Hi everybody. It's been a while since I've posted. But, except for a few weeks last month where my mind was fully occupied with camping, RBH hasn't been far from my thoughts.
If you're reading this, then you're probably a dedicated fan of this thing. Thank you. You rock.
I thought I'd share with you my thoughts on the use of the d12. I've had lots of folks tell me that they don't like it, or that they thought the system would be better off without it. I understand and respect that opinion, but I don't agree with it.
I love the way the d12 works in this system. Not just the way the math works with the attributes, but also the very fact that you do have to switch between your dice when you're killing and when you're, you know... doing anything besides killing. That's right: I like the fact that you have to switch dice. It feels good. It's a switching-gears feeling that I think is appropriate and fun.
If you use a d10 in place of the d12, you may not be screwing with the math much, but you are certainly going to loose that gear-switching-feeling.
And hey, be honest with me, the reason why you're balking at the d12 is because you don't have as many sitting around you're house, isn't it? I mean, if you had as many d12s as you had d10s, would you feel the same way?
Food for thought.
15 comments:
My group's played 'Gates & Gorgons' recently, rolling fistfuls of d12s - so I can't see the problem with the die itself, and the concept - it's not just another skill roll - it's killing someone, I like that.
Roll THAT die and they'll be consequences.
I've never had a problem with the d12 :)
It's always the face die that gets me, anyway. That is, gets me in the face!
Remember: Unlike D&D, each +1 bonus to AC in RBH means a change in the CATEGORY of AC, not just a +1 to the TN to be hit.
Ah... that makes it so much more clear. Now I understand.
As for the d12, the reason I don't like it is because RBH is a game built around simplicity and elegance, and using two die types when one would do seems to fly in the face of that.
So I've tweaked the rules to use d10s exclusively.
However... I really like your explanation for the d12. The concept of switching dice has an almost-unconscious effect of differentiating combat and non-combat, and that's something I can get behind.
So consider the rules tweaked back. ;)
I've seen Rogue Games get flack for their systems using the D12 and never really understood that.
ME
Hi everybody!
I've played some games of RBH and I have no complaints about using d12. The dice is similar to d10, but switching is not a problem.
I like the game, but recently, when I started plaing with more people, I see that Show Off action, which was before an important part of the game (how to kill a monster with 2 people when you deal 1 damage per turn?) now is rather weak. Average damage dealt by somebody with even 5 Daring and without heavy weapon would be two per turn (average test gives you three counters spent on next turn to boost damage from 1 to 4), and a guy with heavy weapon does 3 damage each turn.
I don't like this, because for me inventing ways to Show off was the most intresting part of combat.
Anyway, I think that it's a great game. I've made even a polish translation of main rules. Can I put it somewhere in the Web?
The d12 is the die that rolls off the table the most, in my experience.
To celebrate the awesomeness that is the Face Die, I've made a Facebook group - search for "Face the Face Die" if you want to join...
Eric, do you happen to have the original document for RBH? I was tinkering with printing it out as a half-size booklet, but as the pdf is formatted to US letter size, it doesn't quite work on A4 paper. If I could get hold of a copy of the original document, I could turn it into an A4 pdf myself.
Thanks!
So I gotta ask, is RBH still being worked on?
I'm afraid I haven't really done any game design work all summer long. I've been distracted by a new summer hobby.
But, winter is coming, which usually means more gaming for me. And more gaming for me usually means more design inspiration.
Thats good to know. I'd like to run a group of newbies through some older Judges Guild modules. Tegel Manor or Thieves of Fortress Badabaskor come to mind. I think RBH2 can handle that.
Ah! Life! Now you're back, any chance of that Word doc?
Apparently when I let my Geocities account lapse into freebie mode, the buggers deleted all my files.
In the next couple o' days you can expect to find all my RBH material online again (including a word doc), as well as a rant about my files being deleted.
Ranting and resources! Woohoo!
I've been wanting to play RBH for ages now, and finally last night I managed to run a short game, from this scenario. No one had played the game before, and a couple of them had never played an rpg. despite all that, it went quite well, although we ran out of time so I didn't get to use the were-elephant. ;)
Post a Comment