Trailblazer from Badaxe Games?

[D&D]

I just bought the Trailblazer supplement and so far, given my limited reading, I'm pretty impressed. For those of you not wanting to make the PF leap (myself included), but interested in "fixing" the core 3.5e rules, this might be the ticket.

The thing I like the most is: the math. The authors don't just say what's wrong, they show you with tabular data and detailed explanations. The authors also give their "fixes" the same treatment and then compare the data to show you how the game, post-fix, now balances.

Another nice touch is the modularity of the changes-you really can take what you want and leave what you don't. Furthermore, they rate the fixes by importance, some they regard as necessary, some more for speed.

Another plus...the pdf was $5 on RPGnow.

I should note that some of these fixes aren't original ideas. They are, however, presented in an original fashion.

Anyone else check this out?

 

[Crothian]

I have it but haven't had a chance to really look at it. Someone did post a review of it in the review section.

 

[kitsune9]

I bought it and like how the they took 3.5 and built from a statistical analysis standpoint. For you gamers who like to see 3.5 scaled more uniformly, I think this supplement does it. They also had some general good ideas about variant rules like action points and multiclassing that I thought was interesting.

 

[Mark]

(. . .) I'm pretty impressed.

Me, too. I'd suggest that anyone playing 3.XE or PF or any variant pick this up. It is a well-thought-out treatise on the various difficulties in the system with some solutions to them. Even if you don't use stuff directly, just being in touch with the dicussion at this level is guaranteed to make your games better. This is, IMO, a triumph in writing about game design and system adjustment.

 

[amethal]

There's some more discussion of Trailblazer in this thread.

http://www.enworld.org/forum/publishers-press-releases/260706-trailblazer-now-available.html

I like it a lot (apart from the maths )

 

[Mark]

There's some more discussion of Trailblazer in this thread.

http://www.enworld.org/forum/publishers-press-releases/260706-trailblazer-now-available.html

Thanks! Maybe this discussion could be more general and have some suggestions on how to integrate the options into other games and game systems?

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

My biggest concern is how I'm going to keep track of changes from Trailblazer, Pathfinder, and other sources - both for myself and for my players. I almost feel like I'm going to have to create my own campaign-specific PHB in order to make sure people are on the same page (literally and figuratively). My own PDF or possibly a Wiki page...

I followed a lot of Wulf's threads, and I like a lot of the changes (a few I'm not sure I'm on board with). I really like the discussion of the reasons for the changes.

 

[GlassJaw]

Thanks for the kind words everyone!

I worked on Trailblazer with Wulf. If anyone has any questions on anything, feel free to let us know (and what you'd like to see in future prodicts!).

You'll probably find most of the Trailblazer discussion in the Bad Axe Games forum:

Bad Axe Games Hosted Forum - EN World D&D / RPG News

 

[Vael]

My biggest concern is how I'm going to keep track of changes from Trailblazer, Pathfinder, and other sources - both for myself and for my players. I almost feel like I'm going to have to create my own campaign-specific PHB in order to make sure people are on the same page (literally and figuratively). My own PDF or possibly a Wiki page...

My group is quite happily 4e, but if I were to return to 3.5, that'd be my concern as well. Which is why I'd probably ignore Pathfinder and simply integrate Trailblazer into 3.5. It's got a handy and reasonably effective way to even bring over non-core 3.5 classes on board, which means I'd sooner do a 3.5 + Trailblazer over Pathfinder. I think Trailblazer's use of action points is quite elegant, and the unified spellcaster mechanic is also very good. I wonder how balanced the Trailblazer core classes would work with stuff like Incarnum or Tome of Battle.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Me, too. I'd suggest that anyone playing 3.XE or PF or any variant pick this up. It is a well-thought-out treatise on the various difficulties in the system with some solutions to them. Even if you don't use stuff directly, just being in touch with the dicussion at this level is guaranteed to make your games better. This is, IMO, a triumph in writing about game design and system adjustment.

Thanks, Mark!