Anyone Playing Greg Stolze's Reign?

[Imaro]

Just curious if anyone is playing, has played or is planning on running/playing in a game of Reign. I have been reading through the book and...just wow. It really has impressed me more than any fantasy rpg I have seen lately. There are rules for minions, characters running large organizations(companies), a combat system that is scalable in it's complexity and a magic system that I really found intriguing. A little up in the air about the default world...but throughout the book is not only explanations for the mechanics, but also advice on changing and houseruling them Just wondering what others think.

 

[Imaro]

Well I guess no one on enworld is actually playing Reign. Well, if anyone is ineterested in the game I would be more than happy to answer questions about it or just discuss it in general.

 

[Aus_Snow]

Not much love for the indie games around here, eh? Well, perhaps not at this time of year octade.

But I'm curious, as always. . .

What does it do that no other game (that you know, or know of) does?

What kind of gamers (according to the Laws test, for instance), or disciples of which gaming systems, will like this d'ya think?

What's this One Roll Engine (ORE) I hear about now and then, but was - and am - too lazy to look up?

Rules: light, medium or heavy?

Fluff:crunch ratio in the core book, approximately?


That should do nicely for starters.

 

[Khairn]

If you're interested in Reign or the indie gaming scene, I'd head over to RPG.Net. EN World is very much a D&D-centric site so the likelihood of extensive feedback on your question is slim IMO.

 

[Imaro]

Not much love for the indie games around here, eh? Well, perhaps not at this time of year octade.

But I'm curious, as always. . .

What does it do that no other game (that you know, or know of) does?

Well for starters, I really like that it feels complete...as in all the basis for a fantasy game are covered in the one book. You can play the traditional, adventuring party type fantasy or you can play the leaders of a mercenary band (where there are rules that are elegant and easily grasped for followers), or even the ruling a kingdom level where, again there are rules that take it to a level where you can actually control and maneuver the soldiers, land, wealth, spies, etc. that you control.

Not sure if this is necessarily something no game does...but I haven't come across a game that does it all in one book and in a way that even a new player will easily grasp it after a game session or two.

Another thing I enjoy about Reign is that the supplements are produced on a ransom model...basically fans donate until a certain pre-set amount is reached and then the supplement is released for everyone to enjoy. It allows you to donate for those things that interest you or not for things you don't really want. Yet everyone can stay current with all the supplements.

What kind of gamers (according to the Laws test, for instance), or disciples of which gaming systems, will like this d'ya think?

Not really familiar with the Laws test (link please, as you have piqued my interest). But if I had to garner a guess, I would say traditional gamers. I wouldn't classify Reign as similar to most indie games I have tried out. It is very much a traditional GM and players set up.

What's this One Roll Engine (ORE) I hear about now and then, but was - and am - too lazy to look up?

ORE in a nutshell is a dicepool system. Most actions are accomplished with a PC taking their number in a Stat and relevant skill and rolling that many d10's (this pool is never higher than 10 dice). From the resulting roll a player looks for "sets", which are matching groups of number. The defaullt is successes with a single set but the GM can increase the difficulty of an action by requiring a minimum set or taking dice away from a player's pool.

So if you roll 7 d10's and get 4,4,5,2,2,2,1 then you have two sets...2x4 and 3x2. These sets give you a height(the number rolled in a set) and a width (the number of dice that compose that set) so in the previous example the height of the first set is 4 and it's width is 2 in the second set the height is 2 and the width is 3.

IMHO the cool thing is that height and width generally translate into two measures of how you accomplished a skill. Height is how well you achieved the result while width is how quickly you accomplished it. So in the above example the 2x4 set would be a slower accomplishment but with higher quality...while the 3x2 set would be a quicker result of lower quality. Depending on what the PC is trying to do the GM determines what is more important. An example would be...in a footrace width would be the determining factor, while in crafting a beautiful gift for a king (with ample time) then height would be more important.

Rules: light, medium or heavy?

I would say medium light up to medium heavy (depending on what level of maneuvers you use for combat). The system is easy to grasp and is a unified system for skills, combat, magic, etc. Yet the options you add to your game can increase the crunch factor.

Fluff:crunch ratio in the core book, approximately?

Hmm...I would say about 50/50...though some of the fluff like the esoteric disciplines (special feat like training paths that allows you to do extraordinary things with skills) and martial paths (special feat like training paths that allow you to do extraordinary things with weapons) technically have fluff attached to them...but can easily be used in a homebrew with a change of name and description.

 

[Aus_Snow]

Cool, thanks for all the info.

ORE does sound nifty. Ransom model I like too.

I meant Laws quiz, not test btw. Sorry, but I've mislaid the URL. Someone'll have it, in their sig even. It's that Storyteller/Casual Gamer/Method Actor/etc. thing. . .

Which reminds me. . . how lethal would you say combat is, generally speaking? Or, put another way, how 'realistic' or, oth, 'cinematic' is it? I downloaded the character sheet from the site, and I see there are the classic 6 hit locations. Each appears to have its own wound track, or HP kinda things, which also seem to be upgradeable, yeah?

What do you find 'intriguing' about the magic system? How does it work? High magic or low magic implied setting / actual setting?

I'll shut up soon, have no fear.

 

[Imaro]

Cool, thanks for all the info.

ORE does sound nifty. Ransom model I like too.

I meant Laws quiz, not test btw. Sorry, but I've mislaid the URL. Someone'll have it, in their sig even. It's that Storyteller/Casual Gamer/Method Actor/etc. thing. . .

Which reminds me. . . how lethal would you say combat is, generally speaking? Or, put another way, how 'realistic' or, oth, 'cinematic' is it?

Combat by RAW is kind of gritty, definitely more Sword and Sorcery than high fantasy. In basic combat your height determines where you hit, while your width determines how quickly your attack goes off. Your opponent can parry (useful to block an attack at someone else as well), dodge (only good for affecting an attack at you).

QUICK EXAMPLE: Thyrus and Malik square of, Thyrus has a 3 in Sense and Malik has a 5, so Thyrus declares what he is doing first and Malik declares afterwards, thus Malik can react to what Thyrus is doing better. Malik is going to attack Thyrus and parry any blow from Thyrus(incurring a multi-action penalty of -1 die from the lower of his two relevant pools)...while Thyrus is going to attack without parrying or dodging.

Malik has Body 3/ Coordination 2/ Weapon:Axe 4/ Parry 2
Thyrus has Body 3/ Coordination 4/ Weapon:Sword 2/ Parry 3

Malik rolls Body(3) + Parry(2) the lower of his relevant pools and subtracts one die for 4d10...Malik rolls a 8/8/8/5/5 Malik chooses to attk with his 2x5 set and parry with his 3x8

Thyrus rolls Coordination(4) + Weapon:Sword(2) for a total of 6d10
Thyrus rolls a 2/2/2/6/6/6 since he is only performing one action he selects the 3x6 set for his attack.

Since Malik's 3x8 is both wide enough(fast enough) and high enough(equal to or greater than 7) he is able to parry Thyrus attack. Each die in Malik's set can subtract one from Thyrus's attack...so Malik sacrifices 2 of his 8's to subtract two of Thyrus's 6's...thus leaving Thyrus with no set and nullifying the attack.

Now Malik's 2x5 attack comes and since Thyrus (foolheartedly) performed no defense the attack succeeds automatically. The hand axe he is using does width in killing damage...so with a height 5 and width 2 attack he delivers 2 points of killing damage to Thyrus's torso.

There are 2 types of damage...shock(which a character can shake off pretty easily once combat is over) and killing( which is...well...killing damage).

This is a very basic combat with no martial path techniques, or maneuvers (such as aim, disarm, etc. used) but it gives a general overview.

What do you find 'intriguing' about the magic system? How does it work? High magic or low magic implied setting / actual setting?

The magic system is ineteresting because there are first, 2 "levels" of casters. Unattuned casters can practice magic of any school but can only learn spells of a limited power. Attuned casters can only learn one type of magic but have access to it's most powerful spells. There is technically a third type, but I'll explain that a little further below.

So you could have a warrior or noble who dabbles in magic as an unattuned caster. In order to become attuned to a particular type of magic, a character must go through a ritual. If successful this ritual fundamentally changes the sorcerer and gives him access to more powerful magics at the expense of variety. Usually attunement brings with it advantages and disadvantages...such as a Flame Dancer gaining immunity to heat damage, resistance to cold, sterility from the fire that has now become a part of them and their blood igniting when cut or grappled by someone after taking damage.

However attunement doesn't always work the way it is supposed to thus resulting in some sorcerers who are imperfectly attuned. They are still able to cast the higher powered spells of their magic type...but they have been fundamentally altered in a negative way to achieve this...such as an imperfectly attuned Flame Dancer who cannot control the heat now within his body. He has less resistance to heat damage, suffers extra damage from cold, and does shock damage to those that come into skin to skin contact with him for more than a round...oh yeah and they are sterile.

On a side note, nearly every spell requires "something" to cast...so even the most powerful sorcerer isn't unfallible or limitless in power. Using the above example, a Flame Dancer must dance when casting spells and thus is limited by their dance skill and their endurance.

So in essence you give up versatility and take a risk in order to be the type of sorcerer who can route armies.


As far as homebrewing magic...well let me just say there is a whole chapter on the how's and why's of creating one's own magic. There have also been numerous new types already released through the ransom supplements.

I'll shut up soon, have no fear.

Hey, I'm happy to answer questions...plus it's giving me a chance to really think through why I like this game so much. It really is my biggest contender vs. D&D 4e right now.

 

[jdrakeh]

Thanks for this thread! I've had an interest in Reign for a while, due largely to the Company rules and other aspects that are remeniscient of Aria (though playable). Really, only the high-ish price point has scared me off thus far. I should explain that this isn't any kind of a grudge against Reign -- I'm merely a bit wary about investing in pricey games (i.e., games that cost more than $40) that I am unlikely to find players for locally. As you may have guessed, my purchases are limited primarily to D&D

 

[Imaro]

Thanks for this thread! I've had an interest in Reign for a while, due largely to the Company rules and other aspects that are remeniscient of Aria (though playable). Really, only the high-ish price point has scared me off thus far. I should explain that this isn't any kind of a grudge against Reign -- I'm merely a bit wary about investing in pricey games (i.e., games that cost more than $40) that I am unlikely to find players for locally. As you may have guessed, my purchases are limited primarily to D&D

Hey, totally understand...I think I'm a little more outgoing when it comes to games, only because my group is willing to try almost anything I suggest (we're mostly family and have been playing together off and on for years). If you want to know anything about the company rules or the rules for followers just let me know. I also have to comment that I think the minnion rules are pretty cool too.

 

[ekb]

Not Reign, but I'm definitely digging ORE. I use it for a Cthulhu-esque game with a wee bit of Godlike low-supers thrown in. I like the added dimensionality of it, especially in combination with Hard and Wiggle dice - it means that the players have some strategic planning to do when challenged. Is it better to blow points to give myself a maxed die, or should I set aside those points to call them as wiggles and lower my difficulty? Is it better to be fast or accurate?

Combat with ORE: I skip initiative as normally done - a single roll among the players, high roll goes first and proceeds clockwise around the table. If someone has super-speed, they can call a preempt or extra action. When it comes to the gunfight, the Wider roll hits first (if it hits) and as such can interrupt the "slower" target's action/disarm/yadda yadda yadda. The Taller roll does the most damage - which is important since armor is used as a damage reduction. The "waste" dice are also important - I use them as hit locations, advantage/disadvantage for the next round, possible botches. It's really nice to have a very complex possibility described by a single roll with very little lookup on a chart.

Rather than use Nemesis straight out of the box, I've changed the skills to be more analytical. Basically, the characters are lab rats for a Delta-Green-like organization during the early Cold War. So a Wide roll means that you found "a" answer (for that science) quicker than another, but the Tall roll is more accurate. If I'm running the biological sample through the GSMO and need to get a quick answer to the field team, I want Wide. If I'm looking for the difference between this sample and that sample to see whether this tentacled beast is the same as that tentacled beast... I want Tall, even to the point of blowing Action Points to make some dice Hard (max dice value) or Wiggle (set dice over X to a higher value Y).

Now, these are hackish house rules rather than what's on paper - but the paper is still a great starting place. There's enough on Project Nemesis to get started.

I love it. Worth every second and penny!