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SonOfTheSun
2014-05-04, 11:42 PM
Hello!

I'm new to the forum and I’d like to ask for a helping hand to choose a new role-playing game as a present for my girl-friend. I play role-playing games once in a while, but I am by no means an expert regarding the plethora of different RPG systems on the market.

She is a much more avid role-player than I am and enjoys to explore new systems and settings: She has played and liked among others "World of Darkness" (especially old and new "Vampire"), "Call of Cthulhu" and "Legend of the Five Rings" extensively plus a bit of "Shadowrun" and a scifi game about transhumanism whose name seems to have slipped my mind ("Thousand Suns"? Not sure.).

Her preferences:
- I’d say that she finds the classical swords & sorcery scenario a bit dull, but if it features some kind of interesting twist I wouldn’t count it out.
- She mostly enjoys character development and interaction between player characters, so systems primarily intended to provide extensive dungeon crawling, lots of character optimization and tactical combat are out.
- The theme of the game doesn’t necessarily have to be twisted, dark and mature like WoD or CoC, but it very well can be, as long as it isn’t intended for shock value alone.
- While a hint of humor is perfectly welcome, the setting of the RPG should take itself seriously enough to allow believable characters with comprehensible motives.
- The rules shouldn’t be too extensive, complicated or time-consuming. The more elegant and fast-paced the rules the better.

I’d be really happy if you could offer some suggestions which RPGs fit this description – and which you would recommend personally, of course. Thanks in advance!

russdm
2014-05-05, 12:18 AM
From what I read, I would suggest against D&D as its fulfills the following: Extensive Dungeon Crawling, Character Optimization/System Mastery required to enjoy fully, is very extensive, time-consuming, and rules complicated.

I would personally suggest Gurps maybe, or perhaps Savage Worlds. I know others might suggest Fate, which could be worth it but I haven't played it. Serenity or the firefly tv series rpg game is fun looking.

I will again mention not getting any edition of D&D. Avoid getting this. You will thanked for doing so.

Kid Jake
2014-05-05, 12:24 AM
Maybe try out Sorcerer from...I think Adept Press. It's been a while, but I seem to remember it put quite a bit of emphasis on player interactions and was pretty easy to learn.

BrokenChord
2014-05-05, 12:31 AM
GURPS 4e and Fate Core give you the most bang for your buck; between the two, your gf would probably like Fate Core more. Both games are designed to be usable with any genre and, with enough work put in, even any story you could want to run. They're generalist roleplaying systems, basically; want combat-heavy medieval dungeon crawler? Got it! Futuristic sci-fi? Got it! Space opera? Got it! Medieval non-fantasy political intrigue? Got it! Modern supernatural horror? Why not?

Basically, they're designed to be usable for any game genre/theme and, with enough time invested, they can even be specialized into representing specific stories, like, say, a Harry Potter game or a Dredd game, or things like that.

Between the two, your gf would probably prefer Fate Core, as the rules are a bit easier and the mechanics focus on narration more than just numbers. GURPS tries to give everything a numeric value and the game is much more mechanical and complex like D&D (except not done so very terribly) and while this is by no means a bad thing it doesn't seem like what your gf wants.

I'm obligated by higher powers to recommend Ars Magica 5e as well. It is admittedly probably too complex, but it's a system I always recommend giving a try, ESPECIALLY if she liked L5R.

Slylizard
2014-05-05, 12:44 AM
I'm obligated by higher powers to recommend Ars Magica 5e as well. It is admittedly probably too complex, but it's a system I always recommend giving a try, ESPECIALLY if she liked L5R.

I'd second this. Ars Magica 5e is a system that focuses on a middle-age-esque Eurpoe wuth magic inserted into it. Rather than a dungeon crawling style it rewards more of a diplomatic playstyle where mages spend a lot of time studying only exiting their towers (covenants) in order to deal with issues that their servants can't manage for them.

The main draw-point though is that it has arguably the best magic system ever designed for an RPG, it heavily encourages inventing spells yourself and gives an incredfibly good framework to facilitate that.

The Oni
2014-05-05, 12:48 AM
If you're OK for the twisted and grimdark route I would suggest Mythender. It's about killing gods, mythological beings and metaphorical concepts, and all the while power that allows you to do this brings you closer to apotheosis. When you inevitably ascend to godhood, your friends will be obligated to end you too. And it's badass. Character creation is very freeform and definitely doesn't have a high-op problem, and combat moves very quickly. Also it is free, but I think you can buy a hardcover if you want to wrap something. And it requires buckets of dice.

Also, transhumanist game that you can't think of...referring to Eclipse Phase, maybe?

Rhynn
2014-05-05, 01:00 AM
Definitely go with something very self-contained (rules & setting bundled together); D&D is right out.

Artesia: Adventures in the Known World. Beautiful art, great game, amazing setting, only one book. It's a Renaissance fantasy setting with awesome detail and a very authentic sense of mythology; the system puts a lot of emphasis on characters and characterization. (There's some nudity, but the art isn't porny; the RPG has much less of it than the comic, too.)

Mouse Guard. Also based on a comic (published by the same company as Artesia); an awesome, cool, smooth system for playing mice with swords who struggle to protect their people. Emphasis on goals and beliefs. Again, one book.

The One Ring. If she's into Tolkien, this is the bomb. Two books sold in a cover with some special dice. Possibly the best RPG for running late Third Age Middle Earth.

Trail of Cthulhu. If she's into horror and H. P. Lovecraft's Mythos, this is the game for it.

Burning Wheel. Okay, no explicit setting in this one, and the rules may be a bit heavy, but it has a huge emphasis on characters' beliefs and personalities. Mouse Guard is based on this.

Yora
2014-05-05, 02:23 AM
Mouse Guard. Also based on a comic (published by the same company as Artesia); an awesome, cool, smooth system for playing mice with swords who struggle to protect their people. Emphasis on goals and beliefs. Again, one book.
Exactly my very first thought!

Buying an RPG for someone else as a present is very difficult, as people tend to have very specific tastes when it comes to rules and settings. While both are quite unique in Mouse Guard as well, the appeal of this game goes beyond that. Mouse Guard is a great gift for roleplayers, because it's endlessly fascinating simply by how different it is, and it's also very well done. I can hardly imagine anyone who looks at Mouse Guard and simply goes "meh..." Even if you don't end up playing it as a regular game, it's still great and fascinating to read, just as a very different approach to what an RPG can be. And unlike most RPGs, even if it's just played once or twice, it's still a great present.
What I mean to say is, it's not just a really good game, but also a very great book. With World of Darkness, Call of Cthulhu, and Legends of the Five Rings mentioned as games she likes, I think you can't go wrong with Mouse Guard.

BWR
2014-05-05, 04:42 AM
Thirding Ars Magica. It's a lot of fun.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but she seems more interested in setting than mechanics, right? In that case games like GURPS and FATE aren't good because they are at heart systems. Sure you can use them to run whatever you wish, but they aren't built around a setting.

I'll go with "the Laundry Files" RPG. Call of Cthulhu meets Men In Black. Saving the world from the Dark Things From Beyond, doing it while filling in forms for expenses, using your laptop to cast spells, trying to avoid blowing your cover and not getting eaten on the way. Darkly humerous and a lot of fun. Based off Charlie Stross' Laundry Files novels, uses CoC's basic system, but the Mythos works a bit differently.

Rhynn
2014-05-05, 06:31 AM
Correct me if I'm wrong, but she seems more interested in setting than mechanics, right? In that case games like GURPS and FATE aren't good because they are at heart systems. Sure you can use them to run whatever you wish, but they aren't built around a setting.

Actually, GURPS genre/setting books are completely awesome, regardless of what game you play (they're frequently relatively light on mechanics; mechanics/system books, like Martial Arts and Magic, are separately), but they are sort of heavy and can be pretty drab and dull (also the 4th edition colored insides are just dreadful to look at, but the 3rd edition B&W probably only appeals to me).

I wouldn't recommend them for gifts, though. Definitely go with a self-contained one book setting + game.

Red Fel
2014-05-05, 07:23 AM
Just to be different (although I agree with a lot of suggestions so far) I would offer Ironclaw. Character generation is extremely straightforward, and takes only a few pages of instruction; after that, leveling up is easy (because it resembles a point-buy system). The setting is beautiful and detailed, resembling medieval Europe. The characters can be engaging, humorous, quirky, or severe, as needed. The mechanics are straightforward, in my opinion, with the exception of combat. And there's good reason for that - combat is designed to be pretty lethal in Ironclaw. So it's not something characters will be expected to do at the drop of a hat.

Beyond combat, there is an emphasis on social roles and religious organizations; there is political intrigue; there is craftsmanship and heavy interaction-based play. Even just reading the book is engaging; the descriptions of the professions and races are detailed and entertaining.

Also, the system itself is self-contained. There is a one-book Omnibus containing all you need. If you want more, there's a one-book Asian-themed expansion, and a one-book Druid-themed expansion. But you only need the one book to play.

BWR
2014-05-05, 07:27 AM
Actually, GURPS genre/setting books are completely awesome, regardless of what game you play (they're frequently relatively light on mechanics; mechanics/system books, like Martial Arts and Magic, are separately), but they are sort of heavy and can be pretty drab and dull (also the 4th edition colored insides are just dreadful to look at, but the 3rd edition B&W probably only appeals to me).


Sure the setting books can be good (I've greatly enjoyed GURPS: Traveller books), but the core book is merely rules, right? So you'd basically need two books to do anything useful?
Nothing wrong with that in itself. Certainly, that's how many of us D&D players started that game, but I was under the impression that it wasn't quite what the OP was looking for.

some guy
2014-05-05, 07:30 AM
Trail of Cthulhu. If she's into horror and H. P. Lovecraft's Mythos, this is the game for it.

If she already has played Call of Cthulhu, how much new things will Trail bring? ( <= not a rhetorical question)

Wouldn't Night's Black Agents (http://www.pelgranepress.com/?cat=153) offer more (same system as Trail, but it combines spy thrillers with supernatural horror)?

Airk
2014-05-05, 09:21 AM
Much as I love Mouse Guard, it's out of print and basically unavailable in physical form right now, so it may not be a good choice for a physical object gift (otherwise, it would have been perfect. =/).

If you can find a copy, go for it, but folks are asking like $100 for the book on Amazon right now.

I would steer AWAY from GURPS. As pointed out, it just won't provide what you're looking for in a single book.

The One Ring is really good, but there are rumors on the wind of an upcoming hardback release, so depending on your time frame...

Ars Magica is an interesting system. I don't think it really presents a focus on character interaction, per se, but it's not a hardcore dungeon crawler either. (in fact, you'll probably never crawl a dungeon in it.)

I have a sort of counterquestion which is... "How far 'out there' are you looking to go?" or to ask another way, are you looking for "Hey, everyone says this is a really good RPG, so here you go" or "Hey, everyone says this is a very INTERESTING RPG, so here you go"? Because there's a bunch of small press stuff out there that is really cool and doesn't get a lot of mention because it's not-so-standard fare.

Rama
2014-05-05, 10:08 AM
FATE in general, Dresden Files in particular if she likes those books.

Numenera could be interesting as well - although I haven't played that yet, so can't vouch totally for it.

Rhynn
2014-05-05, 10:30 AM
Much as I love Mouse Guard, it's out of print and basically unavailable in physical form right now, so it may not be a good choice for a physical object gift (otherwise, it would have been perfect. =/).

Can't hurt to check bookstores - when I was in Shreveport last year, bookstores had basically four kinds of RPG books: 4E, Pathfinder, Dark Heresy etc., and Mouse Guard.

Also, it's available on Amazon, although at pretty hefty cost (but hey, it's a gift!).


If she already has played Call of Cthulhu, how much new things will Trail bring? ( <= not a rhetorical question)

It simply a much better system, has awesome new takes and ideas on Mythos concepts, and you can use all of the good parts of your CoC material (the ideas and the world) with it. It's built with a great awareness of and respect for CoC, but that means it also specifically addresses many classical problems of CoC.

Also, it's just one book. The worst case is that she'll read it and immediately think of ways to apply the ideas of Drives and Pillars of Sanity to CoC play, and find at least one interpretation of a Titan (the GOOs & OGs etc.) that she prefers to the CoC version.


Sure the setting books can be good (I've greatly enjoyed GURPS: Traveller books), but the core book is merely rules, right? So you'd basically need two books to do anything useful?
Nothing wrong with that in itself. Certainly, that's how many of us D&D players started that game, but I was under the impression that it wasn't quite what the OP was looking for.

Yes, absolutely; the core book (it used to be two books) is all rules, and a lot of them. A lot. Way too much. Hundreds and hundreds of pages. 600 I think? Way too much.

But if, for instance, she's into horror RPGs, GURPS Horror would be useful no matter what system she uses. Same goes for GURPS Mysteries, GURPS Cops, and the legendary GURPS Cyberpunk (a sourcebook so good the original version was confiscated and inadvertently destroyed by the FBI!). The same goes 17th/18th century swashbuckling action, pirates, celts, ancient Rome, etc. (although those sourcebooks are all for old editions). I regularly use GURPS sourcebooks to create campaigns for a variety of different systems.

Also, some GURPS setting books do include the GURPS Lite rules in them (Discworld, the incredible Transhuman Space).

Still, I think there's many better options in this case, like Mouse Guard and Artesia: AKW.

CarpeGuitarrem
2014-05-05, 10:36 AM
- She mostly enjoys character development and interaction between player characters, so systems primarily intended to provide extensive dungeon crawling, lots of character optimization and tactical combat are out.
This is something I keep coming back to, because a lot of the suggestions are decent-to-not-supportive of this criteria, and I think it's a major one. It's big enough to cut out a whole genre.

If she's highly interested in this aspect, there's a few recommendations I could make. Hmm, Mouse Guard would certainly fit this, but the only way to get ahold of it is by finding the PDFs. And PDFs don't make as nice of a statment, gift-wise.

I would say Chuubo's Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine, but the hardcopy for that hasn't come out either. But it's a wonderful game where character interactions are one way of advancing it.

Monster of the Week (https://sites.google.com/site/gamesteratlarge/) is a good option, if there's other players about. Sorting out your ties with other characters is certainly part of the mechanics, and it offers a cool spin on monster-hunting stories. Fast and efficient, too.

Monsterhearts is about messy teen monster relationships and drama, and it might sound ridiculous, but I've found it to be an incredibly compelling game.

Smallville is "character relationships and drama with superpowers", and all of that is baked right into the rules.

A Penny For My Thoughts is a game that plays out in a single session. Everyone is an amnesiac helping one another to recover their memories.

Knaight
2014-05-05, 02:01 PM
- I’d say that she finds the classical swords & sorcery scenario a bit dull, but if it features some kind of interesting twist I wouldn’t count it out.

REIGN comes to mind here. Yes, it is technically somewhat close to the swords & sorcery scenario, but as for interesting twists, it's worth noting that REIGN is built for organizations. It's not supposed to be about some people raiding a tomb, but about organization conflicts, whether it's a guard precinct dealing with local criminal gangs or the clash of countries, and the PCs are meant to be tied into these organizations, with the potential to be right at the top. Plus, the mechanics are classic ORE system, and the ORE system is brilliant.

some guy
2014-05-05, 04:40 PM
It simply a much better system, has awesome new takes and ideas on Mythos concepts, and you can use all of the good parts of your CoC material (the ideas and the world) with it. It's built with a great awareness of and respect for CoC, but that means it also specifically addresses many classical problems of CoC.

Also, it's just one book. The worst case is that she'll read it and immediately think of ways to apply the ideas of Drives and Pillars of Sanity to CoC play, and find at least one interpretation of a Titan (the GOOs & OGs etc.) that she prefers to the CoC version.

Hm, interesting, seeing how there's a Trail of Cthulhu-bundle of holding (http://bundleofholding.com/index/current) that started a few hours ago. If the OP is fine with giving a digital gift instead of a physical one, that's great value.

SonOfTheSun
2014-05-05, 07:05 PM
Thank you very much for all your input! You really helped me out.

I took some time to read up on all the different RPGs you mentioned. Lots of very interesting systems which make me want to start a new game, too – but in the end one stands out in my opinion: "Ars Magica". In fact, I think that this is pretty much exactly what I’m looking for.

One of her favorite books is Susanna Clarke’s "Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell" which mixes elements of the supernatural – faeries and the reemergence of magic which is approached in a rather scholarly way – with the delusive world of politics and the very relatable and sometimes even decidedly mundane everyday life of 19th-century England. From what I have seen so far, I get a very similar vibe from "Ars Magica" which makes it the obvious choice. As long as the rules are no cluttered, over-complicated mess, the setting (which is indeed much more important to her than the mechanics) seems just too perfect to not give it a try.

neonchameleon
2014-05-05, 07:17 PM
Is she looking for an RPG to read, or one to play? If one to read, I think that Ars Magica would be just about perfect.

If one to play I'm going to say that Fiasco (http://www.bullypulpitgames.com/games/fiasco/) is utterly awesome (just watch the Tabletop playthrough (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXJxQ0NbFtk)), and if she's a fan of either teen horror or urban fantasy then Monsterhearts (http://buriedwithoutceremony.com/monsterhearts/) is an absolutely outstanding game with the right group (review (http://www.flamesrising.com/monsterhearts-rpg-review/)). The reason I'm pointing these games out is despite light settings from your description of her as a player it's entirely possible that one or other of them is targeted at the experience she is actually looking for from RPGs.

Airk
2014-05-05, 07:49 PM
One of her favorite books is Susanna Clarke’s "Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell" which mixes elements of the supernatural – faeries and the reemergence of magic which is approached in a rather scholarly way – with the delusive world of politics and the very relatable and sometimes even decidedly mundane everyday life of 19th-century England. From what I have seen so far, I get a very similar vibe from "Ars Magica" which makes it the obvious choice. As long as the rules are no cluttered, over-complicated mess, the setting (which is indeed much more important to her than the mechanics) seems just too perfect to not give it a try.

I'm not entirely sure that Ars Magica produces the vibe you think it does; It's been a while since I messed with it, but skimming over the setting info in my PDF of 5th edition, it's a pretty cut & dried "mythic europe" (in fact, it might have coined that term) setting - in orther words, "Middle Ages but all the myths are real".

If you're looking for a bit of that Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell feeling, you might want to look into Ghosts of Albion (http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/56971/Ghosts-of-Albion); I'm not familiar with the system (though I have a quickstart sitting on my hard drive right now, so I may be reporting back later with more info) but the setting strikes closer to the JS&MN vibe, I think. Anyone with more experience with this one want to weigh in?

Edit: Okay, I've gone through my preview version quickly, and the system is pretty generic. That might be good or bad. It looks like it should do a decent enough job resolving conflicts and such, but most of the 'flavor' in the rules is going to need to be actively imposed by the GM or adopted by the players to make it into play.

Rhynn
2014-05-06, 12:16 AM
One of her favorite books is Susanna Clarke’s "Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell" which mixes elements of the supernatural – faeries and the reemergence of magic which is approached in a rather scholarly way – with the delusive world of politics and the very relatable and sometimes even decidedly mundane everyday life of 19th-century England.

Oh! Oh oh oh!

Victoriana (http://www.cubicle7.co.uk/our-games/victoriana/) just came out with a new edition. It's set in in the late 19th century, primarily in London/England, in a world with magic, elves, fearies, etc. It's basically Victorian Shadowrun, sort of (well, 1E and 2E were; not that familiar with 3E).

Vrock_Summoner
2014-05-06, 09:30 AM
I'm going to say that Ars Magica seems like just her cup of tea. It doesn't produce the vibe of quite that time period (it's generally set in 1220 Europe, though you can adjust that with some work since the Hermetic Code is fairly versatile) but it produces the politics and mystery vibes pretty well. The troupe system also seems like something she'd like, if she wants to get both sides of the roleplaying coin (Magi generally have a profound understanding and composure when dealing with magic, while playing a grog lets you be an expendable mundane who gets to react in all the stupid or amazed ways of somebody who doesn't see truly powerful magic all that often without metagame consequences).

The rules for that system are somewhat lenient to allow for changes if you're doing something crazy like changing the setting, but taken as-is the feel is actually very self-enforced in the mechanics. Said rules are mostly simple, the only complex ones being the spell crafting rules, and even those aren't cluttered or messy (there's a reason Ars Magica has a reputation for best magic system in tabletop gaming), just complex.

Best part for your gf, though, is that the setting comes very well explained within the Core rules themselves, and despite being based around magical Europe in a way similar to other games, it's unique in how seriously it takes itself, plus the Hermetic Order and the physics of the world are quite cool.

Nice little bit of game trivia: It's technically a Europe where all the beliefs of the time were true. That extends to the actual medieval religion, faeries, and even medicine and physics. Inertia is not a thing, for example.

She'll have fun, don't worry.

endoperez
2014-05-06, 12:25 PM
I was going to suggest Mouse Guard comic book plus the rulebook as a PDF, but it seems you're already going with Ars Magica. Nothing wrong with that! I've been the storyteller of an Ars Magica game this spring, and it's been quite fun.

I'm finding that the rules are a bit too complicated for my tastes, almost but not quite getting in the way of the gameplay. Specifically, character creation is a bit too much of a chore, especially for the magi. That said, the setting is just delicious, and the rules support it in many great ways. My favourite is how a wizard reading books and making items in his tower will become more powerful than a wizard going for adventures - that really sets the tone of the whole game.

Here's a lengthy description of what I did to ease the players into the rules.
This got rather out-of-topic, is there an Ars Magica thread where I could move this?


The way I started the games, I got people together for a one-shot first. It was a group with 1 magus and the rest as "side characters", where the players understood who'd be the most mechanically powerful for the upcoming session. I asked players for a generic idea, and then made pre-made characters based on those.

That worked so well that I played two other one-shots too, before a bigger game. For the second and third one-shot, I did the characters with the players, and different player was in the Magus role every game. I handwaved the more complex rules in the beginning, introducing the more specific rules in the later sessions.


The first one-shot I played was based on a non-violent "random encounter" that happened while a magus & her group was traveling with a big magical item in a cart. The magus was trying to keep low profile, so the other characters did most of the talking.

Second one-shot was a lone wizard & companions arriving on a village for his wizard business, and needing the help of the villagers (the other players) to look for something specific, so he didn't want to do obvious magic that would scare them. When he did obvious magic, the game quickly devolved into finding ever more absurd explanations for the magic ("nonono, a storm striking down a clear path through this forest isn't suspicious at all! there's no need to run away!")

Third one was a wizard seeking a thief who was trying to pawn off a ring that had well-hidden magical powers. It ended in a barfight. A wizard in a barfight was rather spectacular.


After these oneshots, players had characters they liked (we could've made some adjustments if needed) and I had some NPCs I could reuse. I started a longer adventure with these, the wizards meeting the other people from a oneshot, and kept explaining rules I had glanced over before. This adventure will end in the magi getting their first downtime in a laboratory - the players now have a list of things their great mage wasn't able to do during the previous adventures, so they have plans for what, exactly, the downtime will be used for. New spells, magical potions, familiars, magical talisman... and books.


The maga decided to read the mind of a hunter her group had met. In the middle of the night, deep in the forest, she started combing through his mind by repeatedly casting a mind-reading spell. Every spell brought forth a wispy stream of darkness. Eventually after several hours, a dark cloud of borrowed memories surrounded their fire, swirling around it and spreading slowly outwards... It was a dark and spooky night, and she was the spook.


The wizard had finished an adventure, and was about to make a grand exit to impress the mundanes. An immense upstream of wind raised him several meters into the air, and villagers scattered in panic. The wizard looked down unto them, motioned with his hands, and... critically failed the wind-spell that was supposed to take him away. Cue him tumbling across and around in the air up and afloat and the wrong way round, followed by a tiny breeze that started ever-so-slowly pushing him away from the sight of the villagers. Cue much laughter.

The players found some old magical books. I had made little playing cards for them so they could browse through them. When the players realized how many experience points they can get from reading the books, they reacted with the perfect mix of joy, jealousy and Gollum-like greed - "Forget about the curse! When, can I, read this?!"


tips:

The non-magus characters should be designed to be useful for the one-shot adventure you've planned for, but for the magus, it has worked fine that he or she doesn't know the right spells to this exact situation.

Figure out cool descriptions (personalized for the caster) for the spells that you suspect will be used, based on the magus's theme. The theme (wizard's sigil) can be a really good way to let the players personalize their spells, but if they draw a blank, it's good to have something thought out.

Spontaneous spells are great, but getting used to those will take some time. Do your homework when starting out, and figure out what the players might want to try in advance.

The players are always eager to start a fight, so having a small rustle somewhere during the first game or two is probably a good idea.

Wizards have an aura which makes people distrust them, and if any character isn't familiar with the magus, that means lots of time will be spent trying to come up for a situation where the characters agree to play together. Give the first mages Gentle Gift virtue to fix this.

Airk
2014-05-06, 03:31 PM
I'm finding that the rules are a bit too complicated for my tastes, almost but not quite getting in the way of the gameplay.

Hopefully they've improved combat since I played it, because the rules definitely USED to get in the way there.


Specifically, character creation is a bit too much of a chore, especially for the magi. That said, the setting is just delicious, and the rules support it in many great ways. My favourite is how a wizard reading books and making items in his tower will become more powerful than a wizard going for adventures - that really sets the tone of the whole game.

Yes. Whether playing a game where exciting things are a distraction from what you actually want to be doing is perhaps another question, however.