I'm new and baffled!

[Tywin Lannister]

Hi everyone, I'm new to the boards - and the game, which I bought last week.
I have been reading through the book, and found it all a bit..baffling.
The main problem is the overview; I was flipping and searching for a long time to
create a character, but once I got the grasp I *think* I did it right.

What I'm not so sure about is:
Spiritual Attributes: How do you start out with them?
Equipment: How do you choose it?

Does a character without any skills in missile weapons have a missile weapon pool?

Does a combat pool refill every round?

These questions probably sound silly, but I'm not a native English speaker either so it's even
more difficult to grasp these rules.

It all does look sound, though :)

I am excluding sorcery by the way.

[Lance D. Allen]

The organization of the book, esp. the character generation section, is the only problem I have with the game. However, it's a fairly sizeable problem for those trying to jump in on their own. So, welcome to the boards, and hopefully we can help you make TRoS an enjoyable experience.

SAs: Just choose 5 from the list, and define them as necessary. Remember that passion is the only one that may be taken twice, and both must be defined toward separate elements. Then assign your 7 points to them. It is okay, and honestly quite common for 2 or more to have 0 points assigned at character generation. This does not mean they are less important to the character. Importance does not fluctuate with the numbers, the numbers only represent how much effort has recently gone into pursuit/support of that particular SA, and how much it can give back to the character, either in terms of character growth, or as an extra boost in applicable situations.

Equipment: I believe that somewhere it's stated that each character does start out with certain basic equipment, such as clothing, a belt knife, etc. Beyond that, many different nationalities get basic equipment, sometimes dependent upon social class (such as Stahlners, who get a horse at upper freeman and above, I believe) Anything else you wish your character to have is then purchased with your starting funds. At character generation, starting funds are considered to be imperial standard weight, so use that column when purchasing gear. Afterward, any unspent funds are translated into the character's native currency.

Missile Pool: Yes, but it is entirely based on aim, without a Missile Weapon Proficiency.

A round is made up of two exchanges, so yes, CP does refresh every round. Unspent points do not roll over to the next round, however.

Having answered your questions the best I can, I'll point you toward the post entitled "New to the Forum? Read here first" Which has links to many past discussions, some of which will cover in-depth the questions you've already asked, and some you've not yet thought of. But you should still feel free to ask any questions on things you're still not clear on.

[Brian Leybourne]

Gidday.

Lance has already answered most of your questions, so I'll just say "what he said" and give you a welcome to the Forge. We're a pretty friendly bunch here, and you'll find questions get answered pretty quickly.

Having said that, there are some questions that have been done to death in the past, so I'll reiterate Lance's suggestion to check out the "New to the forum? Read here first" sticky at the top of the forum, it has some good links to past discussions and you should consider having a good read through them.

Also, if you're finding combat a little tricky to grasp, try downloading the TROS Windows Combat Simulator from the webpage. Running through that and referring to the book as you do so will help you get a good grasp on how things work.

Brian.

[Sneaky Git]

Also, if you're finding combat a little tricky to grasp, try downloading the TROS Windows Combat Simulator from the webpage. Running through that and referring to the book as you do so will help you get a good grasp on how things work.

Brian.

And because Brian is just so darned modest, I'll say it.. The TROS Windows Combat Simulator is awesome.  One of the quicker & easier ways to pick up the combat system.  I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in a taste of combat in TROS.

Chris

[Lance D. Allen]

As a caveat, I will add that if you are trying to use the simulator as a way to grasp combat, it is important to make sure it is turned on in the options that all dice rolls and calculations are shown, and you scroll up and read them carefully each exchange of combat. With them turned off, combat is quite transparent, which is what I think was intended.

Also note that the simulator does not decide when combat is over, unless a killing blow is administered. You can totally debilitate your opponent, then go on to chop off all 5 of his arms, 3 of his legs, and disembowel him a few times for good measure before finishing him off with a killing blow to the heart, or a decapitation.

Not that I've ever done that. What sort of sadist do you think I am?

::grins wolfishly behind his hand::

[Valamir]

One of the best uses for it is to put your own PC in there.  And then try to kill him as often and as nastily as you can.  Great way to learn his weaknesses.

Also a great way to learn the little things that don't occur to you just from reading the text.  Like why leaving yourself without enough dice left in the pool to pay the weapon range penalty for the second exchange is a bad idea :-)

[arxhon]

Welcome to the Riddle of Steel forum!

Brian's combat simulator beats even sliced bread, in my opinion. A great help in understanding combat.

A lot of people have mentioned the character system and how scattered it is. I have an 8 pg "character maker" that you can take a look at. Check out this thread: http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=5552 for more info.

If you are interested, PM me. You must answer a question to prove that you own the book, or Jake will get....er, crazy. :-)

[Brian Leybourne]

Brian's combat simulator beats even sliced bread, in my opinion. A great help in understanding combat.

It's true. I once tried to use a couple of slices of wholegrain to simulate TROS combat, and it didn't work nearly as well.

Brian.

[Callan S.]

It'd be sweet to have an AI opponent mode in it. Then again the first guy who dediced to code chess AI thought it'd be easy to do.

Then again, if it goe's through the tree of results about two or three steps ahead, choosing the ones that produce optimum results (based on average results), it might do an okay job. Which is what chess progs do, basically...only more steps.

[Tywin Lannister]

Wow thanks for all the nice replies. Looks like a cozier place here than most web boards :-)

I will try to download the Combat Simulator and see if it helps me.

I was perusing the book last night and found some more questions, but I have forgotten them right now heh.

[Tywin Lannister]

I haven't found the thread with the rules discussions though ?

[Valamir]

4th thread from the top "Look Here First"

[Durgil]

Click HERE

[Tywin Lannister]

I downloaded the Combat Simulator, and tried my hands at it. Combat looks quite exciting, almost as a game within the game.
I can imagine it would be cool to have a session or two where the PCs are gladiators, duelling other gladiators for glory and money.
Thanks for the tip (Although I knew it existed, it didn't cross my mind to download it for some reason).

As to the link (thanks), I didn't exactly find what I was looking for in that index. First, it was a bit confusing that the links had no individual titles, second, most discussions were about alterations to the game rules. I guess I have to look more.

I'm primarily interested in learning the basics of character creation, the use of equipment, basic rules (like jumping, lifting etc.) and combat; I leave out the campaign setting (I have my own which is even more down to earth), magic (for same reason) and I have no use for beasties and elves and dwarves (for same reason).

So I hope it's okay if I can post some questions in this thread, as it is already generated? (I will still look after solutions on this board, though).




Time grows short, and the piper plays his tune. We are almost there...

[Mike Holmes]

As far as gladiators, there were several threads on the subject, and I and a couple of others worked on a supplement for that for a while (now on hiatus). Do a search in the forum for "gladiator" and you'll get all sorts of nifty stuff on that topic, FWIW.

Mike