Savage Pathfinder - More of a Slog Than PF1?

[Morrus]

I am still waiting, after all these years, to hear about @Retreater having a positive TTRPG experience.

 

[conankeep]

actually if you read the adventure

do I even need to reply to this?

 

[Autumnal]

I am still waiting, after all these years, to hear about @Retreater having a positive TTRPG experience.

It’s like the apocryphal officer appraisal, “His men would follow him anywhere, but only to see what he gets into next.” My morbid curiosity craves its food.

 

[MichaelSomething]

do I even need to reply to this?

What you really should do is run a game for him. Once he experiences the system run by a person who understands it, I'm sure change his tune!!

 

[Thomas Shey]

We can argue that "uh ... actually if you read the adventure and know the spirit behind proper OSR design, you'd know that you need to hire a crew of gunmen to have a chance to take out the bad guy."
WHO WANTS TO PLAY THAT WAY?

Well, apparently some people in parts of the OSR.

 

[Retreater]

What you really should do is run a game for him. Once he experiences the system run by a person who understands it, I'm sure change his tune!!

I'll be there in good faith if someone wants to volunteer their services. Provided we can work out time zones and other scheduling concerns.

 

[Doctor Futurity]

I've never had a dull combat or one take too long in Daggerheart. While some have ended too quickly or have been cakewalks, I've never run into the boredom that I get in other systems.

Usually there are a few interesting choices to be made for the heroes and enemies. There is a mechanical resource (Hope and Fear) to change the dynamics in either direction.

For exciting battles that do what Pirate Borg and other OSR games do - but more exciting for me - I look at Dragonbane. You have options to re-roll by pushing your rolls for ability damage, spend Willpower to pull off stunts. The monsters have interesting and flavorful options every round in combat. Hit points aren't bloated.

I don't have experience with Daggerheart but do like Dragonbane. Raises a question, though....was your group using bennies when playing SW? Dragonbane's d6 action mechanic for monster actions is fairly unique to Free League designs but push mechanics and willpower points are not unique and have counterparts in SW; if you ignore those options in DB you can get a subpar experience, too. Also, Dragonbane is significantly more potentially lethal (ime) than SW and often requires players to avoid head-on combats due to the extra weight that monsters can carry in combat. So that system also requires tactical consideration. My guess is this is more a matter of formatting and how the system frames combat choices and actions. DB does it in a way that syncs better with your expectations than SW does.

 

[Doctor Futurity]

But they don't say what to do or how to do anything. They present you with very little in the adventure. But there is a map of the keep where the villain is. They give you the stats for the villain. They put him on the cover of the adventure.
But we don't expect that any group of players is going to want to fight him? Even when there's thousands of silver offered as tribute by the suggested adventure hook where the pirate queen asks the party to do it?
Really, who are we fooling? We're running a game of high adventure of piracy and swashbuckling action. You have a bowl of Doritos and your favorite beer at the table. What are you going to want to do? You're going to want to raid the haunted fortress, fight the ghoul captain, get big rewards, and high-five your friend who just kicked the villain's butt.
We can argue that "uh ... actually if you read the adventure and know the spirit behind proper OSR design, you'd know that you need to hire a crew of gunmen to have a chance to take out the bad guy."
WHO WANTS TO PLAY THAT WAY?
When you are picturing Captain Jack Sparrow dueling with Barbosa - it ain't that.

I would agree completely that this is how I expect such a scenario to run in D&D. My experience with what is expected out of a Mork Borg game is more in alignment with the OSR methodology, though. I dont know if Pirate Borg adequately reflects the more brutal and lethal expectations of its root game, though.

 

[Doctor Futurity]

Well, apparently some people in parts of the OSR.

My own group for example!

 

[Doctor Futurity]

I'll be there in good faith if someone wants to volunteer their services. Provided we can work out time zones and other scheduling concerns.

If you're ever in New Mexico drop me a message.