Riddle of Steel or Blade of the Iron Throne?

[Wiglaf]

Anyone here remember the Riddle of Steel RPG? I remember reading it a few years ago and thinking that it was just amazing even though it is a tough sell for a d20 oriented group. Did anyone actually get to play a game of it? I've been thinking about hunting the books down again but wanted to hear some feedback from those who actually played the system before paying huge sums of money for the out of print books.

On a side note, I've come across Blade of the Iron Throne. This is a game that seems to be a spiritual successor to the concepts behind Riddle of Steel. Anybody had a chance to play the Beta? It would be a lot easier and cheaper to invest in their kickstarter than to hunt down the old books if the system lives up to its potential.

Publisher's website; http://www.ironthronepublishing.com/index.php/forum
Kickstarter (If your interested.) http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1127742903/blade-of-the-iron-throne-rpg

I'm going to be combing their forums for answers to my questions, and pouring over a PDF of the Beta, but I'd love to hear some more opinions on the matter before I put my money down.

[Ian.Plumb]

Hi,

I remember you from the TRoS forums -- great to hear that you are still interested in TRoS after all this time.

Firstly, to be upfront, I've had a fair bit to do with the production of the Blade Beta PDF and I'm heavily involved in the Kickstarter effort.

That said, Blade is a much more complete game than TRoS. Michael and Phil had the benefit of ten years of hindsight with TRoS when writing Blade. Just from the perspective of the mechanics, Blade presents a consistent approach where TRoS had three subsystems for melee, magic, and skills.

If you were thinking of running a game with manoeuvre-driven combat, player-driven story, and a Swords & Sorcery setting, then grab the Convention Pack scenario material and use the Blade Beta. It's got typos and grammatical errors and areas that aren't as clear as they could be -- hence the Kickstarter project to clear all that stuff up and produce a "professional" version -- but you can find answers to those issues on the forum and the game itself is easier to pick up and play than TRoS.

Anyway, thanks for mentioning Blade and the Kickstarter!

Regards,

Ian P.

[Wiglaf]

Greetings!

Yeah, I remember those days. Good times. :)

For those interested there is an excerpt of the beta PDF available for download on the kickstarter page. It explains how you create a character and how your character`s Passions fuel gameplay and how characters are encouraged to use drama to further the story instead of waiting for the DM to feed them the plot. I'm very impressed!

[Wiglaf]

We are in the final stretch folks. Please have a look before it is gone. Here is a chance to have your character illustrated by a professional artist, or enter for a chance to have your character used in a short story which will be spread over the beginning of each chapter.