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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Destan" data-source="post: 5041749" data-attributes="member: 12157">Hi all -So my Christmas gaming budget was pretty much non-existent, mainly because there wasn't too much on the market that I wanted to buy.  My group has been enjoying a run through Robert E. Howard's Hyboria and we have all the books we need.  Nonetheless, there's one product that recently popped on Amazon - Trailblazer - that got my attention.Now, time for full disclosure.  Trailblazer is co-authored by Ben Durbin of Bad Axe Games.  I happen to like Ben, have enjoyed his company's past products, and even freelanced for him a bit.  So I'm certainly not biased when it comes to his work.  I also think it's relevant to mention that I have played and enjoy both 4E and PFRPG - there's no hidden agenda here to claim one is better than the other or that either is better than good ol' 3E.  I've written for Dungeon during the halycon days of Paizo's stewardship and also for one of the first digital Dungeon issues.  My point here is not to throw around my meager bona fides, but rather to clear the air before I launch into what, admittedly, is an unabashed lovefest with this Trailblazer book.And what a book it is.  It's soft cover, 187 pages, B&W.  Like PF, Conan, and all the other d20 derivatives, there's a significant portion of the book that anyone could find within the SRD.  But we're not here to talk about what's old.  We're here to talk about what's new.What Bad Axe Games has done is break down 3E's system mathematically.  We all like to incorporate house rules, right? Yet how many of us really like to dig into the numbers - the "spine" as BAG calls it - and see what really is making the engine tick?  To me, that sounds like work - not fun.  That being said, it's nothing short of revelatory to see some of the things most of us have suspected (e.g., a comparatively overpowered druid class) shown in a statistical light.  This seminal "spine" work quite convincingly shows that - with a couple tweaks offered in Trailblazer - one can say good riddance to the magical item Christmas tree that has (IMO) plagued 3E since it's earliest days.  Class balance, the influence of magical items, a whoppin' all new CR/EL system - all of these tools are included up-front for any would-be 3E/PF tinkerer.  Not all of TB is groundbreaking, of course.  What makes it stand apart, I believe, is the fact that it takes some darn good ideas from 3E, from 4E, and from PF - including a whole slew of "why didn't I think of that" tweaks from Bad Axe Games itself - and manages to form a rule set that is familiar yet different, elegant yet complex.  There's no parochial approach here.I need to confess - I have never played using the Trailblazer rule set.  But, by Oghma, this stuff looks appealing on paper.  Some of the more interesting aspects are a unified spell progression, a class balance level-set, a new rest mechanic to get rid of the 10-minute adventuring day, skill consolidation (who doesn't do that now?), some changed feats, encounter budgeting similar to 4E's sweet subsystem, etc.I'll end with one final thing that really made me sit up and giggle.  Throughout the book are a number of little symbols that indicate why a rule has been changed.  It may be for balance purposes, or ease of play, or simply because the old mechanic wasn't as much fun.  There's the standard dry humor in there one can learn to expect from BAG, as well.  On including or excluding the spiked chain, TB recommends to drop it because it's "fun for exactly one person around the table."  Or with regards to aerial/underwater comment, TB asks, to paraphrase, "Have you tried aerial/underwater combat? Then you'll know why we changed it. You're welcome."In summary, I guess I'd have to say that TB is a couple tenths of a version point ahead of PF.  Not in "goodness" but in the relative difference between it and 3E.  PF had to maintain significant backwards compatibility; TB didn't have that restraint.  So if PF is 3.75, TB would probably be 3.9.  There are some really good concepts in 4E, and TB doesn't apologize for merging those within a 3E-base system.I suppose that's it.  Felt like posting because I haven't done it in so long and because I haven't had a d20 product stir the creative juices as much as this one has since I first dusted off my shiny new 3E PHB.Cheers,D</blockquote>

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