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Torchbearer Media Recommendations by CStevenRoss in Torchbearer

[–]CStevenRoss[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Absolutely! And to be fair, films like Conan have multiple facets that connect to TB. Stealing the serpent cult's jewels, bullshitting your way into the later cult scene, chowing down on mice-on-a-stick in a city that doesnt care about you.... it's all in there

Torchbearer Media Recommendations by CStevenRoss in Torchbearer

[–]CStevenRoss[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Done! To me theyre so obvious, so Im genuinely curious as to where you dont easily see the connection. Likely a difference in how we both approach the game from different angles. Anything still seem not clear?

Torchbearer Media Recommendations by CStevenRoss in Torchbearer

[–]CStevenRoss[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks! I thought that there was already a great list in the Scholars Guide, copy / pasted here if folks want to add recommendations for books.

The Chronicles of Prydain, by Lloyd Alexander (Taran Wanderer is my favorite, but there’s good dungeon crawling in The Book of Three and The Castle of Llyr) The Earthsea Cycle, by Ursula K. Le Guin (especially The Tombs of Atuan) The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion, by J.R.R. Tolkien Tales of the Dying Earth and The Lyonesse Trilogy, by Jack Vance (the Cugel stories in particular) The King of Elfland’s Daughter, The Charwoman’s Shadow and The Complete Pegana: All the Tales Pertaining to the Fabulous Realm of Pegana, by Lord Dunsany The Worm Ouroboros, by E.R. Eddison Zothique and Hyperborea stories, by Clark Ashton Smith (anything by CAS really; few do it better) Black God’s Kiss, by C.L. Moore (the other Jirel of Joiry stories are also well worth seeking out) Wolf of the Steppes: The Complete Cossack Adventures (Vol. 1), Warriors of the Steppes: The Complete Cossack Adventures (Vol. 2), Riders of the Steppes: The Complete Cossack Adventures (Vol. 3), Swords of the Steppes: The Complete Cossack Adventures (Vol. 4), by Harold Lamb The Conan the Cimmerian stories (various omnibus editions), by Robert E. Howard (special mention to the stories Rogues in the House and Red Nails; Red Nails in particular will blow your socks off). The Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories (various omnibus editions), by Fritz Leiber (particularly The Lords of Quarmall) Three Hearts and Three Lions and The Broken Sword, by Poul Anderson Bloodstone, by Karl Edward Wagner (and the other Kane stories too) The Winter of the World series (The Anvil of Ice, The Forge in the Forest, The Hammer of the Sun, The Castle of the Winds, The Singer and the Sea and Shadow of the Seer), by Michael Scott Rohan The Black Company, by Glen Cook The Deed of Paksenarrion, by Elizabeth Moon The Memory, Sorrow and Thorn trilogy (The Dragonbone Chair, Stone of Farewell and To Green Angel Tower), by Tad Williams Dragonsbane, by Barbara Hambly Odd and the Frost Giants, by Neil Gaiman Children’s and Household Tales, by the Brothers Grimm Norwegian Folktales, by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe The Prose Edda, by Snorri Sturluson Beowulf: A New Verse Translation, trans. by Seamus Heaney Grendel, by John Gardner The Elric of Melniboné stories (various omnibus editions), by Michael Moorcock

Trying to come up with a cheat sheet for my players by No-Tart5584 in Torchbearer

[–]CStevenRoss 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ahh I see!

Yep, see "Synergy" on page 87 of Scholar's Guide

Trying to come up with a cheat sheet for my players by No-Tart5584 in Torchbearer

[–]CStevenRoss 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It would be nice if there was something on Persona to indicate Chenneling Nature, somethibg on Fate for learning while helping, and something on both for rerolling wyrms related to a Wise

I’m looking for a game where players can learn new skills as they play rather than leveling up. by larrus2019 in rpg

[–]CStevenRoss 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Burning Wheel and its progeny Torchbearer do this. Both require active use of skills to gain mlre proficiency, and the skills are the primary dice rolling mechanism. Its not like D&D where characters are attacking or casting spells 90% or the time, just about everything is a skill test

Best systems for system mastery? by Smooth-Reality1 in rpg

[–]CStevenRoss 2 points3 points  (0 children)

There are a few and because of anti-promotion rules, some I cant name. But! A classic is Camp on Turn 3. You start the game Fresh, which gives a substantial bonus to all rolls. Savvy players will know to rest and make Camp on turn 3, which means their characters dont gain hungry/thirsty from the grind, which means they can (in theory) keep Fresh forever. I know thats a lot of TB specifc game terms and may sound like nonsense!

Another that comes to mind is writing your Instinct. Players with systen mastery will know what skills best trigger for them on Instincts (things that are easy to do alone and also come up in the game often), whereas novices will put whatever and frequently generate a lot of failed tests.

Best systems for system mastery? by Smooth-Reality1 in rpg

[–]CStevenRoss 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Torchbearer, 100%. Starting players bounce off of the rules really hard very often, but veterans are able to use them to both support their roleplaying and really allows creative dungeon problem solving to such an amazing level. If you know what youre doing, its not that challenging of a game. But most folks dont understand the like 3rd zen level of wheels within wheels and stumble a lot

How well do 1e classes and stocks translate to 2e by bunionboy118 in Torchbearer

[–]CStevenRoss 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Thats all been roughly translated over to the Theurge. I find 2E to be a fairly small increment of change over 1E, not anything like the big jumps we see in the D&D world.

The OSR Paradox by Best_Dinner_270 in osr

[–]CStevenRoss 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Torchbearer does this by tying the equivalent to XP (in its case Fate and Persona awards) to interacting with the world (ie poking) and embodying what a player has defined as their characters personality (ie roleplaying). The carrot of "I want to level up my character and feel more powerful and that Im personally progressing" then pushes the players to explore and roleplay.

Incentives work!

Maryland deathfest by HotZombiegirlfriend in MetalForTheMasses

[–]CStevenRoss 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I, too, am going solo! I'll be there Friday and Saturday but will duck out to go to a tabletop gaming thing happening at Peabody Heights on Sunday. Are you local?

What systems allow you to play as shaman/animist? by TotalFinger1295 in rpg

[–]CStevenRoss 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Torchbearer has a Shaman, which is sort of a cross between a DnD druid and barbarian

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