Questions on TROS and a long story.

[Morfedel]

Others have already answered this, but I'm going to myself anyway!

1. Is there any reason I shouldn't buy TROS? Everything on the website and in this forum says that I should, but are there any hidden and dirty secrets that would make it not worth it? Are there any flaws, major or minor, in the system that could easily be exploited by an unscrupulous player?

That is really a big can of worms. The big question is your play style.

See, TRoS has some definite strenghts, but it won't work with all play styles. For instance, as a hack n slash, you will go through characters like junk food. TRoS was built to have realistic, meaningful combat; therefore, it has lots of details, and it is also fairly streamlined; however, it is very bloody, and if characters are indiscriminate about their fights, or if the DM hurls them into combat without respecting this fact, then their characters wont last long.

There is also the spiritual attributes, which not only makes the game character driven, but also virtually requires the PCs to be more proactive. The combination of this and combat forces the players to ask themselves, "What is important enough to the character to risk an easily-found death?"

What this does is turn the game into one with lots of potential for passion, and turns characters into more dynamic forces.

All isn't golden, however. It will require a shift from the traditional paradigm in RPGing. hack n slash gaming will be very, very dangerous for the characters in question. This may be ideal, but isn't always easily achieved, and sometimes its just plain fun to do a brainless hack n slash once in awhile. Or, like my typical game style has been, assailing the fortress of the mad archmage known only as the Shadowlord, with just your trusty companions and your battle-proven blade.

These scenarios will not be appropriate in the game, and neither will cinematic style gaming where a handful of heroes fight their way through 2.5 hours of action-adventure swashbuckling. Combat is gritty, and realistc; unless your Spiritual Attributes are firing (which could turn you into a combat monster), you will be in serious danger - combat is not to be taken lightly. And even the SAs are no guarantee.

Magic in this setting isn't just powerful, its scary. Wizards wield significant power. As a DM, you have to be on your toes with these guys. This doesn't necessarily mean you have to reign them in by denying them power.

Instead control them with in-game controls: does your wizard, learning the villain is an evil baron, just cast a spell and eliminate the man? Oops, you didn't know his lover was a sorceress herself, who has now vowed to come after you. Or, perhaps the King learns of your hand in the affairs, and starts a nation-wide manhunt for you.

Or, perhaps due to your actions, the man who takes the old Baron's position turns out to be an even worse monster, all due to your intervention.

All these above culminate in a completely different feel, and requires a GM to be able to think on his feet; if your group cant handle this paradigm shift, or if the GM can't handle the ability to think on his feet, and revise on the fly, then it could be a problem.

Another is the system itself. It uses a dice pool mechanic very similar to the World of Darkness stuff, such as Vampire or Mage (And magic is very similar to Mage, for that matter). Personally, for me, this is a negative - with the exception of the Godlike RPG, I really dislike the dice pool mechanics. Despite this, however, I enjoy TRoS a lot. But that mechanic isn't for everyone.

The final thing is, can you find players? If you can, great! But I've known people who had the attitude that D&D is the One Game System To Rule Them All. And they are so stuck on that, that they actually grow ANGRY at an attempt to get them to try something else.

But if your group is open minded, and if the above doesn't dissuade you, then I'd say go for it! It has the second best magic system in the game industry, after Ars Magica, and its combat system is also very good - in my opinion, Godlike and Skyrealms of Jorune is better, but its a good third.

Its game mechanics, in terms of dice rolling, are not original - as I said, its heavily comparable to World of Darkness - but TRoS took the mechanic in a direction I liked better than its pseudo-ancestor. And its spiritual attribute system is sheer genius.

IF your group can handle the rest of the above, then this is a worthy game, no doubt. If the above is a problem, you might want to think about it carefully.

Side Note on the above games mentioned:

Ars Magica: has the best magic system I've ever seen, and a very very cool setting as well, based around fraternities of wizards living in Covenants, or wizard castles - complete with rules for starting play in such places, with golems and scrying pools and such. Its a fabulous system... as long as you want to play wizards. Its one flaw, and to me a big one, is that its just not rewarding to play non wizards in that system, as they are considered nothing more than Companions to the wizards - great when you are in that mindset, but not so great when you want to play something different. The 4th edition is actually now downloadable for free in pdf format, and they are working on a 5th edition now. I'd be playing AM instead of TRoS, if AM was stronger on non wizards.

As it is, I may adapt TRoS to play in the AM world, hehe

Skyrealms of Jorune: This game was a kind of science fantasy, set 3000 years from today; we had found an alien world 150 years from today, dropped a settlement there, then a nuclear war broke out on earth, leaving the inhabitants of Jorune as the only living humans left in the universe. The core of Jorune was composed of a molten crystal that radiated a kind of energy we had never encountered before (Read "magic" here), and the inhabitants were quite strange.

The game was subtitled "Leave your world behind", and sported a very, truly alien world. The artwork was incredible, and IMHO some of the best I ever saw in the gaming industry; the magic system was ok, and the combat system was, IMHO, the best I'd ever seen. It wasn't quite as detailed as TRoS, but it covered quite a bit of ground, including weapons length, trying to get past longer weapons, etc, location wounds, without using hit points, and did so very elegantly. IMHO, even a bit better than TRoS.

But, it was a very strange game in some regards, and it failed in the marketplace, and is now out of print. TRoS isn't QUITE as good at combat imho (although I'm sure that some would disagree with me, particularly as TRoS offers more manuevers; but SoJ did nearly as many without using the Dice Pool system, which as I said, I dislike, heh).

EDIT: I'm referring to 2nd edition. 3rd edition, and the final one, was essentially the same with a few tweaks, but was edited poorly and was nightmarish to get through, and its artwork dropped a bit in quality in some areas....


Godlike: This game is my favorite game engine, bar none, so far. It uses a dice pool mechanism, but it has some major differences from others, so much so that I fell in love with the system. Fortunately for its competitors, it is set in world war 2, and is a gritty, low level superhero rpg. And fantasy is my favorite genre, and it would take some work to make it work in fantasy.

Unfortunately for its competitors, they are working on a fantasy version, albeit a wuxia one, called Weapons of the Gods. While I'm not a big fan of Wuxia, they CLAIMED it will work for traditional fantasy too. So, when that comes out, I fear I MAY be leaving TRoS.

But we will see. To be frank, TRoS is the best selection for fantasy for me at the moment. It isn't number one in any one area, but its a close #2 or 3 in all areas, whereas the other games that I consider have big holes in one part or another - a bunch of #2s is better than a #1 coupled with a #20. :)

The other thing is, as I said, the Spiritual Attributes are incredible. That probably is the biggest thing that tipped the balance for me. TRoS isn't without its flaws, but its a solid product.

2. How do I get my PCs to switch over considering that all people are resistant to change? (Let's say I have 9 months to do this

Well, thats the $25,000 question isn't it? Really, that depends on their personality, as everyone handles things different? (and as a side note, not all people are resistant to change....)

I'd say just tell them you found a game system that you and a few others consider amazing, and they should give it a shot, as you are burned out on D&D anyway. Ask them to try it out for a few sessions, and let them judge for themselves.

3. How easily can a D&D 3e campaign world (original) be transfered to TROS?

The world isn't a problem its the paradigm shift in gaming style. Aside from the fact that some D&D worlds are extremely magic-risk (and TRoS makes magic rare), it shouldnt be a problem.

4. What do I do with all those d20 books? (besides a ritual pyre)

I'd keep them, unless you never ever think you will play it again. As D20 is the biggest system out there, it will always be easiest to find a group for it - you might not want to burn any bridges, so to speak.

However, if you still want to get rid of them, sell them used, or if that doesn't work, give them to someone who could use it.

5. Can I invest money in Driftwood? (And how much)

What, you expect them to say no to free money? :D

Besides sending money to them, though, support them by bringing more people into playing it.

6. Are there any other questions that I should be asking?

That, as they say, depends on you.