As someone who has played the new system quite a bit at this point I have been very impressed with the CSE RPG for a wide variety of reasons.
1. The rules are very flexible to support building a character concept from a wide variety of angles. I have taken concepts and spun the exact same idea targeting the exact same Path through each of the 4 Archtypes. Each has its strengths and weakness, but all of them were doable.
2. This system is about the characters and not about their gear. The gear adds flavor with weapons and armor common to different nations; the ability to start with Heirlooms that provide flavor and roleplaying and depth with an advantage that scales over time rather than being unbalanced in starting play. The runes and magic items covered in the Quickstart Book helped give an edge or flexibility, but stripped down to basic gear characters could still go toe to toe. You'd never see that in mid to high level 3.5 play.
3. The combat system plays well, keeps people engaged and gives impact and reasons for different weapon choices. The concept I've been playing with most so far is a dagger specialist as a melee combatant. Seriously. Why? Because they're faster. They've balanced speed and damage and available special maneuvers.
4. The magic system is flexible and scales. Adaptations allow Tier 1 spells to be used at higher levels by themselves or woven with another spell to create a different effect. The system allows you to play it safe (autocast) the spell, or attempt something more difficult requiring a roll.
5. Pure Martial characters are competitive as you advance rather than becoming afterthoughts to the casters as the characters grow in power. To me, that's big. Every new version of D&D that came out from 1.0 through 3.5 I tried a fighter type of some sort first and in the end was always disappointed by mid to high level play. I haven't tried 4E so can't comment on that, but CSE is far better in that regard.
6. Paradigm has been very responsive to feedback both on the rules and in general. Their willingness to listen helps to provide a great product now and more in the future.
For context I've been playing RPGs since '78 and tried a wide variety of them across different genres and rulesets. I've been playing Arcanis for a long time. I got started about a year into the previous story arc. I've also been playtesting the CSE rules for about 5 months now as a volunteer and seen what happens when you get beyond starting characters.
As a fantasy game goes this one excels. It has always excelled in story and now has a great rule system to back it up.
I highly recommend giving it a try and picking up a copy. I can't wait to get my own.
With a sweep of his hat,
Paul
1. The rules are very flexible to support building a character concept from a wide variety of angles. I have taken concepts and spun the exact same idea targeting the exact same Path through each of the 4 Archtypes. Each has its strengths and weakness, but all of them were doable.
2. This system is about the characters and not about their gear. The gear adds flavor with weapons and armor common to different nations; the ability to start with Heirlooms that provide flavor and roleplaying and depth with an advantage that scales over time rather than being unbalanced in starting play. The runes and magic items covered in the Quickstart Book helped give an edge or flexibility, but stripped down to basic gear characters could still go toe to toe. You'd never see that in mid to high level 3.5 play.
3. The combat system plays well, keeps people engaged and gives impact and reasons for different weapon choices. The concept I've been playing with most so far is a dagger specialist as a melee combatant. Seriously. Why? Because they're faster. They've balanced speed and damage and available special maneuvers.
4. The magic system is flexible and scales. Adaptations allow Tier 1 spells to be used at higher levels by themselves or woven with another spell to create a different effect. The system allows you to play it safe (autocast) the spell, or attempt something more difficult requiring a roll.
5. Pure Martial characters are competitive as you advance rather than becoming afterthoughts to the casters as the characters grow in power. To me, that's big. Every new version of D&D that came out from 1.0 through 3.5 I tried a fighter type of some sort first and in the end was always disappointed by mid to high level play. I haven't tried 4E so can't comment on that, but CSE is far better in that regard.
6. Paradigm has been very responsive to feedback both on the rules and in general. Their willingness to listen helps to provide a great product now and more in the future.
For context I've been playing RPGs since '78 and tried a wide variety of them across different genres and rulesets. I've been playing Arcanis for a long time. I got started about a year into the previous story arc. I've also been playtesting the CSE rules for about 5 months now as a volunteer and seen what happens when you get beyond starting characters.
As a fantasy game goes this one excels. It has always excelled in story and now has a great rule system to back it up.
I highly recommend giving it a try and picking up a copy. I can't wait to get my own.
With a sweep of his hat,
Paul
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