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Message: <blockquote data-quote="HyrumOWC" data-source="post: 232497" data-attributes="member: 329">Re: My Review of Forbidden KingdomsSamurai has some decent points, but he's misunderstanding a few things. First off, a lot of what Samurai has to say is his opinion on layout/design, and or the reasons for certain rules, which is more than cool. That's what reviews are all about. Below are some answers to some of what Samurai brings up in the review.It was done to simulate the increased knowledge and command of information an Academic gains as he goes up in level. While I liked the idea of the Bardic Lore ability, I've never liked the way it was handled. This is our fix.What you find silly, *many* playtesters actually liked a lot. An Idle Rich has a *vast* amount of money at their fingertips, most of it controlled by people (servants, account managers, etc) other than themselves. (This is especially true in Victorian times) Perhaps it was the people we had playtesting, but everyone who played an Idle Rich kept track of every last dime and where it was invested in. (ie: stock market, land, whatever) It was never really a chore to double their wealth.This is a genuine oversite, and the clarification has been placed on our website in the forums. A more detailed errata will be posted soon. As for it not fitting him, we're all entitled to our opinions.This will also be in the errata and works by being either cumulative (in the case of skills already chosen) or +1 in the case of a new Expertise.Page 114, under the heading of "Determining Protection" it states:  Protection is determined with the following formula:Highest Armor Bonus + Highest Natural Armor BonusAny item, ability, or effect that provides an armor or natural armor bonus will give Protection equal to that bonus. (Shields do not provide Protection. They increase Defense.) Bonuses of the same type are not cumulative.Example of Determining ProtectionA flak jacket provides a +4 armor bonus. Wearing it gives Protection 4. An Amulet of Natural Armor +4 gives Protection 4. If Jack were wearing both the amulet and the jacket, the different bonuses would be cumulative, giving him Protection 8.Seems pretty clear to me.... The reason there is no armor chart is because there wasn't a whole lot of armor used in the time period. Weird Scientists however can make armor and if someone wanted to throw on a suit of full plate from the British Natural Museum, it would provide a Protection bonus of +8. (+8 armor bonus)I guess this comes down to a style issue. I've never been happy with the skill list from D&D (a fantasy game), so we added other skills that we felt were needed. Again, a style issue. Also, all of the character classes have more skill points than standard fantasy classes. FK is much more skill driven than the run of the mill fantasy game.In order to get Technique, you need to gain a feat, Initiation into the Way, something easily limited by the GM. Again, I guess this is a style issue. Most of our playtesters love these rules, (and giving credit where credit is due, they're Ken Hood's rules) and had no problem with the martial arts system.1. The "normal" feats were seperated from the "martial arts" feats for the simple reason of ease of lookup.  A style issue that you obviously don't like, which is ok with me.2. None of the martial art feats can be taken without having both Initiation into the Way, and the Technique skill, plus a HOST of other prerequisites, unlike most of the "normal" feats. Lethal Anatomy has the following: Initiation into the Way, Technique rank 8+, Heal 8+, Knowledge (Anatomy) 8+, Nerve Strike (any), and either Martial Arts Weapon or Unarmed Combat Expertise. Most of the other martial arts feats have similarly large prerequisites. I'm sorry you don't like these rules Samurai. Again, the vast majority of playtesters are extremely fond of these rules. However, knowing that some people wouldn't like them, we added the small chart that covers most of the guns used during the various periods.The whole point of the gun rules was so that you could make your own personal gun, or mimic a gun used by your favorite hero. Want the Shadow's gun? Pretty easy to do. Want the double barreled elephant gun from Doc Savage: Man of Bronze? Go for it!Yes, the spread of buckshot is harder to dodge, however (and this is a big however) buckshot spreads out, in an ever widening pattern. Which means that fewer and fewer pellets will actually hit you and do damge. (Which is why a shotgun blast to the face tends to leave hamburger, and a shotgun blast from 100 feet away doesn't.)Glad you like the Psionics rules Samurai! They're a blast to use in play and simulate the feel we wanted exactly.Weird Science will be covered in more depth in the Game Master Codex, Terwilligers Technological Emporium (the tech guide to FK), and magic, which is rare in the FK universe, will get further treatment in the Magick and Mysticism book.Actually, a few of the characters (mentioned in the short fiction bits introducing each character) can be found among the villains in the back. And frankly, it's not about *our* (OWC's) characters. It's about your games, your villains, your Heroes. We just didn't feel the need to give you a huge cast of NPCs and a huge metaplot. Don't play our game, play yours.Reread "And now a word from our sponsor" on page 6. It lays out exactly what we were trying to accomplish.I'm sorry the game didn't meet all of your expectations Samurai. But thanks for buying the book and I hope you're looking forward to both the errata sheet and the other books in the FK line.Hyrum.</blockquote>

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