The Dark Eye ?

[atanakar]

Have you played The Dark Eye RPG? It is very popular in Europe (Germany). First edition in 1984. The 5e English translation was released in November 2016. Fourth edition English version in 2006. I recall seeing a French translation in the 80s-90s but never played. What were you impressions of the system and the setting?

QSR Link:

DriveThruRPG

www.drivethrurpg.com

 

[Fenris-77]

Nope, never even heard of it, but now I want to read it. I am, after all, an inveterate collector and reader (and even occasionally player) of RPG books. Danka.

 

[Aldarc]

Have you played The Dark Eye RPG? It is very popular in Europe (Germany). First edition in 1984. The 5e English translation was released in November 2016. Fourth edition English version in 2006. I recall seeing a French translation in the 80s-90s but never played. What were you impressions of the system and the setting?

QSR Link:

DriveThruRPG

www.drivethrurpg.com

I have not. I only have "horror stories" recounted to me by players here in Austria who played it before I had joined their group. My Austrian friends described it to me as "stereotypically German," in terms of its needless complexity, particularly ability checks requiring 3 or so d20 rolls. They didn't particularly like it. Obviously there are people who do like it, but I'm at a phase in my life where I don't really enjoy engaging or learning rules heavy games anymore.

Edit: Check the Dark Eye website. I believe that you can get more than their Quickstart rules for free. I recall picking up the corebook for free about a month ago when quarantine started here in Central Europe.

 

[Fenris-77]

3d20?! Good gravy that's a lot of mental math. Or maybe you meant successive checks? Either way, yikes. I find myself moving away from the d20 as a die I want to use a lot for the most part. It's fine in games where I already use it, like D&D, but new systems based on d20 rolls? Yeah, kinda meh. Oddly, having said that, I do actually kinda like the 2d20 system. Wacky. I reserve the right hold mutually contrary opinions all at once.

 

[Dioltach]

I played the first edition back in 1985, before I got BECMI. Then a few years ago I was burned out on the complexity of D&D 3.5 and I dug it out again. Had a blast with it, even though we had to houserule some things (we added rules for Adventurers to sneak and throw knives, which the text hints at but which were never released in the version I was playing (the Dutch translation), for example).

 

[Aldarc]

3d20?! Good gravy that's a lot of mental math. Or maybe you meant successive checks? Either way, yikes. I find myself moving away from the d20 as a die I want to use a lot for the most part. It's fine in games where I already use it, like D&D, but new systems based on d20 rolls? Yeah, kinda meh. Oddly, having said that, I do actually kinda like the 2d20 system. Wacky. I reserve the right hold mutually contrary opinions all at once.

Nope. Each skill has three associated stats (occasionally the same one twice), and I believe that you have to beat all to succeed. Can't remember if you roll higher or lower than your stat though. Still.

 

[Fenris-77]

Nope. Each skill has three associated stats (occasionally the same one twice), and I believe that you have to beat all to succeed. Can't remember if you roll higher or lower than your stat though. Still.

Wow. That is some high level crunch right there. From a design philosophy standpoint I actually like where their heads are at. Melee combat, for example, really should index all three of strength, dexterity and constitution at once (to use the D&D vocab) but it doesn't. However, testing against all three at once every time seems like a lot of business.

 

[Aldarc]

Same, but it seems like there are mechanically simpler ways to represent that.

 

[Fenris-77]

Same, but it seems like there are mechanically simpler ways to represent that.

Yeah, a lot of games tend to funnel the set of characteristics into a single number that gets used for the mechanic. That way you crunch the numbers once and actual play gets done using that one number. Much more elegant IMO. What I'm not fond of is splitting up combat and giving a little piece to each stat the way D&D does. I can handle that in D&D, thank you nostalgia, but it's just poor design when it gets copied for other games. IMO anyway.

 

[atanakar]

If you have ever played war-games, rolling several dice at the same time is not that unusual. Just pick 3d20 of different colours and roll them. Bleu always the first stat, red always the second and white always the third. People play with FFGs narrative icon dice and seem to enjoy it.

I believe the idea behind this is to avoid Uber stats and Dump stats as with D&D.