D&D 5E (2014) Blue Rose RPG Coming to 5e D&D

[Ralif Redhammer]

There are a lot of questions about the Rhydan with 5e base mechanics - is their armor barding or regular armor? Do you use Charm Person or Animal Friendship on them? Still, shouldn't be too hard to thread that needle.

I liked the setting, even if I did find it a bit short on threats and antagonists that weren't all corralled in Designated Bad Guy Land (and 2e amplified that by having the setting's big villain killed off...sigh....by an NPC in a metaplot event).

I'm curious how they're going to do the rhydan (intelligent animals) as PC's. I just really want to play a magic horse, okay?

 

[Azuresun]

I hadn't heard of Blue Rose before. Kind of curious about the setting.

Overall, I'd describe the theme as upbeat and positive, much like the romantic fantasy novels that inspired the setting. People are fundamentally good underneath superficial differences and conflict comes when people give in to fear or ambition, seek unnatural power or are twisted and corrupted by outside forces. There is conflict and threats, but there's more of an emphasis on building bridges and finding peaceful solutions alongside the "kill all the bad guys" default, at least until an antagonist proves themselves just too ugly to be redeemed.

--Apart from humans, most of the standard races / species of D&D don't appear here. There are "vata" who are essentially elves or half-elves, aquatic humans, "night people" (pretty much half-orcs--they look scary and are often used as minions by dark powers, but aren't any more innately evil than humans). There are also the "rhydan", intelligent animals with magical powers--wolves, horses, lynx- or bobcat-like felines, and dolphins are available as PC options.

--A lot of familiar monsters do appear, with their origins usually being "corrupted by dark sorcery".

--Magic usually consists of "power from within" with more of a psychic theme. Classic "sorcery" involves twisting the natural world to your will, has a more sinister cast and is usually the preserve of villains.

--Aldea is the centre of the setting, and the default origin point for PC's. It's a good nation with a ruling class that honestly care about their subjects and use magic to provide things like universal healthcare and education--but, in a shocking twist, there is NO horrible secret that it's all powered by dead kittens or something! It's just a genuinely nice place that's kind of like Eberron in that it asks "how would moderately common magic actually affect society?" and comes up with a somewhat optimistic answer. The ruler is chosen by a magic unicorn-esque hart (I once saw it described as a "venisocracy"), and has a magic sceptre that can verify if anyone they are entrusting with power holds evil in their heart (though they can go bad afterwards). It's also explicitly queer and poly-friendly--and wow, that caused a few blown gaskets back in the day from various "I'm not bigoted, BUT--" internet personalities. The most common "get the band together" premise is presented as being a team of the queen's agents (the Sovereign's Finest), sorting out internal disputes and diplomatic issues, tracking down monsters twisted by Shadow, practitioners of dark magic, foreign threats, etc.

--Kern is the aforementioned Bad Guy Nation. Ruled by a lich king (or his lieutenants after he gets ganked between editions) who's the last survivor of the Sorcerer Kings who trashed the world in ancient times, it's very much Mordor / Saruman's Isengard. Dark satanic mills, undead, slavery, nothing too unfamiliar here.

--Jarzon is a harsh and rugged theocracy, socially restrictive, patriarchal, intolerant of magic, nonhumans and non-hetero relationships....it's basically Conservative Christian Land, presented as noble in some ways but ultimately misguided and oppressive.

--Rezea is a land of plains and nomads, with a general Roma / Native American / Mongolian feel.

 

[amethal]

There are a lot of questions about the Rhydan with 5e base mechanics - is their armor barding or regular armor? Do you use Charm Person or Animal Friendship on them? Still, shouldn't be too hard to thread that needle.

I'd go with Barding and Charm Person.

In my opinion, anyone trying Animal Friendship on a Rhydan has just demonstrated they aren't from Aldea.

 

[Azuresun]

and I personally find the the Aldeans a little creepy as they are presented as the absolute good guys, but use mind domination magic to suppress ''evil'' from the mind of their opponents.

Do you have a citation for that? I looked through the books after a long absence to write that last post, and it doesn't mention anything like that that I can see.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

Do you have a citation for that? I looked through the books after a long absence to write that last post, and it doesn't mention anything like that that I can see.

It was from the AGE system version of the game, but I reread the quote and its the Jarzons that use Mind Shaping to remove criminal inclinations from the subject's mind; Aldeans use Heart Reading/Sense Mind to help in a therapeutic approach with the willing criminals. My bad.

 

[jayoungr]

People are fundamentally good underneath superficial differences and conflict comes when people give in to fear or ambition, seek unnatural power or are twisted and corrupted by outside forces. There is conflict and threats, but there's more of an emphasis on building bridges and finding peaceful solutions alongside the "kill all the bad guys" default, at least until an antagonist proves themselves just too ugly to be redeemed.

Sounds like "fantasy [original] Star Trek."

 

[SehanineMoonbow]

Overall, I'd describe the theme as upbeat and positive, much like the romantic fantasy novels that inspired the setting. People are fundamentally good underneath superficial differences and conflict comes when people give in to fear or ambition, seek unnatural power or are twisted and corrupted by outside forces. There is conflict and threats, but there's more of an emphasis on building bridges and finding peaceful solutions alongside the "kill all the bad guys" default, at least until an antagonist proves themselves just too ugly to be redeemed.

--Apart from humans, most of the standard races / species of D&D don't appear here. There are "vata" who are essentially elves or half-elves, aquatic humans, "night people" (pretty much half-orcs--they look scary and are often used as minions by dark powers, but aren't any more innately evil than humans). There are also the "rhydan", intelligent animals with magical powers--wolves, horses, lynx- or bobcat-like felines, and dolphins are available as PC options.

--A lot of familiar monsters do appear, with their origins usually being "corrupted by dark sorcery".

--Magic usually consists of "power from within" with more of a psychic theme. Classic "sorcery" involves twisting the natural world to your will, has a more sinister cast and is usually the preserve of villains.

--Aldea is the centre of the setting, and the default origin point for PC's. It's a good nation with a ruling class that honestly care about their subjects and use magic to provide things like universal healthcare and education--but, in a shocking twist, there is NO horrible secret that it's all powered by dead kittens or something! It's just a genuinely nice place that's kind of like Eberron in that it asks "how would moderately common magic actually affect society?" and comes up with a somewhat optimistic answer. The ruler is chosen by a magic unicorn-esque hart (I once saw it described as a "venisocracy"), and has a magic sceptre that can verify if anyone they are entrusting with power holds evil in their heart (though they can go bad afterwards). It's also explicitly queer and poly-friendly--and wow, that caused a few blown gaskets back in the day from various "I'm not bigoted, BUT--" internet personalities. The most common "get the band together" premise is presented as being a team of the queen's agents (the Sovereign's Finest), sorting out internal disputes and diplomatic issues, tracking down monsters twisted by Shadow, practitioners of dark magic, foreign threats, etc.

--Kern is the aforementioned Bad Guy Nation. Ruled by a lich king (or his lieutenants after he gets ganked between editions) who's the last survivor of the Sorcerer Kings who trashed the world in ancient times, it's very much Mordor / Saruman's Isengard. Dark satanic mills, undead, slavery, nothing too unfamiliar here.

--Jarzon is a harsh and rugged theocracy, socially restrictive, patriarchal, intolerant of magic, nonhumans and non-hetero relationships....it's basically Conservative Christian Land, presented as noble in some ways but ultimately misguided and oppressive.

--Rezea is a land of plains and nomads, with a general Roma / Native American / Mongolian feel.

Thank you! I'm glad it's queer-friendly--that's important to me. A few more questions: what are the deities like (if there are any), and how much source material is available?

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

Green Ronin posted an article briefly describing the new subclass options...

Aldean Classes - Blue Rose Adventurer’s Guide • Green Ronin Publishing

… this makes me a little more interested. I already have the AGE version, so it was a little hard for me to justify spending $25 for 5e Rhydan stats.

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

It's also explicitly queer and poly-friendly--and wow, that caused a few blown gaskets back in the day from various "I'm not bigoted, BUT--" internet personalities.

In what way is it "explicitely queer and poly friendly"? Also, in addition to the "romantic fantasy" theme, is romantic love part of the setting?

 

[Ace]

I have the entire original and True 20 run of this game and love it . Its the only other "appendix N." I've basically finished entire as I am fan of the sub-genre

I hadn't heard of Blue Rose before. Kind of curious about the setting.

Aldea is a pastiche-homage-love letter to Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar books seasoned thoroughly with the rest of romantic fantasy genre. Its pretty solid IMO and well worth a look.

I'll caveat that and say if they decide not to put the effort in to convert the excellent magic/psionic system, it just won't be the same. New readers won't notice but that magic system which originated in 3.5 Psychics Handbook is top tier and fits the genre perfectly whereas D&D magic doesn't.

Also amusingly my spellchecker must have some serious fantasy enthusiasts handling the dictionary since Valdemar is listed, talk about obscure.