Previous Topics
In The Riddle of Steel

1/23/2004 toli: attributes or proficiencies
One of the other threads got me wondering about people's approach to character design and advancement. Namely, do you focus on increasing attributes or profieciencies ahead of the other...or both…
In The Riddle of Steel
Participants: toli, Jake Norwood, Wolfen.

1/23/2004 Morfedel: Sorcerer Stories
Since we have been discussing sorcerers, and debating on whether or not they are too powerful in a game, I thought I'd make this request. I'd like to hear actual…
In The Riddle of Steel
Participants: Morfedel, Lxndr, Wolfen, Bob Richter, Salamander, Ingenious.

1/23/2004 Bracken: Riddle of Steel Initiative questions
Hi all, It's been a while, but I have some RoS questions about Initiative. Actually more pertaining to group initiative. I like the way RoS handles Initiative once the combatants…
In The Riddle of Steel
Participants: Bracken, Brian Leybourne.

1/23/2004 Poleaxe: an elf-fey archer/sorcerer
How would you recommend making such a character? My first problem, priorites: A race/magic B either Prof's/Vag's or Attributes C either Attributes or Prof's/Vag's My basic question is this, he's…
In The Riddle of Steel
Participants: Poleaxe, Ingenious, Mantis, Brian Leybourne, toli, Lxndr.

1/23/2004 jpegbert: Modern combat rules?
I think I remember reading somewhere that the TROS rules were orginally based on a modern combat system. Is this true? Are these rules available? If not, can anyone recommend…
In The Riddle of Steel
Participants: jpegbert, Jake Norwood, Salamander, OriginalFlash, Thanaeon, chade0.

1/22/2004 Sigurth: Adding or Changing SA's
I really did look at the FAQ on this Forum, but could not find the answer to my quesiton. In character generation the PCs start out with 5 SAs and…
In The Riddle of Steel
Participants: Sigurth, Ingenious, The Heretic, Jake Norwood, Alan, Valamir, Brian Leybourne, Ron Edwards, Wolfen.

1/22/2004 Morfedel: Hedge Magic
I was thinking of creating hedge magic - or, for those not familiar with the term, magic that is very weak. Generally, a hedge magician is far weaker than a…
In The Riddle of Steel
Participants: Morfedel, tauman, MonkeyWrench, StahlMeister, Paka, Valthalion, Dan Sellars, Drifter Bob.

1/22/2004 Alan: NEW SA Category: Secrets
I was just mulling over the Riddle of Spice and hit on an SA idea I thought appropriate for the Dune universe: The Secret. It would be similar to a…
In The Riddle of Steel
Participants: Alan, Ingenious, kenjib, StahlMeister, Ben Lehman, Valamir, contracycle, Mike Holmes, Jasper.

1/22/2004 Valamir: Axes Knives and Swords
Just saw this special on the History Channel tonight. Pretty good accurate information. They had some scenes of sword fighting, and as I'm watching I'm thinking "hey, those guys actually…
In The Riddle of Steel
Participants: Valamir, Ingenious, Salamander, Jake Norwood, toli, Poleaxe.

1/22/2004 Wolfen: Sorcerous Detection
So I find myself wondering: How do you detect magic? Can a sorcerer detect magic cast in their vicinity? If so, how close? And what is the in-game explanation for…
In The Riddle of Steel
Participants: Wolfen, Ingenious.

1/21/2004 Bob Richter: Ninja vs. Pirate
Bah. Enough with that stale "Knight vs. Samurai" bit. Who wins in a fight between a Ninja and a Pirate?
In The Riddle of Steel
Participants: Bob Richter, MonkeyWrench, Salamander, Deacon Blues, murazor, JESTER, Wolfen, Ingenious, kenjib, Bastoche, tauman, Furious D, Jake Norwood.

1/21/2004 The big blue ape: A Magicish question
Not to long ago while reading OBAM, I read the humunculus spell, and I thought of a rather odd thing to do, say for example my character created a humunculus,…
In The Riddle of Steel
Participants: The big blue ape, Brian Leybourne, Krammer, ZazielsRephaim.

1/21/2004 Morfedel: Non Game Mechanic Alternatives to Controlling Sorcerers
I had been thinking about controlling sorcerers; some people think they are just fine, but I think many of us have had the distaste of having to watch sorcerers turn…
In The Riddle of Steel
Participants: Morfedel, De profundis, Mike Holmes, Ben Lehman, Ingenious, Andrew Mure, Lxndr, Stephen, Jake Norwood, Brian Leybourne, contracycle, Thanaeon, Rick, Wolfen, Bob McNamee, Amy1419, Malechi, Pyske.

1/21/2004 Melkor: Help with the Hit Location Zones diagram...
Call me mentally challenged, but I'm having a bit of difficulty understanding the Hit Location Zones diagram on the Character Sheets and P. 76 of the main rulebook. In looking…
In The Riddle of Steel
Participants: Melkor, Ingenious, Paganini, Deacon Blues, Wolfen.

1/20/2004 Paka: EN World Discussion of TROS
http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=74946 Maybe worth some Riddle-folk from our boards checking out and politely chiming in.
In The Riddle of Steel
Participants: Paka, kenjib, Bastoche, Hugin, Sigurth, kanseg.

1/19/2004 Ben Lehman: Toss and Bind
Hey. I noticed something the other day -- no one in my group ever uses the Toss or Bind maneuvers. Curious, I looked at the manuevers to refresh myself and...…
In The Riddle of Steel
Participants: Ben Lehman, Deacon Blues, Trevis Martin, Jake Norwood, Merritt Baggett, Wolfen, Paganini, Overdrive, Mokkurkalfe, Spartan.

1/17/2004 Sigurth: Gladiators (Split)
Anyone develop any proficiencies for Gladiators or Pit Fighters? Like Trident and Net (though I think this would be a variation of Cut and Thrust) How about with bladed cesti?…
In The Riddle of Steel
Participants: Sigurth, Brian Leybourne, Ingenious, StahlMeister.

1/16/2004 November Kilo: Spear & Shield
Okay... first thread of my own... I'm pumped - finally, I'll be running my first TROS session this weekend. I was gen'ing some sample grunts to blow through tutorial combats,…
In The Riddle of Steel
Participants: November Kilo, Salamander, Bob Richter, Sneaky Git, Durgil, toli, Anthony I, Paganini, Half-Baked, Loki.

1/16/2004 Jeph: [sorcery] Alternatives to Aging?
Now, the aging thing is cool and all, but to me seems to be the biggest barrier when porting TRoS (and TRoS-QS, which is probably the only iteration I'll ever…
In The Riddle of Steel
Participants: Jeph, Kilor Di, Blankshield, Ian.Plumb, kenjib, Paka, Ben Lehman, contracycle, StahlMeister, Lxndr, Stephen, Pyske, Wolfen, Andrew Mure.

1/14/2004 De profundis: Greetings
At last i got a copy of TROS and OBAM. Having the same experiences with old fashion game mechanics like Jake describes in the afterword of TROS i was blown…
In The Riddle of Steel
Participants: De profundis, Jake Norwood, StahlMeister, Mokkurkalfe, Lxndr.

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Subsequent Topics
In The Riddle of Steel

1/24/2004 Alan: Holding a Spell
In standard TROS magic, is there a way to prepare a spell in advance, then release it later with reduced casting time?
In The Riddle of Steel
Participants: Alan, Jake Norwood, Bob McNamee.

1/24/2004 chade0: Let's have a new IRC meetting(?)
Hi all, Let's do it again, and hopefully this time with more participants! For those who have not heard of the previous IRC meetting, check this thread: http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=9283&sid=07fb25a4bcdb6a7b5ec5c20f6872bcf8 Now, I…
In The Riddle of Steel
Participants: chade0, Brian Leybourne, Ingenious, Thanaeon.

1/26/2004 Drifter Bob: Tactical sophistication of knightly armies
I don't know if this is a better idea or not, but here goes. I was asked to cite examples of knightly European armies making serious, basic strategic blunders dealing…
In The Riddle of Steel
Participants: Drifter Bob, contracycle, A.Neill, Ian.Plumb, toli, silburnl.

1/26/2004 Morfedel: Armor CP Penalties....
I remember seeing, on not one, but several threads, on how Jake, on thinking of it, would have had armor CP penalties a bit differently, and made a few suggestions,…
In The Riddle of Steel
Participants: Morfedel, Salamander, Brian Leybourne, toli, kenjib.

1/27/2004 Tywin Lannister: Vote for THE RIDDLE OF STEEL
The InQuest magazine is holding their annual Fan Game Awards. One of the questions is Your Favorite RPG. Head on over, choose "Other" and write The Riddle of Steel for…
In The Riddle of Steel
Participants: Tywin Lannister, Alan.

1/27/2004 Tywin Lannister: New (very negative) review of THE RIDDLE OF STEEL
[url]http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/10/10048.phtml[/url] He has some points, and he really made me think about the GM/planning campaigns bit. I don't agree that you have to wing it so much for a TROS…
In The Riddle of Steel
Participants: Tywin Lannister, Nick Pagnucco, Muggins, Salamander, Paganini, kenjib, toli, Morfedel, Mike Holmes, Pyske, Jake Norwood, Valamir, Noon, Brian Leybourne, Malechi, bcook1971, Alan, Sigurth, AdAstraGames, Bankuei, Emiricol, bottleneck.

1/27/2004 daagon: OBaM Question
On page 72 of the book "Of Beasts and Men" the last line states "never stopped that growth for their entire lives - " Should there be anything else after…
In The Riddle of Steel
Participants: daagon, Brian Leybourne.

1/27/2004 Amy1419: Regrowth Spell Question
Okay on page 118 (2nd copy) in the sorcery section there is a sample ritual spell called Regrowth. It requires Scultpture 3, growth 3, conquer 2, and vision 3. Targets-3,…
In The Riddle of Steel
Participants: Amy1419, Salamander, Ingenious, [MKF]Kapten, Anthony I, Shadeling.

1/28/2004 Alan: TROS Tarnsman of Gor
Anyone remember the John Norman potboilers? Gor was a planet in the same orbit as Earth on the other side of the sun. The Priest Kings kept a human culture…
In The Riddle of Steel
Participants: Alan, sirogit, Jake Norwood, Wolfen, Brian Leybourne, toli.

1/28/2004 Jake Norwood: Heroism
Okay, so I'm probably preaching to the choir here, but I always hear crap about TROS combat being 'gritty' as opposed to 'heroic.' What I reckon this means is that…
In The Riddle of Steel
Participants: Jake Norwood, Jason, Holt, November Kilo, Salamander, Blankshield, Wolfen, Ingenious, Noon, Thanaeon, Bastoche, Krammer, toli, Sneaky Git, Ian.Plumb, Drifter Bob, Muggins, kenjib, bcook1971, Bob Richter, Ron Edwards, Edge.

1/29/2004 Trevis Martin: Dice systems in TROS and other inquiries
Hi everyone, First, Jake, thanks for the game. I recieved it for Christmas (after all what says Happy Holidays more than vicious sword combat?), and we are due to play…
In The Riddle of Steel
Participants: Trevis Martin, Paganini, Thanaeon.

1/29/2004 Malechi: Weapon Stats
Hi there, I'm currently working on a campaign setting for TROS that revolves around a kind of Babylonian/Assyrian/Akkadian theme and wanted to introduce some different flavoured weapons. Firstly the Falcata…
In The Riddle of Steel
Participants: Malechi.

1/29/2004 Bob Goat: Initiative Question
Hi. I'm trying to convince my regular gaming group to use TROS four our Midnight campaign. There is some interest, but the question has come up from our GM about…
In The Riddle of Steel
Participants: Bob Goat, Trevis Martin, November Kilo, Alan, Wolfen, Jake Norwood, Valamir.

1/30/2004 Pyske: Spiritual Attributes as Degree of Commitment [house rules]
Inspired by the New (very negative) review of THE RIDDLE OF STEEL thread, where the topic of using Spiritual Attributes as measures of a person's spiritual commitment or development has…
In The Riddle of Steel
Participants: Pyske, Ian.Plumb.

1/29/2004 Ian.Plumb: Testing SAs (Split from "Negative Review")
Hi, I've read JD's review of TRoS and a fair amount of the mudslinging that resulted in the RPGnet forum. The review is not well written, seemingly designed to be…
In The Riddle of Steel
Participants: Ian.Plumb, bcook1971, Malechi, Alan, Jaif, Tywin Lannister, kenjib, Pyske, Valamir, Gordon C. Landis, toli, Trevis Martin, Wolfen, Jake Norwood, Bob Richter, Morfedel, Brian Leybourne, Bob McNamee.

1/30/2004 Jake Norwood: What did swords weigh?
John Clements recently wrote this article in response to the questions of a gamer that he had corresponded with. This may be of interest to some, and not to others.…
In The Riddle of Steel
Participants: Jake Norwood, Salamander, Hereward The Wake.

1/30/2004 BPetroff93: character creation options
I normally don't like tweeking games much and I do understand the value of choices in TROS. However, I find character creation a little too much of a false dicotomy…
In The Riddle of Steel
Participants: BPetroff93, Jake Norwood, Wolfen, Amy1419, Edge, Lxndr, Ingenious.

1/31/2004 Alan: Multiple Opponents - Terrain Rolls & Initiative
In several other threads, Jake has recently clarified a number of rules for me about handling multiple opponents, terrain rolls, and initiative. I thought I'd gather my understanding here to…
In The Riddle of Steel
Participants: Alan, Brian Leybourne, Valamir, Half-Baked, Jake Norwood, Bob Richter, Ian.Plumb, Wolfen, Melkor, Richard_Strey, Lxndr, Pyske, Stephen.

1/30/2004 Holt: Split: Everybody was kung-fu fightin' (was Fist Fighting)
[quote="Jake Norwood"]The punch-overkill is a minor but real glitch in the system *for the way I play.* Some people love it. I'm still trying to figure out how to really,…
In The Riddle of Steel
Participants: Holt, toli, Alan, Jake Norwood.

1/31/2004 timfire: Are there any TROS players in Chicago I can join?
Hey y'all, I was wondering if there were any TROS players in the Chicago area I could join and play with. I live in the North side near the lake…
In The Riddle of Steel
Participants: timfire, Valamir, MrGeneHa, Bob Goat, Mike Holmes.

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