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

[mattcolville]

I do have a few more questions as I read through it.

In the section on guilds, it has a cost feature. The cost feature mentions, something like say, 3,000 RPs per level, up to level 6, but notes that a newly constructed X can cast, say, 4th level spells. Does that mean a starting one costs 12,000 RPs or that it cost 3,000 RPGs for 4th level, 6,000 for 5th, and 9,000 for 6th? Temple at bottom of page 17 is my example here.

I'm in the process of updating the errata, going through everyone's comments.

Silveras is correct. The section on Guilds should be changed to include a "Cost to build" price as well as a "cost to Upgrade." It looks like it should cost 7,500 to to build one The cost of buying a chapel (1,500) upgrading it twice (1,500 X 2 = 3,000) then upgrading to Temple (another 3,000). 1,500 + 3,000 + 3,000 = 7,500. There may be some element of this equation I'm missing.

The Temple is the middle-tier Church Guild. It costs 12,000 to build (it starts at level 4) and an additional 3,000 to upgrade to each of level 5 and level 6. It cannot be built until the population center reaches Village size, and it must be replaced with a Cathedral after the population center grows to a Small City but before it becomes a Metropolis (unless you don't mind doing without the assistance of the Church for a while).

 

[mattcolville]

So how do you handle multi-deity Small Cities? Most cities, at least in the Forgotten Realms, lists as many as five deities that are worshipped. Sure, most of them might be shrines, but there's bound to be competing temples...

The Book says "you can only have one in each province," but really it means "There can be lots of them, these rules are only concerned with the largest and most influencial."

 

[mattcolville]

Considerations for non-standard Calendars would be good to add as well (I personally use a calendar of 3 10-day weeks per month, 12 months per year).

There's the "Other Worlds, Other Seasons" sidebar on page 28. It could, perhaps, use more detail and examples.

More realm spells would be nice. Possible Errata: The Impenetrable Woods realm spell is listed for both Druids and Arcane Guilds as a level 2 spell, but the spell description only includes Arcane.

Got it. Actually, this should probably be only availible for Druidic guilds.

 

[mattcolville]

Errata item:
On p.21, the effects of the various fortifications list 1/2 Cover and 3/4 Cover. In 3.5, there is only Cover, or No Cover..

Right, well that makes life a bit easier. The "Effect" column of table 2.6 on page 21 should be eliminated. All fortifications provide cover.

Further, Table 2.7 should be changed so the Effect column has "Cover" instead of "three-quarters cover" for Bastion, Keep, and Aerial Defenses.

[Edit: Is there supposed to be an Upkeep cost for permanent fortifications ? I don't see one listed.][/QUOTE]

I don't believe there is, but there should be a repair cost.

 

[mattcolville]

Why do the unit creation rules assume that you start with a group of 1st level Human Commoners, when the MM entries for every other race use 1st level Warriors ?

I can see using Commoners as the basis for any Irregular units, but any Regular or Elite units I would think should start from Warriors.

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.

 

[mattcolville]

If I choose to use counters in a battle, does the system use hexes or squares? I ask b/c of the hex paper that was posted with the counters.

Another question: Okay units have wounds, which was similiar to the old battlesystem rules. In battlesystem every model on the table represented a certain number of people (10:1, 5:! etc). Is it the same in FoB?

The system uses Terrain, lacking any hexes or squares, on which you use inches to measure distance and movement.

The base unit of troops is the "unit," an abstract measure of a group of soldiers' strength, equal to roughly 100 human light infantry. Two units of exactly the same size and makeup might have slightly different numbers of troops in them. This one 96, that one 111. The Book of War doesn't care about individual men, and doesn't track them unless they are potent enough (5th level or higher, as I recall) to be Individuals.

 

[mattcolville]

Improvement suggestion: In the unit creation rules, it is not clear whether or not you should finish creating the unit as Infantry before modifying for Cavalry. Its placement suggests that you should not finish through to equip it first, but some elements in the text refer to values from the finished unit.

Errata Item: The Scouts subtype grants the use of Wilderness Lore as a special ability. Wilderness Lore becomes Survival in 3.5.

You should build the Infantry unit, then modify it based on the type of mount to make a Cav unit. I think...I think that's pretty clear based on the last paragraph under Cavalry, page 54: "Cavalry begin as Light, Medium, or Heavy Infantry, and are then modified according to their mount."

 

[Tzeentch]

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.

 

[Silveras]

You should build the Infantry unit, then modify it based on the type of mount to make a Cav unit. I think...I think that's pretty clear based on the last paragraph under Cavalry, page 54: "Cavalry begin as Light, Medium, or Heavy Infantry, and are then modified according to their mount."

The reason I ask is because the statement quoted appears at the end of Step 2, but one entry of the conversion talks about the effect of the equipment. Equipment is not chosen until Step 5, p. 58. If the conversion is to be done after the riders are equipped, then this placement gives the wrong impression; otherwise, it needs to say "When you add equipment ..." instead of "If the unit is equipped with..."

 

[Silveras]

I'm in the process of updating the errata, going through everyone's comments.

Silveras is correct. The section on Guilds should be changed to include a "Cost to build" price as well as a "cost to Upgrade." It looks like it should cost 7,500 to to build one The cost of buying a chapel (1,500) upgrading it twice (1,500 X 2 = 3,000) then upgrading to Temple (another 3,000). 1,500 + 3,000 + 3,000 = 7,500. There may be some element of this equation I'm missing.

That would be good to clarify, as the impression I got was that you did not upgrade from "tier to tier"; a Temple had to be built new at level 4 to replace a Chapel, and then a Cathedral built new at level 7 to replace a Temple.