Any lite or preview version of The Princes Kingdom to review?

[DaveyJJ]

Clinton,

I'm in a huge discussion thread over on RPG.net right now about a) getting back into RPGs after more than 20 years away; b) finding a suitable RPG system and millieu to introduce by gifted nine year old to, and c) struggling to understand and make a best decision about a myriad of systems now out there ... Castles & Crusades, Talislanta, Princes Kingdom and Shadows of Yesterday, and a handful of others. I've been able to read through some of TSoY online, but can't find details about magic and the basic mechancs (feats, fighting if it comes to that, magic etc) behind Princes online (although the simple character sheet is very nice).

Thoughts or advise?

Regards,

David

PS. I like where the proceeds are going for princes, btw. Great work. Positive social and economic change in any form is the key to bettering the lives of all.

[Clinton R. Nixon]

Davey,

There's not a preview online right now, although there should be: the text is going to be Creative Commons-NonCommercial. I just haven't had the time to get it online.

I can answer any questions here. I'll answer your implicit ones right now:

- Basic mechanics are a dice pool. The dice are used, two-by-two, in a bidding cycle to conduct any conflict. That sounded complicated and it isn't. I'd say that it's a really simple version of Dogs in the Vineyard, but that wouldn't exactly make sense, if you haven't played RPGs in 20 years. Simply, you roll your character's age (really) in d6s, and a number of d8s equal to their strong qualities that apply to the situation, and d4s for their troublesome qualities that apply to the situation. You want more dice rolled higher.

- Fighting works like everything else; however, the chance of you being grieviously affected is higher.

- Magic is also contained in this one system, and is not expanded upon. It is assumed that players will invent magic in the game, but that it will be natural in origin and effect and not world-splitting.

[DaveyJJ]

- Basic mechanics are a dice pool. The dice are used, two-by-two, in a bidding cycle to conduct any conflict. That sounded complicated and it isn't. I'd say that it's a really simple version of Dogs in the Vineyard, but that wouldn't exactly make sense, if you haven't played RPGs in 20 years. Simply, you roll your character's age (really) in d6s, and a number of d8s equal to their strong qualities that apply to the situation, and d4s for their troublesome qualities that apply to the situation. You want more dice rolled higher.

- Fighting works like everything else; however, the chance of you being grieviously affected is higher.

- Magic is also contained in this one system, and is not expanded upon. It is assumed that players will invent magic in the game, but that it will be natural in origin and effect and not world-splitting.

I look forward to the preview. Thanks for taking the time, btw, to repsond. So now ...

Basic mechanics. Age? Really? Can you give me an simple example of a situation for this? Does this apply to acts of mental or physical prowess equally? Since the PCs are children, I'm assuming that they're in situations relevant to their age and/or quest. And what are you rolling against? Some sort of base number etc, in otehr words, how is success determined?

I agree that magic is natural and subtle, not the earth-shattering kind found in so many traditional FRPG systems. Great. And the success and/or failure of magic is based on the same system then as well?

How well do you explain or describe the island world the prince's live in? And I've read that we're free to then develop islands where adventures take place in any way we'd like?

Finally, are the two systems, TSoY and TPK mechanically similar, so if I continue to read through the first I'll better understand the mechanics of the later?

Again, thanks for the time!

David

[DaveyJJ]

Are strong and troublesome qualities explained with examples in the game rules ( list of suggested things to give direction as to what you mean) or are we left to our own devices to create them from scratch? I'd prefer a list of each that once understood how they flow into the mechanics we, as GMs, could expand on them.

Thanks.

[DaveyJJ]

I'm also confused with a lite/online version with the concepts of conceit, injustice, disobedience etc etc that several gameplay threads keep mentioning. Sorry, done now. :)

[Clinton R. Nixon]

Davey,

Hey! I forgot that there's a preview of almost the entire book at:

http://www.lulu.com/browse/preview.php?fCID=366614

Ok, to address your questions:

TSOY and TPK are not similiar in most ways, definitely not mechanically. TSOY is also easily adaptable to a large number of game types and TPK is not.

Re: how is success determined? All rolls are resisted against other characters, or a base roll for the world.

Re: how is the world explained? In two pages. It's not detailed, on purpose.

Re: how are qualities explained? There's plenty of examples, but they're left up to you to write.

Lastly, the concepts you asked about:

When you make up an island (that is, make an adventure), the problems of conceit, injustice, disobiedence and the like are how you make up what's wrong with the island. The game is played like thus:

- The GM makes an island with all its problems.
- The characters come to the island and find the problems.
- They encounter trouble and change because of it.
- They try and fix the problems.
- They move to the next place and reflect on whether they made good decisions.
- Repeat.

You can see how this is pretty constrained, but if it's the sort of thing you like, it's fun.