SpirosBlaak: What is it?

[Steve Conan Trustrum]

That font size is much better!

Now the issue I have most is the orange font on red in the strip headers.

If you want to keep the orange on red (it's not so bad on the left frame where it's all red, but it's bad to me in a thin strip with light yellow above and below) then maybe make the headers just the text font color on the light yellow (remove the red strip essentially) and just set off the text in a different way? Like maybe underline, or bigger font by a point? I see it's bolded already.


my .02

Hopefully I'll get some time this weekend to tool around with it and address some of the points brought up in this thread. Let me know if there's anything else that pops up.

 

[KaosDevice]

Is Misfit the only bunch creating SpirosBlaak content? Are there non-misfits( ) out there whipping up stuff?

 

[Nikchick]

There is a product page for SpirosBlaak here:

http://www.greenronin.com/catalog/grr1404


There are two free PDF previews linked at the bottom of the product page that might be of interest to people who are curious about the content of the actual book.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

I'd been waiting for this for quite some time, and I picked it up a couple of weeks ago. My initial impression is that it's quite good, although I haven't gone through it in great detail yet - no time! The firearms rules seem to add a touch more complexity than I ordinarily like, but there's some good stuff there.

 

[Steve Conan Trustrum]

Is Misfit the only bunch creating SpirosBlaak content? Are there non-misfits( ) out there whipping up stuff?

Currently just Misfit Studios. We're hoping that once the SB catalogue increases we can convince others to join in the setting's development. Christina and I both think there is much value in a cooperative effort to buliding a game world. Of course, because the setting is entirely open, someone else could do their own SB products without so much as consulting us. Either way, the results would be interesting to see.

 

[Wombat]

I must admit that I am utterly torn on this product.

On the one hand, I don't mind adding early blackpowder firearms to games; certainly I've done this with homebrews on several occasions. On the other hand, I have no solid notion of what Spiros Blaak is supposed to be about.

I had assumed that the Mythic Vistas line was supposed to be dedicated to hemi-demi-historical settings for the D20 rules. Testament, The Medieval Players Manual, and Skull & Bones had more or less set me up for that expectation. Thus when Spiros Blaak was first announced, I thought, from the very brief blurb, that it would be something set in late 17th or early 18th century Europe, possibly in Eastern Europe. Instead it appears to be simply another fantasy world that happens to have some slightly updated technology; if that is the case, there is probably very little reason for me to pick the game up.

Is there some source for Spiros Blaak, a la The Black Company, or is this an in-house created campaign?

 

[Steve Conan Trustrum]

The firearms rules seem to add a touch more complexity than I ordinarily like, but there's some good stuff there.

Some may find that to be. When designing the rules I wanted them to more realistic than was currently available in other products. I didn't want them to simply be bows with triggers and bullets. Of course, things can be simplified by dropping any aspect you don't like. Don't like misfiring? Don't use the misfire range or misfire tables. Penetration not your cup of tea? Ignore that rule.

Personally, I enjoy the rules (and not just because I made them and am pimping my stuff.) I've always been a huge fan of movies like Captain Blood, the Sea Hawks, the Sharpes series, etc.

 

[jcfiala]

Think of it along the lines of Freeport. The city can be dropped into an existing campaign world but Freeport products also operate in such a way as to consider an entirely new world outside. The SB corebook can drop the Archduchy into you game in such a way, but it would require similar considerations (as you said, there's new gods in there which have to be incoporated or cast aside in favor of those of your existing world.)

Okay, that's a good way of putting it.

The gods have essentially been ousted out of their divine realm (or the latter's been destroyed--only the gods know and they aren't talking.) So, they now walk the mortal world, mixing their blood with that of their people, which results in characters being able to take Divine Heritage feats (special abilities that come with having a god's blood in one's veins.) This also means divine powers and spells work differently because the "channel" back to the gods aren't as strong now that they walk the earth. Most of the gods choose to remain out of sight (for now, anyway), but Sallous Yar, god of the undead, is slowly carving a kingdom for himself and has been causing trouble ever since he arrived.

Ah! That's good! Why isn't that paragraph on the website? That explains stuff.

I'm afraid I have to agree with the website detractors. My problems are:
1) The color scheme. Ugh. Very hard to read. Gold on Red?
2) The 'Setting Brief' link doesn't. It takes you to a very long timeline, not to a setting brief. It's far more than I want to read for a brief. Why not create a new link called 'Timeline' or 'history', put this there, and then write an actual three-paragraph or so setting brief?
3) Right and left-side menus. These are really odd to me. I click on the left, read the bit in the middle, and then the list is on the right. I guess it works, but I don't ever remember coming across a website set up this way. Why not put the links in the middle? (which would correct the problem with a mouse-over of a link causing the right column menu to re-render itself)
4) Creatures: The link to the image when you click on 'Creatures' is broken.
5) Classes: As a suggestion, break the listing up into 'Core' and 'Prestigue' classes.

As a suggestion of the setting brief, why not a general paragraph laying out the duchy (with a link to the locations page) and the idea of Spiros Blaak. Then follow it up with a second paragraph describing the fallen gods, and then a third going into the Lycanthropic peril and why it's suddenly so bad. Short and sweet.

 

[Steve Conan Trustrum]

I must admit that I am utterly torn on this product.

On the one hand, I don't mind adding early blackpowder firearms to games; certainly I've done this with homebrews on several occasions. On the other hand, I have no solid notion of what Spiros Blaak is supposed to be about.

I'm putting together a summary of the Archduchy's history to post to the web site. It should be up tonight or tomorrow.

Is there some source for Spiros Blaak, a la The Black Company, or is this an in-house created campaign?

It's not based on any exterior sources, although I plan on helping to create the atmosphere through a series of short fiction made available for free from the web site. The first, "Blood of the Clan," has already been posted in the downloads section. It goes a long way to indicating what the setting is like.

 

[Steve Conan Trustrum]

Okay, I've posted a historical brief on the site. Go to the "Setting Brief" link and you'll find it before the timline.