Iron Lore: Malhavoc's Surprise?

[GravyFingerz]

Bump, we need an update, like a new design diary or something, stat!

www.sockbaby.com

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

Reading about this fight in Martin's masterful book, i could almost blow for blow see how it would play out using the Conan rules. Dodging, chinks in armor, slower opponent vs. faster opponent. And what's more, when the fight ends, it ain't pretty.

EDIT: My point was that there are some existing rules out there that are nice too, and i think Iron Lore will bring more to the table. DnD has too much reliance on high powered magic to save your bacon, but I still love the core rules of the game.

Man, I gotta say that the scene is one of the many criteria I use to evaluate gaming systems at this point.

Conan is an interesting choice, but having played with it for a while I really don't know that you could do it as well as it needs to be done. Heavy armor in Conan doesn't seem to have the comparitive disadvantages that it seems to have in that scene, but I still see what you mean.

Right now I'm working on means to recreate that scene and SoIaF in general using the Kung Fu system in Weapons of the Gods.

I think IL will probably get closer than Conan does. Plus Conan has a whole regurlarly lopping off heads bit that doesn't really fit SoIaF for me.

And I would hesitate a little before called that spear simply masterwork.

 

[Narfellus]

Yeah, great fight, wasn't it! I haven't actually used the Conan rules yet, but they seemed offhand that they would work. More detailed than 2 fighers standing side by side and hammering away at each other.

I'm not familar with Weapons of the Gods, but if you want to fill in some details feel free.

I assume you know about the Game of Thrones RPG

http://agot.guardiansorder.com/

450 pages of full color goodness. I heard the combat system was going to be more brutal than default DnD. I wonder how different it will be from Conan, or even Black Comany?

 

[Captain NeMo]

Sounds good, I'll probably get it.

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

Yeah, great fight, wasn't it! I haven't actually used the Conan rules yet, but they seemed offhand that they would work. More detailed than 2 fighers standing side by side and hammering away at each other.

I'm not familar with Weapons of the Gods, but if you want to fill in some details feel free.

I assume you know about the Game of Thrones RPG

http://agot.guardiansorder.com/

450 pages of full color goodness. I heard the combat system was going to be more brutal than default DnD. I wonder how different it will be from Conan, or even Black Comany?

The Conan rules have some elements that work really well, but the emphasis isn't so much on elegant training and strategy in personal combat as it is on heroic virtue and intuitive badassitude. It might work, but having played it for a while I don't really feel it.

Weapons of the Gods is a non d20 Kung Fu game. It's release has been delayed a couple of times, but the basic rules should be available on .pdf very soon. The games been written for forever but suffered from repeated printer mishaps. Very very very elegant system. I'm tempted to work it into a GoT game because of the personality and color it gives every fighter, that and it has very nice virtue and passion mechanics.

I will certainly be picking up the GoO game, as even where I am somewhat skeptical of their rules choices I have no doubt that it will be the definitive reference guide to the world and events of the series.

Might be on the same level of difference as Conan, from what I've heard, but it's going to be even more brutal than Black Company. Which, to my mind, did a brilliant job making the RAW more deadly with only a few minor changes to the system. My only complaint against Black Company is that the mass combat system does a pretty poor job modelling individuals fighting squads, which is sad because the potential to do it well is certainly there.

 

[Narfellus]

I just got Conan Free companies and it looks to be a great way to fill in the background detail of mass combat. For actual mechanics, i would use Grim Tales and the excel spreadsheets.

I for one am very excited about GoT. Not sure what the actual rules will come out like, but you're right, as a reference guide to the world, it will have no equal. And if we get the deluxe edition (for a piddly $99!) we get a poster sized map of Westeros. Probably, no doubt, the most creative layout for a fantasy game world i have ever seen. It BEGS to have adventurers tromp across it.

 

[Hydro]

You could even play it like a AD&D1e barbarian or 3.0 forsaker, for a character who refuses to use magic, and has taken vows to that effect.

Nice. But try inverting it.

Magic items aren't something that just anyone can use. To use any magic item, you need to have at least one druid level. To use magic items with a caster level above one, you need to have at least three druid levels. And so on and so forth. In a sense, magic items become a class feature.

In the unlikely event that a dm feels the need to use "Fighters" in his IL game, the fighter would become something of a mystic warrior, defined by the fact that he wears a shining +4 fullplate and carries a keen shocking burst scythe that only he can use.


I was halfway through the thread and felt the need to type that down before I forgot it, so sorry if someone else has already suggested it, and don't be supprised if I post again sometime in the next twenty minutes.

 

[Tetsubo]

I just checked out the last page of this thread and you've sold me on this product.

Do you think you could create a version of the Oathsworn with IL? I like the Oathsworn's abilities but the whole oath requirement seems limiting to me. I see oaths as life-long commitments. Not something you accomplish within a year.

 

[TerraDave]

More on Iron Lore:

http://www.montecook.com/cgi-bin/page.cgi?designdiary_mmearls_11

 

[SixFootGnome]

16 more pages

Also, on Monte's main page where he announced the new design diary, it was mentioned that IL has picked up 16 more pages. It will now be a 256-page hardcover rather than 240-page.

I suppose that for most of us the true import of that information depends on what's in those 16 extra pages, but I doubt that it is last-minute filler.