Battlefield Adventures - Andy Collins speaks!

[MerricB]

Andy Collins posted this information in his forums:

I'm not going to go into a lot of detail--that's what the D&D website is for--but I'll try to explain what the general purpose of this book (and the genre series) is.

Battlefield Adventures is not about running army vs. army conflicts, but rather about running a D&D game that features warfare as a significant theme of the game.

That's the goal of the genre series (of which this is the first): to provide a DM with the information he needs to incorporate a particular genre or campaign "flavor" into his game.

Think of it this way: This book won't give you the rules to mimic the activities of every single orc and archer in the Battle for Helm's Deep, but it will let you run all the interesting encounters featuring Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli (aka the player characters), and it'll let you build warfare-minded characters like Eomer.

Battlefield Adventures isn't really like any other book that we've done in the past. My best comparison would be to Frostburn, not in terms of subject matter but in terms of exploring and expanding a concept of the D&D universe so that DMs can focus on it in their games.

I led development on this book, and I think it's got some really interesting ideas for DMs who've wanted to include warfare in their campaigns but have been leery of going "whole hog" and running mass battle encounters.

(If you're looking for a system for mass combat, I advise that you check out the Miniatures Handbook.)

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Sounds about like I had expected. Which, to me at least, is a good thing. Not making any decision on it just yet, but I'm keeping my eyes open.

 

[Sammael]

After the comment, the book no longer has any appeal to me. And since it's a DM book (limited audience), and doesn't give DMs what they probably expect the most from it, I predict that it will fail miserably. LotR comparisons sound like a cheap marketing ploy - not something I'd expect from a WotC designer.

Good thing, too. I was beginning to contemplate robbing a bank in order to be able to buy all WotC books this year. Thanks for saving some of my money, Andy.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

LotR comparisons sound like a cheap marketing ploy - not something I'd expect from a WotC designer.

Sounded more like he was trying to compare it to something everyone would know. The book is, as he implies, not something you can really compare to other books, so why not use something gamers are going to recognize?

I'm not really sure what you expected from the book. I know that from the beginning we were told this was about running games DURING wartime, not mass combat/etc. Andy just extrapolated on it and gives us at least a slightly better description.

 

[MerricB]

There's an important distinction here: in a D&D game, you are focussed on the actions of the PCs.

Peter Jackson shot a lot of footage of anonymous people being slaughtered during the Helm's Deep sequence, and ended up cutting it, because it lost people's interest. Once he spent more time with what the heroes were doing, it became more interesting.

You have that problem with any D&D game set in a war. Although you can get out the miniatures and run a mass battle (or do it more abstractly), you lose the full attention of the players and you change the style of the game dramatically.

If Battlefield Adventures succeeds in allowing the PCs to have interesting encounters whilst maintaining the feel of a big battle going on around them, then it'll be well worth my interest.

Cheers!

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

Heck.

I just want a decent PrC for my warmage, that's all.

Anything more will be gravy.

Brad

 

[DungeonMaster]

This book is pretty doomed.

#1 In D&D you should actually fear an army. 100 arrows fired at you means you will be hit 5 times. They're just going to say "overuled" and make up innane rules that allow you to stand in front of thousands of arrows. Guaranteed.
A book on battlefields that um, doesn't allow you to regulate battles between, oh I don't know, troops? It's clear who's brainchild this is.
#2 Andy Collins ran the development. Epic level flop. 3.5 PHB flop where darkness creates light, forbiddance doesn't actually forbid you, Geas is weaker than lesser geas, etc... Mr. 1+1=1
#3 The cover art is awful
#4 Andy Collins ran the development - I'm sorry not one book that bears his name on the cover isn't horribly broken in some aspect and mindnumbingly dumb in others.

Oh well, wait and see right? Odds are stacked against it.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

A book on battlefields that um, doesn't allow you to regulate battles between, oh I don't know, troops? It's clear who's brainchild this is.

Miniature's Handbook already has mass combat rules, as do tons of other 3rd party products.

#4 Andy Collins ran the development - I'm sorry not one book that bears his name on the cover isn't horribly broken in some aspect and mindnumbingly dumb in others.

Hmm...
-Draconomicon: Probably the best 3e book out there, right up with Manual of the Planes
-Libris Mortis: Underrated, but a very very good book for Undead.
-Complete Warrior: One of the best of the Complete series
-Unearthed Arcana: Another of the amazing books for 3e.
-Star Wars d20 Revised: Not D&D, but its my favorite d20 book and his name's right there on the cover.

And just because his name is on the cover doesn't mean Andy is the one who wrote the 'broken' or 'dumb' parts. Andy gets way more crap than he deserves and its getting to the point where it just plain annoys me.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I'm curious about what the next books in this series will be. A WotC D&D book that supported swashbuckling play would be very, very appreciated, just off the top of my head.

And if you're looking for a prestige class for a warmage, the havoc mage from the Miniatures Handbook is a pretty good fit, in my mind. It adds a new ability to the class that fits as well as a core ability, isn't hard to qualify for, and doesn't screw up spell progression badly.

 

[DungeonMaster]

Miniature's Handbook already has mass combat rules, as do tons of other 3rd party products.

So it's ok to reprint, I don't know TONS of material from other books like PrC, feats and the complete rehash but in a book on battlefields it's not ok to reprint mass combat rules?
Seems kinda odd to buck the trend but if you're happy then all's well. I guess.

-Draconomicon: Probably the best 3e book out there

Until you use it. Ever had a maximized empowered clinging blah blah blah breath weapon hit your PCs? Ever have your PCs lower the SR on your monster to um, nothing?
Sorry.

Manual of the Planes = no Andy. And it shows.

-Libris Mortis: Underrated, but a very very good book for Undead.

Clr3/Necro3/TrueNecro10
Feats: Necromantic Presence, Necromantic Might, Practiced Spellcaster: Cleric, Corpsecrafter, Graveborn Expert (Dragon, mindless undead gain 1 feat), Spell Focus: Necromancy, Destruction Retribution, Nimble Bones,
Mother Cyst.
Rod of Undead Mastery + bead of karma.
caster level with regards to necromancy is: 11+4PracSpellcaster+3TrueNecroAbility+4K armaBead=22. So with the karma bead active it can control 220 HD of heavily beefed up undead

-Complete Warrior: One of the best of the Complete series

I think the current record on the hulking hurler is 3.5 trillion damage in one blow. It doesn't matter. Just stick it on anything with a pile of strength and voila, thousands of damage.
Whirlwind dervishes, karmic strikes etc... I guess it's not quite as broken as divine metamagic and practiced spellcaster mystic theurges. Maybe.

-Unearthed Arcana: Another of the amazing books for 3e.

Gestahlts, level adjustment buy offs, oh sure. Nothing to complain about here and nothing poorly thought out or poorly designed. Unearthed Crunch and Munch not at all. Anyhow.

I don't play star wars but I'll take your word on it that it's reasonable.

And just because his name is on the cover doesn't mean Andy is the one who wrote the 'broken' or 'dumb' parts. Andy gets way more crap than he deserves and its getting to the point where it just plain annoys me.

You have your name on the cover, you take both the adulation and the flak. It's been like that since time memorial and I doubt your annoyance is going to change that. There's a pronounced trend in books with that name on their covers to be bad. Do you buy novels from an author you think is bad? Do you go to movies from a director you think is incompetent? I'm just stating my opinon. Andy collins on lead design = historic flop.

Anyhow, I'm sorry for the aggressive tone but this has me really irritated at this moment. I've honestly got nothing against you Ankh-Morpork Guard and I don't even hate Andy Collins, he's a pretty nice guy from what I gather. I just seem to hate everything he "designs" for it's utter lack of insight.