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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Morfedel" data-source="post: 1327900" data-attributes="member: 16318">I think Riddle of Steel is excellent - as long as you know what it is you are getting yourself into.TROS has often been termed a Blood Opera - its combat system is realistic, bloody, and deadly; it makes combat very intricate, and far more than just a "I try to hit" kind of system.Because of this, though, it encourages you to not just jump into any fight just for the heck of it - and when you do get into a battle, use your head - fight dirty, ambush, get a lot of people on a few. Duels and Codes of Chivalry aside, when its a fight to the death, few people play the fair-play card, in real life at least. Only in duels, matters of honor, etc, was this the case.Hence, spiritual attributes. Really, its an ingenius idea. Spiritual attributes are attributes that you, the player, defines, on what is important for the character; perhaps you took the SA: Passion - Hatred the evil baron who murdered your family, or Drive: To find who kidnapped your son. Perhaps you took a Destiny: to topple a king.These things define your character; it transforms the game from one of reactive gaming, where the GM hurls situations at you which the players must respond to, to one of PROACTIVE gaming, where the players have goals, which then drives the game; and since character advancement are glued directly to Spiritual Attributes as well, it rewards the characters for roleplaying as well.It transforms the game into one that is player-driven, where the characters have active goals that they pursue; and since spiritual attributes add into any actions taking where the Spiritual attributes apply (or when SAs are firing, as its called), it makes actions during scenes where something of importance to the character become far more potential for success.As an example, let's say you make a character whose son was kidnapped by... someone. You have a spiritual attribute: Drive: To Find and Rescue Son. Whenever you are in a position to investigate your son's disappearance, you get bonuses during this event; and when you meet the henchmen of the man who kidnapped your son, it can transform your character from a simple warrior to a whirling dervish of death.When you are in a scene where there ISNT something of importance to the character, it really forces you to think; is it worth taking risks with something that just isnt important to him? If the man above who is trying to find his son hears about some random bandits, the D&D characters would go to confront  them - the man trying to find his son would be concerned, but much less likely to get involved - as long as they dont ambush him on the road, why would he get involved?The combat game mechanics are superb, if detailed - but not so much that it bogs the game down; once you get used to it, the combat system goes by fast. Skills are very fun as well. Spiritual attributes really drive the game. It makes a game far easier to play combat-light games as well; the skill system makes, say, games of intrigue far more interesting, and you can play games where combat is rare and RP of intrigue, diplomacy, of shadows and veiled threats is the main thrust.The biggest problem with TROS is its magic system; its very controversial - sorcerers have the potential to be almost game-breakingly powerful, and you will find lots of people with solutions on how to deal with them. I, for one, wrote a conversion of the Ars Magica magic system to TROS, although I also came up with other methods of controlling them; certainly, a GM will want to REALLY understand the strengths and weaknesses of sorcerers before allowing one in their games.TROS isnt for everyone; it will require a GM to consider spiritual attributes when designing their games, and to a certain extent hand over a bit of the reigns to the players, realizing they will be more likely to pursue their own goals, necessitating a bit more ability to ad-lib than before.But Blood Opera is a great way to explain it; the game asks the question What is important enough for your character to risk death, to fight? What will he do to win? It can weave bloody constant battles, or games of subtlety and intrigue.All in all, I think its an excellent game, and currently tied with Ars Magica for my favorite fantasy game system.</blockquote>

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