Iron Lore: Malhavoc's Surprise?

[mearls]

Will you be using class defense progression ala D20 Modern?

Will there be any magical items? Like ancient artifacts but relatively low powered?

Defense - yes. The classes receive a base Defense bonus that scales up with level, much like base attack bonus.

Magical items - the DM's guidebook has rules for these. They work a little like items from Call of Cthulhu.

 

[mearls]

As a follow up on this, you could have a campaign where some of the charecters belong to orders (i.e. the Druids) that give them items, or items only work for the D&D charecters. Or conversely, if someone wanted to play an IL charecter in a D&D game, then magic wouldn't work for them (and treasure should be adjusted accordingly)

Just as long as everyone knows upfront that this is balanced

Yeah, that's really the key. There are conversion rules in the book for porting the classes back and forth for campaigns.

 

[mearls]

Mike, can you tell us the page-length of this book? Is it at least longer than Iron Might? Of course, i could probably patiently wait 24 hours and find out officially from malhavoc, but i was curious. I really like the way this system sounds. I might try to incorporate some of these elements into my Midnight campaign. You could theoretically make a character more powerful if you took away their Hero Path and introduced IL as a replacement. Maybe?

I'm not too familiar with Midnight, so I couldn't say for sure.

The book is, I think, 256 pages or there abouts. It's AU-sized.

 

[ecliptic]

Will damage reduction be applied to armor?

 

[der_kluge]

Jeez. My budget for Gen Con just keeps going up and up and up.

 

[mearls]

Will damage reduction be applied to armor?

Yes, but probably not exactly in the way you think.

 

[Yuan-Ti]

First let me say this sounds fun and I can't wait to see it. After all, anything that brings the "low/scarce magic" concept more into the mainstream means I will get more chances to run and play in such games. I especially like that it was designed to have bits and pieces pulled from it. Plus, I like the work Mike has done in the past, so I expect to like this, too.

But I also just need to laugh at some of the people who are posting as if "finally! someone has done the game I have always wanted!" Ha ha ha. Ha. There are several products out there that do similar things -- Conan in particular was designed so that magic items are irrelevant. Grim Tales can take or leave magic items depending on the whim of the GM, but works either way. Black Company is a more recent arrival, but also is designed to have a similar feel. In all three of these magic can be EXTREMELY powerful but is rarer and only rarely will a PC see that kind of power. So many people readily dismiss such products because they aren't from the *right* developer, or their friend told them it sucked, or whatever. Puhlease!

 

[mearls]

But I also just need to laugh at some of the people who are posting as if "finally! someone has done the game I have always wanted!" Ha ha ha. Ha. There are several products out there that do similar things -- Conan in particular was designed so that magic items are irrelevant. Grim Tales can take or leave magic items depending on the whim of the GM, but works either way. Black Company is a more recent arrival, but also is designed to have a similar feel. In all three of these magic can be EXTREMELY powerful but is rarer and only rarely will a PC see that kind of power. So many people readily dismiss such products because they aren't from the *right* developer, or their friend told them it sucked, or whatever. Puhlease!

There is an enormous difference between those games and Iron Lore - Iron Lore replaces magic with expanded/new abilities and a different model of play, all while keeping the power curve at D&D's level. You can use your Monster Manual, or Tome of Horrors, or Fiend Folio, or whatever, with Iron Lore without a single smidge of conversion, and the monsters work in just the way you'd expect WRT CR and party level.

 

[Michael Tree]

In his design diary for Mystic Secrets, Mike Mearls wrote:
"I think this ties back into the type of gamer I am. I'd much rather use an existing spell to do something really clever than just make up a new one. When I sit down to design spells, I always have to come up with five ideas for each finished spell, because a lot of the stuff I think of really has no point in seeing print. Who needs a lightning bolt that just inflicts cold damage? If I had my way, I'd invent a new magic system, or maybe create new rules that expand how the core magic system works."

Was this sneaky foreshadowing for the new magic system in Iron Lore?

 

[osarusan]

I think I will be camping outside of my bookstore to get this one. Sounds like exactly what I've been wanting to see in D&D.