The Black Company (aka Rawr, the Lady)

[JoeGKushner]

I'm up to book three. The only other book I read by Cook was the Tower of Fear.

Enjoying it.

Have they ever done an Atlas or Guide to the series like they have for Dragon Riders, Shanarra, and other series?

 

[War Golem]

I'm up to book three. The only other book I read by Cook was the Tower of Fear.

Enjoying it.

Have they ever done an Atlas or Guide to the series like they have for Dragon Riders, Shanarra, and other series?

I do not believe so. Part of the problem with compiling such an Atlas (at least without Cook's participation) is that there is sometimes a lack of consistency within the setting. Cook can get away with this by writing with the voices of various annalists, who do not always have the same information and certainly do not all see the same events the same way. It makes it more difficult for us to pin things down when trying to quantify the setting, though.

-War Golem

 

[hellbender]

from the depths

a bit of news for BC fans: Glen Cook mentioned at Worldcon that he has two more Black Company books in the works.

hellbender (keeping the thread alive)

 

[Bendris Noulg]

Well, good...

Soldiers Live ended a little flat in comparison to the others.

Well, Silver Spike was also a little flat, but benefited from actually ending.

 

[Teflon Billy]

Why on Earth would player want to be anything but Wizard?

Not only do they have access to spells (and by and large, the BC world seems unprepared to deal with spellcasters...increasing thei basic utility) but they have more ability to take damage than Fighters (the Fighter's traditional niche).

I understand that you are attempting to model a seriesof books in D&D terms, and not particularly worried about balance, but maybe (having made it to page 3) it's time to start exploring the fact that the modelling medium we're using is a game.

We've all seen what happens when you attempt to balance mechanical advantages with RP limitations. So far I see no disadvantages to playing a spellcaster, and correspondingly, no advantages to playing anything else.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

Well, TB, I personally feel D&D models the Black Company series pretty well as it is. In my opinion, the reason the wizards in the books seem so overbalancingly powerful in game terms, is because they're higher in level, for the most part, than the non-wizardly characters. That seems to be because almost every wizard we see in the series is really old compared to the other characters.

In a way, the Black Compnay series seems to have a sensibility along the lines of Ars Magica. That is, wizards are just more powerful than everyone else. Why would anyone play a non-wizard in Ars Magica? I don't know the answer to that. The only reason I can see is purely from a roleplaying perspective. No, I really don't find that satisfying.

 

[Teflon Billy]

...In a way, the Black Compnay series seems to have a sensibility along the lines of Ars Magica. That is, wizards are just more powerful than everyone else. Why would anyone play a non-wizard in Ars Magica? I don't know the answer to that. The only reason I can see is purely from a roleplaying perspective. No, I really don't find that satisfying.

Well, in Ars Magica, the Companions have more skill points (from having not been raised in seclusion if memory serves), and can afford to sink some points into stats other than Intelligene and Stamina.

Plus, in Ars Magica, swords aren't affected by the Parma Magica (the Wizards defense against spells), so warriors have an advantage (though slight one) when fighting wizards in HTH.

That doesn't seem to be the case for The Black Company. the Wizards seem better in every way. I understand that the series makes for good reading, but as a game background you might want to look into changing the name to "Wizards of the Black Company", cause I think that's what you'll get in Character Generation

 

[frog]

you might want to look into changing the name to "Wizards of the Black Company", cause I think that's what you'll get in Character Generation

As someone mentioned earlier, one thing about the setting that would discourage this is the fact that EVERYONE is gunning for the wizards. The first pc wizard who openly "shows off" will have two things happen to him. First, every "average Joe" is going to make it Job #1 to off him as fast as possible out of a sense of self preservation. Second, as soon as a Taken hears of it (and they WILL hear of it) every resource will be brought to bear on finding the new wizard and bending him/her to the will of the Taken in a play for more power.

Can the entire group be wizards if they want? Sure, for the 5 minutes that they will be a viable group before one of them pops off a spell and brings down unwanted attention. That is a fact of life in DnD now, not just in the world of the Black Company. The "almost impossible to kill" wizards seem to be the very high level (Epic?) wizards, not your average joe wizard. Note how fast Tom Tom went down in the first book. He might be considered an average wizard for most groups yet he bought the farm as fast as the rest of the grunts when the forvalaka nailed him.

I think that any comparison of PC wizards who are just starting out to the "Name" wizards of the Black Company setting is like comparing a starting PC wizard to Mordekainen or Elminster in Greyhawk or Forgotten Realms.

Except that in the world of the Black Company, all of the Mordekainen or Elminster types are completely whacked out of their skulls, paranoid beyond belief, older than the hills, and actively gunning for the "new kid on the block" to make sure that they have no new competition.

Being a wizard in that world is akin to being a rabbit hunted by guys with dogs and shotguns...your best bet to stay alive is to become a "pet" or hide in a very deep hole.

 

[hellbender]

Frog expanded beautifully on my point about wizards in the BC series. They are being actively hunted by everyone out there, from enemy soldiers, to supernatural creatures, other wizards and the 'heavy' mages (Taken, Shadowmasters, and even the Dominator reaches out to the minds of the Taken from his entombment-if a lower level mage caught his attention, I imagine he could fry them or enthrall them with exceptional ease [re: the Lady and Bomanz]).

Wizard mortality has to be extremely high, and the risks the higher you get keep escalating as well. The best chance a wizard has is to lay low, blending in with the surroundings and keep a spell handy when it is time to bolt. The points in the books where the Company wizards take the upper hand are rare, and after they do pull off a spell, they 'fade' as soon as possible.

hellbender

 

[ColonelHardisson]

As someone mentioned earlier, one thing about the setting that would discourage this is the fact that EVERYONE is gunning for the wizards. The first pc wizard who openly "shows off" will have two things happen to him. First, every "average Joe" is going to make it Job #1 to off him as fast as possible out of a sense of self preservation. Second, as soon as a Taken hears of it (and they WILL hear of it) every resource will be brought to bear on finding the new wizard and bending him/her to the will of the Taken in a play for more power.

As Teflon Billy noted, he doesn't feel that roleplaying penalties are very effective at balancing characters. I've come to the same opinion. How is being gunned for, or having the Taken find out about the character, quantified in game terms? It isn't. It's a roleplaying penalty that can, and will, be ignored much more readily than a hard game mechanic penalty. The class should be balanced in the rules, rather than making it overbalancingly powerful, and then relying on the DM to devote time and effort to enforce a penalty.

Now, if there was an additon to the class that said something like - "everytime the character casts a spell, a Spellcraft check must be made, DC 10+level of the spell cast). If the check is failed, the Taken have detected the character, and one of them will arrive in 5 rounds to kill or recruit the character" - then it would be a move in the right direction. Not that this is a great example; it was off the top of my head. Plus, it doesn't really sit well with me, for a few reasons - like it could be abused by "Taken hunting" characters, to lure in a Taken and off him or her (or try to, at least).