Tell me about The Black Company Campaign Setting

[Altamont Ravenard]

Hello all,

I'm into the second Black Company book, and I'm loving it. Since I haven't seen any reviews on ENWorld about this product, I was wondering if anyone had it. I'm of course trying to find out if it's good.

- Does it deviate from "vanilla" D&D much? How so?
- Does it reproduce the tone and feel of the books well?
- Is it worth the cost?

Any other info you can give me, I'll take it.

Thanks in advance, and have a nice day.

AR

 

[Victrix]

If it replicates the tone and feel of the books, your character will be dead 5 to 10 minutes after you finish creating him

 

[HellHound]

Yes, combat is FAR deadlier, in the first round at least. The system encourages ambushes and surprise attacks, because that first round is extremely deadly. Combat also has a cool flow of combat mechanic that works well.

Magic is also a new system, unlike the classic D&D system.

Overall, if you like the books, yes, it is worth it. I'm impressed with it in a LOT of ways, and I haven't read the books yet.

 

[Henry]

Some resources:

Black Company: Anybody still playing?
Grim Tales + Black Company = Big Fun!
[Black Company] Anyone try the BC wizard class alongside Core divine or XPH psionics?
New Black Company Spell Calculator Spreadsheet
Black company too deadly!

THat's just a few to get started. If you are a Community Supporter, search the d20 forum for "Black Company" and you'll get an eyeful all the way back to December of last year!

 

[Altamont Ravenard]

many thanks, gracious administrator.

AR

 

[Banshee16]

I just finished reading the second novel myself, and read the entire Black Company campaign setting, and it's awesome! It does look deadly...but gritty, dark, and serious at the same time. Tonnes of good resources, and rules that can be spliced into "normal" games.

Unfortunately, I'm in the midst of ending a Planescape campaign, and have revolving Swashbuckling Adventures and Midnight games I'm running. When I'm done with those, I plan on Iron Kingdoms and Black Company, possibly....so it may still be a while..

Banshee

 

[Riggs]

I think it's worth having even if you never play it. The book is faithful to the stories and I like the rules, though different and deadly.


I'll be running a game at some point.

 

[Dakkareth]

Same here, though I'm not sure whether I'll get to play a face-to-face game of Black Company ... people have never heard of it around here .

 

[MoogleEmpMog]

If it replicates the tone and feel of the books, your character will be dead 5 to 10 minutes after you finish creating him

Actually, if it replicates the tone and feel of the books, your character will survive for decades, taking only decorative wounds in dozens of battles, while nameless extras and unfortunate civilians die in droves all around you.

This is by no means a knock on the Black Company, novels or campaign setting - I'm a big fan of both. But the rules seem, if anything, a bit too lethal considering how rarely named characters died in the books.

 

[Razuur]

Actually, if it replicates the tone and feel of the books, your character will survive for decades, taking only decorative wounds in dozens of battles, while nameless extras and unfortunate civilians die in droves all around you.

This is by no means a knock on the Black Company, novels or campaign setting - I'm a big fan of both. But the rules seem, if anything, a bit too lethal considering how rarely named characters died in the books.

I love the BCCS, but I agree with this post completely. I got the BCCS first, read it, loved it, and then partook the novels. While the novels portray sometimes massive amoutns of violence, the "PCs" seem to make it through, and slowly die off with a suddenness after having gone through years of war. the "NPCs " on the other hand die by the thousands (in some case tens or hundreds of thousands). On the other hand, we never saw the "PCs" dive headlong into combat with wild abandon (which happens often in d&D). They only tend to fight when they have to - and reluctantly at times - but when they do it is terribly brutal.

Either way, it is still a great system that requires a smart plyer to keep his character alive.

The magick system is neat too.

*HIGHLY* recommended.

In my top 10 from soemone who has LOADS of d20 material.

Razuur