torchbearer

[wmoomaw]

Hey all, has anyone tried out Torchbearer? I got the book not to long ago and it seems pretty interesting. Just wanted to see if anyone had impressions of the game.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Yeah! I've been playing in a campaign of Torchbearer for a number of sessions...I think 6-8 so far. Seriously solid game. The GM's probably not putting on as much pressure as he could be, but we're still having a lot of fun. Story-wise, he even wove in some cool stuff involving a post-TPK time skip, picking things up and weaving our prior characters' stories into the present sessions.

It's a game of getting worn down, in a very tense way. Effectively "no no no I almost made it out!"

Any questions?

[Chambers]

Glad you've had a chance to play it. I got my copy of the book last week but I've no idea when/if I'll get a chance to use it.

Really enjoy reading through it though. It's nice to have one of their games be in a regular sized format. The digest sized BW are nice but sometimes it's nice to have a larger book.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Mine's one of the signed/stamped copies, so I'm anxiously waiting for it to show up. The PDF is excellent, however. I've never seen a better-bookmarked book. After the standard bookmarks, they have bookmarks for their index. Which link directly to the appropriate pages.

[wmoomaw]

Wish I got one of the signed copies. But i was too late. I'm torn about the book size. The digest size books were pretty unique and they fit in my gaming bag better, but there is something to be said about the 8 1/2 by 11 page size.

I am really trying to get my gaming group to try it out. They didn't like BW all that much so I'm having a hard time selling it. I so want to get a game together.

[Raum]

Hey all, has anyone tried out Torchbearer? I got the book not to long ago and it seems pretty interesting. Just wanted to see if anyone had impressions of the game.I've played a few sessions. It's an interesting, if limited, game. Good for a change of pace but probably not something I'd want for a longer campaign.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

I am really trying to get my gaming group to try it out. They didn't like BW all that much so I'm having a hard time selling it. I so want to get a game together.
If it helps any, it's a very tightly-written game. Why didn't they like BW? It does change a lot of things that might be sticking points for people who didn't like BW.

(I particularly like how the conflict system is so flexible. With creative thought, you can apply it to a lot of things.)

[Knaight]

I'm reading it currently, and could see myself actually using this (whereas BW is really, really cool, but also over my level of crunch that I'm willing to handle as a GM).

[Ermete]

aww - I'm still waiting for the book to arrive (they managed to mess-up my address...)...in any case, I only had a quick look at the pdf (yeah, I want to read it on the printed version...this is how I roll)
- a friend of mine, (who is less maniac about reading stuff on pdf), told me that he had the impression that it is a little bit unfair to the players...can anybody confirm this?

cheers!!

[CarpeGuitarrem]

I have my printed copy! Signed and stamped--#009.

RE: the fairness/unfairness to the players...I think it's perfectly fair, in that the GM isn't supposed to arbitrarily screw the players over. It's hard, but that doesn't make it unfair. You have to work and scheme and plan ahead, and yes--the game does fight you at every turn. But that's just part of the adventuring life. You have to struggle to prevail, and when you do, it's awesome.

tl;dr: if the working definition of "fair" is "it's a bit challenging", then no, it's not technically fair. But I think that it provides a perfectly fair (if difficult) challenge.

The core philosophy is that when you push characters hard, they grow under pressure.

In play, it tends to work like this: players who start Fresh have a heap-ton of dice (including helping dice) and artha to carry them through the early obstacles. Then somebody fails a roll and takes a condition (and loses Fresh). And then artha runs out. And then everyone's in a race to get out of the dungeon alive before the spiral comes crashing down and you get to the point that you're only rolling a couple of dice for any given skill.

The basic idea that I've gathered: push off the inevitable dice collapse for as long as possible by coming up with good ideas (plans that impress the GM enough that you don't need to roll for them or consume turns) and applying the proper skills to situations.

[Knaight]

The core philosophy is that when you push characters hard, they grow under pressure.

In play, it tends to work like this: players who start Fresh have a heap-ton of dice (including helping dice) and artha to carry them through the early obstacles. Then somebody fails a roll and takes a condition (and loses Fresh). And then artha runs out. And then everyone's in a race to get out of the dungeon alive before the spiral comes crashing down and you get to the point that you're only rolling a couple of dice for any given skill.

The basic idea that I've gathered: push off the inevitable dice collapse for as long as possible by coming up with good ideas (plans that impress the GM enough that you don't need to roll for them or consume turns) and applying the proper skills to situations.
Though it basically states that it takes a while to reach this dynamic, due to the complexity of the game. I've certainly found that it didn't get to this immediately - but, the group consisted of me (Torchbearer is way heavier than most games I've GMed) and three people who have never played an RPG before and didn't actually read the rules.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Though it basically states that it takes a while to reach this dynamic, due to the complexity of the game. I've certainly found that it didn't get to this immediately - but, the group consisted of me (Torchbearer is way heavier than most games I've GMed) and three people who have never played an RPG before and didn't actually read the rules.
Yeah, the rules take a bit of initial time to master--then, I think, some of the patterns make themselves evident.

Pro tip: find places to make camp before Turn 4, so that you can reset the turn counter before the Grind. We also have yet to effectively master this.

[Nepenthe]

Pro tip: find places to make camp before Turn 4, so that you can reset the turn counter before the Grind. We also have yet to effectively master this.
Is that how that works? I assumed the turn counter picked up again where it left off.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Is that how that works? I assumed the turn counter picked up again where it left off.
Nope! (I thought so too initially, but Page 83 calls it out specifically as a rule.) So it's a viable strategy to keep Fresh. Unfortunately, making camp with no regard to safety could be a problem...

[Nepenthe]

Good to know. Thanks!