Solving The Riddle of Steel

[Zoatebix]

Thanks cnath! I sent you an email.
-George

 

[Emiricol]

Wow, I'd never heard of this before this thread, but it sounds like something I would really like. I really could have used this for a game I ran a couple years ago. After I buy this, I may have to start a PbP using the same concept just to try it out...

My Fey and Shadow game (story hour link in sig) is Riddle of Steel in the Midnight campaign setting - it's kinda wordy because, being Play by Post, the players have time to work up some fairly lengthy posts, but I think it captures the feel of TRoS and the flavor of Midnight quite well.

 

[Saeviomagy]

So what is it? Just more deadly combat bolted onto D&D?

 

[Zoatebix]

It's a totally different game with no relation to D&D or D20 (I had to check and make sure that I wasn't crazy about remembering putting the non-d20 label up). There's a lot of info here: http://www.theriddleofsteel.net/ or you could check out the link to Emericol's review in post 2.

The 'more deadly combat' part is right though. These cats seem to pride themselves on having "The only RPG approved by the Association for Renaissance Martial Arts (www.thearma.org)." Having never seen the game in action, I don't really know.

 

[Morte]

What's important about TRoS is the way two features combine with each other: really deadly combat, and motivation mechanics that give you huge bonuses when you're doing something you care about.

Your character has "Spiritual Attributes", which will be things like destiny and passions and loyalties. So Robin Hood might have "rob the rich to feed the poor", "hates Sheriff of Nottingham" etc. The combat is very deadly, so if you adopt a "fight everything to gain loot and XP" approach you will die quite soon. But if your Robin Hood PC sticks to fighting the Sheriff's lackeys, he can be super-heroic against them.

The way to succeed in TRoS is to invent a character whose spiritual attributes will come into play frequently (i.e. an interesting character) and to behave consistently with those spiritual attributes to consistently get your bonuses (i.e. to roleplay). It's a game where the most effective way to powergame is to invent an interesting, dramatic character and roleplay them to the hilt.

This does raise some group issues. The GM needs to run adventures the PCs actually care about, or they'll die without help from SAs. And the PCs really do need a reason to be together (i.e. some similar/compatible SAs), or the ones who have no reason to be there will get ganked. To play TRoS, you really need to involve the PCs in the story and the world. It's no good if you just want to kill orcs for loot on Thursday nights, but it's great if you want to create a rich story through play.

 

[yangnome]

I really enjoyed the first few posts of your story hour emericol, I'll have to read the rest later when I have time.

ROS sounds like it is right in line with waht I want for a game. I went to my FLGS after my first post and ordered the book. Once I get it, I'm going to put together a PbP game and give the system a try. Thanks for your help and the info you provided.

 

[Rackhir]

I wasn't impressed with the system. I didn't cover having your cult followers jump off clifts at all.

 

[woodelf]

Wow, I'd never heard of this before this thread, but it sounds like something I would really like. I really could have used this for a game I ran a couple years ago. After I buy this, I may have to start a PbP using the same concept just to try it out...

A great reason to spend some time on RPGNet. And that's meant as a serious recommendation, not a jab by any means: You'll likely never hear about the Latest Cool Thing on EnWorld, unless it's D20 System. Sure, some things get mentioned in passing, and there's teh occaisional thread like this around here but, for the most part, it's all D20 System, all the time. Even just keeping up with the reviews on RPGNet is worth it--pretty much anything that sees hardcopy print (and a lot of PDFs) seems to get reviewed there, eventually, and indie-press stuff is, if anything, over-represented in the reviews. Otherwise, you might miss something.

And, to make my point: depending on your definition of "a couple", TRoS was probably available when you ran that game.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

Consider Morte's comments carefully. The Spiritual attributes really change the style of the game. Overall this is a good thing IMO, but it is definitely not a substitute for D&D when it comes to basic kick in the door dungeon crawling.

The game will not work unless the players and DM can pull together to at least a moderate degree. You need those Spiritual bonus dice to survive combat in the long haul.

 

[Emiricol]

I really enjoyed the first few posts of your story hour emericol, I'll have to read the rest later when I have time.

ROS sounds like it is right in line with waht I want for a game. I went to my FLGS after my first post and ordered the book. Once I get it, I'm going to put together a PbP game and give the system a try. Thanks for your help and the info you provided.

You are quite welcome But keep in mind what Morte and Ridley said - it's not a replacement for D&D and D&D-style games. It's a very different gaming experience, but one I enjoy a lot.