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So, I know it's really late to be thinking about buying TROS. It's been out for ages, it's got 2000+ posts at RPG.NET - I mean, heck, I've even *designed* with Jake, and I still haven't bought his game.

But the thing is expensive... it's a hard-back book! It's got actual art! It's like buying freakin' D&D for crying out loud. Indie-games are supposed to be 2-page PDF things with bad spelling that you download from the internet for two bucks. Right? RIGHT?  

If I'm gonna drop $40 on a game, it's gotta be something I'm really going to use.  The reviews have sold me. it sounds like George R. R. Martin: The RPG. But search / handling time is where it sticks, for me. I can't play games where play keeps pausing for system maintanence. The web site hype says TROS plays fast.

So, how fast is it? Faster than SORD? Faster than FUZION? Faster than D&D? Faster than D6? Faster than T&T? Anyone got some actual play examples that showcase the velocity of the mechanics?

A five-a-side battle in D&D3e takes usually somewhere around 60-90 minutes or so to resolve.

The same battle in TROS, no more than 10-15.

And the TROS one is more satisfying and fun too.

Brian.

TROS is waaaaaay faster than ANY version of DND.
Most of my NPC kills have been one or two hitters, usually lasting no more than 4 rounds(8 exchanges). Even one memorable one where the NPC was hopped up on SA's and was throwing a CP of 27. That one took awhile... because on the first exchange he hit me for a total damage of 19, shield took 8, blocked 3, armor of 3, and toughness of 6. So I ran to get my halberd and I ended up giving the guy a blood loss of around 45+ not to mention shock, etc... only because I wanted to really kick his ass and not wait for him to bleed to death.
Oh, and I killed some magical being with one arrow to the back of the skull, so combat is extremely fast.(All of these cases however have been against opponents without helmets)

-Ingenious

I'm replying from the limited experience of "this is how it played in our first session".

It played about as fast as other dice pool games such as Seventh Sea or WW's World of Darkness games.  There was a bit of search and handling time in looking up tables in combat that I don't think would ever entirely go away, but which would be lessened by photocopying the relevant pages as a reference.

Combats did tend to be quite quick however, in terms of number of rounds/actions (I suspect combat may get longer as people get more tactically adept).

HTH

Not having tried it yet (but looking forward to it!), my guesstimate is that it should play faster than the Storyteller system, in large part because initiative must only be figured out once, after that, it's a natural flow of battle. Secondly, the penalties for multiple action are much faster and easier to figure out.

I'd say low-level D&D might play faster (because low-hit point characters just tend to croak fairly fast), but at higher levels, the fights become a slugfest and TRoS will win. My estimate.

Definitely a learning curve  - when it comes to combat manouvres, especially. But once you're confident with these - certainly plays quicker that DnD.

Alan.

I found that the first couple of engagements took some time...as the players and myseelf were getting our bearings.  With practice, however, we all got much faster.  I have found it to be quite fast, certainly faster than what I remember from AD&D (2nd Edition...yeah, it has been a while) and roughly equivalent to AEG's d10 dice pool games (L5R and 7th Sea).

Quote from: Ian CharvillThere was a bit of search and handling time in looking up tables in combat that I don't think would ever entirely go away, but which would be lessened by photocopying the relevant pages as a reference.

As for this, there is a great damage table program (developed by Brian Leybourne) for download on the TRoS website.  Two clicks and you can bring up any of the damage tables found in the back of the main rulebook.  Big time saver.  And darn cool.

http://theriddleofsteel.net/support/trosdam.zip

I think that link should work...but you should check out the site regardless.  Tons of goodies.

Chris

Nathan, dude, who cares about handling time (it's very low, really). Characters are more powerful when they're fighting for something they believe in. That's so on your wavelength that you have to buy this game.

Put it this way. If/when it does take longer, you don't mind, because what's taking longer is actually interesting itself.

Mike

Hehehe, see, Mike speaks my language. I'll have to add the $40 indie game to my get list now. I hope I get cash for christmas... ;)

Two days until my books arrive!

Unfortunately, I'm going to have to GM, and I really want to play!

wandering around the sewers of Firenze (Florence) during the seige of 1530. The party consisted of four PCs and they all managed to get involved and the thing was dead in about four to five minutes of game time. This includes the build up as the thing approached them in the dark of the sewers.

So We have a particularly nasty critter with special rules fighting four PCs. Four to five minutes from dark foreshadow of its appraoch to the bits of the thing crawling after them at a snail's pace... Pretty fast, I think...

Hi Ian! (I'm in the same group.)

Based on our two or three sessions of play: it's not fast, it's decisive.

In terms of handling, I'd say RoS is slower than D&D. It's quite complex, with lots of stuff to think about and keep track of, whereas D&D is simple. However, in D&D you usually get the whittling effect where characters stand there clonking each other over the head till one falls down. The damage disconnect (good hit not equal to big effect) adds on to this, so combats can get stretched over many rounds at the whim of the dice. RoS doesn't do this, because any hit is likely to make a big difference, so the whole thing takes fewer rounds.

Let me extrapolate from this statement, sometimes a good hit, or AWESOME hit, wont even make a scratch. Case in point... my character was hit once for a total damage of 19. Shield absorbed 8, 3 block successes, 3 for armor on the groin, 6 for toughness. For a total defense of 20. So you see how even an awesome hit can be completely nullified.
After all of this, I cleaved the guy in the right shoulder for a level 3 and 4 hit, then I finished him off with a level 5 thrust to the head. However, this guy had been hit with a full combat pool attack from the other guy in my party, for only a level 2 wound to the neck... which didn't weaken him as much as I had assumed... since I did not know this guy had a CP of like 27 with all of his SA's firing....

So a small wound, to a player with a small CP... it will change the momentum of the fight, the entire fight. Likewise a small wound to a guy with a large CP, wont make much of a difference.

-Ingenious

Quote from: Tim GrayHi Ian! (I'm in the same group.)

Based on our two or three sessions of play: it's not fast, it's decisive.

In terms of handling, I'd say RoS is slower than D&D. It's quite complex, with lots of stuff to think about and keep track of, whereas D&D is simple. However, in D&D you usually get the whittling effect where characters stand there clonking each other over the head till one falls down. The damage disconnect (good hit not equal to big effect) adds on to this, so combats can get stretched over many rounds at the whim of the dice. RoS doesn't do this, because any hit is likely to make a big difference, so the whole thing takes fewer rounds.

I think this is more learning curve than system.
After you get to know the system and have the damage tables sorted out you will have fights go by at a scary pace as the dice are thrown and blood flows as water. The reek of blood and guts will fill your nostrils with the terrible and sweet stench of victory and survival...













Or your world will grow thin as the angel of death comes to collect you...

I think that the level of enjoyment you will get from TRoS depends on what you are looking for.  

If you are sick of 3e D&D and want to get into some serious roleplay, then I would say that TRoS is for you.

If you don't like high hit point invulnerability, then TRoS is for you.

There are some things that D&D and it's clones do better, but not many...  ( I know that that is an unpopular sentiment here).

above all enjoyment of TRoS depends on having a GM who listens to the players wants and desires (in the form of SA's) and isn't bent on telling the story that GM wants to hear regardless of what the players want.

In my experience it takes a few sessions to really get into the swing of things, but once you do the rewards are well worth the effort of adjusting the way you approach the game.