Drenai -> d20/OGL starting point?

[SJE]

Oh, and heh. . . I'll be surprised if anyone decides to play a priest/mystic of the Source. Regardless, I've yet to find just the right class and supporting rules for those very priests, anyway. They're being - characteristically, perhaps - elusive.

Well Source Priests in the Drenai setting only seem to have one major power- astral projection and they can use this for Clairvoyance, sensing emotions or demons and minor tweaking of peoples emotional states. And this isnt all Source priests- only some of them.

Class wise you might consider using Conan's Scholar perhaps?

But I think the easiest answer would be to consider the position of Source Priest as a feat Along with the social respect, the feat would involve a vow of Pacifism- breaking this would potentially invalidate the feat, but may serve as a pre-req for joining the Thirty or something.. A second feat gets you basic astral projection and a third gives you advanced usages.

Most Source Priests would be Expert class, while a few PC types might be ex-Fighters or Wizards turned pacifist Source Priests. At least until their pasts catch up with them...

SJE

 

[SJE]

I finally got Iron Heroes and had a read through. Its a nice enough take on a savage Hyborian combat, but not particularly flavoursome (in the sense Conan had "Drink a pint of wine to get back a HP" rule or Conspicious Consumption).

Combat-wise I think it might slow things down with constantly rolling DR when you get hit, or different bonuses and penalties for stunting. However I could see it working well as a D&D combat system for worlds without clerical healing or magic items.

Does it reflect a Drenai setting or Gemmell Style game? Well.... no in my opinion. Really all its got is a combat system, and not a particularly fast or flowing one. Again its limited to minature play instead of dramatic narration.

I've also read through Pendragon again. and while I'd love to preserve the paired Passions as being particularly worthwhile for the Gemmelverse (where character flaws are as important as character virtues), the rest of the system would require too much work to accomodate non-Knights.

So now I'm thinking- Unisystem Lite, the game engine found in Buffy or Angel. Its got mixed power levels of PC's (so you can have your "Greatest Swordsman in the World" along with "Bob the Orphan Kid"), combat is fast and very dramatic. Plus drama points and plot twists allow PC's to make a difference to the story. Joinings are easily made with Demon stats, and Vampire Kinga come as standard!

Plus, I think the games themea reflects some of Gemmells characterisation about Guilt, Aging, Christianity, Love and Fear. Iron Heroes doesnt do that.

SJE

 

[Aus_Snow]

I finally got Iron Heroes and had a read through. Its a nice enough take on a savage Hyborian combat, but not particularly flavoursome (in the sense Conan had "Drink a pint of wine to get back a HP" rule or Conspicious Consumption).

Someone on some board or other was saying something about rules akin to that (I think) in . . . Mastering Iron Heroes, was it? I don't know either way myself, as I don't have that book (well, that 'not yet book' thing).

So now I'm thinking- Unisystem Lite, the game engine found in Buffy or Angel. Its got mixed power levels of PC's (so you can have your "Greatest Swordsman in the World" along with "Bob the Orphan Kid"), combat is fast and very dramatic. Plus drama points and plot twists allow PC's to make a difference to the story. Joinings are easily made with Demon stats, and Vampire Kingdoms come as standard!

Plus, I think the game reflects some of Gemmells characterisation about Guilt, Aging, Christianity, Love and Fear. Iron Heroes doesnt do that.

I'm glad IH doesn't do that, FWIW!

Anyway, you might be onto a good idea there. However, I haven't tried the Unisystem rules outside of a couple of the system/setting books it's found in, so I've no idea if it would be suitable. That, and I don't own any of them.

I keep thinking that there has to a RPG (or sourcebook) out there somewhere, that will provide just the right system, and more-or-less suitable flavour - with a bit of tweaking of course.

Maybe not though.

I'm pretty sure if I asked the same question elsewhere, I'd get suggestions such as Burning Wheel and The Riddle of Steel. . . actually. . . how would those systems work for these purposes, do you think?

 

[Vradna]

Update?

*Bump*

I only really saw this thread because of the issues ENWorld had.
As a big Gemmell fan, how fares your game, Aus_Snow? Extremely interested.

 

[Aus_Snow]

Holy rap! It lives!

I still haven't had a chance to run the thing just yet, Vradna..

After reading a ton of Gemmell (as in, almost everything Drenai and related in rapid succession), and setting things up partway, other things took over in terms of precedence.

Other campaigns are now underway, but there's a good chance the Gemmell d20 thing might be started within say.. a couple of months.

It's been a fine juggling act recently, so we'll see. If it does happen (OK, when ), I'll post some reports, or at least something to indicate how it's going.

Looks like it won't be Iron Heroes, incidentally.

 

[grufflehead]

Ha! I was also surpised to see 'our' thread resurface after all this time.

Since it started I've actually got into a game of IH for a couple of weeks, just as it is closing, unfortunately, but enough for me to see it in action. I've also been spending a bit of time on the IH boards at Monte Cook's site, and I have to say I'm hooked I'll definitely be running something in it soon, the Gemmell stuff is a distinct possibility (and I have re-read the first 3 Drenai novels to get into the spirit of things) although I'm also looking at using the rules with settings like Glorantha or Middle Earth.

So what have you plumped for then Aus if not IH?

 

[Aus_Snow]

Hey gruf! How ya doin?

Yeah, Iron Heroes is a blast, and I'd wager players will be looking forward to some of that. But in the end, I decided to basically tinker and come up with a bunch of house rules for this ever-distant . . . Gemmell campaign. That, and I bought Legends of Sorcery (an RPGObjects pdf), and I'm liking that, for more gritty low-magic (well, highly adjustable-magic, actually) d20 fantasy games.

Torn Asunder: Critical Hits (by Bastion Press) will also feature (with a few tweaks), as I love that system, and I think it'd be a great match for many of the features of Gemmell-style combat and stuff.

Other than that, it's mainly class creation/alteration and new feats from here and there, including some from my own caffeinated mind.

What I did, after reading that fairly large lot of books, was sit down with my partner and a couple of friends (the one I borrowed most of the books from, and one other RPer), and talk through many of the characters, combats, supernatural occurences etc. in terms of concepts and (potential) mechanics. It didn't take me long to realise that - for the way I wanted to do things - no ready-made system was just right. So, a-tinkering I went.

 

[grufflehead]

Hey buddy - good to see you're keeping the faith

I've not come across most of those products you mentioned as providing inspiration but will look out for them. I haven't picked up too much lately other than Iron Gauntlets today (which will be my reading over the weekend - once I've finished a Conan book I found last week in a used book shop ). My liking for IH is so great that it seemed logical to use it as a 'better' system than some that came with good campaign worlds. The 2 I'm considering doing conversions for, Runequest (the 2nd Ed version set in Glorantha) and Middle Earth both seem to fit the 'high action, low magic' stuff that might suit the rules well. There's also a bucketload of old MERP stuff out there (admittedly a bit pricy for some of the printed stuff) that would give me stuff to run with less effort, and the big plus is that everyone knows that game world!

One other plus is I'm getting some more regular gaming in these days, yet I still seem to have shelves (or more strictly speaking directories) full of stuff I'm waiting to run! Ah well, until the lottery comes up and I can become a man of leisure....

Edit: geez, talk about a lack of willpower! I've just seen the blurb for Legends of Sorcery, failed my saving throw, and bought it. More bedtime reading then.....

 

[grufflehead]

Very sad news

Folks

A thread bump for anyone who followed this a while back. I'm afraid it's my sad duty to report that David Gemmell, author of the Drenai series of fantasy books, has passed away aged 57.

Details here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/5224868.stm

It's not often I can say I have been genuinely affected by hearing of the death of someone I've never met, but this really hit me. I'm reading his latest book 'Lord of the Silver Bow' right now, and although the sequel has apparently been finished (and will presumably be published posthumously) I can't believe that we'll never see another book from this great author

RIP and godspeed

 

[SJE]

I'm immeasurably saddened too- I thought I'd be reading his ongoing works for the next 20 years!.

I'll miss David Gemmell, but hope he has found the Source now.

SJE