Playing The Riddle of Steel (a little)

[Jake Norwood]

The Flower of Battle is our pet project, and isn't out yet, though we do have significant portions of it written. We're shootin' for X-mas at the earliest.

[Lance D. Allen]

Doh! There you go, making me feel stupid again. I was looking for a chart, like the rest of the weapon charts in the appendix, so therefore overlooked the information on bows and such NOT in a chart.
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It's them un-grey swords, I tell ya! They're to blame!

::meanders off, feeling sheepish::

[Ace]

As long as folks are commenting on the layout I found the weapon charts in the back of the book especially the missle weapons stats hard to use due to grey "art" overlap.

Also just out of curiousity, how come there are no throwing axes? There are throwing knives but no Fransiscas or Hurlbats? What gives? :)

So far I think the Flower of Battle is my most anticipated supplement. More weapons/styles etc are always a good thing in a game with a strong combat orientation (sim tendencies who me ?)

If you are taking suggestions may I propose The aformentioned throwing axes, an expanded armor and weapons list. Chain Hauberk is conspicuously absent as are padded gambesons and asketons - and no a sleeved mail shirt is not a Hauberk ;)

And one  more question. Will you be including any fancifull  or weird weapons? If not then well you will be needing another book

Maybe Paradoxes of Defense :D

[Jake Norwood]

I have a personal tendency to "distrust" weird fantasy weapons. Weapons are supposed to be functional, and while I've drawn up a couple of really cool looking weapons inthe past, I want the Flower to stay away from all the bizareness that modern fantasy is absolutely rife with. If I see something really striking and believable, though, I'll go for it.

Throwing axes and hurlbats are a must. Expect to see them.

We tried to keep the armor section pretty minimalist in the core book, as getting into all the bits and pieces and the differences between hauberks and chain shirts (which are minor, all things considered) were left out for playability (we had enough "complicated" stuff without armor thrown in), but we're planning on quite a bit of stuff on armor for the Flower (anyone want to write it, by the way?). Either way expect an expanded weapons and armor list.

The "grey" art overlap looked great on our proofs, as we've mentioned. Not much we can do about it exept remove it in future editions, or find a way around it. Check out the pdfs of the damage and weapon tables on our site--that's how they're supposed to look.

One more thing I'd like to repeat. If there's supplemental stuff that you want but I'm not planning on (such as Klingon War-thingies or whatever) then write up the stuff and I WILL PUT IT ON THE SITE (if it's any good, that is). We have a guy that wrote a theif supplement that we may be posting soon, for example, after we get to tinker with it a little.

The Flower of battle is probably the generally most anticipated supplement, but it's also going to be a horrible amount of work and, truth is, I'm dreading the amount of research I'm gonna have to do to keep the TROS claim to authenticity in whatever form...it's like school work, only it costs money to make and you can only hope it pays off (okay, then, it's exactly like school...)

Jake

[Ace]

OK I agree kewl stuff like Batleth (which are a  now a martial arts weapon adopted by the Koreans and supposedly under consideration by Navy Seals <no I am Not Kidding> ) and my three lobed throwing rotary throwing knives belong on the web page.


I will be sending you a few tidbits and guidelines on armor and a couple or three realistic styles for your consideration.  ASAP

[Lance D. Allen]

My aunt owns a batleth.. ST:TNG choreographers did a great job of making it look like a viable weapon, neh? I suppose that's enough to kick off people actually wanted to make something real of it.

Anyhow, I can agree with your tendency to distrust "weird fantasy weaponry" (though my early RPGs were rife with kewl weapons I read about), but what about exotic or unusual real world weapons? Tonfas, kamis and other eastern martial arts weapons? Whips? Blackjacks or saps? Perhaps even the scythe as a combat weapon? I always used to like to create the occasional character who used a scythe, partially for the cool factor, and partially because it's a wicked weapon if used properly.

Also, Book Seven mentions a combat art used by Vedij peasantry.. Are we going to see more on that?

[Rattlehead]

Another point to mention for the new book (or a revision of the core book). The armor listed is a good start, but one thing I'd like to see is a statement for each piece of armor regarding exactly what it covers. That way, when someone rolls on the hit location tables, there's no question as to what is protected and what is not. I didn't see info like that in the core book, but maybe I missed it? I know that common sense plays a big part in this game, but some people need concrete rules. The funny thing about common sense is that it isn't common. ;-)

Brandon

[Lance D. Allen]

Brandon makes a good point. I've seen various suits of armor in my experiences as a SCAdian, but a lot of gamers have never seen any except what they've seen in the pictures in the game books. It can be kinda difficult to say whether a piece of armor covers an area without this knowledge..

Though, I suppose it's quite possible for a Seneschal to go ahead and make an arbitrary ruling, so long as that ruling is consistent throughout their game.