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(Success generally means the story goes in the direction the hero intends, while failure works against the hero’s efforts.)
I played The Dark Eye a couple of weeks ago. It’s a crunchy, old-school game with a relatively recent new edition.
I’m especially enjoying the game’s lore. Its European sources are fresh to me like The Witcher was when I first encountered those fantastic books.
And it’s like being a new player again. The setting offers much to discover.
Mechanics-wise, I’m still learning and holding off final assessment. It’s a d20 roll-low system.
One thing I love is how connected the different sub-system mechanics are to each other while still staying distinct.
For example, I need certain skills to wield certain weapons better. I can also take advantages that further boost mastery. And then the actual weapons offer additional traits.
My character, from a pure mechanics perspective, feels like it makes sense with these related traits. Yet skill, advantage, and item offer standalone interest and effect as well.
My sense is this is because of the relationships established by getting multiple of these interrelated traits. For example, some skills, advantages, and items have prerequisites. You need A to get B.
This motivates clustering your character build points into chains or groups of traits. My knight has a two-handed hammer. Mucho damage. But I had to invest character points in a two-handed impact weapon skill and an advantage when using both hands to get a small edge. I can upgrade those in the future to increase the edge.
But what’s cool about a system like this, and I can think of other RPGs in a similar vein like D&D 3.5 with certain options in place, is these clusters become character themes. Doubling and tripling down on the two-handed mashing stuff helps me picture and portray my knight better.
I’m looking forward to the next session on the 13th. Let’s see what trouble ol’ Karloff Drachenfeld and his sturdy steed, Drakon can get into.
Oh. And check out this cool passage from the core rulebook:
A check essentially means rolling a die (or sometimes several dice) and comparing the result to one or more of the hero’s scores.
Success generally means the story goes in the direction the hero intends, while failure works against the hero’s efforts.
However, a failure does not always end the adventure or leave a hero stuck in a tricky situation. The story continues, just not necessarily in the hero’s favor. The player might have to re-evaluate the situation and think of another way to handle it.
Well said!
Cheers,
Johnn
roleplayingtips.com
https://discord.gg/6MxTRAqQ76
Have more fun at every game!
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