Iron Lore: Malhavoc's Surprise?

[wizofice]

There are now two July Dates on the product page, the 25th and the 28th, and one August date.

The second July date is in red letters and at the top, in case that reduces the confusion, and it claims to be for both the print and e-book release.

The July 25th date is beneath the picture and for the .pdf release date.

The August 1st date is beneath the picture and for the print release date.

I'm really only interested in .pdf at this point, but that doesn't make me any less confused, but still hopeful that something's out next week when I will desperately need the distraction.

From previously looking at the page, the August 1st date is oldest, the July 25th second newest, and the July 28th date most recent.

And the FAQ just says August. Sue Cook emailed us (the Lieges of the Iron-League) and told us that "the new official date is August 1." Whether or not any vendor can or will offer either product version earlier is not known to me, but I doubt it. And, as I said above, expect the old dates in old pages to change soon.

 

[Talath]

And the FAQ just says August. Sue Cook emailed us (the Lieges of the Iron-League) and told us that "the new official date is August 1." Whether or not any vendor can or will offer either product version earlier is not known to me, but I doubt it. And, as I said above, expect the old dates in old pages to change soon.

An extra week? Argh, truly the gods are cruel creatures!

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

As I recall for AU some of the vendors did offer stuff ahead of the official release date, so check around.

 

[GentleGiant]

Just to follow up on the art preview...
If you visit Kev Crossley's homepage - http://www.kevcrossley.com/ - you can find more pictures in his "Published" section.

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

New previews are out.

There's a flash trailer, a Playtester Spotlight, an announcement about an introductory adventure (though it looks like it won't actually be out in time to be that introductory), and Designer Diary on combat stunts.

I don't know what to think of the combat stunts yet. My initial reaction is 'meh' except for where they relate to skills, but then again it does strike me that it might be the most nuanced stunt system I've yet seen.

Feng Shui basicly expands your effects but at a penalty and Exalted gives you some bonuses for actually pulling it off and for longer term combat, but both of those don't actually try to differentiate between stunts. The effects are distinct based on what you're trying to do but the stunt system uses the same penalties and advantages regardless of what you're doing. In FS the penalty is always to the action itself just as the bonus is in Exalted. IH appears to be promising something that offers appropriate drawbacks to appropriate advantages as well as a more gameable system. That is in Exalted you can't really say (as far as I can remember) that you'd like to trade off. You describe the stunt, you get the rating, and that's it. It's pure slot-machine style gambling. In that light IH's 'you get a +1 if you pull it off if you want more you've got to pull off more. Also if you fail you take penalty' makes it a far more interesting style of gambling.

The Book of Iron Might's stunt system struck me as very 'not there just yet' which is probably why I'm leery of this, but I take hope in the idea that between the BoIM and IH we hit that point and went beyond it.

 

[tetsujin28]

Now that it's out, I can say this: it rocks on toast. $14 is very reasonable for the pdf, and the ideas were implemented splendidly. There's also some of the best player and GM advice I've ever seen.

This is the D&D I've always waited for.

 

[ThoughtfulOwl]

This is the D&D I've always waited for.

(waves hand) «This isn't the D&D you've always waited for...»
(But I have a feeling that it won't work )

I've got the pdf too; IH rocks!

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

I picked up the book to complement the .pdf.

I think the thing that really testifies to this product is how amazingly excited my players are. These are guys who have a hard time with enthusiasm for rules. Sometimes they mention AD&D just out of only mildly suppressed habit or contempt for keeping up. But all week long they've been reading it, calling me about setting suggesstions, and working out character plans.

In the first 30 minutes of our cold character creation session they were arguing about and working on creating effective multi-level builds.

Very cool.

 

[tetsujin28]

I think we might get a chance to try out a two-player game, tonight, which is one area where I think IH really excels. You can get that Fafhrd and the Mouser type game going at first level, instead of having to load the PCs up with magic items in order to survive.