a decent sales pitch for Radiance. They're skeptical about a new system (they like their 4e D&D), but are open to trying it out.

The characters are 10th level versions of some of their favorite D&D characters from old campaigns. One of them was a 4e Invoker and as I'm doing a rough conversion to the Radiance Invoker, I noticed an odd core ability called "Divine Blood". It doesn't fit this character concept so I'm looking at swapping it out with some kind of "Preservation Mantle". Something like this...

Preservation Mantle: Costs 2 vitality + 1 vitality per round maintained. Allies within 30 feet gain 2 temporary wound points at the start of their turn. Temporary wound points do not stack.

What do you think? Broken, too weak, or feasible?

 

[AncientSpirits]

[MENTION=55778]AncientSpirits[/MENTION]
I gave my group a decent sales pitch for Radiance. They're skeptical about a new system (they like their 4e D&D), but are open to trying it out.

The characters are 10th level versions of some of their favorite D&D characters from old campaigns. One of them was a 4e Invoker and as I'm doing a rough conversion to the Radiance Invoker, I noticed an odd core ability called "Divine Blood". It doesn't fit this character concept so I'm looking at swapping it out with some kind of "Preservation Mantle". Something like this...

Preservation Mantle: Costs 2 vitality + 1 vitality per round maintained. Allies within 30 feet gain 2 temporary wound points at the start of their turn. Temporary wound points do not stack.

What do you think? Broken, too weak, or feasible?

The short answer: Very close.

The longer answer: The question is what tier you're going for. If you want to replace the invoker core ability Divine Bloodline, that heals 1d4+1 wounds for 1 person at a time. It's a wee bit more powerful than basic tier which would normally be 1d4 wound points. A similar ability might then heals 1 wound point for all allies within 15 ft for 1 vitality cost, as basic tier, or all allies within 30 ft for 2 wound points for 2 vitality cost, as intermediate tier. Or some variation like you have also works, with 2 vitality cost plus 1 per round as fair too. So yes it's balanced for intermediate tier. While this might be unusual for a core ability, there is a precident, as s rogue's Dodge core ability costs 2 vitality. I'd say the trick to make it work is how much time is needed to maintain it from round to round: a standard, move or immediate action. I think standard action is too limiting to the invoker and swift too cheap, so move action, and either shrink the area to within 15 ft or make it heal 2 wound points the first round plus 1 point thereafter.

 

[AncientSpirits]

There are lots of previews of new material--and change for feedback and tweaking--at www.Facebook.com/RadianceRPG. Of course, folks welcome to continue the discussion here too.

 

[Robyo]

The facebook stuff looks cool. I like the more sci-fi slant a lot of the new updates seem to be taking.


...I'm working on running an online/pbp Radiance game. It's a fantasy-wildwest setting: "weird west." We're using the core classes and themes, but I'm bolting on some crunch and equipment options from Sidewinder:Recoiled (d20 modern). The firearms in Radiance are just too basic for the genre, and besides, some of their stats seem to be off. For instance, shouldn't musket range be halved? Pistol range as well? Maybe it's a balance issue. The damage ratings however, seem balanced in comparison to d20 modern.

The players are older, each with 30 or so years of gaming behind them. The system is new, yet familiar (mostly 3.5/PF players). Everyone has been really excited to make characters. Obviously gunslinger class is a favorite, being the genre what it is. I'd be happy to post occasional updates to show how the system is fairing.

I thought a couple cool wild west themes could be Drifter (Clint Eastwood) and Avenger (Charles Bronson).

 

[Robyo]

Nice to hear your players got behind the change. I've emailed the rules to my group, and I'm bringing them on my tablet to our friday game night to gauge everyone's reaction. Everything I've read and the great responses from @AncientSpirits (whom I am assuming is the author Dario Nardi) make me think it would be an easy game to GM and play. Plus I really enjoy Dario's writing, there's enough there that familiar so that the new stuff really pops out nicely, and is surprisingly good.

I made a dummy 10th level PC as a mockup of one player's character, and managed to squeeze everything legibly onto one page! That's amazing for a high level D&D-type character!

How has it been going with getting your group to try the system?

 

[AncientSpirits]

The facebook stuff looks cool. I like the more sci-fi slant a lot of the new updates seem to be taking.


...I'm working on running an online/pbp Radiance game. It's a fantasy-wildwest setting: "weird west." We're using the core classes and themes, but I'm bolting on some crunch and equipment options from Sidewinder:Recoiled (d20 modern). The firearms in Radiance are just too basic for the genre, and besides, some of their stats seem to be off. For instance, shouldn't musket range be halved? Pistol range as well? Maybe it's a balance issue. The damage ratings however, seem balanced in comparison to d20 modern.

The players are older, each with 30 or so years of gaming behind them. The system is new, yet familiar (mostly 3.5/PF players). Everyone has been really excited to make characters. Obviously gunslinger class is a favorite, being the genre what it is. I'd be happy to post occasional updates to show how the system is fairing.

I thought a couple cool wild west themes could be Drifter (Clint Eastwood) and Avenger (Charles Bronson).

I was unfamiliar with Sidewinder:Recoiled. Looking through it, they did a really nice job!

The stats for the weapons in Radiance are based on OGL/d20 SRD values and then improved somewhat to fall between 19th century and modern to make guns more worth their cost and to still fear into the hearts of men.

What I may do for the Expansion Kit is have a chapter with several "shops": a warmech shop (with lots of add-ons), a gun shop (with more weapon options), and so forth. Not sure how those final pages will shape up yet.

 

[Quickleaf]

How has it been going with getting your group to try the system?

They went with 4e, because it was familiar (and there is one player whose first language is Chinese and she uses translated books). That said, I still think Radiance looks outstanding, and I at some point I'd like to give it a shot.

 

[AncientSpirits]

They went with 4e, because it was familiar (and there is one player whose first language is Chinese and she uses translated books). That said, I still think Radiance looks outstanding, and I at some point I'd like to give it a shot.

The great news about table top gaming: We have the rest of our lives to play!