Torchbearer does a really good job of deploying its mechanics. Having inventory and light and all those things actually matter is great. It’s helped me give me a target for that kind of play in my homebrew system. It’s also helped give me an idea of how far I should not go.
However, I find it difficult to articulate how I feel about the game overall. I’ve enjoyed our session and our group, but I’m not sure I’d want to play another TB campaign or with another group. In a way, it can be exhausting to play. Even though I can point to the items on my character sheet that show Jakob has gotten some nice gear, it feels like he’s no better or possibly worse off than before we started playing. My helmet and cloak are still damaged, and he could just barely afford to buy food rations after returning to town with a dragon’s hoard. On top of that, and I understand this was the result of choices made by the players, instead of getting to celebrate our victory, we get to find a new companion (again).
One area where I struggle with the system a bit is that almost every decision we make while adventuring is tied to a test. I don’t know if that’s the fault of having the scale of adventures tied to a certain number of obstacles or just what we’ve done so far, but in spite of trying to be evocative of old-school dungeoneering, it doesn’t feel very successful at it. There have been few opportunities to deploy player skill or to solve riddles or problems without invoking a test. Skilled play has been how we engage with the system rather than how we engage as our characters. I peeked at the example adventure in the Scholar’s Guide, but it seems more like a modern adventure (a series of challenges) rather than an old-school dungeon. Could one even run something like Winter’s Daughter using Torchbearer? How would the grind make sense during a wedding party?
I will also echo that the books are awful. I stopped reading them because I thought I had read enough of the Scholar’s Guide (up through town phase), but it seems like that’s not enough. While the Lore Master’s Manual is purportedly optional, it seems like one is best off to read all the things. At least it’s not letter-sized, but it’s still a lot reading. It doesn’t help that the PDFs’ tables of contents are horrible. Whoever thought putting the index in the PDF ToC was a good idea should have their InDesign license taken away. I also don’t understand the split sometimes. Why are the diagrams for the phases included at the back of the Dungeoneer’s Handbook when the phases are explained in the Scholar’s Guide?
With all that said, I just want to end by reemphasizing that I’ve been enjoying our sessions and our group. It’s been fun, and I want to keep playing.
Edit: Oh, and I don’t like how skill advancement works. I’m pretty sure I have messed up tracking my skills. “Use it to advance skills” is a thing that makes sense but feels crappy in practice, especially when whether you get to mark advancement depends on how the skill is being deployed. For a new player, it feels safest to err on the side of not marking, which means I’ve probably shorted myself a bunch.
