Appendix N Kickstarter

Posted on October 29, 2013 by Jeffrey Tadlock

On Saturday part of my Appendix N Kickstarter arrived in the mail. The printed version of Ruins of Ramat.

Just last week I was singing the praises of the Dwarven Forge kickstarter for delivering on time, providing some extra customer service along the way and being at the top of the chart for Kickstarters I have backed. Appendix N is a little different.

Appendix N was a Kickstarter from Brave Halfling Publishing that raised $18k+ for a short series of adventures for the Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG. The prime price point for the kickstarter was $20, which by the end was supposed to get you four adventures (I think, in all honesty, I have sort of lost track) in PDF and in printed form. That’s right – printed form. This Kickstarter was very popular with the DCC RPG crowd. Estimated delivery for all of this was July 2012.

Suffice to say, here it is October 2013 and I’ve received the first print copy of the adventure line. John Adams, the gentleman behind Brave Halfling Publishing has had a pretty rough year with a variety of maladies on the personal front delaying things. In my opinion he has been pretty up front with his communication about these things.

So while this Kickstarter is probably the latest one I have been a patron of, I still can’t call this one a failure really. In fact, this is more like what I thought being a patron was all about. Throwing some money to a small publisher to get out a product they thought was cool. I tend to go into my Kickstarters expecting delays.

In the case of this Kickstarter, I’ve received all four PDFs of the promised adventures long ago. In fact I’ve run at least one of them and read through the others. So while the print copies may not have reached my hands, I’ve had access to the material to run them. I think that is one of the things that has kept me very patient on this Kickstarter – the fact I’ve had electronic access to the adventures and have only been waiting on the hard copies to arrive.

But – the reason for this post. Ruins of Ramat in print form has arrived! Here is what was included in the package:

The Ruins of Ramat (in both 0-level and 3rd level form)
Inspirational Module Map (printed inside the cover)
Set of six illustrated player handouts, on card stock material
The Green Orb add-on adventure, with map on card stock
The Gifts of the Only add-on adventure

The product is pretty sweet. A small adventure with an awesome map and art to go with it. Quality handouts. And two mini-adventures to go along. The product itself is of great quality, I’d almost call it boutique quality.

Below are pictures of what I received. I have obscured the map just a bit, as I am not comfortable revealing the whole map in a public environment.

: Ruins of Ramat Cover.

: The back of Ruins of Ramat.

: Interior of Ruins of Ramat.

: Ruins of Ramat Player Handouts.

: The map has been obscured a bit.

Diceless Roleplaying

Posted on October 28, 2013 by Iron Tavern Guest Blogger

If you are a follower of me on my blog at www.thepathfinderchronicles.com you may wonder what has overcome me this week. I have blogged about very little apart from creating some non player characters for a new game that is to be released (you can actually get the PDF now) to non-Kickstarter backers early in December called the Lords of Gossamer and Shadow written by Jason Durall and published by Rite Publishing. What is it about this game that I am so wound up about? The first thing that caught my eye about this game is it is a random free zone, or a diceless system if you want!

Back in the good old 1990’s a system was released that was revolutionary to the RPG industry in that it was a diceless system. The system was Erick Wujcik’s Amber and it caused quite a stir. Many gamers around me at the time turned their back on the game because they did not think it was roleplaying. It was collaborative storytelling at best and that was a bad, bad thing – apparently. I have always been someone that is fascinated with new things in RPG’s but with all the gamers around me having no interest I had to pass it by so never quite got my teeth into it.

I am not really sure what happened with Amber in the long run but I do know that the people who gave it a go, loved it. I am always on the lookout for a copy and they never show up. Then one day I am skipping through my Google Plus feed and an interesting image popped up that caught my eye. It is located at the bottom of the Rite Publishing’s page for the game, right down the bottom. It depicts a group of horned monsters in shadow who have just broken down a door and are attacking a group of people (who are all in the light). It is a fantastic little image and I went and investigated it a little bit more.

Turns out that the game was the Lords of Gossamer and Shadow which had been shared around a bit on the feed with the cover of the book as the image. It had interested me, just not enough to click on it by that stage. What I found is this game was considered by some the “spiritual successor” to Amber. In fact it used Amber’s diceless system but applied a new setting to the game. I downloaded the preview of the game and set to reading it.

Diceless got me in to the system and in reality it is not a scary mechanic by any stretch of the imagination. Sure, it takes a lot of the random nature away from the game but you still have stats, powers and the like. There is a set of cohesive rules that work to create the game and guide the GM to provide a fair and equitable game. There are rules for player death, damage, fighting and the like. So what is different? Well largely the decisions of the players are dictated by two things, attributes and tactics. Put two characters in a room where no tactics can come into play and have a contest of attributes, the highest attribute wins every time. However, if the lower attribute character can create an advantage for themselves through their actions it may be a different thing altogether.

The focus is really on roleplaying in the game. The building of the story and having the GM as an arbiter of the final outcomes from the players actions. A lot of the people I have spoken to believe that it is all by GM caveat but I would argue this after having read the full rules (as a Kickstarter backer I have early access to the rules PDF) that this is not the case. There are rules that are clear on what needs to be done. This game is going to be as much a revolution to me as it was the first time I played FATE or Dungeon World.

While the system has me really interested, it is the setting that has me completely enamored. I have played systems before that promise you can build any type of game or world you want but this game offers a setting where anything, anything can be encountered. The premise is you play a powerful character (in essence they would be considered a God on Earth) that has access to a Grand Stair which has doors attached to it. Through each of these doors is a connected reality that you walk into. That connected reality could in essence be any type of world or space possible, as long as it has a door to travel through. So in essence, I suppose the only reality it can’t represent is one without a door.

This means you can play any style of character from a D&D Dragonborn to a creature from the Hellraiser books because the travellers of the Grand Stair all come from one of these realities where they develop the ability to, or find a key to open the door onto the Grand Stair and then everything changes for them.

So the reason I am truly excited about this? (Sorry but this needs to be capitalized) BIGGEST SANDBOX EVER! A lot of the feel for the game has the characters utilizing weapons of a fantasy type, and there is a reason for this, but they will travel through sci-fi, horror, fantasy and all kinds of genres if you want them to. They will have no idea until they step through the door (not strictly true, there is a power that helps) until they turn the handle.

If you are a fan of Amber, or you want to investigate a new game that has an unbelievable number of narrative possibilities I suggest you keep an eye out for this. I am lead to believe that you can get the PDF from the web page at Rite Publishing so if you can’t wait, check it out! Keep rolling.

Mark Knights is 39 year old guy living in a small rural town called Elliott in Tasmania, Australia. I have been role playing since I was 11 years old playing the original versions of Dungeons and Dragons, MERP, Elric, Dragon Warriors and the like amongst other genre games. I played D&D 2nd Edition through the 90′s but I ran Earthdawn for my fantasy setting and loved it as a GM. When 3rd Edition came out for D&D I tried it but found it too heavy on rules. I ignored the 3.5 edition of DnD in favour of Earthdawn (big mistake) as I thought it was just a money spinner. When 4th Edition DnD came on my players and I gave it a red hot go but hated what it had dumbed the game down to be. On a trip to Melbourne to buy some 4E stuff from a hobby store an old mate of mine pointed me at Pathfinder and in a Fantasy setting I have never looked back.

Megadungeon Advice

Posted on October 24, 2013 by Jeffrey Tadlock

No, this isn’t a post where I am offering advice on running megadungeons. This is a post where I am soliciting advice on running megadungeons! See, I have the itch to run a megadungeon campaign over the winter in some form. I have the rules system pretty much picked out, Swords & Wizardry Complete. But I need some guidance on a couple of things.

First – I need a megadungeon! I own Barrowmaze and have dabbled in that with a campaign with the kids. It seemed to work well for the amount we played in it and could be suitable for my plans. I have Stonehell on the way, I should receive it this week. And I am not opposed to picking up something like Rappan Athuk. But with all of these choices, I need to make a choice!

What does the crowd think? Which published megadungeon do you think would be a good one to base a campaign on this winter? Why do you think one is better than another? Sell me on your favorite megadungeon and why I should use it for my nefarious plans.

Or – on a more ambitious possibility, I like to map, I like to write, maybe I should create my own megadungeon this winter and possibly turn it into a package for other folks to use. The downside is one, the work, and two, I feel like I should get the feel of an already published megadungeon to see what works and what doesn’t work before setting down the path of creating my own. So maybe this is more a future project for me.

Once I determine what megadungeon to prep and run, how do I keep it from turning into a “grind”? I expect exploring room after room will be fun for the first 4 to 6 weeks, but what about after that? What can I do as a GM to keep things interesting and not turn the megadungeon campaign into a slog partway through?

I figure I need a nearby town, so the experience can be more of a the group ventures to the dungeon, explores, and then retreats the end of the session. Rinse and repeat. Do I need to sprinkle in some non-dungeon crawl adventures on the side for “breaks” between the megadungeon? I likely need some way to keep the dungeon alive – restocking rooms, making sure to make prior decisions and combats matter later in the game, etc.

I plan on setting player expectations prior to the campaign, so players will know what they are getting into and hopefully be in the mood for a similar campaign style. I also plan on this being a 3-4 month long thing, then put it aside until next year, and so on.

What is your advice for really making a megadungeon fun and exciting?

Dwarven Forge Kickstarter Has Arrived

Posted on October 23, 2013 by Jeffrey Tadlock

Building her first dungeon.

Yesterday my Dwarven Forge pieces from their Kickstarter earlier this year arrived at the house. I had ordered three sets and didn’t do any add-ons save for the paint that was offered later after the Kickstarter ended.

I have always been intrigued by the Dwarven Forge pieces, gazing at them with envy at various cons where there were booths with their product or expansive dungeon layouts. The price was always prohibitive and buying a few pieces here and there seemed like a long slow process. So when the Dwarven Forge kickstarter launched I thought it would be a good way to get an “instant” foundation of pieces to start my collection. Enough to start building small dungeons or encounter areas right away. And as time goes on I can now supplement with the occasional set purchase to add to what is now a decent base to work with.

Though I game online a lot right now, I do have a local group and I frequently run a kids campaign on the weekends, especially as the winter approaches. So I figure I can get plenty of use from them. Plus – the kids can use them setup their own dungeons and possibly run some games for their friends. I suspect having the Dwarven Forge pieces will make it a little easier for them to “hook” their friends into gaming.

I have backed several kickstarters over the past couple of years. And compared to others I think I have done pretty well. I haven’t had any fail to deliver completely. Several have been delayed in their delivery, and I am still waiting on some to deliver, but overall my track record with Kickstarter has been pretty good. I am fairly picky about which ones I back and these days I also watch for how long my money will be tied up for before I receive product. That last factor alone keeps me from backing some Kickstarters, even ones I am sure will deliver, but that I don’t’ want to tie my money up for a year.

But the Dwarven Forge Kickstarter has set a really high bar for performance. Easily the best Kickstarter I have participated in yet. First, the Kickstarter ended at the end of April. Here it is late October and I have my Dwarven Forge terrain in hand. The Kickstarter estimated delivery in October 2013 and they delivered. That is a rare thing in Kickstarter land.

During the process the Dwarven Forge folks were communicative and actually added value partway through by offering a way to add paints to those of us that bought unpainted terrain. And made it easy to add to our order, all without delaying the original product.

I am so used to delays from Kickstarters that it almost felt weird to *not* receive an email stating shipping was delayed and here is why. There was no need to! As things were here on time as stated in the original Kickstarter.

Definite props to the Dwarven Forge folks for a smooth and well run Kickstarter campaign. Something I will certainly remember if they decide to use that route in the future.

Now if you’ll excuse me – I have some how-to videos on painting to watch!

Swords & Wizardry Complete PDF for Free?

Posted on October 22, 2013 by Jeffrey Tadlock

This news has circulated a bit in a couple of my social media circles, but I wanted to boost the signal a little more. Frog God Games plans to make the PDF of Swords & Wizardry Complete free for everyone (not just backers) if their current Kickstarter hits 400 backers. I think this is a pretty awesome way to help get S&W out there in the hands of some more folks and a some additional incentive to back their current Kickstarter.

Just what is Frog God Games kickstarting now? A new adventure from Bill Webb called The Lost Lands: Sword of Air Pathfinder & Swords & Wizardry. Currently the tome is running 500+ pages and is going to be available in both Pathfinder system and Swords & Wizardry system – your choice when you back it. With several different adventure areas, this adventure area has been a part of Bill’s campaign since 1977. Rather than try to summarize it all, take a look at the Kickstarter page and read all the details as they describe it.

As I have regretted missing the Rappan Athuk Kickstarter I decided to go in on this one. Plus – I think letting S&W Complete loose on a wider audience is a good thing!

Fantasy Game Diversity

Posted on October 21, 2013 by Iron Tavern Guest Blogger

Well, my past week researching the suggestions you offered me last week has kept me very busy! There were a good number of suggestions and I spent a good deal of time investigating them. I watched some gaming videos of a few games and I also downloaded the freebies of the games that were suggested that came with the premium price tag of free!

There is one thing that I can say for the fantasy RPG market after doing all of this research and that is RPG’s are thriving. There are the big players of Pathfinder and D&D but so many more that are very good. Dungeon World has a great following and it does have some great ideas to explore though it is not really my cup of tea. Dungeon Crawl Classics was mentioned but it really did not have what I was after either.

13th Age was something I had been dying to look at for a while but after watching a few of the videos that are online for the game I have to say it was not the game I was looking for either. Maybe one to follow up at a later stage but definitely not the one that I needed for my friend. I went over a few of the games I still had lurking around my iPad like D6 Fantasy and even Hero Kids but none of them seemed to suit.

I then went and looked at the Dungeonslayers game. I have to say that this was the game that came the closest to our needs but the talent bloat got a little too much in the same way that Feats make Pathfinder a little bloated. Dungeonslayers is a really good option though. It is simple, smart and customizable. Everything that I asked for in fact.

The talent bloat problem was a little too much though so my friend and I have started to build a system up that borrows from quite a few other games. Pathfinder, Dungeonslayer, James Bond, Earthdawn, D&D and a few others to boot! The system that we will come up with will have a basic ideal of describing all of the actions that are possibly available for a player. From that point each basic character will get a standard set of these actions that it is considered everyone can do and then the players will use a point buy system to specialize their characters with other actions to form a character of their own concept.

I was kind of surprised that a system similar to this did not already exist and the system will actually double for the backbone system of the game that I am creating too. I have changed the system three times already but there is a different feel to this system. After discussing it for a bit it is a system I can see myself playing. It has crunch and customizability. It will allow a player to grow their fantasy character with no need for level advancement and no stricture of a class to follow. Their may be restrictions applied by the GM but in reality the game can customize near any character concept that you can think of.

This is down to you, the readers of the Iron Tavern and your free advice for me when I asked about the systems out there. So thank you. The system will be offered free and we have done a lot of the heavy lifting (well thinking) and now just need to do the writing to bring it all together. Hopefully one day it will come to be as well respected as Dungeonslayers! Until next week, keep rolling!

Keeping Busy

Posted on October 18, 2013 by Jeffrey Tadlock

I have been remiss in my blogging over the past several weeks. My guest bloggers have been awesome at carrying the torch for me so far and that has been much appreciated. They have been responsible for making sure The Iron Tavern has at least something new for you each week.

So if I haven’t been posting here as regularly, what have I been up to?

Mapping

First I have had several products released by various publishers that contain some maps I have created. I am proud to have been involved in each of these products.

For the Dungeon Crawl Classics crowd Thick Skull Adventures released the PDF of The Haunting of Larvik Island a month or two ago. This is a fun 1st level module to run your DCC players through. I drew many of the maps in the product think they came out looking great! Earlier this week The Haunting of Larvik Island was released in print, available at some online stores and hopefully at local game stores in your area soon. So if you wanted a copy in print that is an option as well.

On another front, I have had a couple of tavern maps released under the Christina Stiles Presents line from Super Genius Games. Both Waysides: Didjer’s Crab House and Waysides: Hair of the Dog contain tavern maps I did for the product. These are fun products to drop into your campaign when you need a pre-built tavern with some interesting aspects!

I have another map or two in the works for the Christina Stiles Presents line as well.

Writing

I have a couple of writing projects on the edge of the plate as well. These are still pseudo-secret and because they are personal projects tend to get bumped when other paying freelance opportunities present themselves. But each week I make a little more progress on each and hopefully a little closer to an announcement on those fronts.

Conversions

I also have another much larger project coming up that I also cannot reveal the full details on, as I am not 100% sure I am at liberty to reveal my involvement just yet. But a Kickstarter that funded about two months ago will be using me to handle the conversion to a Pathfinder version of the product. This will be a rather large project, but really looking forward to this one as well. Definitely proud to be a part of the attention to detail this product has received so far. Again – hopefully I can be less vague about the nature of this product in the near future.

Still Here!

Those are some of the things that have been keeping me busy over the past month or so. Lots of exciting things going on. And again – special thanks to my guest bloggers for keeping the doors open and the light on here at The Iron Tavern. I will put additional effort forth to get more posts by me here at The Tavern!

Fantasy System Customization

Posted on October 14, 2013 by Iron Tavern Guest Blogger

Today I come to you asking for help. I am trying to find a system that matches requirements for a certain type of play style that arose out of a conversation I got involved in yesterday. I was asked recently by an American friend to investigate games based on customizability. There was a large discussion about the systems we know about and I think he shaped precisely what he wanted from that discussion. We talked Pathfinder a little and I lamented about the one thing I don’t really love about the system that was introduced with D&D 3rd Edition and that is Feats.

What my friend is wanting to do is find a game where he can take an off the rack class (say a fighter) and through options of customization, turn him into a stalwart defender so to speak. Or it might be he wants a rogue that customizes to become an excellent burglar. Just the ability to take an off the rank archetype and make it your own. I talked a bit about feats as they were topical at the time I joined the conversation and I stated how I really did not like them. Feats as a tool for customizability are good but they make the rules systems intricate and complex.

I have been watching a person on Google Plus (Keith J Davies) who is currently trying to model the feats and their dependencies in UML (maybe, but definitely some kind of flow chart) and he is coming up with some intensely complicated diagrams. These diagrams are just for the requirements too! Let us hope he doesn’t try to model the effects also! From a GM perspective, feats are a nightmare as there are hundreds of them and they all essentially change, tweak or break the rules in some way. In an ideal world the players would all know their own feats but I get asked at least once a game what a feat does. Not to mention the NPC feats and monster feats that you have to be across to utilize your opponents well.

OK, feat rant over. They are good for customization but they introduce a massive bloat in complication. Once we had reached this point in our discussion we started to look more broadly at the customizability of other games. D&D Next was looked at favorably apart from the removal of the skill system introduced also in 3rd Edition D&D which we thought limited the customization of a character. Instead the system relies on a very poor amount of proficiencies (taking it back to similar to first and second editions). Dragon Age was mentioned as a possible option though we do not like the proprietary feel of the system. Exalted came up and was looked at favorably but the “charms” it uses create new rules and thus has the same problem as Pathfinder with every “charm” offering more complexity to the game.

So what I guess we are looking for is a fantasy system that does the following things;

offers a healthy level of character customization so you can build different characters from the one archetype;
contains a skill system that is variable (i.e. not a binary system of you know it or you don’t, but a system that offers levels of understanding)
customization mechanics need to build off present rules so that the effects only modify what any character can already do
customization options must not be “overly” extensive (i.e. there can’t be so many that the games complication outweighs its usability); and
it has to be a game with a certain amount of “crunch” value (where “crunch” means a robust rules set and the game is not considered rules-lite)

This is a challenge that I put out to you all dear players and GM’s of the interwebs. We all have our favorite systems (and despite my rant about Pathfinder feats it is still one of my favorites) and I am hoping that for some of you the points above may be ringing true. There are a lot of fantasy systems out there and hopefully one will fit the bill. Do you feel the game that you play meets those dot points? Does the game you play fit the points because you house ruled it? Do you feel that these points would represent a game you would like to try or do you not value customization in a game? Please help us out and share your systems with me that you think will meet our needs. Until next week, keep rolling.

Review: Edge of the Empire

Posted on October 9, 2013 by Iron Tavern Guest Blogger

Edge of the Empire is the newest iteration of a Star Wars RPG. West End Games had the license in the 1990’s with their d6 system. Wizards of the Coast had in in the 2000’s with their d20 Star Wars and then Star Wars Saga versions of the game. I am a sucker for Star Wars. I own the previous games and have a copy of each supplement for those games which is a ridiculous amount of material. I have run and played in many different Star Wars campaigns in those systems and some were very successful and others were less than great. My group is now playing Edge of the Empire so this review is a reflection of reading the book and playing the game.

The big difference people talk about first with Edge of the Empire is the dice. It does not use normal dice so one needs to either buy the overpriced special dice they sell or use normal dice (d6s, d8s, and d12s) and conversation charts. There are seven different types of dice the game uses but right now I’m not going to talk about the force die as that doesn’t interact with the other six. There is the Ability die, Proficiency die, and boost die that are all positive helping the character to succeed, Then there is the Difficulty die, the Challenge die, and the setback die that are negative and hinder the characters. Each die side has one or two pictures on them with some sides blank. Players collect the different pictures they roll to determine success and failure and if they can get an advantage or disadvantage. The dice are measuring two different things so it is possible to not succeed but still create some kind of positive advantage for your team or succeed in the action but create some kind of disadvantage. Other games have done this with less dice and less complexity. Once the symbols are collected the players look up skills or combat tables to see what they can do. In hearing groups play it seems they don’t do this they just play it by ear which would be faster. However, under each skill description in the book there are ways to spend these symbols. The other issue is that for most gamers one cannot just look at the dice about to be rolled and have an idea of their chance to succeed or fail. I’m sure by now someone has sat down and figured out the odds with different dice combinations but most gamers won’t spend the time doing that. Gamers I see just roll and hope for the best not having any idea if they should be succeeding or failing.

Character creation is simple and fast. It is a class system without levels. I would have liked different names for the classes or as they call them Careers. I feel anyone for instance can be a Bounty Hunter and have different skill sets for success. While the game allows for a good amount of customization one still has to have the career of Bounty Hunter to be a Bounty Hunter. Each career has three specializations. Extra specializations can be bought with XP and one can even buy specializations from other careers though they all more expensive. Each specialization gives access to a talent tree. Talent trees are a mix of unique and not unique powers. Too many of them I feel get rid of penalties or add a small bonus. The different talents are not equal and some are much better than others. Like many systems most of the talent trees force a character to buy lesser and in some cases useless talents to get to the better ones.

The game uses two types of hit points. Health, which is more physical damage, and strain that is more mental and comes back easier. One problem this can cause is tough characters will have a high health but a low strain so it can be much easier to just attack a characters strain. It is really easy to do as most guns have a stun setting and that targets strain. It is also easy to create a character almost impossible to damage. The game of course focuses heavily on combat but even with just the options of the first book optimizing is very easy. The focus on combat does come at a cost as there are no language rules in the game so it is impossible to know who can understand who even though the game makes a clear point that some of the species offered in the book cannot speak basic. There is also no translator in the equipment section which I thought was odd since it is referenced in other areas of the book. The equipment section in general is sparse. There are a lot of weapons and armor but little of anything else.

The Force is treated like a talent tree that any character except droids can buy. To use the force one rolls a force die but with more sides being the dark side it means that characters are likely to be forced to use the dark side if they want to do anything. I can see a force user coming up with a cool idea, rolling a force die, and then say they are doing nothing because they don’t want to lose their character to the dark side.

Okay, that all was a bit negative as the game fails in a lot of small areas. The dice system does allow for a better variety of outcomes instead of the usual hit miss. It can help players be creative with coming up with different ways to use an advantage. It is new so that helps it and it will be interesting to see if people still like it in a couple of years. The options available to characters are pretty open. Aside from the limited number of species in the book most characters from the movies can be created here. It specifically doesn’t allow PCs to be Jedi but the book does have them to fight which was an interesting choice. Droids do seem to be the most powerful species in the game and it is the only option in the book I would have left out.

In the end the book is Star Wars. It wants to do something more akin to the Han Solo and Lando Calrission books. The Bounty Hunter trilogy and collection of short stories is another good source of inspiration from Star Wars novels. Of course since the game does not want to use Jedi and not much of the Empire perhaps Firefly becomes the best material to base a campaign on. The game does give the group some kind of transport as their ship to emphasis the ship crew dynamic. Edge of the Empire when compared to the other Star Wars RPGs does allow for better customization then the d20 based games and does not look like it will break down as fast as the d6 game. It is rather conservative on character power and that might just be the best thing the game has going for it comparatively.

Chris Gath. I’ve been gaming since 1980 playing all kinds of games since then. In the past year I’ve run Pathfinder, Dungeon Crawl Classic, Paranoia, and Mini d6. My current campaign is mini d6 and we are using that for a modern supernatural conspiracy investigative game. On some forums I’m known as Crothian and I’ve written a few hundred reviews though I took a sabbatical from reviewing for a few years as it burnt me out. I was also an judge for the Gen Con awards (ENnies) six times. Jeff, the owner of this blog, is one of my players and a good friend.

What Do You Prefer? High or Low?

Posted on October 7, 2013 by Iron Tavern Guest Blogger

Magic. That all encompassing power that pervades the fantasy worlds we all love and play in. Pathfinder’s Golarion world cover the gamut of high and no magic. Most campaign worlds tend to stick to one or the other though. Forgotten Realms is definitely a land full of magic while Greyhawk is a lot more middle of the road and Conan’s world is definitely low magic punctuated by individuals of great power.

I am keen to try different things with magic. I liked the idea presented in Pathfinder’s Ultimate Magic of Words of Power being an archaic but still functional form of magic but it is a little hard to get my head around how a secondary magic system works in the system. This desire to find something that works well is also why I recently supported the Spheres of Magic Kickstarter hoping that they will come up with a good alternative to the specific spell systems used in Pathfinder. There are just so many spells in Pathfinder and in my experience a player will read the title and expect the GM to know the rest. Well with that many spells available we don’t know them by heart, so learn your spells.

Right, rant over. So why is there such a variety of different magical settings? Magic is magical isn’t it? Everyone should love a high magic setting and a lot of people do. High magic settings always seem to fall into settings of high civilization and neat approachable fantasy lines. There are some that fall in love with the low magic settings run to a gritty realistic experience in game. Every game is a struggle and finding a magical item is like the culmination of several sessions of story arc. That +1 dagger forged from cold iron is exactly what we need to take down the demonic army feel! In a lot of games the magic system is the core that a lot of the rest of the material is born off of.

Consider Conan for a moment. And I mean Howard’s Conan, not the silver screen incarnations. He is a barbarian that wields his blade with utter faith that each strike will fall true and he is capable of dealing with any situation. Imagine if a sword that guided his hand and burst into flames at times was found by him. He would throw it away scared of the magic and the demons that may possess him. But in most standard fantasy systems that are well known you cannot play the magic fearing barbarian as the systems are actually balanced on magic use. Conan would not be able to take on the demons with the sword he carries as it would be completely ineffectual based on this balance.

My point with the Conan decision is to play a fantasy game in a certain way you may actually need to make hard decisions about the system that you are going to use. There are some expectations that I have shown above as to what type of system you are likely to get with a basic presumption of high or low magic. There are some that break the mould (Earthdawn is high magic but gritty realistic feel) but in general they will be high magic, highly civilized; middle magic, standard adventuring fare; and low magic, gritty struggle for life most days!

Of course, all of the above is just conjecture and opinion based on my experiences. I have found out that there are a lot more game styles out there that I could ever imagine and I learn a lot from reading all of your comments. Tell me I am wrong, but also tell me why. Show me the proof of these things. Tell me why I am so old school because of my examples, but most of all tell me about your experiences! Tell me if it is high, low or middle magic that you prefer and why it is so. Do you see yourself in the Lord of the Rings where magical items beyond weapons were but myths that only the high wizards and elven rulers used or are you akin to Elminster of the Forgotten Realms with rooms full of magical trinkets because they are so pervasive in the world. Or are you Conan, wandering the wilds destroying the sorcerers and their items one individual at a time. Tell me in the comments which it is that you prefer and why! Keep rolling.