[Osprey Games] Romance of the Perilous Land

[atanakar]

This is the streamlined version of D&D 5e I was looking for. Everything is resolved using Roll Under against your Ability. Love the setting too. Just finished my first quick read of the rules section. It's almost as if the rules were written for me. Love how the Advantage / Disadvantage was taken to its next logical step. His take on Ablative Armour works really well. I'm stealing that for other games. Now I really want to try it out. First I'll do a solo random dungeon with 4 characters to test the rules.

I ordered both the PDF and Book with a -25% discount on both on Osprey's Games site.

«Romance of the Perilous Land is a lavishly illustrated fantasy roleplaying game written by Scott Malthouse, set in a fantasy world inspired by the legend of King Arthur and a wide range of British folk tales. It is designed as an entry-level traditional RPG in the vein of Dungeons & Dragons, for a group of players that includes one Game Master who describes the world and facilitates play. Where the game shines is in its very streamlined and consistent dice-rolling mechanic, and its strong thematic focus.»

Review Link:

RPG Review : Romance of the Perilous Land (2019) | Role Over Play Dead

Romance of the Perilous Land is a lavishly-illustrated fantasy roleplaying game written by Scott Malthouse, set in a fantasy world inspired by the legend of King Arthur and a wide range of British folk tales.

roleoverplaydead.com

 

[Tun Kai Poh]

Looking forward to see what you think.

In particular, does the Thief feel like it has enough to contribute if it doesn't have more skills than any other class?

 

[atanakar]

Looking forward to see what you think.

In particular, does the Thief feel like it has enough to contribute if it doesn't have more skills than any other class?

I don't see Perilous Lands as an OSR game but rather as a distillation of 5e. The days of the percentile thief are gone for me (even if I sometimes lament their disappearance out of nostalgia but I come back to my senses quickly.)

In combat, Perilous' thief works well as a flanking expert. With high DEX, the Outlaw background (Stealth and Thievery Edges), class features and proper talents you get everything thief needs to contribute to the group. He'll be the best man to open locks, pick pockets, hide in shadows and backstab foes. If you want to make a killing machine select high MIGHT as second highest attribute. If you want to play a suave con artist select high CHAR.

 

[aramis erak]

It shows as much Dragon Warriors in its DNA as 5E...

It's not OSR, but it's not a fully modern design either... neither is 5E.

Only 10 levels. Recommends checkpoint leveling, despite including a unified XP table.

The 6 classes have parallels in DW revised...
Knight, Barbarian, Ranger: very close to the DW versions
Thief: the Knave class from the Player's Guide is very close
Cunning: Sorcerer equivalent.
Bard: mechanically similar to the DW priest, tho' conceptually not so much.

It uses advantage/disadvantage similarly to 5E.

Disappointments:

• only one spell in each school for each level.
• Initiative determines three phases: Players Passing Initiative, NPCs, Players Failing Initiative..
• skills only provide cancel-able advantage.

 

[John R Davis]

Its not OSR (Well maybe 20% Black Hack; 80% 5e). We really like it as it moves along nicely, the books is lovely, and levelling rate is pretty good balance. The odd spell is maybe a bit OP and easy to spam. We have played maybe 10 sessions and go to about 4th level. Lots info to develop into adventures

 

[atanakar]

Just finished creating 4 characters. Only takes 10 minutes per character. A knight (aristocrat), a ranger (falconer), a thief (seafarer) and a cunning folk (scholar).

I'm ready to do a solo random quest to test the system. Hand made smaller character sheets so they take less space on my table.

 

[Aldarc]

Have you read Black Hack 2e yet? There are also some similar distillations of 5e in there. It's also a roll under attribute system as well.

Also have you looked at Osprey Games' other TTRPG they published: Paleomythic? It's a different system and genre entirely (Stone & Sorcery), but it's also pretty neat. I've been wanting to play a game of it too, but quarantine slowed down my gaming schedule, and there's a back catalog of other games I promised to run first.

Disappointments:

• Initiative determines three phases: Players Passing Initiative, NPCs, Players Failing Initiative..

Why is that a disappointment? I have found this incredibly useful way to go about initiative - if one must have it - from my play experience with the Cypher System. It's a practical compromise between fluid and structured initiative systems.

 

[aramis erak]

Have you read Black Hack 2e yet? There are also some similar distillations of 5e in there. It's also a roll under attribute system as well.

Also have you looked at Osprey Games' other TTRPG they published: Paleomythic? It's a different system and genre entirely (Stone & Sorcery), but it's also pretty neat. I've been wanting to play a game of it too, but quarantine slowed down my gaming schedule, and there's a back catalog of other games I promised to run first.

Why is that a disappointment? I have found this incredibly useful way to go about initiative - if one must have it - from my play experience with the Cypher System. It's a practical compromise between fluid and structured initiative systems.

Because it only really matters in turn 1. There's little (if anything) that is round-based.

Not to mention it breaks verisimilitude for me, the same way group initiative did in D&D.

THat it's also flat out unrealistic (as is sidevs side initiative) is another whole kettle of fish, and I hate fish.

 

[Aldarc]

Because it only really matters in turn 1. There's little (if anything) that is round-based.

Not to mention it breaks verisimilitude for me, the same way group initiative did in D&D.

THat it's also flat out unrealistic (as is sidevs side initiative) is another whole kettle of fish, and I hate fish.

Seems like there's a fairly simple solution that I have used before while still maintaining this method: reroll initiative each round. But I'll bite. So what is "realistic" initiative?

 

[atanakar]

Have you read Black Hack 2e yet? There are also some similar distillations of 5e in there. It's also a roll under attribute system as well.

Also have you looked at Osprey Games' other TTRPG they published: Paleomythic? It's a different system and genre entirely (Stone & Sorcery), but it's also pretty neat. I've been wanting to play a game of it too, but quarantine slowed down my gaming schedule, and there's a back catalog of other games I promised to run first.

Just did (I think I read v1.2 last year). RotPL has a lot of similarities with BH. RotPL has a non-D&D and non-LOTR inspired setting. Also magic is cast using spell points, which is a major boon for me. I don't want to emulate the OSR experience. Did that in the 80s. Glad I left it behind. RotPL is not OSR.

I saw Paleomythic but not my thing.