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Anyone play this particular setting and if so, what are your thougths and experiences with it? How would it rate?
Thoth-Amon
I love (LOVE! LOOOVE!) the Black Company books, so I bought the setting more or less on a fanboy basis - I have not played in it, and I probably won't. Having said that, the book is actually rather good, and I will be stealing several things from it for future games.
Good things:
There are a couple of new classes, and they are all pretty cool. As only one class can cast spells, the old semi-casters have been modified a bit - for example, the Ranger now has an ambush ability that approximates sneak attack.
I really like the starting backgrounds - crunchwise, they give you a few skills that are always class skills, as well as an appropriate feat and a minor special ability. I'll definitely be using this in my next core D&D campaign.
With no healing magic, damage becomes far more lethal. Also, there is a simple critical injury list that makes combat more scary. This chart will be making an appearance in a game near you soon...
The only race is human, and there are almost no monsters. Of course, this might be seen as a bad thing...
Bad things:
The wizards in the BC series are incredibly powerful, and this is reflected in the setting, as magic is either completely useless or awesomely overpowering. Also, the magic system is very unwieldy, though extraordinarily flexible (think of the seed system from the Epic book).
I wasn't particularly taken with the mass combat system. The one in Heroes of Battle is both better and simpler.
The new classes are not particularly portable, though I might borrow their split between the Thief and the more combat-oriented Rogue.
As much as I love the books, I don't really feel like playing in the BC world - it would just feel weird, somehow. Still, I would recommend the book as a source of ideas - if you feel like getting such a big and expensive book purely for ideas, that is.