Anyone Running Mercenaries Capaigns?

[JoeGKushner]

There are two new classes (Professional and Soldier of Fortune) and a bunch of new prestige classes.

Professional eh? Is this like the soldier from Soverign Stone? Soldier of Fortune... that name cracks me up as that's the name I went with for the mercenary group I have. Common phrase for 'em but haven't seen it done yet.


Ballestriere (historical) - Crossbow specialists.
Commercialist (modern) - Jack of all trades mercenary.
Condottiere (historical) - Mercenary leaders.
Ergydlym (historical) - Archer specialists.
Gurkhali (modern) - Knife-wielding specialists.
Psychic Assassin (fantasy) - Hired killers who sell their powers to the highest bidder.


I left these in the list because I'm a little worried that we don't need any of these as PrCs. We have several mercenary leader, archers, knife wielders out there. How much more different can these be?

In general, I didn't go the "blaster for hire" route. It really changes the tone of the book. I do talk about the implications, but I wanted to focus much more on tactics. You'll note the four fantasy prestige classes use subtle magic -- none of them are lobbing fireballs into opposing armies. I used The Black Company as inspiration. They had magic, they used it to even the odds, but it never overshadowed good military tactics and the need for a mercenary army.

I'll look forward to reading this then. Even the anime DVD Berserk, despite having powerful demons and swords men who can fight through dozens, the magic level itself is low. I'll be very interested to see how it handles healing magic for example and if there are any 'gods' of mercenaries.


I really hope it does well.

Me too. I'm anxious to see this hit the stores. Hope I can snag a copy from Gaming Frontiers or one of my other sources. It sounds like a great book but is it hardcover and it is something liek $30 I believe?


Mike "Talien" Tresca
http://www.retromud.org/talien [/B]

Thanks for the responses so far Mike. I'm hoping that this book doesn't have the problems that previous Otherworld books have suffered. I enjoy Forbidden Kingdoms for example, but lots of typos and editing errors. Several blank pages. Not an inexpensive book either. I'm a little leery of Otherworld, but hopeful.

 

[talien]

Ahhh, glad you asked about the prestige classes:

For most of the prestige classes you are concerned about, they are written in their own historical context.

* I'm sure there ARE mercenary leader prestige classes. I am quite sure they do not have the mercenary leader using the Bracceschi and Sforzeschi tactics -- both were famous condottiere who argued about the best way to use their troops.
* Ballestiere use pavise shields and have special abilities that work with them.
* The ergydlym are based on Welsh archers.
* The commercialist is hard to summarize easily. It's the image of the modern mercenary -- a specialist who trains other troops. Jack-of-all-trades did that class a disservice, sorry.
* Gurkhali are based around the legendary gurkha -- masters of their kukri. As they advance in level, their kukri increases in power. These aren't just guys who wield knives. Their knives have a deep magical significance.
* Psychic Assassins are a psychic class that's true to the original assassin organization. They have special powers like torture resistance, burrowing (for digging through walls, a common obstacle) as well as psionics.

In all of the above cases, these groups are unique because they do not draw on one concept alone for inspiration. Gurkhali are NOT just about their knives, psychic assassins are NOT just about assassination, and condottiere aren't just mercenary leaders.

The two classes are fighter equivalents for different eras -- Soldier of Fortune for Modern, Professional for Futuristic. Soldier of Fortune is the same class from Forbidden Kingdoms.

And yes, it is a hardcover, 176 pages, retailing for $30.

I have faith in the guys at Otherworld. They already caught one of my errors. >

Mike "Talien" Tresca
http://www.retromud.org/talien

 

[JoeGKushner]

I'm kinda surprised no one else is running merc campaigns. With all the interest in the Black Company I'd figure there would be all sorts of advice on running such a game and more ideas on which books would be good to pick up.

Up to book 4, Silver Spike now. Pretty good stuff. I'm starting to hope that they manage to really kill off this Wicker Man soon though.