Anyone bought this yet? Sounds like something up my alley...
Is this for experienced DMs? I've mastered gritty campaigns for several years and am not sure whether this book has something new to offer to me.
How many pages does it have?
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Anyone bought this yet? Sounds like something up my alley...
Is this for experienced DMs? I've mastered gritty campaigns for several years and am not sure whether this book has something new to offer to me.
How many pages does it have?
You should buy it, review it, so the rest of us don't have to ask. :)
Or maybe check other sales venues to see if they have reviews of their own.Nice review.
Also nice that the publisher responded and made changes to address issues the review brought up...
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Also nice that the publisher responded and made changes to address issues the review brought up...Or maybe check other sales venues to see if they have reviews of their own.Nice review.
Yeah now I want End to buy it even more to see how it is with the changes.
Yeah now I want End to buy it even more to see how it is with the changes.Also nice that the publisher responded and made changes to address issues the review brought up...Or maybe check other sales venues to see if they have reviews of their own.Nice review.
We'll see. I just picked it up off Paizo. I'm going to re-read the review, check to see if I got the updated pdf and see if it has anything I'm interested in. Their willingness to respond to a review constructively netted them a sale... given the time I'll probably post on it tommorow. I'm about done grading papers at the moment so a bit of time to read and digest info is at hand.
Well I read the pdf, and then re-read the review linked above. This isn't a review, per se, just a commentary on the review, the product and the ideas threin.
The Paizo pdf is the updated (based on it having the fatigue rules under combat which the reviewer considered a lost opportunity in the original pdf and the author said they had / would add to it).
In referance to the original review and subsequent reply:
The grammar errors are still present, accounted for simply by the author being a non-native speaker of English. A native English speaking editor could have dealt with these errors but it's not a killer issue. Especiallly on a short pdf, it could get tedious on a longer one. The text is fairly easily understood despite them and the author's English is certainly better than my Portuguese (I gather he's Brazilian).
There are a number of good ideas in the pdf, which could have used more explanation. They're still good ideas and usable with minimal work. They also could have included more info on other ogl resources referenced in the book. I think in this case more would have been better and not just "padding" for the text. Not having the original pdf to examine alongside the revised I'm not sure what changes / additions they may have made. I suspect additional explanatory text was added but the outside ogl material was not wholly included.
All in all it was a good review of a good small product.
As for my opinion on the various materiel...
E6. Restricting a character to level 6 certainly maintains the danger, but I don't see it as necessary to maintain a "gritty" feel. Use the slow XP progression, reduce the availability of magic items and, in my game, retaining the old 3.5 xp costs for crafting persistent / permanent magic items (not one use items) will do it. Intelligent use of enemies and sticking closely to things like carrying capacity help. Then, maybe my game doesn't fit thier definition of gritty. *shrug*
Class variations. This area could have been expanded greatly. It is short, maybe too short, and to the point but leaves you wondering about the outcome of following the guidelines it gives. Some tables laying out the class would have been nice (and with only 6 levels not too long), some more information on the substitute abilities, and a discussion of what these classes are losing (that players may be expecting to have) and gaining would be useful. An exploration of how these changes impact the classes roll for the DM (or player) could have been good too.
The masterwork item rules / additions are interesting but I'm not sure why you would want to restrict magic items heavily and then replace it with additional masterwork abilities. It's too much like calling magic items by another name and saying that you've restricted magic items.
The bit on spells makes sense within the E6 level limit. Spells are only available up through level 3. Higher level spells are available as rituals which are individually learned, cost quite a bit and generally take large amounts of time. Not tactical battlefield stuff. This is a nice take on the "big magic". Raise dead for example, as a long ritual requiring a special location and so on makes a certain amount of sense as does having things like Consecrate as a prolonged ritual exercise. The basic idea is usable without the E6 level limits by simply listing some spells as "ritual" instead of normal (?simple) and including the adjusted times etc.. I like this. It's been done before of course several times, but it's nice seeing it again.
The combat additions are sensible for the feel of a "grittier" game. Having non-lethal damage added with lethal as the author does is one way to do it. Applying conditions (staggered etc.) as a result of a certain level of damage rather than having PCs fight like lions until they drop dead makes it easier for me. The lethality of ambush is nasty, but realistic. I'm not too sure about using something like it in a game though. It makes sense, yes, but it will also bring about sudden character death at odd times with no story based reason. Still, random death could be part of a grittier game. My own game tends to be fairly dangerous, but the deaths come at times that are more... expected. The fatigue rules are fairly easy to apply but need looking at. You don't want the PCs swinging swords forever fresh as daisies, but you don't want them keeling over too soon either. Damage reduction resulting in non-lethal damage is a nice idea if you don't mind the reduced effectiveness of DR.
All in all, I like Grittier. It could use major expansion (and some editing) but it brings some good advice and a number of interesting ideas to the table. The advice offered is sound (as the reviewer noted), the ideas are interesting and the crunch provided is both simple and useful. It's a nice jumping off point for the topic of "grittier" low magic / level games. There are a couple of ideas I can crib and a number to consider. I've paid more for material that I got a lot less out of. If the author were to come back with a thicker "meatier" take on the subject with further advice, suggestions, expanded explanations, and mechanics I would strongly consider buying it.
Interesting Chance, between the review and your addendum has me adding this to my saved cart list of objects to buy when money allows.
I think you'll find it worth the cost of admission.
Thanks everyone for your interest in this product. Its this kind of thing that gets us motivated to keep on working!
Chance, I'm taking your opinions by heart. It is in fact our idea of getting to a meatier take on Grittier games, but we decided to start out with several smaller products instead of one larger (and more expensive) one. We will present several pdfs on races, magic, monsters and adventures themselves during the following months.
I hope our future products (one of them that should be up in a couple days) exceeds your expectations as we tackle our weaknesses and improves on our strenghts. We strive to please ;)