[OtherWorlds] Mercenaries: Born of Blood

[talien]

You've tasted blood before, whether it was yours or others; it's all the same. It runs hot, dark and sticky as it falls to the ground in an endless torrent. There have been plenty of weapons, armor and men left broken on nameless battlefields -- but do you care? No. Why should you when you're the one left standing?

It comes down to two very important things... first is survival and second is collecting your pay for services rendered. Paladins and heroes do it for the 'greater good', you're just in it for the payoff. After all, you're not doing this for free are you?

Mercenaries: Born in Blood explores mercenaries throughout "real-world" history, how they've been used in fiction, tips for using them in your game, new feats, skills, and prestige classes, as well as six samples for use in a fantasy game, two for use in a pulp/modern game, and two for use in a sci-fi game.

Mercenaries: Born of Blood includes:
* A complete history of mercenaries, from the Greek and Persian wars, to modern day "security companies," to mercenaries of the future.
* 16 new prestige classes
* 2 new core classes (the professional and soldier-of-fortune)
* 30 new spells and over 15 new magic items
* Rules for generating mercenary backgrounds, contracts, payments, punishments, and more
* Rules for creating mercenaries using most any creature from the Monster Manual

"If you're looking for more material for your campaign, fantasy, historical, modern or far future, " said Joe Kushner at Enworld. "that focuses in on the Mercenary mold, than Born of Blood is your book."

Purchase: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/r...e-glance/Y03Y3482001Y9700404/qid%3D1059467843

Type: Role-Playing Game (D20 Supplement)
Cover Artist: Kieran Yanner and R. Hyrum Savage
Interior Artists: Samuel Araya, Paul Carrick, Jeremy Dale, Quinn Devlaeminck, Steve Miller, Chris Seaman, David Schrader and Derek Stevens
Suggested Retail Price: $27.99
Format: Softcover
Pages: 192
Publisher: OtherWorld Creations

 

[JoeGKushner]

Well, you've had at least one extra sale from one of my buddies from Games Plus in Mt. Prospect.

How's the feedback been with the layout of all the time periods together? He had the same questions I did about some of the stuff and it's appropriateness for different eras.

 

[trancejeremy]

I just ordered it today (found it for $21 + shipping).

 

[talien]

How's the feedback been with the layout of all the time periods together? He had the same questions I did about some of the stuff and it's appropriateness for different eras.

Originally, I had three different symbols that identified everything in the book by setting. I had a "backup" form of identification in every part of the book except the classes. I didn't realize the symbols weren't used until the book hit print.

So originally, the book was written with the distinction between historical/modern/futuristic built into it. The idea was to make it easy to identify what weapon/class/race/whatever belonged where -- you could tell by the three symbols at a glance. The reason I put it all the information together is because there's always someone who disagrees with the distinction -- thus, someone might want a "weird science" weapon or armor or something, to be used in their customized setting.

Of course, that approach is not nearly as successful if the icons are missing. There were also silhouettes for the various vehicles that didn't make it in either. I suspect the problem had something to do with the fact that those fonts were copyrighted and layout/spacing issues.

Hopefully, you should be able to tell after reading each entry what text belongs to which setting. That doesn't excuse the problem, but does help explain why the book's a bit difficult to navigate.

Tell me more about how the book's doing. I love to hear about it, good or bad.

Okay that's a lie, I love to hear about the good stuff but I NEED to hear the bad stuff.

 

[JoeGKushner]

One 'problem' we've both had is the Soldier of Fortune. To us, this is kinda like what a professional fighter should be. We've filled off the serial numbers and have tossed the idea of using this as the base fighter class instead of the core rules fighter but then the class itself is basically replaced as no one is going to want to play a standard fighter compared to a SoF.

 

[talien]

Actually, when Mercenaries was written last year, it was written to be compatible with the most popular books at the time. The Soldier of Fortune is taken directly from the Forbidden Kingdoms rules and is meant to be compatible with the Forbidden Kingdoms game.

SoF actually works better in modern campagins, if you use defense, as their defense bonus applies nicely. Or, if you use a much grittier combat system, it will work well in a campaign where you need to get hit less vs. having more hit points.

Anything else? Find the kenblade yet?

 

[HyrumOWC]

Thanks for starting this thread up Mike!

Mercs has been incredibly well received and we're proud of the work Mike has done.

As for the fonts and images Mike provided, we did run into some legal questions about their use, and the book just came out huge. It was planned to be 176 pages, but it barely fit into 192. Going a page or two beyond that would have meant a big increase in price, or a lot of blank pages, neither of which is something we wanted.

All in all we're happy with the book and can't wait for more reviews to come in.

Hyrum.

PS: In related news, we've posted the cover to Cities: Born of Stone, the next book in the series. You can see it by going here: http://www.otherworlds.cx