KhorasForum

I think this is a great opportunity to expand on all the wizard schools in Khoras and write a story or two about one. Spotlight of the month!

Very weird, though. I've never encountered such a person, not even online. Very, very strange. I wouldn't put any 'out of character' disclaimer on those pages, though. You'd have to do it on every single page, and it's just, well, annoying. I don't want to be reminded every single page that it's only fiction. I already know that, and I like to get lost in fantasy worlds.

I'm looking at two wholly different systems right now: Iron Heroes and Ars Magica.

Iron Heroes is compatible with D&D 3.5, but is more focused on low-magic and high-combat campaigns. Magic is incredibly dangerous, and using magic always has drawbacks -- using magic items like weapons and armour included. The classes are, of course, all fighting classes: the Archer, the armour-clad Armiger, the focused Weapon Master, the quickly and deadly Executioner... The fun thing is that every class has its own 'token pool': during a fight, a character gathers tokens (for instance, the Armiger gets tokens mainly when he takes damage), and can then spend these tokens in the same fight on special moves. It's a very simple concept, but very broad at the same time. Skills can be easily used in combat, and Feats are much broader and easier to use as well. All in all, Iron Heroes seems like the perfect system for 'hack & slash' games.

The other system is Ars Magica, which basically deals with every player being a specialised wizard of sorts (although it is not only encouraged, but indeed necessary, to play non-mage characters and cannon fodder-type characters as secondary and tertiary characters in some sessions as well. This allows your main mage characters to research and study). The fun thing is that there are different houses of wizards, and that your group of wizards will need to have a homebase, a covenant, from where to work. This could be very entertaining and rewarding if you stay in the same place for years and see how the world around you evolves, partly based on your actions. And the high-magic content may mesh a lot better than the low-magic alternative of Iron Heroes. Even the houses can be easily changed (Houses in the Aukarian Republic, or guilds in the Coalition or the Alliance, anyone?).

I just thought I'd share that with everyone. Any thoughts of people who have used either system?

Wushu is definitely not suited for a campaign, or deep role-playing. It does seem like brain-dead fun with a couple of beers for a short scenario - especially a scenario that's a lot like the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon movie. Nothing more than that, though. It's wuxia-style fighting and nothing more.

I want a system with some meat on its bones. D&D is just too much, and despite all of its choices and feats and prestige classes and spells and everything else, it still feels somehow too limited. It's weird.

As you say, Mr Roomes, I too prefer a detailed world (although that is independent of the system, because you can adapt the abstract things of any world into any gaming system). If there is a system where weapons have pros and cons when facing each other, and spells too, that would be great. It would require so much tactical thinking. I love that. I - and my players, I think - wouldn't care if a battle system is on the complex site, as long as it doesn't restrict you too much, like D&D does. In D&D, you can't really be a pure Fighter and still be important in later levels, and your build tends to be very feat-intensive so you're even more limited in your actions.

Of course, I love finding magic items with a story to them, and using them. Not 'this is a +1 flaming sword,' but an actual item with a thought-out history. It makes it all that more fun. I don't really like high-magic campaigns. It cheapens the wonders of magic a little. Sometimes that can be a lot of fun, but if you're flushing your toilet with a magic spell (to pull it into an extreme level of exaggeration)... And I don't want magic items to become more important than the characters. Any schmuck can pick up a magic sword and fight with it. I want the characters to have a personality, and not just act but also fight in a way that suits their characters. That is what I miss in D&D.

I have not heard of Pathfinder, but I will look it up. Thank you very much for the suggestion, Mr Roomes!

I have found alternative D&D 3.5 rules called Iron Heroes. Magic is limited there and all the classes are fighting-based: archer, heavy-armoured melee combatant, assassin, barbarian... I think my players would like that a little more if it is truly a much more open combat system than regular 3.5.

I had prepared a campaign for my very first run as a Game Master ever with five inexperienced players. The system I had chosen was D&D 3.5 because it is the only one I am familiar with. By the end of the first session, the players said the system is too time-consuming to maintain and keep track of, and battles are slow. There are a lot of options, but strangely enough they complained it was both too complex and too limiting. Thinking that over, I must say I agree. Especially battles can be very tiresome in D&D, all the more so if you are a non-magic user.

So now I am looking for other systems. Systems that are easier and, well, more fun. Does anyone have any ideas?

I have found Wushu Open (link). It's less than ten pages long and seems like it could be very fun as it focuses entirely on action where you are encouraged to go all-out in battle. Yes, it's VERY limited and I don't think you can run a long-during campaign with it, but it could definitely be a whole lot of fun for a shorter scenario. Perhaps if you add some more Traits for NPC-interaction (Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate... and that sort of thing), it could be useful for longer campaigns. Of course, this is perhaps the other extreme of 'too complex'. I don't know.

I am also looking into RuneQuest, Savage Worlds, BattleAxe and Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay.

Any thoughts, anyone?

Oh, good. I was trying it yesterday and it was still the old, faulty button. I kept refreshing my browser, thinking it was just the old, updated page.

Speaking of errors: the link to Curative Draughts on the Merchandise > Magic page doesn't work. (fortunately for nosy me, I managed to cut the HealPotion.htm off the end, and I got the correct page that way. ) Now I have more magic potions to use. I have to say I love them. Very inventive, especially things like Shadak Gruel. That's going to be fun to use!

+Favourite Country: Duthelm (because of The Citadel) and Vaul. Vaul sounds like the perfect country to live in. And Vaulstav sounds like to perfect city to live in. So beautifully described. I could just daydream about Vaul and Vaulstav all day long and be in blissful happiness. Urmordia also sounds amazing.

+Favourite Animal: The Vulhoron. That must be the scariest Demon that has ever wandered through Hell! I love the description, especially the emphasised 'This thing hunts other demons.' Other favourites are the Torgat, the Targ, the Horrax and the Hive Spider.

+Favourite Continent: A tossup between Ithria and Aggradar.

+Favourite Race: The Trossoli. They sound and look utterly terrifying! Like Illithid, but even scarier. The Vaullians too, of course.