Solving The Riddle of Steel
- Thread starter Zoatebix
- Start date
Emiricol
Registered User
My Midnight campaign uses Riddle of Steel. You can see how it plays out in my story hour (link in signature).
People either love it or hate it. The thing is, there's no hit points. A dagger will freakin kill you in TROS. The whole point is to not get hit first. Wading into a fight with three orcs will get you dead, very fast, unless you maneuver aggressively to keep only one in front of you at a time.
Now, I view D&D hits as not being hits until you are down into low HP numbers. The Lord of the Rings scene in the mines where they fight the group with the cave troll - no one bled off that, but in my head they all lost a ton of hit points. But that's just my view.
Anyway, there's two things to really, really keep in mind. 1) Meaningless fights quickly lead to meaningless deaths, and 2) Pursuing the PC's goals and ambitions is mechanically a core part of the system both for simply surviving combats and also for PC improvement.
I wrote a review you can see at http://www.gamingreport.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Reviews&file=index&req=showcontent&id=1428 if you are interested.
People either love it or hate it. The thing is, there's no hit points. A dagger will freakin kill you in TROS. The whole point is to not get hit first. Wading into a fight with three orcs will get you dead, very fast, unless you maneuver aggressively to keep only one in front of you at a time.
Now, I view D&D hits as not being hits until you are down into low HP numbers. The Lord of the Rings scene in the mines where they fight the group with the cave troll - no one bled off that, but in my head they all lost a ton of hit points. But that's just my view.
Anyway, there's two things to really, really keep in mind. 1) Meaningless fights quickly lead to meaningless deaths, and 2) Pursuing the PC's goals and ambitions is mechanically a core part of the system both for simply surviving combats and also for PC improvement.
I wrote a review you can see at http://www.gamingreport.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Reviews&file=index&req=showcontent&id=1428 if you are interested.
Michael Tree
First Post
The magic system is a bit overcomplicated and overly pseudoscientific, but it's the fun combat system you'll be buying it for anyway. It has a huge learning curve, and the critical hit tables can be a bit cumbersome, although there's a good computer utility that lets you use them without lots of page flipping. But once you know the combat system pretty well it can be a great game in itself. It works best for humanoids vs. humanoids, and is especially good for exciting duels between rivals.
There's a simplified demo of how the game works on publisher's website, which is worth checking out. In many ways, I actually prefer the simplicity of the demo to the more complex book rules, especially for attributes and character development.
There's a simplified demo of how the game works on publisher's website, which is worth checking out. In many ways, I actually prefer the simplicity of the demo to the more complex book rules, especially for attributes and character development.
Emiricol
Registered User
I wouldn't call the learning curve "huge", but there's definitely some thought that has to go into every round of combat. Once you get it down though, a fight can be resolved in minutes. The hit tables are one of the best features, I think, but they definitely do take getting used to.
The magic system is not my favorite, but I do love the epic feel of it. For my campaign we're using an Ars Magica conversion, but they'll be having a supplement come out in a few months that offers an alternate core magic system, which I will definitely be buying.
Riddle of Steel won't replace D&D on your table, I imagine, but it'll earn its own place in the gaming spotlight.
The quickstart rules are a good introduction. They don't capture all the flavor, and certainly only half the excitement of the amazing full system combat rules, but they'll give you a fine preview of it.
The magic system is not my favorite, but I do love the epic feel of it. For my campaign we're using an Ars Magica conversion, but they'll be having a supplement come out in a few months that offers an alternate core magic system, which I will definitely be buying.
Riddle of Steel won't replace D&D on your table, I imagine, but it'll earn its own place in the gaming spotlight.
The quickstart rules are a good introduction. They don't capture all the flavor, and certainly only half the excitement of the amazing full system combat rules, but they'll give you a fine preview of it.
deltadave
First Post
TRoS is a very gritty system that I personally think really rocks. Nothing like going thru a massive multi opponent combat in almost real time to make your day! I've ginned up a few mods and use the combat system in my cyberpunk game and the rest is d20. Took a while to work the kinks out but works pretty smoothly now.
Similar Threads
