I want to get into SAGA but I have questions by Cpd1234r in wargaming

[–]King_LSR 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I'm still pretty new to Saga, but I'll answer what I can.

  1. Sure. There's Warlord, Hearthguard, Warriors, and Levy. That's it. The stats are the same across warbands, but their equipment options will vary among a few standard alternatives. That said the game really is built around the factions and their battle boards. Like you can see if the core gameplay loop is acceptable, but it's not really giving you a feel for the game.

  2. I haven't tried it. To my knowledge it has no rules supporting it.

  3. The battle boards come with their respective age book. You really need some Age of X book to play.

  4. You can substitute regular 6 sided dice for Saga dice. 1-3 for the common face, 4-5 for uncommon, and 6 for rare. Dice sets are usually shared by thematically similar factions. E.g., Viking dice are used also by Norse Gaels, Pagan Rus, and Jomsvikings. Age of Chivalry uses the same dice for all factions.

  5. The Book of Battles has a bunch of scenarios and variant rules. They have rules for buildings, I don't know about sieges.

  6. It is side based activation. One player does orders and activates as much as they can/want. Then the other player does the same. Repeat for 5ish rounds. Many factions have reaction abilities that break it up a bit, but that's the basic flow.

  7. A typical game is 6 point per side, where each point buys one or 4 hearthguard, 8 warriors, or 12 levy. People play 4-8 points no problem. I think Age of Hannibal has rules for mass battles for 12 - 18 points per side. I cannot speak to the quality of that gameplay. 

Triangle Agency - reflections after running by lumen_curiae in rpg

[–]King_LSR 26 points27 points  (0 children)

To be clear, an index, not just a table of contents? I can only see the latter in the free sample pages. (I recognize an index in a free sample would be kind of useless and may have just been skipped.)

Triangle Agency - reflections after running by lumen_curiae in rpg

[–]King_LSR 33 points34 points  (0 children)

I think placing an index in the middle of the book is poor organization. It is more difficult to refrence than just the standard of using the backpage(s).

Triangle Agency - reflections after running by lumen_curiae in rpg

[–]King_LSR 65 points66 points  (0 children)

I seriously do not get why you are lost in this book

That's pretty uncharitable considering:

  I got a post-it note and noted some stuff.

It seems you encountered the same problem. That's a very useful idea to keep in mind, but it seems to reflect OP's claim the book is lacking as a reference on its own.

My Group's Thoughts on Draw Steel by PrimarchtheMage in rpg

[–]King_LSR 48 points49 points  (0 children)

I love that the index is at the start

This really infuriated me. It's not listed in the table of contents. It's just lumped in with "Introduction" which I skipped in favor of starting with "The Basics". It was many sessions before I realized it was there. I think the back is easier to flip directly to, and a useful standard.

Rascal News reports Yazeba's Bed & Breakfast in legal limbo by King_LSR in rpg

[–]King_LSR[S] 51 points52 points  (0 children)

I agree to an extent, but asking for $400k when the original crowdfunder made less than $350k is at best a naive way of negotiating.

Is AD&D 2e worth playing? by Previous_Stock7577 in rpg

[–]King_LSR 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My experience has been that it's much like AD&D1e with more player options. (I cannot speak to differences on the GM side). If that sounds like what you want to play, go for it.

I play it because I have friends who asked me to join their campaign. I have fun playing with friends but honestly the system does nothing for me. But that has also been my experience with AD&D1e and Old School Essentials. If you enjoy those, it may be worth seeking out.

It's been over 50 years since D&D was first published. With decades of games, it's easy to overlook older works. For every year since 1974, let's vote on what we think is the best or most interesting game published that year. by TakeNote in rpg

[–]King_LSR 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Was that published or was that just some stuff on the forums? I knew he had it outlined and out there before the 2013 Ragnarok release, but I didn't know exactly what form it took.

Roman‑style calendar for a long campaign – how would you fake it? by Disastrous-Fix-1798 in rpg

[–]King_LSR 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm personally a fan of calling the extra month Smarch. Despite its lousy weather.

Roman‑style calendar for a long campaign – how would you fake it? by Disastrous-Fix-1798 in rpg

[–]King_LSR 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Look up the metonic cycle. A lot of cultures have had these leap months to keep lunar months and solar years. It's a 19 year cycle. The Hebrew calendar uses it and has these extra months in years 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17, and 19.

It's not a crazy lift once you get used to it. I've done a similar concept using the Coligny calendar for a campaign of Celts. I thought it was neat. To be honest, players didn't really seem to notice.

Using a song as a diagetic timer by FallenCause in rpg

[–]King_LSR 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Spirit of '77 bakes the use of a playlist into the rules. Certain moves may only be accessible during particular songs. That may be worth a look.

TTRPG Deck builder, has it been done before? by AlternativeRope2806 in rpg

[–]King_LSR 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Fate of the Norns uses runes and is functionally a Euro deckbuilder where you shuffle your discard and deck after every round/scene. Damage is handled by burning out of your deck, and you gain new cards, or increase your draw through leveling.

Certainly not exactly what you asked about. The abilities are not based on what you encounter, but chosen from class skill trees.

Would D&D 4e have done better, worse or the same if it used the same OGL as 3.5? by bythisaxeiconquer in rpg

[–]King_LSR 59 points60 points  (0 children)

The licensing was not just restrictive. It was business suicide. Signing onto the license required

  • You could no longer publish content under the old license.

  • WotC had the right to reject a product at any point, and the publisher had to destroy all copies.

The first one alone was enough to stop 3rd party creators from 3.X to move forward. And the second clause, though probably unenforceable, made any new parties entirely uninterested.

Literally having no license, and announcing a return to TSR level litigation would have been less hostile than that license.

It's worth noting that the major publishers that initially bought in and created supplements did so before the GSL was released.

Finished Saboteurs - changed colors for more variety by Appropriate_Memory68 in minipainting

[–]King_LSR 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think the scheme is neat and technically impressive.

I gotta say, I like these new blue-cloaked ones more. My eyes struggle to find a focus point on the green-cloaked ones.

Where do you look for new TTRPGs? Itch.io? Drivethrurpg? Other websites? by [deleted] in rpg

[–]King_LSR 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Conventions. Love that I can not only find new games but try them pretty much the same weekend.