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

[Gundark]

My copy arrived today. I will be adding a "report card" to my comparison thread as soon as I have read it through and tested some elements.

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1: Introduction p2 [Includes Glossary and Overviews of systems]
Chapter 2: Defining Realms p8
Chapter 3: Ruling Realms p26
Chapter 4: Units p46
Chapter 5: Battle p62
Chapter 6: Magic p88
Chapter 7: Heroes p94
Chapter 8: Campaigning p110
Appendix A: Core Magic p118 [Notes on Core spells in these rules]
Appendix B: Battle Magic p140 [Battle magic spell descriptions]
Appendix C: Realm Magic p146 [Realm spell descriptions]
Appendix D: Monsters p150 [Sample monster units]
Photocopy sheets p172
Index p175

First Impression: Very thorough, very usable, right balance of depth (rules detail on any one topci) and breadth (making sure the systems address the broad range of factors appropriately).

arrgghhhh forget Christmas and read and tell me now!!!!!!!!!!!! Read!!!!!....*gets slavers to crack whip*

 

[Eden Studios Inc]

I sent out about half a dozen copies for review last week when we got it...

hopefully they werent sent nto the void and someone will post the reviews up here soon

In the meanwhile - enjoy the book - weve been getting lots of mail of people who love it and say it was worth the wait.

Merry Christmas.

 

[Eden Studios Inc]

Hmmm..I'm looking through the Enworld shop and can't find FoB. They are probably out. If anyone has a head's up, I'd appreciate.

If you can't find it at your local game store you can order it from Eden directly:

http://www.edenstudios.net/orders.html

 

[Eden Studios Inc]

I had an order on Amazon, but canceled it. I order on-line for convenience; a wait of 1-2 months after it is available elsewhere is not convenient. I ordered from the ENWorld RPG Shop. Nice, speedy packing and shipping. It probably helped that I also got :: starts counting :: too many :: stops counting :: Dragoneye boosters with it.

Eden Studios is no longer shipping to amazon.com since they owe us a LOT of money. That means any preorders and new releases will not be filled by them. They do have some of our backstock in stock but anything on their website that doesnt say its in stock - they will not get and we will not ship to them. Sorry for the inconvience this may cause you, but it's nothing compared to the lose of income from the money they owe us.

Please try ordering it from your local game store or Eden directly:

http://www.edenstudios.net/orders.html

Some of our distributors lowered their orders the day before the product shipped. What's funny is those same distributors just placed a restock in yesterday. heh.

 

[Eden Studios Inc]

I haven't gotten that far, but I will offer some preliminary answers.

Miniatures: Yes. There are copy-and-cut counters in the back for the inexpensive route, but miniatures are preferred. A couple of rules need clarification for minis, but that's about 1/4 column of text. There is also a "quick resolution" system for those who do not want to play out the battles with minis.
Bookkeeping: Looks simple, but that would have to be tested for a solid answer. The sample units have "Wound levels" in the single digits (highest I saw on a quick look was 3), and so a marker leaned against the figure should handle that. The longest process, I think, is building the units. Using them, once statted out, is simpler.

I will be posting a pdf of the counter sheets to the Fields of Blood website when I get in the office on Friday - to make for easier printing instead of bending your books

 

[Brother Shatterstone]

They do have some of our backstock in stock but anything on their website that doesnt say its in stock - they will not get and we will not ship to them. Sorry for the inconvience this may cause you, but it's nothing compared to the lose of income from the money they owe us.

Ouch they most owe you a LOT of money then... is that common? Do you expect to patch things uo with them?

 

[Silveras]

I haven't gotten that far, but I will offer some preliminary answers.

Conversion: Once you are familiar with the choices, it should not be too bad. The conversion process looks daunting at first, but that may be because it seems to cover a LOT of choices.

Ok, I have read some more, and can elaborate on this a little.

Conversion looks more daunting than it will be for most conversions. The method allows for a lot of player customization, as part of the rule-a-domain portion, and much of the work involved is to figure out how much it costs for a domain ruler to muster such a unit. If you primarily want the mass combat system, you can make some "standard" units up ahead of time and vastly simplify the process.

The process is as follows:

1. Convert the monster entry or PC stats to a base battle unit.
2. IF it is a creature that is suitable for forming an army unit (Humans, Orcs, the minor giants, DM's discretion...), proceed to decide on unit type and degree to training. Otherwise, go on to 6
3. IF you want it to be cavalry, create a unit of the mount creature, and merge the rider unit into it.
4. IF it is a flying unit, make the appropriate modifications.
5. Decide whether it is a specialized variant of the main unit types. Apply any special abilities gained this way.
6. Determine whether the unit is entitled to any Unit Feats. Choose them and apply.
7. Choose Weapons & Armor. Modify the unit's stats appropriately.
8. Calculate the purchase cost.

There are guidelines for how to factor in general types of special attacks (gaze, breath weapons, etc.), and suggestions for how to handle things that are new/not covered.

[Edit:
A caveat: Although most of the material is 3.5 updated, it looks like the example of calculating Melee Power (pp. 49-50) in the Units chapter was missed. It refers to the Greatsword as a Large weapon for the Human Paladin, which is how 3.0 handled it and not 3.5. You will have to make a judgement call on that point.]

 

[Eden Studios Inc]

Ouch they most owe you a LOT of money then... is that common? Do you expect to patch things uo with them?

Yes it's a lot of money - even if we do collect - I do not know if I want to ship product to them again - seeing as their will be no guarantee this wont happen again.

It is easier to sell the obok ourselves and to distributors who pay on time.

 

[Gundark]

I guess what I want to know is does it have unit hit points? I tried a few systems (OMCS and battlefield d20) with that rule and didin't like it.

DM: ok you unit takes 35 hit points
Players: un.....okay....how many guys did I lose? What does 35 hit points mean?

I guess I prefer something akin to the war machine (basic D&D) but the weakenss to that is that there isn't much for the PCs to do besides role a dice. So I guess what I'm asking is, how do you track unit losses? Do I know that I have lost 126 guys in my army thus far, or is there some abstact system of tracking losses (somebody mentioned wounds)

 

[Lizard]

I guess I prefer something akin to the war machine (basic D&D) but the weakenss to that is that there isn't much for the PCs to do besides role a dice. So I guess what I'm asking is, how do you track unit losses? Do I know that I have lost 126 guys in my army thus far, or is there some abstact system of tracking losses (somebody mentioned wounds)

Units have wounds. Most units have two wound points, giving them basically Healthy, Wounded, and Dead as possible states. Units of very powerful creatures have more wounds, but these will (in most 'normal' campaigns) be few enough in number on the battlefield that tracking them is not likely to be a problem. You do not lose men from a unit, you lose the unit. (For campaign play, there are rules for forming new units from the remnants of 'dead' units after a battle; a 'dead' unit is one which cannot fight anymore as a unit; there may well be surviving individuals)

As another poster noted, there's a fairly high degree of abstraction BoW, and the wound system is an example of this.