Iron Lore: Malhavoc's Surprise?

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

how well could this product interface into Mongoose's conan?

Probably pretty well. In many ways I think Conan's world information would be perfect for the system and probably superior to Conan's native system. The one exception might be the magic system in Conan which is pretty amazingly tailor made to what you see in the books, even if the magic using class itself isn't altogether that awesome as a result.

From what I've seen I think the only class you might have to maintain from Conan or adapt would be the Nomad. But I think making a riding, charging, and wheeling class for Iron Lore would be pretty dang nifty.

The only general issue I see is that Conan's classes and monsters aren't balanced against each other too finely and Iron Lore's are so I don't know that you would be able to maintain that feel as easilly, but you could probably figure it out eventually and you would certainly have more options in that regard than Conan gives you right out of the box.

 

[SteveC]

Interesting discussion. It seems to me from what we've been shown that IL is Mike's attempt to bring high-action Feng-Shui esque combat to D20. That's an idea that appeals to me a lot, but it will require some fundamental shifts in the D&D mindset. From what we've seen, it looks like Mike is trying to make characters more versitile and give them abilities that would typically be available only with magic items, and, again, that's a major shift in the mindset of the game.

Here's an example: the Hunter's ability to give characters bonuses to hit or negate cover involves the players describing things about the gameworld that are typically left up to the gm. "Look to your left, there's a break in the wall where you can shoot through" is par for the course in a game like feng shui. In fact, not saying things like that actually gives your character a penalty in combat! In typical D&D terms, the GM is well within his rights to say "no, actually there's nothing there" in response to that comment, or they might also say, "well there might be something there, but you need to take a standard action to make a search check to find it."

I think the big issue for whether or not you're going to like Iron Lore is whether or not you like more of the free-wheeling off-the-cuffness of some of the more cinematic games.

I've also seen a number of comments that this style of play leads to an over-emphasis on combat. That may be so, but if you look at it in context of the stories that use these sorts of characters, the good ones are every bit as much about character as they are about combat. Look at The Killer. Chow Yun Fat is playing an archer in Iron Lore terms, but so much of the film is about what his skills and choices in life bring him to. Sure he's a killer, but some of the most important scenes in the movie are about the repurcussions that come out of that fact. I guess what I'm saying is that if Iron Lore lets me tell some fast-paced exciting stories about combat, I'll leave it up to myself to tie them together in ways that make it all mean something.

If none of that sounds like fun to you, perhaps Iron Lore isn't the game for you.

--Steve

 

[tetsujin28]

Feel free to elaborate on what you find so absurd. Might show a little more character than making a one-sentence snipe at someone you don't happen to agree with.

Because honestly, who cares if you think the ad copy is "juvenile" and IL would lead to "tedious" gaming? That's only your opinion. There are plenty of people (probably the majority of the non-internet "gaming elite") to whom boo-yah fights are the bee's knees. Just look at the popularity of Exalted, or the fact that, no matter how much internet gamers whine and moan about the "back to the dungeon" approach, that approach sells. Now I don't think that IL is "back to the dungeon", but it definitely appears to be "back to blood-and-guts adventuring".

If it's not a genre for you, goody. Exercise your mighty powers of capitalism, and don't buy it. In the meantime, the rest of us will be enjoying our juvenile boo-yah blood-and-guts adventuring fantasies.

 

[tetsujin28]

It's Tetsujin28, he's already got character tokens to burn and I'm pretty certain that his one sentence snarks are his way of gaining one or two in the middle of round to be followed by a devastating forum combo.

I love the token rules, as I've said before

 

[tetsujin28]

Could be; I've only skimmed TRoS, although it's high on my list to things to investigate. Does it have sub-groups that fill the role that classes do in D&D or Hermetic Houses do in Ars Magica?

Not really. It's a category-allocating, points-distributing game. You prioritize things like Status, Attributes, Skills, Magic, &c in a range from A-F. This then gives you X points to spend on the abilities related to that category. It has no "classes" or "houses", as such.

 

[Felon]

Because honestly, who cares if you think the ad copy is "juvenile" and IL would lead to "tedious" gaming? That's only your opinion.

(Snip the rest of the obnoxious idiotic inflammatory comments)

To paraphrase you: this has got to be one of the silliest statements I've ever seen here.

Yes, it is just an opinion. I don't know what you think a messageboard is for, but sharing opinion's is pretty much it. Some us actually make supportive statements and embark on discussions, but I guess when you don't agree with somebody this snarky crap is the best you can manage.

 

[tetsujin28]

Wah.

See, here we all are, discussing IL. And you seem to be only able to concentrate on how it doesn't fit your opinion of TRUE ROLEPLAYING (tm). To which might be added: OK. We get it. You don't like it.

Why stick around in a thread about a game that seems to stick in your craw so much?

 

[Felon]

Wah. See, here we all are, discussing IL. And you seem to be only able to concentrate on how it doesn't fit your opinion of TRUE ROLEPLAYING.To which might be added: OK. We get it. You don't like it.

What's your point? I'm discussing IL too, and if you actually read my posts before cranking up the flamethrower, you'd have noticed I'm actually quite excited about it too, just concerned from some of Mearls' recent comments that it will be about as deep as a first-person shooter.

And yeah, that's a worthwhile concern for some folks. If you actually would care to dispute something, then by all means do that. That's the way ENWorld works. You want to is inflame people and make one-sentence snipes, go troll rpg.net. They eat that stuff up.

Why stick around in a thread about a game that seems to stick in your craw so much?

Threads are not just for gushing. I hope IL lives up to my expectations. I am concerned it may not. That spawned some discussion that some people were interested enough to issue rebuttals to. That's how grown-up conversations work, ideally.

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

Threads are not just for gushing. I hope IL lives up to my expectations. I am concerned it may not. That spawned some discussion that some people were interested enough to issue rebuttals to. That's how grown-up conversations work, ideally.

Sometimes these 'grown-up' conversations about fantasy role-playing games also have a sizable component of taking jabs with good humor and consideration. Not harping, just sayin.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Tesujin and Felon:

< moderator hat on >

Please leave each other alone, and lets get back to talking about Iron Lore rather than each other, OK?

</ moderator hat off >

Cheers