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

[Old One]

Mass combat system and other questions...

Have you had a chance to delve into the mass combat system yet? I am looking for a fairly simple one that can still handle lots of variables. I will probably pick up Slavelords of Cydonia to check out the mass combat system...but am wondering what the Black Company one is like.

Does the book provide guidelines for running prequels, sequels and parallel campaigns to the main storyline?

The magic system looks awesome! How much difficulty do you think experienced players will have picking it up?

Thanks in advance,

Old One

 

[drothgery]

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.

Whisper? Bomanz? Darling? Soulcatcher? Tobo?

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

Yeah, I'm really interested in the mass combat system.

That and what wizards look like: BC wizards seem a lot more skilled and martial than Vanilla DnD. On the other hand, they certainly have a lot more magi-kick than Conan's scholars.

 

[Slade7170]

Keep in mind that characters in here get a lot of their coolness from Background (Race) so class is not always a determiner of them matching up to the books. Also, the magic system itself is what makes the spell users have so much depth and breadth.

The Captain - Fighter 12 (Officer Background)
The Lieutenant - Fighter 4/Siege Engineer 5/Topkick 3 (Sailor Background)
Elmo - Fighter 5/Topkick 4/Veteran 3 (Soldier Background)

Sade7170

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

 

[Slade7170]

I have looked at a lot of mass combat systems before, and while I have not delved into this one in depth...

The book itself presents mass combat, both Squad and setpiece battles as THE core component of Black Company action. Their combat uses three scales, Character scale is what you are used to in D&D with lots of things to make it a bit nastier (A good bit).

Company Scale is small squad action, still pretty personal, but fast and smooth.

Army Scale is abstract, like most games use. Using the three scales you can throttle up and down and do all three in a single session if need be, looks pretty sweet.

The campaign section touches on all three of those types of games in varying detail as well as mix and match rules for other D&D worlds and games.

Experienced players will love the magic system, and it is...explainable..to new players as well.

Slade7170

Have you had a chance to delve into the mass combat system yet? I am looking for a fairly simple one that can still handle lots of variables. I will probably pick up Slavelords of Cydonia to check out the mass combat system...but am wondering what the Black Company one is like.

Does the book provide guidelines for running prequels, sequels and parallel campaigns to the main storyline?

The magic system looks awesome! How much difficulty do you think experienced players will have picking it up?

Thanks in advance,

Old One

 

[Slade7170]

I covered both of these in other replies to some degree:

Mass combat uses 3 scales... see more detail above...good stuff.

Wizards get some more kick and versatility from their varying backgroudns (Race), the Feats, and the Magic system itself. Combined, those three things make them feel a whole lot different, but in good ways.

Slade7170

Yeah, I'm really interested in the mass combat system.

That and what wizards look like: BC wizards seem a lot more skilled and martial than Vanilla DnD. On the other hand, they certainly have a lot more magi-kick than Conan's scholars.

 

[Slade7170]

Whisper - A lot of the new Taken use a generic template with specific changes in the text - New Taken template = wizard 31 w/CR 35, she has the Officer Background, 4 points in command,and has her command changed to +39 , She also has the Disciplined Troops, leadership and skill focus (Command) feats specifically mentioned. so her command check is a +42!!!

Bomanz - Wizard 27 (Scholar Background)
Soulcatcher - Wizard 35/Jack-of-all-Trades 10 (Magicians Apprentice Background)
Tobo - Wizard 26/Weapon Master 7/Swod Master 7 (Magicians Apprentice)
Darling - Fighter 7/Great General 5 (Officer Background)

Whisper? Bomanz? Darling? Soulcatcher? Tobo?

 

[hellbender]

Thank you very much for all of the information, Slade. The Allegiance system seems the only sensible way to run outlooks and motives in the game and I am glad that the designers went with this option.

 

[Slade7170]

Glad to help, I just hope this sells crazy good So we get another book, or at least a PDF.

Allegiance is a great choice, I agree, and it covers all of the peculiarities of "alignment" in less than one page of space.

Slade7170

Thank you very much for all of the information, Slade. The Allegiance system seems the only sensible way to run outlooks and motives in the game and I am glad that the designers went with this option.

 

[drothgery]

Whisper - A lot of the new Taken use a generic template with specific changes in the text - New Taken template = wizard 31 w/CR 35, she has the Officer Background, 4 points in command,and has her command changed to +39 , She also has the Disciplined Troops, leadership and skill focus (Command) feats specifically mentioned. so her command check is a +42!!!

Hmm. Only Soulcatcher and Limper got more screen time than Whisper (who was more than a match for any of the old Taken); I'm surprised she didn't merit a full write-up.

Tobo - Wizard 26/Weapon Master 7/Swod Master 7 (Magicians Apprentice)

That seems a bit low, given the other write-ups.

Darling - Fighter 7/Great General 5 (Officer Background)

How did they model Darling's null?