[Black Company] I have the book...any questions?

[Slade7170]

Hi all, I was at GenCon SoCal and they did in fact get 40 copies of the book in, one of which I grabbed so fast I think I singed the cover.

I would be happy to answer any questions I can. The GR reps there said it should be available by Christmas!!

Be well.

slade7170

 

[hellbender]

Hi all, I was at GenCon SoCal and they did in fact get 40 copies of the book in, one of which I grabbed so fast I think I singed the cover.

I would be happy to answer any questions I can. The GR reps there said it should be available by Christmas!!

Be well.

slade7170

slade, thank you for taking questions on what will more than likely be the best thing to happen to a d20 fantasy setting. My questions are:

Are there detailed maps of the world?
What is the art like throughout?
How loyal to the books is the setting?
The magic setting from the previews looked far superior to the version that DnD has had forever. Does it make more sense? And, if so, would it be an easy system to use with any d20 game?

Thank you!

 

[Slade7170]

Glad to help, i have been ahuge fanof the setting myself for ages. Since the 80's or so.

1. Map - They specifically leave the maps tenuous, because they want the world to be relatively mysterious. Which fits well with the books.

That said, yes there is a world map, moderately detailed and to scale with an inset map of the shadowmaster territory. It does not go into painful exacting detail, but (see above) fits the world very well. They also break down all the major terrain features and cities in varying detail.

2. Art - The full color cover is way sweet. Interior art is overall pretty good. No Christopher Shy style stuff for instance. They went with a lot of smaller flavor pieces instead of big setpiece splacsh pages. Which gave much better text density. Some of the art of rough, smudgy, grim, but it does run the gamut. Once again, especially considering it is Black and White it definitely fits the world well.

3. Loyalty - I am still going over it, but I am pretty sure that anything that was done in the books can be done in the game. It is very devoted, especially to the first series (more books to come most likely, though this one covers a huge amount of ground).

4. Magic - It is definitely not fire and forget magic, however it does make the magic system far harder to quantify and break down for less experienced players and practitioners. There are some amazingly powerful wizards in here..scary.... Epic for true but not forgotten realms elminster gods walking (more like devils and demons LOL) Would it port over well? I think it would in any lower magic (at least to start) setting, like Fiest or George R R Martin, or perhaps Tad Williams Memory, Sorrow and Thorn (though that is a little too light for this).

Female Wizard 52/Great General 5. I will let you guess who that one is.

Be well.

Slade7170

slade, thank you for taking questions on what will more than likely be the best thing to happen to a d20 fantasy setting. My questions are:

Are there detailed maps of the world?
What is the art like throughout?
How loyal to the books is the setting?
The magic setting from the previews looked far superior to the version that DnD has had forever. Does it make more sense? And, if so, would it be an easy system to use with any d20 game?

Thank you!

 

[Olive]

more books to come most likely, though this one covers a huge amount of ground

I'm pretty sure Pramas said that there was only a license for one book, and that there was unlikely to be another.

Anyway:

What are the classes like? Are they similar to the d20 Modern style (talent, bins feat, talent, bonus feat)?

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

Female Wizard 52/Great General 5. I will let you guess who that one is.

Be well.

Slade7170

Ahh, I'm in love all over again...

...so tell us, was that the first thing you looked up or the second?

 

[hellbender]

Thank you for the reply. I also believe that there is just one book slated however, the final designer's notes say that there will be web enhancements and a character sheet. The website in my signature is another venue. I would like to hear from other Black Company games and I am currently writing up a scenario, which is only a skeleton until my pre-ordered book arrives. I have been a fan of the series since the '80's as well and look forward to this book as Green Ronin hasn't let me down yet and by the looks of it, they are not going to with this book, either.


Just one more question from me; how are alignments handled? I don't see the standard system working well in a world filled with shades of grey (most of them darker shades).

*fade*

 

[Slade7170]

Good point, I was probably confusing it with the Web Enhancement Chris mentioned. That should be coming soon. The book is more than big enough to not need any follow ups. Great text density as well.

Races are handled by picking a Background, which gives a lot of neat things, as well as a favored class. (24 choices!) The game also uses Action Points, like Eberron but adding more things that can be done with them.

Classes are not D20 Modern Style, no Fast Heroes or anything like that. There are 11 classes + a little thing on the glittering Stone and using classes from other worlds.

The 11 classes are:
Academician
Berserker
Fighter
Jack of all Trades
Noble
Ranger
Scout
Thief
Weapon Master
Wizard
Zealot

Thee are 10 cool as hades prestige classes, all (of course) dripping with Black Company flavor and goodness.

Artificer (Like Eberron)
Deceiver
Great General
Nightstalker
Oracle
The Spirit Shaman
Siege Engineer
Sword Master
Topkick
Veteran

I'm pretty sure Pramas said that there was only a license for one book, and that there was unlikely to be another.

Anyway:

What are the classes like? Are they similar to the d20 Modern style (talent, bins feat, talent, bonus feat)?

 

[Slade7170]

Strangely enough, it was the second, I was dying to know what level Goblin (Wizard 12), One-Eye (Wizard 15/Artificer 2) and Silent (Wizard 10/Fighter 2) were. Then I went to Raven(Fighter 8/Jack-of-all-trades 4/wizard 4) and the Lady.

Slade7170

Ahh, I'm in love all over again...

...so tell us, was that the first thing you looked up or the second?

 

[Slade7170]

No alignments at all, instead the game uses Allegiences, like in D20 Modern. you can have up to three, listed in order from most to least important.

Allegiences give a bonus, generally to Charisma with others of the same allegience. If you betray the allegience it can be stripped from you, or you can voluntarily drop one, but you don't get another one until you level up.

Have a great day!

Slade7170

PS: The book is one huge toolkit, I can easily see it being used to spawn a pretty sweet web-book.

Thank you for the reply. I also believe that there is just one book slated however, the final designer's notes say that there will be web enhancements and a character sheet. The website in my signature is another venue. I would like to hear from other Black Company games and I am currently writing up a scenario, which is only a skeleton until my pre-ordered book arrives. I have been a fan of the series since the '80's as well and look forward to this book as Green Ronin hasn't let me down yet and by the looks of it, they are not going to with this book, either.


Just one more question from me; how are alignments handled? I don't see the standard system working well in a world filled with shades of grey (most of them darker shades).

*fade*

 

[Maester Luwin]

Thanks for the info Slade7170!!! I was wondering was the Captain, the Lieutenant, & Elmo's stats covered? Thanks Maester Luwin