Hey, Oathbound fanboys - what's the deal?
- Thread starter Emiricol
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Derulbaskul
Adventurer
Hmmm, I suppose I'm a bit of a fanboy so I'll bite.
As a DM I was looking for a "different" world, somewhere I could experiment with different rules and styles of play and maybe throw out a few old tropes... but still have a setting for a game of D&D.
I got that, and have been running a campaign with a backstory that draws its inspiration both from the nature of the world itself and Monte Cook's excellent Requiem for a god... as well as from the Book of Vile Darkness (coincidentally also by Monte). Picture Demogorgon and Orcus as being two crows fighting over a corpse....
The players are enjoying it because of the dynamic nature of the world itself. The politics that exist are really interesting but, we're not necessarily talking about the clash of countries, rather the clash of suburbs in a giant city (that's selling the setting short, of course, there is much, much more) and, from the players' perspective, they find the idea of running a suburb (or Bloodhold) much more manageable than running a frontier outpost or a country etc... in another world.
Anyway, I like it and the players like it. It's a good change from our more "normal" campaigns without being "off the wall" weird.
Cheers
D
As a DM I was looking for a "different" world, somewhere I could experiment with different rules and styles of play and maybe throw out a few old tropes... but still have a setting for a game of D&D.
I got that, and have been running a campaign with a backstory that draws its inspiration both from the nature of the world itself and Monte Cook's excellent Requiem for a god... as well as from the Book of Vile Darkness (coincidentally also by Monte). Picture Demogorgon and Orcus as being two crows fighting over a corpse....
The players are enjoying it because of the dynamic nature of the world itself. The politics that exist are really interesting but, we're not necessarily talking about the clash of countries, rather the clash of suburbs in a giant city (that's selling the setting short, of course, there is much, much more) and, from the players' perspective, they find the idea of running a suburb (or Bloodhold) much more manageable than running a frontier outpost or a country etc... in another world.
Anyway, I like it and the players like it. It's a good change from our more "normal" campaigns without being "off the wall" weird.
Cheers
D
Ashy
First Post
While there are aspects of several other published settings found within Oathbound, Oathbound is NOT simply a miss-mash of those other campaign settings into one. Rather, Oathbound is one of the most original and innovative campaign setting ideas that I have seen since Planescape that somehow manages to capture all of the best aspects of those diverse settings and force them into its own mold...
I am a HUGE Planescape fan (obviously) and one of the selling points of PS to me was the sheer scope of possibility that the setting not only allowed but seemed to embrace and welcome with wild abandon. In PS, anything could happen, the players could be any kind of character they wanted and they could literally go anywhere. Post PS, I had not seen that sort of flexibility and the wholesale welcoming of outside and foreign concepts in a campaign setting until I ran across Oathbound - I was hooked.
Also, if the sheer aspect of nearly unlimited possibillity in a CS does not hook you, then look at it this way - all of those races, PrClasses, NPCs, new rules and so forth that you have in that relatively new collection of D20 (and honestly, non-D20 if you take the time to convert) aterial and rules have a READY-MADE home within Oathbound.
That's tough to beat.
I am a HUGE Planescape fan (obviously) and one of the selling points of PS to me was the sheer scope of possibility that the setting not only allowed but seemed to embrace and welcome with wild abandon. In PS, anything could happen, the players could be any kind of character they wanted and they could literally go anywhere. Post PS, I had not seen that sort of flexibility and the wholesale welcoming of outside and foreign concepts in a campaign setting until I ran across Oathbound - I was hooked.
Also, if the sheer aspect of nearly unlimited possibillity in a CS does not hook you, then look at it this way - all of those races, PrClasses, NPCs, new rules and so forth that you have in that relatively new collection of D20 (and honestly, non-D20 if you take the time to convert) aterial and rules have a READY-MADE home within Oathbound.
That's tough to beat.
Treebore
First Post
Do not forget, or miss the fact that, this world is set up to let you alter the world or course of events on a whim, the whim of the trapped god. You want to save a players character? You can, because the trapped god wants them saved, and you can do it anyway you want, as cool as you want.
Feel one too many encounters have gone to easy? Want to toughen it up? You can, because the trapped god wants to test the PC's a little more. HAve new monsters "summoned/conjured" in, have any number of buffing/healing spells go into effect on the opponents, whatever the DM wants.
A very cool caveat built right into the campaign world, literally!
Feel one too many encounters have gone to easy? Want to toughen it up? You can, because the trapped god wants to test the PC's a little more. HAve new monsters "summoned/conjured" in, have any number of buffing/healing spells go into effect on the opponents, whatever the DM wants.
A very cool caveat built right into the campaign world, literally!
Darrin Drader
Explorer
Treebore said:
That's not exactly true. The trapped god is the Grey Stranger, and he really isn't able to exercise his power in that way. The real power is held by the Black Flock. I think it is them that you are referring to since they are capable of doing all of those things. Their motivations are kind of tweaked too, which is a pretty cool aspect of the setting.
scadgrad
First Post
Not to burst anyone's bubble here--and on some level, I'm just offering up a quick opinion from someone who bought it and was disappointed--but I wasn't very thrilled w/ Oathbound.
Like many DMs I love new settings, and as such I do buy quite a few of them. I picked up Oathbound the week it was released and was a bit disappointed. Why you might ask?
It is really, really high fantasy. In fact much more than I was expecting (it reminds me of the cantina at Mos Eisley). The vast number of alternative PC races is truly the measuring rod here. If you like this sort of milieu for a game setting, than unlike me, you'll love it.
Second, is the 7th level thing. It seems that the setting is best used for characters of this level and above. An underlying premise is that the PCs are brought in from somewhere else (you CAN start your PCs at 1st level as natives IIRC, but the higher levels are what the setting is truly about). I didn't like this mechanic in Ravenloft or Planescape, so I have trouble warming up to it in Oathbound.
Finally, I was disappointed in the presentation and this is a repeating problem for Bastion. The layout, overall design and illustration (particularly the illos) are substandard. But if this hasn't bothered you in any other Bastion product, than it shouldn't here.
So, those are some points you might consider. The writing is solid and the idea behind the setting is intriguing so it may appeal to you. For me, I'd rather do Planescape.
Just playing Devil's advocate.
ymmv
Like many DMs I love new settings, and as such I do buy quite a few of them. I picked up Oathbound the week it was released and was a bit disappointed. Why you might ask?
It is really, really high fantasy. In fact much more than I was expecting (it reminds me of the cantina at Mos Eisley). The vast number of alternative PC races is truly the measuring rod here. If you like this sort of milieu for a game setting, than unlike me, you'll love it.
Second, is the 7th level thing. It seems that the setting is best used for characters of this level and above. An underlying premise is that the PCs are brought in from somewhere else (you CAN start your PCs at 1st level as natives IIRC, but the higher levels are what the setting is truly about). I didn't like this mechanic in Ravenloft or Planescape, so I have trouble warming up to it in Oathbound.
Finally, I was disappointed in the presentation and this is a repeating problem for Bastion. The layout, overall design and illustration (particularly the illos) are substandard. But if this hasn't bothered you in any other Bastion product, than it shouldn't here.
So, those are some points you might consider. The writing is solid and the idea behind the setting is intriguing so it may appeal to you. For me, I'd rather do Planescape.
Just playing Devil's advocate.
ymmv
Treebore
First Post
Baraendur,
That is true, if you keep the world static and as written. But only the DM is to say how "cracked" the nameless god's prison has become and what he is able to do. This allows you to decide, well, everything.
As for the devils advocate, your points are all valid. The art is ugly in some places, but it tends to be used to make the alien creatures look more alien.
You are also right that this is a very high fantasy world and the 7th level issues are good points.
For you to like this setting you would have to have a fundamental desire for this kind of a world.
I look at this setting as an alternative world to bring characters to, to challenge them in new ways and to see what their choice will be. Leave this world and the new powers it gave them, or to stay, and maybe even serve.
I wouldn't start a campaign here, even though it can be done, but i would definitely use it as a potential ending.
That is true, if you keep the world static and as written. But only the DM is to say how "cracked" the nameless god's prison has become and what he is able to do. This allows you to decide, well, everything.
As for the devils advocate, your points are all valid. The art is ugly in some places, but it tends to be used to make the alien creatures look more alien.
You are also right that this is a very high fantasy world and the 7th level issues are good points.
For you to like this setting you would have to have a fundamental desire for this kind of a world.
I look at this setting as an alternative world to bring characters to, to challenge them in new ways and to see what their choice will be. Leave this world and the new powers it gave them, or to stay, and maybe even serve.
I wouldn't start a campaign here, even though it can be done, but i would definitely use it as a potential ending.
scadgrad said:
I'll weigh in on this particular aspect of it. I love the work that Stephanie Pui-Mun Law did for illustrating it, and there are several pictures that I stylistically enjoy (Asherake on p27, spiny four-armed cat person on 86, that sort of thing).
The art that I positively hated was from the artist that made skin and cloth look like muscle tissue (or bark). It "worked" for the Haiel picture on 104, but for the race illustration on 25, the lunar on 37, the Hone on 51, and various other pictures in the book, I feel that it didn't. Perhaps its also the way the joints are drawn (and the hands, but I recognize that hands are really, really hard to draw). It doesn't stand out to me so much on the pictures of the non-animate.
On another note, I really like the picture of Israfel on 125. The lines are superb.
All in all, just my opinion. The art is a mixed bag. Some is amazing, some is good, some is okay, and some... well, it just doesn't speak to me.
Dr. Strangemonkey
First Post
I like Oathbound a lot because I am very comfortable with the idea of high level adventuring and a vast array of high-magic options.
The setting is also detailed in a way that I find very enjoyable with vocabulary, great names, excellent 'mundane' locations and characters, and very intriguing politics.
Also, the very best metaplot I've ever seen in a game. Totally ignorable, but very intriguing.
The setting is also detailed in a way that I find very enjoyable with vocabulary, great names, excellent 'mundane' locations and characters, and very intriguing politics.
Also, the very best metaplot I've ever seen in a game. Totally ignorable, but very intriguing.
Darrin Drader
Explorer
scadgrad said:
My bubble isn't burst since Oathbound never pretends to be anything other than the issues you bring up. We all have different styles of play that we like. Now that you mention it, I do see more than a couple Star Wars Parallels, but this isn't something that was running through our minds during the design process.
The designers had no control over what art went into the book. I can say that a great deal of the art in Plains of Penance was done by various different artists with different styles. I personally like the look of the interior of that book more than I like the original. Wrack & Ruin and everything after it for the foreseeable future will be in black and white by a number of different artists.
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