Iron_Chef
First Post
Just picked GUILDCRAFT up last night. Overpriced and needlessly full color glossy for its low page count like most Bastion Press products (they charge $24.95 for something that should be $14.95 and B&W standard paper interior like FFG's School of Illusion, Necromantic Lore, etc.); still, this one has some nice ideas in it. The content is similar to the organizations in FFG's "Path" books. Guildcraft is overly generic and suffers a bit as a result (each class has its own guild whether they need one or not), but at least it's not as irritatingly specific as FFG's can be. Granted, it's hard to walk the line between too generic and too specific, so it's better to opt for too generic, IMO. The guilds in GUILDCRAFT are setting neutral and that's a plus.
I bought it for the Wizard's Guild, mainly. Membership gives you your bonus feats a level early, extra skill points for wizardly skills with each rank, and a few other goodies of lesser import (like shelter, library access, and comraderie), all for monthly dues and an XP cost to acquire each rank.
The guild benefits are generally much better than FFG's, though the cost is often substantially more in terms of gold and XP. You'll notice the hit to your wallet and XP but you'll love the membership perks, IMO.
The Thieves' Guild and Adventurer's Guild are present (the latter getting a chapter all its own, including banking rules and how to hire other adventurers). There are decadent exclusive clubs like The Feasters and goody-goody meddlers like the clerics of The Council of Sacred Light. Rules to construct your own guilds are included using the same template the authors used.
The book does what it sets out to do, providing substantial reasons for characters to join one or more guilds and thus giving the DM more hooks to set them on adventures with, while making the background of the fantasy world come alive by springing into the foreground for a change. Guildcraft is a handy tool for experienced DMs interested in such things, but by no means essential. The price tag is more of a turn off than anything else. At least Bastion gave this one better art than usual by mixing up the artist pool rather than having Todd Morasch fill it up with the garish cartoons that ruined their debut effort, Arms & Armor. The cover is better than usual for Bastion, too.
Anyway, I'm curious if anyone else is using this and what the results were?
I bought it for the Wizard's Guild, mainly. Membership gives you your bonus feats a level early, extra skill points for wizardly skills with each rank, and a few other goodies of lesser import (like shelter, library access, and comraderie), all for monthly dues and an XP cost to acquire each rank.
The guild benefits are generally much better than FFG's, though the cost is often substantially more in terms of gold and XP. You'll notice the hit to your wallet and XP but you'll love the membership perks, IMO.
The Thieves' Guild and Adventurer's Guild are present (the latter getting a chapter all its own, including banking rules and how to hire other adventurers). There are decadent exclusive clubs like The Feasters and goody-goody meddlers like the clerics of The Council of Sacred Light. Rules to construct your own guilds are included using the same template the authors used.
The book does what it sets out to do, providing substantial reasons for characters to join one or more guilds and thus giving the DM more hooks to set them on adventures with, while making the background of the fantasy world come alive by springing into the foreground for a change. Guildcraft is a handy tool for experienced DMs interested in such things, but by no means essential. The price tag is more of a turn off than anything else. At least Bastion gave this one better art than usual by mixing up the artist pool rather than having Todd Morasch fill it up with the garish cartoons that ruined their debut effort, Arms & Armor. The cover is better than usual for Bastion, too.
Anyway, I'm curious if anyone else is using this and what the results were?
