Birthright!

[Ranger REG]

ACTUALLY...

It was a subsidiary of White Wolf, Arthaus, that acquired the Ravenloft trademark and IP. The folks at Kargatane were contracted by Arthaus to contribute material to Ravenloft supplement products.

So I ask again, who will be the publisher for Birthright d20/3e? Did I miss an earlier news as to who have acquired the property? Or is Wizards the publisher and the folks at Birthright.net are contracted to write the material (a similar arrangement for Dragonlance, the folks at Sovereign Press will contribute the material, but Wizards will take care of publishing)?

 

[Gez]

That won't be a plain old download-for-free netbook ?

 

[Ranger REG]

It doesn't say. The announcement seems vague. Personally, I prefer a print version.

 

[Cam Banks]

I think in the case of Birthright "epic" can be taken to meant that adventures take on a more earth-shaking aspect. Not only do "blooded" characters get special abilities, if they are regents they can actually draw upon the power of the land itself. In effect, BR PCs are very likely to be at least heirs to heroes whose names have gone down in legend.

The Colonel (and rounser) are right - the setting is deliberately structured to allow the PCs to begin as the movers and shakers of the world. In the campaign background, individual rulers who are described are assumed to be replaced by any PC who is given that domain by the DM at the start of the game, or else they could represent the previous ruler, or remain the current ruler until the DM wants the PC to move up to regency, etc.

And the way I run Birthright, all the PCs are blooded. They are, in essence, the inheritors of a legacy of divine power that has been handed down through the generations and by conflict from a great battle thousands of years ago, where the Gods sacrificed themselves to defeat the Shadow (aka Evil, aka Azrai the God of Darkness, etc etc). Their blood rained upon the armies present at this battle, divesting some of their divine power upon the mortals who were there. The gods' champions ascended to take their place, while those who did not found they had a divine connection to the land and to the people.

What's been really interesting thus far is that scions - blooded characters - can take on the power of scions they kill, which explodes out of them much as the Quickening does with Highlander's immortals. A killing blow to the heart, or one made with a weapon forged from "bloodsilver", will cause that power to go directly into the slayer rather than being shared among all the scions present. Much like in Highlander, though, if you're not careful that divine power may be more potent than yours and twist your own bloodline (determined by the God whose blood it was gave your ancestor power in the first place) into that of the bloodline of the one you killed. The party's Paladin of Cuiraecen (the CG God of Thunder and Battle) found to his dismay that his warhorse has become a scion of Azrai after he killed too many Azrai-blooded monsters in the horse's presence.

Cheers,
Cam

 

[mmadsen]

So still, the only generic small scale domain rules are those that appear in the 'blue' Companion Set.

Can anyone give a rundown of those rules from the Companion Set?

The latest Dungeoncraft article gives some basic Birthright-esque suggestions.

Not that I dislike the setting, its not a bad setting. Even played in a few (albeit mostly PBEM), although they seemed to played out more like a D&D Risk game than a straight RPG.

How did the original Birthright setting suggest integrating classic adventuring with political maneuvering?

 

[Cam Banks]

How did the original Birthright setting suggest integrating classic adventuring with political maneuvering?

It varies with the desires of the play group.

Political level activity occurs in seasons broken down into 4 months each. Activity plays out by "realm initiative", and at the beginning of each season taxes are collected, maintenance of the realm is done, and so forth. Each month is then taken up by large-scale actions on the part of the players and the DMs NPC regents, such as waging war, building and mustering armies, settling deals, raising new holdings and trade networks, etc.

At any point, the game can pause to resolve something in the political climate - perhaps an adventure presents itself in month 2, and the large-scale events pause until that is resolved. Or, roleplaying might take precedence over this domain management stuff, and indeed perhaps not all the PCs are regents and therefore have no holdings to manage. In that case, the domain turns are merely book-keeping events and done before or after a "typical" session.

In my experience Birthright works best when it is carried out over long periods of game time, with downtime for wizards to study, fighters to rule their domains and train, rogues to conduct trade dealings, and so on. That is handled quickly, and for the most part actual play consists of stories that take up about a month of game time and are more or less resolved at the end, enough to have the PCs split up again if they have to.

Cheers,
Cam

 

[Voneth]

ACTUALLY...

It was a subsidiary of White Wolf, Arthaus, that acquired the Ravenloft trademark and IP. The folks at Kargatane were contracted by Arthaus to contribute material to Ravenloft supplement products.

So I ask again, who will be the publisher for Birthright d20/3e? Did I miss an earlier news as to who have acquired the property? Or is Wizards the publisher and the folks at Birthright.net are contracted to write the material (a similar arrangement for Dragonlance, the folks at Sovereign Press will contribute the material, but Wizards will take care of publishing)?

ACTUALLY ...

Kargate has some stuff up before Arthause acquired the licence. Athas.org started their 3e conversion before the rumors that AEG was looking into the licence. Even though Sovergien Stone eventualy bought the Dragonlance rights, there was conversion work going on there as well before the buy.

So the volunteers at an offical site have the blessing to do conversion work as long as it is for free on the site. If someone wants to make money off the licence, it has to be bought. So unless someone buys the rights, the conversion book will probably be a free download.

 

[Voneth]

In my experience Birthright works best when it is carried out over long periods of game time, with downtime for wizards to study, fighters to rule their domains and train, rogues to conduct trade dealings, and so on. That is handled quickly, and for the most part actual play consists of stories that take up about a month of game time and are more or less resolved at the end, enough to have the PCs split up again if they have to.

Hmmmm reminds me of the old Pendragon game. Adventures were only carried out during the summer months of a year and then all the doman/marriage/livestock managment was carried on in the winter months. Yep! Every game session represented that a year had passed in the game world.

 

[Ranger REG]

ACTUALLY...

And this by no means an offense to all fan web sites, official or otherwise, but most consumers want something official and in print, not a fan netbook.

I'm sure for now, the fan netbook is going to be a temporary solution, but for most of us, we are hoping that Birthright enters into the RPG market again, like Ravenloft and upcoming Dragonlance.

Of course, whoever get to publish Birthright should as a courtesy talk with the folks at Birthright.net for their continued support. After all, Kargatane is currently supporting Ravenloft by Arthaus/White Wolf, and Dragonlance Nexus will support and contribute Dragonlance supplement material through Sovereign Press.

 

[Ramien Meltides]

Okay, here's the deal:

Birthright.net is the Official Birthright website. Anything they put up on their website (subject to WOTC review, which is the same deal the Official Dark Sun and Planescape websites have) is Official.

So, that means the BRCS (Birthright Campaign Setting) book they have advertised (and isn't that a lovely cover?) is not going to be a 'Fan netbook'. It's going to be the real deal, as official as the Player's Handbook or Defenders of the Faith or Monsters of Faerun.

Now, because WOTC owns the license for Birthright, the BRCS that the website cooks up can't be published for profit. Therefore, it's a free .pdf at this time. (Who knows, there's always a chance some company might license it and make a physical book someday!)

Just FYI.

(Yes, I am a birthright fanatic. Yes, I am working on the official Birthright 3e book with the guys at Birthright.net. Yes, I am biased in their favor)