Eden Studios' Fields of Blood... is it good?

[Silveras]

It's very cool of Silveras and others to note these small gaffs, mistakes, and suggestions for both gamers and Eden. I'm sure FoB will be a stronger product for it. Thanks!

Also, after more reading, has your impression of FoB changed or become more defined in any way?

Vrylakos

Most of what I am reporting as errata is nit-picking stuff. My impression has not changed too much, in that regard.

 

[Silveras]

How does FoB handle logistics? In most systems like this it's all abstracted down to "money" costs -- which as a logistician by trade is incredibly shortsighted. As Cry Havoc handles logistics in this limited way I was hoping that FoB would have a bit more crunch for handling waybread, arrows and heal potions.

Units require an upkeep cost in Resource Points (which are not just money, but are an abstraction of the general supplies + manpower + money available.

Moving units requires RPs as well. Supply lines are not possible in Wilderness, so only specially-trained units can move there. Moving units in lands you do not own costs significantly more (4x) than the cost in lands you control, representing the extended supply lines.

 

[Silveras]

One thing I would like to see more of is "magically-aware" architecture. The fortifications are all fairly mundane, and some optional additions for "teleport blocking", "invisibility purging", or "energy resisting" would be needed in a fantasy world.

 

[Ceribus]

Rules for NPC kingdoms in FoB wanted!

First I would like to congratulate Eden Odyssey on a very thorough and elegant game. I really like the detail that has gone into country management as well as in conducting warfare. Now onto my question. On your site you state the following:

"Rules for NPC nations, allowing GMs to run several dozen opposing realms at a time."

But I can’t find any reference to this in the finished product. Have I missed something or was it cut before the release?

In any case this was my primary reason for purchasing the product. There are precious few games out there that allow the players a great deal of detail in province management, while giving the DM the tools to run several NPC kingdoms in a lot more abstracted form.

If someone has an idea as to how to abstract some of the campaign management rules for NPC kingdoms I would love to hear it.

 

[mattcolville]

First I would like to congratulate Eden Odyssey on a very thorough and elegant game. I really like the detail that has gone into country management as well as in conducting warfare. Now onto my question. On your site you state the following:

"Rules for NPC nations, allowing GMs to run several dozen opposing realms at a time."

But I can’t find any reference to this in the finished product. Have I missed something or was it cut before the release?

In any case this was my primary reason for purchasing the product. There are precious few games out there that allow the players a great deal of detail in province management, while giving the DM the tools to run several NPC kingdoms in a lot more abstracted form.

If someone has an idea as to how to abstract some of the campaign management rules for NPC kingdoms I would love to hear it.

I had some notes on how to basically "sum over" a Realm's statistics to create a really brief Realm sheet and then either roll randomly or decide what that nation does each season. There wasn't really a lot of room in the book as it stands, but I may flesh those notes up and either give them to Eden to put online, or add them to the 2nd Edition of the book.

Also, George has awesomely updated the errata.

 

[Olive]

Let me think about this and discuss it with Lizard. I'm not sure what would happen if you just changed the base human unit to Warrior. I'm certain I don't want one set of rules for Irregular units and another for the rest.

I'm not sure why you did it, but it's certainly very historically accurate that the basic unit of a medieval army would be commoners. Most of the armies were untrained conscripted peasants!

 

[mattcolville]

I'm not sure why you did it, but it's certainly very historically accurate that the basic unit of a medieval army would be commoners. Most of the armies were untrained conscripted peasants!

Right, well the Irregular infantry type is meant to cover that.

 

[Tzeentch]

Does FoB handle ebb and flow of battles and fatigue in any real way? Most wargames have astoundingly unrealistic expectations regarding active participation of combatants and how long the average Joe can swing a sword and conduct charges. I would be a bit disappointed if FoB just had groups of people hammering away at each other turn after turn.

 

[Lizard]

Does FoB handle ebb and flow of battles and fatigue in any real way? Most wargames have astoundingly unrealistic expectations regarding active participation of combatants and how long the average Joe can swing a sword and conduct charges. I would be a bit disappointed if FoB just had groups of people hammering away at each other turn after turn.

Morale plays an important part, and a few bad rolls can easily rout an army, esp. of irregulars, but there's no 'fatigue' as such. BoW is, after all, based on core D20 rules, and a fighter can keep whacking all day and night under those rules, right until his last hit point goes away.

It would be fairly trivial to add 'fatigue' rules, though. Totally off the top of my head, something like, "After a unit has been engaged in battle for ten rounds, it suffers a -1 modifier to Power. After fifteen rounds, it suffers a -2 modifier to power and a -1 to Command and Morale. Every five additional rounds increase these penalties by 1." Adjust the penalties and times up and down to taste.

FoB:BoW is designed to present a solid enough framework to hang almost any additional detail you could want onto. And if I ever wrote any sentence that clumsy in a paid assignment, I'd never roll dice in this town again.

 

[Vrylakos]

Does FoB handle ebb and flow of battles and fatigue in any real way? Most wargames have astoundingly unrealistic expectations regarding active participation of combatants and how long the average Joe can swing a sword and conduct charges. I would be a bit disappointed if FoB just had groups of people hammering away at each other turn after turn.

Well, since D&D doesn't address this for normal PCs, I don't know why you would expect FoB to. HERO and Ars Magica have rules for fatigue and combat.

Vrylakos